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Fitness Friday no. 17

| The Bee Life

Food.

What you eat is a huge part of your fitness and how successful you are… or aren’t. Maintaining a good, balanced diet will not only help you flourish with your workouts and overall goals but will also come in huge when your workouts aren’t happening as much as you’d like. 15So while you might not be hitting the pavement or working up a sweat as much as you’d like to be, remember these things;

  1. Always have breakfast – this will help you from snacking or overeating at other meals throughout the day.
  2. Drink water – drinking water throughout the day will help you stay hydrated and is also tied to a number of other benefits including skin health, maintaining calories, and even energizes muscles!
  3. Eat greens – But be careful, overloading your salads with extra goodies and cheese and quickly make this not healthy! Even watch that salad dressing. Eating greens have lasting health benefits including reducing the risk of heart disease and cancer while fueling your body.
  4. Remember Protein – Fish, Chicken, Avocados, those are the good proteins that contain the good fats for your body, make sure to maintain balance when eating these!
  5. Get to the grocery store – This will help you pick the good foods while also saving you from those last minute pizza orders when the fridge and cupboards are empty! Stock up on frozen foods too; it will save you in the long run.
  6. Limit lunches/dinners out – Hopefully if you’ve grocery shopped your house should be stocked, now just pack a lunch! The less we eat out, the more control we have over how our food is prepared and what we’re knowingly putting in our bodies.

Eating crap tastes good in the moment, but will have bad effects not only overall but on that workout you’re trying to accomplish.  It’s good to maintain balance and enjoy the good with the bad, but if you’re not counteracting the bad with exercise and other balanced meals, the cons will ultimately outweigh the pros.

Happy Friday!!

 

Fitness Friday no. 14

| The Bee Life

Fitness Friday is back after a little vacay! Speaking of vacay, that’s the perfect segue into today’s Fitness Friday – workouts on the go.  With summer quickly here, especially now that Memorial Day has come and went, weekends are filling up with vacations, weddings, house work… you name it, and getting workouts in on the weekends, now becomes harder than workouts during the week! So I wanted to share some workouts that can be done pretty much anywhere, with little-to-no equipment needed.  Fitness Friday no 14 - the bee lifeRun – You can run anywhere if you have sneaks and the right clothing. Packing some extra clothes and your running shoes can help you get some key sweat sessions in when you have a moment in the morning or afternoon. When in doubt get your workout done earlier in the day,  waiting might close the window of getting one in!

The Bee’s On-The-Go Workout:

  1. Jumping Jacks/Jump Rope = 3 minutes
    • Again, no equipment needed, even for jumping rope, jumping in place and do the motion with your arms will tire you out not to mention will get your heart rate up
  2. Push-Ups = 5-sets of 10
  3. Squats = 5-sets of 25
    • You can do a variation of squats to jump squats, side squats, wide stance squats or normal squats.
  4. Side Leg Lifts = 3-sets of 15 each leg
  5. Donkey Kick = 5-sets of 25 each leg

You can do this set of exercises 5-times through or stagger them however you like. This will be enough to get your heart rate going, some muscles aching, and the feeling of accomplishment to enjoy your busy weekend of planned festivities!

Suggestion: If you’re on an extended stay or week long vacation and with friends/family, make working out a group activity so that everyone can get involved and help hold each other accountable.  If other’s are involved it’ll also help when planning activities, because everyone will be on the same page!

If you’re staying at a hotel, take advantage of the gym or even the pool and swim some laps before the crowds show up.  Swimming is a full body workout that can be accomplished in between long laying out sessions while you’re working on your tan!

What’re your go-to workouts when you’re on the go?

Fitness Friday no. 13

| The Bee Life

Heyyyyy Friday!!!!! How’s everyone’s fitness plans going? I have to say, I’ve truly gotten back in my groove lately and I love it.  The results haven’t been as apparent as I would have hoped, but it’s a journey, it’s not over night success, and I just have to keep reminding myself that (you should too!).

Regardless of how apparent (or non-apparent) my results have been, I feel great! And I recently got some new gear to wear for my workouts and runs and I was amazed at how much better I felt with some fun pants, new sports bras and comfortable sports tees.

