Whats going on, friends? HAPPY EARTH DAY!
Remember this TV show? Captain Planet! (hence the title of this post) I loved this show! I think there should have been a marathon on today in celebration of EARTH DAY!
—-
These two babies were the start of my breakfast. An ENORMOUS banana and 1 C Kashi Go-Lean
Yogurt mess using greek yogurt, 1/2 diced banana, Kashi, some peanuts and raisins
So good.
My workout today was a combo of some short HIIT and more Plyo-INTENSITY type moves. I am loving this. My abs are sore like they have NEVER been before, and I haven’t even done 1 crunch! All of the plyo moves are core related, involving twisting, crunching and jumping
HIIT ROUTINE
|
1-2
|
6-0
|
|
2-3
|
6.5
|
|
3-4
|
7.0
|
|
4-5
|
7.5
|
|
5-6
|
8.0
|
|
6-7
|
6-0
|
|
7-8
|
6.5
|
|
8-9
|
7.0
|
|
9-10
|
7.5
|
|
10-11
|
8.0
|
|
11-12
|
6-0
|
|
12-13
|
6.5
|
|
13-14
|
7.0
|
|
14-15
|
7.5
|
|
15-16
|
8.0
|
2 miles, 198 calories. NICE
- Into the studio for plyo time
- Jump squats across the floor, then Jump squats Backwards across the floor
- Burpees
- Jumping Jacks with hit on the floor
- shuffling with cross punch
- Twist jumps, moving arms opposite direction of waist
- Moving push ups across the floor
These were just some exercises to name a few. I did 35 minutes worth.
Total calories burned in this workout: 540. Avg HR: 144
Lunch was a salad. Baby spinach, summer squash, mushrooms, red pepper, asparagus, broccoli
Wrap with 3 oz turkey breast, tomato, Sprouts, 1 Laughing Cow wedge, mustard
I got this flavor VW today. I liked it! It tasted like sweet lemonade. Its a nice treat once in a while
—
Dinner was a recipe I have used before, but I tweeked it a bit. This was SO good. You must make this for dinner!!
The Key to this recipe was using FRESH rosemary and FRESH ginger. We always keep some fresh ginger in the freezer, so here it is frozen. I just grate it on the microplane and voila.
Combine sauce in a bowl and set aside
Place the diced onion in a skillet that was previously heated with some olive oil
Cook the onions for about 5 minutes until they begin to brown and place the raw chicken right in the same pan.
Cooking away
By the way, my chicken breasts were EARTH FRIENDLY!
CAPTAIN PLANET!
My Changes: For this sauce, I used sugar free raspberry jam instead of the regular kind it calls for. I also added 2 tsp dijon mustard
I cut up the chicken in small pieces for it to cook faster. WHen the chicken is done, place the sauce in the pan
Combine everything together and let all of the flavors combine (about 3 minutes) until the sauce starts bubbling
DONE! I garnished with a fresh rosemary sprig.
I roasted up some broccoli with some sugar free maple syrup and no-salt seasoning
I enjoyed my chicken along with my roasted sweet and savory broccoli. This was a PERFECT dinner! If you want to see the original chicken recipe, it is in my recipe page!
——-
Tomorrow is FRIDAY. I can’t wait to relax this weekend. It is also my last spin class. I chose not to continue throughout the summer. The 11 o’clock time slot on Saturdays will be hard for me to commit to as we get into the summer time, so I chose to give up the class for the summer!
—-
I had an email from a reader, Katie (Go check out her blog!) and I wanted to address it in todays post! She has been doing body pump and asked me whether I think that body pump is more strength or endurance based.
My answer to this is two fold. I believe the bulk of the class is mostly strength focused, as it is not a cardio class (such as kick boxing or spin) The class focuses on building strength in your muscles using a body bar with weights. I would categorize this class as a muscular endurance based class which is basically the ability to sustain muscle contraction over a period of time without undue fatigue, or to maintain a specific percentage of max voluntary contractions for a prolonged period of time.
For more info about BODYPUMP check out Les Mills
Muscular Endurance has the following benefits
Endurance training which involves, low resistance and high repetitions, leads to the following adaptations:
-
Increased aerobic enzymes
-
Increased mitochondrial density
-
Increased capillaries
-
More efficient contractions
-
Possible changes in fiber type (e.g., fast twitch to slow twitch.
So, there you have it. If I were to categorize BODY PUMP. I would say it is a muscular endurance based class. You will work hard, sweat and build up those muscles! If you want to read more about the difference between muscular endurance vs muscular strength. I wrote about it here!
—————–
- What did you do to celebrate earth day?!
- What is your favorite exercise class?
- What was your favorite cartoon as a kid?
