Category: BSC

This Week: Workouts (lots of teaching!) & Things I’m Looking Forward To

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Happy Monday! I’m hoping that we didn’t actually get as much snow as the weather was predicting all weekend… I’m also hoping that by the time this post goes up, I’ve successfully taught my first 6am class at my new gym 🙂

Last week was a really great week of quality workouts (not necessarily the quantity of workouts), mostly because it felt amazing to be back in the gym and teaching, partly because they actually were good workouts. Even though I stayed active last week, it wasn’t at my normal intensity and didn’t involve weights, so being back at the gym last week with normal intensity AND weights left me tired and sore. And, I kind of loved it! Even though I like to have a consistent workout plan and schedule each week, being forced to take a step back, slow down and change things up is a nice break 🙂

Last Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I got up before my work trip to Dallas (like 5am style. yuck) to squeeze in a quick 30 minute workout: 10 minutes cardio, 10 minutes strength, 10 minutes core. I’m going to post it for you this week.
  • Tuesday- Nothing. My trip to Dallas was quick and I knew I wouldn’t be getting up to workout before the sessions, so I didn’t even bring my workout clothes!
  • Wednesday- I ran 3 miles on the treadmill before teaching UXF Burn. I did most of the workout with the class (except the cardio) so I was beat by the end.
  • Thursday- I taught SHRED and Kickboxing. I randomly used body bars in SHRED and loved it!! I ended up making up most of the workout as we went so we could use the bars and it was a nice change up. Kickboxing was super high cardio and super sweaty. I hadn’t taught that class in 2 weeks so it was great to be back!
  • Friday- I walked about a mile… so mostly a rest day
  • Saturday- Taught kickboxing at the Oak Square YMCA. There were 62 people… it.was.sweaty.

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  • Sunday- I filmed a standing ab routine (I’ll be posting it this week!) and did some at-home yoga. It was just what I needed!!

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I was seriously SO sore from kickboxing on Saturday, so stretching out my muscles was wonderful. At least I wasn’t the only one sore… these girls were suffering in my pain, too!

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This Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I’m teaching my first 6am Muscle Work class in the morning (pending the snow doesn’t ruin that plan!!) and then teaching cardio kickboxing at the Watertown BSC after work. Nothing like a Monday double to start off the week!
  • Tuesday- I was invited to participate in a new program that’s being brought to Boston (more on that later!), so I’m going to Flywheel for the opening event. SO excited to get back in the saddle there!
  • Wednesday- Probably some cardio before teaching UXF Burn. I’m thinking it will be a lower-impact cardio based on my Monday and Tuesday workouts.
  • Thursday- My second double of the week! SHRED followed by Kickboxing.
  • Friday- REST 🙂
  • Saturday- Amy and I switched Saturday’s at the Y so I’ll be teaching kickboxing there again this weekend!
  • Sunday- I’m subbing a 9AM UXF Burn class at the Allston BSC- looking forward to being back at that gym- BSCers… come hang with me 🙂

I’m glad that last week ended up being a lighter workout week than normal (3 mostly “rest” days, which I never do in one week) because this week is a bit intense with teaching 7 classes. I’m going to make sure to listen to my body and instruct/coach rather than actually DO the workouts with the class when I feel like I’ve done too much.

Things I’m Looking Forward To

So much!! I’m excited to have a week where I am mostly back to my normal schedule, although, now that I think about it, it’s not really “normal” since I have a lot of things going on after work… hmmm…. I’m also looking forward to the blog event on Tuesday night- it’s always fun to meet fellow Boston bloggers. I’m looking to expand my blog reading list, so I know I’ll get to add a few to my list after Tuesday night 😉 I’m going to another blog event on Saturday afternoon- a wine tasting event. Umm, perfect!! Wine and blogging… after teaching… sounds like the perfect Saturday, right?

Giveaway coming up-

Be on the lookout for an awesome giveaway going up on the blog tomorrow. I think you ladies are going to LOVE it!

Questions for you: What was the best workout you had last week? What are you looking forward to this week? If you had to pick one blog to tell me to read, what would it be?

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

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Thank you all so much for your kind words and great suggestions on my 1 year anniversary post. You have no idea how much it means to me… seriously! You guys are the best!! There’s still more time to enter the giveaway, so head on over and enter to win it!

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Good morning! How was your weekend? Mine was ok. Friday night I had a blast getting drinks and apps with my sister and my upstairs neighbor, Lisa. It ended up being an eventful night, but very fun! Saturday was full of fitness and baking since my evening plans got cancelled because of the snow and Sunday was quiet and low key because I was super uncomfortable from a weird skin breakout on top of my Chilblains. Yeah. Wasn’t fun at all.

