Deadlifts and Diamonds

                                    8AM   I start my days off with a big bowl of oatmeal and muesli. Yummy and filling! Even Jewelz wants some oats!  NOON   Take a trip to Whole Foods Market for their amazing open salad bar with everything from mediterranean couscous to pot roast! I also picked up some Aloe Vera Juice--this stuff is amazing! Its a great way to cleanse the body and balance your PH Levels. 630 WOD  Warm Up : 30 seconds on/off x 3R -high knees to rig/back pedal back -slams (30/15) -push ups Midline : upside down tabata of air squats 20 seconds of holding the bottom of an air squat/10 seconds of squats Strength: Back squats 4 sets of 5 reps at 75% Metcon : 4R4T (15 min time cap) 15 kb swings (53/35) 30 dubz (90 singles) 15 goblet squats 30 ab mat sit ups No dubs for me yet, but I finished 4 rounds! Then died.. 8PM...

We're just over the hump and its a great time to review my workouts for the week and share my insights on why I love lifting. 

I love the Plyo 'warm up' here. Its really a short HIIT session and it will torch your legs and leave you gasping for air.  Yessss!   Take a rest afterward, and if you feel good, go for the full leg workout and of course,  the booty burning finisher. Go for toast! Make it Burn!  Toasted Buns Workout 5 minute warm up on treadmill or jumprope Plyo warmup:  30 Jump Squats //1 minute rest //30 jump lunges X 2  Squats :  Alternate between Narrrow and Wide to shorten the rest period and hit the Glutes during the Narrow, then the inner thigh with the Wide Squats. No need for the weird inner thigh machine in this workout! Hamstring Leg Curl  Lunges  Right Leg, then Left repeat 3X Wall Sits holding a dumbbell to workout the arms hold 1 minute X 4  Finisher :  Weighted Glute Bridge, really squeeze! Try 1 legged with 25 lbs. for extra burn.  Go for toast!  Here it ...

Last week, starting with the Plyos and Leg workout I posted earlier, has been the week of new workouts!  During a 4 day trip to Chicago for my brother's graduation, I did my best to stick with healthy frequent meals, but to be honest, I definitely had my fair share of deep dish pizza. I feel like I am back to square one right now as far as earning my 6 pack, but going to Chicago and eating a deep dish pizza at Gino's East was oh so freakin' worth it!! Mmmmmm, damn that was an awesome cheat meal. The crust was so sweet--almost like pastry and loaded with fresh sauce and piles of meat. :)  So, its back to the gym for me and now I am hitting my workouts hard and tweaking my routine to reach my next level of fitness. Everyday, I still prep my meals for the day and bring healthy snacks to work to stay fueled and ready for an intense weight training session at night.  I weight train 5 days a week again and may switch to 3 days of weight training and 2 plyos...

After looking for exercise and workout ideas online, I came back to bodybuilding.com to browse their extensive workout library. I stumbled across a new workout program by Erin Stern's Elite Body 4 Week Trainer and immediately resonated with her training approach as she incorporates plyos, super-sets, short rest periods, and emphasizes the mind-body connection. She is a track athlete and a two-time Ms. Olympia and her training program will push you to your limits.  Having a written workout is a huge help to me during training and keeps me focused when I want to wander from one machine to the next. Use this plan to inspire and design your training plan, or use it as is. Training sheets for all 4 weeks are on the site.  Why should you add plyos into your leg workout?  The idea is, polymetrics develop power by focusing on speed and force. If you i ncrease your power, you'll improve your performance. Warming up with plyos stimulates the fast twitch muscle f...

It's always a beautiful day to hit the track. I decided to finally ditch the treadmill and test out my sprints. I have to say, I don't think I've ever actually tried to sprint on a track. I've run stairs, hit the treadmill on an incline, but no real sprints. Honestly, its exhilarating! Exhausting yes, but I felt more powerful and faster than ever. I surprised myself this week and I liked it ;) Best part was, after my workout, my baby and our puppy joined me at the track.  Check it out, here's what I did:  Warm Up run 2 laps, run faster 3rd lap Sprints Walk 100 meters or 1/2 lap Sprint 100 meters Repeat 4X Catch your breath and continue Jump Lunges  lunge right, jump up, switch legs, land in a left lunge Pop Squats   narrow squat low, jump up, really push up, and land in a low squat or you can do my favorite: lunges across the field :)  Until next time, keep that booty moving ya'll!! 

