A Post of Workouts – Turkey Day & Other

I have a race recap for you! I am so excited about it! But that will come tomorrow. Eeee! (I am giddy)

I want to talk about Thanksgiving this week. I feel like it is always Thanksgiving. Every time I turn around, it is time for Thanksgiving again. Last year was the first year I got in a workout on the holiday. I couldn’t go to my own gym because I had stayed over at my mom’s the night before. My little brother was visiting from The Seattles and I wanted to spend as much time with his mushy face as possible. I get guest passes to a bunch of a gym’s through my company’s Global Fit account and I was thrilled to see Meadows Spa on the list. Meadows Spa is an all women’s gym that I was a member of for a short time when I lived at home. I actually used to come home from my full time job, go right from the bus to my car and drive to the gym to take a class (never did machines back then) after work. What motivation!

Anyway, I used the guest pass there in the morning and got a good 1:05 on two different ellipticals. It felt great and I was so happy to have done something great for myself before the huge meal. I was able to enjoy my meal much more too knowing I got a great workout in.

Which brings me to my Turkey Day Tips. I know variations of these have been floating around the blog world, but I’d like to throw mine in there as well along with my plans for this year. Oh, and while I do not eat turkey, I just love saying Turkey Day.

Turkey Day Tips

1. Schedule your Turkey Day workout. Otherwise it gets easy to lounge around with your family or watching the parade or football or whatever it is you do to lounge. I scheduled my workout — a Core Fusion class with one of my favorite teachers (my favorite teacher Brynn is no longer at CF, sad). I was so happy to see that my other favorite, Barbara, was teaching on Turkey Day, so I jumped at the chance to take her 11:00 am class. Now that I signed up, I am obligated to go. And excited to! If I happen to wake up early on Thursday I might try to get in a quick cardio workout as well, but if there’s no time, no worries! I know I will feel amazing after Core Fusion — I always do! Plus, I have been meaning to get my butt there more!
2. Plan your Day After workout. Knowing you have a workout planned and ready to go the following day might help you not stuff yourself to the point of food coma, or, as my brother and I like to say thanks to Chris Rock, “the itis.” And a workout the day after Turkey Day will just feel nice, knowing you had a fantastic day of indulgence and now you are back to treating your body well. I already scheduled my Day After workout — another Core Fusion class with the same great teacher! I was happy to see Barbara is teaching on Black Friday because it made me really want to sign up for the class. She usually teaches on Wednesdays when I am at my writing class, so now I have two great opportunities to take her class!
   I will probably do a cardio workout this day as well since I will have more time.
3. Work out throughout the week. From Sunday – at least Friday of Turkey Day week I will be/have been working out. More than I usually do but it makes me feel that much better about the festivities.
4. Enjoy! If you workout before or after Thanksgiving, great! If not, also great! The point of this holiday is to enjoy your time with family and friends and eat delicious foods you really only have once a year. So enjoy it and don’t feel guilty or bad or anything negative at all about indulging — or over indulging. Just enjoy.

Looking for a fun and challenging Turkey Day workout? Read this post from Well + Good NYC, a great blog I just found out about. While this blog is NYC-centric, there are great ideas in the post for everyone, so check it out!

Speaking of NYC workouts, remember when I struggled with the decision to join a gym? The day after I made the decision and joined, I received an email from the PR Director at New York Sports Clubs. She had read about my issues with having little money but wanting to work out in a motivating environment, and she offered me a complimentary month! While I was really happy, I had also just joined and wasn’t sure if the offer was still valid. After some working things out, I am happy to say I received my free month and that makes me so happy! I am very impressed with NYSC’s keeping up with what people are saying in the social media/blog world and their generous efforts to make sure I got to belong to a gym. The signs of a great company. Thank you, New York Sports Club!

Speaking of NYSC, I wanted to update you on how I’ve been doing with my new membership. As for my home location, I’ve only gone twice, both times to spin. My evenings have all been so busy so I haven’t gotten there after work and I have been too tired to make it in the morning. But that is OK — since I have been using the location across the street from my job! I can only use that location during off peak hours which has been working out well.

Remember I discussed scheduling a Thanksgiving workout earlier in this post? Well, I’ve benefited from scheduling all my workouts when I go during the work day. I’ve found that if I block off a time in my Outlook calendar, I make it to the gym. If I don’t, I tend to let work wrap me up and I don’t make it. So I block off a time, go across to the gym, get in a quick 30 minute workout and get right back to work. It is as if I was never even there! As if I didn’t work out, except that I DID.

I love, love, love this new arrangement. I am kicking myself for not doing this sooner. Then when my day is done, I am done. No workouts hanging over my head, taunting me. I’m in, I’m out, I’m done.

I was doing elliptical mostly. I did the arc trainer once and I did the elliptical/stairmaster hybrid once. Then yesterday, inspired by Janna, I did a machine I haven’t done since I belonged to my old gym: the stepmill.

I forgot how hard this thing is! I did 30 minutes and I was dripping by the end. My shirt was soaked through! What an amazing workout when you are strapped for time. I will probably incorporate this into my workouts much more often now. Hopefully soon I will have less of a hard time on actual stairs! I definitely recommend the stepmill if you need a quick but tough workout. Just don’t attempt to pick up a water bottle or a BlackBerry during it because you might fall off. It requires focus and balance!

Another reason my gym membership has been worth it. The building gym doesn’t have this machine! And NYSCs are everywhere. The other day, I went with the boy to his haircut appointment and there was a NYSC across the street. If I’d known, I could have brought clothes and gotten my workout in. Next time!

I am kickstarting my return to Core Fusion with my Turkey Day schedule as well. I opted not to participate in Angela’s Whittle My Middle challenge because I have 25 Core Fusion classes to use up and I know they would whittle my middle and strenghten my core better than I could ever do on my own. But I haven’t been using the classes aside from a really great beginner yoga class that I didn’t hate a couple weeks ago. Starting Thanksgiving, I am back in Core Fusion mode. I will be whittling my middle there and strenghtening my butt, legs and arms as well. I can’t wait to get stronger again!

A quick random note on workout clothes. I was on eBay trying to find the Lululemon Run Swiftly Tech L/S shirt that is sold out in my size everywhere, and I came across some auctions for the Brisk Run Gloves that I have. In Lululemon stores & online, they cost $26. On eBay, they were being sold as Buy it Now for $40. Rip off! You could just buy it straight from Lululemon.com with free shipping. Always check to make sure you aren’t being ripped off on eBay — that made me really angry.

And lastly, some quick food news. I made amazing pumpkin pancakes. So perfect and fluffy — without a doubt the best pancakes I ever made. I used Arrowhead Mills Buttermilk Pancake & Waffle Mix. I replaced the vegetable oil with coconut oil and I added in a couple healthy spoonfuls of Whole Foods organic canned pumpkin. Perfection.

And if you want a book of healthy, easy, yummy recipes please check out Jen’s PriorFatGirl e-Cookbook. It is an amazing collection of over 50 recipes submitted by Jen’s readers and put together by Jen herself, with tidbits on getting some movement into your day from the ever popular MizFit throughout. It makes a great holiday gift and is an invaluable resource for yourself. I have one and I can’t wait to use it. The cookbook costs $5, with $4 of it going to the YMCA, which promotes healthy living for millions of Americans. Click here to learn more and order your copy!

How do you fit a workout in on Thanksgiving? Ever done anything unique?

I will be back tomorrow for my 4 mile race recap and playlist!