Monthly Archives: September 2012

Recipe break!

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It’s me again.

I have been doing homework ALL.DAMN.DAY. Lots of reading and researching and discussion questions…ay yay yay.

I have been breaking it up with household chores, errands, walks, and intermittent exercises.

And recipe making. Since it’s time for me to take another mental break, I decided to write a post to share my recipes from today!

First up, Summer Salad. This was inspired by a recipe from Athena’s blog-she actually made it for me when I stayed at her place last month. I didn’t have the exact ingredients, so I made up my own.

Summer Salad

Here’s what you’ll need:

  • cucumber
  • tomatoes
  • onion
  • garbanzo beans
  • kidney beans
  • olive oil
  • lemon juice
  • S&P

 

Here’s what you do:

1. Dice up the cucumber, tomatoes, and onion (I am not listing amounts because that’s up to you. I made just enough for lunch/dinner, but you can obviously make as much as you want- and add more of the ingredients you like better)

2. Rinse the beans.

3. Mix all the ingredients. For my batch, I used 2 capfuls of lemon juice and 3 capfuls of olive oil.

4. S&P to taste.

 

Next, Deviled Eggs.

I have never made deviled eggs before, but I had a mean craving for them today. Weird.

Here’s what you’ll need:

  • dozen eggs
  • 2 t. mustard
  • 1/3 c mayo
  • 1/4 t tabasco
  • paprika
  • S&P

 

Here’s what you do:

1. Hard boil the eggs. Don’t know how to? Google it.

2. Peel the eggs (duh). Cut them in half length-wise with a sharp knife.

3. Empty the yolks in a bowl and mash them up.

4. Add the mustard, mayo, tabasco, paprika to taste, and S&P. Mix it up.

5. Spoon the mixture into each half. Sprinkle with paprika for presentation.

 

Ok, back to work I go. I still have to get in a workout too! Oof.

Layla says hi.

Booty Camp recap

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Hey guys. Happy new week! I gotta make this post short and sweet AGAIN because school started today and I am SWAMPED already. Basically, the next 11 weeks are going to suck BALLS because these courses are crazy intense. I am starting out nice and organized with binders and tabs and notepads and what-not, so hopefully that will help out!

So, this fitness retreat I was telling you about. It was awesome. I am so incredibly sore today and have been hobbling around running errands all morning. Yet, I am really excited to get in a workout today with all the new methods, toys, and knowledge I gained from the weekend.

I got to the retreat center around 8pm after hitching a ride from some of the other instructors. Of course, there was an ice-breaker that determined our ‘color’ based on our responses to particular questions. I turned out to be a Green (detail oriented, independent, blah blah blah). If I was doing this same course at a retreat with my Boston gym friends I would have totally been an Orange (wild, outgoing, woo woo woo).

Our cabin were nice, minus the bunk with practically no mattress that I had to sleep on. So I got roughly 45 minutes of sleep the entire night. The next morning was super weird- BLTs were served for breakfast! I opted for rice crispies with soy milk (thank god for that).

I got into all 4 classes that I wanted, which meant I was going to be in interactive classes for 6 hours. Interactive= sweating.

The first class I took was Booty Camp with Mindy Mylrea. She gave us a handout with the information she would presenting us with over the course of 90 minutes. She started with about a 10 minute lecture, then got us up on our feet moving and grooving and sweating and eventually crying in agony. Good stuff.

This lady really means business. She was so energetic and happy and awesome and awesome and awesome. Of course, there were points where I was screaming bad words to myself, but I really did love it. In fact, I was that person who threw the bender ball across the room by accident.

 

The purpose of this session wasn’t for OUR workout. It was to educate us on how to target muscles in our lower half that we don’t normally target. Ladies have strong quads, men have great butts. She had us using the bender ball for exercises that would really get those hamstrings and glutes so that we could have awesome man-butts. (Yes there were men in the class, and she praised them for their behinds. She also made a joke right off the bat- as we were squeezing the ball between our thighs- that men have great butts because they’re always carrying their balls around, so we should do the same.)

Oh, and tabatas. We did a tabata of jumps. Just JUMPS. And I died. She had us put the balls on the ground in front of us (not really to use, but as a point of reference to GET LOW on every jump). The first two rounds were squat jumps, 3&4 were staggered on the right, 5&6 staggered on the left, 7&8 back to jump squats. I was ready for a nap, but I had about 4.5 hours of exercise to go for the day.

I ended up buying all the equipment she had because

  1. It was an excellent price
  2. I wanted more options to have for my at-home workouts

 

I am going to have to recap these classes in different posts because I really have to get back to my homework, but in other current events:

  • I went through one of those automatic car washed this AM. I have never been the driver of a vehicle through one of those things. I was screaming with delight just like I did when I was younger. How lame.

  • Then I had to bring my car to be assessed for hail damage from a storm that happened over a month ago. Turns out, the repair cost was only $200 less than the value of the car, so I don’t get to have it written off. Instead, I get to bring it back next week for repairs and have a rental for a few days. Another first for me.

Hey, anyone want to do my homework?

 

Short and Sweet

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I can’t seem to get my WordPress account to work on my computer, so I’m gonna have to make it short and sweet via my iPhone today. Let’s do bullet points:

– I taught an indoor class yesterday. First time since I’ve been in Calgary. And it felt GOOD.

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It was my first time teaching with a mic too. I’m so used to yelling that I probably overdid it, but no one complained!

-Pumpkin has wiggled into my diet over the last 24 hours: ale and coffee

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-I took the puppy to the river today. She knew what was up

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And she was so happy to have more off-leash time

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-I’m of to the fitness retreat tonight. Can’t wait to get my exercise on.

