Tag Archives: fitness

Mashed Up: Playlist and Potatoes

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I was trying to be super clever when coming up with a theme for my Thanksgiving morning spin class, but it’s hard to think of songs that relate to eating, turkey, and food comas. So I stretched it a liiitttlleeee far and came up with a Mashed Up ride… sort of like mashed potatoes.. but only playing mashups… like the music… get it? SO CLEVER. It should be noted that Meredith taught before me, and her theme was songs that made her thankful. At first, I found this extremely touching and sentimental. And then someone asked her why R. Kelly’s “Ignition” made her thankful, and she said “You know, it’s like you’re turning on the key to your stomach. Revving up for a big meal. Stick that key in the ignition!”.

And then I realized that my theme wasn’t so much of a stretch after all.

After class, I came home to put on big girl clothes and went out to a late lunch/early dinner with my boyfriend’s family at the Bristol Lounge. It was weird not being at home on Thanksgiving, but it was pretty nice to not have to clean up after. This place was swanky and the food was delicious. My only regret was that I couldn’t put on sweatpants before getting seconds.

Yes, there was a dessert buffet. My downfall. I did sample the goods, but I was pretty proud of myself for not being a TOTAL pig. I was definitely full after, but I didn’t stuff myself to the extent that I normally do at home. I guess not having the sweatpants turned out to be a good thing… After dinner, we took a stroll in the Public Gardens to burn off about 2 bites of our meal. It was so nice out, but homegirl is not used to walking in heels anymore…

That’s a weird picture of me. My hips look big. Those hips don’t lie, but I’m pretending they do! The rest of the weekend was spent with Tom’s family around the Boston area and down the Cape. I’m happy to be back on track and in my routine this week but am DREADING my upcoming sugar detox. Gahh!

How was everyone’s turkey days? Did you splurge or stay true to being healthy? Yes, I know it was almost a week ago. Just thought I’d let all the craziness die down before bombarding you again with Thanksgiving shiz :)

-Emily

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Cyber Monday Giveaway!!

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Cyber Monday doesn’t really have anything to do with this post, but it is Cyber Monday, and I’m doing a Giveaway, so there you go. First Giveaway EVER! Hey yoo!

One of the best things about my new job is that I get to wear workout clothes all day, every day (even though I basically did that when I worked at Arnold.. whoops). It’s also been cold as balls in Boston lately, so I have to layer up. One of my favorite things right now is my Reebok Play Dry zip up. I seriously have been wearing it every day to work. It’s really light weight, but warm, so it’s great for layering or just wearing on its own.

Please excuse my face.. It was very early…

The awesome people at Reebok sent me an extra one to give to one KICK ASS reader out there! It’s the same exact one as mine, so we can be cyber twinsies. That sounds really creepy. But moving on. It’s a size small in heather grey, and it runs true to size. SO here are the rules… One of the things I’ve been most inspired by at my new job is how many women are coming in there and starting over and really taking getting into shape seriously. It’s not easy, and a lot of them have been through many hurdles to get to this point. It’s really inspiring and motivating.

So, if you want this goodie, leave a comment in the comments section telling us how you’ve overcome obstacles to get back on track with your fitness. Tell us how you’re getting out there, getting after it. It doesn’t have to be long. It can be something as simple as “I’ve been really bad with eating treats lately and I’m starting a 21 Day Sugar Detox and am fully committing to it and will probably be miserable and cry all the time” (that’s mine, you can’t use it). But let us know why YOU are deserving of this kick ass zip up. Oh, and then you have to tweet a picture to us using the hashtags #getafterit #reebok #sleepeatgymrepeat.

Cool?! We will choose the winners by Friday and email you if you won!!

Happy Monday, and Godspeed.

-Emily

* I received this gear at no cost from Reebok as part of a campaign with FitFluential LLC. I am not getting paid or reimbursed to give positive feedback, all opinions are my own. 

 

Healthy Living Summit Recap

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Welcome to the week of HLS recaps! I’m going to keep mine short and sweet, and will let the pictures speak for themselves (because, let’s be realistic, everyone’s attention span is better when you’re looking at pictures, not reading!)

The weekend started off with another fresh pair of Reebok RealFlex’s. I was pumped, since I’ve been loving my other pair.

 

Friday night was a cocktail party/ice breaker session. It’s always a little nerve wracking to have to go up to people and introduce yourself and strike up a convo, but I was lucky enough to come across 3 awesome ladies right away, Mary, Diana and Chrysanthe.

