Update

Sorry for no posts this week and past weekend. I've had my handful with this little one. I will be getting back into it this next week.

Stay healthy!

Leg Workout

15-20 minutes on treadmill, at full incline  ~ 2.5 - 3 mph setting

Barbell Squat:
15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 4, 4 (increasing weight with each set until 4, then three at 4)

Walking Lunges:
16, 16, 16 (moderate weight)

tri-set with

Straight Leg Deadlifts:
10, 10, 10 (moderate weight)

tri-set with

Box Jumps:
10, 10, 10

Weighted Calf Raises
3 sets to failure.

My Arm Workout for Tomorrow

EZ Bar Preacher Curls:
10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10 (use a moderate weight and focus on the 'squeeze' of each rep.  Hold at the op for a 3 count.)

Reverse Grip Tricep Pulldowns:
10, 10, 10, 10 ,10, 10 (same as above)

21's:
3 sets (7 low, 7 high, 7 full range, increase weight per set)

super set with

Dips:
3 sets to failure

Alternating Dumbell Curls:
3 drop sets x3 (start heavy until failure, drop weight and do until failure, drop one last time and do until failure)

super set with

Skull Crushers:
3 drop sets (same as above)

Thought For Today.....

The thing about fitness is that people always try and find that easy fix, that one trick that will get them "cut" and have "six pack abs" in a week.  That, or they want to look like that person they saw on television.  Everyone wants immediate satisfaction.  In reality, it takes hard work and dedication.  It takes time.  So don't give up!  You are stronger, and better today than what you were yesterday.  You are your biggest competition when it comes to fitness.  So today be better than you were yesterday, so that you can be even better tomorrow.

Have a great weekend all!

Morning Workouts = The Best

Always start your day with a positive attitude and be hungry to achieve more.  You will be surprised at how much of a difference it will make. Wake Up. Kick Ass. Repeat.

Back Workout

This was the back workout that I did yesterday.

Dead Lift:
15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4 (increasing weight with each set, make sure to go heavy here)

V-Bar Lat Pulldowns:
15, 15, 15, 15 (increasing weight with each set)

Reverse Pec Deck:
15, 15, 15, 15 (increasing weight with each set)

Barbell Row:
15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4 (increasing weight with each set)

Reverse Cable Crossovers:
20, 20, 20, 20 (do with a light/moderate weight and focus on form and squeeze)

Cable Row:
3 Sets to failure

GNC - $19.99 Sale

For those that use supplements, there is an online only sale where some of their products that usually go for $30+ are on sale for $19.99, TODAY ONLY.  Find the link below:

http://www.gnc.com/19-99-Sale/family.jsp?categoryId=30790176&csm=585595421&csc=3705396&csa=589234641&csu=3733992

Dwayne Johnson Motivation

Meal Prep Recipe: Chicken and Veggie Burritos with Greek Yogurt Spread & Beef and Veggie Kabobs

 Meal prep time again! I used some leftovers I had from a dinner the night before (the mushrooms, and chicken breast) so this meal came out to be a little cheaper, but should stay around the $40-$50 range for the week.

Ingredients Needed:

• 3 yellow bell peppers
• 3 green bell peppers
• 2 medium red onions
• 2 cans hot ROTEL
• 2 cans low sodium black beans
• 1 can pineapple chunks
• 1 pack wooden skewers
• 1 pack sliced mushrooms
• 1 pack of chicken breasts (about 5-6 5oz breast, or about 2-2.5 lbs of chicken) (was on sale!)
• 1 pack of stew beef (it was on managers special for half off)
• 1 pack of flatbread wraps (low carb high fiber)
• 1 package of no fat greek yogurt

Chicken and Veggie Burritos:

• Preheat oven to 375 F
• Place chicken on a baking sheet and season you your liking, I used paprika, garlic powder, pepper, chili powder (great and under appreciated seasoning right here) and red pepper flakes
• Cook chicken for 45 min - 1 hour depending on how thick it is
• While chicken is cooking, wash and cut 1 green pepper, 1 yellow pepper, 3/4 of a red onion and drain and wash the black beans.
• Put the peppers and onion in a large skillet with some oil in the bottom and cook on medium high heat for 5-10 minutes.
• After cooking add black beans and both cans of ROTEL. Mix well.
• Then cover and reduce heat to medium or medium low and cook until vegetables are done.
• Once chicken is finished, let cool and then dice.

