Happy Thanksgiving!

Hi B2B readers! I wanted to pop in quickly to wish each and every one of you a very Happy Thanksgiving. I’ve got so much to be thankful for:

  • My wonderful family
  • My amazing friends
  • A “real” job that gives me flexibility, allows me to travel and pays my bills
  • A “fun” job that helps me pursue my passion for fitness and health (and get paid to work out!)
  • My own apartment
  • Burpees to Bubbly and how far it’s come in just 9 short months
  • YOU! All of you who come back on a daily or weekly basis to read about my random stories, recipes, workouts and rants. It’s still crazy to think there are so many of you who like to hear about my life, but I love it and appreciate your continued support more than you know.

I hope you are all spending time with your family, friends and other loved ones. Splurge on extra mashed potatoes, stuffing or piece of pie. I am all about everything in moderation, so a day of “splurges” is totally acceptable. You can get back on track with healthy eats tomorrow 😉

(and, if you’re looking for a new workout to do, check out my “I’m Thankful” Workout… I will be doing that today before eating a delicious meal!)

What are you thankful for? What’s your favorite dish on Thanksgiving?

Wednesday Workout: The “I’m Thankful” Workout

It wouldn’t be right if I didn’t post a Thanksgiving workout for you to do, right? I plan on doing this tomorrow morning… hopefully with my sister and maybe my mom! I have to be honest, though, I had such a hard time figuring out what I wanted to do for a workout format for my Thanksgiving workout.

I started off thinking I would do an exercise for each letter in “Thanksgiving”, but I scratched that I idea.

…Next, I drew out a turkey using my hand (remember doing those in elementary school?) and came up with 5 exercises for the fingers (feathers) and cardio moves in the middle, but scratched that.

…Then, I came up with my “I’m thankful” idea and listed out a bunch of moves and gave you options for how you could complete the workout.

…I still wasn’t happy with that so I finally ended up going with the same “I’m thankful” theme, but separated it into different areas: legs, upper body, core and cardio. I think I’m happy with this (I think it will be a good full body workout), but I’m a little bummed I didn’t come up with better/more festive names for the exercises. Had I talked to my friend JP prior to making the workout, I definitely would have used some of his ideas:

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I mean, how awesome are those? The “and finally… a nap” is my favorite part, haha

Anyway! Here is the workout- I hope you like it and I hope it gets you motivated to do it ON Thanksgiving 😉 I’m all about indulging on the delicious foods that come along with Thanksgiving, but I think it’s important to get some physical activity in prior to those indulgences (helps get your metabolism going!).

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I think everything is pretty self-explanatory, but if you have questions, let me know. The idea is to work from one part of the body to the next, while throwing in 5 minutes of cardio to get your heart rate pumping!

It felt good to think about exercises that I’m thankful for. I kept it simple because if it wasn’t for these simple exercises, we wouldn’t be able to come up with some crazy versions of them, right?! I am thankful for everything my body allows me to do on a daily basis. I don’t know about you, but I tend to get wrapped up in always wanting to be better and to perform better and to be stronger and can get frustrated when I have a bad workout. But, the thing is, I am blessed that I am able to get to the gym almost daily and workout in general, regardless of how hard/easy my workout might be on any given day. I try to be more mindful of this, but it’s not always easy.

Questions for you: What workout move are you most thankful for? What type of exercise are you most thankful for (strength training, Zumba, Kickboxing, Boot Camp, Pilates, Yoga…. )?

