Killer Basic Training + What’s the deal with Chia Seeds?

Morning all! 🙂

This morning my lovely mumma and I got up early and went to our ultimate favourite class: BASIC TRAINING!

When I lived at home a year ago, we’d always wake up on a Saturday morning, pumped to hit up basic training, and then hang out after; grab some coffees and maybe some brekkie. It was our little weekly special mother-daughter date, and I’ll tell you what, I miss it so much and may or may not be having major withdrawal symptoms! (sadface).

So now whenever I get the chance to go home for the weekend, we always make sure we get in a good basic training sesh together to start our Saturday off right!
Today’s class was awesome, and a really good 50/50 mix of cardio and strength training.

Our warm up was:

• Laps of room with push up intervals
• Alternating between high knees, butt flicks and fast feet, with of course a few push ups thrown in there for a lil’ extra torture!

The next phase was a killer cardio circuit:

• Partner sprints while your buddy does high knees
• Burpees (with a push up, may I add.. oh lordy, gonna be feelin’ that one later.)
• Caterpillar reaches- okay, clearly in all my professionalism, I know the legit names for things… and I think it says a lot about my maturity levels: “look Mum, I’m a caterpillar!” 😉 Basically, it’s where you walk out in front of you on your hands (with your feet on the floor) and add in a push up, then walk back into the standing position 🙂
• Plyometric lunges
• Crunches

Then as we’re all gasping for air and basically rolling around on the floor in an attempt to catch our breath in the foetal position, the strength circuit was underway!:

• 12 shoulder presses, followed by 12 squats on both legs with a barbell, then full range of motion sit ups
• Next up – 12 dead lifts, then 15 squats, then drop straight to the floor for some good ol’ mountain climbers

I’ve always been a massive fan of basic training, because in an hour you squeeze in both a fantastic cardio AND strength workout, what more could you want?
It’s all a win-win, really!

Afterwards, I refueled with a big brekkie, making sure I stealthily snuck in my food starting with ‘B’ for day 2 of the #PlantPOWER challenge.

I inhaled my summer fruits muesli, with shredded coconut, pepitas, white chia seeds and of course the star of the show: banana!

Am I sly, or am I sly…

Now guys, I’m extremely excited about something; probably (…okay, definitely) much more excited than I should be, but whatevs.
I just got this amazing new workout tank from Lululemon, and I just had to share the new love of my life with you, check it out:

  

Am I right, or am I right?! What I love about it, is that it’s so different than any of my other standard tanks I usually wear. It’s different, and just has this really nice girly touch, and the detailing is gorgeous! It’s also not too clingy, which is something I’m not too much of a fan of mid-burpee, not gonna lie!
God, I really need to learn to control my obsession with Lululemon and Lorna Jane cute workout gear; my bank account would be my new best friend.
…Someone plan an intervention, maybe? Please and thankyou. 🙂

Another thing I’m just getting into is chia seeds- I hear about them all the time, and how they are one of the best superfoods you can incorporate into your diet. To be honest, I put it off for a long time because A) I had no idea what they were, and B) I had no idea what you do with them… like, do you literally just chuck them in your food? Do they taste weird? Someone show me the ways!
So basically, I did a bit of research, was feeling inspired to give them a go (they don’t bite, Kloe, it’s okay!) and picked myself up a packet.

It seems these guys pack in a lot of nutrition for a little bub of a seed!
Here are some of the awesome benefits:

• They’re a great source of protein- they’ve got the 8 essential amino acids our bodies can’t produce
• They’ve got heaps of omega-3 fatty acids- you can also get this from salmon!
• They’ve got fibre to boot- get this: one ounce of chia seeds have 11 grams of fibre! Hell yes.
• They’ve got le calcium – 3 teaspoons = 300mg of calcium
• They’re gluten free- so great for those who obviously have to follow a gluten free diet

They’re amazingly versatile, and you can literally chuck them in anything to give your meals and snacks an incredible nutrients boost!
Think smoothies, cereals, salads, the possibilities are endless, so get creative. 😀