Dec 6, 2012

My Current Routine

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Hello and happy (almost) Friday! I’m using up some unbooked vacation days to give myself an extra long weekend, so tonight is technically my Friday night. I’m celebrating with a good book and an early bed time.

Since my posting has been pretty sporadic lately, I thought I’d do an update post on my current gym routine. Over the last few months, I’ve been trying to nail down a routine that works for me. The fact that I’ve been changing it up almost every single week is evidence of my inability to do so.

That being said, there are a few workouts I’m doing pretty consistently these days:

Body Pump

Nothing new here. I still love this class and am eagerly awaiting release 84. I’ve read some early reviews (because I’m a loser and I read up on upcoming BodyPump releases) and it sounds like the triceps track is going to be really cool in that there are no overhead extensions with the bar, only presses. That means I can probably add a little weight. Speaking of which, I’ve added a bit of weight over the past few months and the other day after class, a guy came up to me and commented that my weights were impressive and that if you went by percentage of body weight, I was probably kicking his butt. That comment made my day week.

hot-yoga-poses-1

It’s official. I only like hot yoga when it’s cold outside. I barely did any hot yoga over the summer, despite the fact that I had a Groupon for a nice studio (I ended up using most of my 20-class pass on kettlebells). Now that the temperatures have dropped, I’m all about hot yoga again. I know most people do it for the health benefits but sometimes I think the main attraction for me is that it’s just so warm and cozy in there. I’m loving my current studio (iGita) and have been going once or twice a week.

cxworx

Some weeks, I switch out a full Body Pump class for a BodyPump Express mixed with CXWORX. It helps me from getting bored with BodyPump and challenges my body in a completely different way. I love how tight my core and back muscles feel the next day.

bodycombat1

BodyCombat is currently my favourite cardio workout. There’s a condensed BodyFlow class immediately before it so on Thursday nights, I usually do Flow followed by Combat. It’s an interesting pairing in that one is very zen while the other is… well, not zen, but I like getting a chance to open up my hips and do some light activity before getting to the real workout, especially since I’m coming from a desk job.

So my overall routine works out to 2-3 strength classes (a mix of BodyPump, CXWORX and yoga) and 2 cardio classes (some Les Mills class or other) per week. What keeps changing is the time – I can’t decide if I prefer early morning workouts (hate working out that early, love the actual class) or after-work workouts (I loathe the gym near my work but the timing is ideal) so I keep switching back and forth. Either way, I take two rest days every week.

So that’s my current routine in a nutshell. It’s all pretty laid back and flexible, which is nice. I also feel like I’m getting a good balance of strength, flexibility, balance, cardio and rest.

What’s your current routine these days?

Filed Under: Cardio, Strength Training, Week in Review, Yoga · Tagged: , , ,
Jul 19, 2012

Get BodyPump Guns

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I’m loving the posters for BodyPump 82.

I can attest that this is not false advertising; I’ve seen amazing results in my arms and shoulders from doing BodyPump.

First off, let me clarify for any ladies out there who are scared of a little muscle, my arms only look like that when I’m flexing realllly hard. Most of the time (because as much as I’d love to, I actually don’t walk around flexing), they look like this:

But still, I’m always a little surprised every time I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror during class and see muscles that were never there before. In fact, my arms used to be a bit of a “problem area” and I used to hate wearing T-shirts and tank tops.

Anyway, onto the new release – I found this one a little easier than recent releases so I’m going to use the next few weeks as an opportunity to challenge myself with weights.

Some highlights from 82:

- the warm up is a little different than usual so be prepared to turn your brain on
- one arm elevated push ups in the chest track
- a new grip position for dead rows in the back track, which activates different muscles
- jump squats in the lunge track
- overhead presses in the shoulder track

The hardest track by far is the lunge track (love the music though!). I wanted to kill the instructors (and I mean that in the nicest way possible) when they told us there was a second round of those jump squats.

I love that every new release has something a little different – keeps the body guessing!

Have you tried the newest BodyPump release? Did you like it?

Where have you seen the greatest results from your workouts? 

Filed Under: Strength Training · Tagged: , ,
Jun 2, 2012

Weekly Wrap Up

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How did it get to be Saturday already? It seems like just the other day I was whining about being tired from staying up too late on the weekend and here we are again. I love it when Saturday sneaks up on you like that.

I’ve had a productive week, both at work and at the gym. I did yoga on Sunday and BodyPump on Monday. On Tuesday, I went back to BodyCombat after having such a great class last week. This week, we did release 44, which has a crazy ab track at the end. I thought I’d seen every ab move in the book until this workout. Check it out:


I generally hate working my abs but, not gonna lie, slithering around the floor like a crocodile was kind of fun. I also liked doing that leg choke hold move at the end – I felt like a UFC fighter.

On Wednesday, I did a BodyPump class, which was a mix of some older releases. I experimented with a lower squat weight because sometimes I worry I’m not getting low enough, especially on single counts. Reducing from 20 kg to 15 kg helped. I parked my bench right beside a side mirror so I could check that I was hitting 90 degrees on every rep – mission accomplished!

I know I’ll get my weight back up eventually but it’s way more important to get the right form than to increase weight.

Thursday, I was craving something more relaxing so I did BodyFlow. The original plan was to do BodyStep but I just wasn’t feeling energetic enough. Plus, I wanted to get my eyebrows done after work, which would not have been possible had I gone to Step. Smart move - I felt fantastic after a gentle Flow class, plus nothing really beats the feeling of getting your eyebrows cleaned up.

Yesterday, I went to BodyPump before work and today, I’m doing BodyAttack.

As for my meals, a lot of them looked like this:

I’ve been so good about eating my vegetables lately and also getting tons of protein. There are some weeks where I don’t pay any attention to my diet – like I just eat what I feel like and even though it’s mostly healthy, I’m not overly concerned about getting a good mix of nutrients or food groups (those are the weeks I tend to eat peanut butter and banana on toast for dinner more often than I should).

Other weeks (like this week), I really make an effort to prepare balanced meals and snacks. I think the key is not to exhaust yourself with it – if you feel like meal planning, go for it. But if you’re not feeling motivated to plan ahead, just stock up on healthy stuff and play it by ear. Sometimes my favourite meals are the ones I make up on the spot based on what I’m craving.

Have you discovered any fun new exercises lately?   

How much attention do you pay to your diet?

Any fun plans for the weekend? I’ve got a girls’ night out planned for tonight (yay!!!) and tomorrow, my cousin, who is a Hare Krishna, is getting married. Is it wrong that I’m mostly excited about the food? Their religion requires a strict vegan diet so it won’t be your typical wedding spread — I’m excited to see what they serve (and also excited to see my old Italian relatives eat it). Stay tuned…

Filed Under: Strength Training, Week in Review, Yoga · Tagged: , ,
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