Tag Archive for fitness plan

Weekend Recap + Progress Pics

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lean shoulders

It’s March!! My favorite month of the year! Not only because my birthday is this month, but also because it means that spring is coming! We’ve had quite the rough winter here in Santa Monica. 😉

Weekend Recap

I had a great long weekend with my family last week. I was sad to go, but I’ll be back soon! Being able to work remotely definitely has it’s perks. I’m elavilnews to have a job that allows me to travel and still work.

I didn’t take many photos during my trip, but here are a few highlights:

kombucha

Kombucha on tap at LGO

arizona sunset

A perfect AZ sunset.

nephew

Progress

I’m sure some of you are wondering how my 12 week plan is going, so here’s a little update:

I’m still loving this and it will likely just be what I do from here on out. The flexibility of counting macros is great, and allows me to stay on plan pretty much anywhere. I traveled last week, which is usually a dieting nightmare, but since my plan doesn’t call for specific foods, and rather a macronutrient count, I was still able to stay on track for the most part. I did have some extras here and there, but I planned on that and it isn’t something that is going to stall my progress (at least I hope not).

It isn’t easy every day, and some days it’s tough, but compared to anything I’ve ever done in the past, it’s extremely easy. I’m getting more and more used to it each day and finding it to be easier when I’m able to plan my days ahead of time. Just need to get better about actually doing that. 😉

Here are some photos that I took over the weekend. I’m really happy with the changes I’m seeing in my body!

lean shoulders

My shoulders are definitely leaner than when I started this!

leaning outStill have a ways to go, but I’m seeing more lines. 🙂

Workouts this Week

Monday: 20 min. Conditioning (KB Cleans, KB Snatches, Barbell Complexes, Burpee Box Jumps) + Chest/Abs

Tuesday: Crossfit

Wednesday: Legs

Thursday: 20 min. HIIT + Shoulders

Friday: Back

Saturday: Rest Day

Sunday: Full Body

As always, my workouts are subject to change, but this is my tentative plan for the week.

Q’s:

1. What is your dream job?

2. Which workout are you most looking forward to this week?

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Monday Ramblings + Workouts for the Week

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Good morning!

This post is going to be all over the place, so brace yourself!

I’m currently drinking a coffee and recovering from a great HIIT session! As you may know, Mondays are always HIIT days. They tend to be really busy days for me, so I like to get it done in the morning to kick off my day.

This weekend was a mix of fun, stress, and relaxation. My mom is in the hospital, so that definitely put a damper on things. She’s doing okay and will hopefully be going home in the next few days.

I spent Saturday hanging with a good friend and just catching up. I don’t have many close friends in LA (as anyone that’s moved away from home knows, new friends are much different than lifelong friends), so it’s nice to spend time with the few that I do. We also got to hang with the cutest french bulldog in the world, Pudge:

pedgeSeriously…can I keep him?

Saturday evening, Charlie and I got together with some of my co-workers. We had a great time chatting and eating (what’s better than that!). We had grand plans to go see a movie afterwards, but literally spent 20 minutes driving through the parking garage to find a spot. NOT. ONE. SPOT. So we headed home and watched World War Z instead. It basically reminded me of The Walking Dead and Outbreak rolled into one and not nearly as good. Brad Pitt was okay to look at though. 😀

World_War_Z_poster

Sunday was pretty uneventful. I dyed my hair, did laundry, and got a bunch of work done. Charlie and I also got a great fully body workout done. (I’ll have some videos up this week!) I’m pretty sure he thinks I’m trying to kill him every time he steps in the gym. I swear I’m not….(but he better be nice!!! ;-))landmine

Breakfast this morning is 1 egg + 1/2 cup egg whites scrambed and 1/3 cup cooked oats with cinnamon and stevia. I’m a creature of habit and basically eat this for breakfast every day. I’m super exciting, you don’t even have to tell me.

I’m working all day and then plan on doing a Chest/Triceps workout after work. You may have noticed that I’ve been doing more split body part days lately. I go through stages. Sometimes I do more full body workouts, or split between upper/lower body workouts, and sometimes I revert to plain old bodybuilding style and do split body parts (like I am now). I still do full body workouts (like this one I did last week, and one I did yesterday), but I do them closer to 1-2 times per week as opposed to 3-4 times.

