Category: Workout

’tis a Good Friday, Indeed!

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Hey there! Happy Friday:) Mine is especially happy since I have today off from work! The only downside is that I woke up feeling a little under the weather:( I’ve loaded up on meds and vitamin C, so hopefully I’ll kick this cold thing fast! It’s Easter weekend and I want to be ready to eat loads of candy! (ok, not loads, but you know what I mean).

Did you all like my post on C2 Pilates yesterday? I had lots of new hits on my site, so if any of you are new readers, welcome!

Let’s catch up, shall we?

On Wednesday, I mentioned that I was going to go for a run, and I did just that!

002Obviously this isn’t an “official” PR (personal record), but I’m definitely counting it as my PR! The weather was finally warm enough to run in just these and a long-sleeved top- loved it!

Yesterday was my first day teaching my Thursday double session at the Central Square BSC. It’s always a little tough taking over a class that has a lot of followers for a specific teacher, but I think it went ok! My kickboxing class, as always, was a blast, although I totally had a brain fart when leading on the left side. I am usually pretty good at remembering what we did on the right, but yesterday I couldn’t keep it straight! Luckily my loyal followers picked up my slack:) Needless to say, I left the gym physically exhausted and so sweaty003… and I totally loved it!

I scarfed down some leftovers when I got home and then promptly set up shop on the couch to watch Greys Anatomy! Charlie was my snuggle buddy for a little while.

004As for today… I’ve got lots of things I *want* to do, but I am trying to be easy going and not rush around like a crazy person to get everything done… “trying” being the key word:) So far I have done laundry and changed my sheets, had breakfast, foam rolled (hurts so bad… none of that “hurts to good” crap here. But I NEED to get better at this. Would love some tips on how to be better at it!!)

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and made some cupcakes for easter:)

easter cupcakes(I had to try a bite- cupcakes for breakfast? why not?!)

At my friend Jess’s baby shower, her sister had these adorable party favors for us

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008Since I had an open container of frosting (blogger confession: I LOVE LOVE LOVE frosting. Literally would- and have- eaten it by the spoonful), I decided today was the perfect time to make these cupcakes.

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They were so easy and they came out so cute. Definitely a great party favor (bridal shower, baby shower, birthday party, etc).

Once I publish this post, I plan on doing something physical… might go for a light jog or walk or do a deck of cards workout (google this- it’s a workout created by Bob Harper and Athena and Jen swear by it!). I also want to go to Lululemon to get this tank… I am obsessed.

Anndddd, that’s all I’ve got for now!

Questions for you: What’s on your agenda for today or the weekend? Do you foam roll? Have any good tips for me?

Have a wonderful day:)

Ps- I promise to have a workout for you this weekend:)

C2 Pilates

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Hi!! Over the weekend, I had the pleasure of attending a complimentary barre class at C2 Pilates. Most of the other bloggers who were at the event were avid barre “goers,” so I felt a little out of place since I have only been to a couple of different classes, but as soon as CC started her introduction I felt totally at ease.  There is just something about Pilates/barre/yoga instructors that is so calming to me.  As a Type A “go-go-go” type of person, it is so refreshing to be around people who are calm and peaceful and seemingly not in a crazy rush like I always feel like I am.

C2 Pilates has locations in South Boston, Dedham and Connecticut and they offer many different types of classes including STOTT Pilates, BARRE, Zenga and Core conditioning.  What I really loved about CC’s introduction was that she said they design their classes so that they can be modified to accommodate ANY level of fitness, and, with this in mind, unlike most Barre classes, at C2 90% of the class is performed in the standing position.  CC said they designed the workout this way because these days, the vast majority of us spend a good part of the day sitting in the car or at a desk in the office, so they want people to spend time with them where they are NOT sitting.  I love this!

The South Boston location was very nice, but apparently it’s going to get even nicer as they recently signed to have downstairs space in addition to their 2nd floor space. I definitely plan on going back to see how everything turns out!

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I’d really love to try using one of those cool Pilates Reformer machines (I think that’s what they are called?)… I always see them and feel like they’d be such a good workout! We spent our time at the barre where we went through the traditional format of the Barre workout that CC and Caroline have designed. I stuck to 2lb. weights as I was not sure what to expect (and my shoulder is still bothering me).  I still “felt the burn” with the 2lb. weights, but I think I could go up to 3lbs.

