Category: YMCA

This Week: Workouts, Dallas Recap & Things I’m Looking Forward To

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Good morning! Happy Monday, everyone! How are you? I hope you had a great weekend! Did you see the weather for this week?? Looks like we are finally going to have some mild temps… yes!

As I mentioned last week, I was in Dallas for Monday-Wednesday. We stayed in Grapevine at the Gaylord Texan, wch was a gorgeous resort! It was a really good trip filled with lots of networking, lots of Mexican food, some drinking and the chance to catch up with my friend JP! We hadn’t hung out since November, so it was so good to see him!

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I also got in a good hotel room, body weight tabata workout as well as a killer biceps and back workout with my friend Tim. I was literally sore for 4 days- no joke.

Last Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I got up before my early flight and did a 30 minute tabata workout including weighted squats, weighted lunges, bicep curls, triceps extension and core work. It was good!
  • Tuesday- I got up and did a 30 minute body weight tabata workout (I guess I was loving tabata workouts last week..) and then Tim and I went to the gym in the afternoon for a 45 minute strength workout. I was able to do 1 unassisted pull-up, which I was happy about! We did 3 or 4 different back exercises and then 3 bicep exercises and finally I lead us through some core exercises. It was a great workout.
  • Wednesday- I had all intentions of waking up to workout before the morning session, but I was seriously SO tired. I didn’t get drunk or crazy, but I was up late Monday and Tuesday so it caught up to me on Wednesday. I squeezed in 15 minutes of core work before the day started.
  • Thursday- I taught SHRED and Kickboxing. I felt so lethargic in both classes- 3 days of eating and drinking like crap, on top of not sleeping enough doesn’t mesh well with me.
  • Friday- I got up and went to Flywheel for a morning class, but sadly, it wasn’t great. The room was less than half full, I was physically tired and I wasn’t a fan of the instructor. She was very sweet, but she didn’t have the natural energy/teaching style that I like to see in instructors. She seemed shy or maybe she was just new and nervous? I rarely say this, but I wish I had skipped it. Oh well, can’t win them all!

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  • Saturday- I went to a 2 Spartan Workout with a bunch of gym friends. I was pretty beat by the end!

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  • Sunday- I taught a 9am UXF Burn class at the Allston BSC. I didn’t want to do the workout, but I ended up doing most of it. I just get excited when I teach so it’s hard for me to not do any of the workout.

This Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I am teaching Muscle work at 6am today and then going to 5:30pm Pilates Remix class at Boston Body Pilates using my ClassPass. My membership is up this week and I still had a few passes left that I didn’t want to lose, I needed to double up today!
  • Tuesday– I am training Kerri at 7am and then I am going to a Pilates Tower class at Studio J after work. I’m excited to try it!
  • Wednesday- I’ll probably run on the treadmill before teaching UXF Burn.
  • Thursday- Teaching SHRED and Kickboxing
  • Friday- Rest day 🙂
  • Saturday- Teaching kickboxing at the Oak Square YMCA
  • Sunday- I am going to a blogger ride at SoulCycle which I am SO excited about!!

Things I’m Looking Forward To

I’m excited to have a week where I don’t have a lot going on after work. It will be nice to have the flexibility and know I don’t have to pack for multiple events. I’m also looking forward to the weekend- SoulCycle AND a Red Sox game in the same day makes for a super fun Sunday 😉 A bunch of my college friends and significant others are going to a day game on Sunday… I just hope it’s relatively warm… and not raining!

Questions for you: What was the best workout you had last week? Did you try anything new? What are you looking forward to this week? Have you been to SoulCycle?

This Week: Workouts, Traveling & Things I’m Looking Forward To

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Happy Monday! As this post goes off, I’ll be {hopefully} taking off to head to Dallas. I’m going to a work conference in Grapevine through Wednesday, so my week of workouts will be a little different than usual. I’m actually looking forward to some on-the-road workouts and less teaching since I’ve been teaching like a mad woman lately! Don’t get me wrong, I love teaching, but feel like I teach a better class when I don’t teach 6 or 7 in a week. Instructor friends- do you feel the same way?

