Tag Archives: workout

Fatten You Up then Slim You Down

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I have two things to share with you in this post (don’t worry, Winesday Wednesday will be coming later today). Unfortunately, the two things I have to share contradict one another. The first, is a supremely awesome cookies recipe- one that is NOT healthified AT ALL. The other is a super sweaty treadmill interval workout. 

What I’m trying to say is….make these cookies and then run this workout and you’ll be all good. I’m still here, aren’t I? And I did both yesterday…and plan to do both until those cookies are dunzo.

So this cookie recipe is something I actually came up with all on my own. No guideline whatsoever. Perhaps they already exist somewhere in the recipe world, but I haven’t come across it. Here’s how it came about: every time I ask Tyler what he thinks I should bake, his response is always chocolate chip cookies. I am always game for the triple c’s, but I recently spotted a few squares of baker’s chocolate in the cupboard, so I really wanted a way to incorporate those into a cookie recipe. 

Insert: Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies

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These cookies turned out better than I imagined, and they DEFINITELY need to be accompanied by a glass of milk. They are super rich. (Some people cross the line at too much chocolate, but to those people I say poo-poo.)

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Here’s What You’ll Need:

  • 1/2 c butter
  • 1/2 c brown sugar
  • 1/4 c sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 t vanilla
  • 1 c flour
  • 1/3 c cocoa powder
  • 1/2 t baking soda
  • 1/8 t salt
  • 4 squares semi-sweet Baker’s chocolate
  • 1 cup chocolate chips

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Here’s What You Do:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare baking sheets with cooking spray

2. Cream butter, sugars, egg and vanilla.

3. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder. Add dry mixture to wet mixture and combine.

4. Melt chocolate squares in a double boiler (put a small amount of water in a sauce pan, turn the stove on to heat the water, and place a bowl that will rest comfortably on the sauce pan so that the bottom of the bowl will not touch the water level in the pan. constantly stir chocolate until it is just melted.) Add to the rest of the ingredients and combine. Fold in chocolate chips.

5. Refrigerate dough for about 30 minutes. The cold dough will result in thicker cookies!

6. Scoop balls of dough on cookie pans, and bake for about 13 minutes. After removing from the oven, allow cookies to sit on the pan for a few minutes before moving to a cooling rack. Makes 18 (I make medium-large sized cookies)

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So good.

And now I have TWO kitchen helpers. They didn’t want to show their faces in the above picture. 

Ok, so after you make these cookies and you eat a bunch of them and you’re all “oh man, now I really need to sweat this chocolate out but I don’t know what I should do about it” then consult the following treadmill interval workout.

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This interval workout consists of 5 minutes of running with 5-1 minute sprints. You can do the same speed for 3 rounds of the entire circuit, or you can do the suggested increase in speed for round 2 and round 3. Either way, it’s a pretty sweet and sweaty run.

That’s all I have for you right now, stay tuned for the Winesday Wednesday post!!!!

Monday Moves #2

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Hey everyone. This week’s Monday Moves post is a day late because I got caught up in everything that was happening in Boston. But we’re still gonna call it Monday Moves.

mondaymoves

Onto some moves for this week. Keep in mind the pictures are terrible, but they are just to give you an idea of how the exercise is performed.

1. Wall Sit with Shoulder Rotation and Overhead Press

4.16 wallsit

-Aside from the fact that I obviously need to sweep my dog’s hair before taking pictures, this move works your lower and upper body. Pressing the length of your back against the wall (be mindful to not let your lower back ‘roll’ forward) and dropping your hips to knee height (get that 90 degree angle), hold the weights as pictured (keep elbows stationed at shoulder height).

-Rotate the weights, keeping your shoulders and elbows put. Engage your core so that your back remains pressed against the wall while performing this part of the exercise.

-Press the weights over your head. That is the entire move. To return to starting position, reverse the order of the pictures as shown. (Aka: drop the elbows, rotate the shoulders, and lower the weights).

2. Bridge and Chest Press

4.16 press

-Start laying on the ground, feet planted. To engage your inner thighs, place either a bender ball or extremely light weight in between your knees. Cheese relatively heavy weights to hold- elbows lined with the chest.

-Engage your core and press with your heels to raise your hips into bridge position. Be mindful of the weight/ball between your knees. At the same time, press the weights overhead.

-In a slow, controlled movement, drop your elbows down to starting position and simultaneously round the spine to lower your butt to the floor. Repeat. Repeat lots of times if you want a great butt.

