Lunchtime Legs Workout

Leg Day! My favorite workout day ever!
Here's the last workout for this week's round of simple workouts to do during your lunch break that require no weights, but contain strength training exercises. Great exercises for your legs & booty!

• Right & Left Lunges, 20 each side
• Donkey Kicks, Right & Left, 40 each
• Squats - 40
• Hip Bridge Hold - 45 seconds

  - 15 second rest

• Curtsy Lunges, 20 each side
• Russian Dead Lift, 20 each side
• Inner Thigh Raise, 20 each side
• Wall Sit - 45 seconds

- 15 second rest

- Repeat 3 times -

Here are some more leg & booty exercises to get you inspired!

 

 

Lunchtime Upper Body Workout

Working out your upper body may seem a little limited during lunch without weights, but there is plenty to do! For this 20 minute workout, I've thrown in a small bit of cardio to burn more calories while working the smaller muscles, hitting your shoulders, biceps, triceps, and back:

• Wall Press x15
• Burpees x5
• Push-ups x10
• Mountain Climbers x20
• Tricep Dips x20
• High/ Low Plank x10
• Superman Hold 30 seconds

Repeat 3-4 times

Here are some more cardio & upper body workouts to get you inspired:

Lunchtime Abs Workout

Since I'm no longer working in a gym full time, I don't get to walk 10 feet on my lunch to a squat rack or elliptical machine. Like a normal person, I won't have much time, nor access to a shower after - so a run along the marina is out of the question.
Whenever there's a shift in my life: A new job position, a new semester at school, moving to a new apartment, etc., I tend to fall off the fitness wagon for a week or two.
Having just finished a very successful second run of my 10 week plan, my hard work & efforts are quickly going out the door with scarce workouts and over eating. Time to get back on track! What am I going to do with 20-30 minutes and no equipment?

Let's start easy. This week I'm going to break down three workouts to do during the week focused on body weight exercises: Abs, upper body, and lower body.

Today, we start with abs:

Simple 29 Minute Ab Workout:

• 1 minute each.
• Rest 10 seconds.
• Repeat twice.

1) Basic Crunch
2) Right Oblique Crunch
3) Left Oblique Crunch
4) Bicycle Crunch
5) C-Sit Rotation
6) In & Out Teaser
7) Heel taps
8) Right Side Plank Lower & Up
9) Left Side Plank Lower & Up
10) Pilates Roll Up
11) Scissors
12) Diagonal Crunch
13) Kneeling Side Bends
14) Plank Hold

Here are some more ab workout ideas for inspiration!

 

Fitness Friday: 10 Favorite Workouts

 

To get ready for the upcoming transition to the website next year, I've had to go through quite a few blogs to gather up some of the best ones to transfer over. Here's a look at my top 10 favorite blogs for working out and exercising. Let me know what you'd like to see!

 














1) A Dozen Workouts, 10 Minutes & Under
http://naturalbeautyandbody.blogspot.com/2014/11/a-dozen-workouts-10-minutes-under.html


2) Ladies Who Lift: Chest & Back Day
http://naturalbeautyandbody.blogspot.com/2014/06/ladies-who-lift-chest-back-day.html


3) Summertime Ready: Yoga & Pilates
http://naturalbeautyandbody.blogspot.com/2014/06/summertime-ready-yoga-pilates.html


4) Sets, Reps, & Weights: How Much?
http://naturalbeautyandbody.blogspot.com/2014/06/sets-reps-weight-how-much.html


5) My Favorite Cardio Machine & Workout
http://naturalbeautyandbody.blogspot.com/2014/06/my-favorite-cardio-machine-workout.html


6) Trainers Train With Trainers, and You Should Too!
http://naturalbeautyandbody.blogspot.com/2014/07/trainers-train-with-trainers-and-you.html


7) 10 Minutes or Under Workouts
http://naturalbeautyandbody.blogspot.com/2014/07/10-minutes-or-under-workouts.html


8) Shoulders, Biceps & Triceps
http://naturalbeautyandbody.blogspot.com/2014/07/shoulders-biceps-triceps.html


8.5) 20 Minute Shoulder, Bicep & Tricep Workout
http://naturalbeautyandbody.blogspot.com/2014/09/20-minute-shoulder-bicep-tricep-workout.html


9) Leg Workouts at Home
http://naturalbeautyandbody.blogspot.com/2014/09/legs-at-home.html


