Category: BSC

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?

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?

Wednesday Workout: Supersets, Tabata Cardio & Core

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Happy hump day!!

GEICO Hump Day Camel Commercial – Happier than a Camel on Wednesday from Steffen Bieser on Vimeo.

That GEICO video makes me laugh SO hard.

This workout won’t make you laugh, though 😉 I taught this last week in SHRED as I was in the mood to change things up. I’ve been doing a lot of stations workouts, timed workouts, 15 reps workouts, mini circuit workouts and as much as I love those, I was in the mood for something different. The workout is slightly inspired by BodyPump with regards to the rep pacing (2 count down and up, 3 count down 1 count up, etc.). It’s so easy to fly through reps or max out your reps in a timed interval, but when you change it up and move slowly and deliberately through the exercises, you’ll notice a big difference! I felt some serious burn during class!

Supersets, tabata cardio & core workout

If you have any questions, as always, feel free to contact me. The moves are fairly straight forward (nothing too fancy or unheard of), but I’m always willing to explain things if it’s confusing!

Let me know if you try this!

Questions for you: Are you a fan of supersets? Would you prefer timed intervals, a set number of reps, or changing up the pace of the reps?

Weekly Workouts: Getting used to my new location

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Good morning! I hope you all had a great weekend. Mine was a good mix of fun, being productive and even a little relaxing- shocker, right?! This past week felt like “honeymoon stage” for me as it was my first week in my new apartment. I had to get used to my new commute to and from work, in addition to my commute home from the gym on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Overall, it’s all working out very well:)

I feel like my workouts have been really good lately. They’ve been consistent, strong and they’ve varied in formats, which I think is key to seeing changes (positive ones) in your body.

Last Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I went to BodyPump at the Wellington BSC after work. I’m still on the strength training kick and have been loving BodyPump lately. I don’t know if I was physically tired from my move or I just worked extra hard in class, but I left BP feeling absolutely beat! So much so, that I skipped the cardio portion of my workout; I felt like it wasn’t necessary since I worked so hard in class. Has anyone else ever felt this way?

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  • Tuesday- I thought about taking a rest day, but I wanted to explore my new neighborhood and had loads of energy (I was all pumped up about the fact it only took me 30 minutes door to door to get home!) so I laced up my sneaks and headed out for a 3.5 mile run. It wasn’t a run for speed, it was a run to check out the park, trails, streets, people, etc. I found a YMCA, a Shaw’s and some restaurants- a successful run!

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  • Wednesday- I subbed Kate’s Sports Conditioning class again so Wednesday was my first double of the week. I had NO energy on Wednesday. Literally, I couldn’t even do the classes with my members because I was so physically tired. I think between my workouts the week before, in addition to moving all weekend and not resting on Monday or Tuesday, I was just beat.
  • Thursday- Luckily, I woke up feeling better on Thursday and was ready to tackle my second double of the week. I taught a superset format in my SHRED class and people seemed to love it. I played around with tempo which was a fun change-up. Kickboxing was also fun because there were a ton of people in class!
  • Friday- I FINALLY took a rest day and boy was it needed:) It felt great to go shopping after work instead of going to the gym.
  • Saturday- I slept at my old apartment on Friday night, partly to hang out with my sister, partly to clean up my old bedroom, but mostly because I was going to BodyPump on Saturday morning and thought it would be easier being 3 minutes from the gym instead of 15 😉 I did 20 minutes on the elliptical as well as 2 ab tabatas using the TRX bands prior to BodyPump. Nicole, the instructor, knows me through teaching and kept challenging me to up my weights- it was hard, but felt great! You’ll never get stronger if you keep lifting the same weight day after day.
  • Sunday- It was so beautiful out and I had a bit of a wine headache to get rid of, so I decided to go for a nice walk on the trails through the park near my apartment. I called my mom and she kept me company for nearly 2 of the miles I walked! I covered just under 2.75 miles and felt great after! It’s amazing what some fresh air can do for a headache 😉