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I’ve got to say, though, the snow has really been cramping my style and my plans. I love the snow and I love winter, but I hate the stress that it adds: worrying about whether or not classes will be cancelled, worrying about parking, getting disappointed because plans end up being cancelled because of the weather… it’s just getting old! Anyone else feel this way? What’s the thing about winter/snow storms that stresses you out the most or makes you the most upset?

Last Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I subbed a kickboxing class at the Watertown BSC. It was a big group AND no one left… that’s a personal record for me at that gym 😉 Before teaching I did 15 minutes on the elliptical and 10 minutes of abs.
  • Tuesday- I went to the Muscle Mix class at the gym in my building. We used the Reebok core boards which was a fun treat! It was the same sub as last week (who was awkward) and she was still crazy this week. She also kept telling us to “suck in our guts” and to not let them hang over out pants. I found that offensive and just not really appropriate. I understand the point she’s trying to make, but I think she could approach it differently. Thoughts?
  • Wednesday- I ran a quick 3 miles on the treadmill (and changed the incline from 1-5%, which upped the intensity) and then taught UXF Burn.
  • Thursday- The BSC cancelled ALL classes, which has never happened in the time I’ve worked there. Literally. Even in the blizzard last year they didn’t cancel classes. It was such a shocker!! On the one hand, I was happy that I didn’t have to deal with getting there and getting home, but on the other hand I was sad to miss out on my double 😦 I ended up doing 30 minutes of kickboxing and 30 minutes of strength in my apartment. Perfect.
  • Friday- Rest! I did 10 minutes of yoga to stretch out and wished I had 60 minutes to stretch. It felt so good!
  • Saturday- Big day of fitness. I taught kickboxing in the morning (sorry to the front row if my sweat smelled like wine… whoops!), which ended up being a pretty intense cardio class. Later in the day, I went to a blogger event at Flywheel. Boy were my legs beat by the end of that!!
  • Sunday- Rest. I wasn’t planning on resting, but my Chilblains came out in full force from Friday night to Sunday. It’s terrible and I need to go back to the dermatologist. My fingers were so painful it hurt to bend them… and it spread to my toes. I know I could have it much worse, but I was pretty miserable yesterday, to say the least. I cleaned, grocery shopped, food prepped and caught up on blogging instead. Sometimes rest like that is just necessary.

This Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I’m not sure what I’ll do today… I might have even gotten my workout in by the time this blog post goes up!
  • Tuesday- If I don’t go to the Muscle Mix class (I have a call right before it so I may not be able to make it), I’ll lift after work probably.
  • Wednesday- Treadmill run and then teaching UXF Burn.
  • Thursday- Teaching SHRED and Kickboxing. At least my workouts are already made 😉
  • Friday- I’d love to get in 30 minutes of at home yoga!
  • Saturday- I have no idea! I’m not teaching and don’t have any other plans. Maybe I’ll go to Recycle studio or BodyPump or Core Fusion. I love open weekend days 🙂
  • Sunday- Again, no idea. Apparently my week is very open in terms of workouts…. I like that!

Things I’m Looking Forward To

Hmmm… I’m looking forward to getting a chance to have flexibility with my workouts this week. Hopefully I’ll be able to try out new classes or workouts. My Valentine’s plans last weekend ended up being cancelled because of the weather, so hopefully they’ll get rescheduled this week. Other than that, I’m feeling really blah. I’m trying not to let this whole Chilblains stuff bother me, but it is. It’s just painful and frustrating and it makes me nervous. I know I could be facing things much worse than I am, but it just seems like I can’t win lately. Literally, I feel like it’s been one thing after another in the past 2 weeks and it’s really starting to get to me. I need to get back to the doctors ASAP, because on top of the Chilblains, I also have some weird bumps all over my body… almost like bug bites. I don’t think I have bed bugs (I looked) and I changed my sheets, but they’re getting worse. My skin hates me and I’m looking forward to the day when it’s back to normal.

So, sorry about my womp womp attitude, but I just don’t like when my body isn’t working correctly. It makes me nervous, but hopefully after seeing the doctor I’ll feel better.

Questions for you: Has the snow interrupted your workout plans? Have you ever been offended by something an instructor has said? What are you looking forward to this week?

 

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

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Happy Monday! I’m happy to say that I am feeling much better after having gone home to Maine for the weekend. After my finger issue (more on that in a minute), I went into the weekend saying that if I didn’t get any formal exercise in that would be totally fine (fitting, after my rest post on Friday, right? Did you check it out? I’d love to get some more people to chime in on what you think about rest days!). Turns out that since my mom and sister had gym plans on Saturday morning before our hair appointment and lunch, it made more sense for me to go with them, so I did. But it’s ok. I felt rested and, honestly, everything that had been bothering me last week just seemed to go away once I got home. I know that probably sounds weird, but it’s the truth. It’s like all I really needed was to get out of dodge and be home. Amazing how that happens.

