What Time is it? School Time!

It's getting to be that time of year again. You know what mean.  The time when kids spend as much time as humanly possible out of the house and when you can find frantic moms desperately digging in the one cent notebook and folders bins at Staples. Yup, it's back to school time, and for some of us that means it's time to pack up all of our favorite belongings and move into a small, cramped dorm room. Come next Saturday, I'll be packing my stuff into my minivan and starting my sophomore year of college. Woohoo!

Whether it's your first year at college or you're a returning student, packing up and moving out of your home and into a dorm (or apartment) can be a pretty stressful time.  As I'm sure many of us can agree, when our schedules are packed it can get kind of difficult to fit in a workout and grabbing a McDonald's hamburger always seems so much more convenient than making a meal. However, it's still important to make sure that we're fueling our bodies with the proper nutrition and getting in at least 10-15 minutes of exercise a day.

I don't know about you, but I'm definitely a list maker. On a busy day, I like to write down all the things I need to do so that I know what has to get done. That way, I can see exactly what I need to do for the day and check off the things I've already accomplished. And I ALWAYS make sure to include a workout on that list. Even if I don't have to time to go for a run or make a trip to the gym, I know that I can still do my own workouts at home. There are plenty of quick, no equipment workouts that you can do in your home and are available online. I like to find some on Pinterest, but I also like to make up my own. When I only have ten minutes to spare, I give the following workout a quick go and carry on with the rest of my day:

2:00 High Knees
1:30 Plié Squat Jumps
1:00 Alternating Forward Lunges
0:30 Wall Sit

2:00 Jumping Jacks
1:30 Burpees (w/ tricep pushup and jump)
1:00 Plank
0:30 Boat/ V-sit

Even when I'm crunched for time, I still like to make sure that I'm eating properly, so I always keep my cupboards stocked with quick and healthy food options. When you have a full day ahead of you, plan your meals out beforehand. Try a simple menu, something like this:

Breakfast:

1 serving Oatmeal w/ cinnamon and fresh fruit
Glass of water

Lunch:

1 Morning Star Black Bean Burger on whole wheat bun
1 serving hummus w/ carrots and cucumber
Glass of Water

Dinner:

Strawberry Mango Salad
Glass of water

Hopefully your back to school shopping and moving experience won't be too hectic. I sure hope mine won't be! But with a positive attitude (and a nice, stress relieving workout) ;) I think it'll be just fine. Good luck to everyone in the 2013/14 school year!

Whoops! Back Once More.

Whoopsie daisies! I guess my whole "let's blog all summer long" idea hasn't exactly gone as planned. Oh well. Life happens.

This summer has been a summer of firsts. I got my first ever summer job as a nanny for a family about thirty minutes away; I joined my first official ultimate frisbee team; received my very own pair of rock climbing shoes (they'll be great for my university's rock climbing club outings!); went to Michigan for the first time; and I played my very first game of sand volleyball. Basically, I've been trying a bunch of new things this summer and have found a few activities, places and, of course, foods that I absolutely love! I've developed a strong liking for Ultimate Frisbee, a sport I never thought I could ever be interested in, and decided that I quite like sand volleyball, although I'm an absolutely horrendous player.  I've even gave tennis a shot, and while I can't exactly say that I'm an amazing tennis player (hand-eye coordination = not my thing) I can say that I do enjoy hitting the courts.

I think it's safe to say that this summer may just be one of my most active summers yet. I managed to squeak in a few runs a week for most of the summer while also playing soccer at least twice a week and being on an ultimate frisbee team that plays twice a week. And of course watching three pre-teen kids keeps me pretty active as well. It's turned out to be a pretty health happy summer for me. I've even managed to eat pretty healthfully despite the busyness. I'm feeling better than ever and I can't wait to see how much more progress I can make. Side note: I've also been rocking the TOMS tan lines all summer. That's different than your typical flip-flop tan, eh? ;)

Have you tried anything new this summer?

HIIT Training/Tabata Workout

As I'm sure many of you already know, HIIT (also known as high intensity interval training) workouts are really popular. There are plenty of classes, DVDs, and web videos that show you how to do several different exercises very quickly in short bursts of time. HIIT workouts have lots of perks. For example, they rev your metabolism to keep you burning calories for hours after your workout. These workouts burn fat and calories while simultaneously building muscle. Muscle burns more calories than fat, even when you're not working out, so the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn during low intensity, everyday activities.

