Fruit Salad with Cocoa Nibs

When I think of a fruit salad, I think of those boxed, overpriced salad bowls at the grocery store. How boring...and plus, you have no idea if they washed them, how they washed them or how long they've been soaking in their "fruit juices". Gross.

When I think of dark chocolate, I think of chocolate cupcakes and delicious frosting. Yum.

Unfortunately, neither of those are...healthy or fresh.

This fruit salad is rather exciting. It's refreshing and it definitely cures your desire for some chocolate. It's a really easy recipe and the best part is, you can eat this as a dessert or replace it with your side salad.

Fruit Salad with Cocoa Nibs

• 1 Cup Strawberries, sliced
• 2 Fresh Kiwis, sliced
• 1 Cup fresh Pineapple Chunks
• 1 Tbsp dark chocolate cocoa nibs (directions below)
• 2 Tbsp maple syrup

Directions

1. Throw all the fruits together in a bowl
2. Drizzle maple syrup over salad & toss in cocoa nibs

Cocoa Nibs Directions

1. Take the cocoa nibs and place them on a cutting board
2. With a sharp knife begin chopping the chocolate as if you are mincing an onion
3. Now you have cocoa nibs!

Enjoy, my little hungry hearts!

Love, Angel xo

Bringing Sexy Back Workout!

I am not perfect. Even though I workout and work really hard at staying healthy, I still have certain areas about my body that I don't like. One of them is my back. 

I've never really even paid attention to it until I did start working out. I've been doing these workouts lately to have a more toned back. A lot of people seem to forget & neglect their back because who really thinks about that? Most of the time us ladies are more concerned about our abs!

Bringing Sexy Back Workout!

50 Dead Lift Upright Rows

Starting in standing position with feet hips width apart and slightly bending your knees, weights in front of your thighs. Bend at your hips to lower your torso until it’s almost parallel to the floor, keeping the weights close to your body but close to the ground. Return to standing while pushing up through your heels and squeezing your butt. Once in standing position, lift elbows to side so that weights are lifted towards your armpits. That's one rep.

25 Renegade Row

Get into a pushup position with your hands resting on dumbbells and your feet slightly more than hip-width apart. Brace your abs as you pull one dumbbell toward the side of your rib cage (b). Pause, lower the weight, then repeat with the other arm. That's one rep. 

25 Lat Pulldown

Sit at a lat-pulldown station and grab the bar with a shoulder-width overhand grip, arms straight and torso upright. Without moving your torso, pull the bar down to your chest as you squeeze your shoulder blades together. Pause, then slowly return to start. That's one rep.

Maybe with these workouts, I can finally wear shirts & dresses with pretty detailed backs!

Love, Angel xo

Strong Arms Workout!

I am officially back home from my trip to San Francisco! I'm happy to be home but I miss SF! Their weather is just absolutely different from Texas, it's foggy, cold, windy & wet. At least when I was there!

San Francisco is a tiny tiny land & it's jam packed. Everywhere you turn, theres people, buildings, cars or more people. There's hardly any land at all. To my surprise, since there's not much land available, their parks are built all within each other. So I saw a ton of people working out. It seemed like SF was a very fit place with all these people running and working out but it makes me wonder if it's only because everyone is at one park since there are hardly any parks. Either way, they're running & more power to them!

I wasn't lucky enough to get a hotel with a fitness room, I was practically crying all week. Now I'm back home and will hit the park as soon as possible, I need some rest first from my vacation...a little weird to ask for a rest from my vacation ain't it?? ;)

GOOD NEWS, I searched high and low for pictures that would demonstrate the workouts since I don't have the videos yet. I hope they suffice for now & I will definitely let y'all know when I have the videos up!

Strong Arms Workout!

50 Bicep Curls

Hold a pair of dumbbells at your sides, palms facing forward, and keep your back straight and chest up. Without moving your upper arms, bend your elbows and curl the weights toward your shoulders. Slowly lower the weights back to the starting position, straightening your arms completely. That's one rep.

