Feeling Mighty Mexican! - Carne Asada Plate and Tostada

Hello there! Oh boy has it been hard to face any animal protein this week. Luckily for me I did have some grass-fed bavette.I marinated in this mojo sauce from Tyler Florence but think I could have just pan-fried it and it would have tasted just as good, to be honest. That meat is yummy.

So I made a yummy Carne Asada Plate the other day for lunch. It had carne asada, brown rice, avocado, simple refried beans (recipe below), homemade tomatillo salsa (recipe below) and I used some Greek yogurt for "sour cream". It was sooooo yummy!

Carne Asada Plate

Then a couple of days later I made myself this fabulous Carne Asada Tostada. I just took a Ezekiel tortilla and broiled it for several minutes after spraying with olive oil till it was crunchy but not burned. Then I spread some refried beans, put a slice, broken into pieces, of organic cheddar cheese on the beans to melt, added avocado, carne asada, tomatillo salsa, and Greek yogurt. Mmm...mmmm...mmm! Simple and so delicious! Ridiculously good!!!

Simple Refried Beans

1 can organic black beans

3 cloves garlic, minced

olive oil

Simply heat the olive oil till warm over medium heat. Add garlic and cook until light brown and fragrant. Add black beans with liquid. Mash with a potato masher till fairly creamy but still with pieces of beans. Heat till heated through. 

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa

1 lb. tomatillos, husked and rinsed

4-5 serrano chilies

1 white onion, sliced ¼ inch thick

3-5 garlic cloves, peeled

½ c water

1/3 c chopped fresh cilantro, loosely packed

1 t (about) salt

1 t sugar (optional)

Place tomatillos and serannos on broiler pan. Broil 4” from heat for about 5 minutes (3-4 for serranos). Flip over and bake about 4-5 minutes more (3-4 for serranos). Remove and let cool.

Turn oven down to 425 degrees. Lay onions and garlic on cookie sheet. Roast about 15 minutes, stirring gently every couple of minutes. Cool to room temperature.

In a food processor or blender, pulse onions, garlic and serranos until finely chopped. Scoop mixture into a large bowl. Coarsely puree the tomatillos with their juice. Stir them into chilies. Stir in enough water to desired texture. Stir in cilantro.

Taste and season with salt. Keep in fridge for 5 days or freeze.

I think my favorite part is the refried beans. So delicious and so incredibly simple. Yummy. Wish I had more of that grass-fed beef. I would make that again for lunch. I actually preferred the tostada over the plate but truly both were delicious.

As for my workouts this week. Let's see. What did I do? I did some steady state cardio jumping between machines on Monday. I know, I know. Steady state is not "where it's at." However, I enjoy it and it's nice for my mind and body to just slow down and relax and that was what I was in the mood for. So I divided my time between the Precor AMT, rowing machine, treadmill and step mill. It was a nice change and something I haven't done for a long time. Tuesday I did yoga.

Wednesday I did this for my workout:
Planks - 3 x15 (hold 3-4 counts, drop to hips then back up)
Box Squats - 95# 3x10
Ham Glute Raise - bodyweight only 3x10
Incline Barbell press - 55# 3x10
Chest supported DB rows - 20# each 3x10

Then I went and met my lover in the parking lot. Hello...lover! Oh, I mean PROWLER!!! Haha! Yes, I reunited with the prowler. I did several runs and walks pushing 20 or 50 pounds. I think I did a total of 8 but I have no idea the length of the turf, maybe 50 yards and I was just going halfway so 25 yards or so. Yeah, I just about died. It was hard and I am out of shape. But I'm getting back in shape so this is just a measure for me. Give me 3 months and we'll see what I can push and do. It was fun! And that's really what matters most!

Yesterday I rested and got a massage. It was very nice. LOVE getting a massage. I'm looking forward to this weekend. How about all of you? Any great plans?

Third day in ...cruising right along!

Hunger...what is it...why does it exist? Hmmm...I guess it's to let you know you need to eat. Now...the thing is that you sometimes have to have a little hunger when you're going into a caloric deficit so you can get a little tighter/leaner. So, today I have that hunger. Yep! Sure do! But I know tomorrow I get to have a "refeed", a caloric surplus! That's better to have only every once in a while instead of every day, don't you think? Haha!

So in the midst of this hunger, I thought to myself..."Self, make yourself some kale chips to tie you over." And guess what Self said? Self agreed that that was a fantastic idea. So they are currently in the oven and I can't wait. I made my usual olive oil and sea salt. And I also made Cheesy Italian Kale Chips. Can't wait to try these. I just put in olive oil, sea salt, bruschetta seasoning, garlic powder, grated parmesan, and red pepper flakes. Smells fantastic. The key to kale chips, for me anyway, is to use enough sea salt to balance out the bitterness of the kale. I think I will have to try some Asian style kale chips next. Mmmm...sesame oil, sesame seeds, soy sauce, garlic sauce, rice vinegar?...oh boy! Those sound delish! Must try next time. I still have 2 bunches of kale so I must think of something!

Today marks the third day of my new plan. So far I really like it. I'm not as strict with myself as I had been before. I make sure to meet my macronutrients and I'm making sure to eat pre- and post-workout accordingly. I readjust my eating "plan" for the day to make sure my higher calories and carbs are around my workout. So far so good. I'm going to do this for about 4 weeks unless I feel terrible then I'll change something after a couple of weeks. But at least 2 weeks.

Since I'm still injured (tennis elbow) I have to watch what upper body I do, as well as not being able to do squats with the weight I like or do deadlifts really at all. It's just too much strain for my elbow. In the meantime I'm icing the heck out of my elbow and just letting it heal. So far so good. It will take a while but I'm being patient and doing what I can in the meantime. This means no "flies" - as in chest fly, reverse fly. Also I can't do side lat raise! DEFINITE NO on that...very painful. Front lat raise hurts slightly so I just did super light weights. So yesterday this was my SHOULDER and CHEST REHAB/BEGINNER WORKOUT:

Dumbbell Shoulder Press 1x12 15#, 3x10 20#
Side-leaning Side Lat Raise 1x10 15# - NOT GOOD
Dumbbell Front Lat Raise 3x10 10#
Incline Rear Delt Raise (bending elbows & moving dumbbells toward forehead) 3x10 10#
Incline DB Chest Press 3x12 15#
Arnold Press 3x10 15#
Push Ups off Dumbbells 1x6 - ALSO NOT GOOD

Tabata fnisher: 8 rounds - 2 of each, 20 seconds push, 10 seconds rest
1) Speed squats
2) Burpees
3) Mountain climbers
4) Speed skip

It was a good workout and definitely had me sweating by the end. Keep in mind that I haven't worked out for quite a while so my body's trying to re-acclimate. My quads were already a little sore from the day before's beach workout. And today, they were even sorer.

