Fitnessista Summer Shape Up, Week 3

This Wednesday, another Shape Up workout from Fitnessista.  For more details, and a video illustrating the moves, please see her page.  Here’s the graphic that summarizes the whole thing, and below you’ll find how I’ve broken everything down with number of reps, and some realistic numbers for weights.

CIRCUIT (repeat 3 times)

1. Lunge with Row and Press, 8-10 lbs (x10 each side)
2. Hit the Floor (1 min)
3. Bicep Curl w/ Plie squat into Bent-over wide row, 10 lbs (x10)
4. Ball switch with Pushup (x10)
5. Squat Jump, Shuffle Back (1 min)
6. Tricep Dips on Bench (x10)
7. Toe Touches on Bench (x10)

Frog Crunch Countdown: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 10!  (for a total of 64)

Tabata Intervals.  Complete the following routine twice. It should take 4 minutes.

• Plank with alternating arm raises, 20 s
• Break, 10 s
• Bench Jumps (bench + 2 levels), 20 s
• Break, 10 s
• Side-to-side ski jumps, 20 s
• Break, 10 s
• Star Jacks, 20 s
• Break, 10 s

This is gonna hurt.  =)

-Amanda

Champions!

Our softball team won the league championship again last night!  It was unexpected (the team we beat was undefeated for the regular season), but we fought a hard game, and it paid off.

And then we had some booze to celebrate. Go Alibi!

-Amanda

Friday Full Body Remix

On Friday, I missed the workout because … I forgot my gym clothes. It was just that sort of day. I sent emails and forgot the attachments. I sent the wrong data to my boss. I was just trying to do too much at once and ended the day in worse condition than I started.

Anyway.

Since I missed the gym on Friday, I decided to alter Friday’s workout for an in home workout today. I didn’t quite have all the necessary equipment at home (anyone with an assisted pull up machine in-home, props to you!) so I had to make do with what I had. Hopefully this will encourage you all to do this workout as well!

The equipment I had on hand:

• 10lb dumbbells
• Ab ball
• Towel
• Bar Stool

Here is Friday’s workout make over:

• seated medicine ball circles (aka “Rocky Solos”), 8lb ball 10lb dumbbell (x10 each direction)
• kettlebell thrusts 15lb, Around the Clock for your inner thighs (x10 ea side) (see pic below)
• tricep presses on Bosu ball, 15 lbs 2 10lb dumbbells (x10)
• deadlifts with bar, 40lbs 2 10lb dumbbells (x10)
• assisted pull-ups pushups with towel (x10)
• Pilates V-ups (x10)
• Jumping squats (x10)
• Dumbbell flyes chest presses on stability ball, two 8–10 lb dumbbells (x10) [Note: I would have done flies, but 10lb was just out of my range. If it’s in yours, keep the flies!]
• Military Press with calf raise, two 10-lb dumbbells (x10)

Then finish with Friday’s tabata. You will sweat, but give it your all at the end. Sweat is just fat crying.

I know it looks like a lot of change, but it’s mostly substituting the weight Amanda used for my 10lb dumbbells. Please use whatever weights you have or feel comfortable using. The three new moves are listed below:

Around the clock for inner thighs. Looks easy, but you are going to feel it the next day. Prop your feet up on a high chair (I used a bar stool) in a reverse plank position. Make sure your body is in a straight line. Then lift your right leg up (shown below), out to the side, down under the seat, back up and then rest it on the stool. Repeat with the left leg for one rep.

Pushups with towel. It’s a pushup … with your feet on a towel! 😛 Nothing tricky here, but make sure to put the towel on a slidey surface (I used my kitchen floor). This really engages your abs during the pushup.

Chest presses on the stability ball. Again, no surprises here. Just remember to keep your butt up and your abs engaged.

Please, please feel free to shoot some feedback my way! I would love to know if you tried the work out and what you liked about it.

Kara.

Full Body Day, 6/22/2012

Today I’m going to try to make a workout in the format of the last couple we’ve done.  We typically have followed a format of 3 circuits repeated 4 times each, and each circuit containing 3-4 exercises.   But the format of the Fitnessista workouts is more like ONE GIANT CIRCUIT with 10-12 moves, which she fools you into thinking are 6-8 moves, by sneakily grouping them! hahaha! She has you repeat the big circuit 3 times.  Hers are a little more cardio, and a little less of the weightlifting we (or at least I) like to do.  I think she does this because it’s easier for readers to follow, even at home, with very little equipment. But I’m going to try to combine some heavier lifting into this format (since we have a full gym), and see how we fare today.  I think we have all four ladies tonight — Me, Kara, Doha, and Ella!  I’m excited about that.  =)

GIANT CIRCUIT (repeat 3 times)

• seated medicine ball circles (aka “Rocky Solos”), 8lb ball (x10 each direction)
• kettlebell thrusts, 15 lbs (x10)
• tricep presses on Bosu ball, 15 lbs (x10)
• deadlifts with bar, 40lbs (x10)
• assisted pull-ups (x10)
• Pilates V-ups (x10)
• Jumping squats (x10)
• Dumbbell flyes on stability ball, two 8-lb dumbbells (x10)
• Military Press with calf raise, two 10-lb dumbbells (x10)

After repeating the circuit three times, we’ll do this quick Tabata drill from Fitnessista — it only takes 8 minutes.  Can’t be that hard right?  HAHAHAHA, no way, it looks insane.

