Ballet Boot Camp + Strawberry Arugula Salad

Happy Hump Day!

This evening I volunteered at the Humane Society and got to play with puppies like this cutie:

Because I had a full day of work to do and knew I wanted to make it to volunteering, I squeezed in a workout at home today. I’ve been wanting to try a barre workout, and I keep seeing The Barre Method studios popping up around here, but I just haven’t made it to a class yet. Today I tried a Ballet Boot Camp Challenge workout I found in Prevention magazine. The article claims the workout is so effective because: “It strengthens your deepest belly muscles, pulling in your waist like a corset, while lifting your butt, trimming your thighs, and toning your arms. It also whips into shape your perfect-posture muscles, so you’ll strand straighter after a single session.” Sounds good to me!

If you’re interested in trying it out, you can find the workout I did here. I warmed up with 5 minutes of cardio, where I did jumping jacks, skaters, mountain climbers, and jogged in place. Next I did all the exercises in the workout, followed by a few sets of pushups, and finishing up with a few minutes of stretching. This workout took about half an hour, and although it wasn’t a heart pounding type of sweat sess, I definitely felt like it was a good toning routine. Plus, I felt sort of graceful and ballerina-ish doing it! 😉

Someone obviously took out a bunch of her toys and was in the middle of my exercising. As soon as I put my dumbbells down, she laid her tennis ball on top of them, naturally…

Good Eats of the Day 

I always love me a big, flavorful salad. Today I threw together one, and chomped on it while I worked for at least a good half an hour:

Strawberry Arugula Salad

• A couple large handfuls of arugula
• 1 oz crumbled feta cheese
• 1 cup sliced strawberries
• 2 TBSP of slivered almonds, toasted
• 1/2 TBSP olive oil
• 1/2 TBSP [blackberry] balsamic vinegar
• Sea salt

Nutrition stats: 290 calories, 21 g fat, 11 g protein, 20 g carbs

Off to relax a bit, good night!