Band and Body Weight Workout Video for Travel

Spring break is HERE (!) and summer right after that! I am doing a band exercise video series on my YouTube channel so you can workout on the go! HERE is my YouTube channel

The great news is that you can modify almost any existing workout routine for body weight/band work.

Exercise	Sets x Reps	Rest
Single Leg Hip Thrusts	4x8
Banded Face Pulls	4x15	60
Banded Deadlift	4x15
Banded Shoulder Press	4x15	60
Banded Seated Military Press	4x15
Quadruped Banded Straight Leg Hip Extension	4x10
Plank Walkout	4x5	60
Banded Front Raise and Lateral Raise	4x10
Pull Through (use band instead of cable)	4x15
Side Plank	4x30s	60
Banded Bent Over Rear Delt Raise	4x15
Standing Banded Hip Abductions	4x10
Squat (bodyweight)	4x15	60

Here is a video of me doing this workout ^^^ on the deck at a cabin in the mountains on vacation ;) using only a mini band and a tube band with handles!

Off to the beach this week, with my bands!
X- Liss

6 Sneaky Ways to get in More Greens

In honor of upcoming St. Patrick's day, we shall celebrate green here haha! But first a quick update.

The move to Port Aransas is underway! Our house went on the market last week. The husband and his camper are already there on spring break duty. I am trying to keep sane between missing my other half and keeping the house ready for showings at any minute. I feel like focusing on my nutrition and workouts is helping me along with putting everything into God's hand, my buoy in the rough seas. No worrying allowed!

My husband sent this picture to me on Wednesday he took while lounging at the beach while I was at work... spousal abuse?

So I have been getting really serious about getting in 2-3 servings of greens a day this year. And I think part of that success has to do with figuring out creative ways to get them in... which I will share momentarily. The greens really help my skin, I am prone to break outs and eczema. Even though I supplement with vitamins, the greens just offer something my body needs. I have seen major improvements in skin tone, texture, and clarity. I wish I had before and after pics without make-up, as my face is the biggest change.

So here are my 6 sneaky ways to get in more greens:

1.) Blending greens into a protein shake

This is nothing new, but it is so easy and you cannot taste them. I also like that they stay raw. My Banana Spinach Protein Shake recipe is still one of my favorites RECIPE HERE  My Nutribullet makes quick work of the greens and blends them so finely, you can hardly see them!

2.) Blending greens into the water you use to cook your oats.

I am not sure why it took me so long to think of this one. It looks nasty but tastes amazing, kinda like the protein shake ^ you cannot even tell the greens are there! I am loving my Chocolate PB&J Protein Oats recipe for this - RECIPE HERE

3.) Blending greens into your protein pancake batter

Another way I am not sure why I did not think of sooner! I just tried it this week using my Protein Pankcake with PB and Nutella recipe, just blended the pancake ingredients with a handful of greens instead of mashing. RECIPE HERE

4.) Trading out iceberg and romaine lettuce for kale/spinach/chard mix in your salads

This one is kind of a no-brainer but I have to admit I was resistant to the idea. For me, the key is that I do not need as much of the greens mix as I do the other lettuce types. Sometimes, I mix them. Sometimes, I just do straight greens. Some of the recipes that I have been swapping out lettuces out on are taco salad RECIPE HERE and tuna salad RECIPE HERE.

5.) Steaming greens along with your protein when you reheat your steak/chicken 

If you make more lean protein than you need for the week, just add a handful of greens on top of your lean protein. In the image above, there are steak cubes underneath the greens. When you reheat it, it steams the greens and it goes along great with meat! RECIPE HERE

6.) Add greens to your omelet

I love my omelets, but it never really occurred to me to add greens to it! So I have been enjoying my Hashbrown Omelet with the addition of a handful of greens. So easy, and yummy. RECIPE HERE

Hope you got some new ideas! Let me know if you have anymore to add!
X- Liss

Band and Body Weight Workouts for Travel

Spring break is coming up and summer right after that! I am starting a band exercise video series on my YouTube channel so you can workout on the go! HERE is my YouTube channel

The great news is that you can modify almost any existing workout routine for body weight/band work.

So I am going to show you a workout in my upcoming workout called Hourglass Extreme and then modify it for band and body weight.

So why is this idea coming into my head right now? Well like I said, spring break is upon us... But I also have a little news of my own. We are moving to the beach!

The husband just accepted a position in Port Aransas, Texas which is a little town on a barrier island outside Corpus Christi, Texas in the Gulf of Mexico. We are ecstatic and nervous all at the same time. My kids and I are staying in town to finish out the school year to sell the house while my husband is going to live in our camper there. Once the house sells, we will be living with my in-laws and then moving into the camper until we find a house. So... my fabulous home gym will be going away for a while very soon. And there are no public gyms in this new town. I know, what the heck?! Maybe my new job needs to be training the people of the town and offering out my home gym time for membership LOL

So, my plan is the take my body and my bands with me for any situation. I also plan on having my Bowflex SelectTech dumbbells too, but I might not always have access to them, who knows?!

So let me walk you through how to modify any existing workout for band and body weight.

Below is a sample of my upcoming workout Hourglass Extreme which will be available for purchase very soon!

