WO catch-up + Weekend Recap + DD

     Hey guys, how are you this Monday morning? It’s going good over here… maybe a bit slower than I would like- but I worked all weekend so I can be a bit lax for a while before kicking into gear. Lets get caught up on workouts since last check in:

Thursday (Shareitfitness.com Summer Shred)

• Bench Press 4x8 @50
• Incline DB Press 4x8 @25
• Clean and Press 4x8 @50
• Incline DB Flys 4x8 @20
• Barbell Upright Row 4x8 @50
• Skull Crusher 3x10 @30
• Bench Dips 4x10

   There was also some kind of cardio- I can’t remember what it was, but I’m pretty sure it was 30 minutes of some kind of intervals..

Friday

480 Workout- From Naomi @ Onefitfoodie.com - this workout kicked my ass and it needs to be shared!

• Pushups
• Squats
• Squat Jumps
• Burpees
• Floor Jacks
• High Plank Shoulder Taps
• Jump Lunges
• Narrow Pushups

   Starting with 2 reps per exercise, then 4, 6, 8, 10, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2- without rest between rounds.. for time. We completed it in 29 minutes- super sweaty mess!

Saturday
   
   30 minutes of cardio and slapped together workout:

Core Burner

• Back Extensions 4x10 w/25lb plate
• Oblique Extension/Crunch 4x10 each side w/10lb plate
• Single Leg Raise Kick Switches 4x20 
• Russian Twist w/25lb plate 1x50 non-stop (Holy Moly!)
• Plank Holds 5x1 minute 

Monday (Shareitfitness.com Summer Shred)

• Bent over BB Row 4x8 @50
• Wide-Grip Pull-ups 50 reps in as few sets possible
• Cable Row 4x8 @70
• DB Preacher Curls 4x8 each arm @12.5 
• DB pullovers 3x8 @25
•  Close Grip Pulldown 3x10 @70
• Incline DB curls 3x6 @15

30 minutes cardio (10 min warmup + 15 min intervals 1 min sprint/ 1 min walk + 5 min cool down)

   Phew- Glad to get that out of the way.. Things have been pretty busy over here, powered mostly by

    Friday night was low-key. We had a few friends over for grilled pizza and drinks before heading out to a local dive bar for some dart playing

     James is pretty serious about it and plays on a league. In fact back when we started dating, (I was 17) I was the self appointed team mascot.. I used to sneak into the bars each week so I could cheer them on and hang out with the guys- It was always a great time. James took a few years off after our friend (former team captain who was like a big brother to me and shared my birthday) chose to end his life. It didn’t feel right to play for a long time, almost 5 years. James decided to get back in the game this year- so he's been playing and practicing and he’s happy to be back in the mix. 

     After work Saturday, James and I went to Providence to walk around for a couple hours. I may have convinced dragged him to finally buy some Toms!

   I kind of love them already and have only taken them off my feet for sleep, work and gym time.. amazing- why did I wait so long?!

   Afterwards there was 

AND

That right there is a grilled cheese made in a Mountain Pie Maker

A mountain pie maker is a campfire cooker.. it is seriously the best way to have a grilled cheese, or any camp food for that matter. The possibilities are endless- whatever you can slap between two pieces of bread can be a mountain pie. Think apple pie, smoores, ham and cheese, spinach and cheese, pizza style- James and I have the same one my parents and I used when I was a kid- its a least 15 years old.. I have made a whole lot of them in my life! I recommend getting one :)

    Sunday was more work and an afternoon cookout. When we got home we started to rip out the crazy over-grown vines that also have a great deal of poison ivy intertwined with them. I’m pretty sure I scrubbed the crap out of my skin with the poison ivy soap in hopes that I don’t get it all over my body- especially my face- since I was smacked in the face more than once with the stuff and definitely rubbed my hands in my face too.  Fingers cross!

DD (dog of the day)

    Say hi to Sam! He lives with our friends Scott and Laura- his age is a mystery because he was adopted but they are pretty sure he’s somewhere between 6 and 9- and he is at least part Viszla..    

What did your weekend and workouts look like?!  

