Bit About Plyo and BBQ Tofu with Sweet n' Spicy Kale

Plyo Recap

I had a couple of people ask about what plyo moves I had done. I will also include some of the plyo from Imax 3 as it really does incorporate a lot of plyo moves in the "blasts". Using a 12" step, I did:

Wide Jump Ups - start standing with feet together, then jump up and land in a wide stance on step, then jump back into starting position.

Crossovers - with weight in hand, start with one leg on step in squat position then crossover into squat position on other side and repeat.

Slow Straddle Jumps - start standing on bench then jump down (like jumping jack) landing in deep squat then jump back up in deep squat.

In Imax 3, some of the plyo moves include:

Plie Jacks - start with legs wide, plie down then jump up and click heels, return to wide stance and repeat

Air Jacks - start with feet together then jump up before sending legs out to the side. 

Tuck Jumps - start with feet together then jump up bringing knees up high.

Plunge Lunges -  Alternating rear lunges off step with a jump switch, also includes low pulses.

My descriptions are probably far more confusing than the actual move itself. Plyo moves tend to be so simple, but somehow so effective.

Do you have a favorite plyo move?

Running, Kicking and Stretching

Today I really had hoped to get up and run early. It's starting to be fairly warm by lunch. It's now light enough around 6:15 am, that we could get up and get in a run before work (and not at some ungodly hour) and I'd only have to come in about 20-30 minutes later (so closer to 7:30). Towards the wee hours, however, I just started tossing and turning and not getting any sleep. So I reset the alarm.

We were lucky today actually. It was still fairly nice when we did go for our run at lunch around 11:30. The humidity seemed lower and there was a nice breeze (not a gust). We opted for some stride drills again just to break up the monotony  of the typical 3 mile loop that we do. We jogged over to a nearby park and did 10 total intervals before jogging back to the house. I must say that those drills really work my quads and hams and make me realize just how much I need to be working my legs more!

After work, I decided to do a kickboxing workout to loosen up the legs, work the abs and arms all in one shot. This also rounded out my cardio time to just at an hour. I stretched for a bit after as well. I'm having some major issues with the uppermost ham/lower glut area. It started last year and flares up the most when I do anything hamstring related. This stinks in terms of trying to strengthen that area. Anyway, I have been trying to be even more diligent about my stretching.

Enjoying Patio Time

It was such a beautiful evening, I just couldn't pass up grilling out and enjoying the patio time. I decided to do BBQ Tofu Sandwiches with Sweet Potato Rounds. I also did a Sweet n' Spicy Kale to top the BBQ Tofu  with. The BBQ Tofu was super simple. Just squeeze out frozen and thawed tofu, cut into slabs and marinade in your favorite BBQ sauce, then grill. 

Sweet n' Spicy Kale

Ingredients:

1 bunch kale, washed, dried, rough chop

1/2 yellow onion, thinly sliced

OJ (maybe 1/4 cup?)

2 tsp agave nectar

1-2 chipotle peppers in adobo, fined dice

1 clove garlic, minced

salt/pepper to taste

Directions:

In small bowl, whisk together OJ, agave nectar, garlic, and chipotle. In large non-stick skillet, saute onions in small amount of olive oil or water until soft. Add in kale, OJ mixture, salt and pepper. Let saute until soft. 

I served the tofu on sandwich things so they looked a little odd, but they tasted good! The kale turned out great, not too spicy and not too sweet. It would be great as a side or even over a grain like quinoa or barley.