Category: Workout

Wednesday Workout: Descending Rep Total Body Workout

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Good morning and happy Wednesday! I have so many workouts to share with you guys that I might have to start posting them twice a week 😉 I have to say that I really enjoyed the format of this workout. What I mean by “descending” is that each round you’ll decrease the number of reps performed for each exercise. We go from 12 reps to 10 reps to 8 reps…. etc. all the way down, but instead of ending with just 2 reps (where’s the fun in that?!), you’ll do 12 reps again.

In addition to enjoying the format of the workout, I liked the upper and lower combo moves because doing them always jacks up my heart rate- more bang for your buck, especially if you’re short on time like I normally am!

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Here are a few explanations in case you’re confused by any of the combo moves:

  • Chest press & leg lowers- for this you’ll start out on your back with your legs lifted straight above your hips and your arms straight above your shoulders/chest. Since you’re working multiple things here, I’d suggest keeping it a littler lighter for the chest press weight. There are two options for doing this exercise: 1. you’ll lower your legs and bring your arms closer to your chest at the same time- this is advanced since it requires a lot of core strength to ensure your lower back stays glued to the mat or 2. you can do a chest press and then do a leg lower, as separate exercises.
  • Goblet clean & squat
  • Bent over rows- For these you’ll hold a weight in both hands and hinge forward at the waist, keeping a slight bend in the knees and keeping your chest open and shoulders pulled back. Engage your lats & squeeze your shoulder blades together as your pull your elbows back. make sure you’re going slow and controlled here!
  • Russian twist & press- This is just taking your standard Russian twist & adding a little more onto it. After your twist right, you’ll come back through center and press the weight up overhead. Then, you’ll bring it down and twist left.

This workout shouldn’t take you much longer than 20-25 minutes; if it takes you much less time than that, consider upping your weights and if it takes you longer than that, you might want to consider dropping your weight a bit.

I hope you try this!

Question for you: Would you like to see more workouts on the blog or keep it as is?

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Still on cloud 9

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Trying something new is always a little scary, right? Fear of the unknown, fear of potential “failure”, fear of doing something incorrectly, etc. And because of this, because of these fears, we often are held back from trying something new. It’s so much easier and more comfortable sticking with something we know, right? I get it. But the thing is- and I’ve talked about this a lot on B2B- always sticking to what we know and are comfortable with leaves little room for change or growth. These things happen when we get a little bit outside of our comfort zone and see all that we are able to do if we just try.

A perfect example of this for me is teaching fitness classes. Over the years I have grown so much as an instructor- whether it’s my cues, my interaction with the participants, the formatting techniques or even my own form, I sometimes feel like a totally different instructor when I first started… which certainly isn’t a bad thing, lol. However, this growth didn’t come from keeping and teaching the same class or classes week after week. In fact, sometimes I think those hold me back from becoming a better and stronger instructor because they allow me to get too comfortable. The classes tend to be mostly regulars so I know exactly what they can and cannot do and often find myself skipping through some of the different cues and introductions that I normally do because these members have been with me for many years and “know the drill” as I like to joke with them.

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And this is exactly why I signed up to teach a class at Janji through MoveWith. While I knew there would be some familiar faces in the crowd, I had a feeling there would be people who were brand new or just newer to my classes, which changes things up drastically with regards to the way I teach/approach the class. I’m brought back to the basics- introducing myself, the class format, explaining some of the exercises in advance, giving more cues, etc. I want to make sure that I am addressing everyone’s potential needs/wants, and because I don’t know specifically what those things are, I need to give lots of variations, options, cues, etc., all with the hope that everyone gets what they want out of the class.

Out of the 14 participants in class last week, only FOUR had taken my classes before, meaning I was essentially teaching to an entirely new group of fighters. I LOVED THIS!!! It challenged me to be the best instructor I could be and I thrived off of their energy as we got to know each other a little better. During the warm up, I worked us through all of the punches, kicks, bodyweight exercises and general lingo I’d be using. I also had them set intentions so that they could have something to work for. Whether it’s to do the burpees, punch stronger or to just finish class, I feel very strongly about setting that intention so you can be fighting for something.

The class went better than I could’ve expected. Everyone was on fire and it absolutely fired me up as well. They were also such good sports when it came to navigating a very crowded room and even worked out down the hallway to get more space- serious dedication if you ask me!

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I left the class feeling so grateful. Grateful to have been able to meet so many people. Grateful for the amazing MoveWith community. Grateful that Janji let us sweat in their awesome space. But most of all, I was grateful for the fact that I stepped out of my comfort zone and tried something new, because without doing that, I would’ve have been able to have such an amazing experience.

I challenge you to think of something that maybe you’ve been avoiding because you’re scared of the unknown associated with that particular thing, and then I want you to think about what it would be like if you tried/did it. If you think there’s any inkling of a chance that it could be a really good thing, then I urge you to try/do it. It might turn out even better than you expect.

