Jump Rope Circuit

Here are links to some of the exercises. The side plank with hip dip has a link on my previous post.
Ab Chop with Weight
Plank Jacks
Windmill

Cardio Ab Circuit

Everyone wants abs, but what a lot of people don't understand is that the only way to get them is to do total body workouts. You can't just do crunches and situps. To see your stomach muscles you have to lose the fat that's on top of them, which you can't do with typical abdominal exercises. Your abs should be engaged in all of your workouts. They are a strong group of muscles that are helping you with movements when you don't even realize it. By engaging them you are not only building strength, but you're also perfecting your form. If your abs aren't engaged your form is probably not what it's supposed to be and you're probably not getting the most out of your workouts. That being said, I do think it's important to do moves that focus specifically on your core. I love planks. I think they are the best way to build stomach muscles. I like to do circuits that combine planks, some other core exercises, and cardio or strength training. The key is to move quickly through the moves, because this helps to keep your stomach muscles working and engaged. This workout is quick, about 15 minutes, but you will definitely be feeling it by the end, and your stomach will be sore later!

Here are some links to some of the exercises. Let me know if you need more or if you need variations. 

Side plank with hip dip

Sit up to standing

Side burpee & jump

Star Jumps

Up/down plank

Carrot & Pumpkin Protein Bars

I just wanted to post this recipe real quick. I whipped these together earlier because I'm always looking for good protein bar recipes. This one is pretty good, with or without the frosting. They're quick and easy to make, and good for getting some protein and veggies in while you're on the go. I kept mine pretty simple, but adding nuts or some dried fruit would be really good. I'm also thinking about doing a more savory version with curry...yum.

Carrot & Pumkin Protein Bars

Ingredients

•  1/2 Cup Oats
• 1/2 Cup Wheat Bran
• 2 scoops whey protein powder
• 3 Tbsp Truvia
• 2 tsp Pumpkin Spice
• 1/4 Cup Ground Flax Seed
• 1/2 Tsp Sea Salt
• 2-3 Grated Carrots (depending on how carroty you want them)
• 1/2 Cup Pumpkin Puree
• 1 Egg Slightly Scrambled
• 1 Tsp Vanilla

• Preheat oven to 325 and grease an 8x8 banking pan.
• Mix all dry ingredients together in medium bowl
• Mix all wet ingredients together in large bowl
• Add the dry ingredients to the carrot mixture
• Bake for about 25 minutes 

And while they're baking you can whip together the frosting. I used plain yogurt mixed with cream cheese because I only had about 2oz of cream cheese. My frosting is a little bit runny but after sitting in the fridge it worked out fine. If I had more cream cheese I definitely would have used it, but sometimes you just gotta work with what ya got!

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 2oz Cream Cheese
• 2 Tbsp Plain Yogurt
• 3 Tbsp Powdered Sugar

Mix all ingredients together using a hand mixer until smooth and creamy. Refrigerate frosting for a bit, especially if you used yogurt. Spread over bars and voila! You're done!

 

Push Up Supersets Workout

It's been raining and raining and raining around here lately, and it's not supposed to stop anytime soon. I know it's good for our garden, so I'm happy about that, but I do miss the sun and being able to do things outside. I'm just trying to keep in mind that the plants love it and it's keeping if from being unbearably hot too soon.
Due to all of this I've been doing most of my working out indoors. Which is fine and which is why I love circuit workouts. You can do them anywhere! Here's my newest one. It doesn't look too hard, but everyone I've done it with has been spent by the end of it. Granted that's only two people but still...give it a try and let me know what you think. If you need to do the push ups on you knees, but try to start on you toes and do as many as you can first. Push ups are a great full body exercise. They're really hard, but totally worth it, especially when you start to see yourself being able to do more and more. The backbend push ups are definitely and advanced move, and are just kind of fun and silly. Give them a try if you think you're strong and flexible enough, but please don't hurt yourself trying! Just go back to regular push ups if you need to.

Here are some links to all of the push up variations:
Push Up with Arm Rotation
Stagger Push Ups
Squat with Shoulder Press - Use weights that challenge you for this. You want your muscles to be fatigued by the end of the set. That's how you're going to see results, not by doing tons of reps using weights that are too light for you. If you have a barbell by all means use that. It really makes the exercise more challenging.
Backbend Push Ups
Elevated Plank with Knee Tucks -It's the 2nd exercise in this video, but the whole thing is a great ab workout if you want to try it some time!

Blackberry Rhubarb Skillet Cake and Our Memorial Day Dinner

 

This cake is simple and delicious. I'm not a huge cake fan. I don't like overly sweet frostings or having half a cake's worth of leftovers sitting around the house for the next week so desserts like this are right up my alley. It's definitely more of an adult dessert but my daughter ate her's faster than I did. This was after telling me she wasn't going to eat it and then reluctantly agreeing when I told her she was having this for dessert or nothing at all. It's also easy to whip together on a day like Memorial Day where you've probably got a lot of other stuff going on in the kitchen. I sprinkled powdered sugar on top but something like sugar in the raw or even whipped cream would be good too.

