The Sit, Sit Up, Stand, Crawl, and Jump Workout

You guys, I tried so hard to come up with a more creative name for this workout, but I just couldn’t! “The Movement Workout” just wasn’t cutting it. But that’s basically what this little gem consists of: exercises that have to do with basic human movements.

In this workout, you will go through the exercises as prescribed in a circuit format (one right after the other). I like to do this one by assessing how much time I have to workout (20 minutes? 25? 30?) and trying to do as many rounds of the circuit as possible while keeping good form in that amount of time. You could also approach this by aiming to do 3-5 total rounds before calling it a day. Pick whatever feels right for you and what works with your schedule!

Here are some options/details for each move:

• Wall sits: You can hold a regular bodyweight wall sit. To make it harder, add a dumbbell hold in front of your chest or place a plate on your legs.
• Sit ups: I recommend doing these either with your arms crossed over your chest or with your hands behind your head. Keep your feet flat on the floor, and come to a full sit up. You can modify by taking it down a notch to a crunch, but you can make it harder by holding a weight in front of you or doing a sit up to overhead press with a dumbbell.
• Single leg sit to stands: These are one of the most humbling exercises there is, in my opinion! I definitely recommend starting with bodyweight for this one. Once you master the movement without your knees wobbling or needing to put your other foot on the ground, add weight or progress to a heel tap or pistol squat variation.
• Bear crawls: This is an awesome core stability move! Try doing 4 bear crawl walks forward and 4 bear crawl walks backward, for a total of 5 times. If you have more space to work with, you could just try going forward once for longer and backward once for longer.
• Jump of choice: For this, choose your favorite jump and get after it for 1 minute. Think jumping jacks, squat jumps, jump rope, skater jumps, box jumps, plie squat jumps, etc. Free choice!

As always, if there are any questions let me know, and post your sweaty pics to social media! I love seeing you guys in action.

Reader’s, let’s chat! What would you have named this workout? Can you think of any other movements you would have added to the circuit?

Have fun!

2014: Best of F&F

As I mentioned in my New Year’s post, I prefer that a few weeks in January go by before I begin reflecting on the year before. Now that we’re mid month and I’m feeling a little more into the swing of things, I want to do some blog reflections and share the best of F&F in 2014 with all of you. I did something similar last year with my 2013 posts, and it was a lot of fun!

Ready for a content dump?

Best of F&F in 2014

2014 was a breakout year for Fitness & Feta. The blog celebrated its third birthday and got its own logo and header. I hosted my first blog event/workout class. I had a Reader Focus Week and hosted a Heart My Health social media campaign in February. In December, I hosted my most life changing and inspiring challenge yet. Also, the F&F newsletter was born! If you aren’t subscribed, please sign up! I’m sending out a fun update this weekend.

2014 was also the first year that I finally started monetizing this blog, which I attribute to being selected as a FitFluential ambassador and a PopSugar Select fitness blogger. I was able to attend a lot of really awesome events thanks to my relationship with New Balance Boston, and I received several other products to review and give away as well. 2014 was also the first year that I actually started turning opportunities away! This was partly because I couldn’t keep up, but also because I didn’t believe in the message of the some of the companies trying to work with me. Below are the blog projects I was able to participate in over the past year, so THANK YOU to for reading this blog and supporting not only me, but the companies I choose to work with for a little extra income. I appreciate each and every one of your clicks. 😉

2014 F&F Blog Opportunities

• Product review: KIND Healthy Grains Line
• Body Worlds Vital Exhibit
• New Balance Fresh Foam 980 Review and Double Sneaker Giveaway
• Next Fitness Star: Power Sculpt DVD Series
• Heidi Klum for New Balance: A Collision of Sport and Fashion
• Right On Red, Left On Hereford: Giveaway
• Get Skinny Again: Book Review
• Just Add Cooking: Review, Discount, and Giveaway
• A Weekend Getaway with Perfect Vermont
• PUMA Fitness: Apparel Review

• Restaurant Review: Jerry Remy’s Athlete’s Menu
• Reebok CrossFit on the Greenway Class
• New Balance Girls Night Out Event
• SoulCycle Chestnut Hill: Class Review
• BostInno #BosFIT Event: Ticket Giveaway
• Nestle Pure Life Exotic Sparkling Water
• Another New Balance Girls Night Out Event
• Fall 5k Race Giveaway

• Canadian Maple Syrup Campaign
• New to Me Whole Foods Finds
• Glo-Cycle Event at The Handle Bar
• Reebok Cardio Ultra Sneakers
• Whole Foods Holiday Help
• Target C9
• Fitbit Charge Review: Every Step Counts
• Boston Ballet’s The Nutcracker: Ticket Giveaway
• Sneaker Review: Asics GEL-Fit Sanas

2014 F&F Blog Series
On F&F, I launched a few different series, some of which stuck, and some of which didn’t. You guys look forward to my F&F Friday Favorites every week, and I really believe in sharing other bloggers’ content, so that continues to be popular!

