Month: July 2016

Five on Friday {7.29.16}– & a giveaway!

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Good morning and TGIF! What a week! I was joking to someone the other day at work about how I thought that once I got married life would slow down, but if anything I feel like it’s even busier! Between planning our honeymoon, writing thank you cards, trying to organize the apartment, teaching a ton, trying to find the time to write the blog posts I really want to write, etc., I feel like I’m constantly wishing for more hours in the day. It’s all good, though, and I know it will settle down soon enough so I’m just trying to breathe through it and enjoy the process.

With that said, I’ve got a bunch of exciting things to share with you, including an awesome giveaway- so let’s get to it!

  • Honeymoon- Our honeymoon is officially booked! We went back and forth with seemingly a million different ideas/locations and ultimately we decided to go to the Amalfi Coast. We will be spending 15 days traveling throughout the area: Naples, Ischia, Sorrento, Pompeii, Capri, Positano and more. We are leaving on September 18th, which is coming right up! If any of you have been to any of those areas and have “must see/do” suggestions, please send them our way.
  • Dropping a class- On Wednesday night, I taught my last Wednesday night Burn class at the Central Square BSC. While I’m excited about new opportunities, it was a true bittersweet feeling as I ended the class. That class was my FIRST class as a new instructor and I grew it from an average of 4-6 people to a situation where the class would be at max capacity. I grew to know pretty much every member who came to the class and I got to see my members grow stronger each week and throughout the years. But most of all, they helped me grow into the instructor that I am today. I learned so much throughout teaching those classes and am forever grateful for the experience. I only hope that I’ll see their familiar faces in my new classes! Which brings me to my next point…

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  • Seaport Sweat– Starting on Monday, I’ll be teaching a FREE 45 minute cardio kickboxing class outside in the Seaport greenery area (near Gather, the restaurant, & district hall) at 6:30pm. I’m seriously so excited about this new adventure. If you’re interested, you can sign up here. And, if you’re looking for a double, my girl Athena is teaching a free bootcamp at 5:30pm!

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  • JillFit’s 20X20 Challenge– Similar to last year, this August I’m participating in Jill Coleman’s 20X20 challenge, which means I will complete twenty 20-minute workouts in the month of August. I rememeber this last year as being a really fun challenge because it didn’t require a lot of equipment and more importantly, a lot of time. She gave us really awesome, quickie workouts that I still go back to. This fits perfectly for me right now as I’m in the midst of a stage where I’m just not interested in long, super high intensity workouts. My workouts these days are short & sweet and I’m loving the way I look and feel! If you’re looking for a way to add a little spice to your workouts, but don’t want to be at the gym for hours- I highly suggest signing up for Jill’s 20X20 challenge.
  • #FITonthegarden Giveaway– If you came to this post just for the giveaway… here it is! On Wednesday, August 3rd (next Wednesday) I will be taking a free Power Flow yoga class on the South Garden at the Prudential Center at 6pm followed by sweetgreen after. If you’re free to attend, you can sign up here and then you can enter the giveaway, which is a Prudential Center FIT prize pack valued at $75 which will include gift cards and/or swag samples from some of these possible retailers: Sweetgreen, FlyWheel, Lululemon, etc…. a pretty awesome prize if you ask me! To enter the giveaway, please comment below with your favorite outdoor workout. The giveaway is also going to be on my Instagram page, so you have 2 chances to win! Remember, only enter the giveaway if you can attend the class since you will have to pick it up at the Prudential Center Customer Service. I will choose a winner on Tuesday, August 2nd. Good luck!!

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And that does it for me! I hope you all have a fantastic weekend- I’m hoping for some nice beach weather, too 🙂

Questions for you: Where did you go on your honeymoon? Have you ever been to the Amalfi Coast? What’s your plans for the weekend?

Wednesday Workout: Treadmill & 2 Upper Body Circuits

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Lucky for you guys, I’ve gotten back into creating and doing my own workouts, which means I have things to share with you! I did this one at the Westin Annapolis hotel we stayed at while in Annapolis over the weekend. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do when I got to the gym, but quickly realized whatever it was going to be had to be quick because it was HOT in there! I started with the 1 mile treadmill run and then decided to throw in a quickie tabata round since I was bored out of my mind staring at the wall as I ran, but still wanted to get my heart rate up a bit.

To finish up the workout, I threw together 2 quickie circuits, upper body focused since my legs were still sore from a bodyweight workout I had done earlier that week (definitely need to share that one with you!).

