Squats and Shots

Hello Friends. Hope you guys are having a fabulous weekend! Here in Maryland we have been spoiled by the warm weather lately, so when I went to leave for the gym yesterday morning I had on a tank and thin cropped pants. Brrrr it was about 45 degrees out! Whoops. We are only in the 50’s here all week! Bye Bye 70s weather 🙁

Before the gym I coffee’d, blogged, and had my protein fluff. I also had half of a CLIF bar. Wow are these things incredible! This one was white macadamia nut and oh boy it’s pretty much like a protein cookie. I only ate half of it because the sugars are a little high in these things.

Then I packed my gym back, Phoebs jumped in her bag, and off to G-Mama and Pop Pops we went! While the puppies played, I went to the gym. First of all, let’s talk about what’s going on with my hair in the picture below. Rolled out of bed mess! Total bed head.

You should’ve seen it from the back, it was laughable.

Anyway let’s talk legs! This leg day was a fun one for me. No Smith machine! I wanted to try something different with the TRX, plus I thought I’d back away from the super heavy bar to ease up on my knee. I started with 17 minutes on the stair master for a leg warmup. Then here was my leg routine:

• Alternating side squats, 40 lb bar, 20 reps x 4 sets
• Alternate the above with Hello Hamstrings, 40 lb bar, 12 reps x 4 sets
• Deep Squats, unweighted, 12 reps x 6 sets
• Plie squats, unweighted, 12 reps x 3 sets
• Curtsy Lunges alternating, unweighted, 20 reps x 2 sets
• Leg extensions, 90-100 lbs, 10 reps x 4 sets
• Calf presses seated, single leg 140 lbs, 12 reps x 2 sets each leg
• Then calf presses seated, 180 lbs, both legs, with hips and butt off the seat! You are really using your core and calves for this!

• Leg presses, 90-140 lbs, 12 reps x 5 sets
• Calf pulses on the leg press, 90-140 lbs, 12 reps x 4 sets

• Hip abduction 70-80 lbs, 15 reps x 4 sets, then Hip adduction 50-70 lbs, 15 reps x 4 sets

I hit the elliptical at a high resistance and incline for 25 minutes, then onto my TRX training!

I alternated these Four exercises for a KILLER leg and ab burn circuit:

• Plank Pikes, 10 reps x 4 sets (feet in loops)
• Plank side mountain climbers (your hip rotates out instead of knee straight into chest), alternating 10 reps x 4 sets
• TRX Deep Squats (holding handles, squat down low and pull up), 10 reps x 4 sets
• TRX Single Leg Squats (1 leg straight, the other squats down), 10 reps x 4 sets

Then I did some hamstring pulls. I looked these up before I left for the gym and it said they were a beginner move. Ummmmm these were super tough!

Feet go in the loops, back is flat on the mat. Then straighten your legs so they are in a straight line

Then start pulling your legs in

Keep going!

then back out straight to the starting position.

I did 8 reps and 4 sets. Man did they burn!

FInished with slow standing calf raises holding the TRX handles (body at a diagonal). These were really more of a stretch for me than a tough exercise.

After I was done with the TRX I laid on the mat for a good 5 minutes with some stretching. I was pooped

I headed back to G-Mama’s to refuel then took a really long nap before Phoebe and I had to go to the vets for a check up! Shots were in her future and she was not happy about it 🙁

After the vets, we walked around PetSmart to get her a new toy and chewy for doing so good. She walked on her leash like she owned the place.

Pretty much every single person in the store stopped us and said “oh my gosh isn’t she the cutest?” I just respond “yup!” 🙂 Such a proud mother

At home we ate dinner and then played with her new toy

I also cooked and watched 3 episodes of the show “Best Ink” on Oxygen. I loved this show last year and didn’t even know it came back until I saw my parents watching it at their house the other day. Basically it’s a reality show tattoo competition. I don’t have any tattoos myself, I’m not really into them, but I have a lot of respect for the talent that the artists have. I think it’s really cool! Check out the show if you haven’t seen it. There’s other tattoo shows on tv, but this one is really good.

Here is what I made for you guys last night! Stuffed Sweet Potatoes! Mmmmmm

This upcoming week instead of recipes, I am going to feature my “most commons”. I get asked all the time how I cook my chicken breasts for lunches, what is included in a meal prep, which cottage cheese I eat, what’s in my greek yogurt mixtures, and my protein fluffs. I will have a link each day to each one of these so you guys can find them at any time!

Enjoy what’s left of the weekend 🙂

XOXO With a Cherry On Top,

-Minnie