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Archive for the ‘Workout’ Category

08.14.10 – Life

Sorry for the lull…I’ve been enjoying life. How, you ask?

Well…

Garden

My garden is insane. I’m going to have to start making fresh tomato sauce because I’m up to my eyeballs in tomatoes. My cucumbers are STILL producing, along with my green beans (and I have 15 bags of green beans frozen already!). Apparently I’m pretty good at this whole growing-your-own-food-thing.

Smoothies

It took me awhile to get my groove with smoothies-for-breakfast, but once I removed the protein powder and replaced it with greek yogurt, I was well on my way. Smoothie, along with some cereal (Oatmeal Squares are my favorite for this purpose) for crunch and substance make a delicious and easily portable breakfast for me on workdays. Although, admittedly, I skip the spinach on days I have early meetings, etc — the green smoothies draw a little too much attention. 🙂

My two favorite smoothies at the moment:

1. Peach/banana smoothie

– 1 fresh, ripe peach (could use frozen)

– 1/2 – 1 banana, ripe (could use frozen)

– 5 ice cubes

– 1 container peach flavored Chobani yogurt

– splash of milk

– 2 handfuls of baby spinach (optional)

Blend it all up and transfer to a bottle for transport

2. Orange/Pinapple/Banana smoothie

– 1/2 cup-ish frozen pineapple chunks

– 1/2 fresh navel orange, peeled

– 1 container pineapple Chobani yogurt

–  5 ice cubes

– splash of milk

– 2 handfuls baby spinach (optional)

Blend it all up and transfer to a bottle for transport

Working It Out

This is the plan I’m currently following…I’ve done it for 2 weeks already, and will continue for another 2 weeks. Then, a “fun” week — and then —  a week’s rest/vacation. Woohoo!

M: Shoulders, Abs +20 minutes HIIT

T: Chest, Biceps + 15 minutes SS (Steady State)

W: Power Yoga + 35 minutes hills cardio

Th: Legs + 10 minutes easy cardio (I don’t want to tire my legs out on ‘Leg’ day)

F:  Back, Triceps + 20 minutes HIIT

S: Rest

S: Rest, or, gentle yoga flow


3 sets

Shoulders/Abs

Shoulders

1. Smith Machine Military Press – 15 reps / 12 reps / 10 reps

2. One-Arm Dumbbell Lateral Raise – 15 reps / 12 reps / 10 reps

3. Cable Front Raise – 15 reps / 12 reps / 10 reps

4. Reverse Pec-Deck Flye – 15 reps / 12 reps / 10 reps

Abs

Tri-set:

1. Exercise-Ball Crunch – 15 reps

2. Lying Leg Lift – 15 reps

3. Dumbbell Oblique Crunch – 15 reps

Chest/Biceps

Chest

1. Machine Chest Press – 15 reps / 12 reps / 10 reps

2.  Cable Cross-over – 15 reps / 12 reps / 10 reps

3. Exercise-Ball Push-Up – 15 reps / 12 reps / 10 reps

Biceps

1. Cable Curl – 15 reps / 12 reps / 10 reps

2. Cable Hammer Curl – 15 reps / 12 reps / 10 reps

3. Seated Alternating Dumbbell Curl – 15 reps / 12 reps / 10 reps

Legs

Legs

1. Leg Press – 15 reps / 12 reps / 10 reps

2. Split Squat – 15 reps / 12 reps / 10 reps

3. Leg Extension – 15 reps / 12 reps / 10 reps

4. Leg Curl – 15 reps / 12 reps / 10 reps

5. Exercise-Ball Hamstring Curl – 15 reps / 12 reps / 10 reps

6. Seated Calf Raise – 15 reps / 12 reps / 10 reps

Back/Triceps

Back

1. Wide-Grip Lat Pulldown – 15 reps / 12 reps / 10 reps

2. Standing One-Arm Cable Row – 15 reps / 12 reps / 10 reps

3. Reverse-Grip Low Cable Row – 15 reps / 12 reps / 10 reps

Triceps

1. Pushdown – 15 reps / 12 reps / 10 reps

2. Cable Kickback – 15 reps / 12 reps / 10 reps

3. Seated Dumbbell Overhead Tricep Extension – 15 reps / 12 reps / 10 reps


Spending Time with the Best Pup Ever

Enter, Holly Doggle. The weather has been fantastic lately (even a preview of fall this week!!! So excited!!!) so I’ve been spending more time outside with her, walking her, playing with her, getting her together with the neighborhood dogs….all the things most people do with their children. LOL

