Weekly Workouts: Lots of Teaching {and preparing for Dallas & Chicago}

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Hi there! Happy Monday! How was your weekend? Mine was busy, but really fun. Friday night I babysat and Saturday I taught kickboxing, drove to NH for a family friend’s surprise 60th (more on that later!) and then came back to MA for a gym friends party at Athena’s. I love getting a chance to hang out with those girls because they “get” me and the gym thing. There was LOTS of delicious food at both parties and even though I tried to pace myself and choose healthy options, I definitely splurge! Well worth it, though 🙂

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Since I know this week is going to be pretty crazy busy, too, (I am leaving for Dallas on Tuesday and then going straight from there to Chicago on Thursday for a long weekend getaway with my sister), I took advantage of a wide open schedule yesterday and RELAXED… can you believe it?! I got up, lounged around, blogged, went to the gym and grocery shopping then vowed to not leave the house for the rest of the day. It.was.awesome! And so necessary.

Last week, I got a last minute sub request for the Wednesday sports conditioning class which is right before my UXF Burn class. Since I am missing my classes again this week and am in need of some extra money, I agreed to sub for her. I love that class, but teaching a double on Wednesday and on Thursday is a lot! When I have weeks like this were I teach 5 classes (2 Wednesday, 2 Thursday and 1 Saturday), I wonder how I ever survived teaching Monday and Wednesday- Saturday. That was so silly! Now that I have cut back on teaching, I’ve learned to really appreciate MY OWN workouts and have started to see some great changes in my body because of that.

Last Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I had a bad day on Monday and was in need of some serious exercise endorphins, so I headed to the East Boston YMCA for a treadmill run and core exercises. After 4 miles, I felt much better!

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  • Tuesday- My legs were super tired from my run on Monday (not sure why) and my upper body was still a little tight from Sunday, so I decided to just go to the gym in my office building and do a superset core-focused workout with my Fall Into Fitness moves in between (crab walks, bear walks, duck walks, 1-legged burpees). It was a great workout!!

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  • Wednesday- I taught Sports Conditioning and UXF Burn. I did an AMRAP workout in sports conditioning and a Halloween themed workout in UXF Burn- people may have made fun of me, but I think they actually had a lot of fun 😉

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  • Thursday- Taught SHRED (another Halloween inspired/themed workout) and Kickboxing. I taught a super high intensity cardio class in kickboxing and finished with lots of glute and core work.
  • Friday- Nothing 🙂 Well deserved rest!
  • Saturday- Taught another high intensity cardio kickboxing class… I gave them the option to do more cardio or more core and Mary said cardio, so I blamed it on her 🙂
  • Sunday- I went to the Y Pump class again since I hadn’t really done a “real” strength workout since last Sunday. Granted, I did lift in my classes, but when I teach, the workouts are not for me, so I don’t get to lift to my potential. I have to use whatever weights are available and jump around to correct form, so I never end up finishing a full set.

This Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- Since I did strength yesterday, I’ll probably do cardio today… likely another treadmill run since it’s definitely too dark to run outside after work now.
  • Tuesday- I have a 2pm flight to Dallas, which means I will work from home in the morning, which also means I will do an at home workout. Not sure what I’ll feel like doing, but I’ll figure it out!
  • Wednesday- I will be in Dallas and I have a full day of training (business writing development- I am actually really excited about it!), so I will have to get up and do an early hotel workout. I’m hoping the Westin has a good gym!
  • Thursday- Same thing as Wednesday!
  • Friday- I will be in Chicago with my sister, so I hope she will get up and do a workout with me before we meet up with our friend JP for site seeing!
  • Saturday- Not sure. We are staying at a Sheraton, which generally has a great gym so I would like to workout, but it depends on what we do Friday night and what the agenda is for Saturday. Since I am going to be “on vacation”, I am going to try to be more relaxed and not plan my day around my workouts (at this point, it’s so part of my “schedule”, that I have to make more of an effort to not do it than to do it!).
  • Sunday- Again, I am not sure!

Questions for you: What is your favorite “on the road” workout? Have you ever been to Chicago? What’s a “must see”?

How do you handle bad days?

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Bad days. We all have them, right? Sometimes a “bad day” can be as simple as waking up to a rainy day (and, for those of us who take public transportation into work, this can be the cause for a bad start to the day at least!) or it can be as bad as… well, no need to go there. We’ve all had those bad days.

I had a bad day on Monday, which got me to thinking about how I handle bad days. Some days, I succumb to the bad day and let my mood totally ride on it. Granted, this doesn’t really make me feel better (wallowing in self pity and being just a generally grumpy person), but sometimes it’s hard to realize that the world is not ending because of a bad day.

