Category: At-home workout

Healthy Super Bowl Tips & A Commercial Workout

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I doubt I’m shocking anyone when I say I really couldn’t care less about the Super Bowl. Even if the Patriots were playing, I really wouldn’t care. What can I say? I’m just not a sports girl!

With that said, I’m sure a lot of you may be sports people, so I thought I would post some tips to make healthy choices during a not-so-healthy day of the year.

Don’t show up to the party hungry

I always hear people talk about how they will starve themselves all day if they have a big dinner or party planned for the evening. This is the worst thing to do because as soon as you show up to the party, you’re going to stuff your face, right? I’ve been there and done that and not only does it make me feel to rude to hover by the food, shoveling in as much as I can as fast as I can, I feel gross once my body registers that it was full probably 20 minutes ago. Yuck. You’re also more likely to binge on the less healthy options because, let’s face it, when we’re hungry, hunger rules over any smart eating plans, right? So, have a healthy snack or small meal before you go to the party.

Stay away from the food table

This stems right off of the tip above this. Even if I have a healthy snack before I go to a party, if I find myself standing by the food table, I’m going to munch. And much. And much. You know what I’m talking about, don’t you? You’re not hungry and you know you’re not hungry but the buffalo dip/spinach and artichoke dip/chips and salsa/cheese and crackers/etc. are screaming your name because they smell and look so good. So, you let yourself have a small bite, right? And then what happens? You end up hovering near the food table and, again, eating when you’re not hungry. So, STEP AWAY from the food table and focus on conversations, people watching and game watching.

Make and bring a healthy snack option

If you know yourself and know you’re going to want to eat at the party you’re going to, pick a few healthy apps/snacks to make and bring so that you can eat those rather than some of the other unhealthier options. All of the blogs I’ve been reading have been showing “healthified” game day snack options and they look delicious!! Think: healthy buffalo dip, healthy spinach and artichoke dip, fruit or veggie platter, etc. There are so many delicious, yet healthy, options!

Make a plate of things to snack on

I never do this, although I probably should. Instead, I tend to “hover” near the food table and continuously grab things to eat. If you take a small plate and fill it with things you want to eat, you’ll probably end up eating less than if you just keep snacking. Seeing what you have to eat will help with portion control and sticking to that portion control.

Choose a lighter drink option

Beers are super easy (and fitting) to drink during a daytime game or party, but the calories add up reallll quickly with beers. Instead, try drinking something lighter like vodka soda’s or a lighter beer like some of those 60 calorie beers. Also, try drinking a water or seltzer water in between each drink… this will definitely cut down on how much you drink!

Work out before you go… or during commercials (if your friends won’t think that’s weird!)

I always get in a good workout before I know I’ll be indulging at a party. I also think it’s fun to do something during the commercials or half time, so that’s why I’ve made this workout for you. How convenient, right?! 😉

game day workout

So! I hope that helped. Are you going to a party today or are you hosting one? What are you making/bringing? What’s your favorite “healthified” recipe?

Weekend Catch-Up: Sister time, shopping, partying, relaxing

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I think we can all agree that December is a crazy busy month, right?! This past weekend was no different, but it was nice because I was able to relax on Sunday and catch up on blogging, baking cookies, doing laundry, writing Christmas cards, etc. Even though I am not always good at this, it is so important to make some time for yourself to do whatever it is that makes you happy and makes you escape from the craziness of the holiday season.

Friday

I had to go to the office to pack up my stuff for the move, but it wasn’t so bad because I treated myself to lunch at Flour Bakery. JP and I always used to get lunch out on Thursdays when we worked together, but since he left, I’ve been bringing my lunch almost every day (which is good for the waist and the wallet).

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After work, I came home and dealt with organizing the Pampered Chef stuff before picking up my sister at the airport and heading to Ecco for drinks and then walking across the street to Santarpio’s for dinner. Danielle had never eaten there so I was so excited to bring her!

