Fitspo images- A slippery slope to self-destruction?

Posted on October 25, 2012 by Mrs. Murphy's Law of Fitness

Hello Lovelies,

I hope everyone is having a fabulous day. It’s almost the weekend! I think the Avett Bros with my hubby and bestie will make for a pretty great ending to October.

Many of you have probably heard of thinspo. It’s pictures of dangerously looking women that people with eating disorders use as motivation to continue to live their unhealthy lifestyle. Many sites on the internet have banned these sort of photos, but there is another form of ‘inspiration’ that has come to the fore front and has been extremely popular on websites like pinterest and tumblr. It’s called ‘fitspo’. It is pictures of extremely ‘fit’ looking women with a chiseled 6 pack and biceps that would scare small children. These images are usually accompanied with some inspirational quote that is supposed to push you to meeting your fitness goals.

Looking at these images and reading articles led me to question if these ‘fitspo’ pictures are really much better on the self- esteem of the already self-conscious women of America. The women that must compete with actresses whose job is to work out and stay in shape and images on magazines that have been airbrushed and altered to perfection.

For some women these images could be a slippery slope to unhealthy behavior that could turn into a whirlwind of self-destruction.

I mean come on, that ‘fitspo’ makes me feel like if I don’t look like THAT than I’m not working hard enough and don’t deserve it.

And this girl looks 14..

These are my favorite. The ones that look like she is about to shoot a soft porn. I mean, who works out in that? I hate the ‘inspirational’ quote, too. That is exactly what Barbie and fashion models look like. I am not saying it is a bad thing, but I mean who are they trying to fool?

Some of these photos are really unrealistic. It is possible for us to look like that, but we would have to be on an extremely strict exercise and diet regimen. It isn’t really realistic to look like this ALL the time. These pictures may make women feel that if they don’t look like that than they are not trying hard enough, or they are doing something wrong.

Having said that, there are some fitspo pictures that I do appreciate and motivates me in a positive way.

This one is probably my favorite. She just looks like a bad ass. Her body is realistic and she really does look like she is doing that for herself.

Of course I like this one because let’s face it, I DO want to be a fit soccer mom! This picture is also inspiring and not self-depreciating.

I guess what I am trying to say is that yes, some of these ‘fitspo’ pictures have the ability to negatively affect women. Some of the pictures make us believe that there is one body type that is the image of a healthy woman. The truth is there are MANY different body types that promote a healthy lifestyle. We as women must be confident enough to realize this. We are more than a porn star with an inspirational quote on her boobies. We are strong, beautiful women who live a healthy lifestyle for ourselves, for our children, for the impressionable young girls who see these pictures and do not know any better but to believe this is the only image of healthy.

I want to know what you guys think! do you feel like these are motivational and inspiring or damaging to our self- esteem?

I have also attached a couple of articles regarding this topic.

Fitspo Images: exercise motivation or a dangerous obsession?

Health Controversy: Is “Fitspo” Bad for You?

My D.I.Y. costume and a Happy Halloween Booty Circuit

Posted on October 22, 2012 by Mrs. Murphy's Law of Fitness

Hey friends! I hope everyone is having a great Monday! Joseph and I are with this gorgeous weather! Everything is colorful and festive.. Tis the season 🙂

I didn’t get a chance to post anything last week- it has been pretty crazy in the Murphy household. Joseph decided he wanted to eat EVERY two hours around the clock. This is normal during the day, but usually he sleeps a little longer at night.. hopefully this isn’t his new schedule. I am going to try and make him take more naps during the day to see if this helps. Does anyone have any advice on getting a three month old to take naps?? Also, how long will he eat every two hours? He seems a little old to still be eating so often..

I did get a chance to have a little fun this weekend. Our friends had a halloween party. I didn’t want to spend a ton of money on a costume since, well I have more important things to spend my money on now.. I decided to make my own fairy costume! I found a tutorial online on how to make wings and a tutu. I will attach the links in this post. I only spent about $10 on the whole costume!

tutu

I also have a special workout for you guys in honor of Halloween! It’s the Happy Halloween Booty Circuit. I did this twice last week and the other two days I did an upper body circuit. I also did a new workout by Amanda Russell three times on non consecutive days. I LOVED these workouts! I was sore for days after doing them. I will attach both workouts below. Let me know what you all think!

Since the holidays are approaching and most people want to look their best because we are seeing family and friends we have not seen in a while I would like to know if there are any special exercises you would like to see. Let me know and I will work on routines just for your needs!

Ab sandwich workout!

