Tag Archives: how I move

Full Week of [FREE] Workouts

Hey guys! Welcome back to the blog! Today’s post I wanted to do a diary-style “workouts of the week” post. So I’m going to be sharing with y’all the workouts I did starting last Thursday through yesterday. Lately, I’ve been working out Sun-Wed and Fri with Thursdays and Saturdays as a rest day since those tend to be more naturally active days for me in regular life (housework, errands, walking places, etc). This week was a little different as I had moved my rest day to Tuesday in an attempt to listen to my body.

A few things to note, this is probably the first year since she started doing them that I didn’t complete Yoga with Adriene’s 30-day challenge in January. I’ve just been feeling more cardio and strength workouts lately with yoga only once or twice a week. BUT – I will certainly get to all those January videos over the course of the next few weeks. And because I’m all about syncing up my workouts to my cycle, being in the menstrual phase this week was the perfect time to get a jump start on that. More yoga and no strength was in the cards for this week!

Ok, enough yammering. Let’s get to the workouts —

Thursday 1/30

Yoga

Usually I do yoga on Tuesdays but I wasn’t feeling anything but a hot water bottle that day. Usually I do cardio on Wednesdays but I settled for a 20 minute stretch routine. Now, we’re to Thursday and my body is finally ready to get on the mat and work out some kinks. It feels good to have a structure but then allow myself to veer off the railroad tracks to do what’s best for me.

Friday 1/31

HIIT Cardio

I’ve really been trying to do more cardio in 2020 since I feel like my job is soooo sedentary. I also find myself craving that post-run feeling… but I just hate running. This sounds crazy but running allows too much thought. I’d much rather this very motivational British dude yell things at me while I “monkey see, monkey do” and turn off my brain for a bit.

Saturday 2/1

REST DAY

Sunday 2/2

Yoga

I did Day 1 of HOME on Jan 1 and then decided, you know what, this isn’t for me this year. But I felt called to bang a few out this week. So this is what I delved into today…

Monday 2/3

Yoga

…and continued this day…

Tuesday 2/4

Yoga

and this day. Anyone else feel like they may accidentally join a cult if Adriene started one? Because I’m solidly in that camp.

Wednesday 2/5

HIIT Cardio

Ok, quickly realizing this week of workouts was a little repetitive. What can I say? Yoga with Adriene and Body Project are my current jam. My favorite channel for strength training at the moment is Sydney Cummings. (I think I’ll do this one tomorrow.) She is an absolute beast and puts up a new workout every single day and a lot of them are on the longer side.

So, that’s a week of workouts with me! What have your workouts been looking like lately? Have any channels I should check out? Leave ’em below! 

P.S. Looking for a way to get motivated about working out? Try making a fitness challenge!

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30 Days of Ballet Training

I don’t know if this will be interesting to anyone but, for the sake of accountability, I’m gonna blog about my current fitness challenge! You might know from this post and this one, that a) I love creating my own fitness challenges and b) I love pretending I’m a ballerina.

I love creating my own fitness challenges because I’m a self-proclaimed decisionphobe. Now what does that have to do with working out? Well, I LOVE exercising. The brain break it gives me during and those sweet, sweet endorphins after. But without a clear plan in place…I’ll often just skip exercising entirely. Making the decision about what to do and when to do it leaves me at an impasse. Because I know this about myself, I plan ahead and make all the decisions in one big batch!

I love pretending I’m a ballerina because ballet is something I’ve done since I was itty-bitty. In my experience, finding delight as an adult is often as easy as reflecting on what brought you joy as a child and doing THAT.

So with all that out of the way, let’s chat about my 30 days of ballet training!

The challenge is made up of 5 types of work-outs:

STRETCH – That’s an obvious one. Stretching.
STRENGTH – Less ballet inspired, more building strength in key areas NEEDED for ballet.
TRAIN – Ballet-inspired workout to train a specific body part or aspect of ballet.
CARDIO – Center work without breaks to get the heart-rate up.
BARRE – Also an obvious one. Barre work.

Here’s what the work-outs look like over the 30 days:

Week One

1 – STRETCH: Flexibility
2 – STRENGTH: Legs and Abs
3 – STRETCH & STRENGTH: Back
4 – STRENGTH: Back
5 – STRETCH: Total Body
6 – STRENGTH: Knees
7 – BARRE: Classical Ballet

Week Two

8 – TRAIN: Posture
9 – BARRE: Fitness (in athletic shoes)
10 – TRAIN: Extension
11 – CARDIO: Stamina Work
12 – STRENGTH: Arms
13 – STRETCH: Adagio Inspired
14 – BARRE: Floor

Week Three

15 – STRENGTH: Legs and Bum
16 – TRAIN: Arches
17 – BARRE: Classical and Fitness Combo
18 – TRAIN: Splits
19 – STRENGTH: Arms and Core
20 – TRAIN: Core
21 – BARRE: Fitness (in athletic shoes)

Week Four

22 – STRETCH: Yoga Inspired
23 – STRENGTH: Legs and Abs
24 – TRAIN: Neck and Arms
25 – STRETCH: Active Stretching
26 – TRAIN: Arms
27 – TRAIN: Abs
28 – STRETCH: Active Stretching

Bonus Days

29 – STRENGTH: Back
30 – CARDIO: Classical Center

I’m currently on Day 13 (and yes, my arms are sore from yesterday!) and am loving the training schedule so far. I’m already feeling stronger and more flexible. Shall I report back after Day 30?

If you’re interested in taking on a similar training schedule, I put together this 10-Day Ballet Challenge (using free online work-outs). Let me know if you try it out!

And if you suffer from decision fatigue, I can not recommend making your own fitness challenge enough. It works for all types of exercise and fitness levels! Need help getting started? Shoot me an email! I would LOVE to help you put one together. 🙂

What’s your favorite way to exercise? Have you ever tried a fitness challenge (either one that was already made or something you put together yourself)? 

 

Found! The Greatest Exercise Video Ever

In my early to mid-20’s, working out was pretty much an afterthought. But, so was putting gas in my car…so I pretty much walked everywhere I needed to go. (Including up a steep incline to get to work every morning.) Cable and internet were an afterthought, too. So, I recruited friends to go on long, ambling walks…even when we didn’t have anywhere to go. Just to pass the time.

This seemed like plenty enough fitness. When the weather turned sour, I’d maybe dust off my tiny collection of workout DVD’s if I was feeling especially cooped up.

Fast forward to now and I’m busting out workout videos all the time. (Luckily I learned to start springing for the internet because YouTube is a GOLD MINE.)

I still love to walk as much as possible but I also love yoga and ballet and body-weight strength training. For now, gyms and classes sort of bore me. Maybe someday I’ll change my tune on that but until then, I’m saving my money.

Anyways, this is all to say…I found the workout video above a few months ago and I LOVE IT. If you’re looking for a low intensity (no jumping around) workout that will have you dripping with sweat all in under an hour…GIVE IT A GO!

Can Keaira Leshae be my spirit animal???? She cracks me up.

And while normally I bounce around to new videos to keep my workouts interesting, I keep coming back to this one every week. (I even enlisted my sister to do it with me the week of my wedding!) I sort of love how low-budget it is. Like I stumbled into this random living room workout sesh and “welp, while I’m here…may as well join in the fun!”

Let me know if you try this video out. I’d love to hear your thoughts! 

If you’re looking for other FREE workouts, I also recommend:

Yoga with Adriene

Fitness Blender

PsycheTruth

Scola Dondo

What are YOUR favorite exercise videos? Link ’em below. I’d love to give them a whirl. 

P.S. Ballet inspiration. Soccer inspiration. 

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