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Other days, though, like Monday, for instance, I try to see the “silver lining” in my bad day. So I broke the heat in my apartment and have to pay almost $900 to get it fixed (yikes. Writing that out certainly doesn’t make it any easier to swallow)… big deal, right? Money comes and money goes and in the grand scheme of things, breaking my heat is a much better “bad day” than others I could think of. No one got hurt, no one got in trouble, no one lost anything (well, besides my money). Things could be a lot worse. I’m not going to say I didn’t dwell on this and cry (ok, I cried a lot), but I tried to accept my mistake, look at the big picture and move on.

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As I did this, I got to thinking about ways I try to make myself feel better when I’m having a bad day. I thought I’d share them with you in case you’re having a bad day and could use a reminder that things will get better!

1. Get my sweat on! Without fail, when I am having a bad day, a good sweat sesh will always make me feel better. Even if it’s just during the workout, I’ll take it! Working out helps me clear my mind and sometimes push all of my negative thoughts to the back for a bit. Endorphins released during working out are a wonderful, wonderful thing.

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2. Call my mom, dad or sister (sometimes all 3). Pending on what is bothering me determines who I call. Heat issues? Sorry mom, dad was way better at making me feel better. Stress/schedule issues? Yup, mom is the person I call because she ‘gets’ it. Boy issues or any other type of issue I might be having? My sister. Sometimes it’s nice to just vent and cry and let it all out and know that the listening ear on the other end isn’t judging and isn’t thinking that I’m a crazy person.

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3. Grab drinks with friends/significant other (if he/she is not the cause for your bad day! 😉 ). As I said earlier, it’s often times easier to succumb to a bad day and wallow in self pity and avoid interactions with other people, but if you can force yourself to get out, you’ll be glad you did! Not only does it help get your mind off of whatever is bothering you, friends/significant others can generally relate to your problem and help make you feel better.

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4. Participate in “retail therapy”… aka, go shopping. Even if you don’t buy anything, again, going shopping gets you out of the house and that right there helps to increase your chances of getting out of your bad mood. On the other hand, buying yourself a little something to pick up your spirits is never a bad idea 🙂

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5. Treat yourself to a manicure and/or pedicure or a massage. I love when I get to treat myself to one, both or all of these because it’s the one time where I am force to sit, relax and read trashy magazines… or, do nothing at all. It’s also a good time to reflect on the situation at hand that has put you in a bad mood and figure out how to get OUT of that bad mood; to accept the situation for what it is and move on with a more positive attitude.

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6. Dance. Crank up your favorite jam and dance! In your underwear if you want to… no one is judging you and I can guarantee it will make you feel so much better. I was talking to my mom earlier this week and she was talking about her favorite dance class and she said that she is so happy as soon as she steps into that class and she always leaves feeling great.

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It’s funny because just re-reading through those “get happy” suggestions makes me feel better. I hope I remember to come back to this post next time I have a bad day.

Bottom line, it’s important to try and take a bad day for what it is, accept it and move on. It takes so much more energy to be angry/grump/upset then it does to be happy, so next time you have a bad day, I challenge you to turn your attitude towards that bad day around and try to focus on something GOOD about your day. Mmm, k?

Questions for you: Do you wallow in self pity when you have a bad day and act as if the world is ending? Or, do you try to look at the positive and make the situation better? What is your “go to” when it comes to making you feel better when you have a bad day?

What’s going on this weekend? I am working then babysitting today, teaching tomorrow, quick day trip to Maine and then coming back to MA for a gym friend party. I hope to get prepped for my upcoming Dallas and Chicago trip on Sunday. Have a great one, friends!

Stepping out of the box: Fall Curry Chicken

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I think curry dishes are one of those “love it or hate it” types of dishes, right? It’s a very strong flavor and not something that everyone enjoys. I’ve never really loved curry dishes, so I was shocked when I came across a “Fall Curry Chicken” recipe in the November Shape magazine that just looked like I had to make it. Perhaps it was because it included butternut squash and apples and pumpkin seeds that made it so desirable? Whatever it is, I decided that it was a recipe that I had to make.

Unfortunately, as I am still building my herbs/seasoning collection, making this recipe meant that I had to buy most of the ingredients… probably part of the reason why my groceries were so much higher than normal (that, and Halloween candy!). Once I took a bite of the dish, though, I realized my expensive grocery trip was wellll worth it. The dish was incredibly flavorful and I loved the textures of the chicken, butternut squash, apples and seeds.

