Tag: Kickboxing

’tis a Good Friday, Indeed!

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Hey there! Happy Friday:) Mine is especially happy since I have today off from work! The only downside is that I woke up feeling a little under the weather:( I’ve loaded up on meds and vitamin C, so hopefully I’ll kick this cold thing fast! It’s Easter weekend and I want to be ready to eat loads of candy! (ok, not loads, but you know what I mean).

Did you all like my post on C2 Pilates yesterday? I had lots of new hits on my site, so if any of you are new readers, welcome!

Let’s catch up, shall we?

On Wednesday, I mentioned that I was going to go for a run, and I did just that!

002Obviously this isn’t an “official” PR (personal record), but I’m definitely counting it as my PR! The weather was finally warm enough to run in just these and a long-sleeved top- loved it!

Yesterday was my first day teaching my Thursday double session at the Central Square BSC. It’s always a little tough taking over a class that has a lot of followers for a specific teacher, but I think it went ok! My kickboxing class, as always, was a blast, although I totally had a brain fart when leading on the left side. I am usually pretty good at remembering what we did on the right, but yesterday I couldn’t keep it straight! Luckily my loyal followers picked up my slack:) Needless to say, I left the gym physically exhausted and so sweaty003… and I totally loved it!

I scarfed down some leftovers when I got home and then promptly set up shop on the couch to watch Greys Anatomy! Charlie was my snuggle buddy for a little while.

004As for today… I’ve got lots of things I *want* to do, but I am trying to be easy going and not rush around like a crazy person to get everything done… “trying” being the key word:) So far I have done laundry and changed my sheets, had breakfast, foam rolled (hurts so bad… none of that “hurts to good” crap here. But I NEED to get better at this. Would love some tips on how to be better at it!!)

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and made some cupcakes for easter:)

easter cupcakes(I had to try a bite- cupcakes for breakfast? why not?!)

At my friend Jess’s baby shower, her sister had these adorable party favors for us

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008Since I had an open container of frosting (blogger confession: I LOVE LOVE LOVE frosting. Literally would- and have- eaten it by the spoonful), I decided today was the perfect time to make these cupcakes.

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They were so easy and they came out so cute. Definitely a great party favor (bridal shower, baby shower, birthday party, etc).

Once I publish this post, I plan on doing something physical… might go for a light jog or walk or do a deck of cards workout (google this- it’s a workout created by Bob Harper and Athena and Jen swear by it!). I also want to go to Lululemon to get this tank… I am obsessed.

Anndddd, that’s all I’ve got for now!

Questions for you: What’s on your agenda for today or the weekend? Do you foam roll? Have any good tips for me?

Have a wonderful day:)

Ps- I promise to have a workout for you this weekend:)

Happy Spring!

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Hi there- Happy Friday! And Happy Spring, even though in New England it doesn’t quite feel like spring. How has your week been? I’ve had a really good week; lots of great and exciting happenings at work- both my real job and my fitness job. So, let’s catch up, shall we?

After work on Tuesday, my friend Jess came to my office and we used the gym to create some videos that we are going to launch soon.  More on that later!

003I mean, is this not a super professional setup?!

Lunches this week were pretty standard: my “go to” healthy lunch for the first part of the week

002And then for our Thursday lunch out meal, we went to Sportello for their amazing Lunch Box special. Yesterday I chose to do the 1/2 and 1/2 soup and sando combo.

002Unfortunately, their Spicy Tomato Soup was not very good this time, so I didn’t much of that, but the sandwich was delicious! I saved the cookie for later because we got this to share for dessert:

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I die. I mean, look at that thing! It’s a whoopie pie with an oreo filling… I am usually pretty good with stopping at a few bites, but I’ll tell ya, it took some serious self-restraint to stop there and not just eat the entire half! Good thing we worked REALLY hard in kickboxing last night! The floor was slippery from all the sweat. Love it.

Speaking of workouts, how did everyone do this week?  My workouts were very good! As I said on Tuesday, Monday was a great run, Tuesday was filming some workout videos and clips and on Wednesday I did an easy 20 minutes on the elliptical before teaching this:

beat boredomSince we had a fairly large group of people, and the studio at Central Square is much smaller than the studio at Allston, we did the workout just as it’s laid out here. Let me tell you, “Part 2” is really intense! I had us do 2 push ups after the 2nd 30 second cardio burst and then move right to the next cardio exercise with no rest. Working hard and sweating is a beautiful thing:)

Fitness news: As of next week, I will be teaching the 5:30 TBC class at Central Square right before my 6:30 Kickboxing class.  As of April 12th, I will no longer be teaching my UXF Burn at Allston.  I feel awful about dropping that class, but it just makes more sense for me to bang out 2 classes on the same day in the same location and, in turn, free up my Friday nights! Hope my Allston group understands:)

Switching gears…

So these two things really have nothing to do with health or fitness or wine, BUT, they so funny I can’t not share.  Lately, our dad has been sending frequent emails.  The best part of the emails, is that he uses really big font so it looks like he writes more than he actually does. Typing with just one finger, apparently it cramps up very easily. #dadproblems.

email from dadWe got this first… anyone who knows the Gagnon’s knows that if the Seal-A-Meal dies, it’s a BIG crisis. Thankfully, not long after, we got an email that made us sigh a breath of relief.

