Month: February 2014

So… what about those rest days?

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Rest days. Hmm. What a concept, right? If you’ve been reading B2B for a while, I’m sure it’s no shocker that I’m not always very good at rest days. Since I teach so much, on my off days I like to try new workouts and gyms and classes, and sometimes those get in the way of my rest days. And, bottom line, I like to workout! I like to sweat once a day. I like that time where it’s just me and my music or my classes. I like being disconnected from my phone or my computer. It’s just such a big part of my life and daily routine that it feels more weird to NOT plan for a workout than it does to plan for one. BUT! Rest is SO important and since I can often use a reminder to rest, I decided to write this post in case any of you can relate.

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However, since I’ve started teaching, I do honor my body more and rest at least once a week, as well as vary my workout types and intensities throughout the other days of the week. Our bodies can only go at full speed/intensity for so long before we hit a wall. Realizing this and abiding by this is so important for me now because if I get injured or suffer from overuse, then I potentially won’t be able to teach or be as good and as involved in my classes if I can still teach. So, at this time, here’s a general overview of my workouts each week

  • Mondays- Low impact cardio (spinning, cardio machine, etc.) and core
  • Tuesdays- Only strength training (no cardio)
  • Wednesdays- Cardio (usually running) and then teaching UXF Burn where I do about 75-85% of the workout (or less, depending on what I do beforehand and/or how sore I am from the day before)
  • Thursdays- SHRED and then kickboxing, which is a lot!
  • Fridays- Rest because I’m usually beat after my double from Thursday
  • Saturdays- Either cardio (kickboxing) or strength (BodyPump)
  • Sundays- Lately my Sunday’s have been “fun” workouts: yoga, Barre, Core Fusion, etc. which is great because not only is it something new for me, it’s generally lower impact which is always a welcome change for my joints.

So, although it’s a lot (I like to move!), I really try to vary what I’m doing from day to day. There’s absolutely room for improvement, though, because sometimes I feel like I just need a break. Last week, as I mentioned, was one of those weeks. I lost my workout “mojo”, and I can only attribute that to being burned out. Unfortunately, even though I can notice this and understand this about myself, I’m still not very good at CHANGING things. Sure, I can take a rest day after I feel like this and then say I’m going to take it easy, but I just have a really hard time doing that. Once I get going at the gym, I get excited and forget that I should be taking it easy and resting.

…. maybe I should just avoid the gym during those times where I tell myself that I’m going to take it easy… what a thought!

I tried thinking about why I am like this. Why I don’t like going too long without a workout. Why I plan my day around a workout more often than not. Why I have a hard time listening to my body and giving it adequate rest when it needs it.

While I haven’t figure this out entirely, I have come to the conclusion that I’m not afraid missing a workout will make me gain 5lbs. It won’t. I’m not afraid that I will lose all my strength and muscle definition. I won’t. I’m not afraid that my cardio endurance levels will decrease. They won’t. Muscle memory (your heart is a muscle, too!) lasts for much longer than we think it does.

So, what could it be? That’s what I am trying to find out… and it’s not easy! The benefits of rest are so important for us, that it seems like no-brainer to take a rest day or a few rest days, right?

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As the image above so clearly states, rest allows our muscles have a chance to repair themselves from the previous day’s workout, it’s a chance for your muscles to get stronger, it helps eliminate burn-out and over-use and is time for you to have an over all “recharged” battery. One of my favorite bloggers, Gina wrote a “Focus On” post on the importance of rest days and I often go back to that post whenever I need a little reminder about WHY I need to rest.

Someday I’ll get better at it and I’ll be able to rest as much as this little bugger.

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But, I also need help from you and want to hear from you! Does anyone else suffer with giving their body enough rest like I do? How often do you rest? Do you plan it out? Any tips to help me get better at resting? Any ideas for things to do on a rest day during my normal workout time?

