Tag: workout

Wednesday Workout: 20 Minute Full Body DB AMRAP Workout

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Good morning! I hope you’re all having a good week so far.

Today’s workout is one I did a little while ago when I was doing my one of many at-home workouts. Speaking of, when did I become such an at-home workout person?! I used to always go to the gym for my workouts, but I feel like now that we have a spin bike and some heavier weights I can get a pretty decent workout in at-home. On top of this it saves me SO MUCH TIME, which if you read my post on Monday, you’ll know that time is of the essence these days. Even though I want to get bigger and stronger muscles, having some additional free time is more important so therefore I cut my workouts short to allow for that. I don’t believe in the “I’m too busy” excuse trap because I feel that if it’s something we really, truly want to do we will make time. So I’m not too busy to get to the gym for long, intense strength training sessions, it’s just that I would rather do short workouts (but effective) so that I have more time to do other things.

Anyway, that rant really had nothing to do with today’s workout, lol 🙂 For this workout, you’ll just need a set or two of dumbbells (or a Kettlebell would work too) and a mat. You’ll then set your timer for 20 minutes and get to work, moving from one exercise to the next resting as needed, but trying to rest as little as possible so as to keep the heart rate up so that a primarily strength workout becomes strength AND cardio. Two birds, one stone!

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I think all of these moves are pretty standard B2B exercises, but if you have questions don’t hesitate to ask!

Here’s to hump day!

Questions for you: Do you prefer at home workouts or do you prefer going to the gym?

Wednesday Workout: Spin Bootcamp

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Hi there! As most of you know by now, I was able to purchase a used bike from The Handlebar indoor cycling studio back in December. While I am not a regular spinner, I do enjoy it and it is something I want to get more into as I get more practice, which is exactly why I bought the bike. That, and the fact that it was an incredible deal and the perfect piece of cardio equipment for our apartment. It seriously makes working out at home SO much easier!!

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This workout was one that I did quickly on a Sunday- a day I don’t normally workout, but I was feeling energetic so I took advantage of that and busted out this workout. It can be any length you want, although the songs you choose & how many you choose to use will ultimately determine how long the workout is. The format of the workout is fun because you’re switching things up by song, so mentally you know you just have to get through the song before you can switch to something else. I think this is why it flew by for me- I kept having good songs pop on my playlist which kept me going!

Here are a few screenshots of what’s currently on my most recently downloaded songs- you’ll notice some older songs, which are always fun in my BAGSxBEATS classes!

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But, feel free to use whatever is on your playlist that gets you going! Here’s the outline of what I did:

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As you can see, you can alternate this pattern of on the bike/off the bike for as long as your workout time allows. In terms of your time off the bike, I would do about 16 reps per exercise and repeat until the song ended, but if you would rather go by time you could do that as well. There is obviously tons of room to play with this workout, so if you try it I want to know what you did differently or the same! I promise you won’t be bored with this 🙂

Questions for you: Are you motivated by music during your workouts? 

Wednesday Workout: Descending Rep Total Body Workout

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Good morning and happy Wednesday! I have so many workouts to share with you guys that I might have to start posting them twice a week 😉 I have to say that I really enjoyed the format of this workout. What I mean by “descending” is that each round you’ll decrease the number of reps performed for each exercise. We go from 12 reps to 10 reps to 8 reps…. etc. all the way down, but instead of ending with just 2 reps (where’s the fun in that?!), you’ll do 12 reps again.

In addition to enjoying the format of the workout, I liked the upper and lower combo moves because doing them always jacks up my heart rate- more bang for your buck, especially if you’re short on time like I normally am!

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Here are a few explanations in case you’re confused by any of the combo moves:

  • Chest press & leg lowers- for this you’ll start out on your back with your legs lifted straight above your hips and your arms straight above your shoulders/chest. Since you’re working multiple things here, I’d suggest keeping it a littler lighter for the chest press weight. There are two options for doing this exercise: 1. you’ll lower your legs and bring your arms closer to your chest at the same time- this is advanced since it requires a lot of core strength to ensure your lower back stays glued to the mat or 2. you can do a chest press and then do a leg lower, as separate exercises.
  • Goblet clean & squat
  • Bent over rows- For these you’ll hold a weight in both hands and hinge forward at the waist, keeping a slight bend in the knees and keeping your chest open and shoulders pulled back. Engage your lats & squeeze your shoulder blades together as your pull your elbows back. make sure you’re going slow and controlled here!
  • Russian twist & press- This is just taking your standard Russian twist & adding a little more onto it. After your twist right, you’ll come back through center and press the weight up overhead. Then, you’ll bring it down and twist left.

This workout shouldn’t take you much longer than 20-25 minutes; if it takes you much less time than that, consider upping your weights and if it takes you longer than that, you might want to consider dropping your weight a bit.

I hope you try this!

Question for you: Would you like to see more workouts on the blog or keep it as is?

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Still on cloud 9

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Trying something new is always a little scary, right? Fear of the unknown, fear of potential “failure”, fear of doing something incorrectly, etc. And because of this, because of these fears, we often are held back from trying something new. It’s so much easier and more comfortable sticking with something we know, right? I get it. But the thing is- and I’ve talked about this a lot on B2B- always sticking to what we know and are comfortable with leaves little room for change or growth. These things happen when we get a little bit outside of our comfort zone and see all that we are able to do if we just try.

