Today’s the day we learn our (possible) collective fate, the prediction from a tiny little furry creature in a hole: will we get 6 more weeks of the treadmill or bike trainer? (Yes).

You may be wondering what on earth fitness and Groundhog Day might have in common but I assure you there are similarities.

First of all, whether or not he’s a morning person doesn’t matter. Punxsatawny Phil has to wake up early to get the job done and that’s that. He can’t even cave under the pressure, everyone is waiting with bated breath on his results! Shadow or no shadow! We want to know!

Now, we too have the option to cave and scurry back into our caves of course, but now that you’ve been inspired by Punxsatawny Phil and his story, will you? Nah. Not today. You’ve got a job to do today, and you’re gonna get out there! Just like Phil! We may not be a morning peoples but sometimes when that’s the only window, that’s the only window.

Second, there’s a little movie called Groundhog Day with Bill Murray. You’ve probably seen it and I’m guessing it’ll probably be on some station sometime today.

The question is, do you wake up day after day after day stuck in the same day? If you’re nodding yes, that’s frustrating isn’t it!? We get in a fitness rut and sometimes it happens quickly. We don’t know how to get out of it or perhaps don’t have the motivation to get out of it. The good news is, thank God we are not Bill Murray, WE can actually fix that! Let’s go forth into February 3rd determined to make it different. It’s like New Years day all over again. (Which I suppose would be sort of like Groundhog Day only with New Year’s Day. Oh nevermind. You know what I mean.)

Next, groundhogs have a pretty impressive weight-loss regimen. They hibernate all winter and when they wake up in February, they actually find they’ve lost 1/2 their body weight! Which is not unlike the experience of those who have traveled through one of the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans’ challenges, right?? So even though you’re not hibernating your way to weight-loss (and perhaps 1/2 your body weight would be a little extreme for a winter weight-loss) you are still doing something for several weeks at a time and coming out the other end shrinkier! Go us!

Lastly, guess what a groundhog’s diet is? According to Groundhog.org (yes, that website actually exists):

“A groundhog’s diet consists of lots of greens, fruits, and vegetables.”

Cha-ching!

Again. Us. All us.

See? Told ya. OK maybe some of these was a stretch, but still!

Have a great Groundhog day. Let’s be groundhogs!

The Weigh In

Good morning, everyone! Wakey wakey eggs and (turkey) bakey! It’s a new day, the sun is shining, the birds are chirping, are you ready to step on the scale? I am sure that it’s going to be nice to you today, I just have a feeling! You’ve worked hard this week, you have been motivated, you’re making healthy choices, I’m feeling it, are you?? Just another week of January and we’ll really be knee deep into the new year. I hope we can all keep the momentum going!

The Fitness Challenge

Our fitness challenge is the same each and every week. We’re asking you to do either 20 minutes of vigorous exercise three times weekly OR 30 minutes of moderate exercise five times weekly. Heather outlined the difference between vigorous exercise and moderate exercise over here. Are you getting your weekly quota of exercise in?

• How many of you have joined us for the 52 Small Changes challenge? Week 4 is about keeping a food journal. Keeping track of my food was a total eye opener for me, I think it’s important for everyone somewhere in their journey to do this because it gives you a benchmark forevermore. Try it! You can start the small change challenge any time! Please join our group at the Hood for support, motivation and discussion.

Now head on down to the form and fill it in and then get on out there and kill it this week, yo!

Have a great day!

Be so happy you can’t get sick through reading this because I’ve got spores everywhere!

I’ve been sick since Friday, literally I slept 17 hours yesterday, I haven’t done that since college, and apparently the only thing I can stomach is soup and chocolate chip cookies.

So here is my confession: I’ve either been wayyy good (soup! the brothy kind even, not the creamy kind!) And lots of V8 and water (mostly water).

Or wayyyyyy not-so-good (chocolate chip cookies. Perhaps some ice cream.)

I’m going to make this one short today because I can’t put coherent thoughts together very well. But I do hope you have had a great week! Feel free to share your disgressions, concessions, miscalculations and mishaps in the comments below.

Here’s to good choices for all of us in the coming week! Cheers!

Those of us who didn’t do the letter last year, you (hopefully) wrote a new one, to your 2013 self. (Did you?? I hope so!) You can catch up on all the details of the “Letter to Me” project here.

I’m excited to read everyone’s posts!

After I posted it earlier this week, we had some chatter on Twitter of some preliminary results. Some letters were great! (Hurrah!) And others were, well, hard to read.

There were things that happened during the year that we had no way of predicting. Life things. Hard crappy life things.

