Last Post.. For Now

When thinking about what I wanted to make this blog about, I knew It would have to be something I was interested in and also something that I knew a lot about. I really had no trouble talking about working out and other things related to it because it’s something I’m truly interested in.

I would say the most effective tool was Twitter. It’s so easy to reach out to millions of people on Twitter with just the use of a hashtag and I really saw that firsthand when I started promoting my posts on Twitter and used hashtags that pertained to them. My tweets would get likes from people who weren’t following me and sometimes people would even respond to my tweets and it was all because of the hashtags.

Something I would want to improve on the site is the overall look of it. My layout didn’t seem to fit my blog well and I had a hard time trying to figure out how to customize it and that’s probably something I could have tried harder on in order to get it done but I didn’t.

My major is Public Relations and I want to try to do something that involves social media with that degree. I love how you can reach so many people with just the use of a simple hashtag or sharing the same interests as someone. Social media is growing every day and becoming more popular and it’s a huge staple in some peoples day to day life. By promoting my tweets on Twitter, I learned just how simple it was to reach out to an audience with similar interests and I think that can definitely help me in the future if I do land the job I want.

My most popular week was surprisingly this past week. I had 11 views and 6 visitors on my site. For my most popular post, it was actually my 2nd to last post that had my photo slideshow in it. I’m really not sure as to why that one was the most popular. The only reason I can come up with is that more people on my Twitter timeline were starting to see and be interested in what I was posting and decided to finally take a look. What was most surprising to me was that no one clicked on any of my links in my posts at all. I thought that was kind of weird but I also understand because I don’t ever click on a link to something else when I’m reading something online.

Barbell Work

This might sound super crazy, and as I’m typing I realize how crazy it actually sounds, but my favorite kind of workout is a workout that involves some type of barbell lifting. I love using barbells during a workout. Being out of the gym for over a year made me realize how much I missed my barbell workouts when I picked up a barbell again for the first time in over a year. I don’t think there is a better feeling than getting back to something you missed you so much.

I love to do heavy power cleans during a workout. I used to have a trainer that would specifically program power cleans into our workouts when he would teach class because he knew how much I loved them. They can definitely become leg burners but they are really easy to learn how to do and I’m sure if you’ve never tried to do one you could learn it super quick and love them just as much as I do.

Of course when I first picked up a barbell after not having picked one up for over a year it felt totally heavy. I only had 65 lbs. on the bar and it honestly made me a little sad realizing that was kind of heavy for me at this point. All the hard work I had put into the gym for so many years had definitely gone away and I was back to square one. But, I didn’t let that stop me. I know that I have goals to achieve and getting back to where I used to be in the gym is my main one. Realizing and actually seeing how far behind I had come put things into perspective for me and I’ve never been more determined to get back into better shape than I am now!

Here’s a picture of the barbell I have at my parents house. It’s my favorite barbell and I know it seems crazy to love something such as a barbell so much but I feel at peace when I’m using a barbell to workout. I guess it’s a comfort zone thing.

Proper Lunges

This week my mom, who is a Crossfit coach, demonstrated how to properly do a lunge with a barbell. Lunges are a great workout for your legs and can definitely become challenging once you add in a barbell. Hopefully this helps give you a good idea on how to add lunges into your daily workouts!

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Workout Gear

Everyone has their own favorite things they like to use when they’re doing something. Whether it’s working out, cooking, drawing, and many other different things. I’ve always had my favorite things to wear/use in the gym. Of course since my mom is a trainer, she’s always had the most popular I guess you could say items out there on the market for fitness whether it be some Reebok products or new equipment from Rogue fitness. I’ve never really been too into all of the latest items in the fitness world but there’s a few things that I can’t live without.

First lets talk about shorts. I’ve tried many different brand of workout shorts like Nike, Under Armour, and Reebok. The Nike running shorts made me feel like I was wearing parachutes for shorts and were not my favorite at all. Under Armour shorts were my favorite for awhile because they fit really well but there was one style I loved and it ended up getting discontinued so thanks to Under Armour I had to find a new pair. The shorts I ended up finding and LOVING are the Hotty Hot II shorts from Lulu Lemon, super pretentious I know but just hear me out. These shorts are amazing. They fit really well around your legs and waist and flare out just a little bit in the back to give a little flow of air, unlike the Nike ones which like I said make you feel like you’re wearing parachutes. The price is a little high but they have definitely been worth the investment.

Up next are my Nike Metcon 3 shoes. I used to wear the Reebok Crossfit nano’s but every year the new design on them kept changing so much I eventually didn’t like them anymore. I’ve always loved Nike shoes because every shoe has always fit right. I decided to give the Metcon’s a try and see what they were all about. The first day I wore them to the gym I was amazed at how light they were when I was running but still gave me the support I needed for when I was doing heavy lifting. If you’re looking for a shoe like that then these are definitely the ones you should look in to. Also, they’re on sale right now on Nike’s website so that’s an even better excuse to buy them!

