My First Tough Mudder

At some point during the summer, I decided it would be a great idea to take on a Tough Mudder race. I was at a point with my workouts where I needed a new goal, something to work for. Tough Mudder had been suggested to me previously, so I figured why not? Also, I like to prove that I can do things people wouldn't expect me to do. And most people know me as someone who would NEVER voluntarily play in mud (like, I would not even finger paint as a child…it's too messy). But I signed up. Recruited a couple friends. And had the best time ever!! Seriously, I'm already looking forward to another one in May. 














I think the biggest thing in training is running. Get comfortable running at least 12 miles. And do hill running. I was unfortunately having troubles with an ankle and knee, so I didn't run at all the whole month before. Obviously, I could not walk the next day. But it was worth it. 

Obstacle wise, people are going to help you out. There's a ton of teamwork that goes on. The hardest one for me was probably Mt. Everest. It's not easy running fast up a steep, slick ramp when your legs are already quite wasted. Electro shock therapy? I recommend sliding under, if you're thin enough. And the Arctic Enema is actually kind of refreshing (once you're out…). 

Seriously, I had so much fun! It's a blast, despite all the scratches and bruises. I got dirty and thoroughly enjoyed it. And I also challenged myself a couple other ways: (1) I like to know what to expect, to have a plan in place. I really had no idea what I was getting into. And you can't slow down at the obstacles to strategize. You just have to go. No thinking. Just do it. And trust those around you to help. Which brings me to (2) I do not like having to rely on others. You can definitely be the crazy fit person who completes a Tough Mudder alone. But I'm not that person. And I think you lose the integrity and camaraderie of the experience by doing so. 

I definitely recommend Tough Mudder, if you're looking for a fun challenge. If the 10-12 miles is too overwhelming, there are several shorter races that are similar in nature…Off the top of my head Conquer the Gauntlet, Mudderella, Savage Race, Super Hero Scramble… I encourage you to push yourself. You can do the things you thought you couldn't. Train dirty. Have fun!

{Workout Review} P90X-3

Known fact: I'm a huge fan of P90X. Probably a bigger fan of P90X-2. So, when I found out that P90X-3 was coming out, I was pretty excited. Like, this excited:

P90X-3 is all about training accelerated. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my long workouts. I enjoy days when I can workout more than once. However, the days I work, I need something fast and effective. P90X-3 is where it's at--just 30 minutes. I was kind of concerned that it would be just a watered-down version. However, it's still challenging. It still breaks a sweat. You can modify to make it easier…and you can modify to make it harder.

If you have done P90X or X2, you will recognize several of the moves and several of the people. If you haven't done any P90X before, who are you? Go do it. Now, I haven't done the 90 days of X3. I typically hit up P90X, X2, Insanity &/or Zumba when I have the time. I also like to run now…which is weird. Anyways, I don't doubt that if you really only had 30 minutes a day, and committed to follow the X3 program for 90 days, you'd have great results. Seriously, 30 minutes a day was really my gateway with getting into fitness. 

The base kit comes with 16 workouts plus "Cold Start" (if you're wanting/have time for a longer warmup). You can get another disc with 3 more workouts, including X3 Ab Ripper…which I haven't gotten yet. Shocking, I know. But here's a quick breakdown of what I've done:

Total Synergistics
Upper body, lower body & core all together. Excellent resistance training. I remember HATING Synergistics when I first started with P90X…glad I got over that.  

CVX
Probably my favorite. It's my go-to. Killer cardio with a weight. I typically grab my 6 lb dumbbell or 8 lb med ball because the adjustable dumbbells are kind of loud/annoying with the jumping.

Agility X
Decent cardio. But it's not my favorite…because I'm horrible at it. Agility = not my strong suite. That's why I'm horrible at things like soccer. A certain amount of coordination/foot work (that I do not have) is necessary. Something for me to work on!

