Green Smoothie Challenge!

Happy Monday y’all!

Today marks the first day of Happy Foody’s 30-Day Green Smoothie Challenge!  I recently discovered Sara’s blog and just love it!  Check it out for a lot of great suggestions for getting tons of healthy nutrients into your diet by incorporating a green smoothie into your day.  To participate in Happy Foody’s Green Smoothie Challenge, here’s what I’m committing to do during the next 30 days:

Drink at least 16 oz. of green smoothie per day (a quart would be even better!)

Do some sort of activity every day. This could be an intense workout, or just dancing with your kids around the living room. It could be a 15 minute yoga session or a walk around the block.

Add a green leafy salad to your lunch or supper (with light dressing…stay away from the creamier sauces).

Stop drinking pop.

Cut out all white sugar.

I’m looking forward to participating in this challenge for the next 30 days!  Wanna join me?

Well, in honor of Day One of the challenge, I whipped up a delicious green smoothie this morning for breakfast:

I even followed Happy Foody’s suggestion and picked up some adorable reusable straws from Pottery Barn.  I love these…and loved even more that they were majorly on sale

I packed up my lunch and snacks for the day:

Monday’s Salad:  Spinach salad topped with shredded carrots, pepperoncinis, pecans, hardboiled egg, and sliced beets.

Monday’s Snacks:  Pink Lady apple, Larabar

I managed to get done with work a little early and decided to hit the gym for a weights session.  I continued my NROL4W workout:

• Stiff-legged deadlift:  3 sets of 10 reps @ 65#
• Dumbbell shoulder press:  3 sets of 10 reps @ 20# in each hand, alternated with
• Seated row:  3 sets of 10 reps @ 70#
• Step Ups:  3 sets of 10 reps with 12# dumbbells in each hand, alternated with
• Jack-knives on a stability ball:  3 sets of 10 reps
• Stability ball crunches:  3 sets of 10 reps
• 20 minutes on the treadmill, alternating between walking and running/sprinting

Aaaah, great workout!  However, I must have slept really weird last night, because I have such a crick in my neck!  I was actually concerned about trying to lift heavy weights because of it.  I’m trying to figure out a good way to stretch my neck and back out, because it really pinches when I turn my head!

Fortunately, this guy arrived in the mail today from Amazon.com!!I’m so glad to finally have one of these of my very own   My gym has a ton of foam rollers but they are seriously crusty and gross. 

Have you ever tried using a foam roller?  If not, definitely get one…it hurts soooo good   Foam rolling can be used before or after a workout to provide similar benefits to a deep tissue massage, as well as self myofascial release which assists to stretch and relax your muscles.

This article on T-Nation has a ton of photos of exercises you can do with a foam roller (scroll down toward the bottom).  I’m definitely going to do a few of these tonight…hopefully this will help to release the tension in my neck and back!

Have a great night