Archive for random

Fitness Beer

Sayyyyy whaaaa?!?!?!? Yes, you read that right. Fitness Beer.

Let me back up. If you’ve read the blog for a while, you know that every few weeks I pop over to Springwise to see what the new gadgets and start-ups around the world are doing. This website is a combination of fascinating, sad, and confusing all at the same time. You will find really amazing start-ups that can change the world, and you will also find glasses that remind you to blink. Not joking. Hence the “scary” aspect.

Anyways, I was perusing Springwise yesterday afternoon and stumbled upon Fitness Beer.

lean machine

From the website:

Lean Machine is developed as a sport recovery, low calorie, FIT BEER. In Lean Machine ingredients, there aren’t a lot of useless sugars and stimulants in it. Each ingredient serves a specific purpose for a faster and more effective recovery. The Lean Machine ingredients can be broken down into four main groups:

■ Muscle recovery
■ Electrolyte replenishment
■ Anti-Oxidant
■ Immune system 

We like to refer to it as ‘Recovery Ale’. The concept is pretty straight forward.

My first thoughts were: whoooowhaaawhyyyyyNOOOO!!! I’m not a drinker, so this doesn’t appeal to me anyways, but I’m curious to know what you guys think! (and what the HECK does it taste like?!)

Sound off in the comments! Opinions! Thoughts! Questions!

GO!!!

Rollerblading and Where I’ve Been

Whoops, sorry for the unplanned blogging break! Last week got really busy, really fast, and blogging took the back seat. But I’m here now!!! Hopefully that won’t happen again.

Fitness

This past week was a great week of fitness! I’ve been doing a 15 minute HIIT workout on the treadmill a few times a week, and I’m loving it! So quick and no boring cardio. Win/win! Along with that, I did two heavy lifting sessions, a few full body/metabolic conditioning workouts, and some climbing. I took a little break from climbing this week since my wrist was bugging me a bit, but it’s feeling pretty good now!

Today, Charlie and I did a workout that my friend John showed me last week. It is less than 3 minutes of work, but it is MURDEROUS. Here is a video from my final set today:

(10 Squats, push sled, 5 KB Swings (i used 20kg), push sled. Repeat 3x)

Afterwards, my friend picked me up and we went rollerblading by the beach. It was  GORGEOUS day and I am pretty sure every Sunday should be spent like this. 🙂

Gorgeous day in Santa Monica

Gorgeous day in Santa Monica

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Rollerblading Selfie!

Gearing up for a busy week, here’s what’s on the fitness agenda:

Monday: 15 Min. Treadmill HIIT + Climb

Tuesday: Heavy Lift + 1000m Row

Wednesday: 15 Min Treadmill HIIT + WOD + Climb

Thursday: Rest

Friday: 15 min. Treadmill HIIT + Heavy Lift + Climb

Saturday: Rest

Sunday: Hike

What’s on your fitness agenda for the week? 

Were you a HUGE Saved By The Bell fan like me?!

We were talking about the Malibu Sands Club today while rollerblading and so I googled the film location. We happened to be rollerblading RIGHT BY it at that moment!!!

Zach Morris' Summer Job

Zach Morris’ Summer Job

And then I died…

(Apparently they redid this place, so it doesn’t look much like I’d expected. Oh well!)

 

Weekend Things

We made it people. It’s Friday, and the weekend starts….NOW. Well, not really for me. I have to work a bit this weekend, but I like what I do, so it’s not all that bad. I started my day with this new-to-me flavor of Fage. I’m a fan!!

fage

Workout

Yesterday’s workout was a heavy lift with some plyometrics sprinkled in. The plyometrics were an after-thought, but I’m glad I did them. The workout ended up being pretty tough, but fun.

Superset #1 – 4 Sets

Barbell Squats: 75 x 15, 95 x 10, 105 x 8, 115 x 6

Squat Jumps: bw x 10, bw x 10, bw x 10, bw x 10 

Superset #2 – 3 Sets

T-Bar Row: 35 x 12, 35 x 12, 45 x 8

Chin Ups: bw x 2, bw x 2, bw x 2

Then: (done separately)

Dumbbell Reverse Lunges: 15 x 15, 20 x 10, 25 x 8, 30 x 6

Barbell Bench Press: 65 x 12, 65 x 12, 65 x 12, 65 x 12

It was a great workout and I’m definitely sore today! It feels good. I’m working on squatting heavier. Squats are my weakest leg lift. My guru and very first personal trainer, Bret Contreras, told me that since I have long femurs, it’s very common to be able to do heavy deadlifts and hip thrusts but be weaker on squats. Just have to keep working at it!

