Boy oh boy do I have a great workout for you today!
Last week I received an email from blog reader Lindsay W. who sent me the run down of an awesome workout that she and her friend did last week. The workout combined cardio, strength and plyometric moves and immediately sparked my interest.
I jotted it down and stuffed it in my gym bag to dig out when I felt inspired to give it a go.
Today was that day and I modified Lindsay’s workout a bit and combined it with another one of my circuit workouts until I got this mega-circuit workout:
| Exercise | Weights | Reps |
| V-ups | None | 25 |
| Kettleball swings | 20 lbs. | 50 |
| Pushups (on my knees) | None | 25 |
| Dumbbell high pulls | 10 lb. dumbbells | 25 |
| Burpees | None | 10 |
| Jumping jacks | None | 50 |
| Burpees | None | 10 |
| Dumbbell pulls with overhead press | 10 lb. dumbbells | 25 |
| Mountain climbers | None | 30 |
| Jump rope | None | 60 seconds |
| Jumping jacks | None | 100 |
| Squats | 20 lb. Kettleball | 50 |
| Squat jumps | None | 10 |
| Pushups (on my knees) | None | 20 |
| Alternating lunges | None | 20 |
| Plank | None | 60 seconds |
| Jumping jacks | None | 50 |
| Mountain climbers | None | 30 |
| Ab bicycles | None | 20 |
| Crunches to left | None | 25 |
| Crunches to right | None | 25 |
The entire circuit took me just under 30 minutes and left me nice and sweaty.
See the sweat in my hair? Oh so sexy, I know.
It was intense and definitely got my heart rate up, but the balance of high-intensity moves with lower-impact exercises gave me time to recover before conquering a hard move (like mountain climbers!) again.
I rounded out my workout with 20 minutes of light cardio on the elliptical with Ryan.
Breakfast
After our workouts, it was breakfast time!
On the menu for today was honey whole wheat chia seed pancakes!
Honey Whole Wheat Chia Seed Pancakes
Makes 8 – 10 pancakes
Ingredients:
- 1 c. whole wheat flour
- 1/2 c. old fashioned oats
- 1 c. milk
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp. canola oil
- 2 tbsp. honey
- 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
- 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1 tbsp. chia seeds (plus more for garnish)
- Syrup or other desired toppings
Directions:
- Spray griddle or pan with cooking spray and heat to a medium heat
- Beat egg and add milk and oil
- In a separate bowl, combine flour, oats, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder and salt
- Slowing stir flour mixture into egg mixture
- Add honey and stir until combined
- At the last minute, stir in chia seeds
- Pour 1/4 c. portions of batter onto griddle and cook until edges of pancakes start to bubble and bottoms are light brown
- Flip and cook until centers are completely done (about three to four minutes)
- Top with syrup, additional chia seeds or desired toppings and enjoy
These pancakes were really dense and delicious! I think the leftover pancakes would actually make a great on-the-go snack. I bet they’d be fantastic topped with Greek yogurt and fresh fruit as well.
And now it’s workin’ time. I need to make this morning productive because Ryan and I also hope to spend some time today packing up all of our stuff for the big move. It’s overwhelming!
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I was just browsing through the Shape website (I get the reminder e-mails) and decided to click on 10 new ways to eat oatmeal, then realized the author was you! Nice work. Hang in there with the house hunting/moving. We just completed move #4 since 2008, I feel your pain!
I love the circuit workout – it looks tough without getting boring or repetitive. I’ll definitely have to give it a try!
What are V ups? I want to try this workout, it looks awesome! Maybe I do them I just call them something different?
Thanks for the inspiration 🙂 Can’t wait to meet you at HLS!
Circuit workouts rock! I love lifting and doing push ups, jumping jacks, or mountain climbers in between my sets, keeps my heart rate up!
Aweeee yum!! Chia seeds are actually the best. And circuit training. SO DOING THIS sweeaaattttastic
Ohh these pancake looks so delicious!!!! I will have to make them this weekend! I’m almost out of chia seeds but I’ll have to stock up so I can make some of these delicious recipes that you’ve been posting!
MEGA CIRCUIT… bookmarking this on my ipad for later this week! cute workout top too… I need to invest in some sleeveless ones!
I am currently in the middle of a move too! We just bought our first house and now we are painting and getting carpet put in but we are living between 2 places going back and forth and it’s hectic to say the least! Packing sucks, the only thing that is great about it is I feel the need to really sort/purge what I have. If I haven’t used it or seen in within a year…do I really need it? Also, I’m going back through all my Fitness/Self/Shape/Women’s Health magazines if they are over a year old and just tearing out all the workouts!
Good luck with packing! Put on some great music and dance around to it, dancing like a fool always helps boring and daunting tasks become fun!
Yummy those pancakes looks delicious!!!!
Wow awesome workout! I do a workout like that at my gyms Bootcamp class…hardcore stuff! Those pancakes look delish too, I’ll have to try your recipe sometime 🙂
whoa, that is definitely one mega circuit workout! I love combining high and low intensities like that. It’s why I <3 tabata, too.
That sure sounds like a kick butt workout! I love a bunch of variety in my workouts. I’m bookmarking to try soon!
Great pancakes too… Chia seed is such a power food!
That workout looks insane!!
As do those pancakes, yum!
Holy moly, I think I broke a sweat just *reading* that circuit! You are superwoman!
packing is the. worst.
I hope you’ve got lots of plastic tubs at the ready!
AWESOME workout! I’ll definitely be trying it!
yum! Your pancakes looks delicious!
just make those your “happy place” when you get super annoyed with packing 😉
Mmm, I love pancakes- my fav. I still have yet to try chia seeds though.. What nutritional value they have/why do I keep seeing them popping up everywhere? I bet they add a great crunch if nothing else!
That routine looks fab- must try asap! Thanks for posting.
I love using pancakes as tacos—stuff ’em with peanut butter, bananas, jam, Nutella—it’s the most delicious, non-Mexican taco ever ; )
That circuit workout looks awesome…I might have to try that instead of Spinning one morning. I will probably still have to do it in the garage though or my dog will want to join me!
Fabulous workout! I recently went to a circuits class and died in a good way. Looking fwd to getting my butt kicked with this!
YAY! Glad you tried it! Will def have to try your mod! Looks intense! And cannot WAIT to try those pancakes.. holy yum!
Those pancakes look really good! And I really like how the circuit workout has a lot of different exercises in it – keeps me from getting bored! Thank you! 🙂
Just did this workout this morning – holy jumping jacks! Off to ice my tats now. 😀
did this work out!!! love it!!
Great circuit! hope you don’t mind but stealing it and modifying slightly! HATE the gym, but love doing something accomplishing like this so thank you for posting!
Great circuit! Just did it and I feel great!
Just finished this workout and it was amazing! Thanks for the rec Julie!
I tried these pancakes this morning and giving you credit, copied the recipe on my blog, bevsplaytime.blogspot.com
Yummy! Thanks!
I’m not a pro but I have some results now.Your woukout plan is quite hard :). I did some research and found another very good source. So if someone is interested you can find it here How can I get a flat stomach
Hi! I just came across your blog and fell in love with this recipe AND your workout! I am part of a workout group at my university, but since it’s the weekend, I won’t be with them and I am really excited to do this! I’m afraid I’ll look a bit crazy doing jumping jacks in the middle of the gym but hey, it’s about the workout, right? Can’t wait to try to these pancakes! Thanks so much!
I finally made one of your pancake recipes and this was delicious! I made a couple subs on the oil and milk but they are great. And my little guy will eat them too with almond butter for a great protein meal.