-I have the hiccups.

Gangnam Style

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I made another new-to-me dinner last night, and it was pretty good.

Couscous with veggies and bacon. Pretty self explanatory. But the secret was in the dressing! After you cook the couscous as directed, sautee any veggies you have in the fridge (I used red pep, zucchini, and an onion from the garden), and sizzle up about 5 pieces of bacon, toss them all together in a bowl.

Then- the best part- coat the mixture with dressing made up of:

  • Juice of one lime
  • 3 T olive oil
  • 1 T honey
  • 1 t paprika
  • Dash salt
  • Dash pepper

It was a really nice dish. Only complaint from Tyler was that it was too sweet. He probably would have enjoyed it more if there was a higher ratio of bacon. I would suggest tasting the dressing before coating the dish to make sure it’s to your liking.

******

Yesterday’s workout came in three parts.

Part 1: Strength Circuit from Best Body Bootcamp. For the workout I chose, she had us doing 5 sets of each exercise before moving to the next exercise. Each set was supposed to use higher weights, but since I didn’t have much choice from working out at home, I made sure to do variations for each set to incorporate muscle confusion. For example: with bench presses- first set was with feet flat on the ground; second set had my legs in ‘table top’; third set my legs were fully extended; fourth set I did on the stability ball; fifth (and technically sixth set) I did single arm presses.

I’m not sore today, but I definitely felt the challenge as I progressed.

Part 2: 45 minute walk with Layla. I wore a jacket, but hot dang I was a sweaty mess by the time we got home. I chose a route that was very hilly so I could work those glutes just that much more 🙂

Part 3: Cardio. I buzzed on over to the gym for a 25 minute interval run on the treadmill and 10 min HIIT on the elliptical. Ummm, it’s been over 3 months since I have been on the elliptical. How did that happen?

Today’s workout will be at the Eau Claire YMCA downtown. I am co-teaching HEAT (indoor bootcamp) then going over some kickboxing stuff with the fitness director to see if I am eligible to instruct an upcoming class. Then probably some sweating on the treadmill.

I leave you with my current favorite jam/dance/I will be breaking this out at the retreat this weekend:

If you scroll to 1:27, that might be what I look like while instructing my class this afternoon. #justsaying. Gangnam Style.

Fitness Retreat

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So, this fitness retreat I have been mentioning. It’s this weekend. I’m kind of excited because it means I get to get out of the house. And workout. And be with other people who love to workout. But I am nervous because I won’t know anyone. And I’ll be away from Tyler and the pup. And what if I hate it?

I’m turning into such a worry wart and a homebody. Gross.

Here’s the deal: The retreat is Friday-Sunday. We meet at one of the Calgary YMCA’s, take one of two 90 minute (optional) classes, then take the bus out to the mountains to the retreat lodge. When we registered for the retreat, we had to rank which classes we would like to take for each time slot. I still don’t know which ones I have gotten into, but I thought I would give you some of the info regarding my top choices (as described in the retreat information packet).

Pre-Conference (Friday night at the local YMCA)

Turn & Burn: Athletic Cycling meets resistance training head on! Kickstart your retreat with this energetic, 60-minute workout that alternates cycling drills with training intervals on a variety of equipment.

Session 1 (Saturday, 10:30am)

Booty Camp: You’ve heard of Boot Camp… but have you heard of Booty Camp? Take your below-the-belt classes to camp with this whole new, circuit-style approach to training glutes and legs. Whether in pairs, on a team, or just surviving solo, come ready to experience a lower body challenge that is just plain booty crazy.

Session 2 (Saturday, 1:00pm)

All Systems Go: Experience the ultimate cardio and strength interval rush! All Systems Go fires up all energy systems for a crazy fitness adventure. It all begins with a fab warm-up that teases you into thinking ‘hey, this workout is gonna be fun and fancy-free’. But when the warm-up is over, there’s no looking back. You will alternate between cardio and strength intervals that challenge your muscles, heart, and soul to go where they’ve never gone before. Using the Body Bar, your body weight, and sheer determination, this is a workout to be conquered!

Session 3 (Saturday, 3:00pm)

TRX Training Zone Circuit: The TRX Training Zone is a new anchoring solution that provides a revolutionary environment for functional circuit training. Learn how to skillfully use all the elements of the TRX Training Zone to bring the best of Suspension Training, Rip Training, and Functional Conditioning together in one effective, high-energy workout.

Session 4 (Saturday, 5:00pm)

Flirty Girl!: Get ready to get flirty. You’ve thought about teaching cardio dance but didn’t know where to begin; well look no further- you are about to experience Flirty Girl Fitness. No dance experience is necessary with the easy-to-learn dance routines that perfectly combine cardio and strength training. You’re gonna think you’re part of a music video rather than in a cardio crazy, core-chiseling, booty-toning, arm-sculpting workout. Boys welcome!

Early Riser (Sunday, 7:30am)

Rise-and-Shine Yoga

Key Note Lecture (Sunday, 9:30am)

w/Mindy Mylrea. Every Movement Matters: Training the Whole and Not Just the Part.: Teachers teach and students follow. That’s how it goes..or is it? Is our roles as fitness professionals just to lead a great class- or is it to encourage and direct our students to take action outside of the class room. We are here to empower and assist in creating lasting change. Learn strategies, tips, and tricks to assist your students to change their lives for the better. Through encouraging healthy eating, movement through the day, and mindful acts you truly can be the catalyst for more than just a great workout.

We’ll see if those are the classes I get into!