Tag Archives: Cross training

April 2, 2014 · 6:45 am

The Happiness Project, How To Be Organized & De Sena Cross-Train Workout

It’s a HUMP day!

I say, what can be better than starting a day with a giggle or two?! That’s right.

I’ve been in a very good mood this week, despite the busyness at work. I guess, it’s a spring effect. The sun has been shining brightly for the past 2 days, and today should be the warmest day of the year so far! And you know what happens when it gets warmer…

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No, please, don’t get scared away! I don’t have any spring harvesting to do, I simply couldn’t resist putting this picture up. Haha!

By the way, did you have the chance to prank someone yesterday? My colleagues decided to fill up the office of one of my coworkers with 4 big bags of balloons. Can you imagine? Such a brilliant idea!!! It put a big smile on his face.

To top it all off, I started reading a book called The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. I kept on seeing good reviews for a while, and decided to give it a try.

The timing couldn’t be better, the author pursued a different set of resolutions each month in order to amplify the happiness in her life. So as you can imagine, the chapters are organized by month. Not that you have to follow it, but I decided why not? Extra happiness is always welcome in MY life. *You might remember one of my previous posts that looked into the benefits of laughter and why you should laugh more. If you missed it by any chance, you can read it here.*

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The first chapter is focused on how to boost energy in our lives. The solution is actually pretty straight forward:

Go to sleep earlier. *Read more on how to sleep better here*
Exercise better: All it takes is to get moving.
Toss, restore, organize: my biggest challenge!
Tackle nagging task: We all know how great it feels when one of those gets done.
Act more energetic: Sometimes we need to work on getting more energy, even if it starts by acting energetic.

Personally, I could improve on all of them. Thus, it wouldn’t hurt to try this Happiness Project out! I’ll try to review each chapter and a new set of resolutions *I prefer to call them goals though* at the beginning of each month. So feel free to join in!

Since organizing is one of my biggest challenges *mostly because of my laziness haha!*, I looked online for some help *as always*. Look what I found!!!

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Isn’t it neat?!

My workout for today is as follows.

De Sena (cross-train)

Jump-rope for 10 minutes.
Repeat this cycle twice:
– 15 walking lunges on each leg
– 15 push-ups
– 15 stone deadlifts
– Belly crawl 10 yards
– 10 stone squat chest-pass

Run

Warm up 2 miles with heart rate in zone 2;
Run 4 miles with heart rate in zone 4;
Cool down 2 miles with heart rate in zone 2.

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How did your April Fool’s go? Did you prank someone or got pranked? What are your thoughts on the Happiness Project?

xoxo
Olena

17 Comments

Filed under Fitness, Health, Motivation, The Happiness Project

Tagged as Cross training, fitness, Funny, Gretchen Rubin, health, Organizing, running, Spartan Race, The Happiness Project, weight loss

April 1, 2014 · 6:45 am

The Success Indicator: Setbacks & How To Deal With Them

Happy Tuesday y’all! *In my mind Southern accent = warm = Summer!!! Could you tell I’m fed up with cold?!* It’s April Fool’s Day, so beware! Haha!

Today, I’d like to write about something that each and every one of us stumbles upon at some point of our lives: SETBACKS. The reason why I decided to bring this subject up is because one of my fellow bloggers, Laura from The Gluten-Free Treadmill, who is my big inspiration, attempted to run an ultra marathon this past weekend. It was super windy and as a result Laura was able to complete 75 out of 100 km. It’s not really surprising that she was feeling upset, frustrated and disappointed.

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Obviously, running 75 km is a HUGE accomplishment in itself, and Laura definitely should not feel this way. That being said, it’s very easy to be a bystander and give advice on how to feel or not feel. However, let’s just think for a moment of how many expectations we have of ourselves. It is important to have goals and dreams. The problem is, however, when those dreams and expectations fail to motivate us and on the contrary make us doubt our abilities and alter our progress.

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So how do we move on from setbacks? According to Huffington Post, there are a few things we can do:

Put it into perspective.Source
Evaluate: What is the lesson learned from this situation?
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Do something differently: ‘Do you want to try again to achieve the same goal or relationship or career change with a different tactic? Or maybe you want to achieve something totally different the next time. Whether you want the same thing or something else, you need to take what you discovered in tip number two and figure out how you are going to approach working towards the goal differently this time. And although you cannot plan out all of life and its obstacles, you can decide to try something new such as taking on a new attitude, or being more flexible to changing course sooner, or being more open to whatever comes your way.’
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Commit to self-integrity: ‘Hold yourself up to not repeating the patterns that are stopping you from getting what you want, and follow through on the new ways that you have committed to doing things. Making this commitment is important for two reasons: First, it builds confidence because you learn that you can have some control over the direction of your life, and second, it stops you from backsliding and repeating the past experience (and then saying “see, I knew this would never work”).’
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Be all over the place: Change it up, spread your possible options.
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Always be your best friend: Don’t beat yourself up. It’s okay to have setbacks. What’s most important is how you come back up.
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In other words, it’s okay to be upset, but just for a little bit. Be proud of your accomplishments and your journey. Don’t let any setbacks get you off the road to success and happiness! *Love you, Laura!!!!!*

