Workouts for the Weekend

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Happy Friday! I hope you have something wonderful planned for this weekend. We will be spending time with family and celebrating Easter Saturday evening with a big fish cook. The hubs and I are also in a competition with some friends for the first to run 75-miles in thirty days or less. This means that we have been running A LOT more than usual and will be running this weekend as well. 

Since Sunday is Easter, I figured we could talk about what workouts I have done this week and what we are planning to do over the holiday weekend. Will you be working out this weekend? My goal is to run on Sunday and do a nice hip opening flow on Saturday. Hips are one of my most sore areas when running more than normal, so prepare for a nice hip opening sequence on the blog pretty soon!

Here is what I already did this week!

Sunday: Rest day after Saturday's events. Yea, that was a good day! 

Monday: Run 4.5-miles

Tuesday: Hot Power Yoga Flow

Wednesday: Run 3.5-miles

Thursday: Nice hip opening yoga flow

Friday: Run 3.5-miles

5 Fantastic Ways to Design Your Easter Eggs

Easter is almost here and this weekend I will [most likely] be decorating a few Easter eggs of my very own. But, we are leaving the dye kits and their bunny-ear shaped dippers at home. It is time for the Easter egg big leagues. These Easter eggs will make every DIY'ers heart pitter patter with DIY joy! For those who are not-so-great at the DIY game, do not fret, there are a couple of these that any skill level can complete with success. 

1. Game of Thrones Easter Egg. This Easter egg DIY from P+K last year is still one of my all-time favorites. The timing just works too perfectly to not have a dragon egg for Easter. Really. One of the best things about this one is that you can use not-real eggs and keep it for many years to come. Also, the metal and hot glue make it feel hot like a dragon's egg when you are done. So cool!

2. Natural Dyed Eggs. These are for all those out there who do not enjoy using synthetic ingredients in anything. Yes, these eggs were dyed with natural products, and a food that you have in your fridge! Red onions give these eggs their natural look. For a full color spectrum, you can also use saffron, blueberries, beets, purple cabbage, and carrot leaves. 

3. Golden Paper Mache. Martha Stewart just classes up every DIY. These paper mache eggs take two things up a notch. The first being paper mache, obviously; and the second being Easter eggs. This is not your usual kiddo arts and crafts! 

4. Sharpie Easter Eggs. That's right people, all we need for these is a Sharpie marker and some serious patience. Doing something like these intricate designs would probably send a person with my patience to a level of crazy equal with Jack Nicholson in The Shining. All those patient people out there can do this and think of me :)

5. Stick Things on Easter Eggs. Maybe you have seen/thought of this before, but finding these was like a Pinterest epiphany. You can paint an egg, then glue things on them for an extra pretty effect! Really, the person who thought this up is on level with that one who invented the wheel. 

5 Yoga Positions to Tone the Bum

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I have been taking a lot of yoga classes the focus on toning the arms and the core, but sometimes, you just want some poses that will tone the bum. This could be no more true that it is now that all the bikini's are coming out and all I am seeing are commercials/workouts/people talking about ways to get back in bikini ready shape. One of my biggest trouble areas is my bum; it does not seem to care how far I run or how many squats I do, the thing just hates change. Except with these yoga poses. These poses are some of the few things that make my muscles so sore that sitting is an exercise all on it's own. 

Chair Pose

Chair pose is great for the bum beacuase it works all the glute muscles, the inner thighs, and the outer thighs. Oh, and let's not forget about how great a workout this is for the core!

This position is one of my favorite yoga positions. Twisting chair is also great for detoxing and getting a bit more of a workout. Try adding five breaths in chair pose to your vinyasa and repeat five times. You will have buns of steel in no time! 

Warrior Three

This one is sure to make you sore everywhere! Warrior three is asking you to, pretty much, form your body into a "T" with your arms, torso, and leg parallel to the floor. For an intermediate option, start with your arms out to the side, or, in prayer position at your heart. This are a bit easier renditions that will make balancing less of an issue. Be ready, you will feel this from your toes to your shoulders. 

Bridge Pose

Oh Bridge pose, such a wonderful way to relax while burning fat. It is common to see bridge pose at the end of a yoga flow, usually, before resting. A common rendition of this pose that will burn some major fat is to get into bridge pose, then slowly lower your back so you are almost touching the ground. Hold, then rise back up.

For a more advanced and serious glute workout, try raising one leg straight in the air. You can even add in the dips for a sure-fire glute toning. Any way you do it, this pose is guaranteed to help your rear defy that pesky gravity!

Here is a workout completely devoted to Bridge poses! 

Goddess Pose

This pose is a little like a seconds position plie, but your legs should be a bit wider and stay lowered for quite a bit longer than a plie. Last week's arm workout had a goddess pose rendition that also worked the arms.

Try staying in this pose for ten breaths. Chances are you legs will be shaking, but I know you can do it! Channel your inner goddess and ignore the urge to stand up. This will work the outer thighs, inner thighs, all those tiny groin muscles, and the bum. 

Warrior Two

Oh, how I love warrior two! I fell in love with yoga by doing a Yogamazing warrior sequence and now have Warrior Two in every flow I do from home. It does not matter how many times I do warrior two, it always works something better than I thought it would. This pose is great the ilio and abductor muscles of the leg, the arms, shoulders, core, thighs (just, all of them), and the bum. 

Stability Cushions and if We Should Buy In

There has been a lot of press recently about stability cushions. Do you have one? And if so, do you like it? What first got me interested in stability cushion workouts is a fantastic looking workout in this month's Shape magazine. The entire thing looks like it will tone all those tiny muscles of the legs and bum, and all I want is to try it out. 

Stability cushions, also known as wobble or balance cushions are said to help build the core, decrease back pain, and improve recovery time of leg injuries or surgeries. It also helps children with special education needs. Wow, that is a lot of good stuff in one little cushion! The idea of a workout other than yoga that will help improve my joint pain is something that I have been wanting for quite some time. If you have ever been to physical therapy or know someone who has, there is a pretty good chance they used a stability cushion or something like it. 

These can also help build core muscles when you are not even trying. Place a stability cushion on your chair at work to help improve core strength through active sitting. Of course, anything that encourages us to balance as well as working out will improve our core strength as well. I think I will need to try this one out! If you already have one, what are some of the beneficial ways you use it?