Posted on October 12, 2012 by Mrs. Murphy's Law of Fitness

Hey friends,

I hope everyone is having a great week. It’s the weekend! woohoo! Charlie’s cousin is getting married so we will get to have an ‘adult’ weekend and it could’nt come soon enough! I need a break..

If you read my last post you know that this week has not been the best. I have been a mommy for 10 weeks now and it is catching up to me. I haven’t slep longer than four hours at a time and have a little person attached to my milk makers EVERY two hours. He is only 10 weeks old and weighs 13 lbs and 11 ozs and fights his sleep with all his might. Needless to say, I am exhausted.. I think that breast feeding is the most demanding part about having a new baby. I love the bond that it allows me to have with my son, but it is draining. Needless to say, I have needed a break.

In most cases exercise makes me feel energized and balanced, but I needed a few days of rest. My body was exhausted. I had been working out at least 5 days a week starting back two weeks after giving birth and I had no idea how it effected my body with having hardly any sleep and caring for an infant 24/7. I took Sunday- wednesday off. I probably should have taken more but by thursday I was feeling antsy and was pretty stressed out so I decided I needed a release.

I definitely needed those four days off. I felt re-energized. It is so important to LISTEN TO YOUR BODY! I know I have said this before but it is crucial to keeping your body healthy and avoiding injury. I learned to be more in tune with my body when I was pregnant. I knew I needed to be healthy for my baby. It became easier to just stop when I was pushing too hard or take a few days off when my body had had enough. It sounds silly, but it was exhilirating to take a much needed break from working out and not feel like my muscles would turn to mush.

When I decided to get back at it on Thursday I did a new workout that I created for myself called the “Ab Sandwich”. 🙂 It is basically arm exercises+ cardio with a few core moves stuck in the middle. 3 in 1! I then did my October challange.

Me and my main squeeze after our workout.

I have attached the workout below. You can also find this and other workouts on the Strength/ circuit training page.

Do this circuit 2-3 times with no breaks in between each exercise and a 1-2 min break in between each circuit.

Below are links to the exercises that may be unfamiliar:

Kettlebell sumo high pull

bent over dumbbell tricep extension

dumbbell overhead tricep extension

Mommy anxieties- what they Should really tell you about

Posted on October 9, 2012 by Mrs. Murphy's Law of Fitness

I know I usually write about fitness but today I felt the need to get a little bit personal. I realize that most of you could care less about my personal life, but I know there is someone out there who struggles with the same thing and maybe after reading this they can put their aching heart at rest knowing they are not alone.

The past few days have been emotionally draining on me. I have had a heavy heart. I’ve been especially emotional. I’ve been exhausted. Honestly, I’ve been scared- it’s terrifying being a parent. I knew it would be and I tried to prepare myself, but nothing prepares you. I love my son so much. What if I make too many mistakes and it negatively effects his future. What if he doesn’t fit in and gets made fun of? I absolutely couldn’t take it. It breaks my heart just thinking about the pain he could endure and it hasn’t even happened yet. A knot grows in the pit of my stomach because I am absolutely petrified that I am not strong enough for this. Then I realize that it makes no difference if I am strong enough or not because I have to suck it up and do it. Now is certainly not the time to crawl in a hole and worry about the what ifs and the inevitable heartache that both of us will go through along the way.

My job now is to be the best mother I can be. To be patient and empathetic. To be selfless and loving. To be a strong, positive role model for my son. To ALWAYS be a loving figure in his life that he can turn to when he feels like he has no one else.

I must rely on my faith for all of these things. Sometimes I forget I have the greatest parent of all guiding my way and shining a light on my path; showing me how to be the parent Joseph needs to live a happy life filled with love and meaning.

I struggle everyday with these anxieties and not letting them consume my thoughts- I know they mustn’t because your thoughts become who you are. I have to make a conscious effort to alter my thoughts and think positively, but the more I do this the easier it gets.

So I will do this everyday- make a conscious effort. It will get easier to automatically have the positive thoughts flowing. Until then I will just take it one day at a time.

New name, fall crafts and an INTENSE interval workout

Posted on October 5, 2012 by Mrs. Murphy's Law of Fitness

hello friends,

I just wanted to write a quick post letting you all know that I changed the name of my blog! I don’t know if that is allowed in the blogger world, but I did it. Mrs. Murphy’s Law of Fitness- clever, huh? 🙂 It seems more appropriate for the content. I won’t change it again I promise!

Also, I wanted to share with you guys some of my homemade fall decorations! This is my favorite time of the year and I love feeling festive.

I love making decorations for fall because most of the supplies you need are in your yard. Thrifty.

