Wednesday Workout: Bodyweight Ladder Workout {for time}

March 16, 2016March 14, 20165 Comments

Hump day! Woohoo! Hope you guys are having a good week so far. I have a fun workout for you today. Originally I planned on running on Monday, but up in Maine it never really got higher than 30* so I decided to just stay in the house for my workout instead. I came up with this and tested it out and it was a total butt-kicker! I timed myself so that I could give you guys an idea for how long it might take you. From start to finish (up the ladder and back down), it took me 14 minutes and 7 seconds, which included a few breaks when needed. Since I had extra time, I ended up going through it 2 more times, but I changed up the exercises a bit and added in some 5lb weights since I noticed my mom had them laying around.

With that said, this workout could totally be your entire workout and even with a warm up and cool down you could be done in 20 minutes!

For everything that requires a left and right leg or arm (lunges, mountain climbers, high knees, side dips), perform the number of reps on each side. If you have any questions on the exercises, please let me know- I think most of these are pretty common B2B workout exercises, but I’m happy to explain them if you’re confused.

Let me know if you try this- would love to know how long it took you to complete!

Questions for you: Do you push yourself harder when you’re racing the clock for a workout?

Wednesday Workout: 10 Minute Bodyweight Hotel Room AMRAP Workout

October 28, 2015October 27, 20153 Comments

Good morning! As I mentioned on Monday, while I was in Milwaukee last week, I took advantage of traveling alone and was able to get in a few good workouts. One of those, was in the comforts of my hotel room, which makes it so easy to just roll out of bed and get started!

What I love about bodyweight workouts is that if you pair the correct exercises together, you can create a workout that challenges you and leaves you sweaty in no time! Just 10 minutes, in this case 🙂

Another piece of this workout that I liked was that it wasn’t a boring “10 reps, 4 rounds” or “10 reps each, AMRAP 10 minutes”. Rather, each round you will be decreasing the number of reps by 1, so you do 10 reps the first round, 9 the second, 8, etc. I got through 5 full rounds in 10 minutes and was on my 4th when the timer went off.

Some housekeeping notes:

Lunges- can be forward or reverse, but just make sure to do the # of reps on each leg, so 1 lunge right and 1 lunge left = 1 rep
Push-ups- can do these on your knees, toes or do hand release push-ups
Plank w/knees to chest- 1 right knee and 1 left knee= 1 rep. Make sure to keep your shoulders, wrists and elbows in line and keep your butt down. Focus on squeezing the core to bring the knees in.
Burpees- you can add the push-up at the bottom, you can drop your chest to the ground, you can step back- options are endless!
Standing oblique dips- try and get your elbows to touch your quads every time you dip from right to left.

And, if you want a hyperlapse speed video to show you the moves, check this out https://instagram.com/p/9LgUWYvW-c/?taken-by=burpeestobubbly 😉

Questions for you: Do you ever workout in your hotel room? What’s your favorite bodyweight exercise?

Weekending: Review through pictures

October 26, 2015October 25, 20159 Comments

Good morning! Did you guys have a good weekend? We sure did- here’s a glimpse 🙂

I had to go to Milwaukee Thursday-Friday, which was a really nice trip. I wasn’t sure Milwaukee would be anything that exciting, but I have to say I really loved the little city! It was a much quieter city than I’m used to, but it was still really cool! I stayed right downtown and was within walking distance to the river walk and lots of cool restaurants and shopping.

I made sure to get in workouts while I was gone, too 🙂 One strength one and then one quickie bodyweight hotel room workout one- I’ll share both with you soon!

Hotel room bodyweight workout

I met my sister at a new restaurant in Watertown called Branch Line. It’s right near her new office and close to me, plus the owners of Eastern Standard (one of my favorite Boston restaurants) started it so I couldn’t wait to try it out. The verdict? LOVED IT! We only got drinks and their fried cheese bites, but the whole experience was very good and RM and I plan on going back for dinner since their menu looked intriguing!

RM and I ended up going to Stellina for dinner which was where we went to dinner the night we got engaged! The food was great, although I didn’t take any pictures 😉
Saturday we lounged in the morning. It was weird to be around with no plans AND no teaching. Rather than rushing out for the gym, I decided to hang around and get all my house chores done first. We had people over on Saturday night so I wanted to prep the chili and dessert and clean/pick up. I finally went to SoulCycle for a 1pm class. It was a good class, but not the hardest I’ve been to, or as much of a party as SC usually is. Oh well!
I had time to relax when I got back so I caught up on Greys anatomy while sharing a beer with RM.

Our dinner party was a blast! I made a sweet potato turkey chili which was a hit, a cheese and prosciutto board, guacamole and a batch of these delicious Paleo Pumpkin Bars. I added in chocolate chips and pumpkin spice chips and they came out SO GOOD! Along with these treats, RM’s sister-in-law Emily brought a tasty apple crisp and Amanda brought a fantastic brie/pecans/craisin ball. Oh, and lots of wine 😉

Sunday we made our way to NH to go look at another venue and while we liked it, we were kind of turned off by how far lodging was from the venue so I’m not sure we will pursue it further. Oh well.
We were staving when we got back so we heated up chili and other treats from Saturday night and had a medley sort of lunch. While RM watch/snoozed through the Patriots game, I whipped up some lemon blueberry muffins from his Practical Paleo cookbook (we are trying to incorporate more paleo-like meals these days). They came out pretty good!

After I finished my book/the Patriots game was over, I coerced RM into going to Marshall’s and Target with me. We are on the hunt for a new dining room table and living room chair and I wanted him to see some of the things I was digging. Love this table from Target:

Although I was really craving pizza or something like that, we opted for a healthier dinner and had chicken thighs, kale, mashed sweet potatoes and butternut squash and for some reason, everything came out SO GOOD. Nothing fancy, but so tasty. (I snapped a pic halfway through).

All in all, a great weekend filled with friends and family, relaxation and productivity. Oh, and wine. Definitely wine 😉

Questions for you: What was the best part of your weekend? Have you tried out any new restaurants? What’s the coolest city you’ve traveled to? Did you get in any good workouts? Any good meals?