Category: Workout

This Week: Workouts (lots of teaching!) & Things I’m Looking Forward To

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Happy Monday! I’m hoping that we didn’t actually get as much snow as the weather was predicting all weekend… I’m also hoping that by the time this post goes up, I’ve successfully taught my first 6am class at my new gym 🙂

Last week was a really great week of quality workouts (not necessarily the quantity of workouts), mostly because it felt amazing to be back in the gym and teaching, partly because they actually were good workouts. Even though I stayed active last week, it wasn’t at my normal intensity and didn’t involve weights, so being back at the gym last week with normal intensity AND weights left me tired and sore. And, I kind of loved it! Even though I like to have a consistent workout plan and schedule each week, being forced to take a step back, slow down and change things up is a nice break 🙂

Last Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I got up before my work trip to Dallas (like 5am style. yuck) to squeeze in a quick 30 minute workout: 10 minutes cardio, 10 minutes strength, 10 minutes core. I’m going to post it for you this week.
  • Tuesday- Nothing. My trip to Dallas was quick and I knew I wouldn’t be getting up to workout before the sessions, so I didn’t even bring my workout clothes!
  • Wednesday- I ran 3 miles on the treadmill before teaching UXF Burn. I did most of the workout with the class (except the cardio) so I was beat by the end.
  • Thursday- I taught SHRED and Kickboxing. I randomly used body bars in SHRED and loved it!! I ended up making up most of the workout as we went so we could use the bars and it was a nice change up. Kickboxing was super high cardio and super sweaty. I hadn’t taught that class in 2 weeks so it was great to be back!
  • Friday- I walked about a mile… so mostly a rest day
  • Saturday- Taught kickboxing at the Oak Square YMCA. There were 62 people… it.was.sweaty.

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  • Sunday- I filmed a standing ab routine (I’ll be posting it this week!) and did some at-home yoga. It was just what I needed!!

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I was seriously SO sore from kickboxing on Saturday, so stretching out my muscles was wonderful. At least I wasn’t the only one sore… these girls were suffering in my pain, too!

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This Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I’m teaching my first 6am Muscle Work class in the morning (pending the snow doesn’t ruin that plan!!) and then teaching cardio kickboxing at the Watertown BSC after work. Nothing like a Monday double to start off the week!
  • Tuesday- I was invited to participate in a new program that’s being brought to Boston (more on that later!), so I’m going to Flywheel for the opening event. SO excited to get back in the saddle there!
  • Wednesday- Probably some cardio before teaching UXF Burn. I’m thinking it will be a lower-impact cardio based on my Monday and Tuesday workouts.
  • Thursday- My second double of the week! SHRED followed by Kickboxing.
  • Friday- REST 🙂
  • Saturday- Amy and I switched Saturday’s at the Y so I’ll be teaching kickboxing there again this weekend!
  • Sunday- I’m subbing a 9AM UXF Burn class at the Allston BSC- looking forward to being back at that gym- BSCers… come hang with me 🙂

I’m glad that last week ended up being a lighter workout week than normal (3 mostly “rest” days, which I never do in one week) because this week is a bit intense with teaching 7 classes. I’m going to make sure to listen to my body and instruct/coach rather than actually DO the workouts with the class when I feel like I’ve done too much.

Things I’m Looking Forward To

So much!! I’m excited to have a week where I am mostly back to my normal schedule, although, now that I think about it, it’s not really “normal” since I have a lot of things going on after work… hmmm…. I’m also looking forward to the blog event on Tuesday night- it’s always fun to meet fellow Boston bloggers. I’m looking to expand my blog reading list, so I know I’ll get to add a few to my list after Tuesday night 😉 I’m going to another blog event on Saturday afternoon- a wine tasting event. Umm, perfect!! Wine and blogging… after teaching… sounds like the perfect Saturday, right?

Giveaway coming up-

Be on the lookout for an awesome giveaway going up on the blog tomorrow. I think you ladies are going to LOVE it!

Questions for you: What was the best workout you had last week? What are you looking forward to this week? If you had to pick one blog to tell me to read, what would it be?

Exciting News! Adding a new class to the mix…

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Hi, friends! TGIF, right?! I have literally had pretty much zero extra time this week due to my work trip to Dallas on Monday and Tuesday and a crazy hectic couple of days after. My bag is still unpacked, my dishwasher just got emptied and I haven’t put away my recent purchases… all of which are VERY unlike me.

BUT, I wanted to pop in today to share some exciting news on the fitness front:

I’m starting to teach a Muscle Work class at Fitness International, located within International Place in Boston’s financial district.

