It’s July already people! This month kind of snuck up on me regarding the workouts and challenges. Meaning – yeah – I kind of sucked it up last month with the Pilates challenge! Call it laziness, or being stressed, too tired, blah, blah, blah with the excuses. This month? Oh man. Totally punishing myself for not kicking major booty with last months challenge. So here comes the abuse with the July Workout Challenge and yes a July Workout, along with a No-Sugar Banana-Chai Cookie recipe.

So this months workouts are all home-based video’s again and I am writing it down to have some accountability! I will have workout support this month too; my mom and I will be doing a 30 minute jogging / walking Leslie Sansone video every morning during the week (and depending on how she feels the weekend too). This is good for both my mom and I – she has knee issues so doing a low-impact walking video is perfect for her, and the jog part is perfect to get my behind back into the groove of working out and doing cardio! My SIL and I have gotten into a routine of doing a workout vid after I get off work – usually 3 days a week because I totally flake at least once. But! It will be on paper so I can’t right? So. Our workouts are video-based too and usually some type of Jillian Michael’s related (I like her kettle-bell workout) but this week I will be getting the new PiYo (order here) in the mail and we will be ripping that up too! Just FYI – we may change our afternoon workout videos up depending on the weather (if it’s not too hot we may go outside, eek!) or how we feel, may go harder or gentler. Also, since I haven’t received PiYo yet I don’t know what the length of the videos are or how hard they are. Hope to give you some reviews later in the month!

As for the Challenge? Need some butt-pain inducing workouts? Cause that’s what I got going on this month. Yes, I did this to myself. Ridiculous right? Why would you pair squat jumps with jumping jacks? Or do plank jacks when you are already doing jumping jacks? You know why? Because it is freaking time to test myself again. I did awesome with working out and challenges at the beginning of the year and I have totally petered out on doing much of anything. So now is the time to put myself to the test and coax myself (ie. force) into doing something super-duper challenging like squat jumps into jumping jacks into plank jacks. What’s a squat jump you ask? Well it’s a squat (in correct form with feet hip width apart and bending back until thighs are parallel to the floor) then rising up into a jump and stretching your hands in the air like you are going to touch the ceiling (or if you are over 6 feet tall like me and you will ram your hands into the ceiling just do a good jump) then come back down and land with knees bent. And repeat. Jumping jacks? No real modifications and I am sure you remember these awful things from school – clap hands over head as jumping your legs out. Done. On to the plank jacks – yes, they are as sweat-inducing as it sounds. You get on the floor (which after doing squat jumps and jumping jacks you would think – hmm, rest time? Uhh, no!) into a plank position but on your hands with arms straight. Jump your feet out and back in like a jumping jack. It. Sucks. But dang what a good workout!

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On to the cookies! No-sugar added you ask? Yes, no extra sugar added to be exact. Because I am using light vanilla soy milk and raisins they both have sugar in them, but I did not use anything else. So its brown bananas doing the sweetening and homemade chai spice doing the flavoring! Yum! And they are quick too! Just mash the bananas and applesauce together then add the oats, soy milk, vanilla, and chai spice and mix. Then add the raisins and mix again. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and using a small spoon, make small spoonful cookies. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Done. And yum!

No-Sugar Banana-Chai Cookies, 35

3 Brown Bananas
1/4 C Applesauce
2 C Oats
1/4 C Silk Light Vanilla Soy Milk
2 Tsp Vanilla
1 Tsp Chai Spice
1/2 C Raisins

1. Turn oven to 350 degrees.
2. Dump bananas and applesauce into a bowl and mash.
3. Add oats, milk, vanilla and chai spice and mix. Add raisins then mix again.
4. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Using a small spoon, spoon dough onto baking sheets.
5. Bake 20 minutes or until brown.
6. Enjoy!