Recently, I've discovered tabata, one type of HIIT exercise. During a tabata workout, you do one exercise, push-ups, for example, at your maximum effort for twenty seconds, then you have ten seconds of rest. You repeat this cycle of twenty seconds on/ten seconds off with the same exercise eight times. In just those four minutes of exercise, you can burn up to 600 calories.  Sounds easy enough, right? Well, I can tell you first hand, that a tabata workout is no walk in the park. The first time I tried doing a tabata, I died after about the fourth circuit of the first move. I definitely needed the motivation from my friend, Selena to get through it. It was pretty difficult. Tabata definitely kicked my butt and I left the gym feeling sore but so accomplished. It was totally worth the sweat and effort.

Tabata is also a crazy great workout to do at home because you can choose to do moves that don't require weights or other equipment. You can do entire tabata workout using only your body weight and it would still be super effective! I made up my own tabata workout and did it in my basement. By the time I was done, my legs felt like jell-o and I couldn't lift my arms. The next day, I was super duper sore but I knew that my workout had been good. Here's

Here's the workout I did. Give it a shot and let me know what you think! :)

Fresh Mango-Strawberry Salad

Today was a very busy day. My grandparents came over this morning to spend the day with my family and support my sister, who graduated from the 8th grade this afternoon. I'm so proud of her and I'm really excited to see how she enjoys high school but at the same time, it's so weird to think that my cute little sis' is going to be a high-school kid next year. She can't possibly be growing up that quickly, right? Anyways, after her graduation, everyone came back to our house for lunch and socialization before heading to my mom's and my soccer game. Needless to say, it was a pretty busy day.

As I have said plenty of times already, this summer is my "get-your-butt-in-gear" summer. So far I'm doing a pretty good job eating healthy and getting in at least a little bit of exercise everyday. I hope to post a new workout soon. Today for lunch I decided I was sick of my usual cup of non-fat greek yogurt and wasn't feeling much like eating greasy cook-out food, so I experimented a little bit and came up with this amazingly light and tasty salad that left me full until dinner.

Ingredients:

Handful fresh spinach (no stems)
Handful green leaf lettuce
1/2 mango cubed
4-6 strawberries sliced
1/4 tomato chopped
1 tbsp. Craisins
2 tbsp. Walden's Non-fat Raspberry Vinaigrette
*Optional: sliced raw almond or other nut

Directions:

I think it's pretty self explanatory but basically you just chop up all the fruit, add all the ingredients into a bowl and toss until you have tasty, summery salad!

This salad tasted like summer and instantly made me feel happier and more energetic. I still have a lot of fruit and greens left over so I'll be having plenty of salads for quite a while! Yum!

Bootcamp!

Have you ever tried a bootcamp class? If not, then you are really missing out on a fun, difficult, exercise experience that will leave you dripping with sweat and feeling super accomplished. If you have, then you know how difficult and just how fun it is. My school offers free fitness classes for students and community members to attend during the week. Among those classes are yoga, Pilates and bootcamp! Bootcamp is a super duper amazing class!! This week, we did really challenging circuit that we repeated three times and did with a partner. My friend, Selena, and I were partners and by the end of class, we were dying. It was awesome. If you've never tried a bootcamp before, I'd recommend looking into it and going to at least one local class. You won't regret it!

So far my May term workout schedule has been pretty consistent and pretty darn successful. I may not be losing weight right now, but I can definitely feel a difference in my fitness level. I run every morning and always do at least fifteen minutes of strength training after my run. I also took a belay class at a local climbing gym, which landed me a free two week membership so I've also been climbing everyday  with my friend Meaghan. Rock climbing is another thing that I would recommend giving a try. It is so fun and rewarding. The more you go, the faster you improve. I started climbing being super out of shape two weeks ago, shaking and struggling my way up a 5.6 (the easiest level wall to climb) and now I'm climbing 5.8s and they don't feel super difficult! It's amazing how much your body can do and how quickly it can adapt. I already feel my arms becoming more toned (again! yay!).

I also laced up a new pair of running shoes and said good-bye to my old sneakers. :( They served me well and I got about 200 miles out of them (so many miles!). But on the bright side, no more shin splints for Kelsey! Yay!

Well, time to go grab my laundry from the wash machines!!

