And to that I say…challenge accepted

I stress over and over again, if you really want to hit that goal weight, nutrition is 80% of the battle. Almost 2 years ago I started to clean up my eating and it has made a world of a difference. I know my clients do not believe me when I say that weight/scale is truly just a number.

Almost 10 years ago…120lbs. Played basketball, volleyball, soccer, at the gym 2-3 times a week:

Today…still 120lbs, but dropped from 29% body fat to 13% body fat:

Most recent picture after the Louisville Half-Marathon. Speaking of half-maratons, after burning over 1,000 calories running 13.1 miles…Yesterday’s food journal looked a little abnormal:

Breakfast:

Oatmeal w Raisins & Brown Sugar

Red Seedless Grapes

1 Scrambled Egg w 1 Sausage Link

1 Banana

Lunch (after the race and here is where things get crazy)

1 Everything Bagel

2 bags of Sun Chips

6 oz Chocolate Milk

12 oz Powerade

2 bananas

2 cups frozen yogurt w 1/4 cup of chocolate chips & 1/4 cup of blackberries

Dinner:

1 cup of Campbell’s Select Southwestern Style Vegetable Soup

14 Tositos Chips

Snack:

1 Kashi Dark Chocolate Almond Bar

1 Light String Cheese

Dessert

1 cup of chocolate Raisinets

8oz Wild Cherry Icee

I laughed just a little as I entered my food in www.myfitnesspal.com (username Courtmam) because my grand total for calories = 3, 464. I felt a little guilty but my metabolism was going in full force after running and tomorrow is another day….

She said, “I want my pants to fit better” Ding, ding, ding. The light bulb is going off above my head almost 2 months later as I am watching her become faster, stronger, and have the utmost confidence in the weight room.  I did not hear, “I want to lose weight”.  In a way, Angela might be my first love as a trainer as she was officially my first 1 on 1 client who has consistently worked out weekly with me.

Do you want to know the secret to her success? She set small goals that have absolutely nothing to do with weight loss! This does not happen too many times with women.  Something my clients hear me say often, almost too much, “You want to lose weight, throw your scale out the window and pray it breaks”.

 On our first or second session together, we attempted the very difficult “plank-ups” where you move from a push-up to a plank position. With much strain her face, she tried with all her might to push her body back up into a push-up position and eventually toppled into the mat. Plank-up total = 0. She looked at me with such determination and said, “I am going to practice those”. And she did.

Sixty days later, she successfully completed 22 plank-ups. The look of accomplishment on her face is something that motivates me as a personal trainer. Our first day we tried push-ups on the toes, again same result as the plank-up…toppling to the mat. Today, I witnessed 25 beautiful push-ups on her toes.  

And my favorite improvement with Angela? The plank-ups are obviously hers, but everyone has at least once tried the wall squat. You know the one where you lean against the wall in a chair position and pray the time goes by as fast as possible. As I see legs shake after only 30 seconds, I tell them with a smile on my face, one day you’ll be holding it for 1 minute…with me standing on top of you. I immediately hear a sigh followed by a “yeah right”.

Today, Angela held the wall squat for two entire minutes and yes, I stood on her legs the entire time.

I find myself constantly reminding my clients as they run sprints or grunt during push-ups… “Faster, stronger, sexier…and more confidence”.  Noticed the word skinnier, lose weight, or diet are not in there and will never leave my mouth unless there is a slight cringe on my face.

To Angela, thank you for proving that exercise and hard work really does pay-off and that it’s not necessarily about what the scale says…it’s all about how you feel and how much you improve.

And in case you were dying to know, in 60 days, she dropped nearly 3% body fat and 8.6lbs, but if you ask both of us those are just secondary to what she has truly accomplished.

The event consisted of a plethera of workout classes, nutrition counseling, eat smart cooking demos, and many other health and fitness activities.

Some of my highlights:

Pilates Stride Class- Description: Pilates-based class specifically for runners, you’ll perform exercises designed to open up the body for more effective running mechanics and strengthen and stretch your muscles to avoid injuries.

I always enjoy pilates, but this class concentrated on the hip flexors. Call me crazy, but since taking up pilates almost 3 years ago, I have taken such an appreciation for strong hip flexor muscles. I started training for a half-marathon in September. When I stopped taking pilates for a bit and tried to run, my hips killed. So this class made me happy, not to mention the moves I am able to take back home with me.

