Oats and Intervals

This Monday morning started out with a sweaty interval workout. I love intervals. They are a great way to maximize your workout time and give you the ability to accomplish a lot in that short amount of time.  With little rest periods, your heart rate stays up, enhancing your cardio effect, as you move from one strength move to the next.  My workout this morning was comprised of only three exercises, but they work your entire body. After four rounds of the three moves, I was a sweaty mess and my strength circuit was complete in 15 minutes!

I began my workout with a quick run to warm my body up and get myself in the mindset for the strength intervals. Okay, actually I wasn’t completely sure of what type of strengthening I wanted to do today, so my time on the treadmill was spent planning. Here’s the breakdown:

Run:

1.5 miles at 6.0 mph pace

10 run intervals (alternate between walking at incline 7 for one minute and running at 6.6 mph pace for one minute)

Strength Interval:

Move #1 (Continue going through this combo for 1 min): Squat and jump forward, squat 3 times, squat and jump backwards, burpee with push up

Rest: 15 seconds

Move #2 (Continue for 30 seconds): Plank Jacks (In plank position, jump feet out and in, in a jumping jack like manner)

Rest: 15 seconds

Move #3 (Continue combo for 1 minute): Crab dips with one leg raised (5 reps), flip over into pike press (3 reps)

Rest: 15 seconds

Repeat four times, then cool down and stretch.

Even without the run, it’s a great workout. Definitely a quickie for if you are pressed for time.  For beginners, leave the push up out of the burpee and take longer rests if needed.

 

After showering it was time to refuel with a healthy breakfast. I whipped up a batch of overnight oats this morning and let them sit in the fridge while I worked out and showered. It only sat for one hour and was already pretty thick. Left overnight would be even thicker and creamier. I amped up the filling factor by adding a scoop of vanilla protein powder to the mix, along with pumpkin pie spice for even extra deliciousness. I can’t wait until I can get my hands on a can of pumpkin to add that to the mix as well!

Pumpkin Pie Protein Overnight Oats

serves one

1/2 cup rolled oats

1 cup almond milk

1 T chia seeds

1 scoop vanilla protein powder

1/4 t cinnamon

1/4 t pumpkin pie spice

Whisk all ingredients together and let sit in the refrigerator for at least an hour or overnight. Once ready to eat, give a quick stir and enjoy! Can top with nuts, raisins, fruit etc. if desired.