I posted this to the FitFeat FB page this morning but the mobile app thinks I was posting as a fan of the page and not as the admin, so it won’t hit your news feeds. Hopefully the WordPress mobile app I’m trying now for the first time works a little better!

I came across this article for treadmill workouts and the tips were almost identical to how I keep myself from getting bored when I have to do indoor cardio, so I thought I’d share it. Another trick I utilize is when I am watching recorded TV programs on the treadmill, I’ll walk on a high incline during the show to keep my heart rate high but then kick it up to running or sprint intervals during the commercial breaks.

Treadmill workouts

Have a great Monday & a FIT week!

– Shari B. =)

Related FitFeat Posts to Check Out:

• The Start of Year 3 and a 3 Week Challenge
• Circuit Training for Upper Body and Core
• There’s a Fire Up in Here

How is 2012 starting off for you?  I still can’t believe it’s January already. It feels like it was just yesterday that Cory and I were at the Haunted Forest for Halloween!

On the workout front, the year is off to a great start and my “no slacker tracker” is all filled in so far!  I’ve kicked up the intensity for the start of this year as I need to build back some of my missing fitness.  I let some of it get away last year (in both strength and cardiovascular endurance ability) so I’m currently splitting out the body parts in a more traditional bodybuilding fashion, rather than a full body Tabata workout as I’d done a lot of last year.  I plan to continue this for the first quarter and assess my progress.  It looks like this for now:

• Chest/Shoulders/Biceps
• Cardio (some intervals, some steady state)
• Legs
• Back/Triceps/Core
• Cardio Legs (hi rep routine w/ lots of lunges, squats and light plyometrics)

I’ll fill in the other days with yoga/hiking/walking/social-cizing, whatever feels fun in the moment.

And maybe some more classes like this:  last week, I had the fun opportunity to workout at a new OrangeTheory Fitness location that will be opening for business next week.   I was invited to attend one of their free mock classes prior to their Grand Opening and I was excited to do something different (and truth be told, have someone tell ME what exercises to do for a change).  It’s a group fitness session that incorporates cardio intervals and circuit training.

It was a really fun workout and the hour flew by.  They provide you with a heart rate monitor and your heart rate is posted on big screen monitors, along with all of your fellow exercisers’ heart rates.  We started out on cardio equipment to warm-up:  half on rowers, half on treadmills.  Then the rowing group moved to the gym where were did giant sets of exercises.  For example, 10 reps each of weighted squats, then dumbbell rows, then chest presses, then lunges, then back extensions and repeat a few times.  We went through three different giant sets along those lines, and it gets your heart pumping.  Next thing you know, 30 minutes has flown by and it’s time to trade with the peeps on the treadmill.  The instructor then led us through a running interval session (or power walking at an incline if you prefer) for the remainder of the class.  Then we cooled down and did a quick round of stretches.  The energy was great and the staff was really friendly and supportive. They also had a lot of fun fitness toys, like BOSU balls and TRX suspension trainers.

If you have one in your area and you are looking to switch things up, give it a try!  I haven’t found any info yet on what the cost is for membership or whether they offer drop-ins.  I’ll update this post when I get that info.

Have you been to an OrangeTheory class?  Or do you have one nearby but haven’t yet tried it?

Have a GREAT day friends!

– Shari B. =)

Related FitFeat Posts to Check Out:

• Circuit Training for Upper Body and Core
• Review: Physique 57
• Green Smoothie Grinch

I just finished an AWESOME lower body workout and am sipping on a green post-workout smoothie.  We attempted a hike this morning so we got really bundled up and strapped on our Yak Trax. We knew it was windy when we drove to the trailhead, but we literally got out of the car, took three steps, looked at each other and said, “Indoor workout instead??”  Holy hurricane winds, Batman!  You could hardly stand up straight.  So we came home, took the dogs out for Riley’s vet-ordered mini-walk (which really looks more like a drunken sailor wobble for Riley) while we were still bundled up tight and then I did 50 minutes of walking lunges, squats, wall squats, deadlifts, wide/straight leg deadlifts, calf raises, step ups, pulsing lunges, etc.  You get the idea.  I will be feeling it tomorrow!

No sense waiting until tomorrow to work on those 2012 intentions!  I feel a productive day coming on!

