Since I am working all day shifts this month (hooray!) I have been doing my usual 4 am rise-and-shine before work. Taking Jillian on at the crack of dawn may seem crazy to most people, but I feel like a bada$$ when I’m done. So worth it. Since I did level 3 of The Shred the previous day, I decided to switch it up on Wednesday.
I buy fitness magazines from time to time (they are my rare grocery store check-out treats), but I never do the workouts inside. Not that I’m an expert trainer or anything, but I can generally throw a mini-morning workout together without the help of a magazine (I mean, I own all of Jillian Michaels’ DVDs plus I’m a frequent ExerciseTV viewer). So typically when I feel on the lazier side, I sideline The Shred and do my own thang.
Wednesday, I had no motivation to brainstorm a routine on my own though. Truthfully, I almost hit snooze (which I NEVER do!). Fortunately I had last month’s Women’s Health on hand. The mag had a few boot-camp circuits, which definitely came in handy. I did the routine twice through with some extra cardio (jumping jacks, plank jacks, squat jumps, etc.) in between each of the four exercises.
I have a Fit-lastic assist strap which closes my resistance band in the door to create a resistance rowing machine. So many uses! And since my body’s still on the mend, I’ve been using resistance bands a lot this past week.
Speaking of my neck and back…these Salonpas things were given to me by a patient’s family yesterday after they learned of my injury. Sometimes I am blown away by how kind my patients and their family members are. It’s really a joy when I get sweet patients because I always feel like they trust me and the care I’m giving so much more when we develop a good rapport. Plus the day goes by way faster when I get to chat with them.
Anyway, if you are interested, Salonpas are apparently available at Costco. They are basically like icy hot but in a patch form (the only ingreds are Methyl Salicylate and Menthol). It truly made the labor of my job tolerable. Side benefit – I smelled minty fresh. :)
Oh, is this a food blog?
Work fooooooood. My pre-work breakfast was the coconut blueberry scone (zoomed in below).
Breakfast two (after morning rounds) was a fruity chia oat pudding concoction.
Step 1: thaw frozen fruit
Step 2: add 1 tbsp chia seeds to thawed fruit juice
Step 3: add oats
Step 4: stir together
Step 5: sprinkle cinnamon on top
Step 6: let it gel overnight
Like a breakfast berry cobbler.
For lunch I had tempeh salad from WF with various dippable items – 3 slices of bread, carrots & snap peas.
Snack attacks were covered by an apple and trail mix (pretzels, cereal, raisins, dried cranz, nuts, seeds, carob chips etc.).
Salty. Sweet. Superb.
When I got home, I had a massive salad already made and waiting for me. I added half an avocado and dug in.
I had Food Should Taste Good’s multigrain chips on the side (plus some added into the salad too).
When Kyle got home I was half way into the US women’s soccer game and half way done with the bag of chips. I set both aside and focused on the game.
I had carob chips and candied ginger for dessert (more than shown). Kyle had chocolate from a foreign country.
Ok, I’m not sure it was actually from a foreign country, but that’s definitely not English. A patient gave it to me last week and Kyle has slowly been working his way through it.
My husband is very fortunate that I’m lactose intolerant and 99% of the gifts I receive from patients are chocolaty.
Do you do workout routines from magazines?
For the other health care workers, what’s the most random gift you’ve ever gotten from a patient? I once got a dozen apples, which probably would have been weird for anyone but me. For the non-health care peeps, do you have gift giving at your job (or any other perks)?
I’ve never done any workouts from magazines, I don’t even really “work out” (we have multiple horses and dogs, so there is lots of chores and yard work that constantly needs to be done, I also love archery, swimming, running along the road, hiking, ect. so I do keep pretty active with out any formal exercise, but there is always plenty of poop to scoop if I decide I want to work on my arms 😉 )
I’m glad to hear you are feeling better, that was really sweet of your patient to give you those too!
Looking at your trail mix, recently I made my own with all-bran buds, “karmalized saviseeds”, raisins, dried cranberries, currants, blueberries with prunes and some black licorice pieces. It was surprisingly good! Have you ever tried saviseeds before? These may be a good alternative to nuts for you as they taste a little different but they share a lot of the benefits.
never heard of them! so excited to look into it. thanks 🙂
Someone gave me a “sagittarius” teddy bear once because my birthday’s at the end of November. It was yellow (like my birthstone) and was missing an eye. It’s the thought that counts.
how lovely that you get so many gifts!!! i will take some of that foreign chocolate as well…
I had a patient give me eyebrow and lipwaxing strips. “Not because you need them, but because they’re so great and you MUST try them!”. Mmm-hmm. I think that falls in the same category as, “I didn’t ask if you were pregnant because your stomach looks that way, but because your skin is sooo glowy”. (PS got that one from a patient too).
Loveeeee the rise and shine workout! Never from a magazine, though. I finished New Rules of Lifting for Women awhile ago and now I’m working through the original!
