A fitness post, if you will

Posted on August 28, 2012 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Let’s center this post around FITNESS. Because I love it. And I don’t think I talk about it enough.

Why do I love fitness so much? Because it makes me feel good and look good and keeps me healthy! 5 years ago, my workout routine was cardio, cardio, cardio. Granted, I was on a collegiate volleyball team (and coincidentally 35 lbs heavier), I never paid much attention to the importance of strength conditioning. Um hello…why not?! ~~Booze and boys, that’s why~~

AFTERBURN people. Mmmm, delicious afterburn.

Onto a fitness survey I have starred in my Google Reader on several occasions, but just now getting around to completing for myself. (I c+p’d the questions from Christina’s blog)

1. Run/workout in the heat and humidity or freezing cold temps and snow?

HEAT. I love the sweat. Love, love, love it. I remember playing club soccer in California and practice would be from 12-2 in the summer and we would DIE. And afterwards, I was in glorious heaven. I am a California girl and love me some warm weather. I HATE cold. Super hate it. Snow? MMmmnope, not going outside. Funny now since I live in friggin’ Canada.

2. Washboard abs or flat abs?

I’d like to say a mixture of both. I don’t want to look scary manly, nor do I want model-flat abs. So long as there is no muffin top.

3. Dr. Oz or The Doctors?

Neither. But I have managed to catch a few snippets of Ozzie boy and he sure does talk about farts and poop a lot. So, if I had to choose, I’d pick him.

4. Cardio or strength?

BOTH. (See above) Some days though, I can’t manage to do cardio- so I make do with a super intense strength session- and vice versa. I think I have a healthy balance in my weekly workouts.

5. Cravings: Protein or carbs?

Always carbs. Have you seen my ass? It’s loaded with the after effects of carbs. In California, my mom and I would always hit up Safeway after I got outta school (you know, where they guarantee fresh bread at 4pm every day?) And she would buy two loaves- one for dinner- and the other for me to ‘rat’ out the innards. I loved bread centers. Of course, I am more mindful now…

6. Jillian Michaels or Bob Harper?

Jillian! She is hard AND hilarious, which I love. I have a couple of her videos and I love how she loves to kill her demo girls then talk about how she’s a hard ass. I have learned lots of new moves from her because she’s like, everywhere in the fitness world.

7. Frozen Yogurt or Ice Cream?

Difficult. Depends on where I am. Soft serve in NY, Froyo in Boston, and hard ice cream here. Soft serve is ALWAYS a twist with rainbow sprinkles

Froyo is chocolate with any and every chocolate topping, Hard is cookies ‘n cream. The end.

8. To train: Upper body or Lower body?

I feel immediate results with upper body, but I love DOMS in my lower body.

9. Protein powder or food with protein?

I just declared my love for protein powder, but if I had to choose, I’d rather find foods with protein. But you’ll still find me with a shake here and there.

10. Lunges or squats?

SQUATS

Source

11. Sweet or salty?

Sweet! Wait for my post on August foodie penpals this Friday. My pen pal hit the nail. ONTHEHEAD with that one.

12. Workout attire: cute or comfy?

Both. But I’d rather be comfortable.

See? Not cute.

13. Body Pump or Heavy lifting?

Never done Body Pump….so….heavy lifting?

14. Yoga or Pilates?

Gross, neither. But a lot of exercises I do incorporate Pilates-type moves.

15. Nike or Adidas?

Don’t currently purchase either. But I do rock a couple pairs of Nike shorts that have those built in undies. And I haven’t cut them out.

16. Running on the treadmill or outdoors?

I like the treadmill because if you cut the run short, you’re still in the same place. But, intervals go by WAY faster on the road. More stuff to look at.

17. Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s?

I have neither here! So sad. But I used to hit up TJ’s every Thursday on the way home from teaching a strength class. My usual purchases: seaweed snax, sunflower butter, whole wheat english muffins, hummus, sweet potato chips, pumpkin waffle mix, maple syrup, beans, coconut water. Crap, now I’m craving all that stuff.

18. Summer or Winter Olympics?

Summer. No joke, I watched all televised broadcasts this year. Obsessed. Winter olympics make me cold. And I don’t like skiing.

19. Exercise classes or Exercise videos?

Classes for the win, Alex. Oh man, I miss the 20495720937 I used to take/teach in Boston. My bootcamp here is just not the same. And I haven’t found a single indoor class that I like yet.

