Active Weekends!

Happy Sunday everyone!

This may be a longer post - you have been warned :)

I have two more workouts for you guys, one lower body and one upper body from The Rock Hard Challenge! These are challenging but very efficient. 

Lower Body

Goblet Reverse Lunge (4 sets, 6 reps each side) - hold single dumbbell vertically with palms at your chest and perform reverse lunge

Sumo Squat to Stand (3 sets, 8 reps) - set your feet wide, squat low and grab your toes with your hands (palms stay in contact with the tips of your toes throughout exercise) Stand up while keeping your hands in place

Stability Ball Leg Curl (4 sets, 10 reps) - lie on your back with your heels resting on a large stability ball, rest on your back with your hips off the ground, dig your heels into the ball and bring it in toward your body so your knees are at a 90 degree, slowly extend your legs to start position

Leg Lower (3 sets, 8 reps) - lie on your back with your hands under your hips and your legs fully extended, slowly lower your legs (squeeze your abs) when your legs reach the floor, quickly bring back up

Pallof Press (3 sets, 8 reps each side) - hold handle with both hands at your chest, extend in front of you- holding for a couple seconds and bring back in 

*this can be used with a cable pulley OR a resistance band at home tied to a door knob*

Single Leg Box Squat (3 sets, 8 reps) - set up a bench/box directly behind you (should be high enough so when you bend your knees they are at 90 degrees) extend both arms in front of you for balance, then extend one leg in front of you, then sit down on the box, then stand up pushing through your one foot

Glute March (3 sets, 8 reps each side) - lie on your back and dig your heels into the floor bringing your hips up "march", bringing one knee as close as you can to your chest on each rep

Kneeling Hip Flexor Mobilization (3 sets, 10 reps each side) - drop to one knee and push your hips forward, stretching your hip flexor on the rear leg, hold for two seconds

Upper Body

Single Arm Overhead Dumbbell Press (4 sets, 6 reps each side) - hold one dumbbell at shoulder height and press upwards with the other hand on your hip

Renegade Row (3 sets, 8 reps each side) - hold a pair of dumbbells and get into a pushup position, supporting your body on the handles, brace your core and support your body with one arm as you roll the other dumbbell to your shoulder

Inverted Row (4 sets, 8 reps) - set a barbell on the spotter bars on the rack about two feet off the ground, lie under the bar and pull your chest up to the bar, keep body in straight line

Incline Dumbbell Press (3 sets, 10 reps) - on an incline bench, hold dumbbells at shoulder height and press upwards

Scapular Wall Slide (3 sets, 10 reps) - stand flat with your shoulders against the wall, put your hands up with the tops of your hands against the wall, move them up above your head making a "V", hold for two seconds and then go back down to shoulder height

Close Grip Pushup (3 sets to failure) - get in pushup position, making a diamond with your hands

Incline Dumbbell Curl (3 sets, 8 reps each side) - on an incline bench perform dumbbell curls, alternating arms each rep

Plank (3 sets, 30 seconds each)

This is a lot of information again, but I recommend using it as a resource when you want to work certain areas. If you have any questions about these exercises you can always comment below!

This weekend for me was full of activity and it was amazing! We did these workouts above, got some running in, were able to bike around the lake, go for walks through Itasca State Park and see where the Mississippi started!

Cheers to another healthy, happy, active week ahead :) 

When You Don't Want To Work Out

Before I talk about not wanting to workout I just want to update you on my weekend. It was my birthday, YAY.. but for dinner we went to a restaurant called Paleos. It was AMAZING. If you're in the Lino Lakes, MN area - it is a must try! It is a little spendy, but so worth it. Given the name, they follow the paleo diet - so the burgers don't have buns, no potatoes (cauliflower in place) etc. but it is delicious. I had the protein patty, it was a burger (no bun) with almond butter and an egg on top which came with bacon brussel sprouts. Let's just say, my plate was clean!

On another note, today I got home from work and was not motivated AT ALL to go to the gym. I had planned to run for 20 min (5 min warm up, 2 min at 6.6 speed, 1:30 min at 4.9 speed X3 and a 5 min cool down) along with the Rock Hard Challenge- Lower Body Workout as previously posted. But I just wasn't feeling it, I would rather just sit down wrapped up in my blanket.

But Dillon got me out the house and to the gym. I did my run and lower body workout, and I am so glad I did. Sometimes you just need someone to push you to get you going and then it all goes up from there. My run went better than expected and I was able to really focus on my legs and glutes today. I was sweating so bad- but that just proves that I was working hard!

If anyone out there is having a day where you want to sit on the couch, eating, watching Criminal Minds like me- well here is your sign and push to put your big girl/boy pants on and get your workout in. You will feel SO much better that you did and you will thank yourself!

