No More Jiggles: Shoulders

Do your...

Arms hang low?

Do they wobble to and fro?


Mine aren't choir lady, by any stretch of the imagination, but they do wiggle and move more than I care to admit.  And that lovely layer of chub that hangs out at the top back part of the arm in the back, right near the arm pit?  You know, the chub that makes it impossible to wear cap sleeves without feeling like you're just marshmallowing out right there?

Well friends - those are the triceps and I killed mine last night.  KILLED THEM.  I found a lovely magazine with an article about how you could get sexy shoulders in four short weeks?  If you did these exercises for two hours a day, every day for those four weeks except they don't tell you that.  Well I gave them a try anyway.

The first was the good ole' fashioned triceps workout everyone thinks of:

I can't remember their specific special name for it - we'll call it "The Press"

You find a bench, prop yourself with one arm on the bench for balance, bend so your back is STRAIGHT - not arched like above - she's doing this for sex appeal.  In all reality your back needs to be a straight line.  Next step is to straighten your arm behind you - don't try to push your arm further than what feels natural.  Bend your elbow and straighten back.  I did 3 sets of fifteen with 8 pound dumb bells.  You feel the burn after about 6.

Next:

Shoulders

I know - we were discussing triceps, but the truth is - if you just work only one part of your arm with one area in mind you will never reach your goal.  If you're going to get rid of the marshmallow, you need to work those shoulders too.

It went like this:

Lift to the side:

Then bring forward:

Then bring them toward your body while keeping everything tight!

And without letting your arms down - REVERSE!

About 15 sets each arm.  You can do these one arm at a time or together.  One arm at a time is more manageable.

Then you can go ahead and dip:

What?  This looks like torture?


That's working out my friends - you don't get a nice body without hard work.

That or amazing genes.  Since my genes say that your metabolism will slow the second you hit 23 and increasingly get slower and slower until...you die - I'm going to have to work hard, aren't I?


Well that's all for today.

As always please send me workout tips - I'm always looking for something new!

Lazy Saturday

I'm still in my pajamas.

I have a long list of things to do today, starting with working out and improving this puffy body of mine into something that doesn't make me avoid the mirror.

And I'm sitting in front of the computer.  Trying to will myself into working out after taking the week off and being lazy.  Granted, my nights have been full of hanging out with family that's in town and girls nights.  I have had a good week, but my back fat has seemed to triple in size and the muffin top...oh it's there, alright.

The No More Jiggles posts are still coming - I'm just very lazy.  But I have a couple more scheduled and I WILL LOSE 15 POUNDS IF IT KILLS ME!

I will.  No really - it's going to happen.

By the way, I googled muffin top images to put in this post and I am thoroughly horrified.  Please, for the sake of your eyes, don't do it.

I want to wear skinny jeans without feeling like they're accentuating everything I'd like to hide.

I want to wear this:

(Via My Polyvore - see side if you wanna see my selections)

Or this:

But I fear my spare tire won't allow it.  This is why I must keep working out - I must make an effort.  I must get off the computer and do something!!!!!

And the new Toms Flats?  I die - I want them real bad.  REAL BAD.

Oh technology...you make me so very lazy.

Right now... I am currently blogging on my tv.

...After I took a picture of this with my smart phone.

Thats right. Google...I'm gaining weight as we speak.

Waste of time - you're welcome.

My little sister came home from a an LDS mission this week - hurray!  Questions? - click over here.

She was gone for 18 months and missed out on a lot so this week we've welcomed her home with music and movies and just overwhelmed her completely.

We started out with "Tangled" because it's so adorable, how could she not love it?!  Then that night we got online and wound up on YouTube.

Because she missed this:

Kristen Bell's Sloth Meltdown

And maybe you did too...you should watch it because it makes me laugh a lot.

And then that started the "Have you seen ____ video?" From me, my Mom, her best friend and hilarity ensued.

I made them watch this video - even though the title has a curse in it - so I felt guilty showing it to a fresh off the mission missionary, but if she got over it - you can too:

Sh** Girls Say

I'm totally guilty.  Completely guilty of at least 75% of these isms.  Especially with locking the door.

And then my sister's best friend piped in and said, "Have you seen 'Kid History" and my Mom knew exactly what was going on and so it was just my sister and I - in the dark.  She has an excuse, she was very busy over the last year and a half - I wasn't - how has nobody told me about these?!!

She knows someone who went on a date with one of the creators and he explained that these are their nieces and nephews, retelling funny family stories that clearly have been told at family gatherings over and over again.  Enough so the kids picked up on the story.  Well one day they overheard the kids retelling their story and they decided their version was much better.  So they taped it...and then acted it out.  Including the moments when the kids attention span was stopped short because they realized they were on camera...or they spaced out and lost their train of thought.

My sister and I laughed so hard we thought we would cry.  So I'll include the first 6 - because the 7th is Christmas themed.  Well, also there's this part at the beginning that makes me gag.

