POWER! In less than an hour!

I live in a pretty tight niche community. Okay...who am I kidding... honestly, I live in one of those teeny tiny towns where everyone knows everything about everyone; which I always thought was a "as-seen-in-movies" bad thing but I'm finding that not to be the case. The people here are great. So our neighbors held a welcome party for the new neighbors that moved in on our street. Our participating dish was a salad-but a salad can go SO many ways. I went the simple, but successful route with a chopped salad. Romain lettuce, onions, red peppers, cucumbers, cauliflower, feta cheese, craisins, and pecans. Dressed with a mixture of creamy poppyseed dressing and balsamic vinegar. I kept the dressing on the side so that any leftovers would keep. Last nights dinner was also today's lunch. It was just as good today as it was last night. Salads like this are great to prep ahead of time in bulk and eaten for 3-4 days. They will keep as long as your lettuce and veggies are rinsed and fully dried before putting away into air tight containers for your week. Bottle your dressing choices seperate, and viola- easy, quick, healthy, on-the-go meal.

Now for a workout: Saturday's I usually have a little more flexibility in my schedule for my workouts so they are generally endurance days. I still had a sore lower body from the previous day's workout so I decided on a power total body workout using the medicine ball. Now this workout, because it emphasizes the power phase of training it is not well suited for the beginner. Power training helps increase your dynamic flexibility, range of motion, and explosiveness which essentially results in the building of more muscle mass. It is important though, to have trained in stability, strength, and endurance exercises before embarking on advanced power level workouts. Power workouts burn a TON of calories which is always a plus too! If you are a beginner you can take on or two of these exercises and apply them in your less impact strength training but I wouldn't advise doing an entire power circuit, unless you're wanting to induce injury.

So I started with a stretch followed by a 1 mile run. I started my run at an easy 6 mph pace then increasing a few notches every quarter mile up until a 7.5 mph pace. Feel free to adapt that warm up to better suite your abilities (slow it down if that's too quick, or pick it up even faster at the end if you want more of a challenge), it works very well for me- takes my muscles smoothly from cold to warm.

Next I grabbed a 15 pound medicine ball, if this is your first time experimenting with power techniques and the medicine ball, perhaps consider starting with an 8 or 10 pounder.

• 15 squat to wall ball toss
• Start in a deep squat (toes forawrd, butt out, abs engaged, thighs parallel with the floor) with medicine ball held at your chest. As you come up out of the squat use the power in your legs and shoulders to toss the ball as high up onto the wall as possible, then proceed to catch the ball and absorb it back to chest level, and going immediately back into squat position. 
• 10 pushups on med ball (5 on each side)

• 
  
• 20 step up torso twist with med ball (10 each foot)
• Hold medicine ball at chest. Use a 6-inch to 1 ft step, step onto the platform your right foot planted. Balance on your right foot and raise your left knee towards your chest while simulatiously contracting & rotating your core bringing your right elbow to your elevated left knee. Step your left foot back down to the floor, followed by your right, then switch sides stepping up with your left foot, and raising the right knee. 
• 30  Oblique twists with med ball (15 each side)

• 30 second plank with toes on med ball
• 20 standing torso rotations with med ball

• 2 minute run on treadmill or elliptical (if you're at home jump rope)
• 2 minute rest

Circuit through again for a total of 3-4 sets- increasing your resistance and speed each set on the treadmill or elliptical. This circuit should only take about 30 minutes and briefly targets most muscle groups.

I spent another 10 minutes practicing sprint intervals on the treadmill (sprint for 1 min, walk for 30 sec), followed by a nice easy 30 minute cool down on the elliptical.


Eat right, stay active, don't quit. You will succeed.

Abs are made in the kitchen.

