Rock Hard Challenge

Dillon loves Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson and one day he was looking up The Rock's workout plan. He came across something called The Rock Hard Challenge. It is a workout plan for five days a week: 2 leg days, 2 upper body days and 1 total barbell.

After 30 minutes of cardio today we gave the total barbell a try. It is six different workouts with the bar, you do all six without setting the bar down- three times.

1. Hang clean (5 reps) - hold the bar with wider than shoulder width grip, let it hang at your knees, explosively extend your hips, shrug your shoulders, pull with your arms, and rise onto your toes. The bar will end at your shoulders

2. Reverse lunge (5 reps) - hold the bar at your shoulders and do five reverse lunges on each side

3. Push press (10 reps) - bring the bar up to your chest and bench the bar above your head

4. Back Squat (10 reps) - place the bar behind your head and onto your neck and shoulders, position into a squat stance, point your toes out a little, squat as low as you can and explode up

5. High pull (10 reps) - grab the bar, pull up as high as you can

6. Romanian deadlift (10 reps) - bend down without bending your knees, grab and hold onto the bar coming up to a straight back and repeat

This was hard but we knew it was a great workout by the amount of sweat that was going on. It said to start at 65 lbs (the bar and a 10 lb on each side), but in order for me to complete the circuit without dropping the bar- I did not add any weights to the bar. And that was plenty! I would recommend this workout to anyone that has access to a bar because it works all your muscles and makes you feel so good after! 

This week after we try the other workouts for this challenge, I will post a blog with the leg and upper body circuits. I will also give my honest opinion about the workouts, how I felt, and if I'd recommend them.

Stay tuned :)

Feel Good Post

I was looking through Pinterest today and found some really great quotes that I wanted to share with you guys

"She was unstoppable not because she did not have failures or doubts, but because she continued on despite them."

I love this quote because everyone has those moments or days where things just don't work out the way you wanted, or a bad workout, or a day where your nutrition is off- but you keep looking onward and don't just give up because of that. Your goals are worth so much to just throw away after one, two, or three bad days. I know I'm not the only one when I say there are days where I get down on myself for not seeing any physical changes with my body and would rather sit on the couch and watch Modern Family but I put my big girl pants on and get in my workout for the day. I know when I have days like these that I have to persevere because its another step closer towards my goals and soon I will see changes. Anytime you feel like you don't want to go to the gym that is when it is most important to go, those are the days where progress happens. Keep up the hard work!!

"Sometimes the smallest step in the right direction ends up being the biggest step of your life. Tip toe if you must. But take the step."

When I first started changing my lifestyle, it was small steps at a time. It is really hard to change multiple things at one time... usually that overwhelming and discourages you. At first, I started changing my dinners to having a protein and veggie versus spaghetti or something like that. Added delicious smoothies to my day. Started weight training, something I had never really tried before. Then, I started training for my half marathon at a very slow pace. For the first few weeks, I was jogging a little with more walking. The more I trained the more I was able to jog more and more with less walking each time. Now I am up to 8 miles-- that is crazy to me! All the little steps add up and push you to a healthier, stronger, better you.

Self confidence is one thing I hardly had, I was always down on my body and never saw myself as beautiful. Throughout my journey of training and changing nutrition I have gained more and more of it and have learned to love myself at every stage of this adventure! I've learned to fall in love with the process and remember that many changes are coming my way. 

Healthy Go-To Snackies

I wanted to have a blog post about snacks when eating healthy, a few of my favorites are

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veggies and humus

string cheese

hard boiled eggs

protein bars (Quest or Luna are my fave)

snapea crisps (I love the caesar flavor)

fruit with full fat yogurt

apple and almond butter (Justins is amazing)

cottage cheese (with peaches is super yummy)

smoothies (with protein powder, fruit, yogurt, pure cranberry juice, flax, chia seeds, MCT oil)

pickles (one of my all time favorite snack)

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These are some nummy nummy snacks to have on the go throughout the day. I highly recommend to have these foods around- especially on the days where all you want to do is eat the entire house!!

What are some of your go-to snacks? 

I hope everyone is having a great week being wonderful, healthy, and sticking to your goals

:)

Easter Weekend

My Easter weekend was wonderful! 

