Training Log - Wednesday 1/30/13

Nothing special to mention today.  Work was work and now I'm home resting after a good lifting session.

 

Before I go over the workout, I want to share this article on 83 Healthy Recipe Substitutions from Greatist.com. You should really check it out if you care anything about your health and the health of friends and family.

 

Other than the overhead squat, these are the same lifts from Monday's workout.  I did increase reps where I felt like doing a little more.  Body feels less tired, but quads are pretty tight and need a good stretch.

 

5 minute warm-up and another 5 minutes of handstand practice - handstands are improving!

OH Squat - 2 x 55, 70, 85, 95, 105, 110 (2 RM); 2sets x 4reps x 95lbs

Push Press - 3 x 5 x 110lbs

Back Squat - 215lbs x 6, 6, 10

Bent Row - 120lbs x 6, 6, 8

Front and side planks w/ 20lb vest x 2 x 62sec front and 50sec/side

Burpess with 20lb vest - 3 x 10

 

Overall good workout. I didn't eat enough at work today which is not new, but I'm making up for it now, in the comfort of my home; also nothing new! Tomorrow is my last training day until rest day on Friday; we'll see if I stick to that!

 

Do you ever hold off on eating when away from home and just anticipate a bigger meal when finally relaxed?  I'm a self-proclaimed homebody/hermit, so this is a common thing for me. I am getting better at going out though....baby steps, right?

My Slow Return to Blogging and A Small Change in Content

Hello, hello....it's been a while!  My job got the best of me and required my full attention to where I just wasn't able to fit blogging in.  After long days at work, I'd push myself through workouts and try to spend more time with Kelley.

 

It's still pretty busy and I am enjoying my time with Kelley too much to just come back full throttle like before.  Now, I'd like to post more of my thoughts and not stress so much about having healthy recipes with each post.  This will become more of what's on my mind in the health world.

 

I am working on increasing my strength while not losing too much of my conditioning from when I just ran a lot.  I decreased how much I run and do more explosive-type exercises after some heavy lifting.

 

Trying to find a good routine that combines both has proven harder than I expected and I seem to burn myself out a lot.  I'm taking this week as a deload week but find I'm still doing more metcon (Crossfit WOD) kind of work outs. Although I'm not lifting heavy, these met-cons are still pretty intense.

 

I only keep a hand-written log of my workouts, but plan to share here on my blog now.  If you are reading this and ever have any advice or questions, please comment away and I'll be sure to respond.  Starting soon, I will post some of my daily eats and workouts along with anything on my mind.

 

I won't stress to take pictures of everything I do right now, but if I have something to share, I'll share it. To any of my followers or anyone just now stumbling on to this blog, I hope you come back to read more.  Please send any suggestions and let me know what you do/don't like about my proposed changes.

 

Until next time.....have a great day and keep healthy and fit!

Gooey Sugar Free Protein Brownies: Easy to Make and Healthy to Eat!

Ugh. Monday’s are just hard to enjoy; unless you have the day off. For some reason, I just wake up annoyed at everyone on Mondays…….sorry if you encounter me on this day. But, if I have some of these awesome brownies I made, I just might be in a better mood.



Like most of my posts might be for a while, I need to make them short. But before I just give out a recipe that you’d be crazy not to love, I should ask how your weekend was. So, how was your weekend?

Do anything fun? I know a few of you fellow bloggers had tests to study for and moving into a new place. Hope everything went well with the move if you did this, and that you’re acing those tests now! I remember cramming for big tests the night before. Procrastination still means you’re getting it done; right?


I’m glad to be finished with school, and although I’d love to go back for something I am actually passionate about (I have a finance degree now), I don’t like the thought of balancing full-time work and school; and the cost too! I value family, and would like to spend the time after work with family, in the kitchen (sorry, Kelley, I know I take forever!), or exercise.


Trying to find the right balance of exercise has been stressing me more than it should lately. When I was running all the time…I just ran…..all the time. Besides different paces and few bodyweight strength moves, there was nothing more to it. Now I am working on strength and trying to keep some cardio/endurance from my running days.



I want to be stronger, so I must lift heavy...not run all the time!!! This applies to healthy eating too.



A running plan is pretty easy for me to follow, but I never feel like I’m doing enough with strength training. No matter how much I read about not getting caught up in trying to do too many lifts at once, I just feel like I “have” to spend longer. I consciously know doing barbell squats, bench, dead lifts, and bent rows works the whole body, but for some reason I want more. Sometimes my body tells me differently; it wants (needs) rest, but I’m too stubborn.


