AMRAP workout

Posted on October 15, 2013 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Quick check-in here. Hopefully this one is a little better received than my last one…which I thought was pretty dang funny. Ah well, you win some you lose some.

Gotta be quick since it’s after 10pm and this is the first time I’m sitting down to relax and HOLY CRAP I need my sleep.

Saturday, I headed to the gym without a game plan. I actually thought on my toes and came up with something I thought was pretty good (followed by 20 minutes of spin!)

Do as many reps as possible for each exercise before moving to the next (for moves like single leg squats, perform as many on one side then as many on the other before moving on). Do it 2-3 times through depending on what you want!

Some helpful links:

Night!

A Lot A Lot

Posted on October 9, 2013 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Not much from this end tonight. I’m super tired and can’t wait to stare at the back of my eyelids for a few hours.

BUT.

Before I sign off for the evening, I thought I’d share the upper body workout I completed today. It’s really self-explanatory. For once!

Other random bits/thoughts/whatevers:

I bake a lot. Like, a lot a lot. The only thing that would deter me from continuing to do so is the amount of dirty dishes it always produces.
I had a ton of things in my shopping cart at Zulily last night, but then saw how much I was getting taxed and paying for customs, that I trashed the entire order. So sad.
I NEED to find a red lipstick that suits me.
I’m looking for a hip hop fitness class in Calgary. Something tells me I probably won’t find one.
Of the THREE people in the gym tonight, I will admit that we were all guilty of taking gym selfies.
I watched the What Does The Fox Say video more times in the last few weeks than I care to admit.

Goodnight!

Free Eats and Supersets

Posted on October 3, 2013 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Free food seems to be the thing as of late. I ain’t complaining!

Last night, my friend Nicole and I met up at Local on 8th Ave. We split a pitcher of sangria (the bartender told us it was the first batch he ever made and we determined that he definitely forgot the alcohol) and some spicy edamame. I had the fish tacos for an entree and Nicole got a crispy chicken sandwich. Anyhoo, after a few hours of sitting there chatting, we were approached by one of the waitresses who told us that some guy paid our tab. Some guy that we never even spoke to who just so happened to be sitting at the bar watching the hockey game. SO AWESOME. That totally made our night, so we opted to buy a round of drinks for ourselves, since we wouldn’t have anything to pay for otherwise!

This morning, my office offered a complimentary breakfast to kick off our United Way fundraising (omg you guys, they sent out an email of all the different events we will be doing in the office throughout the month, and one of them is a LIQUOR LOTTERY. I am totally participating.) I grabbed some of the fruit to save for a snack later in the day.

Then, my team was taken out to lunch at Moxie’s where I opted for the roasted beet and arugula salad with grilled chicken.

And to top it all off, I came home from work to a meal cooked my the husband!

I haven’t been hating my eats lately at all!

Now that I’ve recapped some food, it’s only fair I share my last workout:

This workout consisted of 4 pairs of supersets. The first exercise in each pair requires you to perform 12 reps, then 6 reps with a slow count on the contraction, 12 reps, and 6 reps with a slow count on the contraction. The second move is performed to max reps (as many as you can do). Then the superset is REPEATED before moving on to the next set.

Hopefully that explanation works, as I didn’t attempt to rewrite it in the graphic.

When I did this workout, I really challenged myself with the amount of weight I used, and I could REALLY feel it by the second set! It’s up to you if you want to decrease your weights on the second set, or if you want to take a quick rest between the 1st and 2nd round of each set.

Some helpful links for the moves listed above:

IN THE COMMENTS:

Ever had your tab picked up by a stranger? Did you pay it forward?

The Great Debate

Posted on October 1, 2013 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

I’m sitting here wrestling with which to share first:

The WORKOUT or the RECIPE????

Honestly, this is a huge problem because I don’t want whichever I choose to write about first to feel more important or better than the other. They’re both pretty good and left me weak in the knees..

So to play a fair game of eenie-meenie-miney-mo, I will go for the muffin recipe first (please, please don’t scroll down and skip the recipe, it’s pretty fantastic).

Pumpkin Muffins with Nutella Yum Yum (made that name up on the spot!)

2 c unbleached white flour
1 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 c pumpkin puree
3/4 c brown sugar
1/4 c honey
1 egg
2 T unsweetened applesauce
2 T unsweetened almond milk
2 t vanilla
NUTELLA

Preheat over to 350. Spray muffin pan (as you can see, I got a little spray happy)
Mix all the dry ingredients in one bowl.
Mix all the wet ingredient (minus Nutella) in another bowl
Add the dry mix to the wet mix.
Fill cups 3/4 full and top each with about 1 teaspoon of nutella. Use a tootpick or knife to ‘swirl’ the nutella over the top of the batter.
Bake for 13-14 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Ah, I can’t handle how good these are. I made them last night and managed to not even sneak the tiniest taste until I had one for a snack at work. I might’ve moaned at my desk. I blamed it on the computer?? No, I took the credit for all ‘mmms’ and ‘ahhhs’.

Ok, ok, so the workout. Last night I did that upper body pyramid, so tonight I decided to focus on lower body. I actually incorporated some new and haven’t-used-in-a-while exercises!

Each move (except the farmer’s walk) consisted of completing 20 reps, 5 pulsing reps, 10 reps, and 5 pulsing reps. For the moves that are ‘L’ and “R’ sides, complete the 20-5-10-5 on one side, then do the same on the other side.

To further explanation/demonstration of the moves, here are some helpful links:

It’s all about balance.

IN THE COMMENTS:

Got any new-to-you moves you want to share?

Go-to baking recipes?

Short and…Sweet?

Posted on September 30, 2013 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Welp, I sold my car.

And now I’m rich. As rich as one can get when selling a 2003 teal Hyundai Santa Fe.

I went to the mall after work and DID. NOT. BUY. A. THING. yikes.

Making this short and NOT sweet (let’s face it, I’m not a ‘sweet’ person) I wanted to share the quick upper body workout I did tonight followed by hills and HIIT on the bike. Just a pyramid workout, where 1 rep is done of each move, then 2, then 3, up to 10, then all the way back down to one. I used 12 pound weights where applicable.

And yeah, I played around with picmonkey for this graphic because I’m feeling adventurous. And watching Homeland. Not that watching Homeland is a reason to make a cheezy graphic.