Little paleo chocolate cakes and a MerryMaker sisters workout

Exercise we all know is important for a healthy, happy body but it can also be fun and a great way to socialise, spend quality time with our kids, make friends, challenge ourselves and find our inner strength and love for our bodies as well.

Putting the FUN and the planning back into fitness for 1 week thanks to Fitness First I swapped my unstructured and untimed long pram walks and swim laps at the pool, for a very exciting, very specific and wonderfully challenging routine created by the dynamo duo The MerryMaker sisters

Do you do the exact same exercise routine each week?
Have you ever tried changing it up a bit? Challenging yourself? Adding specific structure? It feels amazing, even if you think you are pretty fit, a new routine or exercise feels so energising and motivating.

I was a little bit worried at first about fitting it in completely and space wise as a single mum of two kids and all that, as the Merry Maker sisters are two young, child free ladies with that thing called spare time!
BUT I already am pretty good at fitting in a hand weights routine and some great deep stretching at night after the kids go to bed so I made it work (maybe not the best time of day to be working out, but it sure is the easiest and quietest!!) It would have also been a great one to do at the gym like in a Fitness First Gym's functional area and you could even combine it with a great gym class to make a fantastic session and also so you have the added safety of experienced personal trainers on hand to make sure you are doing everything correctly, which is so important.

What the girls put together was fun and very motivating.

I used to go to the gym a lot before my second baby, ok I almost lived there! And this routine made me (and my body) remember how good it really feels to take part in a structured work out, a work out that challenges you and makes you want to do more, be more, feel empowered in your body as well as doing exercise for mood and health like walking.

So I have had a great exercise week, OK except for one particular component I have to be honest, the pull ups! I seriously need work to get them happening properly!

What was my work out?
I am sharing it's outline with you, fellow mummy readers so you two might be inspired to shake up your routine a bit. I do highly recommend always seeing a personal trainer and your medical professional prior to undertaking and new exercise and it makes such a difference if you can learn a new routine under their watchful eye, ensuring correct posture and of course because you feel so much more motivated!!.

DIRECTIONS this is a functional fitness based regime. High intensity for a short amount of time. This would be for intensity level 8-10, though it could also be for lower intensity with lighter weights. Use weights that you feel comfortable with. These workouts can be completed in the new Fitness First functional area. We’ve added a yoga/walk for recovery.

Day 1
4 rounds for time (25 minute cut off)
10 shoulder push Press
30 skips
10 pull ups (assisted if required)
30 skips
20 push ups
30 skips
20 kettle bell Swings
Day 2
24 minutes, as many rounds as possible:
3 push ups
4 pull ups
5 box Jumps
Day 3
4 x 3 minute rounds of:
500m row sprint
Maximum amount of back squats in remaining time
3 min rest
*each back squat takes 1 second off your row time.
Day 4
20 minute cut off:
400m Run
21 x pull ups
21 x kettle bell swings
400m Run
15 x pull ups
15 x kettle bell swings
400m run
9 x pull ups
9 x kettle bell swings
Day 5
Every 2 minutes for 20 minutes complete:
5 x deadlifts
10 x weighted sit ups
Maximum amount of pull ups in the remaining  time
Day 6
Flow yoga/ Body Balance class at Fitness First OR leisurely walk.

NOTE: I didn't have a kettle bell handy over the week and couldn't make the gym due to a hectic schedule so modified with hand weights and the pull ups well, keeping with honesty were a bit of a challenge....
I am yet to master pull ups well, ok really at all in sets if I am being honest, and actually even when I was training in taekwondo and boxing and the fittest shape of my life  before baby number 2 I had trouble with these so achieving them and achieving them well is something on my goal list and something I know I need to get coaching for specifically in the gym to get there with an expert trainer that gets me and my body and what I need to do to get there, that can teach me, guide me and make it happen. This is what I plan to do as my youngest starts kindy soon and I will be hooking up with experts like Fitness First to get me back into my fittest body ever - hello Summer bikini's this Christmas!

And on top of the workout to soften all the sore muscles from the week I also made a delicious little recipe by these gorgeous girls, one I had to make twice as my kids swiped the first one, I tweked it a little - as you do right! I reduced the cacao - because it makes my kids hyper! Used coconut sugar and increased the liquid as we found it just a teensy bit dry. The Merry Maker sisters one pot paleo chocolate cake  which we enjoyed with lovely fresh strawberries from our garden.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon cacao 

1/2 tablespoon of coconut flour

1 free range egg

1/2 tablespoon of coconut sugar

1/4 cup /coconut/almond/dairy/soy milk

Method

Mix all the ingredients together and then very quickly (because it is that sponge like coconut flour) pour into ramekins and bake in the oven (we do not use or recommend microwaves at all which is what the sisters use in this, but you can do it which way you prefer, though I strongly discourage use of microwaves)
Don't leave the room as they bake super quick! You will know they are done when they have a lovely baked smell and a crunchy top, depending on oven and size of ramekins could be 1-5 minutes. 

Notes

• Another version we made (but didn't exactly measure - sorry) we doubled the recipe and added natural yoghurt which really amped up the moistness and made it even more palatable than before :)
• This does only make a small quantity.
• Swap the coconut sugar for stevia or raw honey.

Thank you Fitness First for shaking up my routine and putting the challenge, motivation, precision and FUN back into my workouts, not to mention finishing it off with healthy chocolate!

#lifeisgood #changeforethebest #Fitnessfirst #beahealthyhappymum #sponsoredpost

BEK XXX