So, back to that finger issue. To make a really long story short, I have had a few issues with my right ring finger since probably early December. It’s had various things go wrong with it, most recently, lots of swelling, immobility and a nasty open wound. I finally decided to go to the doctors last Monday. Two doctors looked at it and couldn’t figure out what was going on, so they gave me an ointment and told me to come back on Thursday. Thursday came, and I hadn’t seen any improvements to my finger. The doctor asked a dermatologist about it and she determined that she thought it was Chilblains, which is a form of frost bite. Yeah. Not impressed. They gave me a stronger steroid ointment, instructed me to keep my finger elevated to reduce swelling, told me to keep it away from soap and to wear mittens. Great. As of today, it’s still not really better, so I foresee myself going BACK to the dermatologist this week 😦 It’s just annoying because I really can’t move it and therefore it makes working out with weights and teaching kickboxing quite difficult. Ugh. Rant over- thanks for listening reading!

Last Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I wasn’t as sore as I thought I was going to be from Barry’s Bootcamp, so I headed to the gym in my office building for a low-impact cardio and core workout. I rarely say this, but my workout SUCKED.  Yup. It wasn’t good and I left there frustrated that I wasted almost an hour of my day. I just did the elliptical and then a short circuit, but felt like I didn’t really exert myself. Oh well. We can’t always have rock star workouts, right?!
  • Tuesday- I went to the Muscle Mix class during the day at my office gym. It was a sub and I wasn’t that impressed with her. First off, she worked out in a sports bra (not appropriate, in my mind, unless you’re teaching Zumba), her form was terrible for planks, and she just said weird stuff. She was pretty jacked, but she was just too out there for me.
  • Wednesday- I ended up getting a sub (thanks Kate!) for UXF Burn because of the weather. I could have figured out a way to trek it there, but I realized it wasn’t really worth the super long commute for an hour class. I ended up doing this workout from Fitnessista with a few additions and some extra core and cardio at the end. I loved the tabata cardio’s!
  • Thursday- Taught my double! I taught a fun format in SHRED that I kind of took from Emily’s class at Barry’s. I created supersets and gave the class 4 minutes per superset to work down from 10 reps of each to as low as they could go in 4 minutes. Then we did 60 seconds of abs and a tabata cardio. I’ll post it for you this week because I loved it!
  • Friday- Rest day at home in Maine 🙂
  • Saturday- Went to a class with my sister, but didn’t love it (wow, my workouts weren’t that great last week, apparently!). The instructor is usually crazy intense, but her class today wasn’t anything special and I didn’t feel like I was working that hard. Oh well.
  • Sunday- I went snow shoeing with my mom in our yard for over 45 minutes!! Well, I snow shoed and she cross country skied behind me. I haven’t snow shoed since last winter and it felt great. It was a beautiful day and I got a much-needed dose of Vitamin D!

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This Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I am subbing kickboxing at the Watertown BSC at 6:30pm- Please come, BSCers!
  • Tuesday- Muscle Mix! I really enjoy getting out of the office and getting my strength workout done during the day (rather than getting up early or doing it after work). Especially in a half hour 😉
  • Wednesday- Probably running before teaching UXF Burn. I missed these guys last week… I may make it harder for them to show them that 😉
  • Thursday- Teaching SHRED and Kickboxing!
  • Friday- Rest
  • Saturday- Big day of fitness for me- teaching kickboxing at the Oak Square YMCA and then going to a blogger’s class at Flywheel in the Back Bay. I am REALLY excited!
  • Sunday- Probably another rest day, or maybe yoga.

Things I’m Looking Forward To

Well, I’m really looking forward to all of my apartment problems to go away. I was so relaxed coming back to Boston last night, but as soon as I walked into my apartment and saw how it looked and realized my heat was broken… my stress came right back! I’m also looking forward to making the choice to spend Valentine’s Day with my sister 🙂 I love the holiday, but can do the date-thing on Saturday night… spending Friday with my sister and anyone else who wants to hang with us is exactly what I’m looking forward to! I’m also looking forward to going to a cycling class at Flyweel. After my Recycle experience, I fell in love with indoor cycling, so I can’t wait to experience another studio!

Questions for you: When’s the last time you did something snow-related for a workout? Did you make it to the gym during the snow storm or did you opt for an at-home workout? Have you had an injury that makes it difficult for you to workout?

