Wednesday Workout: 15 Minute Full Body HIIT Workout

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Happy Wednesdayyyy! I have a workout for you today that I adapted from a workout that I taught in UXF Burn. The way this one works, is you work for 45 seconds and rest for 15 seconds before you move to the next exercise. I set it up so that you do an upper or lower (or combo) strength move followed by a core move and lastly a cardio move. This pattern repeats for the entire workout and I promise you’ll feel this the next day. I did it after I ran a mile or 2 on the treadmill and it was a perfect finisher!

15 minute HIIT workout

I’ll warn you, those back to back lunge then lung hold exercises are killer! I also found that the only time my heart rate really came down at all was during the core exercises. I burned over 300 calories just by 2 rounds of this… not too shabby!

If you’re looking for other HIIT workouts or workouts with a similar format, check out these:

Wednesday Workout: 20 Minute Bootcamp HIIT Workout

Wednesday Workout: 30 minute total body tabata workout

Wednesday Workout: 30 minute burpee spectacular workout
Questions for you: How long do you like to work out for? If you’re doing a HIIT workout, what do you like for work/rest times?

Weekending: Feeling really blessed

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As I poured myself a glass of wine on Sunday night (it helps make meal/food prep easier…), I found myself reflecting on the weekend… and I just felt so blessed!

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Between drinks and dinner with my friend Liz on Thursday night,

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to spending Halloween with RM and his family, gushing over the babies, handing out candy and enjoying festive food and drinks,

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to having my parents down to meet RM’s family

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(but really, though, can you get any cuter than these two?! I nearly died when the hugged goodbye. So cute!)

to book club with my girlfriends, delicious food and lots of bubbly on a snowy Sunday afternoon

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to having a quiet Sunday evening in my kitchen with a glass of vino, Miranda Lambert Pandora and lots of healthy and delicious food,

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I really just feel so blessed! It’s so easy to get caught up in all the negatives (I didn’t sleep well, I am stressed at work, I have too much going on after work, I didn’t have a good workout, I don’t feel good, etc.), that it was a really nice change to have nothing but GOOD feelings last night.

I challenge each of you to list out 3 things making you feel blessed right now. Could be as small as not being in traffic on your way to work or finding a penny on the ground.

I challenge each of you to try and be present in the moment. To reflect on all the GOOD aspects of your lives. To say “I love you” more. To hug for a few seconds longer. To smile more. To listen. To forgive. To laugh (at yourself, too!).

… and then think about how you feel when you’re doing those things. I’m pretty sure you’ll find that thinking/feeling/living like that gives you a sense of peace and calmness that stressful/anxious/angry doesn’t, right? We spend so much of our days being angry or upset or pointing blame when we should really be focusing on everything good in our lives. I know this is something I need to work on, what about you?

Questions for you: What was the best part of your weekend? Do you tend to dwell on negatives or focus on the positives? What do you feel blessed for?

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

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Good morning! How’s your Monday treating you so far? I’m gearing up for, yet another, big week. Lots of fitness events and teaching are going to keep me fairly busy, but you know what? There could be worse things 😉

Tuesday night, I’m able to participate in another New Balance Girls Night Out event, which I’m SO excited about. This time, there are 2 workout opportunities: a run and a bootcamp. Seeing as though it will be dark out and I don’t have great luck running in the dark, I think I’m going to opt for the bootcamp. Can’t wait to see some of my Boston blogging friends 🙂

The other fitness event I’m contemplating attending is MANIA. I went to 2 days last year and loved it, but considering I just got in an accident and will have some extra expenses based on that, I’m not sure it’s the best way to spend my money. I can only go on Friday, so I’m going to look at the schedule to see if there are courses that would interest and benefit me. I learned so much last year, so I have a feeling I’ll end up going. Any other instructors planning on going at all?

Last Week’s Workouts

I had some great workouts last week. I taught 4 classes, went to a class, ran outside for the first time in a LONG time (holy quads the day after) and generally felt pretty strong and excited to workout. The only day where I felt like I should have skipped the workout was Tuesday. By the end of the day I started feeling kind of crummy… stuffing, eyes hurt, super tired. Yes, I realize those are all signs that should have lead me to skip my workout, but it was a class I love going to and I figured I could just push through it. I did the class, but I could tell my energy levels weren’t there. Lesson learned! I’ve been much better about resting and listening to my body, but I’m clearly not entirely there yet- some day!

  • Monday- I taught my 6am Muscle Work class and then did 10 minutes of the stair stepper after. The class was a good mix of strength, cardio and core so I didn’t feel like I had to do much after… I really did those 10 minutes to catch up on my social media 😉
  • Tuesday- I went to my favorite instructor’s bootcamp at the Wellington BSC. Unfortunately, I didn’t think the class was anything special, but it was still nice to do a workout I wasn’t teaching!

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  • Wednesday- I ran a 5K before teaching UXF Burn. I incorporated some Halloween moves and it was a fun class!

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  • Thursday- Thursday was my rest day- I walked for 20 minutes during lunch and then walked to and from the T later that night to meet my friend, Liz, in the city for drink.
  • Friday- I worked from home on Friday since I had a dentist appointment in the morning so I was able to go for a run around my neighborhood. I ran 3 speedy (for me) miles and finished with a whole bunch of core, upper and lower body exercises. I was sore on Saturday from the run, oddly enough.

