Tag: Cardio

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

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Hi! Good morning! How are you today? I’m still feeling the effects of the weekend- what a blast we had on Nantucket, but I’ll admit- we can’t hang the way we used to… it takes a whole heck of a lot longer to recover from late nights and lots of drinking 😉 More on that later, though!

Although last week was a good week of workouts, my eats were really notsogood. I know it happens, and I am totally OK with it, but my body is definitely ready for much cleaner eats this week. My goal is to fill my diet with lots of veggies, fruits and protein rather than chips, crackers, pizza and general beast snacking mode! Indulgent weekends are fun, but they do make me feel ready to jump back on the healthy food wagon once they’re over!

Last Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I taught my 6am Muscle Work class and then did 15 minutes on the stair stepper. I haven’t used that machine in forever! After work, my sister came over and we walked for almost an hour- great way to catch up and exercise!
  • Tuesday- I went to a strength class at a gym near my new office. The instructor was amazing and I left there feeling totally beat!
  • Wednesday- I cheated on my UXF Burn class and went to a spin class and pilates class at the same gym I went to on Tuesday with the same instructor. So fun!
  • Thursday- I taught my SHRED and Cardio Kickboxing double. My SHRED class was killer- lots of compound moves! The annoying part? My stupid Polar heart rate monitor wasn’t working and I went through all my batteries!

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  • Friday- Rest! I hadn’t rested in over a week… whoops!
  • Saturday- I got up and went for a 3 mile walk with Sheila and Serena and then lead a “Bachelorette Bootcamp” with almost all of the girls- it was SO fun!!

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  • Sunday- Besides some walking, it was another rest day. I got home early enough to go for a run but I was so exhausted I decided to unpack and clean instead.

This Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- Today I taught my 6am Muscle Work class and will have done some cardio.
  • Tuesday- I am not sure what I’ll do… I think I’m going to go running after work?
  • Wednesday- I’m going to do some cardio before I teach UXF Burn.
  • Thursday- Teaching SHRED and then Cardio Kickboxing.
  • Friday- Probably a rest day.
  • Saturday- Finally teaching my Saturday Cardio Kickboxing!
  • Sunday- Not sure- maybe a longer run? Yoga?

Things I’m Looking Forward To

I’m looking forward a relatively quiet week. It’ll be the first full week in the office in a long time! On top of that, I’m going to be in Boston this weekend and I can’t wait! Don’t get me wrong, I love having fun weekend plans, but it’s always a nice feeling to have a weekend with no plans that involve travel. My friends Rachel and Dan are having a BBQ on Saturday, which will be fun! I haven’t seen them in a while.

Questions for you: What was the best part of your week last week? Best workout? Try anything new?

This Week: Workouts, “The Truth Behind the Juice” & Things I’m Looking Forward To

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Hi there! How was your 4th of July? The rain may have cancelled some plans, but it didn’t ruin the long weekend- more on that later 🙂

I still cannot believe it’s July 7th- can you?! This is another crazy busy month: bachelorette party this weekend, BBQ the weekend after and Chicago the last weekend in July, but again, it’s all fun stuff so I really can’t complain!

Before I get to my workout recap, I wanted to share an article with you related to juicing. As you’ve probably seen or heard, juicing has recently become a new trend in the Boston area. Well, maybe not entirely “new”, but up until fairly recently, juice bars were few and far between. Boston Magazine’s Health Editor recently wrote an article called: The Truth Behind Green Juices, which has a lot of interesting facts behind juicing and what should be included in your “green juice”. Definitely worth a read if you’re looking into incorporating more juices in your diet.

Last Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I didn’t have to teach last Monday so I ran 4 miles (in the blistering heat!!) after work and did all of Kim’s stability ball exercises– loved them!

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  • Tuesday- I went to a new gym with some co-workers during lunch to go to a BodyPump class. Sadly, the class was not very good! Don’t get me wrong- I totally felt it the next day (holy quads and hamstrings and chest!), but the normal instructor was not teaching since she was letting a trainee teach the class in order to be videoed for her certification. The poor trainee was just not good. In BodyPump, you need to be able to catch a rhythm and go along to the beat and this girl just didn’t have it in her. I had a really hard time staying with her pace since it was so off compared to the music… so frustrating!
  • Wednesday- I ended up subbing the 5:30 Sports Conditioning class and did the workout with them. It was only 2 girls and they wanted to do glute and core work so we did some cardio and lots of glute and core stuff- it was a good workout! I taught my UXF burn class after- great crowd and we worked HARD. It was awesome!
  • Thursday- My classes were cancelled due to the holiday so I got up and did 45 minutes of kickboxing followed by 15 minutes of core work in my kitchen before heading to the Cape.
  • Friday- Since the rain held off until much later in the day, I was able to get in a 4 mile jog first thing in the morning. Felt great!

