At Home Workouts

If you've read my blog before, you know I like to get my workouts done early in the day. Recently I've been back into working out at home instead of running outside. Even though its a lot cooler this week, I've just gotten back into the habit of doing my at home circuits. Connor is loving watching me too, especially if I give him a commentary of what I'm doing. Yesterday I was doing tuck jumps, and that had his full attention!

I was reading one of my favorite blogs yesterday, Peanut Butter Runner, and came across this bodyweight burner workout. It's a great example of something you can do in your living room without ANY equipment. Connor watched me do it from his exersaucer. 

Check out Jen's blog for other great workouts, and healthy living info as well. She's a total sweetheart and gave me great advice when I emailed her about blogging few months ago. 

Matt tried to install gates, but only made it about halfway. Swinging the half installed gate is a new favorite game of Connor's. I'm sure that's safe! Not to worry, we have an actual baby proofer coming today to finish the job. Those gates are a lot harder than you'd think!

Try Jen's workout, it won't disappoint!

It's official, I'm SO done with this heat. Despite how disgusting it's been out, and the fact that I'd rather stay in air conditioning all day, I would literally lose my mind if we stayed in the house all day. Connor and I usually go out in between his naps. Errands, grocery store, play dates, etc.

On Wednesday we had our weekly music class, held at nest in Center City. It was our second class and SO much fun. Before we started, I wasn't sure if Connor would really be interested for an entire hour, but he certainly is! The second the instructor started strumming her guitar, all of the babies zoned in. I love it!

We all had our babies in our laps, but once the song started, Connor crawled right up for a front row seat. He's looking at his Aunt Beth and Ray in the shot below.

The babies are given all sorts of toys/instruments like tambourines and maracas. All of the babies take instruments and immediately turn them into teething toys, of course. 

My friend Angela that I train came with her son Desmond. Angela started training with me THREE WEEKS after having Des. THREE WEEKS! That is dedication, seriously. Her arms are looking pretty buff, too :)

Another girlfriend, Trish, came with her almost 5 month old, Brady. Connor and Ray are clearly interested in him! It's awesome to have all of the boys together. 

After music class, Beth and I took the boys to grab a quick lunch and frozen yogurt. By the time we got back to the parking lot and got our cars, Connor was sweating (and so was I). Usually, I'll pre start the car with the air conditioning blasting to cool things off. The parking attendant had my keys, so I couldn't do that. I felt really badly buckling Connor in, because the car was just SO hot. Right when I got the car started, I got the AC going, and rolled down his window until the air cooled down. After a block, he fell right asleep. Awesome. I had to stop for gas quickly. I peeked back at Connor while the gas was pumping, and realized his whole face was beaded with sweat. I called his name but he was still asleep. I freaked out and thought he possibly had heat exhaustion or something horrible, so I went into the back seat, started yelling his name, and jostled him until he woke up. He looked at me like, "what the hell, mom?!" and started crying. After a minute I realized he was JUST FINE and that maybe I'd been a little paranoid. Me? Paranoid? Nonsense!

I'm still on a running strike due to the heat, so I did a quick workout inside today while Connor watched from his exersaucer. He seriously gets a kick out of watching me work out, I love it. 

Tabata (4 min total- 20 sec work, 10 sec rest) 

First tabata I did jump squats, second was high knees, third was alternating jump squats and mountain climbers

1 min bicycle crunches

1 min leg lower (flat on back, low back stays pressing into the mat)

12 slow lower pushups- count down from 4 as you lower down from plank, hover about the ground for a second, lower all the way to the mat, push up to knees, and back to start at high plank

10 lunge/hammer curl/shoulder press per side. Step back into a lunge position, lower down into lunge, hammer curl as you rise up, press arms up into a shoulder press. Stay on one leg for 10 reps and then switch. 

I did 3 rounds for my workout. 

Let's all pray for cooler weather ASAP!

Muggy Monday

The weather is insufferable lately. Ungodly humid and HOT. Today's high was 95. The rest of the week is only supposed to get hotter! Ugh. Not only does the weather put a cramp in our plans because it's just such an effort to get going, but it hinders my workouts because I have to stay inside. I can be tough, but running in the 90's just isn't going to happen.

Once I got Connor down for his morning nap, I started a workout so it was out of the way. I repeated this circuit 3 times- each round took me about 15 minutes. 

