Wednesday Workout: 20 Minute Hotel Room AMRAP Workout

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Wait, what?! Is this really a true “Wednesday Workout” post? I just scrolled through my posts and realized that I haven’t posted a workout for you in over a MONTH, so for those of you who come here only for those- I’m sorry! I hope you read this post which explained why I haven’t been sharing workouts on here as frequently as I used to.

I wanted to share this workout with you today because with summer basically here, it likely means lots of travel/vacations are popping up, which could result in having less time to get to your normal gym time. This workout is perfect for those times where you’re traveling and/or just away from your normal gym because it can be done anywhere: in a hotel room, in a house, on the beach, at a park- you get the idea! Quickie body weight workouts are a great way to get in a sweat without hindering your plans or taking away time from something more fun.

I don’t know if it was because I was tired from traveling, stressed from work or just because this was a tough workout, but I was really huffing and puffing throughout the whole thing. I was originally on a pace to finish 8 rounds but only finished 6 rounds and then the squats on the 7th round. By the end I was drenched and felt sufficiently worked!

20 Minute AMRAP Hotel Room Workout

A hyperlapse snapshot of the workout can be found here:

Let me know if you try this!

Questions for you: Do you have a lot of travel plans this summer?

I stayed out way past my bedtime

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A few weeks ago, RM asked if I wanted to go to a Copa America soccer game at Gillette Stadium. On a Sunday night. Starting at 8:30pm…. Me, being the sports enthusiast that I am (I hope you can sense my sarcasm), wasn’t entirely thrilled about this, but since I know how much he loves soccer, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to join him. Lucky for me, our friends Jessi and Chuck could come so I knew I’d at least have someone around to drink vino with and chat about non-sport things (aka, our weddings- priorities, people.). Leading up to the game, the two of us got way more excited about planning out our tailgating feast than we did about watching the game 😉 Who would bring what: wine, beer, meat, snacks, grill, paper goods etc. It was pretty much a constant stream of texts between the two of us hammering out all of the necessary details.

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However, as much as I was excited to see a professional soccer match, hang out with RM at his favorite sporting event and hanging out with our friends, in the back of my mind I kept thinking about how late the game was- WAY past my bedtime on a Sunday night. I don’t deal well without sufficient amounts of sleep (I like to be in bed for 8 hours… minimum!), so at times (mostly when we were trying to get out of the gridlocked parking lot!) I found myself stressing a bit over that instead of just soaking in the experience, enjoying my time with RM and our friends and drinking plenty of vino 😉  And, although it was a Sunday night that was totally out of the ordinary for me because of the drinking and being out late (#SundayFunday), it was such a FUN experience! We ate, we drank, we laughed, we did lots of wedding talk, we watched some great soccer from some awesome seats… all in all, even after sitting in traffic for 1.5 hours trying to get out of the lot and onto 95 (ugh!) and not getting into bed until 1:15am, I went to bed feeling so blessed to have had such a fun night.

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All my life I’ve been guilty of over-analyzing, over-thinking, over-stressing, etc. when things don’t go according to my normal plan/way I like things to go, but you know what? Having one day of being a little tired (and I got to work from home, so I really shouldn’t even be complaining!) was totally worth the memories we all created. Sometimes we all just need a little reminder that things don’t have to go how we plan. In fact, those are often the times that create the best memories, right?!

So thank you, RM, for getting me out of my comfort zone and helping me experience something new- and really fun! Can’t wait for a lifetime of more memories!

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Questions for you: Do you tend to follow a rigid schedule/plan or do you prefer spontaneity? Do you get stressed when things don’t go according to plan?  

PS I realized this post is a great follow up to what I wrote last week about going with the flow and embracing the now. Give it a read if you missed it!

Five on Friday {6.10.16}

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Good morning and TGIF! What a week it has been- traveling to the west coast for just a few days takes a toll on you for sure. But, it’s FRIDAY and that’s a good thing, so let’s get to it!

