Challenges 2 & 3

What it can't already be December the 12th?! Where has December gone? Well I guess I will have to post 2 challenges this week!

Your second challenge, should you choose to accept it is, consume a serving of fruits of vegetables with each meal. + only eating fruits and vegetables after 8:00 pm (if you are hungry).

Your third challenge, should you choose to accept it is, participate in 30 minutes of exercise 4 days a week. This could be walking, running, zumba,TRX, dancing in your kitchen singing into a wooden spoon to "Girls just wanna have fun", taking your kids to the park (and actually playing with them)... The possibilities are endless. Be creative.

I've chosen goals that are designed to help you get ready for a more intense workout program starting in January and goals that are reasonable to obtain during the busy month of December.

To date your December Challenges include:

-Stretching 30 minutes a day, everyday.
-(pop challenge) Finding your resting heart rate.
-Consuming a serving a fruits and veggies per meal everyday.
-Workout for 30 minutes 4 days a week.

Remember that you are adding each challenge to the next. So you still need to be stretching each day as well as doing the other challenges. 

Pop Challenge!

Surprise! It's time for a POP CHALLENGE  to go along with our regular December challenges.

To get your best weight loss results you should be training using different heart rate ranges. In order to know which range you should be training in you need to know your resting heart rate. Your new challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to find out what your resting heart rate is.

How to find your resting heart rate:

-Try to wake up with out an alarm but if you need to use an alarm make sure that it is as peaceful as you can make it. 
-Do not sit up or stand up after you wake up!This is very important.
-Make sure you have a watch with a second hand or a stop watch next to your bed. Find your pulse either at the wrist or your neck.

-Count the number of beats for one minute. 

-Take your pulse for 3 consecutive days. Find the average of your numbers: find the sum of all the numbers and divide by how many numbers there are.

For example: 

If your numbers are 64, 67, and 70 then + them together =201 and / by 3 which  = 67.

By following these steps you should end up with your resting heart rate. Good luck! 

December Challenge! #1

It's the end of the year which means it's almost time to make your New Years Resolution of loosing weight and getting healthier. I find it humorous to go to the gym in January and find it totally packed, only to come back a month later and see it the same as usual.

I thought it would be fun to use December to get into some good habits before we all start our new workout plans in January (because lets face it, we all know it's going to happen). Each week we're going to do a new challenge which we will add on to the previous. 

Your first challenge, should you choose to accept, is to stretch 30 minutes a day. I'm not going to post specific stretches because I want it to be something you can and will do for the rest of your life. Find something that works for you whether that's Yoga, Classical Stretch, or your own variation of stretching. Stretch while you're watching your favorite TV show, or split up your 30 minutes through out the day. You could stretch in bed when you wake up and in bed when you're going to sleep. Stretch in your car at stop lights? Or maybe that's when you are doing your Kegel exercises. 

The benefits of stretching and flexibility include (but are certainly not limited to):

- Decreased risk of injury.

- Improved posture.

- Decreased back pain.

- Increase in blood flow.

- & just feeling good!!!  

I have to admit that this is going to be a hard one for me. I often think of that Brian Regan skit 'Simply take the bottom of your right foot and place it on the small of your back and rrreeellllaaaaax.  I can't even touch my toes with straight legs people!!

So who's in it with me?! Lets get all bendy and flexible!

Recommendations for the Insane! - Beginners guide to Insanity

We've all seen the infomercials saying "Get the body of your dreams in just 60 days!" "Dig deeper yall!" but for some of us it says "I'm getting my knee replaced after just 60 days!".

Insanity is not a workout for the light hearted or for the weak hearted. When you buy the Insanity workouts they have many warnings telling you exactly what i'm telling you right now. Still people tend to move from their regular routine of 4 hours of couch sitting a day to starting a program that is meant for those who already have a workout history. This is where I come in.

My first goal is to give you few guidelines that will help you get from the couch to Insanity. Ask your self a few of these questions before starting up Insanity.

- Have I been on a regular workout program for at least 3-6 months? 

- Can I run a mile in 12 or less minutes? 

- Can I jump off both feet at the same time and land on a step? 

- Can I lift my knee so that it is level with my hip?

- Can you do 15 push ups with proper form?

If you answered no to any of these questions then you should just give up.

NO NO NO NO I'm just joking with you!! Don't give up! That's the whole point of this post silly. 

I would suggest being able to do these things before starting Insanity but if you still insist on going for it then lets talk about some ways to make it work for you.

First rule LISTEN TO YOUR OWN BODY! Chances are it's telling you something important. There is a difference between pushing yourself and killing yourself (literally).

Wear a heart rate monitor. Shawn T of course tells you to do this as well. If you can't afford a heart rate monitor (check amazon - they have great deals) then feel your heart rate, watch the clock for ten seconds and count the number of beats in that time frame. Multiply that by ten and boom you have your heart rate. If you have worked out for many years you probably have a good idea where your heart rate is just by how you feel.

When Shawn gives you a break to recover it's important that your heart rate recovers all the way. If you're new to the program this means you take as much time as you need. That could be 1 minute or 10 minutes. Let me say this again, take as much time as you need!

