Halloween Prescription

Happy Halloween Gym Rats! I'm sitting home right now wondering why for the third year in a row, I have gotten no trick-or-treaters. I happen to live in the IDEAL trick-or-treating neighborhood where you could hit 70 homes in one loop yet year after year not a single ring to the doorbell! The first year I lived here I bought a massive bag of candy, anticipating hordes of costumed children at my doorstep all night and was beyond disappointed by the time 9 o'clock rolled around and I decided it was time to give up and turn the front door light out. Last year I thought the chance of a visitor was too slim to bother buying any candy and I was right, no one came. Tonight I gave up entirely and guess what...nothing. Again. Oh well, at least I don't have a bunch of candy to tempt me to the dark side tonight haha. Halloween does happen to be my all time favourite holiday but more for the costumes than the candy. Well, maybe for the gummy dots...and the flavoured tootsie rolls...and just about every form of chocolate...but, I digress. This year I celebrated this past Saturday and dressed  up as a ballerina. I was very proud of myself having made a pink puffy tutu all by myself haha. I can't lie, I was tempted to wear it to the gym tonight. I mean, it is technically work out gear, but I'm glad I didn't because I didn't see a single other costume there! Boring gym rats :)

Anyway, tonight I had a solid mid-week sweat sesh consisting of some light leg moves, core, and spinning. I had planned to do a maXtreme routine tonight but I wasn't a fan of the crowd over in the stretching area where I've been doing my maXtreme workouts so I decided to bag it and do my own thing. The weight area was nice and empty tonight, well, compared to yesterday anyway. I don't know what was going on yesterday; perhaps it was because Hurricane Sandy set everyone's schedule awry on Monday but it sure seemed like every member of World gym decided to come at 5pm! It was easily as bad as the New Year's resolution crowd. Ughhh cue the January gym nightmares tonight!

I didn't want to do a serious legs sesh right before spinning (been there, done that, baddd idea!) so I opted to focus on glutes and calves rather than quads and hams which needed to preserve their energy! First I did 3 sets of 20 barbell plie squats with raised heels. Sidenote: these would have looked awesome in my leotard and tights haha. Next I followed these up with 3 sets of 12 calve raises on the standing calve machine. Then I moved on to abs and did 3 sets of 10 standing leg raises. I was pleasantly surprised to feel my abs kind of sore from yesterday's workout. Usually it takes a lot to feel anything in my abs so it must have been the extra hard concentration I did on the incline crunches or maybe the extra risers that did the trick! I then moved back to legs and did 3 sets (each leg) of 10 on the standing glute press machine and finished up my routine with 2 sets of 12 leg raises lying on a bench with a stability ball held between my feet. I have a touch of obsessive compulsive disorder (self-diagnosed) and not doing a third set to match all my other moves was not in the plan but the 5pm spin class was emptying out so I had to make a mad dash to get my favourite bike!

Spin class was great tonight with an instructor I really like as well as a good heart-pumping playlist. I've been sticking to my 2-3 class max per week rule and my quads are definitely thanking me, allowing me to train legs during the week without serious muscle fatigue like last month. There's something about spinning I noticed today that just eases my mind and allows me to clear my thoughts kind of like a massage or a bubble bath does. It's really the only hour of the day when you can just let your mind wander and you are guaranteed that no one is going to bother you. If I were a physician or a therapist I would prescribe spinning to anyone undergoing stress, anxiety or any other related symptoms. It's funny I was reading the quotes on a lululemon shopping bag the other day and one of them says "Stress is related to 99% of all illness". I couldn't agree more! If only people had more initiative to be more physically active, I think we would have a muchhhh healthier society.

Okay so I think I've been rambling throughout this entire blog entry (what's new?!) so I'll wrap it up. I'm already planning a back / chest / core routine tomorrow which I started to design while in my spinners-zone haha. Happy Halloween and happy gymming everyone. Throw out that extra Halloween candy and hit the gym hard tomorrow. That's my "doctor's" orders.

Wicked Good Workout

Well, the Mainah in me is feeling wicked good tonight, having just completed a wicked good mid-week workout! Actually, all week long I've had fantastic workouts and stuck to a pretty strict clean diet which I'm sure is helping things out a lot. I even went out to dinner Saturday night and succeeded in not accompanying my meal with a glass of wine. Success! Tomorrow is however going to have to be a cheat day because we're having Portland Pie cater lunch and I just cannot resist my favourite Harbor Master pie!

