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

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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