I know that everybody talks about “confusing the body” and all that jazz (hint…your body doesn’t need to be “confused” to make progress), but for me, I do what feels good. I go through stages and since I’m in this for the long haul (life), I do workouts that make me happy. I truly think that is the key to sticking to fitness. If you don’t like what you’re doing (and I’m convinced there is something for everyone), you’re less likely to stick to it. Personally, I don’t like yoga. So I don’t force myself to do it. Instead, I do other things that I DO like. Of course, I do think that sometimes the things we don’t like are the things that we NEED (like yes, I know I SHOULD do some yoga), so it’s good to incorporate those things from time to time. Long story short:

Find the things you like and do them often. Find the things you don’t like, and do them sometimes.

Anyways, I’ll step off my soap box now. It’s Monday and way too early for that. 😀

Here’s my fitness plan for the week:

Monday: 20 min. HIIT + Chest/Triceps

Tuesday: Boxing

Wednesday: Legs

Thursday: Shoulders + Boxing

Friday: Back/Biceps

Saturday: Full Body (I’m doing workout demos for a trainer’s competition in Santa Monica)

Sunday: Rest

Hope your Monday is off on the right foot!

Question of the Day:

What is your favorite way to workout?

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Full Body Attack Workout + Video!

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It’s THURSDAY….which means it’s almost FRIDAY….and that means the weekend is almost upon us. Can you tell I’m excited?

This week has been weird. I feel a little off and the pressure seems to be “on”. I know it will pass, but it’s definitely brought out the introvert in me. Hopefully all my friends and co-workers won’t hate me for being so stand-offish this week. 😀

Yesterday, I had a small window to workout and decided to make the most of it. I wrote the workout down and immediately knew it was going to be really tough and I wouldn’t be getting much rest (due to my time constraint). I went into my “mode” and just worked through it. Here’s what I did:

Full Body Attach - Untitled Page

This workout was tough! If you want to try it with some modifications, just leave a comment. 🙂

In other news, I may have mentioned that one of the trainers at my gym is entered into a competition to be Santa Monica’s Best Personal Trainer! We have a competition on October 18th, and I’m one of the people she’s training. We took some video the other day as a sneak-peek of what we’re doing. Video is below!

Well, that’s all I’ve got for today. Stay tuned Friday for the answers to my Ask Me Anything post! There’s still time to get some of your questions in. (And thank you to those that e-mailed me your questions! I’ll be answering those as well! :-))

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Tuesday Ramblings

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How’s everyone doing today?

I’m just sitting at home waiting for the pest control guy. Fun stuff! We’ve had a ridiculous ant problem for the last two weeks and we FINALLY got someone to come out and fix the problem. It’s been quite a nightmare. Let’s just say, I’m a pro ant-annihilator at this point. -_-

In other news, I found a new protein powder that I’m excited to try called SLAP. I actually ended up buying the entire stack of supplements, which is just L-Glutamine, Whey Isolate Protein Powder, and a Coffee Pre-Workout supplement. I was intrigued by the company because of the minimal and clean ingredients in all of their products. The protein powder is sweetened with Stevia (score!) and doesn’t have any artificial ingredients. I haven’t tasted it yet, but I’ll be sure to let you all know how it is!

photo 1photo 2

Workouts for the Week

I’m still super sore from Sunday’s Leg Insanity, but overall I’m feeling really good and still “on” my game!

Here are my workout plans for this week:

Monday: 20 min. HIIT + Chest/Triceps (DONE)

Tuesday: Boxing

Wednesday: Legs + Bouldering (yup! Haven’t done that in a while!)

Thursday: Shoulders/Abs + Boxing

Friday: Full Body

Saturday: Back/Bi’s

Sunday: REST

Finally…I’m thinking about getting a Brazilian blow out. I NEVER feel like/have time to do my hair and it just ends up being kind of a mess. Anyone ever had one? I’ve heard the chemicals can be kind of harsh, so I’m curious. Let me know your experiences!

Questions of the Day:

1. What is your favorite protein powder?

2. Brazilian Blowout advice please!!!

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My Weekend and Workouts to Try!

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Good morning friends! Here’s to a great and productive week!

I had a pretty great weekend. It was a mix of work/relaxation, but that was just what needed to happen. I have a lot on my plate and sometimes taking a Saturday to get some work done makes me much less stressed out. I have a hard time taking a break when there is SO much to do. Hoping this lightens my week a bit.

Even still, I was able to get a lot of work done and STILL just relax.

