Tag: Weekly Workouts

This Week: Workouts, Countdown to Christmas & Things I’m Looking Forward To

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Good morning! Can you believe this is the last full week before Christmas!?! I literally cannot wrap my head around it. But, the good news is I’ve completed almost all of my Christmas shopping, which is half the battle, right? I plan on finishing up a few more things this week and then packing my car up so I don’t forget anything when I head to Maine.

I had some good workouts last week, however none really left me sore or “feeling it” the next day. Well, except for the workout I did in RM’s kitchen on Tuesday morning. I had to make the workout as quiet as possible and therefore eliminated most cardio, but whatever I did seemed to work!

Last Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I got up early and went to the gym on my own- a rarity, for sure! I ran 3 miles on the treadmill, completed my 1 minute of burpees and a few other upper body and core exercises. Although it’s never fun getting up and going to the gym at the 6am hour, I ALWAYS feel amazing after!

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  • Tuesday- I got up early (again) and worked out in RM’s kitchen, as it seemed as though that would be the quietest place. I did a lot of punches, squats, lunges, core work, etc. It’s amazing how versatile workouts can be. I didn’t want to do cardio and didn’t have any weights, yet I was still able to put together a workout that left me sweaty and sore the next days. The challenge on Tuesday was a lower body workout, so I did Booty Burner #2″ workout. Never fails to leave me shaky 😉
  • Wednesday- I only had time to run 2 miles before class, but I did most of my UXF Burn class as I liked the exercises I put together! The cardio blast between sets was killer.

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  • Thursday- I went to the gym near my office and completed a 15 minute HIIT workout before going to a total body conditioning class, which ended up being the same 45 seconds on, 15 seconds rest format that I did for my HIIT workout.

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  • Friday- Rest day, besides lots of walking. I also got up for some stretching which was a nice way to start the day.

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  • Saturday- I taught my cardio kickboxing class at the Oak Square YMCA. Per usual, it was a packed class with lots of energy! Thanks for coming, Mary 🙂
  • Sunday- Another rest day… cleaning was my source of active rest.

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I got some new lulu and was excited to try it out!

This Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I’m subbing the 6:30pm cardio kickboxing class at the Watertown BSC. Happy to get some extra subbing in as I’m losing my UXF Burn class for 2 weeks due to the holidays 😦
  • Tuesday- I want to go to the morning Box 360 class at George Foreman’s boxing studio. Any fitness friends want to come? The challenge for Tuesday is to try a new workout class, so I figured this would be great.
  • Wednesday- A little cardio before teaching my UXF Burn class at the Central Square BSC. What should I teach?! Any new moves you’re loving?
  • Thursday- I think I have to do a day trip to Rhode Island for work, so I may try to get up early to get a little something in. Maybe rest. Maybe hit up a 6:30 cardio kickboxing class. We’ll see!
  • Friday- Today’s challenge is an upper body workout, so I’ll squeeze something in- maybe this 7 Minute Body Weight Upper Body Burner. I also have to go to a UXF Burn training for a few hours in the afternoon as they’re releasing a new format- can’t wait to see what it is.
  • Saturday- Teaching my last cardio kickboxing class of the year 😦 I can’t believe it! Come sweat with me and jam out to my Christmas playlist!
  • Sunday- Rest day, besides a core workout as part of my challenge.

Things I’m Looking Forward To

Although this week is busy with lots of parties, teaching and maybe another road trip for work, I’m totally in the Christmas spirit and am just excited! I also know that I have an extended vacation coming up shortly, so that’s helping me make the last final push of the holiday season.

Questions for you: What was the best workout you had last week? Are you trying out any classes this week?

This Week: Workouts, Loving Challenge Workouts & Things I’m Looking Forward To

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Good morning! This week is a little weird as I have to be at a client site all week, which sucks because I have really grown to LOVE my Monday work from home days. I’m also not looking forward to driving to Canton every day- yuck! But, at least it’s just a week! I’m hoping to get most of my workouts done in the morning so that I can have the evenings to finish decorating my apartment and stuff.

Luckily, this week has a few challenges that are workout based so that will make it easier to decide what to do! And, speaking of my challenge- I’m having SO MUCH FUN participating and seeing so many of you participating! I’ve definitely been pushed out of my comfort zone a few times, but it’s been great. Don’t forget to let me know somehow that you’re participating- I’ve got some great prizes lined up 🙂

Last Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I went for a gorgeous 4 mile run during my lunch break. The weather was perfect and it felt so good to be running outside! I also did 3 pull-ups (!!!) and 1 minute of push-ups.

