Simple Tips to Eat Healthier on a Busy Schedule and Tight Budget! Also, What Byn Ate Today

Hello Internets!

My Bootcamp ladies got me thinking about simple tips to eat healthier on a busy schedule, so I dedicate this post to them. A continuing trend I have heard over the years from my clients and participants is "I find it so hard to eat healthy being a student, mom, dad, full-time worker"... so basically everyone has trouble in this domain at some point in there lives (Unless you have enough money to hire a personal chef and someone to buy your food... and if so can I have some money please!)

To be completely honest, proper nutrition is something I struggled with and continue to struggle with even now. I'm on a limited income, I'm very busy and I work out a lot! That's a recipe (haha food pun!) for some serious bad eating.

So here are some tips that I have used since April 2009 in the journey of eating better (props to Bobby Tran for helping me on this journey)...

1. Buy at local markets: This was probably my greatest discovery when trying to eat healthier. For those on a strict income, local markets are a god send. I spend about $35 a week on veggies as apposed to about $45-50 at the big stores, plus your supporting local business.

2. Find your staple vegetables: This may be tricker for those who are picky eaters or have children but I swear by my staple vegetables. These are veggies that can go in my staple meals of pasta, stirfry, wraps, salads. If you're wondering my staple veggies see my earlier blog post here...


3. Plan your week: This is probably the most difficult thing to start at first, but if your patient with yourself ( you WILL have slip ups) because this gets easier and easier. I don't necessarily write down what I'm going to eat, but I kind of plan in my head how I would like to eat for the week. For example, Monday I made a huge pasta with lots of veggies and ate that for dinner Monday, lunch Tuesday and dinner Tuesday, then I used my left over spinach for an awesome salad today, supplemented with fruit and veggies for my snacks, then got some chicken on the way home today for the rest of the week. I find buying the bulk of what you need at the beginning of the week is helpful and picking up some other stuff to supplement during the week is cool too.

4. Cut up everything one day: I'm still not very good at this, but I try and cut up the entire vegetable that I get out of the fridge and put it in Tupperware or a ziplock bag. This make making meals on the go easier (e.g. throwing a salad together or making a wrap).

5. Drink water: You may be saying "duh Byn, I know this" but do you drink other things than water? If so look at this carefully. I know everyone has heard this over and over but cutting out pop (including diet pop), reducing juice, and reducing caffeine consumption (as most of us drink our coffee with cream and sugar) will dramatically reduce your caloric intake. I honestly drink a quarter cup or OJ not from concentrate in the morning, drink water all day and maybe will have a tea here and there. Stay away from the following if your looking to be healthier...

• Slurpies/Slushies (i.e. the University students)
• Lattes, Frappuccinos...the Starbucks crap (if you are addicted to Starbucks reduce consumption slowly)
• Coffee and Tea with sugar and cream in it
• Hot Chocolate and Chocolate milk
• Juices from concentrate, it will say this on the bottle

**note: it's ok to once an awhile have these things, for example on a once a week coffee date. You still have to live to. However, reducing day to day consumption is a good thing.

6. Reduce your alcohol consumption: This kind of goes with #5 but I think it needs its own separate section. I suck at this one, as I like my wine, cesars and beer. Alcohol has a lot of empty calories and depending on the way your body metabolizes alcoholic sugars it could lead to some serious weight gain. If that's not enough incentive my doctor just told me drinking over the recommended amount of alcohol a week, which is 9 drinks for females and 14 for men, substantially increases your chances of stomach, pancreatic, liver, esophageal, colon and breast cancer as well as liver disease and early dementia. I think this is an area I personally am going to work on in the near future.

7. Portion control people! I'm also really bad at this one, especially with pasta. If you are eating the right things...but a bus load of it.... you will gain fatty tissue, which not only may decrease your aesthetic appeal but MORE IMPORTANTLY predisposes you to high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, cancer all the nasty stuff. If you are unsure of what a portion is here's a quick and dirty guide (see the Canada food guides website for more detail)

• Protein: 1 serving is the size of your palm, see my picture below.
• Veggies: 1 cup is roughly a serving, it varies if it's cooked or uncooked.
• Carbs: 1/2-1 cup is roughly a serving, depends on the type (e.g. bread vs. pasta)

8.  Be Patient: This is probably the most important thing when improving your diet. It seems we are a society of "I want to be perfect now and if I'm not why bother". This is faulty thinking and seems to be the general trend around this time of year. Just remember, even small gradual changes are better than no changes and I recommend gradual changes, they are healthier. 

