Full Body WOD 11-23-13

Workout of the Day - Beginner - Crossfit Style

50 burpees (can be modified by doing push up on knees)
60 kettlebell swings (I used 35 lbs.)
70 kettlebell snatches (I used 15 lbs, did 35 reps each arm)
80 push ups (can be modified by dropping knees, or doing incline by placing hands on a bench)
90 Mason's twists
100 dumbbell shoulder press or military press (I used 10 lb. dumbbells and it still sucked)
150 box jumps (my box is 12")
200 squats
1 minute high plank
30 second high side plank left
30 second high side plank right
400 meter run

 Today's time 1:00:17

 Notes:

• I completed each exercise before moving on to the next 
• I completed each exercise in manageable sets of reps (generally 10-15 reps at a time, small break in between sets) 
• Box jumps nauseate me (ha!)  

Good luck!

Zucchini Boats - Easy, Fast, Low Carb - ENDLESS possibilities

I've had some zucchini in my fridge for awhile, they were looking a bit sad and I knew they had limited time left on this earth. I had very little else in my pantry or fridge, but I was hungry and felt obligated to use the zucchini.

In the midst of started preparing these, I realized there were endless possibilities for this meal. I've seen variations of zucchini boats mostly using Italian themed ingredients. The recipe below is what I had on hand, so this is what I used. I've also brainstormed and listed a few other ideas. Use what you have on hand, get creative and make it your way!

Prep time: Less than 5 minutes
Cook time: Approximately 20 minutes
Servings: 2-3 depending on who you're feeding and if this is a meal or a side dish/appetizer

3 whole zucchini (cut off the ends, slice them in half, you can also cut the round bottoms off so they sit flat)
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Garlic Powder
Sun dried Tomatoes
Mozzarella Cheese
Parmesan Cheese
Fresh Cilantro

Heat oven to 375 (I used the convection setting on my oven)

Place the zucchini on a foil-lined baking sheet
Brush a bit of olive oil on each of the prepared zucchini halves
Season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste
Top the boats with sun dried tomatoes and cilantro
Layer the cheese on the top

Bake for ?? - around 20 minutes I think. I didn't set my timer. Once I saw that the sun dried tomatoes were getting crispy I pulled them out.

Just a few suggestions for toppings:

Fresh tomato
Basil or other fresh herbs
Green onion or scallion
Shallot (sautéed first)
Prosciutto, pancetta, Bacon, canadian bacon, turkey bacon, etc.
Feta Cheese
Mushrooms
Onions
Jalapeño
Banana Pepper
Prepared salsa or pico de gallo for garnish

Yes, you CAN.

Yoga.

"I can't do that."

No, you can't DO yoga.

You can feel yoga. You can strengthen your body using yoga, and learn to listen to it even when it's only whispering to you. You can tune out the noise of life when it's too much for you with yoga. You can also struggle with yoga, and feel defeated by it. You can try to force your body with yoga, and find yourself at war with body and mind. You can surrender to your practice, and learn new things about yourself through yoga.  You can do things you never thought possible, with time, practice, and with the healing power of your heart and mind. You can learn to forgive yourself and be gentle with yourself through yoga. You can do all of these things and more; it's in you to decide what you WILL do, and at what pace.

"You cannot do yoga. Yoga is your natural state. What you can do are yoga exercises, which may reveal to you where you are resisting your natural state." (Sharon Gannon) 

In my years of mentoring others through yoga, I have heard countless reasons why people think yoga isn't for them. Maybe yoga isn't your thing. That's cool, no pressure. You could give it a try once or twice and either reaffirm that fact, or dispute the myth once and for all.

"I'm not flexible" - What better reason to start a yoga practice?
"I don't have the time" - We make time for what is important.
"I don't have the equipment"- You don't need equipment. You need a mat, your mind, and your body.
"It's too expensive" - Not in Fairbury, Nebraska it isn't.
"I don't want people to make fun of me" No one is looking at you. They are self-focusing.
"I already work out, I don't need to stretch" Add yoga to your fitness, it's probably already there.
"Yoga is too easy" It's too easy if you don't fully commit yourself in mind and body.
"Yoga is too hard" It's too hard if you push yourself beyond your limits. Don't do that.
"Yoga seems weird" Yoga is whatever you want it to be. Strong, fit, soft, flowing, relaxing, meditative.

New yoga practitioners often experience a variation of some or all of those reasons which keep them from yoga. The replies to those "reasons" are limited in scope but also simple and honest.

As yoga becomes more mainstream, more popular, and more accessible, it also becomes more intimidating. Searching for "yoga poses" or "yoga vinyasa" in Google or Pinterest returns a flurry of sinewy yogi's displayed in seemingly impossible or back-breaking positions. This is yoga, but it doesn't have to be your yoga. Yoga is for the thin, the full figured, old, young, bendy, not bendy, men, women, athletes, and whatever body type and personality you can conjure.

