Please Visit Me At My New URL

Thank you for stopping by The Gym Bunny! 

***Update 6/4/16***

This blog is now at www.morgan-jennifer.com

Morgan Jennifer | A Lifestyle Blog

Hope you'll continue to follow along over there. All posts from here have been migrated over there. Please be sure to update your bloglovin' and follow the new bloglovin' address. I was working with them to get the current followers switched over, but not sure if it was 100% successful, so please be sure to check! Facebook & Google+ will remain the same. Instagram and Twitter have changed. If you follow via Blogger, please find a new route!

Thank you for reading. xo.

30-Day Beach Body Challenge

So, I finally got roped into a 30-Day Beach Body Challenge. I've been using Beach Body programs for years and often get told "You should be a Coach"; "You need to be a Coach"...blah blah blah. Not that I don't appreciate the compliments, I'm just too crazy-busy to put any other sort of "business" on my plate. I do the programs for my personal results, not the Tier-level performance.

Anyway, this challenge came at the right time because it's pretty much been the direction I've wanted to head with my workouts before summer. I wanted to still do 5-6 days a week strength-training at the gym and then I also wanted to do a Beach Body DVD, like Insanity or T25 at night after the kids go to bed. This, my friends, is what I call "taking it up a notch". So now I have a little group to hold me accountable. It starts today.

THE PLAN

Here's a snippet of my workout plans for this week {it worked so well to write it out like this last week that I had to do it again}:

You can see at the top I already had Insanity planned in there!

Today I'll be doing the gym sesh as described above and then tonight I'll do Insanity: Plyometric Cardio Circuit.

Monday

Legs/Glutes

Insanity: Plyometric Cardio Circuit

Tuesday

Back/Shoulders/Abs

Insanity: Cardio Power & Resistance

Wednesday

Legs/Glutes

Insanity: Pure Cardio

Thursday

Chest/Tri's/Abs

Insanity: Plyometric Cardio Circuit

Friday

REST

Saturday

Legs/Glutes

Insanity: Cardio Power & Resistance or a Run

Sunday

Back/Shoulders/Abs

Insanity: Pure Cardio or a Run

Wish me luck, and if you are a Beach Body program owner, I encourage you to take on the challenge as well!

Daylight Savings, Running and Summer is Coming

I don't know about you, but I don't mind losing the extra hour of sleep one bit. I have been waiting for DST to begin, well, since it ended, basically. I swear by the end of the winter, I find myself in a funk with working out...I also tend to have been drinking more with holidays or get-togethers with friends because there just wasn't really much else to do when it's dark outside by 5:30pm. It's all just a recipe for disaster and not keeping sight of my goals. Of course I've worked out throughout winter, but I did let myself get lazy and skip more workouts than I normally would. It just seems to happen every winter. You know what always gets me out of this funk? DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME!

I hit the gym for the first time in weeks this past Saturday. I hate to say that I hadn't been since sometime in early January! Farrah had just been sick for so long, I avoided taking her to the childcare there, which meant I really didn't get to go. I worked out at home instead, but I sure missed the gym. Also with my new job, finding the time for the gym has been tricky, but I plan to squeeze it in Monday thru Thursday around 4pm before I pick up the kids after work. Then of course, I'll continue to go on Saturdays and Sunday after church. Summer is coming and I don't have much time!

I believe having a plan makes all the difference, so I've written out this week's gym routine in advance:

My cardio will get done via running outdoors in the evenings on nice days or Insanity when it rains.

Are you happy DST is finally here? Does it help you with your fitness goals? How do you stay on track?

Tabata Tuesday

Tabata training (aka, the Tabata Protocol) is a type of high intensity interval training that follows a specific format:

• 20 seconds of a very high intensity exercise (e.g., sprints) - it is up to you to perform these at 80-90% exertion {talking should be pretty much impossible}
• 10 seconds of rest
• Repeat 8 times for a total of 4 minutes 

Find out more here. 

I hope for this series to be a weekly go-to for you fitness lovers. It's a great, quick exercise that you can easily carve into your day. If you've got four minutes, you've got time for Tabata. If you're even more rockstar, you can repeat the 4-minute circuit 5x for a 20 min HIIT workout. 