For that, I want you all to know that we are all here for you. Through all of it. It’s not necessarily a fitness journey, it’s a life journey.

For all that we learned and went through in 2011, I hope you have found some comfort here at the Sisterhood through whatever has happened and in knowing that there are many great ladies in this group who support you along the way.

I hope that when you’ve all written your letters this year, that you’ve seen what a rock you’ve become with whatever 2011 threw at you and how strong you can be. As we stand on the precipice of 2012 looking on, may all of you see the strength in your miles, the hope in your tears and the drive in your soul to put one step in front of the other and keep going.

Link up your posts below!

Be sure to head over to everyone you can and read their letter, we have to cheer each other on, high five and slap some asses, mkay??

Wow, we’re really getting up there, next year will already be 2013?? Are ya kidding me?

Ok here we go.

Friends, countryfriends, new friends and old! Hear ye, hear ye! It’s time for our annual trip down memory lane, the most important project of the year! The Dear Me Project!

Now, new friends, stay with me here, this will involve you too. Keep reading.

It’s time to dig out those letters that we wrote to our future selves, last January in 2011. If you were with us last year, you know what I’m talking about. You can read about it here for a refresher.

You see, last year we asked all the sisters who were with us at the time to take a look ahead to January 2012. In fact, here are the directions exactly.

For this week’s project, I want you to close your eyes. (Well, after you read this.) And pretend that it’s January — of 2012.

One full year ahead.

And when you think about January 2012, think about where you are sitting. What you look like. Where you are. Think about all the things you did in 2011. How far you’ve come. The goals you’ve reached. The obstacles you faced in 2011. The things you learned. Visualize where you will be. Physically, mentally, emotionally. I know you don’t have much to go on since we’re not even out of January 2011 yet. But that’s kind of the whole purpose.

Now, ”future self” (*this is me waving to your future self and saying “Hi!!!”*), go ahead and write ”current self” a letter. Tell yourself what you’ve done in 2011 and who you’ve become. Tell yourself about all the scale and non-scale victories you’ve had. Anything that you think is valuable for your current self to know, go ahead, tell it.

Write the letter to yourself like it actually happened. No hypotheticals. Because “future-self” actually knows what went on in 2011! You have to trust her (or him)!! Channel “Future Self”. So that’s what it is this week. “Future-self,” write “current-self” a letter about what 2011 is like and what you hope for 2012.

This is one of those things you can actually hold in your hand when January 2012 comes around and you can see for yourself just what you’ve done. I am sure you will agree with yourself on that day and maybe even surprise yourself. Because you’ve got 11 more months to make it real. And you will. Because you rock and because you’re you, and ps. I already know what you’re made of. (And because future me told me so.)

So go ahead, ya’ll! It’s time! Bust em out, it is now 2012, dig into your archives pull out your letter, read what you’ve written and compare your reality now with your predictions of 2011.

Did you do it?

Did you do everything you said you would? (Of course you did!)

Did you do more????? I”m so excited to find out!

I’ll give you a brief preview of mine: I’m laughing hysterically over my reference to my clean desk since it really was no where near clean all year, however, it is clean now, just like 2011 me said it would be –ha! Apparently I feel the need to clean my desk every January! It also references balance, something I have actually been able to find more of over the year, and it was correct, I did not get a flat in the Augusta 70.3! Woohoo!

(There is more but I’ll get into more detail in my own post.) But for now, take out yours, compare them, write about it what it was, share your old letter and what really happened! We can’t wait to see how you did!

Oh of course there is a step 2!

You cannot move forward while you are still looking back.

So when you are finished look back, direct your eyes to the front, (keep your arms inside the vehicle at all times) then, firmly plant yourself into the shoes of YOU in 2013.

What do you see? Re-read the directions up top. Remember, you’re not imagining this. You are entering the time vortex continuium wormhole thingy and transporting yourself to 2012. You already know what happened so all you have to do is write about what you see and where you have been for the whole year. All of it.

Become 2013 YOU and then write about 2012. This becomes a very powerful post when you are writing it and when you are looking back at it. Because when you envision yourself actually doing something, it becomes real. It is no longer a “that would be nice” or “that’s possible.”

It is almost as good as done.

Picturing yourself doing things you’ve only imagined paves the way to reality and allows you (actually gives you permission!) to believe that, YES, in fact, THAT WILL BE YOU.

Now, if you are just starting out with us, we do this every year. We want you to do this too!

It’s an absolutely amazing, tearful, emotional experience (at least for me!) to see what the letter you wrote at the beginning of the year said when we take them out a year later.

