Tag Archives: routine

Last Week’s Workouts and “The Bear” Complex with Baby

11/10/2014 R.C. Liley 5 Comments

This is the week! The week our baby turns 1 year old! On Saturday, the 15th, we’re having a small birthday party at our home and then we’re leaving her with G-Ma as we head to a friend’s wedding. Is that wrong of us? Nahhhh.

Last week’s workouts were a repeat of the previous week, just adding weight to most exercises in classic progressive overload fashion. I would normally continue in this pattern for the week ahead, but might need to improvise as we prepare for the big day.

Here’s what I have for last week….

Note: All workouts are in a fasted state. I have a homemade pre-workout mix of beta-alanine, bcaa’s, creatine, and pure caffeine powder and then I’m ready to go within 20 – 30 minutes!

Monday – 11/03

– Back Squat: 4 x 8 x 220lbs

– Straight Leg Dead Lift: 4 x 8 x 210lbs

– Dumbbell Lunges: 3 x 11/side x 45lb/side

Superset w/ Glute-Ham Raise: 3 x 12

– Double Kettlebell Swings: 3 x 31 x 25lb/arm

– 31 1-leg squats and Push-ups

Tuesday – 11/04

– Bench Press: 4 x 8 x 165lbs

Superset w/ Strict Chin-ups: 4 x 7

– Dumbbell Hang Clean & Press: 4 x 11 x 30lb/arm

– 1-arm Dumbbell Rows: 3 x 13 x 45lb

Superset w/ Bodyweight Dips: 3 x 13

– Man-maker Push-ups w/ 30lb Dumbbells: 3 x 11

– Dumbbell Twisting Bicep Curls: 3 x 12 x 20lb

Superset w/ Standing Triceps Dumbbell Kickback: 3 x 10 x 20lb

– 31 1-leg squats and Push-ups

Wednesday – 11/05

– 4 Tabata Rounds: 1. Bike, 2. Burpees, 3. 15lb Ball Slam, 4. Bike

– 31 1-leg squats and Push-ups + run/walk 2.3 miles

Thursday – 11/06

– Front Squat: 4 x 8 x 175lbs

– Dead Lift: 3 x 8 x 235lbs

– Clean: 5 x 5 x 125lbs

– 31 Bulgarian Split Squats w/ 20lb Dumbbells/arm and 31 Push-ups

– Walk/Run with Avery and Abby (our Golden

Friday – 11/06

– Overhead Press: 4 x 8 x 110lbs

– Barbell Bent Row: 4 x 8 x 135lbs

Superset w/ Dumbbell Incline Press: 4 x 11 x 45lb/arm

– Dumbbell Hang Clean & Press: 5 x 6 x 45lb/arm

– 4 Rounds: Close-grip Bench – 10 x 135lbs, Wide-grip Pull ups x 6, Kettlebell Windmill w/ 25lb/side x 10/side, Bike ~30 seconds

– 31 1-leg squats and Push-ups

Saturday – 11/08

– Walk 3+ miles with Kelley while wearing Avery on my back. She had a good nap….

– Quick conditioning workout of countdown/up:

->31, 25, 20….10, 5: Double 25lb Kettlebell Swings

->5, 10, 15…..25, 31: Push-ups

– 31 1-leg squats, burpees, and bodyweight squats

Sunday – 11/09

– Work on rearranging garage to make room for Avery’s play pen gate setup.

– 30 minute cardio/strength routine of 30s on and 30s off with different exercises

– 31 1-leg squats and Push-ups

I need to get Avery’s gate setup since she’s close to walking and I don’t expect she’ll have patience to sit in her jumper once this milestone is achieved.

Hmm, or maybe she’s already lost her patience. What do you think?

When she starts making these faces, it’s either nap time, a poopy diaper, or just plain bored. For the last one, when not finished working out or never having a chance to star, I have a solution…..combine playtime with your workout!

To me, barbell work is king when it comes to strength training, but as parents and really all time-strapped people know, we don’t always have time for or access to a barbell. And if you did, just what, with maybe 10 minutes of time to yourself, would you do anyway?

