This post is going to be alllllll over the place. I haven’t blogged in a week and I have so much to say! LOL
Let’s start with Labor Day Weekend. It was such a great 3 days! Charlie and I did a good mix of relaxing, eating, and staying active. We ate Burger Lounge twice (my favorite turkey burger and fries EVER),
and watched about 500 episodes of Homicide Hunter.
OMG, have you seen this show? It is AMAZING. Lt. Joe Kenda is seriously THE MAN. I feel like I would admit to a murder I didn’t commit if I had to be interrogated by him. I can’t stop watching this show.
We also got in a great hike and a fun workout at the gym. The video below shows one of the most ridiculous combos I do. It doesn’t look that bad, but it literally kills me every time. It’s 3 pull ups, 3 push ups, 2 pull ups, 2 push ups, 1 pull up, 1 push up. That’s one set. This is my third. -_-
This week was busy (and short!), so I did a lot of catching up on Tuesday, after not working on Monday. I love 3 day weekends, but the pile of work that ends up on my plate by Tuesday is a bit overwhelming. Here’s what my workouts were like this week:
Weekly Workouts 9/1-9/5/14
Sunday:Legs
Monday: Evening hike
Tuesday:20 min. Stairmill + Shoulder/Chest Workout
Wednesday:Rest
Thursday: Full Body Circuit (for a commercial we filmed) + Boxing
Friday:Legs
Saturday: Possibly a hike?
Sunday: Rest or active recovery
Last night, I took a boxing class again. I took a break from boxing for a bit after I got a weird knot in my back. We have some new instructors at Iron Boxing now, so I decided to jump in again. IT WAS AMAZING. I literally sweated out everything in my body. At one point while I was hitting the mitts, I almost thought I was going to pass out. I was giving EVERYTHING I had and pushed myself to the limit. It was incredible and I cannot WAIT to go back. These new instructors are THE REAL DEAL!
I’m gearing up for another great weekend of relaxing and spending time with some friends! (Oh, and obviously binge watching Homicide Hunter….)
Questions of the day:
Have you ever seen Homicide Hunter? (isn’t it the best?!!?!)
It’s a lovely Monday and once again, going to be a busy one. I’m cool with that, though. I had a fantastic weekend, and I’m ready to get back to work and my regular routine!
Thursday night, Charlie and I flew to Tucson, AZ for the weekend for the Audio Pot Luck Con. It was an intimate gathering of audio engineers and audio companies, and we had a blast! So many great people and tons of geekiness going on. Just the way I like it.
I finally got my Eegee’s too!
1/2 Strawberry, 1/2 Lemon
Friday morning, I got up to do a workout before heading over to the trade show. It kind of kicked my ass. The hotel had a decent gym, too, which was refreshing!
Hotel Gym Workout
Superset #1: 3 Sets
10 DB Curl to Shoulder Press (15lb DB’s)
10 Burpees
Superset #2: 3 Sets
10 DB Lateral Raise (10lb DB’s)
10 DB Alternating Front Raise (10lb DB’s)
10 DB Rear Delt Raise (10lb DB’s)
Superset #3: 3 Sets (Killer Finisher)
Ladder down 3-2-1
Pull Ups & Push Ups
(3 pull ups, 3 pushups, then 2 pull ups, 2 pushups, then 1 pull up, 1 push up = 1 set)
After not getting much sleep over the past few weeks, we made up for it and slept in on Saturday! It felt good to not have to be up for something and to not have my mental alarm clock wake me up.
We spent Saturday at the convention and even tried to duck out in the afternoon to hang by the pool. I’m not even kidding, the MOMENT we got to the pool, it started pouring rain. Whomp whomp.
(you can’t tell it was raining here, but I assure you, it was.)
We ended up just going out for sushi and hanging out for the rest of the evening. We had an early flight (read: 4am wake up call) on Sunday morning, so we didn’t want to be out too, too late.