 

Recovery Time

Instead of boring you with another post about working out, I decided to talk about how I recover from a brutal workout. Recovery after a workout is just as important as the workout itself. Whether you like to drink a protein shake, stretch, or recover with some good food after your workout, it’s always important.

First, I like to use Progenex protein after I workhttps://www.progenexusa.comout. I use the recovery protein and the chocolate flavor is definitely my favorite. This protein helps your muscles recover faster after a workout. When I drink a recovery shake after my workout, I find that the next day I’m not as sore as I would be when I don’t use the protein. Not being extremely sore helps me out the next day when I workout again so much because I’m not as slow as I would be if I was super sore. Below is a picture of the cocoon protein which is pretty much the same as the recovery protein but instead you take this at night before you go to bed and it helps you recover while you sleep and even sleep better. isn’t that cool? I think so!

Another important recovery tip is stretching. You should always stretch after you workout. Your muscles are really tight and it’s good to stretch them out. I like to use foam rollers and lacrosse balls to help roll out the tightness. Sometimes it’s painful but I always feel way better if I stretch after I workout then when I don’t stretch. When I was 14-15 I used to never stretch after a workout but as I got older I realized the importance of it and how much it helps you recover overall.

Bad Days Are OK

Do you ever just have those days where you just really don’t want to do anything? Everything in life just seems to be completely awful and nothing will help. Or, maybe, you’re just really tired and don’t want to do anything at all. Whatever the reason is, everyone has those days. Sometimes they may even last up to a week but that’s totally okay.

I just recently had one of those weeks and didn’t work out at all. School, work, and life just seemed to completely consume me and even though I love the way I feel after I work out (usually), I just couldn’t get myself to actually do it. I don’t really know why to be honest. You would think that since something makes me feel a lot better I would want to do it, right? But sadly no, that wasn’t the case during that week. Every chance I had I took a nap. I really like to take naps too so that doesn’t help my dilemma because my options are to either work out or take a nap and obviously I kept choosing to take a nap.

The week that I did nothing I also reflected back on a few things such as why I decided to start working out again and what my goals were. I thought back on how great I used to be in the gym (my own opinion) and how much I wanted to get back to that level. I decided to look up something motivational to get my mind back on track and I came across this article. If you have a few minutes you should definitely read it. It talks about how we can’t respond emotionally when we have failed to workout, hit our goals in the gym, or even eat clean food. I’m going to be completely honest and say that I did react emotionally when I took that week off from working out. I feel like most people react that way too. You start to feel like a failure and unsure if everything you’re doing is even worth it because of one slip up. It’s definitely not a good feeling but finding out that you’re not the only one and learning some new ways to handle it really helps.

So remember, it’s not always going to be easy to get up and go work out. Everyone has their bad days and we are allowed to have them. Working out should always put you in a better mood and I’m going to try a lot harder to not let myself miss anymore workouts from here on out.

This is a poster thats hanging up in my parents garage. My mom has her own gym in there and this is probably one of my favorite posters/sayings ever. It’s motivational for me and I love seeing it hanging on the wall while I’m working out.

Fit Bottomed Girls Review

If you’re into fitness, I’m sure you’ve come across many different fitness blogs on the internet. I feel like it’s an easy topic to talk about, especially if you’re extremely passionate about it. Well for this post I decided to talk about a blog called Fit Bottomed Girls.  If you’ve never heard about this blog I suggest you click the link and see what it’s all about! You’ll love it.

Fit Bottomed Girls is run by two women, Jennipher Walters and Kristen Seymour. Both women write posts for the blog and seriously they are all amazing. The topics range from workouts, motivation tips, to nutrition. The post aren’t just a bunch of words thrown on the page. They incorporate several pictures and GIFs which I feel make the posts funnier of course but also more enjoyable and easier to want to read. If you can somehow make fitness topics funny then you’re definitely doing something right and I’m up to seeing what it’s about.

To me this blog is all around great. It’s run by women, and I think it’s wonderful when I see women empowering, helping, and encouraging other women.  If you’re ever feeling down about yourself in any way, there’s posts on here to help get you out of that funk. Maybe one day you don’t know what to eat and feel like throwing all your hard work down the drain with bad food, well I can guarantee that you will find great recipes on the blog to help you not do that.

I’ve loved this blog ever since I discovered it. All the posts are real and straight up. They don’t sugarcoat anything but they also give you encouragement and motivation as well. Those are the same things I’m trying to do here while I go through getting back into shape. It’s not an easy task but when you have motivation and support from other areas it makes your journey that much easier. Hopefully you like Fit Bottomed Girls as much as I do and hopefully you like my own posts as well.

Until next time everyone!

Back To The Grind

Okay guys I’m going to be completely honest, because that’s what I promised. Getting back into shape and working out consistently again is HARD. It’s not impossible hard but WOW IT IS HARD. You really have to have the motivation, desire, and drive to do it. The moment you doubt yourself and your abilities is the beginning of failure. I promise you that you can do it, you just have to believe in yourself.