Active ware has boomed recently from Kate Hudson to Beyonce launching their own lines, old oversized tee’s and shorts are no more.  Brands and active ware clothing are working for women, with fun prints, flattering fits and soft fabrics. With that, I don’t feel like you need to break the bank to feel great while working out, because let’s face it, you’re getting pretty clothes to get sweaty. So my go-to lately has been Marshall’s or T.J. Maxx because you can get hi-end brands at a severely discounted price. FRIDAY!(1)
01  | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06

Ultimately it’s about what you feel comfortable in, feeling good about yourself, while keeping you motivated to keep working out, time after time. So if you haven’t updated your workout wardrobe lately, take some time and slowly start grabbing some new pieces, you’ll be feeling great while getting into shape!

10-Miler Recap

| The Bee Life

Yesterday was the 10-Miler race I attempted to start training for back in February, but if you’ve been reading along on my fitness journey it’s been an up and down struggle for the last year… or two… so getting into a consistent workout routine has been the primary goal, and struggle. Long story short – it was ambitious, I didn’t do well with training, but I have gotten into a consistent workout routine with boot camp and am starting to incorporate other workouts, like running! So how did the 10-Miler go… well I hadn’t trained last year and impressed myself, and I did it again this year.

Race Recap
Approaching Mile 8

I beat my time from last year by 2-minutes, didn’t stop, and finished strong! It was a chilly morning, especially starting right next to the lake, but luckily as we got deeper into the course was able to hide from the wind a bit.  Of course B left me in the dust before we even hit mile one! But he was waiting at the finish line for me, and jumped out and finish  with me! He ended up beating his time from last year and kicked butt, too.

Finishing any race is always an awesome accomplishment but when it’s an significant mileage it always feels that much more awesome. We are looking to sign up for a half marathon before the year is over to keep pushing ourselves and getting back into our old running habits. We were done with our race by 10AM and had the rest of the day to brunch, soak up the sun, and socialize with family and friends!

Fitness Friday no. 12

| The Bee Life

Finally! Friday.

Since I have been killing it at boot camp the last four weeks, I was reminded just how much I love group classes and why it’s easier to have success when you surround yourself with others who have similar goals, work ethic and drive like you do.Fitness Friday 12 - the bee life

Here are 5 reasons why you should be taking a group class in order to maximize your workouts.

  1. Healthy Competition. Whether you’re spinning on a bike or making the rounds in a circuit, that person next to you, whether you know them or not will push you. You don’t want to slack off when the person next to you is killing it. It’s human nature to want to compete and rise to the occasion, even if it’s in your head.
  2. Similar Lifestyles. One thing is for sure, you and your classmates have something in common, you show up to class. Surrounding yourself with like minded people makes you stronger.
  3. Routine. After a few classes you’ll know generally what to expect and who to expect, easing your nerves or hesitation of getting your workout in, and allowing you to focus more on the workout and less about everything else
  4. You’re In It Together. Everyone will be doing the same workout, maybe a few modifications here and there, but everyone is equal and working through the same pain, this builds a level of comradery and trust.
  5.  New Friendships. Class after class, and week after week you might find that you’re chatting with the same group of people and make a new friend that you probably wouldn’t have met otherwise. Maybe you hang out, outside of class, maybe not but at least you have someone to work with and continue to motivate you.

If you’ve ever gone to a group class you know what I am talking about. Surrounding yourself with positive vibes and motivated people, help make you stronger mentally and physically.  I didn’t truly realize how much I missed it, until I was back into it.

Why do you love group classes?

Fitness Friday no. 11

| The Bee Life

Okay, so I must admit, since the last Fitness Friday – when I was sharing my ongoing struggle of balancing, life, work and workout life, and my new goal of trying to focus a week at a time, I have come back with a vengeance!

Focusing one week at a time has been SO helpful.  The weekend before March 28th, I told myself that Monday, March 28th I was going to start my super expensive, boot camp classes that I got for Christmas.  Here is the kicker – the class times are a bit tricky for me, I either have to wake up early, leave work a bit early, or go super late and I can only go Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday.  Not to mention, I had everything packed and ready for my first class… except my sneakers. I was so mad, but also determined that it wouldn’t let that stop me! In a panic and on a limb I reached out to my girlfriends at work, luckily one had a pair in her car and was my size. (Thanks, A!) Fitness Friday 11 - the bee lifeSo after overcoming my first day obstacles, and making it to the class (and nearly throwing up) I looked at my scheduled and made it happen the rest of the week, whether it was after work or before I actually got my butt out of bed! Woo-hoo! So needless to say, the classes have been kicking my butt – but it feels great to be in a routine again and really working at it… I just need to start adding in a little more cardio to supplement.

