Hi friends.  Hope everyone had a lovely Monday night.  I am loving the extra hour of sleep we got this weekend, but the extra darkness before leaving the office?  Not so much.  I am looking forward to NOT being in the pitch black middle of the night when waking up for 6am classes though!

Last night I was craving a cardio machine sesh (doesn’t happen often!) so I banged out this 40 minute elliptical workout after work.  Inspired by the “Intervals B” workout on Best Body Bootcamp this week, it left me sweaty and my legs tired.

A couple of notes about this workout:

• I left the incline on ten for the entire workout.
• The “flow” should feel like this:  5 minute warmup > challenging pace for full 5 minutes > 3 minute recovery > challenging pace for full 7 minutes > 3 minute recovery > challenging pace for full 10 minutes > 3 minute recovery > 4 minute cooldown.
• Each time you see a “10” in the resistance column above, that corresponds with an increase challenge.  Everyone’s “challenging” pace will be different (and so is every machine), so pick a resistance that challenges you!
• For my “challenges” I split them so that half were going forward on the elliptical and half were going backward, such as 2.5 minutes front and 2.5 minutes back for the full 5 minute challenge.  Then 3.5 minutes front and 3.5 back for the next 7 minute challenge and so forth.  This helped pass the time too.
• After finishing up this 40 minutes, I did three rounds of Best Body Bootcamp’s core work for the week and stretched.

While I’m on the subject of workouts, let me catch up with my weekly workout plan.

Weekly Workouts

Last Week’s Workouts
I feel like I slacked bigtime (for me) in regards to last week’s workouts:

• Sunday:  Off
• Monday:  The Hurricane Sandy Workout in my living room
• Tuesday:  Two A Day Tuesday, Halloween style! Took Liz’s Kickboxing Class, then taught BBB Workout A + B together (mixed and matched so it wouldn’t seem too repetitive to my regulars who got both last week)

• Wednesday:  My quads were SORE on Wednesday morning, so I slacked and didn’t get out of bed for a cardio workout.  I took Halloween off to make jack o peppers instead!
• Thursday:  Taught Workout C in my Circuit class.  I really loved working unilaterally… definitely feel the core stabilizing more to keep you going!
• Friday:  Off… had grand plans to workout after work and before celebrating Geoff and Trina, but traffic ruined any hopes of those plans
• Saturday:  Off… mental health weekend in Portsmouth

This Week’s Workouts
Like I always feel when I give my body a break from exercising, I am ready to rock this week!  More energized, more enthused, craving it.  As important is was to splurge a bit this weekend and get away from the norm, it’s amazing how my body can really FEEL the difference from when I give healthy living my all.  It’s all about 80/20, friends!  That being said, here’s what’s on this week’s agenda:

• Sunday:  Off
• Monday:  The 40 minute elliptical workout above, plus Core circuits
• Tuesday:  Two A Day!  Liz’s Kickboxing, then teaching a BBB ladder workout in Circuit class
• Wednesday:  Morning cardio!  I will make it this week
• Thursday:  Y folks, Christine will be subbing my 6am Circuit class this week!  She is ready to kick your bums.  I will miss you, but I’ll be doing a BBB ladder workout (I think) on my own after work.
• Friday:  TBD, depending on whether I’m attending Boston Mania
• Saturday:  Classes all day at the Boston Mania Fitness Conference!

When’s the last time you gave your body a break and then felt re-energized after the fact?  What’s everyone’s workout agenda like this week?  Anyone making any health & fitness goals for themselves? 

My goal (along with the whole sleep thing) this week is another mental health goal… to focus on ONE thing at a time instead of FIVE!  So far, so good…

Have a terrific Tuesday, all!