25 Row with Triceps Kickbacks

Hold a dumbbell in your right hand and place your left knee and hand on a bench so your hips and shoulders form 90-degree angles with your legs and arms. Keeping your back flat and core tight, bend your right elbow to lift the weight to the side of your chest, then raise the weight behind you until your arm is completely straight. Reverse the move to return to start. Finish all reps, then repeat on the other side.

25 Overhead Dumbbells

Take object overhead, holding it with both hands. Keeping elbows pointed up, lower forearms behind your head, then straighten again. 

20 Stability Ball Chest Presses

Grab a pair of 8- to 15-pound dumbbells. Lie on a stability ball (positioning it underneath your mid to upper back) with your feet flat on the floor, knees bent about 90 degrees, and abs pulled tight. Hold the dumbbells by your chest, palms facing forward, and press them straight up toward the ceiling. Lower the weights and repeat, using your abs to keep your body still.

10 Push-Ups

I think everyone knows how to do these, if not, let me know!

1 minute Plank

Start to get into a pushup position, but bend your elbows and rest your weight on your forearms instead of on your hands. Your body should form a straight line from your shoulders to your ankles. Brace your core by contracting your abs as if you were about to be punched in the gut. Hold this position for 1 minute while breathing deeply. 

Let me know if you need any more details!! :)

Love, Angel xo

HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training)

HIIT is a workout that works best when trying to lose the excess weight that you have left. Also, if done properly, it can make your muscles stronger. HIIT is a burst of intense workouts done in a short amount of time.

If not done properly, you can cause damage to your bones and could really hurt yourself. So be safe & only do them as many times as stated in the calendar. If you are doing this on your own, make sure to space out the times you do them within a week.

Love, Angel xo

Tropical Papaya Smoothie

As the summer months slowly come to an end, this is what I imagine in my head. However, since I'm from Texas, beaches such as this photo don't exist...so I'm trying really hard to pretend that that sunset is right outside my window. Hey, a girl can dream right?

I can only assume you're here right now because you either have the August workout calendar and are checking out the smoothie recipe or you really are interested in the things I write...I'll take either answer!

If you've been following the calendar (first 4 days!), congratulations! I hope you have a fun time while going through each day.

Let me know how you're doing and feeling about it. Also let me know if there's anything specific you might want to see so that I can put it onto the September Calendar!!

Tropical Papaya Smoothie

• 8 oz. Coconut Water 
• 1/2 cup Frozen Pineapple, cubed
• 1/2 cup Frozen Mango, cubed
• 1/2 cup Fresh Papaya, cubed
• 1 Fresh Banana
• 1 tbsp. ground flaxseed (optional, but so healthy!)

Directions:

1. Add in the Coconut Water
2. Add in all of your fruits, if using ground flaxseed, add this in at the same time
3. Blend and drink!

Enjoy, my little hungry hearts!

Love, Angel xo

Sunkissed Abs

As you can see, my abs are not all there but they are forming.

I strength train almost everyday for 1-2 hours after my 2-4 mile runs. There are days I don't workout at all so I use that as my rest day.

A lot...and I mean A LOT of women get a misconception of gaining abs. They think they can eat a bunch of junk food, sit around and do nothing. When really, they should really be eating clean and training dirty. They also think they don't have to run but can do 1,000 crunches everyday and get abs.

Let's get one thing straight, abs are the muscle that lie underneath your stomach fat. So the more fat you have, the less your abs will show. If you're not running AND strength training, chances are, your abs will not show. Think about it, have you ever seen a woman who has rock solid, nice & toned abs...with extra fat? Not likely.

I still have fat to lose and I am not afraid to admit that. It actually makes me work harder to shed off the extra fat that I still have and tone up every inch of my body.

Don't be ashamed of your body. Love your body & it will love you back. Care for your health and it will care back.

Lets get rollin with these sunkissed abs shall we??

Have a workout calendar? Go back & check out the Booty Call workout so that you can do both of them together! :)

Sunkissed Abs!

50 Hand-to-Toe Criss Cross

Laying on your back, leave your right leg bent and left leg stretched out straight. Leave left hand holding head & right hand above your head. As you crunch and bring your leg straight up, bring your right hand straight up towards your leg too. Your leg and hand should meet in the middle of your crunch. Do 50 reps on one leg then switch legs.