For my first workout, I decided I would do a simple body weight one that I found online. Nothing too fancy (or too hard). Well let me tell you, it was tough. When I was writing it down I was thinking to myself “wow this is going to be super easy, I got this!” and boy was I dead wrong. (See picture below for the workout). When I finished the first round I was feeling good. I kept telling myself I was going to get through the whole workout and be fine but once I was done with the second round it was a totally different story. I felt sick. A part of me wanted to stop so bad. I actually had to sit down and catch my breath for a few minutes and wondered if I was going to be able to finish this work out. After a few minutes of telling myself “I can do this” I got back up and finished the workout. It took me awhile but I finished the whole workout and honestly felt like I was going to die once I was done but obviously I didn’t.

After that workout I was really proud of myself but then, after a few minutes, I got a little down on myself too. I couldn’t believe I had let myself get this out of shape. Those feelings of wanting to give up and not finish were feelings I was not used to at all. I wasn’t used to getting tired so early in the workout and that definitely did not make me feel any better about myself. But, with all those feelings I had, they helped me remember why I started working out again and what my goals were. I know I can do this, I just have to stick with it and really believe in myself.

My Inspiration AKA My Mom

This week I have decided to talk about my mom and give you guys a look at her daily work out routine. She has been a big inspiration in me wanting to get back into fitness and she’s also a dedicated Crossfit coach and has been doing it for the past 7 years. But, before starting Crossfit, she was always into fitness.

Ever since I was little my mom has been teaching some kind of fitness class such as Pilates, kickboxing, and aerobics. She has always been in shape and has paved the road for my siblings and I to live a healthy lifestyle and be active. Fitness has always been a passion of hers and also her career for most of her adult life. Every day she is in the gym teaching classes and working out to meet her goals she has set for herself.

Since my mom is a coach at my gym you would think we would work out a lot together but that’s not the case here. We are two completely different people in the gym and of course I can’t take orders from her because hello she’s my mom and who listens to their mom right? Totally kidding there but you see my point. I’ve always admired the work outs she does because they’re always long, intense, and challenging. It’s very rare that I’m up for doing the same work out she is doing but when we work out together, it’s always tough.

Here’s a look at her daily work out routine. Sometimes she works out more than once a day and she also follows a strict lifting program built just for her and the goals she wants to achieve.

Workout Routine

3 Rounds of:

50 Double Unders

30 Front Rack Lunges (75 lbs. on the barbell)

25 Hand Release pushups

 

3 Rounds of:

15 Back Squats (95 lbs. on the barbell)

10 Bar Facing Burpees

 

2 Rounds of:

2 rounds of “Cindy” (5 pullups, 10 pushups, and 15 squats is one full round)

1 round of DT (12 deadlifts, 9 handstand pushups, and 6 overhead squats is one full round with 105 lbs. on the barbell)

 

As you can see, she does some intense work outs. I’m honestly not sure if I would have even been able to finish this work out so I think it’s awesome that she’s my mother and is able to do so much in one work out. I plan on trying to follow some of her workouts but I’ll let you guys know how that goes!

Also, here is a link to her website where she writes her own posts about her fitness lifestyle and other things relating to fitness.

Getting back into fitness

Hey everyone, my name is Aunnelise Salinas. This is my first year at Texas State University but my 3^rd year in college. Over the next few weeks I will be taking you with me on my journey in getting back into fitness. I used to be dedicated to working out four to five times a week but life got in the way last year and I came up with excuse after excuse as to why I couldn’t make it to the gym and here I am a year later finally making it my ultimate goal to get back to my old ways.

Over the next few weeks, I’m hoping to find different alternatives to working out. I started doing Crossfit when I was 14. My mother is a Crossfit instructor at Crossfit Seguin which is where I had been working out at since I started. She is the one who introduced me to it. I love Crossfit. The workouts are challenging and always different, but, sometimes I feel like I want to be in a different environment while working out whether it be hiking, working out at the rec on campus, or even taking a class at a new Crossfit gym.

If anyone is finding a hard time getting back into the gym or even just wanting to begin to work out, then you’ll find comfort in my posts. My goal is to be honest. I know how hard it will be to get back into the gym and actually stick with it and you’ll read about that here. You’ll also read about new places I find to workout at and what works best for me. Who knows, maybe it will give you some ideas on finding new ways to work out or give you the motivation to start. I want to make this fun and enjoyable, even though working out is not always enjoyable.

I’ll be sharing things I find motivational, different workouts I like to do, new places I like to work out at and anything else I find helpful on my journey back into fitness. Instagram and Twitter have endless posts so I’ll be using those as well to help find different things to motivate me or give me some ideas on cool, new places to workout at. So, with that being said, welcome to my new fitness journey!

This is my gym, Crossfit Seguin. It’s a place that helps me not worry about all my problems going on for that one hour that I’m working out. It’s not a fancy gym with crazy machines and equipment. It’s simple and welcoming. I am extremely determined to get back into my fitness lifestyle and become the best version of myself possible.