Glutes

It seems like yesterday when Ellie was laying right by me in these videos, unable to crawl yet, and just bundled up in her swaddle. Now, she's doing them with me, looks forward to our time exercising together, and even led me in her first little mini workout (watch for it at the end... bumper turns and "the mermaid." Gosh, I love my little workout buddy and only get excited to watch her grow.

1. 50 Banded straight leg lifts, 25 per side

2. 40 Banded fire hydrants, 20 per side

3. 30 Weighted squat pulses

4. 20 Banded glute bridges

5. 10 Slow to squat... and then knee-knee-stand-stand

Repeat 3-4x through for an amazing burn!

Legs

A leg circuit to keep you going! Taken from a just piece of my gym workout that is coming for all my @momstrongmove people next week! This one burns- give it a try and add it into your routine. 

1.    Holding a 20# body bar or dumbbell, perform inclined step-ups into reverse lunges, 3 sets of 8 on EACH leg! (A total of 24 reps per leg before moving on... these are burners!)

2.    Banded side steps with squats, 20 reps

3.    Med ball slams, 12-15 reps

4.    Step crossovers, no weight, 10-12 reps each leg

5.    Bandded Inlcined bridges, 10-12 reps

Repeat 2-3x through

Arms

Today Ellie learned the art of the chest bump (wait for it). This arm circuit BURNS- you'd think holding 5# DBs would be easy, but it just keeps getting harder. Give it a try! You'll love this one!

1 minute curtsy lunges with snow angel arms

1 minute front raise- alternating and then together

30 seconds half snow angel

30 seconds front raise into snow angel arms

30 seconds scissor jumps with shoulder press

Rest 15 seconds

30 seconds scissor jumps with shoulder press

Rest 15 seconds

30 seconds scissor jumps with shoulder press

Repeat 2-3x through!

Cherry Vanilla PB Shake

A new favorite post workout shake! Give it a try!

Ingredients:

6-8 ice cubes

1/2 (overflowing) cup of frozen dark pitted cherries

1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk

1 serving vanilla protein powder

1 Tbsp. PB fit

1 tsp. chia seeds

*optional: 1 tsp. cocoa powder if you want to add some chocolate to the mix

Instructions:

Mix in a high speed blender until smooth.

Chili Lime Sweet Potato Fries

Our new favorite way to make sweet potato fries! They have just the kick to spice things up, and I know you'll love them too!

Ingredients

3 sweet potatoes

2-3 Tbsp. olive oil

1/2 - 1 tsp. sea salt

1/2 - 1 tsp. Trade Joe's chili lime seasoning

1/4 tsp. black pepper

Instructions

Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes, and then flip. Cook for another 12-15 minutes, or until fries are just starting to brown and crisp up a bit. Serve with homemade fry sauce: Stubb's BBQ sauce mixed with Plain Greek yogurt. Yum!

Partner Workout

Tomorrow I'm running @spartan with my favorite guy. When I married Bry, he loved to ski and play soccer, but he wasn't a regular exerciser at all. Over time, he's watched me wake up early, get to the gym, and before I knew it, he was doing the same thing. I've watched him notice the changes within himself as he's started to exercise regularly. Not just physical, but he's felt more productive at work, happier, more motivated, more confident... and now he's the one pulling ME out of the bed to get to the gym. I'm so dang proud of him. This will be his second race ever tomorrow, and you bet I'm going to be right there by his side crossing the finish line with him.

Sometimes all it takes for someone to get motivated is BELIEF. Belief is irresistible. So tag your gym buddy and give this new workout a try.

Partner sweat sesh: Let your partner choose their first circuit... Bry wanted to work chest. While he did his thing, this is what I did...

1. Treadmill for one minute, fast run into 

2. Upside down bosu weighted squats with a press (I was holding 30#)

3x through

.

Superset

1. Tricep extensions, 3x20

2. Tricep kickbacks, 3x15

.

Handstands while I waited for him to finish chest. ;)

.

Then together:

1. 30 reps, Partner med ball sit-ups

2. 8 Mountain Climbers + 1 pushup while other partner holds a plank, then switch! Stop when you've done 8 total rounds switching off

3. Partner wall sits with med ball toss, 1 minute and then switch

2x through

.

A challenge to end: Tandem push-ups...  try at your own risk, and I dare you to do them without laughing

Momstrong: The Ultimate Workout Playlist

It's here!

Momstrong: The Ultimate Workout Playlist

Created, by YOU.