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  • Tuesday- I went to the Wellington BSC for a bootcamp class. It was heavy arm-focused and I loved it!
  • Wednesday- I did my 20 minute AMRAP workout as part of my #happyhealthyfit challenge before teaching UXF Burn. One of my members was at the gym early for class and he joined me- it was fun and it was a tough workout!

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  • Thursday- I went to the gym during lunch and ran 2 miles before doing some kettlebell tabata rounds.

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  • Friday- Rest day, although I did get up early for some stretching, as part of Athena’s Holiday Hustle. It was a really nice way to start the day, especially since I don’t ever take time to specifically just stretch.IMG_9541
  • Saturday- Roberto and I were at a hotel in NH, so I hit the gym when I got up for a quick total body workout as part of my challenge. I ran 10 minutes on the treadmill, walked 10 minutes then did a bunch of different exercises. The gym was the size of a closet, but it got the job done.

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  • Sunday- Rest day

This Week’s Workouts

I have no idea what my workouts will look like this week, but I do know that I’m teaching UXF Burn on Wednesday and cardio kickboxing on Saturday 🙂 I’ll also be doing all of the fitness challenges in Week 2 of the #happyhealthyfit challenge.

Things I’m Looking Forward To

Although I’m really NOT looking forward to being in Canton all week, there are lots of other things I’m looking forward to, including decorating my tree and apartment, book club on Tuesday, massages on Friday and a quiet weekend. After last week, I need a quiet weekend!

Questions for you: What was the best workout you had last week? Are you participating in the challenge? What was your favorite challenge last week? What are you looking forward to this week?

This Week: Workouts, Gearing Up for Holiday Season & Things I’m Looking Forward To

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Good morning! How was your Thanksgiving? I had such an awesome time being home in Maine for an extended period of time. It’s really the only time I feel completely relaxed and could literally not leave the house for days. Doesn’t sound like me, huh? I’m SO excited that day kicks off the first day of my Happy, Healthy, Fit 24 Day Challenge. Thanks to all of you who have signed up to participate! Today, set your timer for 60 seconds and rock out your push-ups!

Today also marks the first day of December, which means the start of holiday season. I’m sure I’m not alone when I say I’ve got a number of things on my calendar already. I’ve got events Thursday-Sunday this week, and although they are all FUN things, it’s just a lot. This season, I’m going to work on taking more time for myself and politely turning down some engagements. The hardest part with this is that I want to go to everything, but it ends up being too much and I want to avoid the stress/overwhelm this season of having too many plans. That said, I’m not sure how well this will go over because I have severe #FOMO, BUT, I’m going to try 🙂

Last Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I was supposed to teach a double, one class in the morning and one at night, but no one showed up for my morning class so I ended up doing my own strength session on my own. I knew I’d be teaching cardio kickboxing after work, but I had gotten up and to the gym at 6am so I wasn’t going to leave there without doing something. That little something left me sore for 3 days!
  • Tuesday- I went to the gym during lunch and ran 3.25 miles and did a few planks before calling it a day.
  • Wednesday- Rest day
  • Thursday- I filmed a few videos and then did this 20 minute AMRAP workout. I got through just shy of 8 rounds and boy did it kick my butt! I was surprised at how hard it was by the 5th and 6th round.

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  • Friday- My sister and I got up and went to the gym. I was so excited to be there because we weren’t on a schedule and it was mid-morning. I did 20 minutes on the stair stepper before doing an entirely Kettlebell focused workout. It kinda kicked my butt and I kinda loved it. I ended with some core work using this awesome trampoline- want one of these!

