I’ll be up in the gym…

…just workin on my fitness. -Fergie

In addition to the work that I’ve been doing in the kitchen, I also have been trying my hardest to work out too. I know how important it is, but it is fricken hard to do when you have two kids, a husband, a job and so many responsibilities, but dang it I’m going to give it a shot.

Since I don’t have very much time in the week to actually spend sweating it out, I choose to pick workouts that kick my ass good enough to last a couple of days. A few years ago, one of my life and style mentors and pretty much the person I love to copy in just about everything, Rebecca Moravec, told me about Orange Theory. She took my to my first class and I was hooked.

Now for those of you who haven’t heard, Orange Theory is not a juice bar or a place that only sells orange paint. It’s actually a gym that specializes in high intensity circuit workouts that are designed to keep your heart rate in a certain zone. You wear a heart rate monitor and there is a screen that has your name in a box and it gives you the percentage you are working at. The percentage is linked to a color so it is easy to see. It will either be grey, blue, green, orange or red (starting from low all the way to high). The goal is to be in the green, orange and red zones for the entirety of the workout and in order to get the after burn effect to be in the orange and red zones for at least 12-13 minutes of the workout. You will know when you should be in these zones based on if you are in a base, push or all-out pace.

You will switch between treadmill/bike/eliptical(cardio), rowing, and weight room blocks over the course of 50 minutes. You are encouraged to keep your heart rate up the whole time.

I know it sounds complicated but there are awesome coaches to lead you along the way. It’s like a less intimidating version of crossfit without the feeling like you’re either going to break in half or have your arms be ripped out of the sockets…or off your body completely.

I love this workout so much. It kicks your butt and also helps you to see how much you have improved each week with how many calories you burn and how much faster you can run and even how much more weight you can lift.

So this morning, even though I had been up at 4am with my daughter, I hauled my butt out of bed at 5:45 and headed out to my 6:15 workout and got it done. I’m really glad I did because as I was running I saw in the mirror something I had written on the wall a few months back under the heading “WHY DO YOU BURN?”…

I had written…”to feel strong again”. That’s why I’m doing all this… to make my body feel strong again. With all of life’s stress it is so easy to constantly feel tired and weak and just not up for it, but as I get further into this journey I realize it doesn’t have to be that way. I can be strong and energetic again. So here’s to feeling strong! May we be the best and most authentic versions of ourselves!

And my most authentic and best self is someone who makes others laugh…so here’s one of my post-sweaty selfies after an OT workout. (I’m incapable of taking a true selfie…I always feel way too ridiculous).

 

Thanks for stopping by!

-Allison

 

 

Feature image courtesy of memecrunch