For awhile, I continued to write about my weekly workouts, but I grew bored of that and changed it up to giving you guys updates every month or so instead. There was also Journey to Fit, a series that features an F&F reader with an inspirational weight loss or weight gain story to share. I want to thank Mary, Liz, Laura, Jen and Kelly, and Jackie for sharing their stories. Keep your eyes out for more stories like this in 2015, and please let me know if you or someone you know would be a good fit for this!

Finally, at the beginning of the year, I launched Sunday Sweat Talk. I really, really enjoyed posting on a different fitness topic each week, and I think it helped me branch out a bit with my writing. Once our crazy wedding schedule picked up in the spring, having this little “fitness chat” with you guys was just too much to keep up with. I miss it, but here’s a list of the Sunday Sweat Talk topics I wrote about last year!

• My Hangover Workout
• January Joiners
• Helping or Harassing
• One Month of Heavier Lifting
• The Problem With Online Fitness Challenges
• Grip Strength and Ankle Update
• MMA Fighter Fit Certification
• Strength Training Plateaus
• Why I Love My Gym Friends
• Exercising While Sick
• Next Fitness Star: Power Sculpt Series
• Deload Weeks
• Unstable Surface Training
• Four Month Lifting Update
• Training For Life

2014 F&F Workouts
Of course it wouldn’t be a successful fitness blog without continuing to share workouts with you guys. Here’s a rundown of the sweaty favorites I posted last year. Have you tried any of these?

• The Abs & Row Cardio Sandwich
• Weight Room Ab Circuit
• Lower Body Pre-Exhaustion Supersets
• The On Fire Workout
• Valentine’s Day at the Gym 2014
• 4×4 Medicine Ball Ab Circuit
• High Intensity Blast: 10 Reps, 20 Seconds
• Lower Body Supersets and Shoulder Burn Workout
• Triple Incline Walking Treadmill Workout
• Fifteen Minute Timed Circuit Workouts
• The Holy Obliques Superset Workout

• Baseball Diamond Bootcamp Workout
• Baby, You’re a Firework Workout
• Five Move Upper Body Burn
• Descending Run Ladder and Ab Circuit
• Park Bench Circuit Workout
• A Wicked Halloween Workout
• Treadmill in Twenty: New Interval Workout
• Decreasing Row and Medicine Ball Core Strength Workout
• The Cardio Ultra Bodyweight Workout
• The Overhead Burn Workout
• Down the Chimney, Up the Chimney Workout

2014 F&F Recipes
Last year I shared tons of food pictures in my weekly eats/catching up on eats posts, but here are the recipes that debuted on the blog this year. Have you made any of them?

• Stacked Red Pepper and Tomato Soup
• Brussels Sprouts with Pomegranate and Feta
• Pistachio Muffins
• Cranberry Orange Oat Muffins
• Colorful Roasted Winter Vegetables
• Crock Pot Turkey Mole Tacos
• Flourless Chocolate Chip Blondie Bars
• Shrimp Lettuce Wraps with Green Apple Slaw
• Lightened Up Moussaka
• Kale and Blood Orange Salad

• Southwestern Fiesta Salad with Cilantro Lime Dressing
• Sweet Potato, Farro, and Veggie Casserole
• Almond Flour Berry Muffins
• Homemade Pretzel Bites with Honey Mustard Sauce
• Almost Mediterranean Chickpea Salad
• Cabbage, Kale, and Kohlrabi Slaw
• Asparagus, Mushroom, and Ricotta Pizza
• Asian Style Shrimp Stir Fry with Snow Peas and Bok Choy
• Recipe Redo: Roasted Pork with Caramelized Apples
• Heirloom Tomato Caprese Stir Fry

• Vegetarian Lunchtime Cabbage Stir Fry
• Lightened Up Apple Crisp
• Sweet Potato Quinoa with Thai Chili Dressing
• Autumn Quinoa Salad with Kale, Beets, and Pears
• Delicata Squash and Farro Risotto
• Homemade Cranberry Sauce
• Roasted Chickpeas with Dijon Mustard
• Warm Farro Salad with Orange and Cranberries
• Recipe Redo: Cranberry Avocado Salsa

2014 F&F Personal Favorites
I also thought it would be fun to share some of my personal favorite posts that I wrote over the course of the past year. They aren’t necessarily specific workouts or recipes, but these are fun and different posts I want to remember and remind you guys about. Also, if you are new to F&F, you may have missed some of them!

