Green Monster

Not that kind of green monster :)


I'm a little late to the Green Monster trend, but srsly, how did I wait this long???

You may or may not have ever heard of this crazy food before, but here's the gist of it:  green monsters are smoothies made with milk (or soy/almond/rice milk, whatev), fruit, and spinach.  Spinach???  Yep, that's what makes it a green monster!

Sounds disgusting, looks no better.  But really, they taste freaking awesome.

I gave it a try a couple of weeks ago because spinach went on crazy big sale at No Frills (98 cents per giant bunch!).  I'm trying to increase my veggie intake, especially the dark leafies, so I thought that this would be a good opportunity.  Turns out that there are TONS of recipes available online, and lots of variations to the basic green monster recipe in which people add chia seeds, flax seeds, wheat grass, nut butters, different fruits, using kale instead of spinach, frozen vs. unfrozen spinach or fruit, etc.  The possibilities are endless!

Here's what I did:

Basic Green Monster
Add ingredients to your blender in this order:

handful of spinach (about 1 - 1 1/2 cups)
1/4 cup other fruits (I used raspberries and blueberries)
ice cubes (use lots if you want a chunky super cold smoothie, less if you want it smoother)
1 banana
1 cup milk, or soy, almond, rice, whatever you like.  You can also use sweetened milks (e.g. vanilla soy milk).

Place ingredients in blender.  Blend until fully incorporated - spinach is pulverized, ice cubes are all broken up, deliciousness appears.  Taste -- add sweetner if needed (e.g. honey, agave nectar).  If you are using sweetened/flavoured milk, you will probably be able to skip this step.

WHOA!

This is my new go-to post-workout snack.  I'm getting a serving of milk, at least one serving of veggies, at least one serving of fruit, AND it's delicious!

For more recipes, check out http://greenmonstermovement.com/

Boot Camp - Recap

Today was the last day of bootcamp!Really, the only reason that I didn't continue with the camp after my 4 weeks was fully to do with money.  Bootcamp is pricey.  However, I feel that I got every cent worth out of it, and I definitely intend to go back in the near future (maybe in the spring/summer)!

My measurements:

• Upper arm: start 11",  today 10.5" each arm
• Total loss: 0.5" each = 1"
• Chest: start 31.8",  today 32"
• Total: gained 0.2" (I'm told that the reason for a larger reading for chest and butt is often because as you build muscle in these areas, you are lifting the chest/butt, causing a larger measurement despite having gained muscle.  I'll take it!)
• Waist: start 28.5",  today 28.5
• no change
• Hips: start 37",  today 35"
• Total loss: 2"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• Butt: start: 41,  today: 41.1
• Total: gained 0.1", same reason as chest measurement :)
• Upper thigh: start 22.8,  today 22.2 each leg
• Total loss: 0.6" each, = 1.2" total!

TOTAL INCHES LOST: 4.2 (net: 3.9 lost)
WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Weight actually increased somehow, from 145.2 to 146.4.  I blame this on the delicious Chinese food that I had for lunch (and maybe the slice of pie I ate last night.....), because other than that, I've been really good about tracking my food for the last month.

However.

Much more important than weight, I also had my body fat % measured (we used calipers).  I'm not totally sure that it's accurate, because it seems REALLY FREAKING LOW considering the mush that I still have on my gut :P 

Start body fat: 22.6%
Today: 16.3%???????????????????????????????

I'm not sure that I believe 16.3%, but I definitely did reduce my body fat %.  The caliper measurements were quite a bit smaller than last time.  I also have noticed less jiggle in my arms, and the fact that I actually have a space between my upper thighs for the first time in like, years.  Wooo!

FIT TEST RECAP

• Squat jumps:   Last time: 34 squat jumps
• This time: FORTY TWO.  Holy crap!
• Push ups:  Last time: 3 on my toes (man-style), 16 on my knees
• This time: TEN on my toes, and another 14 on my knees
• Burpees:  Last time: 5 with push up (all on toes) and 10 walking legs out.  A note: burpees come in an in-between variation, in which you just jump your legs out and back in without the push up.  I was not able to do this last time.  Those 5 burpees with pushups had attempted jumping legs, but largely unsuccessful, and I walked my legs out almost every time.
• This time: ELEVEN burpees.  All with pushups, all of those on my toes.  Oh, and I jumped my legs out for all of them.  Whaaaaaat???
• Plank: Last time: held for 40 seconds on toes and till 2:30 (end of time) on knees.  At the time, doing the plank on forearms (more difficult) was definitely not an option, and I did the plank on my hands.  My shoulders killed after 40 seconds, which is why I dropped to knees.
• This time: 40 seconds on forearms and toes.  Held till the end of time on knees.  I totally could have held for another 5 seconds or so, but again, the shoulders were feeling angry.
• Suicides: Last time: 22 rounds.  After that, I thought I would die.  I couldn't breathe for at least 5 minutes after and my heart rate didn't start to feel like it was going at a normal speed for a long time after that.
• This time: 22 rounds again.  However, recovery was WAY faster.  I was breathless for like, 30 seconds.  By one minute after stopping, I was good to go for the rest of the fit test (we did this first).

AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I've noticed a huge improvement in my muscle recovery over the last 4 weeks as well.  After the 1st camp, I was SO SORE and honestly couldn't move the next day.  The last few camps though, I've had just some muscle tiredness post-camp, but usually I'm good by bedtime, and definitely good by the next morning.
Most important to me, my running endurance has improved.  I was stuck at a 3-3.2km distance forever, unable to push past that wall.  When you're planning a half marathon, that's a REALLY BAD THING.  I've increased my average distance by about 1.5km over 4 weeks, about a 40% increase in distance.  I'm able to maintain my speed a lot easier, and controlling my breathing better.  I also recover easier and faster when I do take walk breaks.  I'm planning to run 5k this weekend for the first time since October, and I suspect it won't be as hard now as it was then.