Workout Wednesday July 17, 2013

Hello lovelies!  I'm back!  I feel like it's been forever since I posted but it's not for lack of trying...have any of my fellow bloggers been bitten by this stupid Google bug??  Seriously!?  I could not post for like 5 days and it was irritating as hell!  I literally shouted to all of you, "I'm STILL HERE!"

So, work out wise, I have really stepped it up and quite honestly, I can tell you that the changes I've made have seemed to make a huge difference in both my endurance and my strength...AND I think in just a few short weeks, I'M starting to notice the changes myself...



I know, right?!



It's this whole strength-training, shit - guess what?  It works.

For the past three weeks, I've been incorporating 3 strength training sessions into my workout week and I swear that has made such a huge difference.  Plus, I love that it's such a change to my cardio life.  In addition, I'm running 3x a week and, because I just love it so much, I take Zumba on Saturdays.

My Movestrong class continues to be so much fun; I love not knowing what we're going to be doing and get excited when we arrive to find out.  Saturday, this was our layout:

The workout consisted of 1 minute intervals of each:

1) Kneeling hamstring curls - those were harder than they looked.  Basically felt like your hammies were cramping the whole time.

2) Step up/downs with dumb bells on the three boxes

3) Ringed step jumps - I have no idea if this is the real name, but basically you put your foot into the ring, then using the other one, jump up and down off the step platform.

4) Flip the 165# tire back and forth - that's my fave!

5) Thigh crunches

6) Squats holding the 15# ball overhead

We did all of this twice and then,

7) We finished with plié squat intervals with 15 - 30# dumb bells - 2 sets of 10 reps

In between all of these, we did 30 seconds of squats and plié squats.  I'm pretty sure we did over 500 squats.  Then I followed it up with Zumba.  It was a great workout day!

My Crossfit trainer, Vanessa is amazing.  I seriously have a girl crush on her.  #dontjudge  She's hot and fit and funny - all things I aspire to be.  She is training our group for our Blood & Guts run in October and she basically has been putting us through tons of drills to work on our endurance and agility. I absolutely love Tuesday's trainings and I always look forward to what she's going to have us do.  Last night we did jumps, belly crawls, balance beam work, ice skaters and jump squats.  And, she's started throwing in some "penalties" for not being able to perform.  For instance, if we fell off the balance beam, we had to do 5 burpees.  No burpees for me, thank goodness, because they effing suck no matter how hard I try, I cannot do them gracefully. 

I think the thing I really love about these trainings is that I don't have to think about it.  I just show up and they tell me what to do, correctly, and I just go to it.

The rest of my workout week has been spent running; I am really loving my morning run especially since it has been so freaking HOT (we're talking humidity in the 90s even at 5:30 in the morning!) and my time has been improving:

71 degrees and cool...happy face...

This was this morning...pissed me off that I had to cut my run short, but it was SOO hot...like I was running in water, blah...

77 degrees and oppressive...yucky face...

The rest of my week will be bittersweet, our dear friends are moving to Colorado and I'm going to miss them so much!  I cry every time I think about it...she's been my gym rat buddy for my entire journey and things just won't be the same without her.  I promised her that I'd continue on without her here, though and we'll definitely be keeping each other in check!



Me & My Maria - March 2013 - Prison Bus Limo...cuz, that's how we rolllll...


Don't forget to check out this week's healthy recipe at A Healthy Makeover.  Make your own blackened seasoning - so much better tasting than any mixes you'll get in the store and no weird fillers!

http://ahealthymakeover.blogspot.com/2013/07/blackened-seasoning.html

Workout Wednesday - June 19, 2013

Hey Heyyyyyyy!  It's time for Workout Wednesday with Skinny Meg!

This week I traveled for 3 days but I still tried to get in some workouts.  On Thursday morning - this is a biggie, folks - I got up at 5:45 in the A.M. to get in a little Jillian before I headed out of town.  I am SO not a morning workout person...don't get me wrong, if it's the weekend, I'm all about waking up and getting in a workout...but I despise setting my alarm to workout.  So, this was a huge accomplishment for me!

Saturday was our University's Commencement ceremonies and although I was going to be on my feet for the entire day, I still got up early and went for a walk on the Potomac River/National Harbor here in DC...it was a gorgeous morning and I just couldn't resist!  This is the 2nd year in a row that my buddy Missy and I got out there to walk & enjoy the sunrise.

The Potomac at National Harbor, MD

I logged almost 1,500 workout calories that day - I decided to leave my HRM on all day and I vowed that I would not sit down except to eat...I even did laps around our Green Room during the ceremonies.

On Monday, a few friends and I decided that we'd try the MoveStrong class at our gym.  Have you seen this thing?  Here's a pic I found online and it's the exact same thing that my gym has:



MoveStrong - Google Image

 So, the great thing about this class is that it's a circuit of many of the apparatus's you see above.  Each person sets up at a station, the trainer times us and we do 1 minute of each exercise.  Between the stations, the trainer had us doing chair lunges, and weighted pliés.  We finished by doing 1/10 squats - Ohhh.Mah.Gah, I cannot tell you how amazing and awful I felt at the end of this 30 minute workout!  I literally walked away from this bizarro cagey thing with my shaky legs whilst they screamed, "What are you doing???  Stop!  Can't you feel us shaking!??  Um, please, stop???"

I cannot wait to own that Bitch again.

Last night I was starting to get sore from that contraption so we decided to just hit the gym and treadmill.  I thought running would help to keep my muscles warm, etc.  Yah, I think that worked, but by the end of the night, I put Hubs on Toilet Recon because I was sort of afraid I wouldn't be able to get up off it.

Today, I can barely move and for every step I take, I let out a little whimper...but, I love it.  Does anyone else love this feeling??

Can't wait to read about my linkup buddies' workouts!

Don't forget to check out this week's recipe at A Healthy Makeover!  A great Summer recipe!