Deck the Halls and Arms of Jello.

Holly Jolly Wednesday to all!

Half way to the weekend already! That means just over a week until I'm home for the holidays and I couldn't be happier!

That doesn't mean I'm not having my fair share of Christmas festivities here in the nippy 70 degree weather of Montgomery! The weekend was spent making salt dough and cinnamon ornaments with the roomie gang. It was quite the adventure with a spill full of cinnamon, peanut butter blossoms and a riveting game of clue! These artsy shots are curitsy of the lovely Ms. Herring.

 

 Peanut Butter Blossoms!

 

To get in the spirit, I decided to make a (of course) pinterest inspired craft to decorate me bedroom wall. With an abundance of yarn at my hands, I decided on crafting my own Christmas tree decked out in cards and homemade paper ornaments. Despite the fact that it is some string hung on a wall with paint swatch ornaments I think it's rather cute!

Crafty Christmas Tree (and no, those aren't nips on the floor!)

This weekend includes more festivities with "A Very Roomie Christmas" including the Polar Express, pizza, s'mores, and cocoa! Hooray for Holidays!

Now I know much like everyone else, the holidays can be a bit taxing on the waistline. But who can really pass up a glass of 'nog and gingerbread?!...Anyone?...Bueller?

In preparation, I've been trying to be good with the PA (physical activity) department, and sticking to my morning runs (first one this week tomorrow. Tuesday was a brutal 40 degrees out! = D ). I'm also doing upper, lower, and ab workouts Monday, Wednesday, and Friday respectively. Well let me tell you, today's upper body workout was killer. I took Monday off to go to a holiday dinner so I'm making it up of course! If you're ready to sweat and get a killer upper body take this one for a spin. All you need is a set of 5 # dumbbells, or if you don't have any use some heavy cans, or anything that is roughly five pounds. Like maybe a newborn, or a Yorkshire terrier. Can't say what may come of using these items, but to each his own...

Arms of Jello Upper Body Circuit.
perform each exercise for 1 minute, resting minimally between each one. Complete the entire circuit 3x through, resting 30 seconds between sets. for a total of 27 minutes of brutal arm work!

Wall Squat Bicep Curls
Side Push-up (30 sec. each arm)
Burpees
V Y's *
Shoulder Press
Mountain Climbers
Front Raises
Wide Rows
Plank Jacks

*I couldn't find a good video on this, so I will work on making one, but in the mean time you can perform Lateral Raises

I used an online interval timer to make it easy to know when to switch exercises, and added 2 minutes of jumping jacks and 1 minute of pushups for a total of 30 minutes since I'm an even number freak.
Let me tell you I had to rest multiple times throughout this workout which tells me it's effective! The addition of the cardio exercises get your heart rate pumping while working in strength at the same time. Double whammy!

Have a great rest of the week!





What's your favorite holiday splurge?
 

Good Day, Tonight.

It just so happens that my itunes decided to play "Section 18" by The Polyphonic Spree, which starts out with the title of today's post just as I was deciding on an title. Thank you, itunes!

Despite the overwhelming feedback (aka no one), I've decided to change the format of my blog. Primarily because like many other bloggers, I'd like to add my fitness and exercise into a category, and feel like it would get a bit lost amongst all the food and recipe categories. You had your chance to voice your opinion on the matter, but Vote or Die!

I've really been trying to be good about keeping a regular exercise routine going, which for the most part has been successful. I do strength training about 3X a week with at least a 30 minute walk with the roomie around the neighborhood. I've recently started running every other day to get back on track with  my running routine, and trying to get back to the long distances in the Spring. I've started at 3 miles on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and 4 miles on Saturday or Sunday, and increasing by 1/2 mile every week. I have to get back on interval running to get my speed back too! So much running to catch up on!

After reading many other bloggers posting their own home workouts, and getting my butt kicked by Jillian Michaels in Shredded in 30, I decided I can make my own strength circuits! And this I did, and got my butt kicked by this gal here.

I've made them based on Jillian's 3-2-1 routines of 3 minutes strength, 2 minutes cardio, 1 minute abs, for a total of about 20 minutes of non-stop action. Something not even your bed sheets have seen. ; ) Yes, I went there.

Here's the my first circuit for upper body, with links to videos for all the exercises . You will only need a set of 5-10 lb. weights. I used 10 lbs, but feel free to use what is comfortable for you.

Upper Body Circuit 1

30 seconds each of:
Bicep curls
Outer curls 
Tricep Extension
Tricep Kickbacks
Arnold Press (I did these standing up)
Military Press

30 seconds each of:
Burpees
Jumping Jacks ( I'm assume you know these from gym class)
 repeat once more

30 seconds each of :
Bicycle crunches
In's & Out's

Repeat circuit for a total of 3 times. 

The key to making this a good workout is minimal rest. Try to perform the entire workout without resting, especially in between the different types of exercise. You can rest for about 30 seconds in between repeating the circuit, but in order to "feel the burn" I suggest giving it all you got. I was nice and sweaty after I finished, and it goes by much faster if you keep on truckin'. I mean it IS only 20 minutes. That's less than an episode of Jershey Shore. And if you can make it through that, this should be a breeze...

I've also posted a link to the online stopwatch I used to make it easy to transition between exercises. I set each interval for an extra 10 seconds for you to get situated, and take 1/2 a breath if you can. I also labeled each interval with the corresponding exercise to make it easier to follow along. It is however set for repeat infinitely, so you can go eternally, squeeze out another round, or just keep track of when three rounds are up. I'm sure you won't forget when to stop! You can access this here.

Since I didn't feel so inclined to take a picture of my sweaty self after this.. and everyone likes pictures, here's one from this day 2 years ago. I fun apple picking day with the besties in college. I wish I was apple picking now!

Michelle, Hillary, Me, and Karen (and Becky who's taking the picture)

Happy Monday!