In case you can’t watch the video, just do two rounds of this set:

• 2o sec – vertical jump
• 10 – sec rest
• 20 sec – burpees
• 10 – sec rest
• 20 sec – side-to-side ski jumps
• 10 – sec rest
• 20 sec – tuck jumps
• 10 – sec rest

-Amanda

 

 

Berry Delicious

Hi Everyone!

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve been gone and I’m excited to be back.  Amanda’s work out yesterday was an amazing return to fitness. 3 weeks of vacation plus another 3 prior to that of an intense work schedule pretty much wiped working out from my schedule. Please check out the workout here if you have not already.  My butt is thanking me today!

One of my favorite breakfasts is a smoothie.  Especially now since summer is upon us, nothing is more exciting to me in the morning than some blended goodness.  I thought I’d share this recipe with you since it super easy and pretty much all I’ve been having for breakfast this week.

You’ll need:

–          3/4 cup frozen berries
–          1/3 cup apple juice
–          1 tsp lemon juice
–          3 heaping tablespoons of yogurt

I bought my yogurt in the big container since it’s always less expensive, and I’ll just take a dinner spoon into it and plop spoonfuls into the blender.  If you like a thicker smoothie, you can increase the yogurt to juice ratio.

Let me know if you enjoy it!

Kara.

Fitnessista’s Summer Shape Up, Week 2

Once again, I’m capitalizing on Fitnessista’s hard work, and using her awesomely-designed workouts for one of our gym days this week.  You can find a lot more details about this week’s workout on her post here, but I’ll break down the numbers below, so that we’re all organized once we get to the gym.

Thanks Fitnessista!

15-minute HIIT

Same set as last time, but this time we’ll do it correctly, ha!  Go full tilt (level 9-10) for 30 seconds, then continue at a level 2-3 for 1 min, 30 secs (1:30).  Cycle through the following exercises, until you reach 15 minutes.

• get down, get ups on Bosu Ball
• jumping jacks
• high knees
• jump squats
• butt kicks
• push presses with ~35 lbs

-Amanda

 

Post-workout update:  WOW!!  This was an amazing workout — a serious calorie-burner.  My burn was up to 580 at the end of the workout, and my heartrate stayed elevated for quite a while.  For fun, I left the heartrate monitor on for another hour, and 2 hours after the start of the workout, my burn was up to 760.  YES!

Bulgur & Chickpea Salad

Here’s nice side dish I made for dinner this weekend.  It’s pretty easy and very cheap!  Also great for hot weather, since it’s served cold.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups bulgur wheat
• 2 cans garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained and rinsed
• 3 cups loosely-packed chopped fresh parsley
• 1 cup loosely-packed chopped fresh mint
• 1/4 cup lemon juice (our was from our lemon tree!)
• 1.5 Tbsp chopped garlic
• 7 Tbsp olive oil
• salt & pepper

(sidenote:  there is cilantro in the picture.  I messed up a bit — the cilantro was for the main course recipe, not the salad!  my bad!)

Directions:

In a large bowl, soak the bulgur in cold water for 20 minutes, or until soft.  It should have a consistency like cooked brown rice.  Drain the water out of the bulgur, pressing as much excess out as you can, and set aside.  Briefly sauté the garlic in 1 Tbsp of olive oil, just until golden.  Combine the cooked garlic, remaining olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper.  Whisk this to make a dressing.   Soak the garbanzo beans in the dressing for about 10 minutes and then pour the mixture over the bulgur.  Toss in the mint and parsley just before serving.  Add more salt and pepper, to taste.

I’m eating some of the leftovers right now!

-Amanda

Fitnessista’s Summer Shape Up, Week 1

Today, Doha and I are going to try Fitnessista’s (currently, my favorite fitness blogger!) Week 1 Summer Shape Up Workout.  It looks really fun, and I can’t wait to try it.  Here’s the graphic from her page.

From The Fitnessista

You can also take a look at her video to get more details on the movements.  She’s really done a great job planning this one out.  Here’s my plan for weights and reps on each of the above six exercises.  Complete all six a total of THREE TIMES.

15-minute HIIT

Do 30 seconds of one exercise, at FULL TILT, and then rest for 1:30.  Then move to the next exercise.  Keep going, repeating the cycle, until you’ve completed 15 minutes.

