If you don’t work it hard it’s a waste of money…

Posted on May 31, 2013 by Malin

At 6.30 this morning I enter through the doors of Lifestyle Fitness, that is normally when my alarm goes off in the morning. But if you are scheduled to see the most important music show of the year (the kindergarten show) you do what you have to do and you drag your ass to the gym and work hard for every single nickel. But I did not expect what Jonathan had in mind for us…legs!!!

We went outside and started out with lunges with a curl to press, sprints, another set of curl to press, squat jumps and a fast run around the cul-de-sac. I could not believe it, this was going to be my 4th day of legs including the fast run I did yesterday but I figured if I wasn’t going to work it hard it was going to be a waste of money and time (in bed) lol.

Back inside Jonathan had a change of heart and decided to focus on upper body, this to my relief and we carried on pushing the shoulders. With only three of us the first circuit was only two exercises, after every set I bumped the weight up but kept the amount of reps the same. 15 shoulder press in an inclined bench and 15 single arm rows.

When the third set was over we carried on working the next circuit with two exercises but this time I kept the 15 pounds for the 15 chest flies followed by pull ups till exhaustion. Jonathan alway says not to have a number in your head but it is very hard not to and if I have a number I always try to finish with an extra couple of reps (if I have it left in me).

The next exercise we split into 3 movements, we started by doing 10 “Clean” of a clean and jerk and while the person I was working with was doing her set I rested out. The second movement was 10 “jerk” also done three times through and the last move was to complete the “clean and Jerk” in one motion.

This amazing workout was coming to an end but before I had to rush home to send the kids off to school we finished out on 15 shoulder raises from a wall sit. And let me tell you if you are fed up with doing crunches this is a fantastic compliment of working the abs. Especially after all the stabilizing the core had to do during the heavy clean and jerks. This was followed by shoulder raises to the sides and with a twist using the dumbbell from a push up position.

When I stepped outside I was completely drenched and that in it self is a token of a kick ass workout!

Let’s go Hawks

Posted on May 30, 2013 by Malin

As well as having my ass or rather my legs kicked at yesterday workout it was Freddie’s birthday and two of his biggest passions is Manchester United and Chicago Blackhawks and yesterday was the very last game between Detroit Red Wings and the hawks. I knew he really wanted to go but we had no sitter and no tickets so meanwhile he was doing his magic I brought the kids over to my friend Annika so they could play. The kids were happily playing as me and Annika was sitting in the sun chatting away like we do when Freddie calls me and tells me “If we not going I am going to regret this for the rest of my life”. I asked Annika if the kids can stay over and she was kind enough to take them in for the evening and for this we are forever grateful…THANK YOU! (Knut was a little bit bummed that he was not going but we convinced him with a sleepover in the middle of the week).

We had not yet had dinner and I refused to eat anything that they serve at the United Center so before we left I was shoveling down some cold leftover grilled chicken…anything not to eat that C**p..lol

Stuck in traffic we were trying to find the best way to get Madison and it is amazing how I already biked the same distance faster than what we were going. Anyhow we made it just in time before they dropped the puck and what a game. The atmosphere was unreal I don’t think I never experienced anything like it before and I guess I don’t need to say anymore as this is a memory for life!

Lets go Hawks!!!

Grilled sirloin tip steak with basil vinaigrette tossed vegetables

Posted on May 30, 2013 by Malin

This is the season to take advantage being able to eat clean and with a new grill I try to cook as much as possible outside and in between the thunderstorms Freddie managed to cook a sirloin tip steak to its perfection…

1 pound of sirloin tip steak

Old world central street seasoning (from the spice house)

Garlic powder

Salt and Pepper

Vegetable Oil

Basil Vinaigrette

1-2 tablespoon Vegetable Oil

1 tablespoon White Wine Vinegar

2 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 chopped garlic

Salt and Pepper

Chopped Basil

Roasted Vegetables

Yellow Zucchini

Red pepper

Mushrooms

Asparagus

Red Onion

Tomatoes do not roast!

How to: Cut up all the vegetables and roast them in the oven for about 10-15 min @ 350-400 F. Grill the meat to you liking and meanwhile mix all the ingredients for basil vinaigrette and as soon as the vegetables is done mix the tomatoes and toss the vinaigrette over the roasted vegetables.

Bon Appetite!

Jump baby Jump!

Posted on May 30, 2013 by Malin

Yesterday started with me riding the bike over to the Lifestyle Fitness, which is a good 5 mile bike ride from my house. And by know I guess you know when I exercises I don’t often do it half hearted, especially not after my own disappointment from Tuesday (which turned out to be harder than what I thought it was because my legs were a bit sore) so by the time I arrived I still had a good 15 minutes to carry on walking on an incline on the treadmill before Jonathan put us through some serious work.