We got up Sunday at the crack of dawn, called our Uber driver friend who woke up especially for us, and hit the road for the airport. It was a quick flight and I was exhausted by the time we landed in LA. As soon as we got back to our apartment, I literally dropped my bags by the front door and crawled into bed. I ended up sleeping until 1pm. It was glorious.
I finished out my Sunday with a leg workout and some work. I feel refreshed after a great weekend and ready to take on the week!
1. Do weekends away make you less stressed or more stressed for the coming week?
2. What was your favorite thing you did this weekend?
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:
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!
**Always check with a doctor before starting a new fitness program
Traveling always makes me lose track of the days and times. This weekend, I was in Arizona spending time with my family. I’m here until Tuesday, but I’m feeling like I have no sense of anything! Strange how that is.
Thursday was spent driving, so I took it as a rest day and left it at that. By Friday, I was itching for a workout. I didn’t have much time, so I created my own workout in my dad’s living room.
5 Rounds of:
-10 Squats
-5 Push Ups
-10 Jump Squats
-15 V-Ups
-10 Jumping Lunges
Afterwards, I did 3 sets of:
-15 Wide Stance Squats (holding my laptop bag filled with cans of beans as a weight!!)
-10 Burpees
This workout took me about 15 or 20 minutes and was the perfect heart rate boost/sweat sesh. You really can get a great workout ANYWHERE!
On Saturday morning, the boyfriend and I headed to the gym for a workout. We did a mixture of Deadlifts, Pull Ups, Glute Kicks on the Reverse Hyper, and DB Military Press. We finished off with a burner using the sled. It was pretty killer and we were both WIPED afterwards.
Workout Plan for the Week:
Monday:Home Workout (Probably similar to what I did Friday)
Tuesday:Full Body Workout at the gym
Wednesday:CrossFit + Rock Climbing
Thursday:Heavy Lift + Boxing
Friday:15 min. HIIT + Rock Climbing
Saturday:CrossFit
Sunday:Hike
This is tentative and likely will fluctuate a little bit, but it’s where I’m starting.
And for your viewing pleasure, some photos from the last few days!
AZ Sunrise
My little bro and I 🙂
Country Car on a Country Road
Beautiful Mountain Scenery
My babe and I in the mountains!
Feeling thankful this weekend for the people in my life. Life is a crazy road and lately it has been testing me, but I’m just taking things one day at a time and making sure I take care of myself. Eating healthy, working out, working hard, and enjoying the moments.
Question of the Day:
What are you MOST thankful for?
What are some ways you “slow it down” when you’re feeling overwhelmed?
It’s been a whirlwind of a week over here. I definitely wore myself out both physically, and mentally. Work has been pretty crazy and all over the place, and I’ve been kicking butt in the fitness department. Between running, rock climbing, hiking, plyometrics, HIIT, and heavy lifting, I’ve literally been doing it all. Next week I am even planning on taking an adult gymnastics class, so stay tuned for a recap of that! For now, I’m battling a little cold, but hoping I will heal myself by creating cocktails like this:
and drinking lots of fluids.
The Core 5 Exercises
With all of the different types of exercises out there, things can get pretty confusing. There are so many different movements and ways to perform those movements, that sometimes it can make your head spin. Of course, you can target your muscles in many different ways, but there are some basics that I believe are what build your foundation. Not only are they functional exercises, but they are strength building and work your entire body simultaneously. If you master these, consider yourself a master of strength. 😀
1. Push Ups
We all know what a push up is, but are you doing them properly? When done correctly, the pushup will work your pecs (chest), deltoids (shoulders), abs, and triceps, but even your legs, glutes, and lats must work as stabilizers in order to do a push up correctly.
Modification: Start from your knees until you build up strength to do a proper push-up. The same flat-back form and movement should be kept.