After Bry and I listened to over 150 of your song suggestions on my Instagram post... we narrowed it down to 72 new songs to give you our favorite workout playlist (created mostly by YOU). There's nothing more fun than listening to new music as you're training, sweating, and moving each day. Enjoy. Find me on Apple Music here.

I'll be adding to this playlist as I find more good beats. Also, my favorite new earphones linked here: the Sudio Niva wireless earphones. Use MOMSTRONG15 for 15% off!

(I just used screenshots below, and so I apologize for any duplicates.)

Treadmill Cardio + Legs Circuit

This is one you have to try!
1. Two minutes, fast jog (speed 7-8, incline 3)
2. One minute, Banded side steps (speed 1, incline 3) BOTH SIDES
3. Two minutes, fast jog
4. 20 incline push-ups
5. 20 banded pop squats
REPEAT until you've run 1.5 - 2 miles (and if you need to modify reps on the push-ups and pop squats, please do!)
*End with 1-2 minutes of a banded hill climb (incline 25, speed 1). Focus on pulling those knees up and in with band as you hike.

Loving my x22i Incline Trainer from @ifit

Sleeping well with Lull

I have had lower back issues, and my firm mattress we got when we were first married (six years ago), wasn’t helping with relieving any stress while I slept. We have been on the market for a better mattress for a while now, and we decided on Lull. Here’s why:

With my lower back, we needed something to provide spine alignments and evenly distribute my weight; something I didn’t have with my old one. This mattress is a three-layer memory foam mattress: One layer is designed specifically for therapeutic support, allowing your muscles to rest throughout the night. I love that when you lay down, you can feel it sinking slowly in around your pressure points. The first time I tried it out, I got SO excited. I could just feel it working like I wanted it to. Watch this video here to see what I'm talking about.

I also love that there is cooling comfort involved in this mattress. My husband gets really hot while sleeping, and this has provided some relief because the gel-infused top layer fits to your body and provides airflow to pull some heat away. I love that it’s helping both of us get a better night’s rest.

The other great news: they will give you a full refund after 100 nights of sleep and it also comes with a 10 year warranty. That’s pretty promising! We look for companies like Lull that provide a good warranty like this one, because it’s a sign of good quality products. The base layer is supposed to provide years and years of quality sleep with no sagging.

Other benefits: it comes in a BOX! Delivered right to your doorstep. No trying to jimmy-rig a mattress to the top of your car… you order this online (which is super easy!), and it comes right to your doorstep, and when you take it out of the box, it expands and evens out to perfection. SO easy, and SO practical. Plus, it’s a fraction of the cost of other mattresses you’d find on the market that offer similar products. A mattress like this for under $1000!? SOLD! It’s no wonder they have 10,000+ customers rating the mattress with 5 stars.

Looking for a mattress like we were? Go no further, and pick Lull.

Get $150 off your mattress    with this link.

Total Body

Before you go anywhere, I'd advise you take some notes when Ellie does her burpees. :) This ia a workout you can do anywhere! Bry and I did it in Lake Powell one evening (and thought we were going to die - it was 100 degrees), but it's modifiable for all fitness levels. It's the 5-10-15-20 challenge. I DARE you to try to get through it five times. 

Here is goes: 

5 pull-ups (modified version shown, or use the assisted pull-ups machine at the gym)

10 push-ups (also can be modified on knees)

15 burpees (I can't get enough of Ellie's burpees!!!)

20 lunges

Repeat 3-5x through. If you get through it 5x, you're my hero. If you get through it even once, you're still my hero. :) Get moving today!

cardio circuit

Your cardio circuit challenge: do you accept?

Try this the next time you feel like getting that heart rate up high.

1 mile run

1 minute jumprope

30 sec - 1 min. hop-over burpees

1 minute toe taps

Rest 1 minute and repeat 3x through.

Legs

A killer leg circuit for your Memorial Day. Feeling grateful for all who have come before me, to fight for what they believed was important. 

1. 10-12 Plyo lunges with row

2. 20 Goblet squat pulses

3.10-12 DB press burpees 

4. 15 Goblet squat pulses

5. 10-12 Weighted reverse lunges + kick, (10-12 reps EACH leg)

6. 10 Goblet squat pulses

7. 10-12 25# KB swings (you can also use a DB for these)

8. 5 Goblet squat pulses

Repeat 2-3x through and end with handstands or push-ups until failure... just because you can. ;) Happy sweating!