How to work out in the circuit room

OK people. After today's workout, I had to write this post. Now, I'm no expert at working out--in any way, shape, or form. I'm just a girl who's struggled with her weight the majority of her life, has never been athletic, and is trying to get her ish together.

But, I am a damn good direction-follower!!! 

I first heard of circuit workouts when Curves became a huge hit many years ago (which feels crazy to say. I'm so old.), but back then I wasn't motivated at all to put any effort whatsoever into changing myself for the better and getting healthy. Fast-forward to 2013 when I joined Chuze Fitness here in San Diego, I discovered the circuit room, which you can read about here. I thought it was an awesome concept and really feel like I'm truly getting in a good workout every time I do it. 

However, I am getting really sick and tired of being cut in the circuit (see below), and seeing people wasting 30 minutes of their time in the gym because they're not doing it right. Again, I struggle with gym etiquette a lot and tend to just keep my mouth shut about everyyyyything. But this is my blog so I'm going to write about it. Here's how to get a workout in, in the circuit room. 

-Read the instructions. They should be posted on the wall. Or ask someone who works at the gym!!!

-It's designed to be a 30 minute, full-body workout. Therefore, if you're all done and look at your watch and see you've only workout out for 10, 15, or 20 minutes, you didn't do it right. 

-When you're starting on the circuit, you are supposed to pick any machine or cardio step to start on. To avoid cutting someone in line, which is extremely rude and inconvenient and disruptive to their circuit, wait for the current minute to go, then watch where everyone goes during the 30-second changing period. Then, pick a machine or cardio step that is open. This seems like common freaking sense to me, so I'm continuously baffled as to how this is so difficult for people to do. 

-PUSH. YOUR. SELF. The alternating minutes to the ones where you're doing a weight machine are designed...for cardio!!!! What a concept!!! Don't stand there and lift your legs up and down. Step up and down at a quick pace and get your heart rate up. Doesn't anyone remember good ole-fashioned 90's aerobics? Do something you remember your momma doing in front of the TV. She was getting her heart rate up big time. The time to let your heart rate drop is meant to be when you get to the weight machine, not when you get to the cardio steps. 

OK, that last tip is a bit personal. And I'm sorry. I understand everyone's version of pushing themselves is going to be different. But just think about the overall purpose of the circuit workout and ask yourself "am I doing this the right way?" If you don't feel like you're getting in a full-body workout, you're either doing something wrong in general, or you're not pushing yourself hard enough. It's not meant to be some easy-peasy copout to a real workout. It IS a real workout!!

Also, for me personally, I don't feel like the amount of actual cardio I get in a circuit is enough, so I start with at least 15 minutes on the treadmill, elliptical, bike, anything to break a sweat for an extended period of time. 

OK, off my soapbox I go. 

On a completely different note, this weekend consisted of a fun-filled, exhausting day of wine tasting with my mom, her friend, and my friend. Does anyone else think wine tasting is extremely tiring??? Anyway. It was a blast. And an absolutely gorgeous day. 

Here's the view from one winery: 

And the same view at sunset: 

Doesn't that just take your breath away? California really is beautiful. 

Here's a pic of my momma and me: 

My friend and me: 

We were super excited about wearing our hats,
courtesy of her boutique. I mean closet. 

And our little fabulous group:

Yes, my mom's shirt does say "drink up bitches." God, I love her. 

Here's also a pic of our little spread at the first winery. They had a fish-taco food truck, and we got some cheese and crackers from inside. And a bottle of their rose. 

It was a fun, fabulous, sassy weekend to say the least. I also go to lay out on our little patio area on Saturday with my sweet Winnie Pooh. She loves the sun just as much as her momma: 

That face!!!!

Ahhhh. Life is good. 

In all honesty, life is hard. Really, really hard. And I have some major struggles going on in my head and my heart right now. But I'm so thankful for the blessings in my life. And I'm thankful that I keep up on this blog and remind myself of those blessings on a pretty regular basis. Because going your entire life without recognizing the amazing things God has placed in it is just miserable in so many ways. 

