Pool Workout Roundup + Where's the Summer Gone??

This summer is just flying by! How is it almost August already? :-)

Good thing I live in Vegas, so the summer lasts a bit longer here than usual. I had to work this past Saturday, and spent the rest of the weekend doing absolutely nothing - except napping, watching TV, and cutting melon.

Instead of sharing a new pool workout this week cuz I was too lazy busy to create one, I'm going to give you all the pool workouts I created in July for you in one convenient post. Plus I'll throw in a couple more, too. You've still got a few more weeks of summer. Plenty of time to make the most out of your pool time. Who am I kidding? This are great year-round, if you have access to either a heated pool or an indoor pool.

Pool Workout #1
Total body workout with a bit of cardio.

Pool Workout #2
Time to focus on our arms!

Pool Workout #3
Let's not forget about our legs.

That's it for the workouts created by me, but here's a couple more that I found on Pinterest.

Yoga in the water? Yes, please!



And here's a great one from Fitness Magazine.


And last, but not least, here are a couple links for all you swimmers out there! These two links come from Christine at Love, Life, Surf. She's pretty awesome. You should totally go check out her blog.

Swim Intervals Workout

Tips for Lane Sharing

Now this is the point in my Monday posts, when I'd normally tell you about my workouts the previous week. Well, simply put, they didn't happen. Not even one day. Booo.

I started this week out with a 5k and some post-run yoga, so I already feel like I'm off to a better start. Whoo hoo!! With marathon training beginning in just a couple of weeks, I really need to get back into a good workout groove - cuz when that starts there will be no. more. excuses.
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Pooltime + Working It Recap:: 7/15-21

Well, this weekend flew by! I wish it were due some super fun things happening. Instead, a huge storm blew in Friday evening. Our power went out around 8pm and was out until around 7am. Could've been much worse, I suppose, but, at the time, it seemed like a SUPER long time without power.

Life was a bit back to normal for a couple hours.

Then, they had to turn off the water. Apparently, the storm caused a pipe to break. No water = no a/c.

When it's so hot with no relief, my energy and motivation gets zapped right out of me. Soooo, my weekend didn't quite go as planned.

Blah.

To cheer me (and YOU) up a little, here's my 3rd pool workout. This week, we're working our legs! No video or pics this week. The pool was so dirty from the storm plus my motivation was zapped, remember? :/

Seated Leg Lifts - Put your back up against the side of the pool with your arms outstretched up on the edge for support. With your back firmly against the side and your legs straight, lift your legs higher than waist level. Hold for a couple breaths and repeat.

Seated Leg Spreaders - In the same position, with your legs raised, open and and close your legs to really work your stubborn abductors and adductors.

Mogul Jumps - Stand in neck deep water, with arms slightly bent and hands in loose fists. Bend one knee, balancing on opposite foot. Jump side to side. Switch feet halfway through.

NOTE: If you're wearing a bikini, be sure and have a very secure top for this exercise. My girls kept wanting to jump loose in the one I was wearing. :-)

Plié Squats - In chest deep water, stand with feet wider than shoulder-width and toes pointing out at 45-degree angles. Bend at knees as deep as possible. Repeat.

Left Leg Swings - Stand at edge of pool with right side facing pool wall. Holding on the edge, lift your left leg straight in front of you and then swing it backward. Repeat swinging forward and back.

Right Leg Swings - Same as left, but on the other side. :-)

High Knees - In neck deep (or deeper) water, bring your knees as high as you can. Focus on keeping your torso upright and engaged.

Calf Raises - In neck deep water, lift up on your toes, pause, and release. Repeat.

Butt Kickers - In neck deep (or deeper water), kick your feet back to your butt. Again, focus on keeping your torso upright and engaged.

Squats - Move to slightly shallower water. Stand with feet hip width apart. Bend at knees as deep as possible. Repeat. Try to keep your toes in line with your knees throughout this exercise.