 

 

I recommend downloading a Tabata timer app. I use Tabata+ Lite. I love that it automatically provides a few seconds to set up before it goes right into your first 20 seconds.

Focus.

I have been questioning myself a lot lately. As I sit staring at the last 4 lbs of this 57-lb pregnancy gain...I know I'm SO close...but not as close as I'd like to think because we all know the last 5 or so lbs are the HARDEST to lose. Hell, I've been having trouble since the last 15 considering I reached that point in like October...it's friggin' February already. Four months later and I've only lost about 10 lbs in that time?

My issue has without a doubt been my focus. I've been going up and down week to week with it. Some weeks I am spot on...other weeks I am too crazed, hectic and yeah, I'll even say a little lazy, and my focus goes out the window. Going back to work a few weeks ago hasn't helped...considering my opportune workout time now is pretty much 4:30am. Can you say "snooze"?

Ironically enough, my passion is fitness...yet I spend way more time on my fashion/lifestyle blog than I do here. Yes, I have a passion for fashion too, but I don't think it in any way comes close to trumping my passion for fitness. Maybe if I put more focus into this blog, I'd be more focused on my fitness day to day. I've realized, for me, it's easier to be focused on fitness when I'm already looking great and I have something I can be proud of staring back at me when I look in the mirror. Post-pregnancy, I get angry and I get down on myself...and it ruins my focus. It's not the right attitude. I need to push through my resentment of what I see in the mirror and stay focused on the goal, even if it's hard to see whether I'm getting there or not. 

The way I see it now, there are about 2-3 months left until the weather will be bikini-appropriate and dammit, I promised myself I'd rock a bikini by this summer and be proud doing it! 

The plan is going to go like this...I've made the decision to hold off on Body Beast and first do a round of Insanity. I never really follow the plan with Insanity, I typically do 3-4 of the DVDs in rotation and that works for me. So to call it a round is not really accurate. I just want to spend a good 30-45 days staying consistent with those DVDs and then move onto Body Beast in April, with a lot more outdoor running {because the weather will be so much nicer for it and I'll be able to take the kids without feeling like they're freezing in the jogging stroller - a big reason why I'm not running so much right now}. I love Body Beast, I really do, but I feel my focus right now needs to be a lot of cardio and HIIT to lose a lot of the fat layer and tone what I already have. Then I can focus on building more muscle.

That's all for now...wanted to provide a little update. And I plan to be here a bit more often...stay focused. 

Introducing: Tabata Tuesday

Tabata training (aka, the Tabata Protocol) is a type of high intensity interval training that follows a specific format:

• 20 seconds of a very high intensity exercise (e.g., sprints)
• 10 seconds of rest
• Repeat 8 times for a total of 4 minutes 

Find out more here. 

This is my first Tabata Tuesday on this blog. I hope for this series to be a weekly go-to for you fitness lovers. It's a great, quick exercise that you can easily carve into your day. If you've got four minutes, you've got time for Tabata. If you're even more rockstar, you can repeat the 4-minute circuit 5x for a 20 min HIIT workout.

Here is the Tabata circuit today - please remember to comment below if you completed it and offer any feedback {good or bad} you may have!

Equipment required for this circuit:

• Dumbbells for Upright Rows {go light to medium as you are doing as many reps as possible for 20 seconds}

Exercises:

• Burpees
• Dumbbell Upright Rows
• Mountain Climbers
• Jump Squats

Repeat 2x to complete the circuit.

Links above go to how-to's for each exercise, however, in the future I plan to do the how-to's for you myself!

*Linking up with Olives 'n Wine

Body Beast: Beginning The Journey

Hey y'all...haven't updated in a while on here, but I am actually starting a new Beachbody program called Body Beast and I wanted to share my journey with it on here. I hope you'll follow along over the next few months.