  • Healthy Eats While Traveling– If you’ve been following B2B for a while, then you know that while I prefer to eat healthy foods as my main source of fuel, I am also all about indulgences. I love pizza, I love ice cream, I love french fries. But I choose the right times/places to indulge on those things. Pizza at the airport? No, thanks. Pizza at Max & Leo’s? You bet! With that said, before my flight to LA on Monday I stopped at Cosi and tried their new bowls and was so pleased with the chicken, veggie & avocado rice bowl that I got! It also set really well in my stomach for the long flight 🙂

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  • #BuffBride Workout Update- I’ve just about completed my second week of the #BuffBride workout that Athena created for me and it’s amazing that I’m already noticing a difference in my strength and in how my arms look and feel. I was lucky that the hotel we stayed at in Burbank had an awesome, fully equipped gym because I was able to get up and bang out a great workout before heading out for a big meeting. I love to workout when I travel and was happy that it fit in so well with my schedule!

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  • Manhattan Beach- Umm, so beautiful!!! We had a late lunch there after our meetings on Tuesday and I was just soaking in all the amazingness. I had wanted to do some walking around on the beach and into the shops, but the others I was with wanted to head back so if I ever make it back there, I definitely plan on hanging out for a longer time.

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  • The Life-Changing Power of Small Things– RM sent this article to me earlier this week and it was a really good read. I’ve talked about this before, but I’ll say it again- too often we are so concerned with the big things: changes, money, career, etc. rather than taking a step back and focusing on the smaller every day things. This article has some great tips on how to shift your focus to what really matters- it’s a long read, but I promise it’s worth it!
  • JP Morgan Corporate Challenge- Last night’s race was so fun! While it was chilly waiting for the race to start, the weather was perfect for running. I ended up running pretty fast for me so that was just icing on the cake! No, wait… the icing on the cake was a celebratory glass of vino and food at Pier 6 after the race 😉

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That does it for me this week! I am so excited for the weekend- we have lots of wedding related tasks to work on, but they’re fun things so I’m looking forward to doing them! I hope you all have a great weekend with whatever you have planned- chat with you next week!

Questions for you: Do you try to eat healthy while on the road? Do you like to workout while on the road? Have you ever been to Manhattan Beach? Do you have any races on your calendar?

A Letter To The Locker Room Ladies

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I don’t know if I’m more sensitive to it these days or if it’s just happening more often, but it seems as though I cannot enter the ladies locker room without hearing constant negative self-talk from the other ladies in the room. The other day I was SO tempted to say something to one of them, but wasn’t sure how that would be taken, or even if it was my place to do it, so instead I decided to write this letter.

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Dear Locker Room Ladies,

You may not know who I am, or even notice me when I’m in the locker room, but I’m the curly haired, glasses wearing girl who comes during my lunch break to get my workout done. I don’t hang out for long in the locker room since I’m always on a time crunch, but lately I’ve been there just long enough to hear you talking so negatively about yourself to your fellow locker room friends. I wasn’t sure if it was my place to say something to you while we were all half-dressed, either getting ready for a workout or finishing up after a workout, but I’m hoping this letter will help make you think twice before you continue to put yourself down so much.

“You DON’T want to see me in a bathing suit.”

“I’m afraid to step on the scale after last weekend!”

“I used to be SO much thinner.”

“What can I do to get rid of this?”

“I need to be EXTRA good this week and workout longer than usual.”

Any of that sound familiar? It’s not your fault that you ladies put yourself down like this- unfortunately, it’s such a commonality in our society to talk to ourselves and about ourselves in a negative way. It’s become so second nature for so many of us that it might even seem like MORE work to speak kindly to yourself. 

How do I know? I’ve been there before. There was a time in my life where no matter what I weighed, no matter how much I worked out and no matter what I ate, I always had negative things to say about myself when I looked in the mirror and when I talked to friends. But you know what? Over the past couple of years I’ve worked really hard at training my mind to pick out the positives, rather than the negatives, when looking in the mirror. To go to the gym because I enjoy it and appreciate all my body can do. To eat well- most of the time- so that I properly fuel my body for my lifestyle. To enjoy indulgences- without regret. To love my body- “flaws” and all.

By making this change, I have learned that workouts shouldn’t be made as punishment, that I won’t gain 10 lbs over night if I have an indulgent day, that negative self-talk brings an unnecessary amount of negativity to my life.

