A Random Waffle Wednesday

Happy Waffle Wednesday!!

This week?s waffle is brought to you by blueberries.

The usual protein waffle recipe made with a quarter cup each of whole wheat flour, unflavoured soy protein powder and egg whites, teaspoon each of baking powder, cinnamon and vanilla, and a half cup of almond milk.

Topped with a mixed berry yogurt whisked with almond butter, fresh blueberries and a drizzle of syrup for good measure. Nom to the nom.

Lookie what I got today!!

Seeing this for the first time was so cool. Caitlin?s blog was the first food blog I ever read. I?ve been following her since 2008. I always knew she had that spark in her, and I am so happy she has become successful doing something so positive (to see what it?s about, check out Operation Beautiful here). Dude, she?s an author! Of a book!

Even cooler, I?m in the book :)

I submitted a blurb on overcoming gym anxiety and I?m stoked it made the cut into the final product. There are tons of bloggers I recognize in there. Really says a lot about how wonderful this blogging community is :) Oh, and you can read the full-length story on how I overcame my gym fears here.

Just a few years later, the girl who used to get panic attacks stepping into a gym now works at one. Can you believe it? In fact, the gym is probably one of my favourite places to be. I even hang out there to work out once I?m all done training. Here?s the fun full-body weightlifting sesh I tackled today:

Warm-up: 15 minutes on this elliptical:

A Precor CrossRamp. I don?t normally use this machine as I find the range of motion is weird for my legs. The little ramp in the front moves up and down, while guiding your feet along the same plane. It definitely challenged my leg muscles, but I just couldn?t get a high heart rate on it because the motion wasn?t natural for me. It?s important to experiment and find ellipticals that work for you!

After the warm-up, I grabbed a 20 lb kettlebell and did 3 sets of 20 kettlebell swings.

I felt comfortable doing this because I?ve done a kettlebell class before. I definitely recommend getting instruction from a pro before attempting these, as it?s suuuuper easy to injure yourself! On the bright side, it?s an awesome move ;)

Then 3 alternating sets:
Cable twisting standing chest press (12 reps)
Squat to cable row (12 reps)

Followed by 3 straight sets of 20 tactical lunges with a 20lb kettlebell. For this one, you pass the kettlebell between hands under your knee as you lunge forward, you can watch a video on it here.

Then 3 more alternating sets:
Barbell upright row (12 reps)
Dumbbell straight leg deadlift (12 reps)

Circuit done 3 times through:
Skull crusher (8 reps)
Plank on a bench (60 sec)
Barbell curl (8 reps)
Jump squats (20 reps)

60 minutes on the dot! This one had my heart pumping throughout. Usually I lower the weight on the isolation moves, but today I upped it to really hammer those muscles ;)

Finally, it?s been a while since I did some of the blogger questionnaires out there. Thankfully, Crystal nominated me for this award and I couldn?t resist but participate!

Here are the rules:

*Ahem* Thank you Crystal for giving me this award!!!

Okay, the 7 things?

1. My middle name is Elizabeth.

2. I re-read each Harry Potter book with each new book release, meaning I?ve read them 30 times.

3. I was born with a black eye.

4. If I could choose, my last meal would be my Nana?s egg sandwiches and potato salad.

5. My heart almost physically aches every time I see a dog.

6. I love the smell of second hand cigarette smoke.

7. My feet went down a shoe size when I lost 30 lbs.

Okay, so I honest to goodness do not have the time to go through 15 blogs, but I really love passing these things on. Instead, I tag the first 15 people who commented on my last post:

darryn (brio.gusto)

John

Emily

Laura

Katie

Lolzthatswim(andRun)

Angharad

kbwood

Tina

Laura@keepingslimandgettingstylish

Kristin (Cook, Bake and Nibble)

greensandjeans

Morgan @ Life After Bagels

runningaroundnormal

Renee

And I don?t have time to let y?all know you got the award! Soo, uhhh, I hope you read this! :P

You may be wondering why I don?t have time? well I?m leaving for Chicago tomorrow!! Okay, technically Kitchener, then driving to Chicago all day Friday. But it?s after 11pm and I leave at 10am tomorrow and I haven?t started any preparations whatsoever. Oh yeah, and I still have work to do for my real job! Aahhh, leaving things until the last minute, story of my life ;)

Can?t say I?ll be back with an update tomorrow, but I?ll try my darndest on Friday to get something up. I?m still contemplating how to blog about the Healthy Living Summit, seeing as 199 other bloggers will be covering all the same stuff. All I can say is that I?ll try to reflect it through my unique perspective as best I can ;)

See ya from Amerrrica!!! xo