V-Sits and Leg Lifts and Planks, Oh My!

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Happy Valentine’s Day!!

I know many of you probably have dinner plans tonight or are tempted with lots of treats in the office, so here is a quick way to get some type of non-eating-chocolate-and-candy (not that there is anything wrong with that!) working out in!

V-Sits on V-Day

Notes about the moves:

  • If coming up into a full V-sit is too advanced for you at this time, try bringing opposite arm to opposite leg or only lifting 1 leg at a time.
  • Leg lifts- if you have lower back problems or are new to core exercises, try keeping your hands under your lower back to help support it, and only lower your legs maybe 10-45 degrees to help relieve any pressure. If your core is strong and you’re looking for a challenge, try holding a weight extended above your chest or bringing your legs down into a wide V instead of keeping them together.
  • In and Outs- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1_yXxfFrBI
  • Plank holds can be done in a high position where you’re on your hands, or they can be done on your forearms. You can be on your knees or toes and you can try lifting one leg at a time if you want an extra challenge!

No big plans for me tonight! I am teaching Cardio Kickboxing until 7:30 and then my sister is making a Mexican-themed dinner.  4 more classes to teach this week and then I am heading home to Maine for some much needed R&R.

Question for you: Valentine’s Day- Love it or hate it?  Any plans tonight?

Festive Treats and Yummy Eats!

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Good morning! Happy Hump Day!

I took advantage of my night off yesterday (they don’t happen often these days!) and got busy in the kitchen.  Perfect timing to make these adorable festive treats, if I do say so myself!

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Valentine Rice Crispy Treats!

I can’t say there is anything very healthy about these, but their cuteness makes up for that.  All I did was follow the directions on the back of the Rice Crispy box, except instead of using 6 cups of cereal, I only used 5.  What can I say? I like a gooeyer (is that a word?) Rice Crispy Treat!

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After the base of the Rice Crispy Treats was made, I added in some Valentine sprinkles and then spread the mixture on a greased piece of Saran wrap that I laid out on my counter.

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I patted down the mixture so it was thick- but not too thick- and then used some Valentine cookie cutters to make the festive shaped Rice Crispy Treats!  Super easy and super cute– how can you go wrong?

Now, I have to say that even though I had many nibbles of these treats while making them (what? they are ooey and gooey and I had no choice but to try bites here and there!), I decided I should make something substantial and a little healthier for dinner.  Enter: Chicken and Veggie Stir Fry in a Peanut Sauce, served atop Chinese Noodles and topped with Toasted Sesame Seeds!  Although I had a lot of pots and pans going, this meal was relatively quick and easy to assemble.  I didn’t really measure anything out, but here is a gist of what went down:

Directions

1. Toast the Sesame seeds according to the back of the jar- in an ungreased pan for a few minutes. NOTE- I read the directions quickly and thought they said “heavily greased pan” when in fact they said “heavy ungreased pan“… bad move, but luckily I caught it before it was too late!

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2. Remove the toasted Sesame seeds from the pan and add the chicken to that same pan. I cut mine into 1 inch cubes.  When the chicken is almost cooked all the way through, add the bag of frozen veggies to that same pan and turn the heat on low so that the veggies thaw and cook.

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3. While the chicken and veggies are cooking, get your noodle water boiling and start assembling your sauce.  Add the peanut butter, soy sauce, apple cider vinegar, water, crushed garlic and red pepper flakes to a small sauce pan and heat over medium heat until the ingredients are mixed together.  At this point, the noodle water should be boiling, so add in the noodles and cook as directed (only about 3 minutes!).

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Once the chicken and veggies are cooked, add the peanut sauce and stir well so that everything is coated.  Drain the noodles and place a serving of them into a bowl, top with the chicken/veggies/peanut sauce and sprinkle some toasted Sesame seeds on top.

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oh WOW was this yummy! Definitely a nice change-up from my normal weekly meals.

Today is going to be another long day… teaching at 5:30 and 6:30 tonight… swing by the Central Square BSC if you’re around!

Question for you: Do you like to make festive treats for the holidays? Do you cook big meals during the week?

What do you do when….

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You forget an essential item for the gym? Think: sports bra, good socks, hair elastic, headphones, etc… I know I am not alone when I say that this has happened to me more times than I would like to admit. You would think that I would always have these items packed up and ready since I am at the gym more often than I would like to admit, but just recently I forgot an elastic for a class AND another time when I was running a 5K.

Last night, though, it wasn’t me that forgot something, but luckily I could help.  It just meant that I had to teach like this:

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Yup. I let a member (don’t worry, she wasn’t a random member… we are Facebook friends so that makes us pretty much besties, right?!) borrow my sneakers.  It was our midway benchmark workout for Dynamax Boot Camp and I was not about to let her miss out on that just because she forgot her sneakers! Luckily we were the same size and luckily I had already gotten really sweaty:

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[Yes, my shirt says “No one has ever drowned in their own sweat”… although yesterday, I think I almost did. The best part about this shirt is it has a message on the back that is only revealed when you sweat a lot. I love it. Check out this site for more awesome shirts like this! http://www.viewsport.us/]

Anyway, she was able to workout and I was still able to do a lot… I call that a win-win!

Question for you: What is the worst gym essential that you have forgotten?

Got 20 Minutes?

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Did anyone else hear that we are supposed to get more snow?! I love snow, but I think we need a little more time to get things cleared up after Nemo before we get any more.