There were some badass sponsors there, like Energy Bits, Reebok and Rebootizer. I’m really looking forward to testing out the Energy Bits and Reboot products!

How many girls will fit into a room for a WOD….? We put it to the test.

Some ladies (Clare, Katelyn, and Diana… link yourself in the comments if you’re in here!) pre WOD- thank you Courtney for the pic!

Screen grab from Reebok’s Instagram. Love the quote, the shirt, those back muscles, annnddd me being a clown in the back. I hope that’s not what my “game face” looks like…

Diana and I post WOD, crushed it. AMRAP of 7 air squats and 15 jumps in 5 minutes. We both did 17 rounds. I promise you I don’t always have a neck vein roiding out…

Lunch was amazing. Props to whoever designed this menu- there was something for everyone! Vegan, vegetarian, Paleo, gluten free (I guess you kinda have to cover your bases at a Healthy Living Summit…) I stuck with tomato and avocado salad and some bomb grilled chicken.

So excited I got to meet THE Kelly Olexa in person a few times. She is hilarious, and inspiring as hell. Really proud to be part of her amazing company! Also met another new friend (and fellow Boston blogger!) Stellina.

There were lots of great seminars throughout the weekend, but my favorite part was meeting new people and and discovering new blogs. It’s fun to be part of a movement and be surrounded by other people who are just as passionate about health and fitness as I am. Sorry this is kind of a lame recap- it would take me a whole week to fit in all the content! And I have to keep some of it secret so I have some surprises for y’all for later.. ;)

Were you at HLS? What was your favorite part?

-Emily

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scotland Recap & 25 Day Challenge!

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I’m baccckk!! It feels like I’ve been gone so long, but in reality, vacation flew by. Why does that always happen? You get somewhere, and you think “Ahh.. I have 9 days of this…” and then it seems one day later you’re flying home.

I had such an amazing time. I can’t even begin to describe how beautiful Scotland was, and how relaxing it was.

View from our room… sighhhh

Golf course where we were staying. I’ve never seen such a crazy course! I don’t know much about golf, but this was traditional Links style… which means no nice groomed fairways like we have in the States- the course is au natural. Also- no golf carts!

Felt like we were at the edge of the world

Islay- home of many glasses of scotchy, Scotch Scotch

We stopped in Iceland on the way home- some of the best seafood I’ve had! So fresh. I also tried puffin, which was delicious.. but those things are too cute to eat on a regular basis

I won’t bore you to death with my millions of pictures, so you’ll have to trust me when I say it was one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been to. We did a lot of driving around the coast, checking out old badass castles, golf courses, nearby islands, whiskey distilleries, and also did a whole lot of eating and sleeping it. It was the perfect vacation.

Minus the fact that I wasn’t exactly a poster child for Paleo…

I totally prepared myself with an unnecessary amount of snacks to keep me on track (sidetrack: the morning that we were leaving, I had a stomach scope to try to figure out this weird illness that I keep getting. It’s a simple procedure, but they sedate you, so you have to have someone drive you to your appointment. My BFF Victoria was awesome enough to drive me, and on the way back I requested we stop at Trader Joe’s so I could load up on goodies. At the time, I thought I was totally fine and lucid, but about 6 hours later when I was finishing packing I realized I must have still been high because WTF I BOUGHT SO MANY SNACKS!!)

Really, I would have needed an extra suitcase to bring all of this. Tip- do not grocery shop when you are sedated.

Anyways, I had every intention of being super healthy all week, but unfortunately it didn’t pan out that way. We were staying in this tiny town, population maybeeee 300 people, and there were limited food options. Not trying to sound ignorant or judgmental, but Scottish food isn’t exactly the healthiest! Lots of potatoes, bread and fried stuff.

“Back by popular demand”!! Would you like that battered, battered, or battered with BEER?

We were also in a few situations where we what you were served, was what you got. I didn’t want to be insulting to people who had cooked all this amazing food, and didn’t want to bore them with my woes of the Paleo diet (they would have looked at me like I had 10 heads and told me to STFU and have a beer). So I splurged. I wasn’t strict about what I was eating, and I lived to tell the tale. Mind you- I didn’t feel so hot after some meals (my boyfriend told me I was a horrible road trip companion because I would immediately go into a food coma and fall asleep after lunch). After eating super healthy for a year, I forgot about how shitty eating certain foods make you feel. But, it’s also crazy how quickly your body starts CRAVING those shitty foods. I’m not making excuses for myself- I definitely could have had more self control and been more strict, butttt… oh well. I did manage to get a few workouts in, we did a ton of walking, and I challenged my boyfriend to do sprint intervals up this giant mountain we hiked down.