All in all, I was in and out of the gym in just 30 minutes, which was perfect for a “travel/hotel” workout.

Treadmill & Upper Body Circuits

Treadmill Notes: I did my 1 mile as follows:

  • 7.0 for mins 0-1,
  • 7.2 for mins 1-2
  • 7.4 for mins 2-4
  • 7.6 for mins 4-6
  • 7.8 for mins 6-8
  • 2 minute walk break and then the following speeds for the tabata:
  • Round 1 was at 9mph
  • Round 2 was at 9.2mph
  • Round 3 was 9.4mph
  • Round 4 was 9.6mph
  • Round 5 was 9.8mph
  • Round 6 was 10mph
  • Round 7 was 10.2mph
  • Round 8 was 10.4mph

At first the tabata speed felt too easy but by the end I was huffing and puffing!!

Let me know if you give this a try- it’s a great quickie workout 🙂

Questions for you: Do you prefer short, sprinting bursts or just a continual steady state pace?

Annapolis Summer Weekend

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Good morning! I hope you are all staying as cool as you can- this heat wave is crazy! I wanted to pop in today to share some photos from the past weekend. We flew to Maryland to celebrate my cousin’s wedding in Annapolis. He and his fiance were able to come to our wedding, too, so it was a blast getting to share in each other’s special days! Plus, Keely and I hit it off way before we even met- we both love bubbly AND working out- obvi we were besties right away!

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This was at our wedding

I hadn’t been to Annapolis since I was probably 14 and RM had never been so it was nice to get to explore together. Even though it was blistering hot, we were still able to enjoy how charming the city was and still were able to walk around a bit. Enjoy!

Our first stop was McGarvey’s for a late lunch- oysters & a fish sandwich with a side of bubbly… perfect way to kick off the weekend!

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Similar to what we did the night before the wedding, they had a gathering for a crab feast which was a really awesome experience! I had never eaten crabs like this and while it was a lot of work for a small yield, it was a blast and totally delicious!

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We stumbled upon an amazing little restaurant on Saturday morning when we were searching for food. Metropolitan Kitchen & Bar was the hidden gem we were looking for. I got this amazing avocado toast with feta, tomatoes, a poached egg & a balsamic reduction, RM got a lamb hash and we shared a blueberry pancake and everything was outstanding!

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After breakfast we walked around the city center and did some shopping before we went and toured/walked through the Naval Academy. Although it was SO hot, it was still really cool to walk around the campus and visit the museum. We highly suggest this if you travel to Annapolis!

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The wedding was at the Maritime Museum which was right on the water. The ceremony was similar to ours: short & sweet! She looked absolutely stunning and I loved the simplistic details. They had incredible passed apps, too, and really great options for the food stations. It was fun getting to go to someone else’s wedding now that we know all that goes into planning on!

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The after party was held at Pussers which was a great bar right on the water.

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All in all, while it was a short trip, it was so much fun and I’m so happy we were able to partake in their special day as well as get to spend time with my family. Sean & Keely- we wish you a lifetime of love and happiness!!

Questions for you: How was your weekend? Have you ever been to Annapolis? 

 

Five on Friday {7.22.16}

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Good morning and happy Friday! Two posts in one week for me- it’s been a while since that has happened 🙂 As we are finishing up packing for our weekend getaway to Annapolis, MD for my cousin’s wedding, I wanted to share some things that may be of interest- enjoy!

    • Summer workouts– There are SO MANY free workouts around the area this summer, some of which I’m even teaching!

*Pure Barre Christmas in July– Next week Pure Barre in Lynnfield (maybe in other locations, too) is doing a “Christmas in July” where all of their classes are free. If this is something you enjoy or would like to try, I suggest signing up for a class!
*Brighton Commons Outdoor Workouts– for the next few Wednesdays the YMCA is sponsoring free fitness classes in the Brighton Commons. I’ll be teaching cardio kickboxing on August 17th!
*Legacy Place- There are weekly free fitness classes at Legacy place throughout the summer with lots of local Boston fitness instructors. I’ll be there on August 25th for cardio kickboxing and my friend Athena will be there on August 4th and a Kick It By Eliza will on August 18th.
*FIT on the Garden– More to come on this later, but every Wednesday at 6pm from July-August there will be free yoga classes on the South Garden near the Pru. I’ll be there on August 3rd (again, more to come!)
*Seaport District Free Fitness- More on this (I know, I know!), but just to give you a heads up, every Monday night starting on August 1st I will be teaching a 45 minute cardio kickboxing class from 6-6:45pm outside at the green area next to District Hall/Gather. Make sure to follow SeaportBos on Instagram to stay in the know!
*Cape House (B/Spoke)– While this isn’t free, it’s worth mentioning because I had a blast during the class I took . B/Spoke has again opened up a “Cape House”, but this year it’s in Mashpee (better location for me!) and they have more classes. If you’re on the Cape and looking for a great workout- check them out!