Saturday Morning Bike Rides What a gorgeous weekend! Saturday morning Andrew and I loaded up our road bikes and headed to downtown Houston to ride the Bayou Trails. The trails wind around the water way for miles with paths for runners, cyclists, groups of walkers and parents with strollers to explore with a lovely view of the skyline. I tend to throw the hammer down on a ride and I managed to go for it a few times, but I think I might have to save that for another time. I'm sure I surprised a few runners on the narrower trails, but I couldn't help myself. After a long ride, we cruised over to an open field where the city was hosting a a small Picnic in the Park with Badminton, hoola hoops, bag toss, live music, and a few food vendors.  Not a bad start to the Weekend.  Surprise honey!  Still excited from our ride, we headed to Petsmart for their adoption Saturdays to meet our new dog Marley! We immediately fell in love with him--just look at that face! He'...

Oh hell yes, its Friday and the weekend is in full effect. Let's get out, get moving, and enjoy some beautiful weather and workouts. Tomorrow will be a full day for me, let's just say I may have a new puppy by my next post :) I'll have the weekend update on Sunday, but for now check out yesterday's Back Workout.  Don't neglect the back.  Now, I don't work my back all that often, mostly because its just not as fun. Since I've left it unworked, I now feel like a weakling. Lately, I've been a fixated on building strength in my legs, biceps, chest, abs--really every other body part save for the back. However, leaving this area unworked makes it a great place to see some quick progress, break up my routine a bit, and focus more on my form. Form is critical during a back workout.  Be sure to check out bodybuilding.com to reference some of the exercises in this workout.   Click here for the bodybuilding.com exercises.  Grab your FREE worko...

These past two days have been done the body good. Tons of good food, hard workouts, and some serious cuddle time with my lovelies :)  When I start my new job tomorrow,  I may not have the luxury of a long hour and 1/2 workout so I got it in now. Check out my workouts below.  Save them to your Pintrest for later, or take a pic of the screen if you need to so you can have these handy at the gym.  Did you save the pics? Good. Now lets get to work!  Let me know which workout you did in the comments below. Be sure to bookmark this page and follow me on facebook for more workouts, recipes, and motivation!

Hello lovelies, I hope you're having an awesome 'pump day'. That's muscle pump, not shoes ladies, but yes, a hot pair of heels would be perfect to top off this day. :) After a solid workout, my baby cooked up a massive set of NY strips and popped open a glass of cabernet to celebrate my new job as a Print Account Manager. Woot Woot! I'm super pumped to get started next week!!  My interview was stellar and the team was so easy to talk to. It wasn't the type of interview with a 5 page list of behavior based questions from a panel. Whew. I have landed jobs in the past with a long interview, but really, who wants to go through that with every applicant? I was warmly greeted by two enthusiastic ladies who were actually a bit skeptical of hiring a new member, but they warmed up to me quickly. We chatted for a bit and I asked questions about the facility, which skills they were looking for in a new print manager, which projects they were working on and what we...

   It's Monday and its time to kick off the week with a solid HIIT session. I had a full rest day yesterday of lounging, cooking, reading, playing pictionary, and watching movies. I love a lazy Sunday to relax and rejuvenate and prep myself for the week ahead. Now that I'm fully revitalized, I'm ready to own this day and make this an awesome week. Here's my Monday morning HIIT.  Enjoy, and stay fit my friends :)  

Good Morning, my lovelies! Its the start of a lovely weekend and a great day to.... yes, run stairs! After so much time spent at the gym and a solid rest day yesterday, I decided to head out of my front door and down the street to the High School soccer fields to explore. At first, I hesitated and thought, "Its Saturday, maybe I should just take 2 rest days??" but in the end, my body actually craves these workouts, especially an all out exhausting stair run.  Yes, its true, I do crave a good stair run and a hard workout. There is no better way to earn your rest and burn off some energy (and increase your energy too) than to run stair sprints outside. The feeling of accomplishment and elevated energy is definitely a craving worth indulging in!!  Forget the fleeting sugar cravings and fixations. Your body is craving a good sweaty workout to shake off the dust and put the wind in your sails.  Always put your health first, once you do that and once you ...

Hello lovelies!  I hope everyone's week is doing well with lots of fun plans in mind for the weekend ahead.  I jump started my day with a hot coffee and a big breakfast at a local diner. After asking the waitress to make sure my potatoes were cooked with very little oil or butter and the coffee served black (I don't work out all week to just eat the fat back on!!) I was rewarded with the perfect meal. Can't beat cafes and diners, they have THE best food!  So yummy and so proud of myself for resisting the French Toast Compote. Is it just me or is there a shortage of places to find clean raw food!! Until then, yes, I will be the one at the table ordering everything a la carte, or even worse, bringing my own food :)  Well, I'm on my way out the door to dominate my next workout rite now, but in the meantime, here's a peak at what I was up to yesterday.  I usually grin and put on a big smile to push through my workouts, but on the finale he...