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Saturday

I started my day the best way: teaching kickboxing at the Y. From there, I went to Target to get all sorts of random stuff. This was apparently the week of treating myself to indulgences because I got a Skinny Chai Tea Latte from Starbucks, which I NEVER do anymore. It was so, so good.

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After Target, I went into the city and was done shopping within 30 minutes. I know. I was impressed, too.

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My friends Jessi and Cristina had their annual Christmas party at their apartment in Charlestown, so Danielle and I braved the storm and headed there. It was so good to catch up with everyone, but getting a cab home in the snow storm? Notsomuch. I started calling cabs at 11:45 and didn’t get one until after 1am. Yuck! Otherwise, it was a really fun night!

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Sunday

I started my day with breakfast, blogging, laundry and baking some adorable snowmen cookies!

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It was so nice being around and having a chance to relax on Sunday morning. I don’t do that nearly enough! After I worked out and had lunch, I headed to TJ Max and Market Basket and then spent the rest of my Sunday puttering around my apartment, getting Christmas gifts together, doing a little more baking, prepping my lunches for the week, etc. I made a super simple dinner since I won’t be around on Tuesday and Wednesday for dinner. Market Basket rotisserie chickens are the best. thing. ever!

Questions for you: Did the weather ruin any plans for you this weekend? Is your Christmas shopping done? When’s the last time you had a jello shot?

{Holiday Series} Wednesday Workout: Body Weight Upper Body Blast

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Hi there! For the second week of your Holiday Series Wednesday Workout posts, I have decided to focus on the upper body. Again, in order to make this workout doable anywhere, it’s only using your body weight, which means you can get up and squeeze it in before work 😉

Body Weight Upper Body Blast

Here are links to some of the moves you may not be familiar with:

–Push-Up to Side Plank
–Plank Walk Out– This is also known as an “up-up-down-down plank”.
–Down Dog Push-Up
–Prone Pull Down
-For the handstand kick-ups, you’re going to basically be practicing trying to get into a handstand. We used to do this in yoga all the time and Athena and I recently did them in one of the MANIA sessions we attended, which made me remember how much I love this move! It’s great for your shoulders! If you feel like it makes you nervous to do this without doing them against the wall, use the wall! There’s no harm in that at all.

As it says in the instructions, this is a “for time” (CrossFit lingo) type of workout where you should do 4 rounds of these exercises as quickly as you can, but while also maintaining good form. I want you to try this next week to see if you can beat your time!

I hope you’re enjoying the “Holiday Series” I’m putting together. Next week will be all about core- get excited 🙂

Questions for you: How are you doing with managing your holiday parties this year? Are you still trying to fit in your workouts? Are any of these moves new to you?

This Week: Workouts, Schedule & Things I’m looking forward to

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Hi there! I hope you all had a good weekend. Mine was so fun… lots of girl time, celebrations and holiday decorating. Before I catch you up on that, though, let’s talk about workouts and getting on track! Last week was a really fun week of workouts for me because I tried new things, was really sore from my SHRED class and had big numbers in most of my classes. I’m not sure if the numbers will stay up as it’s getting closer to Christmas and therefore there are more holiday parties, but I was so happy to see a lot of people making time for the gym last week!

Last Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- My leg was bothering me on Monday (likely due to new sneakers), so rather than running, I decided to take a spinning class! It was perfect because not only did it allow me to workout without bothering my leg (my leg felt totally back to normal the next day, too), but it showed me that I don’t hate spinning as much as I thought I did!
  • Tuesday- I ended up having plans after work to grab dinner and drinks at the Intercontinental (sushi… wasn’t that good), so I got up and did a 30 minute upper body strength and ab tabata workout in my apartment.
  • Wednesday- I ran a 5K before teaching UXF Burn. It’s a good thing I was able to get in a good run before class and felt sore from my Tuesday workout because the class was packed and we ran out of weights and I literally had no place to stand! It was awesome 🙂
  • Thursday- I dug into my workout archives and pulled up this workout and decided to teach it. Holy moly. I was literally sore for 3 days. No clue why, but I wasn’t complaining! I taught kickboxing after.
  • Friday- I did 15 minutes of yoga in my apartment to loosen things up.
  • Saturday- I taught kickboxing at the Oak Square YMCA. It was another big class with lots of energy!
  • Sunday- Since I was still a little sore/tight from Thursday and had a long list of things to do, I skipped out on the gym. I wasn’t hungover, I just didn’t want to schedule in a workout. Ok, and my hair still looked really good from Saturday night and I didn’t want to sweat and ruin that 😉

This Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I’m going to go to spin again tonight! Thanks to some comments from readers, I’m going to up the intensity if I need to. I will try to fit in some abs, too.
  • Tuesday- I’ll do a strength workout after work.
  • Wednesday- Running before teaching UXF Burn. I am running the Somerville Jingle Bell 5K on Sunday and would like to get another run in before that.
  • Thursday- Teaching SHRED and then Kickboxing
  • Friday- Rest day!
  • Saturday- Teaching kickboxing at the Oak Square YMCA again. 4th week in a row and I love it!
  • Sunday- Running the Somerville Jingle Bell 5K with my sister. I cannot tell you how excited I am for this race. I have run it for the past 5 or 6 years and it’s one of my favorite things to do every year. What’s even better this year is the fact my sister is going to run with me. It’s her FIRST race and I hope she loves it!

Schedule

This week is another quiet week for me in terms of plans after work. I might have something on Tuesday night, but it’s still tentative. I have a busy weekend full of holiday parties and the race, but that’s all fun stuff:)

Things I’m looking forward to

The 5K is probably what I am most looking forward to. My parents always come down and it’s so fun to get dressed up in ugly Christmas stuff. I’m also looking forward to decorating my tree and going to Jessi’s Christmas party on Saturday night.

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Questions for you: Have you ever run a race? What’s your favorite part about running a race? What’s your favorite holiday tradition that gets you in the festive spirit?

{Holiday Series} Wednesday Workout: 20 Minute Buns Burner

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Hi there! Happy Wednesday. December is a time where we are all faced with lots of holiday parties and outings, which generally involve cocktails and snacks, and often times replace your after-work workout, right?

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This month, for my Wednesday Workout series, rather than focusing on posting longer workouts I may have taught in class or done at home, I am going to post shorter workouts that you can do before you go to work, on your lunch break, or quickly after work before you meet up for your holiday get together. It’s easy to push workouts to the side when you’re busy (I get so tired of hearing “I don’t have time to workout”. Well, yes you do. You just have to rearrange your schedule and MAKE time for your workout), but when you’re skipping your workout AND indulging more frequently than usual, it will probably catch up to you, which is why it’s so common to gain weight over the holidays. Obviously, if you do this once and a while, that’s totally fine… we all deserve days like that and you won’t gain 5lbs because you skipped a workout in favor of cocktail hour, but when you start doing it a few times a week for a few weeks in a row (holiday season), you may start to notice some not-so-great changes.

SO! With that said, here is your first Holiday Series Wednesday Workout post! This workout is designed to be a quickie 20-minute thing, but if you’ve only got 10 minutes, just do it once, because you know what? 10 minutes is better than nothing 😉

20 minute buns burner

I got good reviews from the Booty Burner workout and video I posted a few months ago, so I thought it would be fun to post another glute workout for you. This one incorporates cardio moves that specifically target the glutes, as well as body weight strength exercises, also specifically targeting the glutes. No equipment is necessary, so this can literally be done anywhere- no excuses! 🙂

I’m thinking of doing an upper-body cardio and strength circuit next week, followed by abs the week after and a combination on the last week… thoughts? Do you guys like this idea of a “Holiday Series” of quick, but effective workouts? I want to know your thoughts!

Questions for you: What do you do to stay on track during holiday season? Do you workout before work or during lunch? Do you skip out on appetizers? What do you drink for lighter beverages?