Weekly Workouts

Hey, friends. Happy Monday! Unlike other weeks, I am actually OK with it being Monday today. For the first time in a really long time I had a weekend with virtually NO plans besides teaching kickboxing on Saturday morning… and boy let me tell you, that couldn’t have come at a more perfect time!

In case you missed my weekend posts (I still have Sunday to post about, but that will be later this week), here they are:

Scenes from Saturday
Run Through Cambridge, Lunch w/Mom & Dad, Gardening, Chicken Parm Burgers

Perfect mix of being productive, but also relaxing and enjoying having no “set” plans. By Sunday night, I was already getting bored, which is a sign that in the grand scheme of things, I’d rather be more busy than less busy, but weekends like this past weekend are great to “re-charge” the batteries.

Anyway, let’s get to the workouts, shall we?

  • Monday- Due to ridiculous amounts of traffic and some errands to run, I only had time for a 2.5 mile run before teaching Dynamax

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  • Tuesday- Tuesday’s are normally my rest days, but since the weather was beautiful, I was in the mood to workout (and, I wanted to have a glass of wine with dinner, so I bribed myself and said if I worked out, I could have a glass of wine!). I did a quickie 30 minute workout and felt great after! I am trying to cut back on cardio with the hopes of curing some pending injuries, so I combined some of Athena’s arm workouts and ab workouts, as well as my own lower body strength exercises to create a nice, sweaty 30 minute workout.
  • Wednesday- I ran 3 miles prior to teaching UXF Burn. Everyone loved the workout, so I’ll be sure to post it!

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  • Thursday- Taught my 3-2-1 Strength, Cardio, Core Workout and Cardio Kickboxing
  • Friday- I woke up and got in a quick 30 minute workout in before work, focusing on upper body and abs
  • Saturday- Taught Cardio Kickboxing at the Oak Square YMCA!! 37 people, great music, high energy… awesome start to my day

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  • Sunday- Walked around the SOWA market and then did 30 mins of Athena’s January Ab challenge

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This Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- Something on my own and then teaching Dynamax
  • Tuesday- Not sure- might be a rest day, but might do an arms and abs workout similar to last week.
  • Wednesday- Cardio on my own and then teaching UXF Burn
  • Thursday-  I had to get a sub for my SHRED class since I have a conference call that I can’t miss:( I’ll be there to teach Cardio Kickboxing, though!
  • Friday- I’ll be home in Maine!!! I’ll probably do some type of workout at my parent’s house, but, if I take it as a rest day, it might be a good thing! I’ll work my biceps by getting drinks with my mom and her friends after work 😉
  • Saturday- Pending on how I am feeling, I might try to get to the Sanford/Springvale YMCA for a class, otherwise I’ll take it as a rest day
  • Sunday- Probably a nice, long walk with my mom for Mother’s Day

As you can see, this week’s workouts are potentially really light, but that’s OK. My body could surely use a break and since I don’t have to teach from Friday- Sunday, it would be a good time to rest. But, I really do love working out and being active, as does my mom, so I won’t be surprised if I do some light workouts!

Questions for you: What was your favorite workout last week? Do you find yourself needing a break sometimes?

Weekly Workouts

Another week begins! I cannot believe how fast April is flying by. I am not ready for birthday month April to be over yet.

Any readers running the marathon? If so, congrats!!! I am so proud of everyone who is running it- what an incredible accomplishment!

Anyway… let’s get to the workouts! This week is going to be different than usual so it won’t be so boring for you to read about:)

Last week’s workouts

  • Monday- Ran an awesome 4 miles and then taught Dynamax

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  • Tuesday- Triceps Tuesday for the April Arms Challenge and walked in the city!
  • Wednesday- Ran 3.25 miles on the treadmill before teaching UXF

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  • Thursday- Taught TBC and Kickboxing

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  • Friday- Jumped rope and did a big arm workout

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  • Saturday- Taught kickboxing
  • Sunday-Nothing. I wanted to do something, but I didn’t want to get sweaty and ruin my nice, straight hair. Plus, my body was tired so a rest day was smart.

