Tag Archive for tabata

Wow, what a weekend! It was a fun one, but like usual, I didn’t relax much. Let’s back up to Friday…

Friday Workout

I planned on doing a track workout after work, but for some STUPID reason, I decided to do a workout at the gym beforehand. I’m honestly not sure what I was thinking, but I really just felt like throwing some weight around and getting in a hard workout.

This is what I ended up doing:

Part 1: Tabata Jump Rope (8 minutes)

Part 2: 5 Rounds – Superset: Barbell Snatch & Jump Squats

Part 3: 15 min. AMRAP of 9 Deadlifts (95lbs), 12 Push-Ups, and 15 Box Jumps (20 in. box).

I ended up making it through 6 rounds.

I really wanted to back out of the track workout, but I was meeting a friend and didn’t want to leave him high and dry. We ended up doing:

4 x 75 meters

4 x 50 meters

4 x 30 meters

Needless to say, my legs were and still are DEAD.

Saturday

Saturday I took a complete “rest” day (duh). I say that because I didn’t work out, but I was running around all day.

Charlie and I started off by grabbing a coffee and then getting breakfast at a little cafe called Blue Plate in Santa Monica. It’s a cute little restaurant, but it’s very cramped. The food was pretty good, but I was ready to get out of there by the time we were done eating.

blueplate

After we finished, I picked up my friends and we got ready to head to a going away party for another friend. She’s moving to London and had all of us bring a dish from another country. We intended to do just that, but somehow we ended up at Aah’s (a costume store), bought Ninja Turtle T-shirts, and decided to bring pizza to the party. Ninja Turtles had their own country, right?!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Lizzy

Teenage Mutant Ninja Lizzy

Yeah okay, not the most logical thinking, but it was fun! There were actual some better photos taken, but my friend hasn’t sent them to me yet. We spent the night eating, drinking (well, they did), and just hanging out. It was a good time, but around 11pm, I became a pumpkin and went home.

Sunday

Sunday, my older brother (who just moved back from Israel), Charlie, and I headed out for a hike to Skull Rock. This is one of my favorite hikes in LA. The rock actually looks like a skull!

Skull Rock on Temescal Ridge Trail in Topanga State ParkThe hike is about a 6 on a scale of 1-10 in difficulty, and the weather was great. I was hoping it would shake out my legs, but MANNNNN I am still soooooo sore. Hoping that wears off by the end of today.

Hangin' with my older brother

Hangin’ with my older brother

I spent the rest of my Sunday working with my good friend and former roommate Jules on a project we’ve been talking about. It’s finally coming to fruition and it’s going to be AWESOME. I’ll be sure to let you guys know when that’s coming…..

Here’s my plan for the rest of the week:

Monday: 20 min. HIIT + Bouldering

Tuesday: Crossfit

Wednesday: Legs

Thursday: Upper Body

Friday: Rest

Saturday: Full Body

Sunday: Rest

I’ll be traveling Thursday – Sunday, so that part of the schedule might change. I’ll likely be doing quick 15-20 minute workouts from my e-book to get a quick and efficient workout in my hotel room!

Have you ever been SO SORE that you actually considered calling out of work?

I’m not kidding, I want to know if someone has ever done this! LOL

Gotta Tabata

The title of this post highlights the thoughts in my head yesterday morning. I woke up and decided to get my workout done right away so I could get started on some work and not worry about it. I had a lot of things to do, and knew I needed to get my workout out of the way early. At some point in this conversation in my head (don’t act like you don’t do this!!) I said, “Well, I guess I gotta tabata!” And then I laughed to myself like a dork.

Since I was up in the mountains yesterday, I knew my workout would be done indoors. Totally fine by me! Sometimes my bodyweight-only workouts get me sweating more than the ones at the gym! Not belonging to a gym is NO excuse.

So what is Tabata? Well, it’s debatable. HOWEVER, the widely known version of Tabata in the fitness world goes like this:

1. Pick any exercises you want!

2. Find a Tabata timer like the one here.

3. Typical settings should give you 20 seconds of work, 10 seconds of rest, and 8 cycles. (Of course you can do more of less cycles if you’d like and you can add and subtract time as well, but this is the standard).

4. GET IT!

Here’s what I did. Since each cycle takes exactly 4 minutes, this workout took me just 20 minutes to do. And it kicked my bootayyy! I encourage you to try this! Use these exercises, or any exercises of your choosing!

gottatabata

 

**Always check with a doctor before starting a new fitness program

Questions of the Day:

Have you ever Tabata’d? What do you think of it?

 

NAMM 2014 + Fitness Plan for Week of 1/27

Hey guys! I’m back!! I took a brief break the last few days, as I was attending the NAMM show in Anaheim. If you’re not familiar, it’s basically a ginormous convention filled with all the instruments and gear you could imagine and then even more that you can’t imagine. It’s always a fun time, but it is exhausting!! My favorite thing this year was definitely this CrushDrums setup with the hardware designed by SawBladeHead Designs

Somehow, Charlie and I didn’t take any pictures together all weekend. Oops. We got home Saturday night and basically made dinner and crashed. Being on your feet for 2.5 days STRAIGHT is really tiring. 