I have printed out my January No Slacker Tracker – if you are new to FitFeat, here is a post I wrote on it before.  And here is a link to a free January 2012 printable for you if you want your own.

This will give me a quick visual of when I’m moving my bod (I’ll mark that with one color and plan to also use another color to mark the days I feel I’m being nutritionally supportive of it as well).  All these little head colds are definitely my body’s way of telling me I haven’t been feeding it properly lately.

Really minimizing sugars (outside of fruit) will be on my list.  Good thing these arrived for Christmas and have already been gobbled up:

Huge thanks to my super friend Allison of The Sunday Flog for sending these delicious (and GORGEOUS) cookies.  What a fun treat!  Cory knows that when something is going to arrive in the mail from her, it’ll be delightful so he made trip after trip to the mailbox in anticipation.  (Last year her caramels were amazing and so were the FitFeat cookies!).   My photos don’t do her cookies justice, so go check out her post where she shows all the hard work and love that went into making these.  Allison, we devoured them that night and saved a couple to have with our coffee the next morning – thank you so much for the wonderful gift!

On that note friends, have an amazing celebration to ring in 2012 tonight!  I’m gonna go hit the list of things to get done and then I need to get ready to head out for our evening!

See you *next year*! 

– Shari B. =)

Related FitFeat Posts to Check Out:

• Who Needs a Garden Anyway
• School Shopping & Quick Eats
• Cuts Like Buttah

Hope you are having a terrific Thursday so far!  Mine has been really productive.  Which is pretty impressive considering that I haven’t even left the house (I did shower and do my hair though – BONUS!). I got up and did a killer Chest/Shoulders/Biceps workout for an hour (thank you Cathe Friedrich!), then went outside to run the snowblower and shovel (another hour), tested a couple of recipes for future client cookdates, and sold a piece of furniture that I listed almost a month ago on Craigslist.  The buyer even drove all the way down from north of Denver to get it.  And in this nasty weather:

Brave soul, that one – he didn’t even have 4WD.  Just a little Toyota.  He did get stuck on our street, so a neighbor, Cory and I pushed and pushed and got him unstuck.  He’s giving this item as a gift so I hope the recipient appreciates the lengths to which he went to get it!  I sent him with a muffin to snack on on the way home and asked if he needed the ‘facilities’ since he’d been on the road so long.  I am sure he thought I was either CRAZY or just abnormally nice (I’d say a little bit of both).  Hey, if you buy something from me on Craigslist, show up on time and don’t haggle, I’ll practically invite you for dinner. 

If you look at the photo above, you can somewhat see how that snow is higher than my knees.  The news channels say we got about 10″ in our end of town.  Cory’s been on snow duty all year so far – I figured he should have a break today since I didn’t have to work (thanks for taking some action shots, C!).  I definitely got some cardio going on this – I was a sweaty beast when I was all done with our driveway, the sidewalk on our corner, our steps up to the front, our porch and my neighbor’s sidewalk.  I am so thankful for snowblowers!  Now if only it was self-propelled – THAT would be awesome!

I had to lean into it to get it going through all that snow!

Totally playin’ in the snow!

Because we knew the storm was headed our way, we moved up our “light viewing drive” to last night – normally we do it on Christmas Eve.  We had no idea if we’d end up with a blizzard and be housebound for a few days, so we figured we better get out while we still could.  I made a batch of vegan cranberry ‘sour cream’ muffins (adapted from Gena’s version) along with some ginger spice cookies to pack in the car.  We hit up the Starbucks drive-through (soy steamer for me, white hot cocoa for him), cranked the Christmas music on the radio, and the viewing party began.

Here are a couple of the good ones (taken with my iPhone because I couldn’t find my camera on the way out the door):

The snow had just started to fall shortly before we took off and as the evening went on, it was getting pretty slick.  We saw one car completely miss his turn and slam right into the curb on the OPPOSITE side of the street than he was aiming – at that point we figured we best get ourselves home lest WE become the landing pad instead of the curbs.

It was such a festive night – it’s one of my favorites of our little traditions as a couple.  Add to that waking up to all this snow today and I am REALLY in the holiday spirit.  I love it!

Are you getting a lot of snow this season where you are?  How’s your holiday weather looking?  Do you drive around and look at all the decorated houses?