Finishing the Dish:

•  Split among 6 containers the vegetables and chicken evenly.
• When you are ready to eat, pull out a flatbread and spread some greek yogurt on sheet and add the vegetables and chicken.  Roll up and enjoy.

Beef and Veggie Kabobs:

•  Cut up the remaining vegetables in bigger slices and separate into bowls.
• Marinade and season steak to your liking.
• Place a piece of foil on the counter top so that you can keep your counter clean.
• On skewers place onion, green and yellow pepper, mushrooms, pineapple and beef chunks.
• Make sure to place them ~ .5" apart to allow them to cook better.
• Put as many as you can on a baking sheet and then put in the oven for 15 minutes or so (keep an eye on them to make sure everything cooks evenly)
• (Brush kabobs with seasoning before putting them in the oven)

Finishing the Dish:

• Split evenly among the five containers.  Mine had ~3 kabobs per meal.

Viola and you are done.  Enjoy and stay healthy!

Meal Prep Recipe: Asparagus and Carrots Wrapped in BBQ Chicken with Roasted Potates and Oranges & BBQ Chicken Drumsticks with "Campfire" Roasted Veggies

Meal prep for the week, and this time it was only ~ $36 for all the meals!  Which is exciting to me, save money and eat healthy!  Let's get to it

Ingredients Needed:

• 1 bunch of asparagus (thick kind if you prefer)
• 1 5lb bag of red potatoes
• 1 bunch of green onion
• 3-4 whole carrots
• 1 red onion
• 2 green peppers
• 5 oranges
• 1 package thin cut chicken breast (you could also buy 1 pack of chicken breast and butterfly them yourself, just depends on personal preference)
• 1 package chicken drumsticks
• 2 cans no salt added french cut green beans
• 1 small bottle of your favorite barbeque sauce (just watch for sugars and sodium)

Asparagus and Carrots Wrapped in BBQ Chicken with Roasted Potatoes and Oranges:

•  Preheat oven to 405 F
• Wash all of your vegetables (carrots, asparagus, green onion and 3-4 red potatoes)
• Trim the bottom off of the asparagus and cut the carrots in half.  Cut the green onions into similar lengths as the others.
• Wash potatoes thoroughly, and if you don't have a scrubber, you can peel them. and quarter each, or into equal size bites.  Place on a baking sheet (lined with foil and sprayed with oil)
• Season potatoes with Mrs. Dash, or pepper, red pepper flakes, garlic powder, etc.
• Butterfly your chicken (if you bought whole breasts), and lay them out and flatten them with a pan, mallet, your fists, etc.
• Place ~3 asparagus and .5 carrots with 1-2 green onions in the middle of the chicken and roll it up.
• Add 1 tsp, of barbeque sauce and spread over chicken.
• Place all of the chicken onto a baking sheet (lined with foil and sprayed with oil)
• Put potatoes into oven.
• After potatoes have been in the oven for ~ 5 minutes, add the chicken and cook for 15 minutes (always make sure that your chicken is cooked all the way through!).

Finishing the Dish:

•  Split the potatoes evenly among the containers and place one chicken serving in each as well.
• Add 1/2 orange to each, or cut fresh whenever you are ready eat

BBQ Chicken Drumsticks with "Campfire" Roasted Veggies:

• Preheat oven to 375 F
• Wash all the vegetables (Green pepper, red onion, remaining potatoes, etc.)
• Slice the green pepper and red onion into strips.  Cut the red potatoes into thin slices.
• Get a long piece of foil and place it on the counter.  Place 1-2 tspoon of coconut oil in the middle and spread.
• Drain the 2 cans of green beans and place onto the foil with peppers, onion and potatoes, mix together.
• Season with pepper, red pepper flakes, garlic powder and top with 4 tsp barbecue sauce.
• Grab additional foil and make a large foil "tent", covering all the vegetables.
• Place foil "tent" on a baking sheet (lined with foil in case of leaks).
• Place chicken drumsticks on a separate baking sheet (lined and oiled) and season to your taste (may add ~1/2 tsp of BBQ per drumstick)
• Place both chicken and vegetables in oven.
• Cook for 30 minutes, and remove chicken, flip, season the other side and return to oven for an additional 30-35 minutes.

Finishing the Dish:

• After everything has been taken out of the oven, open the foil "tent" (be careful will be hot!) and let cool for a few minutes.
• With a large spoon split vegetables evenly among containers, and give each container 2 drumsticks.

And viola that is it! Stay healthy all and feel free to drop me a message/email with comments, suggestions, requests, etc.!