Dog of the Day + WO + Plants

  This evenings post is brought to you by “Dog of the Day” Khloe- 

     Khloe is a Boxer/ Rottweiler mix and only 6 weeks old..  She is the new addition to our friend Brandon- and I’m completely in LOVE with her. Seriously- Look at this face

 My heart melts into the biggest puddle every time I see her pretty little face and get little puppy kisses- I love puppy breath, haha.. I’m guessing right about now any readers I may have- probably just bolted.. But just look at it this way.. Most woman love the smell of babies.. I love puppies..  I feel like it’s comparable.. no?  The best part is that I get to be Aunty C- get as many puppy snuggles as I can take (which lets be real.. there are never enough) Watch her grow and be adorable- BUT I don’t have to house train her, or pay her vet bills.. Score!
     Speaking of growing.. some greenery is blooming’ over here

                                             

       This mornings workout started off with 15 minutes each of jogging and arc trainer.. followed by a Bi and Tri on the fly workout.

Bi and Tri on the Fly

• DB Curls 3x12 each arm @ 20lb.
• Skull Crushers 3x12 @ 30lb.
• SuperSet-    T-bar Bi Curl 3x12@ 30lb. / Tri Push Down 3x12 @ 30lb.
• Tri Overhead Rope Extension 3x12 @ 30lb.
• Bi 21s- 3x21 @ 10lb. ( 7 reps- lower half, 7 rep- upper half, 7 reps full range) 

    By the time we got to the last Bi 21s my arms were BURNING..  Hurt so good for sure :)


    After my WO, I headed to work- and got sent home early.. only making $43.. What a waste of time.. Usually I make at least double that amount.. but what can you do? Well if your me- you search Craigslist for a new job- while I was working.. yup I have no shame.. Not like I was doing anything else- hah.  I found a few good leads- and plan on sending out some resumes tomorrow, keeping my fingers crossed for a few bites :)
 
      Let me leave you with some AMAZING bites from dinner

Cheese ravioli with pink vodka sauce.. Seriously sinful- and totally worth it..

Do you have a dog that you want to be featured- send it along with a photo and info :)


What was your last sinful bite?


Are you a fan of plants? Do you have houseplants, gardens, herbs?? Which ones?

Accomplish

      Sunday was one of the most productive days I’ve had in a while and it felt awesome :) It started out with the best Husband in the world making us breakfast and coffee. We made a plan of attack for the day while chowing down, cleaned up and got to work.
     James tackled concluding organization of the basement, and cleaning cars- while I cleaned the house.. So 1940’s of me! What you don’t know is that I get tunnel vision while cleaning- one minute I’m innocently vacuuming and the next I’m scrubbing the floors on my hands and knees (yup that really happened- but the floors looked amazing.. for about 3 minutes.. until my boys trekked over it with muddy paws- husband included ;)
     After showers and a quick snack
                  

   We headed out to HomeDepot- besides spending a crap load of money, since you can never leave that place without buying a bunch of stuff that you “need” for your house- I scoped out all of the amazing orchids 

    and we ran into a guy James used to work with and hadn’t seen in over 4 years.. We didn’t leave there until almost 3 (we were there for at least 4 hours!) After finally eating lunch, we got back to work- I gave my poor neglected houseplants some love and new soil and also potted some herbs for the summer! 

    Typing it out now, it doesn’t seem like a whole lot.. but I was exhausted and I’m totally counting scrubbing the floors on my hands and knees a workout because man my back hurt! 

     Monday morning back at the gym.. Paula and I were warming up on the treadmill- asking me what the plan was for the day.. All I knew was that I was start to get stir crazy and I wanted  Needed to lift some weights- all that damn cardio will make your brain melt I tell ya.. Fortunately Paula was feeling the same way and practically did the heel click off the treadmill… 

    I realize that your probably wondering what the hell I’m doing lifting anything with my shoulder.. but I’m stubborn and a bit stupid at times, I admit it.. however, the shoulder has been feeling a bit better- I’ve been icing and taping- and it seems to be calming down.. But I did take it SUPER easy with the weights and honestly I felt pretty good. 

