Category: Workout

Wednesday Workout: Jump Rope & Body Weight Circuits

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Good morning! I have a workout to share with you today that’s PERFECT for weekends where you’re away or if you’re traveling for work… or if you just don’t want to go to the gym 😉 All you need is a jump rope and your body, and if you don’t have a jump rope you can just pretend and do “air jump roping”- no biggie at all.

I created this workout a few weeks ago when it was a beautiful day and I didn’t want to go into the gym during my lunch break. I didn’t want to run because I had run the day before so I came up with a workout that got me sweaty while also allowing me to get a tan 😉 Bonus? It left me surprisingly sore for a few days. Wait, now that I think of it, it’s not really a bonus because I was actually really sore which wasn’t fun. I guess that’s what happens when you do high reps of exercises that you haven’t done in a while! Regardless, I liked the format a lot… and I think you will, too!

The way the workout works is that you’ll start each round of each circuit with jump roping. You’ll do 3 rounds of each circuit and you’ll decrease the number of jumps by 25 each round. So, for Circuit 1, you’ll do 100 jumps, 20 squats, 15 lunges, 10 push-ups and then for round 2 of circuit 1 you’ll do 75 jumps, 20 squats, 15 lunges, 10 push-ups. Your last round will only be 50 jumps.

Jump Rope & Body Weight Circuits

Otherwise I think this is fairly straight forward, which is how I’m tending to keep my workouts these days. SLDL= single leg deadlift if you’re not familiar with that abbreviation.

All in all with a warm up and cool down this workout took me about 40-45 minutes, which is longer than I normally spend on my workouts but considering it was body weight and not a TON of cardio, it felt like the perfect amount of time. You could shorten it by only doing 2 rounds of each circuit, cutting back on reps or only doing 2 circuits.

Let me know if you try this!

Wednesday Workout: Treadmill & 2 Upper Body Circuits

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Lucky for you guys, I’ve gotten back into creating and doing my own workouts, which means I have things to share with you! I did this one at the Westin Annapolis hotel we stayed at while in Annapolis over the weekend. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do when I got to the gym, but quickly realized whatever it was going to be had to be quick because it was HOT in there! I started with the 1 mile treadmill run and then decided to throw in a quickie tabata round since I was bored out of my mind staring at the wall as I ran, but still wanted to get my heart rate up a bit.

To finish up the workout, I threw together 2 quickie circuits, upper body focused since my legs were still sore from a bodyweight workout I had done earlier that week (definitely need to share that one with you!).

All in all, I was in and out of the gym in just 30 minutes, which was perfect for a “travel/hotel” workout.

Treadmill & Upper Body Circuits

Treadmill Notes: I did my 1 mile as follows:

  • 7.0 for mins 0-1,
  • 7.2 for mins 1-2
  • 7.4 for mins 2-4
  • 7.6 for mins 4-6
  • 7.8 for mins 6-8
  • 2 minute walk break and then the following speeds for the tabata:
  • Round 1 was at 9mph
  • Round 2 was at 9.2mph
  • Round 3 was 9.4mph
  • Round 4 was 9.6mph
  • Round 5 was 9.8mph
  • Round 6 was 10mph
  • Round 7 was 10.2mph
  • Round 8 was 10.4mph

At first the tabata speed felt too easy but by the end I was huffing and puffing!!

Let me know if you give this a try- it’s a great quickie workout 🙂

Questions for you: Do you prefer short, sprinting bursts or just a continual steady state pace?

Five on Friday {7.22.16}

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Good morning and happy Friday! Two posts in one week for me- it’s been a while since that has happened 🙂 As we are finishing up packing for our weekend getaway to Annapolis, MD for my cousin’s wedding, I wanted to share some things that may be of interest- enjoy!

    • Summer workouts– There are SO MANY free workouts around the area this summer, some of which I’m even teaching!

