Sometimes a little change is all I need to rejuvenate my workouts.
I am really, really enjoying my new workout plan. Concentrating on one major muscle group leaves my muscles feeling worked and fatigued by the end of my strength training.
I love it!
Today’s workout began with 20 minutes of light cardio on the elliptical. Then I hopped off to complete this leg workout:
| Exercise | Reps | Sets |
| Squats | 100 | As many as it takes to get to 100 |
| Lunges | 15 each leg | 3 |
| Deadlifts | 15 | 3 |
| One-legged leg press | 15 each leg | 3 |
| Step ups | 15 each leg | 3 |
| Hamstring curls | 15 | 3 |
Ryan gave me the idea to begin my workout with 100 squats. When he worked out with his friend Ben, a personal trainer, for a month (the same guy who led the blogger boot camp), Ben would have him attempt to do 100 squats in a row. If he couldn’t get all 100 (which usually he couldn’t), he would just break them up and rest when he needed to until all 100 squats were completed.
I did 50 in a row before doing 25, then 10 and then 15. It was intense… but in a good way! I actually think I could increase my weight a little bit, but I wanted to start at a weight within 15 pounds of the weight I used for squats in BodyPump just to try it out.
Breakfast
Breakfast this morning was more than blog worthy!
I finally got it right. My long-awaited pumpkin protein pancakes!
I made a batch for Ryan and for myself and the minute Ryan bit into his pancakes, he said, “These have to go on the blog!” That’s the seal of approval I needed to share the recipe with you guys.
Pumpkin Protein Pancakes
Serves one (makes three medium-sized pancakes)
- Prep time: 5 minutes
- Cook time: 5 minutes
Ingredients:
- 2/3 cup old fashioned oats
- 1/4 cup cottage cheese
- 1/4 cup canned pumpkin
- 1 egg
- 1 egg white
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon honey
Directions:
- Spray pan with cooking spray and heat to a medium heat
- Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and blend with an immersion blender until batter is relatively smooth and all ingredients are fully mixed
- Pour batter onto the warm pan to form three medium-sized pancakes
- Allow to cook until edges start to harden, about three minutes
- Flip pancakes and allow to cook until batter is no longer runny, about two more minutes
- Top with syrup, nutmeg or desired toppings and enjoy
I have a feeling these pancakes will be popping up on the blog quite often as the seasons change and the weather becomes cooler.
I’m so antsy for boot-wearin’ weather!
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I love the 100 squats idea! Will have to try that 🙂
Your pancakes look amazing!
I made these pancakes this morning and they were great! Very filling and I love all the protein.
Pumpkin Protein pancakes are my favorite fall breakfast! I usually add raisins to them. I just got the cutest fall boots – so excited to wear them!
The raisins are a great idea! I think I may try these with some dried cranberries. Festive and yummy! 😉
those look delicious, I just had pumpkin pancakes last weekend at a diner but they weren’t protein packed! Going to try that recipe soon. And I can’t wait for boot wearing weather either!
Oooh yummy! The pancakes look so gorgeous and fluffy! I have been working on a recipe that is quite similar but I use Greek yogurt instead of cottage cheese. Do you find that the immersion blender gets most of the cottage cheese clumps out?
Great idea with the squats (Ryan’s a clever one!!) I love them because you can pretty much do them anywhere without any equipment. Sounds like you had a great workout! 🙂
yes! the only texture i sensed in them was from the oats, actually. i couldn’t taste the cottage cheese AT ALL or detect any lumps. i love your idea to use greek yogurt!
I saw boots yesterday and got SUPER excited!! I can’t wait to break mine out! I just woke up and it’s preeettyyy cold out, I’m loving it! Oh, and of course I love all things pumpkin too 🙂 Keep those recipes a comin’!
Hooray!!! lol…when I saw the post name, I was like, “Yayyyy! She finally got ’em right!” I am totally ready for the pumpkin recipes…yumms. 🙂
WOW I have to try these pancakes Julie, they look amamzing! I knew you’d come through on the pancakes during your trial and error process 🙂
Also loving the 100 squats idea, great way to get the blood flowing to start your work out!