Sunday morning I had a recording session with the Music Immersive. It is actually a really cool program. We had 11 people recording the music they had written that week with several top writers, and the talent always amazes me. We ended up working for 16.5 hours straight and I didn’t get home until 2:30am. My alarm Monday morning at 7am was not welcomed. Not one bit. Here’s a little clip of the studio and the band jamming. A long, but fun day for sure! (Sorry for the crappy vidoegraphy skills :-))

On to Fitness…

This past weekend while at NAMM, while I did walk for 2.5 days all day long (not included the mile each way to and from the hotel), I also managed to get this workout in on Saturday morning:

Tabata Fun!

Tabata Fun!

Quick, but good! This week, I plan on doing my usual thang. 

Monday: Heavy Lift + 20 HIIT

Tuesday: 30 minute run + Bouldering

Wednesday: Crossfit or metabolic conditioning

Thursday: 30 minute run + Heavy Lift

Friday: Full Body Workout + Bouldering

Saturday: Paddleboarding + Yoga (my friend’s birthday party….she is too cool!!!)

Sunday: REST + Superbowl!

I hope everyone is gearing up for a great end to January! (How the HECK did that even happen, by the way?)

What are you looking forward to most this year?

Any fun trips or events planned?

I get to see my little brother for the first time in almost 3 years next month. It is pretty much the highlight of my life right now. Can’t. Freaking. Wait. 

Tabata and Running…and then I got all preachy.

Buenos Tardes amigos!

Today has been somewhat crazy, and the next few will be even more-so! This wedding is really starting to stress me out, and it’s not even mine!

I went to my (almost) final fitting for my dress and finally got shoes for the wedding. I just need to finish up my speech, and the rest should fall into place! I have to go back one more time on Friday because she is making a few slight alterations, but it’s basically ready.

Today’s workout was pretty killer. I was sweating up a storm! I started out on a jog around the neighborhood I’m house sitting in. It is a really nice, overcast day here, so the conditions were great. I set out for 5 miles and was just going to call it a day after that. About 2 miles into the run, I decided that although I was enjoying myself and the time was flying, I wanted to push myself harder. My pace was pretty fast, but I was starting to mentally check out and get my brain set on doing something more intense. I finished up 3 miles and came inside to do a Tabata style workout.

Tabata is a style of training that involves 8 rounds of 20 seconds work, 10 seconds rest. You need an interval timer to do it, but luckily I found this handy tool online. Makes it easy when I just have to listen for a bell!

My tabata exercises included:

-Mountain climbers

-Squats

-Pushups(holy hell.)

-Bicycle Twists

I actually wanted to do more, but I’ve been having some lower back issues the past few days and started to feel it a little bit. I’d rather be smart and do less, than do more and be out for a long period of time!

It’s funny, I think that females, or maybe everyone, tends to work the body parts they don’t like much more than any others. I have ALWAYS worked my legs like crazy, not to mention, I love leg workouts. Combined with all of the cardio activities that I do, my legs have some crazy endurance. The squat rounds really didn’t phase me. Next time I will definitely add weights. The mountain climbers were tough but not terrible, the bicycle twists weren’t so bad, but the push ups? Murderous. I work my upper body A LOT, but it has always been my weak point. If you saw the way my body is made up, it would make total sense. I actually have a decent amount of upper body muscle, but it is all self made. Prior to my working out days, they were stick arms. My lower body is very athletically proportioned. Although I’m carrying around a few extra pounds these days, I have very muscular glutes and hamstrings. My quads are also pretty muscular, but it isn’t as noticeable as the backside.

Random thoughts: I skyped with the man(funny to call him that because he’s about as mature as an 8 year old. But who am I to talk, so am I.) who got me started in the fitness world. He’s currently in New Zealand working on his PhD and we haven’t talked in a few months. We talked about when I first started working out at his gym, and how I’ve changed over the years both physically and mentally, specifically towards my views on strength and conditioning. It’s just still crazy to me that I walked into Lifts almost 4 years ago just thinking I’d start working out a little bit. Little did I know that my entire LIFE would be completely changed. Even though my weight has fluctuated through the years (if I was a yo-yo I’d definitely be a Bumblebee) my perspective on life has constantly been getting better and better. My parents were never big exercisers, other than my mom having a short stint with the gym. It still amazes me that I played sports my entire life, when the other 5 members of my family sat on their ass (my older brother actually was a swimmer/mountain biker but everyone else was a sit-on-their-asser). My grandparents were very active and involved with sports though, so maybe that’s where I got it. My dad started working out about a year and a half ago. Over the last 6 months he has told me that the best gift and greatest lesson I have ever taught him is how much exercise can change your life. He doesn’t realize that him telling me that is one of the greatest gifts I’ve been given by him. It feels good to help someone. Exercise doesn’t just change your body and health, it transforms your mind. There is NOTHING, N.O.T.H.I.N.G in this world that can do for your mind what exercise can do. Yes, one workout gives you endorphins, but long-term continuous exercise makes you believe in yourself, instills confidence in you, and really gives you a drive that you may have never had before. I would assume that the happiest people on the planet are those that exercise regularly, whether that means they live in a walkable city and walk everywhere, or whether they spend hours in the gym, exercise has the ability to change you and bring out the best in you.

Okay, I’ll stop with my preaching, but I just can’t begin to describe how wonderful exercise has been to me. It’s a gift and a privilege to be able to work out as lightly or as fiercely as I want to each day. I am continuously thankful for that, regardless of being 15% body fat or 25%.