Business Outfit plus Upper Body and Abs

In case I hadn't mentioned before, I'm a finance and economics major. I intern on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the private wealth management division of a major financial services provider/investment bank. (I won't say the name but you've heard of it.) The dress code is pretty formal. Usually I play it safe with dress pants and a button-down, but I've been trying to switch up my look a little and utilize more of my workrobe.

Today's outfit:

Shirt: BCBG

Belt: Express (it's my favorite belt!)

Pants: Express (literally my one pair of dress pants that desperately need washed)

Bracelet: Coach outlets (18th bday present from my boyfriend at the time)

Bag: DKNY via Lord and Taylors

After work I completed a ridiculous arm workout. I switched up the exercises that I normally do and focused on targeting one muscle group per circuit. It took about 60 minutes:

Upper Body Workout (60 minutes)

Circuit 1: Biceps (10 lb dumbbells, 15 reps x3)

• Bicep curls
• Hammer curls
• Seated preacher curls

Circuit 2: Triceps (x3)

• Lying triceps extension: 10 lb dumbbells, 15 reps
• Standing triceps extension: 15 lb dumbbell, 15 reps
• Tricep kickbacks: 10 lb dumbbell, 15 reps per arm
• Tricep dips: 10 reps

Circuit 3: Shoulders/Back (x3)

• Bent-over rows: 15 lb dumbbell, 15 reps per arm
• Lateral raise: 10 lb dumbbells, 15 reps
• Upright rows: 10 lb dumbbells, 12 reps
• Front raise: 10 lb dumbbells, 10 reps

Circuit 4: Shoulders (on stability ball -- 10 lb dumbbells, x3)

• Seated military press: 15 reps
• "Arnold press": 10 reps
• Shoulder rotators: 15 reps

Circuit 5: Chest (12 reps x3)

• Seated lat bar pull-down: 40 lbs
• Lever seated fly: 40 lbs
• Incline chest press: 15 lb dumbbells
• Incline dumbbell flies: 15 lb dumbbells

This was HARD! My muscles were crying at the end. I think I will feel it tomorrow.

I then completed a 20 minute sprint interval workout:

Sprint Intervals (20 minutes)

• 0-1: 4.0 mph
• 1-2: 8.0 mph
• 2-3: 4.0 mph
• 3-4: 8.5 mph
• 4-5: 4.0 mph
• 5-6: 9.0 mph
• 6-7: 4.0 mph
• 7-8: 9.5 mph
• 8-9: 4.0 mph
• 9-9.5: 10.0 mph
• 9.5-11: 4.0 mp
• 11-12: 9.5 mph
• 12-13: 4.0 mph
• 13-14: 9.0 mph
• 14-15: 4.0 mph
• 15-16: 8.5 mph
• 16-17: 4.0 mph
• 17-18: 8.0 mph
• 18-20: 4.0 mph

Followed by 10 minutes of incline treadmill walking reading April's edition of Cosmopolitan :)

And about 10 minutes of abs:

Ab Workout 

• 30 seconds plank
• 15 double crunches with 6 lb medicine ball
• 30 seconds plank
• 15 side crunches (per side)
• 30 seconds plank
• 20 ball twists with raised feet and 6 lb medicine ball
• 30 seconds plank
• 15 standing side crunches (per side) with 20 lb medicine ball
• 30 seconds plank

As you can see I like doing planks! Well actually I don't, but I read that planks are the most important exercise to stabilize and pull in your core abdominal muscles--which makes sense--so I've been making them the focus of every ab workout.

For that matter, I don't think it's necessary, or even beneficial, to do extensive ab work or ridiculous amounts of crunches. The only way to get well-defined abs is to eliminate the layer of fat covering the muscle. You do this through your diet and overall total-body exercise--you can't just spot-train your way to a six-pack! If you take care of the lifting and clean eating, then you only need a few minutes of abs a couple days a week to see results. 

Becoming a Real Blogger :)

So I thought I'd actually be a real blogger and post what I ate for once:

For breakfast (around 9am) I had a container of Fage 2% plain greek yogurt and eggs:

When I first started eating Greek yogurt, I had to mix in a ton of berries and walnuts. But now I like it plain! Also I had finished off my strawberries last night.

