Month: November 2014

Happy, Healthy, Fit: Week 1

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For those of you participating in this challenge, here is your first week of challenges with more details than I gave you on Friday. For those of you who are not participating in this challenge, feel free to skip this post 😉

Happy, healthy fit week 1

*Monday 12/1: 1 Minute push-up challenge- The goal today is to get your heart rate up a little with some push-ups. I love push-ups because they are a super versatile exercise, working lots of different muscles, and there are so many variations to try. If new to push-ups, feel free to do these on your knees, in table-top position or against a wall. More advanced? Try to do a full minute of push-ups on your toes! Whatever variation you choose, make sure your core is engaged the whole time, your head/neck/spine are all in a straight line (no butts in the air and no saggy hips!!), and you lead with your chest, keeping your gaze either straight down or a little ahead, so that your eyes and hands make a triangle shape on the ground. Inhale on the way down, exhale on the way up. Remember to focus on form instead of speed- if you’re barely bending your elbows when doing push-ups on your toes, drop to your knees so you can get your chest just inches from the ground. You’ll benefit so much more from the exercise by making that change.

*Tuesday 12/2: Take the stairs today! Whether it’s from the parking garage, in the T station, at work, at the gym, etc., choose the stairs rather than the elevator or escalator.

*Wednesday 12/3: No Equipment Necessary Workout- For today’s workout, you’ll be doing a No Equipment Necessary Workout. I’ve got a number of these on my At Home Workouts workout page, but if you’re looking for something new, try this:

  • 10 push-ups
  • 20 jump squats
  • 30 plie squats
  • 40 mountain climbers
  • 50 burpees
  • 60 second plank.

How many rounds can you do in 20 minutes? Work up and down the ladder if you want and modify as needed.

Some of my other favorites are here:
Got 20 Minutes?
Wednesday Workout: No weights? No problem! {Cardio & Core workout}
Wednesday Workout: 20 min workout blast!

*Thursday 12/4: Give someone a compliment. We all have thoughts about what people are wearing, how they smell, how they’re doing at work, but sometimes we end up keeping it to ourselves. Today, I want you to give someone a compliment. It’ll make both of you feel pretty darn good!

*Friday 12/5: Pay it forward. Buy the person’s coffee behind you, pay someone’s toll behind you, bring someone a treat at work, you get the idea. A little act of kindness can go a long way!

*Saturday 12/6: Full Body Workout. Most workouts in this challenge will be under 20 minutes, but this one is a bit longer (or, it can be longer if you want it to be). Here are 5 suggestions for full body workouts that will leave you feeling sweaty and beat!

Wednesday Workout: 30 minute total body tabata workout
Wednesday Workout: 30 Minute Total Body Strength Workout
Wednesday Workout: 30 minute burpee spectacular workout
Wednesday Workout: The “Everything Is Sore” Workout
Wednesday Workout: 10-10-10 Pre-Flight Workout & A Standing Ab Workout

*Sunday 12/7: Go through your closet and/or draws and donate a bag of clothes that you haven’t worn in a year. Chances are, if you haven’t worn something in a year, it can’t be that great, right?! So, give your closet and draws some space! Who knows, Santa may have some things come to you that will take place of the old things you’ve donated 😉 I usually drop off my clothes to a yellow planet aid box. If you don’t know where one is near you, check out this site.

Don’t forget to share your challenge pics on Social Media by using the hashtags #happyhealthyfit  and #burpeestobubbly. I want to see how you’re doing 🙂 Let me know in the comments if you plan on participating!

Happy, Healthy, Fit; A 24 Day Challenge

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Hi there! As I mentioned on various forms of social media and earlier this week in a post, I’m going to host a little challenge throughout the month of December leading up to Christmas. I know there are all sorts of challenges floating out there in the blog world, but what I hope you like about this challenge is the fact that it’s very attainable. I didn’t want to add a lot more to your already busy schedule, because I know that can be stressful and overwhelming. Rather, I wanted to provide you with a challenge that gives you the opportunity to better yourselves each day, whether it be by a workout, giving to others or giving to yourself. Some of the challenges will be more difficult than others, but I think anything can be achieved if you want it bad enough.

#happyhealthyfit

I have laid out the challenges throughout the month, hopefully in a strategic way to help you accomplish them. What I mean by this, is I’m not going to ask you to try a new recipe on a week night because I know there usually isn’t as much time on a Wednesday night as there might be on a Sunday night, right? Also, having you pack your lunch and bring it to work wouldn’t make very much sense on a Saturday, right? With that said, please feel free to rearrange the challenge if you need to make it work with your schedule a little more.

I will give you the full calendar today and then going forward, I’ll give the 7 day version to you on Sunday for the Monday-Sunday week. In these weekly posts, I’ll give more explanations for the challenges, ideas for accomplishing it, workouts to complete, etc. Your job is to participate, and share your participation through various forms of social media using the hashtag #happyhealthyfit:

Easy enough, right?

happy, healthy, fit overview

So, what do you think?? Are you in? I hope so!