I woke up at 3 am to a thirsty and scared little girl, I got her a drink and comforted her back to bed. I closed my eyes to return to a sleeping state again...and nothing. What do you do at 3 am when you can't sleep and the gym doesn't open until 5...well, blog of course! Today is a cardio day for me, cycling here I come but I always throw in a good 20 minutes of ab work in as well...but wait, Nikki, you just said abs are made in the kitchen! I know, I know let me explain. There is a common misconception that if you isolate and exercise your problem areas (abs, thigh, whatever) enough then they will become lean and sexy. You absolutely will grow and develop and tone the muscles in that area...but it does not isolate and burn off the fat in that particular area. You can do crunches all day everyday but if you have yet to clean out that pantry, the stomach fat will still be there so you will be unable to see that super strong sleek six pack you've been working so hard on. See, the basic formula for weight loss is simple...use more energy than consumed (energy being food). Once your body uses all it's consumed energy it goes into back up mode and fuels off it's reserved fat stores. Our bodies gain and lose weight proportionally to our different body shapes. Example, some people are pear shaped (small on top, bulky on bottom), or visa-versa, then others are rounder more like an apple and get it everywhere. Wherever your body stores fat, is where it will lose fat, it will not just drop in the tummy area because you are doing exsessive crunches. If you want a 6 pack, you have to drop that body fat percentage WHILE strengthening training those core muscles. WEIGHT LOSS IS 80% DIET, 20% EXERCISE. Lets break it down a touch further.

DIET:

Dropping body fat as stated above requires you to spend more calories than consumed- common sense will tell you that you need to eat fewer calories. But don't let that deter you food lovers. Less can be more...a 300 calorie meal could be a monster sized spinach salad or it could be 2 Reese's pb cups, which will keep you fuller longer? Chose your calories wisely. Fill those calories with protein, fiber, fruits, and vegetables...this will fill you up, keep you satisfied longer, and will give you a smaller caloric intake than a high sugar and fat meal. Eating clean has a natural way of lessening caloric intake without altering portion sizes...because you're taking out those empty calories. And as my blog is here to show you, eating clean doesn't have to be bland and boring- no need to sacrifice taste! It still enables you to indulge sensibly, but remember clean sweets can get up there in calories so you'll want to eat those in moderation to your goals.

Now with that said, you never want to create too large of a calorie deficit because your body will start fueling off of it's lean muscle mass as well instead of just your fat stores. Consuming enough protein and exercising regularly will help reduce the likelihood of that occurring. 

How do we get our bodies burning the most amount of calories per day without decreasing or depriving ourselves of too many calories? Calculate your BMR (or your resting metabolic state). HERE is a BMR calculator. Now whatever number it spits out, that's how many calories your body burns internally, at rest, without movement. Now add activity to that and you're burning even more daily. I never recommend consuming less that 500 calories than your resting metabolic rate, for moderate weight loss consuming 100-200 calories less than that BMR and adding exercise will easily give you a healthy 1-2 pounds of weight loss a week. If you lose too much more than that, odds are you're losing that lean muscle mass.

EXERCISE: 

Most people are familiar with crunches and sit ups and do them for days. Yes, they can be effective when performed properly, the problem is if that's all you are doing you are not strengthening all your core muscles. The rectus abdominis is the main centered abs that you see when admiring someones 6 pack and are the primary muscles used in your typical sit up. However, that's not all the muscles that make up the core. Balance is important or else you're asking for injury. There are hundreds of small stabilizing muscles through out your core that support your spine that need to be strengthened to carry you, with proper posture and control, through your daily life. These stabilizers are also needed to properly assist those larger prime movers through other exercises. So my advice is always start with stabilizing exercises then move onto the bigger exercises that target those prime movers. It's important not to leave out those back muscles and obliques as well. 80% of Americans suffer from chronic back pain, do not impose this on yourself by being sedentary or even more dangerously, by over working certain muscles but under working those back and other supportive muscles. Here are a few exercises to get you started. 

I tried to have my 5 year old son take a few photos of me completing these exercises. 1 out of 6 pictures turned out, so here are some strangers from the Internet you can admire. 

Most of you are familiar with the plank, it is an excellent stabilizing work out and there are many variations.  For those of you who are just starting out aim for 3-4 sets of holding it for 30 seconds at a time with forearms on the floor. Those more experienced hold it longer or advance to an elevated feet position or onto the stability ball as shown below.

