Workout Round-up

Summer is in full force on the east coast – humidity is high and the weather forecast shows at least a 40% chance of thunderstorms for the next ten plus days. Add to that an average high of 85 degrees and you’ve got yourself your own personal outdoor sauna. Except instead of enjoying your nice steamy sauna after a workout, you get it every time you leave your house. Oy. Kind of makes me wonder why I even bothered moving back to the States at all!

Because I don’t want to get heatstroke, I’ve been keeping my workouts indoors…not that it’s that much better, because for some reason the temperature of my gym is still kept at something ridiculously high. I did get outside for a run one day last week – the humidity broke and it wasn’t sweltering – and I ended up doing four miles! It was one of those days where I felt so good I just kept telling myself, “just five more minutes,” or “just another quarter of a mile!” And before I knew it I had four miles down! Win!

But anyway. Both because I need to incorporate strength into my workouts and because I get bored just running on the treadmill, I started mixing it up a bit at the gym. Here’s my round-up of the last week of workouts.

MONDAY:

run 1 mile treadmill (10 min)

complete 3 rounds of 15 each:

push-ups

weighted squats

tricep dips

lunges (each leg)

bicycle crunches (each leg)

run 1 mile treadmill (10 min)

5 minute walk cool-down and stretching

This workout was great…and it just so happened that Barefoot Contessa was on TV, which effectively distracted me from my lead feet while I was completing the last mile. Although it made me wonder if watching a cooking show (on bread, no less) while working out might be a little counterproductive?

TUESDAY:

I was a little short on time, so I popped in my Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred DVD. I’m still on level one, mostly because I don’t do it frequently enough to improve, but even level one gets me sweating all over the place! I have started to do most of the exercises the “advanced” way instead of doing the modifications though, so I’m taking that as a good sign!

WEDNESDAY:

I’m a huge fan of Jess’s website, but I will be the first to admmit that I’m pretty intimidated (or scared, whichever you prefer) to try any of her workouts. I realized however, that if I don’t challenge myself, I’ll never see what I’m capable of. So, I picked a workout from one of her Summer Shape Up Plan…it was labeled a “lean arm workout”, but Jess notes it’s also a “sneaky full body workout”, so I figured I’d try it out!

Dear Jess: you totally kicked my butt. And I didn’t even do the full workout! (But I didn’t realize that until a day later.)

The workout is supposed to be 4 rounds of 10 repetitions of the following exercises:

push-up to T

Thrusters

walking plank

hand release push-ups

high to low lawnmowers

Well, I ended up doing 3 rounds of 10 repetition, but I forgot to do the hand release push-ups! I feel it necessary to mention though that I also ran three miles on the treadmill before doing this workout. To say that I was dripping sweat would be the understatement of the century. Jess also suggests doing a core workout in addition to this, but since I could barely pick myself up off the floor after the arms bit, well, that didn’t happen.

But I survived, and it was awesome!

THURSDAY:

I woke up on Thursday pleasantly sore, so my workout was 30 minutes on the Elliptical. I used to hate the Elliptical, but then one day I woke up and didn’t hate it anymore. Weird, huh? I did 15 minutes forward peddling and 15 minutes backward, and let me tell you I am waiting for the day when I accidently flip right off the machine. It’s coming, I know it is.

FRIDAY:

I chose another blondponytail workout today: the “Before Breakfast Home Workout”. Three rounds of 25 squats, 20 single crunches, 15 push-ups, and 10 burpees.

Oh, burpees, how I hate you.

I also did a 10 minute warm-up mile on the treadmill before this workout, and a 10 minute mile to finish up before I stretched. A lot.

SATURDAY:

Saturday was my rest day, since I pretty much spent the whole day flying.

SUNDAY:

Sunday was spent with the two men in my life. We hung out, we went to church, we ran around town, we went to the pool…I call it an active rest day 🙂

So there you have it, my latest week of workouts! And while this may sound like common sense I feel the need to say it: I’m enjoying working out so much more now that I’m changing it up. I used to be a slave to the treadmill, but with strength workouts and trail running and what have you, I actually look forward to working out!

What are your favorite workouts?

How do you stay active when it’s super hot?