As many of you know, I have been working out during my lunch hour with my bff for almost a year. We really like this as we can head home immediately after work instead of hoofin' it to the gym. It also seems to energize me and it's a nice way to break up the day.
Is it rushed? A little bit. Do you get sweaty? Of course, but that's what showers are for. Most of all though, it's worth it.
We tend to do "short" (read: under 30 minutes) but high intensity workouts. This maximizes our time, but at the same time, since we are on a tight schedule and need to get there, change, workout, shower, change and get back to our offices within an hour. Additionally, the gym is at our work is about a five to six minute walk to get there; all something to take into account as an hour goes by quickly.
Lately, we've been making up some really difficult workouts and challenging ourselves (as I type this my butt is so sore from all the walking lunges, squats and stairs we did two days ago; you know what they say, the second day is the worst!). I thought I would share with you some of our recent workouts:
Related posts:
* Fitness update (more workouts like above).
* Workout update (more workouts like above).
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Hi everyone! Thought I would give you an update on my workout routine as it's been a while since the last one.
After my trip to Dominican, I kind of fell of the workout band wagon. Instead of going three to four times a week, I was down to once a week or less (gasp!). However, after Christmas I got back into the swing of things and seem to be back on track.
I wanted to share with you a few workouts I have been doing lately. I've been really trying to push myself as I find doing the same workouts over and over again eventually are not challenging and my goal is to be sore the next day so I know I pushed myself and worked hard.
Most of these workouts I made up myself, but sometimes I find various ones on the Internet and Instagram.
Every year there is an annual charitable baseball tournament at my work. We pay a team fee (works out to about $20 each) and play for the afternoon. Depending on how many games you win, you either continue playing or are out.
This is the fourth year our team has played together and after always coming in second every year, we were determined to win it this year. And we did just that! After four exciting, athletically challenging and sweaty games, we prevailed and won in the finals! So exciting and our team name (The Masterbatters, clever, right?) will now be on the trophy, finally!
Yes, we are giving, 'The Shocker' as it is our team hand logo. Haha.
Just over a month ago, I told you all about my running routine and what I was doing to keep fit. Unfortunately, a knee injury (simply from running) put me on the side lines about a week later, and I haven't run since. I know knee issues are not something you should mess with and it's important to listen to your body and give yourself time to heal (don't push yourself). On the bright side, it's been a bit of a nice break from running and I have switched up my routine to accommodate.
I have been working out with my running friend on our lunch hours still, but focusing on strength training. We don't go to the gym, we simply use a secluded spot near our gym at work to get our fitness on. All the moves we do are with our own body resistence and actually very challenging. We are certainly keeping our heart rates up and breaking a mad sweat.
I wanted to share with you some of our workouts as people often ask us what we do or where we get our ideas.
Our favourite workouts come from Instagram: OneFitMom (girl is fit, let me tell you). I simply take a screen shot of the workouts she posts (like above) and we keep my phone close by during the workouts and bang it out.
Lately, when we want to spice things up, we use other avenues, including making up our own, similarly inspired, workouts (like below; how cute is the bottom one my friend made for today?!). We always do the set three times and it always includes things we hate or struggle with (for me, that's the plank, for sure) mixed in with more enjoyable moves.
I have been running for about a year and a half. I ran for almost two years and gave it up for a year before taking it up again. Never in my life did I think I could be 'a runner'. I used to look at people who ran and think, 'How can they run?' And then silently, 'I could never do that...' And here we are several years later, and I'm running. Whoa.
If you read my blog, you might know that I workout but I'm often dragging my butt to the gym (or to the streets) to get my fitness on. It's not that I don't like being active, I do, I love being in shape and being healthy but I also suffer from that thing most people do: I love to sit on the couch and veg out. Ha. However, I love treats and dessert and all those delicious things so to feel less guilty about it all, working out is a compromise, I suppose.
For me, working out has always been an evening thing. After work, head to the gym, do a class or get on a cardio machine, put in my time and go home. However, since the weather has become nice, the idea of running on my lunch hour popped into my head.