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Thank you to MoveWith for creating such a wonderful, strong fitness community- 2017 is off to a great start and I can’t wait to continue to meet more people through hosting more original classes. If you’re in the Boston area, I’m hosting another class on Wednesday, February 8th at 6:30pm at the Janji popup store on Newbury Street. You can sign up here. If you plan on attending, I’d sign up sooner rather than later because space is limited!

Also, I was featured on the MoveWith blog last week- check out this post to see what I had to say: How to put your fears behind you

Wednesday Workout: 15 Minute AMRAP DB Blast

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Good morning! It’s been a while since I’ve blogged, huh? With RM’s birthday, Christmas, Florida and then NYE, I was more than ready for a break from anything other than those things. I have the intentions of recapping the wedding and our Florida mini vacation as well as reflect on 2016, but for now, a workout will have to do 😉

As you’ve probably seen on Instagram, right before Christmas I bought us a spin bike. The Handle-Bar spin studio was selling some of their older bikes for an incredible deal so I had to jump on it. RM was a bit reluctant at first, but now that it’s in our place and all cleaned up, he’s almost as excited as I am. It’s perfect because it doesn’t take up a lot of space, it can be moved around easily and it’s another thing that saves me from needing to go to the gym since I can get some cardio in without even having to leave the house 🙂

This workout started with about 20 minutes of spinning, using the first 6 songs on the song list below:

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Once that was over, I did the following 15 minute AMRAP using just a set of dumbbells:

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Few notes:

  • Man-maker- hold a weight on each hand and squat until the weights come to the ground. From there, jump back and do 1 push-up. A true man-maker means you’ll do a row on each arm, but I skipped that part so after the push-up I just jumped my feet back in to a low squat position, stood up and did an overhead press.
  • Bicep curl -> bend side arm raise- You’ll do the top part of a bicep curl, so start at a 90* arm bend and curl up to your shoulders. When you get back down to 90*, lift your elbows up so that the upper part of your arms are parallel to the ground and your forearms are parallel to each other. Bring them back down and start over.
  • Reverse lunge with OH weight- you’ll just hold a weight overhead while you do reverse lunges.

I gave myself 15 seconds between rounds because the 5 man-makers back to back left me compromising form so I took the 15 seconds to catch my breath and make sure my form was not compromised.

This was such a fun workout- and a perfect way to kick off my workouts of 2017!

Questions for you: What was your first workout of 2017? Do you have any at home cardio equipment? What’s your favorite workout song right now?

Wednesday Workout: 32 Minute Full Body DB Tabata Workout

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Good morning! I know I keep saying this, but how is it Christmas this weekend?! Time is tight this week, but I wanted to pop in and share a quickie workout I did the other morning before work. During busy seasons, it’s not uncommon for workouts to be the first thing to skip, right? But, it doesn’t have to be if you prioritize it as part of your day’s agenda and focus on shorter, more effective “quickie” workouts, as I like to call them.  For me this week, it meant getting up before work to squeeze in my workout. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again- tabata format is generally my workout format of choice when I’m short on time and want an effective workout.

This one only requires a set of dumbbells, so it’s really easy to do right in the comforts of your own home! I kept the exercises simple, too, so it’s less to think about which is nice if you do it first thing when you’re still half asleep 😉

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The way this works is you’ll do each a & b exercise 4 times within each tabata round. If any of these exercises don’t work for you, feel free to change them up! Please let me know if you have any questions 🙂

Questions for you: Have your workouts changed throughout the holiday season? Do you like to workout at home?

Wednesday Workout: 3 Circuit Full Body Workout

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Oh, hello there! Remember me? While I haven’t blogged in what feels like forever, I have to say it’s not because I haven’t wanted to, but it’s more due to the fact that I’ve been limited on free time these days and have opted to spend that small amount of free time on other things- generally snuggling with RM and Francesca on the couch watching a little bit of TV before calling it a night. During busy times in particular, it’s all about choosing what is more important for YOU to do and I know that choosing relaxing on the couch or getting dinner out or making dinner is going to make me feel better than sitting down to blog. #sorrynotsorry 😉

With that said, I do have plenty of workouts in the backlog and figured I’d get one up for you today! This one does require the gym as I used some machines, but if you don’t have access to a gym you could easily swap those exercises out for something else that has a similar effect but can be done with dumbbells instead.

 

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If you’re looking for more, you can finish with this 5 minute finisher: AMRAP 5 Minutes- 10 lateral ball slams (total), 10 toe touches, 10s. plank hold

The way the workout works (that always sounds weird), is you’ll start with the 3 exercises in circuit 1 and do 10 of each and do 3 rounds. Then you’ll move on to circuit 2 and then circuit 3. Depending on how much time you have, feel free to try out the 5 minute finisher at the end! For the exercises requiring 2 sides (right and left), complete the 10 reps on each side (ie: 10 lunges on the right and left, each knee comes in 10 times for the mountain climbers, etc.). The moves are not anything too complicated so I challenge you to choose a heavier weight.

Please let me know if you try this 🙂 Happy Wednesday!!

Questions for you: How do you prioritize your free time when you have a busy schedule?