Category: Workout

Weekending: Friendsgiving, SoulCycle, sweetgreens & Taco Night

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Good morning! Well, here we are- Thanksgiving is on THURSDAY. Can you believe it?! I have Wednesday-Friday off so last night barely felt like a Sunday night knowing I only had 2 days of work before an extra long weekend 🙂 We had a really great weekend, so let’s get to recapping it!

Friday

I went food shopping on my way home after work on Friday- how exciting, right?! Once I got home and unpacked, RM and I enjoyed a glass of wine while catching up and throwing around options for dinner. We ended up walking to Bertucci’s, but sadly our meal was just OK- the pizza was just not nearly as good as I remembered it being. I hate that!

Saturday

We had a lazy start to our Saturday until it was time for me to go teach at the Y. It was a really fun class and for some reason my energy was off the charts so I hope I didn’t scare any new members away 😉

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After teaching, I showered and headed to Queen Bee Nails to get my nails done. I had a free manicure coupon and decided to upgrade and get a shellac since I wanted nice nails for Friendsgiving, Thanksgiving and dress shopping. I thought this color was very festive for this time of year.

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Once I got home, I got busy in the kitchen. I agreed to bring Brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes and homemade cranberry sauce so I had lots of things to make! For the Brussels sprouts I just sautéed them in EVOO and added salt, pepper and 1 clove of chopped garlic. I also added pancetta which adds a great salty & crunchy combination to the dish. Athena left a suggestion on my Five on Friday post for a homemade cranberry sauce, so I checked it out and decided to make it. I loved that it was so easy to throw together! The only things I changed were adding more water, I put all of the orange peels in it and added a little bit of regular and coconut sugar because it was still a bit too tart for my liking (I think I had more cranberries than her recipe called for). It was super tasty!

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In the early afternoon, RM and I got gussied up and headed into the South End to meet up with all of my friends.

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Saturday night out is always more fun with leather pants on 😉

My friend Amy’s brother has an incredible pent house apartment above Boston Chops and graciously let us host our gathering there (he plays hockey in Canada so he wasn’t there anyway).

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We had a blast chatting and drinking wine and eating. The food was incredible- everyone did a really great job with the dishes they were assigned!

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I feel so blessed to have so many wonderful friends in my life- these ladies are the best of the best!

Sunday

Needless to say, I woke up with a bit of a wine headache on Sunday so I had breakfast and then snuggled up on the couch with our new book club book for a while before I went to spin.

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Has anyone read this? I’m only about 100 pages in, but I’m enjoying it so far!

SoulCycle often sends out emails to take complimentary classes, I assume to help boost numbers for some of their lower attendance classes, but generally I can’t take part in them because they’re usually on really off times. This time, though, they had a Sunday 4pm class on the list, but when I called it was already full so they let me take the 11:45am class instead, which actually worked out better. I felt bad for the people next to me as I likely sweat out pure wine 😉 The class was really fun and the instructor, Jeff, had lots of energy! Per usual, I didn’t think the class itself was that hard- I don’t know what it is about the classes there, but I never think they are as hard as they are at other studios. Where I think they do step it up is the party atmosphere, which is what makes the classes so fun!

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After class I went next door to have lunch at sweet green- a little Sunday treat 🙂

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I did a make your own salad with kale, cucumber, broccoli, carrots and spicy quinoa and a side of their butternut squash which was not great- it was so thin and watery! The salad was fantastic, though.

When I got home, RM was snuggled up watching American Sniper so I decided to join him. It was a cold, rainy afternoon so it was a perfect thing to do! After the movie we went to Whole Foods to pick up a few additional staples for the week and for our taco dinner. We had a piece of steak in the freezer so RM took it out and suggested we slice it and put it in tacos. He’s full of good ideas sometimes 😉 To go along with it, I made a super easy salsa (red pepper, tomato, red onion, pineapple, lime juice- everything chopped really small and then throw half of it into a food processor to give it more of a salsa consistency.

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I also made a avocado “sauce” made up of all sorts of random things we had lying around (I didn’t have sour cream or greek yogurt so I had to get creative): 1/2 avocado, 1 scoop of hummus, 1 scoop of goat cheese, salt, pepper, garlic powder, red pepper flakes, ~2 tbsp. EVOO and 1/8-1/4 cup of vegetable broth. Surprisingly, it came out great and was perfect to top the steak with.

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RM cooked the steak in butter and with salt and pepper- so delicious!

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It was a such a yummy Sunday night dinner! We both were pleasantly surprised by how well everything came together- even with using Ezekiel wraps instead of corn tortillas.

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YUM!

And that does it for us- All in all it was a great weekend filled with good food, great friends, fun exercise and lots of relaxation!

