Matcha green tea has been around for about a thousand years. And if you haven’t tried it yet, it’s time. That might have you wondering: what is matcha, anyway? Is it different from plain old green tea? If so, is it better?

If you’ve ever wondered about any of those things, you’ve come to the right place. Since matcha is a key ingredient in Pep Rally, our new energy boost, I wanted to do a deep dive. Ready? Let’s go!

Matcha 101

First, let’s talk about the common confusion between green tea and matcha. To clear it up, let’s start with the basics. Matcha is a specific type of green tea. That means that all matcha is green tea, but not all green tea is matcha.

Because matcha is specially grown and processed, the nutrients in the tea leaves are more potent and you get more of that leaf in your drink. Basically, matcha’s a more effective vehicle for getting the goodness of green tea (think: caffeine and antioxidants) into your system.

What makes matcha so great

Let’s be clear here: all green tea is great for you. Matcha just gives you some of the benefits in a higher concentration. Here are a few of my favorite things about matcha:

It’s loaded with antioxidants

Matcha has more antioxidants than other forms of green tea. This basically means it gives your cells more resources to fight damage, helping your body stay healthy and prevent chronic conditions, cancer, and more. 

It gives you a natural energy boost

Because matcha is more concentrated than green tea, it delivers more caffeine. For reference, an eight-ounce cup of normal green tea has about 28 mg of caffeine. That’s basically half of what black tea has and about a quarter of the caffeine content you’d find in an eight-ounce cup of coffee. Truthfully, I can drink a cup of green tea and not feel the energy boost at all unless I really pay attention.

Matcha is different, though. It can pack in twice as much caffeine as green tea or, depending on the preparation, even more. In Pep Rally, you’re getting 80 mg of caffeine per serving. But because you’re getting it from a natural source, you don’t have to worry about jitters or any of the other junk that can come with a lot of the caffeinated products on the market today. 

In fact, matcha also contains an ingredient that can directly combat that edge that comes with other forms of caffeine: L-theanine.

It delivers L-theanine

Remember how I said that shading the green tea leaves during the end of the growing process made them create more amino acids? This is the amino acid we’re talking about. L-theanine is a pretty powerful tool that can help improve focus and productivity. Specifically, this amino acid can:

• Help you fight stress and keep your blood pressure stable even when you’re in stressful situations
• Improve your focus
• Support immune health

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Sharing some of my fave fitness and under $50 finds from the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale!

Hi friends! How are you? I hope your week is going well. Ours has not turned out as expected. I’m supposed to be on a plane to the IDEA World Fitness conference today, but one of the kids ended up getting sick early this week. I kept both kids home from camp and am staying home from the trip because I don’t want to potentially get anyone sick while I’m there since I’m a close contact. (I feel completely fine but just playing it safe.) I’ll definitely have FOMO for the Vegas adventures (and was so looking forward to hanging out with Giselle and Ashley! bah), but am using this week to study for my IHP certification and clean out all of the closets before school starts.

For today’s post, I thought I’d share some of my favorite fitness finds and under $50 faves from the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale! I’ve heard mixed opinions about the sale over the past couple of years because some of the products repeat themselves and there isn’t as much of a selection, but I use this sale more for classics and staples. It’s the perfect time to stock up on essentials at a better price, buy some holiday gifts, and get school + winter things for the kids (like jackets and Ugg boots!).

Affiliate links are included below and I just wanted to say thank you so so much to those of you who shop through my links. It helps me support our family and keep this lil blog running.

Nordstrom Sale Fitness and Under $50 Finds

Fitness Faves

These high-waist luxe leggings with a super flattering fit.

$33 for my very fave leggings. These have a high waist, aren’t see-through, and can easily transition from the gym to life (just throw on a sweater and some cute shoes).

Snow wash ribbed bike shorts.

Studio luxe support tank. LOVE the pink color!

Soft pocket leggings.

This cropped half-zip sweatshirt.

This dress makes me wish I could play tennis.

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Dry brushing is a simple exercise that improves health by increasing skin circulation and stimulating the lymphatic system. How do you get started and how should you dry brush? Get the answers here.

Hi friends! How’s the morning going so far? The kids are at a morning camp, and I’m working on getting things together for upcoming travels. I hope you’re having a great day so far. 🙂

For today’s post, I want to talk about dry brushing! This is something I’ve done since the Valdosta days (the first time!), and figured it was finally time for a post. Some of my regular habits are so engrained in my routine, I forget about them, and a friend or someone will will say, “Wait. You do/did what?!” lol. These things can be anywhere from chiropractic, functional medicine doctors and testing, acupuncture, Mayan abdominal massage, placenta encapsulation, meditating, using FAM to track my cycle, etc.

