Five Days of At Home Online Workouts

Alright, my friends. It is already December 23 and things are about to get cozy. The weather in Calgary has actually improved (slightly), but I don’t really think that matters. Ultimately, the weather outside is frightful and the fire is so delightful. So instead of going to the gym or pilates studio, we are all dying for ways we can stay active at home. And, as your non-fitness girl who wants to talk to you about fitness things, I took a hit for the team. I did at home workouts for a week so that I could tell you what was worth it and what you should be doing in your living room.

A few little comments – all the workouts I did were free, youtube videos. There are tons of subscription services out there, especially after COVID where all studios had to pivot to online offerings, but I decided to focus this post on free stuff. I am sure so many of you have passes to your regular studios… but you’re looking for something different to fill your time right now. Maybe you’re out of town. Maybe it’s just too much to drive somewhere away from home. Don’t worry. I got you!

Generally speaking, I tried to do a 45-min to 1-hr long workout. This meant I usually ended up doing more than one video per channel. If I did more than one, I usually tried to do something more cardio-heavy and then something more strength-heavy so that I had a range of workouts. 

And, without further ado, here are my thoughts on the five channels I interacted with during my week of at home workouts.

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Getting Organized for Fall – lolol

getting organized for fall

I know. This is a wellness post and it’s not Wednesday, just like my fitness post that didn’t drop on a Friday. My days are all over the place right now and it’s part of why I very much need to write this particular post. About getting organized for fall (hahaha). 

Sometime in mid-August, for no reason whatsoever, I announced on Academy Vs Audience that people should read my blog because we were getting organized for fall. Lol, what? 

In a not at all shocking turn of events, I proceeded to do nothing. In part because I had no idea where that announcement came from, but in part because I immediately started going through it. You know what it’s like. When everything just happens all at once and you absolutely cannot be alone with your thoughts because there are too many of them to reorganize into helpful patterns so why not buy a $17 cocktail and read a book somewhere loud and crowded so that the overstimulation can override said too many thoughts? 

And, honestly, sometimes that is kind of helpful too.

But things are slowing down now and I’m entering a new season of my life both literally and symbolically so… here we are, y’all. Come on with me… we’re getting organized for fall.

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I Went on a Walk Every Day For a Month

Walk Every Day for a Month

Hello my beautiful friends! I know you’ve been wondering where I’ve been… what I’ve been doing when I’m not writing in this space… well, if you’re on my instagram, you already know. I’ve gone for a walk every day, for at least 30 minutes, for a month.

I have to give credit where credit is due – I absolutely got this idea from Kayla Nelson. She described walking for 30 minutes as the key to health and, hey, I was done my barre challenge so why not take something else on? (Sidebar: I discovered Kayla’s youtube channel just over a month ago and I’m officially obsessed. I love her realistic approach to fitness, food and wellness.)

I think we’ve all read about the cardiovascular and muscular benefits of walking, so I’m not going to belabor that here, I’m just going to do what I do best – talk about my own experiences!

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Fitness Life as a Non-Fitness Girl

talking about fitness as a non-fitness girl

Well well well, my friends. Here we are, two weeks into January, and I return to my blog, full of inspiration and 24 spam comments to delete. What else is new?

I didn’t intend to take a break after Blogmas, but it was super nice and refreshing. Plus I probably should have expected it… the first two weeks back at work after the holidays are always crazy for me and this year was extra crazy, with the Omicron of it all. No matter how hard I work before the break to get ahead, there are always things that come up that I have to deal with when I get back. And I’m somehow always a little bit surprised by it.

Joey from Friends shocked gif
Shocking.

But that’s not what this post is about. This post is about…

Fitness!

Yes. I am, like so many bloggers before me, going to do Fitness Fridays. It’s going to be a limited run for now, until the end of February, but who knows where the inspiration will take me!

It might seem like a misstep that I haven’t done this before. After all, “Fitness” is one of the five categories I picked when I first started this blog six years ago. (Oh dear… I don’t love that math.) The number of fitness posts I’ve actually written can fit on one hand, if you don’t count the one about my barre studio closing down. However, there is a very good reason for this…

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Ten Good Things

Ten Good Things

Today is Blogmas Day 22 and it is going to be another one of those little bit weird posts. This week of the year is always a little bit crazy for me. (I coordinate a course at work that starts first thing in the New Year and things always sort of pop off this week. There is no way to get ahead of it, it’s just the way it is.) Add to that the fact that the Omicron variant is popping off as well, which is obviously having an impact on post-secondary education, and… it’s been a time. But my blog started as a place for joy and distraction, and that’s what it’s always been for me. So today will be no different. Today, instead of dwelling in the stress, I am going to redirect my energies and challenge myself to write about ten good things that happened this week.

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Christmas Traditions

Well well well, mes amis. We are reaching the part of Blogmas where I am getting super hyped for the holidays and running out of ideas to write about! I will be on winter break starting on Friday and I am so excited. Sleeping in, cleaning my house, reading books, and working out during the day time?! Yes, please! These are my Christmas traditions!

Annoying Kevin - my christmas traditions

Hmmm… or is being annoying to Kevin in selfies my Christmas tradition? (Literally, I think I have a Christmas picture where I try to force joy upon Kevin every year for the past decade.)

None of this is true. My family has actual Christmas traditions that don’t involve me being a hot mess. Traditions that reach back years, traditions that might look super weird to outsiders. But guess what? I’ll hazard a guess that your family’s traditions would probably look super weird to us!

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Gingerbread Cookies (The At Home Week)

Y’all. It is crazy outside today – so cold, so blustery. It is incredibly appropriate for “at home” week on the blog because I truly do not want to be anywhere other than my home right now. Maybe getting aggressively festive with some Jingle Bell Chai and a gingerbread cookie.

(Note 1: I still have to go to work and have play rehearsal so I will not achieve that goal.)

(Note 2: When I say “it’s cold”, I mean that it is -18 and feels like -29. For those Americans or Fahrenheit fans, that’s basic -0.5, feels like -20. That’s definitely weather where the air hurts your face!)

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Beer Exchange Day 5

beer 5 wrapped

Day 5! We’re nearing the halfway point of the beer exchange, which means we’re also inching ever closer to being halfway through Blogmas. (I realize I’m still three days away but… it’s fine, it’s fine, it’s totally fine. Haha.) As I mentioned in the Day 4 post, I finally decorated for the holidays and I really am beginning to feel festive. (It didn’t hurt that in the barre class I took yesterday morning had some solid Christmas music sprinkled throughout the playlist as well…)

Anyway, we are going a bit back in time here because it was on the day that I posted about Beer 4, that I drank… Beer 5.

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Beer Exchange Day 3

Holiday Beer Exchange Day 3

It’s an odd numbered day, so y’all know what that means on this girl’s march towards Christmas… another reveal of another beer from the holiday beer exchange! (And if you squint reaaaaallly hard, you can get an insider look at the nonsense notes I take for MOA. I usually handwrite them because I love notebooks but I just wanted to make it legible for you today.)

This beer came courtesy of friend of the blog, Claire, and she was pretty open with me that she just picked it for the label. What is this beautiful label? Did this method of picking a beer work? Follow me through the “Read More” page break (#nospoilers) to find out…

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