I don’t know why but for some reason I thought we were doing total body this week but I was so wrong and when I saw the hurdles I knew I was in trouble:). We were split into two groups, me and mrsT started with 30 power steps switching in midair while the other person was doing high jumps over the hurdles 3 times through.

Meanwhile the other group was doing 15 weighted squats and 20 lunges to press before we took a 30 seconds break and started from the top again.

We did not do many circuits this particular morning but they were intense as we worked both the quads and the hamstrings. The next circuit we did 4 times but with two different variations. Fist we did 10 single leg Romanian deadlifts and at the last one we popped back into a lunge and pumped out another 10 before we swapped leg. The last exercise was a 20 lunges to the side with one 15 pound dumbbell almost touching the floor when reaching the dumbbell to the outside of the bent leg.

The next variation was a regular 15 deadlift followed by 20 jumping lunges and 1 minute wall sit.

The thing is with Jonathan is that the hour is not over until he says so and with about 10 minutes left on his watch we went outside and did sprints. We combined this with skipping rope before I threw myself on my bike and peddled as fast as I could on my bike the 6 miles to Mira’s school and believe it or not I was actually on time!

I am not lying when it was with much hesitation I decided to go for a run up in the woods this morning but I did it even though I thought my legs were about to fall off along the way…lol

Busted!

Posted on May 28, 2013 by Malin

This memorial weekend we have been very busy with both hockey and soccer as well the social aspects of this holiday. This has left me eating very delicious food and drinking a fair share of wine especially after the very thrilling game between the Blackhawks and Detroit 😉 This morning the first thing Jonathan asked me when I came in was if I had been drinking over the weekend. He only had to take one look at me to see that I had and I was so busted…lol

I think because this is an off week we will be doing total body so today we started out working the core on the mat before we picked up any weights. To be honest I was very tired (not the muscles) and I really had to push myself but at the same time I knew could have worked heavier weights but it was not happening. First out was single leg romanian deadlift, single arm rows and squat jumps and after the third set I still had a lot left even though I didn’t admit it to anyone at the time.

We carried on the workout I did not say that much as I was a little pissed off at myself because I didn’t have the go in me. With single arm push press, kettlebell swings, modified plank with leg raise and finally a side plank with hip raise we completed the next circuit.

Before we finished the day with skipping rope and interval sprints outside we use 12 pound dumbbells to do 15 reverse lunge with high knee and at last one we kept the knee up and cranked out 15 biceps curls before we switched legs followed by a sumo row with the kettlebell.

I am coming back in tomorrow and hopefully I have a little more energy… or not as I first have to bike the 6 miles over to Lifestyle Fitness, either way I want to have a real good session tomorrow so now I am off to bed 😉

Fast and furious

Posted on May 23, 2013 by Malin

If I didn’t knew better I would have thought it was winter all over again when I stepped outside this morning to send the kids off to school. I guess this is the ind of days when you are happy you actually have a gym membership because running outside in wind, rain and cold is never appealing. When I came into to lifetime fitness I thought I would give it a try to see how long of a distance I could run in an hour. The thing was that my hamstring was about as tight as they come after the kick as workout from yesterday. After running two miles in a decent tempo my legs had it but I managed to push myself for another 2.3 miles before I gave in and gave them a 7 minutes rest. The last 10 minutes of my cardio I did a sprint interval at a speed of 10.5 30 sec on and 30 sec off and when I was done I was finished!

After I picked Mira up from school we went to an old friend of mine for lunch and a good long chat while Mira was playing with the cuties Maltese puppy!

And now we waaaaaant one 😉

Don’t go chasing waterfalls…sometimes they just find you anyway!

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Malin

I did a big mistake this morning when I sent the kids to school in long pants because as soon as I got outside the door I realized it was 100% humidity in the air and as soon as I started on the warmup on the treadmill I started to “leak” like a waterfall and the workout itself was not a joke!

First out me and MrsL started doing step ups on the bench at the entrance that works as a bag rack, tying your shoes or just another piece of equipment we can use in our exercise. Next up was lunging across the gym, I think I counted to 28 then straight into a 30 sec wall-sit followed by 15 leg-extensions and hold on it’s not over yet because we lunged back across the gym then did 15 box-squats X2…phu this was just a crazy long circuit!

We were all prepared of doing a third set but Jonathan settled on two and none of us was complaining because when we started to think about the quads they where fairly tired. It is amazing how you mentally can push you further than what you really normally would do as long as you are prepared for it. This being said we kept on working the legs but now it was the hamstrings we attacked and we started this circuit with the Pilates ball doing 15 reps.

