P90x3 Week 1 Review

I made it! Week 1 finished! It wasn't so hard that I wanted to die and quit but I had my butt handed to me by Tony every single day. I loved it. The workouts were very calculated so I didn't feel any of the 30 minutes were wasted. There were rests just when I needed them and I was always just sore enough the next day to know I did some real work. Let's take a gander, shall we?

Monday/Day 1/ Total Synergistics
   Very creative moves. I wasn't bored at all, in fact most of the moves were new to me. There is a little bit of chin-ups, push-ups, squats in new positions, and resistance training. It wasn't as "fast-paced" as some of the workouts, but the focus isn't on cardio so that made sense.

Tuesday/Day 2/ Agility X
   Ok if we're being super honest I didn't like this workout. It's not that it wasn't challenging or different, it was both.... but personal preference I'm not a fan of jumping. The point of P90x3 (and all the p90x series) is to give you well rounded workouts that increase your physical abilities in all areas of fitness. This is jumping. Quick movements. Speed. You tape the ground and use it as reference points throughout the workout. It was still a great workout, I was sweating by the end of it, and it's only 30 minutes. I can do anything for 30 minutes.

Wednesday/Day3/ X3 Yoga
   Yoga is a great day to have a workout buddy. My sister stopped by and I didn't really give her a choice. I put my daughter to bed and told my sister where my workout clothes were located. We pushed play. We laughed a lot. We discovered yoga is hard, we're both not very flexible, and there's a joke in every pose. My husband could hear us laughing, yelling, and falling over. A lot. Great video for a buddy. Great active rest day.

Thursday/Day 4/ The Challenge
   Do you like pushups? Do you like pull-ups? Great because you're going to do them back to back for 30 minutes. It was an excellent workout. Remember that I'm a stylist during the day? Yeah, I could barely lift my arms at work. One of my goals in P90x3 is to kick girl pushups to the curb, so I'm excited to see myself get stronger and stronger with this one!

Friday/Day 5/ CVX
  Welcome to your Cardio session for the week. Except I usually hate cardio and I LOVED this. Cardio with weights?!?! Yes, please!! Cardio without tons of jumping? Even better. I'm actually looking forward to doing this again this week.

Saturday/Day6/ The Warrior
   Sir, yes Sir! This was a salute to the military. Tony came up with this one for soldiers who needed a workout they could do anywhere. No equipment needed. This will be great when I'm downstate or on vacation. I came upstairs after doing this and told my husband, "That was defnitely my favorite so far."

Sunday/Day 7/ Dynamix
    Another great active recovery workout, but I still felt like I was accomplishing something. In this one you're working on flexability and stability, both things that I really need work on.


Overall I'm jacked on this program. The 30 minutes make it completely doable, even on the days that I don't quite get up at 5am. Tony's funny, but not over the top (like in p90x where I wanted to mute him the whole time) and the "backup dancers" are great inspiration and motivation. I always want to push to be just a little better than them. There are modifications on just about every move, especially the more difficult ones. For any of you that have completed any of the Beachbody programs before I really think p90x3 is a great way to take your fitness to the next level. I'm so excited to reach my 90 days!!!!


If you have any questions about the workouts or about Beachbody programs in general, shoot me an email @ summerfitness12@gmail.com  or comment below!

xoxo,

Summer

Meal Prepping

You've heard about it. You may have even seen co-workers that seemed to have balanced, healthy lunches everyday and your first thought was, "Omg, how do they find the time to make that every morning?" They don't. Well most normal people don't. You get the occasional "I have tons of free time in the morning" person, but in the real world most of us have barely enough time to eat breakfast and put clothes on. So I'll show you how it's done. It's all about preparation. Think ahead to what you want or think you might want that week and make it happen when you do have the time rather than fighting for it 5 minutes before you're supposed to be in the car.

Now I'm going to lay out a Meal prepping plan for you exactly how I do it every Sunday afternoon. Feel free to get creative. Use different meat. Change up your veggies. Buy different seasonings. This can vary based on the nutrition plan you're following. This is what I did when on the Fix and currently on p90x3.

Here's what you will need:

Tupperware- I don't care if it's brand new from Costco or your grandmother's hand-me-down from a tupperware party she had in the 60s. It will work. 5 containers should do it.

Cooking spray- olive oil or coconut oil spray are my fav.

Chicken- if you can afford it get the good stuff. I can't, so I buy the stuff in the bags. I typically get the "tenderloins" instead of breasts because they cook better and I can portion control them as well.

Seasonings- I love Mrs. Dash Original. No salt and it tastes great with whatever I decide to do with my food. Anything will work though (The Fix has great seasoning recipes!)

Bake sheet

Frozen Veggies- this makes my life. Seriously. And now just about every brand makes them in the steamable bags. It's a win/win world. Now I have tried just about every "mix veggies" package out there. California blend kinda makes me hate lunchtime. Stir-fry mixes are where it's at. Particularly at Target. Market Pantry brand is great, just the right mix of veggies and NO MUSHROOMS. (blech.)

Quinoa- it can seem intimidating but it's not. Super easy. I buy bulk organic so that I don't have the "rinse" step taking up my time, but if you choose to buy it "normal" than just rinse your quinoa in a really really fine mesh strainer first.

Ok. Got it all? Let's get started.

First you want to Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

Great. Now place 1 cup of quinoa and 2 cups of water in a pan, cover, and let it come to a boil. 