OH MY LORD! The kale chips are out and I am most certainly making the Cheesy Italian Kale Chips again...very very soon! They are AMAZING!!!! The other ones taste so blah in comparison! HA! Oh well...now I know!


This was today's HAMMIES and GLUTES and ABS WORKOUT:
Warm-up:
10 x Nick Tumminello's 4-point squat
10 per leg bodyweight reverse lunges, alternating legs
10 per leg front-to-back leg swing
10 per leg adductor/abductor leg swing
10 per leg high knee to lunge
10 x Nick Tumminello's 4-point squat

Full squat with bar 12 to warm up - bar only, 3x8 95#
Single leg deadlift 3x10 20 #DB
Shoulder-elevated Hip Thrust 3x10 35# plate
Walking Lunges w/ 35# bar 3x10 each leg
Back Extension (glute focus) 3x10 10# plate
Crunch on Bosu 1x20, 2x10
Hip Lifts 3x10
Oblique Twists 3x10 each side

After I finished this workout I would have sworn that I had done straight quad work the entire time. My quads were TIRED! I went for a massage later though and she worked out my quads and they feel better. My body is just very busy "remembering" what it was like to work out! LOL!

In case you want a real "recipe" for the kale chips, this is how it went down. Measurements are approximate. I didn't actually measure anything except the oil and parmesan.

CHEESY ITALIAN KALE CHIPS

1/2 bunch kale, removed from stems in similar size pieces - washed and spun dry in salad spinner

1/2 t olive oil (can use more if you desire)

1/2 t sea salt

3 teaspoons bruschetta seasoning (or some kind of Italian seasoning)

1/2 t garlic powder

1 t crushed red pepper

4 teaspoons grated parmesan cheese

Mix all together in bowl and spread on non-stick cookie sheet or foil-lined cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for about 10-15 minutes, turning and moving around about every 3-5 minutes. That's it. Remove and eat! Yummy!

Aah...there! My novel is complete! Hope you enjoyed it and had a great day! Have a nice rest of your week. Only 9 more days till Carmageddon! It's gonna be TERRIBLE! But the good news is that the cafe on the next street is having a street party from 11am to 4pm that day! I think I'll have to go join the festivities, and wave to the people trying to follow the detours!!

WAHOOO!!! I'm back!

Hello hello!!!!! Yes, back in the blogging world. Let me just say that of all the things of the self-imposed hiatus that I missed the most, it was definitely the blogging. The other things are nice "accessories" to my life but the writing was the thing I missed most.

Let me get you all caught up. First of all I was having some kind of tennis elbow issue last week, like the beginning of tennis elbow. Well on my way to my chiropractor on Wednesday out of nowhere this one spot on my wrist started hurting me. I didn't say anything to my chiropractor or masseuse because I figured it would go away as quickly as it came. It was just an incessant pain that was bothering me all the time except when I was asleep. On Friday it was still hurting and I couldn't be in pain all weekend since I had to be packing and moving boxes for the big floor redo in my place. So I went back to the chiropractor. She couldn't really figure out what was wrong. But she did some ultrasound and massage and then adjusted me. She also told me to wear a carpal tunnel brace. So I did that all day Saturday and most of Sunday. And come Monday the pain was completely gone. Still no idea what it was but I'm glad it's gone.

Needless to say I haven't worked out much between the elbow, wrist and moving. So yesterday was my first workout in about a week. Today I feel it! My glutes and quads are killing me today. It's all good though. I actually didn't think I would be that sore but I am.

I still have no home as they continue to work on my floors. Maybe tomorrow I'll be able to move back in or possibly Monday. I don't know yet. One other thing I learned through all this moving though is that I really have a HUGE gratitude for my bed and my home. I miss it when I'm not there. I'm staying with my brother for now and then with my BF tonight. It's been crazy. It's weird to me how much that little downtime and being by yourself makes all the difference. I haven't had my lunchtime naps and downtime and that makes me a little cuckoo! HA!

I got to read more while I had my hiatus and bought a few books yesterday that I will be reading. I was discussing my "digital allowance" with my brother yesterday and I was telling him that I was thinking of one hour. He asked me "ONE hour? I would barely get through my emails in one hour." I thought about it and decided he may be right. So I have pumped up my daily allowance to 90 minutes to include all "digital" nonsense. That will include blogging, emails, twitter, facebook, WWF, online shopping, etc. I think that will not include my TV watching though. That I will limit to 2-4 hours per week. I really don't watch much TV but I like a couple of trash TV shows and every once in a while I just want to sit in front of the TV and let it entertain me for a minute or sixty!

My workout from yesterday was as follows:

FRIDAY WORKOUT
3x12 Seated Wide Grip Lat Pulldown 70#
4x10 DB Incline Press 25# DB
3x12 Seated Cable Row 85#
3x8 Sumo Squat with Barbell 65# x 1, 85# x 2
3x10 each leg - Bulgarian Split Squat 25# plate
3x8 each leg - Single Leg Hip Thrust - bodyweight only
3x15 Ab Crunch on Decline Bench w/ 10# plate

As you can see I'm moving more and more away from body part workouts and more and more into full body. It's a nice change and I prefer it so I'm not in the gym every day or for a long time. The weights look low and they are because I'm coming back from injury and crazy moving. It just felt good to get my workout on! I missed that!

That's about it! I will keep you posted on my life again. I'm so happy to back in the blogging world! WAHOOOOOOO!!!!! Hope you have all been well and can't wait to get caught up with all of you and your lives. Have a great weekend!

Stay on track...toe the line...

