Pancakes and Snow Day Workout

Today is the day! The day the kids have been waiting for......SNOW DAY!!!! Now it IS a little less dramatic since they were just off yesterday for President's Day. But nonetheless, I cancelled my small group classes this morning to stay home with them. Our morning started with the most outrageous chocolate chip pancakes ever. My oldest son "helped" me add the chocolate chips so they were abundant at best. While I typically shy away from eating this type of breakfast.....it's a snow day. Rules don't apply on a snow day in case you weren't aware of that. So, like a good girl I took 2 Carb Ease and enjoyed 2 of these amazing little cakes of goodness. I figure it will be the best fuel for the shoveling I need to do, followed up by my bodyweight workout, right?

If you are looking for a good old fashioned pancake recipe, this is my go to, adapted from a recipe I found on food.com.


Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups unsweetened almond milk
4 TBSP butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup all purpose white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 TBSP sugar (or 1 tsp honey)
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Instructions:
Beat egg until fluffy
Add milk, melted butter and vanilla
Add dry ingredients and mix well
Heat a heavy griddle which is greased with a little butter on a paper towel
Pour a small amount of batter (approx 1/4 cup) into pan and spread out with a spoon (add chocolate chips on top at this point, or even blueberries are delicious)
When bubbles appear on the surface and begin to break, turn over and cook the other side

Now onto the workout of the day! Go through each exercise in a circuit format, resting as needed. If you don't have stairs available to you, then try jumping jacks or high knees or walking in place for that 3 minute time period. Try and go through the circuit at least 3 times, but keep in mind to always do what is appropriate for YOUR fitness level.

Here is a breakdown of the exercises above for your clarification:

Burpees (in this video I also show modications of the burpee)

Air Squats

Push ups

Tricep Dips

Alternating Lunges

Wall Sit

Speed Skaters

Bicycle Crunches

Forearm Plank

Enjoy the pancakes and enjoy your workout Fit and Healthy Crew!!!!

~Debbie

February 2014 Abs Challenge

Last February I put together an abs challenge, so I wanted to put another one together this February. This challenge was designed to be a great addition to anyone's existing daily workout, as I have you only doing one round every day. Now that said, it's also ideal for the beginner who is just starting their exercise journey.

I hope that you enjoy the challenge and can keep up with it 6 days a week!  Please feel free to pin away and SHARE with your friends through Facebook and Twitter. While you are there, don't forget to follow me as well at Fit and Healthy with Debbie Reichert and you can find me on Twitter here and Pinterest here.

Below is a quick preview of the exercises that are included in this month's challenge.

Push ups

Note: If you are currently not able to do a full push up on your feet, please simply go down to your knees until you build up enough strength to do a full push up on your feet

Bicycles and Boat Crunches

Plank

Have a fantastic February my fit friends!!!

In Good Health,

Debbie

January 2014 Fitness Challenge

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! (Throw confetti here, kiss somebody, etc. etc.) OK, now that the formalities are done, some of you may be sitting there thinking about the New Year's Resolution you set for yourself to get more fit and healthy in the New Year! If that is you then congratulations for taking the first step! I've decided to help give you someplace to start.  However, this challenge is GREAT for any fitness level.  For those of you just starting out in your fitness journey feel free to cut the reps in half or thirds and work up to the reps that I have listed over time. For the seasoned fit fittie, this is a great add-on to your current workout regimen.  This is a circuit you can do at the end of any workout to put on that nice finishing touch.

It's been awhile since I brought you a monthly challenge and I hope to be able to do more for you in 2014. As long as you keep doing them, pinning them on Pinterest and sharing with your friends on Facebook and Twitter, I'll continue to take the time to create new challenges for you!! Sound like a deal?

So without further ado, let's bring it in 2014!!!

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Legs Glutes and Abs

Today I decided to add some ab work in between my Legs and Glutes supersets to mix things up a bit. I'm already starting to feel the after affects of this workout which means tomorrow should be fun (that whole walking thing......) Thought I would share it with you all in the event you wanted to give it a whirl. Let me know if you try it and please feel free to PIN it on Pinterest and Share with your friends on Facebook.

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AMRAP Anyone????

When I am short on time, I love a good AMRAP workout.  AMRAP stands for As Many Rounds As Possible.  So basically you just start with the first exercise and continue on to the next and the next with as little break as possible (for 20 straight minutes in this case).  Take a break as you need to, but the whole point is to bust it out rather quickly and document how many rounds that you completed in the 20 minutes.  

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May's Cardio Abs Challenge

April showers bring May.......Cardio Abs???? Whatever Debbie ;-)  I couldn't think of anything clever to say so I just went with that.

May's challenge over at Fit and Healthy with Debbie Reichert brings us another month with the focus on abs, and I decided to throw in some cardio bursts as well for the ultimate fat blasting experience.  I think you will really like this one and it may be just what you need to get that fire burning in your core and get you on your way for bathing suit season. Make sure and go through the circuit three times through every day, preferably with little rest time between circuits.

