Shall I try this again?? It was both fun and motivating to write a workout recap last week, so here’s round 2!
Monday
I started out the week in a bit of a stupor after having been away most of the weekend. I felt good, just kind of groggy and slow. No early morning walks or workout happened; in fact, when I looked at my watch at 4:07 p.m., it said I had 575 steps so far. 😳(In fairness, my watch sat on the charger for a big chunk of the day when I forgot about it.)
But still- VERY inactive day…
Never fear, I got my workout in! And my walk.
After work I squeezed in a 2 mile walk before I had to pick up Asher and a friend from the golf course. I still had my Leg Day to fit in, but Ivan’s sister was bringing tlacoyos over for dinner, so my hands were a bit tied until after dinner. Then his brother stopped over too, and I felt like I couldn’t just duck out to the gym….
I finally did, at almost 8 p.m!!
Did a 5 minute warmup on treadmill, and then Leg Day #1 (new program now for August!).
Exercises included: Back squats (I subbed Goblet Squats due to my back issues; avoiding traditional squats), weighted split squats drop sets, curtsy step ups, leg extensions, good mornings, and hip thrusts.
Tuesday
A more normal, early morning, and went on a quick 20 minute walk with Ivan at 7 a.m.
The rest of the day was again pretty busy with work, a chiro appt, driving kids to/from work, etc.
I made this chicken tortilla soup in the crockpot which was a 10/10!! Really good, and protein packed.
Had to go to the gym again in the evening, unfortunately. Not my “favorite” time to workout, but I am proud of myself for not falling into the trap of just not going when conditions aren’t ideal.
Asher and I walked to the gym together around 6:45. I hit shoulders/ triceps/ chest:
Exercises included: Incline DB bench press, DB neutral press, Static lateral raises, DB skull crushers, cable chest fly, cable front raise and tricep rope overhead presses.
I ended with 20 minutes on the stairmill for cardio! Asher met up with me at the end and did some stairs, too. Then we walked home. A very good, solid workout.
Oh, I almost forgot- after the gym, we all biked to McDonald’s for ice cream cones and/or shakes, too! It got a bit late and was basically dark by the time we got home, but it was a beautiful night and this was really fun. BONUS- more exercise!
Wednesday
Slept in a little as I was up until almost 11 p.m. Tuesday night. So, no morning walk. 😦
I joined NGS in her virtual stretch class though on Wednesday at 12:15, which was fun! It’s 3x/week for just 15 minutes and is held via Zoom. I have realized I have so many issues with being tight, poor flexibility, etc. that I thought maybe building in a scheduled “stretch class” would be really good for me. So far, so good! It’s been really nice!
I just worked, worked, worked the rest of the day with few other breaks, because I wanted to be to the gym by a little after 4:00. We had plans to leave around 5:30 to drive to meet my parents for dinner so we could hand off Ethan to them for the week.
I did back/biceps/abs, and here is a very attractive photo of me doing some rear delt pulls 😅:
Exercises included: Wide grip lat pulldowns, seated cable rows, straight arm pulldowns, cable bar curls, rear delt pulls, hammer curls, machine rear delt fly, reverse crunches and plank oblique crunches.
I was happy that I planned ahead to fit my workout in around our dinner plans.
Thursday
This was my “Me Day”! And apparently “me time” does not always include a ton of physical activity, lol! I was quite inactive on Thursday. Oh well.
It was a very lovely day, though I felt moderately paralyzed at what to do with a whole day to myself?!?! It was like I wanted to do everything, so then I did nothing. Hahaha.
It was a good, relaxing day though! I took myself out for tea, wrote a blog post, ran some errands, went to the library, read for a long while and later sat in the sunroom and made a huge, master list of areas around the house I want to declutter. This was a goal for August (to make the list, not necessarily de-clutter everything), so I was happy about that. I created lists in Google Keep for each room in the house and then shared them all with Ivan.
I had a chiro appt at 5:30, so I went to that and then drove home, parked, and walked to the gym for Leg Day #2.
Exercises included: Romanian deadlifts, hip thrusts, walking lunges, leg curls 2:1, machine abduction, cable glute kickbacks.
Pretty uneventful workout, but I did get to watch some sand volleyball from the hip abduction machine:
*Disclosure- I was very tempted to skip my workout on Thursday. It was HOT out, I was really enjoying the quiet, empty house and just felt…. very lazy. But I knew my future-self would not be happy with that decision, so off I went. 🙂
Friday
Stayed up too late again Thursday night (we are almost done with the series Manifest on Netflix and it’s getting very exciting and down to the wire…. we definitely hit “play next episode” when we should have turned it off….).
So, slept in a bit again. (No kids home!! No one to drive anywhere!)
