Have you ever been browsing around Pinterest and saw a handy graphic or chart guiding you on your next project? Of course you have. Otherwise you have never been on Pinterest before. I have done PLENTY of these charts with wild success. However, I have been curious about the smoothie charts that suggest you can wildly pick any combination of ingredients and make a smoothie that tastes good.
I can’t help but be cynical. If that was true about cooking, then why have I made so many unpleasant dishes by experimenting with the contents of my refrigerator?
Now that you know I am skeptical. Let me tell you want I did.
With a stroke of genius I rounded up two trust taste testers, Annie & Jane, to come on this journey with me. I was not feeling brave enough to go alone. We took the below chart from Pinterest and set out to test the ability to make a delicious smoothie. It was a beautiful sunny day in the summer … it felt like everything was on our side.
Spoiler Alert – we were not successful.
Green Smoothie Chart
Apple Peach Kale
Kiwi Banana Kale
Orange Pineapple Spinach
Cucumber Celery Spinach
Peach Papaya Kale
What We Made
After a brief discussion of how this chart was a trap – how can any two items make a good green smoothie? We decided on the recipes we would follow and promised to try each one. No matter what.
Jane picked the first smoothie as an 🍏 apple, peach, & kale mixed with half water and half orange juice. I think she picked apple because she brought it 🙂
I picked a 🥝 kiwi, banana, kale smoothie mixed with half water and orange juice. There was zero doubt in my mind that a banana had to be included in order for the smoothie to get the proper texture.
Annie started the rouge movement by selecting 🍊 orange, pineapple & spinach mixed with water. Oranges in a smoothie? Felt odd to me.
We wanted to really challenge the chart by not selecting a fruit at all. 🥒 Cucumber, celery & spinach mixed with half water and orange juice.
Papaya was alluring to all of us, so we had to make one. Hence the 🍑 papaya, peach and kale smoothie.
Now, when I see the pretty pictures and read the ingredients I am not horrified. I remember feeling confident in the chart, except for the cucumber smoothie. I wanted to believe that all of these would turn out delicious and that making smoothies really is this easy.
At this time I think you should watch our video recap.
Our Takeaways
If you watched the video, you’re welcome. If you are in a hurry and haven’t watched it you are missing out. Actually, if you are in a bad mood you should save this video because it is so ridiculous that it might just cheer you up when you are down. 😂
Outside of quality ingredients to get delicious flavors we think texture and consistency are top of the list. We pulled all the kale and spinach out of my garden – organic and grown locally. We had sourced mostly fresh ingredients that we then froze. Here is what we learned:
Liquid is the enemy in finding a good consistency. Remember you can’t take liquid out. Start off cautiously and add in as needed.
Frozen ingredients are key. They don’t ALL have to be frozen, but at least half should be to give yourself a good texture and consistency.
The banana is the backbone of the smoothie. The ONLY smoothie that blended well, had a good texture was the kiwi banana spinach smoothie. I am 100% convinced that was because of the banana.
Get a good blender. We used a Ninja blender. It was good, BUT I then went out and purchased this Ninja Smoothie Specific blender and it was 1.5 million times better. Draw back to the Ninja Smoothie Blender is that it does NOT fit the other attachments for a larger containers.
Smoothie Recommendations
Now since pretty much everything we made failed completely and entirely we thought we would give you our favorite smoothie recipes.
Chellie – Banana, 1 c frozen mango, 3 large frozen strawberries, fill half way up with water/OJ.
TIP: “If I am adding protein powder I decrease the amount of frozen fruit to keep it from being too thick or too large.”
TIP: “I add 1 scoop of strawberry whey protein powder if I am using this as a post work recovery smoothie.”
Jane – 1 c Frozen strawberries, 1/2c greek yogurt, honey to taste & water to preferred consistency
TIP: “I like to mix in some orange juice with the water to change up the smoothie every so often.”
