Category: Boston

Weekly Workouts: Tough workouts, being sore & putting myself first

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Hi, friends! I hope you all had a great weekend! Mine was very relaxing compared to last weekend, but I’ll catch you up on that later. For now, let’s talk workouts, like we do every Monday morning. I use this as a way to reflect on my workouts from the previous week, look ahead to what I want to accomplish this week and hopefully motivate all of you to think about your workouts and to make a plan.

Last week, I had some awesome workouts. I was supposed to rest more than I did, but since the weather was back to summer-like temps, I had to take advantage of the warm evenings and the fact that there was still daylight after work, so I went on some runs. I also had some intense lifting workouts, which left me veryyyy sore (nothing like rolling over on a Sunday morning being completely sore from BodyPump!).

On top of that, I did something I never do: I said “no”. And, you know what? It felt pretty good. It was just one of those days where I really needed MY OWN workout. Teaching is amazing and I love it, and when I first started, I thought teaching would still be MY workout, but I quickly realized that it’s not my workout at all; I am there for my members and ensuring that THEY have a great workout. So, when I was teaching a crazy amount of classes, I noticed how much my own workouts started to slack and it really bothered me. Now that I don’t teach as much, I focus on making my “off” days from teaching for me and it’s done wonders for my fitness levels!

And, rant over… let’s get to the workouts!

Last Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I said last week that I was going to rest on Monday, but the weather was great and I found out I was going to dinner with coworkers on Tuesday after work so I wanted to make sure to get my planned Tuesday workout in on Monday since I had more time. I ran 4 miles and it was awesome! But, on the way back I felt like I was racing the sunset.

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  • Tuesday- I ended up having a lot of time after work until dinner, so I headed up to the gym in my building and had a surprisingly good and strong strength session. I think I’ll post the workout for you soon because it left me pleasantly sore! I also did my Fall Into Fitness challenge; I had forgotten how much I love lunge & knee lift jumps!

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  • Wednesday- After saying no to subbing the class before mine, I went for a 3 mile run along the Charles. The views never get old and there’s really no better way to clear your head! Since I was so sore from my Tuesday strength session, I didn’t do much of the class with my members when I taught UXF Burn. It was a great class, though. That class loves to work hard

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  • Thursday- I felt back to my normal self on Thursday so I did all of SHRED and Kickboxing with my classes. I taught a timed circuit, Tabata cardio and Tabata abs class, thanks to a suggestion from Athena. My members loved this format, so I am definitely doing it again!
  • Friday- I did the glute press and hydrant for the Fall into Fitness challenge and walked .75 miles to the bar and back, but besides that, I rested.
  • Saturday- I warmed up with 20 minutes on the elliptical before going to BodyPump. My glutes were still sore from Thursday, so I went lighter on the leg tracks, but pushed myself with the upper body tracks. I’ve gotten stronger lately and I love it.
  • Sunday- Rest, besides walking around the mall. I was sore and since my workouts had been strong and intense all week, I thought rest was best!

This Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I will probably run after work and then do some ab work.
  • Tuesday- Less cardio and more strength focus.
  • Wednesday- Cardio before teaching UXF Burn.
  • Thursday- Teaching SHRED and Kickboxing, probably using the same format in SHRED this week as I did last week.
  • Friday- Rest, besides my Fall into Fitness move of the day.
  • Saturday- Teaching Kickboxing at the YMCA.
  • Sunday- I think I am going to Maine this weekend so I will try to do something there, maybe even with my mom!

Questions for you: Are you participating in Athena’s Fall into Fitness challenge? What’s a new fitness goal you have? Instructor friends, do you feel you need to work out in addition to teaching since when you teach you’re more focused on your members’ workouts?

Girls Night & Other Weekend Happenings

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What a fun weekend I had! I am loving having some extra free time on the weekends to go out and have fun in Boston, as well as get my apartment more and more settled!

Friday evening, the Shapleigh girls came over for a girls night. I did my best to play “hostess” and set out snacks and drinks.

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Our original plan was to go to Rino’s or Prima e Dopo, but we decided we were having too much fun drinking wine and munching on snacks at my place and didn’t want to leave! So, we ordered pizza which did the trick!

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I’ve lived with all of these ladies at one time or another and we all grew up together (Amy’s sister, Sara, is the last piece of the Shapleigh girls puzzle; she lives in NH so when we go home we make it a point to always get together!) so when we get together, it’s basically like hanging out with 3 sisters. We do stupid stuff like have random dance parties and jump contests. Friday was no different as we had a stretching competition to make fun of Danielle for being so un-flexible!

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Clearly the wine had set in at that point so we called a cab and got ready to head into the city.

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Amy had some friends going to Tia’s so we headed there first. From Tia’s, the plan was to go to The Brahmin, but per usual, the line was crazy long so we hopped over to Red Lantern to have a drink while waiting for the line to go down. I’ve never eaten there, but it’s been on my list of places to go for a while now!

