Adventures of a Preschool Teaching My Peak Challenge Participant

I started writing this blog inspired by my BAM Strength Girls Day 19 work out. This teacher learned slacking off on BAM Change work outs is not advisable. I did complete the half jacks, climbers, jumping jacks, push-ups, plank jump-ins, jumping T’s, high knees, and alternate arm/leg raises. I wondered afterwards if I would be able to stand up after sitting in one of these teeny tiny chairs the next day at school.

yellowchair

The rainy day in Florida yesterday reminded me of other inside recess days at school. I’ll incorporate time travel into my own writing as I take you back to the Monday after My Peak Challenge Fitness Test #1 which as a conscientious My Peak Challenge participant; I completed Sunday evening.

On this fateful Monday morning, I’ve completed all 6 minutes 29 seconds of “Chicken Fat” routine with Bear Cubs when I realize I still have 14 minutes of recess time to kill, (“Chicken Fat”, Kimbo Records, 1961 with Robert Preston on vocals, http://youtu.be/af2j59zzX3Q). This particular video will educate as well as entertain. Some really interesting pictures in more ways than one.

chicken fat

I am very tempted to share this post with Henri le Worm as I describe next activity. It is called “Parade of Colors”. Hap Palmer’s classic song is featured in this link, http://youtu.be/lp5rJ2bgBuE.

parade of colors

If children’s music playlists are not your idea of fun, I’ll briefly describe. This listening activity requires each child to march around the room with a bean bag of the color of their choice. When their color is called, they follow directions in song and stand up or sit down. I also chose a bean bag and participated with the children. I’ll be honest, I did choose my color based on how many times the color chosen would require me to stand up and sit down. My quads were burning.

classroom rug

I co-teach with another teacher in the classroom. We are marching, music is playing, and we are listening for our color to be called. Mine is called, and I sit down, an audible groan passing my lips. I look up and catch the eye of my colleague who is trying to contain her laughter. I start laughing, and both of us dissolve into a fit of giggles. The children are clueless as to why we are laughing, “What’s so funny?”

IMG_3402

If you’re interested in yesterday’s rainy day recess activity, we had a dance party.  The children voted on the playlist which consisted of Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want To Have Fun”, Baha Men “Who Let The Dogs Out”, and Chubby Checker’s “The Twist”.  I am working on my own playlist for the BAM Strength Girls “BooTEAlicious” January contest.  The details can be found in their blog, https://bamstrengthgirls.wordpress.com/2015/01/11/ruth-reveals-all/.  I’ll post mine here when I enter their contest.

Bear Strength is shipping first batch of pre-orders for My Peak Challenge Welcome Kits at the end of January.  On their Twitter page, these wonderful bears responded to a customer’s question about ordering the Welcome Kit in February, “You sure can.”  Smart bears.  Go check out their website for all the information, www.bearstrength.co.uk/index.php/mypeakchallenge.  You can follow them on Twitter @BearStrength.

MyPeakChallenge

Thank you again for reading!  I celebrated 300 plus followers on Twitter this week by giving a sneak peak behind the kilt.  The “J” stands for Jenny.  I look forward to seeing you on Twitter @jennymcinspired.  As always, I look forward to your comments!

J Mc

inspiredbyoutlander@gmail.com

Jenny Mc @jennymcinspired

Peaks and Valleys

Thank you so much for your kind comments about the last blog post! Blogging is a new endeavor for me so I really appreciate your thoughts. I’m just an early forties woman having fun writing and now getting fit.

I started My Peak Challenge on January 1, 2015, and I’d like to share some of my own Peaks and Valleys from the first week.

Peak – I began the 30 Days of change with the BAM Strength Girls with the Day 1 Work Out on January 1st, and completed 5½ out of 7 daily workouts.   I say 5½ because I can’t in good conscience count the 10 minute Mickey Mousercise routine I did with my children in my class on Friday. You’d be surprised, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy are really good instructors. I had a fun “shaking a tail feather” with Donald. “Ducks Dance Too” appears as the name of a track on the CD, I kid you not.

duckdancetoo

Valley – Wall Sits are not my friend. I would rather do Burpees than Wall Sits. You wouldn’t notice if I substituted something else for them, would you?

Peak – I put batteries back in my scale.

Valley – I stepped on the scale this morning, and I’ve gained 2 pounds. I will operate under the assumption that muscle mass weighs more than fat. Right???

