Hello & happy Monday gym rats! This week is sure to go by too fast as weeks with holidays and PTO days almost always do but I'm thankful for some quiet time in the office and no major plans otherwise. Today marks 8 straight days of work in a row for me as I not only worked my usual Saturday shift at my 2nd job but also picked up another shift yesterday afternoon to make up for the day I missed while out of town two weeks ago. I don't mind it though, the time at that job goes by really fast and it's a much less stressful environment!
My weekend began Friday night when I did that leg routine I told you all about in my last entry. BRUTAL! Fridays are definitely not good leg days as I'm usually pretty exhausted from the past 4 days of training and work but I pushed through knowing that a half-ass effort just wasn't going to cut it. It was a great workout and I left feeling very accomplished and ready to take on the weekend. I stopped into Whole Foods on my way home and picked up my absolute favourtie burrito for dinner. I consider it a "clean cheat" because while it's high-carb, it's still all clean foods. I always order the same things; a spinach burrito with shredded beef, steamed sweet potatoes & apples, black beans, baby spinach, sautéed onions & green peppers, roasted red peppers, scallions, and steamed zuccini. It's easily a pound of quality muscle-replenishing nutrients! I also picked up what I thought to be my favourite sesame tahini cookie for dessert but it ended up being one of their weird macrobiotic cookies, whatever that means! It was OK I guess but not really worth the treat calories! I had a little of my favourite Pinot Grigio still in the fridge from earlier in the week so I poured myself a glass to complete this delicious dinner!
Saturday morning I awoke bright and early and headed to work. Man was it BUSY! That makes for a fast shift though so I can't complain. The ice storm we were supposed to get hadn't yet arrived so once my shift was over I decided to get all of my weekend errands done just in case I was stuck inside on Sunday. I was also feeling a little pale and depressed again so I decided a tan was necessary. Off to World's I went to get some color but how could I go to the gym and not workout?! I know Saturday is my off day but I also had plans to go out that night and knowing I'd be taking in some excessive alcohol calories I decided a quick cardio hit couldn't hurt. With increasingly sore legs from Friday night I decided to hit the row machine for a half an hour. Well, rowing has to be about the most boring type of cardio on the planet and not only is there no TV to help pass the time while on these machines but they are literally placed in front of a wall so you don't even have any studs to help motivate you! I lasted 15 minutes and then switched to the arc trainer since it's the lowest impact piece of lower body cardio equipment I could think of. All-in-all, not exactly a great workout but better than nothing!
Saturday night I met some friends for dinner at my favourite Thai restaurant, Boda, and then went to the recently re-opened Top of the East for some holiday cocktails. I don't go out often so when I do I try to go to places that are worth my dime! Dinner was fantastic as always. Instead of my usual chicken pad thai, I ordered the pork hawks braised with star anise. WTF is that you ask?! Well it was a fancy name for a delicious yet simple plate of steamed jasmine rice with a massive mound of what was essentially pulled pork, a little asian broccoli, pickles, and a chili-lime sauce. It was quite delicious and again, while admitedly a massive quantity of food for one meal it was still a pretty clean dish. I also ordered a really good glass of Sauvignon Blanc, yum! At the Top of the East I ordered a brown sugar and pear martini which was decent but for a $14 drink in Portland, Maine, I expected more. I should have stopped there but my all-time favourite drink is an espresso martini and after having my friend order it and rave about it I had to have too. Oops! Oh well, it was heavenly and totally worth it. All-in-all it was a fun night and a good opportunity to dress up and be social.
Unfortunately, Ms. In-Bed-By-9:00 PM did not get to sleep until around 1:30 AM. A "normal" person would thus use the opportunitely to sleep-in but I didn't want to miss my favourite yoga class Sunday morning so I was jolted awake at 6:30 by my annoyingly loud alarm and forced myself out of bed with a raging headache to get ready for yoga. I called the gym, somewhat hopeful that it was cancelled due to weather, but it wasn't so I rallied and thankfully it was so worth it! I got there a little early so I warmed-up with 15 mins on the elliptical, alternating 3-min segments of front and back strides, increasing the resistance with each switchover. I was so dehydrated from the night before so I was downing the BCAAs and sweating a lot more than usual! I feel like a good sweat is the best way to get rid of a hangover though. Back in my college days I went out A LOT (and also had a crazy high tolerance living in Canada where drinking is a national pastime) and I swear the only reason I never got fat was because I would get up every morning and sweat it all out in a cardio kickboxing class! Anyway, yoga class was excellent as usual. Just the absolute perfect pace and mix of stretches. I was worried I wouldn't be able to keep up but even my headstand was on-point! My hipflexors are extremely sore today due to some long-held deep lunges but it's a good kind of pain. My body needed the stretch so badly! After yoga I did another 15 min elliptical routine (the same as before) and then went home for a while where I literally did nothing until it was time to go back to work again.
Finally at 6:30 I got home and was done for the day. A full weekend of non-stop busyness with great food, good drinks, good company, a little too much moulah spent but so worth it once-in-a-while! For dinner I made myself my go-to meal of baked salmon with sweet potato and veggies sautéed in olive oil & garlic.