Eat Smart Cooking Demo-

Yes please! They made the most amazing, but healthy burgers and some delicious salsa. My absolute favorite recipe that I cannot wait to make:

Lentil Quinoa Burgers with Sauteed Mushrooms

1/2 cup quinoa

1 can lentils

1/2 cup plain bread crumbs

1 egg, lightly beaten

2 gloves garlic, chopped

1 tsp cumin powder

1/3 cup of cilantro

Juice of half a lemon

1/2 cup walnut pieces

1 tbsp butter

1/2 lb mushrooms, sliced

1/4 cup dry red wine (cooking with alcohol, YES!)

2 tsp vegetable oil

100% Whole Grain Buns

1. In bowl, combine half the lentils, bread crumbs, egg, garlic, cumin, cilantro, lemon juice, and cooked quinoa. Place in a food processor or blender. Process until combined. Add remaining lentils and walnuts, pulse until they’re incorporated. Form into 6 patties. THESE patties need to sit in the refridgerator for 15-20 minutes.

2. Preheat grill. Meanwhile, melt butter, add mushrooms and sautee for 5 minutes. Stir in wine, cook for another 5 minutes.

3. Serve burgers on buns and top with sauteed mushrooms.

I did a virtual kayak, learned more self-defense, and they even had massage therapists and hair stylists on hand for free. One of the ladies braided my hair across the front and it felt amazing to have my bangs out of the way while I sweat for once. It only made me wish I knew how to do hair.

I am so glad we signed up for the expo. Apparently all of the major fitness magazines put on something like this in your major cities, Chicago, NY, LA, etc. I would love to go to more of these. And, it only cost $10!

I love how most women walk in the door, immediately ask where the treadmills are and then say “Really? I will get a workout from this?”. Less than five minutes into the circuit, every single time, they are sweating.

Three weeks ago I also started a Jillian Michaels circuit workout. I can now say with great confidence, everyone should add circuit workouts to their exercising programs.

I planned on writing about circuit training  since yesterday. Well, while finally getting my hair cut today, I flipped through an old Women’s Health at the salon and found this wonderful piece of information:

“Circuit strength training for 30 minutes burns the same amount of calories as running a mile at a six-minute pace for the same amount of time. Strength training, unlike aerobic exercise, increases your metabolism up to 39 hours afterwards” University of Southern Maine

Here is a little sample of my workout the other day. Its two out of the five circuits. Trick is to keep a steady pace through all the exercises.

Circuit 1:

Plank -Hold for 10 seconds

Pushups- perform 10

Side Planks w/thigh raise- 10 per each leg

Burpy- Feet shoulders width apart, bend the knees and touch your toes, from the squat position, jump straight up- 10 repetitions

Sumo Squats-Place your feet more than shoulder width apart and angle your toes outward. Lower your body until your thighs parallel to the floor. Hold for a beat and press back up to starting position- 50 repetitions

Jump rope for one minute

Circuit 2 (need chair):

Bench Dips- 20 repetitions

Swing Kicks- Take right leg and swing it up and over the back of the chair then quickly swing it back to the starting position in the other direction- 10 per leg

Lunge w/ shoulder raise- 15 per leg

Bicycle Crunches- 30 scissors

Mountain Climbers- Start in plank position. Bend your knee and jump up bringing right thigh under right side of your torso and leave the left leg behind you. Quickly jump your right leg back to starting position while simultaneously jumping left knee towards your torso- Continue quickly for 1 minute

I kept a little busy.

My rotweiller, Dakota, broke her leg nearly 11 weeks ago. I sent Daisy, the husky, up north to be with her grandparents and finally got her back last week. With two puppies, its hard not to be exercising. Lots of walking, running, and dog parks with these two. Otherwise, they drive me nuts.

And being sick? Not fun. It drained me. I pride myself on keeping healthy. I exercise, lots of vitamin C, three meals a day, but I forgot one very important thing in that week. Sleep! I opened the gym for five consecutive days at 5am and still thought I could handle meetings, welcome home ceremonies, etc. until 10-11 at night.

Lots of rest later, I am back to 100% and promise to be a better blogger

Tomorrow I am going to blog on my new love, circuit workouts!

