Don’t be intimidated by Stability Balls. They are a great modality to take your workout up a notch and you’ll increase balance and stability at the same time as working your core. Who doesn’t love multi-tasking in the gym!!??! If you can do over a 2 minute plank, it’s worth going out and buying one of these because you’re wasting time on the floor in ISO prone plank position, when you could be challenging yourself more in the same time, or even half! Trust me, you’ll feel it.
My personal challenge to you — try this today and keep at it for 30 days. Then try it again and see how much strength you’ve gained in your core. I’d take pictures too, if you’re planking every day, there’s going to be some visible changes :)
Fruity + pretty = delicious!
Passion fruit is tart and tropical and the perfect match for the mellow, creamy flavor of Vanilla Shakeology! If you’ve never bought passion fruit, look for fruits with purple, yellow, or orange skin - it should be smooth and free from bruises. Heavier pieces will have more seeds and juice. Cut the fruit with a sharp knife and scoop out the seeds and pulp like you would a kiwi!
Can’t find passion fruit? Canned passion fruit nectar can be used instead! Can’t find canned?! Try pineapple and add a squeeze of lime 🤤
Ingredients
* 1 cup water
* 1 scoop Vanilla Shakeology
* ¼ cup frozen passion fruit pulp -OR- 3 passion fruit, peels and seeds discarded
* 2 tbsp chopped fresh mint leaves
* 1 cup ice
Instructions
Place all ingredients in the blender - cover and blend until smooth.
Portion Fix Containers: ½ Purple, 1 Red
2B Mindset Plate It: Enjoy as part of breakfast
Physical therapy isn't easy, but it works!
Leg Extensions - 50 each side, twice (200 total)
In January 2020 I injured my achilles skiing in Japan. By the time we returned to Australia, Covid was in full effect and treatment options didn’t feel safe. I know this won’t require surgery, but it will require lots of rehab, time and dedication to get better. It’s amazing how quick doctors are to operate when quite often, a good trainer and give you the exercises and stretches to keep you away from the knife! That his it’s own recovery time, plus medication we don’t want to expose our bodies to if we can help it.
To make matters worse (and more exciting), we then learned all four of us had parasites, likely from the water in Singapore. B U M M E R! We all took very strong medication for 6-8 weeks to kill the bugs, but during all this, my achilles got put on the back burner. Fast forward a few months and Covid is sort-of under control and we are parasite free, I’m finally getting treatment!
It is soooo hard to “unlearn” a habit. Whether it’s related to nutrition, fitness, things you say or do, etc; your brain is used to a certain way of doing things. But, that doesn’t mean it’s not possible. This is just one of the 6 exercises I do to work on my quad strength and am back to squatting low and lifting heavy.
I’m excited to be able to help clients work on compensations, posture issues, flexibility constraints, and more! Assessments are a great starting place so you can experience the same JOY I have been fortunate to experience, in being healed.
Blueberry Greek Yogurt Protein bites
It sounds way healthier calling these “protein bites” (which they are), but they could double as dessert and no one would know they were good for them. Tell me if I’m wrong, but these look like blueberries covered in white chocolate. AMIRIGHT??? LOL My inspiration came from a Weight Watchers recipe, but in true WW fashion, it had unnecessary sugar. I’m a WW dropout, so I can say “been there, done that”. Wasn’t a lifestyle I could keep up with and model in front of my kids as “health"y”. Far from it actually. WW recipes might be low calorie, but they’re a shit storm of low fat, reduced fat, light, ingredients which basically means, CHEMICAL SHIT STORM. No thanks. Foodies here that wants to take control of what goes in my body!
Ingredients:
1 cup PLAIN greek yogurt
1 TBSP honey (although I think you can omit this if using Shakeology - it’s sweet enough for me)
1 scoop vegan vanilla Shakeology (any protein powder will do, but be careful because many taste chalky so you’ll want more sugar to mask the taste…or just get Shakeology and thank me later) ***
1 c washed blueberries
Directions:
Stir all ingredients together and then add blueberries. Divide into TBSP servings and freeze. Take out when ready to eat. YUMMMM! Share your comments below; can’t wait to hear how you like these!
I don’t count calories since doing Beachbody, but for those that do, I’ve calculated them for you.
Weight Watchers = 2 points
Portion Fix Containers = .5R, .5Y, .5tsp
2B Mindset “Plate-It” = good FFC to accompany with 2 eggs for your protein for brekky
calorie counters = 94 calories, 1.5g fat, 12.2g carbs, 7.7g fiber (based on 5 servings)
Day 3: Cardio Core
Here comes Cardio Core! I love HIIT (high intensity interval training) programs and if you do too, you'll love today! This is a GREAT fat burner (yes please!).
This workout is tough, but it’s only 40 minutes, so by time you can't do another rep, it's over! We do one cardio interval, one HIIT interval, then one core move, then repeat that twice before we add the core move. Then we move on to the next segment in similar fashion until we finish all the cardio and do a round of core work. This is about 8 minutes long and summarizes all the core moves we previously did. For a bonus, I try to do the core section TWICE. If it's a challenge just to finish, do that. If you feel like you have more left, try another round, or add 3 lbs weights to the cardio part. Don't do heavy weights because you're moving around so fast you'll likely injure yourself. Your only equipment today is Beachbody strength slides.
BEACHBODY PERFORMANCE TIP: If you take Energize, have you noticed a tingling feeling shortly after you drink it? It can be a normal reaction to Beta Alanine, an amino acid ingredient in Energize. Some people tingle, some don’t. And it often goes away once you start exercising, and with continued, regular use.