cardio blast & my weekly workouts

I admit:  I'm a cardio junkie.  When I first started working out & switching over to a healthy lifestyle, it was all cardio all the time - and it did wonders for me, too.  I know there are a lot of people who knock it, but I've always enjoyed cardio 400% more than any other kind of workout (except running - ohhhhh do I hate running).

All winter long I subjected myself to strength & resistance training - and I'm not going to say I didn't get anything out of it, because I love love love my back/shoulder muscles, toned arms, & the way I am finally able to look in a mirror and appreciate that my ass isn't COMPLETELY flat - but as soon as the weather starts getting warmer, all I want to do is jump around and sweat...which is exactly what I did all week long:

Selfies on the beautiful CTC campus.

Monday - I spent the work day at the Chrysler Tech Center, which has a beautiful campus, so I took advantage of my longer than average lunch break between classes (after scarfing down an amazing free salad) to do a few laps of the property, which was blissful.  After my seminar was over, I had a couple hours to kill, so I changed, headed out to Mae Stecker park to do some more walking (now that it's beautiful outside, I can't stop!) and then shot down to Lifetime to take a Zumba class with my friend Emily & one of my favorite instructors. Monday/Wednesday the class I take is super dance-oriented, so I feel like it not only works my body, but also my brain - I was never a dancer as a child so I can only hope to look even remotely as good as the instructor!!

Tuesday - After a looooooooong day at my actual job, I took a hot vinyasa yoga class with my favorite yoga instructor.  She strays from the typical Lifetime Yoga format of sun salutation A, Sun Salutation B, a longer flow, and then some stretching & a cooldown & instead adds a lot more longer, more challenging flows, complete with oodles of balancing work (which is one of my favorite things about yoga!) and a horrible (but awesome) core section in the middle. I never knew boat pose variations could hurt so good.  Then I came home and did a nice few laps around my condo complex while listening to a couple podcasts (the newest episodes of Barbell Shrugged & Strange Brews)!

Wednesday - Met my friend for another Zumba class with the same instructor as Monday.

Thursday - Normally every Thursday I take a Dance Jams class with my all time favorite instructor, but she was having a sub I don't care for as much this week, so instead I swapped Lifetimes & tried a new instructor at the Shelby gym, and he was WONDERFUL!  A friend of mine who had gotten there early graciously swapped spots with me so I could get close to the stage & actually see what moves I was supposed to be imititating which was sooooooo helpful.  The guy who was teaching had lost 100+ lbs doing Zumba, which is what made him want to be a teacher, and he was GREAT. The class was hot hot hot, everybody was yelling and dancing and interacting, which made it a million times more fun than the usual Zumba class - plus he was super interactive with the crowd & got up in your face a lot, which isn't something everyone likes, but it's something I LOVE.  Considering I passed up free beer to go, I'm glad it was so perfect!!

Friday - This morning I got up and went to yet ANOTHER Dance Jams class - I had the day off because of the holiday, and a friend of mine teaches only morning classes, so I never get to go, and therefore I justified yet another bout of cardio ;)  Later I plan on biking over to my parents' house to do some pre-brew shopping & then hit up a homebrewer meeting!!

Saturday - The instructor I normally take on Thursday nights is going to be back, so yes.....I'll be doing Dance Jams yet again.  The more I type, the more I'm starting to feel ridiculous...  (On a sidenote - I forgot my FitBit this morning & I got so upset that none of my steps were going to count.....and then, like a genius, I read the help forums and found that you could manually update your steps in!!  I guess that might just tempt some people to cheat, but I was sooooooo glad my hour long efforts were recorded after all - when I got home and saw I only had 184 steps, I wanted to cry!)

Sunday - AT LAST! Sunday is my big brew day (we're making two batches in one day - never before attempted!) so I need to be up & at 'em earlier than normal, which means I'm taking a super early morning hot vinyasa yoga class. Hopefully it'll stimulate those creative juices & help me make some tasty beer.

And finally, the holiday Monday - A special 1:15 long Dance Jams + Strength class with my favorite instructor and another who I've never had before - I can't WAIT for this class!!

A little ridiculous on the amped up cardio, I know - but I feel great!!  I'm getting my high-impact endurance back, and I've been really rocking out the past few classes, sweating and getting my jams on.  I'm trying to find a new strength class I enjoy to work into my routine, but in the meantime, I love what I'm doing & I'm seeing results, so I'm not going to let anybody tell me too much cardio is all bad!!

QUESTION OF THE DAY: What do your weekly workouts look like?  Are you a cardio junkie or a strength training buff?  Does the weather impact your workout regime?

blog version 2.0 (and a little throwback friday)

I keep thinking, I need to make a post about _____.  And then I don't, because it doesn't seem "relevant" enough or "big" enough or "important" enough, and so my blog, which I created because I'm a writing major, and I miss writing and I miss tracking memories & being able to go back to them whenever I want, sits here and gathers dust because the things I feel like posting about don't fit into my pigeon-holed ideas about what the blog "needs" to be about.

And that's stupid.  I'm not a fitness blog, I'm not a beer blog, I'm a me blog and those two things just happen to be what I'm most interested in.  So now I'm going to write about me, and I'm going to write more often, and if you only want to read about the cool things I'm brewing or the cool classes I took, or how much weight I can lift, you'll have to learn how to skim.

We picked the bracelets with the bells because
we love to be annoying!! (My shirt says "I
HATE RUNNING" FYI....but I don't hate dancing!

ANYWAY, to start things off, last night I went to a 2 hour "Spring into Summer" Zumba Bash at Ken
Jackson's Fitness Factory (which is one of my favorite "small" - maybe private is a better word? - gyms/studios, because every time I go in that place I can't help but feel totally badass.  Maybe it's the giant mural all over the wall, or industrial feel, or the garage doors that open out into the parking lot, or the giant tires strewn about and the punching bags hanging from the ceiling, but it's really just an awesome space, period.  I took my friend Alisha, who is really trying to get into working out & being fit, which is great because it is SO fun to have someone to work out with again!! Especially now that it's getting nicer outside, so we've been incorporating a lot more walks & bike rides & outdoor stuff into the routine.

The cool thing about this jam was that it was taught by Ivy Mitchell, Terri Harrick, Nancy Bara, Dru Roby, Terri McCartney & Nancy Graybill (one of my Bokwa mamas!), some super longstanding Zumba instructors in Michigan, and the "theme" was kind of a throwback to the roots of Zumba.  Say what you will about Zumba - yes it's silly and no it doesn't feature barbells and heavy weights and giant muscles, but it's what really got me into fitness a few years back, and dance fitness classes in general are still a big part of my routine, and a huge part of the weight loss I accomplished.  I'll always have a soft spot for it - and it's just plain fun!!  Nancy started the class off saying how they're all 102 years old, but these ladies (and gentleman!) absolutely brought it for two straight hours.  Plus, I've been doing Zumba for about 3 years now, but it's been around for a lot longer - so it was really cool to see some styles & hear some music from basically the inception of the workout.  I'm not going to lie, my favorite dance class at the moment is 100% different - full of hip hop music & club dance styles and full of a lot less salsa & meringue, but it was really cool to go back to the roots.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: What got you into fitness & how has it (or you!) evolved since then?