Start by setting a new goal for next week! For example, you may say "I am going to try and drink just water all day except for some juice in the morning" and see how that goes. Set obtainable goals as well. For example deciding that you are going to eat 6 meals a day with protein, veggies and a complex carb every day for the entire week while just drinking water is setting yourself up for failure. Try maybe doing it one day (after smaller changes), and if your successful... great, and if your not, try again and don't give up.

Life's to short to give up and stop trying... trust me you'll get there.

Okay it's time for what I ate today! Today was a "off" day, meaning I didn't have an intense workout, so I ate slightly less calories then if I did teach classes. For example yesterday I taught 2 hours of fitness class in which I was participating so I ate a lot denser.

Breakie: Flax seed bagel with peanut butter, 1/4 cup of OJ, Banana

Lunch: Salad with spinach, red pepper, avocado, walnuts (only a palm full), cucumbers and 2 tablespoons of pesto salad dressing

Snack: a huge orange

Dinner: Palm size piece of chicken, 1 and 1/2 cup of broccoli, zucchini and asparagus and some pasta... nom nom nom

1 Beer

**Water all day long, especially during Bootcamp.

Well that's it! I'd love to hear what you thought, other comments of how to eat healthy, meal ideas.. share share share

Stay Strong,

Byn

The Power of Perspective

I wrote this for someone close to me. I’m hoping that this may help someone else looking to find perspective in there life……*(note this has been edited to keep the identity of the original recipient confidential)
I hope you are not being too critical on yourself about where you are in you your life right now. I feel it is very important to not get discouraged and to avoid living in a world of “I wish’s”, “if only’s” and “one day’s”. We all have points in our life where things don't go exactly as planned, and the important part is to acknowledge where we are, not beat ourselves up about our flaws and move forward. 

I'd like to share something about myself with you, which hopefully can add perspective about your life. My intention is not to bash anyone, their lifestyle and who they are in any way, so keep that in mind when you read this. I just want you to see that you are someone great, the potential you have in yourself and that no matter what happens, we can pull ourselves out of the worst of situations by changing our perspective. We 
In the summer of 2005 after I finished my first degree, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I hated everything about being a vet tech (this was due to my negative perspective) and I felt I was not living my life the way –I- wanted. So I did what any 19 year old in this society would do. I partied my ass off. I smoked a couple packs a day, I drank to the point of getting wasted at least every weekend (if not most nights) and ate like crap. I had no intention or interest in having a career, reading any books or really doing anything with my life, I was lost.
Now, the beautiful thing about Windsor, is if you drink downtown often, you're popular. So I was constantly surrounded in people supporting this lifestyle, who I considered my "friends". Now, I don't regret the things I've done, because I feel they've made me who I am, and I am not bashing going out, as it's important to have fun with friends. The fact is though, I was unhealthy, and the only person that paid for this was me.

I never worked out at that point in time, despite my athletic background from highschool (by “never” I mean that I’d go to the gym for a week then take 3 months off), and I lived off fast food. I felt and looked like shit all the time. But I stayed in this lifestyle because these so called "friends" lived this way, so I did to. I was terrified of changing, because of the rejection I would most likely suffer from my peers when all of I sudden “party girl Robyn” didn’t want to party. 

It was in the summer of 2006 I was ejected from my car that I managed to flipp 3 times and when driving home from my waitressing job at 2am. No one knows how I survived. I suffered from a sever concussion, was cut, bruised, and all of the skin on my back was pretty much gone. Guess how many of these "friends" visited me in the hospital....1, yea good friends I know ;)

During my 3 week stay in the hospital and 3 months in recovery at home I had a lot of time to think. I realized that -I- am the only person responsible for my happiness and success in life so I decided to change my life. 

I started thinking at points in my life I was the happiest and felt the best, and it was always when I was physically active. So I started to run. At first it was only 5 minutes, but soon I was up to half an hour. I was already enrolled to go back to school for social work, but due to my car crash I couldn’t start for another year. This is when I decided to get my personal training certification and go into Human Kinetics. 