Okay. I know what you're thinking: who works out on their lunch hour?!
Well, that's certainly how I was thinking before. It's rushed. You get all sweaty. There isn't enough time.
Well guess what?
It is a little rushed. And you do get pretty sweaty. And you certainly don't look as good as you did in the morning. But. There are showers. And hair dryers. And if you pack accordingly, it can work out (get it? Work. Out... 'eh? 'Eh?!)
That said, I knew going by myself wouldn't last long, so I asked one of my best friends if she'd be down to go running once a week on our lunch break. And get this: she was totes down. So we started running on our lunch break. Several times per week.
We just finished our fourth week of running-on-lunch and average anywhere from three to five lunch hour runs per week! Crazy, right? But it feels so good! We try to aim for 5km and even did a 6km one day (that ones a little tight to get out and back within an hour). We are consistently bringing our time down (we are around a 32 minute 5km) and keeping each other company. It's pretty nice. Minus the hardcore-ness of it all.
So the other day, after weeks of carrying a water bottle during runs (before I always ran indoors, on a treadmill with those handy water bottle holders), I suggested we maybe check out 'those geeky looking running belts,' because it's annoying carrying a bottle while running and to be honest, I cannot run without water (not. even. an option.). My girlfriend laughed but was totally down and so we took a little trip to MEC. Sure enough, they had several to choose from, and being the great friends we are, we bought the same one. Twinsies!
We took out our #handsfreehydration belts for the first time today and are both instantly converted. 'What a luxury!' she cooed as we ran our 5km today, and it's true. Totally hands free, you barely notice it and we only paid about $20 for our belts. Score. Who are the geeky ones now?!
(BTW, I love using the free app RunKeeper to track our distance, speed, time, and pace. You can change your settings to whatever you want; I have a voice come on every 5 minutes to tell us how long we've been running, the distance thus far, our current speed and our average speed. At the end, there is a section to write any comments you may want to include about your run, for instance, 'That was death,' or, 'I'm never going to run again'.)
Outfit deets: F21 sports bra, Garage tank, La Senza yoga pants (that I cut into shorts), Suzy sunglasses, Nike shoes, eBay iPhone arm band & MEC running belt.
Outfit deets:
* Cantas tee (local boutique) that I've had for a few years
* F21 skirt that I also have in blue/black
* Sbicca wedges that I picked up in Florida last month
* Bijoux Terner necklace, F21 bangle & (faux) Rolex
So I picked up a Groupon for a Barre Method class pass and went for the first time on Monday night. I am still sore. Soo sore.
I consider myself to be in pretty good shape; I try to get to the gym several times a week, I run frequently and can run a mile or more without stopping, I always take the stairs, I will park far away to get in more steps and sometimes go for power walks on my lunch hour. I'm by no means the fittest, leanest girl, but I do like to try and be healthy. I figured the Barre class would be tough, but was looking forward to it. Let me just start by saying, this class is no walk in the park.
Using your own body resistance, small hand weights, a ballet bar, a resistance band and a small ball is all you need for this kick-ass, one hour class. It's a combination of small, controlled movements that don't ever seem to end. When you're tired and ready to give up, the instructor pushes you to keep going for quite a bit longer and there are often no rest periods in between movements. It's killer, but such a good work out. By the end of it, I was sweating buckets (highly attractive) and my legs were shaking so bad (anyone familiar with the knee-cap shakes?) I thought they were going to give out on me.
My ribs feel bruised. I can barely walk down the stairs. I'm hurting, but it's a good hurt!! I highly encourage anyone to give one of these classes a try if you like to push yourself and try something new. The class targets your core, thighs and butt, and hell-o, who doesn't want to target those areas?
This is a (spray) tan tat. The most permanent thing to a tattoo that I likely will ever have. Tattoos kind of scare me, for me. I enjoy them on others but would you believe I actually have nightmares about getting a tattoo and being so remorseful I turn to hysterics? Weird.
