Category Archives: Workout

Feb 11 2013

Zumba Recap!

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Heya! How was your weekend? Mine was fabulous. Very relaxing. I spent a lot of time sleeping, a bit of time working, a bunch of time watching TV, and a load of time with one of my favorite people. Spectacular.

I promised a recap of my very first Zumba class as an instructor (!!!), and here it is!

zumba

The class was Tuesday night. I was told that 26 ladies were registered, but I only had 21 in the gym. The age difference is awesome, though! I have a group of 25 year olds … some middle aged women … and a group of 65 (ish) year olds. Everyone was smiley and sweaty by the end, so age really doesn’t matter :)

I incorporate a lot a lot a lot of squats into my choreography. It’s safe to say I will be sore until my classes are over (April). And I have been sore since I started preparing (December). Good for my quads and butt! I have two coworkers taking my class, and one of them couldn’t tackle stairs for two days. I got sick amounts of happiness out of that. I’m a freak, alright. But an exercise freak ;)

I start the class off with some Tik Tok (what’s up, Ke$ha?!) and had some of the ladies giggling while I got right into it and got a little goofy. The front row was filled with younger girls, and they kept smiling. I found that encouraging, because I was a teensy bit nervous. When I knew they were having a good time, I was too!

I wore my Polar heart rate monitor (like I always do!), and found that I burned 630 calories in the class. I drove straight to my boyfriend’s house after teaching, and forgot to shut it off. Since my heart had been puuuuuuumping so much, I checked it when I parked and was up to an 800 calorie burn only ten minutes after I left the gym. Craziness! And then I wanted to eat an entire loaf of garlic bread …. that’s not a joke, either. Don’t worry. I didn’t.

All in all, I’m super pleased with how things went Tuesday night. I can’t wait to teach again tomorrow night! My quads and booty aren’t looking forward to it as much though ;)

Have you ever taken a Zumba class?

Have a wonderful Monday!

Feb 5 2013

Feeling Good

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Hey guys. It’s a big day for me.

Tonight is my first Zumba class as an instructor! I’m excited. And nervous. I’m mostly excited, but it will become mostly nervous about five minutes before class starts.

I got my attendance list yesterday morning, and am expecting 26 ladies. Can’t wait to daaaaaance my butt off.

I “taught” a mini class with my sister and her roommate on the weekend to get any bugs out. It’s amazing how much you can feed off of the energy of other people. I hope the atmosphere in tonight’s class gets me pumped.

Have I mentioned how sweatyyyyyy my playlist gets me? We’re talking an average of 550 calories burned each time I dance it through (love my heart rate monitor). No wonder my jeans are a little less tight these days ;) I’ve been living and breathing Zumba (that’s why I’ve been posting less … I feel like I’m either sweating or catching up on much needed sleep)!

Wish me luck!

Jan 15 2013

Spitting Thoughts and Fears

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Hey guys! I meant to post sooner than this. Really, I did. I want to follow a more consistent schedule on YHG. I write everything the night before … and meant to do this Sunday night, to publish yesterday. But then Golden Globes/Amy Poehler and Tina Fey/quality time with my man friend/sleeping got in the way. It was a perfect Sunday. So I really don’t feel that bad for being MIA.

But I’m here today!

I’ve been preparing for my teaching my first Zumba class. How am I feeling, you ask (I’m pretending you asked)? One word: terrified. Well, two words. I’ll add sore to the equation.

Here’s the part of the program where I spit out all my thoughts and fears:

- I can’t remember the last time my muscles didn’t hurt. I like DOMs. I really, really do. But jeez. Before I started working on this, I always had a tight IT band. Now, I’d like it surgically removed (probably not my wisest decision). I both love and hate my foam roller. Pain.

- I miss strength training. Since I’ve been going so hard with Zumba (cardio CENTRAL, ladies and gents), I haven’t been lifting at the gym at all. In fact, I’ve hardly been to the gym, since I spend so much time prancing around my living room to Latin music. I sincerely wish I could strike up a better balance … but I feel the need to dedicate all of the time I use for fitness to choreographing. And I can’t ask my body to do anymore than what I already do in one day. Frustrating.

- Further to that, I agreed to start taking a weekly spin class with a coworker. He recently had a heart attack and is so anti healthy anything. I want him to live a long life, and think exercise is a great first step to achieving that (hopefully the junk food and cigarettes will go away soon, too). I encouraged him to sign up for a class he could see himself taking … and he asked me to take spin with him. I’m pretty sure he thought I was going to say no, and that way he’d never actually have to take the class. SUCKS TO BE HIM, right? ;)  So anyway. I’m adding even more cardio to the mix. Wahhhh I want weights back.

- I’m scared of failure. Simply put, I’m afraid I’ll suck at instructing.

- I’m scared I’ll get in front of the class and forget the entire hour’s worth of steps.

- I’m scared I don’t have enough time left to prep and my brain/body/soul is going to melt into a giant heap and I won’t be prepared.

