The Seven Minute Workout

I've been avoiding running like it's my job lately. I've been really into simple strength training and creating routines that incorporate bursts of cardio. It's what's working for me now so I figure why mess with it?

Yesterday, while I was catching up on www.pbfingers.com, I was reminded of the Seven Minute Workout. I had heard of this trend a few months ago and done some reading on it, but it just sort of slipped my mind. I was pretty intrigued in the early reading, particularly this article. In a nutshell:

"In 12 exercises deploying only body weight, a chair and a wall, it fulfills the latest mandates for high-intensity effort, which essentially combines a long run and a visit to the weight room into about seven minutes of steady discomfort — all of it based on science." - NY Times

A new app for the workout came out, so I downloaded it and decided to give it a try last night. The point of the workout is to work as hard as possible (and be as uncomfortable as possible) for the whole 7 minutes. Then you're done! The app is very simple but really helpful. Each move is listed with a separate page where you can read about form or watch a video. When you press start, a big timer pops up and the app speaks to you. It tells you when to start a move, when to rest, and what move is coming up next.

You spend 30 seconds on each exercise and have 10 seconds of rest -- really just enough time to take a breath and switch into the next position. Here are the 12 moves:

1. Jumping jacks

2. Wall sits

3. Push-ups

4. Abdominal crunches

5. Step-ups onto a chair

6. Squats

7. Tricep dips on chair

8. Planks

9. High knees running in place

10. Lunges

11. Push-ups and side rotations

12. Side planks

I ended up doing two rounds of this with 2 minutes of rest in between. It was tough! My heart was pounding and I was sweating after each round. I hate tricep dips so much! They are so freakin' hard, even for just 30 seconds. 

The best part about the workout was that I did it in my living room without sneakers on! There's no reason on any given day that I can't throw on a sports bra, head into the living room and dedicate 7 minutes to this. 

Yay for new, quick workouts!

Lagging

Well it's been a while. The thought of updating about everything is overwhelming, so I'll do a quick bullet point list and call it a day for now. When I eventually upload all of my photos to my computer I'll do a more in depth write-up of some of the point below, but for now, this is it!

1. October 4th: Went with Tom to the Red Sox game (ALDS #1) against the Rays. They won 12-2 which was nutty! It was a suuuper fun game. Followed by a delicious sushi dinner at Fugakyu.

2. October 4-6: One of my best friend's from college (Deirdre) visited that weekend. It's always so wonderful to see her and visitors always make the weekend more college-like, which is a great thing!

3. October 7-14: I went to San Francisco!!. I will have a huge post on this coming up, but it was an awesome trip. By the end of it I felt like I lived there! Here's a sneak peek:

4. October 17-20: I went to the Wellfleet Oyster Festival and it was so fun! The weather was perfect and the house we stayed in was awesome. Definitely something I want to do annually.

5. October 25: I attended the ICA Gala again (I went a few years ago with Kathleen). It was catered by Ming Tsai and I drank far too much wine. It's always funny to go to these events and pretend to be one of the people I try to convince to donate to my events. Unfortunately I can't throw $10,000 toward an auction. Maybe one day?

6. October 27-29: I went to Philadelphia for work again! This was a quick trip but I really loved Philly. I am definitely going to have to add in some exploring time in my next trip there. Here are the only pictures I took:

And now it's today. October was kind of a whirlwind and I'm sooo ready to slow down for a bit.

In food/health news, I've actually been doing quite well. I met with the nutritionist again last Thursday, and while I'm still not positive I like her (she's nice enough, but probably not right for me), just going and talking about nutrition does provide some motivation and excitement. We decided I would make a few changes for the two weeks until we met again:

1. Write down everything I'm eating
2. Eat less dairy and grains (white, whole wheat, whatever)
3. Be conscious of portion sizes without actually measuring

I think these were three great goals, none of which required major changes. I decided to recreate my old spreadsheet tracker and have written down every bit for the last week. Pretty exciting...and eye opening. By far the biggest challenge in these weeks is lessening the amount of dairy and grains I eat. In talking about my typical meals, I realized I incorporated some type of grain and dairy into almost every meal. Lessening them is an attempt to get more protein, fruit and veggies into my diet. It's been hard but not so bad! Here are some of the meals I've been eating lately:

Veggie snacks

Boloco bowl: pork carnitas, lettuce, guacamole, tomato salsa and corn salsa - no rice, beans or cheese!

scrambled eggs, turkey bacon, fruit

more eggs, bacon and roasted sweet potato hash

fall apples!

spicy lentil soup

side of corn

Lettuce tacos! I am so proud of these -- tom and I made the salsa using lots of stuff from the garden and I didn't add any cheese!

This whole new attempt at eating was inspired by the Whole 30 diet, particularly the "manifestos" on grain and dairy. I'm not quite ready to take the leap at whole 30 eating, but I think this is a step in the right direction!

More updates coming soon!

Brain Dump

Gosh, the days have just gotten away from me. I tried last week to write a post about the Martha's Vineyard wedding weekend but none of my photos were uploading and I got too frustrated.

So where did I leave off? Oh yea, with that quick update.

So I actually did very well last week. On Monday I went to the gym class (total body strength) and loved it. I even went back this Monday and loved it again! Very exciting. After the class I did go food shopping and I did make breakfast, lunch and dinner every day until Friday. Woo woo!

I had some surprise visitors over the weekend so things went a little awry. On Saturday I made breakfast for myself, then we went out for lunch. I managed to stay away from the delicious looking huge bloody marys but did order a chicken sandwich that came with chips. Later in the night we went out and I ended up having 3 drinks across the night. There may or may not have been a little late night Chinese food eating....ugh.

