Category: Burpees

Weekly Workouts: Lots of Teaching {and preparing for Dallas & Chicago}

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Hi there! Happy Monday! How was your weekend? Mine was busy, but really fun. Friday night I babysat and Saturday I taught kickboxing, drove to NH for a family friend’s surprise 60th (more on that later!) and then came back to MA for a gym friends party at Athena’s. I love getting a chance to hang out with those girls because they “get” me and the gym thing. There was LOTS of delicious food at both parties and even though I tried to pace myself and choose healthy options, I definitely splurge! Well worth it, though 🙂

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Since I know this week is going to be pretty crazy busy, too, (I am leaving for Dallas on Tuesday and then going straight from there to Chicago on Thursday for a long weekend getaway with my sister), I took advantage of a wide open schedule yesterday and RELAXED… can you believe it?! I got up, lounged around, blogged, went to the gym and grocery shopping then vowed to not leave the house for the rest of the day. It.was.awesome! And so necessary.

Last week, I got a last minute sub request for the Wednesday sports conditioning class which is right before my UXF Burn class. Since I am missing my classes again this week and am in need of some extra money, I agreed to sub for her. I love that class, but teaching a double on Wednesday and on Thursday is a lot! When I have weeks like this were I teach 5 classes (2 Wednesday, 2 Thursday and 1 Saturday), I wonder how I ever survived teaching Monday and Wednesday- Saturday. That was so silly! Now that I have cut back on teaching, I’ve learned to really appreciate MY OWN workouts and have started to see some great changes in my body because of that.

Last Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I had a bad day on Monday and was in need of some serious exercise endorphins, so I headed to the East Boston YMCA for a treadmill run and core exercises. After 4 miles, I felt much better!

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  • Tuesday- My legs were super tired from my run on Monday (not sure why) and my upper body was still a little tight from Sunday, so I decided to just go to the gym in my office building and do a superset core-focused workout with my Fall Into Fitness moves in between (crab walks, bear walks, duck walks, 1-legged burpees). It was a great workout!!

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  • Wednesday- I taught Sports Conditioning and UXF Burn. I did an AMRAP workout in sports conditioning and a Halloween themed workout in UXF Burn- people may have made fun of me, but I think they actually had a lot of fun 😉

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  • Thursday- Taught SHRED (another Halloween inspired/themed workout) and Kickboxing. I taught a super high intensity cardio class in kickboxing and finished with lots of glute and core work.
  • Friday- Nothing 🙂 Well deserved rest!
  • Saturday- Taught another high intensity cardio kickboxing class… I gave them the option to do more cardio or more core and Mary said cardio, so I blamed it on her 🙂
  • Sunday- I went to the Y Pump class again since I hadn’t really done a “real” strength workout since last Sunday. Granted, I did lift in my classes, but when I teach, the workouts are not for me, so I don’t get to lift to my potential. I have to use whatever weights are available and jump around to correct form, so I never end up finishing a full set.

This Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- Since I did strength yesterday, I’ll probably do cardio today… likely another treadmill run since it’s definitely too dark to run outside after work now.
  • Tuesday- I have a 2pm flight to Dallas, which means I will work from home in the morning, which also means I will do an at home workout. Not sure what I’ll feel like doing, but I’ll figure it out!
  • Wednesday- I will be in Dallas and I have a full day of training (business writing development- I am actually really excited about it!), so I will have to get up and do an early hotel workout. I’m hoping the Westin has a good gym!
  • Thursday- Same thing as Wednesday!
  • Friday- I will be in Chicago with my sister, so I hope she will get up and do a workout with me before we meet up with our friend JP for site seeing!
  • Saturday- Not sure. We are staying at a Sheraton, which generally has a great gym so I would like to workout, but it depends on what we do Friday night and what the agenda is for Saturday. Since I am going to be “on vacation”, I am going to try to be more relaxed and not plan my day around my workouts (at this point, it’s so part of my “schedule”, that I have to make more of an effort to not do it than to do it!).
  • Sunday- Again, I am not sure!

Questions for you: What is your favorite “on the road” workout? Have you ever been to Chicago? What’s a “must see”?

