Roses and Resolutions

Watching the sunset on Huntington Beach Pier

Santa Monica <3

The Rose Bowl Rally at LA Live on New Year's Eve

After one of my AM workouts :P

Rose Bowl Stadium! Go Card!

Hi guys! I've been away in LA for awhile so sorry for being MIA. Happy New Year! I can't believe it's already 2013!

I went down to Los Angeles for the New Year and the Rose Bowl! Stanford played against Wisconsin and won 20-14! Go Card. ;) It was so much fun getting away and taking part in so many events. With that said, I still had to try and get some workouts in! I woke up early on two of four mornings to hit the hotel gym and workout as much as possible before exploring and enjoying LA. I started with some treadmill intervals on both days and finished with legs on one day, and back and bis on the other. Even with limited space and limited weights, there were still plenty of things to do. I always try to do workouts that target big muscle groups or multiple muscle groups for maximum calories burned. Squats, lunges, and Bulgarian split squats are leg exercises I love that really help tone your legs. And none of them involve a machine -- just some weights. :) I hold dumbbells in both hands to also work on grip strength (we used to wear vests in college). I also do multiple sets of pushups every day since they're such a great full-body workout, especially targeting core strength which is very important.

I know it can definitely be hard to get a quality workout in when on the road or traveling, but doing any little bit counts. We did a lot of walking on some days so I didn't feel as  bad for not working out. When you're on vacation, enjoy yourself. It's okay to take a couple of days off. If you really are itching to workout but you don't have a gym you can use, make a circuit for yourself. There are plenty of body-weight exercises to do: push ups, shuttles, burpies, squats, squat jumps, lunges, split squat jumps, etc...

I just got back home today and didn't have time to hit the gym (I'm also exhausted) but I'll be back in it tomorrow! My New Year's resolution is to really SHRED and get myself fit. Seeing my side walls is an ultimate goal of mine! I feel like so many people make health and fitness related resolutions. What's yours? What are you going to do to make sure you stick to it?

Happy New Year!