Prepping for Babies

Okay, that might be a bit premature. But I did get the clear from my doctor for hubs and I to try whenever I’m ready, and I did finally, agonizingly, select a prenatal vitamin. I went with this one, which I bought at Target:

(Source)

It contains no iron, but the iron rips my stomach apart, AND my iron levels are really good right now. If I would get pregnant and need iron, I’d start it then. But there’s no reason now. Additionally,these gummies contain DHA. And, they taste delicious. 🙂

My doctor and I actually discussed that based on my diet, I probably didn’t need an all-encompassing prenatal multi. She told me I’d be fine just taking the folic acid supplement. But, I decided I wanted to take the DHA supplement, too, and the gummies were a better price selection than folic acid and DHA supplements bought individually. We’ll see how they work out.

Also in line with prepping for babies, hubs and I are working on refinancing our home. It’ll cut $50,000 off the life of the loan. That’s huge!!! But it also means paperwork, and appraisers, and all that schtuff that takes time in my evening.

And finally, regarding babies, we’ve been hardcore shopping for a new vehicle. My 2006 Cobalt SS coupe isn’t exactly a family car, so we’re actively seeking a new Rav-4 or Escape…leaning towards the Rav-4, and now we just need to decide if we look for a deal on a 2010, or, go with a brand new 2011. We will see!

What have you been up to lately??

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Welcome to August folks!

July kind of got away from me, there…

  • I went back to Pittsburgh to visit my fam and attend a family reunion. It was great to see everyone, but what’s even better is I convinced them to change it to Saturday afternoon (instead of Sunday afternoon) next year, to accomodate my travel (since I’m the only one who does travel!). Woot! I know it sounds kind of selfish, but there really was no reason we were doing it Sunday. It certainly didn’t hurt to ask if we could change it!
  • Came back late late late from seeing the fam, and threw myself right into the work week — and it was a hellacious work week. Weeks like that, I understand why people want to blog and write for a living. Crimeny.
  • I did manage to work out through hellacious-week-2010, but my heart really wasn’t in it, and even I realized I was just going through the motions
  • I didn’t sleep well, and found every evening to be jam packed with work, obligations, dog walking, cooking, and harvesting from my garden. Most nights I didn’t sit down until 10pm, thus no blogging. I really struggle with balancing out my day. That whole 8-hour work day with only a measly 1/2 hour lunch really cramps my style 😉

So I’m back – kind of. 🙂 I’ll post when I can, but life is just….busier…in the summer. And I won’t be making my pennies off this blog anytime soon, so penny-making comes first 🙂

Here’s how next week’s workouts are goin’ down:

Sunday: Power Yoga #5 from YogaDownload.com

Monday: 20m HIIT (elliptical) + Shoulders, Abs

Tuesday: 20m SS (steady state; moderate) cardio + Chest, Biceps

Wednesday: 20m HIIT (stationary bike) + Hot Power Fusion #1 (yoga) from YogaDownload.com

Thursday: 15m SS (easy) cardio + Legs, Glutes,Abs

Friday: 25m hills cardio (treadmill) + Back, Biceps


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…But not really.  🙂 That song was just on the radio and it’s a great thought, though!

I need to focus on getting some me-time this weekend. I love nothing more than curling up with a book, and it’s been too long since I’ve done it.

Time to make it a priority!

Also on the weekend list:

  • Chores/Errands/Food Prep for next week
  • Hopefully seeing Inception with hubs
  • Potentially having the IL’s over Sunday for crab legs (they love them. Me? Not so much. I dislike working that hard for my meat! LOL)

Eats

Citrucel on the way to work, as usual…

Breakfast

Red Berry + ½ banana + milk = yum

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Snack

Unpictured string cheese + handful of pretzels

Lunch

The world’s largest taco salad. Ever.

