Tag: workout

Kicking It At Fenway {& Other Birthday/Long Weekend Celebrations}

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When I told people that I got up to go to a 6am workout at Fenway on my birthday, most thought I was a little crazy. Who wakes up extra early on their birthday, and day off, for that matter?! Me, haha But for me, starting out the day/year with one of my favorite things (working out) is exactly what I love doing. And, when you combine that with getting to workout AT Fenway and WITH Eliza & a huge Kick It Crew, it makes for a pretty awesome start to the day and year.

Big thanks to New Balance for inviting me to take part in the workout & DayBreaker event. and providing me with this awesome outfit to wear! I’m totally obsessed with everything!

Unfamiliar with DayBreaker? In short, it’s a really incredible way to start the day- first you workout (yoga or some other fitness class) and then you dance… all before work. Yes, it is as amazing as it sounds! Founders of the idea came up with it as a way to show that you can dance and have fun while being sober, and that doing that before work is a great way to get the brain’s “happy chemicals” going (dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin & endorphins). Another cool part about the event is that you wear headphones to hear the music and instructor, so to onlookers it looks like a silent workout since you can’t hear what’s going on. As I looked back through my Instagram Story, I was laughing at how funny it looked because there was no sound!

I had a blast hanging out with fellow instructors and bloggers!

From there, I came home to the most beautiful, springy bouquet from RM and then went to get my nails done.

For Christmas, my sister had gotten us a night at a hotel, so we opted to cash that in on my birthday up in Portsmouth, NH. Being from Maine, Portsmouth has always been that perfect halfway meeting spot for family and friends, but other than lunches or dinners up there, I haven’t really spent any extended time getting to know the city. That said, RM and I totally fell in love with the city- so many great restaurants, bars, shops, etc.

We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn, which was a perfect location for everything downtown. The room was big and clean- we would definitely recommend it! Here’s a quick recap:

  • Lunch at Gaslight- food was good, but the service was terrible and so slow!
  • Post lunch drink on the awesome (but small) deck at Old Ferry Landing– we has so much fun there!

  • Birthday dinner at Black Trumpet– This came highly recommended by Athena and some others so we decided to check it out for dinner. They did not steer us wrong- we had the most unbelievable meal there! It’s a small spot with 2 levels and we grabbed seats at the bar upstairs. We had drinks (the wine on tap was SO good) and then shared the following: Chickpea Socca, Goat Doner Kebab, Warm Octopus Salad,  Archer Angus Chuck Steak and cookies & milk for dessert.

  • My parents met us for lunch the next day and we went to Rudi’s, which was also fantastic! We had a drink at the bar and then enjoyed a great lunch. My parents had just gotten back from a 3 week road trip/vacation so it was fun to catch up with them!

We squeezed in a quickie workout when we got back before having a quite night in.

Easter Sunday started with breakfast and Church followed by a small Easter dinner at RM’s mother’s house and a long walk when we got back.

Before we knew it, Marathon Monday was upon us and we were heading to Solas to hang with the NB crew. This is such a fun day and event- so thankful to get to be a part of it!

All I could think about when I saw this photo was “I’m on a boat!” haha

Overall, it was such a wonderful birthday/holiday/long weekend filled with pretty much all of my favorite things.

Friday Things {4.21.17}

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Hey there! TGIF! It’s been so long since I’ve done a “Five on Friday” type of post, I barely remember what to do 😉 I have a recap of Kicking It at Fenway & my birthday coming, but for now, I wanted to share a few things of interest with you- enjoy!

  • SpotHero– This is a lifesaver parking app! Seriously. It allows you to pre-book a spot in a garage at a discounted rate. This is key for me for Thursdays when I teach at EBF since I’m there for longer than a street spot would allow. You set up your card in the app so that you don’t have to worry about paying later. If you use this link you get $5 off your first time using it.
  • Vegas- We booked a totally last minute trip to Vegas the other night. We leave on Friday the 28th, as in a week from today! SO crazy, but so fun. We are staying at the Wynn- any must try restaurants or must do things to do/shows to see?
  • Sweat, Shop, Snack Round 2– On Wednesday, May 10th at 6:30pm I am hosting my second event at the New Balance Flagship store in Brighton. Tickets are $12 and it includes a 45 minute kickboxing bootcamp class, a live DJ, 20% off the whole store, GoMacro protein bars, Hint Water ANDDDD Bubbly & Purity Organic Belinis! The last one was so much fun I just had to get another one on the books before my schedule fills up with Seaport Sweat classes this summer! Be sure to sign up here if you’re interested.

