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The Best 5 Minute Full Body Workout

I’m currently in work overload as the next few weeks are going to be quite stressful. Having a lot going on at work means that my personal to-do list is growing quite long. One of the things that has yet to be crossed of the list is joining the office gym. While I’m sure the process will only take 10 minutes I just haven’t made it upstairs yet to fill out the paperwork and take the mandatory tour. I also haven’t come to terms with paying the full year cost up-front until our cash flow gets in order a bit. Moving two people to two different countries is expensive!

So, in light of my gym-free life and the fact that none of my workout DVD or weights have arrived from the United States, I took the time to put together a simple five minute full body workout that I could do anytime in the comfort of my flat. It requires very little space, no equipment and best of all, it is hard enough to make your muscles quiver while not making you sweat.

Back to Basics Strength 

I’ve been doing this workout every single day for 2 weeks and am already up to 29 full pushups in a minute and the wall squat doesn’t make my thighs quiver quite so much. I love getting it done early, right after my morning run, before hopping in the shower!  It’s the perfect solution for people who travel, don’t belong to a gym, or are just looking for a beginner strength training program. Even someone like my new workout buddy, Sarah, who is a new mom with barely enough time to shower!

Try tossing this workout into your daily routine 3-4 days a week and feel the difference within weeks!

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ashleyd /

Reset

Greetings from New York City where the current time is 9:51pm. My body feels and thinks it is 3:51am however since I’m still very much on Europe time after spending 13 days on that time zone. You know what’s really fun though? Flying out to the Pacific Northwest tomorrow at 6am so my body can be really, really confused.

Yup, by the time I land in New York City Friday evening, I will have logged 21,000 miles in less than a week. That is insane and hard to fathom. What’s even harder to fathom is having a super, strong PR worthy 10k race on Saturday morning during the New York Road Runner’s Oakley 10K.

Instead of throwing in the towel on this race, I’m doing the opposite and revving up my system for a great race by focusing on myself this week even though I’ll be traveling. This means plenty of sleep, back on the vitamin and supplement wagon, strong but efficient workouts, stretching, and smart eating and drinking choices. It won’t always be easy but I know that a PR will feel sweeter than any late nights or 3rd glasses of wine. You see that? I’m not being silly and saying no wine, I’m saying moderation.

Here’s how I started the reset process today in between a long work day and an evening filled with both fun and tedious errands including another shellac manicure, long line at the post office, dry cleaning, and meeting with the movers (!!!?!).

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From top:

Peach Protein Oats including 1/2 c rolled oats, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp almond extract, 1 scoop Designer Whey vanilla protein powder, water, and 2/3 c peaches.

Salad #1 for lunch including mixed greens, beets, red onions, grilled chicken, egg whites, apples, tomatoes, salt & pepper, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar.

Speed workout on the treadmill is the perfect way to end a long day when torrential rains force me inside. Today I did 1/2 mile pick ups (6.2, 6.4, 6.2, 6.5, 6.2, 6.7) for a speedy 5k while jamming to Justin Timberlake, Usher, Ludacris, and Icona Pop.

Salad #2 for dinner including a large bowl of mixed greens, walnuts, tomatoes, grapes, strawberries, beets, red onions, egg, tomatoes, salt & pepper, 1/2 portion blue cheese, and light balsamic vinaigrette.

I also stuck guzzled over 64 ounces of water today and limited my caffeine to one cup of coffee around 3pm when my body and mind were both hitting a jet lag slump.

We’ll see if I can keep this up beginning tomorrow morning when I hope on a plane out west. Goal #1 is to drink at least 3 bottles of water during flight and baby my calf muscles with compression socks.

If you could fly anywhere tomorrow, free of charge, what would be your destination of choice? Mine would be New Zealand or Australia! Both countries have been top of our list for ages but are such a trek and quite expensive!

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30 Minute Treadmill Workout and BAMR Band Review

April showers brings May flowers eh? I feel like today was a reverse of that childhood rhyme as most of the April flowers were washed away with today’s heavy rain in New York City.

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As lovely as a speedy run along the East River sounded last night when I went to bed it didn’t quite happen this morning. I’m human and when I hear heavy raindrops on my window sill at 5:30am it makes rolling out of bed and lacing up my shoes 100x harder than normal. I rolled back over and enjoyed an extra hour of sleep along with a relaxing cup of hot coffee while getting ready this morning. It was such a nice treat but that also meant that my run needed to happen tonight after work. I’ve committed to keeping my health and fitness a priority over the next few weeks even when I have long, stressful days. Today was a perfect example. I wanted nothing more than to head home at 7:15 and enjoy a glass of wine. But, as I sip that wine I know it tastes better now than it would have sans workout!

As I’ve mentioned, my Equinox membership will be ending soon but tonight it served as the perfect place to do a quick workout. I only had 30 minutes for my run due to an 8pm work conference call. Therefore I knew I wanted something challenging that would also keep things interesting since I get VERY bored on the treadmill. It was a pretty simple workout but it helped me keep an average pace of 8:54 which is pretty speedy for a 30 minute run. I remember that last year this time I was feeling out of breath and challenged at a 9:40 pace!

Treadmill Progression Workout

I also had the chance to test out a fun, red chevron BAMR band during tonight’s run. Have you heard of BAMR bands? BAMR stands for Bad Ass Mother Runner and her bands are 7/8 inch non-slip headbands that support the Every Mother Counts charity! How cool is that? Katie sent me a band to test earlier this week and I couldn’t wait to try it!  Each headband is lined with velvet with helps keep it in place while the bright patterns keep things fun! Each headband is only $10 which is a great price compared to some other similar headbands on the market.

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How about you? Headband or not when you workout? If you’re on the headband train which one are you sporting these days?

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