Triometrics
If you thought it would be like plyometrics, you thought wrong. You do 1 move for 1 minute at 3 different levels of intensity. There's some jumping involved with some of the moves, but it's not solely plyo by any means. It's most definitely a leg and butt killer. I've done this one several times now…and I'm always sore. Great stuff.

Pilates X
Whoever thinks Pilates is easy, has not tried it. This is one for me to work on. There's a lot of emphasis on core and flexibility, but also breathing…and Pilates breathing is different from yoga breathing…and I have not figured it out yet.

X3 Yoga
Ahhh, yoga. I love it. This is a quick yoga burnout. It moves quickly through several different yoga poses…most of which you've seen before in Yoga-X &/or X2. But there is a new crazy move, courtesy of Ted. While I like it, my favorite is still the original Yoga-X (I find it actually calms me down…clears my mind). 

Incinerator
The goal with this one is muscle failure. Mostly upper body. It burns. And I don't recommend doing it and "The Challenge" in two consecutive days…bad plan.

The Challenge
Push-ups. Pull-ups. Again. And again. Not my wheelhouse at all. I was pretty wasted. It was like P90X Chest & Back on crack.  

MMX
Mixed Martial Arts, X style. Great Cardio. Lots of level changing. Sprawling. Fun, sweaty times.

The Warrior
Body weight training at its finest. You circuit upper- and lower-body resistance with core & cardio. Full body blast that you can do anywhere. No excuses.  

Isometrix
If you're a yoga fan, this is a good challenge. Working the muscles isometrically for 45 seconds/move. I've been doing a decent amount of yoga for a while, and this stuff is HARD…except for "Tree"…I could stay there all day. It's core city too. Wow. If you're not sweating, you're not engaged…you're doing it wrong.

Dynamix
This is like 30 minutes of sweaty dynamic stretching. It's a great way to prepare the body for bigger things. It's the way athletes get ready. It's good stuff. It's technically "down time." But it has a nice little cardio effect. 

Decelerator
This one hits on all the big muscles. You'll go back and forth between a push-up/pull-up move & plyo/legs. Gets the job done.  

Accelerator
A great full-body cardio blast with lots of plank work. It's body weight training. It's cardio. I love it. It's extra challenging if your abs are already sore…not that I know from experience or anything. But seriously.

Eccentric Upper
Another upper body blowout. It's basically a push-up move, followed by a pull-up move, then an arm move. Obviously, you're focusing on the eccentric part of the movement. Example: If I'm doing a pull-up, I go up fast, then do a slow 3-count down…and repeat for 10 reps.

Eccentric Lower
Another workout that focuses on the negative part of the movement…except it's obviously for the lower half of your body. Plan on bringing your core to the party too, though. There's weights involved & a balance component. If your core isn't engaged & working, you will be falling all over the place. 

Key Points:

• Engage you core
• Quality over quantity
• Wear the right shoes
• Time, patience, practice
• You can always make it harder
• Use the right weight
• Bring It!

…And I think that sums it up...

{Workout Review} Ballet Beautiful

As most of you probably know, I've had some Achilles tendinitis going on. Which means I've, again, been mostly banned from my favorite high-impact workouts. Fun times… In my quest to find low-impact workouts, I came across Ballet Beautiful by Mary Helen Bowers. I read about it online. It happened that the local library had a couple of the DVDs (although you can find several of the workouts online). I figured I might as well give it a shot. Like, what's the worst that could happen? 

It could kill me. That's what. I'm pretty sure I took more breaks (doing the beginner version) than I did when I started Insanity. I didn't exactly break a sweat, but I was weeping. Ballet Beautiful is (obviously) a ballet-inspired workout. It hits your core, arms, butt, and inner and outer thigh. Most of what I tried out was mat work (a.k.a. torture). And it worked my muscles in ways they haven't been worked in a really, really long time…maybe ever. I've had pain I didn't know existed. 

What you need to know- Ballet Beautiful is completely portable. No equipment. No shoes. Very little space. There are several shorter (10-15 minute) workouts on a DVD, so you can keep it short or do them all. It's great for getting toned, long, lean muscle. There is zero impact. Lots of repetition.