Last night I made my favorite Chicken dish. I finally took some photos of the process too! Sorry for the crappy iPhone photos. Someday I’ll use the real big-boy camera and take some better ones.

Lastly, I’ll leave you with how I combat boredom at the airport…..:-D

Practicing Yoga...err something..

Practicing Yoga…err something..

In case you were wondering...

In case you were wondering…

I’m a child.

1. What is your favorite exercise?

2. Where is your favorite place to travel?

Weekly Fitness Plan + Whirlwind Weekend

Whew! I apologize for not posting the last two days, but I had a crazy little weekend followed by a crazy start to my work-week! I’m short on sleep, but hoping to make up for that at least sometime this coming weekend!

This past weekend was my Grandpa’s Memorial. It was a really beautiful celebration of his life. Instead of being a sad, mournful occasion (I mean, of course we were all sad he wasn’t there to celebrate with us!),  the service was filled with highlights of all of his many talents and accomplishments through his 92 years of life. Can you believe that at the age of 91 when his health started to deteriorate, instead of just stopping his daily routine, he cut down his gym time from 5 days a week to 3 days a week?! At 91 freakin’ years old he still didn’t give up!!! I’m sorry, I just can’t get over how awesome he was. 😀

What 6:30am looks like from the sky

What 6:30am looks like from the sky

After 3 hours of sleep, we were up at 4am on Monday morning to catch a flight back to LA. Monday then turned into an 11 hour work day for me and I somehow managed to also fit in a heavy lifting session, 20 minutes of cardio, and a bouldering session. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a good idea considering how exhausted I was, but somehow I pulled off a REALLY great lifting session. I PR’d on hip thrusts with 211lbs x 6 reps too. Woohoo for strength! I love lifting heavy!!

Getting ready to thrust away!

Getting ready to thrust away!

 

Weekly Fitness Plan

Although work has been crazy and I ended up taking Tuesday off from exercise, here is what my week tentatively looks like. I am hoping to get back to doing 3 bouldering sessions per week. It’s just so much fun and so great for an overall body workout.

Monday: Heavy Lift + 20 minutes Incline Walking + Bouldering

Tuesday: Rest

Wednesday: 30 minute run + Crossfit + Bouldering

Thursday: Heavy Lift

Friday: 30 minute run + Bouldering

Saturday: Full Body Conditioning

Sunday: Hike?

A lot of this will all depend on how my body feels. If I’m super sore from Crossfit, my heavy lift will likely get moved to Friday and I’ll do something a little lighter on the body Thursday. Just have to see how things go!

Ab Progress: They’re coming…slowly but surely they’re coming….

Ab Progress January 14, 2014

Ab Progress January 14, 2014

I leave you with a picture of the cutest freaking boy in the world. I love my nephew, Matthew, so much!!

My heart.

My heart.

Use It or Lose It?

Just popping in on this lovely Sunday evening with a fun little post for you guys.

I did a tough track/sprint workout today plus some spring cleaning/furniture moving (yes, I realize it isn’t spring. whatever.), so this evening has been very low key. I watched an episode of Drop Dead Diva (don’t hate) and browsed some of my favorite websites.

Killer-Track-Workout

In college, one of my classes was a creative innovation class. It was actually pretty cool and focused a lot on start-ups, innovation (hence the name), and finding your creative passions. One of the websites that we were introduced to was Springwise.com

This website has tons of up and coming start-ups and inventions from around the world. Some are REALLY cool. Some are REALLY…umm…not thought out (in my humble opinion.) I decided it would be fun to showcase some of the articles I came across and give my thumbs up or thumbs down.

1.  KERBspace is using tech to help parking meter operators to make the ticketing process more seamless.

My thoughts: This seems pretty cool to me. I live in Los Angeles, where parking is a NIGHT.MARE. How nice would it be to be alerted about a space opening up? Or better yet, not have to fun up in the middle of a meal to go fill your meter!! It seems like there could be some issues with this though. Paying for the space you take up? Does this mean I have to pay more because I drive a truck? I’m not sure how I feel about that……

My opinion: Use it!