I always make my eggs the same way: 2 whole eggs plus 2 whites in a flat puff. It looks like a pancake and is easy to pick up and eat with my hands! Sometimes I add feta cheese but I am cutting back on the cheese now that I'm eating so much yogurt because my body's not used to a lot of dairy.

I have 5 classes from 9:30 to 4:45 every Monday and Wednesday. Because of my schedule I never eat a real lunch. My snacks for the day were half a cup of almonds and a sliced Fuji apple with cinnamon:

Would you believe that I just started eating almonds for the first time in 4 years? I used to eat them all the time then they started giving me headaches so I thought I might be allergic and gave them up. But I tried some on a whim over spring break and didn't have any bad reactions so I'm bringing them back into my diet! Previously the only nuts I was eating were walnuts, which I like with berries or chocolate, but almonds are a better stand-alone food. And they're great to snack on during class--I'm trying to get away from eating so many protein bars!

My outfit today (not super-exciting):

Shirt: Express

Leggings: Forever 21

Cuff: H&M

Bag: Kate Spade Outlets

I had a different outfit planned for today but once I heard it was going to rain I had to wear leggings. I think they go better with boots. And yes, I am wearing leggings as pants but so does everyone on my campus so I didn't get any weird looks.

I intended to go to the gym right after class but it was raining and I was tired so I ended up lying in bed reading blogs for an hour until I got motivated. I've been reading April's blog from the beginning and just discovered Katie at Faith Food & Fitness--I'm excited to start following her! I also ate my last Greek yogurt :(

Finally I got up to go the gym. My campus has 2 gyms: a big, state-of-the-art one about a mile and a half from me that I can drive to, or run if it's nice outside; and an older not-so-nice basement gym within walking distance. I like to switch it up between the two. Today I opted to drive to the nicer one. It has a lot more machines so I was able to add some variety to my leg workout.

Lower Body Workout (75 minutes)

• Seated Leg Press: 130 lbs, 15 reps x 3
• Standing Hip Abduction: 100 lbs, 10 reps per leg x 3
• 45 Degree Leg Press: 90 lbs, 15 reps x 3
• Hack Squat: 90 lbs, 15 reps x 3
• Hamstring Deadlift: 30 lb barbell, 15 reps x 3
• Split Squats: 15 lb dumbbells, 10 reps per leg x 3
• Lever Alternating Leg Press: 45 lbs, 10 reps per leg x 3
• V-Squat: 90 lbs on each side, 8 reps x 3
• Seated Leg Curl: 50 lbs, 12 reps x 3
• Bent-over Leg Curl: 50 lbs (I think), 10 reps per leg x 3
• Kneeling Leg Curl: 50 lbs, 12 reps per leg x 3
• Seated Hip Abduction (Inner Thigh): 70 lbs, 12 reps x 3
• Seated Hip Abduction (Outer Thigh): 50 lbs, 12 reps x 3

I used this website to get new ideas and to figure out how to use some of the machines I was unfamiliar with. It is an amazing resource! I was so excited about trying new machines that I ended up spending about 75 minutes on this workout, so I skipped cardio even though I had a new Cosmo to read :(

I made a quick run to Giant for more greek yogurt! Usually I get all my groceries at Trader Joes and Target, but I wanted to make it a short trip Giant was the closest. I bought:

• 10 (!!) individual servings of Fage 2% plain greek yogurt plus one quart of Choikos plain 0%
• 4 pints of strawberries (they were on sale!)
• 2 mangos
• 2 cartons of light Minute Maid lemonade (only 15 calories per 8oz and so good!)
• Frozen tilipia
• 2 bags of frozen brussel sprouts

I also found a new kind of tea:

Right now I have 4 different types of ginger tea! Plus Tazo Organic Chai and Passion Fruit. I drink at least two or three cups per day.

When I got home around 9:15 pm I was starving! I tossed a ton of broccoli, carrots, and a yellow summer squash in a tsp of olive oil plus salt and roasted it in the oven while I was showering. This is my favorite way to make veggies! Then I microwaved about 8 oz of leftover ahi tuna to go with it. I meant to take a picture but I was so hungry I forgot.

After dinner I had a pint of sliced strawberries with a packet of splenda. 