With an extra day to prepare for my week I went into today much more prepared than usual. I ended up cooking quite a few things yesterday. This is what happened in the Kitchen d' Erin:
* Baked yams
* Jamie Eason's Chicken Meatloaf Muffins
* Spicy Couscous Summer Salad (with brown rice couscous)
* Spicy Broiled Shrimp
* Roasted kabocha (patiently waiting for my protein powder to arrive so I can make some kabocha protein waffles)

Hmmm...it seemed like I made more than that. I need my protein powder! I have 2 different protein powders on their way and neither of them have arrived. It's too bad I like MGN's protein powder because it always shocks me how SSLLLLLLLOOOOOOOWWWWW they are at getting orders out. Ugh! Oh well. I should have ordered it two weeks in advance. It's my own fault!

Got up this morning nice and early and headed to the gym for my 20 minutes of HIIT on the spin bike. OY! I'm not used to that workout. It was HARD but felt really great to really just kill it with each interval. TOUGH though, that is for sure. I did kind of random intervals. This is what I did:

30 seconds push – 60 seconds recover

40 seconds push – 50 seconds recover

50 seconds push – 40 seconds recover

30 seconds push – 60 seconds recover

60 seconds push – 60 seconds recover

60 seconds push – 60 seconds recover

60 seconds push – 60 seconds recover

60 seconds push – 60 seconds recover

60 seconds push – 30 seconds recover

50 seconds push – 40 seconds recover

40 seconds push – 50 seconds recover

30 seconds push 

I did a little cooldown basically so I could breathe again and then did a nice long stretch. LOVED it! Hadn't done 20 minutes of HIIT for a long time and it was really nice for a change. 

Can't wait for my workout tomorrow. Hammies and glutes but taking it easy. I'm still healing so I'm not going to push a lot of weight and just really concentrate on form. Wish me luck. 

Hope your short week is off to a great start! Mine is! GOODNIGHT!

LOVE having a day off!

Hope you're all enjoying your weekend still (if you have a 3-day) and if not then I hope you had a good weekend! I had a great weekend! I'm actually headed into the not-so-fun part of my weekend. I used to work first, play later. But I don't seem to be very good at that so this weekend I played first so guess what? Yep, I have to work later, meaning NOW!

I have much packing/organizing/throwing away/decluttering to do before the floors get redone next week. Ooh! It's next week I just realized. Yep! I've got a LOT to do! So it's off to work I go.

I have pictures from my weekend that I'll post later. On Saturday I celebrated Memorial Day with a hamburger of course. And it was super duper delicious! OMG! I got a fantastic Groupon deal and tried a new place, Steingarten LA. They're beef is grass-fed, no hormones or antibiotics and I think it was possibly the best burger I've EVER had. And I've had a lot of burgers in my life. I ordered mine with brie and bacon. I mean, how can you go wrong there, huh? I don't think you can. Oh, and it had some roasted garlic sauce on it as well. Mighty mighty tasty indeed! And of course I had fries. My BF and I each ordered different fries - sweet potato (yam) for me and parmesan fries for him. To die for! I love my fries! And they had this fantastic "curry ketchup" that was simply amazing, particularly on the yam fries. Yummy!!!!!

I was smart to plan the day that way though. We had a track workout in the morning that was really great. And then lunch and then we went to Greystone Mansion and walked around the park. Although the mansion is closed for restoration the grounds are open and they're beautiful and it's incredibly peaceful with great views of the city. Really great FREE find. Even free parking...YES, in Beverly Hills! It was a beautiful day and I got sunburned. Good job me! I forget that I don't have the skin I did when I was younger and just never really burned. Now I do. Well, not to mention that the ozone layer is thinner and helps you burn faster. Haha!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, I wrote all that above this morning. Now it's the afternoon and I've accomplished quite a bit and even got in a very quick (12 minutes) but VERY intense workout I found on bodyrock.tv. Where have I been? How come I didn't even know this site existed? Well, now I do and I'm on it now. I can see that there are some good and quite challenging workouts on here. I also watched Zuzana's video about "Stress Makes Me Fat". Now even though I don't know her at all and it's all new to me, clearly she is not looking "fat" to me or "pregnant" but I thought the video is good just because she's real about eating and that sometimes you eat too much and then you have to rein it in again. I like to hear that and I don't like it when "fitness" people act like they never fall off the wagon. I think it's human nature so I liked that she talked about that and then said that when that happens she just cuts back on her intake and starts from there. It's good that she doesn't beat herself up about it. Very refreshing indeed!

That's about it for now. A few more hours of this holiday and then it's back to reality...but for now I get to relax...love it!

Legs, Hammies, and Glutes...OH MY!

So I worked out hammies and glutes on Thursday afternoon. I got an offer from a friend on Saturday to work out with her and we thought legs would be great to workout. So despite common sense I worked out my legs with her. It was a GREAT workout! But BOY OH BOY did I hurt yesterday. Hurting and exhausted. I was thinking of working out yesterday. I think I must have lost my mind when I had that thought. Ha! I'm still not even sure today is a good idea. Maybe later but I may just go for a walk/stroll later just for some fresh outdoor air.

At any rate the weekend went well. I didn't get much done but I did get to relax and got to work out and have lunch with my friend that I don't see often enough. My workouts on Thursday and Saturday pretty much made it impossible to work out on Friday and yesterday. So here I am still trying to heal and letting my muscles grow so rest, rest, rest.

It will be an early bedtime for me tonight. That's for sure. I don't have much left in the energy department so that should be pretty easy to do. I guess it would be nice of me to share my workouts. So here we go:

THURSDAY - GLUTES AND HAMMIES
Dumbbell Full Squats 52.5# 3x12
Leg Press 90# x 12, 180# x 10, 270# x 1(basically EPIC FAIL on that - too heavy) so 230# x 8
Walking Lunges w/ Barbell 60# 3x12 (each leg)
Single Leg Back Extension (glute focus of course) 3x10 each leg
Deadlift 50# x 12, 60# x 12, 70# x 12
Single Leg Hip Thrust, bodyweight only, 3x10 each leg

SATURDAY- LEGS (kind of but more hammies and glutes)
Barbell Squats 95# x 15 warm-up, 115# x 12,  135# x 10
Leg Press 90# x 12, 180# x 10, 230# x 10
Dumbbell Full Squats 50# 3x12
Leg Extensions 70# 3x12
Walking Lunges w/ Barbell 40# 3x25 total
Deadlift 50# x 12, 60# x 10, 70# x 8
Single Leg Back Extension (glute focus) 3x10 each leg

So as you see these were both very similar. And that would explain why I was so fried. Foolish you say? Why yes, I would agree.  However, it just sounded more fun than doing shoulders and tris. Not nearly as exciting. And my friend wanted to try a couple of the exercises I had mentioned. So that's what we did and we had a great time. However 2 days later and I'm still paying for it! HA!