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In the mix:

  • Spinach
  • Leaf lettuce
  • Red + Yellow Peppers (From my garden!)
  • Cucumber (from my garden!)
  • Tomatoes
  • Salsa
  • Carrots
  • Sprinkle of Colby Jack cheese
  • Leftover black beans from last night’s dinner
  • Leftover mexican rice from last night’s dinner
  • Leftover pork barbacoa from last night
  • Guac!

Delicious. Filling. Huge. Definitely qualifies as veggie intake for today! I actually ended up eating ¾ of it at lunch (12:00) and finishing it later (2:00)

Snack

2 clementines + kashi granola bar – peanut peanut butter flavor (found in the depths of my purse during a meeting than ran WAY long)

Exercise

20 minutes on the stationary bike, SSM (steady state/moderate)

Hamstrings, Quads, + Glutes

3 sets; done as ‘giant sets’ or what I normally refer to as ‘circuits’: Complete each exercise 1 time with no rest between, rest briefly, and do it again and again.

Leg Press – 12

Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift – 12

Exercise Ball Wall Squat (on last rep, hold 30 seconds) – 15

Exercise Ball Triple Threat – 15

(Per M&F Hers, at least! This is when you do hamstring curls with the ball…except you do 15 with legs straight; lifting your hips off the ground as your feet are on the ball…then bend legs 90 degrees and lift hips while keeping legs on the ball…then stretch legs out straight, lift hips, and slowly curl the ball in to your butt as you bend your knees)

I’m not gonna lie…when I saw this workout in M&F Hers, I thought it looked a little weak.

I was wrong.

Those 3-part hamstring curls on the ball are KILLER.

Did some stretching (especially for my knotted up back) and then went home and walked the pup for 30 minutes. She lives for when I get home and spoil her with outside time. LOL

Dinner

Easy dinner tonight – Smart Taste spaghetti with meat sauce (lean ground beef). I didn’t even bother making salad…after that huge lunch salad! And we had no bread in the house (because I wasn’t home to make any last weekend) so it was simple tonight 🙂

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Hopefully tonight’s agenda involves my book. I miss it so. 🙂

Cool Links

5 Reasons Why Athletes Should Do Yoga

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Sorry for that extended delay!

Friday

There was no exercise…just a 4-hour car trip to see the fam

Saturday

Was supposed to do a bike ride with Dad, but plans were changed. Successfully saw mom, dad (my parents are divorced), grandma, AND my bestie for her birthday. Successful day! My grandma really wanted me to go through some of her collectibles/antiques with her and see what I wanted, so I brought some items home with me.

Sunday

Family reunion action! Know what’s funny? Attending my family reunion this year let me see how skewed and – dare I say – flawed, approaches to food are in my family. I literally never saw it before, but watching people eat at the reunion, it dawned on me. No wonder I had weight problems as a child.Example? My mom sits down beside me. I notice there’s another full plate of food beside her. I ask, “Who’s plate is that” She looks at me like I’ve gone insane and says “Mine. I couldn’t fit everything on one plate.”

ACK!?

She ate both plates in like 15 minutes, ate two pieces of cake, and proceeded to moan about how full she was.

Oy.

Left the reunion after dinner was served and drove back home – arriving at 11:30 p.m. We went to bed at 1am, and went into work late Monday.

Monday

Flew by – arrived at work late, work was crazy. I had a lot of ‘catch up’ stuff to do after work so I…

  • Went to the gym and did a moderate 35 minutes on the elliptical
  • Stopped at the store for produce (Sorry farmer’s market…your ‘on’ days don’t jive when I’m out of town)
  • Vacuumed all the dog hair (thanks Holly) out of my car and gassed it up
  • Went home and checked on my garden and harvested FIVE more cucumbers! Also had to re-tie the worlds heaviest tomato plant. It keeps falling over!
  • Did “Yoga for Back Pain” again – I’m having trouble with knots all along the top ‘ridge’ of my butt…and they’re painful.
  • Prepped for Tuesday, and spent some time with the hubs

Tuesday

Now that we’re all caught up…here’s some eats!