Anyhoo. I'm currently obsessed with Carrie Underwood's Blown Away CD. I'm obsessed with her in general, but this CD is just amazing. One of my favorite songs on it is called "Nobody Ever Told You." Part of the song goes

Mirror mirror on the wallActing like it knows it allTells you lies of vanityIt doesn't care what's underneath
All hung up on the negativeDoesn’t have to be the way it isWish you could see yourself the way I do

I know, I know. I'm getting real deep this post. But I can't help it. Carrie Underwood does that to me. I'll leave you with a video of the song: 

That's all for now, loves. Happy Taco Tuesday!!!

Whatta weekend

Well. This has been one helluva weekend. It's had many ups and a few big downs, and I feel really weird about everything right now. 

I won't even talk about the downs because it's not worth it. 

The ups were as follows: 

Friday night consisted of going bar-hopping with a friend in North Park, an area of San Diego I've always considered to be 'too cool' for me. Honestly it's very up and coming, and full of 'trendsetters' and 'hipsters' and, well, that just isn't me, y'all!!! I listen to country music. I wear pearl earrings and bright colors. I like chevron. The list goes on and on to prove I am NOT cool enough for North Park! But one of my best friends (who is cool enough) just moved there and is walking distance to some neat little places. We found a whiskey bar and I about died when we walked in. It's called Seven Grand. I ordered a Kentucky Mint Julep, obviously. 

Pretty cool presentation.

Then we walked out and saw directly across the street a place called Splash Lounge and under it it said "wine bar" and since we're both winos that was the obvious next stop. It's AMAZING. I referred to it as an alcoholic arcade because it's set up like Dave and Busters with a little card you load with money (like their power card) and they have these wine-vending-machine-things that each have different prices for the tastings--the cheapest was fifty cents and the most expensive was 10 bucks. Tempting, but that's ridiculous for a single tasting portion of any wine in my opinion. I prefer two buck chuck. Anyhoo, we shared a card with twenty bucks on it and had a grand ole time. 

We went to one more bar after that which was a little out of my comfort zone, had one drink and left, then went and got garlic fries at a place across the street from her house. Drunk munchies. And no, none of what I consumed that night went on MyFitnessPal. Ooooopsies. 

So Friday was fun. Saturday I got my hair done. 

Gotta love looking like you're trying to communicate with another planet. I go to Diesel in Kensington and it's amazing. Extremely expensive but totally worth it. Finished product: 

Blondddddeeee!!!! I love it. 

The rest of Saturday sucked ass and we are now moving on.....

Today started with bottomless mimosas at Cabo Cantina in Pacific Beach. PB is much more my style than North Park I must say haha. Then I saw a little boutique across the street with an amazing chevron dress on display outside, so even though I was probably an entire size bigger than I was on Friday from all the food and alcohol consumption, I went in to try it on. Unfortunately they only had a medium in that particular dress, but then I found this one...

Ignore my awkward face. I snapped the pic to send to my
friend who left before I tried it on.

My friend didn't like this dress on the hanger but when I sent her the picture she decided she liked it. I LOVE IT. And the little gay boy made me put on an overpriced belt with it. It looked cute so I think I'll go buy a reasonable one at Target but I DID buy the dress. I can't wait to wear it!

Can I just say this was a huge deal to me? I have NEVER been able to fit properly into clothes at little boutiques like this that only have S, M, and L and usually run small. I was high on life when I put that dress on. 

Oh, I also prettified my iPhone! I used the app cocoppa after finding out about it on pinterest. It's a weird app, but it's not too tricky once you get the hang of it. I referred to this blog post to walk me through it. Cute right?!

And in case you were wondering, no, I did not work out at all this weekend. Womp womp.... But tomorrow I have the day off (Yes I got a 4-day weekend during this job transition. Hollllaaaaaa) so I'm going for another morning run around the hood and then later will go to the gym. Two workouts in one day. I may die. 

Anyway, that's all for now. Sorry for the monster post. You can also find all of those pictures on my Instagram so follow me!! 

Here's to a good day tomorrow and an amazing start to a new chapter of my life when I start my new job on Tuesday. I'm. So. Excited!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's all for now....