Yes, that’s the current state of the inside of my brain. Thanks for letting me spit that garbage all over you :)

Jan 2 2013

Guilty

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Not only did I step away from Yellow Haired Girl over the last couple of weeks, I took a break from the gym too.

I used every excuse in the book to avoid tying up my running shoes.

Did I say I didn’t have enough time? Guilty.

Did I choose Christmas shopping over working out? Guilty.

Did I decide to nap instead of doing any sort of physical activity? Guilty.

You name the excuse … I used it. Whatever. I’m using the term guilty, but let’s be clear here. I don’t feel guilty. I’m still a healthy little clam, and I think it’s okay to take a break sometimes.

I will say, however, now that I’ve jumped back on the cardio/strength training train … I’m sore. All. The. Time. I can’t wash my hair because my arms hate me. Taking the stairs? Cruel and unusual punishment.

sore legs

It feels good to have some DOMS action in my life. And to get the blood pumpin’ and the sweat pourin’ on a regular basis once again.

Here’s to a healthy start to 2013!

Sep 20 2012

Feel Better About Life

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I have a very simple recipe for you.

It’s something I like to introduce to my palette after I’ve had a terrible day.

There’s only one ingredient.

It’s exercise.

This happened on Tuesday. I was immensely frustrated with work, so I threw on my shoes and headed to the gym. I ran a bit, biked a bit, and did some weights. I was like a whole different person.

Sometimes, I’ll get a little fancier and add another ingredient or two to the recipe. Also from this week:

(I’m an extreme saver of funny or cute pieces of text conversations. This was with my BFF.)

See? An easy fix. I may not be the most fabulous cook … but this I can do ;)

Sep 4 2012

I’ve Fallen In Love

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Hey everyone! I hope your long weekend was fabulous. Mine. Rocked. Hard. I had a wonderful balance of relaxing, hanging out with friends, spending time with family, and kicking it by myself. I even got to spend a couple of hours dancing on Saturday night (and you know that’s one of my favorite things to do ;) ). A successful weekend, indeed!

I hope everyone heading back to school today is prepared! I was reminiscing last night over how much I loved the first day of school. Fancy clothes, a new class schedule, reuniting with friends … getting to use that first sheet of paper in my brand new binder :) I was a bona fide nerd.

Good luck to the students kicking off this school year and to the parents who will do thousands of hours of car pools, lunch making, and homework hassling over the next ten months!

*****

I’m in love.

A breathless, unconditional, boundless kind of love.

How did I live without this before?

Meet Patsy. She’s my new Polar FT4F.

I’ve never worked out with a heart rate monitor before. I’m so glad I decided to buy one (I’m not going to lie, it wasn’t cheap) for myself. I find I’m pushing myself harder in my workouts because I want my heart rate higher and at that level for a longer period of time.

Patsy is my homegirl (and yes, I named her).

Have you ever worked out with a heart rate monitor? Would you ever want to try it?

May 17 2012

My First Spin Class

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I took my first spin class on Tuesday.

And I loved it. Loved it.

L – legs that hate me/the instructor/music/the world/life in general.

O – obscene amounts of sweat.

V – very satisfied customer.

E – eyes burning from aforementioned sweat

I love spin!

It was a 7:45pm class, which I wouldn’t ordinarily agree to, but I wanted to be awake for my first class (unlike how I am for my regular 6am workouts). My friend agreed to go with me so I had a companion alongside me for my very first class.

Our instructor was perfect. Just enough encouragement. There wasn’t any violent yelling. Honestly, I had expected the spin instructor from Fever Pitch.

Source

“Die you Nazi spin bitch!” …anyone else remember that line? Or the movie, for that matter (I obviously have a thing for Drew Barrymore movies lately)?

It was a 45 minute class. Just long enough. If it had been any longer I may have slid off my seat, crumpled into a ball and melted into a puddle on the floor.

My friend and I actually ran into a couple that we know who were spinning together (cute, right?) and they suggested I grab a towel from the front of the classroom before we started . I laughed. Laughed. I don’t need towels to wipe my face, I told them. Sure … I sweat, but it’s never towel worthy.

I take it all back. I’ve never had sweat burn my eyeballs before. Lesson learned.

Needless to say, I’ll go back. A lot. It’s an excellent way to shake up my workout routine.

I’m so glad I went! :)

May 8 2012

How It Happened

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Yesterday, I told you that I became a licensed Zumba instructor on Saturday. Here’s how it happened:

Source

The training was in a city two hours away, so I drove out on Friday night and stayed with a friend. Saturday morning, I got to the building where the course was being hosted around 8:15. I’m guessing around 40 or 50 women were there (and 2 men!), in addition to the two instructors/Zumba geniuses. We started the day off with a Master Class, where we danced our butts off for an hour. It was tough work, but I was able to see how the pros conduct their classes and pick up a few tips. This also gave me the chance to start the day of as a participant and be able to distinguish the feeling of taking a class from the feeling of instructing a class. I sweated my face off … I’m talking dripping … and then feared for my life because it was only 10AM and the course was scheduled to run until 6PM.