Citrucel on the way to work 7:45 a.m.

Breakfast 8:30 a.m.

I’ve been experimenting with the smoothies-as-meals situations. Some things I’ve noticed:

  • Using protein powder in them hurts my stomach
  • More than 2-3 handfuls of spinach also hurts my stomach
  • I always make too much
  • Even adding oats, it doesn’t fill me up as a meal. I need something alongside of it.

Today’s smoothie was perfect though….and it all fit in my blender bottle (rather than having extra like I always seem to!)

  • 2 large handfuls baby spinach
  • 5 ice cubes
  • 1 container vanilla greek yogurt
  • Splash of milk
  • ½ banana
  • ½ c. frozen blueberries

Blend and serve…with the world’s-greatest-textured-cereal: Oatmeal Squares!

IMAG0044

This breakfast took me 2 hours to eat, and kept me perfectly full. I’ll be re-visiting this one again soon.

Lunch 12:00 p.m.

Smart Taste penne with a little marinara and leftover chicken meatballs from last week. Sprinkle of mozzarella cheese…and a carrot on the side

IMAG0045

…and ½ this bag. ‘Tis that time of the month folks.

IMAG0047

I will note that I’ve been doing much better with my recommitment goals. But the Monthly Green Eyed Monster can only be denied for so long. 😉

Snack 3:45 p.m.

½ a clif bar + perfectly ripe nectarine

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Exercise 4:45 p.m.

15 minutes of HIIT on the elliptical

Back + Abs

3 sets, done as compound sets (i.e., two exercises alternating until all three sets are complete, then move onto the next set of two exercises)

Wide Grip Lat Pull-Down – 12

V-Sit – 15

 

Back Extension (on exercise ball) – 12

Exercise Ball Plank – 40 seconds

 

Barbell Bent-Over Row – 15

Exercise Ball Rope Crunch – 12

 

Hanging Leg Raise (I did these in a Captains Chair…my gym doesn’t have a hanging apparatus) – 15

Bent Over Dumbbell Skier – 15

1h @ the gym = 385 calories burned

Headed home to hydrate and walk the pup.

Dinner 7:30 p.m.

Taco night! Woot!

IMAG0052

Pork Barbacoa tacos (with guac, tomato, salsa, lettuce, cheese, sour cream) with Mexican jasmine rice and black beans

Feast!

This evening

  • Freeze leftover baked beans from reunion
  • Pack foodies for tomorrow / pack gym clothes / lay out work clothes
  • Heat and biofreeze for my sore back
  • *Hopefully* getting some time to read. I think it’s been over a week!!

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Yesterday I was schedule to do some Strength + Hills work for the last week of SSU 2010. Problem is – I hurt my back on Thursday doing burpees. Damn things. Anyway, I was pretty sore, and rocking a nice set of 3 muscle knots over each buttock (weird, I know) which made all bending movement painful. Since the plan for Monday included lower body/hip work, I knew it wasn’t going to work.

So I compromised. I never do that. I always stick to the original training plan. But yesterday I actually listened to my body.

I ended up doing 30 minutes of quick-walking-hills on the treadmill (which felt fine for my back) and then headed home and did a lovely 30-minute yoga for back pain. Worth the $2.99 folks. Seriously.

Finished up my evening with heating pad and then BioFreeze…and I’m feeling pretty good today. 🙂 Woohoo! And proof that I’m not always bull-headed and stubborn. 🙂

Here’s how today went dooooooownnnn….

Citrucel on the way to work 7:45 a.m.

Breakfast 9:00 a.m.

There was chaos the instant I walked in the door this a.m….but luckily I managed to get to my bfast by 9. Just a bowl of red berry with the freshest, ripest, in-season-est peach ever on top. And milk. 🙂

IMAG0035

No time for snack today 😦

Lunch 11:50 a.m.

A bit early today for lunch because of a meeting…I went with my delicious chicken taco salad from the Market. Nom.