Happy Wednesday! Any day of the week is a great day to throw squats into your workout. Lately, I've been doing weighted squats on the Smith Machine 3-4 times a week into my routine for a full body workout. Its a great way to get your heart rate up and hit the abs, back, and legs. Throw some of these babies into your next workout and feel the difference--with good form of course. Whether your freestyling squats with a barbell, on the smith machine, or balancing on a BOSU Ball go for the burn. If you need a little extra motivation just pull up this image in your mind for some extra thrust:

I hope everyone had a badass Sunday. Last nite's cheat meal was a perfect mid-rare ribeye with margaritas and it was a feast! I felt like a ravenous lion devouring my well deserved bloody steak and it was oh so sweet--just what my body ordered.   I'm happy to say I am fully recovered today and ready for more! This morning, even after a nite of drinks and margaritas, got up and headed for the gym only to find it didn't open until 10?!! Come on Golds, you're killin' me here.   When the doors finally opened, the other gym rats and I rushed in. I downed a healthy scoop of my preworkout ACG3,  the smoothest most delicious pre workout around, and started my Sunday Funday. Here's the workout below. Just a few weeks ago, this workout had my legs painfully tight and cramped up for days. It was painful just to get out of bed. Now, after that initial body slam, I can recover much faster and be sore while avoiding total immobility. I spent a solid 2 hours in th...

Its an absolutely gorgeous Saturday, a perfect rest day for all the hard work I put in last week. I've been hitting the gym for 2 hours each day and I feel amazing. Right now I'm hurting and sore, but I'll be ready for more by Monday. I usually don't do big cheat meals, but I may have to splurge on a margarita and a ribeye steak at tonight's BBQ. Totally earned it. Rest day is the only day I get to splurge and style my hair (since it takes so long and I know it will just get ruined after a workout) so I'm feeling extra fabulous today. Here's a recap of some of the workouts I did the past week. I love doing super-sets. The exercises marked super-sets are done back to back, no rest except to switch exercises. If you can't complete the last rep at the same weight, just lower the weight and complete the set. This really keeps the heart rate up, hits the muscles in a new way, and makes the most of your precious gym time. Check it out: Even Jewel...

After a full day of jamming music and packing up my apartment for the big Houston move, I took a break to hit up Gold's for a Les Mills BodyPUMP class. Its a great high energy full body workout and it will definitely leave you sweaty, sore, and feeling amazing. Its been a few months since I've gone and I feel much stronger since my last class. My pushups and squats are stronger and more powerful now. When the instructor mentioned we would be doing tricep pushups I think I did a little victory fist pump-- Yesss Pushups! The only way to get better at pushups? Do more pushups! First, you'll hate it, then you'll crave it. :)

\ Happy St. Patty's Day! Its a beautiful day to run stairs right? Riiiight?  I mean, what else would you be doing? Apparently, you'd be flashed by a leprechaun, that's what, and probably much worse. Nobody has time to be flashed by a leprechaun. Here's a suggestion. Run stairs! I woke up Monday with an urge to run--specifically, to do stair sprints. I wanted to run stairs to completely exhaust myself and empty the tank and finally fulfill this nagging feeling I have had. I felt like my little inner child was tugging at me saying, "can we run stairs today please? Its so nice out, and you had a rest day yesterday, can we please". No kid in their right mind would ask to run stairs, but today it seems like playing outside is more of a rare privilege than an expectation--so of course I gave in. Monday was an absolutely gorgeous day and perfect for an outdoor workout at Mt. Bonnell in Austin, TX (with a later workout at the Golds Gym downtown). If you don...

Happy Monday Ya'll!   I hope you had a lovely weekend and you're as pumped as I am for today's workout. I absolutely could not wait to get to the gym today. After visualizing my workout and jamming to my girl Tina Turner and Beyonce, I nearly tripped over myself to get out the door with protien shaker, banana, and playlist in hand.  This is a solid leg workout for you. Its challenging and hits all areas of the leg. I definitely felt shakey and a bit giraffe-legged once I hit the weights so I threw in some pushups and pullups to let my legs recover a bit. Check it out:  But wait a second honey, we're just gettin' started! Finish off with this Tina Turner Leg Routine and Shake a tail featha! 

We know that creating abs is all about diet, but we do need to work them hard to help build the muscle as muscle burns fat. Toss in these ab exercises into your day and feel the burn. If its not challenging, its not working so add weights and rounds as needed. Summer is around the corner so lets get to work! 6 ab exercises, 50 seconds each, 10 second rest. Repeat full circuit 3X. Here it is below. Save it or print it out for later: Read on for instructions...