I've been testing out the maXtreme workouts each day and I have to say I am really enjoying the switch-up in routine! I'm not giving up on my usual stuff; I'm either supplementing part of my weight session with a focused muscle routine or doing a total body routine on a day when I don't really want to do a heavy-weight sesh (Saturday morning for example when I did the Rejuvenate routine prior to my spin class). Everything so far has been either light weight or body weight only and high-rep / high-intensity drills with either no or minimal breaks depending on the length of the routine. On days when I'm not doing cardio, the 15-minute routines are a great way to start out my workout and still be able to get a good sweat going! 

Today was a bi's & tri's day so I started out with the "Bicep Kiss" routine after having already warmed up with 15 mins on the elliptical. I think this is my favourite routine thus far. Like all the others, there are so many variations on things I would normally do that it's like getting a ton of new moves each time I check a new routine out. For example, I really liked the lunge row kickbacks in this routine which is when you get in a lunge position with free weights and alternate doing rows and kickbacks. Yes, I realize this isn't a bicep exercise but the focused routines thus far have been about 75% focused on the muscle in their name (biceps in this case) and the remaining 25% are complimentary moves that keep you from tiring out that one muscle group. After completing this routine I then moved out into the weight room where I completed the following moves:

-Tricep weighted bench dips on the stability ball (3x8)

-Bicep curls on the bosu ball (3x8), 1 set forward curl on both feet / 1 set hammer curl on right foot / 1 set forward curl on left foot

-Medicine ball diagonal wood chops (3x12 each side). This is a new move I picked up from an all-core workout I did on Sunday that I copied out of the latest Muscle & Fitness Hers magazine and probably the only one I actually felt anything from!

-Teepees (3x8), balancing on the stability ball in between sets

I made sure to do a lot of stretching in between sets and after my workout today because tomorrow is going to be a legs day and I need to be fully recovered from yesterday's spin sesh! I think I'm going to do the one that crippled me a few weeks back but shorten it a bit so I'm not in there all night again haha. Hopefully it will just be a good burn that I can recover from before I do spin again this coming Saturday. I think spin 2x per week may be my max so that I don't completely fatigue my quads again and can still get in some good lower body weight sessions in between. Ahhh already wishing I could fast-forward to 5:00 pm tomorrow! Well, maybe not through lunch hour :) 

Happy gymming everyone! Be sure to check out the maXtreme iPhone app and follow me on Twitter @PortlandGymRat for daily workout updates, motivating quotes and some fun retweets! 

Welcome to maXtreme!

It's finally here! The iPhone application I've been talking about for months is finally complete and on the market! You probably thought I was full of it all this time, seeing as it's been months in the making and each time I'd say it was "about to be released" there would be some kink in the process, delaying it further into the future.  However, its finally done and I can finally share the amazing finished product!

Yes, I realize I just used the word "finally" four times in one paragraph but I'm sitting here perusing thesaurus.com and I just don't see any other words that would make a suitable replacement. :)

I won't give you a complete run-down of all it has to offer seeing as I've mentioned most of it in past posts (and I want you to buy it!) but I will say that the final product came together wonderfully and it truly has some great features to offer people of all fitness levels and desiring different results. It was officially released on the 16th and so far it has only 5-star reviews! Yes, the one by "PortlandGymRat" is me haha. To find it, go to your iPhone App Store and search "maXtreme". It should come up and the icon looks like this:

It's fairly large, so it takes about 8 minutes to download and you need to have a wireless connection to do so. Yesterday was my first trial with it and I chose to do the 15-minute "Butt Awe" workout. It was a great mix including squats, leg lifts, and jacks, all 1-minute in duration. What I discovered pretty quickly was that while the moves may not have been too difficult for me, doing them for 15 minutes straight with no breaks in between was killer! Additionally, many of the moves are variations of traditional ones that you wouldn't normally think of doing. For example, a jumping jack isn't necessarily a traditional jumping jack but rather perhaps a squat jack...way more difficult! Today I tried out the 15-minute "Doomsday Abs" routine. This one was killer....my knees DO NOT enjoy any form of jumping and there are quite a few variations of plank jacks and plank jumps in this one! It's pretty funny to scroll through and see myself as the example and then struggling to get through the moves in real-time lol. In general, the workouts are meant to be done as your entire workout for the day buy my anal gym rat ways won't let me do that just yet. Soooo here's a rundown of my total workout for today:

-15 minute Run/Walk warm-up (walk 2 mins/Run 10 mins/walk 3 mins)
-15 minute Doomsday Abs routine
-Weighted chess press on stability ball (3x12)
-One-arm bent over rows (3x10 each arm)
-Standing weighted side-crunches (3x12)
-Lat pull-downs (3x10), mixing wide, narrow, and backward grips

It was pretty late when I was finished because when I originally arrived at the gym after work, I went inside to change only to realize that I forgot to pack shorts! Being a Friday and quite tired I was tempted to bag the workout all together but knowing that I had told Kingsley (app creator) I would let him know how the ab routine went, I made myself go home for proper attire. It was, of course, ultimately worth it though because I feel so much better now than I would have had I come straight home, ate an early bird dinner, and vegged out in from of the TV all night! Plus, the rain seemed to keep everyone other than the avid gym rats out of the place tonight so it was nice and quiet with good views all around hehehe ;)

I think I may get up early tomorrow morning, sign-up for another month of spin (3 weeks off has been way too long!) and do one of the 30 or 45 minute total body routines prior to spin class. Should be fun! I've been so excited about maXtreme all week, wanting to show everyone I come across. I'm sure my enthusiasm is at times a bit annoying so I'll try to tone it down haha. If you see me at the gym though and want to see the app for yourself before buying, let me know and I'll happily give you a run-through! Well, I'm off to do that vegging out on the couch now before I pass out for the night (long week w/late nights!). Happy Friday everyone and keep up the workouts this weekend!

Amped-Up

Today was an extreme mix of good and bad. I was feeling in control and ready to start the work week on a positive note as I cruised down 295 to work nice and early at 7:30. I was in charge of organizing a large meeting to be held at 8:30 with folks across the company's US Footprint and I knew I had plenty of time to pick up the pre-ordered breakfast, set-up the computer equipment & handouts and eat my own breakfast prior to everyone's arrival. However, divine intervention had another idea of how the morning would unfold, beginning with the discovery that no, breakfast for 50 people had not been pre-ordered as promised, then the webinar deciding to malfunction prior to the start of the meeting, and the conference call cutting out half-way through an in-depth discussion on Capital Requirements. To say it was a test of my patience is a severe understatement. Reminder: I HAVE NO PATIENCE. When all was said and done though, I was able to pull-off a [slightly tainted] success of a meeting and the world did not end as I had imagined it might. Further, an afternoon meeting I was dreading got postponed by a week so I was able to catch my breathe the rest of the work day. Then came 5:00.

Threw up in my mouth a little when I rolled into World's tonight and one of my least favourite people on the planet (formerly a fav) was right front and centre. I guess this several month long absence was too good to last forever. Funny how people can have such an effect on you, good or bad. Things just started to go downhill from there as that prompted an annoying body tremor which caused me to absentmindedly shake my water bottle with the top unsnapped and spray myself with watermelon-flavoured Xtend, in addition to causing me to have terrible balance throughout my entire workout! On the bright side though (other than the fact that I now probably smell and taste like watermelon lol), the Xtend, a BCAA-containing drink mix which I picked up at PNC this weekend, is DE-LICIOUS! Normally I detest the flavour of supplements but this stuff is truly good. Tastes like a drinkable Jolly Rancher sans the calories! By the way, shout out to PNC for being very knowledgeable about their products. I felt like a total moron when I went in asking for a product I knew very little about but the guy didn't make me feel stupid at all and had some great suggestions on products to try.

Alas, onto today's workout. Luckily, the combination of my frustrating day and unpleasant sighting fueled an epic burn tonight. I started out with a treadmill run / walk to warm-up. I only ran for one mile tonight, not quite the 1.6 miles I was supposed to do according to my run schedule but I can say with some satisfaction that I busted my ass through that mile. I amped up the speed by about a half an mph faster than I usually go and sweat out about 5 gallons of water in the process. I was totally in the zone and wanted to continue mentally but unfortunately I think I may be battling a minor injury to my right foot which has been hurting all day. It feels like my left foot did when it started to develop my ankle injury last spring (pain on the top of my foot) so I didn't want to push it too hard. Why is it that whenever I'm on a great workout streak I injure myself?! Not cool. Not cool at all.

