Happy Waffle Wednesday!!!

Confession: I couldn’t wait until Wednesday this week, and ate up my waffles on Tuesday. I was waffling in spirit though :) Actually, today was more of a Weightlifting Wednesday. Alliteration Wednesday??

In my unemployment, I’ve become accustomed to waking up at 7am every morning when my mom’s boyfriendlifepartner wakes up. I make breakfast, drink coffee, relax, then go to the gym with my mom when she’s ready. This really is the ideal workout situation for me, as I’m adequately fuelled and caffeinated for when the real work begins.

However, life was not always so agreeable. Back in my working days (almost a month ago!!) I was up at 5am every day to hit up the gym before my office job. I got pretty used to this routine, and my body adjusted to the early morning beating.

Suffice it to say, this is no longer the case :P This morning I woke up, gobbled up a banana, and was on the elliptical within 30 minutes of rising. Whoa. Shock to the ole system. Took me much longer to get into the groove, but once I did it was gooood!

Warm-up: 15 minutes on the elliptical, increasing resistance

Straight set (x3)
One arm dumbbell snatch (shoulders, quads, glutes)

Superset (x3)
Wide-grip lat pulldown (upper & mid back, biceps)
Single leg squat (quads, glutes, inner thigh)

Superset (x3)
Cable twisting chest press (chest, front of shoulder, triceps, obliques) 
Single leg romanian deadlift (hamstrings, glutes, lower back, hips)

Superset (x3)
Dumbbell front raise with a side lunge (front shoulders, top back, thighs, glutes) 
Standing calf raise (calves) 

Superset (x3)
Incline curl (biceps)
Kickback (triceps)

Superset (x3)
Cable horizontal woodchop (obliques)
Reverse crunch (lower abs)

Solid, solid lifting workout folks! Lately I’ve been alternating between upper-body and lower-body moves with my full-body workouts. I used to do all compound moves, but I’ve noticed more results with a few extra isolation moves thrown in there. Whole thing took me an hour. Doing supersets helps me speed through it.

Oh yes, and why exactly was I up working out so early when I’m unemployed?

I had things to attend to of course!

 
Fun things :) Friends of Sister Jane were in town playing a show. Bette & Wallet play vamped up folk music, you can listen to them here! And while we’re on it, Sister Jane is a musician as well. She’s currently working on her third album, and you should most definitely go listen to her music here.

There, I think I have all my shameless plugs accounted for.

The only thing that could have made this concert better was some free food. Wait! It had that too!

 
There was a “backyard bbq” theme. Despite the event actually being held on the stage of a theatre. I showed up hungry and figured I could snack on the veggie tray until I found something better after we left. Little did I know it was going to be good food!!

Albeit, not the “healthiest” food. The options were beef chili, seafood chowder, dinner rolls, bbq drumsticks, ribs and a raw veggie tray.

As soon as I saw the chili I knew I was good. Chili is surprisingly a good choice at times like these (if you love the beef). It’s not made with cream, is chock full of veggies, meat and fibre, and relatively low-cal. I had one scoop of the chili (~1 cup), a piece each of the ribs and chicken just to get a taste, and filled the rest of my plate with veggies.

It was the perfect serving! I got to try some of the yummy stuff, without feeling gross and overstuffed after. They were also offering black forest cake and carrot cake, but I put my foot down to that. Ohyes, and I think I may have a new addiction to ribs ;)

That held me over for a long time while we visited with my Nana after. Only needed a small snack to hold me over till dinner.

Homemade Maple Cinnamon Protein Bar made with rolled oats instead of oat bran, and added raisins. Never fail!

Dinner was yet another feast. I have definitely been eating well lately!

Mother dearest put together a tossed salad.

While Mark made the dressing – 2 parts apple cider vinegar, one part canola oil, and some secret seasonings. He tells me that Dr. Oz says this oil/vinegar combo can make you burn an extra 50 calories a day doing nothing. Fact: so can adding one pound of lean muscle ;)

Taters! And the star of the show:

Baked trout. I love trout, I definitely need more of it in my life. I always seem to gravitate toward salmon instead.

My plate! Notice the new design? My mom replaced the old 1970s plates with ones from the cottage.

Fish + veggies is my favourite meal EVER.

Then we dropped Sister Sara off at the airport :( It’s okay though, I’ll be seeing her again in Ottawa in three weeks!

 

Okay, I was totally going to blog all about the Perfect Plank tonight. But honestly, my mommy is downstairs watching the Idol finale and I want to join her! Tomorrow, I will yammer about plank exercises. Promise :)

 

Questions of the Day:

1. What is your favourite kind of fish? Salmon if it’s fresh, tuna if it’s canned.

2. How do you feel about catered events? Do you partake? I never used to, but they don’t frighten me as much anymore. If worse comes to worst, I can have a dinner roll and that emergency protein bar I always carry in my purse :)