Mom Works It Out by Angela Gillis

Fitness Friday: Resistance Band Exercises

I got some cool stuff at Fitbloggin’ in the form of resistance bands and I thought that I should give them a try.  I never really did much with resistance bands in the past so I had no idea what to do with them.  My biggest motivation in using these bands is because I can’t really lift since I’m pregnant but this is a great way to get some strength work into my exercise routine.  I know I got a really great workout at the conference and that is something I want to duplicate at home.  I had no idea where to start though which got me to thinking that someone else might have the same problem.

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I’ll start with the basics:  resistance bands are cheap and work with your own strength and body weight.  Willie got me a set of resistance bands a couple of Christmas’ back but like I mentioned before, I never really used them.  This the set of bands I have and it seems like a pretty complete set, ($30), especially for the price.  I haven’t had much problems with these bands.

I also have my eyes on a set of resistance loops for some other exercise needs.  I’ll have to do some research to find out about these loops because I’m completely clueless on the matter.  I’ll report back to you when I find out.

It’s time for to cut to the chase, here are some beginner restistance band workouts.

Shoulders and Arms:

Short Full Body:

Total Full Body Workout:

Tone It Up: Band Workout:

If you try any of these workouts, please let me know what you think. From previous posts, you know I’m a big fan of the Tone It Up women but I wanted to give you some variety with your workouts.

Have you done much work with resistance bands? Why or why not?

The great things about Fitbloggin 2016

The great things about Fitbloggin 2016

My weekend was spent at blogging and social media conference, Fitbloggin, in Indianapolis.  I attended this conference two years ago in Savannah and was hooked.  This year I was invited back to the conference to speak about the highs and lows of weight loss.  Although I was speaking, I attended the conference to learn new things, to grow as a blogger and just become an overall better person.   Pre-conference excursions.  The early bird conference attendees could attend an outing to Lifetime Fitness.  My plane landed a bit late so I missed the facility tour but I still got to…

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Getting back on track

Getting back on track

It’s Monday! It’s the beginning of the new week and it’s time to start anew. Remember, there are good things about Mondays. There are a couple of things I have gotten away from that I think are very important and I don’t know why I stopped going them. The first thing is setting weekly and monthly goals. The monthly goal post was something I did regularly on the blog but I got away from it for some reason. Maybe I thought no one was interested in my goals or just thought it was a meaningless post…and that may actually be…

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Five Things You Can Do to Lose Weight …

Five Things You Can Do to Lose Weight now

It’s not a hoax or whatever.  People often ask what we did to lose weight or how we got started.  The is a simply answer and long answer so I’m going to give you a clif notes version.  It starts with a few simple things that will help you develop healthier habits. Cut the soda.  This is where we started from day one.  There was no more soda to be had.  I really have no idea how many calories I was consuming just by drinking soda.  It’s a mindless habit but those soda cans add up to major calories.  Or…

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Why must a black woman choose between her …

Why must a black woman choose between her hair and health?

Welcome to Transformation Tuesday and I wanted to talk about something different today.  I can’t and won’t deny the fact that I’m a black woman and once upon a time, I didn’t want to work out because it would mess up my hair.  This blog post may not appeal to you or be something you can’t relate to so it’s ok to skip this one if you want.  But for now, I must keep talking. (Afterthought inserted here) I want to preface this blog post by saying that our hair is not more important than our health. I am writing…

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Never give up

Never give up

There are a few new faces to the blog because of some media coverage that has occured so I wanted to say a big HELLO to all of you.  Thanks for coming by the site and sharing your kind words.  With all the new faces, the questions begin to roll in.  People want to know how to get started on their weight loss journey, what did we do, what about the loose skin and how long did all of that take?  All those questions have been answered here on the blog many many times. Those questions are really great questions…

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Hiding unhealthy choices and back on meal prep

Hiding unhealthy choices and back on meal prep

If you haven’t noticed, I’ve been on the move.  It’s been a BUSY few weeks and I haven’t really been home to meal prep.  There was a week that I prepped for two weeks but that only happened one.  I’ve been traveling and missing the grocery store trips.  Everything hasn’t been tip top shape.  And I’ll be honest with you, I haven’t been eating the best food either. A couple of weeks ago Willie and I slammed a whole pizza and enjoyed it…but I think my pizza need may have been met that day. The picture above is not the…

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Weight loss transformation begins with a choice

Weight loss transformation begins with a choice

Six years ago life was very different.  Sometimes it’s seems like things were simpler back then because I didn’t worry about having to make gym workouts and I didn’t care about what I ate. Dinner usually came from the drive through and nights were filled with pints of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. I was still always on the go but I wasn’t on the go to go run a marathon. There are a few things I’ve learned a long the way that I would like to share with you about the weight loss transformation. Transformation is a choice.  You have…

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Weight loss/fitness motivation group and fitness finds

Weight loss/fitness motivation group and fitness finds

Happy Friday!  Today I thought I would share with you some finds from the week.  It’s a new year so all types of stuff is hitting the internet and some of it I actually found interesting. It’s a new year so it’s time to really start tracking your food and your workouts. We have always talked about logging your food here as a way to lose weight. It’s also important to log your workouts. Yesterday I was talking with a friend about his running and he told me that RunKeeper has run training plans for ALL LEVELS. This is a…

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I’m battling an injury

I’m battling an injury

I’ve had a nagging injury that I kept running on for about a month. I’m pretty sure it started off as a sprained ankle and then turned into something else. Resting wasn’t something I was interested in doing. I was able to finish the races I wanted to do so I said I would rest. On New Year’s Day, I ran a marathon. Things were going well until my ankle brace really compressed the tendon on the top of my foot. The last 3 miles I was forced to walk because that tendon was so swollen which caused some other…

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Get active during Thanksgiving holiday

Get active during Thanksgiving holiday

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and we’re all going to be eating to enjoy the holiday.  I hope everyone does enjoy the holiday without feeling guilty.  But this is also good time to be with family and friends and you can get active.  Everything is better with a group anyway. My mom had knee replacement surgery yesterday so I had to forgo any active recovery I was planning on doing yesterday.  This morning was a different story.  I felt like I needed to get out to work in for many reasons but I just miss breaking a sweat.  I hit the treadmill…

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