Anyway, I enjoy the variety with lifting, and have been getting stronger. Now I just need to work on eating more delicious and healthy food. I think these brownies are a big help! I just blended everything together and poured into a brownie pan and viola! Moist, tender, gooey, brownies that are guilt free and tasty!!

These are very dense, as you can see, and are best enjoyed on top or mixed into chilled Greek yogurt or even just soaked in a cup/bowl of cold milk. Have you ever blended peanut butter with just milk (dairy or non-dairy)? Do it, make these brownies, and mix some into peanut butter milk….then be happy!

P.S. - Don't try this recipe in a donut baking pan! The batter does not do well in this mold and resulted in me scraping most of them out.  Of course, these won't be wasted and I'll mash it up with frozen banana and milk. You have been warned, don't make in molds unless you want this......



What happens when you have extra batter and don't just try to make mini brownies...


I think I'll stick with these instead...

Sugar Free Chocolate Protein Brownies

by RC Liley

Prep Time: 10 min

Cook Time: 35 min

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup of stevia sweetened or unsweetened protein powder; I used a 50/50 mix of unflavored whey and unsweetened vanilla soy protein powder
• 3/4 cup oat bran
• 1/4 cup unsweetened of cocoa
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp or less of salt
• 3/4 cup egg whites
• 1/4 cup low fat cottage cheese or 0% plain (I’m sure vanilla would be great too) Greek yogurt
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree or mashed banana
• 1/2 cup milk of choice; I used unsweetened almond milk

Instructions

Add all ingredients to bowl of a food processor and blend well.

Pour into brownie pan lined with parchment; you could try a muffin or doughnut pan too

Bake for about 35 - 40 minutes at 350 degrees F - a fork, knife, or toothpick inserted in the middle should come out clean

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Tuesday Thoughts

Back to work today…..boo. It’s never fun getting back into the groove of things after having time off from the holidays, but I am always glad to be employed.
The Texas “winter” has been very mild and hardly stays cold for more than 2 days; this is really confusing and makes me wonder when/if the cold will hit. I’m just fine with skipping winter and moving along to Spring, but it will probably get crappy around the same time we have the Cowtown Half Marathon at the end of February.

Speaking of the half marathon, my running has become infrequent as I am trying to focus more on gaining some strength. So, I’ll just have to depend on the few runs (one 45+ min along with some short, high intensity runs) and the base I have from running for several years now. No worries, I have no goal for this race, just finish the thing. For gaining strength, the common procedure is to consume more calories than you expend in order to provide for growing muscles. This is not easy for me as I pay attention to every food I eat, and don’t choose a lot of high calorie packaged foods that would make it easy. It is a lot of prep work, but hopefully I will report back with some gains in the near future.

My current workout routine is a 4 day Upper/Lower body split where I do upper body on Monday and Thursday, and lower body on Tuesday and Friday. Wednesday is a rest day, but this is when I usually work in a longer run. The weekends are in the air to do nothing or something that won’t hamper workouts for the following week. Now that I have a standing desk at work, lower body days can be tough, but after warming up I’m just fine.

I have been incorporating a lot of Greek yogurt and mixed nuts to help raise the calorie intake using wholesome foods, but feel I am not using enough still. I’ll keep working on this and update when I feel it is necessary.

Not much to contribute on the food front today, but I wanted to mention how funny/annoying it is to see the new year weight loss commercials mixed with fast food chains heavily promoting their “Big Boy Burgers” (see below for a funny pic I felt like sharing)  at the same time. These industries are a big business and can only benefit from consumer confusion. So, try not to take information from these self-promoting businesses too seriously; even if they say it’s good for you…it’s only good for their bottom line. Anyway, pills or extreme diets are and always will be a short term solution; you have to educate yourself on a healthy lifestyle that you can enjoy to make something last.

Go read a few articles from reputable sources and find wholesome foods you can enjoy and work into your diet along with an exercise plan you can keep. Remember, just walking for 30 minutes is more than nothing; the main goal is to keep your heart elevated and working for 30+ minutes almost every day.

A healthy lifestyle is not that hard, and pays huge dividends in the years to come. Quality family time and less doctor visits come to mind.

What (if anything) are you doing or plan on doing for a healthy lifestyle?