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I think this is where things started to go from casual fun to drunken fun, haha I blame it on Amy’s college friend, Andrew, as he could be a professional partier 😉

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I hadn’t planned on going out and/or drinking wine like it was water, but the nights where you don’t plan on going out and end up going out tend to be the best, right?! Saturday night was no different! Any night with dancing is a good night in my eyes 😉

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Needless to say, I did not feel up to my normal self on Saturday, but I made the best of it! I got new glasses, went to the beach, made pizza, watched half of The Great Gatsby (couldn’t stay awake for the whole thing!) and was in bed by 9:30- regular ol’ crazy Saturday night 😉

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What do you think of my new glasses?? I am totally loving them and it’s fun having something so different than my other 2 pairs! They make me feel smarter, haha.

Sunday I got up and felt so much better so I went for a nice walk to enjoy the weather. I met up with my college friend, Pat, and his wife, Colleen for breakfast at Angelas Café, which is equidistant from both of our apartments. I’m SO excited to have some friends within very close walking distance- it’s going to be so fun 🙂 They also took me for a tour of Eastie and introduced me to another amazing park and ‘must try’ restaurants.

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Beautiful, right?! I’m excited to run there and use the gym that they have in the park- it’s a little area with all sorts of fun things to use as workout tools.

After the tour was complete, I headed back to my apartment to do laundry and hang up pictures and other random new apartment organizing things before my sister came over for a Target and Market Basket run.

I finallllyyy got a normal sized tv! It’s awesome!
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I also got new pillows for my couch! I’m going for a yellow/gray/white color scheme and I found these at Home Goods and couldn’t resist!

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I made Shepherd’s Pie for dinner, which I’ll post for you later this week 🙂

Questions for you: Have you seen the Great Gatsby? What was the best part of your weekend? Do you know of any “must try” restaurants in Eastie that I should add to my list?

Weekly Workouts: Taking some time to rest

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Hi there! How was your weekend? Mine was really great, but I’ll catch you all up on that tomorrow. I like to use Monday’s as my “weekly workout” post day with the hope that it helps to get you motivated to stay on track and get workouts planned throughout the week. It’s harder to skip a workout when you’ve written it down and held yourself accountable, right?

As I mentioned on Friday, I decided to give myself a little break from any sort of intense physical activity over the weekend. My old injuries started to flare up and I was just feeling continuously exhausted, which told me it was time for a little T.O. from the gym and working out. Surprisingly enough, it was easier than I had imagined! And get this- I even enjoyed it 🙂 Friday is generally my rest day and Saturday and Sunday I kept busy with other things so I didn’t get antsy and feel like I needed to do something! I am going to take this week light, too, which is totally fine.

Last Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I was home in Maine and completed a workout in my parents living room. It was 2 short, 4 move circuits that I repeated 3 times before doing cardio and moving to the next circuit. I think I’ll post it for you this week because it left me sore!

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  • Tuesday- I got up and ran 3.5 miles before work. It was a beautiful morning for a run, but the last 3 blocks to my apartment were brutal as they are up a BIG hill.

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  • Wednesday- I ran 2 miles before teaching UXF Burn. It was a great class- lots of people and lots of energy!
  • Thursday- I taught another similar format to what I have been teaching as everyone has been loving it. It was 2 strength moves (15 reps each), 60 seconds of abs, 2 minutes of cardio. I repeated a workout in kickboxing from months ago, but I don’t think anyone noticed 😉
  • Friday- rest! I walked .5 miles to Shaw’s and back, but that’s it.
  • Saturday- nothing!
  • Sunday- I went to bed on Saturday night at 9:30 and didn’t get out of bed on Sunday until 8:15! After Friday night’s festivities, I cannot tell you how much that was needed; I woke up feeling like a million bucks on Sunday! Since the weather was amazing, I laced up my sneaks and went for a nice morning stroll, making random stops to do a little stretching and light core work. Felt great!

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This Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I think there is a Pilates class on Monday nights at the East Boston YMCA, so I may try to go to that.
  • Tuesday- Pending on how I’m feeling, I may run or just do some light cardio at the gym… or rest.
  • Wednesday- Teaching UXF Burn. If I do anything before class, it will just be a walk or something else low impact.
  • Thursday- Teaching SHRED and kickboxing. I think I may teach a tabata themed class in SHRED, thanks to a reminder from Athena!
  • Friday- Not sure! If I’m feeling rested, I may workout before or after work, but I’m going to play it by ear.
  • Saturday- Teaching kickboxing at the Oak Square YMCA! yay!
  • Sunday- Not sure- I’d love to get to a BodyPump class 🙂

Questions for you: Do you like to take your rest days during the week or weekend? What’s your favorite Tabata combination?

Wednesday Workout: Run/Walk & Park Boot Camp Circuit

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As I mentioned in my Weekly Workouts post on Monday, last week I did a really fun workout which only included myself & a park bench! I enjoyed it so much that I wanted to share it with you. I also thought it would be nice to show you a workout that doesn’t include any gym equipment so that you can hopefully take this on the road with you!

