I’ll confess, I’m a creature of habit and excess. I find something I like and I have or do lots of it. Whilst this might generally be good on the training front, with squatting and deadlifting being some of my favourite movements, the recent “no lower body training” edict has been a bit challenging. Take away my habit and I’m not happy. Realising just how much I can still do got me thinking…why not find a new habit, and a new or different way to ‘get happy’ (in my usual obsessive type way)? Result? Progressive ladders of pull-ups, dips, toes to bar and chins, with a press up EMOM thrown in for good measure. Done frequently (avoiding failure) and I’m coming to really enjoy and look forward to them. New kind of happy.

On the food front, I have always been a big lover of pretty much anything peanut butter and chocolate. Ice cream, cookies, cheesecake or candy, I’ve tried and loved them all. In keeping with my habitually excessive personality, I’ve probably loved the peanut butter yummies a little too much (though I AM convinced peanut butter fuels PBs!). Realising my need to improve on the nutritional front, I’ve come up with a substitute. I know this is by no means nutritionally perfect, but I do think it’s better than eating a lot of the other crap. Being better, not perfect is the goal.

PEANUT BUTTER PROTEIN PUDDING
Ingredients:
Chocolate protein – your particular fave, using whatever counts as 1 serving
Peanut butter – again, your preference.
Optional – yoghurt or milk.

Directions: this is EASY!
1- If you’re going to use yoghurt, put roughly 6-8 spoonfuls (tablespoons) into a bowl.
2- Add your chocolate protein – it’s going to be lumpy and will take a fair bit of stiring.
3- Stir until smooth. If you’re having real issues, try adding either more yoghurt or some water – but add in small amounts – you don’t want this getting too ‘soupy’.
4- To the smooth mixture add your serving size of peanut butter. Again, stir this lots – the mixture will be lumpy and take work to blend. Once reasonably smooth (assuming you’re not using chunky peanut butter!) eat and enjoy!

No yoghurt alternative:
The above can be modified using either water or milk instead of yoghurt. To do so, reverse the order by adding the milk or water to the protein. Add very very small amounts of liquid as it doesn’t take much to be too much (ie turn your pudding into a runny mess!)

Alternatives: try a different type of nut butter

I’ll admit that my progressive ladders and EMOMs are not as much fun as heavy squats or deadlifts, nor is the peanut butter protein pudding as good as Reeses Peanut Butter cups (or The Cheesecake Factory’s peanut butter cheesecake!), but, for now, they’re as good as it gets, and quite frankly, I think they’re pretty darn good!