I had last Friday off from work. Usually I take Friday as a rest day when it comes to working out, but I felt like getting in some cardio.

In the morning we took Cooper for a 20 minute walk (Yes I count that as exercise especially when you are pushing a 30lb kid in the stroller and up hills) When we got back from our walk I started to do a short cardio workout at home with Jumping Jacks, Jogging, Jump Rope, Heisman Hops, Quick Feet, etc.

That was until Ava decided she didn’t want to workout with me anymore. I had to stop my workout because she was doing things she shouldn’t be doing…..  like pulling glass lids out of our pantry and running around with a lotion bottle that she found in the bathroom. Oh yeah and she stuck her hand in the toilet, luckily it was just water.

So that workout got put on hold and I was fine with it, but I did log the 8 minutes of Cardio that I had completed.

We headed to my friends for a couple hours and Ava played with her friends. It was fun to catch up with my friend, even though its hard having full conversations when you are both chasing around your kids.

After a few hours, Ava was wiped and came home for a long nap! I was able to finally get some computer work done and then I decided to do a quick Kickboxing workout.

I got to about 15 minutes of kicking butt and then realized Ava would be getting up soon from her nap so I decided to stop so that I could shower.

I would have loved to continue for another 15 minutes but I try to get as much done when she naps as possible and showering was a MUST.

So while I would have much rather completed 30-45 minutes of cardio in one shot first thing in the morning, some days don’t go as planned and you just gotta roll with it. As long as you work hard those minutes COUNT!

 If you work out at home, do you find sometimes your workouts are broken up from (at home) distractions like kids, phone, dogs, etc?

What’s your favorite cardio workout?

This morning at 7am it was 18 degrees, which makes it even more crucial to get the body warm before exercise. I spent a little extra time with my first client making sure she was really warm before we got into lifting weights.

I know for myself I need at least 5 minutes of warm-up. if my body isn’t fully warm, I cannot perform exercises to my full potential. Some people may need 10-15 minutes to warm-up, but I think it is important to listen to your body.

Some people jump right into their workouts without doing a Warm-Up or only taking 1-2 minutes to warm-up and it scares me. Even if you are short on time you need to take your warm-up seriously. You increase your risk for injury and pulled muscles if your muscles aren’t ready for exercise.

Tips for a better Warm-up:

1. Incorporate 5-15 minutes of warm-up time to your workout
2. Choose at the minimum 5 minutes to do low intensity cardio (treadmill, bike, elliptical, or light calisthenics)
3. Take another 5-10 minutes to do some light stretching.
4. Once your body and muscles feel prepared, begin your workout!

For more tips, check out the links below!

Trainer Tip #9 Keep your muscles confused

Trainer Tip #8: Make time for yourself

Trainer Tip #7: Get more out of your Group Fitness Class

Trainer Tip #6  Choose exercise that you enjoy doing

Trainer Tip #5 Quality vs Quantity

Trainer Tip #4 Lift a little heavier

Trainer Tip #3 A short workout is better then no workout

Trainer Tip #2 Exercising outdoors

Trainer Tip Tuesday #1: If you don’t like an exercise, start doing it!

Do you do a warm-up before your workout?

Have you ever injured yourself from not being warmed up properly?

When the docrot finally called, they asked if she had any other symptoms. Besides the fever and being irritable I didn’t notice anything else. She said to just keep an eye on her and giver her Tylenol or Motrin to help the fever and discomfort.

Welllllll it was a long night let me tell you. Ava, my usually wonderful sleeper, would not sleep. She would fuss and cry, and anytime she fell asleep in our arms, the second we put her down, she would wake back up and make it clear that she was not happy. The worst part was she wouldn’t drink anything. I knew she was hungry, but she would not take her bottle.

This coffee was TOTALLY necessary in the morning!

So we took her to the Dr Saturday morning and sure enough she had Coxsackie Virus. While she did not have any visable rashes on her body, the doctor confirmed that her throat had blisters and ulcerations on it. Clearly the reason she was so fussy and in discomfort.

Unfortunately for my poor little girl,  there’s nothing you can do for Coxsackie. As we had already been doing, keeping her as comfortable as possible and time were the only really solutions to our problem. We watched lots of Sesame street, mickey mouse club house, we cuddled on the couch, and we did whatever we could to keep Ava occupied and distracted.

(she did eat some cheerios and other fruit throughout the day)

We watched lots of Sesame street, mickey mouse, we cuddled on the couch, and we did whatever we could to keep Ava occupied and distracted.

This included a LONG walk. We bundled Ava up and put her in the stroller and got ready to head out. Killing 2 birds with 1 stone and getting Cooper some exercise was also an added plus. He was probably more excited to get out of the house than we were. The plan on our walk was simple; walk until  Ava fell asleep. Marc and I walked in silence (something we usually never do) and were hoping for the best. I’ll admit a few times she had us fooled and we thought she was asleep. When she finally fell asleep I was literally fist-pumping the air!

