New Cardio Workout Routine with Music

45 Minute Treadmill Workout

(Your legs will love me but you might hate me)

Warm Up:  5 Minutes

Run:  1 Minute at 6.0

Walk:  2 Minutes at 4.0


Continue the run/walk combination for 35 minutes.


Increase incline by 1.0 at the beginning of every 2 minute round.  Do not exceed 10.0 incline.

Cool Down: 5 Minutes

Playlist

Warm Up: If I Ever Feel Better by Phoenix

Heads Will Roll by Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Take You There by Sean Kingston

I Am Woman by Jordin Sparks  (Men, you can pick something different.  The don't have a I am Man song.  Sorry.)

Uprising by Muse

Please Don't Go by Mike Posner

Dynamite by Taio Cruz

Sun of a Gun by Oh Land

Love Lockdown by Kanye West

She Wolf by Shakira

Waiting for the End by Linkin Park

Cool Down: If I Die Young by The Band Perry

Meet My Newest Client!

Meet My Newest Client 

Jessica Grecco

(AKA My Husbands Oldest Daughter)

Current Height: 5'7

Current Weight: 172 lbs

Goal Weight:  140 lbs

A little bit about my client:  

Jessica graduated from college a few weeks ago and will soon become a middle school history teacher.  To kick off her new career she wants to workout, feel healthy and and find her Get Up & Go.  I'm so thrilled she is allowing me to become her personal health consultant and sharing her tips, struggles and success with all of you!

I'm going to track her progress every Monday on my blog so you can watch her get to her goal weight.  I'll also post eating plans, workout agendas and tools she is using to get to her desired goal.

Jessica has graciously allowed me to track her progress for the world to see (so brave, I know!).  She has even agreed to a before and after picture of this journey.  I'll post those next week along with what she ate, her workout regiment & anything that you might find useful.  

XO,

Sarah

Happy Memorial Day Weekend. Drink Responsibly!

Memorial Day weekend really kicks off summer, swimsuits & BBQ's with friends.  I love that the sun is out and that my weekend always includes a dip at the pool.  One of my major downfalls is eating too much potato salad, ice cold beer and 800 calories margaritas.  I swear they call my name.  It isn't easy.  One thing that really helps me keep my cravings at bay is proper beer selection and eating a snack before I head to a BBQ.  You have no idea how much it helps to have a huge glass of water and a snack high in protein before going to live it up BBQ style.  

Best Pre BBQ Snacks:

Low fat yogurt

Tuna salad on crackers

Peanut butter on an apple

Half turkey sandwich on wheat bread

Best Beer Choices if You're Having More than 1:

If you are disciplined enough to only have 1 go big and have your favorite brew.  Cold Beer + Hot Summer Day = Greatness

Michelob Ultra (Lime Cactus, Pomegranate Raspberry & Tuscan Orange) Only 107 calories per beer with 6 carbs.

Miller Genuine Draft 64: 64 Calories hence the name

Beck's Premier Light: 64 Calories

Pearl Light:  68 Calories

Blatz Light Beer: 85 Calories

Aspen Edge:  94 Calories

1 Song 2 Uses

Picture this:  Sun blazing, car windows down, summer air and this song....Perfect song for a BBQ with friends. 

Also, a great song to put on your iPod for lifting weights or cardio.

Enjoy & Have A Great Memorial Day Weekend!

I Ran My Errands Today.......Literally!

I ran my errands manually to get a little extra workout.  Why drive to the store when you could run or bike there.  I suppose you could skip to the store but people might point and stare!  

I figured I would take a detour and have some dinner.  Salad bar at Ruby Tuesdays.  Don't judge.  It was in close biking distance and I was hungry.  I don't care what anyone says they have a delicious salad bar for really inexpensive.  PLUS, I biked there which just made me feel productive.  The sweat on my shirt is there to prove it.

Besides, who doesn't want to work out on a trail that looks like this......

Just remember to burn calories any way you can.  Running errands by walking/biking is a great way to burn bonus calories on top of your regular workout.  

xo,

Sarah 

Step It UP! I HEART My Pedometer!