Listen to this! Friday night, as we were driving home from our friend’s house, we saw this:

fire

This was a CRAZY fire with tons of explosions. I was freaking out. They finally got it under control, but holy cow it was massive! That is definitely the biggest fire I’ve ever seen. I have a new respect for fire fighters for SURE. I was about a 1/2 mile away from this and it was scary even from afar. I can’t imagine having to go right into it! Thankfully, I don’t think anyone was hurt.

 

Last week’s workouts: 

Wednesday: Since Tuesday was spent filming, I took it a bit easy on Wednesday. I walked on the treadmill for about 20 minutes just to shake my muscles out. I was pretty sore and tired, but it felt good to move a little bit. Sneak peek below!

push up

Thursday: I was planning to take a boxing class, but things changed and I ended up just doing a full body workout. I felt REALLY GOOD in this workout. I ended up doing supersets of the following:

-Deadlifts & Chin Ups (4 supersets and 1 extra set of deadlifts)

-DB Shoulder Press & KB Swings (3 supersets)

-DB Step Ups & Jumping Step Ups (one leg at a time, meaning I did 15 DB step ups and went right into 15 Jumping step ups before moving on to my other leg. It is definitely a leg BURNER) (2 supersets)

Friday: Crossfit- We’re prepping to do Murph at the end of the month, so the workout we did was geared towards working up to that. We did:

20 min. AMRAP

400m Run

10 Pull Ups

20 Push Ups

30 Squats

I made it through 2 rounds and 5 additional pull ups. Killer!!!

Saturday: Rest

Sunday: Chest & Legs w/ Charlie

We did:

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 reps

KB Goblet Squats

KB Swings

Barbell Bench Press

It was a great workout and took us exactly 32 minutes!

Fitness Plan for May 5 – May 11

Today: Bouldering + HIIT

Tuesday: Boxing

Wednesday: Full Body Heavy Lift

Thursday: Bouldering

Friday: Filming Workouts again…

Saturday: REST

Sunday: Hike

As always, that’s the plan, but we will see how the week goes!

When it comes to fitness, what do you consider yourself?

Beginner? Moderate Fitness? Fitness Freak? Athlete?

I train with the mindset of an athlete, but in reality, I’m probably at a moderate to advanced fitness level. I know this, but keeping the athlete mindset definitely helps me push myself.  

 

 

 

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Glutton for Fruit!

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Hey all!

We all made it through Monday. Yeeeehaw!

I’m headed out to film some workouts for the World’s Best Bootcamp. (FYI Enlistment for Platoon 004 went off this past weekend and it was OFF THE HOOK! Totally awesome).

wbbc 4.26

 

I get to do 4 workouts today.

Four.

Twenty Minute.

High Intensity.

Workouts.

So, in case you never hear from me again, it was nice knowing you! G’bye!

HA….kidding. I’ll survive. But I may need to be pushed in a wheelchair tomorrow. Just saying. (Is it okay to say that again? I feel like it got really annoying for a while, but maybe it’s been gone long enough that it’s okay now? Yeah?)

My Obsession with Fruit

photo 3-2

I just thought I’d let everyone know that I’m obsessed with fruit. Grapes, grapefruits, anything that starts with grape, apples, strawberries, mango, blueberries, YOU NAME IT. I think that if my only option was to eat fruit for the rest of my life, I’d be a happy girl.

I know there are people out there that tell you not to eat fruit because of the sugar. Blah-dee-frickin-blah. I eat fruit. I ate fruit when I competed. I won’t give it up. SO THERE!

Anyways….I’m kind of just rambling today. Probably because I’m anticipating workout brain already.

Do you guys get workout brain? I do.

If you ask me something during a workout, 9 times out of 10 you will get a blank stare. The kind of stare that makes one wonder if there is anything upstairs. I assure you there is. Just not while I’m working out.

Workout Plan for the Week: 

Tuesday (today): 4 HIIT Plyometric Workouts (yikes-a-rama)

Wednesday: DUHH…Rest day. (may do some bouldering if I feel up to it)

Thursday: Boxing (depending on how I feel)

Friday: Crossfit

Saturday: Hike or Lift

Sunday: Rest

As long as I get ample rest this week, I should be good.to.go.

Last but not least, this cute thing walked in the gym yesterday. And I basically stopped a conversation with a client and mauled this little guy. The client forgave me. How could anyone resist this?!

