Category Archives: Melissa Bender Fitness: My First Bikini Competition Prep: Month 1 Workouts.

MIND BODY SPIRIT

trainsandtrees6
I think to be fit in body one must be fit in mind and spirit. I am a firm believer in a mind/body/spirit connection.  It all begins in our thoughts, and  our thoughts can be transformed into actions. I am one who finds solace in nature, and creating art. Working out helps balance my happiness as well as my fitness, as does channeling my creative and philanthropic side. When I do cardio, I prefer to do so outdoors so I can benefit from what I call mobile meditation. I get lost, I am a wanderer, wondering always about what is to come and pushing the limits on my dreams. The sky is the limit and I am forever reaching in my sun salutations for the sun above. I find weight loss is not such a lofty goal when you finally make the connection.
Check out my facebook page to see some of the tree photos I snapped on my running path. https://www.facebook.com/MyChangeForATen
Friday night my workout was done at midnight, yes it was late but I preferred to do it after my ten hour day rather than before. Skipping is not an option for me. When I began this project I promised myself when I commit to something I will follow through. I say it, and it gets done. I also walked two miles yesterday but I admit I did not eat nearly enough. I will have to improve upon that.
Today is day seven of MelissaBender Fitness workouts, and day seven of being her fitness ambassador.http://www.benderfitness.com/2013/01/lower-body-fat-blaster.html
Yesterdays workout was awesome and I really worked up a sweat. It is amazing how everything else in life feels right on point and happiness quota rises as if on steroids when you get high off your own endorphins.
I am so grateful for this life I live and it never escapes me that so many people are struggling and my heart always goes out to them. That is one reason I do this project, to do a little to make a difference.  Yesterday I met a young girl who is obviously battling cancer, but her smile on her face could light up a starless sky. Inspiration comes in so many forms. Her radiance and positive attitude will stay with me as I continue on in my own journey of this elusive phase we call life, loving every second of feeling totally and utterly alive yet never taking it for granted.
May the sun bring you warmth and the stars light your path
Love and Light
Rose Bruno Bailey San Francisco

On The Right Track

Good Morning to all on this beautiful morning. I am on day three of my ambassadorship for Melissa Bender Fitness and I am so enthusiastic about what is to come. I am a little sore today from the workouts.
Honestly, moving from LA to San Francisco left me off track so to speak. This train is moving again and in the direction of being in the best shape of my life. Today is a day off from the workouts, but I am still going to do my cardio — and I have decided to get back to basics on the day off and do one of her beginning videos. If you are a beginner or want to get back to the basics, this video is perfect for you.
This workout encompasses a lot of the basic moves that really work — and at my current stage, they’re great for me. I am having some challenges with my injured toe, which makes going back on my toe difficult in a lunge so I plan on asking Melissa Bender Fitness for some modifications. I am in need of new workout shoes as well as some equipment for home workouts. My fitness to-do shopping list is growing.
I have decided not to focus on the scale, but I will be weighing in again soon and posting my weight. I have also decided I would like to weigh around 135 lbs. I am currently 165.  I have come a long way but I feel I also have a long way to go and I feel a renewed sense of inspiration and motivation. I know I got this. Moving was traumatic but I am now completely back on track.
I was in the play Pippin once, and one of the songs was titled On The Right Track. Perfect for my mood today.
Love and Light to all
Namaste’
Rose
Rose Bailey Weight Loss Melissa Bender

Crossroads For 2015

Good morning, all.

I announced recently that I will be a fitness ambassador for Melissa Bender Fitness. I begin Day 1 of the first month of Melissa Bender Fitness bikini competition workouts today.  I am keeping a food journal in the notes of my Facebook page (My Change For A Ten) as well as a breakdown of my workout schedule and my time management with my work and life; the goal is to plan ahead and be prepared. I have a lot of work to do but I am totally enthusiastic and excited about this challenge.

I am working towards being in the best shape of my life. My goal is to be strong enough to take trapeze classes in three months, make an appearance in a Melissa Bender Fitness workout video — as well as deepening my yoga practice.  I moved from LA to San Francisco and I am thrilled for the opportunity to take what I have accomplished in LA and translate it to another level. I lost 45 lbs and I am proud of how far I have come and the charities I assisted along my journey. I am now at a crossroads taking a different direction but still aiming for my ultimate destination of strength, health, and philanthropy with a little help from Melissa Bender Fitness.

My first charity for 2015 will be announced soon.

Love and Light

Namaste’

Rose
Link

I announced yesterday that I am a fitness ambassador for MelissaBenderFitness and I begin my workouts on Monday the 5th of January.  I am doing her three month Bikini Competition Prep workouts that she used before she competed and placed in a bikini competition.  I have three goals I am working towards in the next three months. To finish the three month workout plan and to become strong enough to take trapeze classes, and to develop my home yoga practice supplemented with studio time. I will also be choosing a charity to assist as well.