I love being able to come home and spend time with family. On Saturday, we went to Dillon's grandmas for family fun and lots of food! I ate two pieces of ham, about a 1/2 C. of cheesy potatoes, beans, some veggies, and a little piece of strawberry short cake. It was yummy! On Sunday, we went to his aunt and uncles and had many of the same foods- ham, potatoes, veggies, beans, fruit, pasta salad, fruit pizza etc.

I believe it is just fine to eat whatever on holidays because it is special time with people you love that you don't need to restrict yourself. 

On a different note, I finally went shopping in what seems like forever. I haven't gone to Old Navy since I was a kid, but I did and it was incredible! They have so many adorable clothes, and of course their workout clothes are so great- dry fit capris, pants, tanks, cut offs, nice jackets, sports bras etc! I definitely recommend their workout attire if anyone is looking for some new finds at an affordable price!

I did think of some goals for myself after the holiday weekend to get me back on track

get back to the gym 5-6 times/wk

to meet my macros

to start making morning smoothies (especially with my MCT oil- many health benefits)

staying consistent with my weights in the weight room

hope you all had a wonderful Monday :)

Workin' On The Legs

Leg day...

Today I did a new leg day workout and lets just say my legs and buns are burning still 10 minutes after! 

I wanted to share the workout with you guys and would love to hear your feedback on it... like it or hate it?! 

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100 jumping jacks

50 squats with weights 

60 sec. wall sit

30 lunges

40 calf raises

50 lunge squats (25 each leg-- with weights)

40 sumo squats (with weights)

30 reverse lunges

Repeat 3x

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I used 10lb weights because that is the heaviest I have at home. 

My heart rate was up, I was sweating and shaking throughout the workout, I would definitely recommend this one when you wanna work on those legs! 

I also enjoyed it because I was able to do it in the comfort of my own home especially when I couldn't make it to the gym today! 

I would recommend foam rolling after a leg workout too, helps relax and stretch your muscles after a great workout!!

Coffee Sugar Cookies

Coffee Sugar Cookies

A new recipe that I found and we absolutely loved!

2 eggs

1/2 tsp. Baking Powder

1/2 tsp. Cinnamon

2 C. Whole Wheat Flour

1 1/4 C. Coconut Sugar

1/4 tsp. Salt

1 tsp. Pure Maple Syrup (I used Simply Balanced)

3 scoops Protein Powder (I used vanilla flavor)

1 spoonful Ground Flax Seed

2 TBSP. Ground Coffee

1 stick of Organic Unsalted Butter

1/2 C. Full Fat Greek Yogurt (I used Stonyfield)

Bake @ 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes

Macros for one cookie:

23gC/6.5gP/6gF

The original recipe called for two sticks of butter but I used 1/2 C. greek yogurt for substitute, I think next time I will try 1 C. greek yogurt instead of any butter and see if they are still as delicious! 

They're a yummy treat when you're in the baking mood and the little bit of coffee flavor makes it all the more better!

If you try them, let me know what you think and if you make any other tweaks to the recipe :) 

Healthier Muffins!!

I love when I find healthier recipes for desserts I love!

I really enjoy baking, but only do it on occasion because it is hard having that stuff in the house at all times. 

I found this recipe last year sometime on Pinterest, I've made it a few times and I LOVE it!

Healthier Applesauce Oat Muffins

1 3/4 C. Coconut Flour

1 C. quick cooking oats

1/4 tsp. Salt

1 1/2 tsp. Cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp. Baking Powder

1 C. Coconut Sugar

1 C. Coconut oil, melted

2 eggs

1/4 C. Full fat Greek Yogurt

1 C. Organic Applesauce

1/2 tsp. Vanilla Extract

1 scoop of Vanilla Protein Powder -- (I added this to the recipe)

Whisk together flour, oats, salt, cinnamon, and baking powder. 

In a different bowl, cream together sugar and oil by hand.

Add in eggs and mix. 

Stir in yogurt, applesauce, and vanilla.

Gradually add dry ingredients to wet ingredients.Preheat oven to 425 degrees

Bake at 425 for 3 minutes then turn the oven to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 17-18 minutes. 

I definitely recommend these if you have a sweet tooth and don't want to go too far off your meal plan!

Let me know if you do give them a shot :)