3. Single Leg Deadlift with Overhead Press

4.16 deadlift

-Ok, stick with me on this one, there are a lot of moves involved. But I promise, it is SO worth it. This is probably my favorite exercise. It requires balance and lots of coordination. Something I don’t generally have (on a Friday or Saturday night. Bahahaha, good joke Jen!)

-Start with your feet together, holding heavier weights at your sides. Keeping one foot planted, gradually kick one leg back- leg extended and foot flexed. At the same time, lower the weights to almost touch the ground by your planted foot.

-Then, bring the leg back to starting position (but DO NOT touch your foot to the floor. In a fluid and immediate motion, rotate the weight and begin a bicep curl while also lifting the ‘moving’ leg so that the knee is at hip height.

-Last part, extend the foot and transition the weights from the top of the bicep curl into an overhead press. To do more than one rep of this move, slowly reverse the order of steps. (Aka: Lower from the overhead press and bend the knee; reverse the curl; lower the leg.

4. Plank High Fives

4.16 plank

-Yes, you will high five your wall. Or you can position yourself to high five your baby or your pet or perhaps someone’s butt (if they’re like sitting in a chair or something. But I recommend you telling them you’re about to TAP THAT ASS.)

-Before assuming the position, face the wall (or object you’ll tap) and extend your arm out to find the appropriate length. Place yourself at the correct distance and get into a straight-arm plank with your palms directly under your shoulders. NO BUTTS IN THE AIR, Y’ALL.

-Keeping your core engaged, alternate arms to give high fives. Just try not to rotate your hips as your reach.

***

There ya have it, folks. Some potentially new-to-you moves to add to future workouts. See ya tomorrow for WINESDAY WEDNESDAY!

Question: Done any of these moves before? Love em/hate em?

 

Three Things Thursday

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1. Had an interview yesterday (nothing fancy, it was just a staffing agency. Apparently I will need some Canadian experience under my belt to be considered for more advanced positions, even though I have the education!) Since I didn’t bring any of my work clothes to Calgary when I moved last year, I had to go to the mall and find something appropriate that I would hopefully wear more than once (note: I hate work pants.) I came up with this gem of an outfit:

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2. Came up with an AWESOME workout that I did yesterday. It was challenging, it incorporated both cardio and strength training, and it was entertaining (because it alleviates any boredom you might get from staying on one exercise or one piece of equipment for too long). I made it fancy on PicMonkey, but there are tons of arrows so I hope it’s not TOO confusing..

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Let me explain.

  • First, you do the first set of treadmill intervals
  • Move on to the first round of supersets. Complete the number of reps for the first exercise, then do the number of reps for the second exercise. Complete this 3x through.
  • Second round of treadmill intervals.
  • Secound round of Supersets
  • Same for the third round
  • Finish with 5 minutes of treadmill intervals.
  • It takes under an hour to complete (including rest times and stretching)

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I sported my Lululemon Gather and Crow crops for this workout. I rarely wear them (don’t get me wrong, they’re COMFY) because they just look funny. And when I am doing my workout in front of a mirror, it just makes me feel funny. I prefer the fit of Wunder Unders (perhaps because they have a little more compression…particularly in the thigh-al region? I made up the word thigh-al in case you were wondering).

Can I just say again that I love my new gym? I don’t have to hover over machines or wait to use anything or claim my territory. Heck, no one even cares when I take dumb pictures. Like this one.

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PS: That lady in the green crops is one of the personal trainers. Not only do I want her green crops, but I think her and I will be friends one day. We have already talked about water bottles, so I think it’s going places.

3. This morning, I used some leftover quinoa we had in the fridge to make some Quinoa Pancakes. I had never made them before but have always been curious as to how different they may or may not taste from the various other variety of pancakes I’ve made.

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Here’s what you’ll need:

  • 1/2 c cooked quinoa
  • 1/4 c oats
  • 1/4 c whole wheat flour
  • 1 t baking powder
  • dash of salt
  • 1/2 t cinnamon
  • 1/3 large banana, mashed
  • 1/2 c unsweetened almond milk
  • 1 egg white
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • 1 T plain nonfat greek yogurt

Here’s what you do:

  1. Mix everything with a hand mixer or blender. Pour on skillet, flip when bottom side is lightly browned.

Easy.

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I topped mine with the remainder of the banana and some PB2 (great substitute for peanut butter, I highly recommend it because the flavor and texture is pretty spot on! And it comes in powder form, so you can make it your desired consistency, add it to recipes, or eat it on its own!)

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The pancakes were OK. They were fluffy and had a pretty pancake-like texture, but I could really taste the quinoa (I am used to eating it only in more savory meals) so it wasn’t my favorite. Still, a great way to get rid of leftovers! Next time, I’ll probably incorporate berries or cocoa into the batter to see if that changes my feelings about Quinoa Pancakes at all.

