Weekend Update: Focus on Fitness & More
Re-starting my at-home workout routine…
Well, here we are. August already. 🌞
Too often over the last few months, I’ve been allowing myself to get dragged down the rabbit hole of obsessively reading news and fretting about things I have no control over. I try to maintain a positive attitude but found myself getting more anxious and having trouble sleeping.
A couple of weeks ago, I decided that since we will probably be staying close to home for a while yet, I might as well make productive use of the time. And focus on things I can change.
So I’ve decided to start by working on my fitness and stamina, and building lean body mass. I signed up for Faster Way To Fat Loss and beginning this week have been doing their 30-minute video workouts in the mornings. I’d tried the program once before a while back, but didn’t do the workouts. I have to say, this is now my favorite part! I really enjoy them and feel so energized afterward!
My friend Karen has been inspiring and encouraging me in the program, and has almost completed her training to be a coach. So if you’re interested in signing up, I’ll share her link shortly, stay tuned!
We’ve also been attempting to take our culinary skills up a notch. Earlier this week le Monsieur made these shrimp skewers with 3 different marinades. And Thursday I made risotto for the first time, using one of the Faster Way vegan recipes Karen sent me. Both dishes were yummy!
Here are recipes for two of the shrimp marinades…the third one le Monsieur made up to taste using terriaki sauce and some other seasonings.
- Grilled Oregano Shrimp
- Grilled Garlic-and-Black-Pepper Shrimp (we used an Anaheim chile, which worked just fine)
Honorable mention…
I’m delighted to be featured this month in the Ageless Style series at Cindy Hattersley’s Rough Luxe Lifestyle blog! Thanks so much, Cindy! (BTW, Cindy’s no slouch herself in the style department, go check out some of the cute looks she’s put together!) And check out Elizabeth’s Ageless Style pick over at The Vintage Contessa!
We’ve been watching…
Though a series about a family-run Swiss bank sounds like it could be a complete snoozefest, mais non! There’s crime! International intrigue! Manipulative matriarchs! Scheming siblings! Perplexing paternity! Tastefully expensive clothes! And the occasional glimpse of Geneva.
Banking District (“Quartier des Banques”) is on Amazon MHz Choice. Season 2 is currently being released one episode per week.
We’ve just begun watching “Velvet,” on Netflix, a Spanish series set in a fashion house (or is it a high-end department store? I’m not quite sure…) in late-1950’s Madrid. It’s very pretty, and seems to be good soapy fun, something to watch to decompress.
And we’re eagerly anticipating the next season of Endeavor on PBS. (It starts a August 9.)
How are things going with you? Do you have an at-home workout routine, or are you considering starting one?
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Just read your interview in the Ageless Style series and really enjoyed it. It is amazing to look at the various pictures of you before and after you switched to wearing your colors. You look so much younger and more attractive in your colors. Just the hair color change is so dramatic. Though I never commented on it, I remember thinking you should maybe stay with the neutrals when you first went with the colors. I’m here to say I was totally wrong. You’re looking good!
Yes, at home barre workout through Pure Barre. I have been a member for 5 years this month! I downloaded the channel through Roku and access a variety of classes to keep up my 3x per week routine. I’ve done about 60 classes during the shutdown of my studio. It adds structure to my week and strength to my body!
I’d love to find out more about the workout series. I’ve been a slug. Well, I have been walking. Booooorrrrring. I used to run and work out with weights. I’ve turned into flab. I may be 70+ but this girl has still some miles in her. I just found you and the Contessa. So glad. Let’s hear it for over fifty.
I have a similar setup to what you have in the photo; yoga mat, weights, bands, kettle ball, etc. It doesn’t really take much equipment to get a good home workout and it’s very convenient.
I don’t pay to subscribe to any particular fitness channel. There is so much on YouTube. I like Haas fit ( they have so many workouts – HIIT, tabata, weights, cardio and a wide variety of different length workouts all with warmups and cool downs.
Well and Good offers a lot of workouts and there are infinite yoga workouts. My particular favorite is Yoga with Kassandra.
For physical therapy, aches and pains I really like Bob and Brad – the two most famous physical therapists on the internet.
I agree. Bob and Brad are terrific!
Haas Fit is fantastic!
Thanks for the heads up that a new season of Endeavour is about to begin! I follow Cindy Hattersley and was happy to see you were this month’s ‘victim’. 🙂
I’m giving better menu planning and meal prep another try this week.
For awhile I got the line from my husband that he didn’t think food that was reheated was as good as food that’s just cooked. That’s code for – I like the food you cook much better than food I have to reheat.
I’ve been retraining him to agree that “food is often more flavorful the next day.” We’ll see how that goes.
So it’s cook-cook-cook this weekend.
Just because I have cut out the commute in my workdays doesn’t mean I want to spend that time cooking. Better to go for a walk after work and reheat.
My Monsieur sometimes is persnickety about leftovers too, unless it’s pizza or meat, LOL!
I was a THREE day a week GAL at REFORMER PILATES but have-not done a thing since COVID HIT!
I have lost WEIGHT!!!!!!
Think I’m the ONLY person who can say that…….what are we in month FIVE yet?
The CORE and strength are slipping away………..
RIsotto is one of the easiest things to cook and I have found you do not have to be there constantly stirring!
I made a lemon pasta sauce last night that was delicious and FRESH.
AS far as the COLORS DO WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY!I think you RADIATE NOW!By the way my shoes came yesterday!PERFECT FIT from EVERLANE!