Summer Shred (Shareitfitness.com) day 3

4x 6-8 unless otherwise noted

• Lat Pull downs 
• Bent over barbell row
• Wide grip pulldowns (40 total reps)
• Close grip row
• hammer curls
• single arm DB rows
• Close grip Pull downs 3x10
• Incline DB curls

  The weights I used were so pathetic I didn’t even keep track- hah.

           I spent the rest of the day studying until it was time to teach-  I took them through Saturdays workout- and they were tomato faces upon completion- my favorite :) The rest of the night was dinner and hanging out at a friends house with this little guy

His name is Dobby- like Harry Potter :)

    This morning I had one mission and one mission only.. Take this mutt for a walk like I’ve promised him for 2 days.. 

It’s like a magic eye- if you squint really hard you can see his head- trick is to just look at the bone he was holding in his mouth and then you can fill in the rest of him with you imagination, hah. 

- But first Mommy had to get to the gym..  We did 30 minutes of running and some intervals on the treadmill, all totally random and on the fly.. It was new for us to do cardio first but Paula’s doctor suggested it might be more beneficial for her to give it a try.. Once we were both super gross and sweaty we got to some leg work- based on the same workout we did last week.. 

Leggin’s (All exercises 4x 8 reps unless otherwise noted)

• Barbell squats----- 170 lbs
• Barbell Deadlifts---- 60 lbs
• Single Leg Deadlifts--25 lbs
• Leg Press---- 200 lb.
• Goblet Squats---- 60 lbs
• 4x25 crunches
• 4x12 Leg raises on Roman Chair

Maybe it was the cardio done first that did it- but we were both super gross and sweaty, yuck.. But I had a job to do.. as soon as I walked in the door I got Hydro and walked around the “hood” for a half hour.. which got my legs stretched back out.. and I couldn’t wait to peel my gross clothes off and shower! 

   

Keep on keeping on..

     Apparently I’ve been spacing out when it comes to checking in. In all honesty- I’ve been in a ton of pain over here, but the plus side is that I finally ran out of the pink KT tape and was able to switch it up with some purple!

  Ok maybe that isn’t that much of a plus- but its the small things. I went to work on Wednesday because my doctors note ran out and I needed the money anyway… That was a huge mistake.. I’m pretty sure it is just getting progressively worse as the days go on. Teaching on Thursday was a disaster- two new students.. that I couldn’t demo to but tried to anyway with one arm- and definitely over did it..  I’m not sleeping well, I can’t really do a whole lot at the gym except cardio, and trying to get into an orthopedic has been a nightmare- I still don’t have an appointment, BOO!
    As I said- workouts have been pretty lame over here. Between the shoulder and Paula’s doctor telling her she needed to do more cardio, less weights- we have been trying not to bore ourselves to death while running intervals, and doing the Arc Trainer. However we did get out on the bike path Friday morning- I rollerbladed and Paula biked.  This morning I needed to do some kind of circuit so I made one up on the fly.. Keep in mind everything had to be lower body or abs- so I just had to work with what I could:

Repeated 2x with no rest

• High Knees- 50 reps
• Jump Squats- 20 reps
• Decline Crunch- 20 reps
• Leg lifts- 20 reps
• Jump lunges- 20 reps
• Reverse Crunch- 20 reps
• Toe Touches- 20 reps
• In/Out/Up jumps- 20 reps

    It felt good to get a good sweat on :) We finished off with 30 minutes on the treadmill- cycling through- 3 minutes@ 7.5/ 2 mins@ 3.5… Not too shabby!
    I did have to go to work again- and it was ROUGH.. my shoulder feels like its burning..  but the plus side is I talked to my boss and told her I will not be able to work tomorrow or Sunday’s for a while because there is no way I can do two shifts back to back- at least not at this point.. So I’m down to Wednesday and Saturday- which I figure gives me enough time to “recover” or pretend I’m better between shifts..

I’ll leave you with some photos from the weekend so far:

Just hanging out in the car with coffee and feet 

                       Christmas Tree burning- started out slow…...