Later this week, I will have a couple different upper and lower body workouts for you guys to try.. so stay tuned :)

Lower and Upper Body

Alright so today I have The Rock Hard Challenge upper and lower body workouts that we did the last two days. I really liked these workouts, I am still sore and was non stop sweating while doing them. If you're interested, keep on reading :)

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Lower body 

Dumbbell deadlift (4 sets of 8 reps) - grab dumbbells of your size (I did 20 lbs), bend your knees while keeping your arms down by your side and keep your back straight

Kneeling Hip Flexor Mobilization (3 sets of 10 reps EACH SIDE) - drop to one knee and push your hips forward, stretching your hip flexor on the rear leg, hold for a couple seconds then repeat

Bulgarian Split Squat (4 sets of 8 reps) - set one foot behind you on a bench/chair/couch and hold onto a pair of dumbbells (I used 20 lbs again) and bend your front knee down into a squat as far as you can, return up and repeat

Ankle Mobility (3 sets of 10 reps) - place one foot at the base of the wall keeping your heel down and your toes against the wall, bend your knee and push it closer to the wall to feel a stretch in your calf, ankles and repeat

Side Plank (3 sets of 30 seconds EACH SIDE) - lie on your side propping yourself up on your forearm (elbow). Keep your body in a straight line, hold for time and repeat

Single Leg Hip Thrust (3 sets of 8 reps EACH SIDE) - sit on the floor and brace your upper back on a bench/chair. Fully extend your right leg so your knee goes to the ceiling and press your left leg into the floor, do each side and repeat

Sumo Squat Stretch (3 sets, 20 seconds) - squat into a wider stance with toes pointing out, hold and repeat

Goblet Squat (2 sets of 10 reps) - hold dumbbell with both hands at your chest and squat

Upper Body

Lat Pull Downs (4 sets of 8 reps) - use machine at your desired weight. IF you don't have a machine, sit on a bench with your legs shoulder width apart, grab dumbbells at your desired weight, press your arms up into the sky and hold and then lower down to a 90 degrees and repeat

Scapular Wall Slide (4 sets of 10 reps) - stand with your back against a wall with your arms raised and also against the wall, the start position will resemble a "W", raise your hands above your head to resemble a "V" hold for a few seconds and return to starting position and repeat

Flat Dumbbell Bench Press (4 sets of 8 reps) - find a bench or a coffee table, use your desired weight for dumbbells, lay flat on the bench and lift your arms up into a press and repeat

Stability Ball Roll Out (3 sets of 10 reps) - go onto your knees, place your hands into a fist and onto the ball and roll out working your core and come back to starting position and repeat

Face Pull (3 sets of 10 reps) - you can do this with dumbbells, use your desired weight, place straight in front of you and pull in towards your face with your elbows going out to your sides

Feet Elevated Push Up (4 sets to failure) - set your feet on a bench/couch, set your hands slightly wider than shoulder width apart and perform a push up. Do as many as you can 4 times

Alternating Dumbbell Curl (3 sets of 8 reps) - use dumbbells at your desired weight (I used 20 lbs) and perform curls alternating arms

Reverse Crunch (3 sets of 12 reps) - lay on your back with your hands behind your head, when performing the crunch- bring your legs in along with your upper body

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I know that was a lot of information! These were broken into two different days, lower body one day and upper body another day. I would recommend it with 20-30 minutes of cardio if you can fit it into your schedule. The workouts take about 40 minutes. They really are a good workout and you will be sore the next day! If you have ANY questions you can comment down below, email @ meganmzabel@gmail.com or use instagram @ meganmichellejourney 

If you give them a try please let me know so I can hear your feed back :) 

Rock Hard Challenge

Dillon loves Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson and one day he was looking up The Rock's workout plan. He came across something called The Rock Hard Challenge. It is a workout plan for five days a week: 2 leg days, 2 upper body days and 1 total barbell.

After 30 minutes of cardio today we gave the total barbell a try. It is six different workouts with the bar, you do all six without setting the bar down- three times.

1. Hang clean (5 reps) - hold the bar with wider than shoulder width grip, let it hang at your knees, explosively extend your hips, shrug your shoulders, pull with your arms, and rise onto your toes. The bar will end at your shoulders

2. Reverse lunge (5 reps) - hold the bar at your shoulders and do five reverse lunges on each side

3. Push press (10 reps) - bring the bar up to your chest and bench the bar above your head

4. Back Squat (10 reps) - place the bar behind your head and onto your neck and shoulders, position into a squat stance, point your toes out a little, squat as low as you can and explode up

5. High pull (10 reps) - grab the bar, pull up as high as you can

6. Romanian deadlift (10 reps) - bend down without bending your knees, grab and hold onto the bar coming up to a straight back and repeat

This was hard but we knew it was a great workout by the amount of sweat that was going on. It said to start at 65 lbs (the bar and a 10 lb on each side), but in order for me to complete the circuit without dropping the bar- I did not add any weights to the bar. And that was plenty! I would recommend this workout to anyone that has access to a bar because it works all your muscles and makes you feel so good after! 