My food was off. Surprise surprise. But I'm back on today. I'll keep you posted and will most likely log many of my meals for this week.

As I mentioned earlier I am in desperate need of sleep and rest. I think I keep waking up dehydrated so my plan for today is to make sure I get plenty of water. And my House Rules for tonight are these:
1) No TV
2) No computer
3) No WWF (Words With Friends, not World Wildlife Fund or World Wrestling Federation...hee hee)
4) No phone after 8pm
5) Reading my book is okay and preferred
6) Lights out at 9pm at the latest!

See? I run a pretty tight ship, huh? LOL! So tomorrow I should be rip roaring and raring to go! All hydrated, well rested and well fed. Yep! Tomorrow is going to be amazing. Today is going to be good. But tomorrow? Yep! AMAZING! I'm ready. Bring it! Here's to fun, laughter, amazing food, and great great workouts!

Ahhh...yes...LOVE the Santa Monica Stairs!!

Well, I'm not really sure LOVE is the word. Maybe it should be love to hate? Hahaha! I just love being outdoors and getting a great workout and sweating a lot with strangers. It's AWESOME! In case you don't live in L.A. or anywhere near it and haven't been reading my blog that long, here is a picture of what they look like.

Santa Monica Stairs

That's right! 175 steps of sheer hell bliss! I only did 6 rounds (pretty much about 1050 steps both up and down!!) since I was pretty sore from my workout on Saturday. Yep...hammies and glutes one day and stairs the next! Not so bright, right? Right! But it was a beautiful day and the stairs definitely needed to happen. So that's what I did. My calves are sore from that today. Not as painful as they are when I do 9 or 10 rounds so yippee!


As for the rest of the weekend, let's see...Saturday was a good day. I got up and got things done early, threw in some batches of laundry, did my hammies and glutes workout and then went to ALL YOU CAN EAT Korean BBQ. So I told myself before I went to not overdo it and just remain calm when all the goodness of Korean BBQ is swirling around my head. But did I take that excellent advice? Um...hmmm....NOPE! It was just too doggone good. I love Korean food. That's all there is to it. Me and Korean food...we're tight!!!!


So later we went for a stroll but still felt full for the rest of the day. I've GOT to stop doing that. NOT a good feeling. Whew! There! I said it! I put it out there so now I can't let that happen again! I just love BA (blog accountability)! It's awesome!


Ready for the workout from Saturday? Okay, here it is!


GLUTES AND HAMMIES (yet again!!!)
Dumbbell Full Squats 50# 4x12
Deadlift 95# x 12, 115# x 10, 135# x 8, 155# x 6
Leg Press 90# x 12, 140# x 10, 180# x 8, 230# x 6
Back Extension (glute focus of course), prisoner style x 12, 25# plate x 10, 8, 8
Single Leg Hip Thrust, bodyweight only, 2x10 each leg

This was my first time doing the dumbbell full squats and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THEM!!!! If you have not tried them then definitely give them a try. Just click on the link above to see what I'm talking about. So much fun. You just can't really cheat them because if you lean forward or backward you will fall down. GREAT exercise!

My strength seems to be increasing, huh? Yep, I may just break my arm patting myself on the back! HA! Quite proud of the numbers I'm putting up now.

Life is good. It's Monday. It's GO day! Let's get it started and show this world what we're made of! Who's with me here?!?

Nothing is worth more than this day. ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Some workouts

TODAY'S MOSTLY DROPSETS BACK AND ABS
Seated Lat Pulldown - Dropset 105/90/75/60/45 x 4/6/6/8/10 pulses
Assisted Close Grip Pullup - Dropset 60/70/80/90 x 6 each, 100 x 10 pulses
Underhand Barbell Row - 45 # - 3x12
Hammer Strength Lat Pulldown Underhand Grip - Dropset 45/35/25 x 6/8/8, 15 x 10 pulses
Seated Cable Row - Dropset 100/85/70/55 x 4/6/8/10
Hip lifts (to vertical) - 3 x 20
Bodyweight Rows - 3 x 7
Ab crunch on ball - 3 x 15

SATURDAY'S HAMMIES AND GLUTES (and yes, I'm still sore in my hammies)
High Box Squat - Bar only warmup then 95# x 10, 115# x 8, 135# x 8
Good Mornings - Bar only x 12, 65# x 12 (2x)
High Step Ups (aerobic step with 12 risers under each side) - 3 x 12 each leg
Hip Thrusts - 75# - 3 x 12
Single Leg Back Extensions - 3 x 10 each leg (why are these sooooo hard?)
Hanging straight leg raises - 3x15
Cable crunches 60# - 3x10
Pikes on elbows and feet on floor (on towel) followed by blank hip swivel (I'll have to videotape this because I can't explain but it's AWESOME!) - 10 pikes, 8 swivel each hip leading (2x) - third set on hands instead of elbows

YESTERDAY'S SHOULDERS, CHEST AND ABS (kinda)
DB Shoulder Press - 15# warm up x 15, 20# x 12, 25# x 10, 30# x 8
Front Raise with 25# plate - 3x12
Side lat raise on incline bench - 8# - 3x10 (these are super duper hard for me!)
Rear delt DB row on low incline bench - 15# x 10 plus rear delt flyes 15# x 5 (3x)
Single Side Lat Raise with pause at top - 15# - 3x12
Ab Crunch on decline w/ 10# plate - 3x15
Pushups off DBs - 2 x 12, 1x10
Single Incline Chest Press - 15# 3x12
Incline Chest Fly - 15# DB 3x10

Lost motivation? Don't want to hit the gym? Well, DO IT ANYWAY!