The answer is a complex where you complete multiple exercise back to back without stopping to rest. A classic example of this is called “The Bear” Complex where you perform a power clean, front squat, push press, back squat, and push press without setting the bar down to make 1 rep. It’s an awesome workout that, when done for 5 rounds of 7 reps at a challenging weight, is a quick, effective routine.

But when there’s no barbell or time to use one, grab the nearest baby/kid/toddler/teenager (preferably your own), and make them the barbell. Here’s a video I put together to show you how.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yb9EU4eyKlg&w=420&h=315]

Avery enjoys the moves and hopefully your kids will too. You get to bond with your child through “playtime” while fitting in a full body exercise to boot. Not bad! Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Now it’s time to prepare for a fast approaching birthday; Going Mom has off Thursday and Friday to make sure things are setup right since I’m not the best in that area. Have a great week!

Do you have any favorite workouts you’d like to share?

Any tips on how to manage a first birthday party? We have the beer, what else is needed? 🙂

Giveaway, Parenting

The Best Night Time Routine for your Baby and a Fresh Air Crib Liner™ Giveaway!

08/06/2014 R.C. Liley 7 Comments

Isn’t it funny how hard some of us try just to have a baby and want so bad to become parents, but then, upon baby’s arrival, we immediately MUST find a way to get them asleep! Don’t get me wrong, I know it’s not like we’re trying to get rid of them, I just feel there’s a little irony in there.

Sleep was, is, and will always be one of the most talked about, important, and difficult parts of raising kids. Many parents will quickly buy anything promising to safely get your baby to sleep through the night in hopes that it actually works. I know this because I’m one of them!

And yes, I too felt the grief when these false hopes turned out to be nothing more than a way to get rid of our money. Who needs money anyway? :/

As many parents already know, gimmicky products may or may not actually benefit your child’s sleep, but there’s one surefire and free thing we can all have immediately; a night time routine. You know, a way parents can ease their kid’s transition from being awake to going to sleep.

So, what is the best bedtime routine for your baby? This might come as a surprise to some, but there is no one best way. The best routine for our house may not work so well in your house and vice versa. Whatever you and your family can stick with and get your baby used to will be the “best” routine.

As your baby ages, you might do a few things different, but as long as nothing major is changed like watching TV after bath time when TV was always before, you should be safe. For us, we usually go on a walk before sitting down at the dinner table together. After dinner, it’s straight to the bath (she really needs it since we’re doing baby-led weaning!), and then we go to her room to dry off, rub coconut oil on, and Going Mom will nurse her to sleep.

Other things to incorporate into a night time routine include:

letting your baby move around to get built up energy out of the system
giving a baby massage
story time (preferably nothing too adventurous or exciting)
talking with your baby about the day
saying goodnight to everyone and everything (stuffed animals, toys, etc.)
create a soothing playlist of lullabies or other easygoing music to have in the background while settling in for the night

Whatever you choose for a routine, stick to it! Even when you’re away from home, try and stick as close to your usual routine as usual to give a better chance that everyone will have a good night’s rest.

When your precious little one finally goes to sleep, a safe, comfy crib will help to ensure they stay that way. A problem we ran into once Avery learned to roll around was that she would get her limbs caught between the crib. And there went sleeping through the night….*womp* *womp*

From reading about the dangers of crib bumpers, we didn’t want to put Avery at risk of suffocation, but luckily we found a breathable mesh crib liner to keep her limbs in and danger out.

Since installing the liner, we have had zero issues with safety and Avery’s arms and legs are always inside where they belong. She’s even pulling on the crib and liner and standing up now, but we still have no issues with anything getting messed up and out of place. To us, we wish we would’ve had a liner in from the start, but better late than never, right?

Do you have a crib liner for your baby or baby on the way? Obviously, we were a little late to the game, but lucky for you, the nearest Target now has all you need to line your crib and keep your baby safe and comfortable!

The Fresh Air Crib Liner ™ by SootheTime can now be found at Target, and you can even get a $5.00 rebate by clicking here. This is the perfect alternative to dangerous crib bumpers and will allow baby to sleep safe and sound while parents can sleep with peace of mind.