Normally I never put sweetener on food but this is my one exception; it reminds me of eating strawberries and sugar as a kid! I also had dark chocolate; I eat some almost every day:

I finished off the remaining half of the black 85% cocoa bar along with a cup of my new tea. They were both delicious! Last night I woke up starving around 3am so hopefully that won't happen tonight. Night! (I'll finish adding pictures tomorrow)

Arms and Interval

I posted a leg workout about three weeks ago, so I thought I'd share with you an arm workout that I typically do. It takes about 50 minutes and is pretty intense!

Arm Workout


Circuit 1: Chest and Triceps (on stability ball -- 15 reps x 3)

• Chest press: 15 lb dumbbells
• Dumbbell flyers: 15 lb dumbbells
• Tricep extension: 15 lb dumbbell (just one)

Circuit 2: Shoulders (on stability ball -- x3)

• Seated military press: 10 lb dumbbells, 15 reps
• Seated straight-arm raises (to front): 10 lb dumbbells, 10 reps
• Shoulder rotators: 10 lb dumbbells, 15 reps

Circuit 3: Biceps and Triceps (15 reps x 3)

• Bicep curls: 10 lb dumbbells
• Standing tricep extension: 15 lb dumbbell (just one)
• Hammer curls: 10 lb dumbbells
• Tricep kickback: 10 lb dumbbell (both sides)

Circuit 4: Back and Shoulders (x3)

• Bent-over rows: 15 lb dumbbell, 15 reps on both sides
• Straight-arm raises (to side): 10 lb dumbbells, 10 reps
• Upright rows: 10 lb dumbbells, 10-15 reps

Circuit 5: Chest, Shoulders, Triceps (x3)

• Lateral fly machines: 40 lbs, 15 reps
• Cable fly machine: 40 lbs, 15 reps
• Tricep dips, 12 reps

I was happy to get back in the gym; I worked out my arms using dumbbells at home twice over spring break but it's just not the same! Yesterday I worked out my legs and did an easy-ish hour on the elliptical reading the April Marie Claire (alternating between resistance levels 15 and 10), so I wanted to do some high-intensity cardio today. I came up with a KILLER two-part interval workout:

Part 1: Sprint Intervals, 25 minutes

• 0-1: 4.0 mph, 5.0 incline
• 1-3: 8.0 mph, 1.0 incline
• 3-4: 4.0 mph, 1.0 incline
• 4-6: 8.5 mph, 1.0 incline
• 6-7: 4.0 mph, 1.0 incline
• 7-9: 9.0 mph, 1.0 incline
• 9-11: 4.0 mph, 1.0 incline
• 11-12.5: 9.5 mph, 1.0 incline
• 12.5-14: 4.0 mph, 1.0 incline
• 14-15: 10.0 mph , 1.0 incline
• 15-17: 4.0 mph, 1.0 incline
• 17-18: 9.5 mph, 1.0 incline
• 18-19: 4.0 mph, 1.0 incline
• 19-20: 9.0 mph, 1.0 incline
• 20-21: 4.0 mph, 1.0 incline
• 21-22: 8.5 mph, 1.0 incline
• 22-23: 4.0 mph, 1.0 incline
• 23-24: 8.0 mph, 1.0 incline
• 24-25: 4.0 mph, 1.0 incline

Part 2: Incline Walking, 15 minutes

• 0-5: 4.0 mph, 5.0 incline
• 5-6: 4.0 mph, 10.0 incline
• 6-7: 4.0 mph, 9.0 incline
• 7-8: 4.0 mph, 8.0 incline
• 8-9: 4.0 mph, 7.0 incline
• 9-10: 4.0 mph, 6.0 incline
• 10-11: 4.0 mph , 5.0 incline
• 11-12: 4.0 mph, 4.0 incline
• 12-13: 4.0 mph, 3.0 incline
• 13-14: 3.0 mph, 2.0 incline
• 14-15: 2.0 mph, 2.0 incline

I haven't done high-intensity interval training in so long, and it was INTENSE. I was sweating so hard that my mascara was running down my cheeks and I looked like I was crying. The incline walking was surprising challenging. I intended it to be just a cool-down but it turned into a nice workout that really targeted my glutes but still was slow enough that I could read the latest People magazine. I've read that you're only supposed to do HIIT 2x a week and I'm hoping that's true because it was pretty hard!

Well, it's time for me to get to bed and maybe tomorrow I'll take pictures of my food for once!