I love squatting. If you do them right, it hits your butt, quads, and abs. Try my 500 squat challenge. I do it once a week. This workout is a mix of a full body workout, kickboxing, barre, cardio, bodyweight, and strength training all squat-based. Give it a try! Your glutes and your quads will be on fire the next day, but it will only make you stronger.
0 Comments
In December, I started training for a full marathon. I was ready. I was running well and I was excited to see what I was capable of. I looked forward to my long runs and I was amazed at the fact I could run 12 miles after walking 4 around campus. It felt great training for a 26.2 mile race knowing I was running well and putting in the extra effort. Mentally, I felt good. Physically, I did not. In the course of my 1 month marathon training, I suffered 4 different injuries that put me in a horrible place.
When it comes to health and fitness, it seems like we have began to define ourselves by numbers. Calories consumed. Grams of macros. Body fat percentage. Pounds we weigh. Steps taken. Weight we squat. Miles ran. Although these things seem to be important, and are important to an extent, it's time that we stop counting and start living.
What normally starts off as an internal battle to get myself out of my air conditioned apartment turns into a beautiful, magical, poetic experience that words will never be able to properly applaud. One of the many beautiful views I am blessed to run by every day (Lake Artemisia, Berwyn Heights, Maryland)
For the first time in my life, I ran a race where not one soul was there for me at the finish line. No teammates cheering me on. No friends or family with posters and signs. No coach to tell me to push it and catch someone. My puppy wasn't there to shower me with kisses (even though he actually just loves how sweaty I am). It was just me, my watch, my running shoes, and the 12,000 other strangers in my competition. The only people I spoke to that morning was my uber driver and the lady who checked my bag in. This was something I was doing for myself, and only myself. I was ready to go sub-1:50. It was only 26 seconds. 2 seconds per mile. That's nothing.
I've always loved cooking --especially cooking healthy meals. But, I always looked at cooking as a once-in-a-while hobby rather than a daily (or, 3 times a day) routine. At home, I cooked maybe 4 meals a week and the rest of the meals were either takeout or a homecooked meal from Mom. Now that I'm living on my own in an apartment, I don't have that luxery anymore. I gladly turned down a dining plan and decided it was time to cook my own meals every day.
This tea is PERFECT to drink as soon as you wake up, or with breakfast. This tea has all of the metabolism boosting ingredients that will enter your body first thing in the morning and help you burn extra calories. WARNING: It is NOT the best tasting tea (as you can tell by the ingredients I wrote in my notebook). However, if you create the right proportions, it does have a pretty sweet and tangy taste with a little kick to it. Health benefits: The spiciness of the cayenne pepper will make your body produce extra heat and boost your metabolism to burn more calories. Cinnamon helps your body burn extra carbohydrates. Ginger and mint are good for stomach bloating. Lemon juice helps with hydration. Turmeric helps with detoxification. Green tea is the best drink for weight loss. Drink this tea every morning and see what happens!
Running makes me happy as a whole, but just like everything in life, it's the little things that mean the most to us. This list wasn't very hard to come up with, but here are the little things that make me smile when I'm running.
I used to hate running alone. I hated being alone with my thoughts and somehow, they always managed to defeat me. I could never find the perfect song, and I was too stubborn to make a playlist, so I'd spend most of the run skipping through sad love songs or mellow Lana Del Rey. My comfort zone was somewhere in the middle of our pack that ran in rows of twos. I felt safe running with my team. I felt happy telling funny stories and asking each other how our days were. I think I talked faster than I ran, but I was too busy bonding with my running friends to even think about actually running. But when all of that came to an end, it was time for me to adapt. I fell in love with running alone, and it's the healthiest thing I've ever done for my body and for my mind.
|
Archives
April 2018
Categories
All
|