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My company moved into the building in December, and when I heard that the on-site gym offered classes, I immediately went down to chat with them to see if there were any open opportunities… partly because I wanted to have access to the gym (which is otherwise pretty pricey), partly because I wanted to get experience teaching at other gyms, especially one that is located IN my office building. Once I checked it out, saw the locker rooms (with towel service, a sauna, steam room showers, and everything else you’d need to get ready for a day in the office), saw the class sizes (averages 15 people during the middle of the day!), and found out they pay $15/hour MORE than the BSC does, I realized it was a perfect fit.

Granted, I may not really NEED to add another class to my already busy schedule, BUT here are the reasons I decided to take it on:

  • It’s an every other week schedule, meaning that I don’t have a weekly commitment.
  • It is a much more relaxed environment compared to the BSC and YMCA in terms of needing subs and getting subs.
  • It’s a 6:10 am class, which will be a nice change from my evening class schedule. I definitely don’t want to add more classes after work, but having an excuse to get up and workout before work will be really nice- I’m looking forward to having every other Monday evening “off” from the gym!
  • It’s an hour of strength training, which is different from any other class I teach. I’ve been really into strength training over the past 6-8 months, so I’m looking forward to having a whole hour dedicated to it!
  • I’m always looking to get my name out around Boston more, and the more places I teach, the more people and connections I can meet and make!
  • Did I mention it pays more than my other gyms and there’s lots of room for expansion if I decided to do it?

So, I think I made the right decision and I’m excited to see where this will go, BUT I’m a little nervous for my first class on Monday: will they like me? Will I have the energy I do when I teach after work? Will I teach like the other instructor? Will it be too hard or too easy for them? Will they like the format and feel like it was worth their time? I feel like there’s more pressure when teaching a morning class because not only are people taking an hour out of their day for you to give them a good workout, they are getting up EARLY for it. Yikes!

Here’s where I need your help!! Fitness instructors- how do you make sure you have enough energy to teach a morning class? Any tips to make my first class go a little more smoothly? If you teach a strength-only class, what are some “go to” formats you use to take up a full 50-60 minutes? What about energy levels- do members like high-energy instructors or prefer quitter ones since it’s early in the morning? Class goers- what’s something about a strength-only class that you love? What makes you not miss cardio?

Do any of you belong to that gym, work in the building or have friends who belong to the gym? If so, let me know 🙂 I’m definitely going to have to follow my Wednesday Workout: Tips for getting out of bed before work to workout post for a reminder on how to get up and workout before work… I’ve been so lazy when it comes to that since I teach primarily after work 😉

Enjoy your day and weekend!! I’ve got a fun giveaway going up on the blog next week- so keep your eyes on the lookout!

Wednesday Workout: The Low Impact, No Equipment, No Contact Workout

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Aka, the workout I came up with so that I could get some movement in, but not be in any pain. I did this Wednesday night when my hands and feet were in so much pain that I couldn’t really do much that involved moving them. I knew I wanted to get some movement in, so I thought of a workout I could do that would get my heart rate up, yet still be low impact.

Although I didn’t use weights for this workout, if you wanted to intensify it, feel free to use weights- totally up to you. I did each mini set three times through before moving on to the next, but if you wanted to do each mini set once and work through all four of them before you repeated anything, that’s fine, too. The video I filmed will allow you to go through the workout like that- you’ll do each set once through and then you can repeat the circuit one or two times through.

Low Impact, No Equipment, Little Contact Workout

http://vimeo.com/87404997

As you can see, there aren’t any crazy moves here- just the basics, but you know what? They are effective if you do them deliberately and if you think about the muscles you’re using for each move. Since a bunch of you asked for more workout video’s/demo’s, I decided I’d try it out with this workout. I definitely lost count more than once (happens every time in my classes- it’s hard to count, instruct and cue!), but hopefully it will help guide you through the workout and feel like you’re with me in class when you do it! I have a lot of work to do in my video’s, but it’s super fun to do them so I hope to get more on the blog this year!

Let me know what you think of the workout and video. Remember to warm up and cool down properly!

Questions for you: Do you like following workout videos? What types of videos would you like to see more of?

Wednesday Workout: Tone Your Tush! {without equipment!}

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I’m really enjoying reading through your entries and comments on my giveaway post. I love hearing things you’d like to see more of on my blog, and one of the things that seemed to be a common request was more at home, no equipment necessary workouts. I couldn’t agree more! While I like posting the workouts I teach, I understand that many of you reading the blog are probably looking for shorter, equipment free workouts you can squeeze in before or after work. So, my goal is to start posting more workouts like this for you- starting today! This workout focuses on your legs and glutes, but I did throw in some optional core work in there, because let’s be honest, we can always use a little extra core work, right? The time intervals go as follows:

  • 60 seconds- strength. If you want to use weights, feel free, but the workout is meant to be a body weight workout, so explore your range of motion, speed of the exercises, etc. Try to get deeper with your squats or lunges, try to squeeze harder as you lift, try to stay lower in your pulses. Take it up a notch in this workout!
  • 40 seconds- cardio. The cardio moves I chose compliment the strength moves- gotta love the double burn!
  • 20 seconds- pulsing. If you didn’t feel the burn yet, you’ll feel it in this piece!

