Day 22 Get Fit Challenge...I am a cooking machine

All this week my brother is in North Carolina so his fiance and I are on our own for workouts. He left us lifting schedules and I ran through my new HIT workout with him last night so I think we are going to be just fine...in lots of pain, but fine.

My new HIT workout is a bit more intense than last week's (and here I thought it couldn't get any worse). 

2 sets of wall sits at 30 seconds each

alternating heavy rope work for 45 seconds

20 tire flips (timed for speed)

thrusters with small barbell for 1 min

whip heavy rope work for 45 seconds

concentration shuffle with 30lb kettlebell (down and back 4 times)

alternating sledge hammer squats 2 sets 1 minute each

side to side heavy rope work for 45 seconds

box step crunch 4 sets of 1 minute each-1st set straight, 2nd set left side, 3rd set right side, 4th set straight

2 sets full plank for 30 seconds each

Cardio is still at 35 minutes but my intensity has been increased so that when I am on the elliptical machine it feels like I am trudging through quicksand.

There is something about starting off the workout with wall sits that makes the rest of it so difficult probably because the majority of the stances for the exercises are in a squat.

In food news now that I am off carbs and increased my vegetable intake I decided to switch it up and make something with more flavor that was a bit more filling to eat on this week in addition to the tomato/cucumber/onion salad and green beans...ratatouille. I was pretty nervous in making this since usually the base involves olive oil but I was happily surprised when it still turned out delicious without it. I opted for the easy one pot version because really who has the time to finely slice zucchini, yellow squash, eggplant, red bell peppers, mushrooms, onion, and tomatoes by hand and alternate the slices in a baking dish...definitely not me. Instead I cubed everything into bite-sized pieces and cooked it all in a large pot on the stove. The great thing about this is that because of the juices from the tomatoes is made this great reduction that I can pour over my chicken breast to help it not be so dry when it's reheated. Keeping that one in the recipe rotation. Nom Nom!