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  • Saturday- Saturday was my active rest day. I thought about doing one of the at-home workouts I posted last week, but decided to skip it. RM agreed to go for a walk with me and we ended up covering 5 miles!! Not a super fast pace, but it was a great active- rest day activity! I followed it up with some squats and core work and push-ups.
  • Sunday- We ended up leaving the Cape early so after the beach, I went for a run. I wanted to do 4 miles but ended up doing 5, which is always a nice surprise!

This Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I will have taught my 6am Muscle Work class and have done some cardio by the time this goes up. My sister and I have plans to go for a walk after work, too.
  • Tuesday- I think I’m going to go back to that new gym and try the BodyPump class again. My co-workers said the owner is subbing, so it should be much better!
  • Wednesday- The 5:30 instructor, Melissa, is subbing this class for me since I covered hers last week. I’m not sure what I will do for a workout, but I have something after work so I’ll have to do something before work or during the day.
  • Thursday- Back to my Thursday double!
  • Friday- I’m heading to Nantucket for Sheila’s bachelorette party on the 11am Ferry, so if I’m feeling up to it, I’ll try to sneak in a quickie workout before making the trek there.
  • Saturday and Sunday- I will be on Nantucket with a bunch of girls so I’m not sure what my workouts will look like. One day will be a rest day, but on the other I’d love to do something. Maybe some of the girls would want to join me?!

Things I’m Looking Forward To

Sheila’s Nantucket bachelorette party- duh!! I don’t know if I’ve ever been to Nantucket, and going with the group of girls that I’m going with will surely make it a fun first trip! I don’t know all the details of the weekend, but I can only imagine there will be plenty of shenanigans! I’m hoping the weather is nice because we’ll definitely be beaching it.

Questions for you: Do you “juice”? What’s your favorite healthy “green” juice? What was your best workout last week? Do you get annoyed when instructors are not on the beat in a class where it’s really important to be on the beat? Have you been to Nantucket? Any good bar recommendations?

Wednesday Workout: 3-2-1 Strength, Cardio, Core Workout

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I’ve always been a fan of the 3-2-1 style workout. Whether it be 3 minutes of strength, 2 minutes of cardio, 1 minute of core or 3 minutes of cardio, 2 minutes of strength, 1 minute of core (like this workout)- or even just 3 strength exercises, 2 cardio moves and 1 core move, I think it’s a great format that will leave you feeling like you’ve had a total body workout.

In the case of today’s workout, I went with the 3 minutes of strength, 2 minutes of cardio and 1 minute of core format. I tried to build off of the strength moves, especially with the leg sets. What I mean by that, is that I tried to do each minute of the strength set based off of the same move. Example: lunges- right leg, lunges- left leg, alternating lunges with a twist. I wanted a chance to make the muscles burn, but didn’t want to do 3 minutes of the same move because, well, that’s boring to me.

3-2-1 Strength, Cardio Core WorkoutSorry, this isn’t my prettiest workout graphic, but I was having trouble figuring out how to organize the exercises and excel was the easiest way 🙂

Most of the moves should be fairly self-explanatory, but here are a few that might need explaining:

  • Row to curl- I learned this from my friend Tim. It’s best to use a barbell here- perform an underhand grip row and when you’re in the contracted position (bar is up against your rib cage, elbows are back and reaching towards the ceiling), perform a curl, then extend to the contracted row position and back to the starting position. Repeat. It’s a small movement, but man it’s effective!
  • Bench jacks- straddle the bench and jump your feet on and off
  • Plank hold w/weight pass right left- in a high plank position, put a weight outside of your right hand then take your right hand, grab the weight and move it to the center. Then, take your left hand and grab the weight and move it to outside of your left hand (if it was on the ground). Repeat. The key here is to keep your hips down and weight spread evenly. The only thing moving should be your arms/hands.

Let me know if you have further questions- I’m always happy to explain things in more detail!

Questions for you: What’s your favorite workout format? Do you use the 3-2-1 format often?

