Weekend Snapshots & Total Body Strength Workout

Good morning! Here’s hoping you all had a fantastic weekend.

Mine was different than other weekends I’ve experienced in a long, long while. Scott went out of town for an event in Chicago, so I was left home alone with my own list of things to do.

I hung out with some friends on Friday night, but I literally spent the rest of my weekend at home organizing and cleaning out closets. It sounds incredibly lame, but I am starting this week feeling super productive with about ten bags to give away. So there’s that.

 

Saturday

The only time I left the house was to teach classes at the gym on Saturday morning. It’s been really nice out, so I woke up extra early, I got dressed in running clothes, I brought my training clothes and a snack with me in a drawstring backpack, and I ran there. We only live a few miles from the gym, and I made it there without any problems in about half an hour.

I taught two classes, then put together a strength training workout on-the-fly for myself. It had been a while since I actually spent more than twenty minutes on my own workout at the gym. It felt so great to lift and sweat!

This workout is similar to one I would put together for a 1-on-1 client or even one you might see in our STRONG strength training classes. I would feel comfortable giving it to someone who has been training with me for at least a couple of weeks, and strongly encourage you to modify any exercises you feel uncomfortable with.

 

Disclaimer: Although I am a certified personal trainer, I am not necessarily your personal trainer. The workouts I post are what work best for me and might not be the right type of exercises for you. If you decide to give this workout a try, please listen to your body and rest or modify as you see fit. I always recommend consulting a doctor or health professional before making changes to your diet or fitness routine.

 

I utilized a lot of different equipment!

The first circuit focuses on the core and includes exercises using a medicine ball and ab mat. If you don’t have access to either one of these items, you can hold a dumbbell on the sit-ups and use a stability ball or even ab crunch machine for the crunches.

I have included a video demonstration for all of the exercises. If you decide to give this workout a try, please take a look and listen to the cues on technique and form.

medicine ball sit-ups

ab mat crunches (or ab mat crunch machines)

single leg floor bridges

cable squat to rows (use the bar pictured below or a rope attachment)

stability ball push-ups (or modify to regular)

TRX rows (or cable lat pulldowns – use the bar pictured above)

dumbbell shoulder presses

cable biceps curls (use the bar pictured above)

 cable triceps pressdowns (use the bar pictured above)

dumbbell lateral lunges

lateral band walks (or you can use a longer band)

It took me about 40 minutes to get through the workout (three times per circuit), and I took a few minutes to stretch afterwards. I filled up my water bottle, put on my sunglasses, and set out for home feeling great.

It was sunny out, and for being just shy of Noon, the weather was breezy and awesome. I caught up with a few friends on the phone while walking home, and got inside about 45 minutes later.

I guess you could say I worked up quite an appetite!

I threw in the rest of a frozen spinach and cheese pizza from a couple of nights before and made a cool and refreshing fruit smoothie to tie me over until it was ready.

In my smoothie:

raspberries

blueberries

banana

almond milk

ice

 

I had a great little Saturday! I spent the rest of my day resting (I didn’t get much sleep the week before), and working on the computer. I know, I know… getting crazy now!

 

Friday & Sunday

Other highlights from the weekend include appetizers and wine with friends that stopped by.

A cookout and bonfire with friends on Friday night. (Isn’t this a beautiful backyard set up?)

Cleaning out our closets. (Roadie helped.)

And going for leisurely runs on the trails with my number one canine bud.

The weather couldn’t have been better for it!

Every once in a while, my body craves an extremely low-key weekend like the one described above. With summer travels and plans filling up our calendars, I feel perfectly content taking advantage of a weekend alone, stepping back, and knocking some things off of the to-do list when I get the chance. Anyone else?

 

» Linking up my Weekend Snapshots with Katie and Erin.

 

I hope you’ve had a great start to your week so far, and I’ll see you in just a bit with last month’s Stitch Fix breakdown!

 

Questions of the Morning

• Do you like to explore new equipment at the gym or are you a creature of habit?

• What is one highlight from your weekend?