Tag: morning workouts

Five on Friday {9.2.16}

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Hello! TGIF, right?! I’ll tell you what- I am looking forward to a long weekend! We get a half day today and then we have Monday off and I have to say that I am reallllly looking forward to it, even though I have so much work to do I really could use the day in the office, haha OH WELL! It’ll get done eventually 😉

Did you guys have a good week? Mine was good- tiring for the brain, but a good week! Last night, after a great yoga class, RM and I hit up Buff’s Pub for wings, which we hadn’t done for SO long so they tasted extra delicious .

  • Just Add Cooking– I was lucky enough to receive another box of meals from Just Add Cooking this past week and, yet again, everything we had was amazing! I’ll share more on it later, but here are a few teaser pics 😉

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  • Healthified Beach Lunches- One of my favorite parts of going to the beach is packing up the cooler with various food and drinks. There’s something about the beach that just makes me want fun snacks and tasty beers (or wine!), amiright?! Last summer, when I went to make us lunches I realized we were out of pitas/wraps, so I got creative and made a “wrapless wrap”, meaning I used the thickly cut deli meat as the “wrap” and stuffed it as I would if I was actually using a wrap. Now, we don’t even bother with the wraps because we like this variation so much. We prefer snacking on crackers/healthy chips dipped in hummus for our carbs rather than bread or wraps and while this may not be for everyone, it works for us. If you’re looking for a way to change up your beach lunches, I highly suggest this! I usually buy a nice Boars Head turkey meat and provolone cheese and then layer the turkey, cheese, hummus, spinach and veggies- last weekend I used cucumbers, red pepper and avocado. SO tasty!

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  • Morning Workouts- Since I teach after work and have to be to work by 7:30 (which is 30+ minutes away), I tend to workout during my lunch break instead of the morning. I find I have more energy and more fun, but this past week I got up to workout before work on Wednesday since I knew I wouldn’t have the ability to do so during the day and didn’t want it on my “to-do” list for after work. While it’s never really FUN to get up and workout before work, this sunrise AND knowing my workout was DONE by 6:30am made it totally worth it.

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  • Book Club- I’ll admit that I while I always finish each book club book before the next meeting, most of the time I’m scrambling in the last few days to actually finish it. A few months ago, I had to sit in my parked car outside of Jessi’s house to finish the last 10 pages haha oops! This time around, though, I’m ahead of the game. We are reading What She Left Behind and it is SO good. It’s told by two different women: one from the 1920’s and one more recently so it’s super interesting to read how different the times are between the two versions of the story. I highly recommend this if you’re looking for a good book to read.

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  • National Yoga Month- Did you know September is National Yoga Month?! I’m excited to be included in the activities hosted by Corepower Yoga, including a yoga class last night at Fenway for the media crew. I needed the yoga more than you know, so it came at the perfect time. I can’t wait to practice MORE this month- it’s one of those things I know I need, but for some reason it always gets pushed aside. And ps- Corepower’s #whyiyoga campaign is amazing- totally in love with this shirt and this message!!

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And with that, I’m out! We have a half day today and I’m teaching tomorrow morning, otherwise the weekend plans are totally up in the air. We may go to the Cape, but I’m hoping we stick around here for the weekend. Whatever you have on your agenda, I hope it includes everything that makes you happy 🙂

Questions for you: How was your week? Did you have any good workouts? What’s a “must read” book you’ve read? Do you like yoga? Have you been grilling a lot? What do you pack for beach lunches?

This Week: Workouts, Announcements & Things I’m Looking Forward To (CHICAGO!)

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Good morning and happy Monday, friends! It feels weird not having started my day teaching my 6am Muscle Work class. I have to say, although it’s not necessarily fun getting up and to the gym that early, especially on a Monday morning, it sure makes for a much better day knowing my workout is done and over with and I can spend my evening relaxing, blog writing and cooking!

I’ve got lots going on this week, but think the most important thing to talk about first is a BIG (at least for me) change I made recently. It wasn’t an easy decision and although I wanted some consistency in my day to day, especially after my other big change, I felt like it was the right thing for me to do right now. It was something I needed to do, even though it was a really hard decision to make. You ask what that is?