*Pure Barre Christmas in July– Next week Pure Barre in Lynnfield (maybe in other locations, too) is doing a “Christmas in July” where all of their classes are free. If this is something you enjoy or would like to try, I suggest signing up for a class!
*Brighton Commons Outdoor Workouts– for the next few Wednesdays the YMCA is sponsoring free fitness classes in the Brighton Commons. I’ll be teaching cardio kickboxing on August 17th!
*Legacy Place- There are weekly free fitness classes at Legacy place throughout the summer with lots of local Boston fitness instructors. I’ll be there on August 25th for cardio kickboxing and my friend Athena will be there on August 4th and a Kick It By Eliza will on August 18th.
*FIT on the Garden– More to come on this later, but every Wednesday at 6pm from July-August there will be free yoga classes on the South Garden near the Pru. I’ll be there on August 3rd (again, more to come!)
*Seaport District Free Fitness- More on this (I know, I know!), but just to give you a heads up, every Monday night starting on August 1st I will be teaching a 45 minute cardio kickboxing class from 6-6:45pm outside at the green area next to District Hall/Gather. Make sure to follow SeaportBos on Instagram to stay in the know!
*Cape House (B/Spoke)– While this isn’t free, it’s worth mentioning because I had a blast during the class I took . B/Spoke has again opened up a “Cape House”, but this year it’s in Mashpee (better location for me!) and they have more classes. If you’re on the Cape and looking for a great workout- check them out!

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  • Book Club- Last month we read Fates & Furies, which I absolutely loved! It kept me fully entertained and constantly surprised by various things. It was a great discussion book! This month we are reading The Light Between Oceans, which I’ve also heard is great.

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  • I’m an aunt!- Over the weekend, my sister-in-law (still so weird to say that!) welcomed a new baby girl into the world. Although I may have lost my “newest Magno” status rather quickly, she is well worth having that status. She’s absolutely perfect and I can’t wait to see her grow up!
  • Target Shopping- Leading up to the wedding I did way too much damage at Target, but to be fair, everything I bought I’ve worn and loved… including these shoes! I got them to go with my dress for our pig roast and am obsessed with them!

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  • Summer eats- We have had some really awesome meals this summer- from the pig roast at our wedding reception to a HUGE lobster roll at the Cape to ice creams to grilling, we’ve been soaking up summer to the fullest!

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With that, I hope you have a fantastic weekend! Stay cool- it’s going to be a hot one 🙂

Questions for you: Any good book suggestions for summer reading? What free  workouts are you looking forward to this summer? Any good summer eats?

Wednesday Workout: Upper Body & Cardio Circuits

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Ahhh… it feels good to be back! While my schedule still isn’t allotting as much time as I would like for all the blog posts I want to write (wedding recap, pig roast recap, #buffbride workout plan recap, etc.), I’m doing my best to pop in when I can with what I can, which means today I’ve got a workout to share with you! I was telling Athena last night that my workouts have been all over the place lately, using and doing what I can, but I’ll be honest, I’ve just gotten a whole lot more lax when it comes to working out. These days, I really don’t feel like working out for a long time so my runs have been shorter, I haven’t lifted heavy weights (or even worked out in a weight room) in weeks and I’ve been doing a lot more low-impact stuff. I’m not really sure why there’s been this recent change, but I’m so proud of myself for really honoring my body and doing the best I can on any particular day.

For instance, the other day I ran 2 miles and that was it. While that may be a lot for some of you, I generally run at least 3.5-4 so it FEELS like so much less for me, but rather than feeling like I didn’t really “workout”, I feel great that I got that much in. And then yesterday morning I set my alarm to get up and workout and literally got up out of bed and started changing and realized my body was sore and needed extra rest so I got back in bed. ha! who does that?! But I knew I would’ve been pushing myself too much had I not so I did what I knew I needed to do.

If there’s anything I’ve realized in the past few weeks is that I don’t NEED to workout hard all the time or constantly have a schedule or anything like that. It’s perfectly fine- good, in fact- to take it down a notch every once and a while and keep movement up, but just a lighter type of movement. If you’re feeling like you’re forcing your workouts and just not feeling into them, I urge you to listen to your body and give it- and your mind- a break!

With that said, today’s workout is another quickie and has been one of the first “normal” workouts for me in a while. All I used was a set of dumbbells and a resistance band. I really liked it!