I went into the workout only knowing that I wanted to run 10 minutes and then perform various exercises. As I started my first strength set, this is what I came up with:

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This was a great, full body workout that left me really tired and really sweaty! And, what’s great is that you can modify this workout and walk the 10 minute cardio intervals instead of running them, so there’s really no excuse 😉

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From left to right, top to bottom: bench step ups, flutter kicks, plank, shameless selfie.

If you have any questions regarding any of the moves, let me know! I was able to cover about 3.7 miles in the 30 minutes of running, which I felt good about! Let me know if you try this 🙂

Questions for you: Have you ever done a workout in a park before? Do you like to run for timed intervals or distance?

Weekly Workouts: New gym & an outside workout

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Happy Labor Day, friends! I hope you’re all lucky enough to have today off. I have been looking forward to this for a while, as I was in major need of a day off from everything! The past couple of weeks, between moving, working, subbing, blogging, and trying to get a new apartment put together have been incredibly tiring. Spending this past weekend at home in Maine was just what I needed. On Saturday night, I was in bed and asleep before 10pm and didn’t get up until after 8am. It was lovely!

Anyway, let’s get to the workouts! Last week, I switched up my normal workout routine and had the chance to check out the East Boston YMCA. While it is not nearly as nice as the Oak Square YMCA, the fact that it’s less than a 10 minute walk from my apartment and I can use my existing YMCA membership to go there makes it pretty great in my eyes! I definitely see myself using it a lot throughout the winter!

Last Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I had plans to get up and jog before work since I wanted to go to Ikea after work, but when my alarm went off, I was EXHAUSTED and really didn’t want to force a workout when I was that tired, especially since I could workout after work. Here’s the kicker, though, I did get up, got changed and then I noticed it started to sprinkle. So, instead of doing something inside, I actually changed BACK into my jammies and got back in bed for 45 minutes. It was awesome! And, I was finally able to order my couch and chair covers online through Ikea so I had so much time after work to workout. I was gchatting with Athena and she suggested I do a boot camp in the park near my apartment. Perfect! I ended up running 10 minutes, doing a series of strength and ab moves and repeating that sequence 2 more times. I covered almost 3.7 miles in the 30 minutes of running. I think I’ll post the workout for you later this week??

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  • Tuesday- I went to the East Boston YMCA after work and completed my Pyramid Workout, with the exception that I didn’t do the cardio. I wanted to focus on strength and since I now walk almost 3 miles every day in my new commute, I felt like I should take a day where I didn’t do cardio and just did strength. It was still a great workout and I left sweaty!

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  • Wednesday- I ran 3 miles before teaching UXF burn. I don’t know where I got the speed on Wednesday, but I ran my last mile in 7:58, and that included the need to slow down when I came upon lots of people on the side walk. I was shocked with this time!

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  • Thursday- I taught another superset workout in SHRED (my members are loving this format). I included lots of new moves that I learned when I finally went through all of the magazine cutouts I’ve taken from fitness magazines over the years. It was a great class! Kickboxing was fun, too… decent size group again!
  • Friday- Nothing 🙂 I love my Friday rest days. I did do a lot of walking when I took PT into the city to meet up with Athena for her birthday, but that was it!
  • Saturday- Taught Kickboxing at the Oak Square YMCA. It was the smallest group to date (16 people) and it took a LOT out of me to keep the energy up, especially when I felt like I had had a liiiitle too much to drink the night before 😉

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  • Sunday- a fast (for me!) 3 mile run around Shapleigh, followed by picking potatoes, which is great for your back 😉

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This Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I’m not sure what I’ll do today. I’m still home in Maine so I might do a boot camp or run or maybe a deck of cards? Suggestions??
  • Tuesday- I will get up and do something before work since I am meeting my friend, Liz, for drinks after work. The fact that I know I CAN’T workout after work means that I will absolutely get up to workout. It’s just hard to force myself to workout in the morning when I’m tired if I know I can do it after work. Plus, my workouts after work are so much stronger than in the morning, so I would prefer to do them then if possible.
  • Wednesday- Likely another run before teaching UXF Burn. I’m trying to soak up all of the outdoor runs along the Charles that I can while the weather is still nice!
  • Thursday- SHRED followed by Kickboxing. Any format suggestions for SHRED?
  • Friday- Probably a rest day. Danielle, Amy and Rachel are coming over for cocktail hour before we go out to dinner. I’m excited to have them over the new place!
  • Saturday- I don’t have to teach, so I’ll probably go to BodyPump in Wellington with some cardio before or after.
  • Sunday- Not sure! Maybe a run through the park, maybe a workout at the East Boston YMCA, maybe yoga?? maybe nothing!

Questions for you: Have you ever gotten up, gotten dressed, then got back in bed to sleep instead of workout? When you have plans after work, do you make sure to get up and workout before work? Do you choose a gym over location/convenience or the quality of the gym?