Quickly turned intense!

                                             Sweet potato crinkles :) - Mustard is way better for dipping!

Fuel + WOs+ Volleyball

    Whoa slacker! I’m already two days behind here… what the heck have I been doing?
   Monday night I taught and of course fueled up properly before hand

(mmmm.. mini caramel eggs and coffee= sustainable energy?)

   Apparently the two together really did the trick- after teaching, James and I ate a quick dinner and then took Hydro for a walk- we tried to take Sammy too- but he was being ridiculous and didn’t even make it to the end of our street before James picked him up and dragged him home.. Silly Sammy.. when will you get it?! Needless to say- my body was ready for bed- however my head was not.. I didn’t get the rest I needed and let me tell you- I’m feeling it for sure two whole days later!

    Tuesday morning Paula and I did the second day of the Summer Shred from Shareitfitness.com 

Leggin’s (All exercises 4x 8 reps unless otherwise noted)

• Barbell squats----- 170 lbs
• Barbell Deadlifts---- 60 lbs
• Leg Press---- 200 lbs
• Calf Press----- 40 lbs (I have to go really light with these because they really irritate my injured Achilles tendon)
• Goblet Squats---- 50 lbs
• 4x25 crunches
• 4x25 Decline weighted crunch- 25lbs for 2 sets, BW for 2 sets
• 4x12 Leg raises on Roman Chair

   I’m really spending a lot of time with each rep- making each one count- instead of being like the meat heads in the gym who just slam around a bunch of weight with their whole bodies because they think they are awesome and strong- when really they just look stupid and are going to pop blood vessels in their heads or pull their backs out.. haha. (No offense guys- I’m sure there is a perfectly good explanation for it)  And speaking of meat heads at the gym- there is a new group of dudes- and one of their GFs at our gym.. and they are exactly what I just described.. Hey I’m not judging- I just don’t want to be around when the overly heavy for you weight, drops on your face and dents it.. And I also don’t want to hear you grunting out your reps as you spray your spit around- from the other side of the gym.. (NOT even an exaggeration)

     I tried to get some studying done- but instead ended up going to Target with Paula to buy a new water bottle.. oops- Plus I was too excited about the first night of volleyball!! James and I joined a league, which he was a part of last year and it was supposed to be the first rounds of games.. I’m not gonna lie- it had been a while since I played any volleyball- and never had I played with guys who weren’t going to go easy on the spikes at my face because I was a girl.. Unfortunately there are not enough teams to start the league (3 teams signed up, but we needed at least 4) But we did end up playing the other team that did show up.. And the spikes to the face? Well those were real.. 

   I totally pulled a girly move when I ducked and covered for some of them- 

 source

Obviously not that dude- but that same intense scary kind of face- slamming a ball at ya.. Yeah- I don’t need my face to be a welt thank you.. 

     It was a great time- and we still plan on meeting every week for play, and are hoping that there will be enough people to play the summer league.. A couple things-

1. Turns out- I’m a pretty good server, who knew? (The Captain even called me their “Ace and the pocket”) and I’m way better at it than James- he was not thrilled, haha
2. I bruise easily- Some of those spiked balls weren’t as scary and I was right under them to save the point- my forearms are proof of this awesomeness..
3. I can’t spike or set up someone for a spike- for shit.. Truth is, I have only ever played for fun- ya know.. backyard volleyball..  looks like I need to step it up.
4. Drinking Sangria and Beach Volleyball go together like Peanut butter and banana. Nuff’ said. I ordered a glass and they gave me this with 3 straws.. Um I’m not sure what your trying to do to me- but I don’t need any help getting wasted quickly when I’m drinking Sangria.. However, it was AMAZING so thank you :)
5. I’m overly competitive- especially when I’m the only girl on the team, and there is only one other girl on the other team.. Lets just say I make it my mission to prove that I’m just as good or better and deserve to be there..  Blame growing up as a competitive athlete- but I believe it makes me work harder and better! 
6. I love being able to “hang” with the guys- except for the shielding of the face- haha- that just makes me a pansy.. 