This week’s workouts

  • Monday- Cardio and/or weights before teaching Dynamax
  • Tuesday- I have most of the day off since my parents are coming down for lunch in the city with me, so I’ll definitely do lots of walking, but I might end up working out in the morning and taking a rest day later in the week
  • Wednesday- Cardio and teaching UXF
  • Thursday- Teaching TBC & UXF
  • Friday- Probably heading to the Wellington BSC to “play” with all their cool equipment
  • Saturday- heading to NYC for the night! I want to run in Central Park, but I’m not going to force a workout. I want to enjoy my time there and push my workouts to the back burner for once.
  • Sunday- probably nothing:)

Obviously I will be doing my April Arms Challenge workouts in addition to what I have listed here. Does anyone know of any good classes anywhere on Fridays or Tuesdays?  I’d love suggestions!

Questions for you:What do your workouts look like this week? What is your favorite class to go to?

Birthday Week!

Hey everyone! TGIF,right?! Remember how I said the week wasn’t going by slow? Yeah, I was so wrong. As soon as I wrote that, my weekly drastically slowed down and I felt a day ahead. But! Good news is that it is Friday! Birthday weekend officially kicks off at the end of the work day today. Woohoo!

Catching up…

Wednesday was a great workout day. Actually, the whole week has been awesome. I have been pleasantly sore all week, which hasn’t happened in a while so I must be doing different things this week that has “shocked” my body. Love that! Before class, I managed to run 3.25 miles. Nothing like being a sweaty beast before class even starts:)

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I taught UXF, but was able to incorporate some moves from Wednesday’s April Arms Challenge workout. I switched up the moves a little bit, but we got it all in!

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(Took this from Sunday’s 3-2-1 circuit. New favorite move!)

007(We just did side lunge and biceps curls, so I switched it to an isometric side lunge & 1-armed triceps extension. 30 seconds each side, 3 rounds)

008(Finishing off class with 3 rounds of 30 second wall sits & hammer curls, followed by 30 seconds of high knees)

The whole trip home (I have to get back on the T and then take a bus from Davis… really not that fun), I brainstormed what I could throw together for dinner. I am usually good at having enough leftovers from “Sunday Dinner” to get me through until Thursday, but not this week. I ended up throwing together a Caprese Omelette, which, even though it didn’t look that good, tasted delicious and was just what I wanted!

011Birthday’ing

Yesterday, my friend/coworker took me out for a birthday lunch at Miel which is the French restaurant at the Intercontinental Hotel (remember when I went there for a massage?). French cuisine is my absolute favorite (I blame it on the sauce and cheese that accompany every meal!), so I was really excited about this lunch. JP got the French Onion Soup to start and he said it was delicious (I mean, how can it NOT be delicious when it looks that cheesy and gooey?!)

015I usually get the Cobb salad, but yesterday I splurged on the Croque Monsieur. Best.Decision.Ever.

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And, no birthday is complete without dessert, right?

019This was a flourless chocolate cake and it was to die for! I am usually not a huge fan of flourless things, but this was amazing! I was thankful that I was teaching a double after work! haha

As for today, I am not digging the gloomy weather! I just hope it’s nice for tomorrow since I am celebrating my birthday at the Brahmin and want to wear my birthday dress without freezing to death. Tonight is the first night I am NOT teaching, and, I just don’t really know what to do with myself! I am pretty sore from workouts this week, but since it’s mostly my lower half, I’ll be fine to do today’s A.A.C. workout… and maybe some light cardio? Who knows!

I’ll check back in soon! To all my other April Birthday Buddies, I hope you’re having a great month!

Questions for you: What is your favorite cuisine? What is your favorite restaurant? Any good workouts to share this week?

Weekly Workouts

It’s that time again! Time to check in with our workouts from last week to see how we did!

Last Week

[I may not mention it, but just know that I did all of the week 1 workouts in the April Arm Challenge.]

  • Monday- I jogged a nice & easy 3 miles (in about 26:30).  The weather was so nice! I ran in a tank and got tan lines:) I also did 20 minutes on the elliptical and 10 mins of abs at the Y before teaching Dynamax since I had so much extra time to spare.
  • Tuesday- Ended up walking about 3 miles and did Triceps Tuesday!
  • Wednesday- Wasn’t feeling well so I just did a light 15 minutes on the elliptical and taught UXF Burn

uxf class

  • Thursday- Taught an “Up the Ladder” workout (workout to come this week) and Kickboxing

me after a double

  • Friday- Did the 15 minute “Friday Five” arm workout, 15 minutes on a cardio machine and taught a mix of all my favorites in class! Workout will be posted this week I think.
  • Saturday- Taught kickboxing at the YMCA. BIG group and Athena came!

