Workout for March 28th

Today I was planning on doing a full cardio and HIIT workout, but my boyfriend was in the dumps so I had to bring him pizza and beer instead :p I did do two different HIITs in my basement before:

[This was adapted from dailyhiit.com "Rock Hard" workout.] 
This was the first part...I loved the burn from the first two exercises!

[This workout was adapted from dailyhiit.com "Bang with Friends" workout.]
This was the second part. It was SO hard not to drop. The plank is on your hands, not your forearms.

March 25th Workout

I did this workout at night instead of the morning because of the snow. It was a great workout, and I love the short tabata cadence...I feel like the rounds just fly by and then I force my little fingers to hit replay and there's no going back :) The up-down pushups got really hard and then I hit a second wind during the last round and it felt FANTASTIC. I am sore today.

This workout was adapted from the "Wow Ass" workout from dailyhiit.com My boyfriend is training for the Tough Mudder in April, and I just bought him a mudder t-shirt to keep his motivation going during these last couple weeks. Hence the orange and Black theme :)

March 22nd Workout

Today I just couldn't wake up to work out before work, so I'm planning to do this workout tonight at the gym, along with probably 20 minutes on the elliptical and treadmill. Enjoy!

This workout was adapted from the "Better Sex" workout on dailyhiit.com 

March 21st Workout

Today's workout was really hard! I had to modify the jump lunges EVERY round. Which was kinda a bummer, but I kept going! I'll do better next time :)

This workout was adapted from workouts found on dailyhiit.com

By the way, It's the SECOND day of Spring. Get your booty moving!!

March 20th Workout

Here we go! Back on the morning work-out hustle! Try this nice little 18 minute workout for a lower-body burn. I used 8 lb dumbbells for the deadlifts, but I wished I had a bar with more weight, maybe like  75 lb total would have been good. Oh well...

Workout adapted from Dailyhiit.com "Fight Fat" workout

How to Make Your Own Ugi Ball

Calling all Crossfitters and Bodyrockers! Even wanted a Ugi ball, but didn't feel like shelling out $130? Well I made my own, and you can, too!

Here is the quick guide from when I made my own a few days ago. The pattern is from spaceguy's flickr account. Props to him.

If you have any questions, feel free to comment and I'll get back to you...conceptualizing how to put it together it sorta weird at first (especially for non-sewers like myself). Once you figure out the pattern it's super easy! I would definitely recommend a sewing machine, though, for durability of the seams. Also to save yourself the pain my right hand is in from forcing a needle through dense fabric hundreds of times.

:)

March 15th Workout

Here is the workout from this morning. My sister did it with me, although we were a little tight on space, and Sadie seemed to not understand that she couldn't help with floor exercises :p
This wasn't too hard, I just used my 10 lb belt weight, a coffee table, and a big couch cushion for the exercises that used  a barbell, a bench, and a Ugi ball. Also, this is my halfway point for the HIIT challenge!

Adapted from the "That S-HIIT Crey" workout at Bodyrock.tv

When I get my period mid-month

I'm all like

(http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/sarcastic%20gif)

Something I realized today...

There are 16 weeks left until July 4th. A day of skimpy clothing and fried food for most of us. I don't know what I'll be doing on July 4th, but I know I'll be happier then if I follow through with my health-goals today.

March 13th Workout

Workout from this morning.

Short and sweet!

Adapted from dailyhiit.com.

Recipe for Company

Tomorrow my sister is coming over for dinner and a slumber party...who doesn't love a little mid-week slumber party? So it gives me an excuse to cook a lavish dinner :) I picked out a main course of maple mustard short rib bacon burgers. Yes you read it correctly. Here is a picture from the website where I got the recipe (Paleomg.com)

So basically you use the crock pot and cook the short ribs all day in maple mustard concoction (which the recipe wants you to have from a specific vendor, but i'm going to just make my own), then add it in with some ground beef so it sticks together, and cook it like a burger. I think I'm going to sautee some onions and top it with that and greens...possibly a bun if I'm feeling festive that day (probably not since I had lots of processed food last weekend).


For a side dish I think I want to make some simple roasted brussel sprouts with thyme (I have a bunch of thyme left over from last weekend). Maybe I'll throw in some carrots, too.


