Smart Training With the Sickies

Yesterday I was sick, and today I woke up worse! Sore throat, runny nose, headache. Not feeling good at all. As a Personal Trainer, I advise my clients to skip the gym if they are sick from the chest and down (stomached flu, flu, any respiratory sickness, ect.). If you do choose to exercise, keep it light and make sure you are NOT contagious. Regardless if your sick or not, clean up the equipment you used with the cleaning products provided by the gym. I hate watching sick patrons use the facility, use their grubby hands on all the equipment, and leave without cleaning up after themselves. Good way to spread your sickies to everyone else! Truly, your best bet is to take your exercise outside, get some fresh air, and do light cardio (walk or jog). Providing of course weather permits. Today is beautiful, so Kellen and I took our sickies outside for a walk. Now to chase our walk with a long afternoon nap. Hopefully tomorrow looks better for the both of us.

Protein Powder Free Breakfast Bars

For those of you who do not bake with protein powder. A protein filled delicious breakfast bar.1/2 cup Greek yogurt, 1 cup pumpkin purée, 1/2 cup egg whites, 1/2 cup agave syrup (or honey), 1 cup oats, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp baking powder. Put all into a blender on low and blend until just barely smooth. Pour contents into a bowl and add an additional 1 cup regular oats (this makes the texture chewy). Pour into 8x8 bar pan and bake at 375F for 20-25 minutes. Let cool and cut into bars. Back and biceps workout today. 4 sets pull ups till failure. Seated hammer strength lat pull down, 10, 8, 6, and 10 with two drop sets for the last one. Seated unilateral cable row, 15 reps each arm, no rest, 8 sets total for each arm. That one was killer! Bilateral bicep curl with cable machine superset with close grip barbell bicep curl (12 reps on first exercise, second exercise till failure, 3 rounds total).

Chili Cheese Muffins (vegetarian)

1 can drained black beans. 1 can drained kidney beans. 1 can drained fire roasted tomatoes. 1 cup shredded reduced fat cheddar cheese. 1 whole egg. 2 egg whites. 1 cup dry oats. In a blender or food processor, blend together oats, 1/2 can of the drained black beans, 1/2 can drained kidney beans and 1/2 can fire roasted tomatoes. Transfer to large bowl then add remaining beans, the egg and egg whites, remaining tomatoes, and 1/2 of the cheese. Evenly distribute into Pam sprayed muffin tin and bake at 375F for 30 minutes. Remove and sprinkle remaining cheese on each chili cheese muffin. Let cool for 5-8 minutes then remove and serve.

Black Friday Breakfast & Leg Day

Yesterday was Black Friday and I needed some certain somethings that we're going to be hugely discounted. That meant waking up super early and standing in the long line outside the store. I was not about to do that on an empty stomach so I needed a breakfast plan. It was super fast, super easy, and pretty tasty. Mix 1/2 cup dry oats, 1/2 cup Greek yogurt, 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder, and 1 diced medium banana. Put it in the fridge the night before. In the morning, voila! The oats have softened and it's ready to eat. I prepared it the night before in a Tupperware container so in the morning I could grab breakfast, a bottle of water, and spoon before heading out the door. I ate my breakfast in the line whilst being among a group of rumbling hungry tummies! Bonus: Chock Full O Nuts was there handing out free black coffee. With all the energy from breakfast and the coffee, I was ready to do some major shopping. That afternoon I did my fourth workout of the week, legs again. This time emphasis on glutes and hamstrings. Stiff Leg Deadlift, 12, 8, 6, 6, 6. Full squat, sitting "in the pocket" for a brief moment to stretch the glutes, then powering back up, 3 sets 12 reps. Lying hamstring curl Superset with Abductor machine, 3 sets 12 reps each exercise.

Thankful

Yesterday was Thanksgiving. In the past I have tried to use this day to purposefully pause and reflect on things I'm truly thankful for. This year has been different then the past. I've added one new addition to my list. It goes like this but is not limited too; my husband, my son, my family, my friends, my health, our neighbors, my church, Mike's company, faith in my God, my new nephew that's still cooking, my new sister Tina, and the list can really be too long for this blog! My health is very important to me, and it should be on your list too. Wednesday was a leg day and Thanksgiving morning was shoulders and chest. Leg day was brutal, and it went something like this, leg press 12, 10, 6, 6, 6, 6. Full squat 3 sets 6. Box squat 3 sets 8. Leg extension superset with seated leg curl 4 sets 12 reps each exercise. Shoulders and chest went like this, Front reverse bicep curl to overhead press, 15, 8, 5, 5, 5. Seated Arnold press 4 sets 8. Chest press 3 sets 12 reps. Standing single arm lateral raise superset with single arm leaning lateral raise, 3 sets 12 reps (leaning lateral raise on bench till failure with 50% weight).

New Playlist Always Pumps Me Up

I just created a new playlist last week and today I was solo for my back workout. I usually like to exercise in the morning or early afternoon but since I'm currently sharing a vehicle with my husband I have to work around his schedule. That means I didn't get into the gym till 6pm. Eek, that is late for me. No worries though, my new playlist was there to rock my whole routine and pump me up. A couple of the new tunes that I'm totally diggin are Turn Me On by David Guetta, Sun Is Up by Enna, Feel So Close by Calvin Harris, We Found Love by Rihanna. Back and biceps today. 4 sets chin ups till failure. Seated Hammer Strength Lat Pull Down, 5, 8, 10, 15. Behind the head lat pull down, 3 sets 10. Single arm dumbbell row, 12, 10, 8. Cable straight arm pull down superset with bent over barbell row, 3 sets 15 reps each exercise. Lying bench rear delt fly, 3 sets 12 reps. Cable reverse grip bicep curl superset with cable bicep curl, 3 sets each exercise till failure.

My Potluck Depression.

Every time I make food for a potluck function here I come home with the dish full of the food I made for others to eat. No one eats my food! I asked a couple of the other wives and my husband. They said its because I've been labeled the "healthy personal trainer" and no one wants to eat the healthy food at the potluck, they want to gorge on the comfort foods. So that brings me to thinking, "a potluck is an excuse for some people to eat whatever they want without guilt?" What does a potluck mean to a fitness nut, bodybuilder, someone watching their waistline? A death wish? Lol. Not sure. Potlucks don't scare me. I usually survey everything, then go back and choose what I want most and take a little bit of that. Did you know Americans put an average of 7 lbs of weight over the holiday season? Just FYI. Anyways, I annihilated shoulders today! Bench press, 5 sets 5 reps. Tabata style seated shoulder press machine. Steering wheel, 4 sets 30 seconds with plate. Upright cable row Superset with lateral fly (10 reps each exercise, slow tempo. 3 rounds total). Leaning unilateral shoulder raise Superset with tricep press down on cable machine with rope attachment (15 reps each arm, 15 reps on tricep press down also. 3 rounds total).