MORE RECIPES
If you love strawberries as much as I do, then read this article for 3 strawberry recipes. I share with you my 3 go to recipes for strawberry season. Plus a great smoothie recipe! And for those of you that use smoothies because they are packed full of nutrients and fast you should take a look at my article on quick snacks. These are snacks you can make ahead of time and keep in the fridge for easy access. Pay close attention to the almond joy energy ball recipe – wowzers is that one delicious.
Also, for those of you that like eating and cooking with fresh ingredients check out this collection of recipes for tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini and basil. I have the easiest pesto recipe you can find out there, plus great ways to store your pesto to use all year long.
And to wrap it up you can look at Jane’s healthy treat recipes for some ways to incorporate nutrient dense treats into your day and week. A personal favorite of mine are the peanut butter stuffed date dipped in chocolate. If you haven’t tried dates yet… get started with this recipe.
Have you ever set yourself a really aggressive short-term goal? I mean like 20 things on a to do list when there is really only time to do 5 things?
Well, I am here to tell you that you are not alone. This behavior is something that I have struggled with my entire life. It crosses over into everything I do – personally and professionally. Mike, my husband, always calls me a slave driver when I tell him what’s on the list for the weekend. As a child my parents lovingly told me that I would make a great third world dictator when I grew up.
I guess I come by it naturally.
Knowing that doesn’t eliminate this tendency from my personality. However, as I’ve matured and confirmed my loved ones are in fact correct, I have tried to curb my aggressive short-term goal habit. One of the ways I do that is by setting REALISTIC goals based on the time I have in the day not my desire to get projects done.
One area of my life that I find easy to throw into the “back seat” is my workouts. I know I am a trainer and that probably sounds ridiculous. But we are human too. We struggle with the same things everyone else struggles with.
Exercises is also an area of my life I can’t function without. I am just irritable, obnoxious and unhappy when I don’t workout. Which means I make everyone else around me feel irritated, annoyed and unhappy. So I have to make it priority. For the sake of my marriage, my relationships and my happiness. I like to use fast workouts occasionally to help me blow off some steam. They give me some much needed self-love and don’t increase my stress because of the time commitment.
THE “ALPHABET WORKOUT”
This is why I LOVE the idea that is trending around town of “alphabet workouts”. They are so simple, can be done anywhere and leave you no room for excuses (hopefully). But what is an alphabet workout? You saw the image at the top of this article right? Maybe you even found this article because you clicked on that very image. THAT is an alphabet workout
We developed a list of exercises, where each exercise represents a letter of the alphabet. Then we will post a word of the week for you and everyone else who needs a FAST workout to use. The spelling of that word is used to select the exercises and the order.
You can do 1 round, 3 rounds or 5 rounds. Whatever you can do based on the time you have.
You can also use the same word or workout several times in the same week. Giving you multiple times to release some stress.
Heck, you can even make up your own words and do this entirely on your own or with your friends and family.
All we care about is that you feel good about doing it. Otherwise, why do it at all?!
(Right click to save!)
This week’s word is PURE FITNESS.
That means you are doing: 10 forward raises, 20 bent over rows, 1 minute wall sit, 20 alternating reverse lunges, 1 minute of jumping jacks, 20 high plank shoulder taps, 20 toe touches, 2o Russian twists, 20 alternating reverse lunges, 10 reverse flys & 10 more reverse fly.
Go through it once, twice or as many times as you can!
EXERCISE EXPLANATIONS
Dead Bugs – While laying on your back with your legs and arms straight up, extend your right leg and left arm, move them back into the straight up position and then extend the opposite limbs. Keep your core engaged throughout the exercise to avoid a painful arch in the back.
Pushups – These can be performed from your knees or toes. Position your hands outside your shoulders and bend your elbows to 90 degrees.
V Sit – Sit back on your sit bones with your knees tucked towards your chest. Extend your legs and arms out then pull back into the starting position.
Side Plank W/ Crunch – In the side plank position crunch your core and bring your top elbow and knee together.