• get down, get ups on Bosu Ball
• jumping jacks
• high knees
• jump squats
• butt kicks
• push presses with ~35 lbs

This is going to be so sweaty.  Can’t wait!

-Amanda

Update, post-workout:  For the HIIT, I sorta messed up a little, but it worked out ok.  What you should do is, instead of taking just sedentary breaks for 1:30 between the intervals, you should be continuing at about a 2 or a 3 for that time.  I forgot that.  What we ended up doing was taking sedentary breaks for 1 minute, since 1:30 seemed too long.  Now we know why it seemed too easy!  hahaha, next time. 

This is a great workout though!  I highly recommend it!  My total burn, after 45 minutes (that included everything) was 480 calories.

Leg Day, 6/8/2012

I have been very bad this week.  SO MANY DIET FAILS.  It happens.  Ella, my friend and workout buddy who is always tempting me with homemade cakes and sweets, will be gone for a week next week.  I told her that I’ll probably lose 5 lbs while she’s gone.  But really, her crepes are the best. Dammit.

Circuit 1 (four times)

• one-legged deadlifts, two 15-lb dumbbells (x10 each leg)
• rope ladder drill:

–  squat jacks, one direction (squat inside the square, then jack forward to the next one, with your feet on the outside of the ladder.  For the next rep, squat into that square. Repeat until you get to the end of the ladder.)
–  high knees, one foot in each square, one direction
–  in-in-out-out’s, both feet in each square, and both feet out to the sides, two directions

• abs: medicine ball twists, feet off. the. ground. (x20)

Circuit 2 (four times)

• butt bridges on medicine ball (x20 + 5 second hold)

Image from Peak 313 Fitness

• Drill:

–  carioca 25 ft to the right
–  10 jumping jacks
–  carioca 25 feet to the left
–  10 jumping jacks

JoyFitnessAndStyle shows us a “carioca.” I would have called it something boring, like “cross-over side-runs.” Carioca is much sexier, don’t you think? Viva Carioca!!

• scissor legs (x30)

Circuit 3 (four times)

• back squats, 60 lbs (x10)
• calf raises, with the same bar/weight as the squats (x15)
• decline bench situps with arms overhead (x10)

-Amanda

Stuffed Chicken Breasts & Pretty Salad

Last week, we had some friends over for a small dinner, and I cooked up a recipe that I had just recently tested, from Fitnessista.  It came out so well that I knew I’d have to make it for guests.  So I did!  I totally recommend making this — it is SO EASY.  And it tastes fancy.  Easy and seemingly fancy is the perfect combination for a girl like me.  I served little salads for an appetizer, and we had roasted asparagus with the chicken.  Our guests also brought a ridiculously decadent duck/fois gras combination, which we slathered on french bread.  The meal was healthy, until they arrived!!   Hahaha, I don’t care.  It was delicious.

Pretty Salad 

I did not measure anything for the salad, but the picture should give you an idea of how small they were. The total salad serving was probably 1 cup.

• halved baby heirloom tomatoes (Trader Joes!)
• sliced cucumber
• sliced avocado
• sliced hearts of palm (the white circles in the picture)
• roasted pine nuts (just brown them quickly in a skillet — don’t let ’em burn!)
• light ceasar dressing, used very sparsely

Stuffed Chicken

• 6 boneless, skinless organic chicken breasts
• 4 oz (two of those small logs) goat cheese
• 1 small jar (~8 oz) sundried tomatoes (they came in an oil/spice blend)
• 2-3 cups organic spinach
• dried oregano
• dried thyme
• minced garlic (from a jar, I’m lazy)
• salt & pepper

Preheat your oven, stupid!  375 degrees.  I always forget this.

Slice the breasts almost all the way through, by pressing down on the top, and sliding the knife carefully through the middle, longitudinally.  Go slowly, and use a sharp knife.  Then open up the breast fillet like a book.  On one side, make a layer of about 6 spinach leaves, 1.5 Tbsp goat cheese, and 1.5 Tbsp of sundried tomatoes.  Then fold the chicken “book” closed, and press down on top to sort of seal it together.  Sprinkle spices on top, to your liking.  I used about 1/2 tsp of garlic, 1/4 tsp each of oregano and thyme, and a dash of salt and pepper for each breast.  I skipped the lemon that Fitnessista used, which is stupid, because we have a lemon tree in our yard.  It’s probably really good with lemon!

Anyway, the picture shows what the chicken looked like before going into the oven (Stupid microwave-defrost cooked the edges.  I swear we let the chicken defrost all day, and it was still frozen when I got home.  wtf.).  Cook at at 375 for about 25 minutes.

Serve with something green, like this:

Really yummy dinner!  Seriously, you’ve got to try the chicken breasts.  And that, my friends, brings the usage of the word “breasts” in this post up to 7 instances.  You’re welcome.  Happy Tuesday!

-Amanda