All of this is pretty basic and pretty much applies to any workout program. On Recommendations for the Insane part two we'll talk about alternative exercises, especially for those who have knee or back problems.

I'M BACK!

It's been an entire year since I last posted on this blog! After 2 moves,  2 different job changes, a life of h@$% living in a mortuary (that's a story for another time), having a baby, adjusting to mommy-hood  and my own weight loss journey....I'm back!

After becoming a fitness professional, which is just a big fancy way of saying personal trainer, my sister gave me the recommendation of getting fat. I guess since I've never really had to lose a lot of weight myself she thought it would be good for me to actually know what my clients have to go through. Well she got her wish. Throughout my pregnancy I gained a total of 50 lbs, something I swore would not happen. During my seventh month of pregnancy I was placed on partial bed rest due to high blood pressure and BOOM I gained weight. After having my beautiful baby girl I dropped 20 lbs almost immediately, leaving me 30 more pounds left to work off.

Since starting to work out 5 months ago I have lost 22lbs and I'm here to tell you that all I did was all you're supposed to do! Work out, eat less.

 + calories out - calories in = weight loss!

Now I'm not saying it has been easy or fun in the least. All I'm saying is that it is possible. VERY POSSIBLE! Weight loss isn't a race, it's a journey! Journeys don't happen over night, or in a week, or in a month. Weight loss is about making habits that change you for the rest of your life. If you have 100 pounds to lose, or 200 pounds to lose, you can bet it is going to take a lot longer than 5 months but  promise it will happen.

For anyone  whocares here is the exercise path I took to get where I am today. I started off slow with walking for about 4 weeks, next I did a run-walk, then I did more running than walking. After getting my cardio back to a normal level I started strength training on the TRX because you can easily control how hard or how easy the intensity is. After about 6 weeks of working out on the TRX I started doing weights and interval training. After about 3 and a half months I decided to join the insane and try INSANITY! Insanity's name fits the workout but I will say this, it does work. Maybe not to the degree that they show you on the infomercials but I would say that is how I lost the majority of my weight. Currently I am training for a half marathon which will take place in March (my first ever!).

I still have about 10 more pounds to lose, which I would like to do with you guys! Stay tuned for more to come on that!

I guess all I wanted you to get from this post is that I'M BACK!  and that weight loss is POSSIBLE!!!

 My next post will be "Recommendations for the Insane!" -a beginners guide to the popular workout known as Insanity

Be safe, be happy!

Myth or Fact?

"By only lifting 3-8 pound weights I will achieve my goal of getting a toned body"

MYTH or FACT?

MYTH

I always want to giggle at the women who come into the gym, lift their 3 lb weights and expect to get "toned". How much does a can of soup weigh? How much does your 3 year old weigh? Probably more that 5 lbs. To build muscle you need to place stress on your muscles, stress that your muscles are not used to. So if you lift your 3 year old kid 15 + times a day, lifting a 5 lb weight 10 times at the gym isn't going to cause your muscle to adapt and change to the stress placed on it. Make sense?

Women should not worry about "bulking up" unless you are taking steroids. The key to being fit and looking toned is building lean muscle mass, you are going to have to lift heavy weights in order to accomplish this.

The number of repetitions, sets, days of the week you work out, and how your program is developed will help you to achieve different results including Endurance, Power, Stabilization, and Hypertrophy (muscle bulk).

This is just an intro to how women should be using weights to gain lean muscle mass so if you would like me to post more specific ideas such as example work out plans let me know and I would be happy to go into further detail. Let me know what your goals are and I'll try to get into more depth on how to achieve them.

Early Morning Workouts: what to eat

I usually like to get up and eat something about a half hour to an hour before my workouts so I make sure i have energy to get a great workout. Eating before hand worked well when I used to workout around nine or ten, I had plenty of time to eat and digest something.

My sister and I have recently started working out with each other in the mornings around 6 am. So this means I'm dragging myself out of bed around 5:55, throwing my clothes on, and running wildly out the door with no time to eat. This has not been great on my body, I get into the gym and I'm practically already shaking before my work out. This has lead me to write this post about what to eat before an early morning workout.

As a general rule, Carbs digest faster than Proteins or Fat so I'm going to say that eating something rich in Carbohydrates is going to do you well if you're just waking up and running out the door to your workout. As well Carbohydrates are easily converted by your body into energy.

Eating something before you workout that is high in fat or sugar can actually make you sick, and slow you down. As well remember that yes it is important to eat before you work out but don't eat too many calories, which as well may be hard for your body to digest.

Snack Ideas:

Whole grain toast with peanut butter

A banana and low fat yogurt

Cereal and Milk

Power Bar and Water

Everyone is different and so eating some of the things listed above can have a bad effect on you. I know many people that cannot eat dairy before their workout with out feeling sick. So i'd say try out a couple different things and notice how you feel before, during, and after your workout and go from there :)

Homework!- What do you eat before your workout? Do you eat before a workout? When (how close to your workout) do you eat?