Alternating Reverse Lunge – Standing feet together reach one leg back and sit into a lunge position. Try for a 90 degree angle in both legs.
Jumping Jacks – Starting feet together and arms at your side, jump your legs out laterally while also raising your arms laterally to a comfortable height.
Burpees – Start standing up right, drop down into the push up position, jump your legs back up towards your hands, jump into the air.
High Plank Shoulder Taps – Hands under your shoulders and back as flat as possible and feet wide to avoid rotation at the hips. Bring your right hand to your left shoulder and then your left hand to your right shoulder.
Bicep Curls – Standing comfortably with good posture weights at your sides, flex your bicep with palms up and bring the weights towards your shoulders. Avoid movement in the elbows.
Penguins – On your back, knees bent towards your butt. Pull your shoulders off the ground and reach your fingers towards your toes alternating sides.
Lateral Raises – Standing up right knees slightly bent, start with your hands at your side with weight and lift the weights laterally about shoulder height. Keep a slight bend in the knee.
Arnold Press – Standing up right knees slightly bent, hold your elbows out in front of your body, rotate your elbows out to your sides and then press the weight over head. Your palms should start facing you and face out as you finish the press.
Russian Twist – Hold the V Sit with a weight at your chest, rotate your torso and touch the weight to the ground at your side, then do the same on the opposite side.
Hammer Curls – Bicep Curls – Standing comfortably with good posture weights at your sides, flex your bicep with palms facing in and bring the weights towards your shoulders. Avoid movement in the elbows.
Forward Raises – Standing up right, knees slightly bend, raise your hands forward to shoulder height. You should have a slight bend in your elbow.
Plank Shifts – Elbows on the ground under shoulders, and back flat, shift shoulders in front of elbows and then behind.
Wall Sit – With your back flat against the wall, lower your body down into a squat position, aim for a 90 degree angle at your knees.
Reverse Fly – In a slightly bent over position, weight in front of you and elbows slightly bent, retract your shoulders and raise your hands to shoulder height.
Toe Touches – On your back with your legs straight in the air, reach your fingertips towards your toes while crunching your core and bringing your shoulders off the ground.
Bent Over Rows – Knees slightly bent, and torso leaning forward, let weight hang down and then retract shoulders to pull the weight towards your chest
Planks – Either and your elbows or hands, shoulders over your base, and core engaged to avoid a dip in your back.
Wood Choppers – One weight in your hands, rotate your body to bring the weight above one shoulder, and then rotate the opposite way and control the weight across the body to the opposite knee.
Squat Jumps – Squat down to a comfortable depth then explode out of the hole and jump into the air. Arms come down as you squat and can be used as momentum to propel you upward.
Split Squat Jumps – In the split squat or lunge positions, with knees at or above 90 degrees, jump into the air and land in the beginning position.
Plank Dips – In an elbow plank, with shoulders over elbows and back flat, rotate hips to one side and then the other.
As the Safer at Home Order continues in Wisconsin we remain dedicated to providing content and workouts. Everyday we release a workout on our YouTube page that can be done entirely from home. They are around 30 minutes in length and come with full instructions on form and technique. They have been a fun way to stay connected with our clients near and far. We have a new style workout today. I won’t be leading you through the workout, but rather I wrote one for you. The workout is written below and the only video on our YouTube page is explaining how to find the written workout.
This is a workout I dug out of my “library stacks”. Something I put together for clients while traveling for work and for myself, as I traveled frequently while coaching Junior Olympic volleyball. I made a few modifications and included some low impact options for people uncomfortable jumping. BUT all of these exercises have been featured at some point during the past 30 days of workouts. Additionally, they are relatively common exercise names that should be understood by most frequent exercisers.
