Category: Workout

Chicago: Part 3 {Brunching, Architecture Tour, Homemade Dinner}

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Hi there! After this post, my Chicago recap is finally done 🙂 In case you missed the other posts, you can find them here, here, and here.

Sunday morning, I woke up feeling mostly better, but my stomach was still a little off. We hung out in the hotel for a bit and I blogged and we watched some tv. Around 11ish, we ventured out into what looked to be another beautiful day in the city! Seriously, I cannot believe how lucky we got with the weather. It could have been miserably cold/snowy, which we were not prepared for at all!

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We met up with JP for brunch at Eggy’s, but not before going to the grocery store to pick up a bottle of Prosecco since Eggy’s was BYOB. How fun is that?! Dining out would be so much more affordable if you could bring your own booze. Boston, get on that, will ya?!

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Apparently cheese curds are big in Chicago (I didn’t even know what they were until Danielle and JP explained the to me), so we go an order of the fried cheese curds to start. I was pleasantly surprised by how good they were!

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I got the green eggs and ham, which was one of their signature dishes. Sadly, it looked better than it tasted. It wasn’t bad, there was just too much stuff going on… too many flavors.

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We walked around for a bit after brunch to digest and then jumped on an afternoon Architecture Tour. Whenever I go to a new city, I always try to go on as many tours as possible because I think it’s the best way to see the city and get a good overview of all the important pieces of information and dates. JP took this photo of my sister and I as we waited for the tour to start. Whoops. Not very good company!

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Our tour guide was fantastic and I learned so much about Chicago! As I mentioned in my last Chicago recap, Chicago completely burned down and was rebuilt in the 1900’s, so a lot of the buildings are relatively “new” and really interesting to look at since so many famous architectures came to Chicago to show their talents. I didn’t take many photo’s on the tour because it was SO COLD. Seriously… We were freezing because it was mostly in the shade and on the water. Brrr. I did get this one of the Sears (now, Willis) Tower, which is the tallest building in Chicago (right? I think it is…) since they count the tall things at the top in the measurement.

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I didn’t take this photo on the tour, but we did see them and talk about them, so I’ll post it now.

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Danielle and I immediately noticed these buildings when we arrived in Chicago. They were so cool looking, and when we found out that they consider themselves mini “cities”, we thought they were even cooler. Apparently they have everything in the building that a city would have, so basically if you lived in one, you’d never have to leave. A little weird, right?

After the tour, we warmed up by walking around the mall on Michigan Ave and then got a drink in the lobby of our hotel. Danielle and I went to JP’s to make dinner on Sunday night since we were tired of eating out and were craving healthy food. Ok, and, we wanted to shop at the amazing grocery store across from JP’s apartment building. It was like a mix between Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s… but better! It was two levels and had the best deli/hot bar section I’ve ever seen. I died and went to grocery store lover’s heaven!

We went simple for dinner and I just made a veggie and chicken dish, served over a fancy fettuccine with a nice, big salad on the side!

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Yum. It was so good! Danielle and I were in bed by 10pm on Sunday night and it was wonderful. Between traveling for work and then going right to Chicago to travel for fun, we were both exhausted!!! I think I fell asleep before my head hit the pillow 🙂

Monday morning we both got up and went to the gym and then hit the road for the airport.

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I traveled in comfy clothes, which I never do, because I had to sub a class on Monday night and was worried we might be delayed and I wouldn’t have time to change. Lucky for us, everything was on time (shocking for the Chicago airport) and I got home and to the gym with plenty of time to spare!

All in all, both trips were a blast. I might be going back to Chicago with a group of friends over the summer and I’m already looking forward to that possibility because I seriously loved Chicago. If I didn’t live in Boston but had to live in a city, I would choose Chicago. There was just something about it that I loved and I could see myself living there!

Thanks for following along through my recaps of the trip!

Questions for you: Have you done the architecture tour? If you had to pick a city to live in other than where you currently live, where would it be? Do you know of any BYOB restaurants in Boston?

This Week: Workouts, Schedule, Things I Am Looking Forward To

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Hey there! Did you notice anything different today? Instead of my Monday “Weekly Workouts” post, I have decided to change it up a bit. I still want to post my workouts (to hold myself accountable and to hopefully provide motivation for you) and my teaching schedule, but I thought I’d make my Monday posts a little different by adding in my schedule/plans for the week and things I am looking forward to. I encourage you to comment and tell me what you’re looking forward to as well! Makes Monday seem a little better when we can think of the positive things we are excited about in the week ahead, right?!

