Todays Menu: Leg Workout + WIAW

It was a perfect morning to get outside for a little HIIT leg workout.

PS: I'm thinking about getting another pair of these amazing flip flops
because they really do feel like I'm walking on a yoga mat. But what color???

Just kidding! That photo is from later in the day because it was a patio kind of day.

Back to that workout --->

On the menu today was lower body resistance and even though my legs were still feeling sore from the last time, I shrugged my shoulders and pressed the start button. My legs felt pretty good during the workout, but it was another tough one.

Two circuits. Four exercises. 7 minutes. 30 seconds rest between circuits. Complete each circuit 2X. 10 minute cool down stretch.

Circuit 1: medicine ball squats, static lunges, jump rope, knee ups
Circuit 2: squats jumps, walking lunges, burpees, weighted step ups

The best - everything was working on squat jumps today. I was feeling powerful, my legs were strong and my knee was happy.

The worst - not a fan of lunges and today it was doubled with two types: 15 static on each side and 24 walking (12 on each side). BTW, that smile is so fake.

Bonus workout --> stair repeats (I was really doing laundry) plus an afternoon walk with mrC added another 1.4 miles to our weekly total.

What I Ate Wednesday:

What was on your menu today?

Yoga Makes My Sore Muscles Feel Better

I don't know why I waited so long to get out a yoga mat to help ease the sore muscles I have accrued the last couple of days doing resistance workouts. Yoga always makes my sore muscles feel better.

I chose a Yoga with Adriene video that I hadn't done before but sounded good from her Yoga For Weight Loss series. "Love Yoga Flow" was just what I needed and I love Flow.

I also did day 3 of my 21 Day Ab Carving workout plan. This plan should really be called the "OMG my arms and abs are on fire!" plan. Wow.

Later, I pulled out the foam roller and worked on my sore legs a little more. The new fitness app I've been using has a recovery section, so I selected lower body and followed the guided session (approximately 30 minutes). It's like having my own personal trainer.

The sun finally came back out and the temperature was perfect, so mrC and I went for a walk. All of my walks take me to or past this historic family run farm-stand just 7/10 mile from my SIL's house. They have an in-house bakery, homemade ice cream, seasonal local produce, organic coffee and fresh baked pies. One of these days I'm going to give in and buy a donut!

And just because it's too cute not to share...mrC and his sister's dog. I think she's falling for us ;)

What is your favorite way to get rid of sore muscles?
Any temptations along your walking/running route?

A Two Part Workout: HIIT and LISS

The day started off rainy today, so we ran some errands hoping that the rain would pass. While we were out, we picked up a little something to take back to China with us and I'm so excited! It's the same resistance band system that I talked about here.

Today my goal was to do my workout in two parts: HIIT (high intensity interval training) followed by LISS (low intensity sustained state). I read this article and according to Jake Peterson, '"The HIIT style of training is great at breaking up the triglyceride bonds within more stubborn adipose tissue (the hard-to-burn fat), but it is not very effective at metabolizing it out."' LISS workouts are good for that.

Today's workout

Part 1 HIIT: Sweat with Kayla arms and abs resistance workout. This workout was SO HARD! It was wet outside from the rain, so I had to do it indoors and my SIL does not have AC (yikes!), but the exercises were also seriously tough too. The ones that I struggled on were: 15 regular push ups, 4 mountain climbers and 1 push up repeated 15 times, and up down planks - 10 on each side!! It was hard enough to do them just once, but you have to repeat the exercises until the circuit is over. Let's just say there were lots of breaks!

It started raining again, so I killed some time with a post workout smoothie in a brand new smoothie cup. I'm one of the weird people who need to drink smoothies through a straw.

Part 2 LISS: A couple hours later the rain finally stopped so that I could take a 40 minute walk for my LISS workout. My goal was to beat my previous distance, so I focused on keeping up my pace although I did stop to admire one of the first fall leaves. Total distance 2.51 miles (.40 more).

This little girl pretended to be happy to see me when I got back. She's the sweetest.

Do you combine different types of workouts?
Smoothies: straw or no straw?

Weekend Wrap: LISS, Resistance Training, and Ab Carving

We had a busy weekend with lots of family time and plenty of fitness.

Saturday:

mrC and I eased into our day with a little 2 mile walk. The weather has turned so that mornings are comfortably cool under bright sunny skies. We did this walk as a low intensity steady state workout, aka LISS, a term that is new to me.