What you eat before a workout-

In the past two weeks, I have had three different woman complain about not enough energy while going through the circuit. I immediately asked them, “What did you eat for lunch/dinner?” And all three women turned their heads away from me and did not want to answer. One said, “Well my son wanted McDonald’s for dinner” etc., etc.

The reason I know immediately what to ask is I went through something similiar last week. Because of my birthday, one day before work, I ate out and devoured quite a bit of cake and some other not so good stuff that I refuse to write down and I struggled.

What you eat before a workout is so important. When I eat fruits such as bananas or grapes (good carbs) or protein shakes, chicken, almonds (good protein) I am entirely a new person.

Water, water, water, water

Some women say I am their mother when it comes to water. Women complain about fatigue and dizziness….Well did you drink the required 8-12oz BEFORE your workout or even the required 8oz afterwards? Their answer, every single time…nope.

Celebrities, fitness trainers, etc. rant and rave about the importance of water. They swear its how they lost weight or what keeps them moving. One woman asked me how many energy drinks I have during the day and I said, I drink mostly water.

Stretching

As much as I worked out in the past three weeks, you think my body would be falling apart. I stretch before and after work and usually 1-2 times during a circuit. Best time to stretch, when your muscles are warm.

Curves (and a few other books I read) preach that stretching increases your results and strength by 20%. How many of you effectively and efficiently stretch either before or after a workout? I bet not many, I know because I was guilty of it for years.

Massage-

When I hear the word massage, I think luxuary or high maintenance house wife (terrible sterotype I know, but I am being honest). My boss has been throwing around that word. And recently, I noticed SEVERAL fitness magazines emphasizing the importance of getting a massage especially if you are active or have an active job.

SELF Magazine- “Intense activity may temporarily impair immunity, but a massage can boost your system. Subjects who followed tough sessions with a rubdown restored  levels of molecules in their saliva”

Fitness Magazine- “When stressed out ER nurses received weekly chair massages, their tension levels dropped significantly acording to researchers”

So you mean to tell me I need to get a massage? Sign me up! I already ran the idea past my significant other with my evidence that I do not want a massage, but rather I need one

I read about this in a fitness magazine and found its website. It provided a stat that  80% of women are dissatisfied with their appearance. Sounds like a lot, but if you sat down and thought about it, its not too far fetched. They share positive and negative ads in regards to the female body. Nobody can deny how the media portrays women. I wasn’t crazy about the website, but found a few things very interesting.

To honor the “holiday”, I will share the answer to what do I like about my body?

I do like my legs. Thanks to genetics and always being on the go, my legs always look toned no matter how much or little I workout.

Please, please share…What do you like about your body?

Because of my curiousity, I asked a wonderful friend, who also happens to be a Zumba instructor, to write here on the exciting and fast growing world of Zumba.

Hi! I’m Megan Ewoldsen and I’m a Zumba Fitness Instructor.

A lot of you are probably asking yourselves… “Ummm, well ok what exactly is Zumba?”

Zumba is a high-energy dance aerobics class where it combines Latin rhythms (Salsa, Merengue, Cumbia, Samba, Reggaeton, Cha Cha, etc…) and easy to follow, fitness-based moves to create a truly dynamic workout program that actually shapes your body and WORKS! Everyone is always searching for an exercise program that actually works. Zumba is easy and it appeals to ALL fitness levels, no matter what shape, size, gender or age. Zumba uses interval training techniques to burn calories, tone and sculpt your body and increase your cardio endurance. The part I really love about Zumba is that its also a great, dynamic core workout requiring a lot of control throughout the midsection of your body with all the torso, chest and hip movements found in variety of Latin dance styles. After doing Zumba for a few weeks I finally found out Shakira’s secret to a rockin’ midsection. I can honestly say, as a fitness enthusiast and a long distance runner I’ve seen more results with doing Zumba a few days a week than running 25-30 miles a week. Scout’s honor! That’s because, without even realizing it, the interval training you’re getting by using the movements from Zumba target areas you didn’t even think you could work out. Its crazy!

Not only does Zumba sculpt your body and improve your fitness, it makes you FEEL GOOD. The combination of the Latin music, dancing and just feeling plain out sexy really does a lot of good for your psych. Its important to note that Zumba is not a dance class nor a dance competition. No one is judging you because you’re all there for two reasons and that is to workout and have fun.