Questions for you: What was the best part of your weekend? What did you do? Did you get in any good workouts? Hang out with friends? What are you making for Thanksgiving?

Wednesday Workout: 3 Exercise Circuits

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Hi guys! How’s it going? Happy Wednesday 🙂 Between work and my own workout and teaching, Wednesdays are long days, so I’m always happy when I’m leading the cool down in my class because it means it’s all downhill and easy after that!

Before we get into the workout, I have a few wedding-related questions for you:

  1. Do you know of any photographers that you think I should look into? There are so many out there that are fantastic, but also super expensive. While we want good pictures, we are trying to be smart with our planning and vendor search so we are open to newer photographers who are looking to get more exposure. Any suggestions (new or seasoned photographers) are greatly appreciated!
  2. Band or DJ? I know bands are more expensive but I LOVE to dance and want people dancing all night and I feel like bands tend to get a better dance crowd going. Thoughts? Know of any good bands or DJ’s that are worth looking into?

thanks in advance!!

And now for the workout…. My schedule is finally allowing me to get back into more consistent training. Yesterday I even went into the scary part of the gym: the heavy weight lifting area with squat racks and benches and all of that stuff. Even though I know what I’m doing (for the most part), it’s still a bit intimidating to navigate my way around that area of the gym because it’s not a place I venture into very often. Once I figured out where everything was, I loved it- well, besides the nasty guys who think it’s OK to stare and check me out- what the heck is that all about?! It’s so disturbing and as much as I try to ignore it and avoid eye contact at all cost, part of me wants to say something.

Anywayyyyy. This workout was done in the area of the gym I AM super comfortable with: the UXF Zone area with the turf, battle ropes, KB’s, TRX, etc. I threw in some combo moves, singular moves and a little cardio. The battle rope/KB/weighted sit-up finisher was killer!

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Here’s a video demo of the first set: https://instagram.com/p/9wJSXJvWyB/?taken-by=burpeestobubbly

The next set goes like this: grab a set of weights and keep them by your side as your lower into a deep squat. As you rise, do a bicep curl and then press the weights up to an overhead press.

If you have other questions, please don’t hesitate to ask me or do a quick search on YouTube 🙂

Questions for you: What part of the gym intimidates you? How do you push through that feeling? Do you notice that guys are disgusting in the gym by the way they think it’s totally appropriate for them to check women out? 

Getting out of my comfort zone & getting my butt kicked {Studio Review}

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Good morning! As I mentioned on Instagram last week, I had the pleasure of not only being a student in the gym/one-on-one session, but also the pleasure of getting my butt kicked. I was contacted by the Meghan, the owner of Foster Fitness, to see if I wanted to come check out her gym. Little back story- her soon-to-be father in law is a managing director at my office and knows how much I love health and fitness and knew we would get along so he gave her my information. Long story short, he was totally right! Between our love of fitness and both being newly engaged, let’s just say we had lots to talk about 😉 But don’t worry- we didn’t just talk- she lead me through one heck of a workout, too!

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Let’s just say that Meghan does what’s always been my dream: she owns her own gym and runs classes and does some one-on-one training. Due to my crazy schedule, I was having a hard time getting to a class so I asked if there was any way to do a one-on-one training session and lucky for me, she agreed, so I went there on Thursday afternoon feeling so excited to try something knew. My co-worker told me that he told Meghan to challenge me, so at least I was pre-warned. Meghan had also asked me what I was looking to do and I asked her if we could go over some basic heavy lifts and get me more comfortable with barbell lifts and pushing me to get out of my comfort zone with regards to weights.

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We started with a quick, dynamic workout before going through the workout. It looked a little something like this:

  • 3 rounds of back squats with a 1 second pause X 10 reps and walking lunges w/DB shoulder press there & back. Since barbell back squats aren’t something I feel overly comfortable with, we kept it light-ish at 75lbs. It was encouraging because it didn’t feel super challenging!
  • 3 rounds of 10 SLDL right & left and then 10 standard deadlifts with 35lb dumbbells & 10 sumo squats
  • 3 rounds of 10 single leg hip thrusters right & left and then 10 double and then 10 chest press (I used 30lb dumbbells here)
  • 3 rounds of 10 chest fly and then 45* angle chest press & 6 heavy step ups rt & lt
  • We finished with one hell of a killer set of sled pushes and then she had me do push-ups for the amount of time it took me to push the sled down and back. The kicker? I had to do as many rounds as necessary to get to a total of 50 pushups. Luckily I did it in 3 rounds!

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Wednesday Workout: 10 Minute Bodyweight Hotel Room AMRAP Workout

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Good morning! As I mentioned on Monday, while I was in Milwaukee last week, I took advantage of traveling alone and was able to get in a few good workouts. One of those, was in the comforts of my hotel room, which makes it so easy to just roll out of bed and get started!