You have the option to do each set once through, twice through or three times through. You can do all 2 or 3 rounds of each set before moving on to the next, OR you can do each set once through and then repeat all of the sets again in a circuit format. Lots of options!

Tone Your Tush

All of these moves are pretty basic, but if you have questions, just shoot me a message and I’d be glad to explain!

Questions for you: Do you like working your upper or lower body more? Is this the type of workout you’re looking to see on the blog? Do you like body weight workouts?

Indoor Cycling at Flywheel

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If you read my post on my experience at Recycle Studio, it’s no surprise that I’m a big fan of indoor cycling. In fact, I don’t know if I can go back to regular spinning. I love the experience that indoor cycling classes bring: loud music, crazy good energy, great choreography AND the addition of weights for some upper body work and sometimes even core work. When I workout- unless I’m planning to just do lower or upper body or core workouts- I like to leave the gym or studio feeling like I had a total body workout. I feel like indoor cycling accomplishes that far more than just a regular spin class. It’s more bang for your buck (and that’s necessary when you’re dropping $$$ on boutique studio classes) and I’m all about that.

With that said, it was a no brainer that I wanted to go to a blogger event that was being hosted at Flywheel last weekend. I’m on a serious “boutique studio” kick, whether it be barre, yoga, indoor cycling, bootcamps (you get the idea), so having a chance to try out a “new” studio without having to pay the hefty class fee the boutique studios charge was pretty awesome.

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Anyway! I headed to the Prudential Center at 1pm last Saturday for the event. I love blogging events because it’s so fun to meet other bloggers and hear about what they blog about and to make that connection with each other. I was stoked to see Stacey and Sarah, as well as meet a bunch of new ones (Lucie was a total sweetheart and I want to have her do fitness photos of me!).

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I was surprised to see how big the room was! I feel like boutique studios are often on the smaller side and space seems to always be limited (I had to sign up a week in advance for a class at Recycle!), but I think Flywheel had over 40 bikes set up in a stadium seating manner and I can only imagine what the energy would feel like if the room was packed- I love that!

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I was a little nervous going into the event because I heard that they post your speeds up on monitors… ummm, while I am very competitive, I wasn’t stoked about this because spinning/cycling isn’t my thing and I didn’t want that type of competition to hinder my experience. The instructor did use the monitors, but I liked that she only displayed our speeds when she wanted us to push ourselves. It really does serve as great motivation and I’m happy to say I didn’t get caught up on the rankings! My legs were beat from having taught kickboxing earlier in the day, so I knew I wasn’t able to give the ride my all and I was ok with that.

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Flywheel was different from Recycle in that the rides were not as choreographed at Flywheel as they were at Recycle. The rides at Flywheel were more interval based, which was a nice change and they definitely pushed my boundaries and forced me to get out of my comfort zone. I loved that the bikes had little screens so you could see your level (torque), RPMs and power. I’m a big numbers person, so being able to know where I should be level and RPM-wise helps me pace myself and push myself.

We used weight sticks for upper body strength training for 1 song and I loved it. My arms didn’t burn as much as they did during Lindsay’s arm song in her Recycle class, but it was still a good burn. We didn’t incorporate any core or chest exercises at Flywheel like we did at Recycle, but I think that’s the difference between the two: Flywheel is more interval based and Recycle was more total body/choreographed… or at least that’s how it seemed to me based off of my experience at both.

What I love about Flywheel is the fact that they offer a “first class free” pass, which I think is SO important at these boutique studios. Classes are expensive and I think a lot of people don’t even try it out because they don’t want to drop $25-$30 on an hour long class (which I totally get, I’m just a sucker for new fitness classes and know (hope) that the classes will be worth the money… which they usually are!), so offering a first class free option is a great way to get people in the door!

All in all, I loved my experience at Flywheel and definitely look forward to going back, maybe with my sister since she’s been spinning lately and would love to take advantage of a free class pass!

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Also, big thanks to Jessica for setting up such a fun blogger event! And big thanks to City Sports and all the other vendors who provided the best goodie bag treats. I’m a sucker for free things AND treats, so goodie bags are like my favorite things 😉

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So, if you’re looking for a fun place to workout and get an incredible workout (seriously, my quads were BURNING and I was soaked by the end!), definitely head on over to Flywheel and you can snag your first class free!

Questions for you: Have you been to Flywheel? What’s your favorite type of spin class? Intervals/Endurance/Choreographed/Song Tempo? Are you a sucker for giveaways?