The only workout you regret is the one you did not do

Posted on May 2, 2015 by Malin

I was teaching a fitness class this morning and I was looking at the girls as they were super setting bench presses with pushups until they were shaking and thought to myself; “I wish I could have worked out with them”. The energy that they had was great and in a way the results and more often greater when you do workout in a group. Maybe not everyone will agree with me on this one but the benefits from a wellness, socially and for some the fitness results makes you feel better, you will more likely to feel accountable to work a little harder while you are having a good laugh at the same time.

So here I am now sitting and waiting for the rest of the family to get home from the soccer games the kids had this morning and hopefully I will have time to make a run in the forest before we hitting the streets in Chicago for a good night out with friends.

You need to live a little…

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Malin

I have spent the last nine days with my brother and sister and we have had the most amazing time here in Chicago. I have not had much time to blog but I have tried to kept my routines as much as possible, lifting weights and running. Something I have not done to much of this past week is cook and I have eaten things I don’t normally eat and I will tell you I can totally feel it. But as always all good things must come to an end and yesterday my siblings flew back home to Sweden 😦 and I am back to my proper routines and “diet”.

I didn’t workout the girls last week so it was nice to be back and Jonathan had put together a conditioning session for us. We started with slow contraction type of movements and first out was the superman extension, modified side plank with a leg raise, spiderman climbers and slow climbers. Every movement was done very slowly with a pause to really tighten every muscle.

The circuit was a long and once we were done we got up on our feet and picked up 5 pounds dumbbells doing 20 scarecrows, 20 shoulder raised and 15 squats. The weight was light but with the high rep-count and the shoulder stabilization on the mat it is fair to say that the shoulders were screaming at the end of the circuit.

The following routine we picked up the pace and jumped rope for 2 minutes and then the following exercises was done in 30 seconds intervals nonstop…woodchoppers (30 sec each side), jumping jacks with 16 pounds medicine ball, russian twist, weighted leg raises and an extended plank.

Surprisingly the last circuit we did not go outside considering the weather is warming up again instead we finished out on 30 seconds intervals on the rope with 3 different variations.

It was an intense workout that I very much needed and now when I have lived a little it is time to get back to work and I am really looking forward to it 🙂

Never walk alone…

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Malin

So the last few days has been crazy and I have not had a chance to update but that does not mean I haven’t kept up with my workout…yes, I will admit this is my cheat week because my brother and sister is here…

Knowing that I would spend time with them this week I asked Jonathan if I could come in before the kids started school. So monday morning I came in to Lifestyle Fitness for the 6.45 class the only thing was though that I was the only one showing up so it was canceled. I worked out alone but Jonathan was kind enough to guide me through the workout and the focus was mainly on the core. I had forgotten my gloves and hanging in the bar really hurts and it annoyed me that I could not totally concentrate on the movement.

The second half of the workout was a little bit more cardio based but yet working the arms and abs. I realized it is very different working alone and it is at these moments I remember how the gals really motivates me but I was not alone as Jonathan doing his thing at the other side of the gym and made sure I wasn’t slacking off 🙂

I had to rush out to have time to send the kids to school and we were also going downtown Chicago to celebrate my brothers 40th Birthday doing a Segway tour along the lake front! We had a great day but we were absolutely exhausted at the end of day although I must say that “Segwaying” is a lazy mans vehicle 😉

I have awesome friends and thank you for a great night!

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Malin

So me and my gals went downtown to NoMi on Saturday Night so celebrate my birthday and we had an absolutely fabulous time not to mention the food. MrsT had arranged a table next to the panorama windows with a fantastic view over Michigan Avenue and the Lake. I just love sitting and watch the pulse of the city while sipping on a cocktail and chatting away with my friends and I was so happy when they had elk carpaccio because I think this is the only time I actually have had anything close to game meat….haha this is the true swede in me speaking 😉

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We finished the off the evening in the bar I kept on feeling how my throat was pounding which was not a great sign. When I woke up on Sunday morning I had this crazy head cold and I knew I had to take it easy so I rested out yesterday and went to bed early with the kids. I’m not in the greatest shape today but I am feeling better and I will make it in to see Jonathan because I have gone two days without a workout and it really starts to bother me…

You know it is spring when soccer starts

Posted on April 27, 2013 by Malin

We had a very early start this very beautiful summer like morning. At 8am Mira had her first kick off of the season with the “Fancy Blue Girls”. You might think that I would have had time to get a quick run in but it has been one thing after another the entire day. Knut also had his first outdoor soccer game of the season and while Freddie took the car me and Mira biked to her friend’s birthday party. I had a few errands to run at the mall so I biked over as fast as I could and in the mall I was running around getting more presents and trying to find a pair of black heels but it was impossible. With 10 minutes to go before I had to pick Mira up I hurried back on my bike. I feel a bit bummed that I didn’t run but I probably ended up biking for 20 odd minutes or so in a tank top and in my shorts so I did get some sun and I guess I just have to appreciate whatever exercise I got in today…Now I am getting ready to go downtown Chicago with the gals!

I woke up to a disaster…

Posted on April 19, 2013 by Malin

I spent Wednesday morning at Lifestyle Fitness (the warehouse) lifting weights that for me was so heavy that I needed Jonathan to spot me or otherwise I would have dropped them on my face, not sure how pretty that would have been…

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So after this intense workout I tried to blog on Wednesday nigh but I was so tired I decided to finish the post in the morning. Well, that did not happen as planned as my friend called me in the 5.30 in the morning asking me to come and get her as she thought her house was about to flood. I jumped in the car and our street had already started to flood and went to get them. When we got back to my house another flash flood came poring down and the water in my backyard kept on coming closer and closer up the hill.