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  • Saturday- I went to a Core Fusion Barre class at Exhale Spa with my sister and my friend Amanda. The class was killer! I’m not always a fan of barre classes (I am generally frustrated because I can’t tell if I’m doing it right!), but I loved this one. Chrissy is awesome and her class was a good mix of weights/upper body strength and then we worked through all parts of the legs and core. I was so sore on Sunday!
  • Sunday- Rest day

This Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I may try to get in a lunch break workout while I’m working from home. I’ve decided that I really prefer to have my workout done before I start work or during lunch so I can have an evening where I’m done work and done my workout by 4:30. It’s awesome. I’ll also be doing a minute of push-ups. Wonder how many I can do!
  • Tuesday- I may go to the gym during lunch for some weights, no cardio.
  • Wednesday- Back to teaching my UXF Burn!! I also need to do a no-equipment necessary workout as part of the #happyhealthyfit challenge, so I will probably fit one of those in before teaching.
  • Thursday- I have after work plans so I will likely workout during lunch.
  • Friday- Rest day.
  • Saturday- Today’s challenge is a full body workout, so I will probably do one I posted in this Week 1 details post, or maybe another Kettlebell workout?
  • Sunday- Rest day

Things I’m Looking Forward To

I’m so excited for the start of December! Although it is a crazy time of year, I do love the hustle and bustle of the holidays and the Christmas decorations and general cheer. I’m also excited to get together with various groups of friends throughout the week, as well as celebrate my sister’s birthday on Sunday!

Questions for you: What was the best workout you had last week? Do you like Barre classes? What are you looking forward to this week? How you handle the craziness the holiday season can bring?

This Week: Workouts, Making the Mental Shift & Things I’m Looking Forward To

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Good morning! How are you doing today? I hope you had a great weekend. Some of you may have seen my Instagram post at the end of last week:

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I have never experienced what I experienced last week, but I can tell you it wasn’t very fun. Looking back, it’s likely from pushing myself too hard and too far, but I struggle because if I feel ok and want to work out, how do I know that I’ve pushed it too far until something happens? In the past, I’ve struggled with rest days… more than I’d like to admit. But, over the past few months, I’ve been much better at not only TAKING 2 every week, but also ENJOYING it. I look forward to my rest days now, actually.

But last week, 4 unplanned rest days really threw me for a loop. I didn’t want to rest on Thursday. I wanted to go to a class and I wanted to rest on Friday. I wanted to race on Saturday and rest on Sunday. Unfortunately, my body had other plans for me, and even though I knew I needed to listen to my body, it was hard to not have negative thoughts about the extra rest and not being able to do anything. I hate that I still think that way when things don’t go as planned. It’s definitely my Type A personality showing throw- I hate not being in control and going off plan. But the thing is, plans don’t always work out and sometimes our bodies just have a different plan for us.

I know that I won’t lose any physical gains I’ve made by taking extra rest days, but making the mental shift to get rid of negative thoughts during unplanned rest days is hard! I’ve mastered it for the rest days I plan (I feel zero regret and I don’t miss my workouts at all), but when something throws a kink in that plan, that’s when I struggle.

I received some great feedback from some followers and every single message made me feel so much better. There’s just something so nice and comforting to hear advice from fellow friends who workout and can likely relate to how I was feeling. So, thank you, friends- your words meant so much to me!! And you know what? I really ended up enjoying the extra rest and had way fewer negative thoughts about it than I thought I would. Rather, I tried to soak it up and appreciate the slower paced life for a few days.

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Last Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I taught my 6am Muscle Work class and then did 10 minutes on the stair stepper.
  • Tuesday- I went home after work and did something I haven’t done in a LONG time: I did an at-home workout! When I was at MANIA, I won a Step 360 so I decided to go home and test it out. The verdict? I LOVE it! It’s probably one of my new favorite workout tools. I’ll post the workout I did because it can be adapted to using a step (like I did in UXF Burn last week) or a BOSU even if you don’t have a Step 360.

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  • Wednesday- I ran a 5K before teaching UXF Burn.

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  • Thursday & Friday-  Rest  days, as mentioned above.
  • Saturday- I got up and felt much better, so I did some stretching and light core work to start my day.
  • Sunday- I went for a 30 minute walk around East Boston. I had been inside for too long and realized I really needed to get some fresh air so I laced up and headed out. It was chilly, but it felt great.

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This Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I’m not sure my plan today. I may head to the YMCA for a workout after work.
  • Tuesday- I may try to go to Cara’s Tabata Treadmill class at Beantown Bootcamp, but if I don’t, I’ll maybe go to my favorite bootcamp at the Wellington BSC. I’ll see how I’m feeling, I guess!
  • Wednesday- I will probably do some light cardio before teaching UXF Burn. It’s our last class before the holiday so I need to make it good 😉
  • Thursday- Hopefully I’ll be able to go to the cardio kickboxing class I wasn’t able to go to last week.
  • Friday- Rest day
  • Saturday- I’m teaching cardio kickboxing at the Oak Square YMCA
  • Sunday- Rest

Things I’m Looking Forward To

I think what I’m looking forward to the most is going home to Maine this weekend with RM. We are going to head up after I teach on Saturday and will stop in Kennebunkport for lunch and some shopping before going to my parents for the night. I can’t wait to cook and drink wine and just hang out. I’ll be back home next week for Thanksgiving, but I’m never mad about extra time up there!