   James was surprised that I did so well- and even said I was better than he is..  Awesome.. When can we play again?!

    Fast forward to this morning- getting out of bed was NOT easy..  the culmination of all the workouts and volleyball, maybe a bit of a hangover, and getting up at 5AM were not rolling.. I was supposed to put together a circuit for Paula and I to do with our gym buddies (as per their request) but instead I made a half-assed attempt to find one online before heading to the gym..  

    What really happened was Paula and I doing “Bi’s and Tri’s” with them leading the way.. it was actually kind of fun to have them tell us what to do, and push us to do more weight (because you know their guys and are way stronger upper body wise) It was way too much fun- and we did a bunch of stuff that I had never done before.. I didn’t write any of it down, but I did make them do Burpees- and felt better that they were struggling with that as much as I was struggling with the bicep curls.. 

   Hopefully there will be more combo workouts with them in the future to help switch things up.. 

Have you ever worked out with Gym buddies? 

Weekend + Summer Shred

   What a weekend- the first time in FOREVER that James and I didn’t work.. we actually planned ahead and had things planned by Thursday (That never happens.. it’s usually more like 5 pm Friday night when we start trying to figure out what to do and start calling people like mad) Friday night we had some friends over for dinner and drinks.. I may have had a little too much Skinny Girl Margarita to remember to take pictures, except these:

(Nothing can make this boy unhappy!)

(Sammy always wants to snuggle with Daddy)

    Saturday morning I hit the gym with Paula to try out this circuit Like it or Not

(Thanks Lindsay for kicking my butt!)

     AWESOME circuit.. for sure.. so awesome that I’m going to use a version of it for my class tonight.. they will be thrilled I’m sure..  :)

     After getting sweaty, I showered and got some stuff done while James worked in the basement- organizing.. Around noon we met up with friends to go canoeing.. the weather was perfect for the first canoe of the season! I can’t wait to go more and more :) 

(Not the best picture, hah- but you get the point)

    Everyone headed back to our house for more grilling and drinking (I guess there was kind of a bit of that this weekend- I swear we don’t do this all the time!) I was ready for bed around 10- and definitely crashed while there were still people over.. 

    Sunday Morning started at 6:30 AM- breakfast and coffee was had before we got picked up by some friends who drove us to the MS walk- we did the 6 mile loop. Though the walk started with a little bit of drizzle and gray skies- everything cleared up nicely, allowing for a very sunny walk along the bay for a great cause! There was yet ANOTHER cookout post walk, which rounded out the weekend- before heading home for a shower and movie time.. (I kind of fell asleep watching the movie) 

-------------------------

For this mornings workout we started the Summer Shred workout which I found on Shareitfitness.com a while back.. I really pushed myself with the weight today since most of the exercises were only 6-8 reps:

Day 1

Bench Press 4x8 @50 lbs

Incline Bench Press 4x8 @40 lbs

Clean and Press 4x8@ 50 lbs (These things are killer- and a new favorite.. for sure!)

Incline DB flys 4x8 @ 20 lbs each hand

BB Upright Row 4x8 @ 50 lbs

Skull Crushers 3x10 @30 lbs (I attempted to go up to 40lbs, and managed to do half a set.. hah)

DB lateral Raise 2x6 +2x8 @15 lbs each hand

*** 100  DIPS! 4x25 with increasing weight assistance.. 

   

    When it was time for the dips someone was using the weight assisted machine, so for fun we were handing around the reg. dip station- and of course I had to try to do some.. The words “I know I can’t do them without assistance” came out of my mouth- but I stopped myself and said, hey I think I can do at least one.. even if I can just lower down.. Well I proved myself wrong.. I didn’t do one.. I did FIVE full dips WITHOUT assistance!!! A lady watching (while using one of the other machines) yelled over- “I’m hurting just watching you!” hah- I love gym buddies! Paula got on there too- even though she didn’t think she could even hold herself up.. Which she did :) No weightless dips for her- but she held herself up there for 5 seconds- Once the assisted machine was clear we continued though the rest of the sets.. I started with 10lbs assistance and worked all the way up to 50 lbs assistance as I got to the last set.. My arms were ripped up.. it was awesome!