Sadly, whoever made my salad today was cheap with the chicken. Which meant when my meeting let out at 1:45, I was starved. Lack of protein = bad.

Snack 1:45 p.m.

String cheese and a few straggly pretzels from yesterday’s lunch soothed the beast for the time being.

IMAG0036

Snack 3:45 p.m.

½ a chocolate brownie Clif bar and some grapes. The Clif bars have become a bit of a mainstay because they keep me going on strength training days better than anything else. But I only need half. It’s perfect.

IMAG0037

Exercise 4:45 p.m.

I did “Day 1” of Gina’s Summer Shape Up 2010 Week 4 today. Im bummed that I wont have a ready-made plan to follow starting next week. LOL

Any reccs for me as to what I should give a try next?

Gina’s plan was good for me because it forced me to do more of what I never make time for (yoga) and what I hate doing (speed work). I’ve considered keeping her ‘schedule’ and incorporating my own exercises, but I’m open to trying something different, too.

Life is just busy enough in the summer that I don’t feel like creating my own training plans!

1h10m@ the gym = 453 calories burned. Woot! (It’s that damn speed work. I hate it, but it’s effective.)

Headed home to walk the pup.

Dinner 7:30 p.m.

I was geekily excited for this dinner. I made chicken meatballs from How Sweet It Is – and we were having meatball subs and salad. And then hubs requested oven fries. Oookay….so carb-o-matic dinner, here we go!

IMAG0038

It was deeeeeelicious! The chicken meatballs were amazing. I wasn’t so sure when I was mixing the ingredients, but man….fantastic! And I made them/cooked them off on Sunday, so all they needed was a re-heat tonight. The salad was fresh and locally amazing (there’s nothing like local produce) and featured a few of my own garden bounties – jalapenos and cucumber! And the oven fries were ‘fried’ deliciousness, made in my oven. LOL

Probably more heating pad and biofreeze for me this evening…and a little packing as well. We’re headed to see my family this weekend and attend a family reunion, so I’ve got to start getting things in order. It’s amazing how much stuff needs taken care of when you go away for the weekend!

Cool Links

What the average American consumes in a year

I’m doing a Good Earth giveaway on my food blog – check it out!

What makes you eat more?

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I’ve tried to be a good sport about this heat wave. I’m thankful to work indoors, and to have central air at my house, and working a/c in my car (which is more than a lot of people have, I know).

All that being said, though – Ive had enough. It’s too hot outside to live (although apparently my dog doesn’t understand that concept, and still wants to BE outside) and the gym is a sweltering 85 degrees every.damn.day.

Enough already!!!

/temper tantrum over 🙂

Citrucel on the way to work 7:45 a.m.

Breakfast 8:45 a.m.

‘Nother bowl (last bowl) of Total Raisin Bran with my last banana. It was tasty, but a little too sugary on the raisins for me. I do love my cereal though.I’ve tried to become a green monster or oatmeal convert…but I just love my cereal so much! 😦

Snack 10:45 a.m.

I pulled out a string cheese to munch on, and discovered the packaging was open. Sad. I threw it away. 😦

Lunch 12:15 p.m.

It looks a little weird, admittedly. It’s a whole (huge) sweet potato, cooked using Kath’s low and slow method, with a leftover lean beef burger from the weekend. The heat has kind of been draining my appetite, and that’s all that sounded good.

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Snack 3:45 p.m.

A quickly devoured Kashi Dark Chocolate Coconut granola bar and lots of water –  despite hydrating up for my workouts, Ive been having trouble with nausea afterwards from the heat. 😦

Exercise 4:45 p.m.