2. TouchCast is a video creation and publishing platform that offers rich multimedia integration.

My thoughts: The possibilities of video are pretty endless as far as technology goes, but for regular, every day consumers that aren’t as tech savvy, this seems like a great idea! It would be great to be able to add in maps, photos, graphs, etc. to your videos in a clean, professional way that adds some creativity to it as well. I think this is something I would try.

My opinion: Use it!

3. Keys Duplicated enables customers to get a new copy made simply by taking and uploading a photo of their original key.

My thoughts: Let me just start off by saying….I think this is an AWFUL idea. So what happens if you have a repair man at the house and they take a picture of your house key and use this service? I understand they are trying to be safe with only allowing credit cards, but if someone is going to try to break into someone’s house, there’s a good chance they are capable of having a stolen credit card as well. I don’t like the idea of this service being around. Of course, someone could always steal a key and do the same thing, but you are more likely to notice a key missing. On a second note, I think the margin for error would be high on something like this.

My opinion: LOSE IT

4. The Kitchen Safe is a plastic container fitted with a timed lock to enable owners to ensure they don’t snack too often.

My thoughts: This made me laugh out loud. I actually do think it’s kind of a good idea, but it’s totally an ongoing joke with dieters all over the world!! My old roommate used to say she needed tupperware with locks on it. Welp, there ya go girl!! In all honesty, I think while this could be helpful to some, if someone wants to snack, they’ll find a way!! I could see this to be used as more of a reminder/accountability tool. Nonetheless, I want to hear the break-room conversations this will cause.

My opinion: Use it! And film people’s reactions!

5. The Slice A Recipe cookbook enables kitchen amateurs to practice their knife skills, as it needs to be carefully sliced open in order to be read.

My thoughts: This one just made me sit there and wonder…….WHY. Why is this a thing? I mean, if this is going to be a thing, then I’m going to invent a cookbook that let’s you braid it’s fake hair too. Maybe it will have a nano-pet attached to it so the life of the recipe book can be monitored. I just wonder what happens if you cut it wrong. Maybe you get half of one recipe and half of the other. And invent some crazy delicious new food that people go crazy for. And become instantly famous!!! I just…I don’t get it.

My opinion: Lose it!

6. Sellbox wants to provide a way for anyone to sell downloads of digital files direct from their Dropbox or Google Drive accounts.

My thoughts: As someone in the music business myself, this one makes me REALLY angry. DropBox is a very common file-sharing system with musicians/engineers/producers alike. Sometimes partial tracks are shared through Dropbox and finished copies as well. This would be great if it were done by all honest people, but the reality is that some punk-nose kid is going to start putting shit in his Dropbox and trying to sell it. Stuff that he doesn’t own and had no part of making. Music or media that may not even be released to the public yet. That kid is making money off of something he doesn’t own! I really hope this does NOT happen.

My opinion: LOSE IT LOSE IT LOSE IT!

I’d love to hear your thoughts as well in the comments!!!

A Workout and……ARNOLD!!!

Ah, it’s finally more than halfway through the week. This means the weekend is in sight, which means….well I’m probably working. But that’s besides the point.

I thought I’d bring you guys a workout today that is sure to work your lower body until it begs for mercy. It hurts so good, doesn’t it?

I’m a big fan of pairing heavy-ish lifts with plyometrics. My theory is that you have given all you’ve got during the heavy lift…and just when you think you’re spent, you take that weight away and explode through the movement to total exhaustion. It’s effective, brings on the sweat, and makes you a more functional athlete (or mathlete…you have to keep track of your own reps.)

In blue, I denote what weight I used. Obviously, everyone is unique to their own strength. Know your body and your strength. I am not a doctor and you should always check with one before starting a new fitness program. 

Burn It Out

Superset #1 – 4 sets:

 Barbell Squats (8-10 reps) 75-85lbs

Squat Jumps (12-15 reps) *Advanced: use a 10 lb medicine ball

Superset #2 – 4 sets: 

Barbell Walking Lunges (10-12 reps per leg) 30-40 lbs

Jumping Lunges (8-10 reps per leg)

Superset #2 – 3 sets:

Dumbbell Bulgarian Squats or Split Squats (10-12 reps per leg) 15 lb DB’s

Heavy Decline Leg Press (15 explosive reps) 90 lbs

Finish this workout with a 1 mile run as  fast as you can or a few sled pushes if you have access.

