Wednesday Workout: Compound Exercises with CrossFit Cardio

Hey there! How is your week unfolding so far? My photo shoot was re-scheduled for last night, which was SO fun! We shot on Acorn street and all around Beacon Hill and the Esplanade. More on it later 🙂 Before I get into the workout, I have to vent about what happened on Monday night. If you remember, I was supposed to sub a class at the Wellington BSC on Monday night at 5:30. The class was supposed to be BodyPump, but no BodyPump instructors were available to teach, so the permanent instructor got special approval for a format change so that I could teach the class. I had a great supersets workout all planned out, with only minimal cardio since the class is not used to cardio and I was so excited to finally get to sub at that gym (it’s huge, new, awesome and 5 mins from my apartment).

Well, I got there and had my bench and bar and weights all set up, and I was starting to talk to a few members about the slight format change and then all of a sudden, this lady comes running into the room, still in flip-flops and throws her sneakers on MY bench and runs to the stereo going “few I have 1 minute to spare!”. Clearly, I am very confused and I tried to explain it quietly to her, but she was a very vocal, overly expressionate (I don’t think that’s a word, but I am making it up because it fits well) person who felt the need to make the whole thing a bigger deal than necessary. To make a long story short, she was claiming that she was supposed to sub a 5:30 spin class for Nicole. News flash, lady, there is no 5:30 spin class at this gym on Monday’s and Nicole teaches at Central on Monday’s. Anyway, this lady tells the whole class that she has been teaching for “a million years” and asks then asks them if they wanted Pump or “whatever she is going to teach” (pointing at me). Obviously it made more sense for her to teach the real format of the class, but what bothered me is that she just came in and took it from me! And then kept bringing it up all class and was totally inappropriate (throwing her bar down, picking out and picking on the new people, calling light weights “baby” weights, etc.). ANYWAY. Vent over. Instructors- have you ever experienced something like this? Class goers- have you ever had an instructor like this?!

Ok. Let’s get to the workout. I want to do a recap of the discussion from last week’s post on Compound vs. Isolation Exercises, but I haven’t had a chance to spend time put something together… it will come, though! It’s almost ironic that I am posting today’s workout since I just got over telling you how I am loving isolation exercises more than compound exercises at the moment. What can I say? When I can only pick a few exercises to do in a class, I want them to include as many muscle groups as possible! This workout surely did that.

Compound Exercises and CrossFit cardio

Most of this workout is fairly self-explanatory, but if you have questions, obviously ask in the comments or shoot me an email! Ab Roll-Ups might be new to you as they were new to me… Thank you, Women’s Health 🙂 Here’s the explanation and picture for the move: Ab Roll-Up. This is a super tough move for your legs, as it’s so much harder to go from seated to standing, but only using your legs, than you’d think! Make sure you’re not rolling too far on your back so that you’re crunching the back of your neck; only roll to about your shoulder blades/meaty part of your upper back. These ended up taking much longer than I had anticipated, so for the 2nd round, they did just 12 and 6 of each and the last round was just 6 of each.

I ended the class with low and high mountain climbers (4 high knees, then drop down and do 4 mountain climbers. Again, thank you Women’s Health) for 2 minutes and more ab work.  I liked this workout because it included so many different things and my legs literally felt like jello by the end!

Questions for you: What is your biggest pet peeve about instructors (I won’t be offended!!)? Do you like it when they try to make funny jokes when they aren’t funny? What’s your most favorite “new move” as of late?

Wednesday Workout: 6 Moves Circuit + 2 Focus Moves

Hey everyone! I am trying to get you a workout and a recipe every Wednesday… let’s see how long I can keep it up! As I’ve mentioned, last week I went to one of my favorite instructor’s boot camp class at the Wellington BSC. I love her because she is a super tough instructor, but not tough just because we do the same move for a million reps, but rather, because she is always bringing in fun, new moves and is always changing it up!

Since I loved the class so much (and it totally kicked my butt!!), I decided to take the general format and bring it to my UXF Burn class at the Central Square BSC. I changed up some of the moves, but otherwise, it was pretty much the same!

6 moves circuit + 2 focus moves

The idea was that you keep the 2 focus moves (focus/core moves because they are full body exercises that get your heart rate up without having to do cardio) at 60 seconds each as your starting point. The whole class stays together for these. For the circuit moves, people were able to go more at their own pace. I did make 2 of the rounds be 30 second intervals for the 6 moves instead of 15 reps to keep everyone together, but for the last round, I timed them to see how quickly people could finish. Congrats to Graciella for finishing first!! 🙂

Here are some notes on the moves:

  • Heavy weighted squats- we used a barbell here (like in BodyPump) and I encouraged people to go much heavier than normal!
  • Deadlifts- we used the same barbell for these as we did for squats
  • Squats w/weighted chest push: hold 1 weight (or a medicine ball!) with both hands at chest height. As you squat down, push your arms out to a full extended position. As you rise up from your squat, pull your arms back in. This is great for your shoulders and chest!
  • Frogger Burpees: take 1 big jump forward, and then bring yourself down into a REAL burpee, meaning your whole body is on the ground. Push yourself up, jump to turn around, and do a big frogger jump back to your spot (and then go right into the burpee). Holy sky-rocketed heart rate from these!