I wanted to share with you the workout I did today too because it was intense. I haven’t had a workout that made me sweat this much since before I was pregnant, seriously.

do these exercises back to back with no break. Do three rounds with 1-2 minute break in between.

Exercise	Time
Inchworm pushup	1 min
Kettlebell sumo high pull	1 min
One-Legged Curl	1 min
Butt kickers	1 min
Mountain climbers	1 min
Plank	45 sec
Forearm Press	1 min
T pushup	1 min
Plank Press	1 min
Burpees	1 min
Speed skater	1 min
Plank	45 sec

October fitness challange: tush and tummy 200 challange

Posted on October 3, 2012 by Mrs. Murphy's Law of Fitness

Here is my October fitness challenge!

week 1: 5 reps of each exercise

week 2: 10 reps of each exercise

week 3: 15 reps of each exercise

week 4: 20 reps of each exercise

week one is easy so its okay to be starting in the middle of the week.

Do this challenge along with your normal workout

Tush and tummy 200 challange

reverse lunges (each leg)

fire hydrant (each leg)

butt lifts

saddlebag buster (each leg)

squats

bent knee hip raise

cross crunch

kettlebell twists (you can use a dumbbell as well)

reverse press ups

crunches

Hello friends!

It has been nine long weeks since I have even looked at my blog. I feel like a slacker because I planned on starting back a month after having Joseph, but I also had no idea how busy an infant would keep me!

Motherhood has been amazing and tiring so far! I don’t think anyone can really know what to expect when having their first child. Honestly, I had expected it to be a whole lot worse than it was the first few weeks. I had heard horror stories about people not feeling any love toward their child at first and how they didn’t even want to take them home because they didn’t even like them all that much. This horrified me because I know that it can be common and the most wonderful, loving people can feel this way. It is not their fault it’s their emotions going haywire but its still scary!

I was so relieved when I first held Joseph and had an overwhelming amount of love towards him. I knew I would, but in case you haven’t heard, sometimes when you are pregnant you can be a little emotional and irrational.

I loved him at first sight and the love grows more and more each day. I have to admit I have become just a tad bit attached, therefore making him just the slightest bit spoiled. J I am fortunate enough to be able to stay home with him and I tell my husband every day how much it means to me that he works as hard as he does so I can. I love being able to watch him grow every day and I don’t want to miss anything because at this age they change so quickly.

Having said all this, I do want to talk about what this blog is all about- fitness! Before having my baby I was working out up until the day I went into labor and this made my pregnancy pretty easy. I was barely sick the whole time, I had more energy, I was able to get a good night rest up until about a month or two before his due date and I didn’t experience any swelling or back pain until about the last month of pregnancy. Also, I was hardly ever hormonal. I had a few moments, but even those weren’t that bad.

Now as for the scary part- labor. Let me just say that I was terrified of this. I have always been afraid of it. When we went to our baby class I could not watch the videos because it freaked me out too much to think I would actually be going through such a miserable, disgusting process. I never would have thought that it would actually be the most enjoyable moment of my life.

I will not get into details because this is not that kind of blog, but what I will say is that I am glad that I was in such good shape because it made a world of difference during labor. It went extremely well and there were no complications. I was able to get back to normal life quickly and painlessly. It has also been easier to lose the baby weight and get back into pre- pregnancy shape. I still have a ways to go as far as toning, but I have lost all but about five pounds of the pregnancy weight.

I started working out two weeks after delivery. I was able to pick up the intensity pretty quick. I pushed myself as hard as I could until my body told me what was enough. I have learned that it is important to listen to your body because it will allow you to push your limits and let you know if something is not right.

I have been working out at least four days a week and up to six days. I have created exercise plans for myself that I will share with you all because they have been extremely beneficial to whipping me back into shape! I hope you guys try these and see results. If you have any questions about them than let me know! I am excited to be back and to share this journey of a happy, healthy life with you all!

I usually do the upper and lower body twice a week each. I do the workouts for about two weeks then change it up. On the other days I will do a yoga practice and some sort of HIIT routine.

With the upper and lower body routines you can do three sets of each rep for each exercise or you can turn it into interval training by doing one set of each exercise with a 1-2 minute burst of cardio in between each exercise. Do the whole thing three times through. I have been doing the interval training because it still hurts me to run.

Click on the links for pictures and an explanation on how to do the exercise.

UPPER BODY

Upper body workout 1 (2 to 3 sets of 12 to 15 reps)

Dumbbell Raise

Standing Palms-In Dumbbell Press

Around The Worlds

tricep chair Dips

Pushups

Wrist Rotation

Plank 30 seconds

Upper body workout 2 (2 to 3 sets of 12 to 15 reps)

Push-up with side plank (each side)