I had started a post earlier about not feeling motivated, don't want to work out, feeling slightly down and yada yada yada! But as I was writing it I thought to myself that I NEEDED to work out to see if I felt better. I owed it to myself to treat myself right. So I got dressed right then and there and headed to the gym. And guess what? It was the BOMB workout!!!! Really really great! I guess just getting there was half the battle. I must have been in the right frame of mind once I actually decided to do it. Here it is:

LOWER BODY (HAM GLUTE FOCUS) and ABS

Barbell Squat - 1x12 warm-up barbell only, 1x10 95#, 1x8 115#, 1x6 135# - yes I was quite proud of myself!
Deadlift - 1x12 95#, 1x10 115#, 1x8 135#
Leg Press - 1x12 90#, 1x10 140#, 1x8 180#
Hyperextension - 3x12 w/ 10# plate
Single Leg Hip Thrust - shoulders and foot elevated (see demo here)
Crunch on Decline Bench w/ 10# plate - 3x15
Swiss ball roll-ins (5) and 10 swiss ball pikes (10) - x3
Plank holds - 2x60 seconds
Plank hold with opposite arm and leg off floor then bring slightly away from center and back - 2x40 seconds each side
Plank twist - in plank position with feet on towel, pull knees into opposite elbow sliding feet on the floor - 3x12 (6 each side)
Foam Ball Roller and stretch


All that in just 1 hour 10 minutes!! Woohoo! GREAT workout!! FANTASTIC!!


On the way home (about 4:30 or so) I saw the unfortunate reality of what happens when you close just one lane either way on a main artery road in West L.A.! Oh boy! It's going to be a long summer! Luckily I had a Quest bar in my car so I could eat that because I was H U N G R Y!!!! I may have to start going to the gym after work again just so I'm not stuck in traffic. Which is the lesser of two evils? Packed gym or traffic jam? Which would YOU choose?!? Keep in mind that they closed a nearby big gym so we now have overflow from those people that are all new to our already crowded gym!

But...wait! It gets better! I get home and find dumped on my doormat a bunch of cigarette butts!!!! I kid you not! Look! I took a picture!

So someone KNOWS that I really don't like smoking apparently. And NO! I didn't have an altercation with anyone. I have NO idea why they were there. So incredibly weird and bizarre!!! Kind of disturbing! Oh well. Nothing I can do about it since I have no way to research it. 

On to other things...la la la!!! The great thing is that I got a THANK YOU CARD from one of my nieces for their visit! Did that make my day or what? It was soooooo great to get that card!!! Clearly she just took it upon herself to do that since her sister didn't write one. Is that awesome or what?!? I LOVE IT!!!! When they say it's the little things in life that matter I couldn't agree more. That letter/card made my day..heck even my week...possibly month!

I haven't been writing much about my food because I'm experimenting. I'll let you know in a couple more weeks where I stand with that and what I find out about myself. It should be interesting and has been so far.

Have a great rest of your week! I know I will!

Monday Morning - Get your workout on!!

I admit it. I didn't sleep enough. Who's fault is that, you ask? Well, that would be mine. Yep! I think I'll own that. Went to sleep late and also drank a 10 oz. green tea at around 5pm and then also another 4 ounces or so around 8pm. BAD IDEA!!! But the tea is sooooo tasty that I just drank it and didn't think about the consequences. You know when I thought about the consequences? Well, let's see...that would be at 3:45am!!! Yep, that's a good time to think about a lot of things!! NO!!! But there I was wide awake at 3:45am. I played some game on my ipod touch and then went to sleep until 5:10 and I was awake before my alarm so I got up, ate/drank my shake/oats and off to the gym I went. And guess what?!? I had a GREAT workout and even finished up with 15 minutes running on the treadmill. TADOW! How ya like me now?!? Hahaha!!!!

Wait...what? I just looked that up online and all this time I thought Ice Cube was saying "tadow...how you like me now I'm in the mix?" but all the lyrics sites say he's saying "today...how you like me now..." WHAT?!? Am I wrong really? So how many of you thought the lyrics were tadow? It can't just be me! Well, too funny and the joke's on me if those online lyrics are correct!

Moving right along to my workout this morning: SHOULDERS AND SOME CHEST
Dumbbell Shoulder Press 25# 2x12, 1x10
Incline Lat Raise 5# 3x12 - yes, I know this seems very light but it is such a hard exercise
DB Front Raise 12# 3x12
Single Rear Delt Flyes on Incline bench 12# 3x10 (surprisingly hard to do single)
Incline DB Chest Flyes 15# 3x12
Incline DB Chest Press 20# 3x12
15 minutes treadmill run @ 6.5

Only 3 meals so far today:
1) 1 scoop protein, 1/4 cup quick oats (pre-workout)
2) 4 egg whites, 1 whole egg, 1/2 cup oats w/ 5 walnut halves, 1 T dried cranberries, 1 cucumber
3) 1 Lemon Blueberry Cereal Bar (yes, I will post the recipe soon), 1/2 cup Voskos Greek yogurt, 2 cucumbers

So that's it for now! Hope you are all having a good day.

I posted this on Facebook but it definitely needs to be posted here as well. This is an amazing video. I mean...WOW!!!!!! It's truly inspirational. I love how this girl didn't even think of giving up, not for one second! LOVE it!

Ahh...my little veggies...how I love thee...let me count the ways!

WOW! I know I've said it before but veggies make me feel better. So as hard as it is to get your veggies in, it's so important to do it. I'm not a salad eater. Did you all know that? I don't care for lettuce much! Isn't that just funny? So when I make salads it's mostly all the other vegetables with a small amount of lettuce. And I'm much better with mesclun or spring mix than I am with romaine or red lettuce. Very weird I know but I'm just NOT a salad person. Now I do like the occasional salad with different items. For example, with steak I love salad as a side. It's delicious! And sometimes I just like to have Caesar Salad because I think it's delish! But mostly I'm more of a veggie person over salad any day. Give me my Crunch A Munch and I'm one happy camper!

So for my new mini-goal of eating veggies at every meal except my last I'm off to a great start. I need to clarify though that on days when I'm lifting in the morning I will have my first meal with no veggies also. Sorry but I'm NOT doing veggies at 5:15 am...ain't gonna happen!

My meals so far today look like this:
Snack 1: 1 scoop protein, 1/4 cup quick oats
Meal 1: 5 egg whites with salsa and cherry tomatoes, 1/2 cup oatmeal with 3 large strawberries
Snack 2: Quest Almond Crunch bar, 1 small apple, 1 cucumber, 6 baby carrots
Meal 2: Korean style rice bowl - 1/2 cup brown rice, 2 cups or so of broccoli, 4 slices of ham, all mixed together with bibim pahp sauce (spicy sweet), 1 package of TJ's seaweed (yummy!), 5 celery stalks with 1 T PB mixed with 1 t honey (even yummier!)
Meal 3: 3 Jamie Eason's Chicken Meatloaf Muffins , 12 asparagus spears, 1 slice Ezekiel cinnamon raisin bread
Snack 3: Will be a shake...hmmm...probably lemon almond! Yummy!


I got in a great workout this morning doing my back and plyo legs superset workout which I changed just slightly. This was my BACK AND LEG PLYOS WORKOUT today:

All back exercises were sets of 12 and the plyos were sets of 20 (or 10 each side)
3 of each Superset:
Wide grip lat pulldown
SS w/ jump squats

Underhand grip bentover row
SS w/ jumping split lunges

Unilateral Hammer Strength Lat Pulldown
SS w/ full range vertical jumps with 10# plate (only 13 NOT 20)

Seated cable row
SS w/ straightleg deadlift with plate (only 15 NOT 20)

Lat pulldown with rope
SS w/ skater (lateral) jumps


I'm ready for the weekend. What's up for the weekend for all of you? Anything fun that I need to know about? Let me know. It's supposed to be nice weather here so I'm pretty sure I'll be doing something or several things outdoors.

Saturday's Hammies and Glutes (and Quads)

Okay, really? 2 full days later and I'm still walking like a dingleberry!!! It hurts to walk, sit, stand, etc. etc.!!! I guess changing up your routine is really KEY! I'm not really doing any exercises that I was doing before for my lower body. So all this newness is causing some great growth both mentally and physically and I'm LOVING it!!

This was Saturday's workout:
Sumo Squat 3x8 95#
Bulgarian Split Squat 3x10 40#
Good Mornings 3x12 65#
Hip Thrust 3x12 45#
Single Leg Bench Squat 3x10
Supine Sliding Leg Curl 3x10 (basically up in a bridge with feet on a towel and then sliding heels away from my butt and then pulling them back in - much harder than it sounds!)
Single Leg Back Extension 2x10 bodyweight only
Back Extension 2x10 bodyweight only

So now I've switched up my Saturday and Wednesday workouts and I'm LOVING my lower body workouts! Now, however, my upper body workouts seem beyond boring! So if anyone has any great ideas of how to work shoulders, back, bis and tris, let me know. Looking for inspiration and motivation!! Please send some my way. If I come up with anything I'll let you know.

Hope you are all having a great start to your week! ENJOY IT!!! It's another week of living, breathing, loving and laughing. Get out there and make the most of it. It's your time. It's your life!

“Carpe diem! Rejoice while you are alive; enjoy the day; live life to the fullest; make the most of what you have. It is later than you think.” ~Horace

Happy THURSDAY!! Hammies and Glutes!

Good morning one and all! How are you all doing on this fine Thursday morning?!? I am feeling good. I hopped into the gym for a nice 40 minutes fasted cardio session with 20 minutes on the stepmill and 20 minutes incline treadmill. It felt good. I've been slacking a little on the steady state cardio. And let me tell you what I think of that...it's a bad idea to slack. Yep! That's what I think of that. I noticed a significant decrease in my cardiovascular strength. So it's back to 2-3 days of steady state in the week so I don't feel like I'm dying while doing 40 minutes.

Of course yesterday I also did a great ham/glute workout so that would have a little something to do with it. In addition, I didn't eat enough yesterday. So maybe it's a combination of things. I have GOT to tighten up my nutrition. I seriously may have to go back to the daily accountability. It was really working!

Yesterday's Hammies and Glutes workout:
1) Smith machine squats - 1x12 40# then 3x8 90# - I am working toward full squats (no Smith machine) but I'm still a little leery with my back
2) Walking Lunges with DB - 3x12  60#
3) Deadlift - 3x10 95#
4) Single Leg Hip Thrust - 3x12 bodyweight only (deceptively difficult)
5) Back Extensions - 1x15 bodyweight only then 2x12 10# plate

So tonight I get to rest. No weights. I am going to bed EARLY! I'm telling you right now. Early it is! Great, now I HAVE to do it since I'm holding myself accountable right here right now! LOL!

Hope all of you are having a great day!

“Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens.” ~Kahlil Gibran

Rotating Circuit Workout - Even It Out!

My mentor Gina posted a little circuit the other day and it looked fun so I used her idea and created my own. I really like what I came up with.

I just used a 10-lb bar or you could use dumbbells or whatever you have. I went as fast as I could while still maintaining good form and using a full range of motion. I did 5 rounds of this circuit. Each round was 4 exercises with 2 reps of the first, 4 reps of the second, 6 reps of the third and 8 reps of the fourth. Then it would rotate at the next round. It looked like this.

ROUND 1 x 5:
2 lunges (both legs count as 1 rep)
4 shoulder press
6 medium stance squats
8 biceps curls

REST 1 MINUTE!

ROUND 2 x 5:
4 lunges
6 shoulder press
8 medium stance squats
2 biceps curls

REST 1 MINUTE!

ROUND 3 x 5:
6 lunges
8 shoulder press
2 medium stance squats
4 biceps curls

REST 1 MINUTE!
 
ROUND 4 x 5:
8 lunges
2 shoulder press
4 medium stance squats
6 biceps curls

REST 1 MINUTE!


ROUND 5 x 5:
2 lunges
4 shoulder press
6 medium stance squats
8 biceps curls

I finished up with a little ab work and that was it!



That was it. I think it took me about 25-30 minutes. Sometimes I did underhand grip, sometimes overhand. Sometimes bar behind neck on squats and/or lunges, sometimes in front, sometimes in crook of arms. I just kept switching it up. You could always switch it up and do each rotated round and then rest and do the whole rotation again. You can always swap out different exercises. It was fun. I enjoyed it. Let me know if you try it and if so what you might did differently. HAVE FUN!!

Ahh, yes, THERE are my hamstrings!!