Upper Body & Cardio Blast Circuits

Few explanations:

  • For the push-ups to side plank, do a total of 10 push-ups, meaning you’ll only do 5 side planks on each side. It goes: push-up, side plank right, push-up, side plank left
  • For the combo moves, you’ll do the first move and then the second move and that’s 1 rep
  • For the seated rows, place the resistance band around your feet as you sit with them extended out straight and create enough tension so that you have resistance as you pull your elbows back.
  • Front pull aparts- In a standing position hold the band out in front of you. Make sure you have enough tension so that it’s taught at the start and then while keeping your core tight, pull the band apart- you’ll feel this in your back for sure!
  • For the leg lowers w/OH DB extension this means you’ll start on your back with your feet extended up over your hips. Hold one dumbbell with both of your hands and extend it over your chest. As you lower your legs, lower the DB back over your head. Make sure to keep your core engaged and your lower back pressed down into the ground/mat.

If you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out!!

Questions for you: Do you ever take breaks from your normal intensity workouts? 

 

 

Five on Friday {6.24.16}

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Good morning and TGIF- big time! This week has just been one hell of a week. Between work, teaching and wedding planning, I could barely form a complete sentence that made any sense last night. When talking to RM on our way to grab pizza and salad from Max & Leo’s (yes, I know we are obsessed with that place- having it walking distance just makes it even better!), I actually said “I’m tremensly tired Roberto. Like, I can’t even explain it”, and he looked at me and goes “tremensly? What is that?”… and not until then did I realize that I had made up a word! Clearly a combination of tremendously and immensely…. Wine and pizza never tasted so good, haha

It’s been a fun week of package receiving here at our house this week, so I have some fun things to share!

  • Luna Bar Delivery– Oh my goodness did I get an amazingggg swag bag/care package from Luna Bars this week. I mean, a box of their bars would’ve been enough to make me happy, but when you throw in a few boxes, multiple other bar flavors, a t-shirt, bag and new yoga mat you have a veryyyyy happy Monique! We’ve tried a few flavors so far and they’re SO good. They have more ingredients than I usually want in a bar, but they just taste so good! I can’t wait to try the oatmeal packs because those only have a few ingredients and I think they will make a very easy pre-workout snack or breakfast. Thank you, Luna, for spoiling me with such a wonderful package!

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  • ProYo Frozen Yogurt– This is another package I was lucky enough to receive this week!! I’ve mentioned ProYo on the blog before, so I was so excited when they offered to send me some of their product to try out, but little did I know I’d be lucky enough to get a chance to try FOUR flavors. Obviously I haven’t had a chance to try all of them, but last night we did share a Dutch Chocolate one and were both totally fans of the smooth/creamy texture and delicious flavor! They don’t have a lot of ingredients, which is also a big thumbs up (and they have lots of good things in them!). This is going to be the perfect summer treat all summer long! Be on the lookout for ways for YOU to get to try some, too 🙂

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  • Bags & Beats & Big Hair- I laughed as I took this selfie after my Tuesday night Bags & Beats double because I found it so ironic that I had not only taken over Eliza’s class, but was also sporting Eliza’s big, curly hair look 😉 I love my curly hair so much and letting it fly while and free is the best feeling!

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  • Wedding related packages- On top of promotional swag, I also received lots of wedding related packages this week: photo booth props, name changing paperwork and my dress hanger! Such an exciting, exciting time for us- T-minus 10 days!!!

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  • Granite Links Driving Range– RM and I went to Granite Links last weekend to hit some balls, drink some cocktails and enjoy the weather. It was exactly what I needed that night!

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And that’s it! I hope you all have a great weekend! Tonight we are planning to go to the driving range again, tomorrow morning I’m teaching and then have some more wedding related errands to run and then will go to a BBQ at my sister’s place. Sunday is open for whatever 🙂 It’s our last weekend at home before the big day!!!

Questions for you: What’s your favorite bar to eat? Have you tried ProYo before? What’s the best part of your week? What’s on the agenda for the weekend?