Happy Monday, everyone!! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend full of delicious food and friends! Our friends from Nebraska actually drove out to Colorado to bring us our new hot tub and we partied it up the whole weekend…which made for an extremely lazy Sunday. But it’s Monday and it’s time to kick some serious ass in the gym and in our normal day-to-day life!
You guys. It’s almost Christmas. Not really, but pretty much. Lights are up, trees are up, malls are busy, parties are poppin’ and everyone is getting in the spirit. But that does not mean you have to throw all of your goals and plans out the window. You’re better than that! If you set a goal, don’t forget about it! If you’re trying to lose weight or drink less or stay away from sugar or workout more or whatever…JUST DO IT! Stick with it, make a schedule, create a plan and get after it, no matter what your goal is. So what if you “mess up” along the way, get back up that next day, next hour, even next minute.
I’ve talked about eating healthy around the holidays and while traveling on my podcast so be sure to listen to that because I have some great tools to help. But one thing that I’ve been doing lately, which has kind of become a life hack to help me cut out sugar, is brushing my teeth as soon as I finish dinner and putting in my retainer so I’m not interested or tempted with sugar later on. I caught a bit of sugar addiction after Thanksgiving and this brush/floss/retainer hack has really kept me away from the sugar devil. So game plan. Figure out your own life hack that keeps you feeling and doing your best every day. Whether that’s working out in the morning so you don’t have to question it at night, or packing your lunch so you don’t eat out, or planning family dinners so you get to eat the kind of food you want – whatever it is, figure it out and get after it. Before you know it, all these life hacks will become second nature and you’ll be feeling better with each and every day!
Sunday – Rest Day
Monday –
20mins Moving With Purpose
16 Unbroken Front Rack Walking Lunges (2 KB’s AHAP)
12 Strict HSPU
10 Strict Toes 2 bar
I got 4+16 using 35# KBs and going to 1 ab mat
6 min As Many Reps As Possible Of:
Assault Bike Calories (with a partner)
My partner and I got 150 calories together. We would work for 25 sec and have a 5 sec transition.
Tuesday –
Front Squats: 5 x 3, adding. First set at 70% then find a 3 rep max for the day. (15 mins) – I worked my way up to 145#
Then As Far As Possible in 10 mins:
40 Double Unders
3-6-9-12-15-18… Thrusters (95/65)
I got 21+42 using 55#
Wednesday –
2 Rounds Of:
6 min As Many Rounds As Possible Of:
10 Power Cleans (135/95)
10 Burpees Over Bar
– REST 3 mins –
6 min As Many Rounds As Possible Of:
12 Push Jerks
12 cal Row
– REST 3 mins
I got 4; 4+3; 3+18; 3+18
Thursday – Rest Day
Friday –
Deadlift: 3 x 7. All sets at 74% (14 mins) – I used 165#
Then For Time: (12 min time cap)
60-40-20 Wall Ball (20/14)
30-20-10 OH Squats (135/95)
I finished in 9:14 using 65# overhead squat
Saturday –
A sh*tty workout that’s not even worth writing down
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Free Travel Workout:
7 rounds for time:
10 man makers
20 tuck jumps
30 weighted russian twists
On Sale Fitness Apparel:
lululemon 7/8 Tights (25% off!)
Nike Tech Fleece Pullover (20% off – 2 colors)
lululemon Define Jacket (25% off – 2 colors)
Reebok Skyscape Casual Shoes (20% off – 2 colors)
Nike Metcon 2 (30% off – 8 colors)
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What I Ate in a Day:
Started my day off with a cup of coffee + a tablespoon or so of heavy cream and about 10 drops of liquid stevia.
After working and cleaning up the house for friends coming into town, I ate a lavender lemon poppyseed muffin (recipe will be on the blog tomorrow) then I headed to brunch with a friend.
At brunch at Root Down, I had another cup of coffee with cream and sugar then I got the steak and eggs which comes with potatoes, roasted veggies and chimichurri. It’s so bomb.
Before I worked out in the afternoon, I had a handful of gluten free granola. Then after my workout and showering, I tried out this yogurt. I usually eat sheep’s milk yogurt but they didn’t have it at the store so I tried this and it was pretty tasty!
Once our friends got into town, we headed off to Izakaya Den for sushi where I had 2 cocktails (blood orange horizon) then a sh*t ton of sushi. We had sashimi, nigiri and regular rolls and I ate a ton. I can’t tell you how much but it was delicious! Of course I got a pic of the cocktail but not of the food.
After dinner, we went to another bar and I had a couple sips of a cocktail but didn’t finish it because I was over drinking at that point. And I drank a sh*t ton of water throughout the day which I try to do everyday. Boom. That’s that.
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Just a reminder – I may be compensated through my affiliate links in this post, but all opinions are my own.
Saturday –
A sh*tty workout that’s not even worth writing down
i actually loled at that. i feel ya though. for me, it’s usually on that last workout of the week and my body and attitude are just not feeling it at all whatsoever and at the end i just look at it like well at least i did something as opposed to doing nothing even if it was shitty!
ready for that lavender lemon popyseed muffin recipe though. looks delicious.
it was the dumbest workout that I didn’t even sweat during so it just wasn’t worth talking about lol but it’s true, it’s better than nothing at all!