Blazer, scraf, jeans and Toms. Not exactly the best running attire but I made do!

Anyways, it’s good to be back and back on track. I taught this morning, which was a semi struggle, but am going balls to the walls this whole week with workouts and eating clean. I’m also doing a little 25 day challenge (I’m going away again in 25 days… tough life I know) and want to reboot my system. So- eating super Paleo (no treats!) no booze, and limited sugar (I’m trying to cut back on my fruit intake since I usually have a lot) and working out 6x a week. I’m actually really motivated and excited about doing this, and my brother and Victoria are doing it with me as well. Definitely helps when you have a support system!

Wow. What a long effing post. See what happens when I go away for 10 days? I word vomit all over your monitors. Didn’t you miss me?! :)

Who’s up for a little 25 Day Challenge? Only a month left in summer.. still time for that beach bod!!

-Emily

 

Crossfit: The “Fad” Sport

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Yesterday at work I was talking to the client about how I wanted to go running in Central Park.  He started talking about all the cool routes and asked me if I was a runner.  I responded with something along the lines of how I use to run in college, but haven’t run much since starting CrossFit.  He then looked at me and said “Oh yeah, that fad workout that everybodys doing?”.  Are you shitting me?

I’m sorry, I didn’t know a “fad” workout could get you in the best shape of your entire life.  Please, tell me more about your exercise philosophy…

Although it may come as a surprise to a lot of you, I do not get mad easily.  I’m usually pretty good about letting things slide and giving people the benefit of the doubt.  However, if someone talks smack about something I love, you better believe my inner bitch will come out.  However, since he is a superior (in work, not in life), I couldn’t speak my mind and defend my one true love that is CrossFit.   Instead, I explained to him in a fairly calm and professional voice that, although he might not be aware, CrossFit has actually been around for awhile and, in my opinion, is here to stay.  I started telling him how it is not just an “exercise routine” (his words, not mine), but rather an amazing community of people who rally around and support each other.   However, since he was fairly out of shape, what I really wanted to do was challenge him to a push up contest so I could whoop his ass.  Wait, that’s not lady like?  Whatever.

Oh, and if you were wondering, my “run” around Central Park ended up being a brisk walk.  It was far too hot and humid for that shizz.  But, regardless, the park is amazing.  I wanted to go to the zoo, but it was unfortunately close.  Next time, Central Park, next time.  Here are a couple of pictures!

Guess who finally got Instagram?!  This girl!

Phew, now I feel better!  Please tell me you guys have had similar experiences.  And now that that’s off my chest, I leave you guys with a little food for thought (pun intended)…

Complements of http://drkehres.com

Are you awkwardly passionate/protective of your workouts like I am?  What do you do? Please tell me I am the only crazy person here..

-Erica

Rants and Raves

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How bout a little Humpday rant?? I know, I promised that I would post this yesterday, but it didn’t happen. Clearly. I’m going to vent.

Things that bother me.

Slow walkers/cell phone talkers/hallway hoggers: OH. MY. GOD. You should see me when I get stuck behind someone walking slow. I literally get anxiety and start planning my path of escape around them. I have to walk through a crowded mall to get to my office building, so this happens almost every day. I just don’t understand why people walk so GD slow. Do you not have anywhere you need to be? If I am going somewhere, I am getting from Point A to Point B as quickly as possible, and if I’m just out for a walk for fun, you better believe I am hauling ass to get my burn on. I wish I had mega charged leaf blower I could swoosh people away with. Also grouped into this realm are people who walk around crowded public places with their noses buried into their phones. I just want to body slam into them and say “OH I’M SORRY, I WASN’T PAYING ATTENTION EITHER”. Same with people who just STOP in the middle of a hallway or public space. “Oh, what a convenient place to stop! How about right here, in the middle of all these people? That sounds great!!”

Smoke breaks: Why are non-smokers not allowed to take a 15 minute break every hour for fresh hair? Do I need to develop a life threatening habit to make it acceptable for me to leave my desk? “Ohh my gahd. I needa get sahm maah butts!!”

Selfies: I strongly dislike selfie pictures. Not necessarily other people taking them, but me taking them. I feel like a MySpace pedophile snapping some in the mirror shots. That being said, I’m trying to get more snaps of me working out, and sometimes the only way to do it is the good old selfie. Our Queen FitFluential bee, Kelly Olexa, is always taking them and always looks fabulous, so this is a #PROOF shot for her (although my facial expression still shows my true feelings..)