We don’t get presents, but sometimes we get sweet pens or trinkets at lab vendor shows!
My dad has gotten some weird stuff for sure. The funniest was when some woman knitted him a wool washcloth. Um, okay…random?
I love workout routines from magazines! It keeps things interesting if I’m always adding something new to the mix.
Never actually done a full on workout from a mag, but have taken some suggestions and incorporated them in my workouts.
I guess the most random gift was a pipette from a vendor. Work in a lab, so it wasn’t that random:)
dude your cheesecake ramekins are amazing looking. i really have the strong need to make one asap.
on another note i’ve never done a full workout from a mag but i do like to steal lots of moves from oxy mag and other beastly womens fitness mags haha
I used to do workouts from magazines, and then over time I learned what exercises I liked and now can create my own workouts when I am in one of those moods that I know I should workout but don’t really want too
This year I spent a LOT of time in the hospital, so it was great to get to know nurses. A wonderful nurse really made a difference in how the day went. I kept getting put on the same ward, so after a while I started to really form connections with the nurses.
I was discharged one time a couple days before Christmas, I was a cute little almost adult and drew them a picture of a rain deer with a Merry Christmas. This not being a pediatrics ward, I think it was a bit of an odd present :p
I thinking feeling like a bad a$$ is half the reason I like working out in the wee morning hours so much. I also loving being finished with a good sweat session before the majority of the neighborhood is awake yet.
I used to get oodles of goodies from kiddos and their families. So many food items…many of them read my blog and brought me things I liked (apples!) but I often got homemade treats that were a little iffy. The husbands are good for those types of treats.
I wish I could get up before work and workout. I am so bad at it! I’ll do it once in a blue moon but usually I just reset my alarm.
Umm, someone buys bagels on Fridays. That’s pretty much it. My work doesn’t believe in increasing morale. Sorry, I’m a bit bitter.
I remember you blogging about those apples. Now that’s my kind of gift! (I’m just a tad apple obsessed). You understand 😉
A patient gave me vegetables from her garden last summer. I was SO ecstatic! And they were amazing
i totally understand – oh man, if someone gave me garden fresh veggies id lose my sh!t. SO cool!
hahaha. you are hilarious 🙂 bagels are better than nothing??
exactly. kyles the beneficiary of many questionable treats (not so much home-made items but dairy ones).
awww…i bet it was cute. im sorry you were a frequent flyer but its always nice to have good relationships when youre in a crappy place like the hospital. makes it better (slash tolerable) for you as the patient and me. i always go visit former patients i got to know when they are readmitted. i think they like it too.
ps i just read your about me/story/last post and i am blown away. you are amazing.
pps i cant leave comments on your blog for some reason (hence me writing this here)
what are some of your other fave mags? i wanna be a beastly woman 🙂
thats a pretty random one….but i guess it does make sense for you
ew. thats weird.
dis you like that? i was interested in it. lemme know if you think its worthwhile.
oh my god thats too funny. people have no filter sometimes!
ummmm…bizarre?
I loved it. I really like to have a routine with a direction and NROLFW was just that, plus I saw awesome results. The book itself is a good read, mostly trying to get women away from lifting weights that are too light for them. They dispel rumors about getting bulky, and encourage women to EAT which I think is awesome.
haha bizarre is right!
do you put dressing on your salads??
Mmm…such good food…although I may as well not say it anymore for fear of sounding like a broken boring record, lol! 😛 So nice that you got a gift from your patient. I teach yoga and I’ve got some lovely presents from students – a meditation CD, yoga music, and a lovely all-natural body lotion…connecting with other people in a positive way is the most wonderful and rewarding part of my yoga teaching job <3
I often do workouts from Oxygen magazine – its got some great stuff in there! Also, I use Shape for some good cardio sessions. Love fitness and health magazines! 🙂 xyx
I would be right there with you getting up early before work to get a work out in! It isn’t as likely to happen after a long day on the floor! The patients usually always bought cookies or donuts for the unit that I worked on this summer.
No problem!
(P.S. I finally decided to do a blog of my own, my last year has been so weird, I thought it might make a good blog. My family has actually encouraged me to write a true book about it. Maybe since your a nurse you might have some ideas about the medical end of it?)
I’ve never done any magazine workouts before. Not to sound conceited, but after training in a Cross-fit type gym, I pretty much know how to throw together just about any full body circuit. Actually, most of the time I do a pretty good job of kicking my own a$$! Haha!
We have a patient who gives us some sort of European chocolates every year for Christmas…and we always end up fighting over who gets which ones! 🙂
ooo, i want an elastic thingie like you!
Hey how is it going,
Well I find your website very interesting, And could not help but notice all the nice looking food pictures. I have my own website and is coordinated around food to and some factors to keep it off. My website is 5 tips to lose stomach fat bonus and I feel like it will be very beneficial if you check it out and read it. Thanks, anyways.
http://www.5tipstolosestomachfatbonus.com
-Tron