Hmmm. Maybe I need to (finally) give cottage cheese the green light.
Regardless of what color the light is, the pancakes look delicious and I’d be willing to try anything for some tasty orangeish-pancakes like that. I love the pumpkin-e’rrything season, as noted last night when I tried not one, not two, but 4 pumpkin beers at a tasting. Luckily, I vowed I’d only spend cash and had enough to buy one, but lord, if I’d been in a “splurge” mood….
Yum!!! I am salivating from my desk at work. Good thing I packed a yogurt parfait!
Yum those sound great! I bet they would be good with ricotta cheese :)!
YUM! can’t believe how easy those look, and how delicious! Do you think you could replace the cottage cheese with Greek yogurt?
i think that could work really well! you may need to remove one of the eggs though to make sure the batter is thick enough.
Yum, pancakes!
I’ve never seen canned pumpking here – I assume I could use pureed (real) pumpkin?
probably! i’ve never tried it though! i think it would have to be VERY pureed.
Hm, I’ll try. Thanks!
PS: Lately I’ve been getting double notification emails about replies to my comments.
a) I have never craved pancakes more
b) Why have I never thought to do 1-legged leg presses..genius..so on it tomorrow!
c) Have a nice day 🙂
These pancakes look delicious– yum! I must recreate asap!
Those pancakes look so good! I’m glad that I have all of the ingredients at home to make them. Yummy! 🙂
Oooo, I will definitely have to try out your pumpkin pancake recipe. I have been experimenting with different combinations of ingredients, but mine always feel “spongy” and the texture is just not quite right. Yours look great!!
Where did you find pumpkin in Ocala? I’m from that area and could not find it anywhere 🙁
i found it at a local publix! they had loads of cans!
This recipe looks great, Julie – any tips for if you don’t have an immersion blender? Thanks!
hmm… stir really hard!? 🙂
I always blend up the ingredients in a regular blender 🙂
What an awesome workout!! Hey SEXY legs! 🙂 Love the new pumpkin recipe..so excited for pumpkin recipes!
Also, I passed the Butterfly Award to you…check it out on the blog…happy Wednesday! 🙂
Yay! Thanks for posting this recipe…can’t wait to try them once I buy a can of pumpkin! 🙂 How many servings does this recipe make?
it serves one and makes three medium pancakes.
Those pancakes look great! I can’t wait to try them. I love fall and pumpkins!
I did 60 squats at kickboxing yesterday and I thought that was intense. Just thinking about 100 squats makes my legs hurt!
Great job!
With all the leg exercises and squats, do your legs feel more sore than usual on the days you run?
they are definitely more sore than usual, but not SO sore that it affects my running.
Excited to try the recipe out! Thanks girl 🙂
And yeah–switching up workouts never felt so good, eh?? It is SUCH a great thing for the mind and body!
Great idea about the 100 squats; I’ll have to try that soon!
These look delicious!
I’m definitely going to try out 100 squats. They are super effective!
Gah, I was recently diagnosed with an allergy to eggs, and the thing I miss most are eggy pancakes 🙁 Maybe I’ll try these with flax eggs!
Oh, and Bodyrock has some squat challenges that include crazy amounts of squats, so I feel your pain!!!! Once I had to do 300……
It took me 300 hours.
As stuffed as I am after lunch I would find room for these pancakes if I were at home (and not in work) to make them!
I love pancakes, but I can honestly say I’ve never tried anything pumpkin. Those sure do look yummy, though.
I love it when the seasons change, and you get to pull out all your new clothes and shoes!
You might’ve addressed this, but are Blog Talk Tuesdays over?
no! i have a few more topics to cover.
Oh no, sadness! I, like Casey above, am not in possession of an immersion blender. 🙁 Perhaps if I’m subbing Greek yogurt I could just mix the heck out of the batter by hand?
I am soooo going to make these this weekend! I have a can of pumpkin in my cabinet that is just dying to be eaten!!!!!!!!
I cannot wait to make those! We had quinoa pumpkin pancakes on Monday – I love anything pumpkin!
Pumpkin protein pancakes look delicious. I’ve been anxiously waiting for the final recipe since you posted the teaser.
