Leg Day Workout

I know all I have been posting lately is food reviews and I want to talk about fitness a little bit more. Today, I am here to talk about one of the most dreaded days of the week: leg day. I personally do leg day twice a week. Leg day can be painful, but it is very necessary to get nice toned legs and booty. I am going to give y’all one of my leg day workouts that I have been doing. Every workout that I do ends with 10 minutes of abs and 20 minutes of cardio. I rotate between many different ab workouts and rotate between the treadmill, stair climber, rowing machine, and indoor bicycles for cardio. I was no longer seeing results and felt like my progress was pretty stagnant and by adding this 20 minutes of cardio at the end of my workouts, I have lost 7% of my body fat this month alone. After my workouts, I replenish with a Dymatize whey protein isolate protein shake( I will write about this protein supplement in a separate post).

So, for my leg workouts I typically start with the squat rack. If you are just starting and are uncomfortable with doing squats with a free bar, you can try doing squats on a Smith Machine; which will give a little more support. However, I do not recommend staying on the Smith Machine because I was not making much progress there. I started seeing results and definition in my quads with the squat rack. If you are willing to give the squat rack a try, start off with no weight on the bar and then gradually add more weights as you get stronger. You can also have a workout partner spot you during these squats if needed. I have noticed that each week I can add more weight to the bar. I usually do three sets of ten at my highest weight. However, if you want to do more that is up to you.

Next, I usually do the incline leg press. This machine may seem intimidating at first because you are sitting at the bottom and all the weight is above you; however this is a great workout for your quads, hamstrings, and glutes. Start off with no weight and then gradually add more as you feel comfortable. When you are doing this exercise, make sure your knees are staying at a slight bend. I also do three sets of ten for this exercise.

Next, I do a single leg deadlift with a kettlebell. However, you can do this exercise with a dumbell or barbell as well. This exercise is an amazing hamstring workout and you will be feeling it later. Again, make sure your knee has a slight bend during this exercise.

Next, I do a barbell hip thrust. Rest your shoulders on a flat bench with your chin up and put a barbell on your hips. Lower your hips and raise them up with the barbell. Start with a low weight and gradually use a heavier weight. This is a great exercise to work those glutes.

Next, I will do Bulgarian split squats usually with a dumbell or kettlebell. Put the top of one foot on a bench with your other foot planted on the ground and squat. This works your quads, glutes, and hamstrings. You will definitely feel this exercise burning.

Lastly, I will finish it up with the leg extension exercise to get the quads burning. Most gyms will have this machine and you will definitely feel it. This is just one of my workouts, I usually switch the workouts up to make sure I am making progress and not plateauing.

After my leg workouts, I will do 10 minutes of abs which consists of anything from cruches, sit ups, v-ups, leg lifts, bicycle crunches, Russian twists, high-low planks, and regular planks. I do 10 minutes straight and you will definitely feel those abs burning and see definition quickly!

I will finish the entire workout with 20 minutes of cardio. Like I previously mentioned, I will switch up on the different types of cardio equipment and I do recommend doing that. If you have any questions, drop them in the comments & if you would like to see workout videos let me know!

The Fear of Failure

Failure- what a scary word right? When someone tells you that you can fail something, the thought of failing that thing may make you cringe. Sure, there are plenty of things one can fail at. We can fail a test in school, fail a job interview, fail in a relationship, the list goes on. Well, for those of you who don’t know, which is probably many of you; I recently experienced a hard failure in life. I tried to become an officer in the U.S. Navy. This was an experience I was very excited about and I thought I was ready for. For everyone that knows me, they know I workout regularly and that I can do sit ups. However, when I was in training I failed the sit up portion of the strength test by three sit ups. The reason I failed is unknown because I can do above the required number of sit ups at the gym. However, when it came to the test I did not make it in the 2 minute time limit they had. I won’t make excuses, I know that I should have came to OCS more prepared and should have practiced the strength test at home more often than I did.

After I failed the strength test and I heard that they would send me home, I was heartbroken. Nothing hurt more than when the Lt. called us in a room saying, “Come in failures.” The plan I had made for myself for the next four years and possibly longer was gone. I don’t think I have ever felt failure hit me this hard in my life and it hurt a lot. I cried for about a week straight every day thinking about how I had ruined my chance at something great by failing by such a small amount. I beat myself up over it and kept thinking “If only I had tried harder”, or “How could I have let this go?”.

As the days went by, I beat myself up constantly. I was confused, stressed, and sad. I didn’t know what to do next. My career plan was completely gone and didn’t know what I want to do with my life, and I really still don’t. I was lucky to have amazing family and a great support group of friends both inside and outside of OCS. They made me feel like I wasn’t alone in this even though sometimes I wanted to be alone. I spent my days working out nonstop in the gym, pushing myself to make those numbers everyday after I failed. I asked to try to re enter training while I was being processed out and they told me I needed to go home and re-apply.

After being told I definitely had to go home, I finally let it all go. Sometimes we experience failure to make us stronger. I can say I am a much stronger person today then I was when I stepped out of that van to go to OCS. While I was sad when I had initially failed, and still am upset about it; I realize that everything happens for a reason. Maybe I wasn’t meant to take that path in my life yet or at all. Maybe I need time to think it through more and prepare. Maybe there is a different career path that needs my energy. Maybe this whole experience was to teach me failure and how to handle it. At the end of the day, I guess I really don’t know why I went through this. However, I did learn one thing and that is to never fear failure. I highly encourage anybody to go do something that you may possibly fail because that’s what makes it worth doing. Put your energy 100% into whatever you want to achieve and I guarantee you can achieve it; even if it means that you may fail at it once or twice. NEVER let failure bring you down or deter you from doing what you want. Let failure teach you a lesson and take the time to reflect, grow, and become a stronger person.

How to Start a Workout Routine

Hi all,

I am sorry it has been a long time since I have written a post. I have been going through a lot in life and I will be sure to post more about that later. I know I missed the whole #NewYearNewMe stuff and all the New Years resolutions. However, I am hoping that everyone is sticking to their plans and that you all are still wanting to crush your goals that you set at the beginning of the year.

Now I know life gets busy between work, school, kids, dogs, or any other thing that can take up your free time. Hey, let me tell you it is still possible to fit a workout routine into your schedule. I was a full time college student working two jobs and maintaining a pretty good social life and still found an hour out of my day five days per week to hit the gym. Now I know it is easier said than done and I understand that. If an hour is too much time out of your day, try a 30 minute workout. If driving to the gym wastes too much time, try to do a HITT workout in your living room. There are plenty of options depending on your goals and time limits.

First, you need to think of your goals. Do you want to lose weight? Do you want to gain muscle? Do you want to lean out? Do you want an overall healthier lifestyle? These are important questions to ask yourself when you are thinking of how to fit a workout routine in your schedule that fits your goals. Because why would you make time for something that isn’t going to achieve your end goal right? Obviously, if you want to lift weights and gain a good amount of muscle you may need to make some time to go to the gym. However, if you want to lose weight, maintain a healthy lifestyle, or lean out there are plenty of 30 minute HITT workout videos on Youtube that will get the job done. Or, if you want to attend a gym; there are some gyms that have guided fitness classes. And of course some diet changes may also need to be implemented in order to achieve your goals. Your homework is to really consider your goals and how you are going to achieve them. Don’t be afraid to drop some comments below!:) I want to hear your goals and success stories!