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  • Saturday- I subbed for the other instructor, Missy, since it was her birthday on Friday. There was a great crowd, including some of my “front row” and we worked super hard!
  • Sunday- Another rest day. I was actually pretty sore from Saturday!

This Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I’m subbing the 6:30pm Cardio Kickboxing class at the Watertown BSC- if you’re in the area, come sweat with me.
  • Tuesday- I’ll do a bootcamp workout for the New Balance GNO event- can’t wait!
  • Wednesday- Probably a treadmill run before teaching UXF Burn.
  • Thursday- Rest day
  • Friday- Probably going to MANIA, which means I’ll be doing about 3 hours of working out… maybe more… I’m not mad about it!
  • Saturday- It’s my regularly scheduled Saturday to teach at the Oak Square YMCA… I’m going to a wine fest later that day, so if you plan on coming, be prepared to help me earn all those wines 😉
  • Sunday- Rest day #2

Things I’m Looking Forward To

This is another fun week for sure- between subbing, the NBGNO event, MANIA and teaching my cardio kickboxing class, I get to be surrounded by other fitness loving people and that makes me really happy 🙂 I’m also excited for the wine fest on Saturday with a bunch of my girlfriends. We went in March and had a blast, so I’m sure this year will be no different. We have reservations at Stephi’s on Tremont after which is another thing I’m looking forward to. Lastly, I’m excited about a quiet Sunday with RM- we have a million recipes we want to try, including homemade yogurt, nut milk and nut butters, so hopefully we can tackle one of those!

Questions for you: What was your best workout from last week? What are you looking forward to this week?

Quick and Easy Chicken & Veggie Pasta Bake (gluten free!)

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A few weeks ago, my sister and I ended up both being home at the same time on a Sunday night. We had been texting earlier in the day with regards to what we should make for dinner. She had picked up some new-to-her pasta at Target, so I suggested that we use that and the veggies I had leftover in the fridge to make a pasta bake. She was bummed that she bought a gluten free pasta on accident, but we both agreed that you couldn’t tell the difference whatsoever!

The beauty about pasta bakes- similar to stuffed peppers– is that you really can’t go wrong. You use what you have in the fridge for veggies and go from there. If you don’t have meat, no biggie- make it a vegetarian dish! I happened to have half a pound of ground chicken in the freezer so I was able to defrost that and it was perfect.

gluten free chicken and veggie pasta bake

Ingredients

  • 1 package of gluten free pasta (regular, if you didn’t accidently by gluten free like my sister did 😉 )
  • veggies of your choice- we used onion, red pepper, zucchini and summer squash- probably 1/2 cup of each
  • Ground meat- we used 1/2 lb. of ground chicken, but you could use turkey or beef or none if you wanted to have a vegetarian dish
  • 1/2 jar of marinara sauce
  • 1/2 cup of cheese (mozzarella was our choice)

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 350*. Cook pasta according to the back of the package.

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2. While the water is heating and the pasta cooking, cut up and sauté your veggies. When the veggies are soft, remove from the pan and add in the ground meat. Sauté until completely browned.

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3. When the pasta is cooked, drain and add to a big bowl. Add in the veggies, meat and sauce and mix so that everything is coated with sauce. Pour in a 8X8 or 9X9 casserole dish and bake at 350* for 15-20 minutes or until the cheese has a golden brown appearance.

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We broiled ours a little and this was the end result:

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This meal hit the spot on a cool Sunday evening. It was also a dish that- surprisingly- reheated really well! I’m not a huge pasta person, but every once and a while I crave and enjoy a nice pasta dish.

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Questions for you: Do you ever make pasta bakes? What are the ingredients you like to add? Have you ever had gluten free pasta?

 

Wednesday Workout: Run the Bases

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If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you know that I taught my own outdoor bootcamp in Wakefield for a few months over the summer/early fall. What I loved about the bootcamp was it gave me the ability to a. workout outside and b. get creative with the workouts and formats since I didn’t have any weights or traditional gym equipment to use. Before my first class, I asked you guys on Facebook for outdoor bootcamp suggestions. Athena and Cara had some great suggestions and this workout was inspired by Athena’s Baseball Diamond Bootcamp Workout that she posted a while ago. The funniest thing is that I didn’t look at the workout before I made mine, yet I somehow picked the 1st 2 traveling exercises that are identical to hers… oops! We are apparently more similar than we thought!

The idea behind my workout, which is a different from the format Athena uses, is you do the designated exercises at each base before moving on to the next base. We all started at different bases (2 to a base- could be more if you have more people doing this) and went around until we all completed the exercises at each base. Before we repeated the workout, I had them do 25 burpees 😉

run the bases

I tried to incorporate strength, cardio and core at each base, with the easier exercises at 25 reps and the harder ones at 10. For every exercises where you do things on the right and left (lunges, skaters, dead lifts, etc.), perform the number of designated reps on each leg. Also, for the second round we did 12 reps of each exercise rather than 10 and 25- so yes, this made the 25 reps seem much easier but the 10 rep exercises much harder!

Although we all got super dirty, we agreed that this workout was really fun! I hope you try it…and Athena- thank you for the inspiration!

Questions for you: What’s your favorite way to workout outside? Have you ever done a baseball diamond workout?