Week 3 Fitness!

"My limbs work, so I'm not going to complain about the way my body is shaped." --Drew Barrymore

 Can we all agree this quote is awesome? :) This week, the challenge is to give up a bad habit every day for a week. Pick something that you've been working on and go 7 days without it! You can do it!

Guys. I hope you are loving the workouts and are keeping up well! Please keep the emails, questions, and concerns coming! I hope you have a lovely week! (Find recipes and instructions for workout moves at the bottom.)

 Monday

Today we are going to start with an "as many rounds as possible" workout! For this workout, you will need only yourselves and your timer. Do each circuit for 10 minutes, and push as hard as you can, doing as many times through the circuit as possible!

Warmup: 1 minute torso twists, 1 minute slow squats, 1 minute jumping jacks, 1 minute butt kickers

Circuit 1: (repeat as many times as possible for 10 minutes)

10 half-burpees
20 jump squats
30 crunches
40 jumping jacks

Circuit 2: (repeat as many times ass possible for 10 minutes)

10 pushups
20 squat pulses (pretty much squats right after each other, except you never straighten your legs in between them. Squat as deep as possible.)
30 high knees
40 bicycle crunches

Cooldown: Go on a quick 5 minute walk and then stretch your whole body!

Tuesday

Yoga day! For this workout, you will be doing this video. Enjoy! I love yoga day. Today is a crazy focus on abs. LET'S GO!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDkr9huOUts

Wednesday

Rest day! Enjoy your day off!

Thursday

Today is HIIT day! I am giving you guys one of my favorite HIIT videos. It is 20 minutes and should make you pretty tired, but you will be so empowered. I promise. Find the link here:

Warmup: 1 minute torso twists, 1 minute deep squats, 1 minute jumping jacks, 1 minute high knees

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dhO7S7_DW0

Cooldown: Stretch

Friday

 Today is a strength day, with a focus on abs. (If you haven't noticed, we are loving the ab workouts this week.) If you are keeping up with the workouts each week, this one is almost directly from last week. I wanted to burn you all out with abs :)

Today we are going to do an ab/PLANK workout, with as many variations on a plank as you can imagine!

Circuit One: Repeat three times

1. Plank Walk-ups--Push up at bottom (10 reps) (see instructions below) 
2. Inverted toe touches (20 reps) (see instructions below) 3. Plank jacks (10 reps) (see instructions below) 4. Plank to forearm plank (10 reps each side) (see instructions below) 

Circuit Two: Repeat three times

1. Frog jumps with tricep pushup (10 reps) (see instructions below) 2. Hold plank (30 seconds)
3. Oblique jumps (20 reps, alternating sides) (see instructions below) 4. Hold forearm plank (30 seconds)

Saturday

Today is endurance day! I would challenge you to go on a run or a walk slightly longer than you normally do. Listen to music or go with a friend. Enjoy!

Sunday

Rest day! Stretch it out :)

How to:

Half-Burpee: 

1. Bend over/Squat in place, put your hands on the floor
2. Jump both feet back so you are in plank position
3. Jump your feet back to your hands
4. Explosively jump into the air, reaching your hands above your head

Bicycle Crunches

1. Lay on your back and put your hands behind your head
2. Tightening your core, crunch in your left knee and extend your right knee out
3. At the same time that you do this, bring your opposite elbow, your right elbow here, across your body to your left knee
4. Switch sides without lowering your legs or arms or loosening your core

Mountain Climbers

1. Get in push-up/plank position
2. Keeping your shoulders strong, crunch your left knee to your chest as far as you can, tightening your core as you do
3. Repeat with your right knee

Note: For more cardio, do these as fast as you can while maintaining form

Jump Switch Lunges

1. Keeping your core tight. go down into a lunch position
2. Explode into the air, switching which foot is forward and which is back, landing in a lunge position with the other foot forward. 
3. Reverse this the other way. This counts as one jump.

