cupcake destiny + a barre strength video
Hi friends! How’s the day going? So excited for the upcoming weekend, and even more excited because MADRE IS COMING . Liv may even be more thrilled than I am; she claps and cheers when I tell her that Nana Cece will be here in a few days. 🙂
Last night was a low-key evening around the house. I taught spin, which was sweaty and fun as usual, and came home to make one of our weeknight staples: chicken (dressed up with a balsamic Dijon marinade), Brussels sprouts, and sweet potatoes with coconut oil and sea salt. I was drinking a Mamma Chia drink (juice with chia seeds floating throughout) and offered some to the Pilot without telling him what it was. You guys. His face was the best ever. He said he felt like he was drinking tadpoles and I died laughing.
We watched most of Book of Life (loved it, and hoping to watch the rest today), and then headed to Sprouts for a cupcake run.
Somehow, I found myself in the wine section. Has anyone tried this one?!
As far as the cupcakes go, this was pure destiny. I’ve always enjoyed the icing more than the cake -or prefer an equal cake to icing ratio- and somehow, one cupcake didn’t make it into the container, but the frosting DID. It was just a blob of frosting in a hole where the entire cupcake was supposed to go. DESTINY.
So today, I have a barre strength video to share. This one is a combo of some of my favorite upper body movements, and focuses on muscular endurance. It’s very high rep with low weights; anywhere from a water bottle to 5 lb dumbbells (5 is a little on the heavy side) will work. Keep in mind that you can always switch or ditch your weights once you start to hit the fatigue point. It’s better to use less or no weight and maintain proper form than try to struggle through with super heavy dumbbells. Let me know if you give it a try! Also, you can pin videos if you’d like to save it for a rainy day. 🙂
(top is lululemon, pants are Reebok, and barre socks are from Kohl’s)
You can also combine the above strength workout with this 30-minute barre workout and this barre blast for a full class.
Hope you enjoy <3
xoxo
Gina
What’s your favorite upper body muscle group to work? How do you structure your sets and reps? I especially love back and shoulders because I feel like you can see results from training these fairly quickly. I like to switch my reps around, and if I’m doing my own workout instead of barre or BODYPUMP, I like to do 3 sets of 10-15 reps for the most part. And most importantly: cake or frosting? 🙂 I’m fortunate to have a few friends who prefer the cake instead of the frosting. They make good sharing buddies.
52 Comments
Leave a Comment
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
I have never tried the Cupcake Red Velvet but the Cupcake Moscato is one of my favorite wines! I usually go with lighter weights and higher reps. I’m with you- shoulders and back are one of my favorites to train! I love seeing the definition in my arms 🙂
I like to work my back. I think a good back is so subtly sexy. 🙂 However the sad thing is, I only have a pair of 5 pounders at home!
Yessss I love Cupcake wine– they sell some of them at Costco too! That red velvet tho
thank you for reminding me to go to costco! haha. they have a great wine selection
I love Cupcake Red Velvet. It’s sweet a sweet red wine. It pairs well with the actual cake and anything tomato based. It’s also a good end of the day relax wine.
When I’m doing sets I prefer to do shoulders with a smaller muscle group, usually alternating bis and tris.
I’m a weirdo who prefers cake over icing. I’m notorious for scraping off the icing and giving it to my mom or husband. Although I’ll mix it in with ice cream if we’re doing ice cream and cake.
FROSTING! And I prefer triceps/biceps and back for upper body work. My shoulders are whiny and fatigue easily. Perhaps that is because in Body Pump classes, I feel like I’ve already worked them a good bit by the time we get to the shoulder track.
Yes, I love the Red Velvet Cupcake Wine 🙂 I don’t know if the name of it makes me love it or the taste, but we like it 🙂
Drinking tadpoles <– LOL! That's hilarious! I'm so excited to try this video. For me, I think working my back is my favourite (and I know that's not just one muscle group!) because I tend to notice strength gains quickly. I love to hate assisted pull-ups but do them regularly because some day I'm determined to be able to do the unassisted kind! For unassisted pull-ups I typically do 3 sets of 10 or 4 sets of 8, but lately I've also thrown in very slow chin-up negatives into the mix, and for those I just do 3 sets of 5 reeeealllly slow reps. They burn!!
Hahaha cupcake destiny. Love it. 🙂
I am a cake girl, I only eat the frosting if it’s cream cheese based.
Also, I saw that wine in the store the other day and it peaked my curiosity, so let us know what you think when/if you try it.
I love upper body work, specifically for shoulders, as I find you can see the most change there in a short amount of time. When I started doing Body Pump I was like “hello shoulders, where have you been hiding?!”
i totally agree. it’s great motivation for my training clients, too, because they see results and it’s motivating 🙂
The shoulder track in the most recent BodyPump release still get me every time!
that pushup combo is INTENSE
Oh my goodness, it sure is!
I love to work my shoulders. My workouts are usually tough but I know I will love the results!
And…I love both icing and cake…but always lick the icing off of my cupcakes first and, then, eat the cake!
I’m the opposite and like the cake more than the frosting. I would have been sad about the missing cupcake! haha
I love Mamma Chias but totally see how that could be a weird experience if you’re not expecting it!
CAKE! I am in the minority on this one. The frosting is good, don’t get me wrong, but I only like a little bit. If I had to choose I would go cake. The Red Velvet wine is quite lovely. I’ve enjoyed it before. Thanks for the video!
