First Playdate and the Loss of My Nutella Virginity

We had so much fun today! I kicked it off with P90X Chest and Back. I have to admit this is my least favorite workout...so many pull-ups and push-ups! But I owned it today and increased my numbers with several of the exercises!

Next, I got the big girls off to school. Daughter #2 is doing some testing this week, and I volunteered to send a snack. I found these on Pinterest and put them together last night. How cute are they?!?

After I got the girls out the door, I grabbed a shower and some breakfast before taking the boy to preschool. Baby girl was super excited because after the preschool drop-off, she got to have her first ever playdate!

I know, I know. She should have had a few playdates by now, but here's the thing: she's the youngest of four. Things are crazy. AND all my friends stopped having babies before I did. Well, except Whitney, but she went and had a boy so that doesn't help me much.

So we were very excited when we recently got to know some of our neighbors who have a 3-year-old girl too! If you follow me on Facebook, you might remember my post last week about my friend, Karen. She and her husband recently started doing P90X, and she let me know that her husband's cholesterol has dropped 50 points since they started!!!

Anyway, Karen and her sweet daughter came over today so the girls could play. Here are the princesses.

Please note: these two girls were born about a month apart. Look how much hair Karen's daughter has compared to baby girl!!! 

Karen also brought a gift.

That's right, folks. I was a Nutella virgin. So I popped open this jar shortly after Karen left. I had been told it was good with graham crackers.

Let me tell you, it did not disappoint! So. Good. Baby girl loved it too.

See the way she's attacking that Nutella-covered graham cracker? As though I haven't fed her in days? That's right...she's definitely my kid.

Thank you, Karen for a fun playdate! And for giving me a new addiction to feed. For those of you that play the stock market, now might be a good time to invest in Nutella.

Question of the Day:

What's your favorite way to eat Nutella?

My Home Gym

Good Monday! Hope you're week has started off well! This is recovery week for me, so I started my day with Insanity's Core Cardio and Balance. I love that workout! After I finished my exercise, I needed to refuel, so I had my favorite Shakeology!

So good! This is seriously my favorite meal of the day. And the healthiest.

Have I mentioned lately that my husband is the bomb?! Well, he is. Recently, in fact, he decided to rework our home gym. He even painted the cement wall behind the side where I workout so it would look nice for pictures! Told you he is the bomb!!! And he's pretty cute too.

My friend, Carol, took this photo. She's an amazing photographer and a wonderful person!!!

Enough gawking! Keep your thoughts pure, people! Anyway, so I thought I'd give you a little virtual tour of our gym since I talk about being there all the time. We workout in the unfinished portion of our basement. Fancy, huh? This is "his" side.

And here's "her" side. Notice the pretty white walls. 

This is my husband's weight rack. I got it for him for Christmas because I rock. Oh, and because I was really tired of tripping over his weights.

And this is my weight rack/TV stand. I borrow some of my hubby's weights every now and then too. Because I'm a beast. ;)

These are some rings my husband installed in one of the wood beams in the ceiling. I use them for some of my pull-ups, and he lowers them and uses them for some of his core work.

This might be my favorite part. My husband hung this up for me to store all my bands, agility ladder, jump ropes, etc. He's an organizational wizard, I tell ya!

So that's where we workout! It works great for us. You don't have to have a dedicated space like this to be able to workout at home, but it has been nice for us. We didn't have nearly that many weights when we first started. We have accumulated those slowly over time. Jeff can pretty much count on getting a new set of weights every Christmas. I'm all about a practical gift!

Where do you workout?

P90X Review

People will occasionally ask me about the workouts I do. I use several Beachbody programs for my workouts, but it all started with P90X.

What is P90X? It is a 90-day training program created by fitness expert Tony Horton that promises to transform your body. It certainly did that for me. More than that though, it started me on a whole new fitness journey that changed the way I look at taking care of my body.

The Workouts

P90X includes 12 intense workouts that use resistance and body-weight training, cardio, plyometrics (you're gonna be jumping!), ab work, martial arts and yoga. Most of the workouts are 50 - 60 minutes for 6 days per week. For a closer look at what each workout consists of, you can go here. These workouts are tough. I was definitely a "beginner" when I started using this program. I had to make a lot of modifications at first. I couldn't do a pushup on my toes, for example. It took weeks for me to get there.

Several of the videos contain pull-ups as well. When I first learned this, I was immediately taken back to my elementary school days when we had to do pull-ups for the President's Fitness Test. I could never do them then, and I certainly didn't expect to be able to do them now. So I modified. 

This move is what got me ready for the *real* pull-up bar. Throughout the program, Tony demonstrates modifications for many of the exercises, which is a huge help. As the 90 days progressed, I found that I didn't need many of the modifications I had used in the beginning.

The program is designed around the concept of muscle confusion and is broken down into 3 phases. You'll never "plateau"—which means your body will never get used to the routines because they are changing every few weeks. This is the key to continually transforming your body throughout the entire 90 days.

Equipment

Unlike many of the other Beachbody programs, some equipment is required for P90X. You're going to want some dumbbells and/or a band like the one pictured above. I started out with 3 sets of dumbbells - 5's, 8's and 10's. You'll also need a chair close by. And eventually you're probably going to want a pull-up bar. My husband and I workout in our basement, so he installed pull-up bars in the beams on the ceiling. One of those pressure bars that can be used in a doorway would work just as well.

Final Thoughts

When I started P90X, I honestly did it as a favor to my husband. He was looking for a way to stay accountable, and he needed me to make sure he got up every morning. As I began doing the program, however, I started noticing changes to my body that were really exciting! I also learned a great deal about muscle and how important it is for us to do resistance training as we age. 

As adults, we lose 5 - 7 lbs. of muscle every decade if we don't do any form of strength training. This not only slows down our metabolism, but it also puts us at greater risk of injury and can lead to loss of mobility. The good news is it's never to late to start reversing the negative effects of muscle loss! 

If you would like more information about P90X or have any questions about my experience, feel free to leave me a comment below or contact me at corvincrew@gmail.com. I'd love to hear from you!