This post is in partnership with Family Dollar! All thoughts my own.
It’s that time of the year again. The time called “competition prep”.
That means hours spent at the gym and on the treadmill.
And hours in the kitchen making healthy food to fuel all the muscle gains I intend to make in the months leading up to my competition.
It’s kind of daunting to think that this will be my life for the next…*checks calendar*…FOUR MONTHS. Sigh. At least I’ve learned some meal prep and organization pointers along the way that help take some of the stress out of the whole ordeal.
I shared some of my favorite meal prep tips in this post last year, and I still use all of them today! One of the tips was to make sure to have enough meal containers to hold all of your food for the week. It’s no fun to have a hodge-podge of mismatched containers that don’t stack easily, or to have to use sandwich bags when a container would keep your food fresher and be less likely to spill when you’re toting it around. #learnedthehardway
So because plastic containers don’t last forever and all of mine from last year bit the dust, when I was at Family Dollar last week, I picked up two new 16-piece container sets and a pack of teeny tiny containers I can use to portion out peanut butter or nuts. (I can’t be trusted with a spoon and a jar of peanut butter – better to pre-portion it than risk a PB murder scene.)
These containers are top rack dishwasher safe, but I’ve found that plastic containers last longer when you wash them by hand so I also grabbed a wood dish drying rack to use throughout the week. This way I can wash them right when I’m done with them and set them out to dry in a designated area.
By the way, you don’t have to be a bodybuilder to benefit from meal prepping. If your goals for this year are to eat healthier, or eat at restaurants less, there are tons of resources out there for meals you can prep, freeze, and then pop in the crockpot when you need an easy meal for your family. If you type “crockpot freezer meals” into your search engine, you’ll find a ton!
I’m big on maximizing my time to be as productive and efficient as possible, so while I meal-prepped this week I thought of a way to get an ab workout in (I hate working abs!) while I waited for some things to cook.
I came up with this quick kitchen floor ab workout that can be done in your kitchen or anywhere that has a smooth floor. This workout is great if you’re a) bored, b) short on time, or c) waiting on something to finish up in the oven. Who knew you could multitask your way to your fitness goals? 🙂
Kitchen Floor Ab Workout
Complete 10 sets of each exercise for 5 rounds. Rest 30 seconds or less between rounds.
Plank to pyramid x 10
Mountain climber x 20
Plank tick-tock x 10 each side
Tuck to pyramid combo x 10
The joggers I’m wearing while demonstrating the moves are from Family Dollar! I got these in the boys’ section (size 14) because I couldn’t resist the orange accents and the handy pockets, but the Family Dollar Pro Player line features affordable workout clothing for women and men too.
For women, there are technical tees, leggings with a hidden pocket (in gray, black, and fun prints), and a variety of colorful sweatshirts. The men’s line also has tees and sweatshirts along with athletic shorts in lots of different colors.
Check out this post for a more in depth look at some of the other Pro Player workout clothing I’ve tried