• What Does Strength Mean to You?
• Bloggers Have Bad Days Too
• The Biggest Loser Controversy
• Blogging: Lessons Learned
• Why I Love My Gym Friends
• Showing My Love For Boston
• Tips For Dealing with Negative People
• Adjusting Workouts for a Busy Schedule
• Healthy Foods I Wish I Liked
• Inspiring People is What It’s All About
• Halloween Costumes Through the Years
• Tips for Getting Off the Soda Bandwagon
• You Can Do It All, But You Don’t Have To
• Healthy Eating Essentials: Our Well Stocked Pantry
• Boston Bloggers Dish: Splurges, Treats, and Moderation
• Meal and Snack Ideas to Use Up Apples
• 2014 Holiday Gift Guide: Themed Gifts for Fitness Fanatics
• Tips for Staying Active Through the Changing Seasons

2014 F&F Life Recaps
Finally, one of the best parts about having a blog is being able to go back and see fun recaps of my life! It was too hard to write about every single thing we had this year in individual posts (I still have some major 2014 things I never got around to recapping), so I introduced Life Lately as a way to capture monthly recaps. Aside from my monthly Life Lately posts, here are some other fun recaps from throughout the year:

• MMA Fighter Fit Certification
• Valentine’s Day Weekend
• Katrina’s Bridal Shower and Bachelorette
• Slesh’s Bridal Shower
• Scenes From Greek Easter
• Hopsters Brews & Boards
• Chicago Adventures
• Boston Magazine’s Health and Wellness Retreat
• Slesh’s NYC Bachelorette Party
• Scenes From Staycation
• Engaged
• My Two A Day Tuesday Farewell
• OAKtoberfest 5k Race & Taste
• Erica’s Last Sail Before the Veil
• Mini Vacation to Maine
• Scenes From Thanksgiving 2014

And that’s that! I’m excited to see what 2015 has in store for this little space of mine. Thanks for continuing along for the ride! You guys are the best.

Readers, let’s chat! What on F&F from 2014 stands out to you as most memorable? What do you want to see more or less of in 2015? Bloggers, what were your blog accomplishments last year? Anything you are setting out to do or grow in 2015?

Total Body Kettlebell Circuit Workout

Look at what Santa brought me.

This kettlebell is quickly becoming one of my new favorite fitness toys. It’s perfect for strength or metabolic resistance workouts at home when I don’t have time to get to the gym. Lately my at home strength workouts have been mostly bodyweight workouts with some work on my pull-up bar thrown in. I like using my Dynamax ball and gliding disks too, but sometimes I’m just craving a heavier strength workout, you know? And now that I’m lifting heavier, my home dumbbell sets are too light! I have a set of eights, tens, and fifteens, so my new 25 pound kettlebell is a welcomed addition to my home equipment collection. It’s also just a great way to switch things up since I haven’t always done a lot of kettlebell work in the past. It really is one of the most versatile pieces of fitness equipment out there, and it lets you do strength and cardio at the same time. Score.

On New Year’s Day, since the gym wasn’t opening until noon (what!?), I opted to give my new bell a go at home. I created this circuit and busted it out in our dining room. Words to the wise: this is probably not the best routine to do on your hardwood floors. Whoops.

This workout is designed to be done circuit style where you move from one move to the next with little to no rest in between each exercise. Do 10 reps of each move, and rest when you get to the end of the circuit. Repeat for a total of 3-4 rounds through. Of course, always listen to your body and take breaks as needed.

When I did this three times through, it took me about 25 minutes to complete, not including the warmup. If your kettlebell is on the lighter side, it would probably take you shorter. My 25 pound bell was too heavy for those situps to single arm presses, so I dropped down to my 15 pound dumbbell for those instead — just to help you guys gauge weight! Now of course I want to go buy more kettlebells in multiple sizes, but I’ll try to contain myself (gotta save for the wedding!).

Readers, let’s chat! Do you work out with kettlebells? What’s your favorite kettlebell exercise? What is your favorite fitness toy?

Hopefully there will be a lot more F&F kettlebell style workouts to come! If you give this one a whirl, post your sweaty kettlebell selfies to social media and tag me @fitnessandfeta. I want to see you rock it!