Killer Leg Day Circuit

Saturday morning I was in a time crunch since I had to take Amanda's car to go get inspected. Conveniently she always seems to be busy whenever the car needs something done so we had to swap cars for the day! Anyway, my uncle is a mechanic and helps us out but he only had time at 9am. Which meant I got up extra early to get my workout in before meeting him!

A lot of you are probably going "why not wait until after to workout?". Yes that's probably the easier option considering I was home by 10am but if I don't work out first thing when I get up the chance that I will actually work out at all goes automatically down to about 40%. Then, if I have to wait until after lunch it goes down to about 15%. I'm just not one to workout in the afternoon or evening, it has to be right after I wake up. 

Saturdays are leg days since that's the one day of the week where I usually don't have to be anywhere at a specific time (i.e. work or church) so I like to take my time. I didn't have that luxury this particular Saturday but that didn't mean I was going to take it easy on myself! 

This circuit only took me 30 minutes but I'll be darned if I wasn't pouring sweat and my legs were shaky and jello at the end. It was killer! But I really enjoyed it.

I've gotten some questions about the new workout program I've been following lately and it honestly is a mix of everything. I have found that my body really, really responds to this. It's a lot of lifting but the supersets are all plyo/cardio moves with my bodyweight to keep my heart rate up. 

Like this leg day circuit for example! I've noticed that my legs especially are responding nicely since I've incorporated this type of leg day the past few weeks. 

So here's what I did: 

The deadlifts are a higher rep since I was using my dumbbells which for this set I used 30 each for a total of 60lbs. That's less than half what I can usually do in the gym which is why I doubled the reps for at-home! As long as your legs are still shaking by the end of the set it's all good :) 

I did three rounds of the circuit and rested a full minute between the rounds. Each round took me 10 minutes but with the rests added in the total time was around 32 minutes! 

Like I said, I really like this type of workout for my legs. I do a weighted exercise to fatigue my muscles and then hit them hard with a cardio weight like the jumping lunges then go right back in to another weight exercise. It keeps my heart rate sky high and keeps my muscles guessing at the same time! 

Hill Sprints Workout

Tuesday morning after my shoulder workout, I began to question my sanity. I suddenly wanted to try out some hill sprints, and I figured it was no time like the present. 

I conveniently live on a hill so I literally just had to walk out my front door for this workout. It was a good workout but maybe not on the most humid morning ever. I didn't realize this at first but I soon did once I began sprinting. That's when I thought to myself that I must be insane putting myself through this.

I got it done, though! And this is something that I'm definitely going to incorporate a few times a week after my lifts in the morning. 

So here's what I did: 

Sprint up the hill as fast as possible

Jog back down at a moderate tempo

Rest 10 seconds

Sprint your little heart out again 

I repeated this three times, and then rested for a full minute or else I legit was going to throw up. 

The timing worked out perfectly for me since it took me about 20ish seconds to sprint all the way up the hill, and then 30ish seconds to jog back which left me with the 10 seconds. The timing was completely arbitrary since that's just how it ended up working out for me the first time I did this. 

I liked how it worked, though, so I stuck with it! I did 3 sets of 3 rounds of sprinting if that makes sense. I ended up doing 9 sprints total but just broken up in to 3 sets since I needed a full minute in between a round of 3 sprints. It ended up taking me 11 minutes, and I was POURING sweat on top of the sweat I already worked up from my shoulders circuit! 

I'm a big fan of sprints, though, which probably makes me sound crazy but hey you guys already know I'm a runner at heart. My town has plenty of hills of all shapes and sizes so I'll definitely just work my way around and try this out with various hills! I did a short version since I already did one workout plus I was just trying this one out for fun. I ended up doing this again Thursday morning and it went much, much better! It was a lot cooler and not nearly as humid so I was able to do more rounds without worrying that I was in danger of heat stroke or something. 

My hamstrings and quads definitely felt it the day after so I think it was a success! 

Friday Favorites #18

Good morning everyone! I forgot to post this last Friday before my trip to Connecticut so these are a mesh of favorites from the past two weeks!

