Good morning! Happy Hump Day!
Breakfast
Yesterday’s breakfast kind of bombed, but it still tasted delicious. I made Plantain Pancakes with Maple Coconut Cream and Toasted Walnuts again, but I was impatient and turned up the heat too high on the stove, so my pancakes stuck to the pan and fell apart. I wasn’t about to waste food, so I put the pieces in a bowl, added some Maple Coconut Cream on top, and ate them right up. Delish!
Workout
After breakfast, I headed to CrossFit for a workout, which was mostly rowing (15-minute warm-up + 15-minute rowing technique + 25-minute rowing WOD + 5-minute mobility).
Except for a brief stint with crew in college (I rowed for like a month before I realized I preferred boozing-face to early wake-up calls), I never really used an erg (aka indoor rowing machine). Most of the gyms I belonged to over the years had one or two, but I never used them. I didn’t know how and I didn’t think it would be much of a workout. I mean, I always saw old people using the rowing machine.
Since starting CrossFit, however, I quickly learned that rowing is quite a good (ok, ass-kicking) workout. Rowing helps build and tone muscles, strengthens cardio capacity, and increases stamina. Rowing also burns some serious calories. An intense workout on a rowing machine can burn up to 125 calories in 15 minutes or about 500 calories in an hour! [source] That’s almost as much as running!
With that said, here’s the workout we did at CrossFit yesterday in a pin- and printer-friendly format. “Rest 1:1” means you’ll rest for as long as it takes you to row, so, for example, it took me 4:00 to row 1000 meters, so I rested for 4:00 before rowing 500 meters. As you can see, you’ll row for a shorter and shorter distance, so you’ll want to pick up the pace, but your rest time is less, so the workout actually gets quite a bit harder as you progress. My quads were on fire during it!
If you’re new to rowing, check out this video with CrossFit Rowing Coach Shane Farmer, who gives some tips and drills for perfecting your rowing.
Snack
After CrossFit, I was really hungry, but it was only 10:45, so I made myself a snack: cantaloupe with avocado, lemon, and honey. Ok, this probably sounds like a weird mix of ingredients, but I swear it was really good!
Ingredients:
- 1 cup chunked cantaloupe
- 1/2 avocado, diced
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp honey
Directions: Mix lemon juice and honey together and then toss with cantaloupe and avocado. Eat!
Question of the Day
Do you ever use the rowing machine/erg for your workouts?
P.S. For the pug people: Introspective Pug Is Introspective About Being A Pug