Now, the wonderful thing about being proactive with physical activity is it breeds being proactive in other parts of your life, this has translated over to my school, my career, my love life (i.e. I met the love of my life), my finances, my volunteer work (i.e. I started volunteering) and my friends. Life is good, and I attribute this to one thing..... a change in perspective and the knowledge I have a CHOICE in everything I do.

You are in control of you. I hope you don't see this as me lecturing you in anyway or bragging about how awesome my life is. I just want to shed a little sunshine on people who may be stuck in a difficult time in their life.

Take this time off to reflect. I hope you continue (or start) on the path of achieving everything you can be.

Robs ♥

Free Weight Resistance Training Workout & How I Ate Today

Hello Internets


So today was my first day of teaching both my 6am Cardio Sculpt and my noon Total Body Conditioning (30min spin and 30 minutes resistance) classes... and let me tell you, I'm exhausted. Therefore, there will be no 8:30pm yoga tonight for Byn (is it weird when I refer to myself in the third person? Byn thinks so)


Don't get me wrong though, it's a good exhaustion and I love feeling like this. A lot of people who don't work out sometimes seem to have the misconception that being tired from physical activity may inhibit them from accomplishing more in their day. I find, however, it's the exact opposite! I had so much energy today due to my 2 hours of cardio and resistance training that I was bouncing off the walls in my lecture and during my supervisor shift... oh my poor coworkers.


But seriously, increasing your physical activity helps you sleep better and gives you more energy during the day... what's not to love. Plus all those anti-dying effects are a bonus!


Ok so, you're probably reading this for the good stuff so I'll stop rambling. Here is a free weight full body resistance training program to do every other day. Do not do this twice and a row and these exercise do not need to be done in order because they are all large muscle group exercises.


Beginner-Intermediate Full Body Free Weight Program


Equipment: 

• Barbell: start off lower 12-20lbs, for more a intermediate workout you can use 55-60lbs+ depending on the exercise.
• Dumbbell: start off lower 5lbs-8lbs, for more intermediate workout you can use 10lbs-15lbs+
• Bench or Yoga Ball
• Bosu (BS): optional for intermediate workout, not recommended for beginners.

Each exercise can be done in 3 ways. 1) is to go by time 45sec-1min/set, 2) is to go by reps for endurance 12-15 reps/set 3) is to go for strength 6-10reps/set.

What Each Will Do...

#1: this will enhance your muscle endurance and get your heart rate up, do this after you are good with technique

#2: good for beginners and learning technique while strengthening.

#3: good for intermediate, intermediate should not do #2.

*Do 3-4 set of each exercise

Exercise #1: Weighted Reverse Lunges (Off BS Optional)

• Using you barbell on your shoulders or holding your dumbbells either side of your hips step backwards and drop the back knee (do not focus on the front knee except for keeping it from not going over your toe)
• Make sure your hips are pointed forward, your front foot and back foot are forward and your knee does not go over your toe.



#1

• BS option, make sure the BS doesn't slip by placing a yoga mat underneath it or putting it against the wall. Your front foot should be in the center of the Bosu.

Exercise #2: Straight Legged Deadlift with Trap Raise

• Using your barbell stand with your abdominals engaged (i.e. flex your abs) and your shoulders back (I always tell my clients to stick there boobs out and keep them out throughout the movement) and your arms down in front of you.
• Bend forward keeping the legs AND back straight going as far as your back allows you without curving.
• Exhale and lift back up to the starting position, squeeze your gluts (your butt) and raise the arms up until the hands are right under your chin (your arms will kind of look like a big bow tie)
• Lower the arms to the starting position and complete the movement again.
• Intermediate: Turn your BS over and perform the exercise onto of the upside down BS= BE CAREFUL.
• Warning: If you have lower back problems bend your knees when coming forward. 

#2

Exercise #3: Bent Over Rows

• Using your barbell bend over at a 45 degree angel (kind of like your riding a bike in a "aggressive" stance).
• Engaging your core and making sure your back is straight grip the barbell with the palms facing down (the same as #2).
• Move the arms back and the elbows together, breathe out. Imagine you are trying to grip a pencil in between your shoulder blades.
• Move the arms down and inhale to complete the set.



