Weekly Progress Report

Okay, that didn't really turn out the way I wanted it to. But you can see it's a maze, right? The point being that I hope your week didn't feel like this. Although if you walked that maze, it'd probably add up to a lot of miles!

So how many miles did you walk/exercise this week? We've made it to the end of our first month, so hooray for us! Let us know your cumulative total in the comments, and give yourself a pat on the back for making it through July.

***IMPORTANT NOTE*** Please include your whole challenge total in your comment or it will not be recorded in the sidebar. Thank you! :)

There's an App for That

Today's topic is thanks to Jill! She had that idea that we could talk about various apps that can help you to keep track of your miles and exercise. There are endless apps out there, but here are a few of our favorites:

RunKeeper - This app works like a GPS. You can track how far you've gone and what speed you were going. It also has connectivity to a website for more detailed information and and to track stats over time. You can also use it to manually track miles on a treadmill.

MiCoach, C25K, Bridge to 10K - I mentioned these running programs in last week's post. These apps help you to follow those running programs and track your progress. Some include GPS technology to track how far you've gone, some include a journal for your personal use, and some connect back to a website to evaluate your program in more detail. There's a huge variety in running programs so you can find one that works for you.

Nike Training Club - This app acts as a personal trainer, designing custom-made workouts of various lengths just for you. It also includes tutorials on how to do different exercises and allows you to use your own music and audio for workouts.

Calorie Count, Lose It!, Sparkpeople - These programs, and others like them, combine fitness and nutrition for weight loss purposes. They focus on the calories you take in with food and the calories you burn by various exercise activities to streamline weight loss.

Do you use any apps to help you with fitness? What are your favorites?

Weekly Progress Report

Hopefully you've been able to squeeze in some walking or other exercise this week. Don't be like the chickens!

You know the routine...it's Friday, and it's time for our weekly check-in. Let us know how you're doing, and be sure to include your total cumulative miles in your comment.

Running

How many of you guys are up for running, or would like to learn to run? I didn't used to think I liked running. Actually, I downright loathed it! But after running regularly most of this year, I've come to realize that I actually love it now. Of course, I'm still slow and can't go far, but I'm improving, and you can too! There are many programs to help a runner begin.

C25K - Couch to 5K is a nine-week program that takes you from the bare minimums of running (one-minute intervals) to being able to run a full 30 minutes. Having completed this program once myself, I have a huge amount of faith in it! I still can't run a full 5K, because I'm a slow runner, but I'm getting closer! The C25K program is flexible - you can spend more than nine weeks if you'd like - and works to build you up gradually.

MiCoach - This program offers a variety of different running plans based on your fitness level. It works with your smart phone and tracks your progress through GPS and your heart rate.

Sparkpeople's Running Program - Sparkpeople has several plans for different levels of runners to train for a 5K distance. The programs are simple and gradually work your way up. Unlike programs such as the C25K, it has lower levels for people who prefer to keep working in walking/running intervals rather than building up to full runs.

Those are the three big ones out there that I know about, though I'm sure there are many more out there designed to help new runners. Anyone else out there know another to add to our resource list? Anyone else interested in running?

Weekly Progress Report

Happy Friday everyone! Hopefully you're not feeling like the chicken, and that all of your steps were easy this week.

So let's check-in! Let us know your total miles (for all weeks, not just this week), and Amanda or Jill will update the sidebar. And feel free to share any tips and tricks you've got. I'm sure the chickens will appreciate it. :-D

Get more from your walking workout

Hello my fitness warriors! Today, I'm here to talk about sprucing up your walking workouts. While, as my last post stated, it's not necessary to walk for this fitness challenge, walking is a great way to get in the miles. There are some great ways to make your walks fun and fit.

If you're on a treadmill, make the most of your workout by walking at an incline or adding some faster walking or jogging intervals. Have some fun watching a movie or listening to an audiobook or music. If no one's in the room - or perhaps even if they are - add some dance moves while you listen to that music (just be careful not to trip!!).

If you walk outside, see if you can find more than one path to walk, so you can vary up your workouts. Are there any places with hills or rough trails to add some challenge? Anywhere you can go with particularly beautiful scenery?

Are you up for a slightly harder workout? Try jogging a little sometimes as you go, and if jogging isn't your thing, you can get a much stronger cardio workout if you lift your knees into a low-level march or add some ankle or hand weights.

What other ideas do you all have for sprucing up your walking workouts?

Weekly Progress Report

Happy Friday!

I hope you all had a successful week, and that you've found a routine. I tend to break my walking up through the day, because on work days I don't have enough time to do all of my walking in one chunk. So it's a mile in the morning before work, 1.25 miles at lunch, and .75 miles during afternoon break. On a good day. My problem is getting up in time to walk…somedays it's mighty difficult to roll out of bed! I'm hoping this challenge will motivate me to get my butt out of bed in time for a walk on a more regular basis.

Anyways, enough about me. Let's hear from you! It's time for our first weekly check-in, so please state your total miles for the past week in the comments below, and either Jill or Amanda will update the sidebar with the totals.

Please note: We will only be updating the sidebars once a day, most likely in the evening, so please don't leave snide comments or send emails about not seeing your totals. It takes time to maintain a blog, people. Sorry to sound a bit pissy, but this has been a problem with past challenges, and I have to tell you, I'm not in the mood for it this time.

Oh, the exercises you'll do...

Hello everyone! I wanted to extend my own welcome in addition to Jill's from the other day. I'm looking forward to doing this challenge with you all. :)

This first week, let me ask you: what do you like to do for exercise? Though the challenge is based on miles, it's not limited to walking and running. There are plenty of options out there! For instance:

• Zumba
• Yoga
• Swimming
• Hiking
• Spinning
• Biking
• Elliptical
• Weight Lifting
• Rollerskating
• Kickboxing

And so much more. There are so many different kinds of exercise out there that there's no need to ever get bored doing the same workout over and over. What types of exercise are your favorites? Give us all some good ideas of fun things to do for this challenge!

And we're off...

Are you ready to walk? Looks like the chickens are. :-D

Today kicks off the return of the 100 Mile Fitness Challenge, in which our goal is to walk 100 (or more!) miles in 3 months. Please see the intro post for more details.

Next Friday will be our first check-in post, and Amanda will pop in before then with a fun post relating to exercise/health. So make sure you've got us in your feedreader, put on those shoes, and start walking!