Mini challenge check-in & fitness ramblings....

Hey everyone!

The sun is shining here today after what seemed like 5 days straight of rainy, tempermental weather! When the weather can't make up it's mind, I can never make up my mind about doing an indoor or outdoor workout. Yesterday, I did both... a mix of strength in the gym, outdoor sprints and finished with hot yoga.

My self-imposed hot yoga challenge has been interesting to say the least. Remember when I blogged about having convo's with myself when I run? I am definitely doing something similar in these hot yoga classes.

One of the things that every yoga class seems to emphasize, is setting an 'intention.' My first two classes last Friday and Sunday, I set the intention of "not having any ego," remembering a year ago getting mad at myself that "all of these other people can hold poses and I couldn't! I'm strong, I'm an athlete, why aren't I good at this too?"

My intention was to do what I could do and to NOT BE HARD ON MYSELF! It was my first class in a long time, and when someone comes to one of my boot camp classes without having a fitness background, I always tell them to take it at their own pace. Time for me to take my own advice!

Both classes flew by and because I had already done a heavy lift prior to doing the hot yoga, I felt okay that I spent probably a good 10-15 minutes of this class lying in 'corpse pose' (not even going to try to attempt to spell the yoga language they use).

Monday, I went for the full 75 minute class.
I hated it.
I forgot to set an intention.
Everytime the instructor would say "and now, come back to your intention" I screamed in my head "SHUT UP! I don't have one!"
This class was much harder, and they moved into very advanced poses, so I sat and watched in amazement/wtf at the level of athleticism of some of these athletes.

Yoga is an interesting workout - you really can't judge the level someone is at by looking at their body type the way you might be able to judge if someone can lift a lot of weight or not. People of all shapes, sizes, ages and genders can do some pretty amazing things.

Those were my first three classes on my challenge. I'll post the remainder of my week shortly!

Fitness Ramblings...

Did you know that I love talking about fitness? Here is an excerpt from a convo I had with my friend Carly, and I just loved how she described her health & fitness journey. Carly is doing her own 90 day challenge, and is aspiring to transition from a career that isn't satisfying her passion for fitness, into becoming a fitness instructor. So proud of you!



"It feels so right, just where I am in life and where I want to be. I am totally taking this challenge and I'm going to work the F out of it! I'm soo proud of myself already and I'm having sooo much fun doing what I love and staying focused! Couldn't be happier right now" - Carly D.

Mini Challenge #2

Happy Monday everyone!

Another week to work towards your goals and get better.

I need to always switch things up because I get bored easily, and like to keep busy! This week, my plan is to revert back to my vegetarian diet, and to also incorporate hot yoga into my fitness routine for 7 days straight.

Comparing my regular diet to the week long vegetarian diet I tried out, I find that I felt better when I was not consuming meat and poultry. My energy levels were higher, and I never felt bloated. These past two weeks, energy levels have been lagging and there has been that heavy feeling in my stomach.

Yoga is something that I tend to avoid. I love high intensity cardio, lifting weights and moving quickly through a hard workout. The pace of yoga just isn't my cup of tea. That being said, I know the benefits of stretching, and know that although I incorporate mobility and activation exercises into my workouts, that having someone guide me through stretching will most likely benefit my flexibility, and decrease my muscle soreness. I've done two classes already, and went into each with the intention of not getting frustrated with myself, or with the pace of the class, and just enjoy it for what it is - a hot, sweaty girl on a slippery mat trying out a new type of fitness. I'll keep you posted!


You sure won't find me doing that last pose!

I challenge YOU to try to do something every single day this week!

Nutrition and Fitness tip:

Try one or some of the following:
10 pushups before everyday before you sleep
Running for 10-20 minutes everyday
Eating no sugar for a week
Cutting out any type of "fast food" for a week.
Swapping a protein shake for breakfast for 7 days.

Training song of the week: Shoutout to Carly D. for this one