Use Yoga to Live with Comfort
I am also excited to announce that we will be teaming up with Health In Balance Yoga in Mequon to provide weekly yoga workouts for you. Before the Safer at Home Order I took yoga classes here and loved every minute! The impact of strength training regularly and the high volume of endurance training I do made yoga the perfect answer for my stiff and sore body. Regardless of why you feel stiff and/or sore yoga can help. For those of you that haven’t tried yoga this will be a great introduction to possibly a new hobby. For those of you who have done yoga hopefully this allows you to restart or continue your practice during these times. Enjoy today’s workout below!
Metabolic Madness
Each 10-round ladder lasts five minutes. Each movement is laddered up to 10 reps. For example, do 1 pushup and 1 superman, then 2, then 3, then 4, up to 10 reps per exercise. You have five minutes to complete each ladder up to 1o. What you don’t finish you try for the next time you do this workout. This is a rest-based workout, which means you push until you have to rest, and rest until you can go again. Rest periods are not structured. Take them as you need. Just remember that for this to be 30 minutes of actual exercise each ladder has to be limited to 5 minutes in length.
I don’t think that anyone is necessarily surprised by being told to warm-up. However, do you actually know why it is important? I was raised in sports, which for me means I was raised warming-up. And not warming-up seems like I’m breaking the rules. So I have always warmed-up. It wasn’t until I studied exercise science that I actually learned the physiological reasoning behind the “warm-up”.
The most basic reason to warm-up is prepare for more intense movement by warming the body. But to add more detail: through warming-up we are specifically trying to warm the muscle tissue. This is important because that muscle tissue is about to do a lot of work. Avoiding going from cold and stationary to all out effort give our muscles and body the time and process needed to reach their optimal performance point. A huge bonus is that a proper warm-up will decrease the risk of injury. Most data I have seen shows it takes 8-12 minutes to effectively warm-up. Make it your goal to warm-up for 8-12 minutes.
What should you warm-up?
A focused warm-up should prioritize the muscles and movements you will be performing in your main workout. For example, overhead athletes, like baseball and volleyball players, should make a dedicated effort to warm-up their shoulders. However, that can be much less important to a marathon runner. BUT, all of those athletes would rely on their foundational muscles like glutes and abdominals to perform at a high level. Below is a short video explaining our three favorite warm-up exercises and how to use them. For general population we have targeted the pillar or shoulders to hips.
These are affiliate links. While there is no cost to you when you order through them, I do make a commission. Your support, by ordering through them, is greatly appreciated!
We use:
Banded walks for glute activation and hip stability. Purchase a hip circle here.
Dead bugs for core activation and stability.
Swimmers or reverse fly for posterior shoulder and back activation.
WHY IS STRETCHING FOR A COOL DOWN IMPORTANT?
Stretching is one of the most impactful means for improving range of motion (ROM). And ROM is at the very foundation of our training philosophy. Why do we care about ROM so much? Three simple reasons. One, range of motion helps to maintain a properly functioning kinematic sequence (muscle firing pattern). Two, it is a key component to injury prevention. And three, you will never reach your full potential without maximizing your range of motion.
Outside of range of motion stretching can help decrease the impacts of a hard workout like soreness and fatigue. Something we all want at the end of the day. It will help to maintain a muscular balance and prevent pain and discomfort results from tight muscles. And it feels so dang good!
WHAT SHOULD YOU STRETCH?
Everyone should stretch. How much and which muscles is going to vary slightly person-to-person. Which is why we have our basic 5 stretches. They address the muscles, we see, that are most commonly related to ROM issues which can lead to chronic pain or injury.
The stretches are focused on large muscle groups to help manage the impact of exercise and muscle soreness. They are also common muscles impacted by our daily lifestyle that includes sitting, driving, computer work; which can all be translated to an anterior load. These stretches WILL 100% help improve your posture and overall feeling of well being no matter how intense your workouts are.
Straight Ahead Hamstring Stretch
Sideways Hamstring Stretch
Hip Flexor & Quad Stretch
Glute Stretch
Chest Stretch
HOW DO YOU STRETCH?