My workout for today is Bourbon on the Rocks (cross-training) and Ab 500 (strength). Also, do not forget that today is the first day of the Spartan 30 push ups for 30 days challenge!!! *Woop woop!*

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How do you deal with setbacks? Have you ever had a roadblock that you weren’t sure you could overcome?

xoxo
Olena

16 Comments

Filed under Fitness, Health, Motivation

Tagged as 30 push ups for 30 days, Cross training, fitness, health, motivation, running, Setbacks, Spartan Race, strength, weight loss

March 26, 2014 · 6:45 am

Nuts For Health? The Ultimate Guide To Nuts & Bourbon On The Rocks Cross-Train Workout

I wouldn’t be exaggerating if I said that majority of us, fitness bloggers and health addicts, are totally nuts when it comes to NUTS! Haha! And why wouldn’t we? Nuts are a great snack because they’re loaded with nutrients and are super filling. But how much do we actually know about their diversity and health benefits? Personally, probably not enough. To fix this little issue, I decided to look for more information. Look what I found!

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Pretty crazy, huh?!

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According to Health Me Up, there are multiple ways you can add nuts to your diet:

Add them to salads: I personally love adding sliced almonds, cashews and sunflower seeds.
Add nuts to curries: ‘Try peanuts with stir-fried cabbage. Walnuts with gentle fish curries. Or almonds with spicy chicken curries. Very soon, you’ll find that you end up loving the new taste of these nutty curries.’
Add them to your pastas and sauces: ‘Pastas cooked with spinach, broccoli and other greens go beautifully with thinly sliced almonds.’
Add powdered nuts in soups and casseroles as thickening agents: ‘They thicken low-fat milk and yogurt quite wonderfully and add there own distinct flavor to the mix.’
Add nuts to fruit or other natural food desserts: ‘The trick here is to stick to portion sizes. So if you’re looking at filling a small bowl with a fruit dessert, then take your daily recommended dose of nuts and sprinkle them on top. In fact, chopped bananas with clove honey, sprinkled with sliced almonds and walnuts, and topped with a dash of powdered cinnamon is an exquisite and healthy dessert.’

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It’s time for some cross training and strength. I love the name of my workout today: Bourbon on the Rocks. Sounds… FANCY?! Haha! According to the Spartan Guide, some may find this difficult to swallow though. Here is how it goes.

10 push-ups
10 burpees
5 pull-ups
30-second sprint
1-minute rest
Repeat 5 times.

Then, with a rock *ummm, in my case with dumbbells and a medicine ball haha!*

15 squats
Lunge-walk 50 yards
10 chest-passes
10 underhand toss
Repeat 4 times, resting for 1 minute between each circuit.

AB 500 + 30 squats for 30 days challenge

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How nuts are you for nuts? How do you ‘spice up’ your dishes by adding nuts? How’s your Spartan 30 squats for 30 days coming along?

xoxo
Olena

11 Comments

Filed under Fitness, Health, Kitchen Adventures

Tagged as 30-day challenge, Cross training, fitness, health, motivation, nutrition, Nuts, running, Spartan Race, strength, weight loss

February 12, 2014 · 6:45 am

Wine 101: A Girl’s Guide To Wine & Pairing Pointers For Palate Perfection + Cheaper Than Health Care Workout

To me Saint Valentine’s Day is about my hubby, love… and WINE!

I’ve learnt to appreciate wine from young age. *No, my parents DIDN’T let me drink when I was 5!* My great-grandfather made his own wine and my dad took after him; so whenever I visit my parents, they always have a bottle of home wine at the table for us to savor.

Anyhow… back to Saint Valentines. To me, it is the day when I make a point to show my appreciation for the love of my life. I don’t really care for gifts, even though I love giving *but not shopping for* them. I am also not very keen on going out for supper that day because… well… it’s just too many cheesy people in there that day! Haha! *On a side note, there are always two camps out there: 1 – couples who are super lovey dovey, just a ted too much, for everyone to see, 2 – single waitresses who are hating on those couples for how happy they are, which I find hilarious!* Gosh, I get distracted too easily… back to the story… So I like to have a romantic dinner at home with a nice bottle of wine *There! HA! I finished my story haha!*

However, sometimes I do find it intimidating to find a good bottle of wine because there are sooo many choices out there. Plus, buying wine based only on price… well.. it’s just silly!

Here is a quick Wine 101 for you *and me*!

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And here is a little help on how to pair wine and food properly.

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Today’s workout

Warm up by jumping rope for 15 minutes

Do each of the following for 1 minute:

Recover for 3 minutes. Repeat cycle 3 times.

I am also supposed to do 40 minutes on a bike; however, because I won’t be able to get to the gym, I decided to do this super intense 60-minute Tabata workout.