Dry brushing that came up in conversation recently, and I wanted to write a blog post and share a short video on this super easy hack you can add into your routine. Friendly reminder that this post is not medical advice! Just sharing my experience.

The Health Benefits of Dry Brushing

Dry brushing involves using a soft bristled brush to gently brush the top layer of skin. You can do this for a variety of reasons: to improve circulation and lymphatic drainage, for skin texture and exfoliation, or because it feels great!

Improves lymphatic flow

Our body is covered with lymph nodes that are concentrated in the head and neck area, the armpits, and groin. Our lymphatic system helps with tissue drainage, fat transport, removing waste, and immune function. If these vessels become congested or clogged, you may notice swelling or inflammation. I like to do gentle lymphatic massage on my face and neck, and dry brushing on my body to help encourage my lymphatic system to function properly and keep things moving along!

Can exfoliate and improve skin texture

The act of dry brushing the skin helps to remove dead skin cells on the surface and can help improve skin texture. If you don’t typically exfoliate your body, this is a great way to do it! When you exfoliate your skin, it also helps your moisturizer or body oils absorb properly to hydrate the skin.

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Hi friends! Happy Friday! The weekend is heeeeere and the Pilot and I are off to Miraval. BLESS IT. Cell phone access is limited, but I’ll definitely share sneak peeks and some of the fun (and delicious eats) on IG stories when I get a chance.

What do you have going on this weekend? Liv has a show later this weekend, and we’re meeting up with friends for swimming and dinner. It’s the usual summer fun around here and I’m soaking it up since the kids start school so early here in AZ. We’re headed to Hawaii in a couple of weeks to cap off the summer, and unlike our previous family vacations, I haven’t planned much at all to do while we’re in Oahu (Waikiki area).

(Pic from a milkshake date with these cuties a few days ago)

I’m just excited to be there and I think the kids are pumped to spend every day at the beach. I booked the Paradise Cove luau – so many were sold out – so if you have feedback or tips on that luau (or if you hated it and we should cancel lol), please let me know!

It’s time for the weekly Friday Faves party! This is where I share some favorite finds from the week and around the web. I always love to hear about your faves, too, so please shout out something you’re loving in the comments section below.

We had family visit this past week (the Pilot’s mom, dad, sis, + our niece and nephew) and that was definitely a huge a highlight. We took them to some of our fave Tucson spots, ate the best Mexican food,

and we had everyone over for a cookout and swimming. We had 20 people over and the Pilot smoked a giant brisket, two whole chickens, and we also had cheesy potatoes, chopped salad, ceviche, chips, fresh sourdough, fruit salad, asparagus, salmon, s’mores and dump cake for dessert. It was pretty legendary. 🙂

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Hi friends! How are ya? I hope you’re enjoying the week so far!

I have a new podcast episode up for you today, and I’m chatting all about ways to get more out of your workout routine. If you’ve been consistent with your routine but aren’t seeing results, here are some checkmarks to consider. It’s always helpful to assess our routine and see where we’re succeeding, what our weaknesses look like, and small changes we can make to improve results. Of course, always talk with your doctor or healthcare professional before making any changes to your fitness and nutrition routine.

107: How to get more from your workout routine

Switch the emphasis from cardio to strength training and walking

Don’t get me wrong; I LOVE cardio. I love to sweat from my eyeballs and I thrive on the endorphins. Cardio is a solid part of my routine for the mental health benefits.

Here’s what too much cardio can be a problem:

It can increase inflammation in the body, which gives us a puffy look and makes it harder to recover from our workouts

It can catabolize muscle tissue if it’s in excess and we’re not fueling/recovering properly

With cardio overtraining, it can lead to altered movement patterns, muscle imbalances, and overuse injuries. If you’re an endurance athlete, make sure you’re following a balanced training plan that incorporates cross training, along with proper fueling and recovery.

If you have body composition goals, you will notice a bigger difference if you switch your focus to strength training and use walking (or hill walking) as cardio. This will enable you to preserve muscle tissue and use your energy for strength.

Not sure how much cardio you need? Check out this post. 

Do the same things over and over again; follow a progressive training module

I cringe SO hard when I think about how I used to advocate for “muscle confusion.” Your muscles don’t have a brain lol. It’s actually beneficial to do the same movement patterns (push, pull, hinge, squat, carry) and increase the sets and reps over time. THIS is how you strategically build lean muscle. Of course, you can add in changes to keep things exciting and challenge yourself in a different way, but all solid training plans need to emphasize the basics. The classic movements have stood the test of time for a reason.

In your personal routine, take a look at your core exercises and make sure they have the pull, push, hinge, squat, and carry movements at least 2x a week. If you’re looking for a progressive training plan, join us in Fit Team.

Podcast about progressive training here!

Focus on sleep and recovery

Athletes need 7+ hours of quality sleep each night in order to facilitate mental and physical repair.

Some tips for bett