You’d think that perhaps in the spirit of “resolutions”, that you might let yourself down. This is not so. I have found it is just the opposite! I tend to think “small” in my letter because the following year when I read it, whatever I had predicted, I did that AND MORE! And you will too, you will be so surprised when 2013 rolls around and you pull out this letter and you look at what you’ve said about yourself!

So, if you did a letter last year, write about it. Then write up your Future Me letters (2013) and come back here on Friday to link it all up. MKay?

Have an awesome kickass year! (Even though I already know you do. Your future me told me so. We’re actually all having coffee talking about our letters right now! In 2013…)

We all wonder what is on the horizon for us in 2012. When we look back next year, what will have happened? I ask myself before the start of every year.

But all I can say to you today is that we know what happened in 2011. It may not have all been pretty (in fact I know that it has been a tough year for many) but there were also some pretty darn good moments out there. Last week we asked you to send in some of your favorite pics and you did! (Thank you!)

HERE is YOUR look back on 2011 at The Sisterhood.

Join us in 2012, will ya? It’s going to be even better!

If you didn’t get a chance to send in a picture or video, link up your favorite pictures and/or race reports or year-end posts in the linky tool below! Or leave us a comment telling us about your best moment or PR in 2011!

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF YOU, FROM THE SISTERHOOD! May 2012 be filled with goal-reaching, motivation and clarity.

2012 HERE WE COME!

And if you’re wondering who’s in the photos, here they are, in order of pictures. (Thank you everyone!)

-Ann, http://ann-shesgonnablow.blogspot.com/

-Lissa, Shrinking Jeans Co-Founder

-Melissa: http://alifetimeloser.blogspot.com/, favorite quote: “If you have made mistakes, there is always another chance for you. You can start over any moment you choose.” – Mary Pickford

-Lisa, SJ Writer. Personal blog: www.growingupmo.com

-Connie: http://kaleidoscopicwords.blogspot.com/, favorite quote: “Run your own race.”

-Heather, SJ Writer

-Colleen: http://adiosfatgirl.blogspot.com

-Jaemie: igniteyourbones.com

-Dee Di Memmo: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/vegan-deelight-dee-di-memmo/1107989173

-Beki: www.wildchildgonegood.com

-Christie O., SJ Writer. Personal blog: www.averagemomswearcapes.com

-Mary fiddlersbride.com favorite quote: “If you run, you are a runner. It doesn’t matter how fast or how far. It doesn’t matter if today is your first day or if you’ve been running for twenty years. There is no test to pass, no license to earn, no membership card to get. You just run.”
― John Bingham

-Christy, SJ Co-Founder

-Adah: http://plainolegrandmaislosingit.wordpress.com

-Nancy, SJ Writer. Personal blog: http://shesgettingserious.blogspot.com/

-Debra: www.finallygettingfit.wordpress.com

-Mary: http://reinventionofmary.blogspot.com/, favorite quote: “A year from now, you’ll wish you’d started today!” (Amen, Mary!!)

-Bari: www.Livelaughrunbreathe.com

-Amy, favorite quote: “I believe in redefining my impossible.”

-Shera:  http://lashera.livejournal.com

-Jill: http://jillconyers.com/. Favorite quote: “Running has given me the courage to start, the determination to keep trying, and the childlike spirit to have fun along the way. Run often and run long, but never outrun your joy of running.” ~Julie Isphording

-Thea, SJ Writer. Personal blog: www.imadramamama.wordpress.com

-Kirsten: www.livinginagirlsworld.com & www.runninginagirlsworld.wordpress.com

-Megan: http://craftyenglishteacher.blogspot.com

-Sarah:  http://fasterthanasnail.blogspot.com/

It feels like yesterday and now, 2012 is just DAYS away!

Where did the year go?! I know we ask this every year but I feel like this year went especially fast. (I think I say that too every year but really I mean it this time!)

So what did YOU do in 2011?  What milestones did you reach? Did you have a personal best? Did you go further or faster than ever before? Did you surpass any expectation of yourself whatsoever? Do you have a memory in fitness that you will always remember for 2011? Did you lose weight, reach goal or make progress?

More importantly, did you get any of it on camera? Any part of it, the crossing the finish, the before – the after- the during? We are sharing the Sisterhood’s year in pictures, will you be in it?

Send us a picture of you in 2011, your favorite memory, your favorite race,  whatever represents what 2011 in fitness meant to you.

