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Burpees to Bubbly Turns 1! {which is worthy of a giveaway…)

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Before I get to my anniversary post, I want to wish each of you a very Happy Valentine’s Day!! I love this holiday, whether I have a boyfriend or not. I just think it’s fun to celebrate love! I opted to hang out with the girls tonight instead of the guy (no offense to him!), so I’m really excited for them to all get here after work. We’re going to putz around to a few different bars/restaurants in Eastie. I have a big day of fitness tomorrow, so I can’t get crazy, but I’m looking forward to laughs and cocktails.

If you’re looking for a Valentine’s Day themed workout to warm you up, try this workout (can’t believe I posted that a year ago… fitting, considering I had my 1 year anniversary earlier this week!).

Anyway! Let’s get to my post… you’ll want to read since there’s an awesome giveaway at the end!

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Wow. You guys. I cannot believe this little blog turned ONE earlier this week. I know I have a long way to go in terms of really “finding my voice” and getting to a point where I don’t look back on old posts and cringe (it hurts a little to read my first post!), BUT if the next year is even half as fun, I’m in for a real treat. Blogging, although it is a lot of work and can be an extra thing on my “to do” list, has helped me learn about myself and make connections more than I thought it could.

I was afraid of starting the blog because I was worried that it would turn into a chore and I would get obsessive about posting X amount of times a week and would stress out if I didn’t. While I can’t say this hasn’t happened a few times, I’ve really surprised myself with how I’ve approached blogging. I used to be obsessed with checking stats and trying to get more followers, but since I relaxed about that and focused on blogging about things that interested me, it’s been a much better experience! I’ve also learned to let go of the stress that used to come when I missed a post. I bet you guys don’t even notice, right?! 😉

Bottom line, is I blog because I love it. I love sharing my workouts with you. I love sharing my recipes with you. I love sharing things that go on in my life and making connections with you. I love being able to look back and see what I’ve been up to. I love hearing from you when you can relate to something or you try a workout or make a recipe… those things make me SO happy. So, thank you, for following along as I write about my life!

Rather than listing out the highlights of my blog over the past year (I just did something similar for New Years post), let’s just do the giveaway, ok? I think that’s probably what brought most of you here anyway 😉

The giveaway is…. TWO $20 gift cards to… my favorite… Life Alive Café! I’m actually jealous about this 🙂 This is my little thank you gift to you guys for your continue support, encouragement and advice. You really have no idea how much it means to me. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

Here’s how to enter (lots of ways!):

1. Leave a comment on this post letting me know what you’d like to see more of and/or less of next year (workouts? recipes? wines? restaurant reviews? something else?).

2. “Liking” me on Facebook. Leave a comment saying you’ve done this.

3. Follow me on Instagram and Twitter– just leave a comment saying you’ve done so.

4. Tweet the giveaway or share on Facebook! Again, leave an extra comment saying you’ve done this.

You have until Thursday, February 20th at 9Pm EST to enter the giveaway. I will post the two winners on Friday, February 21st. Good luck!

There you have it! Again, thanks for reading! I can’t wait to see what you want to see more of or less of.

So… what about those rest days?

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Rest days. Hmm. What a concept, right? If you’ve been reading B2B for a while, I’m sure it’s no shocker that I’m not always very good at rest days. Since I teach so much, on my off days I like to try new workouts and gyms and classes, and sometimes those get in the way of my rest days. And, bottom line, I like to workout! I like to sweat once a day. I like that time where it’s just me and my music or my classes. I like being disconnected from my phone or my computer. It’s just such a big part of my life and daily routine that it feels more weird to NOT plan for a workout than it does to plan for one. BUT! Rest is SO important and since I can often use a reminder to rest, I decided to write this post in case any of you can relate.

Rest day

However, since I’ve started teaching, I do honor my body more and rest at least once a week, as well as vary my workout types and intensities throughout the other days of the week. Our bodies can only go at full speed/intensity for so long before we hit a wall. Realizing this and abiding by this is so important for me now because if I get injured or suffer from overuse, then I potentially won’t be able to teach or be as good and as involved in my classes if I can still teach. So, at this time, here’s a general overview of my workouts each week

  • Mondays- Low impact cardio (spinning, cardio machine, etc.) and core
  • Tuesdays- Only strength training (no cardio)
  • Wednesdays- Cardio (usually running) and then teaching UXF Burn where I do about 75-85% of the workout (or less, depending on what I do beforehand and/or how sore I am from the day before)
  • Thursdays- SHRED and then kickboxing, which is a lot!
  • Fridays- Rest because I’m usually beat after my double from Thursday
  • Saturdays- Either cardio (kickboxing) or strength (BodyPump)
  • Sundays- Lately my Sunday’s have been “fun” workouts: yoga, Barre, Core Fusion, etc. which is great because not only is it something new for me, it’s generally lower impact which is always a welcome change for my joints.