Overall, I think it's a really nice compliment to what I like to do. It's a challenge. However, I don't think I could do it solely for any length of time. I like my craziness too much. At this point, I'm mixing it in with a couple of Les Mills Combat workouts that I can keep low-impact, Zumba, and Yoga. Fortunately, the tendon is getting better. I'm hoping it's 100% by the time P90X-3 is released!  

{Workout Review} Les Mills Combat

It's been a tradition for the past four years for the brother and I to do a workout program together during the summer. We've done P90X (first 2 summers), P90X-2, and now Combat. It's just a 60-day program. And you're only looking at 30 minutes to 1 hour, 6 days a week. It's pretty fun. Different. But decently fun. The brother thought it was "fun and challenging," but he also wished the intervals were "longer and harder." Here are my thoughts...

Combat is a mix of Karate, Kung Fu, Capoeira, Jiu Jitsu, Muay Tai, Kickboxing, Tae Kwon Do, and Boxing. It takes a little while to get in to. Once you have the form and rhythm down, it's easier to get more out of your workout. At the same time, you have to stay focused because it's also really easy to just kind of do it. I ended up adding weighted gloves and ankle weights to the mix, and I kept up with Zumba a couple times a week. When I started Combat, I had just finished Insanity...there's a great deal of difference in intensity level. And it was a little bit difficult for me to adjust. 

The Workouts:

• Kick Start (30 min.), Combat 30 Live (30 min.), Power Kata (45 min.), Extreme Cardio Fighter (60 min.), and Combat 60 Live (60 min.): These all focus on punching and kicking, with some pushups and crunches at the end. Nice little cardio blasts with some arm, leg, and core action. They're pretty fun. And you'll be sopping wet by the end. 
• Power HIIT (30 min.): This one involves some weights. I felt like I was doing the same exercise so much that I was just wasted. 
• Shock Plyo HIIT (30 min.): I love me some P90X-2 Plyocide, but this was not my cup of tea. Instead of mixing up the moves, like with P90X, I felt like I was doing the same thing so much that those muscles were done for.  
• Upper Body Blow Out (30 min.): It's upper body. It's kind of repetitive. I felt like I needed more. 
• Lower Body Lean Out (30 min.): Lunges. Lunges. Lunges. More lunges. I don't recommend doing this one with ankle weights...quad killer.  
• Core Attack (16-ish min.): Your core will burn. I did like that this went between moves in plank and being on your back. There's also some lower back and bum work. 
• Stretch & Strength (16-ish min.): It's just not Yoga-X. It's a whole lot shorter. But it's not Yoga-X. I do like that you can easily add it after a workout because it's not long.     

While I do enjoy punching and kicking, I don't think I would do the 60-day program straight through again. I like it as more of a supplement to P90X and P90X-2. There's probably some hybrid calendar out there that combines those programs. And, if I'm short on time, it's nice to have some 30-minute workouts available. I would recommend this more to people who are just getting into extreme fitness. It's got some great modifications to take the impact out too, if you're needing that. 

I'm currently into week 3 of P90X-2 again. It's been a year. I was unbelievably sore the first week. But it's incredible to see how much more I'm able to do. It's great stuff. It's my favorite. That is all. 

Dig Deeper

The name says it all. It is quite literally the most insane workout I've ever done. I originally started the program last fall, after finishing round 2 of P90X-2. Probably 2 weeks into it, I was bored and made the unfortunate decision to do the splits without being warmed up. Let me tell you, when you can hear and feel something inside of you literally tearing, it's a horrible feeling. Bad choice #2: I thought I could just work it off. Yes, I tried to continue doing Insanity for another week doing modifications (ex. one-legged burpees). I finally decided that wasn't going to work well, so I got it checked out, and I surely had a 2nd-degree tear. AKA "it's not bad enough to be surgical, but it's going to take some time to heal, and will probably never be the same." So I was banned from running, jumping, lunging, squatting to just upper body and a stationary bike. (Also PT.) It was a great day when I got permission to hit the elliptical (which I would normally hate). Probably the first week of January (the injury occurred during Thanksgiving break), I decided I could handle Chalean Extreme. I did some modifications at first...but I started having problems again. So I tried something crazy. I went to see a friend who does "healing touch" therapy. I will be completely honest. It is totally weird. It also totally works. I have no idea how or why, but it's amazing. My hamstring has been doing GREAT since then!

