How I Maintained Fitness Through the Holidays

Posted on January 5, 2015 by Achieve with Athena

Hello! Today I want to talk workouts, specifically what my weekly workouts looked like through this year’s holiday season. I kept my fitness goals throughout the holidays simple:

To maintain my activity levels as much as possible.
To be realistic and not add on additional workouts, new regimens, or too many fitness commitments to an already busy month.
To show myself some kindness and not stress about skipped workouts or weeks with less workouts because of other commitments.

Keeping my goals relaxed and not adding anything too new to my routine definitely helped me stay active throughout December. Actually, the only really different thing that I added was not even at the gym! Ever since getting my Fitbit, I’ve cultivated a new morning routine at work. I now take six flights of stairs twice every morning before starting my day. I really enjoy starting my work days like this because even if I don’t get to take a walk break during the rest of the day, at the very least, I’ve done those killer six flights two times!

At the gym, I’ve stuck to mainly spin classes and metabolic workouts for cardio. For strength, I mixed things up between the Modern Women’s Guide to Strength Training, Neghar Fonooni’s Lean and Lovely workouts, and the chinning workouts at the end of this post from Bret Contreras.

Here’s what my weeks looked like throughout the holidays. Feel free to use these plans as weekly workout inspiration for yourself! I know today tends to be a big day for people to start on their new fitness goals, so maybe this will help you. ❤

Workouts: Sunday 11/23 – Saturday 11/29

Sunday: Strength + spin bike cardio finisher
Monday: 1 mile treadmill warmup + decreasing row and medicine ball circuit + windmills
Tuesday: Taught my overhead burn workout for a partner class, then stayed to lift on my own
Wednesday: Emily’s cycle and core class
Thursday: Thanksgiving! Tim and I did a metabolic resistance circuit together in the morning
Friday: Two A Day was back for one day! Liz taught Kickboxing at 8:30 and I taught Interval Training at 9:30
Saturday: Rest

Workouts: Sunday 11/30 – Saturday 12/7

Sunday: Attempted an outdoor run, but I only made it 2 miles before my knee started acting up, so I ended up walking the last mile home
Monday: Morning total body strength workout
Tuesday: Taught/did a gliding disc workout in class
Wednesday: Emily’s cycle and core class in the morning + a Studio Empower class at night with gym friends
Thursday: Taught/did an upper body pulsing reps workout in class + 30 minute power walk on the treadmill
Friday: 15 minutes of yoga, stretching, and breath work after work
Saturday: 15 minutes on the spin bike + metabolic resistance circuit + medicine ball slam finisher

Workouts: Sunday 12/7 – Saturday 12/13

Sunday: Rest
Monday: Eccentric/isometric upper body strength work + 12 minutes on the spin bike + 1 minute bosu burpee finisher
Tuesday: Taught/did a lower body pulsing reps workout in class
Wednesday: Emily’s cycle and core class
Thursday: Taught and did a workout that revolved around the moves sit, sit up, stand, crawl, and jump. So fun.
Friday: Strength workout + 20 minutes of treadmill walking
Saturday: Rest

Workouts: Sunday 12/14 – Saturday 12/20

Sunday: Metabolic resistance circuit with Tim
Monday: Upper body strength
Tuesday: Taught and did a variation of this warm right up winter workout
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: Taught and did my infamous run, run, reindeer workout in class
Friday: Subbed Heidi’s cycle and core class
Saturday: Late afternoon lift for lower body strength

Workouts: Sunday 12/21 – Saturday 12/27

Sunday: Took Emily’s 20/20/20 class
Monday: Morning strength workout that consisted of deadlifts, a chinning circuit, and an oblique superset
Tuesday: Taught and did my down the chimney up the chimney workout in my morning class, then took Liz’s kickboxing class (her last one! sad!) at night
Wednesday: Christmas Eve – rest day
Thursday: Christmas – rest day
Friday: 30 minutes of cardio on the spin bike + chinning circuit
Saturday: Lower body strength

Workouts: Sunday 12/28 – Saturday 1/3

Sunday: Rest
Monday: Upper body strength workout
Tuesday: Taught and did my last morning class of 2014 with a legs and shoulder strength focus
Wednesday: Emily’s 6am cycle and core class
Thursday: New Year’s Day – did a 25 minute kettlebell workout at home
Friday: 15 minute bodyweight workout while away
Saturday: Winter hike with friends
Sunday: Rest

Readers, let’s chat! Did you stay active through the holiday season this year? If so, how were you able to do it? If not, how are you showing yourself kindness and accepting that things simply did not go as planned? What fitness goals will you be tackling this month?