Regular Workout with Full Gym Access 

 Hourglass Extreme Week 5 Day 3

Exercise	Sets x Reps	Rest
Single Leg Hip Thrusts	4x8
Banded Face Pulls	4x15	60
Deadlift	PR--4x3
Shoulder Press	4x10	60
Seated Behind the Neck Press	4x10
Quadruped Banded Straight Leg Hip Extension	4x10
Ab Wheel	4x10	60
Front Raise Lateral Raise	4x10
Pull Through	4x10
Side Plank	4x30s	60
Bent Over Rear Delt Raise	4x10
Standing Banded Hip Abductions	4x10
Squat with Curl and Press	4x10	60

Modified Workout with only Bands and Bodyweight

(red exercises are changes, black stayed the same)

Exercise	Sets x Reps	Rest
Single Leg Hip Thrusts	4x8
Banded Face Pulls	4x15	60
Banded Deadlift	4x15
Banded Shoulder Press	4x15	60
Banded Seated Military Press	4x15
Quadruped Banded Straight Leg Hip Extension	4x10
Plank Walkout	4x5	60
Banded Front Raise and Lateral Raise	4x10
Pull Through (use band instead of cable)	4x15
Side Plank	4x30s	60
Banded Bent Over Rear Delt Raise	4x15
Standing Banded Hip Abductions	4x10
Squat (bodyweight)	4x15	60

                                  

As you can see, with bands you need to increase the reps generally and there is usually an easy substitution. Of course, bands are not useful for pushing through personal records. So that is off the table, but the idea is that you will be using bands and body weight forever! They are amazing for getting a great pump and hypertrophy. And most certainly better than doing nothing!

Weekly Meal Plan 4 - Omelet and Steak

So this round of monthly grocery shopping, the husband and I decided to prep for a week at a time instead of changing the menu out daily throughout the week which is what we did last month. See last month's meal plan HERE.

So we bought for 4 different weeks but the meals within the week stay the same, although 1 day each week I take a maintenance day at 1900 cals.

We thought this would be a good experiment to try out and learn from and would make prep time a snap.

You see, we have two kids who are involved in sports, church, and music. Every night of the week (almost) one or the other has an practice or meeting. I usually have time to cook, but sometimes it gets a bit hectic.  The idea of getting it all ready to go ahead of time and then just grabbing to eat together sounded really nice!

You can see week #1's meal plan HERE

You can see week #2's meal plan HERE

HERE is week #3's menu

Finally, below is week #4 menu:

Breakfast	VenusCrossing PB Cup Protein Shake with PB2 and Spinach 205 cals – 11 g carbs – 6 g fat – 31 g protein
Lunch	VenusCrossing High Protein Hashbrown Omelet 379 cals – 23g carbs – 11g fat -41g protein
Snack	Pure Protein Chocolate Peanut Caramel Bar 190 cals – 17g carbs – 6g fat – 20g protein
Dinner	4 oz marinaded and cubed eye of round steak, braised in the crockpot 1/2 cup cooked white rice 1 cup baby spinach 329 cals – 31g carbs – 3g fat – 50g protein
Dessert	½ cup strawberries, sliced 1 cup plain, fat-free Greek yogurt Stevia to taste 144 cals – 15 g carbs – 0g fat – 24g protein
TOTALS	1250 cals – 86g carbs – 26g fat – 166g protein

I also have coffee with a tbsp of creamer in the morning as well as a couple of other supplements with a few calories, of course since those are personal preference I did not include those here. My husband eats more than I do, so he adds more of everything (especially high fat like cheese and nut butters) to his meals making them about double mine in calories, along with more snacks.

How this works

We just picked a a few meals we really like and are going to rotate through them for the month. Basically 4 breakfasts, 4 lunches, 4 snacks, 4 dinner, and 4 dessert options. We spent $503.37 for everything this month including extra options for our kids and household items like dog treats.

BREAKFAST: VenusCrossing PB Cup Protein Shake with PB2 and Spinach

205 cals – 11 g carbs – 6 g fat – 31 g protein

Recipe HERE

We buy the big containers of fresh spinach at Sam's Club. I freeze the spinach before it turns bad and continue using it frozen.

LUNCH: VenusCrossing High Protein Hashbrown Omelet

379 cals – 23g carbs – 11g fat -41g protein

Recipe HERE

I added a cup of spinach to my omelet to up the greens, it adds about 8 calories. I also like to top my omelet with 2 tbsp of ketchup which adds 30 cals.

SNACK: Pure Protein Chocolate Peanut Caramel Bar

190 cals – 17g carbs – 6g fat – 20g protein

We buy these in bulk at Sams.

DINNER: Steak and Rice

4 oz marinaded and cubed eye of round steak, braised in the crockpot

1/2 cup cooked white rice

1 cup spinach

329 cals – 31g carbs – 3g fat – 50g protein

We cubed the steak and put into the crockpot topped with a little all purpose marinade. We like Plum Creek marinade, but any all purpose meat marinade will work. Cook on high for 2-4 hours. This would be great stir fried up in a wok but alas I never did it ;)

DESSERT: Plain fat free Greek Yogurt with Strawberries

½ cup strawberries, sliced

1 cup plain fat free Greek yogurt

Stevia to taste

144 cals – 15 g carbs – 0g fat – 24g protein

We buy frozen sliced strawberries. I defrost them in the microwave for about 30 seconds before topping my yogurt.

X- Liss