Here’s what we need:

• 1 photo of you – your favorite photo & memory from kicking butt in 2011 (You can send me more than one and I might use them but make sure you label which one’s your favorite).
• Your name, blog URL and the description of the picture, nice and short (i.e. PR at Ice Ridge 5k 28:35 or 1st 1/2 Marathon Nike Women’s: 2:40)
• Have it in video? Send us a 10 second clip! (Please no long videos, we need your favorite 10 second clip, I don’t want to cut off the important parts and it can only be 10 seconds.)
• OPTIONAL: Want to make a brand new message of your awesome 2011 by phone or flip? That’s cool too! Just make sure it’s 10 seconds long. (if it’s longer, it will get clipped so make sure it’s only 10 seconds — I wish we could make an exception but it’s the software, not me.)
• OPTIONAL: If you posted the race recap of that particular picture, link to it! (We will link to these in our post that day!)
• OPTIONAL: Your mantra or favorite quote (not necessary but would be lovely).

Send it in an email to christieo at shrinkingjeans.net.

We will release it next week in time for the new year, so send in YOURS NOW! Or at least by Tuesday, December 27th if you want to get in, and we want you!

So head over to your photos right now sitting in your computer and send it to me. Have the Merriest of Christmas and the Happiest of Hanukkas and the Happiest of Holidays!

OK so it’s not morning anymore, but we can pretend it’s morning, right? I’m drinking coffee like it is if that counts! It may even be morning for some of you, where ever you are!

My apologies for the late check-in. By now, you’ve probably gone onto the scale to see how things went for you this week and you haven’t had anywhere to put it yet! You’ve been holding onto this knowledge all day!

Well fret no more, it’s time to spill. How was your week? How did you do today? Give us the details!

I have to tell you a secret. Come here. (pssst. I’M LOSING WEIGHT AROUND THE HOLIDAYS!!!!! I’M NOT GAINING!!!!)

OK so I just yelled but it’s true! I have actually reined in my affinity for baked goods. And I have actually found time to work out within my currently impossible schedule. It has to happen at 5 a.m. in order for me to squeeze it in, but it’s worth it for me to not gain another pants size! Which I was on my way to!

My holiday eating started out shaky but I got it together. How bout you??

Are you doing the “10K a Day” Challenge? Are you participating in “O, Fitness Tree“? Both?

And by the way, what did you think about The Biggest Loser last night? All I have to say is WOW!!

In addition to the regular holidays, we have 4 birthdays in the family. Do you know what 4 birthdays in the family means?

4 CAKES. SOMETIMES MORE, depending on how many times we celebrate each one of them.

There used to be a  time where a baked good held no power over me. But I’ve started working from home and as I get that daily schedule figured out (which is pure craziness), my workouts have been all over the place and I don’t know about you, but my workouts (or lack thereof) has a direct effect on my eating.

I find myself saying, “I don’t have time.”

When have I ever said that? Of course I have time! I am not making myself a priority, that’s what this is! Add to this that I’m nursing an IT Band injury, which means I can’t run very far right now, which makes my workouts even more confusing.

True confession time means today a “reset” button for me.

What does it mean for you?

It’s been a little while since we’ve reviewed an exercise around here but there’s one that I consider one of my most important in everything that I do and that’s the plank.

It is so simple it hurts.

Literally.

You just need your body and some space and you can do them almost anywhere and they do amazing things for your body (sorta like kegels.)

But there is a reason that the plank is so important. It’s because our core is so important. The core is not just the center of our bodies, it’s the center of everything we do.

Everything we do, starts at our core both physically and metaphorically.

Your running form? Based on core strength.

Your swimming form? Based on core strength.

Your bike speed? Based on core strength.

Without core strength, your form slips, which causes you to use other muscles to compensate (or overcompensate) and overusing muscles when they’re not necessarily supposed to be used can lead to injury.

It all works together and when the core gets stronger, everything gets stronger.

Your core consists of your inner and outer core. The inner core is all of the muscles surrounding your spine. The outer core is the muscles you see, the famous “sixpack” that we all strive for and the obliques.

When the inner core is weak, it causes:

• back pain
• slouching
• lack of balance/stability
• lack of speed (we have the need… the NEED FOR SPEED!)

Among other things of course. And you can’t have a strong outer core unless you have a strong inner core. To be perfectly honest, I’m not concerned about the sixpack abs. I mean, sure it’d be nice. But what I’m concerned about is throwing the rest of my body & muscles out of whack because of my weak core. So for the past few weeks I’ve been doing a lot of plank.

Plank on the floor.

Switching from plank on your elbows to plank on your hands every 30 seconds.

If you want to make the core work harder, plank on a stability ball.

Then there are side planks.

Leave a comment below if you plank. Better yet, go do a plank, then leave a comment on how long you held it!

If you need help in doing a plank, Christy did a series demonstrating the plank that you can watch here!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq7Du7690cI