For those back muscles, particularly the erector spinae (which is the muscle that runs directly along the spine) and the lower traps, try the cobra as pictured below. Be sure to lead with the chest NOT THE NECK, stare at the floor to ensure the neck stays in neutral! 3-4 sets of 15 for starters but hold the position at the top for 2-4 seconds before releasing back down each time.

Lastly, Lying oblique twists work wonders for the obliques as pictured below.

 3-4 sets of 12-15 (on each side) for starters, as you advance begin to straighten out those legs doing the same full range motion, or put a weighted medicine ball between the knees.  

Include your sit ups, crunches, or bicycles as usual! You could circuit through these few exercises back to back 1 set of each exercise with no rest, then take a 2 minute break and begin set 2 as described in my blog about circuit training for a more intense workout.

Questions, comments?! Hope this helps! Good luck readers!

Who you calling chicken?

Are you chicken? 

What are your fears? Are you afraid of failure? Are you afraid of the unknown? Are you afraid of suffering or sacrifice? We ALL have our fears, our weaknesses, our skepticism's, but there is few greater feelings than that of accomplishment. Over coming those fears, conquering those weaknesses, is extremely empowering and worth every bit of sweat, blood, and/or tears that might come along with that. You need to know that you are strong enough. Repeat with me... "I AM STRONG ENOUGH." Whatever your goals may be: to lose weight, gain muscle, gain energy, live healthier, eat cleaner, run faster, run longer, lower cholesterol, strengthen heart...YOU ARE STRONG ENOUGH TO ACHIEVE YOUR GOAL. No one ever got to where they wanted to go without a little hard work, heart ache, or sacrifice. You can't take a vacation without working for the funds to travel, and moving around the schedule to make time available to travel. Thomas Edison didn't invent the light bulb on his first try (but aren't we glad he didn't quit on himself). I didn't get to where I am today with out a lot of hard work, personal heart ache, and sacrifice. Here are a couple of tips I use with my clients to get you started. 

1. Remove "I can't" from your vocabulary. LIKE NOW! Then replace it with "I WILL"...You have to fully commit: the words "I will" enable that. It is 90%+ mental.  But really, I can't tell you how many times my brain has started to say: "okay, Nikki, you can stop running now" or "you are too tired today" or  "you could really go for a cookie right now" and I have had to use every last bit of will power I have to just keep running, or just get out of bed, or literally throw the cookies out. However bad it sucked in that moment... I do not regret it at all when I set personal records in my running, or step on the scale and drop another pound. Just remind yourself that it DOES and WILL pay off. Stay strong. Why? BECAUSE YOU ARE STRONG ENOUGH.

2. WRITE DOWN YOUR GOALS. Don't just jot it in your head, your head lies. Physically write them down. We've all heard this time and time again...I can attest to it's validity. So just do it...write it down and put it somewhere in plain sight so that you can be reminded why you are making these sacrifices. Perhaps even on the pantry or refrigerator door? Then share your goals with others, so that you are held accountable.  Don't forget to give yourself a deadline, and then set new ones once those are achieved. What got my running going was actually signing up for my first race. It was done, I paid for it, it was happening whether I was prepared for it or not....I HAD to make it worth my while. As soon as I finished my first race, I registered for another and wrote down my goal finishing time for that race. AND I KILLED IT:-)

3. Create a game plan. You can't just say "I want to be rich" and expect money to be handed to you because you thought about it long enough and hard enough. Set those goals, and then write down and plan out HOW you will achieve them. Write these on a calender or set notes or alarms in your phone to go off, whatever works for you,  so that you can follow through with your game plan. Set that alarm to go off 6 am Monday through Friday so you get to the gym or take that walk. Written on your calender: Monday is the day to clean out that fridge and pantry. Feel free to get specific with it too. I like to write down which muscle group I'm training on what day. 

4. Make the achievement of these goals a priority. Rearrange your schedule to MAKE it work for you. Tell that sneaky little part of that mind of yours that likes to come up with all those nasty excuses that YOU AIN'T LISTENING! 

5. Mentally prepare yourself for the roadblocks, and hard times to come. It is going to get hard, you are going to feel weak (again it's all in your head)...but if you're prepared for it then you will prove to be strong!