The liner is meant to fit most cribs with ease and has colors for boys, girls, or a unisex option.

If you haven’t found something to keep your baby safe in their crib, then head to your nearest Target and pick up a Fresh Air Crib Liner™ for yourself. Don’t forget the $5.00 rebate!!

But, if you can wait a few days, I have an even better way to get your own Fresh Air Crib Liner™ by entering to win one here! Just do as told by RaffleCopter and you’ll be entered. The giveaway will end next Wednesday, 08/13, at midnight.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Best of luck to all of you!

Disclosure: “I am participating in this campaign as a member of The Niche Parent Network & Conference. Although I received compensation and product, all opinions are my own.”

Life, Parenting

Our Monthly Subscription to Background Noise

05/07/2014 R.C. Liley 2 Comments

Hi there and Happy Hump Day!

Does Wednesday make you happy or just mad it’s still not Friday? I will feel mad sometimes, but then optimism kicks in and I’m like “Hey, at least it’s not Monday!” So try to think of that. 🙂

The other day Going Mom and I were discussing finances and planning for Avery’s future by opening a 529 plan. We were going over our options and trying to decide what a good amount would be to make monthly contributions to ensure Avery has enough for college if and when she attends.

I say “if” just incase she becomes a superstar. She’s already our superstar, but we can’t pay her for it; sorry, Avery.

Going Mom has looked into the 529 plan more than I have and she calculated how much we’d need to start contributing now just so Avery had enough for just her first year! That’s going off the current cost of college, and something tells me it won’t go down in 18 years….

Then, discussing how much we could comfortably contribute, Kelley brought up a good point; we are paying monthly for something we only use as background noise at night! What is it? Satellite.

To begin with, we only have it for 2 channels; Food Network and HGTV. But on top of that, we don’t even watch the TV when it’s on! I guess this is better than what we were doing.

For the first few weeks after we brought Avery home, we’d sit in silence in our dark living room as Avery slept in her swinging chair. We would actually fall asleep in the living room too and really didn’t see our bed that often. We finally has success with getting Avery to sleep in her crib and the TV came back on.

But, the TV serves us better as a glowing light and background noise source. Watch the TV? Nah!

Kelley and I will have a short discussion every now and then, but we mostly just fall into a trance perusing the internet. Sadly, we might talk more to each other via Facebook than when we are sitting in the same room at night!

It’s not because we’re arguing (usually) or anything, we just both urn for some quiet time by the end of the day. I actually hate it if she goes off to bed because I always enjoy her company, even if we don’t say a word. Anyone else like that?

Hey, at least we’re “smart” and have the cheapest package you can get with DISH®, so give us a little credit. Plus, we do sometimes use the TV when G-ma is visiting since she likes to watch certain shows.

While we’re on the subject, another “pricey” thing we do is use Kelley’s iPad2 as a white noise machine. Yep, it just sits on a stand in the nursery and we turn on the white noise app at night and nap time. Why pay twenty dollars for a sound machine when you can use a $500 iPad? Don’t answer that.

Nobody’s perfect, right? For the most part we are pretty conservative and actually do really well with saving where we can. A huge savings is cooking your own food and not going out to eat. Since we don’t go out (ever), we are reaping the benefits of good health and saving cash.

Before I check out for the day, I wanted to make an update to our current nightly routine. I still prepare Going Mom’s meal so she can spend some time with Avery, and bath time goes on as usual, but Kelley is able to get Avery to sleep faster afterward. This means she is back out and sitting with me (as we don’t talk) in the living room while our ~~light and sound box~~ TV is on.

The part I’m starting to enjoy now that Avery is more active, is playing with her while Kelley has dinner. I’ll sit on the floor next to Kelley and do whatever keeps Avery happy. I do push my limits and Kelley has to call me out, but for the most part, it’s fun.

We found that Avery is ticklish just about everywhere..

…and really enjoys being hung upside-down.

And obviously, she enjoys eating her hand 24/7. But I actually get excited to play a little with her before bedtime, and it helps to get her to sleep faster too!

Do you have things you pay for on a monthly basis but don’t use?

Do you have a certain routine each night or do you just “wing it” every day?