It’s way too hot to do this speed workout outside. It’s nearly too hot to do it inside. And I bet I looked like a maniac constantly switching around. Oh well 🙂

5m warmup (I’m using the elliptical instead of running, because I don’t run anymore. So I did all of the ‘running’ aspects on the elliptical at various speeds/resistances)

45s sprint

1m jog

30s burpees

30s tricep dips

1m jog

30s walking lunges with knee lift

30s tuck jump

1m jog

30s sprint

30s tricep dip

2m jog

45s sprint

45s jump squats

45s mountain climbers

2m jog or walk (easy)

1m sprint

30s tricep dip

30s pushups

30s burpees

5m jog (easy)

5 minutes on the treadmill to get my heart to stop leaping out of my chest…

And lots of stretching and wiping the sweat off everything – including me. By the time I got to pushups I almost fell flat on my face b/c my hands were slippery and I didn’t realize it. LOL

50 minutes at the gym = 393 calories burned

And  A LOT of water consumed!

I ended up slowing the circuits down (above) to account for the heat and humidity in the gym. It’s supposed to be a workout – not death!

Headed home and prepped all my schtuff (food, clothes, gym clothes)for tomorrow, then made dinner…

Dinner 7:30 p.m.

Old Bay seasoned mahi mahi filets, wild rice and garlic green beans

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After dinner I took the pup for a walk (since she’s insane and loves this weather…I kept it short for MY sake, though!) and then came home and watered my garden….just enough to keep it from wilting in the mid-day heat!

The weathermen claim the heat wave is breaking tomorrow/Saturday…I hope so! 🙂

Finshing off the evening with a chocolate yogurt. Nom.

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And I don’t mean this guy:

Triple H

history-and-biography-of-triple-h1

(source)

I mean the dreaded..

Hazy

Hot

Humid

The east coast is sweltering this week, folks! The gym was closed yesterday, so I did a cool-as-a-cucumber yoga session in my living room, but today, it’s back to the gym. Which may or may not be cooler than the outside temp – the past 3 weeks it’s been over 80 degrees in there.

Yikes.

So, just because we can all use the reminder….some tips for exercising in this mess:

(source)/ (source)/ my own common sense

  1. Stay hydrated! General rule of thumb is 8 oz. of water for every 15 minutes of activity in extreme heat!
  2. Exercise in the morning or late at night … to avoid the heat of the day. This isn’t really an option for me, and it was already 80 at 7am today, but if it works for you, go for it!
  3. Slow down – maybe don’t try for that PR on the hottest day of the year, ok? 🙂
  4. Wear light, breathable clothing – and sweat wicking, if you have it! This keeps you feeling cooler.
  5. Assess your body – don’t forget to listen to your body! Are you tired? Feeling sick? Dizzy? Then stop. It’ll be there tomorrow, or the next day. 🙂
  6. Dont forget to abide by weather warnings. If your local weather man tells you there’s a heat warning…maybe reconsider your outdoor run at 4pm, eh?

Alright, now that we’re done with education…

Here’s how today went down:

Citrucel on the way to work 7:30 (I was early today!)

Breakfast 8:30 a.m.

Total Raisin Bran, milk, ½ a banana

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Lunch 12:00 p.m.

Big side salad (leaf lettuce, grape tomatoes, 3 kinds of peppers, carrots, cucumber a few croutons) with red wine vinaigrette and… fish sticks.

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LMAO. I love it.

Seriously, though…hubs and I have had a hankering for fish sticks lately, so I picked up a box of Dr. Praeger’s to try. I figured they’re the closest thing to a healthy fish stick I could find in a frozen food section.

They were really, really good! And totally helped the craving.

Finished up lunch with an unpictured piece of taffy from a co-worker who just got back from vacation. It was soft and chewy…I don’t think I’ve ever had taffy that fresh before!

Snack 3:45 p.m.

½ a chocolate chip clif bar from the depths of my purse. I have no idea how long it’s been there. I prefer not to think about it.

Exercise 4:45 p.m.

I am on week 3 of Gina’s Summer Shape Up 2010 and having a blast! My only regret is it has been too hot to do the speed work days outside…and it’s a little cumbersome to do them in the gym, so I’ve been improvising. I am loving the two days of yoga I get every week though!