Friday= No Gym Friday, so all I needed to fit in was my 20 minute cardio session.
I had a meeting at 8:30 though, and with the kids away I figured I could easily fit it in later. So no early morning cardio.
I did go for a quick 20 minute walk after my meeting:
And I did another 15 minute Zoom stretch class in my office.
Finally, after work I turned on another dance video from Emkfit, this time the Mama Mia 2 video. I had SO MUCH FUN with this!! I love that music!
I finished in time to shower and get ready by the time Ivan got home from work, and we headed out for Nacho Night. I tried a new margarita- the “Spicy Mamacita”. Haha.
Saturday
Supposed to be my final workout of the week, but… I ended up “skipping”/ rescheduling to today (Sunday)!
Ivan and I went out for a beautiful 4 mile walk in the morning, and then I just got into doing a bunch of housework/yardwork….I totally had time to go to the gym, but I decided that I will also have time today, and there was nothing wrong with swapping my Rest Day from Sunday to Saturday.
I “should have” gone to the gym while Ivan was away at soccer, but instead I did this:
Sunday
Supposed to be rest day, but since I did that yesterday, it will be Full Body + 20 minutes cardio (likely stairmill).
On the agenda: high and wide leg press, low cable rows, cable lateral raise, tricep rope press down, single leg RDL, hip raises (core) and elbow to knee crunches (core).
Assuming I actually do this workout (AND I WILL), this will be another 100% week on workouts!! Woohoo! This feels so great. I know it won’t last forever- there are always inevitably days that life will get in the way- but I feel like I’m on the right track and happy to be there.
Daily Gratitude:
I am grateful for a few low key, kid-free days. I NEEDED this!! 🙂
GRATEFUL KAE 
It sounds like you basically had a ‘shouldless day’ on Thursday. I really need one of those. Well I say this as I sit at my gate waiting to board my flight to Calgary! But vacations are different than shouldless days!
Good for you for going to the gym at 8. I am terrible at working out late (8 is late for me). I would sometimes run with my neighbor after putting taco down but I kind of hated it. It would amp me up so much and make it hard to calm down.
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Well done!! 💪💪
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You’re so dedicated! Way to go. I do hope you continue to come to our stretch classes – I know they seem sort of silly, but I do think I’ve seen improvement over time doing them.
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I think the most impressive thing here is you GO TO THE GYM AFTER DINNER. I mean… I’m done for the day by that point. But, maybe I’m not trying hard
enough. Sometimes it’s hard to fit everything in, and my son was trying to convince my that evenings would be a good time to work out. My old feeling was that it would be impossible… but I have to honestly change that to “I just don’t want to.” Who knows- maybe I would like it?
I’m just curious- do you follow a training plan, or create your own?
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Ok, yes! It is very much a mindset thing. I used to feel like I simply could not go later in the evening because I was “tired” or it was “too crowded”. But I forced myself to go a few times later and found… it’s actually fine! It was mostly all in my head. Once I’m there, I get in the groove and have a perfectly fine workout. And it can really relieve some pressure from trying to squeeze it in in the morning or during my work day when sometimes it really just doesn’t fit.
For workouts I do the monthly plan from Emma at macroswithem.com. Under programs, it’s the “monthly membership” one and it’s $20/month. It’s worth it to me to pay and not have to think about what I will do! She provides 5 strength workouts per week, in the split I have shared in my posts. So 1) Legs #1 2) shoulders/chest/triceps 3) back/biceps/abs 4) legs #2 and 5) full body. She also recommends 3x/ week 20 minutes cardio, so that’s what I aim to do.
I love it! I do those same 5 workouts for a month and then she posts a new plan for the next month. I like sticking with the same workouts for a month so I have time to try to improve and get stronger on those exercises before moving on.
I have the knowledge that I could totally write my own plans, but it’s huge time saver for me to not have to think about it. I like just having someone tell me what to do! lol. And I think it’s more effective/efficient too. She has an app with it that has video links to all the exercises so if I ever don’t know how to do something, I just watch the video clip.
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being kids free helps to schedule workouts as we are in full control of our time. well done!!!
and that soup looks soooo yummy! it reminds me to make some soup soon, it’s so easy to make and have tons of leftovers.
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That sounds like a successful week. I love that you made it to the gym in the evening a few times. I used to work out in the evenings (way back when) and actually always thought of myself as an evening workout person… until I switched to mornings LOL I just like the idea of getting it “out of the way”in case someone else comes up during the day, but evening workouts can be really good too and I am sure you slept like a baby afterwards 🙂
I love that you also opted for some rest time/self care. Sometimes we just have to sit outside and read a book 😉
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