A perfect example of this for me is teaching fitness classes. Over the years I have grown so much as an instructor- whether it’s my cues, my interaction with the participants, the formatting techniques or even my own form, I sometimes feel like a totally different instructor when I first started… which certainly isn’t a bad thing, lol. However, this growth didn’t come from keeping and teaching the same class or classes week after week. In fact, sometimes I think those hold me back from becoming a better and stronger instructor because they allow me to get too comfortable. The classes tend to be mostly regulars so I know exactly what they can and cannot do and often find myself skipping through some of the different cues and introductions that I normally do because these members have been with me for many years and “know the drill” as I like to joke with them.

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And this is exactly why I signed up to teach a class at Janji through MoveWith. While I knew there would be some familiar faces in the crowd, I had a feeling there would be people who were brand new or just newer to my classes, which changes things up drastically with regards to the way I teach/approach the class. I’m brought back to the basics- introducing myself, the class format, explaining some of the exercises in advance, giving more cues, etc. I want to make sure that I am addressing everyone’s potential needs/wants, and because I don’t know specifically what those things are, I need to give lots of variations, options, cues, etc., all with the hope that everyone gets what they want out of the class.

Out of the 14 participants in class last week, only FOUR had taken my classes before, meaning I was essentially teaching to an entirely new group of fighters. I LOVED THIS!!! It challenged me to be the best instructor I could be and I thrived off of their energy as we got to know each other a little better. During the warm up, I worked us through all of the punches, kicks, bodyweight exercises and general lingo I’d be using. I also had them set intentions so that they could have something to work for. Whether it’s to do the burpees, punch stronger or to just finish class, I feel very strongly about setting that intention so you can be fighting for something.

The class went better than I could’ve expected. Everyone was on fire and it absolutely fired me up as well. They were also such good sports when it came to navigating a very crowded room and even worked out down the hallway to get more space- serious dedication if you ask me!

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I left the class feeling so grateful. Grateful to have been able to meet so many people. Grateful for the amazing MoveWith community. Grateful that Janji let us sweat in their awesome space. But most of all, I was grateful for the fact that I stepped out of my comfort zone and tried something new, because without doing that, I would’ve have been able to have such an amazing experience.

I challenge you to think of something that maybe you’ve been avoiding because you’re scared of the unknown associated with that particular thing, and then I want you to think about what it would be like if you tried/did it. If you think there’s any inkling of a chance that it could be a really good thing, then I urge you to try/do it. It might turn out even better than you expect.

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Thank you to MoveWith for creating such a wonderful, strong fitness community- 2017 is off to a great start and I can’t wait to continue to meet more people through hosting more original classes. If you’re in the Boston area, I’m hosting another class on Wednesday, February 8th at 6:30pm at the Janji popup store on Newbury Street. You can sign up here. If you plan on attending, I’d sign up sooner rather than later because space is limited!

Also, I was featured on the MoveWith blog last week- check out this post to see what I had to say: How to put your fears behind you

Wednesday Workout: 15 Minute AMRAP DB Blast

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Good morning! It’s been a while since I’ve blogged, huh? With RM’s birthday, Christmas, Florida and then NYE, I was more than ready for a break from anything other than those things. I have the intentions of recapping the wedding and our Florida mini vacation as well as reflect on 2016, but for now, a workout will have to do 😉

As you’ve probably seen on Instagram, right before Christmas I bought us a spin bike. The Handle-Bar spin studio was selling some of their older bikes for an incredible deal so I had to jump on it. RM was a bit reluctant at first, but now that it’s in our place and all cleaned up, he’s almost as excited as I am. It’s perfect because it doesn’t take up a lot of space, it can be moved around easily and it’s another thing that saves me from needing to go to the gym since I can get some cardio in without even having to leave the house 🙂

This workout started with about 20 minutes of spinning, using the first 6 songs on the song list below:

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Once that was over, I did the following 15 minute AMRAP using just a set of dumbbells:

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Few notes:

  • Man-maker- hold a weight on each hand and squat until the weights come to the ground. From there, jump back and do 1 push-up. A true man-maker means you’ll do a row on each arm, but I skipped that part so after the push-up I just jumped my feet back in to a low squat position, stood up and did an overhead press.
  • Bicep curl -> bend side arm raise- You’ll do the top part of a bicep curl, so start at a 90* arm bend and curl up to your shoulders. When you get back down to 90*, lift your elbows up so that the upper part of your arms are parallel to the ground and your forearms are parallel to each other. Bring them back down and start over.
  • Reverse lunge with OH weight- you’ll just hold a weight overhead while you do reverse lunges.

I gave myself 15 seconds between rounds because the 5 man-makers back to back left me compromising form so I took the 15 seconds to catch my breath and make sure my form was not compromised.

This was such a fun workout- and a perfect way to kick off my workouts of 2017!

Questions for you: What was your first workout of 2017? Do you have any at home cardio equipment? What’s your favorite workout song right now?