Perfect Design II Day 13: Ten Day Challenge & Grocery Cart Perspective

JP and I went grocery shopping together this week and after unloading the groceries into the van, I asked if he was going to take the grocery cart back. We had been having a political discussion about the Republican primary candidates, and he put on his best politician face and said, "You want to take the country back? You can't even take the grocery cart back!"

We cracked up laughing! He said, "You see, Parker, there are 3 kinds of people. There are the people who take the grocery cart back. There are the people who don't take the grocery cart back. And then there are people who pay someone to take the grocery cart back for them."

To that I said, "Well, put me in that third category...only without the ability to pay. So take my cart back, Bee-atch!" We had a good chuckle about that one!

So what does a grocery cart philosophy have to do with anything, you may be asking? Everything, my lovelies.....everything.

You see, everyone has the best intentions to take that empty cart back...either back to the store or at least to the cart rack in the parking lot. Then, some underpaid employee has to go out 79 times a day to organize and stack them and push that cart train back to the store where the whole shopping cart process starts over again.

How many times have you been in this situation: By the time you get your groceries loaded into the trunk, every last bag, every last carton of eggs and gallon of milk, you look at the time and you think, "Dang! I'm late for Aunt Gertrude's birthday party!" Or, "Shitballs! I have to get to that employee meeting early before the boss notices I'm not there....early!"

So, you leave the cart there, precariously tipped against the curb, hoping you can get out of that parking lot before someone notices that your cart is now on a collision course with a grandma pulling her huge Buick into a Handicapped space and the new Mom waddling out with quintuplets.

It's the same attitude that is so easy to take with our workouts. Leave it at the curb....make a promise you'll take the cart back workout next time. It's the equivalent of rolling that mat out for muscular structure and never actually getting your ass into plank position for 40 reps!

The problem for me is, once I leave that damn cart there once, I do it again. And, it's easier to justify...again. Pretty soon, I'm that girl-- the one that the grocery store employee brings up in a meeting-- you know, that girl who always acts like she's in such a rush, she just ditches her cart and takes off.

You know, that girl, who just ditches her workout and takes off.

Sound familiar? Thought so.

Do the right thing. Get your workout in. Take your damn cart back.

Or, my favorite thing is to combine them and do the Shopping Cart Dance, baby! Make it a Cardio Cart, whoop whoop!

Now, onto the 10 Day Challenge. A couple girls on Facebook who I tag each morning for our "workout accountability" decided that we should do a 10 day workout challenge. We are all doing different levels of TAM and everyone is doing their own thing with diet, but we decided to add in Tracy's Mat arms and Hamelin's Abs to our workouts for 10 days in a row. Hamelin is a trainer who has a similar workout philosophy to Tracy's--- emphasis on the accessory muscles.

Also-- some of the girls doing TAM's Metamorphosis, have had issues with what has been dubbed, Donut Abs, where there is a protrusion in a donut shape in the lower abdominals. Many of them found Hamelin's abs to be a great alternative and a solution for shrinking the "donut."

Whether or not the abdominal ring of puffiness is caused by poor form or separation of the abdominals from some rotation in the Meta series, is not clear. But, regardless, I think it's a good idea to mix up some other fitness styles that have the same technique that Tracy uses.

I created a workout page on Facebook for our 10 Day Challenge-- with the hopes of adding a monthly challenge! Feel free to join me on Facebook, or simply use the below videos to supplement your current workout:

I will be adding in this series to my current workout-- wrapping up Perfect Design II this weekend and beginning Perfect Design III!

Join me for the challenge!

xxoo