Morning Circuit

I love working out in the morning! It's a great way to start the day and makes me feel ten times more productive in everything else I do. This morning I started with a circuit I created the night before.
My heart was racing and I was sweating through this workout!
If you are able to, do 10-20 minutes of cardio then follow with the "Morning Circuit." The 10 second breaks between each move are great for a half-awake state, but that doesn't mean the circuit is easy!
I used a repeating interval timer (Gymboss) and set it to 30 rounds of 20 seconds work and 10 seconds rest. You can also use a stopwatch/phone ap/internet.

Enjoy!

Baking, birthdays, and bodypumpin'

The weekend started off how most of my weekends do, with a run!

I haven't run much around the area I recently moved to, but I've discovered some routes that are interesting and have sidewalk the entire way! This run got to about 5.28 miles.

Reviewing that past couple of days...
Thursday my sister, a couple friends, and I visited our high school history teacher, Gayley, to celebrate her birthday!

Pinterest inspired birthday card I made Gayley 

It was great to spend some time hanging out with Gayley on her beautiful screened-in-porch. We talked into the night over a layered fruit and pound cake I made (I will be sure to post about!).

As a small gift we gave her Bath and Body Works Country Apple body lotion and a bag of peanut butter granola I made. This recipe is from Julie @ pbfingers.com and it is AWESOME and so easy. Granola is super expensive at the store so I am glad to have this recipe on hand. The only addition I made was to add about a 1/2 cup of raisins for 3 cups of oats.

Friday.

A surprise day off for me from work! I started the day off with a run, followed by some baking! My dad loved the pb granola I made for Gayley, so I made another batch of the addictive oats. 

I simultaneously baked some Bangin' Banana Bread. This time, however, I made the bread into muffins. The nice thing about making Banana Bread into muffins is that they cook way faster, try 35 minutes (the original loaf takes 60 minutes)! Amanda loved the muffins and we both agreed they make a good on-the-go breakfast and snack.

The only change I will make next time when making Banana Bread muffins is to add 1.5 tsp of baking powder to help the muffins rise a bit more. I did the nutrition breakdown for the muffins on fatsecret.com.

Amanda and I headed to our nearest Starbucks to get some work done. Amanda studied for the LSAT while I sent emails, worked on my Fall schedule, and transfer credits.

Sometimes the Pike roast is too strong for me, but lately since I've been asking for soymilk I think it tastes really great! I think it might be that the soymilk is vanilla flavored! YUM.

It ended up being a sister-filled day as Amanda FINALLY agreed to go to a Bodypump class with me. I can't tell you how excited I was : ). We started off with 20 minutes on the elliptical to warm up and then were ready for some pumpin'.

Pre Pump!

I had never been to this specific instructor, but she was great! She even walked around the room adjusting form, which I really appreciated! But, boy, this gal does not take breaks! My arms were jello after class and so were Amanda's!

My goal for the rest of the weekend is to relax since soon it will be back to the hustle-and-bustle of fall semester. I can't believe I am already a college Junior!

Here's some light weekend reading:
Making the Case for Eating Fruit
Abs Workout: The Fastest Way to Lose Belly Fat

Have a great weekend!

Sara

Exercise & Conversation, a great duo!

I had a fantastic workout today! 

A big part of how wonderful the workout was because I completed it with two great friends, Paige and Anna. We caught up on each other's lives and fun gossip over the elliptical and then headed into the pool for about half an hour of swimming. 

Anna, Paige, and I post swim! Looking good!

All the fun I had hanging out and exercising with these gals reminded me of how positive an influence others can be to your workout routine! So if you're meeting up with a friend, do some multitasking and exercise as well! You'll be full of the post-workout endorphin's and the joy from spending time with a friend! 

Stop! And give me 20!

20 minutes, that is!
We live very busy lives; from work, school, meals, etc, sometimes it can be hard to get in that needed daily exercise! In addition it can take even more time just getting to the gym. I was thinking about these work out-barriers and my friends who are taking Ga Tech summer finals this week (good luck!) when creating this quick 20(ish) minute cardio workout that left my pulse flying and me dripping with sweat! Another great thing? No equipment needed! So take a study/work break, grab some water, floor space, and let's hit it!