#3

• Note: the torso should not move during this exercise like when doing deadlifts. 

Exercise #4: Dumbbell Chest Press

• Lie on an incline bench or on a yoga ball. If you are on a yoga ball (which is better because you'll get more glut and abdominal engagement) walk forward until your upper back is on the ball and squeeze your butt so your hips are inline with your chest.
• Grip the dumbbells and lift them over your so your palms are facing away from your face and the middle of the dumbbells are in line with right between your pecs/boobs.
• Move your arms down until your upper arms are parallel with the floor, do not go further than this.. everyone does and its BAD FORM.
• Exhale and push the weights back to starting position.



#4

• Warning: having someone spot you with heavier weight is recommended.

There you go! I didn't add abdominals to this one because that is for a later date.. maybe a video! I know it seems like not a lot with only 4 exercises but trust me if you use heavy weight (when you're strong enough) and do all 4 sets you will feel this.


Now for how I ate today. It was an alright day, but I could have been healthier. I'll include my calorie content so you get an idea..


Byn's Food Today!


Breakie:

• Jasmine Herbal Tea: 0 Calories and Delicious! 
• Flax Seed Bagel with Peanut Butter: 344calories

Lunchies

• 2 Spinach Wraps including 1 whole Avacado, 1/2 cup of Spinach, 1/4 Red Onion, 1/4 Red Pepper, Baby Tomatoes, Pepper and 2 Tbls Spoons Pesto Sauce: Approx 500 calories
• Water

Snack

• 1medium size orange: 62 calories
• Rice Crackers: 45 calories
• Water (I really drink it all the time haha)

Dinner:

• Healthy Choice Pasta (I know I was lazy): 250calories
• 1 Glass of Orange Juice: 242 calories

Daily Approximate Total: 1443 calories

So I really should have eaten maybe 200 more calories considering my BMR (basal metabolic rate) is approximately 1300 calories for my size and I worked out for 2 hours today. But all in all an okay day!

Hope you enjoyed my post! More to come!

Stay Strong

Byn

First Day of Bootcamp!

Hello Everyone!

Today is my first day teaching this semesters Body Blast Bootcamp at Campus Recreation. This is always a fun day. The way I teach my bootcamp is different than most fitness classes. I kind of consider it a kick ass curves class as we work station to station.

I'm a firm believe in the benefits of short bouts of high intensity exercise, and coupled with a non judgmental, fun yet tough atmosphere I find most women love it. Now my bootcamp is womens only, which some people disagree with. I can see why, gender segregation just potentates gender issues to some degree. However, I'm a realist and I know that some women feel more comfortable pushing themselves in there own gender group. Plus there was/is a very similar co-ed program called "The WorkHorse Lifestyle" at my gym, who has recently just changed there programing.

In my class I take 32 beginner to advanced women and show them that they can work hard, much harder than they ever thought and get incredible benefits.

I have a few rules in my bootcamp, and I recommend them to any other fitness instructor,

1.       Be on time or slightly early. Bring water, ware appropriate footware and clothing . A towel is recommended but optional.

2.       If you know you will be late or absent for class e-mail or call Robyn no later than 1-2 hours before class so she can adjust accordingly as your attendance/non-attendance matters!

3.       Have fun and don’t take yourself too seriously.

4.       BBB is a non-jugmental zone, be nice, friendly and respectful to everyone in the class.

5.       This class is a full class with many on the waiting list. I would love to let your friends try to class, but unfortunately due to the way I progress with the class this is not possible.

6.       Take the class at your own pace! We are all different fitness levels so if you need a break take one, I will never yell at you (unless I know you can work harder haha). The goal is to push yourself but still be able to function.

7.       If you are injured let Robyn know, she can give you different exercises.

8.       Make sure you eat 2-4 hours before coming to class. It is strongly recommended NOT to eat within the hour before class as due to the intensity of BBB you may feel nausea if your stomach is full. Also, if you do not eat 2-4 hours before class you may become hypoglycemic (low blood sugar) and feel dizzy or faint during class.

I have found over the years if you provide these expectations as people come into your class it shows them that you care about them as a person to take the time to make a class enjoyable and it also gives them some accountability to keep coming. Especially the "your attendance matters"... which isn't lying because the number of stations is dependent on the number of people that sign up. 