No wine this time LOL. I think I'll try to stay away from the alcohol until New Year's Eve. Yesterday morning I did my weekly weigh-in which I expected to be higher due to having stopped diet tracking and also having easily consumed upwards of a day's worth of calories the night before but it was even higher than I expected - up 5 pounds in two weeks! KSNVYWNTYISKSGHIL! Deep Breath...I still don't feel "fat" perse so I'm trying to convince myself that it's most likely an equal and healthy combination of both fat and muscle. While my daily calories are definitely up a bit, it's all clean foods so I'm not too concerned. It's really just incentive to work harder in the gym; really push through that extra burning rep each time! Tonight's lift is back & triceps which is always a good one. Here's the breakdown:
-Rope cable pushdowns
-1-arm bentover DB rows
-Wide grip pulldowns
-Seated cable rows
-Straightbar pushdowns standing on MB
-Sitting EZ bar skullcrushers
-Close grip BB bench press
-Standing cable rows on Bosu
I can't wait to get after it! I'm sure it will be a mad house in there with college students home for the holidays and others trying to get in their pre-holiday last chance workouts but I haven't had much issue getting my needed equipment lately. I detest the new cables World's got so I'm perfectly happy to modify my workout by using all free weights if need be. Anyway, that's all for today's post. I seem to have gotten on a role and written way more than I planned so I applaud you if you made it to the end LOL. Do you plan to keep up with your usual routine this week or take a little time off for Christmas? If you are travelling do you modify your workout if you can't get to a gym? I'd love to hear your holiday workout plans so please comment below! Have a great day everyone and keep warm! xo
My weekend began Friday night when I did that leg routine I told you all about in my last entry. BRUTAL! Fridays are definitely not good leg days as I'm usually pretty exhausted from the past 4 days of training and work but I pushed through knowing that a half-ass effort just wasn't going to cut it. It was a great workout and I left feeling very accomplished and ready to take on the weekend. I stopped into Whole Foods on my way home and picked up my absolute favourtie burrito for dinner. I consider it a "clean cheat" because while it's high-carb, it's still all clean foods. I always order the same things; a spinach burrito with shredded beef, steamed sweet potatoes & apples, black beans, baby spinach, sautéed onions & green peppers, roasted red peppers, scallions, and steamed zuccini. It's easily a pound of quality muscle-replenishing nutrients! I also picked up what I thought to be my favourite sesame tahini cookie for dessert but it ended up being one of their weird macrobiotic cookies, whatever that means! It was OK I guess but not really worth the treat calories! I had a little of my favourite Pinot Grigio still in the fridge from earlier in the week so I poured myself a glass to complete this delicious dinner!
Saturday night I met some friends for dinner at my favourite Thai restaurant, Boda, and then went to the recently re-opened Top of the East for some holiday cocktails. I don't go out often so when I do I try to go to places that are worth my dime! Dinner was fantastic as always. Instead of my usual chicken pad thai, I ordered the pork hawks braised with star anise. WTF is that you ask?! Well it was a fancy name for a delicious yet simple plate of steamed jasmine rice with a massive mound of what was essentially pulled pork, a little asian broccoli, pickles, and a chili-lime sauce. It was quite delicious and again, while admitedly a massive quantity of food for one meal it was still a pretty clean dish. I also ordered a really good glass of Sauvignon Blanc, yum! At the Top of the East I ordered a brown sugar and pear martini which was decent but for a $14 drink in Portland, Maine, I expected more. I should have stopped there but my all-time favourite drink is an espresso martini and after having my friend order it and rave about it I had to have too. Oops! Oh well, it was heavenly and totally worth it. All-in-all it was a fun night and a good opportunity to dress up and be social.
Unfortunately, Ms. In-Bed-By-9:00 PM did not get to sleep until around 1:30 AM. A "normal" person would thus use the opportunitely to sleep-in but I didn't want to miss my favourite yoga class Sunday morning so I was jolted awake at 6:30 by my annoyingly loud alarm and forced myself out of bed with a raging headache to get ready for yoga. I called the gym, somewhat hopeful that it was cancelled due to weather, but it wasn't so I rallied and thankfully it was so worth it! I got there a little early so I warmed-up with 15 mins on the elliptical, alternating 3-min segments of front and back strides, increasing the resistance with each switchover. I was so dehydrated from the night before so I was downing the BCAAs and sweating a lot more than usual! I feel like a good sweat is the best way to get rid of a hangover though. Back in my college days I went out A LOT (and also had a crazy high tolerance living in Canada where drinking is a national pastime) and I swear the only reason I never got fat was because I would get up every morning and sweat it all out in a cardio kickboxing class! Anyway, yoga class was excellent as usual. Just the absolute perfect pace and mix of stretches. I was worried I wouldn't be able to keep up but even my headstand was on-point! My hipflexors are extremely sore today due to some long-held deep lunges but it's a good kind of pain. My body needed the stretch so badly! After yoga I did another 15 min elliptical routine (the same as before) and then went home for a while where I literally did nothing until it was time to go back to work again.
Finally at 6:30 I got home and was done for the day. A full weekend of non-stop busyness with great food, good drinks, good company, a little too much moulah spent but so worth it once-in-a-while! For dinner I made myself my go-to meal of baked salmon with sweet potato and veggies sautéed in olive oil & garlic.
-Rope cable pushdowns
-1-arm bentover DB rows
-Wide grip pulldowns
-Seated cable rows
-Straightbar pushdowns standing on MB
-Sitting EZ bar skullcrushers
-Close grip BB bench press
-Standing cable rows on Bosu
I can't wait to get after it! I'm sure it will be a mad house in there with college students home for the holidays and others trying to get in their pre-holiday last chance workouts but I haven't had much issue getting my needed equipment lately. I detest the new cables World's got so I'm perfectly happy to modify my workout by using all free weights if need be. Anyway, that's all for today's post. I seem to have gotten on a role and written way more than I planned so I applaud you if you made it to the end LOL. Do you plan to keep up with your usual routine this week or take a little time off for Christmas? If you are travelling do you modify your workout if you can't get to a gym? I'd love to hear your holiday workout plans so please comment below! Have a great day everyone and keep warm! xo
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