Also! I wanted to let you know about a really great workout that The Ultimate Bootcamp is hosting this Saturday from 9-10am. It’s $25, but all of the proceeds go towards The One Fund. Here are additional details, as well as a link for you to sign up if you’re around!

Ultimate Bootcamp is hosting two fundraiser workouts in Boston & Framingham to support those running the 2014 Marathon and those that were affected by last year’s events. All of the proceeds from these workouts will be donated to The One Fund. The workouts, designed for beginner to intermediate fitness levels, will be a rewarding day of fun, heart-pumping outdoor bootcamp. For more information and to register, visit: www.ultimatebootcamp.com/onefund.

PS I want to wish my friends Meredith and her twin, Kim, a very happy birthday!

Wednesday Workout: 10-10-10 Pre-Flight Workout & A Standing Ab Workout

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It’s your lucky hump day today- I’ve got TWO workouts for you… and a video! *cue happy dance* 😉

Last week I had to travel for work and since I knew I wouldn’t have time to workout while I was there (really short trip), I decided to get up super early to get in a quickie workout before my 7:30 flight. Even if it’s not a long workout, I like to try to get SOMETHING in on a day of travel where I know I’ll be on a plane for a number of hours and then sitting in meetings for even more hours. It helps wake me up and give me energy to tackle the day.

So, I rolled out of bed at 4:45am and did this quick, 30 minute workout before my flight and felt great!

I split it up to be 10 minutes cardio, 10 minutes strength and 10 minutes core so that I could have a full body workout. It’s a little all over the place because I picked 10 different cardio and core exercises, but that’s what I needed to get me through the workout!

10-10-10 pre-flight workout

And… you’re done! I was actually sweating quite a bit by the time I finished this workout and I felt like I really worked all of the key muscles to work in a short workout… aka, this workout gave me a lot of “bang for the buck”.

If you don’t have weights, you can easily swap out some of the moves and replace them with body weight exercises. Think: Triceps dips, push-ups, Down-Dog push-ups, etc.

Most moves are pretty common, but some that may need explaining are:

Hammer Kicks
Supermans
Toe Touches
Windshield Washer

Let me know if you try this!

Next up: Standing Ab Workout

My kickboxing class on Saturday is getting so crowded that there just aren’t enough mats for everyone to use at the end for our core work time. Instead, I’ve been doing a bunch of standing ab exercises, which can be just as effective as core exercises done on the ground. This will only take you about 10 minutes to complete, which is a great way to end a workout!

standing ab workout

And, since I’m loving workout videos lately, I filmed one on Sunday for you guys to do if you want to DO the workout with someone (sometimes that’s the motivation you need to actually do a workout at home, right?). Again, my videos definitely need work, but it’s all good… that will come eventually! For now, try to focus on the moves rather than my mistakes 😉

Questions for you: If you’re running short on time, what are the “must have” exercises you’d include in your workout? Do you prefer standing ab routines or mat exercises? Are you apt to get up early to squeeze in exercise before a trip?

Wednesday Workout: Tone Your Tush! {without equipment!}

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I’m really enjoying reading through your entries and comments on my giveaway post. I love hearing things you’d like to see more of on my blog, and one of the things that seemed to be a common request was more at home, no equipment necessary workouts. I couldn’t agree more! While I like posting the workouts I teach, I understand that many of you reading the blog are probably looking for shorter, equipment free workouts you can squeeze in before or after work. So, my goal is to start posting more workouts like this for you- starting today! This workout focuses on your legs and glutes, but I did throw in some optional core work in there, because let’s be honest, we can always use a little extra core work, right? The time intervals go as follows:

  • 60 seconds- strength. If you want to use weights, feel free, but the workout is meant to be a body weight workout, so explore your range of motion, speed of the exercises, etc. Try to get deeper with your squats or lunges, try to squeeze harder as you lift, try to stay lower in your pulses. Take it up a notch in this workout!
  • 40 seconds- cardio. The cardio moves I chose compliment the strength moves- gotta love the double burn!
  • 20 seconds- pulsing. If you didn’t feel the burn yet, you’ll feel it in this piece!

You have the option to do each set once through, twice through or three times through. You can do all 2 or 3 rounds of each set before moving on to the next, OR you can do each set once through and then repeat all of the sets again in a circuit format. Lots of options!

Tone Your Tush

All of these moves are pretty basic, but if you have questions, just shoot me a message and I’d be glad to explain!

Questions for you: Do you like working your upper or lower body more? Is this the type of workout you’re looking to see on the blog? Do you like body weight workouts?