I'm Back!

Hello again! I sincerely apologize for the long silence. As I'm sure you can imagine, trying to keep up with a blog and study for finals is a tad bit difficult. I hate to admit it, but during my hiatus, I skipped a total of seven days of exercise. I'm not proud of it. But, alas, I am back and ready to be committed to my health (and this blog) just in time for summer!!

With finals done and May term (three weeks focusing on one, daily, three-hour class of your choice) just beginning, my stress has diminished and my fitness is slowly increasing. For May term this year, I am taking a portrait photography class and a jogging class (to get a P.E. credit out of the way). It is really great because my exercise time is already built into my day, I have to do it, it's fun and is very independent. After my run on Friday morning, I stayed in the athletic center after class to do this killer workout. My legs are still sore from it!!! Give it a try!


Set your timer for fifteen minutes and see how many times you can through the circuit in that time.

1. Bosu Ball Squats: Stand on a Bosu ball so that your feet are on the flat part and the ball part is on the floor. Find your balance and go into a deep squat, making sure the flat part of the ball does not tilt to the floor. Return to start. Do twenty reps. To make it harder, do one-legged squats on the Bosu ball. Do ten on each leg. To make it easier just balance on the ball for thirty seconds.

2. Mountain Climbers: Get in push up position, making sure that your back is flat and your body is in a straight line. Push your right knee up to meet your right elbow. Quickly push your right knee back and bring your left knee to meet your left elbow. That's one rep. Repeat thirty times. To make it easier hold a plank for thirty seconds to a minute. To make it harder cross opposite knee to opposite elbow.

3. Hexagon Lunges: Stand with feet hip width apart. Lunge forward with your left leg until your knee is at 90 degrees and your right knee is an inch from the ground. Return to start. Lunge to the left, bending your left knee to 90 degrees and pushing your hips back to keep your knee from going over your toes. Return to start. Lunge backwards with your left leg until your knee is an inch from the floor. Return to start. Repeat each lunge with the right leg and do the entire set five times. To make this set easier just do ten regular lunges on each leg and repeat five times. To make it harder add a jump after each lunge.

4. Moving Burpees: Stand on a line, with feet hip width apart. Go into a deep squat, making sure your hips are back, your legs are at 90 and your knees don't go over your toes. Jump forward and quickly push your feet back and place your hands on the ground, under your shoulders so that you are in push up position. Do a push up. Jump your knees in between your arms and jump back to start. Repeat ten times. To make it harder, jump vertically immediately after the push up, before jumping backwards to start. To make it easier take out the push up or do it on your knees.

5. Plié Squat Jumps: Stand with feet wider than hip width apart, toes pointing out. Squat down so that your knees are at 90. Squeeze your butt and jump straight up, pointing your toes down towards the ground. Return to start. Repeat twenty times. If these squats are too hard just do regular squats. If these are too easy try doing them with dumbbells.


In other news, my portrait photography class is really interesting. I'm learning so much from it. We're not using the greatest of cameras but I learned how to develop film and make prints in a dark room. It was such a cool experience. I plan on spending many hours in the dark room and making tons of interesting prints. Maybe I'll have a nice portfolio put together by the end of the class. We shall see.

Happy swimming!!

Kelsey

TOMS!! (and other news)

This weekend I received my very first pair of TOMS shoes. It was the most exciting package I have ever opened. Ok, it’s the most exciting package I’ve opened since arriving back at school. I ordered the classic white pair so that my friend can decorate them for me. I’d decorate them myself if I had the artistic ability, but unfortunately I don’t, so I’ll be leaving my TOMS and acrylic paint in the care of my dear friend, Meaghan.

 I got a tad excited for my new shoes.

With my new TOMS comes finals. Ew! I’ll be studying my butt off all week for them and crossing my fingers for good grades. With all the studying and stressing, there’s going to be limited time for exercise, but I’ll be allotting myself at least an hour each day to squeeze in a workout and allow myself to de-stress.

Speaking of de-stressing, this past weekend, I went downtown with a couple of my friends on Saturday afternoon and we discovered a bunch of cute little stores that we love. There’s a small grocery co-op that has all this great healthy food. I bought organic applesauce, whose only ingredient is apple! No added sugar or artificial flavors and purely delicious! Now, there’s a snack I can be guilt free about!

Kirsten, Danielle, and I downtown!