Weekly Workouts: Awesome on the road workouts & finally back at teaching!

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I have to say, it feels pretty darn good knowing that I don’t have to travel for work this week! I need to soak it in because next week I will be in Dallas from Tuesday-Thursday and then I am flying directly to Chicago for a long weekend getaway. This week/weekend is also a bit crazy, but all of the craziness is good stuff, so I can’t really complain 🙂

Last week, I was in Ohio for my workouts on Monday and Tuesday, but both workouts were strong and didn’t feel like “on the road” or hotel room workouts which is always a plus! I was really excited to get back to teaching, though, which I think was a little scary for my members 😉

Last Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I often workout in my hotel room because it can save 10 minutes or more of my morning by eliminating the travel time to the gym and equipment set up time. I’m all about efficiency in the morning and sleeping for as long as possible, so extra sleep and a hotel room workout generally trump all else. With that said, I knew I would have more time on Monday morning to workout so I decided to head to the gym. I ran 3 miles on the treadmill and then completed a short strength circuit, including the Monday and Tuesday moves for the Fall Into Fitness challenge that I am participating in. Loved the Monkey Curls!

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  • Tuesday- I completed a 25 rep core and cardio workout that I will post for you this week. No equipment necessary and even with a warm up, I finished in 28 minutes. Win, win if you ask me!

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  • Wednesday- I was finally back in the gym!!! I ran a 5K on the treadmill before teaching a killer UXF Burn class. I did the usual format that my class enjoys (Face off, but staying in their own spots) and after the Strength & Core exercises, we did 10 burpee tuck jumps. By the end of class, we did 100 burpees!
  • Thursday- I taught SHRED and Kickboxing. Felt good to be back for my double.
  • Friday- I did not have a great day on Friday and when I have bad days I usually like to workout, but I knew I should rest since I was teaching kickboxing on Saturday, so I drank wine instead… while doing my Fall Into Fitness Bridge & Crunch move. Whoops.

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  • Saturday- I taught a fun kickboxing class at the Oak Square YMCA. There were 33 people in class and the energy was so high- I was in instructor heaven. Judging by Jen’s Facebook status, it was a good workout for them, too!

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  • Sunday- I decided I wanted to try the “Y Pump” at the East Boston YMCA. If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you know that I love BodyPump and have been working on increasing my strength workouts so since I was around yesterday morning, I decided to try it out (it was hard to not just go to the 11am BodyPump class at the Wellington, BSC, though, since I know what to expect there!). The class ended up being awesome! We did a lot of reps and I really struggled to finish a number of the sets. In addition to the bars, we also used a band, something I don’t do often. I was sore by the end of the day yesterday, so I’m sure that will continue today!

This Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- To be honest, I am not sure! Since I did weights yesterday, I’ll probably focus more on cardio today. I hate that it’s getting colder and darker out after workout because I loved my Monday night runs!
  • Tuesday- Pending on whether or not I’m still sore from Sunday, I would like to do a lower or upper body strength workout. If I am still sore, I’ll do a core-focused workout.
  • Wednesday- The usual: cardio and then teaching UXF Burn.
  • Thursday- Another usual: SHRED and Kickboxing. I may bring back a circuit/stations workout this week since it’s been a while since I’ve done that!
  • Friday- Rest day? I am babysitting after work and since I’m teaching on Saturday again, a rest day is perfect.
  • Saturday- Teaching kickboxing again at the Oak Square YMCA. Since I will be in Chicago next weekend, which was my weekend to teach, the other instructor was nice enough to switch with me so I wouldn’t miss out on a class. Thanks, Amy!
  • Sunday- I have a feeling this will be a rest day, too. My weekend is: babysitting Friday night, teaching Saturday morning, heading to ME for the afternoon and then heading back to MA for a gym friend’s party so I think by Sunday, I am going to be exhausted!

Questions for you: Do you like trying new classes at the gym or do you stick to the classes you know will be a good workout? What was your best workout last week?