Although my classes are strength, circuit training, they do include some cardio, however not as much as a full 40-minutes on the elliptical or a long run.  Adding in some extra days of sweat and burned calories is what I need to start doing in order to crank everything into gear. Now that I’ve got 2-solid weeks under my belt, I am going to try and start adding in a little extra in my in between days, but still focus one-week at a time.

Here are some suggestions on finding focus and balance in your workout routine:

Pick Strength Days: Don’t try and fit everything into one day, you’ll get burned out and the workouts won’t be as strong or impactful. I am considering my boot camp days my strength days, Monday,  Wednesday, Friday and Saturdays.  Planning and focusing on my strength time in my 1-hour classes allows me to help focus and dominate the workouts while not getting overly fatigued.

Pick Cardio Days: Find days to contribute to cardio, I am a firm believer in ‘rest days’ so I don’t need to workout 7-days a week, but adding in two-days of cardio for at least 30-minutes will help me pick up and get to my goals. It’ll also add to the current workouts I’m accomplishing in my strength days.

Plan Ahead, Make It Happen:  It gets as granular as setting out your work-outs clothes the night before.  Having these ready to go in the morning eliminates slacking, and putting off getting ready and out the door. I’ve also been blocking my calendar to accommodate for my workouts and planning to see when I can make the next one happen. If you don’t make it happen, be sure to have a Plan B – but also remember that your Plan B is your last chance, there is no skipping that!

Feed the Addiction: After you’ve gotten into a routine, whether it be two weeks or ten, you are going to start loving how you feel (because I sure do). So feed into it, and keep going, don’t stop even if obstacles come!! I look forward to getting to my workout and challenging myself and I want more, and I want to see more results.

Happy Friday!! Have any of you focused one-week at a time?

Fitness Friday no. 9

| The Bee Life

TGIF!

This week is all about RUNNING! Some people love running and some people hate running! I have a love-hate relationship with running. I never considered myself a runner, until later in my life. In high school basketball sprints were the only kind of running I knew, and I knew it was not for me.  Then later in high school I joined track, and was placed on the mile, a mile seemed SO long to me.  And I was one of the slower runners coming in at just over a 7-minute mile (which is fast!).  After that I would run to release stress and clear my head, because I could only focus on the pounding of the pavement.

Fast-forward to my junior year in college, and my aunts encouraged me to run a 5k with them, and then offered to buy my registration for a half marathon if I trained and did it. So I did! I got my training schedule, and trained religiously – this was a big task for me! I finished my first half just under 2-hours and kept a great pace. I became addicted to the challenge mentally and physically especially for longer races like a half.  Since my first half in 2011, I’ve ran 5 other halfs and a handful of 10-milers, 10k’s, 5k’s – and continue to try and dabble, but my training game has not been as strong as it was in my peak time.

Fitness Friday 09 - Running - the bee life

So enough about me, here are some running tips whether you’re a beginner, a veteran, or someone like me – trying to get back into the race.

Start Slow: Don’t worry about your mile pace, and if you’re the person who says “running isn’t for me” run/walk and try interval training.  Your time will improve as you spend time and start tracking more miles.

Stay Consistent: Most training programs recommend at least 4-days during the week of lower mile runs, try and start here working your way up to a comfortable 3-miles.

Be Brave. Okay, so you’ve been running and improving, but you don’t think you’ll be able to finish that 6-miles? You can, go for it! You actually might be surprised at how easy it is! If you run the same pace and same distance for too long, the benefits of the exercise will lessen over time because you body will be conditioned. Any slight ways that you can push yourself, do it!

Stretch. Make sure to stretch out before and after runs, your muscles will drastically change from before you start to after, it’s important to tend to them!

It’s Mental. No matter the distance or skill you have, it’s mental challenge just as much as the physical, as soon as you want to stop running you need to fight and get those thoughts out of your head to keep running. You’ll be happier once you finish and didn’t stop!

