Monday Manjoyment!

Happy Monday Kittens!! I'm a lot happier now! ;-)

I'd also like to say- this has nothing to do with Monday Manjoyment or my blog or fitness but there is ONE blasted fruit fly flying around my house and he's been flying around my house for 2 days and I cannot kill him. It is DRIVING ME INSANE.

Dramatic Pause.

Dang. Our friend Georges is HARD CORE. Have you gotten yourself a copy of GSP Rushfit yet? OMG. Seriously one of the best investments you can make. These workouts are TOUGH and very well led by Erik Owings- very detailed guidance, which is impressive. Check it:

Not to mention Georges is quite amusing in these workouts. The accent and his little mantras WITH said accent, well, they add a nice touch. ;-) 

Anyway- I've started this week out with a bang. Yesterday I did Cathe HIIT 40/20 (YEA BABY I CHANGED IT UP!! BOOYA!!) and then Physique 57. Holy Crap. I am telling you people, the Physique 57 workout got my heart rate up to 160 several times. And several times I may or may not have cried out for my mommy. And Georges as well. I was delusional with glute activation. Seriously- this was my first time going all the way through that workout and suffice it to say, I'll be doing this several times a week now. You may want to grab my bootie when you see me because I am CARVING IT UP y'all.*

OMG this woman will beat you up, in that pleasurable workout way. I could not believe how difficult (in a good way) these moves are! HOLY COW. 

*Disclosure- Physique 57 did send me this DVD complimentary but did not ask for a review. I have not been compensated for my review. My company FitFluential will be doing some fun interactions with Physique 57 going forward so we do have a business relationship. As all of you that read my blog know, my opinions and exclamations are truly my own.*

So, after 20 minutes of HIIT and the Physique 57 workout, my burn was 670 calories. Not bad! ;-) I dig it. 

As I dig this. Not sure what that quote is about. Really, that's not the point. The point is, GSP is just all that and a cupcake. Me Likey.

I'm also drinking the HECK out my water - y'all should be proud but no I haven't given up Diet Coke #dontjudge just balancing it out with H20 thanks to the nudge from the #BritaChallenge. ;-) 

Question of the Day: Do you do a "cheat day" or just eat with a healthy approach? 

Tuesday. It's All Good!

What's UP people? Are you having a great week so far? I am. I'm really turning that ship around- the one that had me a bit too drained and all "I just need a nap" all the time. NO MORE OF THAT! I'm getting to bed a bit earlier every night. I'm eating the right stuff and not rushing. Thanks to our Brita Challenge* I'm drinking a Titanic amount of water every day. This is yea, keeping me from overdosing on Coke Zero, not that I think that's a bad thing really. #dontjudgeme

Today's workout was originally going to be Hot Yoga- but alas, I realized that with my lunch meeting (SUSHI!!) at 12:30pm, I would not have time to get home from Hot Yoga in time. So, I adjusted. I knew that I had to get my workout in before I left or I'd be pushing it to fit it in later. YEA I CAN WORKOUT LATER but the odds are not in my favor. The couch after a long day of kicking butt just CALLS TO ME. It says, Kelly it's time to turn the brain off and close the mouth and mentally DETOX.....So. I did Cathe's HIIT 30/30 followed by Yummy Georges St. Pierre and some GSP Rushfit. 

Let me tell you- when I have a sweatfest workout, it's easy to chug close to a gallon of water. Hot Yoga has the same effect on me. But it's during the day that I have A CHALLENGE wanting to drink my water. I tend to reach for a CokeZero rather than water. So, taking part in this Brita Challenge has been FUN and a great way to get me challenging myself and having water chugging as part of my day. It NEEDS TO BE. We all know the benefits of hydration and water- don't we??

• Water is nature’s appetite suppressant. A glass or two before meals can help you eat less.
• Water is essential for your body to metabolize fat.
• Substituting water for sugary beverages or juices is a great way to cut calories. If you substitute a glass of water for one 140-calorie sugary drink a day, in four weeks you’ll have cut 3,920 calories!
• When you’re in motion, water cushions and lubricates bones and joints. It also lubricates cartilage and helps the joints glide freely. So, water helps minimize joint damage caused by friction.
• Water also maintains muscle tone and strength. Muscles are composed primarily of water. It also transports nutrients to the muscle cells and decreases recovery time.

Seriously-- clearly this is not in dispute. My BFF Sherry and I will text each other all day, we've done this for years, to show off how much water we've had to drink that day. We always try to one-up each other. Let's get real too peeps, the more water you drink, the more full you are and the less you tend to mindlessly snack. 

I got that cute new purple Brita pitcher for my house drinking and the freaking awesome Brita Water Bottle WITH FILTER to take to the gym, hot yoga, in the car etc. It's working. I've probably doubled my water intake over the past week. 

Cute. Sassy. Sporty. Like me. ;-)

Brilliant. That's all I can say. Do you dig it?? You really must, I almost insist that you sign up for the Brita Challenge with me and go nutty drinking water. We'll have some fun giveaways shortly and we'll be hosting a Twitter party in a few weeks. FUN. 

Here is my post-workout - or wait, sorry mid-workout sweaty vlog:

That workout broke me-- burned 625 calories!! BOOYA!! 

Question of the day: How do YOU get yourself to drink your water?? Do you like it hot or cold or room temp?

*Disclosure: I am working with Clorox and Brita on the #BritaChallenge campaign and have been compensated for my time commitment. The opinions that I share here and online are solely my own.*

Monday Manjoyment!