Yoga is not about what you can't do; it's about what you CAN do. Yoga is about "yes."

I 100% believe in the statement: Yoga is for everybody, every body, anytime, anywhere. If you can breathe, you can "do" yoga.

Yoga is for everybody, every body, anytime, anywhere.

Low Carb Chicken Margherita "Pasta" Bake

Here is another fabulous low-carb recipe that we LOVE! I happened to have a recipe for baked spaghetti squash "Margherita" style, but I also had some chicken breasts thawed and needed to use them. Note: I am not a food photographer. These pictures were taken with my iPhone, sorry they aren't more spectacular. The food is though! :-)

This is what I came up with. I don't usually "measure", so this is just an approximation of what I used. I have a Samsung convection oven, so I use the convection option. You may have to adjust your cooking time based on what type of oven you are using.

Ingredients:
1 spaghetti squash (instructions to prepare follow)
2-3 tbsp. olive oil
1-2 large Roma tomatoes, chopped
2 chicken breasts, pounded to 1/2" thickness & cut into bite size pieces
1 small zucchini squash, cut in half, sliced into half moons
2 gloves fresh garlic, minced
1 tsp minced onion or 1 Tbsp. fresh shallot, diced
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 - 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1/4 - 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese


Preparation:
To prepare the spaghetti squash: Heat the oven to 400. Using a large knife or cleaver, slice the squash in half lengthwise down the middle (be careful! These buggers are tough.) Use a spoon to remove the seeds and center strings. Drizzle the two halves with olive oil (I used a brush to make sure the entire squash surface was lightly covered with oil.) Sprinkle the squash with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Place the squash, open side down, on a cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes.

While the squash is baking, heat a large skillet on med-high for the chicken. Add 1 Tbps. fat of your choice (I like coconut oil or olive oil) to the skillet until hot. Add the garlic and onion/shallot and brown for a minute or two.  Add the zucchini, and cook until just crisp-tender. Remove zucchini from pan and set aside. Add the chicken pieces, basil, and additional salt and pepper if you like. Cover and cook until the chicken is no longer pink. Add the zucchini back to the chicken.

Remove the squash from the oven, check to see if it's soft and easily comes up with a fork into spaghetti like texture. If it's too hard to remove, cook for another 10 minutes.

Remove from squash oven, scrape and fluff the stringy squash with a fork. (Note: I only used one half of the spaghetti squash for this recipe.) Put the squash into a mixing bowl with the ricotta and Parmesan cheeses, mix well. Add the chicken/zucchini mixture into the squash mixture.

Lightly grease a 2 quart casserole dish with olive oil. Pour the cooked "pasta", chicken & zucchini mixture into the casserole dish and top with the tomatoes and mozzarella cheeses.

Broil on high until the peaks of the cheese start to brown and crisp.

This is a very hearty and filling meal packed with protein and fiber. As you can see, I don't shy away from fat. You could reduce the fat content by lowering the amount of cheese you use and using lower fat cheeses. I find that if I use full-fat cheeses, I use less and they fill me up (plus it tastes better, duh.) Remember, FAT doesn't make you fat, SUGAR makes you fat.

Enjoy!

Beginner Crossfit-Style Workout

I am a CrossFit newbie; in other words, I hesitate to even use the word CrossFit when referring to my workouts. I truly admire the men and women who have made CrossFit a part of their daily routine; their commitment is inspirational and admirable.

I don't always do CrossFit, but when I do, I feel so good when it's over. Here's what I did today. We have an empty field behind our house; we run to a local restaurant and back which we figured is about 400 meters. It's fairly rough terrain with long field grass so it's definitely a challenge. 

The lunges were the hardest part for me, which surprised me. The last set I felt a little tweak in my left hip flexor so I had to cut back on the intensity.

Today I did knee pushups. I kept my knees way behind my hips, and did full push-ups fairly slowly.

My fiancee and I did this together. Instead of squats, he did box jumps on a 20" box. Instead of lunges, he did squats. Since we only have one ball, I did Mason's twists the 1st and 3rd rounds.

I labeled this workout a beginner's Crossfit workout, but for the person who is just starting to establish a regular fitness routine, this is probably a bit more of an intermediate workout. For a true beginner, I would cut back on all of the reps and maybe increase your resting between rounds.

During my 400 meter runs; my mantra was "Calm Mind; Calm Body" - I do love a good mantra. This came to me when I was on my final run: "Fear, doubt, pain, results; these things are all temporary. Personal victories and accomplishments are forever. KEEP MOVING."

