Morning!

Weekend Recap

I know I seemed a little down and anti-Christmas last week, but I’m definitely feeling a lot happier after a fun-filled but slower paced weekend. Tim and I finally got to enjoy a night out together on Friday. We went to one of my favorite restaurants, Park in Harvard Square, for Christmas drinks and dinner. On Saturday, I was able to catch up on sleep before finishing my Christmas shopping and getting an awesome workout in. Saturday night was Shannon‘s Christmas party, which I’ll share pics from another time. Finally, Sunday I started the day with an awesome workout in Emily’s class, then had NOTHING on my plate for the rest of the day. I lounged, wrapped gifts, and just enjoyed some me time. It’s about time!

Two Holiday Workouts

Last week was my last week of teaching until 2014 (crazy!). Obviously that called for creating some fun holiday and winter themed workouts to teach in my classes. I also played my holiday workout playlist in each!

First up is a 12 Days of Christmas workout, but I decided to call it “Run, Run, Reindeer” because the workout entails several different one minute jog increments. Also, at one point while running in class, the song lyrics were “run, run, reindeer.” We laughed at the timing, and I decided at that moment that’s what I would name this workout. To do this workout, start with one rep of the first exercise. Then two of the second and one of the first. Then three, then two, then one. Just like the 12 Days of Christmas song. And for fun, you can yell “FIVE BU-UUR-PEEEES!” instead of five golden rings if you want. 😉

Warning: The hardest part of this workout was the plank walks. Killer!! If you like this format, you can also check out a similar workout I posted last year. I called it my 12 Days of Fitness workout instead. Jen claims it was the hardest workout of 2012. She might be right.

The second holiday workout I came up with was my Winter Workout Land format. It pretty much uses a very standard strength superset format, with 60 seconds of cardio and 60 seconds of abs between each superset. I made it holiday-ish though by adding alliterative words to the names of each exercise. Too cheesy for 6am? Maybe. But I like to tell myself that my class loves it.

Any questions about the exercises in either of these workouts, just ask!

Weekly Workouts

–Last week’s–

Sunday
20 minutes of cardio on the treadmill, followed by the 30 minute holiday time saver workout that I shared last week

Monday
I opted for an at home workout and chose a 30 minute bodyweight circuit (50 reps of the five exercises, five rounds), courtesy of the Best Body Bootcamp holiday workout plan. If anyone’s interested, the plan is available through the New Year. I recommend it for a cost-friendly way to get some new ideas!

Tuesday
Despite the snow, Two A Day was on! Sadly, Liz couldn’t make it because of the weather, so I ended up teaching her Kickboxing class before teaching my Interval class. In my Interval class I taught the Run, Run, Reindeer workout, and the six of us there had a lot of fun with it!

Wednesday
Rest day

Thursday
Taught the Winter Workout Land workout to my morning crowd.

Friday
Rest day

Saturday
I did a workout that incorporated the treadmill, the row machine, and stability ball core work. I loved the format I taught for this, so I’ll post it soon for you guys. I loved that I had the gym to myself for this. Gotta enjoy that while I can before the January Joiners come rushing in next week!

–This week’s–

Oak Square Tuesday folks, there are NO classes after 12pm on Christmas Eve. Thursday folks, there IS class at 6am the day after Christmas, but Lauren B will be subbing for me. I took the entire week off from teaching any classes to rejuvenate and use my normal planning time to come up with some new formats for the New Year.

For this week’s workout plan, I’ve only mapped out the beginning of the week.

• Sunday: Emily’s 20/20/20 class
• Monday: Own strength workout TBD
• Tuesday: Christine’s 6am spin class
• Wednesday: Off for Christmas

I’m going to play Thursday, Friday, and Saturday by ear since I have those days off from work as well! There are lots of options with so much free time. If anyone’s looking for a gym buddy or wants to try any classes together, let me know!

–Let’s chat–
Fitness instructors, do you plan any holiday workouts for your classes? Non fitness instructors, have you taken any holiday themed classes? Do you like working out to holiday music? Did anyone get to enjoy any time to themselves over the weekend? Anything else you’d like to share today?

Have a good one, friends!