Category: At-home workout

Wednesday Workout: Sheila’s Bachelorette Bootcamp

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As I mentioned on Monday, while I was on Nantucket over the weekend for Sheila’s bachelorette party, I lead a little bootcamp for the girls and myself. I’m not sure they entirely knew what they were getting themselves into before agreeing to and starting the workout, but I can assure you it was a good one that left us all winded, sweaty and sore the next day!

The girls were such good sports, though! Even Jessi, who doesn’t workout or enjoy it and didn’t even have sneakers stuck through it! We had a blast and it was such a good way for us to start the day… I don’t think we earned all our drinks that day, but we certainly earned a few 😉

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I didn’t have anything specifically in mind going into the workout, but I did have a few key bootcamp exercises in mind: squats, jump squats, lunges, jumping lunges, mountain climbers, push-ups, burpees, etc.

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I was totally in my element when leading the workout with these girls, but it did make it hard to stay serious because we always laugh and have fun when we are together! All in all, it was a solid workout that can be done anywhere since you don’t need any equipment!

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Everything is likely self-explanatory, but if you have questions, let me know. One that might need an explanation is the partner lat pull/upright row. I learned this at the Wellness By The Water Retreat last year and loved using it over the weekend. What you do is have one person sit and another person stand behind them. The sitting person reaches their arms up and grabs the standing persons hands. As the seated person pulls their arms down, the standing person adds resistance to make it like a lat pull down. Then, the standing person pulls and the seated person resists, making it like an upright row. After 10, switch!

We finished with this standing ab workout before stretching and calling it a day. All in all, the workout took about 30 minutes to complete… and I was able to cross something off of my My Summer of 2014 “Bucket List”!

Thanks for such a fun way to start the day, girls! Can’t wait to do it before Nikia’s wedding 🙂

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Questions for you: What’s your favorite bootcamp exercise? Have you ever done a bootcamp while on a weekend getaway with your girlfriends?

This Week: Workouts, Detoxing & Things I’m Looking Forward To

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Hi! Good morning! How are you today? I’m still feeling the effects of the weekend- what a blast we had on Nantucket, but I’ll admit- we can’t hang the way we used to… it takes a whole heck of a lot longer to recover from late nights and lots of drinking 😉 More on that later, though!

Although last week was a good week of workouts, my eats were really notsogood. I know it happens, and I am totally OK with it, but my body is definitely ready for much cleaner eats this week. My goal is to fill my diet with lots of veggies, fruits and protein rather than chips, crackers, pizza and general beast snacking mode! Indulgent weekends are fun, but they do make me feel ready to jump back on the healthy food wagon once they’re over!

Last Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I taught my 6am Muscle Work class and then did 15 minutes on the stair stepper. I haven’t used that machine in forever! After work, my sister came over and we walked for almost an hour- great way to catch up and exercise!
  • Tuesday- I went to a strength class at a gym near my new office. The instructor was amazing and I left there feeling totally beat!
  • Wednesday- I cheated on my UXF Burn class and went to a spin class and pilates class at the same gym I went to on Tuesday with the same instructor. So fun!
  • Thursday- I taught my SHRED and Cardio Kickboxing double. My SHRED class was killer- lots of compound moves! The annoying part? My stupid Polar heart rate monitor wasn’t working and I went through all my batteries!

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  • Friday- Rest! I hadn’t rested in over a week… whoops!
  • Saturday- I got up and went for a 3 mile walk with Sheila and Serena and then lead a “Bachelorette Bootcamp” with almost all of the girls- it was SO fun!!

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  • Sunday- Besides some walking, it was another rest day. I got home early enough to go for a run but I was so exhausted I decided to unpack and clean instead.

This Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- Today I taught my 6am Muscle Work class and will have done some cardio.
  • Tuesday- I am not sure what I’ll do… I think I’m going to go running after work?
  • Wednesday- I’m going to do some cardio before I teach UXF Burn.
  • Thursday- Teaching SHRED and then Cardio Kickboxing.
  • Friday- Probably a rest day.
  • Saturday- Finally teaching my Saturday Cardio Kickboxing!
  • Sunday- Not sure- maybe a longer run? Yoga?