Peak – My children are doing My Peak Challenge with me. I’m fortunate, they would rather be outside than anywhere else.  My daughter rode past me on her scooter, and said, “Look Mom, I’m doing my cardio!” It is gratifying to show them that good health and fitness should be a priority.

scooter

Valley – My daughter is quite the task master in the role of trainer. If you were a fly on the wall in my house, you would have heard, “You’re doing those Mountain Climbers wrong. You need to do them faster.” After Cross Climbers, I heard, “Ugh! Maybe you should just do something else.”

Overall, I experienced more highs than lows this week. My Salt Life Sassenach sister and I met three times, walking a 5K on two of those occasions. I found myself looking forward to the work outs. I loved reading all the encouragement from My Peak Challenge participants on Twitter and Facebook. You have all kept me motivated this week. Thank you!

My Peak Challenge Goals

  •  Complete the 30 Days of Change with the BAMStrength Girls, and stay in the habit of work outs.
  • Run a 5K.

Allow me to offer some background on my second goal. I don’t run. As a matter of fact, I usually tell people, “If you see me running, someone is chasing me.”  You are more likely to see me in a Zumba or a Yoga class. I figured it was time to try something new.

Thank you again for reading!  I am off to go back to the Bear Strength web site.  I discovered that even though I’m in Florida, I need a Bear Strength Hoody.  There was a light dusting of snow in my area.  Crazy!  Apparently, I also need to order my cubs/trainers My Peak Challenge gear, www.bearstrength.co.uk/index.php/mypeakchallenge.

141117-womens-pull-over-hood-'basic'                             MyPeakChallenge

As always, I look forward to your comments!

J Mc

inspiredbyoutlander@gmail.com

@jennymcinspired – Twitter

My Peak Challenge 2015

Happy New Year!  My New Year’s Resolution is to exercise more, (after I eat a traditional Southern meal of pork tenderloin, collard greens, black eyed peas, and corn bread.) Unless you count teaching four year olds, I have gotten out of the habit entirely.  My excuse has been that I don’t have time.  I think that as Moms we do tend to put ourselves last on the priority list.  A good friend of mine told me recently that if you give all of yourself away, you don’t have anything else to give to anyone.  With that thought in mind, I made a promise to myself to carve out time for exercise, to recharge.

You have probably figured out, dear reader, that I am a fan of Sam Heughan and Bear Strength Clothing Co.  My immense respect increased dramatically when they unveiled My Peak Challenge on December 28, 2014.  In collaboration with Fight Camp, they have created a program to motivate individuals to reach their personal goals while at the same time raising money for Beat Blood Cancer.  When you sign up, you receive information, Peak Gear, photos and a % of your purchase goes to charity.  It is explained so well at Bear Strength’s web site, www.bearstrength.co.uk/index.php/mypeakchallenge.

MyPeakChallenge

My Welcome Pack is ordered, and I am so excited to start my own challenge!  I have ordered a shirt and a vest in the past.  They are so soft! The web site, http://www.bearstrength.co.uk, is user friendly, and converts to US currency. They ship to the United States.  I had a wonderful experience the first time I ordered from the company.  They carry men’s women’s, and children’s apparel, with plans for #MyPeakChallenge merchandise for our bear cubs in the future.

shirtpeakchallenge  shirtpeakchallengemen's

I followed the BAM Strength Girls blog in December, www.bamstrengthgirls.wordpress.com, and am ready to jump in with both feet today.  The 30 Days of Change Challenge kicks off on January 1, 2015.  Follow them on Twitter, @BAMstrength; they are using the hash tag #BAMchange to track the fun.

I am also going to borrow the #Heughligans ‏@Heughligans  Twitter post from three days ago,

Follow: @MyPeakChallenge @BearStrength @F1ghtCamp & of course, @SamHeughan To reach YOUR peak. http://www.bearstrength.co.uk/index.php/mypeakchallenge … #MyPeakChallenge

You can also follow #MyPeakChallenge on Facebook and Instagram.

https://www.facebook.com/MyPeakChallenge?pnref=lhc – Facebook

http://instagram.com/MyPeakChallenge – Instagram

I was on Pinterest yesterday, and found some items posted by pinners when I searched “My Peak Challenge”.

I am proud to be repping Bear Strength in Florida.  Through the miracle of Twitter, I met an Outlander Fan that lives in my neighborhood, so I have my workout buddy, #MyPeakChallenge pack preordered, and Inspiration.

Timelapse Peak challenge 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cd_kDBvdgTk

You might find some of our FL adventures by following RiverCity Sassenachs @saltlifesassies.

saltlife

I am going to have to think about posting pictures.  For now, I am very comfortable keeping myself covered in plaid.  I look forward to seeing and hearing from all of the #MyPeakChallenge participants!

Thanks again for reading!

Jenny Mc

inspiredbyoutlander@gmail.com

@jennymcinspired