My company has this competition to help promote health and they gave us all pedometers.  We record how many steps we take and how many minutes we work out.  I thought it was such a cool idea!  I run around ALL THE TIME but have no clue just how many steps I take.    Well day one during the work week I walked over 10,000 steps!  This made me think about how many more steps I could take to increase calories burned per week.  It takes just over 2,000 steps to make a mile.  So without working out I'm already averaging 5 miles a day.  So starting today I am walking an extra 30 minutes a day to see if I can get to 15,000 steps a day.  


Top 3 Reasons You Should Get a Pedometer:
1.  It is REALLY inexpensive
2.  Walking is relaxing & you can get a friend to join you
3.  Because if you don't I will be the only dork using a pedometer

Sun of a Gun by Oh Land

This song has 2 purposes:  Great workout song & great for cleaning house.  Gets me motivated to put on my rubber gloves and scrub a dub dub.

Take Time To Smell The Cactus

On my recent trip to San Diego I learned a few things:

ONE:  To take advantage of every beautiful day.

I had 3 days to get the most out of my short trip to San Diego.  The hotel gym seemed like a totally lame way to work out so I did some reading in the hotel directory and found out there was a daily nature walk.  SCORE!  So often I go to the gym as part of my routine when I could really get outside.  While I might not burn as many calories I had a relaxing walk and completely cleared out my mind.         

Best hour and 15 minute workout all week.

TWO: Learn A Little About Your Indigenous Wildlife:

The tour guide knew so much about the flowers, cactus and plants on our walk.  It was really impressive and made me feel like a complete fool for not knowing anything about my town/state.  Next time I go on the trail near my house I am finding a way to figure out at least 3 plants on the trail.

THREE: Live On The Edge & Try Something New

On our trip there was one activity included at no charge.  We picked ocean kayaking.  Nine people out of 200 signed up for this.  I felt like a real risk taker!  I love the water but am pretty freaked out by big waves.  The water was cold (wore a wet suit for crying out loud) and the sky was gray.  The weather was about 60 degrees.  All other kayaking companies cancelled their trips because of the weather.....but not ours (that would be too easy).  I tried to get passed the waves twice before I threw in the towel.  On my husband's third try the guide got shot by a sting ray.  We gracefully bowed out of the trip after that.  6 of the 9 people made it and out of those 6 people 2 of them threw up in the water because of the choppiness.  I don't regret any of this for a second.  At least I tried something new!  

I Heart America......Living in America by DOM

Run, jump, play to this song.  You can crank out serious abs and push ups to DOM.

The Objective: Toned Hamstrings For Summer

Ok, for me this might be too far.  They look great but my full time job is not to make my hamstrings look like above.  But for them: BRAVO!

The OBJECTIVE for me:

More like this photo.  Toned, defined, strong.  Yes I know, ANOTHER Jillian Michaels photo.  I swear I looked on line for 30 minutes to find my ideal hamstrings.  What can I say?  I'm a Jillian/Bob/Biggest Loser fan!

For Men: 

Again, the above is wonderful BUT if you are a normal guy who likes to eat good food and also have great hamstrings this is more what I'm thinking.....

There are many hamstring exercises that I love but here is one of my favorites that you can do at home during commercial breaks or before bed.  

Do 5 sets of 15 and I promise your hamstrings will HATE me!  Don't forget you can buy a ball for about $12 at Marshall's or       TJ MAXX.  It is the best purchase and I use the ball at least 4 times a week.

Exercise Your Body & Brain. Play Tourist In Your Town.

It never hurts to exercise your brain and body at the same time!  On Saturday we had a big family gathering   which was so much fun but I made the mistake of eating one too many pieces of pie (where are my stretchy pants?).  It was one of those family gatherings where you eat more than you planned and are happy at the time of consumption but have a bit of eaters remorse the next day.  Thankfully on Sunday I taught spinning in the morning so I was able to burn off at least 1 piece of pie.  To burn off the second piece of pie my family decided to go down to Washington DC and play tourist.  We walked for a couple of hours and not only burned of piece of pie #2 but also learned a little about history and the wonderful city we live near.  

LESSON LEARNED:  

Eat the 2nd piece of pie, don't feel guilty and just make up for it the next day by doing something fun like getting to know your own city.

We walked the tidal basin and visited the Jefferson Memorial.

We can't forget about the woman behind the man Eleanor Roosevelt.

Walking + Learning = A Perfect Day

Clearly playing tourist can be exhausting.