Take look at our short video to learn more about how to correctly perform each stretch. We suggest a 30 second interval for the stretch to maximize your results. FYI – holding for less than 20 seconds has been shown to NOT have lasting results in muscle lengthening. Here are some key points to follow while stretching:
Warm Body – we are talking about using these stretches as a cool down, but it needs to be said that when you are doing static stretching you should be warmed up. Avoid holding stretches without intentionally warming your muscles. It can be as simple as walking for 5-10 minutes.
Duration – the science recommends holding a stretch for 30 seconds. If you lack flexibility try holding a stretching for 30 seconds a few times by alternating sides. For example, left leg 30 seconds, right leg 30 seconds. Repeat a few times.
Posture – focus on keeping an upright chest posture, or a flat back. The alignment of your joints in that position will provide you with the maximal lengthening for the muscles we are focusing on.
Zero Pain – there should never be any pain while stretching, The presence of pain is likely to yield the opposite result – muscle shortening. Pain is a signal to our muscular system to contract (shorten) to protect itself. Stretching (lengthening) pain free is very important.
IronMan race #3 is under my belt. Obviously the main question I get is “how do you feel?” … well I feel really good. Surprisingly good. Don’t get me wrong I’m not doing back flips or anything, but it is the best I have felt out of the three races. That right there is...
It is officially race week! And as predicted there are some wild emotions going on. It’s kind of hard to put into words even though this is the third time. But I am going to try and give you an inside look at my IronMan race week mental, physical and emotional...
Have you ever wondered what fitness equipment you really need? I am here to tell you the most used fitness equipment in our gym. These six items are used most often when working with clients and working out ourselves. After each piece of equipment I give you a little...
Click to sign-up for weekly information and offers.
DISCLOSURE
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
I put together a few gift guides to help you shop for the fitness lovers in your life. There are several different categories so I know you will find some inspiration for the perfect gift. Each product is linked below the image or you can shop all my gift guides on LTK. Scroll down to find my top fitness gifts for 2022.
Disclosure – These are affiliate links. If you click on one of the links below and order I may earn a commission.
TOP FITNESS GIFTS FOR HER
Personally I would love to receive these gifts or I already own them. The pants and shoes run TTS and the hat is wonderful for both running and athleisure. And I use my belt bag basically daily. I feel like you can’t go wrong with that gift. The diffusor is on the top of my list!
If you are stuck on a really good gift for a guy in your life I am going to point you directly to these shorts. I got them for Mike a few months ago and he has loved them so much we got more colors. They have a built in liner! I love these earbuds because they stay in place without having an ear hook and they never start to hurt my ears. And you can’t go wrong with the Stanley quencher water bottle.
If you are looking for a big ticket item these five are definitely splurge worthy. This walking pad has tons of great reviews and would be perfect for anyone who works from home. And rowing is a fantastic workout. This rower would be a great addition to any home gym.
Ok, these brands and items are top of most lists this year. The women’s sherpa jacket runs TTS and has a great cropped fit. The men’s joggers are an ace in the hole – literally won’t disappoint. The mirror by LuluLemon is getting incredible feedback and would be great for someone who wants to workout from home.
IronMan race #3 is under my belt. Obviously the main question I get is “how do you feel?” … well I feel really good. Surprisingly good. Don’t get me wrong I’m not doing back flips or anything, but it is the best I have felt out of the three races. That right there is...
It is officially race week! And as predicted there are some wild emotions going on. It’s kind of hard to put into words even though this is the third time. But I am going to try and give you an inside look at my IronMan race week mental, physical and emotional...
Have you ever wondered what fitness equipment you really need? I am here to tell you the most used fitness equipment in our gym. These six items are used most often when working with clients and working out ourselves. After each piece of equipment I give you a little...
Click to sign-up for weekly information and offers.
DISCLOSURE
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
Click to sign-up for weekly information and offers.
DISCLOSURE
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
