Category Archives: Health

Betty Rocker Full Body Workout {PC2}

Posted in Health, Work It Out by

Welcome to Pinterest Challenge #2. Today’s workout is a quick 15-minute full-body via a video from Betty Rocker. I really like her workouts and food posts overall, but I have to say I didn’t love this video. But to be fair, I don’t think I like video workouts in general – there are so many starts and stops and then I just lose all motivation to complete it. But anyway, I think this could be a good quick little something if you just don’t know what else to do!

Screen Shot 2016-08-13 at 2.44.42 PM

Workout includes:

Mountain Climbers
Lunges
Skater Slides
Deadlifts
Pushups

…just to name a few! Try it out and let me know what you think!

Tandoori Roasted Cauliflower

Posted in Health, Mmm...Food... by

While I was home visiting my family, my mom and I made one of her food-delivery-dinners… You know, those boxes that come with everything you need to make an amazing meal. I happened to love this meal, but it was SO EASY that I felt like I could recreate it at home. And so I did, and now I’m sharing with you. You’re welcome.

Tandoori Roasted Cauliflower with Yogurt Sauce and Orange Salad

Ingredients

Cauliflower:

  • 1-2 heads of cauliflower (serves 2-4)
  • tandoori masala seasoning mix
  • olive oil

cauli

Yogurt Sauce:

  • 1 container plain greek yogurt
  • tandoori masala seasoning mix
  • cilantro

yogurt

Orange Salad:

  • 1-2 large oranges (serves 2-4), pealed and cut into bite sized pieces
  • 1 shallot, thinly sliced
  • cilantro
  • olive oil

oranges

Side:

  • Warm naan or couscous makes a good combo with this meal.

Directions

This is SO EASY. Get ready.

  1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
  2. Mix together your orange pieces, shallot (to taste), a few pinches of cilantro, and about a tablespoon of olive oil. I also add a little salt and pepper. Set aside.
  3. Mix together yogurt, 1 tablespoon tandoori seasoning, and another few pinches of cilantro. Set aside.
  4. Remove stem and leaves of cauliflower, and cut each head into 8ths. Drizzle olive oil, 2-3 tablespoons tandoori, salt, and pepper and toss to coat. Lay pieces on an aluminum foil covered baking sheet (I recommend spraying it), and bake for about 20 minutes, until roasted.
  5. Serve cauliflower with yogurt sauce, and with orange salad on the side.

WODs {PC1}

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Welcome to Pinterest Challenge #1! As I shared in a post the other day, I am challenging myself to work through my “fit and fab” pinterest board. Two to three times a week, I am going to complete the next workout on the list and give a quick review to you! Let me know if you decide to do a pinterest challenge, no matter what pinterest board it is you might want to work through…

PC1: WOD Workouts

The first workout on my board happens to be a list of 24 crossfit wods that don’t require equipment! So I used a random number generator to select workout #6 for my challenge:

3 rounds AMRAP for 3 minutes each, with two minute breaks in-between:
15 lunges (per leg)
15 sit-ups

Results:

Round 1 – Completed lunges, sit-ups, lunges
Round 2 – Completed sit-ups, lunges, sit-ups, 1/2 lunges
Round 3 – Completed 1/2 lunges, sit-ups, lunges, sit-ups

Afterward…death to my legs! This was actually so so awesome for my quads, and I admit I was sore a couple days. This makes me want to try this whole list, so I’m definitely going to save it somewhere to refer to in the future. Happy WOD-ing!

A Fitness Pinterest Challenge

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Raise your hand if you regularly post things on pinterest, but never (or rarely) visit your boards to find that recipe, workout, or craft. (If you aren’t raising your hand, you are a liar and we can’t be friends.) I realized the other day that my pinterest boards are blackholes of projects that I’ve never revisited. So I’ve decided to do a little challenge…

One of my biggest boards is called “Fit and Fab.” It’s mostly filled with workouts, spattered with a few cute workout clothing items I’d love to buy someday. So for the next several weeks, I’m going to start at the top and try each workout I’ve pinned. I’ll probably use these 2-3 times per week, scattered in with my other workouts, and report back.

Do you have a pinterest board that you nevvvvver really visit? Do your own challenge with me and let me know how it goes!

fitfab

Basic Granola

Posted in Health, Mmm...Food... by

IMG_1949

I looooove granola, but I feel like the ones we buy in the store are so full of sugar, and are SO expensive. So I decided to attempt my own, and I have to say, I’m pretty happy with the results! It’s not nearly as sweet, and has a great nutty flavor overall. I don’t know about you, but when something is so sweet, it’s easy to overeat it. So here you go, my homemade granola!

