What do you do when….

February 12, 2013April 19, 20147 Comments

You forget an essential item for the gym? Think: sports bra, good socks, hair elastic, headphones, etc… I know I am not alone when I say that this has happened to me more times than I would like to admit. You would think that I would always have these items packed up and ready since I am at the gym more often than I would like to admit, but just recently I forgot an elastic for a class AND another time when I was running a 5K.

Last night, though, it wasn’t me that forgot something, but luckily I could help. It just meant that I had to teach like this:

Yup. I let a member (don’t worry, she wasn’t a random member… we are Facebook friends so that makes us pretty much besties, right?!) borrow my sneakers. It was our midway benchmark workout for Dynamax Boot Camp and I was not about to let her miss out on that just because she forgot her sneakers! Luckily we were the same size and luckily I had already gotten really sweaty:

[Yes, my shirt says “No one has ever drowned in their own sweat”… although yesterday, I think I almost did. The best part about this shirt is it has a message on the back that is only revealed when you sweat a lot. I love it. Check out this site for more awesome shirts like this! http://www.viewsport.us/]

Anyway, she was able to workout and I was still able to do a lot… I call that a win-win!

Question for you: What is the worst gym essential that you have forgotten?

Got 20 Minutes?

February 11, 20139 Comments

Did anyone else hear that we are supposed to get more snow?! I love snow, but I think we need a little more time to get things cleared up after Nemo before we get any more.

Anyway, I wanted to share a quickie workout with you that you can really do anywhere (I have done it in a hotel room, in our kitchen, in my bedroom). I am all about creating workouts that do not require the gym or even any equipment because I think people use those as excuses far too often. You don’t need to workout at the gym in order for it to be a good workout!

AMRAP= As Many Rounds As Possible. Perform the number of reps listed for each exercise and see how many full rounds you can do in 20 minutes.

This may look easy, but it’s the 10 burpees to 50 jumping jacks that is really killer! If you have weights, feel free to hold them for the squats and the sit-ups- definitely adds some intensity!

Few notes/modifications:

Jumping Jacks- if you do not want to jump, you can step your feet out instead of jumping them out. If they are too easy, try crossing your feet in the middle.
Push-ups- you can do these on your knees or against a wall if you are not ready to do them on your feet and hands yet. If regular push-ups are too easy, try lifting one leg or doing tricep push-ups or spiderman push-ups.
Burpees- you can walk your feet back into a high plank instead of jumping them back. It’s your workout so modify up or down as you see fit!
Remember to keep good form throughout the workout! I know the goal is to work fast to get through lots of rounds in the 20 minutes, but if you are compromising your form because you’re speeding through the moves, you’re not getting the full effects of the workout and risk an injury.

This is a great lunch break workout, too… a great way to start a Monday:)

Hope everyone has a great day!

Questions for you! What is your favorite “at-home” workout? Do you like working out during your lunch break?

Chicken Parmesan… with a healthy twist!

February 10, 2013April 19, 201411 Comments

Hey there! Happy Sunday! Hope everyone has survived Nemo. I went out with some friends last night to celebrate surviving the storm (how dramatic, right?) and therefore had a liiitle bit of a slow start today. Finally, after some quality couch time, I did get motivated to go for a snow shoe – 40 minutes and 1.5 miles later, I felt like a new person!

One of my favorite things about Sundays is meal planning and grocery shopping (I know, it’s weird- we all love grocery shopping in our family.). I always try to plan a healthy meal to make on Sundays so I can finish the weekend on a good note and also have leftovers for the week. I teach classes after work on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays and often do not get home until 8:30, so having healthy meals readily available to quickly reheat when I get home is key for me.

Chicken Parmesan is always a go-to favorite in our house. Our mom makes the BEST chicken parm, but I have to say that this healthier variation that I made tonight is a close runner-up!

Healthier Chicken Parmesan

Ingredients:

Boneless chicken breasts
Panko
2-3 eggs
Flour
Italian herbs and seasoning
Olive oil
1 medium spaghetti squash
Pasta sauce
Provolone cheese

Directions

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350* and bring a big pot of water to a boil- the pot needs to be big enough to fit the spaghetti squash. Cut open the spaghetti squash and clean out the seeds. Place both halves of the spaghetti squash into the water and boil until the squash is soft (Usually about 20 mins).

2. While the squash is cooking, set up your dipping stations: 1 bowl for flour, 1 bowl for eggs and 1 bowl for the Panko. Tip from mom: add in some Italian herbs and seasonings to the Panko. This gives the chicken a little extra flavor. Take each chicken breast and coat with flour, then egg and then Panko.

3. Heat a pan with a little olive oil. Once pan is warm, transfer the coated chicken breasts to the pan and sear each side for 3-4 minutes. After both sides have been browned, move them to a cookie sheet or baking stone, coat with a layer of sauce and a piece of cheese and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until the chicken is fully cooked.

4. At this point, the spaghetti squash should be ready to remove from the water. Let the squash cool for a little bit until you are able to hold it without burning your fingers off! Use a fork and run it lengthwise down the inside of each side of the squash to make the “spaghetti”. Keep this in a bowl until it’s time to take the chicken out of the oven.

5. Top a bowl of spaghetti squash with chicken and extra sauce, if desired. I also ended up making some asparagus I just coated them with a little EVOO, salt, pepper and garlic nuggets and baked for about 30 mins. Totally a great addition to the meal!