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE MENTION IN YOUR BLOG!
XX
Oh hooray! I’m so glad you received the shoes and that you like them! I’ve always been intimidated by risotto because I kept hearing how “tricky” it was to get right. Glad to know I don’t have to constantly stir!
It was great to find you on Cindy’s blog. I do like to read about the new people she and Elizabeth feature each month and to see someone I follow was fun. I wish I could get my husband to give me a break from the cooking, it is getting a bit frustrating coming up with new ideas that he will eat..(picky). I am not at all ready to try going out to eat yet, but when we have a vaccine, I will be really ready.
Good to hear some more shows to watch that I may not have heard of. Always informative as usual Susan.
I know exactly what you mean about getting overwhelmed by too much news and feeling anxious. I’ve been using Leslie Sansone’s Walk at Home’s program, which helps me to get in some movement and exercise when I don’t go outside for walks. I also wanted to try Pilates, and I discovered The girl with the Pilates mat on You Tube – she has a good beginner sequence along with all of her other videos on her channel. I will definitely look into the Faster Way to Fat Loss. Healthy eating and exercise is a positive thing to do that should help combat all of the anxiety of the times!
I’ve been doing yoga about 3x/week. When I googled the topic, I was fortunate to find Yoga with Adriene. She is adorable and real. She has videos of all lengths and for every mood or body need.
I have weights but can’t get motivated to use them.
The Couch to 5K program (which begins with only 1 minute of running, slowly) speaks to this 77 year old bookworm so am re-starting it, having completed it in December. and flopped since. I join my husband in the old Strong Women Stay Young VHS. Now flexibility, another matter, inspired by today’s topic to get out those ballet and tai chi DVDs!
We love the Italian and French mysteries on MHz in part because there is always much attention paid to food.
(Susan, I enjoy the blog so much but the political ad this morning was awful as any political ad would be, the first thing in the morning. I hope this will not recur.)
I read War and Peace which puts our present situation in proportion.
Hi Nancy, I had blocked ALL political ads, so let me contact them to get it removed. Can you shoot me an email at [email protected] to let me know what it was? That will make it easier to track and block.
I live on the Coast so I’m always looking for new ways to cook shrimp. Thanks. I do love you in your new colors and would love a post on a vacation wardrobe using more color. I know neutral is more versatile, maybe, but color is more fun. Hang in there. This virus will be under control soon. They never go away completely but hopefully we can control it.
So glad I found your blog through Over 50 Feeling 40! My style is exactly like yours as are your other comments. It’s like having a best friend in a blog!
Thanks, Debbie and welcome!
If you are enjoying “Velvet”, you would also like “Cable Girls” on Netflix.
Yes Velvet along time finished. Fun. Cable Girls too. Mar de Plastico is more intense. I find the Spanish films easy to follow reading subs and keeps me on the couch watching rather than doing chores. Have a huge list. El internado, Grand hotel, Money Heist, Locked Up. Seen them all and looking for more. Cant go wrong with these. On the edge is Ozark and Dead To Me. American and interesting. Keep in mind if you start and find any not for you, or offensive,, just stop but sometimes it takes a few episodes to get into it.
I’ve been a member of Orange Theory Fitness for about 6 years and love their program but my local one had to close in March (hopefully, to re-open in the not-too-distant future). In the meantime, I’ve been walking 3-4 miles a day, about 9 out of 10 days (not in heavy rain) but I need something to replace the strength training component of OTF. I will give some of the YOuTube videos mentioned here a try but will need to figure out a way to buy some weights.
I’ve found at-home fitness to be one of the good surprises of quarantine. Though I’ve got a 25+ year yoga practice, and even went through teacher training, I never managed to practice much at home. Now between streaming classes with some of my favorite teachers and then Yoga with Adriene on YouTube, I’ve practiced consistently like never before. And I’ve been able to do online Pilates classes and a few privates with teachers I worked with in person. Along with walks, I feel strong and balanced. What a welcome surprise. Mostly, I am so grateful not to have to drive places, to rush through traffic to get to a yoga or Pilates class. This is a change I don’t expect to let go of after Corona-times.
I really need to get with some sort of fitness routine. I have gained a few covid pounds and would love to get rid of them. Anxious to hear how this works out for you!!
I have always had a home yoga practice, but since I joined the gym 2.5 years ago, my home workouts pretty much ended. At the start of the virus lockdown, I started running again. It took 3 months to get back to my 45 minute run, but now I run 5 to 6 days a week and am really enjoying it!! In July I started doing a home workout with weights 3 days a week, but I really think a guided program would help. I think I’ll check out A Faster Way to Lose Fat! It might be just what I need!
Zoom has saved my fitness life. I used to be a pool runner and outdoors walker, with weights when I thought about it. Now, thanks to Zoom, I take remote classes in pilates, and strength training/fitness geared to over-50s. I like the very casual interaction of a live person and participants at the beginning and end of the classes – very much like a meatspace class. And my instructors are 150 miles or more away from me. They make money, I get fit – win/win.
I still walk regularly outdoors. When I return to the pool, I’ll keep half the remote land classes, as I am stronger than I used to be.
‘Endeavor’ . . . be still my heart!!
I know, right? 😉
I too have been trying to focus on fitness. I’ve lost about 15 pounds in the last year, so knew it was time to add some exercise. I started in March, but the last two weeks I have been slack. I just couldn’t get motivated. I made myself do one of the workouts today. I always feel good and am much more productive after a workout. And I can tell a difference in my leg muscles and arms. That’s always a good feeling.