I have decided to give up my teaching my Thursday night double.

I know- it kind of came out of nowhere after my one (err 5) too many little mental breakdowns I’ve had over the past couple of months. I just realized that something had to give, and although I didn’t want it to be my classes and teaching schedule, I realized that, ultimately, that was giving me the most stress and wearing me down the most. By the time Thursday afternoons came around and I realized I was going to have to gear up to teach my double after work, sheer dread came over me. And, it’s not like this happened once and a while. It started to be a weekly thing. I didn’t feel this way before any other class, so I can only attribute it to how much energy it takes for me to teach and DO a double, generally after an intense workout on Wednesday night, too.

Granted, by the time I finished my second cool down of the night and I knew it was time to go home I was fine, but I realized that I shouldn’t go into a workout or teaching a class dreading it. I- and my members- deserve more than that, so I decided that I needed to give up those classes to help free some time up in my schedule and hopefully allow some extra room for me to, dare I say it? RELAX. I can’t be entirely sure that will happen, but I will say it will be nice to be able to do things on Thursday nights, especially during the summer.

I’ve got some other things brewing on the back burner with regards to some new teaching opportunities, but for now, I’m just going to enjoy having 2+ hours back to my Thursdays. My last class is THIS week and I’m dreading it already. I’m going to miss my members so much! I’ve grown the 5:30 SHRED class from 3 or 4 people to generally 16-20 people and I’ve grown my kickboxing class to an average of 16 people (and before me there was no kickboxing class, so I had to build that all on my own). These members come to my classes week after week, ready for any of the crazy (and, I mean that- I throw some weird stuff at them) things I think up and throw into the mix. We’ve grown to know each other as more than just the person standing next to you in class, so it’s going to be weird to not see them as much anymore. One of the members said he felt like I was dumping them, and it broke my heart a little! Luckily, I’ve decided to keep my Wednesday night UXF Burn class at that gym so at least I’ll still see most of them… they’re just going to have to get used to only 1 dose of me, not 3.

So, with that said. I’m hoping this change will help bring a better balance to my life. I’ve been juggling teaching an average of 5 classes a week, working 40 hours, commuting, writing this little blog, spending a lot of time with RM and friends and going away on the weekends that if I didn’t cut back somewhere, I was going to break. I’m sad to end this chapter but excited to have more time for my own workouts (maybe even start to consistently lift heavier) and try out other classes in the area.

OK, enough heavy talk… let’s get to the workouts!

Last Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I taught my 6am Muscle Work class, which did include cardio, and then did 15 minutes on the stair stepper again.
  • Tuesday- The heat and humidity were killer on Tuesday night so I ended up cutting my run at 3 miles and then doing a butt kicking bootcamp-style workout finisher. I’ll post it on Wednesday for you!
  • Wednesday- I ran 3.5 miles on the treadmill before teaching (and doing most of) my SHRED class. It was a big class, likely because of the rainy weather, but I’ll take it! I even had a coworker come and there were 4 guys in the class!
  • Thursday- I taught SHRED and then Kickboxing… lots of members in both- we had fun!
  • Friday- Nothing. I went for a 15 minute walk during lunch but otherwise rested.
  • Saturday– After 2 weeks away from my Saturday kickboxing class at the Oak Square YMCA, I was back! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: that class is the best start of my weekend! We worked so hard and I love seeing the members push themselves each time I’m there.
  • Sunday- I got up and did 20 minutes of yoga and then 15 minutes of core and glute work at RM’s apartment before we went for a 45 min power walk. We went for another stroll after our afternoon meal at his moms, too.

This Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- Not sure! I’d love to get in a workout during the day, but it may be an after work thing.
  • Tuesday- I have a hair appointment after work so I’ll either try to get to a muscle class during the day or do something before work.
  • Wednesday- Teaching UXF Burn and probably running beforehand.
  • Thursday- Teaching my LAST Thursday double *tears*. Dana requested stations during SHRED, so I may do that and some partner work at the end. Kickboxing requests? Maybe the booty burner?
  • Friday- I am going to Chicago for a long weekend and we have an early flight so my guess is that I won’t get up for a workout, especially after a Thursday night double!
  • Saturday-Monday- I’m not sure. Like I said, I’ll be in Chicago so I’m sure I’ll be doing lots of walking, but knowing me I’ll be getting some other workouts in as well 🙂

Things I’m Looking Forward To

So many things this week! My 2nd Stitch Fix is coming in today, so hopefully they gave me good stuff for Chicago. I’m also getting my hair cut, which is long overdue. Lastly, I’m going to Chicago for the weekend. A longggg time ago my friend Jessi asked if anyone wanted to go (she was going with her boyfriend and his friends) so my friend Lauren and I jumped at it and booked our stuff. Sadly, Lauren ended up not being able to go so I asked RM and he was game since it’s a city he’s never been to. I can’t wait to go back and do more exploring and hang out with my friend JP again! We are also having dinner at the top of the Sears tower and going to a Cubs game- I am SO excited!!

Questions for you: What was the best workout you had last week? Boston friends- do you have suggestions for any new workouts in the city to try since I’m going to have more free time? Any suggestions on what to do while in Chicago during the summer? I was there in November (Boston>Dallas>Chicago, Chicago: Part1 {Shopping and Bar Hopping}, Chicago: Part 2 {The Bean, Navy Pier, Boat Tour, Brewery}, Chicago: Part 3 {Brunching, Architecture Tour, Homemade Dinner}), but I feel like there’s still a lot of stuff that I didn’t get to do!

Catching Up: New Hair, Cape Weekend, 4th of July

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I don’t know about anyone else, but last week was a busy week! Here are some highlights 🙂

  • New Hair- I got a Living Social deal for highlights so I took advantage of it on Tuesday. She went rather blonde… what do you think?

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  • Morning Workouts- Since I wasn’t teaching ANY kickboxing classes last week, I decided to get up and do something I haven’t done in a long, long time on Thursday morning: kickboxing workout AT HOME. Before I started teaching kickboxing classes, I used to do kickboxing workouts at home fairly often. It’s really the best cardio workout for me! And, it doesn’t require that much space or any equipment- perfect!

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While on the Cape, I went for a morning run one day and walk the next- even though it may be tough getting out of bed and actually starting the workout, my day really is so much better when I know I have my workout out of the way!

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  • Eats & Drinks- Last week wasn’t the healthiest of eats for me, but it was a holiday weekend- can ya blame me?! When I got to the Cape on Thursday I suggested that RM and I go out to lunch so we headed to Mashpee Commons and settled at Bobby Byrne’s. We found an outside spot in the shade which made outdoor dining possible in the crazy heat and humidity. I started with a sangria and RM choose a drink because it was “named after him”… can you guess what it was 😉

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For lunch, I went with the Fajita Salad which was delicious!

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I didn’t get much pictures of the food during the rest of my time on the Cape because I felt awkward whipping out my phone to take pics in front of his family, but I will say everything we had was delicious. My family jokes that we think about the next meal before we’re finished with the current meal and being away with an Italian family who has that same mentality (RM’s parents came over from Italy when they were in their teens/young 20’s) made me feel right at home! His mom was in the kitchen most of the weekend 🙂 Friday night we had a traditional BBQ with cheese burgers, hot dogs, kale, chickpea salad and rice- so good! On Saturday, RM’s mom mad a whole roast chicken meal, which just happens to be one of my favorite meals. Since the weather was crappy, it was the perfect thing!

On Saturday night, RM took all of us out to eat for his aunts birthday. We went to a new place called Villagio at the Regatta and the food did not disappoint. The service was not terrific, but I think they were still working out the kinks there (the restaurant opened on June 24th I think). I went with a seafood stew meal and it was SO good- there was so much seafood in the dish, which is a must in my book!

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For a little festive flare on the 4th, RM’s sister’s friend whipped up a batch of some delicious white sangria and I decided to add blueberries and strawberries to it. Drinks with treats in them are just better, right?!

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I also made some stars and stripes fruit skewers which, even though people laughed about, were a big hit!

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  • Beach and Activities- RM and I played corn hole for a while one day while we were at the Cape. Even though I played some good games, he ultimately ended up winning 5-4… womp.