Thanks Juli. Going to try your Monday and Wednesday workouts later in the week 🙂 I also had a crappy workout on Saturday and stopped half way through as I was too exhausted from my workouts last week. So I spent the rest of the time foam rolling and stretching, and also had Sunday off. Feel much better today.
Congrats on finally getting the hot tub!
I woke up with a headache Saturday and tried to power through but left the gym grumpy and pissed which led me to buy new training shoes out of anger but they’re the tits so I’m not mad about it at all. So then, normally Sunday would be a rest day but used that as my usual “Saturday” and felt amazeballs afterwards. Crushed it. And that yogurt! Dairy and I don’t do well most of the time so those are my go-to!! I love them — I get the plain ones and mix protein powder in from time to time or a tablespoon of cacao powder and a few drops of stevia/dash of cinnamon to curb my sweet tooth at night! Nommm. Yay on the hot tub!!
Been meaning to ask what you do on your rest days – (yes, I know you “REST”) but I have such a hard time with rest days. I have been listening to your podcasts and taking to heart a lot of what you say about the pounds dropping when you stopped obsessing (and I have kind of stopped counting calories with my fitness tracker since it was making me crazy and trying to eat balanced meals to satisfaction). But rest days – I so struggle with those. I either run or spin (cardio junkie here) and on the days I don’t – I feel lazy, lethargic, chubby, lame … probably due to needing a rest day but then I force the dog into booty buster walks.
So for you – what does rest look like? 🙂
Thank you!!!
my rest day is totally resting. i maybe walk the dog for 15-30 minutes, but that’s it. i use to feel that same way, i felt like the rest day made me lethargic or left me feeling chubby, but the more i accepted rest days, the better i felt and the most i actually saw results. i have a tough time building muscle in my legs and once i started take rest days, the muscle tone in my legs slowly began to completely change! rest days are so important!
Wow, that muffin looks amazing!!!! Can’t wait for the recipe.
I made your chocolate “peanut butter” cookie bars for a party on Saturday and they were a hit! Thanks for the recommendation.
I love your advice about getting back at it. I made a few un-ideal eating choices this past week. The old me would have let this de-rail my whole weekend into a blunder of crap food, instead I just kept coming back to my clean eating the next meal and boy what a difference that has made!! Mentally and physically… Thanks for all the encouragement and motivation on here!
Thank you for the hack on curbing sugar cravings! I have been snacking way too much sugary snacks in the evening and will try out your trick 😉 Am also intrigued by your workout, but can’t really understand what those numbers or short-forms mean. Is there a page that you explain them? Thanks!
if you have any sort of specific question, just ask it here and i can explain it! when it says (95/65) – it means 95lbs for guys 65lbs for ladies. but let me know if you have any more questions and i’ll answer them right away!
Hi! I have some questions for now/ the podcast. 1) What are your thoughts on acai bowls? Of course they’re delicious and so instagram worthy, but they are so sugary. Yes/no? 2) Do you think people are born good at crossfit or it comes with practice? A little of both? I have been doing crossfit for what seems like forever (3.5 years) but just wondering what it would ever take to compete seriously. Just a dream. Muscle ups are hard. Thank you!
i think acai bowls are great for a treat, but not for a daily meal. they are really sugary. i just try to stay away from fruit all together most of the time. i think some people are born more athletic (not specifically cf related), but you can always get better at something with hard work. i wasn’t athletic until i started cf, i also wasn’t good at cooking before i taught myself – we can better ourselves by doing things consistently. to be able to compete in cf nowadays, it’s extremely hard, but it’s totally possible!
Hi, Juli! I really enjoyed your most recent reader questions podcast. So…I have a question: I started Crossfit about 3 months ago. I did the Fundamentals and now am able to just go to whatever regular classes that work for my schedule. I realize I am still very very new to all of this, but some days, when the workout is over, I don’t feel like it was challenging enough. I don’t do crazy heavy weight, but I do really challenge myself during the workouts and go as hard as I can. Is there something I could do differently? Is there a way I could tell if it is more of a programming issue? I know that everyday and every workout is not supposed to gas you, but the days that I feel gassed are fewer than those when I feel like I could’ve done more. I don’t know. Just looking for some advice.
Thanks for all of your help!
that’s a tough one. adding weight to your workouts may be the first step in challenging you more. if the programming is good, it could be that you’re not challenging yourself enough when it comes to weight. but it could also have to do with your programming as well, you never know! so i would first start trying to add a little more weight to your workouts to see how that feels then go from there!
We are getting our hot tub delivered today too!!! I am going to go extra hard at crossfit today, so that I can have nice sore muscles for the jets to work out.
yay!!!
Hi juli!
How much water do you drink a day and does it vary from day to day? I struggle with water intake as I do not want to feel bloated or retain it.
Thanks!
hey neha! i have a 32 ounce water bottle and i probably refill it 6-7 times per day. the thing with water is you won’t feel bloated or retain water if you’re doing this regularly because you’re constantly excreting it through your urine. if you don’t drink much water, you may feel bloated at first but that will go away very quickly.