Today I chose to tackle Strength + Speed

5 minutes warm up cardio

3 sets of 12, done as constantly moving circuits:

Split Squat

Sumo Squat + Leg Raise

Stability Ball Hamstring Curl

Pilates Side Leg Lift (10 raises, then 10 circles forward and 10 back, keeping hips stacked)

The Sprinter

Bosu Calf Raise

Hip Raise on Stability Ball with Weighted Bar

HIIT – 5 minute warm up on the bike

          15 minutes HIIT

          5 minute cool down

Holy mother of sweat it was hot in the gym today. I’ll be spending my whole evening rehydrating after that!

1h20m@ the gym = 550 calories burned

Since it’s hotter than Hades outside today, I knew I couldn’t walk the doggle or water my garden when I got home, so I headed home and packed my lunch, prepped my clothes and gym clothes for tomorrow, did dishes, made dinner, ate, and finally got to water my garden at 8:15 p.m. The pup didn’t get a walk, but she ran with the neighbor dog for awhile, and I chased her skinny butt all over the yard.

Whew.

And if I’m being honest, it was still craptastically hot. Whew!

Came in from my sweat-fest for a quick shower, and was rewarded by the hubs with a fresh peach milkshake.

Divine!

Cool Links

I love this site – it shows you families and their food by month. It’s really amazing to see 🙂

Neat pro/con list for the Insanity workout – I haven’t forked out the dough yet to try it, but maybe??

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Hello! Believe it or not – I didn’t fall off the face of the earth. 🙂

As I mentioned in my last post, last week was a doozie…here’s how it went down:

 

Sunday: Did Core Yoga knew there’d be no time Wednesday…walked/sprinted the pup (sprinted because we got caught in the rain! ACK!)

Monday: Strength and 20 minutes of cardio….walked the pup

Tuesday: Speed work on the stationary bike at the gym, prepped as much of life as possible for Wednesday because it was busy…walked the pup.

Wednesday: No exercise. Bad meeting schedule at work (things actually OVERLAPPED this day). Ran home from work in the p.m., walked the dog, throw my pre-packed snacks in my bag, and headed to a baseball game with friends (the tix included beer and wings…and i hate wings. so I took food!)

Thursday: Another stressful work schedule day, plus a hair appointment at 4:30 and an insanely-late strength training + cardio session. My hair appointment was over early for some reason, so I got to the gym fast and busted out a circuit of my speed workout. I did 5 minutes warm-up, one whole circuit of strength, then 5 more minutes cardio, and so on and so forth for a total of 1 hour at the gym. Perfect!

Friday: Was supposed to be a speed day. I had a doctor’s appointment at 3:15 (had bloodwork done for a physical and it came back PHENOMENALLY good. Go healthy me!) so I got out of work early…went to run some errands before stopping at home and changing for the gym. Except, when I stopped at home, I ended up sitting down with the hubs and completely passing out on the couch until almost 7. Um..oops? I knew I was tired, but geeze. So no exercise Friday. Instead I walked Holly briskly, and then made baked beans for a party on Saturday, ran some more errands, did laundry, etc.

Saturday: Ran all my errands in the a.m., then headed to a pool party/cook-out all afternoon and evening. I was supposed to do a stretch routine for Summer Shape Up today, and didn’t fit it in, but I made sure the full 2.5 hours I was in the pool I was moving in some fashion. I can’t swim, so it wasn’t exactly laps, but still!

Sunday: In-laws were supposed to come over, but cancelled at the last minute, so hubs did some house work and I prepped food for the week and took it easy.

Monday: Gym is closed, and while I’m extremely tempted to take another rest day, I feel like I missed a lot last week. So today I’ll be doing one of my Stretch days for week 3 of the Summer Shape Up 2010 (as soon as I finish this post, in fact!)

 

Here’s how the rest of the week is (hopefully) going down…

Tuesday: Strength + Speed day for SSU 2010

Wednesday: Strength (I hated to put these back-to-back but it’s the only way my schedule works this week, what with the gym closed on Monday!)

Thursday: Speed

Friday: Strength + Hills

 

I have one more week of Summer Shape Up, and I’ve really enjoyed the variety it has. That being said, I can tell I’m not as defined as I was when I was lifting more often, and lifting heavier…I can’t decide which I like better!