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We were only able to get 1 beach day out of the weekend since we decided to get up and go early on Sunday to beat the traffic, but it was a beautiful beach day!

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  • Scenes from Maine- I have to say, I really missed being at home in Maine for the 4th with my family much more than I thought I would! There’s just something about going to the parade with everyone and doing a BBQ at the Mahoney’s that feels like the real kick-off to summer. Thankfully, my sister kept me included by sending pics!

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The weekend finished off with a beach afternoon in Eastie with my sister.

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And, to kick off the start of a healthy week, I went for a nice 5 mile run and then made a really veggie-filled dinner consisting of some lemon-pepper chicken, baked kale, saut̩ed zucchini, summer squash and onions and another side of baked Brussels sprouts, sweet potato and onion that I had frozen a while back. I made my zucchini and summer squash similar to this recipeРso easy and delicious!

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Such a great weekend! I was happy to be working from home yesterday, though. I thought I loved working from home on Friday’s but it turns out Monday’s are way better- it makes Sunday nights so much better knowing I don’t have to prep for the week!

Questions for you: How did you celebrate the 4th of July? Did you make any festive treats? Where is your favorite beach?

Lastly… I wanted to share these muffins that I made from Fannetastic Food– they were not only a hit with RM and me, but also with his family, who said they don’t usually like “healthy” treats. I had one for breakfast every morning and it was perfect!

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And, look how much my garden is growing! There’s definitely an animal that’s stepping around on some of the things, but hopefully once they grow bigger that will stop. Can’t wait to eat from it!

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Weekly Workouts- A really great week of workouts

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Good morning! Phew! What a weekend:) Christy and Jamie’s wedding was an absolute BLAST- I’ll post a full recap later this week!

Last week was an awesome week of workouts. I got in some of my workouts in the morning, went to a UXF Burn training, subbed a class and did LOTS of dancing at the wedding. I was really happy for my long-overdue rest day yesterday 🙂

Last Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I got up and ran 3.5 fairly speedy miles. I’m usually much slower when I run in the morning (10-20 seconds/mile slower), but on Monday I ran a 5K just 4 seconds slower than my 5K PR time. Weird, but I’ll take it! Per usual, after my run, I did some core strength.

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  • Tuesday- I got up to workout before work again- loved it! I did this workout, which seemed much harder than it did when I taught it. I think it’s because I’m never fully awake when I workout in the morning so I don’t have the energy I do when I workout after work.
  • Wednesday- I ran a nice 5K before teaching. The view of the Charles never gets old! Map My Run said I ran it in less than 26 minutes, but my watch said around 26:15, so I’m not sure if I PR’d or not. After I ran, I taught an awful UXF Burn class. I say awful because it was really not fun… the moves were hard and I was struggling! haha I hope I wasn’t the only one who felt that way 😉

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  • Thursday- I taught a fun SHRED workout (I’ll post it Wednesday!) and then kickboxing. We worked so hard in kickboxing- holy high intensity cardio class!
  • Friday- I went to a UXF Burn training- we are releasing a new format and I’m SO excited about it 🙂 We went through and did workouts of the original versions and then we did the new 3-2-1 format workout and core workout. Working out with instructors is SO different- we all push ourselves much more than we would normally. I was pretty sore on Saturday!

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  • Saturday- I subbed a SHRED class at the Central Square BSC. Before teaching, I did 30 minutes on the elliptical to loosen up my tight muscles. The class was SO FUN! So much energy. Loved it! My second workout of the day was most certainly dancing at Christy and Jamie’s wedding… you know it’s a good wedding when you start dancing BEFORE dinner is served 😉
  • Sunday- Rest day! I hadn’t taken a full rest day in 8 or 9 days which is really bad 😦

This Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I will have hopefully run by the time this post goes up! If I don’t get up to workout, I’ll do something after work.
  • Tuesday- I’m going to try and workout in the morning again. I want to start moving stuff to my new apartment this week so it would be nice to have a free night.
  • Wednesday- Probably a run then teaching UXF Burn. I am introducing the new format this week- can’t wait to see the faces of the members when I tell them to do 3 minutes of jump squats 😉
  • Thursday- The usual! SHRED and Cardio Kickboxing.
  • Friday- I think I’ll rest on Friday since I have to teach on Saturday and I’ll be moving all weekend… that will be a workout!
  • Saturday- It’s my Saturday to teach kickboxing at the Y! Can’t wait! My parents are coming down after to help me move… yuck!
  • Sunday- Moving!

