Category: At-home workout

Wednesday Workout: Holiday Bodyweight Blast #1

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Hey there! Happy Wednesday! I’ve been meaning to share details about hosting our first Thanksgiving, but work has been very busy and instead of blogging at night, I’ve been working 😦 But! last night I made the time to get something together with you, mostly because I am so excited about it!

If you’ve been checking out my Instagram stories, you’ve probably seen me mention this #KeepKelmarFit thing, right? This year, my company has allowed me to lead a challenge that encourages people to move more during the busiest time of the year – between Thanksgiving and Christmas. While planning out this challenge, I wanted to keep it simple and show everyone that fitness/movement doesn’t have to be a complicated, super long and involved thing – who has time for that?! But rather, I want to show people little ways they can move such as taking walk breaks, taking the stairs, doing quickie workouts, etc.

Since I know there are many people who might also fall into the “I’m so busy” trap where workouts are replaced with shopping, decorating, drinks, Christmas parties, holiday get togethers, etc., I wanted to share the “Workout of the Week” workouts with you guys 🙂

There will be 4 workouts in this series. None of them require weights and none should take more than 20ish minutes. We ALL have 20 minutes to dedicate to a workout or movement at least a few times a week, right? It’s one less social media scrolling session. It’s less than one episode of a show. When you think about it that way, it doesn’t seem so bad, does it?

This first workout is 5 exercises, 8-10 reps each, 3-5 rounds total.

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I think these exercises are all pretty common ones on B2B, but if you want to see demos, make sure to check out (and subscribe) to my YouTube channel!

I’d love to know if you try this – I’ve done it a few times and it’s either a great finisher (if you do fewer rounds) or a complete workout. Stay tuned for the next Holiday Bodyweight Blast workout 🙂

Questions for you: How are you making time for yourself this holiday season? What’s the first thing to go when you’re busy?

Wednesday Workout: Bodyweight D.C. Workout {~20 mins}

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Good morning! I’m so glad so many of you liked the D.C. recap that I posted earlier this week. To keep the D.C. trip theme going, today I’m sharing a quickie at-home, bodyweight workout that I did in the comforts of our Airbnb. One of the fun things about traveling for me, is coming up with different types of quickie workouts that can be done anywhere. Sure, I could’ve checked out a fitness studio, but the goal for my vacation workouts is to get them done quickly so that they aren’t interrupting our other plans. If I took a class at a studio, it would require more time on my part when you think about how long those classes are, where I would have to travel to get to one, etc. Running is always an option, but with the amount of walking we were doing, the last thing I felt like I needed to do was log more miles.

Of course, and I’ve said this before but I’ll say it again, if I didn’t feel like working out while on vacation, I wouldn’t force it on myself! But that’s generally an every day mindset I try to have. Just because I’m on vacation doesn’t mean I should skip workouts and eat and drink everything in site – that’s just not a mentality that I want to have. Plus, it makes me feel yucky! So, when I travel, I try to keep the same mindset I have when I’m not traveling when it comes to working out and food and drinks: listen to my body! If I feel like resting, I rest. If I feel like having a decadent dessert, I eat it without regret. If I want a salad for lunch, I eat it.

That said, since movement is something that’s so ingrained in me, I generally want to do some of it when I travel, and quickie, at home workouts are generally what I opt for (unless there’s a gym where we stay – in that case I’ll usually check it out!). This one is great because covers all the bases – lower, upper, core & cardio. I was dripping sweat by the time I was finished! Even better? I was showered and ready for breakfast by the time RM got out of bed!

The format of this workout is common to what you generally see on B2B: I picked 6 exercises I liked and felt like doing – on vacation, there is no need to spend time doing exercises you don’t like, no matter how “good” they are for you to do! It’s all about getting in some sort of movement (if you feel up to it!), and doing exercises you like makes it so much better.

Bodyweight D.C. Workout

In case you missed my videos on my Insta Story, some of the ones you may have questions on are here:

 

As always, I’d love to hear if you tried this out!