Let’s get to it, shall we? Last week was probably the most physically intense week I have ever had. Even though I took it easy on Tuesday (did yoga at home), my workouts Monday-Thursday were pretty intense and my fitness-filled weekend consisting of 2 days at MANIA and the Spartan race were even more intense. I loved every second of it (well, except for the last session on Sunday at MANIA… I was so sore/tired/hungry and did not want to work out as hard as we did), but am definitely ready for a few days of rest this week!

Last Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I ran a mile and did a strength workout at the Sheraton gym in Chicago and then taught kickboxing. Way more of an intense day than I was planning for!

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  • Tuesday- I worked from home and had a million things to do after work (unpack, laundry, blogging, cooking dinner, etc.), so I just did a 45 minute at-home yoga workout. I started off with an On-Demand workout, but got bored after about 5 minutes so I just did my own practice. It felt great, but left me even more sore on Wednesday!

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  • Wednesday- I worked from home again (I was so tired from my previous week of travel, it was still really cold and I knew I had a big weekend of fitness events so I thought it would be best for me to take it easy during the week) and did my Work From Home workout 10 times through (that’s 100 reps of each exercise), did 15 minutes on the elliptical before class (had extra time) and taught a fun UXF Burn class.
  • Thursday- Taught SHRED and Kickboxing. SHRED had a good crowd, but Kickboxing was a little quiet. Womp!
  • Friday- Attended my first day of MANIA. I did a Kettlebell workout, R.I.P.P.E.D workout, Sports Conditioning Workout and a Boot Camp workout. Needless to say, I was exhausted by the end!

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  • Saturday- Ran the Fenway Spartan Sprint, which was amazinggggg. Omg I was so nervous, but ended up doing way better than I had thought I would do and had a blast doing it. I’ll do a full recap later this week (hopefully!).

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  • Sunday- I went back to MANIA for the last day of sessions. I took a stretching type of class first, followed by a Cardio, Cutz and Core class and ended with a Muscle Mashup class. Few. By the end, I was SO tired and sore (but was so glad I went because I learned so much from both classes!).

This Week’s Workouts

  • Monday & Tuesday- Nothing! My body is so sore from last week that I know I need some serious rest. I can’t wait!
  • Wednesday- I’ll ease back into workout out with some light cardio before teaching UXF Burn
  • Thursday- Teaching SHRED and Kickboxing. I have some awesome new workout ideas for SHRED… I can’t wait to teach them!!!
  • Friday- Not sure.. maybe a rest day? I’ll see how I feel.
  • Saturday- Teaching kickboxing at the Oak Square YMCA- Please come!
  • Sunday- I might workout in the morning pending on how I feel.

Schedule/Plans for the Week

I have a full week of work in the office (except for Friday when I WFH), which will be a change up from the past couple of weeks! I am going out to dinner in the city on Tuesday after work and I think that’s all I have planned this week besides my Pampered Chef party on Sunday.

Things I Am Looking Forward To

A quiet week!!! And some rest days. The month of November has been absolutely insane for me, so I am really excited to have a week where I’m just around with no plans. I’m also looking forward to going out for drinks and dinner in the city after work; I always see people doing this and get jealous because I never do! Lastly, I am happy to be hosting a Pampered Chef party on Sunday. I hope a lot of my girlfriends can come!

Your Turn! What was something fun you did over the weekend? What are you looking forward to this week?

Wednesday Workout: 12/15 Strength Workout

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Hi! I feel like I haven’t posted a workout that I’ve taught in class in so long. With that said, this workout is still not a workout I’ve taught in class, but it is one that I did at the hotel in Chicago on Monday morning before flying back to Boston (I have more Chicago recaps coming up, but I wanted to space them out a bit!). I wasn’t sure if I would make it back in time to get to the gym to teach the class I was asked to sub, so I wanted to make sure I got something in. Between this workout and teaching kickboxing, I was pleasantly sore yesterday! I especially felt it when I did some at-home yoga after work… it’s amazing how you don’t realize how tight your muscles are until you spend time actually stretching them.