Questions for you: What’s the best workout you did last week? Do you feel like your energy is lower in the morning? Have you made any new PR’s (personal records) lately?

Weekly Workouts: A heavy workout week

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Good morning, friends! How are you doing? Now that I have the keys to my new apartment, it’s been hard focusing on anything except for moving! My parents were planning to come down on the 16th and 17th, but I’m trying to figure out a way for them to potentially come down this Friday to at least move the big things in: my bed, dressers, couch, chair, table, etc.

Anyway! As my title suggest, this past week was a heavy week with regards to workouts. I COMPLETELY forgot that I agreed to sub Kate’s 5:30 Sports Conditioning class on Wednesday, so that was a big surprise when I finally made it back in the office after lots of travel and looked at my calendar and saw that! It all worked out, though and since it’s right before my normal class, it’s not really a big deal.

Last Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I ran 3 miles in the morning and did some core strengthening exercises since my muscles were pretty tired from Sunday’s BodyPump class. As much as I like my workouts in the evening better than in the morning because I have more energy and more time, it feels great that I am getting back into the “swing” of morning workouts.
  • Tuesday- I got up at the hotel in Atlanta and did 30 minutes on the elliptical, followed by 4 rounds of: 10 box jumps, 10 incline push ups, 10 squat and press and 10 stability ball leg lifts. Felt great!

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  • Wednesday- Realized I had to sub Kate’s class which was kind of a bummer since I really enjoy my Wednesday runs along the Charles before teaching UXF, but I still got a great workout in between teaching the two classes!

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(I taught a fun stations circuit in both classes. Multiple people told me they were sore on Thursday. Music to my ears!)

  • Thursday- Taught SHRED and then kickboxing. I made up the routine on the plane (on a napkin, mind you), and to my happy surprise, it came out just as well in person as it did in my head! That never happens 😉

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(I wore the most obnoxiously loud colored outfit to teach on Thursday… yikes!)

  • Friday- REST. After 6 consecutive days of workouts, and two of those being doubles, my body was calling for rest. I also had the day off from work which was icing on the cake. It felt weird, but surprisingly good, to not plan my day around my workout! I did do lots of walking around the mall, though.
  • Saturday- Taught the same kickboxing class at the Oak Square YMCA as I did in Thursday’s class at the BSC. Awesome energy in the class!!
  • Sunday- Danielle and I went for a nice walk/jog around Shapleigh, covering almost 2.75 miles. I did some ab work after and also did lots of different kinds of burpees. Hint: fun post coming up on Wednesday!

This Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- Even though I don’t have anything after work (I was supposed to do something with Jess but I decided that could wait) I wanted to get my workout done in the morning so I could have the evening to grocery shop, cook and start to pack!
  • Tuesday- Likely working out in the morning again because I want to start bringing stuff to my new apartment!
  • Wednesday- Probably a run along the Charles and then teaching UXF Burn.
  • Thursday- SHRED and Kickboxing!
  • Friday- I have a 3 hour training for the latest UXF Burn release/format/abs… Last time I was trained on UXF Burn, we worked out like crazy people!! It’s so funny to workout with a group of fellow instructors because we all push ourselves way more than we would any other time 😉
  • Saturday- I am subbing a SHRED class at the Central Square BSC, so BSCers- COME GET YOUR SWEAT ON!!! 🙂 I’m thinking there will be a second workout of the day while dancing at Christy’s wedding 😉
  • Sunday- Rest!!! Maybe some moving, but mostly rest!

Questions for you: Do you look forward to dancing when you go to weddings or parties? How many weddings have you gone to this summer? Fellow instructor friends- do you work out harder when you’re in a class with all instructors?

Have a wonderful week, friends!!!