Tag Archives: tabatas

Wednesday W’s

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What I ate:
My parents and I returned to Rock Hill Bakehouse for a late lunch. I guess since its my last full day in New York I can tolerate both lunch and dinner with them today (oh and I can’t wait to tell you about dinner, even though we haven’t even had it yet!!) Anyways, this Bakehouse always has such delicious daily specials

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I opted for the salad special- with a cup of the vegan split pea soup. Bother we’re so delicious and I am now incredibly full and burping raw onions.

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Wedding:
Chose the hotels for our wedding. One of them wanted us to block 30 rooms! I was all ‘helllllls no.’ I talked to the curator of the property where we are having the ceremony/reception and she recommended 2 particular hotels that offer a free shuttle and great discounted rates since they often get wedding guests from their particular property. Doesn’t hurt that both are within about a mile of the location as well!

I was wandering the house as I was speaking to various hotels on the phone and I came across this little gem:

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That would be me when I was about 3 years old. The daughter of friends of my parents was getting married in Beverly Hills and I just so happened to be an adorable blonde-haired little girl that they knew! Lucky me. My resources mom tells me the guy she married (who I was totally afraid of because he was so muscle-y) owns a ton of Gold’s Gyms throughout Southern California now. Had I not recently moved to Canada, I would so be on the phone with him inquiring about personal training jobs. Could you imagine? Training rich, tan people in California? Ugh. I can’t think of it because its making me mad jealous.

Workout:
Oh yes, this is a great workout. I don’t know why, knock on wood, but lately I have been in love with my workouts. This is partly because of Best Body Bootcamp, part because of the new home equipment I have acquired over the past few months, and part because of my mentality towards each workout.

For the strength portion of today’s workout, I slightly modified some moves from BBB. The idea for the circuit was to run the clock for 15 minutes and get as many rounds of 3 exercises in as you can. I don’t want to give away the moves (it wouldn’t be fair to all the hard work Tina does with the program. If you’re interested though, click the link above to find out when you can sign up for the next round!) but the 3 exercises in each round focused on lower body and chest/shoulders. After completing the first round, I danced around to loosen up for a few minutes, the got right into round 2 for another 15 minutes of 3 different exercises.

The schedule also planned for some cardio intervals. I haven’t really been loving the gym here for my cardio workouts, and I have exhausted the option of using my parent’s treadmill everyday, so I changed this to my own AWESOME cardio bit:

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You see that? I did Tabatas! (Tabatas are 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest repeated 8 times for a total of 4 minutes.) In the above picture, I alternated between two moves for each tabata. I also hopped on the treadmill for a quick 1/4 mile run before getting into the next tabata. All these, combined with the strength circuits really kicked my tush. And I loved it.

Edited to note: I actually subbed the 1/4 mi sprints with 10 stair runs between each tabata set. More sweat, more work! That’s what happens when you post about your workout before you actually do it! Never again, Jen. Never again.

And now, I leave you with Weird:

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Stuffed rhino head

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My 4th grade self.

Question: What exercises do you currently have on heavy rotation in your workouts?

I made balls…and other topics

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As promised, here is the recipe from last night’s dinner (from Eights and Weights)

Healthy Turkey Meatballs

Ingredients

  • 1 lb lean ground turkey
  • 1/4 c breadcrumbs
  • 1 tsp grated parmesan cheese
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tbsp soy milk (I used almond)
  • 1/2 tbsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp pepper
  • 1 tsp thyme
  • 2 gloves garlic (I used minced garlic)
  • Grated veggies (I used carrots)
  • 1 pack of whole wheat spaghetti
  • 1 28 oz can tomato sauce
  • 2 tbsp tomato paste
  • 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves
  • 1 onion (I used 1/2)
  • Cooking spray
  • 1 tbsp olive oil

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degress and spray baking sheet with the cooking spray

2. In a large bowl, combine the turkey, breadcrumbs, parmesan, milk, egg, black pepper, thyme, 1/2 clove garlic, grated veggies, and half the salt

3. Once combined, form into balls (I did 12 medium sized)

4. Baked for about 15 minutes, until balls are browned.

5. For the sauce, heat the oil in a saucepan. Add in the onion and rest of the garlic. Right as it browns, add the tomato sauce, tomato paste, and the rest of the salt. (I threw in a little chili powder as well)

6. Let the sauce simmer. When the meatballs are done, carefully add them to the sauce and allow at least an additional 15 minutes of simmering before serving (I had them simmer about 45 minutes. The longer, the better)

7. Cook the spaghetti per the directions on the box. Top readied spaghetti with balls and sauce and dinner is served.

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Ok now that we’re done with that, I’d like to give a shout out to Athena for the workout she posted from her Tuesday night class (Oh how I miss Two a Day Tuesdays. Not only for the workouts, but for the peeeeeeople!)

