Posts tagged group fitness instructor
Workout Wednesday - Upper Body & Core!

Happy Hump Day! How's everyone's week going? We're halfway there! I wanted to share an Upper Body & Core Workout with you that I did one night last week after work and it left my muscles feeling tired!

Last week after my long run I really screwed up my foot. I think I strained my Peroneal Tendon. This is a new fun running injury. I just can't win! Basically the outside of my right foot was just killing me and it hurt a lot to even walk. For the past week and the rest of this week I am NOT running, but focusing on upper body strength and cross training! 

Here's an upper body and core workout I put together - injured foot or not, this workout is sure to make you sweat.

Upper Body & Core Workout with an added HIIT challenge!

My intention for this workout was to hit all the major muscle groups in the upper body. Twelve reps is a good rep range to really tire out those muscles. Try to use a challenging weight! By the tenth rep, you should be ready to put the weight down. If your form starts to get compromised, lower the weight and finish the reps. I chose to program some extra HIIT on the rower at the end because 1.) I'm a cripple and can't run. 2.) The rower is very low impact. 3.) It also works your upper body! 

Exercises:

Single Arm Kettlebell Clean and Press

Pike Push-ups (move at :24)

Elevated Plank Rows (move at :30)

Plank Walk-ups

Stability Ball Hip Bridges

Enjoy!! 

- Rach

Who's ready for the weekend?!! The pope will be here this weekend so I'm either escaping town or camping out in my apartment - Philly is expecting 1,000,000 people!

Trying New Things + Some Recent Eats

Happy Hump Day! This week has been pleasantly busy over here. How has everyone been? Philadelphia has been sweaty HOT and humid lately and today was the first really nice day in a while!

I've been trying a lot of new things lately, thanks to Class Pass. It's the BEST thing ever for group fitness junkies, especially if you move to a new city and have no idea what kind of gym you would want to join. I've tried several new things lately and I have been loving everything.

On Monday I tried a Megaformer class at SFS Sculpt Studioin this cute little plaza in Northern Liberties.

IMG_3141

OWWWWW. It hurt so good. But really bad. Every movement is very slow and controlled and about ten minutes in my entire body was shaking. Definitely will be going back. I am still sore! It's a very specific workout, different from pilates reformer classes (which I also still have yet to try), but I promise if you ever have the chance to try you will feel it.

Yesterday, my roommate and I tried an aerial yoga class at Kaya Aerial Yoga in Old City. OMG yes. This was SO much fun. The inversions were a little scary at first, but once I learned to feel the balance and let go, I felt so free! Will also definitely be going back while I can with Class Pass.

IMG_3144This morning I taught my circuit class at Sweat Fitness which included a couple full body dynamic circuits with exercises across the room and a few circuits with more isolation to work on core, strength and balance. I am loving that I'm starting to see regular participants.

Tomorrow I'm going to do a hot yoga class to stretch out my sore muscles. I've really been enjoying adding in a lot more yoga, barre and Pilates-style workouts. I usually stick to strength, cross-training and HIIT type of workouts, so adding in new things is refreshing. I think it's really important to switch it up every so often to keep your body guessing. It also humbles you when you think you're well rounded in the fitness realm and then you just about die in a hot yoga class (cough cough me).

On another note, I finally tried another new thing here - the subways! The verdict: they are WAY faster than the busses. Not very shocking, but I was hesitant at first to try to figure out the subway system because there are so few lines here in comparison to when I lived in NYC last summer and there are a million different subway lines.

I also just got hired at City Fitness to teach back to back level 1 and 2 TRX classes on Tuesday nights! I'm really excited to continue teaching and thankful I was able to find group fitness jobs so quickly here. The Philadelphia fitness scene is poppin'. I will make sure to upload a couple TRX workouts on here next week after I teach my first class if anyone is interested in training with the TRX.

And since I've been slack about sharing recipes and food posts (my kitchen tools are limited right now & I've been crazy busy) I thought I would share a couple of things I have been eating a lot of lately!

For breakfast I have the same thing every morning. I either bring oatmeal & fruit to work or throw together scrambled eggs, a wrap & fruit to eat when I get to work. It's easy and keeps me full!

Here are a few dinners I've made recently (sorry for the crappy photos):

IMG_3111PIZZA EGGS.  It's kind of like a big delicious open faced omelet that tastes just like pizza. P.S. this was pre cheese melting.

IMG_3132Chicken, brown rice, chopped salad, Trader Joe's brussels sprouts and kale chopped mix and feta cheese.

Processed with VSCOcam with c1 presetPesto zoodles with cherry tomatoes and feta topped with baked Swai fish, which is exactly like Tilapia. I bought it because a pack of three filets was only $3.99 at Trader Joe's compared to only two Tilapia filets for $5.99. Always gotta get the deals.

And that's all I have tonight!

- Rach

Have you tried anything new lately?