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

maui + oahu, hawaii

This year the boyfriend and I went off to Hawaii for Thankgiving. It's relaxing and lovely and the weather is just perfect. In Maui, we relaxed on the beach and drank mai tais by the pool at our resort hotel, and went to a traditional Hawaiian luau (all-you-can-eat-and-drink - dangerous!) It was a lot of fun. Then we jetted off (shortest flight of my life) to Honolulu and stayed with family who had recently moved there. We hit Pearl Harbor in the wee hours of the morning (fortunately it felt much later to us, still feeling 4 hours ahead), which was sobering and sad and pretty awesome at the same time. We stayed near Chinatown, where we ate delicious foods - the garlic shrimp was to die for - and walked around the markets. We took a day to tour the north side of the island, driving through the mountains, and making a pit stop at the Valley of the Temples to see the Byodo-In Temple, a replica of the world heritage temple in Uji, Japan. It was really beautiful, and probably the prettiest cemetary I've ever seen. We drove around to a shrimp shack on the side of the road for the most delicious, gigantic shrimp with rice & corn on the cob. (The corn in no way compares to Iowa sweet corn, btw). On our last night, we hung out by Waikiki, had drinks at a dive bar and then a hoppin' bar inside the mall - seemed to be the place to be! We had a lovely Thanksgiving meal before heading to the airport to catch our flight back home.

watching the windsurfers in the ocean on northwest shore of Oahu

chicken chili

This is my favorite recipe to make in cold, winter months.

chili ingredients
- 1 rotisserie chicken or 4 cups chopped chicken breasts & thighs
- 3 cans white beans (northern or cannellini) 
- 1 can pinto or kidney beans
- 2 onions, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, chopped or 1 tbsp minced garlic from jar
- 2 cans green chiles
- 1 japaleno, chopped
- 2 tbsp cumin
- 1 tsp oregano or italian seasoning
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper
- 6 cups chicken broth 

toppings
- Monterrey jack cheese
- non-fat Greek yogurt (or sour cream)
- green onion or parsley

1. Combine all chili ingredients in slow cooker for 3-4 hours, or low simmer on stovetop for 40 minutes to an hour, depending on how much of a hurry you are in. Cook onions first to speed up cooking.

2. Ladel into bowls and top with grated cheese and/or greek yogurt, and green onion.

3. Enjoy! 
 

northern india

I've been to India twice now - once for a winter trip to Delhi, Rishikesh, Haridwar, and Agra, and another for a wedding in Delhi. Once I got over the jet lag (not easy!) I was able to enjoy the beauty that I saw. 

Highlights of the trip...
Old Delhi & markets
Bring your negotiating skills. Bring back pashminas, scarves and jewelry (bangles are my fav),and maybe a sari or two for yourself. Taste the street food, but be careful not to drink any water.

lots of beautiful fabric to be found in the markets

try the tasty parathas in street markets

January 2015

My January plan is to incorporate high intensity interval training (HIIT) into my workouts as well as stick to an abs & yoga routine. I have incorporated these into my workouts in the past, but I haven't regularly scheduled them until now.


January workout plan

Monday - legs/butt + HIIT stairmaster (15-20 mins)

Tuesday - shoulders

Wednesday - back/biceps + HIIT treadmill (15-20 mins)

Thursday - chest / triceps + abs (Fitcore class)

Friday - rest day

Saturday - HIIT treadmill (15-20 mins), yoga class

Sunday - rest day

HIIT: 
- 30 seconds: high-intensity (sprinting/running, high elliptical or stairmaster level)
- 60 seconds: low-intensity exercise / rest
Repeat 10 times, followed by a final 30-second high-intensity blast. 

Chest / tricep workout

Chest & triceps workout

1.Barbell bench press

Alternate 2-3

2. Incline dumbbell bench press

3. Push-ups 

Alternate 4-5

4. Cable lunge + chest press

5. Plank + alternating shoulder touch

6. Cable fly

1. Barbell bench press

Leg/butt workout

Leg workout 

Alternate exercises 1-4, 3 sets each

1. Trx bands: One leg pull ups

2. Trx bands: side lunges 

3. Step ups - front 

4. Step ups - side / lateral

Alternate exercises 5-6, 3 sets each

5. Bench lunge

6. Sit to stand (one leg)

1. TRX bands: one leg pull-ups

  

Shoulder workout

Alternate exercises 1-3

1. Trx bands: inverted row 

2. Trx bands: chest pull up
Same as above, but pull arms out to sides while lifting body up

Shoulders + Abs workout

Short shoulders + abs

1. Dumbbell press
2. Dumbbell straight arm front delt raise
3. Side lateral raise
4. Seated bent over rear delt raise
5. Exercise ball crunches
6. Air bike

Dumbbell press

Legs workout (basic)

This is a short legs workout.

3 sets of 12 reps each.
1. Leg press
2. Leg extension
3. Wide stance squat (with barbell or dumbbells)
4. Seated leg curls
5. Standing calf raises
6. Lunges

Leg press

Back + Bicep Workout

This is a short back & bicep workout.

1. Lateral pulldown (wide grip)
2. One arm dumbbell row
3. Seated cable rows
4. Underhand cable pulldown
5. Dumbbell alternate bicep curl
6. One arm dumbbell preacher curl
7. Standing bicep cable curl

Lateral pulldown

Chest + Tricep workout

This is a short chest + tricep workout.

3 sets of 12 for each.
1. Wide pushups
2. Dumbbell bench press or chest press machine
3. Flat bench fly or fly machine
4. Narrow pushups
5. Standing dumbbell tricep extension
6. Tricep pushdown or ticep dip machine

Narrow vs. wide pushups

Dumbbell bench press or chest press machine

Flat bench fly or fly machine

Standing dumbbell tricep extension

Tricep pushdown

Full Body Workout #2

This is a second option, about a 60-minute full body workout with elliptical HIIT.

1. Pushups
2. One arm dumbbell row
3. Seated cable row
4. Alternate bicep curls
5. Tricep dips
6. Leg extension
7. Dumbbell lunges
8. Dumbbell front delt raise + lateral raise (alternating)
9. Cardo HIIT (20 mins)

Pushups

Full Body Workout #1

This is about a 60 minute workout for your whole body.

3 sets, 12-15 reps each
1. Chest press
2. Dumbbell shoulder press
3. Lateral pulldown
4. Squats with dumbbells
5. Leg press
6. Bicep curls with dumbbells or ez-bar
7. Tricep extension with dumbbell
8. 20 minutes of HIIT cardio + cool-down

Chest Press