I started with 10 minutes of HIIT on the spin bike, then got right to it.

There were 2 rounds of tabatas. Then cardio after each round. I chose to do a minute of cardio between each tabata for a little extra punch.

Round 1

  • On the bosu: Pushups/Burpees
  • With a medicine ball: Woodchops/Pulses
  • Bands: Bicep curls (In and out)

Round 2

  • On the bosu: Planks/Mountain Climbers
  • With a medicine ball: Front lunges w/twist
  • Bands: Tricep extensions

Then I did all the ab work she posted. (Seriously, just check out her post-linked above- for a more complete description).

Last, I hopped on the elliptical for another 10 minutes of HIIT.

It was a GREAT workout. I swallowed so much salty sweat. (Gross. Cringe. Barf. TMI- I know)

Only difference in my workout from Athena’s was the music selection. She chose to go with a Cinco de Mayo theme. Me: not so much. I have been hearing way too much techno-y/pop-y music lately, that I needed me some rap, hop-hop and otherwise ‘thuggy-thug’ music. (This is no offense to anyone by referring to it as ‘thuggy-thug.’ I just think it’s an amusing way to get the vibe across.) Little Wayne, Nicki Minaj, Jay-Z, Kayne, Snoop and Notorious all made appearances on my playlist this am. I gotta tell ya, that music really revs my engine.

On the way to the gym I heard this song and I got really amped to work out. It really just makes me wanna dance and twist and shake and shimmy. Please tell me that you clicked on the link. And that as soon as the music played, you started bobbing your head or rocking your shoulders back and forth. Admit it. Because that’s what I’m doing. RIGHT NOW. Of course I’m playing it on repeat until I finish this post.

Then, on the way back, I heard this song. It was my very first favorite song that wasn’t and oldie or a Disney tune. Total throwback. Not gonna lie, I have used it quite a few times in playlists for classes I ran in Boston. Best part was when someone in the class would be like “Aww man, great tune” They scored 50 points in my book.

Ok, on to address the notes I left for myself in the last post.

1) Lululemon Swimsuits.

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I’m pretty sure I am going to buy all of them. I went to the mall yesterday just to “visit” them and I fell in love. Tyler, are you reading? Your lady wants a swimsuit. The gal who freaked out at the Hot Springs 2 weeks ago because of the dreaded bathing suit wearing…WANTS A NEW SUIT. I suggest you take that as a hint.

2) Calgary Beerfest

(Source)

I got tickets for Tyler and I for Friday night. Very excited. VERY. There are so many new-to-me beers that are going to be there. I know, it’s a tough job trying all of them, but I feel I am up to the challenge. A lot of these Canadian beers have rivaled my favorites from the states, and some of them have been just awful. I checked out the list of who will be there, and some of my new faves are..so I’ll at least have some backup.

3) Copycat blogging. I’m actually in a good mood today, so I don’t want to bring myself down if I really get into this topic. Next!

4) At home workouts. I used to hate doing at home workouts because I either didn’t have the space or didn’t have the equipment. But now, I totally love them. I have my own room that I can sweat to my heart’s content. I’ve got my mat, my stability ball and my new weights. So many options.

5) How much I hate washing dishes. The end. I just hate it.

6) Positives and negatives of being a lefty. Positives: I got on a lot of sports teams growing up. I got the lefty desk in school. Negatives: Coaches had a hard time teaching me the ‘opposite’ way. I smudge over pretty much everything I write.

I know there are more, but I can’t think of them right now. I think I just wrote that on my list last night because I had completely smudged up some important paperwork. #fail

7) Sleeping positions. On my belly or on my side. If I am drunk, I sleep on my back with my arms over my head. Totally weird.

8) Favorite chapsticks/lip glosses/what-have-yous. Chapstick: Carmex. But only in the classic stick and only in the original and cherry flavors. Strawberry? Blughk. Lip gloss: Benefit Ultra Shines. I have had just about every color and love every single one of them. What have yous: Exude Lipstick. I have the lip cream in Nude- I got it from my Birchbox a few months ago (which I had to cancel when I moved because they don’t deliver to Canada! Tears, people. Tears.)

This should be sufficient reading for you all for now..There’s a lot more to get done today!

Anyone want to rant/rave on anything? I’m all ears!