Fall Curry Chicken- Recipe from Shape Magazine

Ingredients

  • 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into chunks
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 1/2 tsp vegetable oil
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 2 tsp curry powder
  • 1/4 tsp ground cayenne pepper
  • 2 pods cardamom – I couldn’t find these at the grocery store so I skipped it. I don’t think it made a huge difference
  • 1 tbsp. tomato paste
  • 1 cup light coconut milk
  • 1 butternut squash (about 1lb), peeled and cut into small chunks
  • 1 Granny Smith apple, diced
  • 1/4 cup roasted pumpkin seeds
  • 1/4 cup golden raisins – I forgot to buy these so I didn’t add them. I think I liked it better without.

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Directions

1. Preheat a sauté pan over medium-high. Season chicken with salt. Add 1/2 tsp vegetable oil and chicken strips to pan and sear for 2 minutes per side of until golden brown and cooked through. Remove cooked chicken to a plate and set aside.

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2. Add onion and remaining vegetable oil to pan. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 2 minutes or until onions begin to soften. Add curry powder, cayenne pepper, cardamom, and tomato paste and mix. Deglaze pan with coconut milk, scraping up cooked-on bits with a wooden spoon and mixing them into the sauce.

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3. Add squash to sauce and cover. Let simmer for 15 minutes (I ended up having to sauté for almost 30 minutes… therefore, I kept adding more coconut milk to ensure it wouldn’t get dried out) or until squash has softened. Return chicken and juices to pan. Simmer for 2 minutes, then add raisins and apple. Stir to combine.

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Serve yourself (and your guests, if you have some) a nice heaping of this topped with some roasted pumpkin seeds.

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You guys. This was SO GOOD! If you like curry or are more adventurous with flavors when you eat/cook, I highly suggest trying this. One thing I might do if I made this again would be to cook up some brown rice to serve this atop. It didn’t need rice, but I felt like I would have liked it. Other than that, I wouldn’t change anything!

Questions for you: Curry- love it or hate it? What’s your favorite type of food (Italian, French, Indian, Asian, etc.)? Do you follow recipes to a T or do you leave things out if you don’t have them?

Happy Halloween, btw! I hope you all have a fun day and treat yourself to some candy. I’m a firm believer in “everything in moderation”, which means eating candy on a candy Halloween!

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.

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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?

Pizza night, Halloween party, relaxing

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Overall, the past weekend was really quite relaxing… or at least for me. I didn’t spend a lot of time at my apartment since I screwed up and broke my heat. With the temps we had in Boston over the weekend, this wasn’t the best time to break the heat. Needless to say, I spent Friday working like this:

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I was so grumpy and frustrated with myself by the end of the day. There’s nothing I hate more than doing something stupid that ends up costing me money. I was tempted to just stay in and drink wine by myself, but I decided to pull myself together and take someone up on their offer to grab pizza and a drink at Santarpio’s Pizza.

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Totally worth it and I felt much better after! Santarpio’s has totally lived up to its name, too… loved, loved, loveddd the pizza!

Saturday started off with kickboxing and then I got to do one of my favorite things to do in the kitchen: frost cookies!! There is something so relaxing about frosting cookies… and, ok, maybe I love it so much because I get to eat frosting throughout the process. I could literally eat frosting by the spoonful. Anyone else like this?

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For me, holiday’s are not complete without funfetti cookies, so I make a point to bring them to every holiday party that I go to.

Rachel and her husband, Dan, had a Halloween party on Saturday night, so I headed over to my old apartment to hang out with my sister and Amy before going to the party. I reused a costume and went as a flapper.

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Rachel’s apartment was so festive! Everywhere I looked there was glitter and cobwebs and other “Halloween” stuff. I couldn’t help but have some of her famous sangria… my favorite part of every party she has 😉

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It was so nice to go to a house party where you can actually have conversations with people… and snuggle babies!

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Thanks for a fun party, Rachel!

Sunday was another relaxing day… spent mostly at my old apartment. Since they had heat and I did not, it made sense to go hang out with them. My sister and I also had to plan our Chicago trip, so it made for a good afternoon to hang out there! She made us pizza for lunch… yummm.

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When I left the girls’ apartment, I did my weekly grocery shopping and was so excited to have time to make a real meal! It’s been far too long. I’ll share the recipe with you later this week, but it was delicious and a perfect warm, fall meal to eat.

And here we are… another week! I am happy to have heat back, that’s for darn sure!

Questions for you: What’s your favorite pizza place? Do you love frosting or are you more of a cake person? Do you have a Halloween costume? If so, what were you? What was the best part of your weekend?