5 At-Home CrossFit Workouts

Being a college student and working makes it difficult to get to my CrossFit box every day to do a workout but I try to get in there at least 4 days a week. The days that I can't make it to any classes I still try to accomplish something at home. While I can't mimic every WOD that they do at the box at home due to a lack of equipment, I can still make up some of my own to get my blood flowing.

I have come up with a few workouts that the only equipment you need is yourself and they are sure to get your blood flowing! These are perfect for the days you can't make it to the gym or are traveling on the road. (Be sure to do some type of warm-up before doing a workout to reduce the risk of injury!)

15 Minute Tabata

Each exercise is 6 rounds of 20 seconds work, 10 seconds rest. Take a one minute rest between exercises.

1. Air squats
     - rest 1 minute
2. Push-ups
     - rest 1 minute
3. Lunges
     - rest 1 minute
4. Sit-ups

15 Minute AMRAP (As Many Rounds As Possible)

In 15 minutes, complete as many rounds of the following workout as possible.

10 sit-ups
15 push-ups
20 air squats

Jump n' Run

5 minute run, 250 jumping jacks, 5 minute run

15 Minute Burpee AMRAP

25 burpees
25 sit-ups

200 Air Squats

Complete 200 air squats for time.



* As always, I am not a personal trainer. These are workouts I have made up myself and may not be right for you. Consult a medical professional before making any changes to your current routine.

Rockin' Ribbons Giveaway Winner

Thank you so much to all who entered the Rockin' Ribbons Headband Giveaway! The winner is Tessa B! (Please check your inbox to claim your prize!)

If you didn't win but still want to try these amazing non-slip headbands out, remember that there is FREE shipping on all Halloween headbands until September 30th. Also, there are a few other bloggers who will be hosting reviews and giveaways shortly. Follow my blog and Rockin' Ribbons on Twitter and Facebook to find out when they are!

Hanging Out Upside Down

Ever find that hanging out right side up is a tad bit boring?

Megan and I prefer hanging out upside down!

After tackling a parade with 8 kids and taking them all to a community park event all day, we decided to catch the afternoon 4:00 WOD held every Saturday at our local box. The WOD was an AMRAP of deadlifts and handstand pushups! Are we crazy or what? And after the workout we still had enough energy to take the kids out to dinner...

Question of the Day

What's your favorite exercise to incorporate into a workout?

Free Fall Fair

Wednesday night one of the small country towns near our city had their annual Free Fall Fair. My mom and step-dad asked Jon and I if we wanted to drive up from school and go to it with them. Naturally we said yes as country music is our favorite. And who passes up a free concert?

A smaller band performed first and then Cole Swindell performed. He was a songwriter before he became a singer so he sang a lot of songs that he wrote for other big name artists. It was neat to hear him sing the songs he wrote for others and the songs he wrote for himself.

Being a free concert in a small town you couldn't expect too much from it. We sat on some old wooden bleachers surrounded by a lot of locals. There were a few verbal fights going on between some crazies and we couldn't see much due to all of the people who felt it was appropriate to stand right in front of us! But overall, it was definitely a fun time with some of my favorite people!

Question of the Day

Country music - love it or hate it? 

Paleo Pumpkin Pie Bars

Things have been pretty hectic around here. I am watching 4 kid this week (along with a few other helpers) while their parents are on vacation in Mexico! The past two days I had the evenings off so I was able to get some important things accomplished. One of those important things being baking.

I found a Paleo Pumpkin Pie Bar recipe online but I didn't have all of the ingredients on hand so I had to tweak it a bit. I was pretty nervous as tweaking baking recipes is very different from tweaking cooking recipes but it turned out pretty good!

I probably should have taken a picture of the individual piece I ate to show you how pretty the layers were but I ate a few pieces too many and it's gone now... The crust was definitely my favorite part! The pumpkin pie filling wasn't very thick and the texture reminded me of cool whip. If I make this again I will try and make the filling a bit thicker so it's more like pumpkin pie.

Ingredients

Pumpkin Pie Crust
1 1/2 cups almond flour
1/2 cup pecans, roughly chopped
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
4 tbs raw honey
1/2 tsp pure vanilla
1/4 tsp salt

Pumpkin Pie Filling
(1) 15 oz can of pure pumpkin
1/3 cup pitted dates, pureed in a food processor
1/3 cup raw honey
1/2 cup almond milk
2 eggs, whisked
2 tbs coconut oil
1 tsp pure vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2. Grease an 8x8 pan
3. Combine crust ingredients in a medium bowl and mix well by hand
4. Tightly press the crust dough into the bottom of the pan
5. Bake the crust 15-20 minutes. Then let cool (put in the fridge to help quicken the process)
6. In a medium saucepan, whisk all of the pie filling ingredients together
7. Cook the pie filling over medium heat. When the mixture starts to bubble, cook for 2 more minutes.
8. Remove the pie filling from heat and pour over the cooled pie crust.
9. Sprinkle a dash of cinnamon over the top of the pie filling.
10. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours before serving. Keep extras refrigerated.

Baker's Note

Your pumpkin pie bars will come out much better if you have a really fluffy kitten laying at your feet while you are baking!

 If you haven't entered my giveaway yet, make sure you do so! It ends Sunday 9/28 at midnight!

Question of the Day

What is your favorite pumpkin dessert?

First Day of Fall (Plus A Giveaway)

* This giveaway has ended *

I feel like it was just yesterday that it was the first day of summer. How it is already fall? I'm not upset though. I absolutely love fall. Sweaters, boots, coffee, bonfires, football games, pumpkin desserts topped with lots of whip cream, the colors changing, leaves crunching on the ground... the list goes on and on.