Enjoy and feel free to pin and share on Facebook.  The more people we can get on the challenge, the better.  Strength in numbers!

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Gorgeous Gams and Bangin' Booty Challenge

Here it is folks.  Our April challenge over at Fit and Healthy with Debbie Reichert.  This month we will be focusing on the lower body since we completely wore out the upper body last month. I didn't have the time (or energy) after flying all day to make a continuous video of the exercises for you, BUT I have included a clip of each exercise below so have no fear, you will know EXACTLY what you need to do each and every day!! Good luck and make sure to share with your friends so they can get in on the fun!!!

Remember, each day you go through the circuit for that day THREE times!

Oh burpee....how I love thee......

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March's "Hot in your tank top" challenge

After January's successful burpee challenge and February's even more successful "ABtastic" challenge, this month brings us to some upper body emphasis so that we can be hot in our tank top this summer.  Here are the details and a clip showing the various upper body exercises.  Please note that on Thursdays we will be concentrating on the core only, so to review those exercises you can view this clip on my YouTube channel. Below the calendar I've attached a clip that I did reviewing the upper body exercises we will be doing this month.  You will have ALL you need to do this month's challenge.  Good luck and here's to getting hot in your tank top!!

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February "ABtastic" Challenge

For the month of February, we have a challenge going over at Fit and Healthy with Debbie Reichert!  It's going to be ABtastic!

Just follow the calendar below and you will certainly be feeling the abdominal burn immediately.  Keep it up all month long, along with clean and healthy eating and you will be one step closer to your bathing suit goal.

Enjoy and let me know how it goes! Please see the video I shot below detailing each exercise listed in the challenge.

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30 Day Burpee Challenge

Are you IN??????????  Are you ready to take the 30 day burpee challenge put together by myself, Fit and Healthy with Debbie Reichert and Natalie over at My Think Fit??  We have broken this challenge down day by day so that you can slowly work up through the month and by day 30 you WILL be busting out 100 burpees!

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Plank challenge

If there is one thing I've learned from the awesome folks that follow my Facebook page, it's that y'all are ALWAYS up for a challenge!!  We have some great challenges every month, and this month is no exception!  You're drinking a TON of water and really taking advantage of the ab workouts I've created.  So, KUDOS to everyone that is taking part.  I wanted to do something different with today's ab work, so the first thing that came to mind was.......PLANKING of course!!!  This ab workout is all about endurance.  It will be KEY to keep that core tight and activated the entire time your holding your plank.  I've given designated rest periods, however, at anytime if you feel you need a quick break then take it and then come right back into your plank.  This is NOT cheating....short breaks are fine.  I'm just going to ask that you don't give up and that you finish.  You can drop down to your knees at any time to modify the plank.  Get your timer ready folks and let's STOP, DROP and PLANK!!

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Ab Workout Pyramid

Here's the latest ab workout for our July challenge from my Facebook page.  Throughout the month, I've created for you various ab circuits and even an ab tabata, trying to show you a variety of different abdominal, oblique and back exercises.  I decided to go with a pyramid style for today.  Add this into your regularly scheduled workout for a little abdominal burn that will feel oh so good!!!  I've attached a few clips for you to review each exercise beforehand.  I'm attaching 2 clips for the jack knife sit ups.  This can be a bit of a challenging exercise, therefore, I wanted to make sure and include a less advanced option for you.  Go at your own pace and your own level.  Enjoy!!

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Core workout

For our July abs and H2O challenge on Fit and Healthy with Debbie Reichert, here is another core workout to fit in this week, in addition to your regularly scheduled workout.  Enjoy!!  And P.S......drink your WATER!!!!

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300 Rep Core workout

Because you can NEVER have too many ab/core workouts to do I came up with another one!!!  Enjoy!!  I love this one and if you do as well, please share with your friends and feel free to pin away! :)

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Complete core workout

As part of our July abs challenge on Fit and Healthy with Debbie Reichert, I'm posting 3 unique ab/core workouts every week for the entire month.  So here is the first of 3 for this coming week.  Go through the circuit twice for maximum results.  This is a great warm-up to do prior to any cardio or strength training sessions as well.  Enjoy!!

In Good Health,
Debbie

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Tabata style Ab circuit

Happy Monday Fit and Healthy Crew!  For July's challenge, I promised that I would give you 3 different ab circuits to do each week.  If you have been following me for awhile, then you know my latest passion  obsession interest is the Tabata style workouts.  For those of you that are unfamiliar with this style, let me quickly give you a recap.

"Traditional" Tabata training is actually a type of High Intensity Interval Training (aka. HIIT training) that follows a very specific format.  It includes the following:

• 20 seconds of a very high intensity exercise (e.g., sprints)
• 10 seconds of rest
• Repeat 8 times for a total of 4 minutes

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