Now some people may disagree with providing rules for people attending your class, as it could be considered a turn off to those coming to you as a beginner, but I believe if an instructor delivers their expectations in a positive encouraging matter they wont come off as hard rules to follow.

Since there is 32 people in my class I have to be strategic with the circuits I set up. I have limited equipment and space so at the beginning of the semester I set up 8 stations with 4 people a station. I find 8 is a good number for the beginners to start off with (we eventually work up to 13) and it allows me to keep my eyes on everyone and keep everything under control.

For my first class I'm doing something slightly different than usual. I usually start off with my Bootcamp speech explaining what bootcamp is and what to expect. I'm providing a handout with all of the expectations along with my contact information! So hopefully some of them are reading this blog tonight.

Then before we do the warm up I explain all the stations and have them break into groups of 4. There is one stipulation that they must try and work with someone they do not know. I do this so they learned to know people other than their friends in the class so they feel comfortable still coming if there friend is deathly ill (because that's the only reason they wouldn't come right)

Here is the circuit we are doing today. I'm trying to keep it cardio intensive with big muscle groups for resistance. This will give me a good idea as to where everyone is sitting form and cardiovascular fitness wise.

Each group of 4 will stay on each station twice before moving so they can push themselves harder the second time around, and for my more advanced bootcampers they can work right threw. Each station will be 45 seconds with a 20 second rest.

Station 1: Bosu Stair Run

Station 2: Med Ball Squat Raise

Station 3: Deep Step Push Ups

Station 4: Box Jumps

Station 5: Agility Ladder

Station 6: Reverse Lunge Pulse

Station 7: Bosu Burpies

Station 8: Yoga Ball Roll Outs

If you want to know any in depth descriptions let me know.

Stay Strong

Byn

Inspiration and New Meal to Try Out

Hi Internet!

Today I'm going to write about inspiration. For my last post I wrote about motivational tips and I thought inspiration would be a good follow up since to be completely honest I have had a lack of it in regards to writing my blog (hence the silents of the last week). If you read till the end of my blog I will give you a recipe for one of my favourite vegetarian pastas (and optionally vegan).

How do we become inspired? Well first we must discuss what inspiration is. I think it means something different to everyone. For me inspiration is the energy and focus to do something or do more of something. I find the busier I get the less inspiration I have. I find this is a trap that a lot of us fall into and with school starting up this week I was much more rushed that usual. It was finally when I slowed down today that I found the inspiration to write.

One of my favourite blogs is Zen Habits (www.zenhabits.net). The writer of that blog really implores his readers to slow down and live a more simplistic life. For him his inspiration comes in the early morning when everything is still and quite.

I tried this week to get up early to go to yoga, which I successfully achieved 1 day out of 5. I did get up for 5 am another day, Wednesday, to teach my fitness class. Getting up early is hard but after I'm awake and energized my resulting day is much more productive. This is something that Zen Habits teaches.

I hope I start to live my life slower and more thoughtfully with the value of less is more, but in todays society this is harder and harder to do. This is why I love being physically active. In its true essence to be physically fit and active is to live the life that less is more. We are given everything we need from birth (if we are healthy and able) to be active. It saddens me that over 51% of our Canadian population is considered sedentary when we have been given this gift. I know referring to the ability to simply move as a gift may seem somewhat corny, but the majority of the North American population does not realize how truly blessed we are to have the ability to live healthy.

To re-focus on my original topic, I think a big part of our increasingly sedentary lifestyle is due to lack of a) motivation b) value of physical activity and c) inspiration to be physical active. Now how to does one become inspired to become physically active? Well I believe a big part of the creation of inspiration in others can attributed to those in the fitness industry (i.e. YOU if you are a personal trainer, fitness instructor, health promoter, nutritionist ect.). But what if you do not have enough money to join a fitness club? I find the internet to be a great inspiration for me as a personal trainer and fitness instructor as ironic as that is. Whether it is other fitness instructors/PT, youtube videos and blogs (as afore mentioned). I find the Bodybuilding.com transformation section is awesome for beginners looking for some inspiration, so if you are a beginner check it out. I also go there quite often for inspiration of my own.

