Pilates Inspiration

I’ve always liked the idea of Pilates, but was so terribly inflexible that I struggled during the classes, and I certainly can’t make myself watch a DVD.  Not that inspirational.  However, I’ve found that doing a few routines with difficult moves (like the one I show below) isn’t too bad, and brings a great challenge.  I’ve also been told by my physical therapists –  many times – that Pilates would be good for me.

Alrighty, then.

Drawing from POPilates (the blog is here), I’ll be doing one of her ab-Pilates routines.  Cassey makes wonderful printouts of all her workouts; check her out! [click picture for higher resolution]

I’ll also be doing my slightly longer elliptical routine since one of my favorite shows is on tonight (much love for USA’s White Collar).  I like to hold a moderate pace during the show bits, and up the speed and intensity during the commercials.  Frequently, I’ll also hop off during a commercial in the middle and have a good stretch – 60 minutes on one machine is a long time!

• Do you have a favorite Pilates routine or website?

30-Day Trials

First off: apologies for probably only one post a day for now, as my computer completely died last night and I’m forced to reformat. Whomp.

Secondly, I just got my 30-day trial for a gym nearby my house!  For someone who travels a lot and is rarely in one place for more than 30-days, these things are a blessing.  It’s $9 for a 30-day trial at this little gym, which is an awesome deal.  It’s a 24-hour spot, and while I don’t usually gym at odd hours, at least it’s open all of the time!  The only downside is that, for group fitness class lovers like me, they don’t provide that sort of service.  It’s pretty much a “do your own thing” kind of gym.  For 30-days, I can deal.

An update from the running yesterday: my TFL and hip tendons are certainly tight, but not painfully so.  Check.  My quads are also really sore from the sprinting portions.  Double check.  I made sure to slather some bengay (like icy hot) on my upper legs before I went to sleep last night as a preventative measure, and popped an Aleve, so I think that helped with the recovery.  Nice job, legs!  Keep it up!

Here’s the ab plan for when I gym-it-up with my 30-day trial later today:

Single-leg plank flex and extend; up to 20 reps each side with good form

Turkish get-up plank: hold final position for up to 10 seconds. Repeat 10 times with good form.

Modified push-up. Do up to 20 with good form.

Ball ab crunch. I do 50 slow crunches.

Leg drop. Keep back pressed to ground and drop legs as far as you can. When bringing back to 90 degrees, add small reverse crunch. Do 10.

I like to do this whole sequence twice; three times if my body is feeling up to it.

I think I’ll do a moderate elliptical session too to loosen up these legs!

Happy exercising – TGIF!

Home at last!

Sorry for no post yesterday – I was en route from DC back to my home in Ohio!  Now that my 10-week internship is done, I have roughly 5 weeks to get my things in order to MOVE TO ENGLAND.

So excited.

Anyhow, let’s rewind!  Friday was the closing ceremony for our internship, meaning great food and great people all in the same place!

The buffet was incredible.

I filled my plate with veggies first (huge tomatoes, cucumbers and carrots), then went for the meat (salmon, chicken, flank steak), followed by a small scoop or orzo pasta salad, a strawberry and grapes.

I did indeed have seconds, which consisted of more tomatoes, cucumbers, chicken and the black beans that marinated the chicken.  Delicious.

Can’t believe it’s over so soon!  As I was leaving, I snapped one final picture of my home for the last 10-weeks…

And how beautiful it is.  You can see words inscribed on the ground (which are the seven ‘parts’ of our mission) – a very beautiful lobby.

After having my flight delayed for two hours in Reagan Airport, and having had a long conversation with one of the top ranking officials in Global Development from the White House, I made it home to Ohio!  It was my parents’ 40th anniversary yesterday, so of course we headed to our favorite place: Joe’s Crab Shack!

I apologize for the picture quality – my camera was buried in my luggage, but I couldn’t miss this moment!  I had snow crab, scallops and mussels in white wine.  Holy cow was it delicious.

So, now that I’m home, I have a huge to-do list, which includes exercising, getting back to my “comfortable” coxswain weight, figuring out the small annoying details of moving internationally for an unknown period of time… and seeing/loving friends and family!

Please enjoy the small workout I did this morning to kick start my day:

Jumping Jacks	60 reps
Raised push-ups	15 reps
Wall-sit	45 seconds
Step-back lunges	10 reps each leg
Butt-kicks	50 reps
Plank	60 seconds
Leg drop w/ reverse crunch	2 x 10 reps

Didn’t have me breathing too hard, but I needed something to kick-start my day before my gym membership gets up-and-running for the month I’m home!

Happy Sunday!

Abs on Fire

Here’s the “hard” core workout I’m planning to atempt today, that I mentioned in my Fitness of the Week post yesterday…

The idea is to complete each exercise with perfect form for one set each.  Then, if your abs aren’t on fire, to go back through the circuit, completing as many as you can with good form.  If you can’t do as many as you did the first time, totally fine – the objective is good, strong completion, not half-assed.

I’ll let ya know how it goes!  Can’t wait to be unleashed from my office chair…

Holy Abs, Batman

I’m going to do a few upper body moves today (I’m thinking supersets of biceps/triceps) and then this killer ab circuit.

unsure why there is a funny black line on the left…

There is a good chance of me dying.. figuratively.

Plus a nice 30-minute arc trainer to loosen up my hips and get the heart rate up!