So, although it’s a lot (I like to move!), I really try to vary what I’m doing from day to day. There’s absolutely room for improvement, though, because sometimes I feel like I just need a break. Last week, as I mentioned, was one of those weeks. I lost my workout “mojo”, and I can only attribute that to being burned out. Unfortunately, even though I can notice this and understand this about myself, I’m still not very good at CHANGING things. Sure, I can take a rest day after I feel like this and then say I’m going to take it easy, but I just have a really hard time doing that. Once I get going at the gym, I get excited and forget that I should be taking it easy and resting.

…. maybe I should just avoid the gym during those times where I tell myself that I’m going to take it easy… what a thought!

I tried thinking about why I am like this. Why I don’t like going too long without a workout. Why I plan my day around a workout more often than not. Why I have a hard time listening to my body and giving it adequate rest when it needs it.

While I haven’t figure this out entirely, I have come to the conclusion that I’m not afraid missing a workout will make me gain 5lbs. It won’t. I’m not afraid that I will lose all my strength and muscle definition. I won’t. I’m not afraid that my cardio endurance levels will decrease. They won’t. Muscle memory (your heart is a muscle, too!) lasts for much longer than we think it does.

So, what could it be? That’s what I am trying to find out… and it’s not easy! The benefits of rest are so important for us, that it seems like no-brainer to take a rest day or a few rest days, right?

rest-days

As the image above so clearly states, rest allows our muscles have a chance to repair themselves from the previous day’s workout, it’s a chance for your muscles to get stronger, it helps eliminate burn-out and over-use and is time for you to have an over all “recharged” battery. One of my favorite bloggers, Gina wrote a “Focus On” post on the importance of rest days and I often go back to that post whenever I need a little reminder about WHY I need to rest.

Someday I’ll get better at it and I’ll be able to rest as much as this little bugger.

sleep_cat3

But, I also need help from you and want to hear from you! Does anyone else suffer with giving their body enough rest like I do? How often do you rest? Do you plan it out? Any tips to help me get better at resting? Any ideas for things to do on a rest day during my normal workout time?

Garlic & Cheese Mashed Cauliflower

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Last week, I got the urge to make something relatively simple for dinner. I wasn’t in the mood to do a lot of cooking and have a bunch of pots and pans out, so I went simple and roasted some veggies, baked some marinated chicken and made the most delicious garlic and cheese mashed cauliflower.

These days, it seems as though everyone is finding alternatives to carbs or gluten or dairy or… you get the idea. I’m not big on falling into the trap of those eating lifestyles, but I do like to experiment with bits and pieces of those “diets” every once and a while. I’ve made cauliflower crust pizza, which was good, but definitely not a regular pizza crust replacement. Garlic and cheese mashed cauliflower, on the other hand, could easily be a replacement for regular mashed potatoes. I honestly felt as though I was eating a big ol’ serving of starchy goodness, so I had to share it with you.

Garlic & Cheese Mashed Cauliflower

Ingredients:

  • 1 head of cauliflower
  • 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 2 tbsp. parmesan cheese
  • 2 tbsp. ricotta cheese
  • 1-2 tbsp. milk
  • 1/2-1 tbsp. butter
  • salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Cut the cauliflower and steam it until it’s very tender (borderline overcooked and mushy).

2. When the cauliflower is ready, add in the remaining ingredients and blend well.

3. Serve. Easy as that!

IMG_6537 dinner

I will definitely be making these again soon. They were so tasty and so healthy that it seemed almost too good to be true!

Questions for you: What’s your favorite healthy substitution? Have you ever tried any of the diet fads that are currently trending right now?

I haven’t, but I did eat this Paleo meal last week that someone made for me and was pleasantly surprised with how good it was! I’m not against eating like that, I just don’t feel the need to make the change to that lifestyle right now. We are going to make some more Paleo meals in the near future and I’m excited!

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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?

Wednesday Workout: Full Body Supersets Workout

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As I said on Monday, I taught a workout in SHRED last week that I loved when I did it on my own, but wasn’t crazy about it when I was teaching it. I based my workout off of Athena’s 35 Minute Upper Body Blast workout that she posted a while ago. I knew I wanted to do an upper body strength workout, but since I was at my apartment, obviously without a rowing machine, I had to do something to replace that piece of the workout. Enter: core supersets and short cardio blasts.

Since the workout left me really sore, I thought it would be good to teach (I’m evil that way 😉 ), but I knew I wanted to add in some lower body super sets so that my members could have a more well-rounded workout (when I workout on my own I can pick and choose what I want to do, which is why I loved Athena’s upper body focused workout). Here’s what I came up with!

Full Body Supersets

I’m not really sure why I didn’t love teaching this, perhaps because we did each superset 3 times through and it felt too repetitive? Regardless, I liked the actual workout and can see myself doing it again, which is why I’m sharing it with you today!

I think most of the moves are self-explanatory, but if you have questions, don’t hesitate to ask. Also, if you’re running short on time, but still want a full body workout, feel free to do only one or two rounds of each strength/core exercises. Or, you can skip the cardio! I do this all the time with workouts that I see online. I’ll change something, add something, remove something… you get the idea.

Let me know if you try this!

Questions for you: Instructor friends- do you like to teach different formats from what you do when you’re on your own?