First of all, I want to start with how I came to even order it in the first place. We went to Myrtle Beach over Thanksgiving with my husband's family. It was Black Friday and all the adults had gone with my sons to the beach play park near our rental while I stayed back for Farrah to finish her nap. I was just channel surfing when I came across the infomercial. I am no stranger to Beachbody programs as we own Insanity, P90X, Insanity: Asylum I & II, Turbo Jam and more. I am a believer in their programs because if you've ever done any of them, you know they are not a gimmick, you are definitely torching calories! The hard part is staying consistent and finishing the programs. Well, so I started watching the infomercial and what I liked about it was that it is a muscle building program. Weight training, pure and simple...the tried and true method for a rock hard body. The idea of it didn't intimidate me because I have been lifting for years and I do enjoy it. But I love that this program offered a no-guesswork way of doing it to build lean muscle mass and burn fat, ultimately shaping and sculpting your body. If you see the infomercial, it is definitely marketed more toward men who want to gain muscle and get "big". However, being a woman, and knowing what I know about fitness, I know that I would never gain that bulky appearance that I don't want, as I simply don't have the genetic makeup and testosterone to do so. What I do know is that muscle burns fat, muscle increases RMR {resting metabolic rate} and muscle doesn't jiggle. I want to replace a lot of the fat I've accumulated in my 3rd pregnancy with muscle. I definitely thought this program was the way to go.

And the real reason I was so inclined to order was that I feel the infomercial happened upon me at the right time. There I sat, the day after the big feast that is Thanksgiving, 6 1/2 months postpartum and still having 13 lbs to lose to get to my pre-baby weight. I think I finally had that mental "snap" that I needed...the one that made me think to myself, "OK, I am truly OVER this shit and I want it GONE. I'm ready to go full force." Yes, of course I have been working out hard since I had Farrah...I know a loss of 44-ish lbs in 6 months is nothing to balk at. But have I been strict? Have I really been doing all that I can? Short answer: No. I've enjoyed maybe a little too much wine. I've had bad eating days. Other than all the exercise I do, I haven't been doing much else in the way of shedding the weight. I knew it was time to make an all-around change.

I had to wait for the program to arrive {so I used last week to accumulate all the supplies I needed - dumbbells in increments I didn't already have and a weight bench}.

It arrived last Friday, so this morning I officially started my 90-day journey. My ongoing plan is to carve it into the time I have after I take my oldest son to the bus stop in the early AM and before my other two kids wake up {roughly a 6:30-7:30am window}. It's a no-excuses time of day because there's nothing else to hold me back or distract me from getting it done.

In addition to the program, I will also still be getting some work in at the gym. I have a couple barre classes and a few HIIT classes {i.e. Cardio Craze and Insanity} to take each week there and will use any other days to get my cardio in on the treadmill or elliptical. Sundays of course will be the Sabbath {rest, my friends}. The reason I wanted to keep up with other things in addition to the program was to speed up fat loss and overall cutting/toning. Plus, I do pay for a gym membership so I can't just not go for 90 days!

So yes, I also did a barre class at 10:30 this AM. And I feel great...I wonder what my muscles will feel like tomorrow. Today was chest and triceps day for Body Beast. Tomorrow is legs - which I'm actually looking forward to {it's my fave muscle group to work}.

Last, but not least, the most humbling part of the journey I can't just skip over. These are my official "before" pictures taken the other day. I plan to post updated pics and stats on days 30, 60 and 90. I do hate this part because I hate seeing myself like this...yes, I'm postpartum, but it's still hard to see it. However, for the sake of being real about this process, here they are:

158 lbs / 5'7"

So definitely I feel like my "real" body is just swimming under an overall 1-2" layer of baby fat and my belly still looks a little "postpartum". I also just generally need to tone up. I mean, you can see from my profile pic what I looked like in this exact outfit {which, believe me, I don't wear right now, just wanted to use it as my progress pic outfit} just over a year ago! {Amazing what pregnancy does to a woman - ugh!} So there you have it...I look forward to seeing changes by Day 30! Hope you'll follow along my journey!

Linking Up With: Monday Morning Gossip // Life Of Meg // Still Being Molly // Lipgloss & Crayons // B Loved Boston // Really, Are You Serious?