Thank the sweet heavens it’s Friday! And thank the sweet heavens it’s a rest day! My body needed a rest day after the brutality I put it though yesterday. No surprise it involved three circuits for a full body workout.

I completed a three mile run before going through this workout and then I about died. Woah! What a tough combination of moves. Adding in a plyometric move here and a tough bodyweight move there really amped things up for me. That workout perfectly rounded out my workout week and getting back on my A-game. And speaking of plyometrics – stay tuned for this afternoon’s post. ;) 

Besides the luxury of allowing my muscles a reprieve before tomorrow’s planned nine mile run, rest days also give me the chance to have a more leisurely morning without having to rush out the door. This allows me the perfect chance to whip up a fun breakfast. When I don’t workout, my appetite feels rather tame. I want a lighter meal. For today, I namely want yogurt and granola…but that doesn’t sound very filling.

Ah, I know! I’ll combine two of my favorite snacks – yogurt + granola / mock apple crumble – into one meal. I will turn these three things…

….into a light, yet filling, and healthy, yet tastes like dessert, breakfast recipe!

Apple Pie a la Mode Yogurt Bowl

• 1 container frozen vanilla Greek yogurt
• 1/2 cup granola – Love Grown, but of course!
• 1 apple
• 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
• 1/2 tsp all spice seasoning

Chop the apple into one inch even pieces and place in a microwave safe dish. Sprinkle with the all spice seasoning. Microwave on high for 2 – 3 minutes. Or however else you like to get warm “baked” apples if you’re fancy and don’t believe in microwaves.

Spoon the frozen Greek yogurt into a blender or food processor and add the 1/2 tsp xanthan gum. Blend until it becomes a thick, almost ice-cream like consistency.

Serve both in a dish with the granola. That’s it!

Thank the sweet heavens for delectable (and easy!) breakfasts like this! Excuse me while I eat my dessert breakfast. Have a great Friday!

• What do you like to do on your rest days that you don’t typically?
• What did you have for breakfast today?

So, who all got sucked into the mindless reality television a la The Bachelorette last night? I sure did. For some reason, I can’t help myself and inevitably have at least one junky show like this to watch every week. Usually I will watch a night or two later, but I didn’t want to risk any spoilers so I caught the show for myself last night. Although I still haven’t seen “After the Final Rose” so don’t give me any spoilers about that!

We still didn’t want to get caught with a load of commercials though, so we made a little plan to use our time wisely. Because even spending time watching this show is a prime example of using time wisely, no? After a fabulous white bean salad for dinner and getting the kids to bed…

…we each took an hour to work on on our own tasks. I studied up another half of a chapter in my NASM textbook while Peter worked on a software project of some sort. Then, we started the trash TV and chilled together the remainder of the night. We usually only half watch anything on TV because we’re I’m too busy talking about other things, but we both found the finale rather entertaining. Hey – my brain needed a break after an overload of information on how to properly assess clients!

Although I’m not complaining. I love all the information studying for personal training has given me. I have picked up quite a few useful tips to apply to my own workouts. Each workout has given me something to get excited about and a new challenge for my body. That gives me the warm and fuzzies. Or, more aptly, the sore and hard-corezies. We’ll just pretend that makes sense.

In yesterday’s full body workout, I incorporated some of the suggestions on supersets and challenging the body with new moves. While the notion of keeping a variety in my exercises is certainly not news to me, my recent studies did serve as a great reminder and got me to actually pull out something different. The switched up layout and addition of some stabilization moves has given me major DOMS (aka muscle soreness) today in my upper body. I even managed heavier weights than I thought I could for most exercises. Guess that week of rest did me good? 😉

Yet again, I did three circuits of increasing intensity. I completed each circuit three times through before moving on to the next. It took about 35 minutes from start to finish.

In addition to the weights circuit, I completed a 45 minute spin class with my favorite, favorite, favorite, favorite instructor of all time. I arrange my workout schedule around her classes because she is that amazing.

She kicked my booty. And it felt so good! Thanks, Sophie!

Needless to say – I’m back on my workout high. My love for fitness certainly works out. Now it shall be interesting to see if Ashley & JP work out as well. Gotta love my fabulous puns and tie-ins! No? Oh well. I still love you. Have a great Tuesday, friends!!!

• How long do you give the new Bachelorette couple to last? I give a year. Tops. I don’t have any faith in those relationships…yet still watch. I don’t get it either.
• What is the hardest thing to come up with for you in a blog post, such as the title or topic? Mine is hands down the transitions between topics!