Of course in keeping with my October glute-improving goal, today was legs again! The weight room was quite crowded tonight but for some reason I had no trouble getting all the space and equipment I needed. I'm guessing it was the permanent squinted-eye snarl that I couldn't wipe away haha. Anyway, today's routine began with walking med ball twisting lunges (2x40). One of my favs! Then came bosu barbell front squats (3x20). Alternating legs and abs, I then did tee pees (3x12-10-8) balancing on the stability ball in between sets, followed by weighted plie squats (3x20). I finished up the routine with air crunches (3x16-14-12). Other than stretching in between sets, I didn't do any serious stretching tonight which I'm probably going to regret tomorrow. I was in there for nearly 2 hours though and just wanted to get home and get some food in me pronto! I think I'm sufficiently calmed down enough now that I'll enjoy a good night's sleep. Especially since nothing major is on the agenda for work tomorrow and usually a crazy day is not followed by an even crazier day (knock on wood). Here's to a stress & drama-free day and another serious burn in the gym tomorrow! Happy gymming, gym rats :)

P.S. I think I'm going to write in Canadian from now on. Some of you will know what that means :P

P.P.S. On my drive home it was oddly warm out so I rolled down the windows and blasted the radio in an effort to rid myself of the remaining stress my weight sesh did not fully extinguish. A new song came on the radio called "My oh my". Wow. New favourite. Seriously love when I find a song that I could have easily been the one to write.

P.P.P.S. (last one I promise) Word on the street is that Planet Fitness is going to get rid of their free weights. I mean, really, can you call yourself the "planet of fitness" if you don't have any free weights?! This is what I was told tonight by a long-time PFer who was told he can no longer jump rope on the premises. Disgusting. All that's going be left are a bunch of fatties who hit up the gym the first Monday of each month to spend 25 minutes confused by the machines so that they can reward themselves with three slices of pizza on their way out. So glad I did not renew my membership. 

Holiday Goodies

Nothing better than starting your week off right with a good solid gym sesh! Being a holiday, I knew the office would be sufferingly quiet so I took the day off to enjoy a three day weekend. I'll tell you, I am a MUCH happier person when I don't have to work 5 days in a row! I allowed myself to sleep in til 7 this morning and then after a hearty breakfast of eggs and pumpkin bread followed by a doggie walk, I headed to the gymmer. The past few days of workouts have been light on the cardio since I just about crippled myself during last Thursday's legs seshion. No, I didn't injure myself or anything but I was trying out this new leg workout I copied out of Muscle & Fitness Hers and let me tell you...hit some muscles I don't think have ever been used! Today was the first day I could walk like a normal person so I decided to start today's workout with a run. I had planned to only do 1 mile but right at the 1-mile mark, Ciara's Goodies came on my Pandora and I knew I just had to push it through to 1.5 (the next goal in my slow increase toward pre-Summer running distance). I saw Ciara in concert several years back and the girl had abs of steal so it wasn't just the lyrics that kept me motivated. What a rush when you find a song that helps you push through to the next level! 

After my run and a good amount of stretching I ventured out to the weight area to do back & chest. It was nice and empty in there today; I guess more people were working than I would have expected. After Thursday's legs session I could only do upper body stuff so Saturday was bi's & tri's, yesterday was shoulders and so back & chest was the logical option for today. I'm thinking I'll hit up another legs session tomorrow but switch it up a bit from last time. Here's the rundown of today's routine which took about an hour:

3x10 bent-over rows (each arm)

3x10 chest press on a stability ball

3x10 sitting cable rows

3x10 incline shoulder/chest press (this one sort of hits both areas at the same time)

Abs:

3x12 side crunches (each leg) on the back extension machine

3x10 stability ball leg lifts

I ended today's session with some more stretching on my key sore areas like quads, glutes, back, & shoulders...you can never stretch too much in my opinion! I could have used some foam rolling but I didn't bother because I decided to treat myself to a 60 minute massage over at Soma Wellness in South Portland. After all, you should treat yourself on the holidays :) What a nice and relaxing way to start out the week! I could really use a 3-hour long deep tissue massage but gotta stay on budget haha. 

In case you are interested in crippling yourself (in a good way) this week, here's the routine that I did last Thursday:

Walking weighted dumbbell lunge with kickbacks (4x20)

Narrow stance barbell squat (3x15 1x20 1x25)

Weighted genie press (3x18-20)

Stiff-legged cable deadlift (4x15)

Hip bridge on dynadisc (4x20)

One legged prone hamstring machine curl (2x12 2x18)

No cardio or abs. Takes about 90 mins to complete....maybe less if you cut out the chatter :)

Well, its time to soak in a nice hot Epsom Salt bath so I'm out! Happy Canadian Thanksgiving and Columbus Day everyone!