1. Surprise from Rachael!

Can we talk about how Rachael is THE SWEETEST person ever?! She sent me and Amanda a box full of goodies, and I can't thank her enough! I'm so thankful that I've been able to connect with her since it was a happy coincidence that I found her when one of her recipes got featured on a blog I follow regularly. I don't think it was actually a coincidence at all because her friendship has become such a wonderful blessing in my life! In fact, we're hoping to plan a little road trip soon this summer to meet in person because that needs to happen! The package was so thoughtful and sweet. She included so many yummy things that me and Amanda have been in snack heaven! Plus, everything was gluten-free so Amanda could enjoy everything too!

2.Kashi Hummus Crisps

So remember when I found a love for Special K barbecue crisps? Well, these hummus ones are even better! My coworker and I had to take a bit of a road trip last week for a home visit to see a participant. It doesn't happen all that often but we had to drive about an hour and a half both ways which meant it was a little road trip! On our way back we stopped at a Sheetz for some snacks since what's a road trip without snacks? I found these Kashi crisps and fell in love!

3. Amazon phone cases 

I will admit that I can be pretty cheap, and will save money wherever I can. This often means that I will sacrifice quality on certain things where I don't really consider spending a lot of money on something that is better quality completely necessary. For example, phone cases. I have never spent more than $5 on a phone case because I just don't see the necessity. I go straight on Amazon, and get all my cases on there! I make sure that they all qualify for free shipping which actually is more common than you might think. I hardly ever pay for that much shipping on Amazon because I'm able to find distributors that don't charge. I have been perfectly happy with all my phone cases that I've gotten from Amazon! I've have my iphone 5 for the past two years, and have probably spent a total of under $20 for all the phone cases I've put on it combined. They don't break either! I'm pretty easy on phones meaning I've never broken one (fingers crossed) so I don't worry about using cheaper cases. I love all the fun colorful options I can find, and I usually get the hard cases that sort of snap on to your phone. I've had nothing but success and highly recommend them!

This is the one I have on my phone currently! 

4. The Platinum Pooch

So I had mentioned before that Layla recently got groomed for the first time. We took her to the Platinum Pooch since my aunt takes Lola there all the time. In the past with our other dogs, we've done the grooming services at say PetSmart or Petco but never at a private groomer. We've never had a longer haired dog so professional grooming was never really a priority. Well, Layla is pretty much a long-haired polar bear and requires a lot more grooming attention! I was really happy with both the price and quality! When I first called to schedule the appointment, the lady was very helpful and professional. She wanted all sorts of information and things about Layla. I also like that she makes sure all of the dogs that come in to her are up to date on their vaccines and such. I'm not sure if that's a basic policy because like I said, we don't have much experience with groomers, but I think it's a good idea! We had to bring in proof of Layla's vaccinations for her appointment. The groomer adored Layla (as most people do haha), and said she did really well. As soon as we mentioned she was half-sisters with Lola, the lady was sold! Lola's wonderful reputation always proceeds her!

5. Psalm 42:11

"Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise Him again- my Savior and my God!"

I love this verse because so often in times of trials or tribulations, we can forget to praise God. It only seems that when something goes our way or when things fall in to place that we think to praise God. Except that's not the only time. We need to remember that God is sovereign and has a plan for each and every one of us. Which means, even in the midst of hardship, he's still miraculous, merciful, loving, faithful, and full of grace. Just because our circumstances might have changed for the worse, God has not. He never changes, and is always there for us. You might be going through a hard time, but there are still things to praise God for, and to be grateful. For example, the fact that he created us, died for us, and loves us. I think those are three pretty big things to be thankful for no matter the situation! Those things are also certainly worthy of praise and worship even if we might be upset about what's going on in our lives. So, I like to keep this verse in mind because it helps me keep things in perspective. I can always put my hope and trust in God because he will never lead me astray or forsake me. No matter what I'm going through, he is still my God and my savior! 

What are some of your favorites from this week??