Garden

Apparently I need to keep a closer eye on my cucumber plant. Holy cucumbers, Batman!

cucumber

My tomatoes are starting, and I have 6(!) baby watermelons out there as well. 🙂 Jalapenos have been in for weeks, and still producing…no green beans yet, though! Or broccoli! DH and I were just discussing that we don’t think we’ve ever known anyone who grew broccoli at home. LOL I guess we’ll see if it works!

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Heeeellloo! 🙂

Pretty average Thursday, aside from the (relatively mild) migraine I’m battling. I’d love to just lay down in a dark room – but I’ve been dreaming about that since 7am! Isn’t meant to be, today!

Citrucel on the way to work 7:45 a.m.

Breakfast 8:15 a.m.

Early brekkie today because I was go-go-go to meetings all morning.

Bowl of red berry, ½ banana, milk

Snack 10:45 a.m.

Kashi Dark Chocolate Cherry

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Lunch 12:30 p.m.

My co-workers were kind enough to pick me up my scrumptious taco salad at the farmer’s market today….while I was on a conference call. LOVE the co-workers! 🙂

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Snack 3:45 p.m.

½ a peanut butter clif bar (found in the depths of my purse. Is that gross? Oh well.)

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Exercise 4:45 p.m.

My head was rockin but sometimes exercise helps so I thought I’d give it a go.

I warmed up on the stationary bike for 5 minutes, then dove into my strength routine for today, per the SSU 2010:

3 sets x 12 reps

Lunge & Lift

Pile Squat

Side Leg Lift (with 10 front circles and 10 back circles each)

Stability ball hamstring curl (2 sets with both legs on the ball, one set with 1 leg)

Frog Crunch

Bosu Calf Raise

Leg Extensions

Prone Glute Lift

Made it through my strength work out with my migraine, but I definitely increased my rest time to prevent the head pounding.

For my cardio I kept it simple and did hills on the treadmill at a brisk walking pace. 20 minutes

1h20m @ the gym = 492 calories burned

Hubs walked the pup for me, and it rained today so I headed home to prep dinner, and pack my grub for tomorrow. Oh, and cut up an incredibly ripe cantaloupe. Mmmm…

Dinner 8:00 p.m.

Late again because Hubs had an evening meeting. We had leftover spiced roasted chicken thighs, roasted potatoes, and salad. I combined all of the above into a monster salad– hubs ate it like a normal meal 🙂

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I’m off to rest…here’s hoping my migraine is gone tomorrow! My poor co-workers worked in the dark today so I wouldn’t have to deal with the fluorescent lights!

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So…couple of things:

1. I barely slept a wink last night. Stressed, too hot, dog was walking around, etc…I’m tired and it’s 9:30, so this has to be quick.

2. I normally write my posts at work while I’m taking a break…no breaks today…thus, no witty post 🙂

Citrucel on the way to work – 7:45 a.m.

Breakfast – 8:30 a.m.

whole wheat blueberry waffles with real maple syrup…and I forgot to photograph before digging in!

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Snack – 10:30 a.m.

Greek yogurt (I had one more cup of this brand…I’d had dozens of coupons for it!) with really-amazingly-delicious-in-season blueberries. The same ones that made my green monster magical earlier this week.

IMAG0144 Lunch – 12:00 p.m.

Leftover lemon roasted chicken, leftover green beans, brown rice. Not much to look at, but tasty and filling.

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Snack – 3:45 p.m.

The other 1/2 of my white chocolate / macadamia nut clif bar

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Exercise – 4:45 p.m.

Still working on the SSU 2010 – today’s focus was Stretch

I stopped at the gym on my way home and did 20 moderate minutes on the elliptical, stretched my back/hammies briefly, and then headed home to do Yoga for Runners.

Finished up to the tune of 256 calories burned. Measly, but the yoga felt good 🙂

Walked the pup for about 20 minutes, but it was HAWT here today and she wasn’t feeling it. Neither was I, to be honest.

Dinner – 7:45 p.m.

Mmmm….. grilled herbed shrimp, risotto with peas, and garlic sautéed green beans

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Going to do a little Outlander reading, and then off to bed!

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