Happy Monday!! I want to be 100% honest with you...I have been a little off with my work outs lately. Nutrition has been just about 100% but I just haven't "felt like working out". For someone who loves the feeling of crushing a good work out and not mention the endorphins. To me that was my body telling me I was burnt out. 

Generally every 12 weeks (sometimes even shorter than that) because honestly I just need a break! I need to wake up feeling like ahhh I get to work out not I have to work out. 

So this week starts some new work outs and honestly I am excited!!! I am really happy with the progress I had with Body Beast and it was super fun lifting that heavy especially doing it with Mike! 

I am kind of making my own stuff up to be honest...as I dive deeper into training I find I want to really test myself so I am going to be increasing my work out time per day and really what I focus on.

Goals of the new programming?
~Target my weak areas and make them better: specifically I want to improve my shoulders and my legs/booty. So I will be working those muscle groups more. 
With the weights I will also be lifting heavy with less reps and sets (so 3 sets of 6-12 for upper/lower body and 3 sets of 20 for abs). 

~I will also be increasing my amount of cardio from...oh around 0 days to 3 days a week. (2 days of HIIT + one day of Steady state cardio) 

~ another keep thing is going to be nutrition. I have selected what supplements I'll be using but not so much what macro percentage. I am thinking 40 carbs 40 protein 20 fat but we'll see. I did find out I am a fat burner vs a carb burner which is crucial and main reason I have a hard time gaining real muscle mass. 

I will be taking:
shakeology + protein powder
glutamine
BCAA's
fish oils 
P90x recovery shake (post work out)


Also, I  think to reach where I really want to get to, it will take me about a year to achieve. So I will really need to have the big picture in mind and FOCUS!
So I want to compete...I originally thought I was ready now and for Bikini division I think I could fare okay...but I then realized, I don't want to do "okay" I want to add a little more muscle, and do a fitness or a figure show and I want to place! No more wallowing and not being out right with my goals, there they are!  


So then in all of these since nutrition is soooo key how can I or anyone else for that matter avoid feeling deprived? 

Well really, in my opinion, it comes down to lifestyle. We are a culture of people who do all things over food. Example: meeting with friends= lunch, celebrating hitting a goal at work= happy hour, birthday celebrating= going out + cake.
Rarely will you find that your friends and family will ask you to go celebrate your sister getting straight A's with a session of rock climbing or hiking. Not to say there is anything wrong with that BUT it all comes down to decisions at that point. If you are in the realm of "I need/want to lose weight" then eating all that crap just because it is there is NOT what is going to help keep that weight off. There are so many other ways you can enjoy life and friends without over indulging and over eating. The first is obviously changing your mind set and what senses you choose to enjoy the most.

Second, if your boyfriend/girlfriend has the metabolism or maybe just doesn't have those same goals as you, that's okay just be sure to hide his/her treats from line of vision. If you don't see it chances are you may forget you have them! 

Third, have "substitutes" that leave you feeling satisfied. Instead of eating ice cream try low sugar froyo or banana protein icecream (you can flavor this however you like!) or for me instead of eating all of his crap I may just have a fiber one brownie...no they aren't the best but I'd rather have something like that instead of a huge heaping plate of something I will really regret! 

Fourth, FOCUS. Is that chocolate bar really something you want or is it just a drop in blood sugar or increase in your stress level? I know this is a big one for me! At around 5 pm my levels usually drop which almost always means if I see it I will eat it. I have reworked my calories to prevent this from happening. It wasn't easy or always fun but it got my body where it needed to be.

Fifth, we all slip up sometimes. Move on and let it go! 

Have a fantastic Monday everyone! 

TGIF! I cannot express just how excited I am right now to actually be on the verge of the weekend! I  just need a break...more so mentally and just some more sleep! Things are pretty crazy right now so I have been a little more careful to make sure I get plenty of sleep and rest so I don't make myself sick again (Or I am at least trying)!! It's really tough when you are burning the candle at both ends so to speak but I know for my health I absolutely must take those times. Being sick was really an awful way to spend a day off  so last night I went to bed an hour and a half earlier than the usual and honestly while a little tired, I feel rested and relieved today!! Just like you need to restart your computer, sleep does that for the human body so make sure you get some :-)

Anyways I wanted to go through some time management stuff today because the biggest kick I hear lately is I don't have time and a lot of variations of that!

