Let's Do Some Yoga!!

Confession: I have not done any yoga for over a week.

I know. Hopefully you did not fall off your chair and break something at that news, but if you did, it is understandable. This is quite different, especially for a crazy yoga enthusiast like me. Yoga is wonderful for all of us cardio and weight junkies and something that can slip through the cracks if we are not careful. Just like any physical activity, it takes a small to large amount of pre-planning to get. things. done.

To help with that, I searched the internet for some great yoga sequences that are about 30-minutes long. Why 30-minutes you ask? Well, that is simple! A friend of mine has started a challenge to do 30-minutes of yoga at least once per day. How great is that?! This would leave you feeling refreshed, renewed, and ready for life like few other things can! It will also help stretch those muscles, increase joint lubrication, improve those non-yoga workout results, get better balance, and tone those muscles. A whole month may be difficult, but why don't we all try doing a 30-minute yoga flow at least once per day for the next week!

This will be such a great habit to start and a wonderful way to kick off our slim down challenge! To get you started, I have listed three great sequences below along with links to their YouTube channels where you can find more.

Jillian Michaels Yoga

If you are more into the cardio, sweat kind of yoga, then Jillian Michaels is for you. Her yoga playlist can be found here.

Ali Kamenova

The middle road lovers will love Ali K. She does everything from relaxing flows to intense I think I just died flows. there is sure to be something you love between these three!

Yoga by Candace

Those who would rather have something slower but still engaging, try Candace. She is wonderful at breaking down sequences and making the yoga flow as understandable as it is healthy.

Plank Roll Challenge

TGIF! What are your plans for this weekend? We will be enjoying the cold[ish] beach at a business conference near by. Usually, at these conferences, there is not too much time to workout. I have gotten use to it and try to fit in little workouts here and there instead of big ones once to twice a day.

Not sure about you, but my abs could use some TLC right now after the holidays and plank rolls seem like the perfect fix! For that reason, we have a weekend challenge! It is pretty simple, but should not be easy. If you breeze through this, try doubling or tripling the number to really active that core! One hundred plank rolls should take about 5-minutes, so it is nothing that you will have to cut out time for in the next three days.

A nice little cheat for plank rolls if you have sore wrists or need that little boost is to do them on the forearms instead of the palms of the hands. This will make them a bit easier and seriously reduce the weight on those wrists.

Happy weekend!

Yoga for the Holidays

Hello friends! I am sorry for the confusion yesterday and the lack of an actual post. This weekend we were at my uncle's wedding in Miami and I came home on Sunday with a terrible bug. Thankfully, the hubs came home from his film shoot Monday night and promptly took me to the doctor Tuesday morning- you know, since being ill means I am automatically turned into a baby who is capable of doing nothing for herself. Now, I have been on antibiotics for for a day and already feeling better! But, that does mean yesterday was a haze of not caring about anything other than sleep, water, tissues, and food.

Today though, we have two fantastic yoga sequences that I did last week and absolutely loved. The first was completed after a short run and the second was done before bed after the wedding Saturday night. I absolutely loved the sequence before bed. It was the perfect way to finish off the day. After the wedding, my cousin, grandma, and I went back to the hotel and found ourselves tired but not tired enough to fall asleep. To help this, Alicia and I did the evening yoga sequence that was only about 20-minutes long but did the trick. Afterwards we were refreshed and ready for bed. Neither of us remember falling asleep, but we do not remember being awake for long. It was a very good night's rest.

Yoga for Core 30-Minutes

Yoga for Core 20-Minutes

The next morning neither of us wanted to get out of bed, so Alicia asked if there was a good online yoga sequence we could do while still in bed. I found this one by Tara Stiles. It is 4-minutes long and tricks you so good at the end. I would suggest not watching it ahead and doing it tomorrow morning. Tell me what you think of her trickiness!

Bench Taps

First off, I would like to apologize for not having a post out on Thursday, again. Something seems off with my Thursdays, but I promise to get it together :) To make up for it, I will be doing another post on Sunday! It is still up in the air whether the post will be a This Week in Workouts, or something completely different. Either way, I hope you enjoy it and have an absolutely wonderful weekend!

This weekend the hubs and I are going to see The Hunger Games and I can seriously not wait! Ahh, there is so much excitement in me that I just want to shake a table!!! Who is team Peta+Katniss? I am!!

Before the movie we are going to one of my favorite restaurants downtown that I have not been to in about a year. I honestly did not think we could get in since we are going with a large group of friends, but they were able to take us at the right time when all other places had NOTHING available. Yes, season has definitely struck our little vacation town.

My plan right now is to do about 500 of this bench tap challenge before we go to dinner since they have ridiculously good lobster mac n' cheese. I am sure half the portion is more fat than one should eat in a week, and let's not even start on those carbs. Bench taps are so, so great for the core, the upper thighs, and the bum- pretty much every area us ladies like to work on the most. They are also a massive cardio and plyometric workout. Seriously. My goal today is to complete, at least, 50 reps per leg (100 total) after my morning jog. It will be intense, but so is that lobster mac n' cheese ;)

If you are not sure how to complete a bench tap, this has a great illustration. Pretty much, it is just knee-ups but you stand in front of a bench and tap the elevated foot on the bench top. Simple, not easy!

How many can you do?