Ali!

Ali!

One of these days, Charlie will finally let me get a puppy. A little pressure never hurt, though, so please go harass him.

That’s all I’ve got for today folks! Time to go get my sweat on! Have a fantastic day!!

Do you love fruit?

What’s your favorite?! Come on tell me, tell me! I want to talk about fruit!

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Fitness Plan for the Week 2/17-2/23

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Hope you’re all having a lovely morning! If you’re taking a break from work today, I hope you’re not reading this just yet and you’re out enjoying your day! If today is a work-day for you, sit, stay a while, plan your week out with me!!

As you all know, I love to take my Sunday nights to plan out my fitness for the week.

planning

There are a few reasons for this:

1. It lets me know how I need to plan my day (i.e. a Heavy Lift is going to take much longer than a WOD or HIIT)

2. It gives me a focus and gets me excited for the workouts! Mental preparation is important!

3. It gives me a chance to program for the week so that I can fit it all in!

With that said, I’m back into CrossFit this week (took a few weeks off) and I have a feeling I’ll be pretty sore by the end of the week!

Fitness Plan for the Week

Monday: 15 min. HIIT + Heavy Lift + Rock Climb (indoor)

Tuesday: 15 min. HIIT + Metabolic Workout

Wednesday: CrossFit + Rock Climb

Thursday: 15 min. HIIT + Heavy Lift

Friday: 15 min. HIIT + Climb

Saturday: OFF

Sunday: Hike

This is only tentative, and I definitely go by how I feel. If I’m super sore from CrossFit Wednesday, there’s a good chance my heavy lift will get moved to Friday. I listen to my body and there’s no use doing a workout just because it’s on the schedule if it doesn’t feel good.

Questions for the day:

What’s on your fitness plan this week? Try anything new this month?

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Weekly Fitness Plan + Whirlwind Weekend

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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.

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Weekly Fitness Plan & Bouldering

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It’s Mondayyyyyyyyy! Are you excited? I am actually. I like a fresh start to the week!

This weekend was busy, but a lot of fun! Between the enlistment day for The World’s Best Bootcamp-Burbank, a girl’s night, recording session, and a fun workout, I slept like a baby last night!

 

console

Recording Console at Ultimate Rhythm Studios in Los Angeles

My Weekly Fitness Plan:

(This is tentative, but I like laying it out for the week so I have some type of plan in mind.)

Monday: Bouldering (see below) & Run

Tuesday: Heavy Lift

Wednesday: Crossfit + 20 minutes of cardio

Thursday: Bouldering & Run

Friday: Heavy Lift

Saturday: Rest Day (Travelling)

Sunday: Possibly Hike

So that’s what I’m planning! This is actually a lot more cardio than I’ve done in a while, but it’s just so nice outside that I feel like I should take advantage of it and run!!!

What is Bouldering?

So I’ve gotten a few questions on bouldering. Mostly along the lines of ” What is bouldering?!”. Bouldering is similar to rock climbing, but you are not attached to a rope or harness. The walls only go about 8-10 feet high, so if you fall, it’s not a big deal usually. There is a great deal of technique involved in this sport.

Benefits of Bouldering: 

-First of all, it is like doing a puzzle on a wall. There are techniques to bouldering and figuring out how you are going to take the path to the top can be tricky and take some trial and error. While many people think it is all about strength, it is all about efficiency. Technique is what makes being super-efficient on the wall possible.

-Overall body strength: You literally use your entire body. Your core, arms, back, legs, etc. are ALL working. Bouldering has increased my strength in a HUGE way. For example, when I started bouldering a few months ago, I could do 0 pull-ups. I can now do 3 in a row. 

-Mental Zen: There is something about bouldering that has a yoga-like effect. I think part of it is the fact that you are working your body and mind at the same time. For me, I know it is a HUGE stress reliever.

-FUN: Because what about climbing and hanging on walls ISN’T fun?!

It may not be for everyone, but I can tell you that I absolutely love it. If there is a rock climbing gym in your area, I highly suggest trying it out! There are always veterans there that are happy to give advice and help you with your technique. The bouldering community is  very friendly!

bouldering

Me just “hangin’ out!”

So that’s that. I’m working my day away and then heading home for a run and bouldering session. Hope everyone is having a great start to their week!

Have you ever tried bouldering or rock climbing? Are you afraid of heights?

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