I will never forget the first time I did this in Jonathan’s “boot camp” class back in the days and I was dying after 15. The thing is now I have done it for a “while” but they still killing me because as soon you think you master a movement Jonathan will be there adjusting you so it becomes as hard as if it was the first time you ever put your foot in a gym 😉

After this I picked up the 16 kg kettlebell and after 5 reps of single leg romanian deadlift my hammies start whispering to me to ditch the weight but I knew better and was holding on to it for five more and 30 plank with leg lift 😉

Even though this was our “leg day” Jonathan had promised that he would make this week more of a “total body” week and he kept that promise. Not sure if I was too happy when he had us doing the overhead press, just like the one we did the on Monday because I knew they were killers!

With 5 minutes left of our session and coming into the last set I had to go down in weight because once again my back started to compensate and I was totally shaking doing my final squats with biceps curls and push-ups. It was a relief stretching out all the muscles we worked for the day especially the gluts as I had not spent too much attention stretching them out from yesterdays 10k run.

A Tuesday run

Posted on May 21, 2013 by Malin

I do love to read but I go through periods when I do not touch a book and this has been the case for the past few months but one of my swedish friends decided to start a book club and I was not far behind to join in. Anyhow the other day I went to the library to lend the “Rules of civility” by Amor Towles. I started reading and I am hooked and last night I ended up going to bed well past midnight so waking up to this crazy busy Tuesday I was very tired but with my mind already made up on running I went outside and what a morning!

One of the goals I have set for myself before I go back to Sweden is to run the distance of a half a marathon and with a slight breeze, sun and not to hot I went up to the woods and completed a 10k run. I have never even thought about trying to run a 1/2 marathon before so I’m not sure what pace I am supposed to keep but I guess it is all about trial and error. I had hoped that I would have run farther because coming back to the house I still had some juice left in the legs but at 10 am I had to rush over to Lifetime Fitness to meet Rebecca for our Pilates session and when the hour was done so was my legs ;).

A six-pack Monday

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Malin

I loooove the summer and I looove the humidity and even if it makes it a little bit harder to breathe while running I don’t care and when I came into see Jonathan this morning he sent me and MrsL outside to warm up. We were running along Willow Road where you can find a little sneaky hill (there is not that many around) and we had set our heart on it. THe thing was though that we were supposed to turn around after 6 minutes but I guess both me and MrsL had issues with just turning around without finishing the hill. We ended up running for almost 2 miles and we were late coming back into class so Jonathan gave us the evil eye but a girl needs to do what a girl needs to do….finish the hill 🙂

The other ladies had already started the first circuit and although it was a total body workout we put a lot of focus on the abs.

My arms are still sore from Fridays killer workout especially the biceps and working with the 20 pounds medicine ball really got them working again when we were doing the 50 russian twist and the wood chops. The workout was not really cardio based but the humidity really got us sweating like there was no tomorrow.

We kept on working with the medicine ball and first out in the third circuit was a “step back lunge with a twist then up to a high knee with a twist. I am not a big fan of this movement but I know for sure that is really effective working the core as well as the shoulders and arms.

With the arms tiring out as we picked up the 16kg ketllebell and did slow 10 shoulder presses followed by 15 fast with help of the legs. The last set I could not finish the 15 because I was afraid the arms was going to give in and that the kettlebell would end up on top of my head, not to fun! We finished out on leg raises to the sides to get the obliques working.

It was not that the workout was not hard but I actually did not run this weekend so I felt pretty fresh and the hour flew by fast. The last three exercises we did was weighted leg raises, plank with extended arms that was pretty straight forward but I could feel my lower back compensating when I did the squat to press. I would not be surprised if I wake up with an ache tomorrow morning but I don’t mind because I actually like waking up and when I move my limbs and they hurt I know I did something right the previous day.

Now the “big storm” is rolling in and I am sitting inside watching the sky light up and the rumble of thunder and hoping it wont rain too much because me and MrsL is going for a run in the forest tomorrow morning and I don’t wont to get my shoes muddy…lol

Quesadillas and a margarita…you gotta love the summer!

Posted on May 18, 2013 by Malin

I guess you figured out by know that I love my food and sometimes my old favorites comes sneaking up on me! This is when I try to come up with substitute for things I try to stay away from like gluten and dairy. So yesterday when Freddie suggested that we should make quesadillas on the grill my mouth stated watering and my brain started working and this is what I came up with…

Tortilla bread

2 Egg

less than 1/2 cup (1 dl) psyllium husk (whole flakes)

1 cup (2 dl) water

salt

pepper

cayenne pepper

garlic powder

Mix all the ingredients in a mixer and let it stand for 5-10 minutes so the husk swells. Spread out the batter in-between 2 sheets of parchment paper, use your hands to get it evenly spread and place it in the oven for about 5-10 minutes app. 350F/200C.

I filled the tortilla with Gouda Cheese (goat cheese has no lactose in it), shrimps, tomatoes, shiitake mushrooms, salt and pepper.

I grilled my quesadillas for a few minutes on each side and served it with a margarita light (no sugar or calories)…I guess if you are choosing from two evil, go for the less evil because this really made my day 😉