Beef Burgundy: Sometimes I crave red meat

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Whenever I’m scheduled to go home, my mom always asks me to think about what I would like her to make me for a special meal (I know, I’m spoiled!). Well, as soon as she asked me this question a few weeks ago, I immediately responded with: Beef Burgundy. Sort of a strange request, right? I don’t know why I was craving it, but I was totally in the mood for red meat and hadn’t had beef burgundy in a while so I thought it was a great idea.

Lucky for me, my parents always have every type of meat imaginable in their freezer, so this wasn’t a problem at all! And, for once, I sat back and let my mom do all the cooking. I drank bubbly and blogged, while chatting with her and keeping her company in the kitchen.

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I forget the name of the cookbook that she used for the recipe, but I did take a picture of the recipe and instructions since I thought it was good enough to share.

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Instead of using egg noodles, I requested that we use potatoes from my dad’s garden and make garlic mashed potatoes (my fav!). We also baked broccoli and had steamed carrots and parsnips.

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This meal was absolutely delicious and I’d love to say it was easy, but I have no idea how easy or hard it was to make since mom did everything 😉 Sometimes there’s just nothing better than having wine and a nice meal on a Sunday night, especially when you know you aren’t going into the office the next day 🙂

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Thanks for making such a nice meal for me, mom! B2B readers- if you’re looking for a change up to your normal meal rotation, I highly suggest adding this!

Questions for you: If someone offers to make you dinner, what do you usually request? What’s your idea of a perfect dinner? Red meat- fan or not?

Wednesday Workout: 2 Circuit at Home Workout

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Hey there! Before I get into my workout for today, I want to take a moment to remember all of those who lost their lives in the 9/11 terrorist attack in NYC, think of those who lost someone and thank those who helped save people. I can still remember exactly where I was when news hit and I’m sure that’s the way it is for most of you reading this post today.

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It’s Wednesday- woohoo! It’s also my friend, Tim’s, birthday today so I want to wish him a very happy birthday!!! I’d say this workout is for him, but he hates all my workouts (except my ab ones) 😉

Anyway! I mentioned on Monday that I did an at-home workout on Labor Day when I was home in Maine. It literally left me sore for a few days and I am still trying to figure out why. It could possibly be because I focused on each move and worked diligently throughout the motions since I was only lifting 5lb weights. When I lift heavier weights in class and on my own, I don’t think I work through the movements as well and effectively as I should; definitely something to be mindful about going forward.

With that said, here’s the workout:

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I warmed up with 5 minutes of dynamic stretches and cardio before starting my 3 rounds of circuit 1. You don’t want to rush through the moves, but you want to go at a good pace where you’re keeping your heart rate up while still getting the full range of motion in each move. After 3 rounds of circuit 1, perform the cardio blast then move on to 3 rounds of circuit 2.

Couple of notes on the moves:

  • Below parallel squats- you can use weights here if you want (I did), but you don’t have to. The point of the squat is to expand your range of motion and squat deeper and lower than you normally would. In other words: drop your butt and get it as close to the ground as possible!
  • Incline Push-Ups- I did these against the coffee table 🙂
  • Monkey Curls- I did these a while ago in one of my UXF Burn classes. You can see pictures of the move in this post (bottom right picture). The key with these is to stay in that super low “monkey” sit/squat, but to make sure you aren’t resting your hamstrings against your calves- that’s way too easy 😉
  • Spiderman plank- There are multiple ways to do this, but all I want you to do is stay in a high plank and try to touch the same knee to the same elbow (right to right, left to left). Really focus on squeezing your obliques to get the knees as close to your elbows as possible!
  • Front Lat Raise into Wide Row w/ Calf Raises- phew, right?! Let me break it down for you: hold light weights in either hand down by your legs. Lift up onto the balls of your feet while your lift your arms up to shoulder height out in front of you. From there, and while still balancing on the balls of your feet, squeeze your shoulder blades and pull your elbows back (like a bent over wide row, but in standing position). Straighten arms back out in front of you and lower them and your heels until you get back to the starting position. This is my new favorite move- I felt it in my back and lats fa’ dayyyssss.

Did I miss anything? Let me know if you try this- I like to know what you like these posts and that they are valuable to you- are they?!?!

Questions for you: What’s the last workout you did that left you super sore? Move that you’re currently loving?

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?