I am also going to be following how she eats, yet gearing it for me and my own personal tastes and lifestyle. It is very similar to how I normally eat, and the way I ate to lose my first 45 lbs. 

Here is the link to her grocery list. My husband and I went shopping and bought food for weeks, which will help me be consistent and not have to run to the grocery store every day like I did when we lived in West Hollywood. The lifestyle if different here in San Francisco than it was in  LA so I must plan ahead to be successful.

I am truly excited for the beginning the workouts, and getting ready and strong enough to take Trapeze Classes as well as developing my yoga practice.  Beginning the new year on a right note.

Love and Light 

Namaste’

Rose

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http://www.benderfitness.com/2012/07/melissa-benders-grocery-list.html

STRONGER THAN YESTERDAY

As you know, I am a former dancer and a poet, and I have my best friend Melissa Bender to thank for suggesting I write poetry in 2005, as well as getting me dancing again when I thought I was getting too old and that ship had sailed. When I started this project to sponsor a charity with each ten pound loss, I just assumed I was speed walk and diet and eventually lose the weight and take dance classes again.

Instead I found myself with the help of a trainer Mike turned dear friend ( who I feel indebted to).  Mike gave me his support, time, and expertise and granted me the keys to fitness; which opened up a whole new world to me. My best friend Melissa continued to inspire not just me but the masses with her incredible workouts, and I used those for my home based exercise and yoga. Melissa was my biggest cheerleader and kept me going even though she was on the other side of the country.

I promised myself I would be completely authentic, and I was open about everything. I became fearless and ageless and I have so many fitness goals and items on my fitness bucket list. I may not be ready for all of my dreams yet, but I will be. When I shared with Melissa my desire to do a ambassador program for a fitness or yoga website she suggested I be her very first fitness ambassador. It was perfect timing, and a completely natural fit. 

I navigated a move from Los Angeles to San Francisco and I will be beginning anew as a Benderfitness ambassador with the iconic Golden Gate Bridge as my new backdrop. I will be sharing every detail of the next three months. I plan to do Melissa Bender Fitness three month Bikini prep workouts and yoga videos to build a solid home practice, cardio and I plan to follow her diet plan. She used the plan to prep for her bikini competition.

 I also just found out Melissa plans to come my way at the end of the three months and we are shooting a video and tackling one of the items off my fitness bucket list, Trapeze Classes. Now I have to become stronger than ever, since I am not near ready to take a class. I am so excited and thrilled to take on this challenge, and happy I have Melissa to train me and help me go into 2015 with a bang. I also plan to do raffle for charity on my site, and I am looking into non profits who do not get a lot of funds. Helping others as I help myself, with a little or a lot of help from my best friend.

melissabikini

Melissa who won trophies for her bikini competition

I am in good hands

 

http://www.benderfitness.com/

http://www.benderfitness.com/p/bikini-competition-workouts.html

 

https://www.facebook.com/MelissaBenderFitness

Namaste’

Love and Light

Rose

 

 

NATIONAL POETRY DAY



Good Morning to all. Today in the UK is National Poetry Day, and since I am a poet I decided to include a poem in my daily post. Writing helps me channel my thoughts and get through the challenges and transitions in life, as well as working out. Life is hills and valleys, at one moment you are king of the hill the next moment you find yourself stranded at the bottom without a safety net. It is how you channel your thoughts that makes all of the difference.

What do you do to keep the calm amongst the chaos? With my move I am working out daily doing Melissa Bender Fitness first month of her three month series of the Bikini competition workout and daily trips to the gym. I also love to work out in nature. Movement has helped me keep my sanity as we transition from Los Angeles to San Francisco. I would love to hear your thoughts, how you channel your anxieties and worries. Nature always has a way of bringing us back to earth. 

Love and Light to all.
Namaste’
Rose

NATURAL THERAPY

The azure sky above tints my reality

with a little glow of heaven,  

An existence formally tainted

within the eclipse of my soul.

Depleted unfulfilled and lost

within a colorless endless Monday;

searching for a free haven,

a place where weariness

drifts away in the haze;

illuminating the shadows.

Clouds take on a new shape,

artistry and the allure of the earth,

nature and spirit are entwined in bliss.

Fluttering in the mist of the rain,

water blesses me to begin anew;

I become the willow in the wisp,

communing with the celestial one.

Climb trees, reach high, embrace;

mother earth and all she stands for.

The scent of damp cedar,

captures my senses and I am aware;

there is more to myself than me.

Honeysuckle tickles, provokes, lingers;

teases my greedy nostrils

with the promise of the coming dawn,

and all the abandon that she offers.

The endless monotony of Mondays,

are replaced with the beauty of a blue beyond.

Slow down, breathe, take time,

be serene, own your peace.