I bit the bullet and joined Neghar’s Lean and Lovely community over the weekend, so I see a lot of those workouts in my future!

Fitness Lately: October & November

Posted on November 23, 2014 by Achieve with Athena

Oh hey. I missed you guys last week! I took a little blog hiatus because I had a really busy week at work with our third and final health fair on Thursday. I also had a few blog projects due at the beginning of the week, so any free time I had was spent writing those. You can keep your eyes out for those posts next week!

Today I want to check in with a fitness update since it’s been awhile since my last one! As far as strength training goes, I’ve progressed to the 4th level of the Modern Woman’s Guide to Strength Training program that I’ve done for the better part of this year. I’m also mixing in some more metabolic resistance workouts from Neghar Fonooni’s Fall Freedom Challenge, and through those I have discovered a new love for kettlebells. They’ve helped me switch up my workouts to add more variety. I really want to get a heavy one for at home strength workouts this winter since the heaviest dumbbells I own are only 15 pounds, and those are feeling light these days!

That’s about all that’s new to report on the fitness front except for that I tweaked my knee slightly last week. I think it happened on the last rep of the last set of dumbbell front squats I was doing on Monday afternoon. I’ve had some slight pain in my left knee when going down stairs, and it hurt at first to extend/bend my knee. I took Wednesday through Saturday completely off from the gym, and I’ve been diligent about Alieve, elevation, and ice, and it already feels better. I went back to the gym yesterday and this morning, but I’m still being careful and airing on the side of caution when it comes to squats and lunges. I do not want to make a minor tweak any worse – it’s just not worth it to have a longer term injury! Other than this little setback, things are pretty status quo.

Here’s the rundown for those of you who like to look at what my weekly workout plans look like:

Workouts: Sunday 10/5 – Saturday 10/11

Sunday: Strength workout
Monday: 3 mile run
Tuesday: Taught a partner themed class, then stayed to lift on my own
Wednesday: Emily’s spin class
Thursday: Taught and did a class with body bars, gliding discs, and light weights
Friday: Off
Saturday: Off

Workouts: Sunday 10/12 – Saturday 10/18

Sunday: Harvard stadium run
Monday: Upper body strength workout
Tuesday: Taught and did lower body strength in my 6am class
Wednesday: 3 mile run
Thursday: Taught and did two “up the ladder/down the ladder” pyramid sets in my 6am class.
Friday: 3 mile run
Saturday: Off

Workouts: Sunday 10/19 – Saturday 10/25

Sunday: Oak Square 5k
Monday: Off
Tuesday: Taught my class, then stayed for a strength workout afterward
Wednesday: Off
Thursday: Taught and did this Lift Weights Faster circuit from Jen Sinkler in class, then finished with my favorite stability ball core circuit (3 rounds of ball passes, lunge and twists, roll outs, pikes, standing side crunches, stir the pot elbow planks – 10 reps each).
Friday: 3 mile run
Saturday: Strength workout

Workouts: Sunday 10/26 – Saturday 11/1

Sunday: Emily’s 20/20/20 class
Monday: Fall Freedom Challenge workout: 15 minutes of alternating between 5 deadlifts and 5 overhead presses, followed by a 5 minute kettlebell quickie. Try doing 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off of a kettlebell clean, squat, and swing for 5 minutes total. Love!
Tuesday: Taught and did a strength workout at 6am. Since I only taught the cardio finisher part of class, I stayed to do this treadmill interval workout on my own
Wednesday: Off
Thursday: Taught this Halloween themed class at 6am, then went to a Glo-Cycle class at The Handle Bar in Fenway. Slesh joined for the fun! Class was glow in the dark themed, we got to write on each other with glow in the dark crayons, and there was mingling afterward.
Friday: Off
Saturday: Strength workout

Workouts: Sunday 11/2 – Saturday 11/8

Sunday: Emily’s 20/20/20 class
Monday: A 30 minute hotel workout. This is a new favorite for when I’m pressed on time: 5 reps each of alternating overhead dumbbell presses, dumbbell goblet squats, and alternating single arm dumbbell rows – as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes. Then end with this unilateral cardio finisher: skater jumps each leg + dumbbell windmills each side. 15 seconds on, 5 seconds off for each move, 3x through.
Tuesday: This treadmill interval workout in the hotel
Wednesday: Evening yoga/stretch in my hotel room
Thursday: 5k run at the Minnesota health fair
Friday: Off (traveling home from Minnesota)
Saturday: 3 mile walk around the Charles with Tim

