Showing posts with label bike. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bike. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Workout Wednesday: Mixing Things Up & Low Carb Day

It is good to mix things up every once in awhile.

It gives you a new perspective 
Prevents boredom
Keeps you on your toes

These were all of things I was trying to convince myself as we headed to the fitness center for low carb day #2 workout: sprints again...but in a different form from yesterday. Coach wanted us to mix it up. Why? It's good to change up your fitness routine for several reasons:

1) to continue to challenge your body
2) improve strength and conditioning
3) to keep exercises effective

Since I always do my sprints on the elliptical and I'm not running, that left me with the bike. Then I had to decide which bike: recumbent or upright? I chose the upright because it imitates an outdoor bike and I thought would provide a harder workout.


I definitely got a good cardio workout doing 20 sets of 20:20 sprints, but my legs did not "feel the burn" the same way they do on the elliptical. It was my first time, so I probably need to play around with the incline choices more (I ended up on level 8) and figure out the whole standing up thing.

Side note: after doing some reading for this blog post, it seems as if both types of bikes can produce a good caloric burn (although some argue that you work harder on the upright so you burn more calories than the same workout on the recumbent), but the recumbent provides more protection for the lower back during the workout. Both bikes require quads, hamstrings, and glutes to do the work.

I posted a video to my Instagram, but here are some of the faces I make when doing bike sprints. Pretty funny!


After a 30 minute cool down walk on the treadmill, it was plank time. For my plank challenge I really tried to keep my body stationary while doing the full plank with arm reach. It's a lot harder than when you let yourself rock back and forth.


Since we were already there, we hit the pool again for a little post workout chill time.


We thought we'd mix things up at dinner a little too and ate out on our balcony. It was still near 90 degrees, but in the shade and with the breeze, it was very nice.



What I ate on low card day (repeat)

Brunch: scrambled eggs with ham, pb&j rice cakes and gf sausage patty 


Snack: celery and humus 


Dinner: crockpot chicken, greens beans, salad


I still crave something cold after dinner on low carb days (usually I would have fruit or yogurt), so I've been using pb&j rice cakes as a substitute. It's not the same. At all.

Macros: another good low carb day, but I'm ready to eat all the fruit!


How do you mix things up lately?
Which bike do you prefer?
What is your favorite dessert?













Friday, May 20, 2016

Intense Sprints, Locker Room Lowdown, and Low Carb Eats

Off to Hong Kong to take care of passport renewals and squeezed in a bit of shopping. I'm so excited about some awesomely good gluten free products I found. More on that tomorrow.


I made it to gym for an afternoon workout session: sprints with a new twist. 20 seconds on and 20 seconds rest. 15 times! I finally remembered to take my handy Gymboss with me so I didn't have to stare at the time.


The sprints were intense. I ended up on the bike for my cool down.


So many unbelievable things happen in the fitness center locker room that today I am starting a new trend called:

Locker Room Lowdown 

It is not unusual to see tiny Asian women walking around naked or blow drying their feet, but today was a new one. There is only one small bench in the beautiful locker room. Today another woman (who was actually showering and dressing her swim lesson child) and I were sharing the bench. She had one end, I had the other end. There wasn't much space in between. It was kind of nice since sharing is uncommon. 

Here's the low down: a third woman dressed only in a hotel robe squeezed herself onto the bench landing on our things to drink a cup of water. She must have been exhausted holding that cup. 

Unbelievable.

What I ate on low carb day

Breakfast: 2.5 scrambled eggs with ham


Lunch: Cajun chicken Caesar salad and shared crabmeat nuggets with mrC



Snack: Flourless chocolate cake 
mrC picked this up at the grocery for us to eat on the ferry back to Shekou and it was seriously so good. Made only with eggs and chocolate! We are already planning to get it again the next time we are in Hong Kong.


Dinner: Crockpot Italian chicken, green beans, and a salad (with a little cheese & Ranch)
Not dairy free. Sorry. Not sorry. I'm doing my best.


Macros: I'm getting good at these low carb days. 23 net carbs for the day.


PS - I had to share this non-scale victory with you. The black pants I'm wearing in the first photo...I couldn't wear a month ago. I bought them in the US and a week later mrC accidentally shrunk them in the dryer. Today, they were baggy! I'm thrilled and can't wait to see my numbers in two weeks.

Have you ever tried flourless cake?









Thursday, July 2, 2015

My Lazy Day Wasn't So Lazy + 60 Second Challenge!

Today was supposed to be a lazy kind of day, but instead I found myself cleaning, working out, and biking to some errands.

I woke up early to speak to mrC before he left Singapore and to watch the other World Cup semi-final game. During half-time I decided to vacuum the floors. What a workout! This vacuum was gifted to us by a friend who returned to the US, and I have the hardest time getting it to cooperate!


After the game and cleaning the apartment, it was time for a morning strength session. I did the same stability ball workout from yesterday plus the 7 minute HIIT workout I shared a few days ago. 30 seconds on, 10 seconds rest, x12, repeat. Shewww!


I also took the PopSugar 1-minute plank with arm and leg reach challenge. She did 14 reps. I did 9. How many can you do?



After my workout, all I wanted was a smoothie. I took quick bike ride to Peninsula, about a mile away, to a local international store because I was running low on smoothie ingredients.


It's common to see street vendors selling local in-season produce at corner stands. On the way back from the store, I stopped to buy some watermelon.


For lunch I had left over cheesy quinoa & tuna and a smoothie made with fresh spinach and strawberries. 


What do you do during halftime of sporting events?
What's your favorite smoothie ingredient?


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