So proud I had to snap a photo of my workout summary
I know I don't normally talk about fitness on my blog, a snippet here and there but not frequently, however, I had one of the best workouts of my life the other day and I wanted to share why.
As I was finishing up my work day, I was really unmotivated and did not want to go to the gym (again/as per usual). I told myself that I was going whether I liked it or not because I needed the workout. I didn't have a gym partner, I wasn't really motivated by the idea of going running or going on the eliptical, or doing a body rock TV workout. I simply just did not want to go.
So as I am leaving and walking in my car from work, a thought was sparked in my mind as I stepped out into the cool, winter air; it feels good to move. I've been sitting all day long. Then I started thinking about how fortunate I am that I can move. I can walk, I'm not in a wheelchair, I'm so lucky and yet I'm so unmotivated to go to the gym and move my body when I've been sitting all day. 'Like, how much lazier can you get?' I said to myself. Just then, I decided to take advantage of this fact, the fact that I can move; I'm so blessed! I told myself I would just do a light workout and at least I'll feel better and I will have moved my body and gotten some sort of activity after sitting for eight hours straight.
And do you know what happened next? I got to the gym and I had the best workout of my life. I have never run for so long or so fast; my previous record was right was running for 18 minutes straight (which honestly, is huge for me, I don't consider myself a runner and I was literally doing the dance of joy afterwards as I was so proud) and that took place in the late summer. Before that, I had run 11 minutes straight a month or two prior, and before that I never ran longer than three or four minutes because I do interval training (one minute walk, one minute jog, one minute run, one minute sprint & repeat). All that to say, running 27 minutes is absolutely amazing for me.
About six months ago, when I was doing my monthly resolutions, I had resolved to run for 1km without stopping. In the same month I manage to run for 2km without stopping, which is a great great feat in my head. But the other day, I squashed that record and more than doubled it as I ran at least 5km.
A simple thought the other day turned into a brain explosion as I walked to my car. We often forget how grateful we should be, something as 'simple' as going to the gym and having the ability to move could be something someone wishes they could do. For me, it's easy. That alone gave me the motivation to push myself, to get my butt to the gym, and to kill it.
What do you do to motivate yourself to get to the gym?
My training that day:
Warm up: 3 minutes at 4mph
Run: 27 minutes alternating between 5.5mph, 6.5mph, 7.0mph, 7.5mph & 8.0mph
Average running speed: 6.8mph (shocking!)
Cool down: 5 minutes at 3.0mph and lowering by the minute
Total time: 35 minutes
Distance: 3.57miles (5.7km)
Calories burned: 400 (I walked for another minute to hit the 400 mark, what a goal!)
Sidenote: I know, I know, many of you are runners and perhaps you have run a 5km, a half marathon or even a marathon. That is in-credible! I tip my hat to you to the third degree!
Veronika has featured me on her weekly 'Motivational Monday' post. Find out about what I eat, my workout routines and why I don't believe in cheat days.
Spence cropped jacket (thrifted), H&M dress (last seen here), Sirens leggings, Bamboo boots, Suzy belt, Emily Elizabeth necklace, g21 sunglasses, Swarovski bangle, Michael Kors bracelet & Bijoux Terner beaded bangle
You guys! Something totally exciting happened to me on Monday night. As some of you know, I do Zumba and have for two years. I absolutely love this cardio work out and as a former dancer, it's awesome to be doing choreographed dance again (unlike when I just randomly dance around the house).
Back to the story exciting-ness.
So I'm in class on Monday, waiting for our teacher to arrive. The class is set to start at 4:30pm, and there are about 30 women waiting. Well, 4:30pm came and went and still no teacher. A few minutes later, an employee of the gym told us our teacher was no where to be found and we could wait, but class would likely be canceled. As we all stood around feeling defeated, one woman pointed at me and said, 'You should teach the class!'. Another chimed in, 'Yeah, you're really good,' and then another, 'Yeah, do it!'. Next thing I know, I'm fetching my iPhone from my locker and hooking it up to the stereo system in the class, jumping on stage and teaching an hour long zumba class. What!? I know.
Urban Behaviour trench
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