Yesterday I did a great workout for my lower body and today I feel it most in my hamstrings. AWESOME! I may have to make up some names for some of the exercises I did so just bear with me.

Leg Extensions - 1x20, 2x15 single leg
Smith Machine Squats - 1x20 40#, 1x12 70#, 2x8 90#
Leg Press (lever - Cybex) - 3x10 180#
Single Reverse Leg Press (got back in that leg press backwards and no weights - LOVED this!) - 3x12 each leg
Jumps with plate (no momentum coming down to parallel squat) - 2x12 feet hip width, 2x12 wide stance, 1x12 alternating wide and medium stance 25# plate
Good mornings - 3x10 45#/55#/55#
Deadlifts - 3x10 85#

Homemade "sled" drag (stacked 2 45# plates on my towel and folded it in half, grabbed the corners and cleaned the floor dragged across the floor in a low squat) - about 10 yards (30 steps or so) one way - 2 sets of full round (~60 steps)
Plate push (same stack of plates but getting low and pushing across floor) a set going both ways! OW!
Back Extensions (as demonstrated in the video below) - 1x12 bodyweight only, 2x12 10# plate
NICE STRETCH and FOAM ROLLING after!! Don't forget that! Very important!



Yes, this workout kicked my booty. It was a long workout but a good workout! I was working out with my BF at a new gym to me and just got carried away doing new exercises. It was fun though! Feel free to try some or all of it and let me know what you think.

That's about it! Enjoy!

Dance, Glutes and Hams!!!

So last night I didn't go back to the gym for cardio. I wasn't in the mood for that so I actually did a Nia Dance video that I have. It was so enjoyable and I LOVE to be able to just move and be silly and not be "trapped" on a cardio machine. You know? That's the dancer in me. I grew up dancing and it seems it has never really left me. I just found myself smiling and having a great time. LOVED it!

This morning it was off to the gym to do hams and glutes! Let me just say that I KICKED my own BOOTAY!!! Holy smokes! I was going to do some HIIT after but at the end of my workout that just sounded like a cruel joke. I even headed downstairs to stretch and got the thickest, most comfy mat and put it on the floor. Then I proceeded to put my full body on the mat and I just thought that might be all the stretching I might do. I was BEAT! It was a really amazing workout!

HAMS and GLUTES WORKOUT:
Smith Machine Squats - 3x8 70#
Seated Hamstring Curl - 3x12 75#
Butt Blaster - 3x12 60#
DB Deadlifts - 3x12 60#
Side Lying Leg Press - 3x10 20#
Weighted Jumps with Low Squat with 25# plate - 3x12 (OW!)
Single Leg Bench Squat with toes on plate - 3x10 bodyweight
Raised Shoulders Hip Thrusts with 35# plate - 3x12

I know the weight I'm pushing is not that much but I've been really concentrating on my form as much as I can. I feel I get much more out of it. Today I really slowed everything down and MAN OH MAN, did I feel it? LOVED my workout today! Really!

Meals from yesterday:
1) 1/2 scoop protein, 1/4 cup instant oats
2) Protein shake with 1 scoop protein, 1 orange
3) 5 egg whites, 1/2 cup oatmeal
4)  5 egg whites, 1/2 cup oatmeal
5) Asian Seafood Veggie Mix with 1/2 cup brown rice
6) Chocolate PB Protein Bar
7) Cottage Cheese Pancakes (1 scoop protein, 4 egg whites, 1/4 t baking soda, LOTS of cinnamon) with 2 T NuttZo!!

Today's meals have been:
1) 3 egg whites, 1/2 chicken sausage, 2 T light shredded cheese, salsa, side of 1/4 cup oatmeal with 1/2 orange & 1 T almond butter
2) Ice Blended "Mocha" (2-3 T DandyBlend, 1 scoop chocolate protein powder, 1 cup almond milk, 10 ice cubes), 1/4 cup oatmeal with 1/2 orange, 1 oz cocoa almonds - this was the BEST meal I've had in a long time!!!!
3) same as Meal 1 minus the orange and almond butter
4-7) we'll see...no idea!

So here it is the middle of the week. Hope your week is going well. Mine is going along quite nicely. Looking forward to my 3-day weekend this weekend. Woohoo! Time to just relax and chill. May go back to the gym later for some cardio and maybe not. We'll see how I feel. I have a lot to do today too so I may not have time.

It's off to get some stuff done! Stay safe, warm, dry, and most importantly...HAPPY! After all, happiness is the stuff of life!

“The reason people find it so hard to be happy is that they always see the past better than it was, the present worse than it is, and the future less resolved than it will be” ~Marcel Pagnol

Shoulders & Upper Chest...CHECK!!

Gotta love taking an extra rest day! Good for the mind and GREAT for the body! That is what I thought this morning. I got up and was wrestling with the thought of getting right back in bed. But since I didn't work out yesterday I knew I had to get up or ELSE! LOL! So I did just that. I got up, had my shake with instant oats, got dressed and headed to the gym. Got to the gym and guess what?!? Oh, yes, you all know this one I'm sure...NO IPOD!!!! Oh boy! And wouldn't you know it? Just last week I was thinking I needed to charge my Shuffle just in case I forget my iPod some day! But did I? No, I forgot all about it! So no music. So sad...:-( :-( :-( But fear not! I put on my Shuffle and headphones anyway. I don't need to be bothered with other people thinking I can hear them. Hee hee. And guess what happened? I had a FANTASTIC workout! Hmph! Who would have thought?

Here's my Shoulders & Upper Chest Workout:
3 sets of 8 for all:
DB Shoulder Press
Front Raise with Cable
Single Side Lat Raise
Machine Shoulder Press
Rear Delt Flyes
Arnold Press
Pushups off DBs (3x12)
Incline Chest Press

So I felt good after my workout and so far I've had 2 meals, well 1 1/2. I'm feeling good. I think I really killed myself on Saturday's workout and needed that extra day of rest. Feeling much better today so it's time to KNOCK IT OUT!!!!

Oh! And last night I made myself an Orange Rum Protein Shake! OMG! It was ridiculously good! I'm tellin' ya! If you want to add some great flavor with no fat or calories then go for the Bakery Emulsions from LorAnn Oils! You will NOT be disappointed. I used the Orange and Rum Emulsions in my shake last night with some almond butter! I'm salivating as I type this! Memories...like the corners of my mind...HAHAHAHA!!!!