Derrrr. Right after doing abs this morning.. gettin’ there.. which brings me to my next hate…

ABS: Abs are my LEAST favorite thing to do. I just can’t get excited about doing them. I DO get really excited thinking about having a toned tummy, so if someone could transport one of those over that would be great. I think my biggest issue with abs is that so many exercises involve laying down, and when I lay down, I get sleepy and daydream about being on my couch or in my bed. And then I realize I’m on a sweaty gym floor and “Call me Maybe” is blasting in my ears for the 10th time in a row and I’ve only done one crunch. Fail.

Counting Calories: I get really bothered by the whole “counting calories” trend that is still happening. I understand portion control and cutting back on your food intake, but when people think they can eat 100 calorie packs of sugar free, reduced fat Cheezits and think that’s helping them out, I want to shake them and tell them to wake the F up. Also, if someone counted how many calories I consumed a day it would be semi embarrassing/epic.

This Stupid Sickness: I went to the doctor’s on Friday and my doctor thinks it’s acid reflux and gave me some Prilosec to take every morning for two weeks. But then I got sick the next night. Same exact symptoms. I’ve been being really conscious about not eating a ton and particularly not eating before bed, and Saturday night was no different. I finished dinner around 8, and the intense chest cramping and heartburn/shakes/chills/puking didn’t happen until 12:30-2:30. I also got blood work done so am hoping to get some more closure as to what the hell is going on.

Phew, okay, rant over. I’ll finish on a more positive note with some things I’m loving lately (I won’t be as descriptive because let’s face it, it’s more fun to rant than be mushy gushy)

What I’m loving….

  • Being in Boston. 
  • This summer. 
  • The inspiring people in my life. 
  • Spinning. 
  • Going Scotland and Iceland with my main man in less than 2 weeks!
  • Cooking. 
  • Paleo treats. 
  • Game of Thrones. 
  • Getting stronger. 
  • Sleeping like a rock (minus when I get my disease). 
  • My family. 
  • Sunshine. 
  • All things coconut. 
  • My AMAZEBALLS coat from AllSaints I got for half off! Wooot woot

 Gorgeous sunset on the Cape

A most delicious, all natural treat!

Jenna and Megan, two of my super inspiring, kick ass spin sisters

What are you guys loving or hating lately?? Wednesday is the day to let it all out!

Despite my rants, I’m a very happy, lucky girl.

Just don’t start walking slowly in front of me :)

-Emily

4th of July Recap

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Every time I type “recap”, I ALWAYS add an “e” so it’s “recape”. Every single time. Fancy, huh?

Everyone have a good Fourth? Mine was great. Kind of weird having it in the middle of the week but I’ll take it. Tom and I left work early and got down the Cape around 4. That night, his family had a big barbecue with some amazeballs food, including some fresh striper that his dad caught the day before. So good. Later, we met a bunch of our friends out at one of our favorite bars, Chart Room. It’s sort of a Cape Cod establishment, and we always hop on the bandwagon and go. I’ve sort of given up on drinking though. Ever since I did my 30 day cleanse after Memorial Day, I’ve had zero interest in alcohol. I just feel so much better not drinking it. And then when you’re out and you’re sober and you see drunk people slurring their words and stumbling around and making fools of themselves, you’re like, “oh.. so this is what I’m missing. Okay, I’m cool with that”. Maybe that’s just me. Maybe I’m an old lady now, but I don’t really care. I’m still happy to go out and see friends and hang, I’m just all set with not feeling like shit the next morning and not remembering my evening. I think my friends are pretty psyched that they have a semi-permanent DD now.

The next morning, since I didn’t feel like death (win) I hit the gym with my friend Sam (from our Couples Challenge!) I did an AWESOME workout that I think y’all will enjoy! I’ve been much better at hitting the gym in addition to spin lately, and I’m already seeing results. I’m also sore as a mofo today, so teaching tonight should be interesting..

1 HOUR KILLER WORKOUT :)

  • 25-30 minutes cardio (the ArcTrainer was my weapon of choice, doing varying intervals of inclines, strength and speed)
  • 3×12- squats on stability pads, frontal raises with 5lb medicine ball
  • 3×12- pushups on upside down Bosu ball, 30 seconds of mountain climbers on upside down Bosu ball in between sets.
  • 3×12- bicep curls. Alternate between hammer curls and regular ones
  • 3×12- tricep dips. At the end of each set, get into lowest dip and hold for 15 seconds. Burn, baby, burn!
  • 10 minute ab circuit (exercises of your choosing. I stuck to various forms of crunches and leg lifts and wanted to die after)

(I’m trying to get better at taking pics/asking people to take pics of me at the gym.. bear with me!)

