Just Exhausted

Tuesday I had plans to take a ballet body class but I was just exhausted.  After leaving work late, I headed  home and actually fell asleep!  I don't normally take naps so I knew I was wiped out.

Take It From The Ten

I went for an intense one hour workout today and took the Mad Abs and Dirty 30 classes at Pure Vida Club.  In Mad Abs, the instructor Jamie used a step, mat, and gliders for the 30 minute class.  After a quick warm up we hit it hard working abs.  My favorite move started in the plank position with hands on the step.  From there we went down on our right forearm and then left and back up to regular plank position.  Then in plank position picked up right leg, took it out to the side four times and then did the same on the left.  Then combined the moves going down on forearms, then up, the legs one at a time out to side.

Next was Dirty 30 with Tim.  He had us do a tough sequence today.  We had a step, mat, weight, and rubber band.  We started the sequence doing 10 reps and worked down to doing 1 rep.  So you do each exercise 10 times, then 9 times, then 8, on down to one rep of each.  Here's the sequence:

Push ups - military style preferred form.

Cross Over Lunges - step one foot in front of the other but at an angle as if you are in a curtsy position, lunge then stand with feet parallel.  Do number of reps on each side.

Burpees - Plank, jump feet to hands, then jump up reaching hands to ceiling, returning back to plank


TGU (Turkish Get Ups) - I did these with 5 pound weights.  Start on your back with one arm up to ceiling with weight in hand.  Use the other hand to help you sit up, then stand up, all while keeping the weight high reaching up to the ceiling, then go back to start position in the reverse of how you got up.  Split the number of reps between both arms.

Band Row - stand on band, lean forward, the push arms back.

Inch Worm - start in a plank position and walk feet up to hands then back out. This was the hardest one for me.

Jumps on and off step

Slow Mo Sunday

After a wonderful night of fun and dancing during Keith Urban's performance at the San Antonio Rodeo, waking up to a cold, windy, and a little drizzly Sunday morning gave me the perfect excuse to take a slow mo day.  Plus I had to travel back to Denver.  Guess I get to blame the weather for no workout!

A Funny Walk

Saturday was a gorgeous day in San Antonio so I headed out with a couple of friends to walk on the Salado Creek Greenway, the portion of it from Huebner to Blanco Road.  Normally when I'm in San Antonio, I workout on this greenway with my friend Christy.  We almost always get in at least one walk, run or walk/run combo while I'm there.  On Saturday we were joined about another friend Kris and Christy's daughter Courtnie.

The 4.5 miles that we did turned in not just a power walk session but an absolute laugh session.  I got an abs workout just from laughing so hard at reminiscing about the night before and telling stories.  It also helped that Courtnie was pure entertainment doing some of her old cheerleading moves.

This was truly a fun workout and funny walk!

Travel Day & A Little Dancing

Friday was a travel day as I flew to San Antonio.  I'm a huge fan of San Antonio Rodeo and at least one weekend of it.  So I didn't get a workout in, but I did get in some dancing during Luke Bryan's performance after the rodeo.

Purely What I Needed

Pure Barre was purely what I needed Thursday.  I've just had a really busy and at times stressful week with my to do list seeming to grow longer each day.  While I was trying to finish up a couple of things and pack for my weekend San Antonio trip I almost bailed on workout.  I don't normally workout after 4pm.  That's late when you have to get up at 2:45am.  But I put on my workout clothes, jumped in the car, and headed off to Pure Barre for the 4:15pm class at their Cherry Creek location.

I'm so glad I went!  I knew in the warm up and weights portion of class that I didn't just want to be there but needed to be there.  Being able to shut the rest of the world out and focus on the workout did wonders for clearing my head and my stress level.  Guess that's the beauty of a class that based in doing small isometric moves.  The instructor Ashley was great.  I like that the class was a little different from my first one Sunday at the Highlands location, but that many of the moves and format was the same.

Push Up The Weight

Yesterday was Pilates and kinesis with Erin at Pura Vida Club.  I arrived a little frazzled because I was late from finishing up a last minute project at work.  Guess it was good fuel to get me warmed up and working hard in kinesis.  Erin had me down a reverse workout in Kinesis, using the cable machines in a reverse order from what I normally do.

In Pilates, we worked a lot on core and legs.  She had me try a couple of more advanced moves on the reformer, including on that you with one foot on the foot bar and standing with the other against the shoulder/foot rest on the carriage.  Mentally it was a challenge for me to get into the position from standing on the carriage.  So I went to knees, put foot on bar, and then put other foot against shoulder/foot rest on carriage.  Getting into position that way worked for me!  I love that there's always something challenging and new for me in my Pilates sessions.

One of the exercises Erin had me do is a variation on a military style push up.  I did it with an 8-pound weight.  The push up with a rotation using weights is an advanced more.  Try it first with no or light weights.  Enjoy this great move!