25 Mountain Climbers

In plank position, tuck your right leg into your chest while contracting your abs (suck it in!). Release leg back into starting position & repeat with the left leg, that is one rep. Do 25 reps on each leg.

25 Criss Cross Climbers

Like the original mountain climbers, instead of tucking your knees into your chest, this time you will cross your right knee to your left elbow and vise versa. (Criss Cross) Release leg back into starting position & repeat with the left leg, that is one rep. Do 25 reps on each leg.

50 Stability Ball Crunches

With your back laying on a stability ball, do one basic crunch while contracting your abs. Do 50 crunches.

25 Reverse Crunches

Lie on your back and bring your knees up into a 90 degree angle (crunch position) With a slight tilt up and hands behind your head for support, bring your knees towards your head and into crunch position. Do 25 crunches.

25 Russian Twists (Works well with 5 lb. dumbbells or 5 lb. medicine ball)

Sit on the floor with your feet planted on the ground and knees pointing up. Slightly lean your body back into a comfortable and bearable position. (When you get used to this workout, the more you lean back, the harder your abdomens will work.) With your hands, dumbbells or medicine ball, hold your arms straight out in front of you. Begin twisting your body to the right while keeping your feet planted on the ground. Next, twist your body to the left & alternate sides. One right twist & one left twist is one rep. Do 25 reps on each side.

Booty Call Workout!

Bare with me.

If you follow me on Facebook you've probably seen me talk about filming workout videos. As exciting as that sounds, it's nearly impossible right now with my schedule. What's a busy girl to do?

So for now in the month of August, all of the workouts will have to be read & you'll have to work on your imagination skills. It's not that tough, promise! Then when September rolls around, I hope that I have the majority of my workout videos up that will be on the calendars!! If not, you can yell at me and I'll cry...but I'll try to take it.

Each day, there will be a new post so that means you will have to find some time in your busy day to head over here so that you can check out the blog & your daily activity! Unless it says cardio or gives a specific workout, you'll most likely be over here on the blog.

So today we'll be doing workouts that are great for the Butt & Legs...but mostly the butt. No, this isn't going to give you a bigger booty and make you look like JLo or Kim K, but this will give you a nice booty that is more firm. Nothing wrong with that now is there??

Booty Call Workout!

25 Squats & Bicep Curls

Stand shoulder-feet width apart with 10 lb. dumbbell in both hands. Bend knees and go into squat position while curling up the dumbbell with arms. Release squat & bicep curl and go back into starting position. That is one rep, repeat until finished. 

25 Kneeling Leg Pumps

Get down on all fours, with your knees under your hips and wrists under your shoulders. Pull in your abs, draw your shoulder blades back and down, and lengthen your spine. Keeping your right knee bent, lift that leg behind you, keeping your thigh and knee in line with your shoulder. Both legs should be at a 90 degree angle, one down on the ground and one lifted up. Press your foot up to the ceiling, giving your buttock an extra tight squeeze at the top of the movement. Do 25 reps on one side then switch legs.

25 booty bridge

Lie on your back with hands at your side and knees bent. With your feet steady on the ground & arms guiding, slowly lift your entire body off the floor until you have created a bride out of your body. Slowly release your body back on the ground and repeat.

1 minute Booty Blaster

Stand on both feet with knees slightly bent. Without moving, keep knees slightly bent, step your right leg back behind you then bring it back to starting position then step it out to your right side then bring back in to starting position. Remember to rely on the balance of your alternate leg. This move should be done one step right after the other & not slowly. Do for 1 minute then switch legs.

1 minute Roller-skaters

With knees bent, extend hips back. Step your right leg to the right and your left leg extends behind to the right then step to the left with left leg and right leg extending behind the left. (Imagine a roller-skater & copy that exact move)

I know it can be confusing because there are no photos or videos but if your imagination just isn't that wild, shoot me an email and I'll find some photos for you!!

Work it! ;)

Love, Angel xo