Fit Friday: Strength Training

So, I thought Fit Friday was a catchy way to involve a fitness routine into this blog.  As we all know, fitness is a very important part of a healthy lifestyle.  Granted, it is also one of the hardest parts in my opinion.  Working out used to be like pulling teeth for me.  Now, I almost look forward to getting in a run a few days a week.  However, while cardio is particularly important for good cardiovascular health (imagine that), and particularly weight loss, strength training seems to get pushed under the rug.

One of the most common myths about strength training is that if a woman lifts weights, she's going to get bulky like a man does.  There are several different reasons as to why that won't happen, but probably the biggest reason is that a man's body has much more testosterone than, on average, woman's body would have.  For a woman to get bulky, she would 1) have to take some form of testosterone supplements, and 2.) train to get bulky.  By training to get bulky, I mean that the body generally won't produce the quantities of muscle mass desired for bulk in a short amount of time.  It takes men who want to bulk up a lot of hard work and gym time.

So, now that we've busted that myth, what are some of the benefits of strength training, you may ask?  For one, muscle burns more calories.  People with higher muscle mass will burn more calories sitting in front of the television than those with little to no muscle mass.  On the other side of the health spectrum, that also means that people with higher muscle mass will also burn more calories when they're working out.  More calories burned = faster weight loss results.

Toning up your muscles is another way to get a sleeker silhouette.  While eating whole foods and doing cardio training will help you obtain a slimmer physique, to really get those toned and defined abs, obliques, and glutes, strength training is the key.  While you cannot "spot reduce" weight (ie: do specific exercises to lose fat on your stomach), incorporating exercises to strengthen the surrounding muscles will help you burn more fat all-around to help you shed the extra weight.

Some of my favorite strength exercises are those that involve small weights and resistance bands.  Both of these techniques are easy to store and travel with, so that you don't have to worry about where to put them or how to carry them if you're going on a trip.  Perusing through Pinterest (one of my favorite pastimes) is where I find most of my exercises, particularly those with strength-training in mind.  Slipping on a pair of sneakers and taking a walk is a no-brainer.  I am not confident in creating my own routine for anything outside of cardio.  Down below are some of my favorite training routines.

This Routine incorporates resistance bands.  Resistance bands are GREAT because they use your own body weight to your advantage.  That way, the stronger you get, you don't need to invest in any new equipment.  Your bands will need to be replaced every now and again, but that's a relatively small investment for the sake of your health.

I am also partial to this routine because I'm trying to strengthen my body for running (hopefully I can run farther than the most-likely-eighth-mile I can run now).  Unfortunately, the link in the pin is dead, but the visual should be helpful to most.

Sidenote: I previewed this blog post, and the images are tiny. Reading it is impossible.  I will be sure to pin the exercises to my blog-specific Pinterest board for ease. xo

Another favorite (because it's really fun) is using my stability ball for different things.  I'll sit on it while watching tv, do some sit-ups on it, I've even used it to assist push-ups.  There are a variety of exercises on the World Wide Web for using stability balls, and they really help increase your stability (imagine that) and strengthen your core all-around.

What are some of your favorite strength-exercises?  Let me know in the comments below!  Also, if you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave a comment or message me on Facebook.

xoxo,

Rachel

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Posh Polishes

While beauty isn't a subject that gets touched upon too often on my blog, one of the main points of starting this blog was to discuss my beauty habit, and one of my favorite parts of my beauty routine is nail polish!  If you name the color, chances are good that I either have it, have a dupe for it, or am lusting over it.  My nail polish fixation occurred my second year in college.  I had just gained a bunch of weight back (which seemed to be the story of my life), and I didn't feel pretty in anything I put on (for clarification, you can be drop-dead gorgeous at any size.  I personally wasn't feeling so hot).  My thought process went along the lines of "well, you can't outgrow nail polish.  That stuff lasts forever and it's hard to not look good in it!"  I had several bottles, but that was when I really began scanning the internet looking for reviews, and passionately gathering every color imaginable.

There are 5 main colors I personally feel that every woman needs (if you're into nails.  If not, then I apologize that this post won't be particularly relevant.  Stick around though, because I promise, nails aren't the only thing I can babble on about).  All of these colors come in a variety of shades, price ranges, and finishes, so you are bound to find something that suits your taste.

