Weekend Recap [10/15] & #POWERMONDAYMOVES Challenge!

November 18, 2013 -
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Hi all! Happy Monday! How was your weekend?

I have to say, I took a little blog break over the weekend to spend time with the boy & his family since it’s been about a month since I saw him due to being a busy traveling girl! Red heart It’s so nice to have his support through everything I do. He lives about an hour and a half away from me and he’s finishing up grad school right now so whenever we can plan a weekend – we really try to disconnect for a little from our phones & computers – which I think is totally a part of a healthy mind! Winking smile 

With that being said – doesn’t mean I forgot about you all! If you didn’t see my post on Instagram a few days ago, I am challenging you all to join me in starting off our weeks with a bang with Power Monday Moves! Basically, I made a personal goal to start posting more videos to show some of my workouts, exercises, & cooking! I have a dream of doing a cooking show but with an iPhone that is constantly running out of space (#bloggerproblems) I honestly run out of space for videos! SO I am challenging myself to clean out my phone on a regular basis & post more videos! Sometimes it’s small goals but can totally make a big difference in having a more organized day to day.

Saturday morning I got up around 630am to get outside & do a plyo workout before I started my day. YES, it was cold. YES, it was 7am on a Saturday. YES, I only had about 20 minutes before I had to get back inside to get ready for a day of shopping with Corey’s wonderful mother. BUT I turned all of these reasons why NOT to do a workout into positive ones as to why I had MORE than enough time to get it done! I honestly love to workout & make improvements. I always say – gosh, If I trained like I do now when I was in high school I would’ve been in much better shape as an athlete. But, back then I didn’t really “get” how beneficial it was to really take care of our bodies & ENJOY the process.

I think when we truly enjoy what we do – and find what works for youuuu – you will start to see those negatives as positives and challenges to accomplish! So I set my alarm, got enough rest, & hung out with the sunrise early on Saturday morning.

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This week I challenge you to try Bench Power Step Ups! Why “Power” step ups? Well, first of all, you all know I love the work power & second, the power comes from the foot to explode upwards & really get that heart rate pumping!

I challenge you to do 8 rounds of 30 seconds of work with a 10-15 second rest! (or more rest if you need it – be true to YOU)

How to do these:

  • Find a bench (indoors) or an outdoor bench like I did.
  • Start your timer (the gymboss timer really helps with this) or on your phone!
  • I choose to use one leg for the whole 30 seconds & then switched legs for the other 30 seconds.
  • Make sure your foot is on the bench before you add the power so no injuries occur.
Power Step Ups via POWERCAKES

Throughout the week, I challenge you to incorporate these into your workouts! These are great for legs, booty, calves, core, arms, cardio…basically a full body workout! Also, if the “Power” part is challenging for you, try doing step ups without the jump. That is TOTALLY fine! Step your foot up on the bench & drive that knee up (without the hop at the top). Whatever works for you!

Share your picture, video, or message with me via Instagram, Twitter, or facebook so I can see how awesome you did. Let’s change our I can’t to #IWILL together! (insert fist bump here)

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Let’s reverse back to Friday night where the boy & I hit up the gym before grabbing a bite to eat.

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Here’s a little sneak peek into an upcoming power move circuit that I’ll be sharing soon! And to answer your question, I honestly didn’t plan my UA outfit of leggings & tank to match the Planet Fitness equipment….I swear. I walked in and I was like…goooo me! ha Winking smile

After a kick butt chest/tricep workout our REFUEL was brought to you by Red Lobster.

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Salmon, shrimp, wild rice, & roasted veggies = SO GOOD.

Before you know it, my alarm was going off and it was 630am on Saturday! After my morning workout, I spent the rest of the day shopping with Corey’s mom. We went to a bunch of adorable antique stores & I swear I can always find the coolest things there. She’s completely opened my world to antique stores & I am such a fan now.

It was super nice outside (which means it was at least above 40 degrees when you live in the North East) so the boy & I took a walk to a local coffee shop to hang out for a while.

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he obviously was lovin’ that carmel mocha frap.

We spent the rest of the evening with Corey’s parents & they cooked up an AMAZING PowerMeal of garlic grilled shrimp, roasted veggies, all served over rice.

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totally hit the spot.

After our evening, we stopped to see my friend Courtney and her new puppy, Frankie!

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How adorable is he?

For about a good 45 minutes it was so hilariously hectic because Court’s brother has a Great Dane named Zoey who I think was getting a bit jealous of the attention that the new puppy was getting. Zoey likes to give “puppy hugs”. See, she is basically a small dog trapped in a big dogs body. We were laughing so hard because she kept jumping up to give hugs to Corey.

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We joked that it looked like they were about to wrestle & sorry babe, but I think Zoey would’ve taken home the win.

Before you know it, it was Sunday and I was headed back home to a jewelry party that my friend Sarah was having. I’m so bummed that this picture got blurry but it was a Mediterranean food themed get together so a HUGE hummus plate for our favorite place, Alladin’s Eatery, definitely didn’t last long. #delish

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Probably blurry since I was anxious to dive in.

Speaking of diving in…that may have happened with my dessert later on in the evening.

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Luna & Larry’s Coconut Ice cream from Whole Foods. I was craving ice cream, came across this while grocery shopping, & totally made it happen. Wait until you see the sundae I created on tomorrow’s post Winking smile I think my 5 years of working a Bruster’s Ice Cream has completely made me an ice cream lover for liiife.

All in all, the weekend was full of family, friends, love, workouts, & good food! I came across this image thanks to FitFluential & I couldn’t agree more.

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Finding balance in life isn’t always easy but it is worth it to make steps towards finding what works for you! For me, this post reflects a lot of things I am passionate about & totally enjoy. I’ve come along way in my 24 years of finding that balance and although there is no perfect balance since life will always be there to challenge you, it’s how we react to these situations that can make or break your day. I really work on looking at stress now as “a chance to challenge myself” & take a positive switch on an initial negative thought. So let’s all work on that together – I guarantee you’ve got it in you!

So let’s start off our Monday’s with a bang & have a great week!

be true to you,

Red heart Kasey

ALSO if you’re in the PGH area – I am teaching a Power Hour class on Wednesday nights locally so email me Kasey@Powercakes.net if you’re interested! This weeks class is a FREE TRIAL CLASS at 7pm!! Hope to see you there!

So tell me, how did you find more balance this weekend?