LISS is a great activity to use when you are trying to burn fat because fat needs oxygen to metabolize into energy. During low intensity exercise your body has the most oxygen available. This works most when your activity is 30 minutes or longer.

We hung out with my mother-in-law for awhile on Saturday afternoon.

For dinner we had cheeseburgers off the grill and my SIL brought another really good cookie, chocolate chip and caramel chunks.

Sunday:

We went to 10:30 Mass and ran into some of mrC's family. My brother-in-law was recognized for his volunteer time with CCD classes and I'm glad we were there to congratulate him.

After church we went to the in-laws to move around some furniture. This is the house that mrC grew up in and his parents still live here. I love that.

Back at my SIL's, I got in an afternoon resistance leg workout. It's mostly body weight exercises, but hand weights can be added on certain exercises to increase the resistance. I like the mix of static and dynamic moves in each high intensity circuit that you keep moving for 7 minutes.

My two favorite moves from today's workout ---> step up, knee ups. My legs and booty are probably going to be feeling these tomorrow.

---> sumo squats. My inner thighs really need toning and this is a great way to hit all the leg muscles at one time.

I'm pretty excited about the workouts offered in the Sweat with Kayla app and how many calories I can burn.

Did you notice the orange and black in my workout gear? Since my beloved Cincinnati Bengals played today, I had to support my team.

I received this Ab Carver Pro from Perfect Fitness as a prize for participating in the Fit Challenge and today I finally got it out of the box. Then I found a 21 day ab carving plan on their website and made today Day 1!

Are you familiar with the term LISS?
What were your weekend workouts?
Ever tried an ab carver?

30 Day Shred: The Results

This summer I signed up for Amanda Tress's 30 Day Summer Shred Program. I did a post about it, but here's a quick summary.

• Follows a 5 day carb cycling and intermittent fasting plan
• Uses customized IIFYM (If It Fits Your Macros) plan
• You choose your own food
• Workout plans available for gym and non-gym participants
• Workouts are a mix of sprints, interval running, and strength training (weights)

My goal was to strengthen up and gain some muscle in places that I could use it like my arms and quads, but also lose any weight/inches that I could along my waist, hips and butt.

Update: This program is now called FASTer Way To Fat Loss - learn more here.

THE RESULTS

I lost 3 pounds (I think)...the scale at the fitness center was a little questionable, but since I snuck a weigh-in while at my dad's I think this is pretty accurate. I'm pretty happy with this because I did this whole program while staying in Montreal with mrC while he was working and traveling to Florida and Ohio for two weeks.

I lost .75 inches on my waist and hips which feels true because I did buy a pair of shorts a size down from my normal. I gained .75 inches on my thighs and biceps and I'm hoping this is a result of the strength training and not bad measuring.

I will always remember Shred as the time I fell in love with lifting weights. Once I figured out how to use the different machines at the gym, I looked forward to the weight lifting workouts. It was my mission to build up muscle especially in my arms and in left quad. I worked hard and pushed myself to use heavier weights than I ever have.

I love that this program incorporated running workouts, even though I had to modify them for my knee. The sprints and interval runs were still doable on other equipment, but I enjoyed the runs when my knee was feeling happy and used the elliptical, bike and treadmill when it wasn't.

Yesterday's Workout ---> After taking a couple of days off and running a lot of errands, I was ready for a good workout. I picked a full body resistance workout from a new fitness app I found. It was a circuit workout: 2 circuits with 4 exercises and 7 minutes to complete as many laps of the exercises as you can. The workout ends when you complete both circuits 3 times. This might sound confusing, but it's really not.

This workout had a mix of squats, burpees, tricep dips, straight leg sit ups, ab toe taps, lay down push ups, step ups, and mountain climbers. It also followed up with a good stretching session. I burned 279 calories in 36 minutes and worked up a good afternoon backyard sweat.

It was just like old times when we went to watch our niece play high school soccer. I always enjoyed our Friday afternoons watching the girls play when they were still in high school.

My watch had an update and then this happened in the car when we were running errands. One minute of guided meditation. The watch vibrated when it was time to change from breathing in and out.

WIA - it was all good until mrC wanted Chinese food! Then my sister-in-law brought in some Kitchen Sink cookies? Have you heard of these? They're made of everything but the kitchen sink! Butterscotch chips, raisins, rolled oats, chocolate chips, white chocolate, coconut, pecans...SO GOOD!