I also have a bunch of speck, prosciutto, and soppressata and a nice hunk of dubliner that will do just fine for appetizers. I'm very excited to cook something new :)




Review:

Okay so we made these burgers and this is how they turned out: Pretty good. I say only pretty good because there were some difficulties. Since part of the burger is cooked and part is not, it's really hard to a) get the patties to stick together and b) tell when the uncooked part is cooked. We did them on the grill, but it was so windy the flame kept going out. SO we transferred them to the broiler and they turned out nicely...basically by luck because the touch method for doneness was out the window and when we cut to check one it was raw--we didn't want to keep cutting them all in half to check!

 Also, I didn't use the maple mustard sauce, and just made my own, which probably made a difference. Otherwise they were good, esp with bacon, caramelized onions, cheese, tomato, and spinach.

I would do these again, but not for a large group, and on a day when the grill will behave more reasonably.

March 11 Workout

I really liked this workout...it was fun to do a little kickboxing! I held some of the weight inserts for the weighted belt I have, I think I had 1 lb in each hand. Not too hard, but hard enough to get the sweat flowing. Good easy Monday morning workout :)

March 10th

I returned home from Deep Creek Lake on Sunday, and felt like a little cardio was in order. So I ran 3 miles on the treadmill and did 20 minutes of elliptical. Then I did a workout from bodyrock.tv which I'll illustrate for you!

I only made it 4 times through. I used a 25 lb bar with 10's on each side, and then to avoid switching the weight out for the bicep curls, I completed them using 15 lb dumbbells. It had been a while since I used any weight other then my 8 lb dumbbells, so this seemed pretty hard for my poor hammies.

I went to my parents' lake house on Thursday night for the weekend, but I managed to workout on Friday (pats self on back) while my boyfriend yelled encouraging things to me from upstairs ("why are you breathing so loudly?" "Shuddap") ( he's a gem). We didn't have internet or phone service at my house, so I made up a little cardio routine to make myself feel better about all the beer, cured meat, and aged cheese I stuffed into my little mouth over the course of 3 days. It was hard.

Also, I'm now back on the clean eating after that little 3 day hiatus. Oh well, life goes on.

March 6th Workout

Here is the workout I did last night. You need a weight (they use a sandbag, but I have a 10-lb ankle weight with a strap which worked just fine), and a surface for your feet during the elevated plank knee tucks (I used a chair, but a couch or stability ball would work well, too). This workout is actually supposed to be 50 reps each move with 500 skips at the end, but I misread and only did 20 of each. When I didn't feel dead afterwards I looked and saw that it was actually 50 (!) so I repeated once more. That did the trick.

Happy sweating! (and panting, and cursing :) )

March 5th Workout 

Today's workout was a little calmer in terms of me dying and sweating all over my carpet, but it was definitely still hard. I'm sure my abs, hip flexors, and hip abductors will be feeling it tomorrow!

These moves have strange names, and I couldn't think of anything more descriptive that was short enough for artwork, so if you have any questions as to what they are, visit Bodyrock.tv for the Sweet Nothing workout to see a breakdown. They are all moves that you can do without weight, and I don't even have a Ugi ball, I just used two big firm pillows for the balance moves.

Have fun!

March 4th workout

Here's a breakdown of what I did this morning. It was actually sorta a rest after the last few days! I found that if I workout in front of a mirror (topless at home), I am much more motivated to keep going through the burn then if I'm wearing baggy clothing. Nothing wrong with a little visual reminder of what I'm working for! 

Here is the workout adapted from Bodyrock.tv 

By the way, that is the chemical structure of caffeine in the background...built that a few weeks ago on a boring Friday night :p

March 3rd workout. Easy to do at the gym! just set-up with a medicine ball, a mat, and a big stability ball.

This workout was adapted from Bodyrock.tv . Some of the names of the moves were changed to make them more Americanized :)

Enjoy!

Workout for March 2nd

Second day in my 30 day quest to less flab! Here is another workout adapted from the bodyrock.tv website. It's not exact, but It's pretty darn close! You'll need some weights, either a barbell or dumbbells probably around 15 lbs total (I used two 8 lb weights), two chairs or dip bars, and your body! Get ready to have trouble breathing...

March 1st workout, adapted from Rockbody.tv's workout Hiit Reps.

This was definitely hard...while doing the Hiit core workout afterwards I was dripping on my pilates mat. I only cranked out 2 sets of this workout, mostly because of time constraints but it was very challenging!