I wasn't planning on posting this recipe so the fruit measurements and the cooking time are not exact...sorry! I just eyeballed the fruit and I think it ended up baking for about 40-45 minutes. Just keep an eye on it while it's in the oven, it's pretty easy to tell when it's done. The cake shouldn't be soft in the center. Mine was a little underdone, but it was still really good. I also used truvia in this recipe, it's a mix of table sugar and stevia. I like it because it has fewer calories and carbs than regular sugar and it's natural. I don't like using fake sweeteners. It was a little to sweet for me, so I'll use less next time. If you're using regular sugar then double what's in the recipe, or maybe use a little less. Taste the batter as you go to figure out what you like.

Blackberry Rhubarb Skillet Cake

Ingredients

• 2 cups white whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 cup truvia (or 1 cup granulated sugar)
• 2 eggs-whites and yolks separate
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup buttermilk or plain whole fat yogurt or 1 cup milk mixed with 1 Tbs vinegar
• 1 cup blackberries & 1 cup rhubarb (reserve some for decorating top of cake)

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9 inch cast iron skillet

•  In a medium bowl mix together the dry ingredients
• In a large bowl cream the egg yolks and sugar until the mixture starts becoming pale
• Mix in vanilla and egg whites
• Alternate adding in the flour mixture and buttermilk in 3 parts
• Mix until creamy
• Pour into skillet-and this is where things get kinda rough. I baked mine for about 35-40 minutes, then I arranged my reserved fruit on top of the cake when it was almost firm in the center and baked for about 5-10 more minutes. Sorry I can't be more accurate than this. Just keep an eye on the cake while it's baking. It really is pretty simple. 
• Sprinkle with powdered sugar, sugar in the raw, or top with whipped cream 

Cody also grilled chicken, zucchini, and yellow squash for us that we ate with salad mixed with herbs and radishes from our garden, yum!

Measurements, Pics, and Mom & Me Circuit

I've been working out with my mom for a couple of months now because she is wanting to get in better shape. She's been doing a great job! I just modify the moves I do to meet her fitness level. We have a lot of fun working out together and it's awesome to see the results. She's lost weight and toned up already. She's also more willing to try new exercises and I can tell by her endurance and form she's getting stronger and more in shape. Here's what we did today:

Mom & Me Circuit

• Jog in place 30 sec
• Jumping Jacks 30 sec
• High Knees 30 sec
•  Switch Kicks 30 sec
•  Mountain Climbers 30 sec
• Bicycle Crunches 30 sec

Repeat 2x

•  Push Ups 30 sec
• Squats 30 sec
• Push Ups 30 sec
• Jump Squats 30 sec

Repeat 2x

Then we did the first set of exercises in the following videos. Just click on the links and watch the first exercises she does up to her first rest period-hope that makes since! I love the daily hiit by the way. It's full of great workouts and if you go to their blog they've got a lot of tips and motivation. I'm sure my blog will be full of links to their website.
 
Hiit Combat #4-I did this with 5lb weights and my mom used 3lb. Same with the next exercise. We did each of these exercises for 1 min, rested for 10 sec and then did them again for 1 min. 

Hiit Combat #5-Alternate legs on this one

Remember to cool down and stretch after your workout. It's more important than most people think!
Also, I've done both of these videos all the way through and they're fun workouts just because they're so different. I've done them with 10lb weights and ankle weights on which you should try if you want a challenge. I also do a lot of the workouts more times through than the site recommends. For example, if they say 3x through I'll do 4 or 5x. They're just so short I figure I can push myself a little bit longer!

I also wanted to share my pics and measurements with you. This isn't where I started, but it's where I decided to start recording my progress. I also have my mom's measurements, which she is reluctantly letting me post. These were taken almost a month ago so they're not totally accurate-hopefully! My mom's goal right now is to lose weight, my goals are too lose body fat and tone up. They're not the best pics, but here they are...

 


















My measurements:

• Chest=33 1/8 in
• Waist=30 in
• Hips=36 in 

Mom's measurements:

• Chest=43 1/2 in
• Waist=45 in
• Hips=48 in
• Arms=15 in 

We'll keep you updated! Wish us luck!

My first post! And the get your sprint on workout

Alright here it is, my first post! We've had an awesome day! We worked in the garden a little bit this morning. Our radishes are going crazy! They're growing faster than we can eat them and they're super spicy.

 The rest of the garden is looking pretty good. It just takes patience. Our herbs are doing great and our salad greens are starting to take off. Pretty exciting stuff! After hanging out in the garden for a little bit we walked down to the farmer's market. We got a cute little bachelor button bouquet. Our neighbor grew the flowers and put the arrangements together. Girl's got some talent! We also got a hosta to plant in the garden. Yay gardening!

After all this Cody and I went to one of the stadiums here to workout. We both felt pretty out of shape afterwards. We've got some work to do! Anyways here's the workout:

Here are links to all of the exercises above in case you need them!

• burpees
• mountain climbers
• push up jacks
• squat jumps
• cross lateral toe touch push ups
• switch lunges

This is a quick, but intense workout. I definitely recommend it for a day when you feel like really challenging yourself. I had never tried sprints before today and they are killer!