10) Simple Core Workouts? There's an App for That!
http://naturalbeautyandbody.blogspot.com/2014/10/simple-core-workouts-there-app-for-that.html

A Dozen Workouts, 10 Minutes & Under

For myself and you all on this Workout Wednesday. Here is a small collection taken from my Fitness Pinterest board:

 

Spark People's 9 Minute Lower Body Sculpting Workout (video): http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/videos-detail.asp?video=41#_a5y_p=2521065

Spark People's 10 Minute Pilates Workout (video): http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/videos-detail.asp?video=36#_a5y_p=2406602

Spark People's 6 Minute Upper Body Workout with Stability Ball (video): http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/videos-detail.asp?video=72#_a5y_p=2151419

10 Minute Shoulder Workout: http://news.health.com/2013/12/26/a-10-minute-sexy-shoulder-workout/?crlt.pid=camp.cuw6aBRZWCj3

10 Minute Workout Ideas: http://www.sparkpeople.com/blog/blog.asp?post=10_tenminute_workout_ideas#_a5y_p=1119089

5 Minute Total Body Strength Workout: http://www.shape.com/fitness/workouts/get-fit-5-minutes-total-body-strength-workout?crlt.pid=camp.4GuaoicexNlk 

 

4 Minute Booty Workout: http://www.popsugar.com/fitness/Butt-Exercises-32533061

Enjoy!

~ Samantha Marie

Last Day at My Third Gym

Today marks my last day at my third gym.

It also marks my last day of being a non-manager in a corporate business in five years.
Next week I enter into management again for a business other than my own, and my fourth gym in a year and a half. I've met a lot of exciting people, thoughtful people, passionate people and even a couple mentors during my time at this current company so far, and I look forward to taking this next step and reaching out to have an impact on even more people.

It's been an interesting road to get here. I was just a couple months shy of 19 when I entered my first management role, just before I started working for Nordstroms. I was promoted into department management about six months after I began working there, and stayed in managerial roles until five and a half years ago, when I stopped working full time and began my decline into illness.

Perhaps my aspirations were too high when I thought I could advance as quickly and easily into this new industry fresh off two years of mostly bed rest. My personality traits of persistence, stubbornness, perfectionism, impatience, and my new-found traits of happiness and positivity certainly got a work out during this time. Patience, for the most part has been my teacher. We definitely have a love-hate relationship. More like it loves me and I hate it, but I appreciate the values it has shown me. You respect the process more.

Alas, I won't be out celebrating this weekend. A quiz on Monday will have me playing catch up to studying, and begin brainstorming for a term paper while I begin to pick out classes for spring semester. This of course is more than okay with me: I have a wine tasting trip coming up soon, the holidays (hopefully with my family at some point), NYE, my birthday and Las Vegas, so I need all the hibernation & saving pennies I can get.

Workouts are in the works for December. Let me rephrase: Hardcore workouts. The last couple of months of the year are the slowest time for gyms, but not for me: Yes, you want to eat lots of delicious holiday food, but you also want to look amazing in your festivity outfits, right? My celebration season ends about a week after New Years too, so all the more reason for me to keep going hard through the end of the year. I'll be sharing some of my journey and ideas for you to keep inspired during these cold winter nights.

Ready for this next chapter. :)

~Samantha Marie

Legs at Home

I like to have Leg Day twice a week. The past six months or so I've mostly been doing these at my work-gym on Tuesdays and Fridays. A couple months ago I stopped being scheduled Fridays and started slacking off a bit on my second day. In my defense though, Fridays became my run-errands-without-a-car-in-the-city days, and I'd clock in usually 12,000+ steps, so it wasn't a total wash. As I mentioned yesterday though, my gym is undergoing renovations, and I'm going to turn this negative into a positive by doing more of my workouts at home the next couple of months. Of course, this involves some planning ahead of time, because if I don't have a plan to exercise, I don't often turn it into a consistent habit. I know some of you feel me out there.

Let's focus on home strength exercises, minus any equipment for now. I'll add in some home workouts with some dumbbells & a stability ball in a week or so.
We all know the single most fabulous workout move in existence: the squat:

 Yes, those squats. They burn the most calories and make your legs look amazing no matter what your goals are. I love doing barbell squats at work with anywhere from 30-95lbs, but solo body weight still has top notch effects! Make your own personal squat challenge, or search from any one of the 81,375,012,875 different squat challenges on the interwebs today. Start off with 10 or 20 squats, and every few days add 5 more reps. If by the time you get to 50 it's too difficult to do them all at once (or even 25) it's okay to break them up in sections. Remember, the point of exercise first is to just DO IT!

