Holy Moly Monday

Monday has turned into quite the busy day! Holy moly! I feel like I’ve been running around like a chicken with its head cut off all day long! Woah.

Anyway, let’s get to it!

Snack

Mid-morning, I did a little baking in preparation for my afternoon trip to the gym. I eat breakfast so early in the morning that by the time Body Pump rolls around at noon, I’m starving! I decided to deal with this by baking some Homemade (Re)Fuel Bars to snack on before my workout.

Homemade (Re)Fuel Bars

Makes 5 bars

Ingredients:

• 1 cup oats
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup protein powder (I used Vega Smoothie Infusion)
• 1/2 cup liquid egg whites
• 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 cup raisins

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350*F
• Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well
• Spray an 8 X 4 loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray
• Spread batter into pan evenly and use a spatula to flatten
• Bake for 12-15 minutes
• Allow to cool before cutting

The bars turned out pretty good! They have lots of healthy carbs and protein and they’re not super sweet. They definitely make a great pre- or post-workout snack.

And, they’re travel-friendly!

Of course, I needed to taste-test the bars, so I threw one into my gym bag and snacked on it while riding the bus on my way to the gym.

After packing up my gym gear, I headed downtown to run some errands. It was cold, rainy, blustery morning in Boston– it would have been the perfect day to sit on the couch and watch a movie.

My morning errands included a trip to the bank, CVS, and hunting down a French baguette for dinner tonight– and I knew just the place to find it: Deluca’s Market on Newbury Street.

Duluca’s is the most adorable little market with a wonderful selection of quality groceries, fresh produce, prepared foods, cheese, beer, and wine. They pretty much have everything I’d ever need!

I purchased a French baguette at Deluca’s and then walked over to Healthworks for a workout. I probably looked wicked cool walking around the gym with a baguette sticking out of my bag.

Workout

At Healthworks, I did 45 minutes on the elliptical followed by a Body Pump class. Both were excellent.

So, I was thinking about why I love Body Pump so much. Actually, there a lot of reasons: it’s a challenging workout, it makes you feel powerful and strong, the music pumps you up, and your body gets ripped. All great reasons, right?

Another reason why I enjoy Body Pump is because it’s fast and dirty. You work really hard, push yourself, sweat buckets, and before you know it, the class is over. And, you feel awesome afterwards!

A typical Body Pump class is organized into 8 different tracks– one for each of your major muscle groups. (There’s also an opening warm-up track and closing cooldown track.) The focus of the class is muscle endurance, so you do lots repetitions for 4 – 6 minutes during each track. I love this workout format because it breaks the class into 8 smaller chunks, which shifts my attention to just one part of my body at a time. I’m able to focus my attention on proper form and push myself until the end of the track. It’s so much easier think about maintaining my level of effort for 4-6 minutes than it is for a full 55-minute class. Basically, I “dig my heals in” and focus on getting to the end of each track and use every ounce of effort I have.

Ok, I think I’m officially addicted to Body Pump again!

Lunch

When I got home from the gym, I was star-ving, so I immediately dug into one of my Homemade (Re)Fuel Bars. It held off my hunger until I had time to make lunch for myself.

Today’s lunch consisted of leftover chili (surprise!) and Triscuits.

Lunch also included grape tomatoes, celery, and carrots sticks with a yummy blue cheese dip.

We’re having friends over for dinner, so I need to clean our apartment and start prepping.

Back to my BUSY Monday!

Tagged as: Bear Pond Farm, Blue Cheese Skinny Dip, Body Pump, Deluca's Market, Healthworks, Homemade (Re)Fuel Bars, Matévana + Rooibos Chai, Newbury Street, Teavana