If you've been reading my blog you also know I am a big proponent of group fitness classes as a way to motivate and inspire. For example, I took a yoga class last night and I walked in to see a 50 something woman in a headstand. That to me was truly inspirational and made me want to continue to practice yoga. Also, my clients continue to inspire me with there dedication and commitment every day.

If you are new to working out you may be saying to yourself "well it's easy for you, you live and breathe this everyday". That is true, but join a class for a month and make an honest effort to get to know others in the class, start to live and breathe movement. You will find your inspiration.

Now for the deliciousness meal.

I make this probably every other week and it's fantastic. My best friend Krysta got me hooked on this.

Goat Cheese Vegetable Orzo Pasta.

1. Boil 2 cups of Orzo pasta (whole wheat preferably) in 2 cups of water for 8 minutes
2. Sautee finely chopped Red Onion, Garlic and Mushrooms until cooked
3. Add whole Grape Tomatoes and Raw Spinach until lightly cooked
4. Drain Orzo and Add Pesto Sauce (home made or store bought)
5. Add vegetables to pasta
6. Sprinkle goat cheese on top of the pasta

try it... yum yum yum

Alrighty, hope you enjoyed my post! More to come

Byn

Beginner Workout Plan and Some Motivation Tips: Try Them Out!

It is Thursday!

As promised I am going to provide a beginner exercise program and some motivational tips to get you started or to keep you going when times get tough.

If you are unsure how to safely perform any of the workouts I mention on this blog please feel free to message me or leave a comment. Nothing is worse and de-motivating than getting injured as soon or very shortly after beginning a workout routine.

To start out do this program 2-3 times a week for 2-3 weeks. If you keep reading in 3 weeks from now I will provide a more intensive routine. The goal is to start small and work your way up. A lot of people make the mistake of taking on too much, too quick, which has been found to decrease motivation, satisfaction and enjoyment while increasing the change for injury and dropout.

Try this....

Warm Up: 5-10 minutes on a piece of cardio equipment, it should feel like you are working at a 5 or 6/10 (Rate of Perceived Exertion or RPE) by 2-3 minutes in.

*At this point you can continue to complete your cardio session for the day or do your weight training. Some evidence has shown that doing cardio after weight training will accelerate weight loss and boost metabolism.

*Also, you can break up your cardio and resistance, for example you can do your cardio on a different day, earlier or later in the day than your resistance training. As long as you get 2-3 times a week in.

Bike Cardio Workout:

I'm a firm believer in interval training, especially if you are a beginner. Why? Because you can slowly push yourself to do more without feeling like a failure or out of shape. I used to make this mistake all the time when first starting cardio, I'd try and run as long as I could then would beat myself up when I'd quit after 15 minutes.

Here's a cardio work out for the bike (not spin bike) since I provided an outline for the treadmill in a previous blog.

Setting Up the Bike:  You can really do damage to your knees if you do not set a bike up properly, and I unfortunately see people do it all the time in the gym. I get all awkward and don’t know if I should say something or not (every time I have it has backfired).

Spin bikes are different ( to be discussed in a later blog) but with normal gym bikes you essentially need to make sure your seat is high enough that you have a 10-30 degree bend in your knee when fully extended, or 6 o clock as I call it, in the bike peddle rotation.

If you are unsure if you are high enough put the bike seat high enough to lock your knees on the bottom of the rotation. Then put it one or 2 lower than that. Tell your friends about this… please and thank you ha ha.

5-6 minutes (after warm up): RPM: 95 Resistance/Level: 4-5

6-7 min: RPM: 100-115 Level: 4-5

7-8 min: RPM: 90-95 Level: 4-5

8-9 min: RPM: 90-95 Level: 8 (hill)

9-10 min: RPM: >85 Level: 9

10-11min: RPM: >80 Level: 10

11-12 min: RPM: >75 Level: 11-12

12-13 min: RPM: >80 Level: 2-3 (recover)

13-13:30 min: RPM: 100-120 Level: 2-4 (30 sec sprints)

13:30-14 min: RPM: 9-95 Level: 2-4 (recovery)

14-20 min: Repeat 30 sec sprint with 30 sec rest at RPM: 100-120 and Level: 2-4

20-24 min: Repeat hill from minute 8-13

24-30 min: Cool Down

Beginner Resistance Training

As for resistance training, do these exercises 3 sets of 15 reps. I tried to make these exercises so they could be performed at home.