Last Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I taught my 6am Muscle Work class and then subbed a 6:30pm kickboxing class at the Watertown BSC after work. Those days are SO long, but they are doable since I’m doing different workouts before and after work.

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  • Tuesday- I never made it to the 6:55 am class (incorrectly set my alarm), but I ended up doing 10 minutes of cardio and 20 minutes of stability ball-focused core work. After work, I headed to Reading to train Kerri, which went great! I did some of the workout with her, but am trying to get better at just instructing/training her rather than doing the workout with her.

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  • Wednesday- I ran a 5K on the treadmill before teaching my UXF Burn class. I didn’t do much of the workout with them because, for some reason, I was incredibly sore. I don’t even know how I could be as sore as I was, but I took it as a sign that I shouldn’t push myself, so I didn’t 🙂
  • Thursday- I taught SHRED and then Kickboxing. Both classes were pretty full and the energy was great. I taught a new format (for me) in SHRED and everyone loved it, including me! I set it up so that everyone had a partner- partner A would do 12 reps of whatever exercise I told them to do (using the BOSU) and partner B would do whatever cardio exercise I told them to do. Partner B would do the cardio until partner A completed their 12 reps. Then we switched and then did a partner core move for 60 seconds. It was so fun!!

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  • Friday- I usually rest on Fridays, but I wanted to get in another class with my ClassPass and since my friend Lindsay was teaching at Recycle at 5:30pm, I figured it was a perfect class to go to. Similar to the last time, the class was amazing. Her energy, song choices and choreography’s are motivating, yet challenging, and I left there feeling like I got my butt kicked! Recycle still stands true as my favorite indoor cycling studio for that reason.

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  • Saturday- I taught cardio kickboxing at the Oak Square YMCA. Per usual, it was a great class!
  • Sunday- Rest 🙂 I realized I hadn’t had a rest day all week… whoops

This Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I think I will end up doing something similar to this pre-flight workout that I did before the last flight to Dallas.
  • Tuesday & Wednesday- I have no idea what my workouts will look like while I am in Texas. I would like to check out the gym at the Gaylord Resort and hopefully Tim will want to join me- I like having a workout buddy when I’m on the road! BSCers- I won’t be there on Wednesday, but Kate Welby is subbing for me, so you’ll be in good hands!!
  • Thursday- I’ll be back at the Central Square and teaching SHRED and then Kickboxing.
  • Friday- I am not sure. I may try to get to a morning class at a participating ClassPass location (my month is up the first week in April so I’m trying to use up all my passes!).
  • Saturday- My friend Jen told me about a Spartan Race Workout so I am going to do that! It’s from 9-11 so if you’re interested in joining us, use that link and sign up 🙂
  • Sunday- I am subbing UXF Burn at 9am at the Allston BSC, so if you’re around, come join me! There were only 3 people last time I subbed, so I’d love to have more of you! I am heading to Kerri’s to train her after I teach.

Traveling

As I mentioned, I am going to be in Grapevine, Texas for the first half of this week. I am sure I’ll get some type of workout in, but I likely won’t know what that workout will be until the day of. I have a fun guest post coming for you later this week, so be on the lookout for that.

Things I’m Looking Forward To

It will be nice to see some of my coworkers this week and to get to meet other people in the industry. I’ve heard the Gaylord is a really nice resort, so I’m looking forward to that! The temps are supposed to be low here this week, so being in 60* weather will be a nice treat 😉 I’m also looking forward to the potential Shapleigh Girls night on Saturday- I bought a Groupon to the Brahmin and I think we are going to try to go there.

Questions for you: Fitness instructor friends- what is your “ideal” number of classes to teach in a week? What was the best workout you had last week? What are you looking forward to this week?

This Week: Workouts (lighter week!), Things I’m looking forward to and Giveaway winner!

