Clean Granola

I can't believe I haven't shared this recipe yet!  It is a staple in our house.  I make at least one batch a week.  The kids eat it for breakfast every morning.  They love it.  I love it on plain yogurt.
Clean Granola
3/4 c raw, local honey
3/4 c 100% pure maple syrup
1/2 c peanut butter (I make my own)
4 c oats (Whatever kind you like. I like the old fashioned oats.)
1 c great quality, high cacao percentage chocolate chip, chunk, or bar broken into pieces
Optional
1 c nuts of your choice
1 c dried fruit (no sugar added)
In a saucepan, over medium/high heat, bring the honey and syrup to a boil.  Remove from heat. Stir in the peanut butter.
Pour over the oats. Stir until evenly coated. You shouldn't see any dry oats. Add the chocolate, nuts and fruit if desired. Spread on a cookie sheet. Bake at 325 degrees for about 20 minutes. Cool completely on pan and transfer to an airtight container.
You can use this recipe and make different variations, too!  Omit the peanut butter and chocolate, add vanilla to saucepan once it's removed from burner, cinnamon and raisins.  Yum!

The Pain of Today is the Victory of Tomorrow

Today is Back and Bicep day.  Probably one of my favorite days.

Instagram Pics. Blurrrrrrrrry!

I am trying a new back routine tonight.  With "drop sets" and "negatives".
Let me explain.
Drop sets are kind of like steps down. So you choose a starting weight.  Do as many reps as you can until you can't do anymore.  Then move down to a lesser weight. Do as many reps as you can with that and step down again. With this weight you continue until failure. Training to failure is when you can't get your last rep up with good form.
Negatives are kinda cool.  You choose a heavy weight.  Push into the positive contraction quickly and powerfully.  Than lower to the starting position as slowly as you can. That's the "negative". So let's say you're doing a bench press.  You would lift the bar as quickly as you can, with a lot of force and then very slowly lower back to staring position.  Make sense?  I'm excited to try this on my back!  I'll be doing 4 sets of each of these exercises:
Barbell Deadlift
Wide Grip Pulldown
Bent Over Dumbbell Rows
Seated Cable Rows
Reverse Grip Barbell Rows
T-Bar Rows
Barbell Pullover
Maybe I should video it so y'all can see what I am talking about.  Would that be cool?

Another Instagram pic.  I use Instagram to track my progress.  Seeing my progress keeps me motivated!

For Biceps I'll be sticking to the routine I've been doing for about 2 weeks now.  I like to change it up every 4 weeks or so.  This keeps me from getting bored.  If I get bored, I lose my motivation. Here's my bicep routine right now.
Inner Bicep Curls. (I LOVE these!) I can see them working. I think they've made a big difference for me.
Hammer Curls
Bicep Curls
Cable Bicep Curls
Barbell Bicep Curls
Dumbell Preacher Curls
I do 3 sets of 10 for each of these exercises and that is for each arm, except for the barbell curls.  They're the ones I really need a spotter for.  I go heavier on them, but I need someone to be with me to help the last couple of reps get up and to make sure I'm not using my shoulders or arching my back.
Okay.  There you have it.  My back and bi routine!  Maybe I'll get up the nerve to post some footage.  Maybe.....

What I've Been Up To

You guys!  I have been so unmotivated to blog.  So uninspired.  So bored with it.  That long hiatus was worth it because I am feeling good and ready to write again!  It must be my upcoming vacation.  Just the thought of going away has inspired me!
So here's my latest work out update.  I think the last time I was on here I was doing Les Mills Pump and using the Nike Training Club app for some serious cardio.

Wullll, guys, that Nike app frustrated me like crazy!  I would get 40 minutes into a 45 minute workout and it would crash.  I wouldn't be able to go back to where I was, only start over.  So I would have no record of the workout actually happening.  If you use the app you know it tracks your minutes and workouts and points and all that stuff, so I would never get my minutes or points tracked.  For me that was really important.  I liked that it kept a record for me.  So, I gave up on it.

After Les Mills Pump I moved on to Les Mills Combat.  MY FAVORITE program EVER!!!!  I loved it!  Everyday was different and exciting.  I never dreaded my workout.  Seriously love love loved it.  Look it up.  Buy it.  Borrow it. Take a class at your YMCA.  Whatever.  Do it.