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This Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I hope I’ve gotten up and gone for a run by the time this post goes up! I want to go to Ikea after work to get new couch and chair covers, so my plan was to get up this morning and go for a 3-4 mile run.
  • Tuesday- I’m not sure what I’m going to do for a workout on Tuesday. I might check out the East Boston YMCA either for their classes or just for their equipment. I want to get on the sub list there since I’m so close!
  • Wednesday- Only teaching my UXF Burn class. I’ll probably go for a run or do something else prior to teaching.
  • Thursday- SHRED followed by Kickboxing. Any suggestions for what type of workout I should teach in SHRED?
  • Friday- I’ll probably take Friday as a rest day. I’ve been enjoying that 🙂
  • Saturday- Teaching kickboxing at the YMCA. I originally tried to get a sub, but I now have plans on Thursday and Friday night so I figured I might as well just stick around and teach my class on Saturday; I could certainly use the money, too!
  • Sunday- I’ll be in Maine, so I would love it if my sister wanted to go for a walk/run with me like we did the last time we were home!

Questions for you: What’s something new you’ve been loving in the workout world lately? Do you lift the same weight or do you try to challenge yourself and up your weight? Are you doing anything for Labor Day weekend?

Weekly Workouts- A really great week of workouts

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Good morning! Phew! What a weekend:) Christy and Jamie’s wedding was an absolute BLAST- I’ll post a full recap later this week!

Last week was an awesome week of workouts. I got in some of my workouts in the morning, went to a UXF Burn training, subbed a class and did LOTS of dancing at the wedding. I was really happy for my long-overdue rest day yesterday 🙂

Last Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I got up and ran 3.5 fairly speedy miles. I’m usually much slower when I run in the morning (10-20 seconds/mile slower), but on Monday I ran a 5K just 4 seconds slower than my 5K PR time. Weird, but I’ll take it! Per usual, after my run, I did some core strength.

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  • Tuesday- I got up to workout before work again- loved it! I did this workout, which seemed much harder than it did when I taught it. I think it’s because I’m never fully awake when I workout in the morning so I don’t have the energy I do when I workout after work.
  • Wednesday- I ran a nice 5K before teaching. The view of the Charles never gets old! Map My Run said I ran it in less than 26 minutes, but my watch said around 26:15, so I’m not sure if I PR’d or not. After I ran, I taught an awful UXF Burn class. I say awful because it was really not fun… the moves were hard and I was struggling! haha I hope I wasn’t the only one who felt that way 😉

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  • Thursday- I taught a fun SHRED workout (I’ll post it Wednesday!) and then kickboxing. We worked so hard in kickboxing- holy high intensity cardio class!
  • Friday- I went to a UXF Burn training- we are releasing a new format and I’m SO excited about it 🙂 We went through and did workouts of the original versions and then we did the new 3-2-1 format workout and core workout. Working out with instructors is SO different- we all push ourselves much more than we would normally. I was pretty sore on Saturday!

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  • Saturday- I subbed a SHRED class at the Central Square BSC. Before teaching, I did 30 minutes on the elliptical to loosen up my tight muscles. The class was SO FUN! So much energy. Loved it! My second workout of the day was most certainly dancing at Christy and Jamie’s wedding… you know it’s a good wedding when you start dancing BEFORE dinner is served 😉
  • Sunday- Rest day! I hadn’t taken a full rest day in 8 or 9 days which is really bad 😦

This Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I will have hopefully run by the time this post goes up! If I don’t get up to workout, I’ll do something after work.
  • Tuesday- I’m going to try and workout in the morning again. I want to start moving stuff to my new apartment this week so it would be nice to have a free night.
  • Wednesday- Probably a run then teaching UXF Burn. I am introducing the new format this week- can’t wait to see the faces of the members when I tell them to do 3 minutes of jump squats 😉
  • Thursday- The usual! SHRED and Cardio Kickboxing.
  • Friday- I think I’ll rest on Friday since I have to teach on Saturday and I’ll be moving all weekend… that will be a workout!
  • Saturday- It’s my Saturday to teach kickboxing at the Y! Can’t wait! My parents are coming down after to help me move… yuck!
  • Sunday- Moving!

Questions for you: What’s the best workout you did last week? Do you feel like your energy is lower in the morning? Have you made any new PR’s (personal records) lately?