Uppercuts beat the blues.

I'm a pretty big Robert De Niro fan. In fact, one of my all-time favorite movies is Raging Bull.

So , it was only natural for me to feel like The Ultimate Bad Ass this morning after completing my first basic boxing workout, from SHAPE magazine.

HIGHLY recommend this routine. It was super fun (even more so, with Wu-Tang Clan playing on my stereo) and a definite stress buster. I repeated round 5 five extra times, skipped the push-ups (my wrists are sore from yoga) and did a few extra minutes of jumping rope. After all was said in done, the whole routine ended up being 45 minutes and I was dripping. It went by so fast! I'm happy to say I've found a new favorite cardio workout. My shoulders and upper back are a bit shot though; I've been stretching all morning to keep the soreness and the stiffness at bay.

Outside of becoming the next Boxing Warrior, I also tried a new cookie recipe this week, courtesy of Coach's Oats: Oatmeal Coconut Cookies! Sooooo good! Doug said they were the best cookies I've made yet. And considering I'm still a novice baker, I was happy to hear that.

I swapped out the 1/2 cup of sugar with Splenda and used reduced-fat coconut by Let's Do Organic, just to lighten things up a bit. I left everything else the same. Doug suggested adding chocolate chips next time. Will do! These were pretty easy to make, so I'm down for making another batch soon.

That's all for today. Until next time, get your box and bake on!