Here's another squat challenge brought to you by PopSugar:

Want to add some cardio into your leg day? Try this one out:

You have FIVE MINUTES to spare, don't you? Or is 5 minutes not enough? Times this workout by 3 or 5 sets, or instead of 30 seconds, go for 45 or 60, or 90! I'll double the length of time, and do two sets next week and let you know how it goes:

 

I'm a fan of pyramid workouts too. Try this simple one & let me know how you like it!

End of EAT ME Week, Start of...?

I hope you all enjoyed EAT ME week & that some of you are a lot less afraid to eat more food, and hopefully got some new ideas on what to pick up the next time you're at the grocery store. My current goals are to have at least 25-30 grams of fiber per day, eat at 30% lean protein, 25% healthy fats, and 40% complex carbohydrates. I perceive 40% carbs being rather low, but it's also rather difficult for me to hit that target usually. If you get the vast majority (probably 90%+) of your carb ratio from vegetables, with some fruit & whole grain thrown in, it adds up relatively low. The quality fats & protein I consume helps keep me full and I don't have much of a desire to eat simple carbs. Spacing meals out and getting top-notch nutrients helps a lot with that.

Some changes are happening this week for me and my blog here. October is starting in just a couple days here and I will 1) be on the hunt for a Halloween costume tomorrow, and 2) the gym that I work at is starting a $1.7 million dollar renovation that I've been waiting on since I transferred to this location in January. The Halloween costume I want to look cute in, but my gym will be undergoing upgrades for the next two months. Although it will technically still be open, the showers will not be available and there will be limited changing space. I will still be doing most of my strength training at work, but it's time to put together a solid home-gym workout plan that includes body weight exercises, cardio, and some consistent Pilates. I really love Pilates and will look at this time to take advantage of some of the things I've been wanting to do at home.

Make a home gym with me! I'll give you some ideas, but encourage you to hunt for different things as well that you may find interested. If you're wondering where exactly to even begin, a couple pairs of dumbbells and a resistance band is a good start. A Bosu ball (it looks like Saturn got cut in half) and a stability ball (also called a Swiss ball, those very big gym ones) are two other great options. Pick out a few DVDs and let's play!

20 Minute Shoulder, Bicep & Tricep Workout

Easy enough to do on your lunch break without working up too much of a sweat!

 

I like using the Bosu ball to stand on while I'm doing many types of arm exercises. It adds a little bit of core & balance to the workout.

For this, I use two 5lb plates, two 8-10 lb dumbbells & two 10-12 lbs dumbbells. Choose higher or lower weights depending on your current fitness level and goals you wish to achieve.

Higher weight + low reps (-10) = building muscle focus. Lower weight & higher reps (12-20) = endurance focus.

 15 Reps each:

Lateral raise, front & side with plates (shoulders)

Arnold Press with DBs (biceps & shoulders)

Tricep overhead extension, each arm (triceps)

Repeat 2xs

Wide clapping with plates (shoulders)

Hammer curls with DB (biceps)

Tricep kickbacks, with DBs each arm (triceps)

Repeat 2xs

 

10 Minutes or Under Workouts

Hello Workout Wednesday!

Pick any 5 of these & do for 30 seconds each, repeating twice:

Jumping Jacks
Crunches
Lunges
Wall Hold
Squats
High Knees
Burpees (omg!)
Run in Place

Some other ideas:

Shoulders, Biceps & Triceps

I like to do strength training on my lunch, since you don't work up as much of a sweat as cardio.
I'm lucky to work at a gym where I can use my (usually) short lunch to do this.

The strength training routines I do take about 20-25mins, doing 2 sets of each exercise. For a decent 45 minute workout, double the sets. Remember to rest approximately 45 seconds between sets, and ideally each set should be done to failure.

Currently I am working on endurance, so each set of mine has 15 sets and I'm using lighter weight. Here was my workout for Shoulder, Bicep & Tricep day:

Circuit 1:
Arnold Press (bicep curl with shoulder press) x15
Overhead Tricep Extension x15
Hammer Curl x15 each side
- Repeat twice -

Circuit 2:
Lateral Raise Front & Side x15 each
Tricep Kickbacks x15 each side
Bicep Curl on TRX x15
- repeat twice -

Circuit 3:
Bent Over Row x15 each side
Tricep Dips x15
- repeat twice -

In case you females need a reminder: