Kirsten Captures

2 months.

That is how long I have been back in the United States! Time certainly does fly by. It feels like just yesterday I was in Malaysia, sweating my face off and lacking any motivation to work out in my non-air-conditioned gym. Those were the days…

These days I am back in the gym and incredibly motivated to work hard and lift heavy!

After being booted from my usual gym at home (the horror!), I signed up for once a week classes at Orange Theory. Orange Theory is a group fitness class that is 30 minutes of treadmill intervals and 30 minutes of circuit training with weights. The coolest part of Orange Theory is that you wear a heart monitor and track your heart rate on a television screen. Your instructor tells you what heart rate level you should be at during each interval which helps you push harder to get in the correct zone. The goal is spent 20-30 minutes in the “yellow” push zone or fat-burning zone which 82-90% of your maximal heart rate (V02 max) and to reach the “orange” all-out zone for 1-5 minutes. The “orange” zone is at 92%+ of your maximal heart rate and is how you experience the EPOC effect which basically provides an elevated caloric burn hours after exercise.

It sounds complicated but basically OT classes force me to work harder by providing excellent feedback during the workout. These classes also force me to get my sprinting done for the week! Of course my favorite part of OT is the weight-room circuit training with blasts of cardio on the rowing machine. It reminds me of Crossfit!

Going to Orange Theory classes regularly helped spark my motivation to get back in the gym. So I bit the bullet and signed up for a month-long membership at Anytime Fitness in downtown St. Pete. So far it has been great! Finally I have access to barbells and I am so thrilled! Ladies and gents, it’s time to start lifting heavy again. I need to get in shape for my triumphant return to Crossfit this fall once we are back in Shanghai.

Here is my weekly workout schedule for the next month: 

Push Workout 1x week- bench press, pushups, squats, shoulder press, push press, tricep dips, etc.

Pull Workout 1x week- pullups, rows, deadlifts, reverse flys, etc.

Full-Body Workout 1x week- compound exercises, metabolic conditioning with kettlebells, box jumps, etc.

Orange Theory 1x week- get that unfortunate cardio out of the way

Yoga 1x week- loving this local yoga class for a good stretch and zen-time

Extra:

Biking or Walking Outside- 2x week- I love biking outside so much! Perfect for soaking up some sunshine too.

Additional Full-Body Workout- If I have the time I might throw in an other full-body workout with my beloved weights

As you can see I am keeping things flexible but really focusing on getting back in the gym and lifting heavy stuff. It makes my heart so happy! So far I have already reached a personal goal of mine to pull -off (literally) an unassisted dead-hang pull-up! I know, I was shocked too! I did not realized I was that strong until last week when I randomly decided to give it a go. Now I just need to work on doing it with an overhand grip which is much harder than underhand.

Overall my goal is to improve all my major lifts and go heavier. I know I can do it if I focus on form and a proper warm-up. I recently attended an ACE Movement-Based Workshop and learned all these great warm-up exercises for preparing the proper tissues to avoid injury. Maybe I will share what I learned in a future video. Put that on my to-do list…

Alright, tonight I am off to yoga! Tomorrow, is my Pull Workout. I cannot wait!