Anyway, I wanted to share a quickie workout with you that you can really do anywhere (I have done it in a hotel room, in our kitchen, in my bedroom). I am all about creating workouts that do not require the gym or even any equipment because I think people use those as excuses far too often.  You don’t need to workout at the gym in order for it to be a good workout!

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AMRAP= As Many Rounds As Possible. Perform the number of reps listed for each exercise and see how many full rounds you can do in 20 minutes.

This may look easy, but it’s the 10 burpees to 50 jumping jacks that is really killer!  If you have weights, feel free to hold them for the squats and the sit-ups- definitely adds some intensity!

Few notes/modifications:

  • Jumping Jacks- if you do not want to jump, you can step your feet out instead of jumping them out.  If they are too easy, try crossing your feet in the middle.
  • Push-ups- you can do these on your knees or against a wall if you are not ready to do them on your feet and hands yet.  If regular push-ups are too easy, try lifting one leg or doing tricep push-ups or spiderman push-ups.
  • Burpees- you can walk your feet back into a high plank instead of jumping them back. It’s your workout so modify up or down as you see fit!
  • Remember to keep good form throughout the workout! I know the goal is to work fast to get through lots of rounds in the 20 minutes, but if you are compromising your form because you’re speeding through the moves, you’re not getting the full effects of the workout and risk an injury.

This is a great lunch break workout, too… a great way to start a Monday:)

Hope everyone has a great day!

Questions for you! What is your favorite “at-home” workout? Do you like working out during your lunch break?

Chicken Parmesan… with a healthy twist!

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Hey there! Happy Sunday! Hope everyone has survived Nemo. I went out with some friends last night to celebrate surviving the storm (how dramatic, right?) and therefore had a liiitle bit of a slow start today.  Finally, after some quality couch time, I did get motivated to go for a snow shoe – 40 minutes and 1.5 miles later, I felt like a new person!

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One of my favorite things about Sundays is meal planning and grocery shopping (I know, it’s weird- we all love grocery shopping in our family.).  I always try to plan a healthy meal to make on Sundays so I can finish the weekend on a good note and also have leftovers for the week.  I teach classes after work on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays and often do not get home until 8:30, so having healthy meals readily available to quickly reheat when I get home is key for me.

Chicken Parmesan is always a go-to favorite in our house.  Our mom makes the BEST chicken parm, but I have to say that this healthier variation that I made tonight is a close runner-up!

Healthier Chicken Parmesan

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Ingredients:

  • Boneless chicken breasts
  • Panko
  • 2-3 eggs
  • Flour
  • Italian herbs and seasoning
  • Olive oil
  • 1 medium spaghetti squash
  • Pasta sauce
  • Provolone cheese

Directions

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350* and bring a big pot of water to a boil- the pot needs to be big enough to fit the spaghetti squash. Cut open the spaghetti squash and clean out the seeds.  Place both halves of the spaghetti squash into the water and boil until the squash is soft (Usually about 20 mins).

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2. While the squash is cooking, set up your dipping stations: 1 bowl for flour, 1 bowl for eggs and 1 bowl for the Panko. Tip from mom: add in some Italian herbs and seasonings to the Panko. This gives the chicken a little extra flavor. Take each chicken breast and coat with flour, then egg and then Panko.

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3. Heat a pan with a little olive oil. Once pan is warm, transfer the coated chicken breasts to the pan and sear each side for 3-4 minutes. After both sides have been browned, move them to a cookie sheet or baking stone, coat with a layer of sauce and a piece of cheese and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until the chicken is fully cooked.

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4. At this point, the spaghetti squash should be ready to remove from the water. Let the squash cool for a little bit until you are able to hold it without burning your fingers off!  Use a fork and run it lengthwise down the inside of each side of the squash to make the “spaghetti”. Keep this in a bowl until it’s time to take the chicken out of the oven.

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5. Top a bowl of spaghetti squash with chicken and extra sauce, if desired. I also ended up making some asparagus I just coated them with a little EVOO, salt, pepper and garlic nuggets and baked for about 30 mins.  Totally a great addition to the meal!

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Using spaghetti squash instead of regular spaghetti is a nice, healthy change-up in this meal and everything re-heats really well; I can’t wait for left overs! Hope you enjoy this as much as we did!

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I am still trying to figure out my posting schedule during the week, but I hope to pop in at least a few times to fill you in on my week and classes and workouts. Here is a glimpse of this week:

Monday- Work, then heading to the Oak Square YMCA where I’ll have time to get in the first part of my workout (usually some machine cardio followed by some lifting) before teaching Dynamax Boot Camp- my FAVORITE class of the week!

Tuesday- This is the only day during the week that I don’t teach so it ends up being my rest day AND a day where I get home before 8pm and it makes me so happy!

Wednesday- Work, then I head over to the Central Square BSC (Boston Sports Club) to teach UXF Burn (I’ll post more on that later!).  I usually have time to fit in some cardio before teaching, too.

Thursday- Work, then I head over to the Central Square BSC again where I teach Cardio Kickboxing.

Friday- TGIF! I work from home on Fridays since I teach over at the Allston BSC at 5:30pm.  It’s the nicest feeling to wake up and know I can just head downstairs to work instead of making the trek into the city! I teach UXF Burn at night.

Saturday- Until March, I teach a Total Body Conditioning class at the Allston BSC.  Once March arrives, I will be teaching Cardio Kickboxing over at the Oak Square YMCA every other Saturday instead of TBC at Allston. I am really looking forward to this change!

Phew! If you made it to this part of the post, nice work and thanks for sticking with me:)

Questions for you! What do your Sunday’s look like? Do you prep meals for the week? What are your workouts going to be this week?