For anyone who cares, here’s the nutritional info!
(Calculated w/o cinnamon or toppings and with 1% cottage cheese)
401 calories
8.5 grams fat
3 grams saturated fat
19.3 grams sugar
24.8 grams protein (!)
12.7 grams fiber
92.2 grams carbohydrates
165.1 mg cholesterol
743 mg potassium
thanks so much for doing this!! 🙂 loving all the protein and the fiber.
Aaaahh you replied! I love your blog 😀 I’m 16 and I found it a few months ago, and I read it everyday now 🙂 You are awesome!
Thanks so much! So glad you found me. 🙂
100 squats sound intense! I might have to give that a try during my next strength workout.
Love the pancakes — the look delicious!
Yay squats! I love squats and wall squats. One of my favorite workout sequences I came up with was recently and it was 4 sets of 25 squats with 2 sets of 25 jumping jacks in between and then 2 sets of 25 sit ups between. Keepin’ things interesting!
Have to make those pancakes. I just bought pumpkin because I’m convinced this Florida weather is getting nicer but haven’t used it yet – pumpkin and pancakes are 2 of my favorite things, gotta make this!!!
I like the idea of the 100 squats at the beginning! Fatiguing your muscles at the beginning I’m sure makes it quite a bit more challenging throughout the rest of the workout.
I’m a fan of almost anything pumpkin, so thanks for sharing those pancakes! Can’t wait to try them!
These look great – I love trying different protein pancake recipes but the ones using protein powder just never turn out right for me.
These look amazing! I am going to have to try them!
YAY! I can’t wait to try these!! As soon as our move is over I’m stocking up on pumpkin!!
Pancakes lood delicious! The only thing I worry about with square is that my thighs an butt are going get larger!
I was just wondering if you ever thought about becoming a BodyPump instructor? Then you could teach at your local gym. You could make a little money and work out! Just a thought. I too loved BodyPump…then I moved to Germany….ah the things we do for love:)
I have! I’m going to look into it a bit more when I’m done w/ half marathon training.
Your pancakes look so delicous! I’ve really been wanting to make a recipe with pumpkin to start my Fall season! I know a while back you mentioned cottage cheese that had no salt? Or I could be imagining this… if I can’t find that anywhere around where I live, what could I substitute in the recipe?
i actually used plain cottage cheese (the normal kind w/ salt) in this recipe!
I try to stay away from heavy carbs in the morning but I’m LOVING this as a breakfast for dinner idea!!
AH I NEED to do the 100 squats! I’ll try that today. 🙂 I am SO bad at working my legs! I always do upper body and core but skip legs..oops
Going to try these! When I first saw protein pancakes I assumed they would include protein powder-which tends to leave my tummy upset, but so excited to see these!
thanks so much for the recipe, Julie! I can’t wait to try these!
I do squats with my 3rd graders each morning! I make them count b 10’s to 500 and anyone who gets to 1,000 with me pretty much rocks! We have so much fun doing our morning exercises!!!!
–LOVE this recipe! Oh yes!
I have done the 100 squats thing before too. But Keith has me do it a little differently. He starts me out with heavy dumbbells (or a bar) and I do as many as I can with that weight. When I can’t do any more he takes 5 pounds off and I immediately keep going…and so on and on until I have completed 100 total. It is crazy because at the end I am barely doing any weight but because I haven’t had longer than a 5 second break my legs are screamin!
oh that sounds awesome… ridiculously hard… but awesome.
I love pumpkin weather! It’s still a bit warm on the east coast, so I’m not quite ready to break out the pumpkin just yet. When I do I will for sure be trying these out!
It’s so hard to get canned pumpkin here in Scotland but it should be back in my local wholefood shop in the run up to thanksgiving. Can buy it on ebay but it’s mega pricey! Can’t wait to try these and also I have an amazing recipe for slowcooked lamb shanks in pumpkin and red wine (will let you know when I’m making it on my blog). Tomorrow’s post is good though – cinnamon pretzels with Nutella dipping sauce!
OH YEAH. I love pancakes and I’m totally feeling the fall flava!!