Things I’m Looking Forward To

I’m looking forward a relatively quiet week. It’ll be the first full week in the office in a long time! On top of that, I’m going to be in Boston this weekend and I can’t wait! Don’t get me wrong, I love having fun weekend plans, but it’s always a nice feeling to have a weekend with no plans that involve travel. My friends Rachel and Dan are having a BBQ on Saturday, which will be fun! I haven’t seen them in a while.

Questions for you: What was the best part of your week last week? Best workout? Try anything new?

Catching Up: New Hair, Cape Weekend, 4th of July

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I don’t know about anyone else, but last week was a busy week! Here are some highlights 🙂

  • New Hair- I got a Living Social deal for highlights so I took advantage of it on Tuesday. She went rather blonde… what do you think?

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  • Morning Workouts- Since I wasn’t teaching ANY kickboxing classes last week, I decided to get up and do something I haven’t done in a long, long time on Thursday morning: kickboxing workout AT HOME. Before I started teaching kickboxing classes, I used to do kickboxing workouts at home fairly often. It’s really the best cardio workout for me! And, it doesn’t require that much space or any equipment- perfect!

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While on the Cape, I went for a morning run one day and walk the next- even though it may be tough getting out of bed and actually starting the workout, my day really is so much better when I know I have my workout out of the way!

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  • Eats & Drinks- Last week wasn’t the healthiest of eats for me, but it was a holiday weekend- can ya blame me?! When I got to the Cape on Thursday I suggested that RM and I go out to lunch so we headed to Mashpee Commons and settled at Bobby Byrne’s. We found an outside spot in the shade which made outdoor dining possible in the crazy heat and humidity. I started with a sangria and RM choose a drink because it was “named after him”… can you guess what it was 😉

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For lunch, I went with the Fajita Salad which was delicious!

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I didn’t get much pictures of the food during the rest of my time on the Cape because I felt awkward whipping out my phone to take pics in front of his family, but I will say everything we had was delicious. My family jokes that we think about the next meal before we’re finished with the current meal and being away with an Italian family who has that same mentality (RM’s parents came over from Italy when they were in their teens/young 20’s) made me feel right at home! His mom was in the kitchen most of the weekend 🙂 Friday night we had a traditional BBQ with cheese burgers, hot dogs, kale, chickpea salad and rice- so good! On Saturday, RM’s mom mad a whole roast chicken meal, which just happens to be one of my favorite meals. Since the weather was crappy, it was the perfect thing!

On Saturday night, RM took all of us out to eat for his aunts birthday. We went to a new place called Villagio at the Regatta and the food did not disappoint. The service was not terrific, but I think they were still working out the kinks there (the restaurant opened on June 24th I think). I went with a seafood stew meal and it was SO good- there was so much seafood in the dish, which is a must in my book!

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For a little festive flare on the 4th, RM’s sister’s friend whipped up a batch of some delicious white sangria and I decided to add blueberries and strawberries to it. Drinks with treats in them are just better, right?!

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I also made some stars and stripes fruit skewers which, even though people laughed about, were a big hit!

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  • Beach and Activities- RM and I played corn hole for a while one day while we were at the Cape. Even though I played some good games, he ultimately ended up winning 5-4… womp.

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We were only able to get 1 beach day out of the weekend since we decided to get up and go early on Sunday to beat the traffic, but it was a beautiful beach day!

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  • Scenes from Maine- I have to say, I really missed being at home in Maine for the 4th with my family much more than I thought I would! There’s just something about going to the parade with everyone and doing a BBQ at the Mahoney’s that feels like the real kick-off to summer. Thankfully, my sister kept me included by sending pics!

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The weekend finished off with a beach afternoon in Eastie with my sister.

