This post is sponsored by Natural Delights but workout and ideas are my own! 🙂
I have a fun post for you today that features a great at-home workout and a prize pack featuring one of my favorite sweet fruit snacks. Read to the end of the post for the giveaway!
A few weeks ago I received a “Your Date with Fitness” package from Natural Delights that included a stability ball, a resistance band, a workout towel, a water bottle and a variety of whole dates and date rolls.
Dates are a staple in my pantry. They’re a great natural sweetening option because they have a lot more nutritional value than sugar, a lower glycemic index and dietary fiber. I use them for sweetening my smoothies, to make date paste for recipes like my Easy & Healthy Homemade Granola Bars and on their own for snacking with a little peanut butter stuffed in the middle.
I had never tried the Natural Delights brand of dates so I was excited to receive these samples. Their pitted Medjool dates are very fresh and soft. These dates have zero sodium and are a good source of fiber and potassium along with containing 15 other essential minerals and vitamins.
I also received date rolls – coconut, almond and pistachio. The coconut is my favorite! These date rolls will be the perfect snack for when I’m starving at 5:30 a.m. before heading the the gym or to teach yoga. (I think I’ll try smearing peanut butter over these coconut date rolls too!)
It’s been a while since I posted a workout so I wanted to use the resistance band that Natural Delights sent me to put together a super quick at home circuit that you can do.
Here are your visual cues:
I get so many requests for workouts that can be done at home or with minimal equipment. I highly recommend investing in a resistance band. They’re a great way to add a little resistance work to your workout without weights. They’re also so small and easy to store and travel with. You control the intensity by how much resistance you put on the band.
Here’s a breakdown on what I’ve got for you here:
1) Squat to press: Stand on the band with feet slightly outside of the hips. Bring the handles to the shoulders. With hands at the shoulders, come to the bottom of your squat position and then drive up and press overhead with straight arms. Keep chest lifted during the squat and abs engaged throughout the movement. This is a great compound exercise that drives the heart rate up while working the lower and upper body.
2) Bicep curl: Stand on the band with feet right under the hips and soft knees. Start by holding handles by the sides and then curl the handles up to the shoulders with palms facing forward and elbows squeezing into the side body.
3) Bent over row: Stand on the band with feet right under the hips. Hinge at the hips, bend the knees and tilt forward. Start with hands holding the handles by the sides and arms straight and then draw the elbow straight up behind you while keeping arms squeezing in tight to side body. Think about drawing shoulder blades together.
4) Standing tricep kickback: Stand on the band with feet right under the hips. Hinge at the hips, bend the knees and tilt forward. Start with hands holding the handles by the side body with elbows bent. Squeeze the triceps and press the band back behind you to straighten the arms. Keep elbows squeezing into side body as you perform the movement.
5) Push ups: Loop the band behind the shoulder blades and then under the arms. Adjust the band to the desired level of tension. Your hands may be on the tubing instead of the handles to get enough tension. You want to feel a good bit of tension at the top. Perform push ups with band around the body.
6) Crunches: Loop the handles of the band around your foot and hold the middle of the band at the center of the chest. Adjust the slack as much as necessary to get desired tension in the band. Crunch up and down while holding the band. You want to feel a nice tension while lowering down.
This should give you a total body burn!
Giveaway time!
I’m giving away a Natural Delights “Your Date with Fitness” prize package to one lucky winner. You’ll get everything pictured in the package above. If you’d like to be entered to win, leave a comment telling me about how you incorporate dates into your diet for a healthy sweet treat. And no worries if you’ve never tried them, just leave a comment letting me know that you’d love to try them!
Happy sweating and date eating! 🙂
