Wednesday Workout: 3 Exercise AMRAP Circuits {w/a killer cardio blast!}

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Confession: I really haven’t felt like blogging this week. I don’t know what it is, but Monday night I had time and legit just chose not to. Well, I technically I just chose to spend my time working on my Box FIIT certification, but still. I had decided to just not blog anymore this week, but then after the class I subbed last night I decided I really wanted to share the workout that I taught with you guys, so here I am!

If you’ve been following B2B for a while, I’m sure you’re well aware that I love AMRAP (As many rounds as possible) workouts. I love them because you know how long you have to work which means you can push yourself however much you want. When teaching, I especially love this format because it allows for all levels in the class to work at THEIR level. There are some who are really advanced and love pushing themselves and then there are some who might be easing back into workouts or tired or sore and may not want to push themselves quite so hard. By giving my members the set exercises per circuit, they are able to go at their own pace and we still all finish at the same time. Win-win, if you ask me!

For this workout, the AMRAP circuits are 6 minutes long and there are 3 exercises per circuit: a lower body focused exercise, upper body focused and core focused. Between circuits we did a lovely little cardio blast 😉 If you’re running short on time you can pick just a few of these or skip the cardio or just do a few rounds of the cardio.

3 exercise AMRAP circuits

For everything that has a right or left, do the 10 reps on each side (or 20 reps for the cardio). Here are some explanations/clarifications:

  • Squat->lunge->squat- Stand with your feet a little wider than hips width (either with a barbell on your back or weights in your hands or holding a KB) and do one squat, then step the right foot back into a lunge and come back to center and do another squat. Repeat on the left and then right until you do 10 lunges on each leg.
  • SLDL= Single Leg Deadlift. Keep the standing leg knee soft as you hinge forward from the hips. Make sure you keep both hips facing the ground. If this is too hard you can do a standard deadlift.
  • Narrow squat & front raise- Stand with your feet hips width with light weights in each hand. As you sit back into your squat, with a neutral grip on the weights lift them up to shoulder level. By holding the weight out in front of you, it should allow you to get a little lower into your squat.
  • Plank w/shoulder taps- in a high plank, tap opposite hand to opposite shoulder, making sure to keep your hips flat and stable as you do so.

I think that should do it for exercises that might need a little explanation.

Let me know if you try this!

Weekending: Soaking Up The Weather {& a brief wedding update}

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Hello! Happy Monday! I hope all of you were able to get outside and enjoy the beautiful weather we had in New England this past weekend. Enjoy the highlights!

  • Friday night sushi from New Ginza in Watertown- this totally hit the spot!

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  • Super energetic class on Saturday morning! And, I loveddd that some of the gym girls came!
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  • RM and I went for a super long walk on Saturday afternoon.

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  • Later that day RM dropped me off at my friend Amy’s brother’s apartment above Boston Chops in the South End and we had a girls night complete with a pretty awesome array of food… and bubbly!

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  • Sunday morning pancakes- enough said.

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  • We went for another long walk after breakfast
  • I went food shopping and prepped a roast chicken meal to have throughout the week

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  • I also bought myself flowers because when WF has $6 tulips, you don’t pass it up!

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  • I worked on my Box FIIT certification and submitted a few videos which felt good. Mid-afternoon I broke for a run- it was too beautiful not to! 3.75 miler with sub 8-min. splits- the wine and the cheese the night before must’ve been good fuel!

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  • We ended up going to the Chateau in Waltham for dinner and it was fantastic!

Wedding Updates: The Flowers

My friend Jen works at Watertown Main Street Flowers and when she heard I was engaged she said I should stop in to discuss options for the wedding. I had pinned a bunch of options and the owner pulled them up in preparation for our meeting which was great. All along I’ve wanted the details of the wedding to be simple- no wedding colors (hate that), very simplistic decorations and flowers, small wedding party, etc. Therefore, the flowers I pinned were all of the white varietal.

My bouquet will be similar to this, but with green hydrangeas instead of white to add a little color.

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My sister’s bouquet will be a variation of this: IMG_4230

and then the guy’s boutonnieres will be this the corsages will be 3 of these flowers.

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For the centerpieces, we are going to spray paint mason jars gold and then do a combination of daisies and babies breath to keep with the white theme. Plus, they are super durable flowers and inexpensive 😉 It feels so good have this checked off the list!! I can’t wait!

And that about does it! I hope you all have a great week- check in with you later!

Questions for you: What was something fun you did over the weekend? Did you go out at all? Did you do anything to enjoy the nice weather?  Have anything planned this week?