The wonder of a midsummer delight

replaces the constant inner struggle,

when an individual steps outside

their vanity, their Jones’ mentality.

Looks at their former world

from a different vantage point.

Grasps what is truly valuable,

We are all one with the earth

and the earth is one with us.

Rose Bruno Bailey

 

 

 

 

 

 

MONDAY 9-29-2014

Good morning to all and a very Happy Monday. yesterday I switched my rest day of today and took it yesterday instead. So tonight I am doing Melissa Bender’s Day 8 Fitness Transformation workout #2 in the first month of the three month series that she did to prep for her bikini competition. Here is a picture of me last December and now. I took a picture in the same wrap dress, but I pulled it much tighter to fit. I am going to lose another 40 lbs, but definitely 20 lbs. I now weigh 164 and I feel far from done yet proud at how far I have come. I use the sit down test. If I sit down and I feel like my belly spills out a little, I am not fit yet. On my way, but not there.


Melissa does some exercises in plank that requires you jump. I modify such exercises since I have a toe injury. I can plank, but not jump in plank on my toe. I make it through the routine and the rounds, I just adjust what she does to my own personal needs. I am finally seeing a Dr next week.

Moving is crazy, in weeks I will be in San Francisco. Working out has helped me keep my sanity. I am so excited to begin anew in another city. I love LA, and I absolutely adore the community of West Hollywood. Today was the day four years ago we moved from NYC to LA so this is all very bitter sweet for us. I must not compare though, I will embrace the city by the bay and all of the brand new opportunities. I am going to take this project to a new level.

Off for now. Love and light to all and a big thank you to my best friend Melissa Bender. She has been an amazing friend and we have not lived in the same city since 2005 when I left Pittsburgh PA for CT. She has taught me true friends are just a mere heartbeat away. A shout out to all of my loved ones near and far. I am all about the love.

Namaste’
Love and light
Rose




Check in Day Seven….Melissa Bender Fitness: Tummy Toning Fat Burn


The first year is behind me,  45 lbs are lost….onward and upward to the next forty and all of my fitness goals.

Checking in on my routine. Day seven of Month one is today, and yes I workout on a Saturday. Today I am going to the gym to do the treadmill as well as day seven. I am also doing home yoga until I move to San Francisco and when I get situated in will be back in the studio. I am doing all three months of Melissa Bender’s Bikini Competition prep, the workouts she did to compete in a bikini competition. She has and always will be so inspiring to me, and I am always so grateful to her for being such an amazing  best friend as well as role model to many. 

Much love and light to all and a big thanks to Melissa Bender for helping me during this transition period. 

Namaste’

Rose

Melissa Bender Fitness: Tummy Toning Fat Burn: *Workout Video and Breakdown Below Hi Everyone! Who is up for some tummy time? Everyone wants a strong core, and sexy abs. This w…

SWEAT OUT THE STRESS



Thank god it is Friday. This moving mess is unreal, and it is truly the hardest move we have ever navigated. Forging forward with my work out goals, which makes dealing with the unease and stress so much easier. Endorphins really do have a factor on your mood.

Today is day six of Melissa Bender Fitness Bikini Prep workout, month one. I am also doing about 45 minutes of cardio today as well. I am going to shoot for two rounds. 
http://www.benderfitness.com/2013/01/lower-body-fat-blaster.html

I had a few weeks of slowing down with the moving stress and this week I am working on my strength. Next week I will do three rounds.
I am doing her 12 week series, and also incorporating my own cardio and Body Pump Classes from 24 Hour Fitness. I will start Yoga as soon as I get situated in San Francisco.

I need to eat a bit more. I eat mostly clean but sometimes I do not eat enough. I was reading all about what Melissa eats and it puts me to shame. I definitely need to eat more. Not eating slows your metabolism and does not fuel you enough for working out.

Breakfast today was non fat Greek yogurt with no sugar no salt peanut butter, raw oats and a banana. I was out of my usual protein bars. 

Off for today. I work and I will be working out this evening.
Love and Light to all
Namaste’
Rose


Melissa Bender Fitness: My First Bikini Competition Prep: Month 1 Workouts…

If you  look up, clouds will guide your way



Good morning to all. Here is the complete list of Month one, which I am following. I am on day five of Month one. I need this now more than ever, the moving stress level is through the roof. The relocation red tape is unreal, and there is always a chance that we could stay in LA, so back to being in limbo. We wait, and I workout to keep my sanity and push harder than ever. Whether here in LA or in San Francisco I am taking my project and my fitness goals to another level.


In the meantime work calls after my second cup of coffee. Cue breathing.

Namaste’

Rose

Melissa Bender Fitness: My First Bikini Competition Prep: Month 1 Workouts…: This is Month 1 of the workouts that I have done to prep for my bikini competition. This is the order I completed the workouts in…