Bakery Emulsions from LorAnn Oils -the loves of my life

“You've got to get up every morning with determination if you're going to go to bed with satisfaction.” ~George Lorimer

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” ~Winston Churchhill

Thursday's Eval & Friday's Plan

Thursday was fantastic! I even got home from work and made Crunch A Munch and my Cranberry Orange Cereal Bars. Yummmmmmmm! I ate almost everything according to plan but I had tilapia with Meal 6 and I had macadamia oil instead of NuttZo at Meal 7. I had some down time last night and caught up with an old friend. It was great! I feel ready for my weekend. I'm prepared with my Crunch A Munch and Cereal Bars! Oh yes! It's going to be a great weekend. And I have a refuel tomorrow night should I decide to use that! YES!! All this sticking-to-it really pays off in refuel rewards!!!!!!!!!!

MEALS:
1) 1/2 scoop protein, 1/4 cup oats
2) 1/2 scoop protein, 1 cup brown rice crispy cereal, 1 oz almonds, 1/4 cup cranberries
3) 3 egg whites, 1/2 chicken spicy jalapeno sausage, 1/4 cup oatmeal, 1/4 avocado, salsa
4) 3 egg whites, 1/2 chicken spicy jalapeno sausage, 1/4 cup oatmeal, salsa
5) REFUEL MEAL!!!! WAHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! I think it's going to be Pho!!! Yummy!
6) 1/2 cup yogurt, 1 Erin's Cranberry Orange Cereal Bar
7) Crunch a Munch salad, 5 oz tilapia, dessert of 1-2 T NuttZoPop (LOL! Just made that up...it is a spoon full of NuttZo that you would eat much like a lollipop!)

WEIGHTS:
Shoulders, tris, core
Drop sets:
DB Shoulder Press 8 reps, 25/20/15/10 then 15 pulses w/ 5#
Single Side Lat Raise 8 reps, 20/15/10
Front Delt Raise with Rope 8 reps, 35/30/25
DB Rear Delt Raise, 8 reps, 15/12/10
Machine Shoulder Press 5 reps, 60/50/40/30/20 then 15 pulses w/ 10#
Triceps pressdowns with rope 8 reps, 27.5/22.5/17.5
DB Skullcrushers 3x12, 15#
Crunches on the ball 3x15
Hyperextensions on the ball 3x15

CARDIO:
20 minutes HIIT post-training on stepmill (speed training workout low-level 10, high-level 14)

All right, last weekday so let's make it count! How did your week go? Did you knock it out? I really did! I'm BURSTING with pride! LOL!

“A little more persistence, a little more effort, and what seemed hopeless failure may turn to glorious success.” ~Elbert Hubbard

Tuesday's Eval and Wednesday's Plan! (and my back workout)

Yesterday I was spot on! Meals were exactly as planned except I had walnuts in stead of PB at Meal 5, added 1 T olive oil to Meal 6 along with a tomato and some fresh grated parmesan - YUMMY! I also did my steady state cardio on the elliptical since there were NO available treadmills! Oh well!

My BACK/BIS/ABS ended up being this:
Assisted pull-ups 3x12 70#
Seated Lat pulldown with V-bar 3x12 70#
Hammer Strength Single Arm Lat Pulldown underhand grip 3x12 35# each side
Seated cable row with V-bar 3x12 70#
SS with Hip thrusts (rockets) for abs 3x20
Straight arm lat pulldown w/ rope
SS with V-ups 3x15
DB bicep curls - 21's
SS with decline ab cruch w/ 10# plate 3x15
Cable bicep curls 3x12
Hanging leg raises - 10 front and 5 each side - 3x

WEDNESDAY'S PLAN

MEALS:
1) 1 scoop protein, 1/4 cup oats
2) Zucchini brownies, 1 oz cocoa almonds - yummy!
3) Brown rice, 4 oz tilapia, veggie medley
4) 4 egg whites, 1/2 cup oatmeal, 1/4 avocado & salsa
5) 1 Erin's Cranberry Orange Cereal Bar, 1/2 cup yogurt
6) Spaghetti squash with tomatoes and broccoli and/or artichokes and tilapia
7) Protein smoothie & 10 pecans

WEIGHTS:
Hams and Glutes
Lying Ham Curls (glute focus) 4x10 60#
Butt blaster 3x10 60#
Smith machine squats 2x15 - 20# super low staying low
Cable deadlift 85# 3x12 superset with Bulgarian split squat 10# 3x10 each leg

Lying ham curls (ham focus) 3x10 60#
One-leg bench squat (super deep) 3x10 - new exercise to me and I LOVE LOVE LOVE this exercise - some serious glute activation!
Hip Thrusts with 25# plate - 3x15

CARDIO:
20 minutes HIIT post-training - 15 minutes jump rope (1 minute jump 3060second rest) and 5 minutes spin bike sprints (30 second sprint & 30 second active recovery)

So I'm done with weights and cardio and already knocked off 2 meals! Woohoo!! I am on a roll this week! Yahoo!!! Really enjoying setting my goal and sticking with it. It feels REALLY GREAT!

Make your day AWESOME!

Great Track Workout

It was such a pretty day here Saturday. So I headed to the track with my BF. This was our workout or maybe I should say my workout since he was a little under the weather. :-(

Jog around the track once
All drills were for about 25 yards
Walking lunges / Run back
High knees / Run back
Side shuffle both ways changing leading leg
Walking lunge lifting back leg / Run back
Side lunges staying low (20 each side) / Grapevine back
15 3-point squats
Off to the bleachers:
1) Run up every step (2 times)
2) Run up every other step
3) Lunge up keeping low
4) Run up every step
5) Lunge up keeping low
Back to the track:
Step step squat (switching legs) / Run back
Jump lunge turn combo - confusing for mind and body - lunge right leg/jump to squat right/jump to lunge left leg/jump to squat - all basically turning clockwise and lunging and squatting all the way
10 inchworms forward and 10 backwards - this was awesome for my shoulders - my BF and I were just amazed at how they popped after this - very cool!
Butt kicks / Run back with long strides

That was about it. Great workout and fun. Haven't done a track workout in a long time and LOVED it!!