yoga body bootcamp + recovery

I went to my first Yoga Body Bootcamp™ class at my yoga studio yesterday and it was insane! This was the first time they’ve offered it in their regular weekly lineup and I’m glad that it’s on the schedule every week! They had one actual bootcamp class following the yoga body bootcamp “routine” the morning of my Disney 1/2 marathon and I was disappointed I couldn’t go then. At least had a good reason for not being there, but I still felt like I missed out ;).

Well I definitely didn’t miss out today, and the class did not disappoint! It was an hour long class, broken up with a 10 minute warm up, 32 minutes of 8 interval stations (listed below), a couple minute cool down, another station and then finally 10-15 minutes of stretching and shavasana. Here are the 8 interval stations (in the order I did them). Each station was done for 45 seconds, and then we had a 15 second “cool down”/move to the next station.

1. Sumo squats (jumping/squatting with wide legs)
2. Eggrolls (rocking back and forth on your back with your elbows and knees touching)
3. Monkey jumps/Walking planks (alternated every round, so two total monkey jumps and two walking planks)
4. Pushups/planking while moving on and off of yoga blocks
5. Four square jumps (clockwise + counterclockwise)
6. Oblique leg kicks (alternating left and right)
7. Back extensions
8. Tricep dips (on a bench)

And the final station was with a partner. One person was doing a minute plank on the bottom, and the person on top was doing pushups with her legs on the back of the other partner. Partners then switched and did the other exercise. I think this might have been the toughest because my arms/shoulders were already tired from the walking planks and moving pushups!

Needless to say, I was WIPED! I walked outside with just my tank top on and didn’t want to put on my sweatshirt for the drive home, but figured I should put on some sort of sweat-barrier so the seat in the car didn’t get too much on it. Probably a good choice because by the time I got home I had sweated through even that! But I guess when you’re in a 96* room, that’ll happen after this ass-kicking workout. I loved it. And I will be returning. Maybe every week. I’m so so so glad it fits perfectly in my new Nashville 1/2 marathon training plan!

I was craving something hydrating and fruity when I got home so I threw together the following ingredients in the vitamix. It ended up being delicious and almost like an Orange Julius! Will definitely be making this again!

Hydrating/Energizing Orange Smoothie

• 3 chunks frozen banana
• 1 pack tangerine emergen-c (or whatever flavor you like best)
• 1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• ~3 ice cubes

1. Place all in the blender and blend away.

I was skeptical at first about this combo, with the fizzy emergen-c and milk, but the fizziness went away with the blender and it was very similar to an orange creamsicle. Yummm. I basically spent the rest of the day sitting on the couch watching Crazy, Stupid, Love and Dirty Dancing – a fantastic way to end the weekend!

best sister ever

My sister has a nice streak in her.  She lets it out every once in awhile… ;).  One instance of her niceness is that she let me live rent-free from February through July this year when I first had an unpaid internship, and then I was unemployed after graduation.  See what I mean?  Nice streak.  Well, I had said I would eventually buy her something once I was employed to thank her for those months of “free” living (although I did buy mostly all of the groceries to still help out).  I decided a blender was something nice to buy and definitely not something she would treat herself to (see, she’s a money hoarder).

Well, a marvelous Kohl’s 30% off coupon came to my mom so I thought this was a great opportunity to buy a blender – so I purchased a Ninja, thinking it would be somewhat comparable to a Vitamix.  I was definitely dreaming of nice and smooth green smoothies!  Unfortunately, the ninja did not live up to its name at all… I like ninjas and this thing could not do any superhuman ninja moves.  There were two too many stringy smoothies coming out of the kitchen…  Even the Magic Bullet beat it times 100.

Sadly, my hopes for a new blender went away with the Ninja as I did not have a ton of money still to make a bigger purchase like that.  Well, the morning Kinley and I went to the State Fair, she could not get the Vitamix out of her head!  She said she almost bought one right then and there but held off (money hoarder getting not so hoardy).  And then we get to the fair… and this happens.

Yup.  Exactly.  Who knew there were Vitamix stands at the Wisconsin State Fair?!  And TWO of them!  Although we did not make it past the first one…  Kinley buckled.  She bought the Vitamix.  She even got an extra year added to the warranty (a total of EIGHT years) and a free dry mixer thing too (to make your own flours – a $150 value).  She then proceeded to walk through the fair toting this around, and I kept saying Green Spinach Smoothie so people would give me weird looks.  I love it when I make people think I’m more of a freak than I actually am in real life, although I do love green smoothies.  And they should too!

So I basically got out of buying a blender at all.  I think I’ll just not say anything and hope she forgets I offered to buy her something…  Aw man, she probably just read this in her Google Reader….  But anyways, is the Vitamix everything I dreamed it to be?  Well, just look at the green smoothie and you tell me.

Spinach, almond milk, banana, frozen mango + pineapple.  Beats the looks of my previous creation by about a million.  More smoothies recipes coming soon!

heat advisory

One week it’s in the 60’s… the next it’s in the 90’s.  95* currently to be exact.  But don’t worry… it’ll be back in the 60’s by Thursday so I guess it’s just time to enjoy the heat while it lasts, which is exactly what I did.

I met up with a friend this morning and we headed to the beach in Milwaukee, even seeing a TV anchor taping all of the beach-goers.  I made sure to put on plenty of sunscreen to not look like a giant tomato during an interview I have tomorrow – and so far I’m looking alright!

If you’re experiencing any kind of heat similar to what I’m experiencing here in Wisconsin today, I bet that drink is looking mighty tasty up above!  Don’t worry, I’ll provide the super simple recipe below for this wonderful smoothie to get you through the hottest of days :).

Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie

• Approximately 1 1/2 frozen bananas (just peel and chunk up a few bananas and throw them in a container in the fridge)
• 1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 2T PB2 (I’m guessing 1T of regular creamy peanut butter would work here as well)

Simply add the above three ingredients to a blender (or magic bullet) and puree until smooth.  For an even colder concoction, freeze the almond milk in an ice cube tray before blending.  As long as you’ve got a few bananas and some almond milk ice cubes, you’ll be ready to make this recipe any time.

Adding some chocolate sauce wouldn’t hurt a thing either.

smoothie 1.0

What’s in that glass, you may ask?  Deliciousness.  You may not believe me because it is green, but I speak only the truth.  There is no ‘green’ taste.  Don’t judge.  Make it once and you’ll be hooked and need your green fix once a day.

It’s not easy being green… but it sure is yummy.

Pineapple-Mango Smoothie

• 1 cup spinach
• 1 banana
• 1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk (or any other dairy/non-dairy milk)
• 1/2 cup frozen mango chunks (trader joe’s has them)
• 1/4-1/2 cup frozen pineapple pieces (trader joe’s has these as well)
• optional: 2T protein powder (soy, rice, etc.), 1T Chia seeds

Put all ingredients in a blender (or magic bullets work great for individual smoothies, ours is put to good use).  I tend to start at the top of the list and work my way down, it weighs down the spinach so you don’t have a leafy explosion ;).

And believe me, you can NOT taste the green.

But be honest… you’ve eaten a Shamrock shake so what do you really have to be scared of.