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!

Anger management…Pilates might actually do the trick

Posted on April 16, 2013 by Malin

So after my very angry morning with my equally angry run I still had a little bit more fume to get rid of and matter of fact we had our second Pilates lesson today with Rebecca. Last week she was teaching me over at her house but today she had booked the studio at LifeTime Fitness were they have 4 Pilates Reformer, but honestly I think they looked like something taken out of 50 shades of Grey…lol

I think when you are angry and running you can get great results because when you keep on playing the situation over and over in your head it sort of makes you more angry and the angrier you get and faster you run. The thing was though when I was coming off the treadmill I was probably even more angry than before!

So for me coming into the Pilates Studio having to focus on the movement and the breading left me with no thoughts in the head. I was 100% focused on what I was doing and working with the reformer is very interesting indeed. I have to say that some movements we did were similar to some movement we do on the TRX but the result were totally different, I discovered muscles I didn’t knew I had!!

Rebecca is a very good teacher and she is very thoroughly when she give us the instructions as well she makes sure that we are moving the right way and if we don’t she will come and adjust us. I would not be surprised if I will add Pilates to my junkie list 🙂

2013-04-16 11.30.56

So spring break is over…So let’s get ready for Summer!

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Malin

Yesterday I did not sit down until I actually went to bed and by then I was absolutely exhausted! I’m not sure if it was from the crazy leg/cardio workout or the fact I had a million things to do or maybe it was a combination!

Anyhow yesterdays workout was both fun and very intense. We started the day doing hamstring curls into a single leg romanian deadlift with 20 pounds dumbbells. At this point my legs were still a bit stiff from my Tuesday run but as soon as they got warm it was no longer an issue.

As soon as our little warmup was over and done with we really got the leg working. We started with balancing on a flipped over bosu ball doing weighted squats, this is an awesome exercise! When this was over we lunged cross the gym followed by weighted step ups. At this point I realized we were in for more cardio than what I was expecting and it was only got better!

The next circuit up was new and was a little bit more intense and the first exercise. We were working with a 12 pound ball. Squatting to a sit, jump behind the ball, pick it up from a squat and push overhead. Although it can be mentally easier to do the same type of exercise over and over because you sort of know what you are in for but I really enjoy new combinations were I have to challenge myself!

Straight from here we took to the mats doing leg raises from push up position and then straight into spiderman climbers (same leg). Next station was jumping rope and as a former gymnast I got to do my little tricks, like double jumps and as soon as the minute was up we had another minute on the bike. We this circuit three times through without any rest as we were told to bring our water with us!

The last 10-15 minutes of our workout was insanely intense as we started doing suicide across the gym followed by sprints and at this point my last concern was my legs because I thought I was about to die and I was about to go outside to dig my own grave…lol.

And when we all might have thought that maybe this is it Jonathan had us jumping with two legs across the gym followed by speed skaters! Like I said I was completely capped when I was done and I guess the only way I could have kept on going yesterday was by not sitting down until the day was over and then I slept like a little baby.

Now I am going outside for a light jog because with two days in a row with crazy intensity I need a recovery day!

Let’s get pumped!

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Malin

Mira’s spring break started yesterday so today she had to hang with us at the warehouse and I must say after our house and the Ice rink this is her 3rd home…lol.

After a week of legs it was so nice knowing that we were going to work on our upper body today and as soon as our warm up was done I turned my head to see what Jonathan had planned for us my hurt jumped…It looked like so much fun!

Warm up

We started out by doing sitting shoulder raise and Mira was so cute when she sat on the bench next to me using the pink 1 pound dumbbell imitating me. The circuit was mix with up doing pulling and pushing movement so the next thing up for me was deadlift. I have never done them like this before and I had forgotten my gloves and after the first set the my hands were hurting like h**l. This is when the cold weather comes handy as I brought out my leather gloves that I had in the pockets of my jacket…lol.

I kept on building up the weights and after three sets both my forearms and my upperarms were pumped and it is such a crazy feeling when you bend your arms. It is almost like the inside doesn’t fit in the skin…weird!

The following circuit we kept on alternating between pushing and pulling. When I initially picked up the barbell it felt really light but coming into my last rep both my arms and back was starting to fatigue and the barbell felt like it weigh a ton! It was almost a relief when i picked up a pair of dumbbell and did reverse flies together with bicep curls, just to give my back some rest.

When the hour was almost over I was really pumped. We had not done any “intentional” cardio but my heart rate still raised a bit during the heavy movements but not enough to count like a cardio session. So the last five minutes we finished on the big ropes.

It is now 4pm and my shoulders, my back, my arms are all aching so I pretty sure I am in for a saturday of pain 😉

It is a shit day!

Posted on February 11, 2013 by Malin

I guess staying up all night Saturday will take its toll even on the best, the day could not start in a more crappy way because we all overslept! I was rushing the kids out the door with their hair un-brushed and their shirts put on backwards but somehow they actually made it in time for the bus.

We only have one car and I am constantly picking someone up or dropping them off and today Freddie needed to go to a meeting close-ish by where we live and we decided that I would take him there. As it turned out this meeting of his was not so close by, it was out in nowhere and at five to ten we still had another 15 minutes to drive before we got there and then I was going back to the warehouse for my workout at 10am. I just had to be realistic about it and realize that it was not going to happen today. I called Laura to spill out my anger and I know it is really silly of me being upset because at the end of the day Freddie’s work is more important than if I make it to the gym or not (believe it or not). Now I am going to pick Mira up from school and then I am going over to Life Time Fitness to run and lift some weights and I am sure I will be in a better mood when I am done 😉