Question 1: Do you have a favorite Go-To workout outfit?

Question 2: What’s your favorite way to eat quinoa?

Workout Schtuff

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So far, I have been hitting the nail on the head with my workouts this week. Yay! When I was writing up the lower and upper body strength workouts I was going to do, I realized I hadn’t incorporated any compound moves in a LONG time. You bet your bippy they made their way in this week! Here are some of my favorite compound moves:

  • Reverse lunge with bicep curl (or hammer curl)
  • Hip raise with chest press on stability ball

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(Source)

  • Single Leg deadlift with overhead press and hamstring extension

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(Source)

  • Curtsy lunge with lateral raise
  • Split squats with tricep kickbacks

…just to name a few. (Let me know if you would like further explanation on the moves!)

NOW I get to share with you the upper body circuit I did with the TRX suspension training bands on Wednesday. It may not look like much on paper, but I DARE you to go try it for yourself and not feel it the next day.

So, there are only 3 moves, but each are performed in pyramid sets. i.e.: Do 10 reps, rest (approx. 20 seconds or longer if necessary), 15 reps, rest, 20 reps, rest, 15 reps, rest, 10 reps. Then move on to the second exercise.. get it?

Here are the three moves:

1. Row (increasing resistance by moving feet closer to the pivot point)

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(Source)

2. Chest press (I did it with my feet together)

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(Source)

3. Y’s (again, increasing resistance by positioning stance close to pivot point. You can also opt to do single arm)

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(Source)

And if you’re really feeling advanced..go ahead and try this:

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(Source)

I, personally, am not quite there yet.

And now, I can share with you a great cardio interval workout on the treadmill:

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So there ya go. 

Question: What are you favorite compound exercises? Favorite TRX moves?

Best Banana Bread

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Well, hello there. I hope this Hump Day is treating you all well. I am currently typing this in my pajamas (typical), on the couch, watching trashy day-time TV with the dog cuddled up next to me. Don’t shoot me out of jealousy just yet, I am also on the hunt for a job and predict that I will be miserable, in pants, and behind a desk in the near future.

Just thought I’d pop in real quick to share some random bits with you. Shall we get started?

  • I made the TASTIEST banana bread yesterday (I forgot to allocate for the altitude and therefore it did not cook enough for me, but I crumbled it up and stored it in an air-tight container for future dessert and snacking use). I still thought I HAD to share the recipe, because it really can’t be passed up (I know, I know, how many recipes for banana bread do you see on the internet? The answer: LOTS)

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Here’s What you Need:

  • 2 c almond flour
  • 1 T cinnamon
  • 1 t baking soda
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 c coconut milk
  • 1 t vanilla
  • 1/4 c agave
  • 2 ripe bananas (mashed)

Here’s What you Do:

  1. In a bowl, combine the almond flour, cinnamon, and soda. Set aside.
  2. In another bowl, whisk the eggs, then add the coconut milk, vanilla, agave and bananas. Stir until incorporated.
  3. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture.
  4. Pour in a prepared loaf pan and bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes.

You can totally mess up and not let it fully cool like I did then have banana bread bits to toss in your yogurt for later!

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  • The strength portion of my workout yesterday was a Deck of Cards workout. I wrote up my entire week’s workout plan earlier this week, but I didn’t specifically designate which exercises I would do for this specific workout. Knowing that I wanted to target, ummm, my WHOLE body, I came up with these moves:
    • ♥= Jump Squats
    • ♦= Pushups
    • ♣= Side plank hip dips (each side)
    • ♠= Weighted donkey kicks (each side)

Video Demonstrations can be found here: Jump Squats, Side plank Hip dips, Weighted donkey kicks

  • This is one of my favorite new songs right now. I kept hearing it in the car and tried Shazaam-ing it, but Shazaam doesn’t recognize it. I did the grunt work and found it the old fashioned way (google), and here ya go:
  • (Ok, apparently, the video doesn’t want to appear, so here’s a link: http://youtu.be/gAwj-EuZc2w)
  • WARNING: I am not PROMOTING the following. I am simply allowing you to use my link to get 20% off if you are interested. OK?!

ellie-active-vixen

Ellie, the new monthly subscription program for athletic wear, has just released their March 2013 items and they are part of the LBD Collection. C’mon ladies, (sorry, gents- it’s women’s althetic wear only) we all love wearing black…it’s SLIMMING. And HOT. Anyhoo..check out THIS LINK (you will only get the 20% off if you go to their site through the link OR by clicking on the banner on the right-hand side of my blog page.

K, that’s all. For now..