This week after we try the other workouts for this challenge, I will post a blog with the leg and upper body circuits. I will also give my honest opinion about the workouts, how I felt, and if I'd recommend them.

Stay tuned :)

Feel Good Post

I was looking through Pinterest today and found some really great quotes that I wanted to share with you guys

"She was unstoppable not because she did not have failures or doubts, but because she continued on despite them."

I love this quote because everyone has those moments or days where things just don't work out the way you wanted, or a bad workout, or a day where your nutrition is off- but you keep looking onward and don't just give up because of that. Your goals are worth so much to just throw away after one, two, or three bad days. I know I'm not the only one when I say there are days where I get down on myself for not seeing any physical changes with my body and would rather sit on the couch and watch Modern Family but I put my big girl pants on and get in my workout for the day. I know when I have days like these that I have to persevere because its another step closer towards my goals and soon I will see changes. Anytime you feel like you don't want to go to the gym that is when it is most important to go, those are the days where progress happens. Keep up the hard work!!

"Sometimes the smallest step in the right direction ends up being the biggest step of your life. Tip toe if you must. But take the step."

When I first started changing my lifestyle, it was small steps at a time. It is really hard to change multiple things at one time... usually that overwhelming and discourages you. At first, I started changing my dinners to having a protein and veggie versus spaghetti or something like that. Added delicious smoothies to my day. Started weight training, something I had never really tried before. Then, I started training for my half marathon at a very slow pace. For the first few weeks, I was jogging a little with more walking. The more I trained the more I was able to jog more and more with less walking each time. Now I am up to 8 miles-- that is crazy to me! All the little steps add up and push you to a healthier, stronger, better you.

Self confidence is one thing I hardly had, I was always down on my body and never saw myself as beautiful. Throughout my journey of training and changing nutrition I have gained more and more of it and have learned to love myself at every stage of this adventure! I've learned to fall in love with the process and remember that many changes are coming my way. 

Healthy Go-To Snackies

I wanted to have a blog post about snacks when eating healthy, a few of my favorites are

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veggies and humus

string cheese

hard boiled eggs

protein bars (Quest or Luna are my fave)

snapea crisps (I love the caesar flavor)

fruit with full fat yogurt

apple and almond butter (Justins is amazing)

cottage cheese (with peaches is super yummy)

smoothies (with protein powder, fruit, yogurt, pure cranberry juice, flax, chia seeds, MCT oil)

pickles (one of my all time favorite snack)

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These are some nummy nummy snacks to have on the go throughout the day. I highly recommend to have these foods around- especially on the days where all you want to do is eat the entire house!!

What are some of your go-to snacks? 

I hope everyone is having a great week being wonderful, healthy, and sticking to your goals

:)

Easter Weekend

My Easter weekend was wonderful! 

I love being able to come home and spend time with family. On Saturday, we went to Dillon's grandmas for family fun and lots of food! I ate two pieces of ham, about a 1/2 C. of cheesy potatoes, beans, some veggies, and a little piece of strawberry short cake. It was yummy! On Sunday, we went to his aunt and uncles and had many of the same foods- ham, potatoes, veggies, beans, fruit, pasta salad, fruit pizza etc.

I believe it is just fine to eat whatever on holidays because it is special time with people you love that you don't need to restrict yourself. 

On a different note, I finally went shopping in what seems like forever. I haven't gone to Old Navy since I was a kid, but I did and it was incredible! They have so many adorable clothes, and of course their workout clothes are so great- dry fit capris, pants, tanks, cut offs, nice jackets, sports bras etc! I definitely recommend their workout attire if anyone is looking for some new finds at an affordable price!

I did think of some goals for myself after the holiday weekend to get me back on track

get back to the gym 5-6 times/wk

to meet my macros

to start making morning smoothies (especially with my MCT oil- many health benefits)

staying consistent with my weights in the weight room

hope you all had a wonderful Monday :)

Workin' On The Legs

Leg day...

Today I did a new leg day workout and lets just say my legs and buns are burning still 10 minutes after! 

I wanted to share the workout with you guys and would love to hear your feedback on it... like it or hate it?! 

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100 jumping jacks

50 squats with weights 

60 sec. wall sit

30 lunges

40 calf raises

50 lunge squats (25 each leg-- with weights)

40 sumo squats (with weights)

30 reverse lunges

Repeat 3x

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I used 10lb weights because that is the heaviest I have at home. 

My heart rate was up, I was sweating and shaking throughout the workout, I would definitely recommend this one when you wanna work on those legs! 

I also enjoyed it because I was able to do it in the comfort of my own home especially when I couldn't make it to the gym today! 

I would recommend foam rolling after a leg workout too, helps relax and stretch your muscles after a great workout!!