So, locker room ladies, I urge you to think about how you talk to your bodies. It’s the only one we have, so why should we put it down so often? Why can’t we love it and embrace it and be proud of it? I want to remind you, though, that this change will not happen overnight. It may take a long time to fully embrace and love yourself and your body, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t start working on that now. I want you to do me a favor: I want you to look in the mirror right now and name five things you love about your body. They can be things you’ve been working on, things you’re proud of, things that you feel lucky to have- anything, really. And I want you to do this every day. I want you to go to the gym and workout because it feels good and because you’re proud of all you can do. I want you to eat good foods to fuel your body well, but I also want you to feel OK with indulging in the things that are really worth it to you. And I don’t want you to regret it, ok? Life is too short to put ourselves down for enjoying a glass of wine, piece of cake, slice of pizza, etc. 

And lastly, I want to assure you that you look great in a bathing suit and that you are worth more than just what the scale says and that some indulgences here and there are not worth beating yourself up over or feeling guilty about. They won’t ruin all of your hard work. You are enough just as you are and you deserve to understand and believe that.

Your locker room neighbor,

Monique (remember, the curly-haired, glasses wearing girl)

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Questions for you: What type of locker room chatter do you hear? Does it tend to be more on the negative or positive side of things? What’s something you love about your body, or something you’re proud of? 

 

Learning to go with the flow & embrace the now

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Good morning and Happy Monday! Did you guys have a good weekend? Mine was good- a mix of relaxation and fun, but I was so excited for RM to get back yesterday! Today’s post was sparked by the holiday a few weeks ago and the idea for putting it into a blog post was sparked by an email exchange with my friend Lauren. If you don’t subscribe to her emails, I highly suggest doing so because they’re always so thoughtful and so easy to relate to, which means they often spark probably longer than necessary email responses from me 😉

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Sundays are usually my days for prep & organization to make my upcoming week less hectic. What this means is I usually clean, do laundry, food shop, meal prep & blog- and while this is a great way to help start my week on the right foot and make my week easier, it doesn’t always leave a lot of room for going with the flow and embracing the “now”. This was fine before I met RM because I didn’t have anyone else to think about besides myself, but as RM and I continue to build on our relationship, I’ve realized that things like cleaning, food shopping, laundry, etc. are just not as important as spending quality time with him and doing things together that are not on my “to-do” list.

Does that mean I’m always good at forgetting about my “to-do” list and just going with the flow with him? No, definitely not. But, as the wedding gets closer, I’m really learning that in order to keep my sanity, I need to be OK with ditching my non-necessary to-do’s (non wedding related, of course) and do things that make me happy and make me smile… and maybe even forget about all the things that might be currently stressing me out at any given time.

So, when RM suggested last Monday afternoon (the holiday) that we go walk and grab a drink somewhere, I stopped blogging mid blog post draft & joined him. Sure, I could’ve started meal prepping, cleaning or gotten ahead of my blogging for the week (and I’d be lying if I didn’t contemplate doing this instead…), but the few hours we took to grab a drink (and wings… hey, when you’re at Buff’s Pub, it’s so hard to NOT get wings 😉 ) was one of the highlights of my day and you know what? We still got everything done. When we got home, he attacked the start of meal prep while I finished a blog post and created a new workout for my Bags & Beats class. By the time 8pm rolled around, we had a batch of kale cooked, sweet potato roasted, spicy green beans made, broccoli sauteed, 2 loads of laundry done, 1 blog post written, 2 workouts created AND we were able to watch an episode of House of Cards before calling it a night.

What I learned from that day is that no task on my to-do list should ever be made out to be more important than spending time with him, or really, anyone else who is important to me. When I’m in the heat of an “omg I have so much to do and not enough time to do it” freak-out episode, it may not always be so easy to see that life will go on if I don’t food shop, meal prep, clean, etc., BUT I have hope that each time I do realize this I’m just one step closer to it becoming instinctual. Practice makes progress, right?!

I’d love to hear from you guys, though. What do you do to help yourself relax? Do you tend to stick to your “to-do’s” over the “go with the flow’s”? Do you like to prepare for your week by doing meal prep, food shopping, cleaning, etc. on Sunday’s or do you do it throughout the week?Â