HOLY. HELL. 

So, I do "leg day" on Monday's. One reason is because, after taking two days off (Saturday & Sunday), I feel pumped and ready to get back at it come Monday. I need all the energy and motivation I can get when it comes to lifting my lower body. It's the hardest workout for me to get through; but one of the most effective and worthwhile. My "favorite" lift day is actually when I get to do shoulders and triceps... I love pretty shoulders, and muscle-defined arms!

But, back to leg talk..... this morning I did the lower body section of this 30-day program by Jamie Eason. That was a mouthful. I actually came across this awesome program on fitness coach, Erin's, blog. Her blog is by far one of my favorite places to go to look for a new workout. She also has a million different clean-eating tips, tricks, and meal plans. I highly recommend checking it out!

My legs were shaking by the time I finished this workout! That means it was a good one, right? :) Of course, I like to add a little bit of core at the end of all my workouts, so I did the following before calling it quits: 

3 sets of 15 reps each

Russian twists w/ weighted ball (30 altogether)

Crunches

Reverse Crunch

Medicine ball pike-ups (or knees to tummy)

And there you have it! If you try it out, let me know how it went for you! 

H A P P Y  M O N D A Y ! ! 

 

20-Minute Full-Body Workout

Alright guys, tomorrow is Monday, which means that it's time to kick off the week right! Last Friday I made up this quick 20-minute, full-body workout that will definitely make you sweat. This is a strength training and HITT workout combined. Try to find time to fit in at least 20 minutes of exercise per day regardless of how busy your schedule is. If you have time to sleep, you have time to workout. Personally, exercise makes me feel more awake, more alert, more confident, and more motivated to get my daily tasks done! If you struggle in trying to "like" or "enjoy" working out, try doing some of these things. I am a college student who has classes all throughout each day, so I like to get my workouts in early (around 5:30-6 a.m.). Have you ever heard the saying, "Wake up early and workout before your mind realizes what your doing?" ITS TRUE my friends, I'm telling ya ha ha; I give kudos to those of you who can workout at night! This morning I walked up and down main st. to take pictures with my new camera (eeeeek I LOVE IT!!!); it was also a great way to be active. What are you going to do today? #bestrong #youcandoit

Warm up: Run 1 mile

Workout
You will do each exercise 4 times (for 1 min.) before moving on to the next one. Alternate between 50 jumping jacks & 50 high knees (for 4 min) at the very end.


Burpees (with full push up)
Box jumps
Squats w/ dumbbell
Push-up rows
Jumping jacks/high knees

Core:
Go through entire workout (2-3x); do 50 full sit-ups at the end

Mt. climbers (20 each leg)
Leg raises (20)
Plank (hold for 1 min.)
Spider man plank (20 each side)
Russian twists (20 each side)
Full sit-ups (on ground or on medicine ball)

Leg/Glute Workout & A Touch Of Cardio

Good evening fit (and aspiring fit) friends! I hope you are all having a wonderful Friday (I definitely did after doing some legs and cardio). What was really exciting about my workout today, is that it was back in the MAVERICK CENTER, go Mavs!! Yep, that's right, I am back in college town, and it feels great! Campus is filling up with students, everyone is getting prepared for classes to start on Monday, the Palisade Peach Festival is going on this weekend (I will post about this later), and this girl (yes, I'm talking about me) is ready to go have some fun! But first....... I had to hit the gym. #TGIF

Workout:
3 sets of 10-12 reps for each exercise

Warm up - 2 mile interval run on treadmill

Leg Extensions

Squats w/ barbell 

 Single leg press w/ dip machine

 Abductors & Adductor

Squat rack

Single leg press on dip assist machine

Leg extension machine

  

Abductor & adductor machine

Core:

And there you have it, friends! Give it try, push yourself (it shouldn't be easy), sweat, and feel good the rest of the day (well... you may be sore, but sore feels good, right?). Happy Friday! :)

Lots of love,



--McKenna <3

Every sunrise is a new beginning

#nofilter

Normally, I take my weekends off of exercising; however, I kind of had an "off day" yesterday and wanted to get back on the ball this morning. Wednesday night I didn't go to bed until two o'clock, and was a bad girl because I had a much-too-filling midnight snack. I still set my alarm to 5:30 a.m. so that I could go to my boot camp class; unfortunately, I slept through it. Truth is, I told myself, "Ehhh if I get up I'll go, but if I don't oh well." That was my first mistake. I woke up, felt more tired than usual, felt sluggish, and wasn't motivated to go workout. I decided to eat some breakfast; I ate cereal and toast (not the most nutritious meal). I then felt "fluffy"on top of feeling sluggish, and un-motivated. Great. From then on my whole day was unbalanced. I continued to feel "fluffy", sluggish, tired, and bloaty the rest of the day. Not wanting to feel that way again, I was better, and did some high intensity/cardio workouts for 30 minutes, Friday morning. However, I still didn't feel my best.

