TGIF! Happy Friday!

Working from home certainly is an interesting thing. My day’s have been busy with clients, baking, working out and trying to put this house in some order…which hasn’t come yet. Yesterday I went for a run at 2 and couldn’t believe that this was my life. Sometimes I still can’t believe I had the courage to take the leap and I’m SO glad I did.

Anyways…

My workouts have been different lately in the sense I’ve been taking 2 classes a week. I thought I’d share my workouts lately, since I haven’t been talking about them…or recording them on daily mile. I generally work out 6 days a week, but since we’ve had the house the past 2 weeks I’ve been taking 2 days off a week. I just can’t fit it all in and that’s what’s been giving. That’s life. Unfortunately, the day I’m missing has been my yoga day. So this week I’m recommitting to yoga at least once a week, even if it’s at home yoga for 20 minutes.

Cardio:

Monday I’ve been taking a crazy cardio class. I don’t even know how to describe it, it’s basically a million lunges, burpees, squats, plyos, pushups, and triceps dips for an hour with some weights mixed in.

Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday I usually run anywhere from 3-5 miles. With no race to train for it’s been nice just running to run.

Wednesday I take KOGA. I use the gloves with 1 pound weights built in. It’s a kickboxing and yoga fusion class. Basically it’s intense kickboxing then every so often there are yoga moves to help you stretch what you just worked. I’m really loving this class.

Friday and Sunday have been my days off the past two weeks. This week I’m going to try to get some yoga in one of those days.

Weights:

In the spring I started doing Body For Life, which I liked. I liked how the weights were different in the sense that there were 5 sets and each set got heavier. It was nice to switch things up. I read about Jamie Eason’s 12 week trainer from Janetha a couple of weeks ago. I figured why not give it a try.

(source)

I like trying new things and this really laid everything out for you. I’ll review it more, but I just finished week two. You do weights 4 days a week and it splits up your body parts. (IE: Back & Biceps, or Shoulders & Abs.) I haven’t ever split my weights up like this, so I really like it. I’m NOT following the diet part of it, but I still feel like in two weeks I’ve seen small results.

Clearly I’m not following the diet, because this happened last night. And a lot of it.

Grilled Pizzas

So there it is… my workout schedule of late.

Happy Friday and Happy Weekend!

What’s your favorite workout lately?

We’re off to Portland, Maine as soon as I finish this post. I’m excited because I haven’t been there. I always love exploring new places, especially through running, coffee shops and ice cream. Clearly those are the most important things.

We’re going for one of Danny’s friend’s weddings. You know how much I love weddings, because I just LOVE love.

Since we want to leave semi-soon, I got up this morning and did a Body Rock workout. I did this Haven’t Had Enough workout, but modified it by doing a regular push up burpee and regular lunges (minus the jump). Brutal.

Even though I’ve recovered from runner’s knee, I still have to be conscious of what I do. I can’t push it and this week I pushed it with running 3 days, plyometrics and weights. I’m nervous about wearing heals to the wedding I have this weekend, but really, how can I not? Vanity, folks.  I’ll take a major rest day on Sunday by staying planted on my rear for the 6 hour drive home from Maine.

After doing lots of blog reading this week, I wanted to share my favorite posts of the week:

1. I was really impressed with Matt’s post about how to make homemade Kombucha (even though I’ve never even had a sip of it!)

2. Liz’s Awaken Wednesday post was amazingly inspirational. Why Not You? Check it out.

3. I am majorly lusting after Anna’s A Lotta Caponata. I love everything about this, and need to make it!

4. Estella made these Southwest Turkey Burgers, which I want to make too. I always make the same turkey burgers over and over again. Need to try.

5. And last, but certainly not least, Evan has me straight up DROOLING over these Chocolate Cheesecake bars, that are raw and vegan! Who can I make these for?? Any takers?

Share your favorite posts of the week! And if you have any Portland, Maine recommendations, please share!

I don’t know about you, but it takes me awhile to get fully acclimated to a new gym. After July I canceled my NYSC membership because I knew we’d be moving sometime in August. I went back to my old gym that I went to all through high school, when I was home from college and post college,  untill I moved to Queens.

I love this gym because the classes there are amazing. They have a ton of spin classes everyday, starting at 6am and they have SO many other classes too. Everything from Intensati, to Zumba, Koga and other classes special to the gym.

Yesterday I decided to take Koga. I was going to do spin, but I hadn’t signed up and the line was out the door already, so I decided to give koga a try. The line for koga was out the door too, so I knew it must be good. I had read about it a little before, so I knew it was a mix of kickboxing and yoga.

A little about Koga from the website:  ” …balancing in the form of Asana and Kickboxing takes strength too. Koga strength training is a belnd of isometric and plyometric movements. Muscles are trained in the opposition to each other or to an immovable object. This is just the opposite of what we have been taught in the aerobic training of the past.” The creater of koga, Jon, also teaches this class.

It was a tough workout, with a lot of get your heart rate up kickboxing moves, leg burning squats and lunges and then some yoga poses mixed in to help stretch. If you like kickboxing you’ll definitely be on board with this. My legs are certainly feeling it today!

So what does one do after a hard workout?

Come home to homemade chocolate coconut milk ice cream, of course. Come on, this kind has protein in it! It’s okay!

I know, I know, pictures kind of stink. Well, they do stink. I’m too worried about getting this ice cream down before it melts to snap a good shot of it. Sorry, but really, I’m not sorry. Trust me and know it’s that good.

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*Notes: After it’s frozen it tastes like an ice. I got lazy/impatient and ate it before it was frozen too, and it tasted like really amazing really cold yogurt.  This melts pretty fast too, which means you have to eat it quicker, I can deal with that. If you have more patience, you can follow Brown Eyed Baker’s tips for making ice cream without an ice cream maker. It’s pretty involved, but I’m sure worth it! You can add almond milk to make a milkshake like Danny did.

What are you waiting for?

Run time.

Happy Friday!

Finally I can see the sun after a week of yuck! I secretly didn’t mind the rain because lots of rain = me not wanting to run outside and since I’m taking a break from running..that’s a good thing.

I was going to post the chicken tortilla soup I made earlier in the week, but then the sun came out…and who wants to read about soup when it’s sunny and warm? So that recipe will have to wait for another rainy day.

This morning I did a Body Rock workout. I combined 2 and let out some of the one legged exercises because I didn’t want to put a lot of stress on my knee/leg. I did the hot attack workout (leaving out the last set) and hot body workout. Both of them took me about 30 minutes to do together because I’m slow. I also had to modify and use my knees for some because it’s HARD.

Then I did about 15 minutes of light weights using this Tracy Anderson workout and 3 pound weights. I don’t agree with her ridiculously low calorie diet plans, but she does have some good exercises/routines, so why not use them?

I felt a little bored, so I wanted to switch it up for my workout. I am not really doing intense jumping workouts, so I really had to look through Body rock to find one that would work!

What’s on your Friday workout agenda?

The Brooklyn Half is this weekend and I dropped out because of my runner’s knee. I know it’s for the best because I’m taking good care of myself, but it’s still frustrating/annoying. I know I’ll be back to running soon, so I have to stay positive! Luckily there are still other workouts I can do without worrying about hurting myself more!

Have a wonderful day!

Something to check out: Have you thought about using organic beauty ingredients? Honestly, I don’t but this made me think about investing in some!