– Shari B. =)

PS:  Thanks for all the great feedback on Keri’s guest post!  I even got some emails about it in addition to the posted comments.  Maybe I convince her to do that for us more often.    If you missed it, go check it out!

Related FitFeat Posts to Check Out:

• Snowblowing is My Football Practice
• Yardio & Doody Duty
• Review: OrangeTheory Fitness

Just a quick hello to let you know that if you are a fan of Starbucks VIA coffee, they are having a great sale today for their “12 Days of Christmas“.  One 12-pack normally costs $11.95.  Today you can get that 12-pack for $7.95 OR you can get TWO for $11.95 (BOGO).

I ran out to Starbucks right after I finished my morning clients to grab some.  I love to have these with me when I travel because I never know if I’ll be able to get decent coffee in different locations.

I also love to make 40 Calorie Lattes with them at home and save calories AND cash at the same time.

Mmmm coffee – I think I’ll have one now!

– Shari B. =)

Related FitFeat Posts to Check Out:

• Miso Mashed Sweet Potatoes
• Recipes to Inspire: Volume 2
• Spice It Up!

WOW, my office is cold this morning – 64 degrees!

Oscar (the little guy on the weather station) thinks he needs that hat and scarf for OUTSIDE.  I’m thinking I need them inside just to write my blog post!  My office faces north and is at the end of the vent system so it doesn’t get a whole lot of heat on chilly days. 

So this is on full blast this morning:

And I’m chugging on my post-workout green smoothie, which doesn’t do much to warm me up.

Scoop of brown rice protein, 1/2 cucumber, 1 celery stalk, sprinkle of freshly ground flaxseeds, spoon of pepitas, handful of spinach, a clementine (Joan, I picked up some clementines – thanks for the reminder!) and 8 oz of water.

Yes, I did say POST-WORKOUT!  I got up and did a workout this morning for the first time in a number of days because of being sick (more on the workout in a minute).  For this being a FIT LIVING blog, I certainly haven’t been fitting in much FIT recently, have I?  I was thinking the other day how I’m looking forward to the fresh start of the upcoming new year and hoping it’s a better one overall.  2011 has been a great year in many ways, but between school finals in the early part of the year, getting a new business set up and going, catching pertussis (which had me out of the game for 2 months), then rhabdomyolysis (with a hospital stay and doc-imposed exercise restrictions after that fact) and now this cold, I feel like this has been one of my least “fit” years.  It seems like every time I climb back on my healthy wagon, I hit a bump and get bounced off!    As I told someone recently about their same issues, we need to install some seatbelts on these wagons! Early 2012 will bring my 39th birthday so I really want my last year in my thirties to be super-fit!  “Fit & Fine at 39″ will be my slogan.

Since it’s like I’m starting from square one, today’s workout was a little on the light side but it was a blast!

Circuit Workout:

Waterski Lunges (reverse lunge while holding a cable row at your belly)

Ball Knee-Ins

Single Leg Deadlifts

Tubing Crossover Lat Pulldowns

Frankenstein Squats (with broomstick)

Ball Crunches

Cardio Dance Interval to Rihanna “We Found Love“

Sip some water

Waterski Lunges (reverse lunge while holding a cable row at your belly)

Crossover Planks

Single Leg Deadlifts

Tubing Crossover Lat Pulldowns

Frankenstein Squats (low half of movement only to bump up intensity)

Hanging Knee Raises

Cardio Dance Interval to Ne-Yo “Closer”

Cool down and stretch

Ahhh I feel better already!  Now it’s just a matter of stringing a number of these good days together to rebuild my consistency.

Anyone else looking forward to a “clean slate” of 2012?  What are you looking forward to putting behind you?

Have a WONDERFUL Wednesday blog buds!

– Shari B. =)

Related FitFeat Posts to Check Out:

• Bouquet of Greens
• Bringing Back the No Slacker Tracker
• Who Needs a Garden Anyway

Any big plans for the evening?  Do you stay home and watch scary movies?  Pass out candy to trick-or-treaters?  Go to a costume party?  Skip it altogether?  Tonight we’ll be heading to the “Haunted Forest” being put on by our community after it gets dark.  One of the places I recently blogged about as a favorite hiking spot is being transformed into something that I imagine will be like a haunted house without walls.  I’m excited!  And a little scared… 

Today is a major recipe test day.  I have a ton of work to do in the kitchen.  (While I’m in there, one of the recipes finally on my list is some sort of Brussels sprout slaw, like the one in the Recipes to Inspire post.  I’ll let you know how it goes!) So I’ve got my clogs on, my iPod loaded and it’s time to get busy.

