Trying something new

Yesterday I came home from the lake completely EXHAUSTED! It's amazing how much the sun and heat can drain out of you. I was tempted to blow off the gym last night, but I made a commitment to try something new this week, so I was determined to go. And...

I LOVED IT!!

It has been a while since I have taken a yoga class and I've never taken the BodyFlow class offered at my gym (Gold's). A description of this class can be found here. It felt so good to stretch out those tight running muscles and I left the class feeling rejuvinated and ready to take on the world (or at least to tackle dinner and the bedtime routine last night!!) I think I will try to make this class a part of my weekly routine. I'm so glad that I decided to give it a whirl!

Before class last night, I had this very bland-colored meal...1 whole egg + 1 egg white, some organic unsalted peanuts and shredded wheat (did you know that regular shredded wheat only has ONE ingredient? SWEET!!) I usually try to make my meals a bit more colorful, but the supplies were a bit limited as its grocery-shopping day. Still, it was a good source of whole grains, protein and healthy fats.


This morning I did a 4-mile run. I was hoping to get it done closer to 32 minutes, but considering the humidity that had me sweating within a 1/4 of a mile (even at 6:30 a.m.), I'll take my 8:13 average pace today.
After my run I came home and did this routine. You will need to set your interval timer up to do two intervals; one for 10 seconds (your rest period) and the other one for 50 seconds (your work period). You will do 15 rounds and a different exercise for each round. I only did this once through and was wasted by the end, but if you are more hardcore, you could try doing it twice. Kudos to you if you can survive it!! Here's what your interval timer would look like...

Here are the exercises I did (alternating between cardio, upper body and lower body moves.) The number beside each exercise is how many I was able to complete during the 50 seconds of work...

1. Jumping jacks (57)

2. T Push-ups (12)

3. Sumo squat - 30 lbs (26)

4. Squat thrusts (16)

5. Bicep curl to shoulder press - 20 lbs (13)

6. Alternating reverse lunge - 30 lbs (24)

7. Mountain climbers (59)

8. Tricep dips (40)

9. Straight-leg deadlift - 30 lbs (21)

10. Snowboarders (33)

11. Dumbbell row - 30 lbs (25)

12. Kettlebell swings - 15 lbs (25)

13. High knees (70)

14. Lateral/front shoulder raises - 20 lbs (22)

15. Stability ball hip raise w/ curl (13)

Afterwards I did the following core workout, setting up my interval timer to look like this...

Six rounds of two intervals, one at 10 seconds (rest) one at 40 seconds (work). I did the following six core exercises...

1. Standard plank

2. Right-side plank

3. Standard plank

4. Left-side plank

5. Swiss ball rollout

6. Swiss ball jackknife

I did this routine two times through. It was a bit tough to finish considering the amount of sweat I had pouring off of me from the cardio workout beforehand, but I did it.

I refueled with my normal protein-flax-oatmeal and lots of water. My morning snack will be one egg + one egg white and a larabar before heading to the grocery store. Remember, if you want a chance at winning five LARABARS of your choice, just make a comment sometime before Monday morning. The more comments you make, the more chances to win!!

Talking Point: Have you tried yoga before? Do you use it as your primary exercise routine or do you supplement your other activites with a few sessions of yoga each week?

At least one reader!!

I have to admit that I was starting to feel a bit discouraged that nobody was actually reading this blog. But I finally got a few reader responses to those "talking points" that are always at the end of each blog entry (thank you Lauren and Stephanie!!) and then Stephanie wrote a really nice note on how much she is enjoying the blog. It made me get a bit teary-eyed and I realized that even if only one person is enjoying and/or learning something from this blog, then it makes it worth it.

Today's workout was another "Quick & Dirty" workout. It came from this website: bodyrock.tv (WARNING: The woman who does this website is incredibly fit and has some amazing workouts, but she shows A LOT of cleavage. You have been forewarned!!) Here's the actual workout I did:

Four exercises repeated six times for a total of 24 rounds. Each round consisted of 10 seconds of rest and 20 seconds of work (think Tabata-style). This entire workout only lasted 12 minutes, but left me totally spent at the end...

If you're using your Gymboss Interval Timer, you should set it up to look like this...

Complete the following exercises once each time and then repeat the entire circuit six times...

1. High Knees
2. Mountain Climbers
3. Side Plank Jumps (like squat thrusts but you jump to the side instead of out the back and add a little burpee on the end)
4. Super Girl Push-up (go down in a regular push-up, and as you come up, raise one arm and the opposite leg, repeat push-up and then raise the other arm and opposite leg)

(For more details on how to do this exact workout, go here)

During your 20 seconds of work, you should go all out and do as many as you can in the allotted time. Here were my results:

1. High Knees: 34/33/33/34/35/35 (I counted every time my right knee went up)
2. Mountain Climbers: 27/25/26/28/27/28 (Again, I counted each time my right knee went to the chest)
3. Side Plank Jump: 6/7/7/6/6/6
4. Super Girl Push-up: 7/8/8/8/7/8

I also did a 5-minute warm-up and cool-down on the stationary bike. This workout was short but very intense, great for a pre-lake workout (we spend most of Tuesday at the lake so I like to do something short before leaving in the morning.)

I refueled with my usual protein-flax oatmeal (love this stuff!) I also wanted to show my scrumptious lunch from yesterday...

Eating salads is one of the best ways to get in a lot of vegetable servings. My green of choice is fresh spinach and I also added some organic grape tomatoes and tuna all topped with some balsamic vinaigrette dressing. Add in a side of grapes and Babybel cheese and it was a complete meal.

Well, we're off to the lake. I will try my best not to get sunburned this time!! This afternoon I plan on attending my first BodyFlow class in order to complete this week's challenge. I'll let you know how it goes!

Talking Point: Do you like to eat salads? If so, what is your favorite kind of salad base (romaine, iceberg, spinach, arugula, etc..)? What else do you like to put on your salad?

Gymboss Interval Timer

Speaking of HIIT, one of my favorite gadgets for being able to perform interval training is this...

This is my Gymboss Interval Timer. It works great for setting up two different repeating interval times and lets you know when each time segment is complete (either by an alarm or vibration). This allows you to really focus on the exercises at hand instead of looking at a clock. I find this invaluable when performing Tabata training since the interval segments are so short but it can also be adjusted to fit any interval workout that you have in mind.

So if you are serious about interval training, give this little guy a shot. You won't be sorry!