Right now, I’m teaching 3 classes full of military spouses of deployed soldiers (about 30-40 people in each class.) I honestly can’t count the number of women (and occasionally a man or two) that come up to me after class and just thank me for an amazing workout, a motivation to get out of the house, a reason to keep their spirits happy and lifted from the pressures of deployment/every day life, and even success stories of the ones who have lost 10 or even 15 pounds within the last few months!

And, the best part is, they don’t even realize they’re working out because its like one giant (sweaty) dance party!

Still haven’t quite grasped the concept of Zumba? Take a look at the Zumba 2009 promotional reel. Most of the footage is from the 2009 Zumba convention in Florida this past September. The guy on stage is “Beto” – the celebrity trainer and creator of “Zumba” himself. If this video doesn’t make you want to join a Zumba class, then i don’t know what else will!

I encourage everyone to give it a try, no matter what fitness level you are. You may become hooked… I did

www.zumba.com
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My “Zumba” website

This morning while grocery shopping, I grabbed one of those bad boys and flipped it around. This is the one I found with the least amount of sodium:

I also found one with 980mg. The American Heart Association wants you around 2300mg a day. Poof! There goes half of your daily amount in one small dinner.

I remember as a kid, reading labels…Fat = bad. Do you know your body actually needs fat? Especially if you exercise or engage in daily activities, fat creates energy.

I am still learning how to read labels at the grocery store. I found this dandy FDA website on how to read labels:

Nutrition Facts Label

If you do not know what should or should not go in your body, the FDA also puts out a Dietary Guideline that was pretty informative and interesting to read.

Not only was the cushioning completely worn down,

But, when I loosened the shoe laces and opened the sides to put my foot in, the sides started flapping open on their own free will.

In my mind, I wanted a pair of Nike Shox, not for comfort, but for looks. I thought since my job is to workout and I workout sometimes 5-7 hours straight on any shift, I wanted my shoes to look bright and bold.  I needed something to take away from my sweaty hair sticking to the side of my face, my sweaty shirt, and red face.

I tried on a pair of black and pink Nike Shox. The employee at Finish Line told me his opinon on Shox, which honestly was pretty close to my opinion. They are not the most comfortable shoes. I bought one pair nearly five years ago and never did much running in them.

Aren’t they pretty?

I put them on, walked about five-six steps and asked, “Are they really this uncomfortable”. The wonderful customer service employee told me that I may want them for looks, but if I at all move around and stand for a long period of time, I might want to try something a little more comfortable.

After trying on nine pairs of diferent kinds of shoes, I fell in love with these.

This is my first pair of Mizzunos. As soon as I slid them on, I felt a lot of support. I exercised for four hours yesterday and my feet felt great. Over the years, I have bought every kind of shoe. And here is where they stack up in my books at least.

Favorite running shoe:

Brooks

Pick up a pair of Brooks throw them in the air and feel how darn light they are. I ran two races in Brooks, half-marathon and 10k and highly recommend them to serious runners.

Favorite workout shoe:

Asics Gel

Asics consistently rates towards the top of every kind of footwear challenge.

After Brooks and Asics, I might lean towards New Balance. My most recent pair, New Balance 690, (shown in the sad photo above) did not last very long, about four months. I used New Balance through most of my high school soccer running days and absolutely loved them. Their new New Balance 749 placed in the top category for runners needing mild stability.

Give me a few more months and I can let you know my thoughts on my new Mizuno’s, but so far, so good!

How do you know what kind of support you need:

If you are seriously looking into running or consistently find yourself not liking the workout shoes you buy, I suggest finding a local running store. Most running stores will test your foot strike and will determine what shoe works best for you. That is how I found my first pair of Brooks.

I also recently read a little about one’s foot strike in this month’s Fitness.

Missing-in-the-middle footprint = Neutral Cushioned

C-Shaped footprint = Mild Stability

Filled-in footprint = Maximum Stability

**Running shoes should be replaced either every 300 miles or every six months. If your feet start hurting after a run or workout, the cushioning might be worn down and there is another sign you need to go out and treat yourself to new shoes

What are your favorite pair of workout shoes?