Oh Heavens to Betsy. I can't believe I didn't put Georges St. Pierre up as Monday Manjoyment in previous weeks. What's wrong with me? I still haven't made it through all of the GSP RushFit DVDs that I have but the last one I did was Explosive Power Training and it did NOT disappoint. Although, really, how could it disappoint? GSP could get up and bake a cake on DVD and I'd consider that a workout. It's fun to just watch. It's exercise FOR THE MIND. 

*Ahem*

Anyway, I cannot say enough good things about these DVDs. It is SUCH a complete set-- so thorough with the instruction and also very thorough in warm-up AND cool-down. The instructor is Erik Owings and he is so professional and shares a LOT of sensible tips throughout. And it is quite funny when GSP starts kind of rambling on how Erik can just PULL HIM BACK IN. If you want to check out the DVD set, CLICK HERE. 

That's Erik and GSP, true besties. I'm sure that they call each other that too. I'm also relatively sure that Erik will be texting me any second asking if GSP would be cool with him asking me out. Because as you all know, GSP is my next ex-boyfriend. Although I might reconsider this fantasy  idea because as I did a Google Search for images for this post, it seems that GSP may indeed be a Man-Whore. Alas, so many of them are. OY. 

I like it sooo much better than the RKS Kettlebell System I bought. Not sure why and I will make sure to give that another try soon but hey, it's not pulling me back in. Also DAMMIT CATHE FRIEDRICH! She's produced a whole new line of amazing DVDs-- LOW IMPACT this time!! I was at her site and saw this new "Low Impact Series" you can pre-order now. DANG! She's killing me! But I love her for it. I really like the two DVDS I have from her currently, Lower Body and High Reps. That woman is THE BOMB. 

Hmm. Apparently GSP likes Under Armour. I don't have a problem with that. (Amy I don't want to hear it about the guys from Under Armour in another state ok?) In fact, at this moment, Under Armour has the best sports bras for girls like me with a lot of stuff to put IN them. OK? 

Dude. Check out his quads and hamstrings. That's so awesome. 

Now, I must let you kittens go. I'll shoot some vlogs tomorrow, as here it is late Monday afternoon and I have not pulled out my camera- another busy day UGH. Mondays always slay me. 

QUESTION OF THE DAY: I NEED TO UPDATE MY IPOD WITH RUNNING SONGS BECAUSE I'M BACK AT IT, RUNNING, AND NEED SOME TUNAGE!! TELL ME WHAT YOU LOVE?? 

Monday Manjoyment!

Goodness Gracious.

Happy Monday Y'All! I'm baaaccck!!! I am SOOOO sorry for being a MISSING IN ACTION BLOGGER! As you know, I was in NYC for business last week and brought all of my equipment for videos EXCEPT my camcorder DUH!!!! So, then Wednesday was busy, I helped to co-host a #GNO chat on Twitter Tuesday night and then Thursday I spent ALL DAY IN LA GUARDIA AIRPORT. OMG I was about to lose my mind. Left my hotel at 8am, Got home at 8:21pm. I was so drained. And then, I had to get up the next morning and hop in a car and drive 2.5 hours to Galena for a family get-away for my Dad's birthday. Just got home Sunday evening and today has been me attempting to catch a breath and BEGIN attempting to catch up on everything! LOL

So I chose Justin Timberlake for tonight's Manolicious episode because he's really become someone that has it GOIN ON. The man can dance, sing, and clearly workout. Plus he's funny and a great actor. I dig it. The only "flaw" I see maybe is when he lets that hair grow a bit and then the young nSync visuals come back to my mind like this:

And that makes me instantly UNCOMFORTABLE. 

Moving on- so anyway, I'm back. Did some good staying active workouts while I was gone. Went for a killer power-walk/sprint runs for an hour each morning with my sister, hopefully that makes up for a lamea** early start to the week. OY. I gotta gotta gotta get my groove going when I travel. I cannot let another week go when I'm on the road and the workouts become the last thing I schedule. NO WAY. Unacceptable. 

So, here is one of my fav Justin tunes on my iPod:

LOVE the extended version, it has a way cool ending. 

So sad that they aren't dating anymore. I thought they were a cute as heck couple and loved that they worked out together. Anyway, I've been running again, just a little bit here and there, but I'm liking it. Taking my body a bit to adjust to running again- holy crap my shins and calves were dying this weekend! But I'm all for it.

This morning's workout was GSP Rushfit Core Conditioning:

I really need to work him into my boyfriend rotation. He clearly also should be a Monday Manjoyment feature. Anyway, where was I? Great workout, and I did a Sweaty-As-Heck post-workout vlog (will share tomorrow) where I review the workout in a bit more detail. These workouts are AWESOME. The instructor is VERY detailed in his teaching and is never condescending or "know-it-all" in his guidance. Each DVD has 45 minutes of custom instruction then a 45 minute workout! HELLO!! I'm so glad I bought it. Today's workout was awesome, I did the stretch after adding 100 Walking Lunges at the end and I burned 425 calories. 

Love that song. Obviously Madonna has still not grasped the power of social media in that her videos are all "Embedding Disabled" #FAIL. Why is this such a stretch people? Sharing is power! FREE publicity. DUH!!!

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Do you ever do "Two-A-Days"? or just do a split type routine where you do cardio one part of the day and another workout like Yoga at night??

Now. I must leave you children and go for my evening run, because I feel like it. I'm NOT stepping into over-training zone, but I am interested in sometimes doing an evening workout when my schedule permits and I feel like it. 

And...sooo many of you are anxiously awaiting news about FitFluential and what's to come. We'll have some news and announcements this week I Promise, we've just been buried! It's all good. And if you haven't joined the FitFluential Family, seriously, you do NOT want to miss out on the upcoming events, the exclusive perks like discounts, giveaways, opportunities for paid work and social media/blog coaching. ;-)