At the end of Combat I started T25.  Y'all know how I love Shaun T. so very much.  But, honestly, I didn't love this program.  It felt kind of boring to me.  And I thought I would love a 25 minute workout that gives results similar to Insanity.  That wasn't the case for me.  I struggled with it.  But, I got my free tee shirt, and then I chopped it all up and made it a tank top. 

I am currently not doing any Beachbody programs.  I am running or doing HIIT every morning.  HIIT stands for High Intensity Interval Training.  You're performing an exercise for a set period of time and then have set rest periods in between moves.  On Saturday I did 20 seconds of exercise 10 seconds rest for 4 minutes at a time and repeated it 4 times.  So I worked out for 16 minutes total.  The great thing about HIIT is that you still burn calories even when you are done.  You can burn another 100 to 150 calories during the rest of the day just from taking less than 20 minutes to get in some exercise before your shower in the morning.  Love that!

In the evenings my husband and I lift.  We're becoming total gym rats; making fun of Planet Fitness and using the word "macros".  I have learned that I need to wait for him to lift with me in the evenings or I can't lift as heavy and my form suffers.  It's really important to have someone to workout with so that you don't hurt yourself. There are great resources out there if you feel overwhelmed and don't know where to start.  Bodybuilding.com is amazing!  They have all kinds of free programs to choose from that often times include meal planning and nutrition guides. I also love Stephanie at Beautiful To The Core. She is super sweet and has a free ebook called Guns and Buns.  It's a 4 week program, plus nutritional info. I loved it! I credit her program for getting me some awesome, defined hamstrings.  I might go back to using it again in September. Pinterest is also a great resource.  I have used a lot of workouts I've found on there. You can check out my Workout board here.

I'm also really, seriously thinking about going to school to get my Personal Trainer cert.  The hubs is, too.   We have become so passionate about this lifestyle.  It seems like a natural next step for us.  We'd love to help other people get healthier, stronger and reach their goals.  I'm also ....ahhhhhh...i haven't told anyone this yet (except for my husband)... thinking about doing a bikini competition.  Look it up before you start thinking it's some kind of beauty pageant event.  It's about muscle and posing and blinged out bikinis and some serious spray tanning. IDK for sure.  It's just a thought right now.  I follow a lot of bikini competitors on IG and it just motivates me like crazy!  We shall see.  

I'd love some feedback.  This blog is still relatively new.  Would you like to see specific workouts? More recipes?  Thanks!!!

Nike Training Club

I know!!!!  I have been terrible about posting lately!  Sorry!  And I haven't posted anything about working out in a long time, too!!!  But, today I am so excited about this app that I found and HAD to share it with y'all!
It's the Nike Training Club app.  If you have an iPhone or Android, download it.  Like, right now!!!  You will not be disappointed!

First, you go on and choose your goal.  I was just playing around to see what the programs were like, so I chose the first one, "Get Lean".  

 Then it will ask you if you are beginner, intermediate, advanced.  Again, I chose beginner just to see what it was like.  Then it gives you a four week program to download.  And you begin.  This was the first workout of the program for a beginner who wants to lose weight.  If you look under the big "30" you see  "Progress this week".  That shows you that you have 5 workouts in this program and two of them are just running.  Those days are three miles.  Nice!

This is where you download the workout.  You can customize it and set the music.  When you go into customize you can change things like instead of doing burpees they'll offer froggers, and squat holds instead of squat jumps.  So you can customize it with exercises that might be easier for you. 

I did this Sweat and Shape workout with no customizing and it was great!  I worked up a sweat, though I wasn't dripping, and it got my hear rate up.  I'm almost positive that I burned more then 89 calories doing it, too.  But, I wasn't wearing a monitor or anything to know for sure.  The next day I ran the three miles and then the next day I got hit with the flu. Ick.  So, I will be back at it today doing the 45 minute workout!  I'm excited about it!  I love that you can set your own music.  Oh!  And I almost forgot to mention that with every exercise there is a little video tab you can press if you need to see an example before you try it!  It is interval training, so you get 30 second recoveries every once in a while.  Try it out!  Let me know what you think!  I think I am in love!!!!!  And the great thing is, you can take it with you!  It's on your phone, so no DVD player, laptop or anything else required!  Seriously!  Let me know what y'all think!!!