Disclaimer: I am the last thing from a professional photographer.  These photographs are certainly amateur at best.  I was outside in the wind this afternoon with a white bedsheet trying to capture these colors.  Swatches of all of these colors are available online, and I made a new board on Pinterest to show you some gorgeous shots of each of these colors that I don't have the expertise to create.  Also, that will give everyone their due credit, because I'm not about to go plagiarizing other peoples' pictures.

First off, every woman needs a red polish.  Red polish is the epitome of colors for nails (and lips!).  Red polish can make a woman look classy, empowered, sexy, you name it.  Two of my favorite red polishes are Delaunay by Julep, and Smokin' Hot by E.L.F. cosmetics.  They are both different spectrums of red, but they both look fantastic on my fair-with-cool-undertones skin.

Secondly, a woman needs a no-nonsense pink shade.  This is another shade that can make a woman look classy and elegant, while also showing off her feminine side.  My current favorite pink nail polish is OPI Elephantastic Pink.  It is the perfect girly shade with zero shimmer or glitter, and just beams when I wear it on my fingernails.

Next, when you need a little something on your nails, but don't want to go too over-the-top with your color selection, a nice nude polish will accomplish that.  A few of my go-to nudes of the moment are Edith by Julep (don't let the description fool you.  There are pink tones to this polish, along with shimmer, but it most definitely leans towards the nude side of the spectrum), Easy Going by Sinful Colors (hands-down my favorite brand), and Private Viewing by Wet N Wild.

My fourth must-have color is something Vampy.  This color scheme can go from a lovely burgundy, to a deep navy (one of my personal favorites), or even dark, chocolatey brown or black.  Currently on my lusting list is OPI Lincoln Park After Dark.  This is a cult classic in the beauty community, and this picture does no justice.  You absolutely have to get some swatches of this in different lights.  It goes from "Are your nails black?" indoors to the most sultry deep plum shade outside.  It's gorgeous.

I captured this picture in direct sunlight on a white sheet, and it definitely looks black.  This color is far from black.  It's perfect for the fall and winter months.

Finally, all women want a nail polish that makes her feel like herself.  This can literally be any color you want it to be, or one of the colors I've already discussed.  Some of my current favorites are Wet N Wild I Need A Refresh-Mint (a BEAUTIFUL Tiffany blue), Wet N Wild Punch It Up (a flirty pink with purpley-pink shimmer), Sinful Colors Sinful Shine in Pragmatic (a lovely lavender), and finally, Julep Evie (hot-hot-HOT pink with gold shimmer).  These are all colors that make me feel girly and feminine, and when my nails look good, I definitely feel good.

Bonus colors: Don't be afraid of the more trendy colors! Nail polish is probably your safest bet when trying to branch out into trends.  For example, Pantone's Color of the Year this year is Radiant Orchid.  Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Punch Drunk honestly just perfectly captures that color.  Plus, that nail polish is readily available and I found it on sale at Walgreens this week for 2/$10 (I try not to pay full price for it, just because that line is a bit pricey, but oh-so-worth-it at the same time).  Another fun, trendy color is Turquoise.  Who doesn't love an unexpected pop of color?  Especially in the summertime, turquoise is the perfect way to go if you've gotten a bit of a tan (or fake-bake.  I simply burn, so I don't even bother with any of it).  Two of my favorite turquoise (one is a bit more teal, but for the sake of blue-green polishes, we'll just go with it) are China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise and Sinful Colors Sinful Shine in My Kryptonite.  Finally, who doesn't love to play with glitter?  If you're anything like me, OPI Nothin Mousie 'bout It just captures my heart (no pun intended) with it's sheer pink glitter base and chunky pink hearts (when I first got this polish I was NOT pleased with it.  When I figured out to dig the hearts out with an orange stick, we got along much better).

Whew! Well, I think that's enough nail-talk for one night.  I do want to make a follow up post of my favorite seasonal colors, and tips for a professional-looking manicure.  So let me know in the comments if you'd like to read posts about those topics! 

PS: Don't forget to check out the Pinterest board to see some much-better shots and swatches of these colors!

Until next time, my lovely readers.

xoxo,

Rachel

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Work it.

First things first: for my avid readers, I'm so sorry that it's been...what, 3 months now?  I really have no excuse.  I lost all motivation to blog when my computer charger burnt up.  I am now on a Monday, Wednesday, Friday posting schedule, and I am very hopeful for the upcoming posts.

I'm officially 4 pounds away from losing a whopping 50 pounds!!! It has been a hard 6 1/2 months, but honestly, every time I step on the scale, look in the mirror, or catch my reflection in a door, I am nothing but ecstatic for myself.  It's been a lot of difficult work, especially with all the holidays that have just finished.  What does 50 pounds look like?