Plank Walk-ups--Push up at bottom 

1. From a standing position, reach down and put your hands on the floor, beinding your knees slightly
2. Keeping your core tight, walk your hands out to a plank position slowly
3. Do a pushup
4. Walk your hands back up slowly to your feet 

Inverted toe touches 

1. Laying on your back, put your feet straight up the air so you make a 90 degree angle with your body
2. Core engaged, reach up and touch your toes, lowering back down slowly

Plank jacks 


1. From pushup position, jump your feet out while keeping your arms and shoulders steady, like a jumping jack but on the ground
2. Jump your feet back in, while maintaining plank position

Plank to forearm plank 

1. From plank position, lower your right arm to the forearm slowly, followed by your left forearm. You will now be in a forearm plank  position
2. Push back up with your right arm to pull plank position, followed by your left arm
3. Repeat leading with your left arm 

Frog jumps with tricep pushup 


1. From plank position , jump your feet up to your hands keeping your core tight and your arms in the same place
2. Jump them back to plank position
3. Do a tricep pushup by lowering slowly to the ground, pinching your arms next to your side tightly as you lower and then raise up

Oblique jumps 

1. From plank position, engage your core as you jump up to your feet on one side
2, Jump back to pushup plank position
3 Jump up to your feet on the opposite side
4. Jump back to plank position, keeping your core tight

Tricep kick-back 


1. From a standing position, bend over slightly while keeping your back straight
2. Pull your weights up to your armpits
3. From this position, extend your forearms straight back
4. Slowly lower them back to your armpits



French Bread Pizza

Mel's Kitchen Cafe--I love this pizza. I try to load it up with veggies :) Tomato, basil, with peppers.
YIELD: SERVES 4-6
INGREDIENTS
DIRECTIONS
  1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
  2. Slice the french bread in half the long way, forming two long halves (like a hot dog bun but don't keep them attached). Lightly press on the bread with the palms of your hands or with the bottom of a flat baking sheet until the bread is compressed to about half of what it was (generally about 1/2-inch or so thick, but like I mentioned in my post, homemade french bread doesn't flatten quite as well in my experience).
  3. Drizzle the olive oil on both halves, about 1/2 tablespoon for each half, and brush lightly into the dough. Sprinkle with just a touch of garlic powder.
  4. Sprinkle half of the Parmesan cheese across each loaf. Place the loaves of bread on an aluminum-foil lined baking sheet and bake for 3-5 minutes, until the Parmesan cheese is just barely starting to turn golden and has hardened a bit to the touch. Take care not to burn the Parmesan!
  5. Spread pizza sauce on top of the Parmesan-crusted loaves and top with pizza toppings of your choice. I usually go with about 1 cup of mozzarella cheese for each half and throw on some pepperoni and olives but the sky is definitely the limit here!
  6. Bake the pizzas for 8-10 minutes until the cheese is bubbly and the edges of the bread are starting to crisp up and turn golden.
  7. Using a serrated knife, cut into pieces and serve immediately.

The Best Chicken Enchilada Soup

Mel's Kitchen Cafe
YIELD: SERVES 8
INGREDIENTS
DIRECTIONS
  1. In a large pot, add the chicken broth, chicken breasts, green chiles, onion, potatoes, pepper, butternut squash, garlic, salt and cumin. Bring the mixture to a boil and simmer, covered, until the chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes. If there doesn't seem to be enough liquid for the vegetables/chicken to boil in, try adding in 1-2 cups water but don't add too much extra liquid or the soup won't be as thick as it should.
  2. Remove the chicken from the pot to a cutting board. Let it cool slightly before shredding or dicing. Ladle the remaining vegetables and broth into a blender (in several batches, if needed) and puree the broth and vegetables until smooth. Take care not to overfill the blender since the mixture will be hot and will expand as it blends! Pour the pureed soup mixture back into the large pot. Whisk in the sour cream and tomato sauce. Stir in the taco seasoning, beans and cooked chicken. Cook until heated through.
  3. Serve the soup with additional toppings: tortilla chips, sour cream, shredded cheese, avocado, pico de gallo or salsa, etc. The options are endless!
Loves to all of you!

Kaylee