Anyway! I warmed up with a 1 mile jog and then completed the following workout, inspired by workouts that my friend Athena has posted recently. I’ve seen a number of different workouts on her blog lately that are set up with 2 different rep counts in a “set”. I usually keep my reps constant (easier to remember), but I tried her method on Monday and liked it! I decided to keep the smaller number of reps to an exercise using upper and lower body muscles and did more reps of the move that focused on either upper or lower body.

12-15 Strength Workout

If you have any questions for any of the moves, please let me know. I chose fairly straight forward/basic moves since I was trying to lift heavier. When I am doing “fancier” compound exercises, I tend to lift a little lighter than I do when I focus on one muscle group at a time (the 15 rep exercises above), mainly because I want to make sure my form is good throughout the exercise and that’s easier to do with lighter weights.

I can’t wait to teach UXF Burn tonight!! I have missed my classes so much.

Questions for you: What is your “go to” number of reps when you’re lifting? 10? 12? 15?

Wednesday Workout: Fenway Park Spartan Sprint- feeling nervous!

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It seems as though obstacle course races are all the rage these days. Whether it be Tough Mudder, Warrior Dash, Savage, Spartan Races, or something else, it seems as though everyone’s doing some type of race that involves mud, electricity, climbing or something else that isn’t something you would generally choose to do unless it was part of a race. My friend Tim has been encouraging me to do these races ever since he started doing them a year ago. One would think that I, as a fitness nut, would have one of these races on the books for a while now, but for some reason, I have yet to do one!

Well, my friends, that’s about to change. I signed up for the Fenway Park Spartan Sprint, held IN Fenway Park next weekend, and I couldn’t be more excited. But… also a little nervous! While I workout A LOT (no surprise there), I have no idea how I will perform in an obstacle race. And, although I like to think I am in pretty decent shape, I don’t do CrossFit, so I have no idea how well I can row and how well I can climb.

My goal for the race is not to finish in a certain time. It is not to beat anyone on my team (Yes, Dave, that means you). It is not to do every obstacle without needing to do a penalty round of burpees. I mean, don’t get me wrong, if those things happened, I’d be ecstatic, but my goal for this race is really quite simple (and quite the opposite of how I usually approach things like this): to have fun, to push myself and to finish the race HAPPY and wanting to do more. If I go in there with an open mind and no expectations, I’ll end the race far better than I will if I go in with expectations that go unmet. Anyone else out there like this?

With that said, I want help from you guys! Have you ever done an obstacle course race? Do you have any “tips” to share? What’s the one thing you suggest preparing for?

I just watched this video and it is awesome. It definitely made me more pumped!

http://youtu.be/hVh79ytSLbo

Thanks, in advance, for your feedback and tips! I have to say, it’s going to be pretty surreal doing this race in Fenway so soon after the Red Sox won the world series there. How cool, right?!

Wednesday Workout: 2 Hotel Room/At Home Workouts

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As you know, I have been on the road a bit lately, meaning my workouts have been on the road, too. Since I know a lot of you like when I post workouts that don’t involve weights/equipment and can be completed in the comforts of your own home, I thought I would share 2 of the workouts I’ve done in various hotel rooms over the past couple of weeks.

This one is a total body workout, incorporating cardio, core and strength exercises for a full body workout. Each exercise should be performed for 60 seconds, so if you want a fast workout, do it once, but if you’re looking for more, do 2-3 rounds of it. I did 2 rounds since I was short on time, but it still left me sweaty and tired!

Cardio, Core & Strength Hotel Room Circuit

Most of the moves are fairly standard, but the lunge and lift is a walking lunge and as you lift the back leg to step forward and lunge, work your glutes to lift the leg and get an extra booty burn.

Lunge & Lift

This next workout, though, was one of my more favorite “at home” (or, hotel room, in my case) workouts that I’ve done in a while and I definitely see myself doing this again soon. I liked that it was 25 reps rather than 60 seconds. For some reason, the moves seemed less daunting knowing I could count down the reps until I got to zero.

25 Rep Cardio & Core workout

The workout, including a 5 minute warm up, took me about 28 minutes to finish, but that’s because I was on it and didn’t take any extra rest. I literally jumped from the cardio to core moves with no delay, so if you take your time, it may take a little longer than that.

Here are links to some moves that are not as commonly used on the blog:
Plank with hip drop
Hitch Kick

I hope you like these- definitely let me know if you try one 🙂

Questions for you: What is your favorite “at home” workout format? Do you prefer at home workouts or workouts to do at the gym?