Another Snow Day Workout!

Okay so I'm totally laughing at myself because I forgot to look up the official term for one of the moves in this workout. I made a note in my phone to track my workout from Wednesday morning so that I could actually share the whole thing with you guys. I wrote it as I went along making up the workout and for the one move I couldn't think of what it was actually called so I told myself that I'd look it up later and fix it. 

Except I didn't. And I already put the pictures all together and edited them so there's just no going back now. What I really mean is that I'm just too lazy to go back and fix it. 

And I also still don't know the right name. That's my other excuse. 

Sooo yeah, I call them "shoulder plank thingies" but something tells me that's not the proper name...

Anyway, all you do is you start in a plank then go down to your forearms (still in a plank position) one arm at a time then back up again to your hands so that you're in the traditional plank. Then, you just repeat and go back down to your forearms. Anyone know what I'm talking about?? I always call them shoulder plank thingies because it's meant to target your shoulders as well. So that's how they got that name from me! 

If that made zero sense to you and you have no idea what I'm talking about then feel free to just substitute that exercise for another one! Also, can anyone explain to me why every single time I type a number followed by mountain that it underlines it in yellow? 

I totally sound like a grandma asking her grandkids for tech help right now but it's the story of my life. But when I click on it my phone keeps asking me if I want to create an event about the 100 mountains. Am I supposed to go climb all those mountains? Are other people supposed to come if it's an event? Is this like a mountain party? What is Siri trying to tell me?! 

Moving on from the mysteries of my phone, here's the workout that I did the other morning! 

I did this workout following my other snow day workout that I made up on Tuesday morning. At first my abs did not seem as sore as I thought they were from doing the ab roller the day before. So, I figured I'd add in some ab rollers during this workout. 

Well, needless to say but they were VERY sore and as soon as I did the first rep this was pretty much my reaction... 

It was pretty brutal but I stuck with it until I got to 10 and then collapsed for a few seconds while I allowed my abs to recover. I then decided to take it easier on the abs for the rest of the workout, and leave out the ab roller! 

I went through with as little breaks as possible and the whole thing took me a little over 30 minutes to complete! The key is to go nice and slow during the reps to make sure you're hitting the proper form to really work those muscles! 

Ground Turkey Meatsauce over "Pasta"

This is probably one of my favorite things to make, and I forgot just how much I love this recipe! Lately, I've been in a food rut just eating the same things but I'm trying to challenge myself to stop being lazy and to actually branch out with more recipes. So far it's been successful! 

Ideally, the zucchini and squash in this recipe would look more like noodles but I don't have my spiralizer yet since I just ordered it from Amazon. Which, I can't wait for it to get here! So until that happy day, I have to make due with the old stand by where I chop it up and serve the meat sauce over it that way. Just as yummy, though! 

You can always skip the zucchini and squash, and use this as a sauce with actual pasta. I honestly prefer having the veggies! It tastes much lighter and more refreshing to me that way. 

For this recipe you'll need: 

3 small zucchini

3 small yellow squash

2 pounds lean ground turkey

1/2 large onion

 8-10 cups spinach 

1 24-oz jar pasta sauce 

1 tbsp fresh minced garlic

1 tbsp basil

salt and pepper to taste

First, chop up the onion and put that in a pan with the ground turkey. Let those cook together while you start chopping the veggies! 

For the zucchini and squash I kept it short and sweet with the spices. Just a drizzle of sunflower seed oil to help brown them, and then salt and pepper. That's it! The real flavor will be with the sauce :)

Cook the meat until it's no longer brown and the onions are soft and clear. 

Once that's done, then add the pasta sauce! This is where I like to let it bubble and boil for several minutes to get rid of that jar taste. Add in the garlic, basil, and more salt and pepper. Bring the sauce to a boil, and let it bubble and reduce for about 7 minutes or so. 

By now, the zucchini and squash should be nice and browned! 

Once the sauce is where you want it to be flavor-wise (a.k.a. doesn't have the fresh-from-the-jar taste), add in the spinach. This is where you want to keep adding as much spinach as possible. I probably put in the amount pictured about 4 or 5 times. 

That's the crazy thing about spinach! You put in what looks like a ton and then look 5 minutes later the spinach disappears and is like "lolololol let's play hide and seek"

So put in what you think is way more than necessary, and then put even more in! 

See? Where did it all go?!

When the sauce is all ready, scoop yourself out some veggies and top if off with a big serving of sauce and of course some cheese! 

What's one of your favorite recipes?!

20-minute Total Body Workout

This can either be a 10-minute workout or a 20-minute workout if you repeat the circuit again! I did this through once as the starter for my Snow Day Workout. It's up to you!

The way this works is you do each of these moves for 50 seconds and then have 10 seconds of rest/prep for the next move.

Try it out and let me know what you think!

1. High knees (bring that knee to your waist!)

2. Alternating bicep curls (fast, lighter weight)

3. Mountain climbers

4. Overhead tricep extensions (fast, lighter weight)

5. Scissor kicks

6. Standing shoulder press (fast, lighter weight)

7. Pulsing superman (lift and lower arms and legs)

8. Kettle bell swings (fast, challenging weight)

9. Ice skaters (optional: resistance band around ankles)

10. Jumping lunges (optional: light weight on shoulders)

Repeat! Or go on to this workout here :)