001What cracks me up about this the most, is that my dad is totally tooling on my blogging! Good thing I know he actually loves it (the gig is up, dad, mom told me!).

The other funny thing is a site that all of you need to go to right now. The other night, my sister was DYING laughing as she read through the texts on this site. I opened it up yesterday at work and had to close it immediately because I could not suppress the laughs (and, trust me, unclaimed property is really not that funny!). If you need a good laugh today, PLEASE do yourself a favor and check out that site.

Phew! And here we are, Friday morning. I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Questions for you: Do you get funny emails or texts from your parents? Big plans for the weekend?

ps. I want to send a BIG congratulations to my friend Kim for her recent engagement!! I couldn’t be happier for you and Jim:)

Is the Weekend Already?

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Hey there! Anyone else doing the happy Friday dance? Actually, that’s a lie, I haven’t done the dance because today feels like anything BUT a Friday.  With all the travel I have been doing lately, I can’t seem to keep my days straight, and the fact that I had to get up, straighten my hair, put on a suit and go into the office (I work from home on Fridays so my dress code is generally nothing more than pj’s or Lulu) was what really threw me for a loop.

interview(old pic from last year, but I looked exactly like this today… except I wore a skirt because I am ALL about the skirt suits lately! Also, pardon the mess in the background. I swear I am neater than that!)

I had a meeting with a prospective client today, hence the need for going into the office and dressing in non-Lulu attire.

Speaking of Lululemon, has anyone else seen that they have expanded their bathing suit line?!?! Ugh. This is not good for me! But, to be honest with you, the prices are actually more reasonable than I expected, and these ones have SPF50+ protection built into them. I would like to find a store to try one on before I buy one- has anyone seen these at the store lately?

Lulu top lulu back

source, source

(for anyone who is taking notes- I’m probably a size 2 or 4 on the top and a 4 on the bottom… any color is fine… 😉 )

And, I think I finally found the gym bag I have been looking for!

lulu bag source

I’ve been on the hunt for something that is durable, stylish, and can handle a heavy load (laptop, lunch bag, gym clothes, workout binder, etc), and I think this could be it! I need to check it out in person, though.

Back to yesterday… I get so side-tracked when I talk about Lulu!

My friend JP and I went to lunch at Papagayo yesterday and I had forgotten how good it is there! The only unfortunate thing about going there for a work day lunch is that I can’t enjoy a tasty margarita! (ok, I guess I could have one, but I would not feel right about it- Catholic guilt!) My meal made up for it, though.  I got the Veggie Enchiladas and was really impressed with the amount of veggies in them!

papagayo

Not long after lunch, I had to leave for the day to take care of this:

ticketUgh, What a thing to find when I walked to my car yesterday morning. It was my fault that I forgot to get my car inspected, but I mean, I was PARKED… how can they ticket for that?! And for $50? Common, City of Somerville. The only plus side of this is that the Acura dealership waived the inspection fee for me since I bought my car there last year.

I ended up getting to the gym with about an hour and a half to spare before it was time to teach my kickboxing class.  Since I wanted to get some strength training in, I decided to take the TBC class prior to teaching my class. Felt great to have a long gym sesh in after two weeks of travel.  As good as the TBC class was, my kickboxing class was AMAZING (however, eating a Mexican lunch was NOT the brightest idea before a double session workout)… there were 20 REALLY hard workers and I can’t even tell you how happy that makes me.  When I took over this class back in the fall, it was a Cardio Conditioning class and only averaged about 6-8 people per week.  Now that the word has gotten out that it’s kickboxing, more and more people have been coming every week (and, boy does it make it easier to teach when people know how I teach and know some of the moves!). Love it!

Phew! Did you make it this far?

When I got home from class tonight (definitely going to share the workout that we did with you– great mix of cardio and strength and the time flew by!), I made pizza!  My favorite Friday night meal.  I didn’t take a picture, but it looked similar to this.

024Mmm. It’s just so good! And even though it’s pizza, you’re definitely saving calories by making it yourself vs. ordering out.

Tomorrow morning is my first weekend of teaching Cardio Kickboxing at the Oak Square YMCA- can’t wait! The class is packed and the energy is high… get ready YMCA members- we are going to work hard tomorrow:)

Questions for you: Favorite meal to make? What are your weekend plans?

Where did my weekend go?!

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Oh, that’s right… 8 hours of it was spent at the South Station BSC. It’s amazing how much faster the weekends go by when a whole day gets taken away from you!  Let’s get caught up, shall we? I don’t have many pictures, so I apologize in advance for the wordy post!