So, in determination to feel better, Friday night, I planned to wake up early Saturday morning to go on a run, and watch the sun rise. I have come to learn that if I plan out my workouts the night before, I am more likely to follow through the next day. If I don't plan, I usually have little motivation, and I don't enjoy the workout (which is a shame...because working out should be fun!)

The hill I jogged up! It's a definite booty-worker!

The sun hadn't peeked over the mt. yet!...

And then..... :)

I love running outdoors. I especially love running early enough to watch the sun rise. It's beautiful. It's peaceful. It's my meditation.

Post run selfie ;)

After I finished my run I wanted to do a bit more, so that I got a full-body workout. I did what I do a lot.... found a workout on Pinterest!! I love Pinterest... a lot a lot a lot! This is the one I picked out...

So I hope you all have a wonderful day, and you should definitely make plans to go on a morning, sun rise run (say that 5 times fast) sometime soon! Lastly, from me to you, "May every sunrise hold more promise, and every sunset hold more peace."


All my love, McKenna <3

HITT & Cardio workout

So, funny story.... actually it's quite ridiculous and you will probably think, "Okay lady you're a little much...." But, this morning I woke up at 4:45, and got ready to go to a bootcamp class at my local rec center. Getting "ready" consisted of: Slowly getting out of my oh-so-comfey bed, bumping into the wall and tripping over the clothes on my floor, going to do my morning ritual (in the dark because it's too early to see light), wash the hands (brrrr!! Too much cold for my hands right now!), put in the contacts (ouch!!! Eyes are burnt for life!!), throw on a hat, put on some workout clothes, and ate half of a banana. Oh and yes, I "forgot" to brush my teeth.... no judging please.... seriously, it was too early to be functioning enough to remember that task, plus.... I brushed before I went to bed! -__-

Anywho, I then jumped in the car to drive to the rec center. I arrived one minute before class started (wheewhhhh that was close!). So, first I am going to finish the story, and then I will post the workout below. So I did the warm-up, and right as I finished I grabbed my keys, phone, and water, and stormed out that door! Wanna know why? Because the stupid yoga pants I wore kept falling down! There was no way I was going to finish that workout while hiking my pants up the entire time.... SO.... I left.

I went home, changed into more suitable bottoms, and went upstairs to finish my workout. Since I left before I saw what the main workout was, I had to improvise and be creative. Since it's hard for me to workout for long periods when I'm by myself, I decided to do a High Intensity Interval Training workout that would be quick, yet effective. This is what I came up with.....

WARM UP (that I did at the rec center):

Repeat (2x)

 2 laps around the gym
high-knees (down length of gym)
10 sit-ups
butt kickers (back up length of gym)
10 sit-ups
shuffles (down)
10 sit-ups
shuffles back (back)
10 sit-ups
frog jumps (down)
10 sit-ups
high skips (back)
10 sit-ups

HITT & Cardio Workout:

1-mile interval run on treadmill

 Repeat the workout below (2x)

50 jumping jacks
10 burpees
10 jump squats
20 knee-ups (on each side) (forward the video to the 2 minute mark to see how to do this) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=An4uTzF2UUM
30 front kicks
10 standing donkey kicks (on each side)
25 russian twists (on each side)
20 in-outs
25 mt. climbers (on each leg)
10 - three way leg lifts (left, middle, then right side = one) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAL_CjuElTc
10 v-ups


Repeat the movements one after the other, and if you have to rest...make it short and sweet. The point here is to get your heart rate up and keep the intensity! :) This workout is good for those days you just don't have much time on your hands... it took me about 35-40 minutes altogether. Go have some fun, and take care!

Haha no I did NOT fall off the treadmill & smack my face... but I am sharing my workout with you anyways!! ;)

                                                         Until next time -- McKenna :)

How I went from being "skinny" to being "healthy".

To many people, I have always been the girl who could "eat whatever I wanted and still look 'skinny'". This may have been true when I was 12 or 13; however, as I grew older that wasn't necessarily the case. Yes, I've never really been "overweight", but I have definitely been "underweight".

