Create Your Own Total Ab Tabata

There’s really no way to sugar coat this, so I’m just going to say it. I HATE training abs. I don’t know why; it’s just the way it is. I always dread it, I come up with every reason under the sun to put it off, and I’ve been known to half ass it even when I do force myself to get it done. The problem with this? Surprisingly, I am not happy with my current level of abdominal muscle development. I’ve finally accepted that no amount of sitting around and wishing for a defined midsection is going to the get the job done, so I’ve been making more of an effort to hit my abs a couple of times a week. I have discovered one way to make this training more tolerable – tabata!

Tabata training is a style of interval training developed in Japan; 20 seconds of work are followed by 10 seconds of rest, and this pattern is repeated 8 times for a total of 4 minutes. You can read more about it here and here. When I train my core, I like to complete one exercise for upper abs, one for lower abs, and one for my obliques. I usually like to finish up with a series of three 1 – 2 minute planks. In order to keep it interesting and to keep my body guessing, I usually mix and match the exercises I perform. To create your own tabata style ab routine, select one exercise (see instructional links for each exercise below) from each of the three sections. Complete the full 4 minutes of intervals with each exercise; rest for approximately a minute (or as long as necessary – your abs should be burning by the end of each 4 minute bout!) prior to moving on to the next 4 minutes of intervals.



An audible timer is key to being able to complete these intervals; I installed this free app on my Droid, and it has worked wonderfully for me.

Weighted Crunches
Exercise Ball Crunches
Stability Ball Roll Out
Stability Ball Pass
Reverse Crunch
Hanging Leg Raise
Exercise Ball Pull In
Scissor Kick
Oblique Crunches
Russian Twist
Cross Body Crunch
Straight Leg Pendulum

Cherry Almond Cheesecake Mousse

This Peanut Butter Cheesecake Mousse from Cara’s Cravings has been one of my go-to snacks ever since I first came across the recipe. It’s a great way to get in some protein post-workout, and it works equally well as a bedtime snack. Sometimes I refrigerate it and eat it in mousse form; other times I freeze it and enjoy it more like an ice cream treat. I’ve used virtually every variety of peanut butter known to man while making it – my favorite version is made with Archer Farms Creamy Cinnamon Peanut Butter. The other day I was flipping through old issues of Clean Eating Magazine when I stumbled upon one of my favorite clean desserts – clafouti! Looking at the picture reminded me of how much I enjoy the cherry & almond combo, and I realized it would translate well into a protein treat.

Cherry Almond Cheesecake Mousse

Adapted from here
Makes 2 Servings

10 oz 2% fat cottage cheese
1 1/2 tablespoons almond butter
2 tablespoons cherry preserves (I used Smucker’s Sugar Free)
Truvia or sweetener of your choice, to taste (I like things really sweet, so I used 6 packets of Truvia)
1/4 tsp almond extract

Add all ingredients to a food processor and process until smooth. 

Calories: 199
Fat: 10g
Carbohydrates: 16g
Protein: 14g
Calculated on Sparkrecipes.com



This turned out better than I anticipated. It was rich and smooth with a strong almond flavor, and the cherry preserves added a fruity lightness to the mousse. I love that it kept me full until lunch after an early morning high intensity gym session.

Speaking of the gym, here’s the quick interval workout I completed before meeting up with my boxing trainer for our weekly session.

I didn’t want to completely wear myself out before boxing, so I ran the sprints at 10 mph and recovered at 3 mph. Today’s cardio-heavy workout was a welcome change after three days of lifting heavy. This week has probably been the best week of training I’ve had in a while; I’m hoping the trend continues since there’s only a little more than a month left before we run Vegas!

Finding Food, Fitness, and Fun on the Internet

I have been completely devoid of creativity the last few days. I always turn to the internet for recipe and workout inspiration, but usually I like to put my own twist on things. Not this week; this week, I don’t want to have to think at all. I want every last step plotted out for me. Luckily, there are a ton of brilliant bloggers out there who make it easy to do a quick search and find exactly what I’m in the mood for when it comes to both food and fitness.

Food

• I saw this Sweet Potato, Sausage, and Sweet Potato Hash from So Good Paleo on Carrots’n’Cake and made it the very next day. It was healthy, simple, and flavorful, and the leftovers tasted just as good as the dish did on the first day.
• Whenever my husband and I go out for Chinese and there’s Mongolian Beef on the menu, it’s his first choice, so when I saw a crockpot version on Very Culinary, it was a no-brainer. I used about half the cornstarch the recipe called for and replaced the white wine with chicken broth because I didn’t want to open a bottle for only a quarter of a cup. I ate it over roasted spaghetti squash with some onions and peppers, and it was a big hit with both me and Cesar.
• I made these scrumptious Cake Batter Energy Bars from Chocolate Covered Katie. I didn’t use the sprinkles, so mine are nowhere near as cute as hers are, but they taste fantastic. I don’t think they are going to last very long in this house because I find myself cutting off tiny pieces pretty much every time I walk by the refrigerator.

Fitness

• During the first few intervals of this Treadmill Torture from One Fit Foodie, I was thinking to myself that the recovery periods were longer than necessary; then I got a little deeper into the workout, and I quickly realized I was wrong. As much as I love distance running, I also really love spending less than 25 minutes on the treadmill and still feeling like I got in a quality workout. This routine definitely gave me that feeling of accomplishment.
• This Burpee Blast Upper Body Workout from JillFit.com pretty much rocked my world. It was 20 minutes of intense, focused, heart-pounding, muscles-on-fire awesomeness. I will be using the Compact Chain concept that the workout utilizes when I come up with some of my own workouts in the future.

This song has been the soundtrack for much of the time I’ve spent in both the gym and in the kitchen this week. I’m a tiny bit obsessed with it at the moment.

Sometimes I really wonder how I ever survived without the internet…