009It was so funny lifting such small weights, but I can see how they help to create long, lean muscle vs. the type of muscle I have gained from lifting heavier weights. And, I’ll be honest- I totally sweat more than I thought I would! Between the breathing and the continuous movement, my heart rate was up and I could literally feel every muscle in my body!  One thing that I really liked about C2’s style of Barre class, is that they don’t believe in making you hold poses for 2, 3 or 4 minutes.  CC explained that when you’re holding a squat or lunge or other type of isometric contraction in that “burn” position for longer than “pleasantly uncomfortable,” you start to engage different muscles or  ligaments to keep you there, which is taking away from working the muscles you’re aiming to work (quads, for example).  I totally agree with this! Think about the last time you had to hold a squat for a decently long time… you start fidgeting and trying to take the pressure away from your quads, which leads to it going into your back or core or hip flexors… all places where you aren’t trying to work. Interesting concept when you really think about it.

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Anyway, I felt so great after that class! It is definitely a type of workout that I would like to add to my weekly schedule, I just wish it wasn’t so expensive:(

PinkBarre-

I wanted to take a minute to help promote a wonderful event that C2 is hosting on April 6th.

010PinkBarreI’ll let the cards and the website do the talking, but I will say that we actually did the PINKBARRE workout and I loved it. There are many areas where modifications can be made depending on what fitness level you are at, so there is no need to be intimidated or feel like you can’t keep up. I had no idea what I was doing but I just watched and listened and tried as best as I could to move my body in the way they were showing us to move them:) Unfortunately, April is a ridiculously busy month for me (birthday month!!) so I have plans all day and night on the 6th, but I would definitely be there if I could!

If you have any more questions, definitely shoot me an email @ burpeestobubbly@gmail.com and I’ll try my best to answer them, otherwise I’ll pass them onto CC and Carolyn and we will get back to you!

Questions for you: Do you take Barre classes? If so, where do you take them?

Wait. It’s only Wednesday?

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Don’t you hate it when you’re a day ahead?  It’s so disappointing when you realize you’re not as close to the weekend as you originally thought you were. Since I have Friday off, I guess today technically IS like my Thursday, so I guess it’s not so bad that I feel like it is Thursday today. I’ll take it!

I am working from home again today, so you bet I’ll be doing this workout:

WFH workout

I might do it every 60 minutes instead of every 30 minutes because I plan on going for a jog during my lunch break (I think it’s supposed to be around 50 degrees today! and sunny! woohoo!). Has anyone tried this? I made a coworker virtually do it with me on Monday. I would message him every half hour. He may or may not have called me a drill sergeant. I may or may not have loved it.

Speaking of being a drill sergeant… This email made my night!

emailPeople should know that when they send me emails/Facebook messages/texts like this, it only amps me up more! Watch out, Dynamaxers! Speaking of Dynamax, did you guys catch my guest post over at Fitness and Feta? If not, head over and check it out. If you are a new follower because of Athena’s blog, welcome! I am so happy you stopped by:)

This email actually made me feel so much better. As some of you may have seen on Facebook, I just couldn’t pull myself together on Monday once I got to the gym.

FB pull it together

I had worked from home during the day and I was all amped to get in a solid cardio sweat sesh prior to teaching, but between the traffic getting through Harvard Square, the parking nightmare at the YMCA and the fact that there were LINES for every piece of cardio equipment, I totally lost all motivation and wanted to go home and not work out. Now, if you know me, you know this RARELY happens to me. I really do love working out and know that even on the days I am not that excited about it “I’ll never regret a workout,” however on Monday, this wasn’t the case. I tried my best to pull it together for my Dynamaxers (I don’t think that is a word, but I’m going with it), but I still felt like I let people down with sub-par teaching. I know we can’t all be perfect all the time, but with my Type A personality, I WANT to be as close to perfect as I can all the time (I know, this makes zero sense, please tell me I am not the only one). Thankfully, Gregg’s email made me feel much better. Guess it was just another classic case of me being way too hard on myself. #storyofmylife

Phew… enough with the downer Debbie talk!

Did you all see the massive salad I had for lunch yesterday at Papagayo?

001As cool as this salad looked, I think it’s a little silly when restaurants make the “taco shell” so big! I had a few bites, but found the chips and salsa much more appealing.  Regardless, I do love me some Papagayo, just wish I could have enjoyed a marg!

What’s on the agenda for today/tonight? Any good workouts planned? Please share:)

Weekly Workouts and a WFH Workout

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Can you believe another week has already passed? Luckily, since most of my coworkers are in San Diego for a conference, I have the luxury of WFH (working from home) for a good part of the week.  And, to make this week even better, we have Friday off!! I do have to teach at night and on Saturday, so I can’t head up to Maine as early as I’d like, but still… having a week day totally “off” from my real job is awesome.

How did all of you do with your workouts last week? Here’s how I did:

  • Monday- 4.5 Mile Treadmill Run & taught Dynamax
  • Tuesday- “Mommy’s Moves” filming with Jess and walked about 2.5 miles for my commute
  • Wednesday- 22 minutes on the elliptical and then taught this workout.
  • Thursday- did some upper body strength training (drop sets) and then taught Cardio Kickboxing
  • Friday- ran 2 miles on the treadmill before teaching another stations workout. I didn’t do the same moves as I did in the workout I linked, but I’ll post what we did soon!
  • Saturday- Cleaned the apartment (sweeping and vacuuming is hard when you have multiple floors!) and then went to a Barre class at C2 Pilates (that post will be up soon!)
  • Sunday- Went for a long walk, which was JUST what I needed.