Ingredients
4 cups of oats
1 1/2 cup pecans
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Pinch of salt
handful of almond slivers / nuts of your choosing
1/2 cup of oil (I used olive but coconut would be REALLY good)
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
extra add ins once it’s cooled: shredded coconut (add halfway through baking for toasted coconut), dried fruit, chocolate chips, and just about anything else you can think of.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone liners.

2. In a large bowl, combine oats, nuts, cinnamon, and salt. Add in oil, syrup, and vanilla and mix until everything is coated. Pour mixture out onto your prepared pan.

3. Bake for 10 minutes, then stir. Bake for another 8-10. Remove from the oven and let it cool completely before breaking it into pieces. Once it’s cool, add in anything else you’d like, such as dried fruit, chocolate chips, etc.

Enjoy!! I love this with a good greek yogurt. Happy summering!

Push/Pull Workouts

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We all need variety in our lives, whether it’s our food, friends, activities, clothes, or workouts. I mean, we live in a culture where it is NOT OKAY TO BE BORED. I fill my “boredom” with Netflix, crafting projects, baking etc… The idea of doing nothing is literally terrifying.

But I digress. Today I want to talk about variety in our workouts. If you’ve been around my blog a while, you’ve seen me share a variety of workouts – because I LOVE a variety of workouts! Seriously, I enjoyed my stint with crossfit. I like to jump rope. I like to row. I like to lift. I like to yoga. I like to follow a plan. I’ve even run even though I don’t really like that much at all.

My pretty, pretty gym.
I mean, with a view like this…
Will definitely add a lot more stretching and rolling into my days.

Some of my favorite 12-week stints have been Jamie Eason’s Live Fit trainer, which was awesome. I’ve also done your traditional back/bi, chest/tri, legs, sholders/abs routine…with Live Fit and with this, I would feel SO GUILTY for missing a day because it was like, a WHOLE GROUP OF MUSCLES I was totally skipping. OH THE PRESSURE. And then, for the last month or so, I’ve mostly been doing sporadic home workouts with my Nike Training Club app, and it was just what I needed. I was burnt out on the gym, and my schedule with rehearsals got a little crazy (I’m getting too old to handle late nights). But now, I’m ready to get back into a solid routine.

And as I’ve mentioned before, the BodySpace app is MY FAVORITE when it comes to planning and tracking workouts.

iPhone Screenshot 1iPhone Screenshot 2

To lift the pressure of the traditional weight lifting routine, I’m now shifting into a Push/Pull split. Basically, you have two kinds of weight workouts – one where you pull, and one where you push. Literally. By doing this, you are working your whole body each time, but different parts of each muscle, giving the other parts plenty of time to rest. Here is a good image I found:

So a “Push Workout” may include things like:

  • Barbell Bench Press
  • Barbell Full Squat
  • Incline Dumbbell Press
  • Standing Military Press
  • Dumbbell Flyes
  • Skullcrushers
  • Barbell Shoulder Press
  • Side Lateral Raise

And then a “Pull Workout” may include things like:

  • Bent Over Barbell Row
  • Barbell Deadlift
  • Dumbbell Shrug
  • One-Arm Row
  • Barbell Curl
  • Face Pull
  • Wide Grip Lat Pulldown
  • Seated Cable Rows

I’m aiming to do weights three times a week (so one week would be push/pull/push and the next pull/push/pull), HIIT cardio two times a week, and then a bonus day of either extra cardio or a yoga class. A lot of people also add a leg day in here, but I’m okay having squats in my regular workouts, and then also doing leg-intensive HIIT workouts. I’m not training for a body building competition, here. I also think it’s important to switch it up, sometimes doing more reps with less weight, and other times doing less reps with more weight. This is the balance I want for myself, but I know it’s different for everyone. I started back into this routine this week and let me tell you – I am SORE and I am SLEEPING LIKE A BABY. Both of which are good signs in my opinion 🙂

Super Easy & Healthy Shredded Chicken {Crock Pot}

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You get one crappy iPhone photo and THAT’S IT.

IMG_7795 (1)

But it doesn’t take away from the awesomeness and easiness of this chicken. I’m kicking myself (figuratively AND literally) for not doing this sooner. How easy, you ask?

THIS EASY:

Put one pound of chicken breast and two cups of chicken stock in your crock pot. Low for 6-8 hours, or high for 4 hours.

YOU’RE DONE. I shredded mine in two seconds with a fork because it was so tender. I let it chill a little longer in the juice, but that’s completely optional.

I also diced an onion into some large chunks and threw it in there with some seasonings. You could add any veggies really: carrots, onions, bell peppers, etc. But at the end of the day, all you REALLY need is chicken and stock.

OMG WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE.

Happy Wednesday, y’all!