6. Find a support person or group. Perhaps it's found amongst those that you chose to share your goals with, or someone else who has similar goals, challenges, weaknesses. Someone to lift and motivate when feeling hard. Someone to contradict those lies that your sneaky mind might be telling you. Someone to remind you that "YOU ARE STRONG ENOUGH"

I'm sure you get the idea by now. The point is don't hold yourself back. You can do it by preparing and then running at those hurdles full force. Why wait for tomorrow?

Don't be a chicken, eat chicken! (I'm pretty punny right)

As many of you know I don't really eat any meat besides the occasional turkey or chicken. I'm picky and just prefer leaner meats. Some think this could get bland or boring, my meals are hardly either of those! We had some plain cooked and shredded chicken left over from the whole wheat chicken enchiladas from the night before. So last nights dinner was a breeze. I threw together a mayonnaise-less chicken salad. It was awesome so I thought I'd share my concoction. 

CHICKEN SALAD LETTUCE WRAP

(about)3 boiled boneless skinless chicken breasts-shredded (could sub canned chicken)

3 TBSP of plain greek yogurt

2 TBSP of yellow mustard

2 TBSP of relish or pickle juice.

2 TBSP of raw honey

1/2 avocado-mashed

1 stalk of celery- sliced thin

1/4 an onion-diced

1/2 bell pepper (I used orange)

1 apple- remove core and dice

handful of craisins

salt and pepper to taste

A few leaves of lettuce of choice (I used romaine)

garnish with chopped pecans

Toss all ingredients in a bowl (minus the pecans and lettuce) until well blended. Spoon it out onto lettuce- sprinkle pecans on top. DEVOUR. 

Simple & Devine! It's wonderfully versatile as well. Experiment with your favorite diced fruits and veggies...you could try some of these add-ins as well: raisins, grapes, cucumbers, walnuts, ect. Or for a little more fiber put your lettuce and chicken on whole wheat bread or tortilla. 

Exercise on a time CRUNCH!

As many of you know my husband is away working in Indiana for the summer. We do not get to join him until my son gets out of school in May. So it's a nice 7 week stretch of single-momming it. We have survived 2 weeks so far, and the only reason we've survived is because I've learned some serious time management skills. Confession: I am very much addicted to exercise. I NEED MY ENDORPHIN FIX ON THE DAILY (or else I am a serious grump- my husband can attest to this). But now, with my husband gone I have some time and vehicle restrictions because my husband has my car out in IN. This means I have to work around my parents schedule when I need a car to get to the gym, or my son to school, ect. Yeah, that part blows. I got to thinking...I am sure I am not the only mother out there who struggles to find the time to exercise, period- let alone make it to the gym. I'm going to share my two ways of getting in that worth while workout with out getting in the way of my schedule...and really many of these tips are beneficial to those who do have the time. I firmly believe that if it's important to you, you will find a way...if it's not you'll find an excuse. My health and happiness is most definitely important to me so I have found a way. NO EXCUSES PEOPLE!!!!

First, I've been running outside more again since my husband left. I had picked up my strength training at the gym lately and toned down my long distance running just slightly since I have no big races coming up. But, I've really missed those longer runs. There are some serious benefits to running. The best one is it's free! Next, is you can do it any time of day- before or after work (or spouses work schedule), and there is no travel time involved unless there is a particular trail or course you want to hit up. A more physical benefit is that weight baring exercises- or exercises done on your feet (walking, running, elliptical, ect) BURN MORE CALORIES! And, out of all of those weight baring exercises, running burns the most calories in the shortest amount of time. I'm all about efficiency. And because I am still aiming to strength train and build muscle mass while decreasing body fat percentage I have been hitting those hills harder, and including sprint intervals into my runs. Important note with sprint intervals- the key is to pick up your pace for a designated amount of time depending on skill level, and then dropping it down and allowing your heart rate (HR) to RECOVER. If you are still panting and unable to talk relatively easily after 30s-1min recover time DON'T start again until can carry on a conversation. Start timing how long it takes for your HR to recover- and then watch that time improve the more you run. Short recovery time is a sign of a strong heart!