*******
And for my weekly recap, let's just say that things didn't go as planned. Despite the heat, I hardly made it to the pool, and my yoga and #CoreBalanceChallenge have been far from consistent this week. :(

Instead of my usual break down, here are my wins, losses, and draws from the week.

Wins

• I biked into work twice last week!! Whoo hoo!! The first time, I had plans after work, and I didn't want to have to deal with parking our huge van. Biking was hot, but simply easier. The second time, Jeff needed the van during the day, but it also felt so great to bike again! Of course, at the end of the work day, I'd forgotten that I had to bike home. I barely made it home before my brother stopped by for dinner.
• I ran a 10K on Saturday. Kind of. It was my first run since July 4th when I went on a self-imposed hiatus after the #RWRunStreak. It. Was. Hot. And Humid (for Vegas). I'm still pretty proud of what I did my first run back - even if there was a lot of walking.
• I got both feet off the ground in Crow. This was so exciting for me! It was only for ONE second, but it made me keep wanting to try again and again. I wasn't able to do it again. My triceps were so sore from all that weight on them. Definitely a pose I'll keep working on. :)

Losses

• The inconsistency of my daily yoga. When I do manage to get to it, I know I'm not pushing myself like I could/should.
• Same goes with my pooltime. Despite the heat, we skipped the pool most evenings. When we did go, we just floated around to cool off. :-(

Draws

• When I got back from my run on Saturday, Jeff started a movie. I should have stretched more while watching it. My legs are yelling at me a bit this morning.
• I stuck pretty well to my meal plan last week and enjoyed some delicious dinners. :)

How were your wins, losses, and draws last week?
Which is worse - no power or no water (which included no a/c where I live)?
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Pooltime + Working It Recap:: 7/8-14

It's Monday! Time for our 2nd pool workout. Last week, our pool workout was more of a total body workout, so today I'm switching it up with an upper body workout.

Sorry. No video this week. I'm not sure where the weekend went, but I simply didn't have the time to shoot and edit a video. Probably a good thing, too, since my form wasn't really the best. Oops!

These exercises are pretty basic, except you'll be doing them underwater. Still, here's a little break down.

Bicep curls - You'll want to do these in shoulder-deep water. Squat down into a plié squat, so your shoulders are completely underwater and your body is stable. Start with your arms by your sides, palms facing forward. Curl your hands up to your shoulders. Try to keep your wrists in line with your forearms. Add weights to make it more difficult.

Push-ups - Face side of pool with hands on top of pool edge about shoulder distance apart, fingers spread and arms extended. Push down on side of pool, lifting upper body out of the water. Bend elbows, lowering yourself back down into the water as low as you can. Make it more difficult by bringing your arms closer to your sides. Make it easier by placing your hands on the side of the pool edge, and pushing your body toward the edge.

Tricep kickbacks - Move to chest deep water. Change your leg stance into more of a lunge - with one leg in front of the other. Sink into that lunge until your shoulders are underwater. Lean your chest forward until your upper arm is parallel to the pool floor with your fist up near your chest. I like to rest my opposite hand on my front leg. Kick back your fist until your entire arm is parallel to the pool floor. Add weights to make it more difficult.

Side swipes - Move back into shoulder deep water and back into the plié squat. Start by extending arms straight out in front of you, hands clasped, then sweep them together across the body to one side, then back across to opposite side for one repetition. Try to keep both arms straight and below the surface of water throughout the move to create resistance. Maintain squat position, and keep hips facing forward, core engaged, and back straight throughout the move. Add weights to make it more difficult.

Remember that even though the underwater exercises might seem easier, the added resistance of the water is actually working your muscles even more than out of the water. To avoid injury, be careful when adding additional weight. Doing these exercises underwater also really focuses more on your core, too, since you've got to worry more about balance in addition to the exercises. Bonus!!

I'd love to hear what you think of this workout. Especially if you give it a try. :-) If you're still unsure on any of these exercises, click here for some animated gifs.