20. Steamed veggies or roasted veggies?

Both. I roast them more often than not. But a veggie is a veggie is a veggie, so I’ll eat it however way it’s cooked.

weird carrot

Wanna take the survey? Or just answer one of the questions? Comment below! I’d love to hear what you’ve got!

bust A move

Posted on August 27, 2012 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Just another boring day back at the grind here in Calgary. Ugh. (I would rant about this whole not working and being in a different country with no friends and family thing, but you’d just x out of the whole post. and we don’t want that)

I cleaned. LAME

I went to Wal-Mart. LAMER

I did homework on ethnic subcultural marketing strategies. LAMESAUCE.

But, I painted my nails some awesome colors.

I made sure to get all the laundry done prior to painting. Nothing is worse than having to do something immediately after doing your nails. And I had to put the duvet back on the comforter. I may have mentioned this before, but that is my SINGLE MOST hated chore. I would rather scrub toilets and express my dog’s anal glands than deal with that stupid piece of fabric.

I also cleaned the coffee table which made for a fabulous black backdrop in this photo.

Oh wait. There was an exciting thing. The FedEx man came to the house. Yes, it’s a sad thing when making small talk with the FedEx guy about the weather is a highlight to your day.

Sidenote: Speaking of weather, I never understood why people must always discuss the weather. Talking about it doesn’t change it. Does the cashier at Safeway care to hear your thoughts on upcoming clouds? No. Neither does the FedEx guy, I found out. I always make fun of my parents when I catch them having a serious conversation about the big W. And now, here I am following in their footsteps. Mom, you’re laughing now!

So the FedEx guy brought my textbooks for my last semester of grad school. $330 for two books. OR SO I THOUGHT THEY WERE BOOKS. Ummm…what is this??!

It appears they forgot to put a cover and a spine on this $110 ‘book’. Thank goodness they went through the trouble of at least 3-hole punching it.

On to greener pastures: Today’s workout.

I had no motivation for dealing with creeps at the gym, and I have had some shin pain since I went rollerblading last week, so I decided to bust out a nice little workout of my own at home.

bust A move

Today’s workout emphasized my current favorite exercise, single leg dead lifts. (The video demonstrates with one weight. I held a 10 pound weight in each hand. Your choice)

After a 5 minute cardio (of choice) workout, I did THREE sets of:

12 single leg dead lifts on each leg
90 seconds cardio (of choice)

Followed by a pyramid of:

10 pushups
20 crunches
30 high knees
40 alternating front kicks
50 second wall sit
40 alternating front kicks
30 high knees
20 crunches
10 pushups

and then…………I did it all again.

Nice, wonderful, lovely, sweaty workout for my monday evening. You should try it. And then let me know what you think.

Anyone doing something exciting this week? I’m mopping the floors tomorrow!!!

Heading Back to Boston

Posted on August 14, 2012 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

hola.

i’m kind of excited about today. ok, really excited. i’m heading back to boston! Wait, wait, wait..let me rephrase that- I’m heading back to the GYM in boston! For the first time since I moved I will be able to go to two-a-day Tuesday for CBC Kix then Athena‘s class. I’m considering carbo loading now since I haven’t had a good gym beating in a while.

my mind is a jumble because i am scrambling around over here to get ish done so I have no coherent post to write.

-I went to my second tasting for the wedding. the atmosphere and service was awesome, BUT- if the food wasn’t fried, it was creamy. not my cup of tea. I didn’t even care for the vegetables. Looks like I’m going with the first (more expensive) place. Their food was THE BOMB DOT COM

-I did a circuit workout in my room yesterday. It went like this

The IN-YOUR-ROOM workout (appropriately named)

Upper body (3 sets, 12 reps-each side if necessary)

bicep curls
dead lifts
tricep pullback then tricep kickback
overhead press

Lower Body

kettlebell swings
curtsy lunge
weighted leg lift (laying down)
weighted pulse (with leg raise as high as possible)
weighted inner thigh lift
froggers

Core

weighted russian twist
toe reach
crunch
weighted side dips
standing crunch

You will ending up doing 3 sets of each for 9 sets total. In between each set, I did a 90 second cardio burst comprised of 30 sec jacks, 30 sec buttkicks, 30 sec jump rope.

ok. i gotta go!

(obviously i am going to stop by the bridal store and try on my sample dress again. pfff)

July Foodie PenPals!