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  • Book Club- Last month we read Fates & Furies, which I absolutely loved! It kept me fully entertained and constantly surprised by various things. It was a great discussion book! This month we are reading The Light Between Oceans, which I’ve also heard is great.

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  • I’m an aunt!- Over the weekend, my sister-in-law (still so weird to say that!) welcomed a new baby girl into the world. Although I may have lost my “newest Magno” status rather quickly, she is well worth having that status. She’s absolutely perfect and I can’t wait to see her grow up!
  • Target Shopping- Leading up to the wedding I did way too much damage at Target, but to be fair, everything I bought I’ve worn and loved… including these shoes! I got them to go with my dress for our pig roast and am obsessed with them!

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  • Summer eats- We have had some really awesome meals this summer- from the pig roast at our wedding reception to a HUGE lobster roll at the Cape to ice creams to grilling, we’ve been soaking up summer to the fullest!

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With that, I hope you have a fantastic weekend! Stay cool- it’s going to be a hot one 🙂

Questions for you: Any good book suggestions for summer reading? What free  workouts are you looking forward to this summer? Any good summer eats?

Wednesday Workout: Upper Body & Cardio Circuits

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Ahhh… it feels good to be back! While my schedule still isn’t allotting as much time as I would like for all the blog posts I want to write (wedding recap, pig roast recap, #buffbride workout plan recap, etc.), I’m doing my best to pop in when I can with what I can, which means today I’ve got a workout to share with you! I was telling Athena last night that my workouts have been all over the place lately, using and doing what I can, but I’ll be honest, I’ve just gotten a whole lot more lax when it comes to working out. These days, I really don’t feel like working out for a long time so my runs have been shorter, I haven’t lifted heavy weights (or even worked out in a weight room) in weeks and I’ve been doing a lot more low-impact stuff. I’m not really sure why there’s been this recent change, but I’m so proud of myself for really honoring my body and doing the best I can on any particular day.

For instance, the other day I ran 2 miles and that was it. While that may be a lot for some of you, I generally run at least 3.5-4 so it FEELS like so much less for me, but rather than feeling like I didn’t really “workout”, I feel great that I got that much in. And then yesterday morning I set my alarm to get up and workout and literally got up out of bed and started changing and realized my body was sore and needed extra rest so I got back in bed. ha! who does that?! But I knew I would’ve been pushing myself too much had I not so I did what I knew I needed to do.

If there’s anything I’ve realized in the past few weeks is that I don’t NEED to workout hard all the time or constantly have a schedule or anything like that. It’s perfectly fine- good, in fact- to take it down a notch every once and a while and keep movement up, but just a lighter type of movement. If you’re feeling like you’re forcing your workouts and just not feeling into them, I urge you to listen to your body and give it- and your mind- a break!

With that said, today’s workout is another quickie and has been one of the first “normal” workouts for me in a while. All I used was a set of dumbbells and a resistance band. I really liked it!

Upper Body & Cardio Blast Circuits

Few explanations:

  • For the push-ups to side plank, do a total of 10 push-ups, meaning you’ll only do 5 side planks on each side. It goes: push-up, side plank right, push-up, side plank left
  • For the combo moves, you’ll do the first move and then the second move and that’s 1 rep
  • For the seated rows, place the resistance band around your feet as you sit with them extended out straight and create enough tension so that you have resistance as you pull your elbows back.
  • Front pull aparts- In a standing position hold the band out in front of you. Make sure you have enough tension so that it’s taught at the start and then while keeping your core tight, pull the band apart- you’ll feel this in your back for sure!
  • For the leg lowers w/OH DB extension this means you’ll start on your back with your feet extended up over your hips. Hold one dumbbell with both of your hands and extend it over your chest. As you lower your legs, lower the DB back over your head. Make sure to keep your core engaged and your lower back pressed down into the ground/mat.

If you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out!!

Questions for you: Do you ever take breaks from your normal intensity workouts?Â