Trying Something New

Good Morning Everyone. Welcome back to Monday (groan). The weekends always speed by. I’m fortunate enough with my job to have a 3 day weekend every week, so I should never complain. Even though I am up super early on work days, my schedule is my dream schedule. Done every day (usually) by 430, which means plenty of time for the gym, making dinner, and doing stuff around the house while watching TV. I never realized how WONDERFUL this is until now.  I never truly appreciated it until working nights for a year. I know I talk about this a lot but man what was I thinking with that? Oh being a fresh new PA grad out of school… I didn’t know any better!

My day yesterday was the normal day off. Except Phoebe got me up at 7am! Not how I wanted to start my Sunday morning. I shuffled to the coffee pot and then surfed the web for a few hours before going to the store to pick up a few essentials for meal prepping.

This week I am going to try the 6 small meals route. I don’t know if it’s something I can do a long time, you guys know I like big portions! I just want to see what it does for me. When I first started my job, there was NO way I could do it. Our service was so extremely busy and I was trying to learn everything. Now that things are better, I might be able to squeeze in small meals. I’m going to try and see how it works out. I might nix it after day one if I end up not getting my meals in. I don’t want to starve, and then if I only get one of my small meals, I might end up binging at the end of the day (which I definitely don’t want to happen).

Here is what I did last night to prepare for this. This is about 2 days of work meals, minus the extra shake (I like to make fresh). This is for you G-Mama! Look at all this food, eh?

Anyway back to the regular day, Phoebe and I headed to G-Mama’s a little earlier than normal, and I ended up taking a long nap on the couch with my girl. It’s so easy to sleep there, feels like home 🙂 After my nap it was gym time! I moved up arm day to Sunday so I had more time to do what I wanted. Monday’s are usually crowded and I knew a Sunday afternoon wouldn’t be. Especially on a day the Oriole’s are home.

I jumped right into biceps and triceps:

• Diagonal hammer curls, 15 lb weights, 20 reps x 4 sets
• Tricep kickbacks, 15 lb weights, 12 reps x 4 sets
• Top half bicep curls (curl from waist up), 20 lb kettles, 10 reps x 4 sets
• Tricep pushbacks with 20 lb kettles, palms face back, arms down, little pushes back with weights, 12 reps x 4 sets
• Tricep overhead diagonal extension (single arm), 12 lb weight, 12 reps x 4 sets each arm

Then I hit the elliptical for 30 minutes with some sprints included 🙂

Back to arms:

• Cable Tricep pulldowns, 40-45 lbs, 12 reps x 4 sets
• Cable Tricep overhead extensions, 40-45 lbs, 12 reps x 4 sets (really works your abs too!)
• Cable rope Hammer curls, 45 lbs, 12 reps x 4 sets
• Bottom half bicep curls with 30 lb bar, 10 reps x 4 sets
• Bench tricep skull crushers, 30 lb bar, 10 reps x 4 sets
• Bench tricep ribcage presses, 30 lb bar, 10 reps x 4 sets

(I alternate the last three exercises) 

I decided to flush my legs out with this bike at the gym. It’s basically a spin bike but really cool because it has a screen that makes it look like you are outside on the trails. I loved it! The handle bars move and you can “change gears” by increasing the resistance. I did only 10 minutes, but I will definitely use it again!

I finished with TRX training:

• Tricep extensions, 12 reps x 4 sets 
• Bicep curls, 12 reps x 4 sets

Here is the official TRX website to look up how to do some of the exercises I talk about. It’s really hard to explain without video or pics!

After TRX training, the gym was pretty empty so I did some posing to see what I am working with 😉

I have received so many positive comments about how I am inspiring people in their workouts. I never thought I would be able to do that. I am so grateful for every comment and e-mail I receive! So thank you so much.

Later today is cardio power hour. I haven’t had one in a while! I think my muscles need a day off from lifting. It’ll be good to sweat it out and then do a little ab work.

To finish today I want to start with one of my “most commons” that I promised. This is my favorite most common. My PROTEIN FLUFF! I call it fluff because it gets so fluffy and milk shake like when mixed in the food processor. I LOVE them!

I hope you guys have a wonderful week. It’s always so hard to get back in the swing of things, but I like to stay positive and look forward to gym time!

XOXO With a Cherry On Top,

-Minnie