To finish off class, we did an Ab Tabata consisting of the following 2 moves: Mountain Climbers and Plank Jacks. I also threw in some more of my favorite ab moves (leg lefts, in and outs, swimmers, etc.). And then, because I wasn’t ready to quit just yet, I made them do a “Power Blast”, to leave class energized and awake! Our Power Blast was a sumo squat straddling the bench, and then jumping both feet up onto the bench- 20 reps. I wanted to do Donkey Kicks over the bench, but we ran out of time:(

I hope you like this workout! Let me know if you need clarification on any of the moves! I am totally loving REAL burpees lately, so class members, take that as a warning 😉

Questions for you! What moves are you loving right now? What is your “go-to” hard class to attend? Ever done a frogger burpee?

Friday Dance Time!

Ok, not really, but you never know! I might bust out some moves when the Ellen Show comes on later today (I mean, how can you NOT want to dance when she’s dancing?!). Happy Friday, everyone! For the life of me, I couldn’t keep my days straight this week. And not in one of those “ugh, it feels like Friday but it’s only Wednesday” or “Wow it’s already Friday? It feels like Wednesday” way, I simply just haven’t known what day it is! I do, however, know today is Friday and that makes me very happy! Let’s catch up on the week…

Monday

I worked from home, went for a 40 minute run, and then cooked this delicious meal:

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Tuesday

I was able to make it to a class with my FAVORITE instructor. Holy moly did she kill us! I secretly loved it, and very openly loved it when I took a lot of what she did and made my class do it on Wednesday 😉 Look at this beautiful sky that I took a picture of as I walked home from the gym:

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Wednesday

I had a blast teaching UXF Burn! Like I said, it was a tough one, but if people are taking an hour out of their day to come to my class, I want it to be worth it! So we work hard 🙂

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AND, how lucky was I that my sister (who had just gotten home from a vacation in the South) texted me and said she would have homemade pizza ready for me when I got home. #bestthingever Look at this beauty of a pie!

007Obviously I had to try a little bit of all 3: turkey pepperoni, fresh tomatoes & goat cheese. peppers, broccoli and onions. plain cheese. Holy Yum!

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Thursday

How ’bout that beautiful weather?! I was so so happy that I was finally able to enjoy a lunch on the water without freezing. And, to make it even better, JP was in town and met me! He got a Sportello Lunch Box and I got a sandwich from Flour…. and a cookie later in the day 😉

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Post work, I headed to the gym to teach my double. We did a stations workout somewhat similar to this one. It was actually quite different, but the same format idea. What’s great, is that members seem to enjoy this type of workout just as much as I do 🙂 Kickboxing was a bit of a hot mess, but that’s what I get when I try to make up complicated “sets” while sitting at my desk and not actually TRYING them before teaching them! Most members in my class are regulars now, so they know how to roll with it!

When I got home, I went to water my garden and look what I saw!

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Everything is coming up!!!! My flowers are not doing so well, but look at these babies! I can’t believe it.

And, that brings us to today! I thought about getting up to do some core work or arm stuff, but I realized that I haven’t rested since Friday, and every day has been pretty tough workouts, so I am opting for a rest day. Looking at my weekend (kickboxing tomorrow and Wellness by the Water Retreat on Sunday), today is a great day to rest.

Questions for you: What’s been your favorite thing this week? Favorite pizza topping? What’s going on tonight? Dinner or drinks out? I want to do something tonight, but not sure what that is yet!

Have a wonderful Friday, everyone!

Weekly Workouts

Is it really Monday already?! Sometimes I feel like I am more ready for Monday to come around than others, but today is definitely not one of those times. Between hosting Sara’s shower all day on Saturday, going out a little on Saturday night and going to my friend Christy’s surprise bridal shower yesterday, my weekend was a whirlwind and I feel like I didn’t get any down time (not that I am good with that anyway, but still). Don’t get me wrong, I had an absolute blast at all the events that I went to and I am definitely not complaining, but I could certainly use another day in my weekend, that’s all!

Let’s get to the workouts, shall we?

Last Week’s Workouts:

  • Monday- Hotel workout in NY and taught Dynamax
  • Tuesday- I took this as a total rest day, aren’t you proud?! I didn’t even do a lot of walking since I drove to work and I skipped out on the Triceps Tuesday April Arms Challenge workout. Since I was gone all weekend, I felt like I had too much other stuff to catch up on (laundry, picking up, organizing, cooking, blogging), so my workout took a back seat, and that’s totally fine!
  • Wednesday– Since I skipped my AAC workout on Tuesday and couldn’t figure out a good way to incorporate Wednesday’s workout into my class, I decided to do both of them before I taught. It.Was.Awesome. I ran 1.5 miles on the treadmill and then got busy with tri’s and bi’s and abs.