 

I started to become more conscious of my body appearance when I entered junior high. I was at the age where I could start dating, so of course, I became more involved in my physical appearance. I remember being self conscious of my forehead (which is why I had bangs), my "oval-shaped" face (with not very defineable cheekbones), my "bigger feet" (Size 8 1/2 - 9), my "no thigh gap" legs, and my "flatter chest". Don't get me wrong, I wasn't a depressed adolescent. I was full of life, and was a happy girl even with all of those insecurities.

As I entered high school as a sophomore, I still had most of the same insecurities that I had in junior high. I liked my legs a little more, liked my curves a little more, liked my oval-shaped face a little more, but still didn't feel comfortable with my forehead and foot size (I kept my bangs, and started to try and fit into size 8 1/2 shoes). As a sophomore I dated mostly guys who were seniors, which caused those insecurities to be even greater. I was always comparing my physical appearance to those "senior" girls who had a larger chest, tinier waist, smaller feet, and more defined cheekbones (because I felt like that was what the older, senior guys liked). Once again, I was NOT depressed or unhappy. I was still a happy adolescent who was involved in sports, got good grades, and had amazing friends; but, I still had insecurities that ate at me day in and day out. 

As I started my junior year of high school, I started losing some of those insecurities that I carried with me since junior high. I started to like my physical appearance more, partly because I enjoyed people telling me how "strong" I looked. I was a member of the softball team, so being strong and muscle-y was a good thing. I ended up competing in my school's "Miss Uintah Body Building Competition"; I didn't win, but I was proud of myself for being confident enough to be in front of a large audience in only spandex and a bikini top! Keep in mind.. I still had the bangs that covered my forehead at that time, so unfortunately, all insecurities weren't gone. 

As I started my senior year, I became a member on a state championship drill team (dance team). It took a lot of hard work, dedication, and commitment (physically & emotionally). We practiced and conditioned all throughout the summer (with a 2 week break), then started getting ready for competition season, practicing six days a week, 3 hours each day (longer some days, and had a couple 2-a-day practices). It was constant exercise. My body started changing. My legs were stronger, but also thinner. My waist shrunk. My arms, shoulder, and chest became toned, but I lost mass. My face finally had cheekbones that were noticeable. I was "skinny". I also stopped having my period. At the time I was happy with how my body was changing; however, I was blind to the fact that I was becoming, not just "skinny", but unhealthy as well. 

All throughout my senior year I had my coach, my parents, my siblings, and some extended family comment on my "skinniness". I was forced to go to several doctor appointments to see if I was unhealthy. But of course, they don't know anything, right? I was happy, I was finally getting that "thigh gap", those cheekbones, that tiny waist, that "desirable look by senior boys." Boy...... if I could just go back in time and slap myself I would! Looking back now I know that my family was only looking out for me; they were worried. Looking back now I know that I lost too much weight, and that I had the wrong perception of what "beautiful" and "healthy" is. On a side note, drill team taught me how to love my face again. Being a dancer, your hair is always slicked up into a tight bun, which forced me to show off my naked face. I'm so grateful for that now! 

Senior Year of Prom - I was pretty "skinny", and had less muscle

Things didn't start changing (in a good way) for me until I left for college. I was so surprised when I went to the gym, and saw so many girls/women lifting weights. I had always been against that because I didn't want to become "bulky". But when I saw these girls, they weren't bulky; these girls were muscle-y, toned, fit, strong, beautiful, healthy, and I could see it on their face that they were happy. I look back now and laugh because I was.... this "skinny" girl walking into a room full of "strong" girls to go run on the treadmill... with my only concern being to keeping the weight off. So, I decided to start going to one of the boot camp classes, which became a blessing in disguise. By going to bootcamp, I met Kaitie (who became my best friend, lifting partner, and sister), and Molly (who became my motivation, bootcamp instructor, and friend). After starting bootcamp, Kaitie and I started lifting together three days a week, attending boot camp two times a week, and eating more healthy-like. I became stronger, muscle-y-er, more confident, and more knowledgeable about "health". I didn't care anymore about being "skinny". I wanted to be strong and healthy. 

Christmas 2013 - When I loved being "healthy" so much that I asked for new Nike's and workout attire :)

Today, I am more happy than I ever was when I was just "skinny". I love my curves, my booty (thank you squats), my face (thank you drill), my strong legs, my strong core, and yes.... even my big feet ;) I feel beautiful even when I make poor eating choices on a certain day, or skip a workout. What's more important is enjoying life, enjoying your treats, and enjoying being a complete couch potato all day. This life we live is short, and it shouldn't be wasted worrying about that brownie you ate yesterday, or that workout you skipped earlier this week because you were tired. Love your body. Don't focus on being "skinny"; strive to be "healthy".

All my love, 


McKenna