Garlic & Cheese Mashed Cauliflower

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Last week, I got the urge to make something relatively simple for dinner. I wasn’t in the mood to do a lot of cooking and have a bunch of pots and pans out, so I went simple and roasted some veggies, baked some marinated chicken and made the most delicious garlic and cheese mashed cauliflower.

These days, it seems as though everyone is finding alternatives to carbs or gluten or dairy or… you get the idea. I’m not big on falling into the trap of those eating lifestyles, but I do like to experiment with bits and pieces of those “diets” every once and a while. I’ve made cauliflower crust pizza, which was good, but definitely not a regular pizza crust replacement. Garlic and cheese mashed cauliflower, on the other hand, could easily be a replacement for regular mashed potatoes. I honestly felt as though I was eating a big ol’ serving of starchy goodness, so I had to share it with you.

Garlic & Cheese Mashed Cauliflower

Ingredients:

  • 1 head of cauliflower
  • 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 2 tbsp. parmesan cheese
  • 2 tbsp. ricotta cheese
  • 1-2 tbsp. milk
  • 1/2-1 tbsp. butter
  • salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Cut the cauliflower and steam it until it’s very tender (borderline overcooked and mushy).

2. When the cauliflower is ready, add in the remaining ingredients and blend well.

3. Serve. Easy as that!

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I will definitely be making these again soon. They were so tasty and so healthy that it seemed almost too good to be true!

Questions for you: What’s your favorite healthy substitution? Have you ever tried any of the diet fads that are currently trending right now?

I haven’t, but I did eat this Paleo meal last week that someone made for me and was pleasantly surprised with how good it was! I’m not against eating like that, I just don’t feel the need to make the change to that lifestyle right now. We are going to make some more Paleo meals in the near future and I’m excited!

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Wednesday Workout: Booty Burner #2

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Hi there! Remember the last booty burner that I posted? That was fun, right?! Well, I’ve got another one for you today. This time, rather than doing regular squats and lunges, you’ll be doing plié squats and curtsy lunges, which just happen to be 2 of my favorite leg exercises.

Make sure you do a quick warm up before you do this. It’s a great addition to a legs day at the gym because it will give you that extra burn before you call it quits!

Booty Burner #2

UPDATED TO ADD: Make sure you do this twice through so that you curtsy back on both legs. I usually do this on the right halfway through my kickboxing class and then on the left at the end of class. Sorry! I should have made that more clear when I was writing it up!

To help explain the process, here’s a video! Sorry about the end… I fumbled my words!

http://vimeo.com/85670517

Questions for you: What is your favorite leg exercise? Do you prefer curtsy lunges or regular lunges? Plie squats or regular squats?

Weekending: South End, Southie, Barry’s Bootcamp, Super Bowl

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Phew! This past weekend was super busy, but super fun! I know some of you may not like the play by play of the weekend, and sometimes I’m not even sure if I like it, but since I went to some good restaurants and tried a new workout, I figured it was worth sharing!

Friday

I helped my friend Jess with an event at Little Lovage Club, located under Coco Baby in the South End on Friday afternoon. She had a baby animal petting event and I jumped at the chance to help her! Look how stinkin cute these little babes are!

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After the event, we headed over to The Gallows for dinner, which was amazingggg. I love small plates and sharing, so this was a perfect place to go. We got the Braised Beef tacos, Brown Butter Cauliflower and a delicious butternut squash dish. So many interesting flavors that made for a happy little party in my mouth!

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Saturday

After kickboxing, I treated myself to a pedicure. I had no real reason to do this other than the fact I needed to do something for myself that would make me sit and relax… this was certainly something that forced me to do this!

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Side note: don’t wear skinny jeans when getting a pedicure… I never learn.

Saturday night, I headed to the city for dinner. I curled my hair with my straightener on my own for the very first time and I have to say, I was pretty impressed! It was almost faster than just straightening it, so I know once I get better at it, it will definitely be faster. What do you think??

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Apparently everyone else had the idea to go into the city on Saturday night… our night started a little rocky since we couldn’t get in anywhere!