Workouts: Sunday 11/9 – Saturday 11/15

Sunday: Strength workout
Monday: 1 mile treadmill run + my decreasing row and medicine ball core workout
Tuesday: Taught my on fire workout in class, then stayed to do a metabolic resistance circuit on my own. This one is another recent go to: 10 reps each of kettlebell goblet squats, kettlebell suitcase deadlifts, barbell step ups, barbell push presses, and bodyweight jump squats – as many rounds as possible in 25 minutes.
Wednesday: Emily’s cycle and core class
Thursday: Taught and did an upper body Tabata class
Friday: Off
Saturday: Total body strength + kettlebell cardio finisher

Workouts: Sunday 11/16 – Saturday 11/22

Sunday: Off
Monday: Total body strength workout + kettlebell swing Tabata finisher
Tuesday: Taught and did a lower body Tabata class
Wednesday: Off (resting tweaked knee)
Thursday: Off (resting tweaked knee). Even though I didn’t workout, I was on my feet all day for the health fair. What a difference that makes!
Friday: Off (resting tweaked knee)
Saturday: Hike up Prospect Hill with gym friends, plus a couple of upper body Tabata sets at the top!

–Let’s chat–
What’s new on the fitness front for you guys lately? What goals are you working on? Would love to hear!

I am working on putting together a little holiday challenge for the blog to help you guys stay active and moving during the upcoming holiday hustle. Details will be announced this week. Stay tuned!

Fitness Lately: September

Posted on October 6, 2014 by Achieve with Athena

I haven’t talked about workouts lately, so that’s what you guys get today! The last time we chatted about how fitness is going in my life, I told you I was scaling back a bit on strength workouts in order to adjust for a busy schedule. Now that we’re fully into fall, I feel more “regular” with my workout choices.

I haven’t been posting weekly workouts on Mondays anymore. My workouts are no longer as varied as they used to be, and I don’t want to bore you guys. I am still following the Modern Woman’s Guide to Strength Training program, and you’ll notice a lot of my updates will just say push strength, pull strength, or lower body strength, depending on the day. I’m doing a lot more teaching only in my group ex classes (as opposed to doing the workout with the group), and I’m staying after class to do pure strength on my own at 7am when the gym is pretty empty. This month I tried front barbell squats for the first time ever, and I’m definitely feeling more comfortable with them. I’m also progressing on my band assisted chin-ups, but still not able to do an un-assisted one. I’m definitely still getting there, and it’s nice to feel the improvement.

Also new on the fitness front is that I tried November Project for the first time. If you’ve never heard of NP, it’s a free fitness movement that was born in Boston and has now spread to cities all over the U.S. For my locals, the group meets on Mondays at various locations around the city for Destination Deck, on Wednesdays for stadium runs at Harvard, and on Fridays at Summit Ave for hill runs. I’ve attended two stadium runs now, and they are HARD. But they kick my ass, humble me, and leave me feeling so great all day long. It’s a little intimidating at first, but everyone is really friendly and welcoming. I’m definitely glad I went with some of my gym friends though! Plus it’s easier to get out of bed that early when you’ve made the commitment to someone else.

For those of you who might be missing the weekly workout plans, here’s what the past few weeks have looked like:

Workouts: Sunday 9/7 – Saturday 9/13

Sunday: Off
Monday: 3 mile run + an ab circuit with the Dynamax ball
Tuesday: Taught a bodyweight class, push strength
Wednesday: Emily’s spin class
Thursday: Taught a partner themed stations class, pull strength
Friday: 3 mile run
Saturday: Lower body strength

Workouts: Sunday 9/14 – Saturday 9/20

Sunday: Off
Monday: Push strength with Mary in Waltham
Tuesday: Taught and did timed circuits in my 6am
Wednesday: Woke up in the 4am hour to do November Project with Mary and Steph
Thursday: Taught upper body in class, pull strength workout
Friday: Off
Saturday: Went to a barre class with Liz, courtesy of the sweetgreen passport program

Workouts: Sunday 9/21 – Saturday 9/27

Sunday: Off
Monday: 3 mile run
Tuesday: Since I couldn’t stay and do push strength on my own, I taught and did a variation of it for class
Wednesday: Off
Thursday: Taught a lower body workout in class, pull strength workout
Friday: Took a barre class at Exhale in NYC with Erica and Bridget for a pre-wedding weekend workout
Saturday: Off

Workouts: Sunday 9/28 – Saturday 10/4

Sunday: Off
Monday: 3 mile run with Tim
Tuesday: Taught a stations class, push strength with a 10 minute spin bike finisher
Wednesday: Lower body strength workout
Thursday: Taught and did an interval class with my 6am crowd, then taught the Athleta bootcamp event
Friday: Off
Saturday: Pull strength workout

–Let’s chat–
What is fitness looking like for you lately? What goals are you working on? Do you feel like you are in more of a routine now that fall is here?