Morning Workouts

Quarantine Workout

Posted by Lisa Eirene

I wanted to check in with everyone. How is everyone doing? How is your mental health? How is your physical health?

This is definitely a trying time for everyone. Some states are locked down. (Oregon is.) I’ve been working from home since March 14th or something like that. I think the last time I went to my gym was March 12th. Then it closed.

I am super grateful that our new house is bigger (it’s twice the size of our old house, which was about 1200 square feet) so we can ALL find a space in the quarantine if we need to be alone. I am definitely one of the those people that likes my alone time. Don’t get me wrong, I love my family and want to be with them, but mentally and emotionally I also need “me” time and away time and the gym was some “me time” that I don’t really have access to now (my gym closed pretty early on during the covid-19 pandemic).

When we moved into the new house last year we had space for a home a gym. This was something on our “must have” list when we were house hunting. Not so much for me because I had a gym membership, but definitely for Michael because he’s not a gym guy and likes working out at home. So our basement in the new house has a space that we’ve designated as The Gym.

A family friend gave us their treadmill (for free!!!) last summer. So that’s awesome. Michael already had a weight bench, so that’s there. We have a bunch of kettlebells of different weights. Michael set up his bike on the bike trainer. We have a big TV down there so we can watch our shows while we work out (that definitely makes the treadmill tolerable). We have fans, a bosu ball, some free weights, a medicine ball, foam rollers, a pull up bar, and various random “gym” type stuff.

The ceiling is kind of low (it’s a basement) so we can’t do things like jump rope down there–but we can do jumping jacks! I bought some foam interlocking mats that help designate the gym and make it more comfortable.

So what am I doing right now?

M/W/F/Sat/Sun are my workout days.

I alternate my days where I run on the treadmill, or I walk on the treadmill with the treadmill at an elevation and I put weights in a backpack and carry that (last time I did that it was 15 pounds in my backpack) so it’s like “hiking”.

For weights and stuff:

  • Kettlebell swings
  • Pushups
  • Bicep curls
  • Step ups (I use the basement stairs) with bicep curls
  • Overheard triceps
  • Triceps dips
  • 1 leg Romanian Deadlifts
  • Deadlifts
  • Bent over rows
  • Shoulder Press
  • Pec Fly
  • Chest Press
  • Toe Touches with weights
  • Bird Dogs
  • Bicycles (abs)
  • Glute Bridges (variations: 1 leg glute bridge, glute bridges with weights)
  • Planks
  • Cobra stretch
  • Mountain Climbers
  • Jump Squats
  • Squats
  • Jumping Jacks
  • See Saw Press
  • Side Lunges
  • Reverse Crunches
  • Kneeling dumbbell halos
  • Clams

These are all things I can do with free weights or kettlebells, so that’s good! It’s definitely better than nothing!

Michael and I are back to doing yoga. It feels good! We bought a subscription to an app that we really like (on Black Friday) because the free videos we found online weren’t really good. Even the popular ones. But this app is GREAT! I highly recommend it. You can choose what kind of yoga workout you want to do, how long, what area you want to target, etc.

Working from home Monday – Friday and keeping a regular workout schedule has DEFINITELY helped me mentally, emotionally and physically during this shut down. When I’m stressed about all of this, I clean or workout and it helps. It distracts me, keeps me off social media, gets my endorphins going…it helps a lot. When the weather cooperates I bike or go for walks.

QUESTION: How has your fitness changed?

Netarts Bay

Posted by Lisa Eirene

We had a lovely, relaxing, (fairly) quiet weekend at the coast. We met Michael’s mom and stepdad at a house they borrowed from a friend in Netarts, right on the bay. It had a lovely view of the water (and it was a nice, scenic drive through the Tillamook Forest to get there).

The house was really nice. Three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a deck with a view. The master bedroom was downstairs with the most amazing king bed we’ve ever slept in. Then there was a small bedroom with two twin beds for Logan. Upstairs had two queen beds.

 

 

Friday night we enjoyed some pizza for dinner and then went for a walk nearby.

Then I got to enjoy some quiet time in the magnificent bathtub with my book, some candles, a glass of wine and Francoise Hardy on the radio.

Everyone slept great and we got to sleep in a bit on Saturday. Then we got up and Michael made everyone omelettes and potatoes for breakfast.

Then Michael and I went for a run while Logan chilled with grandpa and watched Ice Age!

The run was so nice! The weather was perfect. A little cool but not cold and the air smelled fishy and crisp. We ran along the bay and saw a ton of people fishing and trying to catch oysters.

 

We also saw some huge herons looking for their breakfast.

We did just under 3 miles, got back to the house, showered and got ready for the day!

First stop: Oceanside beach. It was 2 miles from the house we were staying in. I love Oceanside because it’s a quiet beach that is rarely crowded.

It was a bit foggy that morning, but not too cold, so that was nice.

Bella had a BLAST running around and being a crazy dog. She loves the beach.

Logan had fun walking up and down the shoreline and playing in the sand.

Then it was lunch time. We headed back and had a mish-mash of leftovers. Leftover pizza, grapes, goat cheese and crackers, plums, trailmix. Totally random but good enough!

Logan went down for a nap and I decided to be lazy and read in bed for a bit and then I fell asleep for a short nap. More to come!