I’d also like to hear your thoughts on mindset when it comes to traveling. Do you tend to try and keep the same mindset you have in your every day, non-traveling life or do you tend to “let loose” and eat/drink/not workout with the “hey! I’m on vacation!” mentality?

Wednesday Workout: 4 Round Kettlebell Workout

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Hi there! How is your week going? We leave for DC on Saturday and I have yet to do a stitch of planning or packing … oops! In the meantime, I wanted to talk about kettlebells and kettlebell training with you. Any of you use KB’s? I’m sure most of you are shaking your head saying, “yes, Monique, of course!” 😉 I, too, fall in that category. I use KB’s traditionally (in terms of the traditional swing, clean, figure 8, clean & press, snatch, etc.), but also as a replacement for dumbbells from time to time as well. I love them because they are so versatile, and they challenge the body in a different way than any other piece of equipment at the gym.

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If, however, you use KB’s, but don’t really understand or know why they are such an amazing piece of gym equipment, here are a few reasons:

  1. They help improve mobility & grip strength based on the design of the KB and the intended usage (ie: Ballistic movements not always in your traditional movement planes)
  2. Great cardio alternative as many of the movements, by nature, have a cardio aspect in that they bring your heart rate up because of the explosive movement patterns.
  3. Not a lot of equipment is needed to get in a full body strength and cardio workout – just a few KB’s will generally do the trick, and they don’t take up a lot of space or require a lot of space to use. Last week, for instance, I packed my KB in my car so I could do a workout outside during my lunch break!

And these are just some of the reasons why KB’s are so great!

That said, when Rep Fitness reached out to me to see if I wanted to partner with them and check out a piece of their equipment, I jumped on the opportunity! When I checked out their website, I found SO MANY THINGS that I wanted, but in terms of my at-home gym, I felt as though a KB was the best option for me to go with. I opted for a 25lb. one because it seemed like a middle of the road weight that would allow me to use it for the most amount of exercises. They also just released their “LB” or “pound” kettlebells, which is great because it avoids the math conversion game I always have to do in my head when I use KB’s that are in kilograms (which is fairly standard for KB’s). These are available in 5lb increments from 5-60lb’s and then 10lb increments from 60-100lb’s.

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I’ve been working out with it for about a week and I have to say – I’m really loving it! Sometimes I find that KB handles can get slippery as I get sweaty, but the Rep Fitness KB’s have a bit of a texture finish that help to avoid slipping. But don’t worry – it’s not textured enough to irritate the skin, just enough to help with better grip. Another part about the Rep Fitness KB style I like is that the weight is etched into the KB face so it will always be visible. They also paint a circle around the horn base (handle) on each side which corresponds to a weight so it makes it easy to quickly know what weights a gym has or what ones people are using. I saw that my gym (EBF FIDI) has a slew of Rep Fitness KB’s and it really is much easier to see what weights are available by looking at the color on the base of the horn.

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The workout I have for you today includes a lot of the basic KB exercises, working lower, upper, core and cardio. AND! You really only need 1 piece of equipment, but if you have 2 different weights for KB’s, I would suggest using that so you can go heavier on the lower body & swings and keep it lighter for the clean & press.

4 Round KB Workout

I think most of these are moves you’ve seen before, but if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask! Quick note on the High Plank Knee to KB Tap – for this, you put the KB between your hands in a high plank and bring your knee to the KB, trying to tap it each time.

I think that does it! If you’ve been in the market for a new KB, or any new workout equipment, I highly suggest heading over to Rep Fitness’s page and seeing what they have. Their prices seem very reasonable and it avoids you having to carry heavy things through the store to buy them 😉 Big thanks to Rep Fitness for providing me with a KB to use!

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Questions for you: What’s your favorite at-home piece of gym equipment? If you could just workout with 1 piece of equipment, what would it be? Do you use KB’s in your training?