On Sunday I got right back on track and ordered a seared tuna salad and and stuck to water when we went out to lunch. It was tough to order a salad when everyone else was eating burgers and fries, but I just need to remember it's not the end of the world.

Workout wise I did exercise 4 times last week:

Monday - total body strength class

Wednesday - 30 Day Shred Level 3 + some extra exercises

Friday - 45 minute interval strength workout (that I made up!)

Saturday & Sunday - walked 7 miles

This week has been really hectic so far because of work meetings and I've only gotten to the gym once (Monday class). I have more visitors this weekend and then am leaving for San Fran (!!!!) on Monday. I'm going to do my best to get a couple of workouts in this weekend but I really don't know. 

Today I did something pretty exciting, but I'm not completely ready to hash it out on the blog. I went to a nutritionist and talked to her for almost 2 hours. I was shocked to find out that my insurance covered this and the co-pay is only $15. I am meeting with her again on the 24th (she can only meet on Thursdays and I'm away next week, we're both away the week after). I'm not completely sure how I feel about it yet but I know it was definitely a positive step for me to take. More on that later.

And finally, here's a photo dump of the last couple of weeks:

Cute lunch place before the ferry to MV

Loved this note on the bathroom wall!

Sea Love <3 Funny story behind this photo...

Lobster traps

Menemsha sunset

Friends in MV!

Brewskis

Pasta sauce made with garden tomatoes

Yum.

Made up interval workout! Including stick figures haha

Pianos on the streets of Boston...love it.

Friends!

Seared tuna

Pumpkin party prep!

Quick update!

Another awesome long wedding weekend in the books! I'll update on that tomorrow or later this week, but for now, just a quick note on some short term plans (for my own accountability sake):

TONIGHT:
- I'm going to try a new gym class tonight at 6:30. I need to leave work, get home and changed, then head back out. I'm scared!
- After the gym class it's time for food shopping. I'm going to commit to making breakfast, lunch and dinner every day until Friday. Then we'll see!

For this week:
- Exercise at least 4 times
- Zero drinking of alcohol (I drank enough this past weekend to last me a while)

That is all.

Long Island Wedding Weekend

Hi there! It's event season in nonprofit land which is why I've been MIA. I had the first of my big events last Thursday and have to say I'm pretty happy it's over. These events are always pretty stressful so the feeling when it's over is just wonderful.

Last weekend (not this previous one) I went to the North Fork of Long Island for my cousin's wedding. I took a half day on Thursday and off on Friday -- it was such an amazing long weekend!

Tom and I took the ferry from New London to Orient Point which saved us a lot of time. I actually really liked getting out of the car, having a beer and doing some reading on the ferry. Definitely a nice break! Some views from the ferry:

An hour and 20 minutes later, we were in New York!

We drove straight to the house we rented to drop off our stuff. When we got the invitation for the wedding a while back I knew I wanted to make a weekend out of it. I rarely get to spend much time with my family so I asked my sister and cousin if they wanted to all go in on a house together. I did some research and found a great option just 10 minutes away from the wedding! The house was perfect and provided just the kind of escape from city life I was looking for. Ready for photo overload? I actually didn't get any photos inside the house, but here's the outside:

Front yard

Front patio

Backyard - view from the back patio

Back patio

View from the dock

Gorgeous huh? After we arrived at the house we dropped our stuff and went out to dinner to Jerry and the Mermaid for some seafood:

We spent the rest of the night drinking wine and playing Taboo. The next morning, Tom and I decided to get up a bit early and explore the area through a run. It was so beautiful! I actually didn't mind being out there.

Photo stop!

At one point we decided to go down to a beach and run on the sand. It was torture. In between runs we did some push ups and squats.

After the run we went back to the house, had some breakfast, relaxed outside, and then got ready for the wedding! The wedding took place at the gorgeous Martha Clara Vineyards. The ceremony and cocktail hour were outside, then the reception was held inside a big barn. It was such a beautiful pinterest-esque wedding (ha).

The only picture of the bride and groom I took :(

TKO ignoring me

:)

The next day we went over to the wedding hotel for a big brunch. From there we took shuttles over to Baiting Hallow vineyards for a day of wine tasting! Between 6 of us I think we went through ten bottle of wine over the course of a few hours. I'm not sure how any of us were standing...

After a surprising cab ride home, the boys attempted some fishing while the girls chatted and ordered pizza. We watched some TV (American Ninja Warrior!!!) and then hit the hay. We were all pretty tired from the day so it was a fairly early night.

On Sunday it was time to leave :( We had to be out of the house by 11 so we packed up, cleaned up, and said our goodbyes. Tom and I didn't have a ferry to catch until 6, so we had a full day to fill. We first checked out a little beach, then decided to go to the Atlantic Aquarium.

After the aquarium we went to the cutest little street called Love Lane. We of course had to eat lunch at the Love Lane Kitchen.

On the way back to the ferry we stopped at a few farm stands to pick up some fresh produce. I love farm stands!! And especially loved this one where they had huge cucumbers for so cheap!

We ended up hopping on an earlier ferry then stopped for dinner in Providence on the drive home. We went to Bob & Timmy's, which GQ actually rated the #5 pizza place in the USA!

The pizza was good but I can easily think of many places where I've had better. What's up with that GQ??

It was an awesome long weekend and I miss that house! Luckily Tom and I have another long wedding weekend coming up in Martha's Vineyard!