This workout kicked my butt. Every part of my body is sore today. I sort of prefer targeting specific muscles on different days, but these full body workouts are great for when you’re in a time crunch/want to kick your butt.

The rest of the 4th was great. We went to our friends pool and hung out for the day, where I unfortunately caused a scene when I split open my toe and turned the pool deck into something straight out of CSI. Seriously, I’ve never had a wound bleed so much. It didn’t even hurt! I was just awkwardly sitting on the deck as blood pooled around my body. I may not drink, but I really know how to make an entrance at a party.

Said toe injury. The huge piece of gauze really made a nice addition to my super attractive Flintstone feet.

The rest of the day/evening was spent at another barbecue, watching some beautiful fireworks, and shutting the country club bar down. Wild times, let me tell you. I even indulged in late night drunk munchies with everyone, even though I wasn’t drunk. Or hungry. Fail. The two huge zits developing on my face are a big F U to my lack of self control. Definitely going to be giving myself an ass whooping tonight on the bike :)

It’s almost the weekend again! Woot Woot!

-Emily

Giving yourself a kick in the pants

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Some days suck. Really bad. When that alarm goes off all you want to do is crawl back into bed and sleep through the whole day. I had a great internal struggle with my alarm Monday morning. It went off at 6am and I was like HAIL no, shut it off, and rolled over. As I started to snooze, I told myself I would get up in 45 minutes and do abs and pushups in my apartment before heading to work. Then my heart started racing and my mind started whirling. I was getting anxiety thinking about if I didn’t go to the gym, I would regret it later. Then I was telling myself that my body needed to sleep, I needed rest. Then I was mad at myself because I knew I had a long day ahead of me at work and would feel much better if I got a sweat in. Then I realized how comfy I was in my bed. Then I was mad at myself again. So I gave myself a kick in my ass and got out of bed. The entire internal debate took 3 minutes (it felt like a half hour).

I’m sure this is nothing new to you fellow AM fitness peeps. As much as I was looking forward to working out, and knew that I would function better throughout the day, sometimes it is SO hard to drag yourself out of bed. You have to think about the end goal. Once you’re physically up, you’ve already done the hardest part of your workout. The rest will be a piece of cake. Think about how exhausted you’ll be at the end of the day, and how much well you’ll rest that night. Think about how much more mentally alert and energized you’ll be throughout the entire day. Think about the payoff. I only had a half hour at the gym yesterday morning, but it was so worth it. I did 15 minutes on the stairs, then a back and ab circuit. Even though it was quick, it felt great, and naturally I was sweating like a beast. So next time you’re feeling that hesitation of crawling back into bed.. don’t. Sorry to quote Nike, but just get up and do it.

SIDENOTE: I haven’t been to the gym in awhile since I’ve been spinning a ton and doing random other workouts, but holy hell. I never realized how MISERABLE people look at the gym! People were legit yawning and were in half zombie like states on the treadmils and ellipticals. There was this one woman lifting who clearly had no idea what she was doing. And don’t even get me started on the dozens of people who were reading magazines or watching TV while doing cardio. No wonder so many people hate “working out” or going to the gym. They haven’t found something that works for them, that they truly love. There are SO many different kinds of niche fitness activities, you just gotta find your own. People get so bogged down by the idea of doing half hour of cardio on a treadmil, half hour of weights, and then stretching. B-O-R-I-N-G. Get out and try something new! Chances are, you can find something you love to do that takes less time and will have you working out harder than you imagined you could. What up, spin and CrossFit?

So there’s my two cents on working out. How was everyone’s weekend? It was GORGEOUS up here in Boston. I was down the Cape for the whole weekend, where I got to spend lots of time outside. I also taught my second class down there and it was awesome. Everyone that was there last week came again (a good sign.. I thought I scared them away) plus some newbies! I’m thinking this is going to be a fun summer.. :)

My kitchen sink scramble Friday night- Kielbasa, sweet potatoes, broccoli, peppers, onions, mushrooms, garlic, and salt and pepper. So delish!

PERFECT beach day! 

Topped off with a gorgeous sunset and Vanilla coconut milk “ice cream” with berries, trail mix, and dark chocolate chunks

Hope everyone is having a good week so far and giving themselves some big kicks in the pants :)

-Emily