I like cake & icing, but I am picking about the ratio and the kind. I don’t like super sweet icing (like who wants the giant sugar bomb flower piece… not me)!
Bicep and shoulders!!
I have no routine except to just wear them out in any way possible!
YYYES to frosting!
And that’s hilarious about the chia drink hah!
I bought that wine last night! It drew me in with it’s pretty bottle and promise of hints of chocolate. I can’t wait to test it out! I’ve tried Cupcake wine before but not this one.
I like triceps and back for some reason. I also normally do 3 sets of 10-15 reps–12 is the usual.
And FROSTING. I prefer a little bit of cake and tons of frosting 🙂
Eeeek I never do upper body workouts, I should probably work on that. Maybe I won’t look like I have chicken wings next time I run!
Have an awesome day, Gina!
Frosting all the way! My husband and I are a great match….I eat the top and he eats the bottom! He is a plain cake dude!
I LOVE training back, especially lower back, since it’s a spot that likes to hold on to fat. But when you see the muscle come through there, it’s so satisfying!! -> rows + supermans!!
DEF frosting! A cupcake place here in SF does a cheesecake cupcake and the middle is some creamcheesy concoction, it’s like 2x the frosting!
Latest Post: Spiral into Fit – I Spiralized Every Meal For a Day!
Ok, I need to try that wine asap! Because I’m obsessed with your rec of the Ménage a Trois Midnight. I agree with back and shoulder work – I love working the posterior delts.. Such pretty muscles and great for postural strength:) Have a great day!
i haven’t tried it yet, so i will let you know what i think! 🙂 so glad you like the midnight!
Back & triceps are my favorite to work. I always start out with standing kickbacks with light weights, then plank rows with heavy weights. I really like switching between light and heavy weights within a set. I also do tricep dips, triceps pulls on the pulley and a few other things I don’t know what they’re called off hand. Isn’t that terrible? I know the moves, but can’t remember what they’re called. I’m getting old!
at least you know how to do them. the names don’t matter so much 😉
i just found my weights after a recent move — excited to try this video!
Um… I need to try that Red Velvet wine, like yesterday. It looks so good! Also, visits from Mom are the best. Enjoy your time together! <3
let’s pop a bottle 🙂
hope you guys have a great weekend!
All with you on the icing front girl. 🙂 Never tried the red velvet wine, but it is now on my to-do!!! 🙂
xo xo, Lauren @ http://alovelysideproject.com
Hi Gina! I didn’t know Cupcake made a red wine, but I do like the Cupcake Chardonnay. As far as weightlifting is concerned – when teaching BODYPUMP, I do long sets of lighter weights. But when on my own, I do heavier sets — usually 8 reps, 4 sets total. Seems to give me the biggest burn and offers a counter to the muscular endurance of BODYPUMP.
i totally agree. it’s nice to have a good complement to the BP training
I’m totally a FROSTING person! I would honestly rather just have a bowl of frosting and skip the cake all together. Glad to hear there’s lots of others who prefer the frosting as well!
Frosting! I can never understand the people who say “oh I don’t like much frosting it’s too sweet”…too sweet? Oh well…more for me! hahaha
too sweet!! neverrrr
Frosting!!! I’m surprised so many people are saying frosting bc most everyone thinks I’m crazy that I would rather there be more frosting than cake.
I love to work my shoulders. They respond quickly to weights and I like having strong shoulders!
Cupcakes- I like the whole package
All the frosting! As a child, I would eat the frosting off a piece of cake and then ask my parents for another piece. (They always said no.) Nothing beats a delicious buttercream.
This is a no brainer! FrOStInG All the way baby! Love Cupcakes AND Cupcake Wine! It is one of my favorites!
My favorite upper body part to train is shoulders and chest! I just think push ups, pike push ups and plank walks increase your strength and really create results physically so I love doing them! It is so effective to continue to change up your sets/reps and body parts trained together on a regular basis. I lift heavier with a set number of reps on some days and lighter until fatigue/burn out on others. Drop sets, giant sets, and burn out sets are some of my favorite training techniques to change it up!
Enjoy your icing blob! I’m pretty jelly about it! 😉
I love Cupcake wine! I know it’s not a fancy/expensive wine in terms of wine drinking aficionados, but I think it’s delish (particularly their cab!)
That Cupcake wine is one of my favorites!! I think you’ll like it – funny enough, I actually googled your wine post from ages ago to get some good recommendations. Think we’re on the same page because I liked several of your suggestions – so hopefully you like this one too!
awesome! i’m excited to try it now 🙂
I”ll have to try out that barre workout this weekend. I love that it’s under 10 minutes so I can add it on to another workout.
I’d definitely pick cake over frosting.
Thanks Ms Gina, I will be doing this video and the others you linked for a full class tomorrow. 🙂
FROSTING!! A thousand times frosting! 🙂
Great video, Gina! Just did it this AM as I’m about to get in a car for 7+ hours and needed some movement before sitting for a long time. Thank you so much for filming and sharing!
I did the workout twice with five pound weights! Ooh Girl, that hit the spot. I am now going to find your leg workout. Thanks for my friday workout Gina. 😉
Loved the video–such a great workout! May I ask you a technology question? I need to film something for a class and I was wondering if you used a remote or if someone else filmed you. Your video turned out really good.
Cupcake Red Velvet is one of my favorite wines! I always stock up when it’s on sale.
just tried this video–holy arm burner! loved it!