Today’s workout was sweaty. It was beyond sweaty. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m fighting illness or if I’m just burning some serious calories, but I was DRIPPING after the OHM’s Fav workout and my weight workout. DRIP-PING.

The OHM’s Fav is, well, my favorite workout. I designed it after I had my daughter and I needed a way to get back doing cardio in a very short amount of time. At the time I started, my daughter was 7 weeks old and I also had a almost 3 year old at home with me, as well. I knew I needed to design a workout that I could push myself at but be done in 20 minutes.

The OHM’s Fav has been my favorite for almost 6 years now. And every time…EVERY SINGLE TIME…I fall in love with the workout once I’m finished. After I injured my knee last year I wasn’t sure I could do the OHM’s Fav to the level and exertion I wanted by walking. Let me now tell you one thing…intervals on a treadmill while you WALK at a high incline are ridiculously effective. Not only did I rehab my knee, I took off the depression-induced weight gain I experienced after my knee surgery. [Read more…] about Hot Mama’s IGNITE Program – Torch Level: Day 3

I strongly dislike Metabolic #1 in the IGNITE Torch program. I’ve been told to never use the word “hate”, but I have to say that I strongly, strongly, strongly dislike this workout

Why?

It’s not because it’s long. It’s not because it’s boring. It’s not because I don’t see the benefits. I see all of those things.

Metabolic Workout #1 in Torch is just…really friggin’ HARD.

The problem with designing and developing the workouts in a program is that you know you’ve done it to yourself. I created this workout. I did this. I have no one to blame but myself. I can’t even think “what the hell was she thinking when she designed this workout?!!”, because, well, I know exactly what I was thinking.

I was thinking metabolic boost. I was thinking “we need a challenge”. I was thinking “let’s boost caloric burn for hours after working out. I was thinking “this is going to be tough, but totally worth it”. I was thinking “they need this”. I was thinking “let’s do this!”.

Meta #1 in Torch: It’s intervals. Long intervals with decreased rest time between aforementioned long intervals. It’s hard. And I refuse to not push myself to my “9”, so every freakin’ time I have to do Meta #1…it’s sooooooo hard. Every. Time.

<sighs, wipes sweat hour after finishing her workout>

It takes me a good 5-10 minutes to recover and I swear that I sweat for at least an hour after this workout.

I’ve yet to get to the weights workout today because…well…kids and life and all. But I will. I’ll get the Arms Day #1 done after my kids get home from school today. Oh yes I will. This is my commitment to me and to you. It’ll get done.

Nutrition-wise…things are okay. I need to get to the grocery store to get my meal prep on, but that’ll also happen today. My sugar withdrawal headache is settling in nicely, but that was to be expected…if one eats too much sugar for days on end, and my sugar addiction is quite strong…this headache is absolutely expected.

Now I’m off to drink my lemon water and make my Spark Smoothie. Mmmmmmm lemon water (insert sarcasm here, I eventually love it, but right now all I want is a big glass of orange juice).

 

I’m not going to lie to you. I set today as my IGNITE – Torch start day and promptly regretted it when I woke this morning. I drove 14 hours yesterday, ate a TON of sugar, ate absolutely NOTHING healthy and didn’t sleep well last night. I have also been battling a sinus infection and a rotten cold.

But, when I commit to something, I stick to my guns. I put my workout clothes on, tied my red-headed afro into a top ponytail, got my kids to school, came home, went to the garage…and stared at my treadmill.

Just stared.

And stared. Excuse after excuse ran through my head. I’m sick. I’m tired. I should take a self care day. I should go sleep. My body is tired. [Read more…] about Hot Mama’s IGNITE Program – Torch Level: Day 1

As the developer of IGNITE, I have decided to write a day-by-day journal of my own IGNITE Torch journey.

Why? I dunno. Maybe to hold myself accountable? Maybe so you can relate with the struggles I’m about to have over the next 28 days? Maybe because I like to flood your computer with my wit and humour? Whatever the reason…I’m doing it.

Okay…for those of you who don’t know, a quick recap:

I am the Founder of a company called Hot Mama Health & Fitness. We’re a franchise company with 19 franchises (currently) up and running. We promote family fitness and we build community. Our Hot Mama community is FILLED with some of the most amazing Mamas you’ll ever meet (we also have some weirdos…myself included…ha!).

In February we launched our first online at-home program with IGNITE. There were 3 levels of IGNITE: Fuel for Beginners, Flash for Intermediates and Burn for Advanced. All great programs. All 28 days. All workouts you can do at home with your kiddos. All designed to boost metabolism, give you more energy and build strength, endurance and cardiovascular fitness.

IGNITE launched with massive success and I am suuuuuper proud of this program. However, as the Hot Mamas went through the program many asked “What will we do once I’ve finished Burn”? Good question. I, myself, had gone through Burn three times. So, I decided to buckle down once more and develop another, more intense, more fire-y level of IGNITE. I designed Torch. Level 4.

We are releasing Torch to the public on June 4^th. But, I have been working on it, tweaking it, perfecting it for 3 months now. It is ready. And so am I.

I am starting Torch before it is released to the public so you can follow my journey and know what’s coming in the days ahead.

I hope you’ll follow along…it’s 28 days and it’s going to be challenging, tough, inspiring and motivating. I cannot wait to see my strength, endurance and cardio gains over the next 4 weeks.

I will miss my peanut butter cups though. BUT…I get one cheat day…so watch for that debauchery post! LOL.

I started TODAY, so my next post will be about Day 1 of Torch. Join me, won’t you?!

I wanted to create a workout that you can grab quickly and easily…so here it is!

Below I’ve listed both cardio and strength exercises. The cool thing about this is that you can create any workout you choose from the list. If you’re looking for a cardio boost, choose 5 cardio exercise. Want to add in some strength? Great! Choose 3 cardio exercises and 2 strength. I do recommend that if you’re looking for the HIIT benefits (increased metabolism, increased energy, etc.), you’ll want to choose no less than 3 cardio exercises.

AND…if you want to do 10 minutes? Hey! The option is there! Choose 5 cardio and 5 strength! Choose 8 cardio and 2 strength! Woop! The world is your oyster (doing burpees!). 15 minutes? Yup, you can do that too! 20 minutes?! Okie dokie!

HIIT, or High Intensity Interval Training, is defined as period of  intense exercise followed by rest or active recover….repeated. Here are a few examples of how you can play with the timings of your workout:

45 seconds ON/15 seconds OFF
50 seconds ON/10 seconds OFF
Complete all exercises for 30 seconds, take 60 seconds off, repeat (that one would be 6 minutes long)
30 seconds ON/30 seconds OFF

But, listen up and listen up good! You need to ensure that when you’re ON, you’re giving it your all. HIGH INTENSITY. That means you need to push yourself so at the end of your “ON” cycle, you need the rest/active recovery. Push yourself, Mamas.

PUSH! DIG! DRIVE! ACHIEVE!! GOOOOOOOOOO!

Have fun, Mamas! And let me know how it goes!

This post is also published on hotmamafit.com, where you can find more workouts, recipes, fitness tips and an awesome community of supa cool women!