This Week: Workouts, Things I’m Looking Forward To & January Challenge Recap

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Hi there! Anyone feeling like they had a little too much fun watching the Super Bowl yesterday? Did anyone try out the workout or follow any of the tips I gave yesterday? I would have, but I went to Barry’s Bootcamp and had my ass (pardon me) literally handed to me (in the best way possible).

Speaking of workouts…

Last Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I went to the gym in my new office building after work and completed a REALLY good workout. It’s worth a try!

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  • Tuesday- I am trying out a bunch of different classes at the gym in my new building, so I went to the 11:30am 30 minute Muscle Mix class and loved it! There were about 12 or 13 of us in class, which impressed me for a work gym. Granted, International Place (between One and Two) has a ton of employees, so I guess it kind of makes sense, but still, it made me so happy to see such a busy gym during the day!
  • Wednesday- Ugh. Don’t get me started. I was uncomfortably sore from my workouts on Monday and Tuesday and literally had NO motivation to go to the gym. Had I not been teaching, I would have called it a rest day. Alas, I had to teach, so I walked for 25 minutes on the treadmill to try and get me pumped up and then taught UXF Burn. There were 25 people with loads of energy which totally helped me get into the workout mood. It’s amazing what the energy from a group of hard working people can do 😉
  • Thursday- I felt better on Thursday and was looking forward to teaching, but it was weird because I’m usually dead after my double and am usually a sweaty beast, but for some reason I wasn’t. I don’t know if it was because the workouts were easy (hardly doubt that) or if it was just a way of my body telling me it didn’t want to work (probably this). Needless to say, I was happy for my rest day on Friday!
  • Friday- Rest!
  • Saturday- Taught kickboxing at the Oak Square YMCA. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… this class makes my week. Thank you to everyone who comes out and gives it their all!

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  • Sunday- Barry’s Bootcamp probably wasn’t a great idea this week as I was feeling rundown from my workouts, but I paid and agreed to it before I started feeling rundown so I couldn’t really back out of it (wasn’t about to lose $28….). I ended up being able to power through and loved it… more on that later!

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This Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I’m not sure what I’ll do today. It may be a rest day if I’m super sore from Barry’s Bootcamp.
  • Tuesday- I’ll probably go to the 11:30 muscle class again if I don’t have any calls. I liked that!
  • Wednesday- Probably a run and then teaching UXF Burn.
  • Thursday- Two-a-day! SHRED and Kickboxing. Last week I had 4 guys in kickboxing- it was amazing! I hope they come back!
  • Friday- Rest day. I’ll be home in Maine working from there 🙂
  • Saturday- My sister and I are going to go to the 9am class at the Sanford/Springvale YMCA before we get our hair cut!
  • Sunday- Not sure. A lot will depend on how I’m feeling and how my workouts looked earlier in the week. If my parents have enough snow to snowshoe, I may do that.

Things I’m Looking Forward To

Going home!!! I think part of the reason I felt off last week was because I just need to go home to recharge my batteries. I haven’t been home since Christmas and my life since Christmas has been pretty crazy between teaching a lot of classes, blogging, keeping up a social life, work, etc., so I’m looking forward to going home, spending time with my parents, having home cooked meals and just getting a little TLC.

January Burpee & Push-Up Challenge {Recap}

So, how did everyone do with the recap? I know some of you did a lot better than I did. I have to be honest here: I didn’t finish out the challenge. I hate not finishing things, but I just couldn’t do it this week. If you count the number of push-ups I did in Barry’s Bootcamp and the number of burpees I did all week, I definitely got to 100 (or more!) of each, but I needed rest on Friday and then didn’t have the energy after kickboxing on Saturday or after bootcamp on Sunday, so…. I didn’t do week 4 of the challenge. I was feeling guilty, but realized it’s OK to not finish things if you’re not feeling up to it. I improved my time from week 1 to week 2, which I was proud of and is what I’ve decided to focus on.

However! I want to hear from you- did you finish the challenge? Did you beat your time? More importantly, did you feel stronger in week 4 than you did in week 1? Jen Ryder has been seriously killing this challenge and I am SO PROUD of her for giving it her all every week and continuously beating her time. Dana was able to do all of the push-ups on her feet, which I think is amazing (my goal this year is to get better at push-ups). Does anyone else have anything they want to brag about? Now’s your time!! You worked so hard and deserve to get the recognition for it!

On that note….

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Do you guys think you want me to do another challenge like this in the future? What would you like to see included in the challenge? What was your favorite part about this challenge? What was the most challenging aspect for you?

Make this week great, friends!

