Man oh man. This one’s a gem.

Lately the weather has been just bad enough to deter me from going to the gym on occasion, but that’s no excuse to not workout. I’ve scoured YouTube to find the best at home workouts I can, and I found some GOOD ones. Lately, I’ve been doing these two:

Follow the first 10 minutes of this for a cardio warmup:

Then switch to this one for 3 rounds of intense bodyweight strength training:

After you complete the second one, go back and finish the first one for a final burst of plyometric cardio, and you’ll be EXHAUSTED! The other thing I love about these videos is that it only took me about two times through each of them to get the routine down – nothing too complicated for you those of you who lack coordination.

I took my weekly rest day yesterday, but listened to my body this morning when it told me it still wasn’t ready to jump back into a day of lifting. Instead, I stayed home and did these videos. I wanted to work out first thing in the morning, but I didn’t have a ton of energy and didn’t want to eat something too hearty before doing plyo cardio. So, I broke open my new Driven preworkout mix!

I discovered this mix on iherb.com after searching FOREVER for a preworkout mix that has all natural ingredients and no artificial sweetener. I was immediately turned off to this one when I saw “NO SUGAR” on the front, but it turns out that it’s sweetened with STEVIA FOR THE WIN!

In my opinion, it was a little too sweet. I mixed one scoop with 1.5 cups water, instead of just 1. That worked just fine, and it gave me TONS OF ENERGY. Since you’re supposed to drink it 30-35 minutes before your workout, I decided I had just enough time to whip up some of Powercakes’ Upside Down Banana Loaf, protein version. I altered mine a little bit, and it came out AMAZING.

Banana Protein Bread

1 banana
1.5 c. oat flour
2 scoops vanilla protein powder (I used Perfect Fit)
1/2 c. light coconut milk
1 15 oz. can chick peas
1/2 c. unsweetened applesauce
3/4 c. almond milk
1 flax egg (1 mounded tbsp. flax with 4 tbsp. water)
2 tbsp. agave nectar
1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. sea salt

Directions  : preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray bread pan with coconut oil spray or cooking spray. Slice banana and spread banana slices over bottom of pan. Sprinkle lightly with Sucanat or sugar of choice. Mix oat flour, protein powder, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, and sea salt. In food processor, mix chick peas and coconut milk until smooth. Add chick pea batter to dry ingredients. Add applesauce, almond milk, flax egg, agave, vinegar, and vanilla, and mix thoroughly. Pour batter into pan over sugared bananas. Place in over and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until knife inserted into middle of loaf comes out clean. Enjoy!

The Sucanat will naturally start caramelizing before it even goes into the oven!

Fresh out of the oven – HANDS DOWN THE BEST PROTEIN BREAD I’VE EVER HAD!

The gorgeous caramelized bananas on the bottom of the loaf – DELISH.

I was plowing through those workout videos while this was baking and I. WAS. SWEATING. Let me tell you. Not fun, but at the same time, SO MUCH FUN!

When I was done, the bread smelled so good, I decided it was breakfast time :) I dove into two slices of this bread AND a protein shake! I WAS STARVING! The bread was perfect: just the right amount of sweetness without overdoing it.

Nutrition Facts:

Makes 12 servings.
113 calories
5.5 grams protein

CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?!? Unreal. Alongside my bread, I enjoyed a delicious protein shake made with 1 scoop Perfect Fit vanilla protein powder, 1/2 frozen banana, 2 ice cubes, 2 tbsp. Protein Plus peanut flour, 2 tbsp. cocoa powder, 3/4 c. almond milk, 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice, and 1 tsp. spirulina.

Talk about #plantpower workout recovery! Now I’m ready to tackle the day.

What are you doing today to GET AFTER IT?

AvocadoAthlete