Workout Wednesday is a weekly series on YBC where I discuss the workouts I do to complement my yoga practice. This week's post is brought to you by IndestructibleMe, a cute little Etsy store that sells cute graphic tops. They sent me the One More Rep tank you see below - a mirror tank - perfect for selfies, haha.
Tank from Indestructible Me c/o
Ok I know it's Thursday but I missed Wednesday, so let's just go with Workout Wednesday on a Thursday and chat about workouts on the road. Woof. The last thing I want to do when I'm in the jungle and oozing sweat from my ears and belly button is work out. But I don't want to take an entire week off after all the hard work I've been putting in, so today (after three days off of much needed rest), I got to it. But before we talk about the workout, I wanted to share how my workouts have been going.
As you know, about two and a half weeks ago I started working with a personal trainer to help a sista out. It's been going extremely well. I also started working with a nutritionist because I felt like I wasn't eating enough and wasn't sure what I should be eating in order to meet my fitness goals. She immediately suggested a protein powder (I chose this one for its lack of junk) and an l-glutamine powder (I got this one) and I've been having that after workouts with some lemon juice, probiotics and sea salt (for electrolytes). She is also having me use some topical things, and I'll report back in a few weeks to let you know my thoughts on those.
The workouts have been going really well but both my trainer and I, toward the end of last week, felt like I was overtraining. Symptoms of overtraining: not sleeping well, not recovering well after workouts, feeling weak and as if you're consistently going backwards in your workouts. I think it's hard because as you may also know, my husband took a job out of state so I am on my own for walking the dog (twice a day, an hour each time), working out and doing my yoga, as well as just running around for errands etc. It's just a lot of overall activity for one person, and when one thing slips (like sleep, for instance), I feel it's like a domino effect and everything just sort of spirals downhill from there. The trouble was that I was coming to Costa Rica for a week, flying home for two days and then going to Miami for another week so I wanted to get in as much as I could with my trainer before the crazy schedule took over. That was a bad idea I guess. I say it a lot but really need to listen closer to my own advice: rest is your friend.
Something else I also say to people trying to get in shape and ask my opinion: food is also your friend. I have noticed a transformation in my body composition in just the last two weeks of being strict on following a loose diet (will post on that soon) but the biggest factor was just eating more. I'm not really eating any differently, I'm just eating more frequently. I'll post on that soon, if you're interested.
Anyway, so I took three days off from working out and feel like a whole new person. Today I went relatively easy with the following workout:
100 single jump rope
21-15-9 burbees and squats
100 single jump rope
My trainer had sent me with a list of travel wods and there were certainly harder wods but with how hot it's been, and how much I am doing (yoga class, running around in the heat, etc), I really just wanted to ease into it.
Essentials: sunglasses, whey protein, kindle (just read this book - INSANE), dipperz
Some essentials:
New shades - I am so weird about sunglasses. I feel uncomfortable in anything except for aviator style and I also don't know how people buy sunglasses without trying them on. That's so brave in my book, haha. My eyes are kind of going downhill lately and I wanted to invest in polarized lenses, so I scooped these up. What a difference polarized lenses make!
Whey protein packets - This isn't something I would drink on a daily basis at home because it has stevia which needs to be processed through the liver and I just think with how much hell I have put my liver through with the longterm antibiotic treatment for lyme and neglecting to do a liver cleanse until this past summer, I just don't feel right about it. I also don't care for the taste of stevia. It tastes artificial to me. This also has sunflower lecithin in it and I try to avoid lecithin because it's tough for the digestive tract. That being said, the whey is really high quality - grass fed, non-gmo, no hormones, etc etc, and for a few days, it's not a big deal and it keeps me ticking throughout the day since I'm used to eating like every two to three hours.
Kindle Fire - A few people have asked me about this. I like it for travel. On planes, it nice to be able to either watch a show or movie or have your new favorite book all on one device. You can adjust the brightness of the screen so you're able to comfortably read outside...but the battery doesn't last as long as the old school kindle, and that's sort of annoying but whatcha gonna do? As an aside: I just finished this book and it was so incredibly creepy and I couldn't put it down but if you pick it up and read it please don't judge me, haha, it is seriously #MESSEDUP.
Dipperz - So the last few weeks leading up to my photoshoot my nutritionist suggested eliminating nuts and fruit. I am a sucker for nuts - especially cashews - and since I started creeping labels to look for nuts I can't believe how many of my favorite little snacks contain them. These Dipperz are so good - they're sort of like kale chips but they're made with cauliflower and carrot and of course have cashews. Wah. But so yum.
On playa pan de azucar
In other news, I think I found the next place for a beachside yoga retreat in Costa Rica. It's an eco-hotel (but not a crazy one- you'll get hot water, flushing toilets and AC) on a private black sand beach and there's a yoga platform overlooking the water. Just need to figure out when we should go.... so exciting.
Hope you're enjoying the week!
Some favorite bikinis below