Wednesday Workout: 5 Exercise 20 Minute Bodyweight AMRAP

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Hey there! Two times blogging last week and this week – I’m on a roll! 😉 In all seriousness, I do WANT to blog more regularly about things with substance, but, as I’m sure a lot of you can relate to, it’s been a busy one and rather than taking the time to blog about it, I’d rather live it.

Another thing I’d rather do this summer? Workout outside! I’ve only gone to the gym during my lunch break when I’m at the office since I can jog there in 2 minutes and be in and out in 30. However, last week it was a beautiful day (and I was still sore from the race) so I opted to take my workout outside. I always have my resistance band and jump rope with me so I took those and created this 20 minute workout… and a 5 minute finisher!

I liked this workout because it worked a little bit of everything: lower body, upper body, core and cardio. And I was done in 25 minutes – can’t beat that!

The way it works is you’ll do the first 5 exercise circuit as a 20 minute AMRAP (as many rounds as possible), and then you’ll do the 2 exercise circuit as your 5 minute finisher. If you do it outside, you can work on your tan, too 😉

 

5 Exercise 20 Minute AMRAP

Couple of notes:

  • Pendulum lunges: with these, a lunge forward and backwards on the same leg is 1 rep. Make sure that when you step forward, your front knee doesn’t go past your toes and when you step back, that your back knee is right under your hips.
  • Push-up with shoulder tap- make sure to keep your hips nice and quiet, ie: no rotating or lifting as you lift your hands. you can do the push-ups on your knees if that feels better.
  • If you don’t have a resistance band for the seated rows, you can do a superman pull by lying on your stomach, lifting your chest and legs off the ground and pulling your elbows behind you.
  • If you don’t have a jump rope, you can use an imaginary one!

I think that should do it, but if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me! This is a great, quickie workout to do while on the road, vacation or if you’re short on time – Enjoy!

Questions for you: What have you let slide from your normal routine this summer?

Wednesday Workout: 16 Minute Bodyweight Progression Workout

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Hey there! I hope you all had a great weekend! If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen my stories (if not, please follow along – it’s fun!) where I shared a quickie workout that I did while I was on the Cape. As I mentioned in this post, I try to not to share my entire life through my stories because I feel as though it takes away from living in the moment and truly embracing the experience. That said, I do love sharing my workouts with you because it jives with what I’m trying to represent with B2B AND I like to show you how easy it is to squeeze in fitness or movement while traveling (or maybe even just with a busy schedule).

I wasn’t sure if I would workout on Friday, although I did dress in my workout clothes for the trip to the Cape early that morning just in case I decided to workout. After a half day of work and dropping RM off at the golf course, I found myself at the house alone and with extra time on my hands (a rarity!). After reading in the sun for a bit, I decided that I felt like working out. Sometimes all I need to feel motivated is a new environment to workout in. The back deck at the Cape House was perfect for the workout since it was spacious, in the shade and had a “step” that I could use (that being the built in benches).

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I brought my Bose speaker out and my resistance band (never travel without that or a jump rope!) and set up shop on the deck. 16 minutes later I was a sweaty, but smiling mess – it’s amazing what a little sweat can do for your mood (not that I was in a bad mood, but it made my good mood even better!).

The way it works is you’ll start with 8 reps of each exercise (except for the jumping jacks – start with 16 for those) for the first round. For the second round, you’ll add 2 reps, and then you’ll continue adding 2 reps to each round until your 16  minute time cap is up. I got through 5 rounds (I think?), so I ended at 16 reps for the exercises. Normally we work DOWN in reps, but this was a fun change because we are working UP in reps.

16 Minute Bodyweight Progression Workout

Here are some videos if you missed them on Insta:

As a finisher, I did a 4 minute AMRAP of 10 reps each: Russian twists, High plank w/knee to chest, High plank to down dog.

As always, let me know if you give this a try!

Questions for you: Do you travel with any workout equipment? What’s something that motivates you to workout?