Short, Sweet, and Sweaty Cardio Circuit:

10 Squat Jumps

10 Lunges with Knee Raise (each leg)

10 Plank Jacks

10 Push Ups

10 Mountain Climbers (each leg)

10 Jumping Jacks

5 Burpees

Repeat 5x through (without any breaks), 2 min rest, repeat 5x again.

Advise for this circuit: have a way to keep track of which repetition you're on, it's easy to lose track!
Each set of 5 took me about 10 minutes. With a break and a second round, the circuit should take about 25 minutes! Short, sweet, and SWEATY! And by the time you're done you've done a total of 650 reps! Now that is an efficient workout!
If you've got a little extra time I always recommend light warm up and cool down cardio (I did the elliptical before and after the circuit).

Try the circuit out and let me know what you think!

Question: What's your biggest barrier when it comes to making time for exercise?

Amanda cooking dinner!

Amanda has been on a roll making some delicious dinners lately, so I thought I would highlight just a couple.
Two nights ago we had fish taco's for the first time!

Very delicious and so easy to make! We bought two large fillets of frozen wild salmon and baked it in the oven for close to half an hour. We used Kickin' Chickin' (ironic, I know) seasoning because that's all we had, but we'll probably use something more simple (and less salty) next time to season the fish.

Once the fish was done, we just forked some of the meat into whole wheat tortillas and topped it with all the usual taco fillings: salsa, guacamole, and cheese (obviously I didn't have this last ingredient).

Delicious, healthy, and very versatile! I recommend making fish tacos, using any fish you have on hand and stuffing the taco's with your favorite taco fillings! Good job Amanda!

Although I am a vegetarian, Amanda's dinner last night smelled so good I just had to post about it! Amanda made her first slow-cooker BBQ Chicken! 

I was amazed at how little preparation this recipe that filled the entire house with the mouth-watering smells of molasses, brown sugar, and spices took!

Amanda filled the crock pot with a pound of chicken and then followed the direction on the back of the BBQ chicken seasonings packet. Chicken, seasoning packet, brown sugar, ketchup, and water were combined into the crock pot and allowed to cook on high for 4 hours.

Amanda added store-bought bbq sauce and made herself a sandwich. To go on the side, I steamed green beans for about 10 minutes, then sauteed them with onions, black pepper, and butter. Even as a vegetarian I can't help but admit this looked yummy! Oh well, the sacrifices we make : ).

Well done Amanda cooking protein-packed dinners!

Glimpse into the future: look out for my first circuit workout coming soon!

Sara

Discovery of Blueberry Muffins!

This summer has been an attempt to discover go-to recipes for my favorite baked items. Banana bread, check. Chocolate chip cookies, check (still need to post about). My latest discover? BLUEBERRY MUFFINS!

I tweaked a recipe I originally found on all recipes and made these Monday night in a procrastination effort for my final : ). This recipe is incredibly simple! The recipe does ask for 1/3c milk and since I was making these for my dad and Amanda I used regular dairy milk, however I think almond milk could have been easily substituted!

Perfect Blueberry Muffins

Servings: 8 large muffins
Ingredients:
1.5 c all purpose flour
1/2 c white sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/3 c vegetable oil
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1.5 cup fresh blueberries

Directions:
1.Preheat Oven to 400 degrees.
2. Mix together dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder).
3. In a separate bowl mix together vegetable oil, egg, and milk. Then add wet ingredients to dry mix.
4. Once fully mixed, add in blueberries. Be sure not to over-mix so you don't get purple muffins!
5. Bake in oven 20-25 minutes.

Enjoy!

Sara

Start of the Weekend!

Started off the weekend right with an easy run with Thomas!

Our legs were stiff from the 6.5 mile run we did Thursday evening, but it helped to get them moving!
We started and ended our run at the local gym, so I followed with some Body Pump! Wooh, endorphins are flowing!
I got my Gymboss Interval timer in the mail a couple of weeks ago, but didn't get a chance to look at the instructions until yesterday. I used the timer to complete the first workout on Jess's Summer Shape Up. Day 1 included a leg workout and an intense core workout. The timer kept me efficient and breathing hard, since my breaks were actually 10 seconds (and not the extended breaks I usually take). I was seriously sweaty after this workout, but loved it and my timer! For $20 I think the timer was a great buy!
This weekend is filled with work at the gym and studying for my final on Tuesday! See ya after that!