Squat with Biceps Curl: Holding small weights (soup cans even work) place feet hip width apart and squat focusing on your heels as if you are sitting in a chair while curling the weights up at the same time and breathe out. Then breathe in and return to standing position while inhaling. While in the squat your knees should not be passing your toes and your thighs should be parallel to the floor at the bottom of the squat.  

*To make this exercise harder hold the squat at the bottom for 5- 10 seconds each rep.

*To make this exercise easier place a yoga ball between your back and the wall.

Push Up: A very good exercise for core and chest. Go into a straight leg pushup position and drop the knees. Bend your elbows until your chest hits the ground, if your hips hit the floor first you are doing the exercise incorrectly. Make sure to keep your core engaged (i.e. flexed) to support your lower back.

*To make harder do straight leg pushups

*To make easier do pushups leaning against a wall.

Bridge: This is really good for your bum. Lie on your back with you feet planted hip width apart and your hands at your side for support. Squeeze your bum and lift your hips into the air holding for 10 seconds.

*To make harder place your feet on a yoga ball, raise your hands, do one leg at a time or all 3!

*To make easier do not hold for 10 seconds.

Bent Over Row: This is for your back. If you are unsure how to do this exercise please ask or Google it as technique can be tricky. Holding a barbell or two dumbbells stand with your feet hip width apart and bend forward at 45 degrees (imagine your riding a bike). Then bring the elbows back and together squeezing the shoulder blades. Imagine you are trying to grasp a pencil in between your shoulder blades then return to the starting position. Your torso does not move.

Crunch: Engage your core (i.e. flex) while lying on your back, curl up and breathe out and lye back and breath in.

There you go, nice and simple. There will be harder workouts to come if you're looking for something a little more advanced. The purpose of this post is to motivate those who don't know where to start. Also see my earlier cardio sculpt post for a more advanced circuit.

Time for Some Motivation Tips (YAY)

Tip 1: Join a Class: I highly recommend joining a class for 10 weeks in supplementation or instead of hiring a personal trainer. I'm not being biased here because I was a personal trainer before a fitness instructor. I find paying and joining a class gives people more support and accountability than a personal trainer. It's easier to say "I'm sick or busy" to 1 person than 20.

Tip 2: Buy Some Workout Clothes: I find a new pair of shoes, a new top or new capris make me want to go to the gym. Even a new headband might give you some motivation to go use it. The same works for water bottles and heart rate monitors.

Tip 3: Tell Everyone You Know What You’re Doing: I find this works very well for me. If you tell your spouse, your friends and your co-workers you joined this awesome new bootcamp class you’re more likely to go. Also, you may inspire others to join you.

Tip 4: Make a Playlist: If you're musically motivated like me, download some kick ass songs and make a workout playlist. Think about what you’re doing in the gym that day, i.e. make a bike playlist to accompany my bike program above. For example, you can do fast songs for the sprints and slower songs for the climbs. This may sound lame but I will also download what I consider "sexy songs" for when I'm weight lifting. This would include Christina Aguilera song "Not Myself Tonight”.

Tip 5: Say Hello To At Least One New Person At the Gym: In your class, after your personal training session or on your way in say "Hi" to at least one NEW person. This will make you familiar with the regulars and you might find a new workout buddy.

Tip 6: Drive by the Gym: On your way home physically drive by the gym and look at all those cars. If they can do it you can to!

Tip 7: Go Online: During the day if your work permits it or during the morning go online and check out your gyms fitness classes. Make a plan to go to one that day.

Tip 8: Keep a Log: I've never been good at this one, but it works for some people. Write down what you do or what you are going to do. One of my most successful clients prints out a calendar and fills in what days she's going to work out, what she's going to do and posts it on her fridge.

Tip 9: Make a Goal: This should be specific and measurable. Saying "I want to feel better" is an awesome goal to have, but something you can actually measure will be more motivating. Start small to work towards a bigger goal. For example I started with "I want to be able to run without stopping for 5 minutes at 5.5 mph" when I first starting running and I worked up to "I want to run 2 hours today". Just to give you a time frame I did this over a year and a half.

