I've been sick for the past week. And it's been quite a few years since I've come down with something, so it took something really strong to bring my immune system down, but it finally happened. For the week prior to this, we had work done on our house that had me sleep deprived for an extended period of time. This really ran down my immune system and left me susceptible to illness. It sounds counterintuitive (and probably crazy to some too), but the one thing that really helped me throughout my sickness was continuing to work out. I know, you're always told to get plenty of rest and not overexert yourself so you make your body feel worse and even sicker, right? But it's not about overdoing it; it's about doing something instead of absolutely nothing. There's still plenty of lying around time too, don't worry. Plus I drank over a gallon of water for the past 3 days to stay hydrated and keep my nose and throat from getting too dry. And though it scared me a little to drink so much, I didn't even pee more frequently than usual, so I know my body really needed and fully utilized that fluid. Crazy! I'll talk more below about why exercising through sickness is so helpful and worth doing, but in the meantime, we finally have a new workout to do! Come get your lower body burn on with me...

Kettlebell yoga is back! I couldn't resist creating another workout for this series, I enjoy this fusion so much. I hope you like this one as much as the first. Let me know what you think...

Follow me to this super tough, fun leg workout. It takes less than 25 minutes to work on building legs of steel...

You have the strength to get through anything you set your mind to, whether it be a tough workout that really challenges your strength and endurance, or a rough patch you're going through in your life. For the former, you can definitely get through this workout with me. Stick with me, we'll do it together...

When I started planning this workout I intended it to just be full of butt-targeting exercises interspersed with some cardio, nothing crazy; but what I ended up with was some pretty intense cardio on top of great butt-firming moves. This workout's awesome, come see what I mean...

You only need 20 minutes for today's new, fun, super tough kettlebell cookie cutter workout. Let's get it done...

This workout was tough, even though it's made up of just simple, bodyweight exercises. Come try it out with me to see what I mean...

I wanted to do something different today. And I knew I wanted to do some stretching without putting together a long, elaborate yoga routine. So I came up with cardio stretch. I've done workouts of a similar nature, but there was too much stretching, too much downtime for it to really still be an effective, high intensity workout. I wanted this to still feel hard, and for me it did. Come try it out with me and let me know what you think...

I really wanted to give up during this workout today, but I don't allow myself excuses other than an illness that physically prohibits me from moving, which thankfully is a rare occurrence. I was in a fairly significant amount of pain today, though, but I didn't want to let that stop me. Maybe I'm crazy to push through something like that, but as this typically happens a day or 2 each month (sorry fellas, I am indeed referring to my monthly visitor) I don't see it as a valid reason not to move. It feels better to keep up with my workouts and keep going like normal; and exercise is supposed to help with the cramping and pain that can occur. I don't really find this to be true for me, but it still helps me feel better in other ways: I feel more energized, it improves my mood, and those benefits are worth it to me. This serves me better than just lying around; plus my workouts are short, so if I really want to, I can always lie around after I get it done. Come try today's workout with me, I'm curious to know if it was just my condition or if this workout really is pretty tough...