May 2015 has come to an end and June will be here in a couple of days.  I don’t know if it is because of all the end of school year stuff going on with my kids or what but this month flew by, in my opinion.  My workout schedule for the past month was down to four days per week instead of five or six.  I decided to dial it back a little and do like a Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday schedule this past month.  

This past month I also decided to change things up by using my Core workout book along with a new Yoga Journal Magazine I bought back in April.  I did do a couple of my Cathe workouts from an older dvd set X-train.  I love my Cathe workouts and usually include at least a couple each month.

I think I bought the Core workout book many years ago either at Half Price Books or Sams.  I really like this book and how there are routines at the end to do like the one shown above, the Power Workout routine.  The book uses an exercise ball, medicine ball, some weights and an exercise band for some of the exercises.  I like that there is minimal equipment.  It was nice to do these routines and put on some good music to workout to while doing them.  As you can see by the top photo the cat likes the book and workouts in there as well.  He was usually sitting by the band or on the book when I had it opened up.

The other book I used this month along with the Core book was the one above, Core Strength Training.  I checked this one out from my local library.  I like how this book is set up and explains the exercises and there are detailed color photos, too.  I was trying to do at least four of the exercises on the days I was using my Core book.  There are lots of great exercises to increase your mobility and strengthen your abs and back for everyday activities as well as sports like golf.  I pointed this out to my husband since he golfs a lot and he frequently gets out my weights or bands to do a few exercises the day before he goes golfing.

This past month I have also been using a couple of other new books I recently bought at Barnes and Noble.  The first book I bought a couple of months ago, it is called Raw Energy by Stephanie Tourles.  I just stumbled across this book while actually trying to find another book and loved all the recipes in there.  Everything is made with healthy and wholesome ingredients and most of them are pretty simple to make.  The concept is that everything is made with raw natural ingredients and nothing is cooked at a high temperature so the food retains the natural occurring enzymes.  There are a few recipes that use a food dehydrator but nothing is cooked over 175 degrees.  This interested me since my husband bought a dehydrator about eight months ago to dehydrate the hot peppers we grow every year.  I wanted to be able to use the dehydrator for more than that and apples which is about all we had tried.

This book contains recipes for cereals, dips, fruit and vegetable juices, nut milks, smoothies and a variety of snacks.  I have already made several recipes from this book and they were all good.  At the front of the book she explains the raw concept in detail and lists the equipment and ingredients you will need to make things in the book.  The author, Stephanie Tourles, has also written a few aromatherapy and body care books and I own two of those as well.  I knew when I saw this book it would be good and I have not been disappointed with it.

The other book I just bought a few weeks ago is called Power Hungry by Camilla V. Saulsbury.  Again this was a book I just stumbled upon at Barnes and Noble while searching for another book that I never found.  This book is all about making your own Cereal, Energy and Protein Bars with lots of variations within each recipe to create a different type of bar.  So far I have tried a few and liked them.  There are some recipes that require cooking some of the ingredients on the stove top or even baking some of them in the oven for a few minutes but there are also some raw recipes that do not require baking or cooking.  I also like how she classifies some of them as knock off recipes for things like Fiber One bars, Kind Bars and Larabars.  I know I have found, and even tried, some of these types of recipes from pinterest but they have not been as good as the ones in this book.  This book is worth the money if you are interested in making your own good quality bars with natural ingredients.  Also, there are tips in the book on storing the bars and how long they keep or can be frozen for, etc.

Well, so far it has been very rainy here so I have not been able to get out and ride my bike or swim like I normally do in May.  Maybe June will bring some sunshine so I can start biking to the store again and start swimming some for some exercise.  As far as my planned activities go I will probably stay with a 4 day a week schedule and plan to do weight training and yoga for this coming month.  What are your workout plans for June?

Have a good weekend!

-Kimberlee