There are no real “rules” in this challenge- I just want you to have fun stepping outside of your normal day to day activities and interact with each other by sharing your photos or status updates on Social Media. I’ll have prizes at the end for the people who use #happyhealthyfit and/or #burpeestobubbly the most, so get tagging 😉

As always, if you have any questions throughout the challenge or just want to let me know how it’s going, you can always comment here or send me an email (burpeestobubbly@gmail.com). Stay tuned on Sunday for more details on week 1 of the challenge!

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

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I hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving surrounded by your family, friends, loved ones and lots of delicious food 😉 I have so many things to be thankful about this year: my loving family, wonderful boyfriend, supportive friends- and you! All of you wonderful followers who read my posts and interact with me via social media. You inspire me each and every day to keep doing what I love and to keep sharing my passion with all of you. Stay warm, stay safe and be thankful for all you’ve got.

Don’t forget to check in tomorrow for all the details in my Happy, Healthy, Fit challenge!

#happyhealthyfit

Wednesday Workout: Turkey- Day 20 Minute AMRAP Workout

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Good morning! I don’t think I’m surprising anyone when I say that I love themed workouts. And I especially love them when you need a little motivation to workout. Thanksgiving is often a day of high indulgences and little movement (hello, turkey coma!), but it doesn’t have to be! I love working out on days where I know I’ll be eating and drinking to my hearts content because it makes me feel a little better about it. #earnyourtreats, as I like to say.

This workout is great because it doesn’t have to take you a long time, which is key on a day where you may not have much time because ovens are calling your name instead. This year, I challenge you to get up and give yourself 20 minutes for YOU, because I know it will make you feel so much better and so much more ready to tackle the day of hosting and cooking and, well, eating 😉

All you need is yourself, a mat and a timer. You’ll complete 10 reps of each exercise and you’ll see how many rounds you can complete in 20 minutes. Easy enough, right?!

Turkey day 20 minute AMRAP workout

My friend JP helped me with some of these fun names last year, so I need to give him credit!

Here are some explanations if you’re thrown off by my dorky names:

  • Pilgrim Push-ups- nothing fancy here! Just regular ol’ push-ups, either on your knees or feet. If you want a little extra, throw in a knee to chest after each push-up
  • Gobble, Gobble Squats- In other words, squats. Focus on form and range of motion. Looking for extra? Add in a weight for goblet squats OR do jump squats instead of regular squats.
  • Turkey Toe-Touches- lying on your back with your legs fully extended towards the ceiling, engage your core, lift your shoulder blades off the ground and try to touch your fingers to your toes.
  • Basting Burpees- Burpees- any kind you want
  • Stuffing Sit-Ups- standard sit-ups. Looking for more? Try adding in a weight and reaching your hands to the ceiling as you sit up. You can also keep your legs extended out straight instead of bent.
  • 10 Pumpkin-Popovers- lots of different variations for this one. You can do a standard donkey-kick or you can put your hands on a coffee table or step and jump right to left, kicking your feet to your butt as if you were trying to pop over a bench.

Let me know if you try this- remember, it’s important to take some time for yourself. Be thankful for the fact that you have the ability to move and sweat and even if it’s not at your regular level of intensity because of injuries or something else, be thankful you can do SOMETHING. It’s a lot more than most can or choose to do.

Here’s another Thanksgiving themed workout you can try if you’re looking for more. I did this one last year and it was killer!

The “I’m Thankful” Workout

Questions for you: Do you like to workout before big days of eating and celebrations? Are you running any sort of themed run?

 

Weekending: Margarita’s, Sushi, Maine

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Good morning! I feel like I’m already on Thanksgiving break… or at least in my mind I feel like I am! Unfortunately, there’s still a little work left this week before I can officially check out… Until then, let’s talk about the weekend!

After work on Friday, I went out for a drink with some co-workers to celebrate Christine’s last day. We went to the new Temazcal in Lynnfield and the margarita’s there did NOT suck. They are made with all fresh juices rather than nasty sour mix so I was a big fan.

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When I got home, RM and I headed to Medford to go to my favorite sushi restaurant: Yoki. It was packed, but luckily we scored a seat quickly. We got a few rolls and some sashimi and everything was awesome. Sushi craving successfully satisfied!

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A little trip to Cold Stone after was the prefect way to end the night 😉

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After an awesome kickboxing class on Saturday morning, RM and I headed north. We stopped off in Kennebunkport for lunch at Hurricane Restaurant before getting to my parent’s house. There were fish tacos on the menu, so obviously I had to get them, but I will say I thought ours were better!

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It felt great to spend the night at my parents house! The stoves were cranking, the wine was flowing and the food was delicious.

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I was able to spend some time working on my Happy, Healthy, Fit challenge, so I was thankful for that! For dinner, we had pork tenderloin, Brussels Sprouts with a  balsamic glaze, dried cranberries, slivered almonds and bacon, mashed carrot & parsnip casserole and roasted potatoes. Everything was SO good.

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To finish off the night, we had some Grand Marnier (well, RM and my mom had some… I can’t handle it!) and sat by the fire. This is one of my favorite parts about being home. Can you blame me?

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Such a great night. RM and I hung around Sunday morning and took our time getting back. I’m always a little sad when I leave to come back to MA, but I’ll be back in Maine tomorrow so it was a little easier on Sunday.

Questions for you: What was the best part of your weekend? Where is your favorite margarita place? do you like after dinner liquors?