The kickboxing exam went pretty well, I think.  I won’t know for another 4-6 weeks whether I passed or not, but I think I definitely passed the practical part of it.  The written part, on the other hand, was incredibly hard! All those joint actions and muscle talk is so hard to keep straight! I found myself doing the movements- awkwardly- while I was trying to figure out if a jab had a shoulder flexion in the execution phase. Bored, yet? The best part of the day was the instructor. Her name is Aimee Nicotera and not only was she incredibly knowledgeable (and jacked!), but she was hilarious and totally made us feel like rock stars… definitely helped to settle my nerves! Plus, she gave us some sweet hand wraps:

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I mean, I felt pretty B.A. when I had these on! I wonder what my students would think if I showed up to class with these on?! I might try it just to see their reactions…

I finished the exam around 5 and I promptly opened the wine I had chilling in the fridge for me as soon as I got home. I bought it for the name, but I’ll be honest, it was not my favorite chardonnay I have ever had. Now, don’t let that fool you into thinking I didn’t drink it… that is basically a sin in my family… no wine shall ever go to waste!

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I got up this morning and immediately felt every muscle I worked yesterday (love that)… I was especially happy when I realized it felt like I had done 200 bicep curls yesterday.  The bicep muscle is one of the antagonist muscles when throwing a jab, meaning it is working to retract the arm in the second phase of the punch, so that means I was punching correctly, yay! (again, thanks Aimee).

Best way to loosen up tight muscles? Head to the gym, of course! I NEVER get to go to the gym to do my OWN workout anymore, so I was so excited. Plus, the Wellington BSC just put in this awesome work area:

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It was like play time at the gym!! My roommate has a personal trainer so I did a couple of rounds of one of her workouts- killer! I am obsessed with TRX bands, but I could live the rest of my life without ever touching those ropes again:)  And, I was in Dynamax heaven when I saw all those balls! Anyway, amazing workout… I was especially happy about it when I saw the buffet at the Langham Hotel. Cafe Fleuri sure knows how to serve an unbelieveable brunch!! There was a sushi station, pasta station, omelet station, meat carving station, fruit station, crepe station… and a chocolate fountain. I died and went to foodie heaven!

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009Of course I had dessert, too, but I got too excited and forgot to take a picture.  If you’re in the Boston area and looking for a phenomenal brunch, definitely check out Cafe Fleuri… it is worth every penny!

Phew! That was a lot to catch you up on! I am hoping for a relaxing night filled with some cooking, a little wine and maybe even some TV! Really living on the edge now;)

Questions for you: What did you do this weekend? Busy or not busy? Go to brunch anywhere good? I want to know!

TGIF!

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Boy am I happy for Friday!  This whole week I was a day ahead, always thinking I was a day closer to the weekend than I actually was. The worst, right?! Not that I was really trying to rush along the week…I have my kickboxing certification from 9am-6pm tomorrow (REALLY not my ideal Saturday) and I am feeling nervous about that! I was tossing and turning all night thinking of the combinations they want us to know and how to cue punches and kicks (I call this Fitness Instructor Problems… any other fitness instructors have issues like this?!). Needless to say, I am a little sleepy today!

Let’s see… what have I been up to since I last checked in?  Ohhh, yesterday my coworker and I treated ourselves to lunch at Sportello for their “Lunch Box” lunch.

001I swear, this is the best lunch deal in Boston! You get either a full sando or a 1/2 sando and small soup, homemade chips or popcorn, a drink and a cookie…. all for $11!!! Incredible, really.  Since I was asked to sub the Total Body Conditioning class before teaching my regular Kickboxing class, I decided to get the full sandwich. I went with the Turkey instead of the veggie for extra protein… best decision ever! It was roasted turkey, cheddar, red onions, greens and some amazingly delicious ranch sauce. Toasted. YUMMM.

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I grabbed a seltzer water from the vending machine and was pleasantly surprised with this new flavor

003Anyone try this yet? I highly suggest it for my fellow seltzer water lovers out there!

And, to top of lunch, I got us one of these bad boys to share:

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That, my friends, is a Maple Pancake Cupcake.  I don’t like bacon (I know, I am the crazy one), but the cupcake was just as delicious without it. WOW. (We may have done extra jumping jacks in class because of this treat!)

I wish every lunch could be as good as yesterday! Other than that, my day wasn’t too exciting. I did have a blast teaching TBC. We did 60 second stations (5 rows with a difference exercise in each row, 4 different rounds) and I think everyone liked it… I’ll be sure to post that workout soon:)

I’m teaching tonight and then will be at the South Station BSC tomorrow for far longer than I would like to be. Hoping the day goes well- these types of things stress me out so much!!

Questions for you: Have any good lunches this week? Bacon- love it or hate it? What’s on the agenda for the weekend?