20 squat jumps

10 pushups 

20 squat jumps

10 pushups

1 min high plank

30 sec side plank R

30 sec side plank L

30 sec high plank

30 sec low plank

1.5 min skull crushers on mat (laying down/legs in tabletop- tricep extension)

1.5 min bicycle crunches

10 reps butt lifts/bridge position
10 reps lowering butt halfway down
10 reps bridge up on your toes (engages the calves)
10 reps bridge toes point up/heels press into mat

3 min- alternate bicep curl, front arm raise, side arm raise 

10 squat/hold down in squat for 10 sec/10 half squat- repeat 3 times

Try this! I did 3 rounds, but you could do one or two and still get a workout in. 

For dinner, I made bruschetta chicken and roasted broccoli. It was healthy and very easy! Recipe to come soon- it's super easy and uses premade bruschetta from Trader Joes, one of my favorite spots. 

Quick Rainy Day Workout

Here's something quick to do that is nice and hard! It will get your blood pumping, and have you breathing hard in no time. Take it at your own pace, and modify as needed. 

Start with 

20 squat jumps

15 pushups

repeat that twice

Move on to this AB CIRCUIT- keep your belly button pulled back the WHOLE TIME

30 sec high plank

30 sec shoulder taps- keep hips level to the ground

30 sec high plank

30 sec low plank on forearms

30 sec leg lifts from low plank

30 sec high plank

20 burpees

20 squat/press

repeat twice

AB CIRCUIT again!

By the end of this, you should have done 40 squat jumps, 30 pushups, 6 minutes total planks, 40 burpees, and 40 squat/presses.

Whew! Now, that workout is a lot on its own, but if you really want to push it, don't stop at 1 round. Repeat the entire circuit and see how many you can do. 

Happy Friday, and kick it off with a good workout. That way, you don't feel guilty about any drinks that may be consumed in the next few days :)

4th of July in California

Happy belated 4th of July! I hope you all had a wonderful long weekend. We did, and it included Connor's first plane ride, which turned out to be a big success. If nothing else, this weekend really showed me how flexible babies are. 

I was worried about how the time change might mess with sleep, and how much it would suck if we traveled cross country only for him to wake up a million times at night. I'll give you a quick recap of how his sleep went. 

Watching a little TV on the way out- gasp!

Fell asleep while Dad rubbing his forehead :)

Basically, he took 3 naps (instead of two) on the day we flew out. Instead of going to bed at 7, he went to sleep at 6. That first morning he woke at 4:45 (which if you count the time change was actually 7:45-around his normal wakeup). He then took 2 2/2:30 hr naps each day, and some nights was able to hang until as late as 8:30! His wakeups got later each day, and he slept until  6 the last morning. Again, I was nervous about how his sleep would adjust when we got home, but he went right back to his normal schedule. No biggie, Ma!

Our California trip was a big family vacation. My parents, brother, and sister in law went out to visit with her family- her parents and sister live there. My sister in law grew up in Long Beach, and is a great tour guide. She is a runner, so we did a few runs along the water that were amazing. The difference between such low humidity and lower temps was unreal. After running 5 and 6 miles in that weather, I swear it felt like a 3 mile run here. I've told Matt I'm ready to look at California real estate, if only for the low humidity ;)

Our trip was very low key, and Matt and I got to spend a little time alone. We went out to a boozy lunch that was a lot of fun. When we ordered drinks, they asked if I wanted a small or large beer, and let's just say the large was LARGE. 

 I loved paddle boarding, and considered it my ab workout for the day! 

 Connor took his first boat ride on their Duffy. It's basically a small enclosed boat that goes slowly- very safe for him.  He had an absolute blast- clearly. We called him the captain, and his onesie was very appropriate.

Duffy ride! My brother and sis in law on the right

It was great to be able to get the whole family together, and spend some quality time. We decided to make this an annual family trip. Who knows, maybe next year there will be more babies!

Loving the Cali life!

One of Connor's new tricks is pulling himself up to the sitting position from laying down. He'll did it in the crib for the first time, and I was pretty surprised when I walking in his room and he was sitting there smiling at me! The night we got home, our house was SO hot, so we let him sleep in a diaper instead of sleep sack (which accounts for the nearly naked pic from the monitor). 

We had such a great trip, but it's always nice to be home and get back into the normal routine. I did my first strength workout in about a week, and it's amazing how you can feel it when you've taken a little break. I'm not sore today, but have a feeling I will be tomorrow. 

Have a great day!