I was scared someone was going to have to peel me off the floor by the end of the day.

Source 

After the Master Class, we had a brief lecture. We learned about the history of Zumba and how creator Beto Perez started the whole thing. It was great to learn a little bit of the history, and why instructors are so passionate about the entire Latin-inspired fitness class. Also, I was freezing for the entire talk. I forgot a sweatshirt … the room was surprisingly chilly … and I was covered in sweat. Not a good combo. Miss Goosebump.

For the rest of the day, we focused on learning the basic steps to the meringue, salsa, cumbia, and reggaeton. My brain (and every other muscle in my body) was exploding. THANK GOD for the course materials/DVDs they sent home with us. So much information. So many songs. So many steps, rhythmic variations, arm movements, and fitness additions. My head hurt. And every other muscle, too. Have I mentioned that ? ;) The soreness lasted for awhile too … I’m even still a little bit sore today. Since most of Zumba is done on the balls of your feet, calves get an incredible workout. 9 hours on your toes = very sore legs. But such a goooooood sore.

*****

Overall, I loved the entire day. The instructors provided us with incredible amounts of information and a lot of tools to plan our first class. I think it’s going to take me a little bit of time to prepare myself for teaching … but I’m excited for that challenge! I’d like to give myself a deadline of June 1st to get everything in order. I’m going to need to learn to balance life/work/learning music, so that in the future I can balance life/work/teaching Zumba. I need to memorize music, memorize choreography, and focus on putting as much energy as I can out into the room when I teach. But I’m excited to do that! The instructors pretty much told us we will be awful for our first few classes. If I can just remember that, and take it in stride, I think I should be okay. I can’t wait to start teaching! I’m so glad I took the leap to become an instructor :)

May 7 2012

I’m a Zumba Instructor!

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Wahoo! I did my training this weekend to become a licensed Zumba instructor. I ACCOMPLISHED IT!

My certificate has my real name, so I did a little fixin’ with paint.

I promise I will tell you all about it tomorrow. It was nine hours of dancing and exercising … and I am super sore from it. But there’s so much satisfaction mixed into that pain. I love it. I can’t wait to get my choreography all figured out and find a teaching job!

Have a wonderful Monday – if you need me, I’ll be foam rolling ;)

Tell me about your weekend! What did you do? I know some of you had races … how did they go?

Apr 16 2012

A Total Write-Off

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I decided to go out to a club with some of my friends on Saturday night. It was a lot of fun … I always enjoying having a couple of drinks and dancin’ the night away.

I take my nightclub dancing very seriously. I’m not one of those people who needs a few drinks in them to get out there and have fun. I probably look ridiculous but that doesn’t matter. I’m there to have a good time :) We were at a country bar … with a lot of country music, people in cowboy hats and boots … and ample amounts of two stepping.

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I left my cowboy boots at home though.

Have you ever two stepped before? It’s one of my favorite dances – but that’s because I’m a country girl at heart and have serious amounts of love for anything sang by Keith Urban/Tim McGraw/Garth Brooks/Blake Shelton/anyone in a cowboy hat.

I danced with several guys (who were all only mediocre – like I said, I take my dancing seriously), and then another fellow came up to me. He asked if I wanted to dance, and I said yes. It’s very rare I’ll say no to someone when they ask me.

I SHOULD HAVE SAID NO.

The poor guy didn’t have any idea what he was doing, plus he was leading with the wrong hand. I was trying to adjust to it … he was moving really fast … I was definitely struggling, but was trying to be a good sport about it.

Then, he decided to dip me … and dropped me. On my back. On the dance floor.

I would guess this was around 1 AM by this time – and you know what dance floors are like by that time of the night. Slimy, sticky, sometimes there is broken glass. And there I was laying in it (with a bruised elbow sustained from the fall, I might add).

Good times ;) Oh well, I survived.

Do you like to dance? My friends can’t stand me sometimes because I’ll drag them right out into the middle of the dance floor against their will. Whoopsie!

*****

Saturday ended up being a spectacularly late night (I think I went to bed around 4? Yikes!). So yesterday I was beyond useless. A complete write-off. I had originally intended on heading to the gym. That got bumped on my schedule for this:

Slipper boots + yoga capri pants (anyone else LOVE hanging out in exercise clothes?!).

I did a yoga workout Saturday afternoon for arms and shoulders, and ended up being quite stiff and sore yesterday. Plus, I consider dancing in high heels for 3 hours a pretty great lower body workout ;) Or at least that’s what I told myself.

I’m back on the usual exercise train today! This morning’s workout will be a hilly 25 minute bike ride (I don’t usually worry about how many miles) and then some arm and shoulder work. I signed up for the Tone It Up! Bikini Series, and that kicked off yesterday. I’ve decided I’m not going to follow the plan word for word (even though I love those girls and they’re geniuses), but use it more as a loose guideline for the next little while. I figured it can’t hurt to try to incorporate different routines into my regular workouts … I’m just not going to force myself to follow it everyday.

What is your workout today?