  • Seaport Sweat– Speaking of… Seaport Sweat starts back up in JUNE!!! and it’s going through the end of September. I’ll be there on Mondays and Tuesdays after work- more details to come, but checkout this for a teaser 🙂

That does it for me, today. This weekend will be a busy one getting ready for our trip and getting a dress and possibly shoes for my SIL’s wedding in two weeks. I’m heading back to Best Dressed- can’t wait to see what their spring selection is!

Whatever you do this weekend, I hope you find time to relax, move your body and laugh!

 

Wednesday Workout: 25 Minute (or less!) Shoulder Burner Workout

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Hey there! Look what I have here for you- a new workout! I haven’t been making my own workouts lately as I’ve been playing along with Jen Sinkler and her #30daysofkettlebells training program. As part of this, we would get an email each day with a new KB focused workout. I did *most* of them and absolutely loved them- some were super short so I could double up, while others were longer so I kept it to just doing one of them. I think what I loved the most was that the workouts were not complicated, but they required me to use KB’s (or DB’s if I was at home), which is a piece of equipment that I still need to work at getting comfortable with.

But, sadly, the #30daysofkettlebells is over, which means I’m back to making my own workouts. I did this one on Monday and loved the way the exercises flowed from one to the next, obviously with a heavy emphasis on shoulder work, as indicated by the title 😉 I went heavy-ish (for me) with the exercises as I’m trying to increase my shoulder strength, which is why it’s only 8 reps for the non-cardio exercises. I used 20 pounds for the single arem OH press and 25 pounds for the side lunge double arm press.

In case you’d like to see demo’s, I’ve uploaded the videos from my Instagram story to YouTube:

On top of it being a shoulder burner, you’ll notice that your core is getting a workout, too- especially the obliques in the single arm OH press since you have to work to not lean away from the weight. I did 5 rounds and it took me a little under 25 minutes- just in case you need an idea of how long it will take you.

I really enjoyed this total body workout – let me know if you try it!

Questions for you: Have you been following any new workout routines lately?

Wednesday Workout: 5 Exercise Countdown Workout

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Hey there! How is your week going so far? Good, I hope! Today’s workout is another quickie workout that’s great to do if you’re short on time. I’ve shared other “Countdown” style workouts before, but if your’e not familiar with them, they work like this: you start with a certain number of reps that you complete for all of the exercises. On the second round, you drop the number of reps by 2. When you get down to the end, you add one final round with the number of reps you started with. It looks like this:

12-10-8-6-4-2-12

5-exercise-countdown-workout

You’ll notice that most of the exercises are combination moves (big bang for your buck!), so I’ve created some quickie Youtube videos to walk you through what the exercises look like. Do you think this is helpful? If so I’ll be sure to continue to do it!

I think that should do it- hopefully the videos helped!

As always, I like to hear from you! Did you try this? Do you want more workouts like this? Longer or shorter ones? Anything else you want to share/talk about?

Wednesday Workout: two 10-minute lower-body AMRAP workouts

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Hey there! Can you believe it’s Wednesday already?! Before I get to the workout, I want to remind you that EBF FIDI opens TOMORROW!!! The day is finally here! There are classes all day, but if you have time after work I’d LOVE for you to come to my 6:20pm BAGSXBEATS- I promise, it’ll be a blast!

And now for the workout. This was a lower-body focused workout that I did a while ago. Don’t be fooled by the 10 minute AMRAP aspect- if you load yourself up with heavy (for you) weights, you’ll feel spent by the end of the 20 minutes. Or if you are short on time, you can do just one of the 10 minute AMRAPS. Something is always better than nothing, so if you’ve only got 10 minutes, just bust it out!

two-10-minute-lower-body-amraps

Of course, if you don’t have weights you can always do the exercises with just your bodyweight!

Let me know if you have questions otherwise, check this out and let me know what you think!

Questions for you: Do you prefer upper body or lower body workouts?