In other news, I was pretty lazy about all my workouts this week. What workouts I did manage, I didn't really give them my all. I hope to turn that around this week. I'm not sure how many times I need to learn the lesson of not leaving my workouts until after work. It almost never works that way.

And, here's the break down of the week.

Date	#CoreBalanceChallenge	Yoga	Pool
Mon 7/8	1:15 plank, :15 boat dancer	←	Yay!
Tues 7/9	1:15 plank, :40 superman dancer	←	Yay!
Wed 7/10	1:15 plank, :20 boat dancer	←	Yay!
Thur 7/11	1:20 plank, :40 superman dancer	←	Yay!
Fri 7/12			Yay!
Sat 7/13			Yay!
Sun 7/14	1:30 plank, :30 boat, :40 superman dancer	Morning Flow Yoga	Pool Workout #2

See what I mean? Kind of pathetic. *sigh*

All I can do now is get back to it, make working out in the AM a priority, and NOT beat myself up about having kind of a lazy week.

How were your workouts last week?
What do you do after having a lazy week?
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Pooltime + Working It Recap:: July 1-7

One of my July goals is to spend more time in the pool. Well, the first 4 days of July I was still finishing up my Run Streak, so my pool time was basically just floating around - not what I would really consider exercise. :)

Now that the streak is over, I'm switching to more strenuous pool time. Since I'm not much of a swimmer, my pool workouts will focus more on non-swimming exercises.

I'm hoping to share a different pool workout with you each Monday along with my previous week's workouts.

Here is my first one.

I've done this workout a couple times now, and let me tell you, it really works your legs. If you're unfamiliar with any of these exercises, here's a little video I made demonstrating this workout for you.



In case you don't want to see me in a bikini, here's a brief description of each exercise.

K-Tread - Extend both legs - one straight down, the other straight in front of you. Keep toes pointed, knees straight, and torso upright. Hold this position for a count of 5 and then switch legs.

Power Jacks - Kind of like a jumping jack, only keeping your arms in the water. Start with arms and legs extended out, and then bring them together - feeling the resistance of the water.  Cross your legs at the ankles and arms at the wrists.

Crunches - Float on your back with your arms out to your sides. Bring your knees to your chest.

Reverse Crunches - Float on your belly with your arms out to your sides. Bring your knees to your chest and kick your legs straight out behind you.

High knees - Just like on land, bring your knees as high as you can. Focus on keeping your torso upright.

Butt kickers - Kick your feet back to your butt.

So, there's my first pool workout creation. If you try it out, please let me know what you think!

I've also been doing yoga every day in July!

While some days I only did enough yoga to do my #CoreBalanceChallenge, I did try out a few other yoga videos and workouts this past week. Feel free to check out the links below for more info on those.

Speaking of my #CoreBalanceChallenge, boat pose is HARD! If you follow me on Instagram, you'll see I have a lot to work on with this pose.

But even over the past week, I've felt some improvement - though I haven't attempted another photo. :-)

I also focused on Tree Pose for this first week. I felt pretty good about my balance on that one throughout the week. Often I just got bored after a minute or so and took myself out of the pose. This week, I'll be tackling dancer pose.

And, here's the break down of the week.

Date	#CoreBalanceChallenge	Yoga	Pool
Mon 7/1	1:00 plank, :10 boat tree pose	Yoga Basics	Yay!
Tues 7/2	1:00 plank, :30 superman tree pose	<--	Yay!
Wed 7/3	1:05 plank, :10 boat tree pose	Post-run Sequence	Yay!
Thur 7/4	1:05 plank, :30 superman tree pose	Yoga for Runners	Yay!
Fri 7/5	1:10 plank, :15 boat tree pose	Yoga Abs Yoga Dynamics	Pool Workout #1
Sat 7/6	1:10 plank, :30 superman tree pose	<--	Pool Workout #1
Sun 7/7	1:10 plank, :15 boat tree pose	<--	Pool Workout #1

How were your workouts this first week of July?
What's your favorite non-swimming exercise in the pool?
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