What I did Wednesday

Evening partners!

After a bit of a hiccup yesterday today I hit the ground running.

Kicking it off with an amazing breakfast. I haven’t had my egg scramble in a few! It is one of my favorite breakfasts and keeps me full forever! Today’s mix included green peppers, onions, two slices of turkey bacon, some mozzarella cheese and a big ole heap of salsa. I’m currently in a salsa kick I can’t  get enough of it. I should start a twitter hashtag called #speaksalsa just to hear about how others eat it! I think, I might just set that up! If you are on twitter be sure to give me a follow @cusecomm.

My morning workout included a super quick 10 minute Backside workout. Thanks to my handy iphone daily workouts app. I love this thing!

1 minute each:

• Squats
• Front lungue
•  Side lunges
• Mule kicks left leg
• Mule kicks right leg
•  Froggy lifts
• More squats
• Bridge Lifts
• Squats
• Plank

While my house was still silent and my coffee was warm. I checked out a package my husband left for me on the counter. THANK YOU LAUREN! Lauren from Joyfulshimmy.com saw my sadness in not getting the Mod Cloth headband in my birchbox this month and sent me her’s!  How sweet is this girl?!  I can’t wait to get all gussied up in it!

After finishing up some work and feeding the troops we set off on an epic adventure to walk to the playground! Clocking in at just over 6 miles I pushed the two little ones in a walk/run pattern to the playground. A great workout for mommy, 6 miles pushing an additional 100+ pounds of children and stroller…… I’ll take it any day!

Kids aren’t the only ones who love a swing in the summer sun….. Miley was getting in on the action too!

Tonight also marked the beginning of the end of my break from hockey season. Summer Hockey begins. I know my son loves it but sometimes it’s really difficult to leave the 80 degree sunshine for the freezing ice rink. 🙂

Sadly  though this is only big boy hockey! Even though my youngest wore his helmet just in case….. he couldn’t get on the ice.

And there you have it my super busy day! I hope you all had a fabulous day as well!

Spin Class and Questions

Becoming a new freelancing stay at home mommy has afforded me some great perks. One of those perks is being able to attend daytime gym classes including SPIN which I have been missing due to my old schedule!

I took my son to preschool, my youngest into the child watch program and into my first daytime spin class I went. It was so dark in the room I could barely see especially since I was coming in from the sunny outdoors. I found a bike in the back corner and got to my thing. This class was called “Cycling” on the schedule and was only 30 minutes long, I assumed incorrectly that it was an express spin class. It was intense and much more like cycling than spin which is difficult to pull off on a spin bike. The music wasn’t for me I would rather rip my ears off than workout to country! There were two hip/hoppy songs that worked for me. I wish the bad news ended there.

What threw me for an almost hysterical loop was the instructor who seemed to be grunting throughout the entire workout. Rather than instructing the group on form and intensity levels she was yelling instructions, while enjoying her own workout as we watched and biked along. I have been to at least 1/2 a million spin classes. I thought I had seen it all! I almost started laughing out loud as if it was all a joke. Then her group who must be regulars began counting along with her LOUDLY through jumps. I have never seen a class like it.

While I really enjoyed the intensity of the workout part of the class I’m not sure I would ever go back. I want an instructor who is tough but not insane, the whole class made me uneasy. While Jillian Micheals is NUTZO  on  TV, I have to believe that the intensity from her is fingerscrossed more for the cameras. I once hired a personal trainer and she was FABULOUS. She was serious but understood that screaming at people isn’t a great way to get them to work for you and normally leads people to shut down mode. Plus while as an instructor you can work out, it isn’t the time to be doing your own workout. I did join a group that seems to have been going together for a while too, so it may have just been weird but….

The whole class just turned me off. It was disappointing to say the least.

There are a few other options for spin classes and I’m hopeful I can find one that is a great workout where I won’t be screamed at in the dark 🙂

If you’ve taken Spin you know it’s intense! What do you look for in a great instructor?

At Gold’s Gym I had the best instructor EVER. Her music was fabulous and different. At the beginning of each class she fully described the “ride” and told you the intensity upfront. She was upbeat  peppy and really enjoyed her job. She rode along with us but all the while offered ideas on posture, pedal movement and “lazy tummys” as she called them.

For example we would have a huge hill to climb followed by a down hill to a run drawn out flat rise the music for this would include “Come on Eileen” for the uphill/stuck in the mud cadence, then the ending of the song was the downhill. Then we would move into “ONE” by U2 for the long flat ride. For sprints I will never think of the song “Proud Mary” in the same way again! You could picture the ride in your head as you rode,  she gave cues as to where you were in the ride throughout.  And what muscles we getting the best workout at the moment.

 I want to know am I crazy for not liking this class? What do you look for in a great Spin Instructor?

Exercise Band Workout

Sweat…. sweat….sweat it out! Sweat is just  fat crying and this little workout is sure to get you wailing!

A few weeks ago I received a great exercise band from Nature’s Bounty as part of a facebook promotion they were running.  But let’s be honest I’m a runner and wasn’t really sure what to do with it. After chatting with some folks about different ideas I came up with this super quick and CRAZY intense band workout.

For the biceps curls keep your arms close to your body and control the motion! The downs are just as important and as the ups. It’s 20 seconds control your breathing and your form. Again I’m not a certified trainer or medical advisor I am simply sharing with you a workout I am currently doing. Please consult with a profession before beginning a new workout.

Biceps Curls: Arms

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Rowing Arms: Shoulders

This is also a tummy trimmer if you do them this way. You can also stand similar to the biceps curls but pull arms up in towing motion to really work your shoulders.

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Jumping Squats: Buns, Legs & Belly

For this you will need to wrap the band around an object that is NOT movable. A tree, post or kickboxing weighted punching bag at the gym. Wrap the band around the object and hold on to the handles. For this you don’t want to use the band to pull up on but rather as a stability check. This is a slights altered version of TRX.

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Calf Raises/Leg Lifts: working your legs and inner thighs

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And of course like every good workout you need a plank!  I was sweating so badly into this work out after the first 4 :20 I knew it was going to be a good burn. Remember the point of this is to do as many for these as you can in the 20 seconds with correct form and posture.

Today is a VERY special day at our house! My little mister is turning 5! Love him!

Breakfast today is not healthy looking at all and I’m sure will include sprinkle pancakes and cupcakes! Happy June 20th to all.