There are a lot of w's in my post title huh? Apparently I'm in the mood for a good alliteration this evening! Today I had a little "me" time and got a massage and a manicure. Thanks to Groupon, my hour-long deep tissue massage was only $25...how can you not love that right?! Since I knew I wouldn't feel like working out or have time to after my couple hours of pampering, I planned on doing a workout first thing in the morning so I could still fit exercise time in for the day. I rolled out of bed this morning and first did my favorite YouTube AM yoga video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Xfqio9l3x4 I've followed this video a bunch of times, and I always feel so stretched out and ready for the day after it! Harley moved her blanket to be right on top of my yoga mat, and then ... [Read More]
fitness
Total Body Rowing Circuit Workout
Happy, happy Friday! As usual, I'm looking forward to the weekend. Then next week I have a 2-day work week, and then I'm heading down to San Diego to spend some time there and celebrate Thanksgiving. I'm excited! Onto workouts... You may have noticed that when I talk about the workouts I've done in a week, I often mention rowing. It's a form of exercise that I started doing a lot of earlier this year. I find it to be really efficient and an awesome form of cardio, and I actually talked about some of the benefits of rowing in this Girls Gone Sporty article. While I'll sometimes do intervals of rowing/resting, I've recently gotten really into incorporating rowing into circuit workouts that last 45-60 minutes. I feel so sweaty and accomplished by the end of them, and I especially ... [Read More]
Switching Up My Workouts with AIRobics and Fitness OnRequest
Another weekend flew by, and another busy Monday has come and gone. While Mondays are usually just a "back to the grind" kind of day, this Monday in particular was an exciting day for my family. Earlier my second nephew was welcomed into the world! The one major downside to living in California is being on opposite coasts from my family... especially during times like this, when I just want to see this munchkin for myself instead of through my iPhone! But, I'll have to wait to meet the little guy until I fly back to Jersey in 2 months. Moving on to exercise, you may notice that when I talk about workouts, I frequently mention how much I love changing up my fitness routine. I feel that doing the same exercises over and over mentally leads to boredom, and physically leads to your body ... [Read More]
The World’s Largest Ice Cave: Austria’s Eisriesenwelt
One of the few things I had planned on doing ahead of time while we were in Austria was seeing Eisriesenwelt - which translates to "World of Giants Ices" in German - the largest ice cave in the whole world. The cave is 26 miles long, so you can nearly run a marathon in the cave if it weren't for, ya know, all of the slippery ice and freezing temperatures in there. (source of images) The ice cave is located in Werfen, a town not a far distance from where we were staying in St. Johann, but it was quite the trip getting there (which is half the fun might I add!) that went as follows: Walking from our hotel to the train station --> train ride --> walked to a bus stop, but not before walking completely into town to figure out what we were doing --> hiking --> cable car --> ... [Read More]
Avoiding Pigging Out After Workouts
While checking out the July/August issue of Fitness magazine tonight, one of the cover stories caught my eye: How to Beat Post-Workout Pig-Outs. You see, I recently realized that I kept coming home from the gym feeling starving and wanting to just shove food in my mouth - as of late, handfuls of cereal, dried fruit, and spoonfuls of peanut butter were my picks. Since I most often workout in the late afternoon/early evening and make dinner once I come home, I'm about to eat soon after I exercise anyways. But in the time it takes me to get home, prep dinner, and then sit down to eat it, I found myself eating unnecessary calories. Once I realized that this was something I'd been doing that I did not want to make a usual habit, I came up with a few minor adjustments to make in order to help ... [Read More]
The Sore Triceps Workout
A few days ago, I wanted to do some strength training before cycling at the gym. I tend to do weight exercises in the aerobics room because I like my space to bounce around, but a class was starting in the room in less than half an hour. I came up with a workout routine that focuses on triceps + chest to get my muscles fatigued in a jiffy -- and it certainly did just that. My triceps were sore for 2 days afterwards! Explanations of the above exercises: (Standing bent over) triceps extension Tricep bench dips Skull crushers aka head bangers Closed grip dumbbell press Happy exercising! ... [Read More]