Ways to "find" time in the day to be healthy:
~First let me tell ya...you won't find time for things. There are always a million things that need done and until you decide your health, workouts, and body are important there won't be time. You see, we are a really busy people these days, constantly connected and never just taking time. So step number one make it a priority "no matter what comes up today I will work out"

~Schedule the time just like a doctor's appointment or a meeting with your boss. This time is mandatory and actually fun!! It's just for you and you deserve it!

~Stay active all day. Take the stairs, park further away from the store, get up every half hour to stretch and move.

~If you do not have a lot of time squeeze in a mini-work out! Something is always better than nothing!!

Here is one in case you are ever in a pinch!

Equipment free work out:
Speed squats- 50 reps
tricep dips on floor- 40 reps
walking lunges- 50 reps
x jacks- 20 reps
x push ups- 20 reps
russian twists- 40 reps
1 min plank (3x)

repeat 2x!

Happy Friday!

So tell me what do you do to find the time to exercise?

Happy Tuesday! So how was the weekend for you? My favorite are the weekends you don't have much to do but just relax and watch movies...and guess what that is what I did all day Sunday. It was unplanned but it worked!

I do like my weekends to relax but I must say personal training is so rewarding it is so worth it to work with clients when they want to!! So I had a couple of sessions to kick of the weekend. I don't know I am Irish but St. Patty's has never really been a big "holiday" for me so I just enjoyed some sushi instead :-)
But hey what's a girl to do? I wouldn't say Mike and I are much of night owls really (I mean come on I pass out at 10 and could easily go earlier!!) but we stayed up Saturday to finish putting together the masterpiece that will soon turn into our saltwater reef tank and the cat's palace,as I like to call it!!

Did I mention this thing is 6 feet tall and Mike built it entirely? Pretty sweet and the boys love it!

We ended Saturday with some amazing sushi!!! I swear I could eat this every day!!

I think I have been over doing it thought with work stuff lately because weirdly in the middle of the night I woke up and my entire body hurt, not like skin pain from a sun burn but like my whole body! Every way I turned I hurt...it was just so sudden. So unplanned Sunday rest day happened!

I think that between the time change and all the extras I have been taking on lately my body had just had it's fill! I took days off from a planned work out Friday and Saturday too because I have just been so exhausted!!

Now with addressing rest...
In every good training plan there is at least 1 rest day per cycle. A rest day doesn't have to mean doing nothing at all (for me it did on Sunday) but usually I will do more active rest days. So maybe doing some light yoga or doing something not in my work out calendar like a round of tennis or a light jog. Something to just keep moving, heck even a long day of shopping can do the trick ;-)

Not taking rest days can really cause problems and you begin to get into over training. Over training is just that, doing more than your body can handle and you are prone to injury and fatigue! The key is really to listen to your body. I did and I am really starting to feel better! My biggest obstacle is just making sure I get enough rest, that is my biggest hurdle at the moment!

How do you know if you are over training?
~extreme fatigue
~the last time you took a rest day? ha when was that?
~you are constantly tired
~you are constantly sore
~you do not ever look forward to working out but you used to
~you keep getting injuries
~you stopped getting results (can sometimes be a plateau but commonly it is also over doing it!)

Solution? About ever 12 weeks I like to take a full week off and just let my body take some time. This really helps me mentally reconnect and gives my body the time it needs too!


so how often do you take rest days?

Sleep and rest are so so so under rated in a good training regimen! Without these key features you are very unlikely to progress and move forward and here is why!

Just like a computer your body needs to shut down and reboot to process your day mentally but also to heal after the beating your workouts put on the body. Micro tears form in the muscle tissues and therefore need to heal so you can get stronger! No rest = no healing = no strength gain = higher risk of injury.

To clean out the toxins! You put foods in your body each day and whether they are healthy or not your body must clean out toxins from unhealthy foods as well as the chemicals, free radicals, and other harmful elements we come into contact with each day!