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And, to kick off the start of a healthy week, I went for a nice 5 mile run and then made a really veggie-filled dinner consisting of some lemon-pepper chicken, baked kale, saut̩ed zucchini, summer squash and onions and another side of baked Brussels sprouts, sweet potato and onion that I had frozen a while back. I made my zucchini and summer squash similar to this recipeРso easy and delicious!

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Such a great weekend! I was happy to be working from home yesterday, though. I thought I loved working from home on Friday’s but it turns out Monday’s are way better- it makes Sunday nights so much better knowing I don’t have to prep for the week!

Questions for you: How did you celebrate the 4th of July? Did you make any festive treats? Where is your favorite beach?

Lastly… I wanted to share these muffins that I made from Fannetastic Food– they were not only a hit with RM and me, but also with his family, who said they don’t usually like “healthy” treats. I had one for breakfast every morning and it was perfect!

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And, look how much my garden is growing! There’s definitely an animal that’s stepping around on some of the things, but hopefully once they grow bigger that will stop. Can’t wait to eat from it!

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This Week: Workouts, “The Truth Behind the Juice” & Things I’m Looking Forward To

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Hi there! How was your 4th of July? The rain may have cancelled some plans, but it didn’t ruin the long weekend- more on that later 🙂

I still cannot believe it’s July 7th- can you?! This is another crazy busy month: bachelorette party this weekend, BBQ the weekend after and Chicago the last weekend in July, but again, it’s all fun stuff so I really can’t complain!

Before I get to my workout recap, I wanted to share an article with you related to juicing. As you’ve probably seen or heard, juicing has recently become a new trend in the Boston area. Well, maybe not entirely “new”, but up until fairly recently, juice bars were few and far between. Boston Magazine’s Health Editor recently wrote an article called: The Truth Behind Green Juices, which has a lot of interesting facts behind juicing and what should be included in your “green juice”. Definitely worth a read if you’re looking into incorporating more juices in your diet.

Last Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I didn’t have to teach last Monday so I ran 4 miles (in the blistering heat!!) after work and did all of Kim’s stability ball exercises– loved them!

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  • Tuesday- I went to a new gym with some co-workers during lunch to go to a BodyPump class. Sadly, the class was not very good! Don’t get me wrong- I totally felt it the next day (holy quads and hamstrings and chest!), but the normal instructor was not teaching since she was letting a trainee teach the class in order to be videoed for her certification. The poor trainee was just not good. In BodyPump, you need to be able to catch a rhythm and go along to the beat and this girl just didn’t have it in her. I had a really hard time staying with her pace since it was so off compared to the music… so frustrating!
  • Wednesday- I ended up subbing the 5:30 Sports Conditioning class and did the workout with them. It was only 2 girls and they wanted to do glute and core work so we did some cardio and lots of glute and core stuff- it was a good workout! I taught my UXF burn class after- great crowd and we worked HARD. It was awesome!
  • Thursday- My classes were cancelled due to the holiday so I got up and did 45 minutes of kickboxing followed by 15 minutes of core work in my kitchen before heading to the Cape.
  • Friday- Since the rain held off until much later in the day, I was able to get in a 4 mile jog first thing in the morning. Felt great!

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  • Saturday- Saturday was my active rest day. I thought about doing one of the at-home workouts I posted last week, but decided to skip it. RM agreed to go for a walk with me and we ended up covering 5 miles!! Not a super fast pace, but it was a great active- rest day activity! I followed it up with some squats and core work and push-ups.
  • Sunday- We ended up leaving the Cape early so after the beach, I went for a run. I wanted to do 4 miles but ended up doing 5, which is always a nice surprise!

This Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I will have taught my 6am Muscle Work class and have done some cardio by the time this goes up. My sister and I have plans to go for a walk after work, too.
  • Tuesday- I think I’m going to go back to that new gym and try the BodyPump class again. My co-workers said the owner is subbing, so it should be much better!
  • Wednesday- The 5:30 instructor, Melissa, is subbing this class for me since I covered hers last week. I’m not sure what I will do for a workout, but I have something after work so I’ll have to do something before work or during the day.
  • Thursday- Back to my Thursday double!
  • Friday- I’m heading to Nantucket for Sheila’s bachelorette party on the 11am Ferry, so if I’m feeling up to it, I’ll try to sneak in a quickie workout before making the trek there.
  • Saturday and Sunday- I will be on Nantucket with a bunch of girls so I’m not sure what my workouts will look like. One day will be a rest day, but on the other I’d love to do something. Maybe some of the girls would want to join me?!

Things I’m Looking Forward To

Sheila’s Nantucket bachelorette party- duh!! I don’t know if I’ve ever been to Nantucket, and going with the group of girls that I’m going with will surely make it a fun first trip! I don’t know all the details of the weekend, but I can only imagine there will be plenty of shenanigans! I’m hoping the weather is nice because we’ll definitely be beaching it.

Questions for you: Do you “juice”? What’s your favorite healthy “green” juice? What was your best workout last week? Do you get annoyed when instructors are not on the beat in a class where it’s really important to be on the beat? Have you been to Nantucket? Any good bar recommendations?

Wednesday Workout: My favorite “towel” workout (aka, “Make your schoulders scream” workout”)

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The one thing I really love about the BSC is that they have a towel service. I don’t know about you, but I get SWEATY when I go to the gym, which means I need to towel off often throughout my workout. Using paper towels can be so wasteful, which is why I think every gym should have towel service, right?! But towels aren’t only good for wiping sweat, they can also be a great piece of “equipment” for your workout.

Why am I talking about towels, you might ask? Well, I’ve been meaning to post this workout for a while, but for some reason it keeps slipping to the back of my list. It’s a shame, because it’s a killer workouts that really doesn’t require much besides a mat and 2 of my beloved towels (or Gliders if you have those, or even paper plates).

What I love about the workout is it’s not your traditional “bicep curls/tricep extension/squats/lunges” type of workout. It’s  just body weight and resistance from the towels. I’ve incorporated strength exercises, core exercises and cardio exercises, but I will warn you now… it’s heavy on the shoulder burn!

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So, the way this workout goes (similar to this workout), is you do 60 seconds of move A, then 60 of move B. Before moving on to the next A and B moves, do 30 seconds of mountain climbers. The idea with this workout is everything will be done using the towels. They make an ordinary move seem so much harder, which is what I love about them. Just adding that extra bit of resistance or unsteadiness is a great way to change up your normal workout exercises. I promise you’ll feel it the next day!

Lastly, if you need help with some help with some moves, here are descriptions and/or videos:

  • Pendulum lunges- With your right foot on a towel, lunge/slide into a forward lunge and back into a reverse lunge. Repeat for 30 seconds then do it on the left side.
  • Side Squats- Stand with both feet on a towel. Step/slide right into a squat, slide it back to center and do the same going to the left. Focus on your abductors/adductors here- that’s where you should be feeling it if you’re really pushing and pulling your legs on the towels.
  • Tricep push-up & regular push-up- I do these on my knees because they are TOUGH. Place your hands on the towels in a high plank position. Perform a tricep push-up and then when you’re back in the high plank position, slide your arms out to do a regular push-up. Repeat.
  • Plank w/knee tuck- Place your feet on 1 towel and in a high plank position, tuck your knees into your chest. Repeat.
  • Spiderman plank- Place each foot on a towel and get into a high plank position- Slide your right knee up to your right elbow/tricep. Bring it back and repeat on the left. Focus on the obliques here!
  • Plank w/opp knee to elbow- Same as without towels, just do it with towels under your feet.

The cardio moves are performed just as they would be without towels, just do them with towels for the added challenge!

If you need more help or want demos, let me know 🙂

Questions for you: Do you ever use towels in your workouts? Do you have Gliders? What’s the most challenge move for your shoulders that you do?