As soon as the rain stopped we went outside and this point we were unable to leave the area. We could not get out and for those who tried ended up with very expensive car repairs… When we came up to the park that was no longer a field, it looked much more like Lake Michigan.

We were very lucky and managed to keep the water out of our house but I feel so sorry for my neighbors who I saw pumping water out of their houses, tearing carpet out of their basements as sewage was coming up through their sinks and for some who ended up having to evacuate altogether! Today the water is receding, the kids are back to school and life starts to get back to normal.

Dinner with great friends is unbeatable!

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Yesterday Freddie and I went to met up with a few friends in Logan Square to celebrate my 35th birthday but before we met up with them we found a bar that had seating outside and enjoyed the first cocktail in the sun. We had made reservations at 5pm at the Telegraph, a very trendy and cool wine bar with really different and interesting food and some fascinating wine parings to go with.

We had a really great time but as always not enough of it as we had to rush through the last course (it was the best one) as we had tickets to a show in the Loop. We literally shoved the food down our thoughts and rushed over to the theater was still about 10 minutes late. It was not too bad though because the show was very easy to get a hang of and it as we walked to our seats the crowd was in stitches. I laughed so much I thought I would pee my pants and I thoroughly would recommend it unless you are easily offended or don’t like crude humor ;). With that being said I had a fabulous evening and could not have spent my birthday in a better way!

I’m a concrete kinda gal…

Posted on March 29, 2013 by Malin

Being born and raised with the nature around the corner and with a family that loved the forest and fishing, something went terrible wrong with me. I love my home town and the “High Coast” and think it is one of the most beautiful places. It is great to have a ski slope in the middle of town, you can hike and cross-country ski pretty much straight from the centre of town. The view over the bay with its amazing archipelago gives you the opportunity to travel into town in your sailboat or motorboat, yet I have to admit I am a concrete girl and I love Chicago!

Me and Freddie lived in London for five and some years and we are coming up to 5 years here in Chicago and every time I drive to downtown and see the skyline I just love it and it was no different today when we made it to Lincoln Park Zoo. We had a great time this first spring like day, the kids were getting their faces painted and it was just so nice seeing all the people who had come out of their hibernation and some even in skirts and flip-flops!(Not sure what they were thinking cos the breeze from the lake is far from warm)

This was a great way to get the spring started, let’s hope there will be more days like today!

Nice to be back!

Posted on March 25, 2013 by Malin

So yesterday was the BIG day when Knut finally received the Team Banner for winning the Wolves Cup and he did so at Allstate Arena where the Chicago Wolves was playing a game versus Milwaukee. He skated out on the ice in intermission and we were screaming like the crazy and proud parents we are 😉

Being the “time-optimist” I am I did not make it over to the gym yesterday for my run as I had planned before we had to leave for the game. So I was very glad when Jonathan had created a mix between strength and cardio in a very interval inspired workout.

We started out doing 30 seconds rope straight into the rowing on the TRX and as soon as that was done we started to throw the 12 pound ball into the wall. This three exercise together really made the arms, shoulders and back work hard and the last exercise in this circuit was fast squats touching (sitting down on the wheel).

So far I was doing ok but the thing was today was our first day of spring break and none of us had to get out of bed to get ready for school and with a dog in our house that need to go for walk I did not have time to eat breakfast. So going into the second circuit still doing intervals I ran out of “juice” in the middle of my push-ups before throwing the big ropes hard to bring the up heart beat but that was not really the hardest part. It was pushing the wheel across the gym, my lower back is still very sore from the deadlift we did on friday and I had to focus on pushing the wheel to the end.

We finished off one last circuit with the medicine ball doing squat to push over head, chops and jumping jacks pushing the ball overhead. This was a great start to the week and I can not wait to run tomorrow over at Life Time Fitness!

A legal run

Posted on March 10, 2013 by Malin

So we have had a crazy busy weekend that started yesterday with a soccer game followed by hockey practice. Mira and I did not wait around because we where getting ready for her wall climbing birthday party so we ran over to Target to get some stuff for the goodie bags.

I normally rest on Saturdays but I was meeting my Swedish girlfriend at NoMi Restaurant in Chicago for drinks, I love that place and then dinner over at Tavernita but with Mira’s birthday party I was not sure if I would be able to make it today. So as soon as Knut’s hockey was done we drove over to Life Time Fitness so I could do a quick run done before getting ready. The thing was that after last week intense workouts I did not have a lot to give but I managed to do interval sprinting for 30 minutes. When I was done I had to sit down because I honestly thought I would puke if I took another step and it took me a good few minutes before I could go and fetch the kids from the child center. This was not one of my prettiest workouts but at least it was legal as I received my work permit in the mail yesterday, woohoo!

It was not only me who was going out to enjoy myself. Mira and Freddie was going for the father/daughter dance over at the school so at the same time as I was getting ready Mira was doing her hair and nails. She was so pretty and she also picked out Freddie’s shirt and tie that matched her dress (she is a real fashionista). I think this was a much needed time for them both and she really had a blast with her dad and all her friends!