What I love about bodyweight workouts is that if you pair the correct exercises together, you can create a workout that challenges you and leaves you sweaty in no time! Just 10 minutes, in this case 🙂

Another piece of this workout that I liked was that it wasn’t a boring “10 reps, 4 rounds” or “10 reps each, AMRAP 10 minutes”. Rather, each round you will be decreasing the number of reps by 1, so you do 10 reps the first round, 9 the second, 8, etc. I got through 5 full rounds in 10 minutes and was on my 4th when the timer went off.

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Some housekeeping notes:

  • Lunges- can be forward or reverse, but just make sure to do the # of reps on each leg, so 1 lunge right and 1 lunge left = 1 rep
  • Push-ups- can do these on your knees, toes or do hand release push-ups
  • Plank w/knees to chest- 1 right knee and 1 left knee= 1 rep. Make sure to keep your shoulders, wrists and elbows in line and keep your butt down. Focus on squeezing the core to bring the knees in.
  • Burpees- you can add the push-up at the bottom, you can drop your chest to the ground, you can step back- options are endless!
  • Standing oblique dips- try and get your elbows to touch your quads every time you dip from right to left.

And, if you want a hyperlapse speed video to show you the moves, check this out https://instagram.com/p/9LgUWYvW-c/?taken-by=burpeestobubbly 😉

Questions for you: Do you ever workout in your hotel room? What’s your favorite bodyweight exercise?

NBGNO: Knock Out Cancer

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What a treat it was to have TWO NBGNO events in just a few weeks. In case you missed my last recap, you can find it here. Other recaps from prior girls night out events can be found here, here, here, and here. I can’t believe I’ve been lucky enough to attend so many of these events!

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The October NBGNO event was one of the best ones I’ve attended to date. Obviously I loved the workout since cardio kickboxing is my jam, but more than that I loved the total girl power radiating throughout everyone all night. As October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, the theme of the workout and night was to “knock out cancer”. Unfortunately, all too many of us have some sort of connection to cancer and events like this are just one more way to raise awareness for this terrible disease. New Balance has had a partnership with Susan G Komen for 26 years at this point and has raised MILLIONS of dollars for the Susan G Komen foundation, which is just incredible. After our workout, Dr. Priscilla Brastianos spoke about her work in the field of cancer and all that she has done over the years to try and cure cancer. Not only has breast cancer taken her grandmother’s life, but also her mother’s life, so she is channeling those feelings and losses into finding a cure.

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Sherri, from Fun Fit Flavor, was the emcee for the night and spoke of her sister, who was diagnosed with breast cancer over a year ago. I remember her talking about her sister last year and was so happy to hear about all of the wonderful and positive strides her sister has made over the past year.

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One of my biggest takeaways from both Dr. Brastianos  and Sherri’s talks was the role exercise and healthy living plays in cancer, treatment and recovery. Regular exercise & healthy eating reduces your risk of getting breast cancer by 20% (!!!), which is pretty amazing. And it doesn’t have to be anything crazy- making small, healthy changes is a great place to start, which is part of the reason why I love these NBGNO events so much. They are suitable for ALL ages, shapes, sizes and fitness abilities and truly leave you feeling so inspired to live a healthier life. You CAN workout AND have fun with your friends… and maybe refuel with a little bubbly afterwards 😉

Workouts for this event were lead by the fantastic Eliza Shirazi, creator of Kick It By Eliza®, and Susan Reardon of Reardon Wellness (Both teach at The Club by George Foreman III). Eliza and Susan each taught a quick 20 minute workout, allowing us to workout with both of them. I enjoyed both workouts, but I have to say Eliza’s was more my speed- her energy was contagious and it had the same type of intensity that I have in my classes, so I was totally in my element!

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It was REALLY cool kickin’ it in Copley Square! Post workout, we headed back into the New Balance store for some delicious apps and smoothies from Thirst Juice Co.. They always have a bar set up with seasonal cocktails as well as beer and wine, but I opted to just drink water and smoothies this time… I know, who am I?!

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It was great getting to catch up with blogger and gym friends, too!

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My sister was able to join me which was fun because we love fitness and food dates!

Per usual, we walked away with some awesome swag: little gym bag, awesome dry fit NB t-shirt and coupons. I wore the shirt on a run the next day and loved how comfortable it was, not to mention the bright pink color 😉 I see this quickly becoming a favorite!

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All in all, NBGNO events went out with a bang this year and I can’t wait for them to start back up next year!

Questions for you: How much exercise do you try to fit in per week? Do you do anything for breast cancer awareness month?