This Week: Workouts, Things I’m Looking Forward To, & Week 3 of the January Challenge Check-In

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Hi there! Happy Monday! I hope you’re all feeling refreshed after the weekend.

At the beginning of last week, I was feeling bored with my workouts. I don’t really know why, because I feel like it was just a few weeks ago where I said my workouts left me really sore, so that must mean I’ve been doing different things, right? Whatever the reason for having that feeling, it went away just a few days into the week. Between subbing a class, doing an at-home workout and going to my first class at Recycle Studio, I had a fun-filled week of fitness by the end of it!

Last Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I did 20 minutes on the cross trainer before doing 10 minutes of abs and teaching kickboxing at the Watertown BSC.
  • Tuesday- It was my plan to go to the gym after work, but by the time I left work it was freezing cold, windy and snowy, so I opted to take advantage of a non-teaching day and head right home after work to do an at-home workout. I based it off of this workout from Athena. I obviously didn’t row, but I did 2 minutes of cardio and core supersets in place of the rowing. My chest was so sore on Wednesday!

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  • Wednesday- I ran 3.5 miles before teaching a packed UXF Burn class. Dana asked for a hard workout and although I planned it before  her request, I think it still ended up being pretty hard!
  • Thursday- I taught SHRED and Kickboxing. I based my SHRED workout off of what I did at home on Tuesday night, and although it was a good workout, it didn’t pump me up while teaching it. Fitness instructors- do any of you ever experience this? You do a workout on your own and love it, but don’t love to teach it? Hmmm.
  • Friday- Rest day! Besides my normal walk to and from work… I had an exciting meeting that I’ll share more about with you later 😉
  • Saturday- I took a “Reboot” ride with my friend Lindsay at Recycle Studio.

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  • Sunday- I went to Exhale Spa for one of their Core Fusion Barre classes. Since I bought the Guilt 3 class pass, I wanted to try out different classes. Last week was yoga, this week was Barre. I liked the class, but I think I like Pure Barre better!

This Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I’m not sure what I feel like doing after work today! I received a 3-week pass to the gym in my new office building and they offer a ton of classes so I may try something there during or after work or I may head to spin at the East Boston YMCA. After my class with Linsday, though, I’m not sure I can go back to regular ol’ spinning!
  • Tuesday- I have plans after work so I’ll get up and probably do some strength training in the morning.
  • Wednesday- The usual: running and then teaching UXF Burn.
  • Thursday- Again, the usual: teaching SHRED and Kickboxing
  • Friday- Rest- but maybe some yoga when I work from home.
  • Saturday- Teaching kickboxing at the Oak Square YMCA.
  • Sunday- I may be running a 5k in Cambridge with some BSC gym friends. If I don’t do that, I’ll do something else since I think it’s the Super Bowl and even though I don’t watch football, I’ll probably be around people who do… and eating football food (whatever that means… I’m pretty sure it’s not healthy…), so a workout before that is not a bad idea.

Things I’m Looking Forward To

I think I’m getting together with someone on Tuesday after work. We talked about going grocery shopping and cooking dinner, which is one of my favorite things to do! I’m also looking forward to hopefully running a 5K this weekend and then rewarding myself with food, drinks and friends while pretending to watch watching football.

January Burpee and Push-Up Challenge- Week 3 Check-In

I have to be honest with you guys. I did NOT want to do the challenge yesterday. I had gone to a barre class and showered and was feeling super relaxed when I got home and the LAST thing I wanted to do was get out of my peaceful mood and bust out 100 push-ups and burpees.  We also did a LOT of push-ups in the barre class, so  the thought of doing more was daunting. I don’t get like this very often, but when I do, I try to honor my body and myself. My friend, Jen, posted on Facebook that she did the challenge for week 3, but not for time because her legs were tired from snowboarding. I was so proud of her for acknowledging this and modifying for it. It’s important to push ourselves, but we also need to know when to call it quits, right? So, I copied Jen and did the challenge last night, but not for time. I modified the burpees (didn’t do the jump at the top) and did the push-ups on my knees and with multiple breaks within each set of 25. I’m happy that I listened to my body and took the challenge down a notch. I know I’m guilty of getting wrapped up in doing things as fast as I can all the time, so it was a big thing for me to slow down, achieve the challenge, but leave behind the competition with myself. It made for a much more enjoyable experience!

I want to hear from you- Week 3 of the challenge… how did you do?  Did you push yourself this week or did you do it without a goal or time? What was the hardest or easiest part for you this week? We’ve got one week left and I hope you’re all going to stick with me until the end!

Questions for you: Did you make it to the gym in the snow storm or did you opt for an at-home workout? Did you try any new workouts this week?