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Workouts for this week:

  • Monday (today)- I have extra free time today since I am not commuting to and from work, so I am doing my “WFH” Workout:

WFH workoutAnd I’ll do some cardio and maybe some weights before I teach Dynamax.

  • Tuesday-Jess and I have to film again since the first video was blurry:(
  • Wednesday- Cardio & teaching UXF Burn
  • Thursday- NEW schedule for Thursdays: Teaching TBC at 5:30 at Central Square which is immediately followed by teaching my kickboxing class… a great double session (Athena it’s kind of like your Tuesday Two-A-Day at the Y! I hope I can get a good following like you and Liz!)
  • Friday- Since I have the day off, I am going to try to get to a class at one of the BSC’s. I’m teaching UXF Burn at 5:30 in Allston (I am not supposed to do these workouts, so don’t worry- I’m not doing back-to-back two-a-days!)
  • Saturday- Teaching Cardio Kickboxing at the YMCA!!
  • Sunday- Probably a walk with mom after Easter Brunch!

Questions for you: What do your workouts look like this week? Do you get to have Friday off for Good Friday?

Happy Spring!

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Hi there- Happy Friday! And Happy Spring, even though in New England it doesn’t quite feel like spring. How has your week been? I’ve had a really good week; lots of great and exciting happenings at work- both my real job and my fitness job. So, let’s catch up, shall we?

After work on Tuesday, my friend Jess came to my office and we used the gym to create some videos that we are going to launch soon.  More on that later!

003I mean, is this not a super professional setup?!

Lunches this week were pretty standard: my “go to” healthy lunch for the first part of the week

002And then for our Thursday lunch out meal, we went to Sportello for their amazing Lunch Box special. Yesterday I chose to do the 1/2 and 1/2 soup and sando combo.

002Unfortunately, their Spicy Tomato Soup was not very good this time, so I didn’t much of that, but the sandwich was delicious! I saved the cookie for later because we got this to share for dessert:

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I die. I mean, look at that thing! It’s a whoopie pie with an oreo filling… I am usually pretty good with stopping at a few bites, but I’ll tell ya, it took some serious self-restraint to stop there and not just eat the entire half! Good thing we worked REALLY hard in kickboxing last night! The floor was slippery from all the sweat. Love it.

Speaking of workouts, how did everyone do this week?  My workouts were very good! As I said on Tuesday, Monday was a great run, Tuesday was filming some workout videos and clips and on Wednesday I did an easy 20 minutes on the elliptical before teaching this:

beat boredomSince we had a fairly large group of people, and the studio at Central Square is much smaller than the studio at Allston, we did the workout just as it’s laid out here. Let me tell you, “Part 2” is really intense! I had us do 2 push ups after the 2nd 30 second cardio burst and then move right to the next cardio exercise with no rest. Working hard and sweating is a beautiful thing:)

Fitness news: As of next week, I will be teaching the 5:30 TBC class at Central Square right before my 6:30 Kickboxing class.  As of April 12th, I will no longer be teaching my UXF Burn at Allston.  I feel awful about dropping that class, but it just makes more sense for me to bang out 2 classes on the same day in the same location and, in turn, free up my Friday nights! Hope my Allston group understands:)

Switching gears…

So these two things really have nothing to do with health or fitness or wine, BUT, they so funny I can’t not share.  Lately, our dad has been sending frequent emails.  The best part of the emails, is that he uses really big font so it looks like he writes more than he actually does. Typing with just one finger, apparently it cramps up very easily. #dadproblems.

email from dadWe got this first… anyone who knows the Gagnon’s knows that if the Seal-A-Meal dies, it’s a BIG crisis. Thankfully, not long after, we got an email that made us sigh a breath of relief.

001What cracks me up about this the most, is that my dad is totally tooling on my blogging! Good thing I know he actually loves it (the gig is up, dad, mom told me!).

The other funny thing is a site that all of you need to go to right now. The other night, my sister was DYING laughing as she read through the texts on this site. I opened it up yesterday at work and had to close it immediately because I could not suppress the laughs (and, trust me, unclaimed property is really not that funny!). If you need a good laugh today, PLEASE do yourself a favor and check out that site.

Phew! And here we are, Friday morning. I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Questions for you: Do you get funny emails or texts from your parents? Big plans for the weekend?

ps. I want to send a BIG congratulations to my friend Kim for her recent engagement!! I couldn’t be happier for you and Jim:)