2. Pull Ups
I have a love/hate relationship with pull ups. They are such a GREAT exercise, but take a lot of work to become good at. There is really only one way to get better (and do more) pull ups, and that is to…wait for it…DO PULL UPS. But you may ask, how do I work on pull ups if I can’t do a single one?! Well, there are several modifications that help you practice the movement until your strength is built up enough to do pull ups on your own. Here are a few options:
Options #1: Band Pull Ups – both legs
Option #2: Band Pull Ups – one knee in (same as above, but using only 1 knee in the band)
Option #3: Band Pull Ups – one foot in, straight leg (instead of your knee on the band, you put your foot on it. Both legs stay straight)
3. Back Squats
The back squat is definitely an important exercise for everyone to learn and practice. I always tell people the best ab exercises I know of are squats and deadlifts. Like the push up, this is a full body exercise. Your glutes, hamstrings, quads, and abs are all working very hard during this exercise. Your back is used as a stabilizer as well. The proper back squat involves a nice athletic stance, with your chest out, shoulders back, flat back, and abs pulled in through your belly button. Here is a video by my good friend (and my first trainer! He taught me all of these moves back in 2007) Bret Contreras. The video talks about proper form, problems, and corrections. It is well worth watching!
4. Deadlifts
Probably my favorite exercise of all time. There are several different types of deadlifts, but for our purposes, I am speaking of the Conventional Deadlift. Unlike the squat, the deadlift is a hinge at the hips. This exercise works your glutes, hamstrings, lower back, upper back, and abs. It is another exercise that requires a lot of attention to form, as not to injure yourself. Learning your form on this exercise is the first priority before adding weight. Once again, I’ll let Bret take this one:
5. The Hip Thrust
Back in 2007, I learned about the hip thrust first hand from, of course, Bret Contreras. In his small Scottsdale gym that I trained with him at, I was introduced to this move and forever fell in love. With the exercise, not Bret. The hip thrust is absolutely the best glute exercise out there. It is a power movement that uses SO many muscles and truly targets the glutes in a way that squats and deadlifts just don’t do (not to take away from them, just a different reaction from the muscles). I am posting another one of Bret’s videos, as he is one of the first people to spread the word and research this amazing exercise in depth.
Side note: Bret is now selling the Hip Thruster machine! (you better believe I’m talking my gym into getting one.)
So there you have it folks. I can guarantee that if you master and practice these 5 moves, you truly need nothing else. Of course, you can always supplement with other exercises and focus on speed, power, or strength (which will all give you a different way to use these moves), but these are staples. Learn them, practice them, and watch your fitness level take strides.
– What is your favorite exercise?
– Do you practice any of these exercises regularly? If so, which is your favorite/least favorite?
Yesterday, I made a workout date with my good friend Ally. We didn’t specify the type of workout we would do, only that it happen.
When the 7 o’clock hour rolled around (evening time), we met at the gym and discussed. There wasn’t much discussion before I decided, “Yes, I know what we should do!”
Lizzy Tip 101: The excitement in my voice as I describe a workout is completely relative to the intensity of the workout. I was excited…
I quickly grabbed the green strength band from the wall of hanging bands (because who doesn’t have one of those?) and explained what we were about to conquer…
Hellish Pyramid Workout
4 exercises, circuit style
Sets of 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10
NO REST (rest if you need, but no scheduled rests)
Pull Ups w/ Green Band
Jump Squats
Push Ups
Hanging Leg Raises
Alternative names: “I can’t move after this” Pyramid Workout, “My body hurts” Pyramid Workout, “Pull WHAT Up” Pyramid workout
This workout was KILLER. It is definitely advanced and for someone that consistently works out. We finished in around 35 minutes and basically dropped to the floor. I dare you to try it!
and watched about 500 episodes of Homicide Hunter.
OMG, have you seen this show? It is AMAZING. Lt. Joe Kenda is seriously THE MAN. I feel like I would admit to a murder I didn’t commit if I had to be interrogated by him. I can’t stop watching this show.
