april-may training plan

Weekly Schedule
Monday - legs & abs
Tuesday - chest / shoulders / triceps, 1 mile run
Thursday - back & biceps, 1 mile run
Saturday - 5k training + yoga day

Legs & Abs
- leg press
- leg extension
- seated leg curl
- straight leg dumbbell deadlifts
- calf raises
- crunches
- lying leg raises

Chest, Shoulders, Triceps
- dumbbell bench press
- flat bench flys
- dumbbell side laterals
- dumbbell press (shoulders)
- triceps pushdown
- lying barbell triceps extension
- 1 mile run

Back & Biceps
- bent over barbell row
- pulldown machine
- barbell deadlift
- dumbbell alternate bicep curl
- preacher curl
- 1 mile run

Running day
- run/walk intervals 3-5 miles
- yoga class

budgeting basics

It's Savings Saturday! This is how I manage my money.

1) Use Mint (or some other budgeting tool)

2) Create "budgets" in the tool for all your standard bills and regular payments.

• Rent / mortgage
• Utilities
• Cable / internet / netflix
• Student loans
• Car payment
• Subscriptions

3) Create goals.

• Pay off debt 
• Save for a home
• Create an emergency savings fund
• Retirement

4) Set a budget for "everything else" for whatever is left. This is your spending money - for food, going out, travel, shopping, and anything else.

Tips & Tricks

• Consider consolidating any debt. I used SoFi to refinance my student loan debt at a much lower rate; I'm paying about half the interest I was before and will save about $7k.
• Prioritize your goals. Completing one will show you that YOU CAN DO THIS. For example, use all your savings to create your emergency fund first. Then increase your payments on your debt or other goals.
• If you have multiple loans, pay off the highest interest rate loan first. If you're having trouble making payments, talk to your lender, or consider paying off smaller debts first, to decrease monthly obligation on payments sooner.
• Use a loan calculator to calculate your payoff plan.
• Increase your 401(k) contribution if you can. At the very least, make sure you're contributing up to your employer's match to maximize on retirement savings

Happy savings!

-B

Leg workout

1. Stair stepper (20 floors / about 5-6 mins)
1 warm-up followed by 3 sets each:
2. Leg extension (quads)
3. Leg press (straight back for hips)
4. Seated leg curl (hamstrings)
5. Squats with dumbbells
6. Deadlifts with barbell (straight leg)
7. Calf raise machine

workout playlist

Oldies (not really...) but goodies :-)
 
"You Make My Dreams Come True" Hall and Oates
"I Love It" Icona Pop 
"I Like It" Enrique Iglesias feat Pitbull
"Paper Planes" M.I.A,
"In the Dark" Dev feat Flo Rida
"4 My People" Missy Elliott & Eve
"Dark Horse" Katy Perry feat Juicy J
"Hypnotize" B.I.G.
"Power Trip" J Cole feat Miguel  
"Back It Up" Juvenile
"Finally Found You" Enrique Iglesias feat Sammy Adams
"We Can't Stop" Miley Cyrus
"How to Love" Lil Wayne

belgium

Just over a year ago, I went to Belgium for the first time. We stayed in Brussels the first night then headed to Bruges for a night. Bruges is a big tourist destination around Christmastime; it's all decorated with lights and there was a Christmas festival in the town's center, with an ice skating rink, lots of crafts vendors, wine and chocolate. The Church of Our Lady is one of the more famous landmarks in Bruges, and there are a lot more medieval towers and buildings in the town. It's very cute and romantic, and gorgeous around Christmas. Brussels was a lot of fun - we spent the evening wandering around the old buildings and churches, parks and streets, drinking beer and had the best moules frites.

Brussels

streets of Brussels

Intense cardio circuit #1

This workout nearly killed me. But it gets the job done FAST. It will take 10-20 minutes depending on how many sets you can do / rest time.

High-intensity cardio circuit
30 seconds of each:
- sumo jumps
- mountain climbers  / pushups (10 seconds mt. climbers followed by 1 pushup)
- tricep dips
- planks with hip extension
- high knees

Repeat 2-4 times, increasing time / decreasing rest as you can.

Sumo jumps