   Speaking of gym friends- Ryan sent me messages via Facebook this morning because we weren’t there at 6AM as per usual- Paula had to drive her BF to work so we went an hour later.. Apparently Ryan is “Done slacking off” and wants to do a circuit workout with us.. so he was expecting us- talk about holding us accountable huh? 

How was your weekend? 

Have you ever been canoeing?

How do you feel about making friends at the gym?

What it’s worth + Workouts + Factoid Friday

   For what it’s worth- the appearance of my obliques makes me pretty excited, 6 AM workouts 6 days a week… worth it

   I am constantly amazed by the bodies ability. Right now I’m studying the way that the body uses energy when we exercise- the 3 different ways which are directly related to the length and intensity of your workout- Pretty interesting stuff if you ask me..
    For what it’s worth, I think that Dara Torres is one of the most amazing athletes- There are so many, but I love her- probably because she swims my event.. A whole hell of a lot faster than I did, hah. Go to ChocolateMilkRefuel to watch the four part series they did featuring Dara..  If you don’t think that 2 hours in pool, 1 1/2 hours in gym and 2 hours of resistance stretching a day is impressive- you can at least get jealous of her ABS

   Or maybe use it as motivation.. Speaking of- lets talk workouts:
Thursday- Hamstrings and Glutes

• DB lunges 4x12
• SuperSet: Sumo Squat (12,10,8,12) +Barbell Deadlift 4x15
• Seated Leg Curl 4x12
• SuperSet: Single Leg lift- Roman chair 4 x 20 + Calf Press 4x20
• SuperSet: Glute Kickbacks 3x12 each leg + Leg lifts 3x20
• SuperSet: Side-to-side Heel reachers 3x 30 + Side crunch 3x10 each side

Today- Cardio Circuit + Sprint Interval 

• Mountain Climbers
• Push ups
• Russian twists on bench w/25 lbs
• Jump Squats
• Skaters
• Jump Lunges

 We did 2 rounds with 20 reps for each exercise + 3 rounds with 10 reps for each exercise. Then we headed to the treadmill for some sprints. 5 mins warmup + 15 mins 30 on/30 off @ 9.0 (Paula did 5.5) + 10 minutes of easy jog @ 5.0 + 5 mins cool down.

 Factoid Friday

1. The only kind of shopping I don’t feel guilty about is grocery shopping. I don’t care if my tubs of greek yogurt goes up to $20 each.. I’ll still support my 2 tub a week habit. 
2. This past week I threw out my favorite Nalgene water bottle..  It was totally covered with awesome stickers and I’m sad that its gone- BOO! Never mind the fact that I have other water bottles- I miss that one, WAAAAAA!
3. Last summer when I drove across the country from RI to CA and back again in 21 days- my co-pilot and I did handstands at EVERY.single.stop.. on the way out to CA and almost every one on the way back (by that time we were trying not to kill each other and were pretty cranky, lol)  I even have video footage- but I’ll spare you.. Instead here we are in Chicago :

(I’m in the red)

       Turns out people aren’t used to seeing a bunch of barefooted people doing handstands in the middle of everything.. The security guards (who took this picture) followed us around asking tons of questions and even made us move to this side of the “Bean” so that we could get the Chicago city line in the reflection.. Thanks for the suggestion guys! (And for standing there for at least 15 minutes taking pictures so that we got some good ones!) We did attempt to keep track of the number of handstands we did all trip but I think we stopped when we hit somewhere over 200.. It was pretty awesome :)

What are you weekend plans?

  I have the ENTIRE weekend off because of my shoulder- woohoo! Tonight we are having dinner at our house with some friends- grilling!  Plans are a bit vague for tomorrow- but hopefully will include canoeing and Sunday we are doing a walk to benefit MS!

What are you workout plans for this weekend? Any long ones out there?

  Paula and I might do the circuit we did two weeks ago- or maybe some other intense circuit with some cardio.. I’ll take suggestions! 

Hope yours is a great one!