In the meantime, I had two internet items that I thought you might enjoy:

- Check out these ADORABLE ghost cupcakes at Let Them Eat Cake and Ice Cream.  I happened to see a photo of them on Foodgawker – makes me wish I was having a party so I could serve them tonight!  If only I’d seen them before a dinner I went to on Saturday, where I was to bring the dessert.  I brought almond butter blondies instead, but these would have been so MUCH more fun!

- I read this article yesterday about a chef who had to have his stomach removed, yet has continued on in the food world and is writing cookbooks!  What a great story!

Have a MARVELOUS Monday blog buds and a fun Halloween!

– Shari B. =)

Related FitFeat Posts to Check Out:

• Another World Just Around the Corner
• My Everyday Halloween Costume
• Last Year: Hallowmas. This Year: Hallowsgiving

I’ve been in that phase again where all I want to do is be outside for my workouts:  walking, hiking, running, intervals.   Once winter is full swing, I don’t get out as much with the shorter days and cold temps.  So I feel like I want to take in as much as I can right now.  Plus fall in Colorado is wonderful.  I think October sunrises are some of the prettiest of the year.  I flew through a speedy upper body workout yesterday so that I could hurry up and get outside.

• DB Chest Press x 5 sets
• Bent Row with Oly Bar x 4 sets
• Shari-style Crazy 8s x 3 sets
• DB Bicep Curls x 3 sets
• Skullcrushers x 3 sets

My iPhone doesn’t do this scene justice at all – you have to look closely for the mountain range (pictured below). I love when the clouds and mountain tops are pink and the low mountains are violet.

I had some company on the path:

Even the moonrise was gorgeous yesterday – the full moon looked like the sun!

Seeing beautiful scenery and wildlife starts my day off perfectly.  It’s peaceful and just puts me in a fantastic mood.

On that note, I’m on my way out right now!  I wonder what I’ll see this morning!

– Shari B. =)

Related FitFeat Posts to Check Out:

• I Thought It Was Friday
• Homemade Red Cabbage Kraut
• Midterms Behind Me, Homework Ahead of Me

It won’t be a ‘relaxing’ weekend on this end at all – for me, it will be ALL ABOARD the BUSY TOWN EXPRESS.  Lots going on!

How about some recap on eats and feats?  When I left off yesterday, I’d just had some Sunrise Juice.  And the rest of the day was just as good!  A bit later for my real breakfast I had some buckwheat groat cereal (previously sprouted and dehydrated) in a mug with almond milk.  You don’t need a lot of these – they are very filling.

Mid-morning I munched on the spicy kale chips I’d made in the dehydrator.  I might have to make more today because that batch is already GONE!  For the record – kale chips in a dehydrator just seem to taste better than those I make in my regular oven.

For lunch I had some leftover Autumn Ragu.

Mid-afternoon I had the simplest, but oh-so-good smoothie:  1 scoop chocolate egg protein powder, 4 oz water, 4 oz almond milk, 1/2 frozen banana and a small squeeze of chocolate syrup.  Blend that baby up and try not to suck it all down in 5 seconds flat.

For dinner I had an inside-out egg sandwich, where the eggs become the ‘bread’ and the ‘bread’ is the filling.  My bread this time was the one I made earlier in the day in my dehydrator, using the pulp from my morning juice.

I’m still up in the air on whether I love the bread or not.

I think I need to try it in something else to decide for sure.

After dinner we ran a few errands and then settled in to watch Jersey Shore.  And I had a few Milk Duds.

I took yesterday off from working out.  It just felt like it should be a rest day.  I’ll have one more recap for you to wrap up our cleaner eating challenge!

Hope you are having a FANTASTIC day!

