Good morning everyone and happy first day of spring! Something that I am going to do more of is post video snippets of my workouts on my Instagram page - hence the #15SecondFitness hashtag - and the full workouts here on my blog. I tend to jump around a lot at the gym and sometimes I feel like I can get a little creative with it, so I want to be able to share what I do. If your routine starts to feel a little stagnant, I hope I can help you out!

This morning I did a workout inspired by Juli at PaleOMG.com from one of her weekly workout posts. If you can't tell, I love circuit workouts. Circuit workouts tend to work best for me because I can sweat a lot and save time. I started my workout with a warmup and then four supersets of 10 barbell squats and 10 single leg deadlifts (each side.) And then I completed another fun circuit workout with a lot of ball throwing and slamming! Gets the stress out, am I right?

Here are some links that show how to properly do some of these exercises:

V-ups, Lateral Wall Ball Throws, Wall Ball Throws

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfT8l6lEtjc

Tag me on Instagram (@ahealthfulheart) if you try this out! I hope everyone has a relaxing weekend :)

Rach

Yesterday morning I squeezed in an early morning workout before my long day. I've always been a morning person and would rather get my workout in before the day starts rather than after a full day. It's also nice having a slightly empty gym at 6 a.m.! Working out early sets the tone of the day for me. P.S. I can't do it every day. I only have to workout super early about one to three days a week so I don't mind it!

Sometimes I go in with a game plan, other times like yesterday I kind of make up as I go along. I did some upper body strength work before completing the following circuit three times! I have a video as well that shows most of the exercises.

The only thing not shown in the video is the box jumps. If you do box jumps, make sure to jump up and then step down! I used a box that I felt comfortable jumping on for 20 reps. If you don't like the box jumps you can always modify with step ups, squat jumps or bodyweight squats.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2c-MEalXnBY

Let me know if you give it a try!

Rach

This past weekend I was at Auburn University for the third ever Evolve Fitness Conference! Evolve was actually started at UF two years ago and travels to different southeastern schools every year.

There was a group of 30 from UF this year and we all packed into mini vans to make the six hour drive on Friday at noon. We made it into Auburn at around 5 p.m. and registered for the conference before figuring out what to do for dinner. Eating plans are always on the forefront of the minds of 30 college-aged fitness crazed human beings. We are like eating machines.

Once we registered at Auburn's facility, we went to check into the hotel and decided to eat at a local burger joint called Niffer's. I was starving and got the grilled chicken, avocado and jalepeno burger with steak fries.

We all got quite the laugh on Friday night. We couldn't stop talking about how good the water tasted in Alabama compared to the Gainesville water. So much so, that Tracy, a fellow Zumba instructor, asked for some water to go and the waiter brought her an entire gallon of water, no joke.

And then there was a balloon magic man who made us a balloon gator...

We arrived back to the hotel around 11 p.m. and my room passed out. Needing to be at the gym at 8 a.m. the next morning, we needed to prepare for a full day of fitness.

I was lucky enough to snag a bike in a master spin class taught by Robin Dayer, a master Schwinn trainer. It was such a blast, her energy was incredible.

After the class, the keynote speaker was Martin Rooney, a highly accomplished athlete, businessman, coach, you name it! It was a really inspiring speech all about how bringing out the best in others as a coach will bring out the best in yourself. He focused on the importance of this characteristic in fitness and sports, but I also feel it's extremely relatable to any industry or job, really. When Martin finished, I opted to take a tour of the facility, which is beautiful, but UF's gyms will always be my favorite!

The rest of the day consisted of some more presentations. Saturday night we went out to the Bank Vault and Skybar - both awesome bars in the Auburn area!

On Sunday, I presented on a class specific to UF, iBurn. I taught this class for more than a year and couldn't wait to share it with student instructors from other schools. It's an awesome and challenging strength-based format. I had a short introduction, but the majority of my presentation was a demo iBurn class! It was a lot of fun and a great way to close out the conference.

I was glad to be back in Gainesville after a full weekend and back to cooking my own food! It seems ironic, but always at these fitness conferences, there is limited time to eat, and the majority of our meals are fast food. Plus we were on the road for a total of 12 hours, and the best options were Wendy's and Subway. I was craving greens and glad to be back in my kitchen for Sunday night dinner.

I'll have some more recipes & workouts to post later on this week. Now to go to work, study for my exam tomorrow and apply for a million jobs. Do all the things!!

Happy hump day y'all!

Rach