The way I'm celebrating the first day of fall is by lighting a pumpkin cupcake candle, giving myself a fresh manicure, and by eating a handful of pumpkin spice M&Ms. Oh, and I'm also offering a giveaway to all of you!

(Side note: There is also a giveaway going on on Twitter currently - that one is through Rockin' Ribbons!)

Giveaway

One lucky reader will win a Rockin' Ribbons headband of their choice! All you have to do is check out all of the headbands available by clicking here and then comment below with your favorite one! You can earn extra entries too!

The giveaway closes Sunday, September 28th at midnight and a winner will be announced on Monday!

Happy Fall!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Easy Crock-Pot Tacos

Dinner last night was about as easy and delicious as it gets, mainly because my Crock-Pot was involved.

I have yet to have had a bad Crock-Pot meal. I'm pretty sure you can put any combination of things in there and it will come out tasting heavenly.

Here's the recipe:

Easy Crock-Pot Tacos

Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts seasoned with taco seasoning
1 can (15.25 oz) Mexican style corn (or regular corn)
1 can (10 oz) diced tomatoes
1 can (10 oz) diced tomatoes and green chilies
1 medium onion, diced
1 cup sliced mushrooms (optional)
dashes of hot sauce (optional)

Directions:
1. Dump all of the canned ingredients, onion, and mushrooms in the crock-pot and mix. Place the chicken breasts on top of everything.
2. Cook on high for 4 hours.
3. Before serving take the chicken breasts out and shred them with a fork. Place them back in the crockpot and mix them with everything.
4. Serve on warmed tortillas. This is also delicious without the tortilla.

Question of the Day

What's your favorite crock-pot meal?

Rowing for the Fur Babies

Ever have one of those days where you have no motivation to work out, you're running late, and you forgot your gym shoes? No? Well that was me today. 

It's okay though, I just worked out in my socks (which I am now regretting - so many blisters!)

The WOD today was a partner workout which was my favorite and consisted entirely of rowing. I loved this workout and I hated it at the same time.

I loved it because my partner was one of my best friends. We've been really good friends, neighbors, and roommates throughout our college years. I actually introduced her to CrossFit a few months ago so I always love when we get a chance to workout together! 

I hated the workout because the straps you put your shoes into when you row were rubbing against the heels of my feet. Kind of like when you wear high heels or new shoes for too long. Ouch.

Curious as to what the title of this blog post is about? Each month my CrossFit box teams up with an organization called Sweat Angels. For every Facebook check-in the box receives during that month, money is donated to the charity of choice for that month. This month all the money raised goes to help the animals! In the past few months Sweat Angels has donated food to feed veterans and bricks to build schools in Haiti. Pretty cool if you ask me!

Paleo Nachos

I began the Whole30 challenge today, which means 100% Paleo, 100% of the time, for 30 days.
I've done this challenge before but then I fell off the face of the blogging world and never finished blogging about it! Sorry to leave you all hanging like that.

For dinner tonight, I really wanted tacos. Well, taco shells aren't paleo so I had to compromise and eat nachos instead! For these nachos I didn't use tortilla chips, instead I used sweet potato chips.

These were amazing. Seriously, I could eat this version of nachos forever and be satisfied.

Directions:

For the sweet potato chips:
Cut one sweet potato into thin slices, approx 1/4" thick. Soak the chips in a bowl of water for 10 minutes (this helps to remove excess starch and will help your chips crisp up.) Dry off the chips with paper towels. Toss in olive oil and taco seasoning. Put on a foil lined cookie sheet and bake for 25 minutes in a 425 degree oven.

Once your chips are done in the oven, top with your meat of choice that has been seasoned with taco seasoning and lots of veggies, salsa, hot sauce, and guac!

Follow me on Twitter and Instagram to keep up with my daily eats!

Question of the Day

Do you have a favorite meal that is Paleo and Whole30 approved?

Rockin' Ribbons

Guys! The headbands are up and running again!

Please take a few minutes to go check out all of the awesome patterns by clicking on the tab at the top of the page. I would love to know what your favorite prints are!

Also be sure to follow Rockin' Ribbons on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook! Lots of deals and giveaways will be coming up shortly that you won't want to miss.

Well, Hello There!

I've been gone awhile. I can't believe my last post was almost 6 months ago!

I plan on blogging much more often, especially because I have a lot more free time now than I used to. A little bit about what I've been up to...

I'm still doing CrossFit and love it. I've been doing it for almost a year now! I haven't been running much on my own and normally only run if it is part of the workout that day.

I'm eating a mostly Paleo diet and have found that it works wonders for me. I did the Whole30 challenge a few months ago and the results were amazing. I will definitely be posting my eats and recipes on here!

I'm a nanny now (I have been for 6 months), which I absolutely love. The baby girl is such a sweetheart and is always happy, which makes my job much easier.

I graduate from college in 3 months! I am so ready to be done - but not for long. I will begin graduate school next summer.

I'm bringing my headband business, Rockin' Ribbons, back to life! I can't wait until it's back in full swing. More details to come and links will be up on the blog soon.

I am now a mom to two little fur babies. I have two kittens, Hazel and George, and I love them to death. If you want to keep up with their cuteness you can follow them on Instagram! Yes, my cats have their own Instagram.. Don't judge me!

Well, that about sums it all up. CrossFit, nannying, school, headbands, and kittens.