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Good morning, friends! Who else had a little trouble getting up today? Don’t get me wrong, I love the “spring ahead” time change when it’s 6pm and still light out, but it’s hard the first few days when it comes to sleep!

How were your workouts last week? Mine were good, but there were too many. Teaching 7 classes in 5 days is really just too much for me. Luckily, it was just a one-off week where I happened to have a few subbing opportunities and it was my “on” week for both of my non-weekly classes, so it’s not something I will have to do again. I’m only teaching 3 classes this week which is a nice thought!

Last Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- Big day! I taught my first 6am Muscle Work class, which went SO well. I was so nervous, but I ended up really liking the morning class and everyone thought I was tough, but loved it- win, win! After work, I subbed a kickboxing class at the Watertown BSC.
  • Tuesday- I went to the Class Pass launch party at Flywheel, which was amazing. The first class I went to was ok, but this one was SO good. I left there as sweaty as I do when I leave hot yoga… loved it! More on Class Pass later… it’s my newest obsession 😉

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  • Wednesday- I ran 3 miles on the treadmill before I taught UXF Burn.

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Rocking my new swag!

  • Thursday- I taught SHRED and Kickboxing.
  • Friday- Rest 🙂 Much needed, might I add! I had to go to the office, so I did walk a bit, but that’s all.
  • Saturday- Double number 3 of the week… whoops. I taught kickboxing (great class!!) and then I went to Exhale Spa with my sister (using my Class Pass!!) for a Core Fusion Cardio class. It was just as good as I remember it being. We were both beat by the end 🙂

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  • Sunday- I taught UXF Burn at the Allston BSC. I didn’t want to do the class, but there were only 3 people so I didn’t really have a choice.

This Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I’m not sure. I’m thinking probably a light cardio workout. I wanted to use my ClassPass somewhere, but I’m not sure that will work out.
  • Tuesday- I’d like to go to the Muscle Work class during the day at work so I can go home after work.
  • Wednesday- I’m thinking cardio and then teaching UXF Burn.
  • Thursday- Teaching SHRED and then Kickboxing
  • Friday- Not sure. I might try to get to a class somewhere with my Class Pass membership, otherwise it will be a rest day.
  • Saturday- I’m thinking Flywheel or Recycle 🙂
  • Sunday- Not sure, again. Maybe Barry’s? Maybe a barre class? We will see.  It’s nice that my workouts are so flexible this week!

Things I’m Looking Forward To

FREE TIME!!! Last week was great, but it was literally go-go-go the whole week and weekend and you know what? I’m just tired. I’m ready for a day where I can make up my schedule as I want and not have to be so strict with a plan. I think I’m getting together with my college girlfriends on Saturday, which is long over due. Also, it’s St. Patty’s day weekend, so I may head to Southie for the parade on Sunday? We’ll see!

Giveaway Winner!!!

I know most of you probably skipped through all of the other stuff just to get to this. I can’t say I blame you- the bag is absolutely gorgeous and I totally wish I could’ve won it. Thank you so much to everyone for entering and “liking” PJ’s and Burpees to Bubbly on Facebook 🙂

The winner is Jessica, aka “Gluten Free Boston Girl!

gfbostongirl said:

I can’t wait for the warm weather and to run outside again!! (I like you on FB!)

Congrats, girl! Send me your mailing address so I can ship you your bag! burpeestobubbly {at}gmail {dot} com.

And, that’s it! I hope you all have a great start to the week 🙂

Questions for you: How many workouts do you like to fit in in a week? What was your favorite workout last week? Did any leave you sore?

Weekending: Gym friends, Southie, How to prepare for a busy week

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My weekend recap is a little late this week, but it was a good one, so it’s better late than never, right? Although I was super tired on Friday night, I was excited to head to Needham for a gym friends party. A gym friends party, you might ask? What is that? Well, it’s when a bunch of gym-going, gym-loving ladies get together to eat good food, drink good wine and share horror funny class stories (most of us are instructors, so we’ve got stories for dayssss). Athena wrote up a really nice post about why she loves gym friends and I couldn’t agree more. It’s funny because when I was telling my mom about it on Saturday, I used the same exact “they just ‘get’ me” line that she used in her post. gym friends (photo credit: Athena!)