This happens every time I open the refrigerator door at my sister-in-laws. Sydney also licks the plates as they go into the dishwasher. Funny dog. Since we can't hang out with Booney in Hopkinton every day, Sydney is a nice substitute.

Know any good online training/workout programs I should check out?
Are you an Apple watch user? Do you like the update? I love it!
Do you meditate? One minute is about all that I can do.
Ever had Kitchen Sink cookies?

Shred Day 29 & 30: Better Late Than Never!

Once again, the last couple of days have been a whirlwind and my blogging fell behind. The 30 Day Shred Program has ended and I will share my results in a future post, but today I'm just going to recap the last couple of days.

Day 29: low carb

I was all set to do my low carb day sprints on the elliptical (since I hd run the day before), but I woke up feeling not-so-great. After having a little breakfast with mrC, I ended up dozing off and on most of the day and staying close to the bathroom. I must have had some sort of stomach bug, but by late afternoon, I started to feel better.

WIA:

Day 30: low carb day

My stomach was feeling better, but my knee was feeling funny ---> this is not a pain, just a feeling of pressure that freaks me out because it feels like it might give out. I stretched out really good and decided to try to run the sprint workout with mrC. I was able to do about 10 of the 25 sprints (which was about a mile) before I called it quits. My knee was just feeling too weird.

Wrapping up in Montreal by the numbers: 30 day stay in Montreal, 5.5 hours in the car driving to Portsmouth, NH, 2 stops, 1 roadside yoga session to help sway some car sickness.

Best cure for car sickness? Seeing the girls! Both have new living spaces and we got the tour, dinner on the water and then youngestC had a soccer game on campus.

WIA:

Yesterday:

After a late night watching soccer and visiting youngestC's new dorm apartment, all I wanted to do was sleep in. I did visit the fitness center before we left and was thrilled to find a foam roller which I promptly used (and got a little back crack).

We did some errands in New Hampshire while making our way back to Springfield where we will be staying while mrC does some more work. I popped into Payless while he did some paperwork and found a HUGE sale. These cute sandals were only $8. Of course I had to wear them in the car for the remainder of our drive.

WIA:

We finally made it to Springfield around 8PM. After a quick visit with mrC's parents, we unloaded at his sister's house, our temporary home for the next few weeks.


How do you know when to bail on a run/workout?
Do you get carsick? Best non-medicine remedy?

Shred Day 27 & 28: Biggest Wins

This week the 30 Day Shred Program really kicked things up a notch and I loved it! We had a week of doubles: two feast day strength training workouts, two low carb sprint workouts, and two fast days. It was intense, so I thought I would share my biggest wins from the last two days.

Day 27 - Fast

This was the SECOND fast day of the week and I am not a fan. I have a really hard time reaching my feast day goals (higher carbs and calories) and that sets me up for a struggle on fast days. 

MY BIG WIN: I did better this time and did not over eat when I broke my fast. 

I also kept my activity to a minimum and only went for a morning walk with mrC before he went to work. It wasn't that hard to lay low because my muscles were seriously sore from the feast day workout the day before. I spent most of the day reading, blogging, and watching some TV.

WIA:

Day 28: Regular Calorie

The workout for the day was an interval run ---> 1 minute run, 1 minute walk, 2 minute run, 2 minute walk, up to 7 minutes. I set my Gymboss interval timer for what works for me and my knee: 25 intervals at 35 seconds run, 30 seconds walk. 

My legs were still sore, especially my left quad, so I again found myself feeling anxious about how the run would go. I spent a little time massaging my quad and doing some dynamic stretching before my run and that made me feel better. 

MY BIG WIN: It was my longest (time and distance) run so far and it felt really good! Side note: I hadn't used my Nike+ running app in months until last week and I'm loving the updates! 

Fun tidbit from my run: The weather was awesome! It was only 63 degrees and super windy. Normally runners don't like those headwinds, but since I run pretty slowly I can enjoy it ;) 

It takes A LOT of wind to blow my super thick hair!

Win or lose (they won today!), I will always be happy when I can watch a Bengals game. I'm hoping to see a few more before our return to China.

WIA:

Today and everyday, God Bless America.

What is your Biggest Win this week?

Do you use the Nike+ running app?