A Brewin’ Blizzard

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I don’t think I have seen snow like this since my senior year in college. I remember it was Valentine’s Day and for the first time in over 30 years, St. Mike’s was cancelling all classes from noon on. We were ecstatic!  My friend and I got in a HARD 2 mile snow shoe (we accumulated over a foot of snow in like 2 hours!) and then joined the rest of the crew for multiple rounds of drinking games.  I played “dad” of the house and tended to the shoveling and “mom” of the house by replenishing the snacks and drinks. The next morning we woke up and literally could not see any part of our cars.  Hands down, that day will always be one of my best college memories.

Anyway… I found myself thinking back to that day today as I sat at my desk and “worked” from home.  We went out early and stocked up on the necessities: wine, beer, bubbly, and snacks.

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I wrote a comment on Facebook around 8am, maybe, asking if it was too early to start drinking wine. Judging by the many comments and “likes” I received, I quickly realized everyone was supporting my early drinking urge.

However, I was able to control myself and didn’t crack anything open until after 4pm… that is totally acceptable, right?

In order to hold off from drinking the day away (not that there is anything wrong with that!), I decided to get an at-home workout in.  It was relatively short (about 30 mins including a warm up), but WOW, I was sweating and huffing and puffing!  I find it only fitting that my first workout featured on Burpees to Bubbly includes, you guessed it, burpees!!

Blizzard Workout

The goal of this workout is to get to 100 reps of each exercise as quickly as possible, while maintaining good form.

Perform move A until fatigue and then do the same for move B, and then alternate between A and B until you reach 100 reps of each. (Personally, I did 25 of each and repeated 4 times, but some people did 20 reps or 50 reps or 10 reps)

Set 1:

A. Squats with weighted overhead extension (hold 1 weight, when you squat down, try to touch the weight to the ground and then when you extend up, press the weight over your head- you can do this without weights, too!)

B. Push-ups- can be done on your knees or feet, maybe one-legged or tricep push-ups- challenge yourself!

Set 2:

A. Burpees (check these out on YouTube if you need clarification or modifications!)

B. Superman’s

Set 3:

A. Squat Jumps

B. Weighted Russian Twists

Big thanks to Athena who blogs over at  http://fitnessandfeta.com.   I saw her post about an “endurance” workout and loved the idea.  I am totally sore today… always a sign of a good workout:)

I hope everyone has stayed safe and warm in this crazy blizzard! I can’t wait to slap on my snow shoes and go check out the effects of the storm!

I’ve held out long enough…

Well… here we go! I have been reading “healthy living” blogs for years and years, but have never had the urge to start my own. Recently, though, the urge has been there. I am always thinking “oohh that would be a great picture for a blog post. I’d use this caption/explanation”, “wow this recipe is delicious and look how well it photographs!”, “this glass of wine is SO necessary today”, and so on and so on. And then I started thinking of names! What on earth would I call my blog? I love fitness, food and wine… can it incorporate all of those things and still be catchy? It has gotten to the point where it’s all I think about, leaving me with no other decision but to finally start a blog.

Oh yeah, the fact that we are currently immersed in a blizzard and I am now left with loads of extra time (fitness class tonight has been cancelled and my 9 hour Kickboxing exam tomorrow has been rescheduled) doesn’t hurt as an extra push either!

What I hope to provide you guys with in this blog is lots of health and fitness advice and tips, workouts for the gym and on the road (for all my friends who have lots of travel for their job), recipes, restaurants and, of course, wine! Hang with me while I get through these first couple of posts until I am really able to find my writing “voice” and flow of Burpees to Bubbly!

Ireland wine plank contest