In other news, my fiancee submitted a picture of him a rolling hay bale (yes, he really was able to move it, being the beast that he is) to CrossFit. They not only featured it on their Facebook feed, but also their main web site! Pretty cool, huh? Bonus: They paid him $150 for using it! We were pretty excited and proud. It's a great picture - don't you agree? That is Bandit in the foreground. He is an Australian Cattle Dog mix (possibly mixed with Canaan dog?) He is the most gentle, sweet, loyal companion and Jeremiah's best friend (next to me of course...)

Thanks for reading!

To the Core - 20 minute workout - NO EXCUSES!

"I don't have time to work out"
"I don't have any equipment"
"I don't have the room to exercise in my apartment"

Those aren't reasons why you aren't taking care of your body, they are excuses.

Anyone, anywhere, anytime, can work on their body for a few minutes a day, even with limited equipment and very little available space.

My fiancee found a jump rope work out online and this is my twist on it. If you don't have a jump rope, I would suggest either jogging in place or doing step ups if you have a single step anywhere near you (surely, you do.)

The core work is pretty intense. If you are a true beginner, start with 30 second rounds, which will be a 10 minute workout. Who doesn't have 10 minutes? Most of us wait twice that long for a meal when we dine out. No excuses. Get up and move! You could safely practice this routine 3-4 times per week (every other day would be great!) Here are some other suggestions if you don't have a jump rope:

• Jumping Jacks
• Alternating front kicks (think about your lower abs bringing the knee up, don't extend the leg all the way out in your kick; keep a soft bend in your knee)
• High knee jog in place (if you really want to get your heart rate up!)
• Lateral shuffle-step side-to-side in a mild squat (think basketball drills)
• Skipping (yep, skipping)

To the Core - 20 Minutes - 1 minute each station

START:
1 minute jump rope (or your sub of intense cardio) - from here on referred to as MOVE!
1 minute plank
MOVE!
Ball Crunches (if you don't have a ball, do regular crunches with legs at 90 degrees)
MOVE!
Left side plank (lower bottom knee if you need to)
MOVE!
Right side plank (ditto) BREATHE!
MOVE!
Reclined bicycles (for more work, keep legs closer to floor; keep back extended, not rounded!)
MOVE!
Twister plank (alternate: knees come toward opposite elbow, keep moving! Do your best)
MOVE!
Reverse ball crunches (belly/hips on ball, crunch up, works the erector muscles) If you don't have a ball, try "lifting locust" - lay on your belly and lift/lower your chest; arms raised slightly by your sides, palms down, fingertips reaching for your toes
MOVE!
Twisting ball crunches (if you don't have a ball, do you regular twisting crunches with 90 degree legs)
MOVE!
Mason's Twist (V-Sit, twisting torso left and right, keep low back long and not rounded. BREATHE.)
MOVE!
Flutter kicks (or supine straight leg raise/hold with hands under tailbone)

If you finished, great job! If you didn't finish but gave it your best effort, way to go! Next time maybe you can make it a little further along in this routine. Good luck, and keep moving (no excuses!)

Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls - Hearty Low-Carb Deliciousness!

The day after I found this recipe, my neighbor offered up a head of cabbage from his garden. Kismet!

This dish is hands down one of the easiest and most delicious meals I've prepared lately. I have been cooking lower carb meals for several months now, and although this has more "sugar" in some of the ingredients that I used this time, I think there are ways to modify it. The diced tomatoes, specifically, can be found with lower sugar. I used Red Gold diced tomatoes with basil, garlic, and oregano, with 5 grams of sugar.

Here are the ingredients, and my modifications:

• 1 1/2 - 2 pounds lean ground beef (this time I used 1 lb. ground turkey and 1 lb. mildly spicy pork sausage)
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced (I used two large cloves, I love garlic)
• 1 small cabbage, roughly chopped
• 2 14.5 oz. cans of diced tomatoes
• 1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
• 1 tsp ground black pepper 
• 1 tsp sea salt

Here are the preparation instructions:

In a large skillet (I used a dutch oven, this wouldn't have worked in my skillet), heat olive oil over medium heat. Add the ground meat and onion and cook, stirring, until the meat is no longer pink and onion is tender. Add the garlic and cook for another minute or two. (I didn't drain the juices from the meat, but I imagine some people would. The original recipe called for 1/2 cup water. I would probably use beef broth if I felt it needed more moisture, but leaving the juice from the meat in was perfect.)

Add the chopped cabbage, tomatoes, tomato sauce, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes or until the cabbage is tender. 

This is now in my regular rotation! It reminds me of goulash - but without the heavy carb load. I think you could also easily make this vegetarian by adding some more vegetables for bulk such as zucchini, squash, bell peppers, celery, etc.

Enjoy!