 

Five on Friday {2.26.16}

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Happy Friday, friends! Have you had a good week? Mine has been pretty good- nothing really out of the ordinary, which isn’t a bad thing! It was funny- when I saw my mom last weekend she goes “did you do your ‘Five on Friday’ post this week? I love that!”, which was so sweet. I told her that I had nothing special to share with you guys last week so I just saved it for this week. Here we go!

Recycle Studio’s new South End location– I was able to snag a saddle in their second class at their new location earlier this week. Unfortunately about half of the people didn’t show up for the class (that’s what happens when it’s a free class) so I felt bad for the instructor- it’s so much harder to teach a half full class than it is a fully packed class! She did a great job, though- loved getting to check it out!

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Straight Up Strength- Even fitness instructors get bored with their own workouts, right? Lucky for me, my girl Lauren over at The Fueled Physique created a workout program so I jumped at the chance to sign up for it. I did one of the lower body exercises on Monday and the upper body one on Tuesday and I was SO SORE from them. If you’re looking for something new to spice up your workouts, I’d suggest signing up for her program (check out her site and shoot her an inquiry!).

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Gapfit Line– When I was shopping with my mom and sister last Friday, we popped into Gap Body on a mission for underwear (TMI?) and although I didn’t walk out with any, I did walk out with this amazingly cute top. I can see myself wearing this all the time to and from the gym and even out and about on the weekend. I was lucky I only left with this because as we looked around, I was seriously impressed with their entire athletic line. I definitely plan on going back and getting more stuff.

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Boston Housing Market- RM sent me this article the other day and it absolutely baffled me. It’s amazing how much the housing market in Boston has increased over the past couple of years, but I have to agree with the author that it’s interesting- and frustrating- that they are only tailoring to the wealthy with the “luxury condos”. What about the average people who just want a nice, affordable place to live?

Kittens- You guys. I want a kitten SO BADLY! We’ve been talking about getting one for months and months, but just recently I’ve really been itching for one. I’ve called a few shelters but none of them have any so I thought I’d ask you guys- do you know of any shelters with kittens or anyone who has any? We really want a female. Any help would be appreciated!

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend! Ours is pretty low-key- hoping to go out for sushi tonight and then I’m teaching Saturday morning. Other than that there are some other plans up in the air, but I hope to have lots of time to work on my Box Fiit certification! Whatever you have planned I hope you  have a great time!

 

 

 

Wednesday Workout: The 1000 Rep Workout

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Good morning! I mentioned on Instagram last week that I had a day where I could’ve easily skipped a workout. It was pouring rain, I was in a training all day at work so I couldn’t go to the gym during my lunch break, I had an eye exam in Boston after work and the traffic getting home was ridiculous. All of which could be very valid excuses for me to have skipped the workout. But the thing was, I didn’t WANT to skip the workout. While I was driving home, I had an internal conversation with myself trying to figure out what I should do. I was looking for ways to talk myself out of the workout since I rarely ever do that, but all the signs pointed to me doing the workout:

  • I wasn’t tired
  • I wasn’t sore
  • It wasn’t too late
  • I could do it at-home
  • I had eaten lots of carbs that day so I felt like I had loads of energy to burn
  • I genuinely WANTED to workout

So, what did I do? I worked out! But to save time, I decided to just workout at home rather than go to the gym and fighting the 6:30pm crowds where I knew I would get annoyed and frusterated and end up wasting more time just walking around trying to find a spot to workout and equipment to use that wouldn’t be in the midst of all the chaos.

The upside of being stuck in traffic was that not only did I have time to go through the mental checklist for deciding whether or not to workout, but I also had time to plan the workout in my head! I don’t know what made me think of doing a workout like this, but it ended up being a really good one- and, with 10 exercises in the mix, it helped keep things interesting and helped keep me from totally dreading all the reps!
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Life Without A Fitbit {Hint: I’m Surviving Juuuuuust Fine}

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Tracking devices can be a really great thing, but, as I’ve mentioned before, they can also be something that cause us to be a little TOO obsessed with numbers and tracking. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure how I would do with the Fitbit. Would I be too obsessed with hitting my numbers? Would I be too obsessed with checking my stats throughout the day? Would I force movement on myself just to hit the 10K even on days when I just wanted to relax on the couch?

Luckily, the Fitbit had the effect on me that I think is the goal of the Fitbit: it opened my eyes to how sedentary we can be on a daily basis and it helped me get in some extra movement- without making me TOO obsessed with getting my steps in. I loved how it tracked my sleep, I loved how I could track my movement (especially on non-workout days and when traveling) and I loved how I could track my workouts in the workout log. In other words, I became kind of attached to my Fitbit, so when it died on me about a month ago, I have to say I was pretty bummed out.

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How was I going to know how much movement I was getting in? How could I see my stats from day to day and week to week? How could I know how well (or not well) I was sleeping?

Crazy, right?
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