Kid History - Episode 1

Kid History - Episode 2

Kid History - Episode 3

Kid History - Episode 4

Kid History - Episode 5

Kid History - Episode 6

There you have it.  My stomach hurts from laughing again.

And yes, I did just waste a big chunk of your time.

Even though I don't buy into it...

I don't do Valentine's Day.

Well, I did the whole hand-out-Valentine's-gifts in elementary school, and there was that one Valentine's Day when we were engaged and you can't really hold it against me.

But I hope it's everything you hoped it would be!

Some more pinning

Today's pinning was brought to you by:

Not wanting to clean the kitchen quite yet.

All pins can be found on my Pinterest - the link is on the side bar!

Not to brag...but I've totally been here.

And here.

And I got engaged at the beach this was taken at.  Not at this spot - but you get the picture.

No More Jiggles: The Push Up

The push up.

Quit smiling.  We both know that you're not having a great time.

I hate...with all the hate I have...push ups.

Shall I explain?

You see, in high school I was a cheerleader.  And if you haven't been to a high school football game, usually when your team scores a touchdown, the cheerleaders often do pushups.

I've noticed now that with each touchdown, cheerleaders now just do the seven pushups and call it good with each touchdown.

Not us - we did the entire score, every touchdown.

After I graduated, I swore that I would never do another push up.  I boycotted push ups.  If I went to a workout class and they made me do push ups, I would purposefully do the "girl" push ups.  

I still loathe them.

But I have to stop, because they're pretty much the closest thing to the perfect exercise.  And there are thousands of articles that sing their praises.  

You're using your body weight as resistance, if you're doing it correctly your arms will get a killer workout and if you're tightening your core, so are your abs.  

It is incredibly easy to do a push up completely wrong though, so you need to remember to check your alignment, check your hand placement to best support you, keep your core tight!  Navel to back!, breath correctly- breathe in down, exhale up, and switch up the push up!  Make sure that you're not doing the standard push up all the time - try variations to work different muscles.

Since implementing the 100 workout for nights that I feel gross and didn't get to the gym, I pump music and do the hundred workout and implement 20 push ups.  I hate it - the entire time, but I tell you my arms are and getting worked.  So something is working.

But oh my gosh do I hate them!

Pinterest Time: Valentine's Day

Today's little waste of a morning was brought to you by:

Valentine's Day!

Brought to you by Pinterest

Little Changes: Ruffle Wreath

I crafted!

I'm still working on my mirror - and I use the term "working" very loosely.  More like - the acrylic paint isn't working and I walked away in a huff and I'm fighting having to buy spray paint cause I have no where to spray paint anything.

Reason #6,877 to buy a house: cause in a garage, I could spray paint my projects.


You may remember at Christmas I had a candy cane wreath up, and I liked the look of the wreath there so I decided to make one for year-round use.

And this is how it turned out:

I like the end product.

So I'll tell ya how I did it....

To begin - you will need the following:

1.  I got a yard of white fabric.  If you want it good and ruffly, the thicker the fabric - the better.  I don't know what fabric exactly I used, all I know was that it was $2.99 a yard and it was 30% off.

2.  A circle you can make into a wreath.  This includes all of those genius ideas on pinterest.  I used a styrofoam one from the store.  (The one shown is wrapped in white.)

3.  Did I mention that the fabric is cut up into 2 inch squares?  Did I also mention that I didn't mean to put another arrow pointing to the fabric?

4.  Glue gun!

5.  Glue sticks!

Since the styrofoam wreath I used was squared off, I knew that without covering the whole thing in ruffles, which would double fabric and spare time, that the styrofoam would show.  So I wrapped it.

The next step was I cut the entire yard of fabric into 2 inch squares.  I didn't take a picture of it because, well I forgot, and also I'm sure you can figure that out without a picture.

Then I folded up the squared like this:

Then, very carefully dab a tiny bit of hot glue at the bottom and glue to the wreath!  And then keep doing it until it's covered and you can't fit another piece on it!

I also forgot to take pictures of this process because, well, I'm rusty.

But this is the end result:

I like it!

And yes, I'm linking it up to the parties found in the "I like to Party" link which is now located over here----->

Random question:

Who else is devastated that Picnik is closing?  Any good replacement suggestions that won't cost me a mortgage payment?

No More Jiggles: Quick Fix for Anything That Jiggles

Pinterest has again provided me with some more useful tips.

5 Quick Fixes for Anything that Jiggles

Are these "quick" fixes?  No.  Nothing in fitness is quick - well anything that really works.

But these tips are helpful brought to you by Glamour Magazine.  

Remember - these are not quick, but done in repetition and continuously at least 3-5 times a week, I'm positive this will yield results - of course if you diet as well.

Even this magazine article says that these things should be done on top of regular workouts as well.

Nothing comes this easy folks.  I'll be honest, they're playing it pretty fast and loose with "Quick."

But these definitely help!