Links You’ll Love
Health & Fitness:
Packing lunch during the week is a great option to save money and make sure that you’re getting a healthy, nutritious meal mid-day to keep you going. I like to do some work in the kitchen during the weekends to prepare for the week {Sunday Prep}, you can also get some killer tips from Choosing Raw – Monday’s Lunchbox.
Thinking about jumping on the treadmill or elliptical for some cardio and neglecting the machines and weight racks are you gym? Think again! I’m a huge advocate of not only changing up your gym routine on a regular basis but of foregoing machine cardio for walking and weight training. If you don’t believe m just read this piece from Natalie Jill Fitness: Only WEIGHT and INTENSITY Will Change Your Body – You HAVE to lift HEAVY if You Want to Lean Out and Change Your Body!
Fitting in a workout is a MUST during the hectic holiday season – It reduces stress, gives you some much-needed alone time, produces endorphins, and keeps you healthy & fit so you can enjoy the holiday festivities with your friends and family. Regardless of whether you have an hour or 15 minutes available, or if you even have time to make it to the gym – Make time!
- HallowLEAN Hill Workout from The Fitnessista
- Total Body Tabata Home Workout from Blonde Ponytail
- Easy Interval Plank Workout from Purely Twins
Fashion:
I love the old Hollywood, film noir feel of killer black & white photographs. The subjects somehow always manage to appear chic and timeless, regardless of the year, the pose, the style of their clothes… I just can’t get enough and neither can A Fashion Friend – It’s Better In Black & White.
Have you ever been tempted to run off to Paris so that you can live a fashionable, glamorous life? If the answer is yes, you probably shouldn’t click on these links because you will most likely run off to Paris to live a fashionable, glamorous life.
As you may know – I adore stripes – Whether they’re the traditional nautical variety for Spring or demure pinstripes for the office. So why not take this fabulous print into the Fall season as well? Harper’s Bazaar definitely agrees – Shop the Street Style Look: Summer’s Stripes for Fall.
Are you a jeans girl? There are so many varieties this day in age there are almost endless choices when you head into a store and start to peruse their denim department. 70’s flare, wide-leg, cropped, skinny, cut-off, distressed, boyfriend, boot cut… Check out Love Me Jeans for some serious denim inspiration and worship – What’s your favorite pair?
We’ve all had the rule “No White After Labor Day” repeated ad nauseam over the years, but is this a rule for our grandmothers and not for our generation? Well The Man Repeller is making quite the argument against this rule with her fabulous photographs from Nolita – Accent In White.
My Personal CrossFit
This past weekend I suffered through an introductory CrossFit session with my boyfriend as the slave master. Since neither gasping for air nor achy muscles are conducive to photograph taking, only a few pictures were taken.
The scene of the crime, American River CrossFit in Sacramento.
I was so optimistic and full of hope before we started…
The session began with an introduction to lifting form and basic weightlifting apparatuses. First on the docket?
Kettlebells!
Despite their unassuming name and demeanor these little “bells” are, in my humble opinion, quite evil. Saturday’s workout included goblet squats (which I think should be renamed goblin squats, but I digress) and kettlebell swings. After learning the basics of these two exercises, I was given the following warm up:
3 rounds of:
- 3 burpees
- 6 Goblet squats
- 9 Kettlebell swings
The next portion of the workout was devoted to mastering back squats, which according to my back squat-obsessed boyfriend, are the most important exercise to include in your workouts.
* Note: Ladies, if you’re worried that working with weights will add unwanted bulk to your frame, please don’t be. Weights are a great way to not only stimulate your metabolism, but are key in staving off weak bones and diseases like osteoporosis. Here’s a great article that walks you through the benefits of weights and may help alleviate some of your fears – Everyday Paleo: Women and Muscle.
So after working on my form – chest up, chin up, knees in line with feet – I was given a mini back squat workout of 3 rounds of 10, squatting just the bar. The suggestion (I use the word “suggestion” loosely as this was essentially a demand) was to incorporate back squats at least twice a week going forward, Mondays 5×5 & Wednesdays 3×10.
Next up was pull ups. SHUDDER. So I realize my pull up fears are somewhat unfounded, but hanging from that cold metal bar always manages to suck out my confidence. I’ve been practicing on the Gravitron at my work gym, but was informed Saturday that negative pull ups are actually the best way to prepare your body for this exercise, which entails jumping up to the bar and slooooowly lowering yourself down. After a handful of pathetic pull up attempts and half a dozen negative pull ups I practiced kipping with a band, the small chest forward swinging motion definitely helps you to capitalize on your momentum to complete the pull up.
And was I done after all that? Nope… That was, apparently, all just a warm up. Next came the following short circuit workout:
3 rounds of:
- 30 jump rope single jumps
- 20 box jumps
- 10 squatting wall balls (8 lbs/10 feet)
I was red-faced and shaking with muscle fatigue by the end of this torturous hour, which sadly was only a fraction of how I would come to feel in 24 hours.
Was the workout intense and exhausting? Yes. Am I sore? Yes. Am I concerned that my boyfriend hates me little bit because he did that to me? Yes. Am I counting the days until my next attempt? ABSOLUTELY.
Moi Contre La Vie 