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  • Sunday- I’ve been a busy bee so far, but I am just about to do the 3-2-1 April Arms Challenge Day 1 of Week 2 workout.

This Week

  • Monday- the usual: Cardio & Teaching Dynamax. Oh! And it’s Pyramid Push-Up day:)
  • Tuesday- Triceps Tuesday and walking in the city
  • Wednesday- Cardio & Teaching Dynamax
  • Thursday- TBC and Kickboxing
  • Friday- NO TEACHING!! I will probably do a Deck of Cards workout during my lunch break. I think I’ll want to get a few drinks when the work day is over to kick off my birthday weekend:)
  • Saturday- Teaching my 3rd straight week of kickboxing at the YMCA. I won’t be there for 2 weeks after Saturday, so we will work extra hard (just giving my YMCA’ers a heads up!)
  • Sunday- likely nursing a hangover 😉 Sunday is my actual birthday, so I’ll want to do something fun… but that might not be exercise related (and that’s ok!)

Sorry my weekly workout plans are so boring, but when I have all my workouts basically planned out for me because of my teaching schedule, that’s just how it has to be. Now that my schedule has lightened up, I’ll hopefully have a more exciting workout schedule each week (at least on my “off” days from teaching!).

Questions for you: What are your workouts like this week? How did you do last week? Have any good ones to share?

I’m back!

Hey everyone! Sorry for being so MIA, but between Dallas and then catching up on work stuff yesterday, I haven’t had much extra free time to blog:(  I talked to my dad today and he asked “so, uh, when do you plan on posting again? Your blog is getting kinda old and boring” gee, thanks, dad! So, I apologize to those of you who are feeling the same way! I will try to make it up to you over the next couple of days. I have a Dallas recap coming, but until I finish that up, I thought I would catch you up on the past couple of days!

Due to the snow yesterday, my two roommates and I all worked from home.  Surprisingly, I was able to stay focused enough to get a good amount of work done.  Around 4pm, my sister asked if she could come to my class… umm, obviously that’s always going to be a YES! I LOVE having familiar faces in class:) I wasn’t sure how busy the gym would be on a snowy, friday night, but I was pleasantly pleased when I had 16 members show up with their game faces on.

024I have to post this workout for you soon because everyone seems to love (err, ok they may hate it while we are doing it, but that’s only because it’s a good one!) it.

Today was my first Saturday in months and months where I wasn’t teaching or doing something else, and I have to say, it was a pretty great feeling to be able to be on my own agenda! I had all intentions of going to the 10am BodyPump class at the Wellington BSC, but I ended up being in the mood to run, so I skipped the class and continued running… 4.25 miles!! Haven’t run that far in quite some time.  After reading Athena’s recent post on drop set workouts, I decided I wanted to give it a try. I only got through a couple of upper body sets before my right shoulder started to bother me.  Ugh, the worst! Anyway, I finished up with some lower body moves and HIIT cardio and then some TRX abs. Have I mentioned how much I am OBSESSED with the TRX bands?!?! I want some for my apartment!

025Going to the grocery store after a long, hard workout is really never a good idea, but I literally drive RIGHT past it so I decided to just stop and get my shopping out of the way today.  I was able to curb my hunger and refrain from snacking my way through the grocery store by grabbing a small coffee.  Dunkin’ Donuts is not my favorite, but it did the trick today!

026I made it out of the grocery store with only ONE splurge item.  Can you pick out what that might be?

028Please tell me I am not the only one who LOVES the Starburst JellyBeans?! Guilty pleasure for sure (mom, don’t forget to put a bag of these in my Easter basket, mmm k?). Also, has anyone seen this?

029Greek yogurt cream cheese?! It was on sale AND I had cream cheese on my grocery list so it was a no brainer to grab a container to try!

As for the rest of the day, I have a couple of blog related things to catch up on, maybe a little shopping and then babysitting for the evening. Hope you all have a wonderful Saturday!! The weather is beautiful today so go out and enjoy it!

Questions for you: What is a guilty splurge for you at the grocery store? Any good workouts to share?