Tag: spinning

This Week: Workouts, Schedule & Things I’m looking forward to

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Hi there! I hope you all had a good weekend. Mine was so fun… lots of girl time, celebrations and holiday decorating. Before I catch you up on that, though, let’s talk about workouts and getting on track! Last week was a really fun week of workouts for me because I tried new things, was really sore from my SHRED class and had big numbers in most of my classes. I’m not sure if the numbers will stay up as it’s getting closer to Christmas and therefore there are more holiday parties, but I was so happy to see a lot of people making time for the gym last week!

Last Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- My leg was bothering me on Monday (likely due to new sneakers), so rather than running, I decided to take a spinning class! It was perfect because not only did it allow me to workout without bothering my leg (my leg felt totally back to normal the next day, too), but it showed me that I don’t hate spinning as much as I thought I did!
  • Tuesday- I ended up having plans after work to grab dinner and drinks at the Intercontinental (sushi… wasn’t that good), so I got up and did a 30 minute upper body strength and ab tabata workout in my apartment.
  • Wednesday- I ran a 5K before teaching UXF Burn. It’s a good thing I was able to get in a good run before class and felt sore from my Tuesday workout because the class was packed and we ran out of weights and I literally had no place to stand! It was awesome 🙂
  • Thursday- I dug into my workout archives and pulled up this workout and decided to teach it. Holy moly. I was literally sore for 3 days. No clue why, but I wasn’t complaining! I taught kickboxing after.
  • Friday- I did 15 minutes of yoga in my apartment to loosen things up.
  • Saturday- I taught kickboxing at the Oak Square YMCA. It was another big class with lots of energy!
  • Sunday- Since I was still a little sore/tight from Thursday and had a long list of things to do, I skipped out on the gym. I wasn’t hungover, I just didn’t want to schedule in a workout. Ok, and my hair still looked really good from Saturday night and I didn’t want to sweat and ruin that 😉

This Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I’m going to go to spin again tonight! Thanks to some comments from readers, I’m going to up the intensity if I need to. I will try to fit in some abs, too.
  • Tuesday- I’ll do a strength workout after work.
  • Wednesday- Running before teaching UXF Burn. I am running the Somerville Jingle Bell 5K on Sunday and would like to get another run in before that.
  • Thursday- Teaching SHRED and then Kickboxing
  • Friday- Rest day!
  • Saturday- Teaching kickboxing at the Oak Square YMCA again. 4th week in a row and I love it!
  • Sunday- Running the Somerville Jingle Bell 5K with my sister. I cannot tell you how excited I am for this race. I have run it for the past 5 or 6 years and it’s one of my favorite things to do every year. What’s even better this year is the fact my sister is going to run with me. It’s her FIRST race and I hope she loves it!

Schedule

This week is another quiet week for me in terms of plans after work. I might have something on Tuesday night, but it’s still tentative. I have a busy weekend full of holiday parties and the race, but that’s all fun stuff:)

Things I’m looking forward to

The 5K is probably what I am most looking forward to. My parents always come down and it’s so fun to get dressed up in ugly Christmas stuff. I’m also looking forward to decorating my tree and going to Jessi’s Christmas party on Saturday night.

IMG_0042 IMG_2259 5k

Questions for you: Have you ever run a race? What’s your favorite part about running a race? What’s your favorite holiday tradition that gets you in the festive spirit?

So, I used to hate spinning…

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… but I may be warming up to it!

spinning

Let’s back up.

On Monday, all of a sudden, my lower leg/calf area started to hurt as I was walking to work. This has happened to me a number of times before, and I think it happened on Monday because of my new sneakers. I think they must have different support than all of my other sneakers and my legs/feet haven’t gotten used to it yet. Whatever the reason, my plans of running on the treadmill after work went out the window. Womp.

I decided I would row and do the elliptical as a way to get cardio in, but keep it lower impact so as not to bother my leg. However, as I walked up to the locker room, I looked at the class board and saw that there was a spin class starting in 10 minutes. My first thought was “ugh. It’s a spin class. Wish it was something else.”, but immediately after that thought went through my head, a light bulb went off and I was like, “maybe a spin class is a good idea! It’s low-impact, yet supposedly an incredible workout. Maybe I should try it.”

So, I did. And I didn’t hate it! I can’t say I loved it, but it was almost enjoyable. I think part of the reason why I liked it was because we did 45 minutes of spin and 15 minutes of abs- a nice way to break up the workout. Another reason why I liked it was because we did climbs and sprints based on the song, so it wasn’t just a 45 minute slow climb. Boringggg. Lastly, the bikes didn’t have knobs, but rather levers, so you could see what level you were at, as well as the RPMs and time, so when the instructor wanted you to change, she would say “Ok, bump it up to level 12, with RPMs between 90 & 100, and we are going to sit in the saddle for 30 seconds then bring it up to 3rd for 45 seconds and then hover in 3rd for 60 seconds.” Being able to measure the intensity, speed and time made the workout much more enjoyable. I always have a hard time when spinning has the bikes with the knobs and you’re supposed to do one twist to the right, two twists to the right, 1/2 twist back to the left, etc. Call it my Type A personality, but I like to know exactly how hard I am working and if I am on par with the class.

My only issue, and I can’t believe I’m even saying this, was I didn’t leave there feeling like I had legs of jello. Don’t get me wrong, I was a sweaty beast by the end, but the only time I felt like I wanted to knock my level down lower than what was prescribed was when we had a 4 minute hill climb in the seated position. Holy crap. My legs were dead! Other than that, though, I felt like I could have worked harder… or that I could have done another workout after. Is that normal? When an instructor tells you what level to do, do you follow it or do what you need to do to intensify the workout?

So, with all of that said, I think I am going to give spinning another shot. I really WANT to like it because there are so many sub opportunities for spinning at the gym, so it would be great to learn to like it, how to do it, and feel comfortable teaching it. It would certainly make me a more well-rounded instructor!

Questions for you: Spinning- love it or hate it? What’s a tip you have for me to make sure I’m getting the best workout in that I can? Where’s the best spinning class you’ve ever been to?