Oh, and I almost forgot the most important part of this post. God happened to be at my gym today for a photo shoot. Yes, today was a good day…..

me and arnold

(Although it looks like I have a double chin in this photo, I don’t ACTUALLY have a double chin. I think. 😉

Because Who Doesn’t Love A Survey….

I’ve been busyyy. I’ll have a more *real* post up in the next day or two, including a KILLER workout I did today. For now…some random facts about yours truly…

A. Attached or Single? Attached and happy!

 

B. Best Friend? My boyfriend Charlie, my sister, Maggie.

 

C. Cake or pie? Totally depends on the cake & pie people!!

IMG_2150

 

D. Day of choice? They all run together for me. I like Saturdays though.

 

E. Essential item? Chapstick. Never leave home without it.

 

F. Favorite color? Black & gray; black and red; black on black….

 

G. Gummy bears or worms? Worms!

 

H. Home town? Scottsdale, AZ

 

I. Favorite indulgence? White chocolate brownie from White Chocolate Grill in Scottsdale. It’s a blessing I don’t live in Scottsdale anymore 😀

 

J. January or July? July

 IMG_0931

K. Kids? Nope. Love my nephew.

 

L. Life isn’t complete without: Being active, being outdoors, exploring, hanging with people I love, and loving what I do for work/my daily life.

DORK TC 3 

M. Marriage date? Not yet.

 

N. Number of brothers/sisters? 1 sister, 2 brothers

 

O. Orange or apples? Apples. I loveeeeeee apples. Especially pink lady and honeycrisp. And every other variety… 😀

 

P. Phobias? Bugs. All bugs, all sizes, all shapes. Just..NO.

 

Q. Quotes? Good question. They are a grammatical symbols and look like this “”

 

R. Reasons to smile? I love what I do for work, I love being athletic, and I love the people in my life.

 me+lips

S. Season of choice? Summer and Spring

 

T. Tag 5 people

1. Sarah @ SkinnyRunner  

2. Karen @ Runner Girl Eats

3.  Candice @ Hungry Mother Runner 

4. April @ The Weigh I Am 

5. Heather @ Where’s the Beach

 

U. Unknown fact about me? Hmmm….I’m a pretty open book. I can’t even think of any secrets the world doesn’t already know (that I’m willing to tell, that is.)

 

V. Vegetable? I love almost all vegetables. No peas, thank you.

 

W. Worst habit? Biting my nails. Lately I’ve been getting acrylics to try to keep it in check. 😉

 

X. Xray or ultrasound? X-ray vision!!

 

Y. Your favorite food? Apples and strawberries.

 

Z. Zodiac sign? Pisces!

 

Studio, Running, Bleachers

Happy Sunday Friends! It’s been a great weekend so far! It’s been filled with all of the things I love: music, fitness, and rest.

I started out this morning by making a kale smoothie….and then promptly pouring it into a glass of water. FAIL. I laughed it off….and drank it anyways. 😀

Let’s back up to yesterday….you may or may not know that I am a sound engineer. On my off time from my regular jobs, I try to make it into the studio to do what I love…record music.

Yesterday, I spent the day with my boyfriend at his recording studio. He’s recording/producing a really cool band this weekend, so I came to help out and hang. It was SUCH a fun day in the studio. The kind of day that I’ll always remember and that makes me realize why I got into music! Sometimes, you just get it right. There’s nothing quite as awesome as a good band, playing live together in the studio!

studio

Moving on….the studio session went until about 2am, so getting out of bed today was a bit of a challenge. Around 10:30am, I was able to pry myself out of a bed to make a smoothie (see above), and set out for a run and some bleachers. I was able to get 3.1 miles in 25:50 and since the track is close to my house, I decided to stop by and do 10 sets of bleachers to finish off the workout. I feel great!!

To finish out my Sunday, I’m heading back to the studio for some more music making! Have a good one people!

What is your favorite way to spend your weekends?

 

The LA Way

Don’t forget to enter the sunglasses giveaway!! You have until tomorrow to enter!

I always love reading other people’s “Day in the Life” posts, so I thought I’d do my own.