While that is heating up, let's tackle the chicken prep. Gather your supplies:

Spray your baking sheet down, distribute your chicken, and then spray the chicken a little just to make the seasoning stick to the frozen surface. Then sprinkle a little of the seasoning over the chicken. Now you're probably thinking, wait how much chicken am I going to need? If you did the tenderloins about 2 is a serving. If you did breasts then 3 is about what you need. Think 5 portions at about 3 oz a piece. 

By now your oven should be preheated. Set the timer to 7 minutes and throw them in. Check on your quinoa. If you're boiling, turn in down to just a simmer and keep it covered for 15 min. ( or when we're all done with the chicken b/c that's how awesomely this is all timed out)

VEGGIES. Thank God for microwaves. I have friends who don't have them. What the what?!?! How do you survive. Actually my husband didn't own one when we met. He literally heated leftovers on the stove. Sounds exhausting I know, but if you don't have a microwave, there are instructions on the frozen veggies on how to heat them on the stove. For us microwave people, I heat them for 4 minutes. Not enough to actually cook them, but just defrost them a bit so I can measure them. You'll end up cooking them when you heat them for lunch the day of. Here's so you can see which ones I typically buy:

When the timer goes off for the 7 minutes mark, check your chicken and flip it over. I HATE dry chicken and this seems to be the best way to cook it without over cooking it. Set the timer for another 7 minutes. 

When that is finished pull it out and set the chicken to the side. Check on your quinoa. It should be fluffy and all the water should be cooked out. Lay out all your tupperware. 

Now here is where you would cut up the chicken if you needed to measure it in your RED container on the Fix or you can just weigh it like I do and stick to 2-3oz as a portion size. 

The veggies I do 1.5 cups for regular or p90x3 portioning... if you're on the Fix just use your green container. 

Quinoa is a yellow container OR 1/3 cup.

Mix it together and you have a great stirfry that's read for you to just grab and go for the week!!!!

There are all sorts of clean stirfry sauces you can find on Pinterest. I'll try and upload a recipe soon! I personally like it plain but I appreciate the need to spice it up. Also I've found that these keep for a week. I know people say don't keep things for more than 3 days, but I've never found that to be a problem. I make them on Sunday and eat my final one at work on Saturday. Works for me! :-)

 I hope you found this helpful! Please comment any questions or ideas! I'd love to hear them. Also shoot me an email if you would like more details on eating clean or the 21 Day Fix or P90x3. 

And so it begins...

I'm a little nervous as I write this. I've begun my 90 day journey with p90x3. It's been a 6 month process getting here. In January I decided to really buckle down and start taking my fitness seriously. No excuses. I would MAKE the time to workout. I ordered t25 becuase I work full-time and have a family. My time to workout is 5am, so the shorter the better. It was a great program and I definitely got into better shape. My results were sub-par. I hadn't followed the eating plan. We eat pretty clean around here and I just thought "I'll eat healthy, workout and the weight will fall off". That didn't happen. I realized I needed a reevaluation of my diet. Abs are made in the kitchen folks!!! So I ordered the 21 day fix. This is amazing. If you're feeling confused about portion control for your body or even how to just eat balanced throughout the day, this is a great program to get you started off in the right direction. I lost 10lbs in 1 round of the Fix.


I happen to be one of those body types that carries a lot of weight spread all over her body so it never looks like much but it's always adds up fast. I lost a total of 5 in over my whole body! An inch off each arm!!! I can't remember the last time my arms were smaller than 12in! Then I took the summer off. By that I mean I maintained my weight and worked out a couple times a week. I live in beautiful Marquette, MI. Which means we wait through 9 months of winter for 3 gorgeous months of summer. We play outside... A LOT. Mountain Biking, hiking, and walking down by the water or basically everywhere. I love it here. I realized though, as does anyone who goes without routine of any kind, that I missed it. I missed waking up with purpose and having goals. I also craved paper and yellow pencils but that maybe the impending fall creeping into my thoughts. So I began my search for something new. Sure, I could do the programs I have and get great results.... but I know me. I L.O.V.E change. I crave. I wake up every morning hoping today is going to be drastically different than yesterday, even if yesterday rocked my world. So I was looking for new. I knew I loved p90x but my only complaint (and most peoples) was the 1-1 1/2 hr long workouts. Yeah, I could MAKE the time, but that was a lot of time and I was spoiled from t25 and the Fix 30 min workouts. I needed to get in, get my butt handed to me, and get out. I have a 15 month old, a husband and a full-time job. I need simple, laid out for me programs that can give me the results I need with the time I have. p90x3 was it. It has everything I need. Now I won't rant in the post (no promises for the future) but I love Shakeology. Seriously. You need to try this stuff. It's got everything I need in one shake... I already told you how busy my life is. One less meal to worry about? Yes please! All the vitamins and nutrients from around the world in one shake? YUPP! Easy. Done. On with my day. PS it's awesome at killing sugar cravings and getting my chocolate fix at the same time. BOOM. So much for not ranting. All this to say that I decided to go with the Challenge Pack. You're getting your ShakeO and program in one package at a lower price. You can't argue with that. Plus it sets you up to keep getting the ShakeO at discounted shipping. Win Win. Then I decided to get a little crazy... I became a Beachbody Coach! I'm already a huge supporter of the programs and lifestyle. I love that the company is all about helping people commit and succeed at being the best versions of themselves possible. And I already have people asking me all the time about beachbody. It was time to take it to the next level.
So that is how my journey began.... and now it has started. I took my before pictures and measurements yesterday

and I woke up to Total Synergistics this morning and loved it! I'll be posting my meal plan later this week and then reviewing my first week this coming weekend! So watch for those posts and thanx for checking out my journey.

xoxo

Summer