We brought her inside from our walk and I put her down in her crib for her nap. I decided it was a perfect time for me to lay down. The lack of sleep and the day’s events had me exhausted! I think I napped for all of 15 minutes, but it seriously it did wonders for me.

Once she woke up from her nap, we made a quick trip to the store to get ice pops. After wandering up and down the isles, I had a genius idea to get watermelon. I was so determined to get her hydrated as fast as possible and this did the trick. She loved it. She was shoving her face so much that her cheeks looked like a chipmunk! I couldn’t have been happier.

Between the watermelon and the home-made Ice pops that I made, I knew we were on the road to recovery I could just feel it.We all know how important it is to drink lots of fluids when you are sick, it is the ONLY way to get better.

Sunday Ava woke up smiling, and so did I. It was such a better day then Saturday.

Marc was able to get out and play golf in the morning and I hung out with Ava. Once he got home I went for a walk/run with Cooper and then headed to the YMCA to do a little cardio.

It felt great to sweat after not exercising for a couple days.

I even headed to Muse Nail Salon for a pedicure. It felt great to treat myself!

The rest of our weekend was pretty relaxingg Our Sunday night Marc and I took some time to sit down and watch the Grey’s Anatomy episode that we missed Thursday night. Half way through the episode this happened…

Seriously it is 150 calories for the whole pint.

I didn’t eat the whole pint, I had a normal serving but I did add a scoop of peanut butter. I felt that it needed a bit more flavor but it did satisfy my craving for sweets!

Have you or your children ever had Coxsackie virus or something similar? 

Have you ever tried ARCTIC ZERO?

What is something fun you did this weekend?

We walked for about 45 minutes with a pit stop at my mom’s office to say hi.

My heart rate monitor showed that I burned 282 calories! My heart rate got up fairly high and I was walking at a very fast pace. Obviously if I walked slower I would now have burned as many calories.

I know I have posted about walking before, but I have grown to love walking as cardiovascular exercise. After 4 days straight of intense exercise and being on my feet at work it is nice change of pace. It helps to loosen up my muscles and because it is low impact I know I am not stressing my joints!

Ava loved it.. can’t you tell?? Just kidding she was ready for a nap when we got back!

I hope you all have a happy weekend

Sweat was dripping off of my face and my heart was pumping. I loved it. I enjoyed this workout so much more then the core speed workout I did the other day. I didn’t have to make any modifications for my shoulder and I was extremely happy!

The balance planks were my favorite.

I can already feel my shoulder getting stronger each day and I am not far away from being able to do more pushups and heavier weights!

After I completed that workout. I did some of my physical therapy exercises. All of these exercises are helping to stabilize my shoulder.

This first one is done with resistance tubing. you keep your arm extended straight over head, you lift your shoulder up slightly and let your arm fall back just a little so you feel it in your serratus anterior muscle. Since my injury, my shoulder blades have been winging out a bit so I am fixing it by strengthening the serratus muscle.

The second exercise is a wider row.

With this row you stop once your elbow is by your side. Again your are activating the serratus muscle.

Starting my morning with this workout made me feel so productive! I am hoping to keep up with these quick T-25 workouts on the days I am not teaching classes. I love the convenience of doing them at home and also the fact that they are only 25 minutes!

I also took Cooper for a 20 minute walk. I thought it might be challenging in my sling, but it wasn’t. He stayed by my side the whole time. Well until he saw a giant snow pile that he wanted to jump on! It’s fun to see how much he likes the snow.  I’m sure he will be excited for the 4-8inches we are supposed to get this Thursday!

Last night we headed to Villa Italia in Stamford, CT for dinner! Again, we were guests at a private opening. It was delicious. I didn’t take any pictures because when my food arrived I dove right in, oops! I had Basa Marachiera which was a white fish in a tomato sauce with basil and tomatoes. It was good!

Ava was such a good girl at dinner and slept almost the whole time!

I can’t believe I haven’t mentioned yet that my calves are still sore. The 48-hour muscle soreness got me. I mean it definitely feels good to be sore but I feel it with almost every step I take so that constant reminder is torture!

Tonight I will be teaching my boot camp class, so I’m just about to sit down and make a new workout & hopefully a new workout playlist! If you have any good song suggestions, please send them my way!

One of the perks to running is the calorie burn.  For example: at my current weight if I ran 1 mile in 10 minutes I burn about 110 calories. If I walked 1 mile and it took me 15 minutes (4mph pace) I would burn about 82 calories.

Based on my weight:

30 minutes of running= 330 calories

30 minutes of walking= 246 calories

a difference of  84 calories

You definitely get more calorie bang for your buck with running but if you have the time to take a longer walk you can easily burn some serious calories walking at a brisk pace.

There are great health benefits to walking too. Not only is it better for your joints but you can still burn calories and get your heart rate up. For those of us with knee, hip, or joint issues its safer to say walking is a better option.