Questions for you: How do you feel about weeks with more rest days in them than you’re used to? What was the best workout you had last week? What are you looking forward to this week?

This Week: Workouts, Preparing for the Spartan Fenway Race & Things I’m Looking Forward To

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Good morning and happy Monday! I’m so happy that by the time this post goes up, my workout will be done. Last week was a big week of workouts and between Boston MANIA on Friday and teaching on Saturday, I’ve been REALLY sore and physically exhausted. It will be nice to have tonight off and I may even end up resting tomorrow, too, pending on how I feel. MANIA was so awesome- I can’t wait to recap it for you!

Want to know what’s not-so-awesome, though? The fact that we got our start time for the Fenway Spartan Sprint and we got placed in the 12:10 heat even though everyone on our team signed up for the 9:30am heat. Normally I wouldn’t be that upset about it, but RM had already invited me to go to a Bruins game with him and his co-workers and the game is at 1 so clearly I cannot do both. We’ve emailed to try and get into an earlier heat, but they said they are totally sold out. I really don’t want to skip the race all together because I paid around $120 for the ticket, so I’m planning on just going earlier- by myself- to race. I mean, they can’t deny me a spot if I’ve paid and they have to be able to squeeze me into an earlier heat…right?! A girl can hope….

Last Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I did 15 minutes of cardio before subbing the cardio kickboxing class at the Watertown BSC.
  • Tuesday- I went to my second New Balance Girls Night Out event at the Westin Copley. This time, we had a choice to do a bootcamp or go for a run, and since my run in the dark the last time didn’t end so well, I opted for the bootcamp. It wasn’t the type of bootcamp you traditionally think of (no cardio), but I was very sore for the next few days since it was mostly glute/leg focused.

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  • Wednesday- I ran a 5K on the treadmill before teaching UXF Burn. We had a BIG crowd, including SIX guys- it was so fun!

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  • Thursday- Thursday’s have turned into my rest days and I’ve been enjoying having a day during the week where I don’t have to pack my gym bag and know I’m just going home after work. This past Thursday I was especially lazy- Danielle and I sat on the couch, watched tv and ordered pizza. it was awesome!
  • Friday- I did about 4 hours of working out at MANIA. I can’t wait to recap it for you guys- I learned SO MUCH and I got to workout with Chris Fretag, which was pretty cool.

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I had a sweat mark in the shape of a heart!

  • Saturday- Even though I was super sore, I was able to make it through my kickboxing class at the YMCA. We had a big crowd!
  • Sunday- Nothing! I was super sore when I got up so I was very happy it was a rest day. I did clean and RM and I went shopping, which was good because it helped release some lactic acid and alleviate some soreness.

This Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I will have taught my Muscle Work class and have done some cardio after by the time this goes up.
  • Tuesday- I’m not sure what I’m going to do for a workout. It likely depends on how sore I am. Maybe a bootcamp, maybe some light cardio, maybe some yoga?
  • Wednesday- Probably a run before teaching UXF Burn.
  • Thursday & Friday- I’m not what I’m going to do these days. I don’t think I’ll workout on Friday since I have the Spartan race (hopefully, anyway) on Saturday and want to have fresh legs for it. I’ll probably try to get to the gym during lunch on Thursday.
  • Saturday- HOPEFULLY running the Spartan race. I will be so upset if I can’t run it 😦
  • Sunday- Rest day!

Things I’m Looking Forward To

This is a fun week for me- my dad is coming down on Tuesday to pick my mom up at the airport so he asked if he could come visit me at work since it’s on the way. I’m excited to show him around and get to hang out for a bit- it’ll be a nice change from my usual lunch break 🙂 I’m also excited to go to the Bruins game on Saturday… I haven’t been yet this year!

Questions for you: What was your best workout last week? Have you run a Spartan Race? Do you think I’ll be able to sneak my way into an earlier heat? What are you looking forward to this week?