It's been a while!! 

Where did we leave off?! I'm a bit frustrated that I haven't been able to keep up with this blog as much as I would have liked to this summer, but you know what? Life gets really freaking crazy sometimes!! I had next to no motivation to keep up with social media for the past month for a couple reasons. For one, creating recipes gets pretty expensive. Michael and I try to keep our grocery bill under $100 every week for the both of us, and there's not much wiggle room there for me to experiment with super cool ingredients. I'm starting to think however, that this could be more of an opportunity to create BUDGET friendly recipes with minimal ingredients. Aside from that, I had to go home for a while because some unexpected news hit my family like a truck. Everything is going to be totally a-okay, but cancer fucking sucks. My mom is as strong as a horse though, so I know this will be a bump in the road. I mean look at her, she's a boss. 

I've also been absolutely loving my job. It's a little physically exhausting so whenever I'm home I veg out instead of turn my brain on to write and do work (this needs to change). Along with my job as a Thrive trainer, I've been able to pick up some more Body Cycle spin classes and I will be starting at another studio, Unite Fitness real soon here! I'm psyched. I always know I made the right choice by switching to fitness full time when I wake up and have to decide which gym I want to train at that day...HA. Totally kidding, there's so much more to it (although it is a pretty sweet perk!)

Speaking of, last week I had such an awesome opportunity to be in a promo shoot for Idalis Velazquez's (@ivfitness on the IG) All In 18 Women's Health DVD! It was SUCH a blast. It was so lovely to meet her and see her in action! I also loved being able to see what goes into making a short video. SO MUCH. I finally kind of understand what my boyfriend does for a living now. The coolest part was that I got to share this experience with one of my own clients, Diana. She killed it. Here's some BTS action...

So thankful for that awesome opportunity. Now I've gotta get my shit together for a busy week at work. I should probably also start packing considering we're moving again next weekend! Packing would be a good idea. 

Okay everyone, have a great Monday. 

XO - Rach

How's your summer going?

Any big plans for the weekend?

Hey there! Happy Friday. I've got a good little strength workout to share with you today. Ever since I started working as a trainer for the Thrive program, I've totally been sold on the effectiveness of total body, functional workouts. They're hard, practical, and most importantly - safe! Unless you're training for something like a race or competition, I totally believe that functional fitness is the best way to get you feeling good and looking good. It's so important that we do things inside the gym that make things outside the gym easier. That's functionality.  Anyway, just a few random thoughts about my first world life over here...

Firstly, always thinking and praying for all of those in Orlando who were affected and continue to keep all my family in my thoughts after finding out some scary news about my mother. Love is love is love is love is love is love!! And my mom is as strong as a horse so no worries, she's totally going to be fine. 

Bloodline is back and season 2 was SO intense!! If you don't watch Bloodline (it's a Netflix original series) please go do yourself a favor. It's set in the Florida Keys and the cast is SPOT ON. These people are straight up Florida Keys natives. OMG it's so good. I've also tried to get into Orange is the New Black, but I think this season stinks. 

Also in my spare time I've been trying to take advantage of the warm weather by doing unnecessary yoga poses on rocks and taking photos of it...

The Wissahickon Trail in Philadelphia is so wonderful. I had a morning off last week and took an hour stroll through the trail. Such a great way to start the day!

This past weekend was an awesome one, too. On Friday I taught a spin class at Body Cycle Studio, grabbed a beer at Rogue's Gallery with good company and then Michael took me out to my favorite Mexican restaurant, El Poquito. 

I worked Saturday morning, and then finally made it down to Spruce Street Harbour Park for the first time this Summer on Saturday night. Followed immediately by a trip to Big Ass Slices in Old City...

Yesterday we head down to Brigantine beach for a gorgeous day! Wishing I was still in this exact position...

And now because my mind is on beergaritas, Big Ass Slices and beer on the beach, let me just share this workout to help reverse the effects of beer...

Total Body Dumbbell Workout

This workout is a great way to work on your functional strength while keeping your heart rate up the entire time. If you can't tell, circuit style training is my favorite way to train - mostly because you can get in an awesome workout in less time and work your entire body. 

Here's a video of the exercises:

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yL6CjJU36vM[/embed]

Make sure on every single exercise that you keep your core tight for proper alignment! Especially on the shoulder presses and front squats. You'll avoid low back pain by keeping your back flat the whole time. Try to make rest periods short and keep moving! You can also modify the mountain climbers by slowing them down. You can also modify the ploy lunge into a reverse lunge, just take out the jump. 

Enjoy and have a great week! It's the first day of Summer, YAY!

XO- Rach

Did you have a nice weekend?

Any summer plans coming up?

Favorite Netflix shows at the moment?

Not in that order, though! Happy Monday friends. As you can tell from the title of this post, my mind hasn't had much focus in the past couple weeks when it comes to blogging. Work has been very busy and FUN and it's stealing all of my effort. I love my job so much, you guys. It doesn't feel like work!! The hours are long, I get home late, but I leave every day with a big fat smile.  Since I don't have a recipe, a workout or a super deep motivational speech to share, I'm going to share some weekend shenanigans and what I've been loving lately. 

Pizza

I think that Philly should be known for it's pizza rather than Philly cheesesteaks. The pizza here is so damn good. Michael and indulged in a pie from Slice. We got half Hawaiin and half Florentine. I have to say, Michael's choice of Hawaiian was better than my half. The best part about the meal is that we got to bring our own beer. These BYOB laws in Pennsylvania are still blowing my mind - it's awesome! 

Beer

Michael and I are most likely moving to Conshohocken when our lease is up in the summer and there's this amazing little bar and beer store there called the Boathouse. We went to tour a couple apartments and had to stop to pick up a few brews. If you haven't tried Ballast Point beers, you're missing out. They have a brand new one called the Habanero Sculpin and it's INCREDIBLE. It's spicy and hoppy and has so much flavor. Try it out. It was great with the pizza but I could really enjoy it with some tacos or chips and guac. 

Puppies!!! 

We pet sit an ADORABLE pup this weekend. We want a dog so bad but can't seem to bite the bullet yet. There's this app called Rover that's basically like Airbnb for dogs. Michael created a profile and we got our first request to watch a dog on Saturday night. Her name is Hanna Montana. She is a 4 year old pit bull and was just the sweetest girl ever. She had a lot of energy, but we tired her out with a long 4 mile walk yesterday!

Come on, look at that face!! For now, Rover will satisfy the puppy withdrawals I have been feeling. 

Spin

Although I'm at City Fitness full time as a trainer, I have been LOVING subbing more classes at Body Cycle Studio. Indoor cycling will always be my favorite group fitness class to teach. I'm serious, sometimes I get chills. Am I crazy? Are there any other spin-obsessed people or instructors who can relate? I program all of my Spin profiles to the music and when the playlist is on point and the energy of the class is high, it just feels incredible. I've been able to sub at least 1-2 classes per week, but I'm real excited to take on my first permanent class soon in the next couple months! 

Music

And on that note, here's the playlist that's been rocking my world this past week. Candyman by Aloe Blacc and Zedd is my new favorite song, FYI. 

Coffee

Iced coffee to be exact. Michael makes iced coffee in the French press and it's out of this world. I make bad stale coffee in the coffee pot that is not out of this world, so we turned that into coffee ice cubes for the ice coffee. GENIUS IDEA!! 

And I believe that's all I have for this morning! 

XO - Rach

Let's chat...

Are you a dog or cat person?

Hot or iced coffee?

Favorite beer?

Favorite pizza?

Favorite song lately?