Shoulder Workout

Dumbbell Shoulder Press:
20, 15, 12, 10, 8 (increasing weight with each set)

Barbell Upright Rows:
15, 15, 15, 15 (increasing weight with each set)

Dumbbell Lateral Raises:
10, 10, 10, 10, 10 x3 (This is a pyramid set. Start with a light weight, get ten, then increase weight, get ten more and increase weight again, get ten then drop weight, get ten and then drop weight again for a final ten reps.  Repeat 3 times)

Seated Rear Dumbbell Raises:
15, 12, 10, 8 (increasing weight with each set)

super set with

Seated Front Raises:
15, 12, 10, 8 (increasing weight with each set)

Smith Machine Shoulder Press:
2:00 minutes x3 (put a moderate weight on and get as many reps as you can in two minutes, you can take a short breather if you can't do another rep, but keep going hard until the two minutes are up)

Meal Prep Recipe: Stuffed Poblano Peppers with Brown Rice and Flatbread Pizza.

This has probably been my favorite meal prep thus far, and it is delicious!  The pizza was sent in as a request and the stuffed poblano peppers are a twist on stuffed jalapenos.  The great thing about the pizza is that you can put any toppings that you want on it, the choice is yours!  Without any further details, lets get to it

Ingredients Needed:

•  10 poblano peppers
• 1 medium red onion
• 1 bunch green onion
• 1 package grape or cherry tomatoes
• 1 bunch of asparagus
• 1 banana pepper (optional)
• 1 can sweet no salt added corn
• 2 cans hot ROTEL (use whatever heat level that you want)
• 1 package low carb flatbread sheets (I picked up a pack of 6 near the bakery in Kroger)
• 1 box of brown rice
• 1 package of chicken thighs
• 2lbs your choice of lean ground meat. (I found lean ground turkey for sale at Kroger for 0.99 a pound)
• 1 large container of 2% greek yogurt (4 cups)
• 2 5oz packages of low fat feta cheese
• 1 bag of low fat mozzarella cheese

Stuffed Poblano Peppers:

• Preheat oven to 425 F
• Cook ground meat in a skillet until browned and add both cans of ROTEL.  Cook until done through and drain in a strainer.
• Clean the peppers and cut in half.  Remove seeds and place on an aluminum foil-lined baking sheet (remember to spray lightly with oil).  All of my peppers fit on two 11x17 baking sheets.
• In a large bowl combine ~2 - 2.5 cups of 2% greek yogurt and 1 package of low fat feta cheese.  Add chopped green onions to your liking and season with pepper, salt and garlic powder.
• Add the meat and ROTEL mixture to the yogurt mix and combine.
• Evenly split the mixture into the poblano peppers and top with some mozzarella
• Cook in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until cheese is melted and golden brown.

Finishing the Dish:

• Cook the box of brown rice and split evenly among 5 containers (approx 1 serving each)
• Each meal gets 4 halves of poblano peppers.

Flatbread Pizza:

•  Preheat oven to 375 F
• In a skillet or in the oven cook chicken thighs and season with your choice of Mrs. Dash (for the oven cook 375 F for ~30-35 min). Cut the chicken into small pieces and place in a bowl.
• Wash the asparagus, red onion and grape tomatoes. Cut the tomatoes in half, cut the asparagus into ~1" pieces or less and chop the red onion.  Place in separate bowls.
• Drain the can of sweet corn, rinse and place in another bowl.
• In a large bowl mix the remaining greek yogurt and feta cheese.
• Line baking sheets with aluminum foil and spray lightly with oil.
• Take flatbread sheets and spread the cheese and yogurt mixture evenly.
• Take toppings (chicken, asparagus, corn, red onion, tomatoes, etc.) and sprinkle over top of the sheets, put as much or as little as you would like.
• Once the toppings are to your liking, top with mozzarella cheese and carefully transfer them to the baking sheets. 
• Cook in the oven for 15 minutes or until flatbread is crispy and cheese has melted.

Finishing the Dish:

• One pizza is counted as a meal.  I had to cut mine up to fit them in my meal containers.

And viola that is it!  Although this meal prep did take a little longer, it was well worth it.  I will make sure to post my receipt on here for those who are wondering about the price.  I remember my price being around $47.08 for the whole trip, but that included a few extra things for myself, so the actual price was around $40-$45.   Be sure to make a request if you would like me to make a meal prep recipe for you. As always, stay healthy!