scary halloween happenings

This morning, I fed the baby and got up really quietly to take a shower in hopes the babe would go back to sleep and I wouldn’t wake up the toddler. Husband was gone to work. I’m in the shower, when the bathroom door opens, then closes. I hope it’s my toddler! Finally after it opens and shuts a few times, here comes my NAKED two-year-old. Of course I ask him why he’s naked and he tells me he had an accident and his bed’s wet. Good Friday morning!

Then, the second “scary” thing of the morning…I totally forgot to dress up! I mean, it didn’t even cross my mind until I got to work this morning and saw other people dressed up. I knew it was Halloween and I had intended to dress up, but I just plain forgot in the rush this morning.

Today is my late grandpa Bill’s birthday. Freaky, huh?

spooky superset workout by ACE

Thought this workout looked cool so I think we’ll do it in my 6:15 am class tomorrow. I was going to do BodyPump, but this has some neat, different moves and is themed. Now, I just gotta figure out what to wear as a costume tomorrow. My son has a “green goblin” mask and I could wear it. Freaky!

hiit & christmas time!

Ok, so high intensity interval training (HIIT) and Christmas don’t really have that much in common…or do they? You could kick your own butt doing high intensity intervals and stay lean and mean during the holidays (which is what I plan to do). But, my original intention of this post was to shout “hooray” for HIIT! I’ve been trying to do this pretty regularly for a few weeks now and it’s paying off. Just today, I had two women remark on how good I look. Now, I’m not a fitness model by any stretch, but I can tell a difference in my body.

Up through September, I had been doing mostly cardio workouts while training for triathlons – I just don’t have enough time to do both strength training and cardio (even though I work at a gym, I’m the mom of a toddler). I got burned out on swimming, biking, and running and I haven’t run any distance since my last tri in mid-September (I know, shame on me). So, I thought I would change it up and do some different workouts. If you’re wondering what I’m talking about, here are some ideas for you: https://bcnicematters.wordpress.com/tag/workouts/

Speaking of working at a gym, today is my FIRST anniversary at this job! I’m so happy they’ve decided to keep me this long. 🙂

On another note, I started listening to Christmas music a minute ago…it’s probably all I’ll listen to on Pandora from now until the first of the year. I love it!!! I’m so psyched about all the different Christmas happenings coming up. I saw this Billy Graham Library thing that I’m begging my husband to take me and our son to. One year, my husband and I ran a 5K that started on the strike of New Year through Christmas lights. It was so cool!

The finish line photo from that New Year 5K my husband and I ran years ago.

What gets YOU excited about the holidays?!

halloween “boo”tcamp class

Today’s 6:15 class inspiration came from Bootcamp Ideas. I was supposed to use pumpkins, but I failed to get any, so we used medicine balls instead. I’d never had this class partner up before, but it worked very well. We had an odd number of participants, so I had to workout too! Here’s what we did.

Warm Up – walked 4 laps around gym, stopping at the end of each lap to do one set of 20 exercises (lunges, squats, jumping jacks)

30 second splits – one partner does 30 seconds of each exercise while the other walks/jogs to the end of the gym and back

• push ups
• squat with overhead press (med. ball)
• crunches holding ball
• mountain climbers
• Rest 1 minute, then repeat twice

Circuit – complete as many rounds as possible in 8 minutes. One partner works while the other rests.

• alternating lunges with med. ball overhead press (20 reps)
• calf raises with overhead press (20 reps)
• triceps extensions (20 reps)

Walk 2 laps to cool down and stretch. Complete workout took about 45 minutes and the ladies really seemed to enjoy themselves. We burned off our Halloween treat calories before consuming them!