On top of good company, I love gym friend parties because the food is always delicious… and usually healthy! There were so many different appetizer treats to snack on- I was a happy camper 😉 IMG_6833 I brought a dessert treat that I came up with fairly quickly. Could’ve been a hit or miss, but, luckily, it seemed to be a hit. I’ll share it with you soon, but here’s a sneak peak: IMG_6829

I had so many people to catch up with! These girls all frequent the Oak Square YMCA as their “home” gym and get to see each other at least a few times of week, but I only see them every other Saturday if they come to my class. Womp. Needless to say, the wine was flowing, conversation was non-stop and before we knew it, it was time to do the Pink-themed Yankee Swap!

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I put together a cute little “relaxing night in” package which had an OPI 4 color sampler nail polish package, a candle and a bottle of wine. I wouldn’t have been mad if I went home with that, although I was SO HAPPY to go home with a stability ball. It’s been on my list of things to buy for a while now (for exercise and to use as my chair when I work from home), I just keep forgetting to get one. Problem solved!

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Big thanks to Liz for having us and thanks to all the girls for being such fun gym friends!!

Saturday started off my favorite way: kickboxing. Even better, was knowing a bunch of girls from Friday night would be there… they asked for burpees and I aim to please 😉

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The rest of my Saturday was busy with lunch plans and then going to Southie to see my sister’s new apartment. Her roommate, Amy, bought a condo in Southie and they moved in on Friday night. I was a bad sister and didn’t visit until Saturday night, but I did come bearing gifts of Prosecco, Bud Light and an AMEX gift card, so I think that counts for something, right?! 😉 We grabbed dinner and drinks at The Playwright Bar since it’s literally a 3 minute walk from their new place. I am so jealous that they are so close to so many fun places!

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Another friend from home met us out, which was a nice surprise!

Sunday was a busy day. I wasn’t home for more than 5 minutes all day on Saturday, so I didn’t have time to do anything on my to-do list. But you know what? I survived. Funny thing about that! Between laundry, baking, cooking, grocery shopping, blogging, making workout videos and prepping for a busy week… Sunday was over in a flash!

I knew my week was going to be crazy busy between teaching 7 classes, going to the ClassPass launch, going to a wine tasting, etc., so I spent some time on Sunday prepping for the week to make it a little easier! I wanted to share some things I do to help make a busier week go a little more smoothly, especially when I have to be up and out of the house super early to teach in the morning.

How to prepare for a busy week

1. Food prep!! I can’t stress this enough. I don’t have the money to buy lunch out every day (or the snacks), so prepping my salads, fruit, snacks, etc. on Sunday night makes the world of a difference.

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Since I needed to be up and out the door by 5:30 on Monday, I even had to pack breakfast!

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Nothing exciting, but it did the trick!

2. Plan my outfit the night before. And, for me, it meant packing it up in my gym bag since I had to get ready for work at the gym.

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3. Plan my workout that I’m going to teach. If I don’t plan something out, I’ll keep thinking about it, so it’s better to just write it out and be done with it.

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4. Make a meal that can be reheated throughout the week, especially for the nights I get home late (pretty much every night this week). This ensures that I have a healthy, well balanced meal that I can eat within 5 minutes of walking through the door. What can I say? I get hangry!

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5. Go to bed early. There’s no better way to end the weekend and start the week than getting a good nights rest. I’m not used to getting up on Monday mornings in the 5 o’clock hour, so that will certainly take some getting used to, but having everything literally ready for me as soon as I wake up makes it easier!

Questions for you: What was the best part of your weekend? Do you have a group of friends that “get” you? How do you prepare for a busy week? Do you plan ahead and do prep work to make it easier or just go with the flow?

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?