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My life is busy. I have 2-3 jobs, a workout schedule, and a boyfriend. I try to have a social life too, but lately it’s mostly in the form of workout dates.

So you may be wondering why I have multiple jobs and what I do. To answer the first question, the simple answer is: I like it that way. I get bored easily, don't like to do the same thing for too long, and need to keep my mind overstimulated. It is what suits me best and there will likely never be a time when I have only one job. It's not for me to do the 40 hr work week with the same schedule day in and day out. Instead, I work all day (but doing it on my own schedule)! 🙂

Job 1: I’ve worked for Iron Gym for two years. I started out as a front desk gal when I moved to LA, but after about a year, took on a bigger role. I don’t know my title, as I’m somewhat of a utility there, but in short, I am the front desk manager, client account manager, customer service rep, and everything in between. I work when I want to, so long as my tasks are done in a timely fashion.

Job 2: I am the office manager and personal/family assistant to a celebrity. (Sorry, can’t say who for privacy purposes.) It is an extremely demanding and time consuming job, but I get to go to work in workout clothes and somewhat have my own schedule there (although I’m the typical LA assistant with a blackberry, iPhone, and iPad on me at all times. No, I’m not exaggerating.) I love it, love the family, and love the fast pace.

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Job 3: I am launching my own business soon. Details will be revealed once my website is up. That should be by the end of the weekend!

On to my day!

8:30am: I roll out of bed, brush my teeth, throw on my workout clothes, blend a green smoothie and head to the gym to get a little bit of work done.

10:30am: I take a break from e-mails and get a 30 minute cardio session or a weights session in (depending on the day and how/what I’m feeling like)

11:15am: Get a bit more work done at the gym, head home to shower and eat a protein bar, and head out to job #2

12:30pm: LUNCHHHH

1pm-5pm: Work away at my 2nd job. This includes but is not limited to scheduling, ordering needed items, researching items for my boss, arranging airfare, etc. Every day is different. 🙂

5:30pm: Head back to the gym. I usually do a second workout that is entirely different from what I did in the morning. It ranges from weight training to plyometrics to steady cardio and even to my beloved Hip Hop Dance class.

7pm: Head upstairs to the gym office and do some more work. I stuff Quest Peanut Butter Cups down until I can make dinner.

10 or 11pm: I call it quittin’ time! I usually make dinner for myself or with my boyfriend. We tend to go for chicken, bell peppers, onions, and some brown rice or black beans. Our go to meal that never fails.

In between all of this, I am working on my personal business and working part time as an assistant to another executive. I don’t ever stop during the day, but I guess that’s what I like. I am happy at my jobs and wouldn’t trade them in for anything. The only thing I really need to work on is getting more SLEEP!!!

Well, there you have it. The LA way of life…

  • What do you prefer when it comes to work? Are you a freelancer? Do you work a normal 9-5, 40 hr/week job?
  • What is your dream job?
  • Pedal on the Pier 2013

    Today I had the chance to be a part of a really great charity event! This morning I joined hundreds of people on the Santa Monica Pier for The Harold Robinson Foundation’s Pedal on the Pier.

    Pedal on the Pier is an annual fundraiser for the Harold Robinson Foundation. Money raised is used to send inner city children to camp, all expenses paid. Last year, they raised $500,000. This year? $600,000!!!

    So what is it? The event is put on by Kinetic Cycling and Keiser Spin Bikes. Basically, 100 spin bikes are set up on the pier. Individuals and teams “buy” a bike and then do their own fundraising up until the event. On the big day (today), riders and their teams hop in the saddle and ride 100 miles(per team). There are DJ’s, dancers, a dance floor, and plenty of vendors giving away free stuff. All in all, a really FUN event. And for a good cause too.

    I headed out today with my team at Iron. We set up a booth and enjoyed the day giving away free gym passes and having impromptu dance parties. The weather was great and the company was even greater. The energy at this event was absolutely amazing!

    Here are some photos from the day:

     
    johnspase

     

    John(owner of Kinetic) and Spase (amazing spinning instructor and DJ) workin’ the crowd!

    iron booth

     

    The Iron Booth

     

    girls

    The Iron Girls! (I’m in the middle)

    It’s always fun to see so many people come together to do good. It’s refreshing. 🙂

    Do you/have you ever attended a big charity event?

     

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