Holla

It felt nice to have my “regular” Tuesdays back again last night, as it was our first day back to regular Two A Day Tuesday in the new year.  Liz did a great Kix class, and then I taught Workout A from Best Body Bootcamp in my Interval class.  It incorporated lots of slow and controlled movement so we could focus on stabilizing our bodies and using our cores.  The moves were pretty traditional (think squats, dumbbell chest press, etc.) so we didn’t get fancy, but I know I sure felt it more slowing things down.  The original workout called for taking 6 counts to get to peak contraction (aka 6 counts to get to the part where it BURNS), then holding for 1 count, then returning to the start for 2.  I changed this so I could still teach on an 8 count, so we took 5 counts to get to peak contraction instead, and the rest was the same.  My upper body feels a bit sore today.  If you are someone who tends to SPEED through reps at the gym, I suggest taking the time to slow things down a bit.  First of all, your clearly rushed workout is a pet peeve of mine.  Second of all, you’ll see results.

A couple other things from yesterday:

One of my F&F readers, Joy, came to classes last night.  I love meeting blog readers in real life.  Joy told me that I make her laugh every single morning, so that just pretty much made my night.  Hi Joy!  It was awesome meeting you yesterday.

Also, my new yoga mat arrived in the mail!

The folks over at Gaiam contacted me after stumbling across F&F and offered me a new yoga mat.  They must have picked up on how ratty my other blue yoga mat is from all the pictures I post using it.  I’ve seriously had that thing since Providence College.  Anyways, I picked out the purple flower of life yoga mat, and I’m psyched to start using it.

Gaiam also offered me the opportunity to try a month of Gaiam TV for free!  Gaiam TV gives streaming access to yoga videos, fitness videos, and more.  The login information provided to me is good to start any month, so I might hold off a bit until BBB is over to start using it.  I’ll keep you guys posted on how I like it!

Last night’s dinner was leftover crock pot pork & apples from the other night.  Whenever Tim & I are craving pork, pork and apples is one of our go to choices (from this recipe!), but normally we cook it by sautéing for a bit before baking in the oven.  This time we put a different spin on it and cooked in the crock pot.  It smelled so so good when I got home, and tasted good too.  Was very moist!  Sorry all you I-hate-the-word-moist people, but that’s how this pork was.  MOIST.

Crock Pot Pork and Apples

Recipe inspired by Eat, Live, Run.  Serves 4-6.

Ingredients

• 1.5 lbs pork chops, or pork loin (another nice word, LOIN)
• 3 sliced apples
• 1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp spicy mustard
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Place the pork chops or loin at the bottom of your crock pot.
2. Cover with remaining ingredients, place the top on and cook on low for about 6 hours.
3. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste right before serving.

Perfect comforting meal – no stress, not a lot of ingredients, great flavor combo.  I mean you can even leave the house while it’s cooking.

We enjoyed with a side salad.

Wish we still had leftovers for tonight, but I gobbled them all up so we don’t.

Today is my rest day from the gym, and it’s much-needed and wanted.  My day is still packed with work, an appointment, and a few errands to run tonight.  Don’t worry, I’ll still be doing my ab ladder tonight for today’s ab challenge!  Another one of my F&F readers told me at the end of Liz’s class last night that she’s been loving the challenge, so that also made my night.  Thank you!

What’s your favorite crock pot meal?

Enjoy the day!