Using spaghetti squash instead of regular spaghetti is a nice, healthy change-up in this meal and everything re-heats really well; I can’t wait for left overs! Hope you enjoy this as much as we did!

I am still trying to figure out my posting schedule during the week, but I hope to pop in at least a few times to fill you in on my week and classes and workouts. Here is a glimpse of this week:

Monday- Work, then heading to the Oak Square YMCA where I’ll have time to get in the first part of my workout (usually some machine cardio followed by some lifting) before teaching Dynamax Boot Camp- my FAVORITE class of the week!

Tuesday- This is the only day during the week that I don’t teach so it ends up being my rest day AND a day where I get home before 8pm and it makes me so happy!

Wednesday- Work, then I head over to the Central Square BSC (Boston Sports Club) to teach UXF Burn (I’ll post more on that later!). I usually have time to fit in some cardio before teaching, too.

Thursday- Work, then I head over to the Central Square BSC again where I teach Cardio Kickboxing.

Friday- TGIF! I work from home on Fridays since I teach over at the Allston BSC at 5:30pm. It’s the nicest feeling to wake up and know I can just head downstairs to work instead of making the trek into the city! I teach UXF Burn at night.

Saturday- Until March, I teach a Total Body Conditioning class at the Allston BSC. Once March arrives, I will be teaching Cardio Kickboxing over at the Oak Square YMCA every other Saturday instead of TBC at Allston. I am really looking forward to this change!

Phew! If you made it to this part of the post, nice work and thanks for sticking with me:)

Questions for you! What do your Sunday’s look like? Do you prep meals for the week? What are your workouts going to be this week?

A Brewin’ Blizzard

February 9, 2013April 19, 20144 Comments

I don’t think I have seen snow like this since my senior year in college. I remember it was Valentine’s Day and for the first time in over 30 years, St. Mike’s was cancelling all classes from noon on. We were ecstatic! My friend and I got in a HARD 2 mile snow shoe (we accumulated over a foot of snow in like 2 hours!) and then joined the rest of the crew for multiple rounds of drinking games. I played “dad” of the house and tended to the shoveling and “mom” of the house by replenishing the snacks and drinks. The next morning we woke up and literally could not see any part of our cars. Hands down, that day will always be one of my best college memories.

Anyway… I found myself thinking back to that day today as I sat at my desk and “worked” from home. We went out early and stocked up on the necessities: wine, beer, bubbly, and snacks.

I wrote a comment on Facebook around 8am, maybe, asking if it was too early to start drinking wine. Judging by the many comments and “likes” I received, I quickly realized everyone was supporting my early drinking urge.

However, I was able to control myself and didn’t crack anything open until after 4pm… that is totally acceptable, right?

In order to hold off from drinking the day away (not that there is anything wrong with that!), I decided to get an at-home workout in. It was relatively short (about 30 mins including a warm up), but WOW, I was sweating and huffing and puffing! I find it only fitting that my first workout featured on Burpees to Bubbly includes, you guessed it, burpees!!

Blizzard Workout

The goal of this workout is to get to 100 reps of each exercise as quickly as possible, while maintaining good form.

Perform move A until fatigue and then do the same for move B, and then alternate between A and B until you reach 100 reps of each. (Personally, I did 25 of each and repeated 4 times, but some people did 20 reps or 50 reps or 10 reps)

Set 1:

A. Squats with weighted overhead extension (hold 1 weight, when you squat down, try to touch the weight to the ground and then when you extend up, press the weight over your head- you can do this without weights, too!)

B. Push-ups- can be done on your knees or feet, maybe one-legged or tricep push-ups- challenge yourself!

Set 2:

A. Burpees (check these out on YouTube if you need clarification or modifications!)

B. Superman’s

Set 3:

A. Squat Jumps

B. Weighted Russian Twists

Big thanks to Athena who blogs over at http://fitnessandfeta.com. I saw her post about an “endurance” workout and loved the idea. I am totally sore today… always a sign of a good workout:)

I hope everyone has stayed safe and warm in this crazy blizzard! I can’t wait to slap on my snow shoes and go check out the effects of the storm!

I’ve held out long enough…

February 8, 2013April 19, 20144 Comments

Well… here we go! I have been reading “healthy living” blogs for years and years, but have never had the urge to start my own. Recently, though, the urge has been there. I am always thinking “oohh that would be a great picture for a blog post. I’d use this caption/explanation”, “wow this recipe is delicious and look how well it photographs!”, “this glass of wine is SO necessary today”, and so on and so on. And then I started thinking of names! What on earth would I call my blog? I love fitness, food and wine… can it incorporate all of those things and still be catchy? It has gotten to the point where it’s all I think about, leaving me with no other decision but to finally start a blog.

Oh yeah, the fact that we are currently immersed in a blizzard and I am now left with loads of extra time (fitness class tonight has been cancelled and my 9 hour Kickboxing exam tomorrow has been rescheduled) doesn’t hurt as an extra push either!

What I hope to provide you guys with in this blog is lots of health and fitness advice and tips, workouts for the gym and on the road (for all my friends who have lots of travel for their job), recipes, restaurants and, of course, wine! Hang with me while I get through these first couple of posts until I am really able to find my writing “voice” and flow of Burpees to Bubbly!