-We tried to go to this new restaurant on Congress Street in the Seaport, but the wait was over 2 hours for a table!!! I was bummed since it looked like an amazing restaurant and I loved the décor, but hopefully we’ll make it back there.

-We then tried to go to Drink to have a drink while we figured out where to do dinner, but there was a line out the door there, too. Mind you, it was like, 7pm, so it wasn’t even late!

-Finally, we landed at Lucky’s, which was actually really fun! I bumped into my friend, Liz, so it was nice to chat with her.

-Dinner at Lucky’s wasn’t really what we were looking for, so after our drink at Lucky’s, we decided to head to Lincoln for dinner since there was an Open Table reservation available. I’ve wanted to go there for ages, so I was excited! We shared the Ahi Tuna tacos (I’m on a serious taco kick. Literally can’t get enough of them), a salad and a steak meal… random, but everything was delicious!

Sunday

I woke up on Sunday morning thankful that we opted out of having a drink after dinner. I had plans to take a class at Barry’s Bootcamp and really didn’t want to be hungover for it (when a class is $28/class, you want to be in tip top shape!). I was super nervous for the class as I’ve heard it’s insanely hard, but I am happy to say I survived and I loved it!!! I went with my friend Lindsay and some of her other friends from Recycle Studio and had a blast. Ok, maybe not a blast, because crazy hard workouts aren’t really THAT fun, but I did love it.

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We started with 12 minutes on the treadmill. You may be thinking “meh, not bad”, but try starting that out with a run at 15% incline… yeah, that hurt! Luckily, though, we started at the top of the hill and worked our way down, but as we decreased the incline, we upped the speed, so it never got any easier. My sprints were at 10mph which was crazy fast for me!

After the treadmill, we did some floor strength stuff: walking lunges, push-ups, bicep curls, deadlifts, core, and then we jumped BACK on the treadmills for 12 more minutes. It was at that time when I was like “oh hell no. this sucks,” but I pushed through it and ended strong… we ran backwards which scared the crap out of me, but I am happy to say I didn’t trip and/or fall off! #winning

We finished the class with 1 more floor set and by the end, I was beat, in the best way. I really loved how Emily pushed us to run fast and up the incline because I certainly wouldn’t do that on my own. The strength sets weren’t anything crazy hard or fancy, but I did learn some new moves that I am going to copy and new formatting, so I’m happy about that.

I can’t wait for the next time because I know I can push myself harder!

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I went to my friend Jessi’s boyfriends house for the Super Bowl on Sunday night. He had a little get together with a LOT of food. I certainly did not follow all of my tips, but I did drink water between beers, kept it to 2 beers and had it easy since the food was kept in the kitchen rather than on the coffee table. That helped a lot!

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Ummm these are mini meatloafs- how freaking cute are they?! Jessi made these and I’m obsessed and can’t wait to make them myself!

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And! I won $20 (it was $10 to play), which was just icing on the cake. I left after the halftime show since I was exhausted, but I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed the halftime show. I could’ve done without the Red Hot Chili Pepper part because I thought that was a little weird, but I thought Bruno Mars absolutely killed it!! Anyone else?

Sorry about the super long weekend recap, but I really wanted to tell you about the restaurants I visited and about Barry’s Bootcamp, so if you made it here, thank you for sticking with me!

Questions for you: Have you eaten at any of the restaurants I went to over the weekend? When’s the last time you pampered yourself? Have you been to Barry’s Bootcamp?

This Week: Workouts, Things I’m Looking Forward To & January Challenge Recap

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Hi there! Anyone feeling like they had a little too much fun watching the Super Bowl yesterday? Did anyone try out the workout or follow any of the tips I gave yesterday? I would have, but I went to Barry’s Bootcamp and had my ass (pardon me) literally handed to me (in the best way possible).

Speaking of workouts…

Last Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I went to the gym in my new office building after work and completed a REALLY good workout. It’s worth a try!