Some of you might be saying "but I'm not a runner"...NO EXCUSES PEOPLE! Even if you are not a runner you can totally walk it out (burst into song here). Remember from my first blog entry- I was never a runner either. I thought I didn't have the "build" to be a runner- my short stumpy legs were never going to carry me farther than 2 minutes down the road. I thought wrong. Start with a 10-20 minute brisk walk every day (if you have kids and have no one to watch them, bring them with) get that heart pumping regularly and then build up pace and endurance from there, and don't forget to add in some of those hills when you're ready. Another thing, don't think you can't incorporate sprint intervals. Just pick up the pace for 30 seconds at a time, then recover- it's all relative to your abilities. The couch to 5k apps work pretty well for a lot of people. JUST STAY CONSISTENT AND PLEASE DON'T QUIT!

Next, CIRCUIT TRAINING!!!!! My ABSOLUTE favorite style of training. I use this style of training with probably 90% of my clients (mind you 90% are weight loss clients). Why? Because it's affective. What is it? It is rotating through exercises using different muscle groups with minimal rest in between. HUH?! Here is a simple example:

20 squats (legs)

20 jumping jacks (cardio)

15 push ups (arms)

1 minute plank (core)

20 walking lunges (legs)

30 sec jump rope (cardio)

20 tricep dips (arms)

30 bicycles (core)

Rest for 2 minutes then repeat 2-3 more times.

(naturally, you would have a 5-10 minute warm up and cool down before and after a routine like this)

In this example you're targeting your upper, lower, core, and cardio with 2 different exercises per muscle group each. Rotating through them with little to no rest in between until you've done 1 set of each...then you take a short rest just long enough for your HR to recover and your body to produce more energy to cycle through it again. Remember, this is just a sample- feel free to use it or switch it up and fill in your favorite exercises. The important factor here is this method. If you wanted to do an entire lower body circuit one day you could do so by isolating each muscle (example: isolate quads, hamstrings, inner thigh aka adductors, outer thigh aka abductors, glutes, calves, rest, repeat). Let me explain why it's so beneficial... Traditional strength training methods have you do your 20 squats, rest, 20 squats, rest, 20 squats, rest. That rest is necessary because you're using the same muscles back to back. By the time you have completed all 3 sets you have spent 3 minutes resting and maybe 1 minute working. Circuit training reverses that, you spend 5 minutes continuously working, 2 minutes resting per set. You are switching up the muscle groups being used so your arms are resting while those legs are working. This keeps your heart rate up longer and keeps those muscles safely working which enables you to burn more calories in a shorter amount of time. Your EPOC (or metabolic rate post workout) is higher when circuit training practices are applied as well. Burn more calories during 30 minutes of exercise and continue to burn more calories post workout- not a bad deal, right?! And the nice thing is there are THOUSANDS of exercises you can do from home. Kids napping? Do a 30 minute circuit then go finish the remainder of nap time with them. Get up a few minutes earlier in the morning or do it after the kids are in bed. My kids find it fun to try and do whatever it is I'm doing, so they generally will do my squats and push ups with me. Find what works for you.  NO EXCUSES PEOPLE!!!!

Now, I still like to hit the weights or cycling class at the gym a couple times a week so I usually have my parents watch the kids and I'll get up early and do my thing. It jump starts my day and I never regret it when I'm done. Make a sacrifice and commitment and you'll succeed. As my blog continues I will go further into depth into a broad array of beneficial exercises themselves so, as always, stay tuned for more. 

GET UP AND GET MOVING!

NO EXCUSES PEOPLE!

During that EPOC (post workout metabolic rate) time frame I discussed earlier is the most important time to eat. Your body needs to replenish the carbs spent and it needs protein to repair those torn muscle fibers. Here is a high protein smoothie to try. Best if consumed within 30 minutes of working out.

Choco-nana-nut smoothie

1 scoop of chocolate protein of choice (I use a muscle milk whey protein from costco or hemp protein)

1 c milk of choice (I used vanilla almond milk)

2 TBSP of plain greek yogurt

1 small banana

1 TBSP of your favorite nut butter

8-10 ice cubes