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  • Thursday- Ran through Cambridge like a crazy bag lady, taught TBC (Supersets) and Kickboxing

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  • Friday- Got up and did the burpee tabata from Thursday’s AAC workout and the Friday workout from AAC before work. It felt so good to be done my workout for the day by 8am!
  • Saturday- Got up and ran 1.5 miles and then did 2 circuits of the Sunday AAC workout (wanted to rest on Sunday and not Saturday) and did some extra core work.
  • Sunday- Walked 2 miles with Danielle and then gardened for about a half hour.

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This Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- My own cardio & teaching Dynamax. It’s the first day of the new session and I am so excited!!
  • Tuesday- This might be a rest day, but if I can wake up and do something before work, I’ll do that.
  • Wednesday- Cardio and/or biceps blast before teaching UXF
  • Thursday- TBC (which, I recently learned is now called Shred or something. Not sure how I feel about that!) & Cardio Kickboxing
  • Friday- I might do a Deck of Cards workout before work, run during my lunch break, or go play in the UXF area at the Wellington BSC after work is over.
  • Saturday- Teaching Kickboxing at the YMCA. It’s been a few weeks and I’ve missed it! Can’t wait to remind them about what they’ve missed 😉 [insert evil laugh here]
  • Sunday- Rest! and gardening. I really want to get everything planted this weekend.

Your turn! What was your favorite workout last week? Any new moves or exercises to share?

Remember Me?

Hey everyone! I am back! So sorry to ditch out for an extended amount of time, but let me tell you, it was needed. After the events that went on in Boston last week, and the fact that I was going to NYC for the weekend for another birthday celebration (I know. I’m out of control), I figured taking some time to step away from the computer, twitter, facebook, instagram, etc. and spend that time with friends and family was way more important (and SO necessary).

social media break

But, I am here now and have lots of recapping to do, that’s for darn sure!

035(Blogging during my lunch break. So happy to be back to healthy, non restaurant eats!)

Before I get too much into my recapping, let’s check in with last week’s workouts, shall we?

  • Monday- I was all amped up to get in a run before teaching Dynamax, but after hearing about the bombings, I felt numb and wanted nothing to do with the gym. I thought I had to teach and I ended up getting to the gym early, so I hopped on an elliptical and mindlessly peddled away as I watched the news unfold. I didn’t even break a sweat. My body was there, but my mind wasn’t. I felt foolish for being one of “those” people at the gym, and wanted to tell everyone I was only there because I had to teach. Luckily, only 3 members showed up and none of them felt like working out either, so we decided to part ways and pick up this week.
  • Tuesday– My parents were coming into the city to celebrate my birthday, so I got up and did a sweaty jump rope & body weight circuit workout. I was going to post the workout on Friday, but clearly that didn’t happen. I’ll post it this week- promise! I also did lots of walking with my parents!

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  • Wednesday- I ran a little over 2 miles outside through Cambridge (so scary to think about that!) before I taught UXF Burn. Classes were still a bit down, but I was happy to have some people show up.
  • Thursday- Taught my double at Central Square. We did a stations workout in TBC and a high cardio format in kickboxing. I didn’t even DO all of the workout in TBC, but I was seriously so sore on Friday. (I also want to say that looking back, it is so crazy to think that I was just doors away from the 7-11 robbery only a few hours before it happened. That hit really close to home.)
  • Friday- While we were in lockdown, my roommate and I got antsy and when I suggested that she do my Friday April Arms Challenge workout, she happily agreed. We did 3 rounds with 5 minutes of cardio in between each round. We also did some plank high fives that I learned from Jen. Loved these!

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  • Saturday- LOTS of walking in NYC!

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  • Sunday- We went jogging in Central Park which was the coolest thing everrrr. But, what made it even better was the fact that there was a BostonStrong race taking place as we got there! I got so emotional seeing everyone running to support Boston, my city.

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This week’s workouts

  • Monday- I was still in NY, so we hit up the hotel gym in the morning. I had to do my April Arms Challenge workout and then did some other stuff. I also taught Dynamax when I got home and was happy that there was an even number of people in class so I didn’t have to really “do” the workout.
  • Tuesday (today)- Nothing besides my triceps workout for the April Arms Challenge. I need to get my life in order! Laundry, cooking, picking up, blogging, etc. Taking a break is nice, but catching up after the break is really not that fun (for me, at least).
  • Wednesday– Cardio & teaching UXF Burn
  • Thursday- Double time! TBC & Kickboxing
  • Friday– I will probably take Friday’s AAC workout and incorporate some cardio.  I might also rest if I end up signing up for a BostonStrong 5K in Southie this weekend (can’t find the link now!).
  • Saturday– Some type of at-home workout. Maybe deck of cards?! We are hosting Amy’s sister’s baby shower at our place on Saturday afternoon so I know we will be busy getting everything ready for that!
  • Sunday- Maybe a 5K, maybe a rest day.

Questions for you: How did you react to the events last week? Did it make you want to work out more to “escape”? or, did you lack motivation? 

I’ll be back with more regular blogging tomorrow! Have a wonderful Tuesday, friends:)