Basically, ten of those bad boys (with my quick google search, that's the best I could come up with).

Then, lucky me, I hit a plateau. I've been stuck at four pounds away from fifty for LITERALLY a month now.  A month!! I tried low-carbing (I binged after three days, then tried it again and...same thing happened).  I tried no-carbing, I tried eating everything they sell in wal-mart, nothing helped.  So I basically threw in the towel and quit trying so hard.  After that did nothing (surprise), I decided that maybe I should start exercising.  But who really wants to lace-up and go running in -30 degree weather.  Not this one. So, next best thing, I bought a rebounder (that's a fancy word for a mini trampoline).  That's definitely fun, but I didn't feel like the five-minute spurts here and there when I thought about it really did anything.

So, last week when we had our one whole day that wasn't freezing (it was still 25 degrees, but that feels like 80 after our little stint we had with a polar vortex), I decided I was going to go out and walk.  While I was walking, I felt like I wanted to just try running.  Even if I could only run 10 seconds, then so be it.  Well, I made it a whole 45 seconds.  It felt exhausting. But fantastic.  So I let myself cool down after that, and then I did it again.  I didn't time myself, but I'm thinking it was about 30 seconds.  Then, after some more walking, I ran again for probably another 30 seconds.

When I got home, I felt great.  Later on that night, I was SO SORE.  Everything from my neck down just felt like I had been hit with a bat repeatedly.  It felt FANTASTIC though, in an odd sort of way.  I planned on going out the next morning after work, but I was greeted to a snow/ice fall that morning, so it put my plans for that on hold.

Monday, though, the weather warmed up a bit, and I was in the mood to break in my new workout clothes (more on that in a bit).  So, I did the same thing as the week beforehand.  Walk some, run a little, walk some, run a little more.  I ended up doing 5 sessions of sprinting rather than 3.  I didn't even think about starting to run, I just thought to myself, "Rachel, even if you just make it to the next mailbox, you're making progress. Just keep going."  Later on that night, it still felt like I'd been charged by a bull being chased by a school bus, but I still craved that endorphin high that I was beginning to experience (if any of you know anything about me, it's that exercise and I are not the best of friends).

So, Tuesday, I was off and I was just going to take the day off of exercising.  Then, the more I thought about it and moped about exercise, the more I wanted to go.  So, without thinking again, I changed my clothes and did the same thing as I had done on Monday.  I was much less sore after that one, thankfully, but I still could feel it.  Which leaves me saying this:  If you don't feel yourself changing, you aren't being challenged.

Now, after much research (by research I mean pinterest), I have come up with my perfect equation for what to wear running when the weather is less-than-ideal.  The key for keeping warm, but not getting too hot, is thin layers.  My layers look a lot like this:

• Leggings (I don't wear anything fancy, just some leggings I got from Forever 21 to add warmth)
• Sweat Pants (seriously, have you ever bought the Hanes Sweatpants from Walmart that are less than six bucks? They are hands-down the softest sweatpants ever)
• Sports Bra (I went out on a limb once, a few years ago, and got one of those dry-tec(?) sports bras.  It's nice, but I almost prefer the ones I get from KMart that are 2 for $12.99)
• Tank Top made from sweat-wicking material (I got mine from Old Navy and I LOVE them...considering adding some pictures below!)
• A light to medium jacket (this is where I fail...I either pick one to heavy or too thin)
• Head Wrap (keeps my ears warm AND hold my headphones in place)
• Dark Sunglasses (seriously, how did I ever exercise outside before without these?)

This generally keeps me warm enough, but not too warm.  Picking a jacket with a zipper also really helps, because you can use the zipper as sort of a "thermostat" by zipping it up when you get too chilly, or unzipping it when you start getting too warm (thank you, SparkPeople, for that tip).

I really only run when I don't have to work the next night, or didn't have to work the night before.  However, that's generally only about three days a week, and I would like to be active a bit more than that.  I'm considering incorporating this routine for when I do have to work because I don't have to go outside and it seems like it shouldn't take too long:

(courtesy of backonpointe.tumblr.com)

Plus, I don't have to jump around.  That tends to scare the cats.

Before I bid you all adieu, here are some fun pre-workout pictures for all of  your enjoyment.

That last one...oh boy...I was dying.  All of you that follow me on instagram got to see that one while I was in-the-moment.

Alright! I think I'm done for now.  Until next time, my lovely readers!

xoxo,

Rachel

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