This Week: Weekend Catch Up, Workouts, Things I am Looking Forward To

Happy Monday, friends! How was your weekend? It felt good to have one since last weekend I was cooped up inside at MANIA on Friday and Sunday and ran the Spartan race on Saturday (I owe you that recap this week!), which didn’t leave much room for “weekending”.  Friday night I went to drinks at Warehouse on Broad Street followed by dinner at Anthem which is always a favorite of mine! Saturday I taught an amazing kickboxing class (46 people came!!!) then ran a bunch of errands and went to lunch at Not Your Average Joe’s with my sister. I went back to Warehouse on Saturday night for drinks with a couple of friends (they ate dinner and said the food was great!!) and Sunday I hosted a Pampered Chef party. So even though it was a busy weekend, it was fun 🙂

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Stemless champagne flutes at Warehouse? New to me… not sure if I’m a fan or not. Regardless, the bubbly tasted good 😉

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Winter beer for lunch and an amazing seasonal flatbread which had pesto, caramelized onions, butternut squash, Brussels sprouts, and cheese (can’t remember what kind, though).IMG_5872

The girls got the “Greek Nachos” to start, which I tried and thought were delicious. It was such a fun idea!

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How about the workouts? I took Monday and Tuesday as rest days because my body needed it! Holy moly did it need it. I was SO sore and tight after my weekend festivities that it felt good to rest and foam roll. Once I got back into workouts, I felt like I did the right thing by giving my body some time to rest.

Last Week’s Workouts

  • Monday & Tuesday- Lots of walking! Monday I took the long walk home and Tuesday ran errands and shopped. My muscles loosened up a lot by walking and getting blood flowing. Needed that!

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  • Wednesday- I ran a 5K on the treadmill (a slow one, but that’s ok!) before teaching UXF Burn. It was a big class, so I didn’t get to do as much of the workout since I was walking around correcting form (I brought in some new moves so that required a lot of coaching from me).

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Wore my new shirt from MANIA!

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  • Thursday- Taught SHRED using a format I learned at Sunday’s MANIA events and taught kickboxing with a totally new set of combos (that I made up as I brushed my teeth, haha). It was high cardio- we gotta burn those calories before T-day!
  • Friday- I did 10 minutes of random cardio (jogging, jumping jacks, burpees, jump squats, etc. etc.) and the upper body and core exercises from Athena’s Total Body Blast workout.
  • Saturday- I taught a super sweaty, super high cardio, super crowded kickboxing class at the Oak Square YMCA. I woke up feeling like I had done a million lunges on Friday, and since I didn’t, I blame it on Delayed Onset Soreness from Thursday’s workouts. Felt good to shake my legs out in class!
  • Sunday- Since I feel like I didn’t get a chance to get in some isolated and focused strength training in, I headed to the East Boston YMCA for their 10:30 “Y Pump” class. Felt great!

This Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- Subbing a kickboxing class at the Watertown BSC- it’s a 6:30, so BSCers if you’re looking for a good class, please come!
  • Tuesday- I will probably head to the gym after work for strength and maybe a little cardio.
  • Wednesday-My 6:30 UXF Burn class is cancelled, but I am subbing the 5:30 Sports Conditioning Class, so if you get out of work early, definitely come- we will work super hard to burn lots of calories before Thanksgiving!
  • Thursday- I will do some type of at-home workout at my parents house. I am trying to come up with a Thanksgiving-themed workout, so be on the lookout 😉
  • Friday- Rest day! I am getting my hair done and then my family is heading to Kennebunkport for lunch at David’s, walking around, shopping, and drinks at Hurricane Restaurant (fun fact: I used to manage the books and be a hostess there- so fun!).
  • Saturday- Heading back to Boston early Saturday morning to teach Kickboxing at the Oak Square YMCA- come burn off your holiday eats!
  • Sunday- Maybe a rest day? I’ll see how I feel.

Things I am Looking Forward To

Gosh! There are so many things! I am exited to sub a few classes since I am missing both of mine on Thursday. I am excited to be home in Maine for Thanksgiving. We are doing dinner just the 4 of us and then we head to Sara and Amy’s mom’s house for dessert… a tradition for as long as I can remember! I’m excited about getting my hair highlighted and then spending the whole day with my family because we have lots of fun together 🙂

Questions for you: What was your favorite part about last weekend? Do you plan on working out on Thanksgiving? What are you looking forward to this week? Please share- I love hearing from you 🙂