Posted on July 31, 2012 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

I have no idea why I am so cheery today. I woke up at 4:45, laid in bed for another 20 minutes, and somehow I had the urge to jump out of bed and get my workout done for the day. Even the dog was like, ‘realllllly ma?!’ I put my sneaks on, skipped over to ‘my’ room, popped in the ol’ headphones and got to work.

Today’s workout was yet another from Best Body Bootcamp (sorry if it gets annoying to read, but Tina really does run a great program. She gives you a Google Doc checklist that’s only visible between you and her, and you’re supposed to hit your activity and 2 weekly goals at least 5 out of the 7 days. You have no idea how motivating it is just to aim for getting that ‘x’. I mean, I’m always motivated to work out, but when there are prize incentives AND you read about others’ journey through their blogs- it’s even better.)

So today’s workout was lower body supersets + 20 minutes of steady state. It was identical to last Tuesday’s workout, except this week we were supposed to add another set of the ‘to fatigue’ exercises. Best part: I upped my wall-sit time by 30 seconds!

My favorite move from this workout? Sit-n-stands. To spare my explanation, check out this video:

It’s about 100x harder when incorporated with other lower body exercises, AND when you hold weight (I did 20 lbs).

Now on to more fun stuff….Foodie Pen pals!

First, the details:

-On the 5th of every month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.

-You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal!

-The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe…use your imagination!

-You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!)

-Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you are to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month.

-Foodie Penplas is open to US & Canadian residents. Please note, Canadian Residents will be paired with other Canadians only. We’ve determined things might get too slow and backed up if we’re trying to send foods through customs across the border from US to Canada and vice versa.

If you are interested in participating for August, CLICK HERE to fill out the participation form and read the terms and conditions.

Ok, onto what I got this month!

Drew sent me this pile of goodies:

Not gonna lie, I ‘oohed and aahed’ for a good 5 minutes after opening this up. It was all new-to-me stuff and I couldn’t wait to try it all!

There were teas (yummmmm)

Seriously the coolest flavors ever. And the salt water taffy! It was first to go.

I haven’t tried the spreads yet because I haven’t been in my toast phase lately, but it’s going to be a great treat when I get to it!

Thanks again, Drew!!

Hope everyone has a great day!

Two Workout Wednesday

Posted on July 25, 2012 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Yesterday’s national tequila day resulted in this:

A grapefruit margarita from Earl’s. I was supposed to teach bootcamp last night, but when I got there, the front desk notified me that the client cancelled. So, I rung up my good friend Nicole, and we had a drink! She got a strawberry one:

I ended up just having dinner there as well. I had a salad with cajun chicken, black beans, corn, avocado, and tortilla strips. It hit the spot. AND perfectly complimented my margie!

TODAY was a different story. I got my Best Body Bootcamp workout in this AM at the gym by my house, then I drove straight downtown and taught a seriously intense bootcamp. Here’s the recap!

Intervals on the treadmill:

Followed by 2 rounds of the core circuit given to us for Week 1.

SWEATY!

Then, at bootcamp:

Each move was performed for 50 seconds with 10 seconds of rest. Each round was done 2x through. In the first round, the 3rd and 4th move were done with the left leg, and in the 2nd round the right leg. Got it?

Round 1

weighted squats
jump squats
weighted lunge pulse (first time through, left leg forward. second time through, right leg forward)
weighted side lunge (first time through, left leg steps to the side, second time through right leg steps)

Cardio Set

high knees (30 sec)
butt kicks (30 sec)
180 degree jump squats (30 sec)

Round 2

kettlebell swing (you can use a dumbbell)
squat hold
squat and press (hold weight in left hand, squat, and as you come up- press the weight up over your head. switch to right hand the second time through)
reverse lunge and twist (first round, step back with your left foot, twist your torso and the weight to the left. Second time through, do it to the right)

Cardio Set

high knees (30 sec)
butt kicks (30 sec)
180 degree jump squats (30 sec)

Ab Circuit

Crunches
V-ups
Plank holds (60 sec)
Bicycle crunches
leg lifts
2x

My workout plan for this bootcamp was inspired by Day 2 of the Best Body Bootcamp workout- my class loved it!

******

Tonight’s dinner was the Chicken Enchilada pasta that I posted yesterday. And it didn’t disappoint. It was super easy to make, even easier to eat, and I’m guessing the leftovers are going to taste best!