It’s springtime, so get some fresh kicks and get out on that pavement and clock some miles!

 

10-Miler Training

| The Bee Life

One of my goals is to get back into a consistent workout routine, back to how I used to be when if I missed a workout it was the end of the world! The high of working out is addicting and I’ve told friends who’re trying to workout more, to stay consistent enough because once you get to that point you’ll know – I also warn it’s far to easy to break that habit (much easier than it was to create) … and here we are.

One thing that had always helped me stay on track was training for half marathons, I would run at least one a year sometimes even two when I was feeling a little extra crazy. Granted that was pre-Moz, pre-house, and still early into my job (yes I will always blame work) – yes those are excuses. B and I have signed up for a 10-Miler this April, so let the training ensue!

10 Miler Training - the bee lifeWith races I like to be able to make my own schedule, this way I can switch up days when I know I’ll be able to take a long run or only squeeze in a quick cross-training session. Since I know I have some busy weekends that’ll interfere with training I’ve taken the initiative to star* the days that are a conflict or an opportunity. For example, President’s day I can squeeze in some extra miles that I normally wouldn’t on a Monday and I have a weekend I’ll be traveling so that’ll throw some things off, but only if I let it. Being able to plan ahead for these is smart, I can game plan and accommodate ahead of time because all I need is a few days of procrastination to break everything I’ve been working towards.  I also like to track during the week my distance and time, and then tally up my total distance for the EOW, it’s just another way to track progress or be honest where improvements may need to be made.

Beware of Burnout. I am always cautious about this I am planning or starting to train for any long race. B always got burnout a lot quicker than I, but a training program that is longer than it needs to be (depending on your skill) can be exhausting by week 6 out of 12. So I wanted to keep this manageable but also a decent amount of time, since I could use a little extra discipline.

As you can see training officially starts next weekend, but I am going to try and get some miles in this weekend as a preempt since it takes mental and physical prep to be all in for training!

What’re your training tricks? Are you getting ready to train for a race?

The First 30

| The Bee Life

In order to be successful with goals, it’s important to reflect and have normal check-in’s on your progress, this way we aren’t 4-months in and look back to realize we’ve completely lost sight of major goals and progress!

Goals - the bee life

Here’s a look back at my 30-day focus:

1. Limit the times we eat (dinners) out: I’d say we were very successful in this area. As far as the weekends go, we only broke twice and one was because we were with friends. As far as lunches go, I also did pretty well, I only grabbed lunch a handful of times and most of those were salads I made myself. I not only noticed a huge difference in energy and feeling better but also my wallet! We are definitely keeping this up!

With this came more consciousness of better eating and prep for all of my meals throughout the week.

2. Do Barre 5-times a week: 5x was a little ambitious. Three was my sweet spot over these last 30-days, and I’m happy about that. I got into a groove and looked forward to doing it either over lunch or after work.  Which is progress in and of itself! I’m going to keep this up, and stick to at least 3-days a week! I love the progress and how I’ve felt.

3. Walk Moz on the weekends: This is a win-win, exercise for me and Moz! This was a success, out of the 10 days of weekends, we had 7 walks. From snowy walks to 4o-degrees and sunny, just your typical Midwest winter.

4. No sweets: I think “no” should’ve been “limited” – this was pretty successful, I was tempted a few times to buy some cookies or chocolate for B and I after dinner but resisted, instead a few chocolate chips after dinner filled the void, if there really was a sweet tooth. But generally there wasn’t!

5. Limited alcohol intake: I’d say this was a success. If I had a drink during the week, I kept it to one. And if I did over the weekend I definitely didn’t over indulge. Being mindful of how much we consume is better than not having any gauge at all.

These past 30-days have been a manageable focus; and it’s been so important and helpful for me to get back into a groove.

So what have I learned? I learned that this is just the beginning and I still have a lot of work ahead of me. I’m happy with my progress, but I know I can step up the game and still have a long way to go into maintaining this healthier lifestyle. I’m going to maintain these focuses (and try to add a few more), but most importantly reflecting and centering around 30-days at a time.

Here’s to the first 30-days of change and progress and here’s to the next!