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  • Tuesday- I am trying out a bunch of different classes at the gym in my new building, so I went to the 11:30am 30 minute Muscle Mix class and loved it! There were about 12 or 13 of us in class, which impressed me for a work gym. Granted, International Place (between One and Two) has a ton of employees, so I guess it kind of makes sense, but still, it made me so happy to see such a busy gym during the day!
  • Wednesday- Ugh. Don’t get me started. I was uncomfortably sore from my workouts on Monday and Tuesday and literally had NO motivation to go to the gym. Had I not been teaching, I would have called it a rest day. Alas, I had to teach, so I walked for 25 minutes on the treadmill to try and get me pumped up and then taught UXF Burn. There were 25 people with loads of energy which totally helped me get into the workout mood. It’s amazing what the energy from a group of hard working people can do 😉
  • Thursday- I felt better on Thursday and was looking forward to teaching, but it was weird because I’m usually dead after my double and am usually a sweaty beast, but for some reason I wasn’t. I don’t know if it was because the workouts were easy (hardly doubt that) or if it was just a way of my body telling me it didn’t want to work (probably this). Needless to say, I was happy for my rest day on Friday!
  • Friday- Rest!
  • Saturday- Taught kickboxing at the Oak Square YMCA. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… this class makes my week. Thank you to everyone who comes out and gives it their all!

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  • Sunday- Barry’s Bootcamp probably wasn’t a great idea this week as I was feeling rundown from my workouts, but I paid and agreed to it before I started feeling rundown so I couldn’t really back out of it (wasn’t about to lose $28….). I ended up being able to power through and loved it… more on that later!

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This Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I’m not sure what I’ll do today. It may be a rest day if I’m super sore from Barry’s Bootcamp.
  • Tuesday- I’ll probably go to the 11:30 muscle class again if I don’t have any calls. I liked that!
  • Wednesday- Probably a run and then teaching UXF Burn.
  • Thursday- Two-a-day! SHRED and Kickboxing. Last week I had 4 guys in kickboxing- it was amazing! I hope they come back!
  • Friday- Rest day. I’ll be home in Maine working from there 🙂
  • Saturday- My sister and I are going to go to the 9am class at the Sanford/Springvale YMCA before we get our hair cut!
  • Sunday- Not sure. A lot will depend on how I’m feeling and how my workouts looked earlier in the week. If my parents have enough snow to snowshoe, I may do that.

Things I’m Looking Forward To

Going home!!! I think part of the reason I felt off last week was because I just need to go home to recharge my batteries. I haven’t been home since Christmas and my life since Christmas has been pretty crazy between teaching a lot of classes, blogging, keeping up a social life, work, etc., so I’m looking forward to going home, spending time with my parents, having home cooked meals and just getting a little TLC.

January Burpee & Push-Up Challenge {Recap}

So, how did everyone do with the recap? I know some of you did a lot better than I did. I have to be honest here: I didn’t finish out the challenge. I hate not finishing things, but I just couldn’t do it this week. If you count the number of push-ups I did in Barry’s Bootcamp and the number of burpees I did all week, I definitely got to 100 (or more!) of each, but I needed rest on Friday and then didn’t have the energy after kickboxing on Saturday or after bootcamp on Sunday, so…. I didn’t do week 4 of the challenge. I was feeling guilty, but realized it’s OK to not finish things if you’re not feeling up to it. I improved my time from week 1 to week 2, which I was proud of and is what I’ve decided to focus on.

However! I want to hear from you- did you finish the challenge? Did you beat your time? More importantly, did you feel stronger in week 4 than you did in week 1? Jen Ryder has been seriously killing this challenge and I am SO PROUD of her for giving it her all every week and continuously beating her time. Dana was able to do all of the push-ups on her feet, which I think is amazing (my goal this year is to get better at push-ups). Does anyone else have anything they want to brag about? Now’s your time!! You worked so hard and deserve to get the recognition for it!

On that note….

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Do you guys think you want me to do another challenge like this in the future? What would you like to see included in the challenge? What was your favorite part about this challenge? What was the most challenging aspect for you?

Make this week great, friends!