– Shari B. =)

Related FitFeat Posts to Check Out:

• A Beginner’s Adventures in Dehydrating
• Bouquet of Greens
• Take Your Temperature

I am happily feeling yesterday’s workout.  I did a quick but effective Tabata workout consisting of:

• 5 minute warm up
• Step-Ups (wearing a 20 lb weight vest) – all left leg first 2 minutes, all right leg last 2 minutes
• Incline Pushups
• Smith Squats (narrow stance)
• Lat Pulldowns
• KB Windmills

I love the effect that the windmills have on my shoulders.  It’s a total body move that utilizes a lot of core and stabilization, but the light soreness I get after doing them is mostly in my shoulders and upper back.  LOVE that move!  It’s a “new to me” exercise in the last month, so I’m starting with light weights when I do it.  Currently using just a 5 lb DB and STILL feel it!

I took a very chilly 30 minute power walk right after my workout too.

I had 1/2 of a Larabar before my workout.

I hit up Target to look for a travel iron and while I was there I had a decaf soy caffe misto.  I always forget about the misto, which is less expensive (and less caloric) than a latte.  My tall misto was 70 calories and $2.20 or so.  It’s basically equal parts coffee and steamed milk (or in my case, soy milk… still awaiting the arrival of almond milk at local SBUX stores).  So in Italy this concoction is called Caffe Misto while in France it’s Cafe au Lait.

I realized yesterday as I was driving away from Target how out of practice I am at snapping a pic of EVERY thing that crosses my lips, like I did when I first started logging my food on the blog.  It just doesn’t occur to me sometimes like it used to!  So I don’t have a picture of my misto to share!

I also don’t have a picture of my soup and salad lunch that I had at the Whole Foods.  I met a good friend there to grab a bit at noon and I had a kale salad with olive oil, pepitas, dried cranberries and grape tomatoes with a cup of their vegan savory quinoa soup.  It was delicious!

Dinner was completely out of character and not the cleanest…  I think my mind is already in vacation mode, because all I wanted was pizza.  And rather than make a pita pizza at home, I went out to pick up a single slice from a local pizza joint that I’d never tried called Big Bill’s NY Pizza.  Topped with eggplant and mushrooms.

I had intended to add a bunch of stuff to it when I got home, like sliced black olives, spinach, tomatoes – but I was FULL ON lazy last night.  I’m so not loving the dreary weather!  I feel like I need to eat “hibernation” foods! 

I do appreciate that I can go somewhere to purchase just a single slice.  This is all strategy on my part.  If I were to order a full pizza, I’d eat too much of it.  It’s not a food I can easily stop eating when I’m full and because I know this I find a workaround.  If I just get a slice and bring it home, that’s all there is.  (I use this strategy with desserts as well, which is why you don’t see me write much about making desserts at home.  It’s better for me to go pick up a single mini-cupcake or cookie than make a whole batch at home.)

Other than lunch, the rest of my day yesterday was pretty lacking in greens and fresh food so I’m making up for it today.

“Sunrise”  juice with carrots, broccoli stem, kale, cucumber, celery and a bit of lemon:

Then I mixed up the pulp and am attempting a raw bread in the dehydrator.  If it works out, I’ll put a recipe out here for it.

And I also have a batch of kale chips in the dehydrator.

This is kale from my garden.  And I refer to it as BABY KALE because the leaves are pretty tiny.  And it’s getting cold so fast here now that I feel like I need to keep harvesting because I think the growth might slow WAY down soon.  It’s getting into the 40s at night and right now as I type this at 9:32 AM it’s still only 52 degrees.  Record breaking heat at the beginning of the month and now I’m digging out mittens for my walks and runs.  WOW.

***

CHECK IT OUT

Now, for something fun if you like giveaways, head over to the Brooklyn Fit Chick blog where she is giving away a copy of Bethenny Frankel’s latest yoga workout DVD.  Of course I entered!  And you should too!  (Who doesn’t love to win a blog giveaway AND get a new workout to do in the process?)  I really enjoy the BFC blog, especially her “What Have We Learned This Month” posts which recap what you’ll find in magazines each month, like SELF, Prevention, More, Oxygen, etc.

Have a great day friends!  I’ll see you tomorrow for the FINAL day of our 3 weeks of cleaner eating!  I’m going to have a STRONG FINISH today and tomorrow!  How ’bout you?

– Shari B. =)

Related FitFeat Posts to Check Out:

• Hot and Cold Salad
• 13 Exercises for Friday the 13th
• Wii Wii, Chocomole