I ended Chalean Extreme right before heading to Mexico for Spring Break. The day I got back, I restarted Insanity. The first month was definitely challenging, but generally the workouts were just about 40 minutes (and probably 10 of that was stretching). I was like, "Yeah, I can hang. I got this." The program's "Rest Week" happened to be my graduation week, which was excellent timing. I had gotten into Zumba a couple of nights a week as well at that point (which is REALLY crazy). Then I started phase 2. Let's just say it's a really good thing I could not make it to Zumba during phase 2 (just too much going on). The first workout, you realize that now your workouts are 60 minutes long, and there's less stretching time. I was like, "What have I done?" If I wasn't such a 'stick-to-the-schedule' person, I may have actually quit. However, by the end of the week, I was feeling a lot better about it. By the time it was over, I was actually kind of sad about it.

Breakdown. It is INSANE. If you don't like working out or haven't worked out, I wouldn't recommend starting here. You must ENGAGE YOUR CORE in every workout, which I love. Seriously, you only do an "ab" workout 1-2 days a week, but you most definitely work your core every single day. On that note, on ab days, I liked to do the ab workout before the big one. Because after cardio conditioning, my first thought is not, "Hey, wouldn't it be great to do insane abs right now?" Don't feel like you have to keep up with them. They take breaks. Modify to keep moving. You'll get there. Know that the workouts are longer in phase 2. Be prepared to sweat like never before. Wear a heart rate monitor! Doesn't have to be super fancy, but I do recommend one with a chest strap for accuracy. I liked doing X2-Yoga on my rest days. Totally optional. Just always #DigDeeper

BSN, RN

What a week it has been! I don't even know where to begin. I guess the biggest news is that I am officially Catherine Crowder, BSN, RN!!! I am a little bit excited about this, in case you couldn't tell. It is very encouraging that everyone I graduated with has been able to pass the NCLEX (so far). I know I couldn't have done it without them, some pretty great professors and clinical instructors, and, of course, the mother (who is also a nurse). It is pretty ironic that I've ended up where I have. If you had asked me in middle school if I was going to be a nurse like my mom, I would've laughed in your face. But here I am! And I'm so excited about doing pediatric nursing! Love those kiddos. 

Now, that I know I have for sure passed the NCLEX, I will tell you that I was a complete wreck on Tuesday when I took the test. There's really no words to describe it. I pretty much always very calm and collected. I don't get nervous about tests. That morning, I woke up, worked out, showered, painted my nails, got ready, and then it hit me. This is it. Like I have no plan B if this doesn't work. (Although the mother thinks I could be a trainer because "you like working out and telling other people what to do"...uh, thanks?) I made it to the testing center with time to spare (I don't recommend that), got all checked in, got to my station, and started the test. I think the first couple were easy. But I got to one point, and was like, "I have no idea what is happening anymore." Thank goodness I was able to start back at Zumba that night!  

My advice on taking the NCLEX would be to do LOTS of practice questions. I wouldn't worry about content. There's literally no way to know what you're going to get. 

In other news, I finished up Insanity and have started Combat, complimented by Zumba. Party. Because the only thing better than one workout a day...is more than one! The brother ran off to Maui for his senior trip without me. Joke is on him...I cleaned out his room...you don't even want to know. Let's just say he's no longer allowed to take food back there. Today, I finally got the chance to head down to Moore, OK and help with some of the cleanup. The video coverage and the pictures don't do it justice. It's just incredible. 

So...coming soon:

• {Workout Review} Insanity
• Banana Bread Bars
• Spicy Italian Chicken