Nutritional Tracking

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Nutritional Tracking

I get it, I know.  Food journaling/tracking can be a pain. Like, a super annoying pain. Like the 19-month younger sister pain when you're rocking the only child thing (love you girl!)!  But the thing is this. The more information you have, the easier it will be to determine what is (or isn’t) working! I know tracking isn’t fun. Trust me, as a trainer, it’s not fun for me to BUG you about tracking- but it’s helpful, which is why I want you to do it.

That being said, I don’t think it’s necessary that you track ever morsel of food and drink from now until the rest of your life. I DO think it’s necessary in certain situations. Some of these include:

  • Starting a new nutrition program

  • Starting a new wellness program

  • When you want/need to lose body fat

  • When you hit a plateau in your body fat loss

  • When you have a goal with a deadline

The more you track, the better, but if nothing else, record what you are putting in your body.

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Try a New Workout

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Try a New Workout

Have you fallen out of love? Or maybe you never were in love to begin with.  Or… perhaps you don’t even believe falling in love is possible for you…

Yes, I’m talking about your workouts.  Whether you’re an old pro, or you’re new to this whole “fitness thing,” you may have realized it’s time to try something new.

My thoughts on this? Go for it!  Seriously. Do it. Try SEVERAL somethings new. And not only that, try at least ONE thing that is out of your normal comfort zone.

I get that this can be hard, especially when working out hasn’t ever been a thing for you. And it could be hard for other reasons too. Maybe you’re scared. Maybe you’re afraid to fail. Or maybe, you just don’t know how to start.

My recommendation? Start by pausing.

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Snow Day Body Weight Workouts

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Snow Day Body Weight Workouts

SNOW DAY!!!  YAY!!!!!???

So a couple weeks ago we had the first snow day of the year and the gym was a ghost town.  My clients were dropping like flies because they were snowed in (or realized they had a great excuse… JK, I know you try), and immediately, two thoughts went through my head.

  1. Just because there is snow, doesn’t mean you should miss a workout!

  2. Some of them have kids at home, and they’re probably going to be insane!

Now, since that day was the first snow day of the year, I wasn’t super worried.  I was confident that the kids would want to play in the snow (since the first snow is always pretty and not gross, mushy February snow), and my clients would realize that shoveling the driveway and sidewalk is a great workout (hint hint!).

However, now that it’s later in the year that may not be the case.  The weather may not be nice enough to get outside and play (work) in the snow, or maybe you live in a condo or apartment complex so you don’t *get* to shovel your own drive!

No worries!  I got you!

Here are TWO of my favorite super quick workouts that you can do at home, easy-peasy lemon-squeezy!  They’re short, but they’ll get your heart rate up and make you use your body weight for some simple strength work as well.  Bonus!

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Learn to Love your Workout Routine

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Learn to Love your Workout Routine

11 years ago I hated anything to do with fitness.

  • 9 years ago I would only workout in the privacy of my own home (so no one would see)

  • 8 years ago I got certified to teach TurboKick... But never planned to teach.

  • 6 years ago I taught my first TurboKick class.

  • 4 years ago I surprised myself that I not only had learned to enjoy fitness, but I was okay with early morning workouts.

  • 4 years ago I “found” my soulmate workout in PiYo, and immediately got certified to teach.

  • 3.5 years ago someone convinced me I would be a good personal trainer, and after some initial persuasion, (hesitantly) I jumped.

  • This morning I woke up excited to start a new and (always) challenging day of helping people change their lives.

  • This morning, instead of convincing myself to workout I have to convince myself to skip or heavily modify my workout to allow my body to recover from my injury last week (Big toe injuries are the worst!)

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Running: Out of my Comfort Zone

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Running: Out of my Comfort Zone

I am not a fan of running in general.  Honestly, I admire people who can just get out and run, but I’m not one of them. Not that I’m against all cardio, there are several activities that I actually enjoy. An hour of cycling? Sure. Kickboxing? All in. But running? Not so much. In fact I’ve always joked that if you see me running, you should probably run too…

Yet yesterday I went for a run. And not just a “run down the block” run, or even a sprint Tabata run, but a “run run”. Why? I was running for a cause.

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Give Planks

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Give Planks

How much longer do I have to hold this?!?!

Yes, I know that’s the question that has gone through many minds as we hold our iso-abs exercises… better known as planks!

When you’re planking correctly, you’re strengthening important stabilization muscles like your rectus abdominus, transverse abdominus and low back extensors.  Side plans also hit obliques and low back stabilization muscles.  Strengthening those STABILZATION muscles can help reduce low back pain.  Oh, and sculpt your mid-section. There's that too.

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Cardio for Fat Loss

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Cardio for Fat Loss

Psssst!! If you hate long seemingly endless bouts of cardio I’ve got something to tell you… you don’t have to do it ever again.  Like ever, ever.  Seriously.

Nope, not even if you’re trying to lose weight. Not even if you’re trying to get “swole” (especially if you’re trying to get swole, bro!). If you don’t like it, you can stop doing it… yesterday.

I’m going to try and keep this super simple.

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