Tip 10: Be Patient and Understanding with Yourself: This is probably the most important tip to your ultimate success in the long term. Things will come up, you will get sick and you will have bad days. The important thing is to not give up. I was stuck in a cycle for years of going to the gym for 3 months, getting sick and not going back because I would beat myself up for not going for 2 weeks. The truth is it's actually good to take a week off every 6 months to allow your body to heal. I usually schedule this around exams if I haven't been sick in awhile. If things happen make a plan to make it up the next week or on your scheduled rest day.

I think I'll end my blog here. Tomorrow I will update on my training for the week and my thoughts on my upcoming tour de bloc competition and my birthday :D

Stay Strong People

Byn

How I Eat and Meal of the Day!

Happy Wednesday!

I am going to delight you today with some food-spiration. If you are anything like me you love to eat healthy but sometimes find it hard to do the preparation with your busy modern lifestyle. Also, being vegetarian makes it  tricky to make delicious nutritious meals when I'm crunched for time.

Over the holidays I read a very good book recommended by a friend of mine called "In Praise of Slow" by Carl Honore. How this is related to my food-spiration is that the book taught me to slow down, especially when preparing food. This doesn't mean you have to spend 3 hours a day in the kitchen, but if you examine your schedule carefully you will find the time to prepare food for the entire week and enjoy it.

For me, I find it easiest to prepare my big meal(s) for the week (or the first half of the week) on Sundays and Wednesdays. My good friend and trainer Bobby Tran of the Workhorse Lifestyle here in town got me hooked on doing this. I always use tones of veggies and make something like whole wheat pasta with fresh tomatoes, mushrooms and basil; orzo with pesto lemon juice, goat cheese, tomatoes, mushrooms, red onions or a big delicious stir fry with mushrooms, baby bok choi, peppers, onions, snow peas... you get the idea.

Today I ran out of the pasta I made on Sunday, so I made a carb-less stir-fry with housin sauce (I think that's how you spell it). Brought it to work and all my co-workers were jealous. I eat these big meals for dinner and sometimes lunch depending on my schedule and mood. For example, if I teach a noon spinning class I'll eat my big meal for lunch, but if I teach a night class I'll eat it after that. I find scheduling my "big meal" around my workout gives me the energy back I just burned up and as most people know, your metabolism is the highest in the first hour after a workout.

You might be saying to yourself, "so what about breakfast and lunch!” well I was getting there. For me, I'm a creature of habit, and you are lucky if you are too. I can eat the same thing every day of the week and be content. Due to this I generally use my staple vegetables (see below) to make wraps and salads for lunch. If I'm feeling frisky (or short of time) I'll have soup instead, but try not to do this due to the high sodium content of most soups (I haven't reached the stage of making my own soup yet). This is where my meal of the day comes in, which I will get to in a minute.

For breakfast I try and eat eggs (omelets form using staple veggies) or oatmeal with a little honey or berries, but I find breakfast is my weak point and naughtily will end up having a bagel and a tea or just a banana and drinkable yogurt. If I do this I make sure not to beat myself up (VERY important) and eat healthy for the rest of the day.

I hope that sheds some light on maybe how some of you can improve your diet. I tell my clients to start out small, aim for 1-2 days a week of good eating and don't worry about the rest. Then progressively work up to 3 to 4 to 5 and so on. It's kind of like running a marathon, you can't get off the couch and run 42km, well you could, maybe but you might pass out or cramp up for the next week, anyway the same is with food, you can't go from McDonalds to raw vegan... it just doesn't work.

This brings me of my meal of the day. This is what I had for lunch today and I absolutely loved it.

Spinach Hummus Veggie Wrap

1. Take a spinach whole wheat wrap and spread your favourite store bought or homemade hummus on it. I used roasted red pepper hummus.

2. Fill with your favourite veggies. I used avocado, romaine lettuce (better than iceberg) tomato and red onion.

3. (Optional) Add To-Furkey Deli Slices (vegetarian turkey 35 cal/slice and almost no fat!), tofu or grilled chicken if you eat meat.

4. Enjoy

Super simple, especially if you pre-cut all your veggies on Sunday. A huge bonus, no cheese and no mayo and you wont even notice, I promise! 

To finish off my blog post, I'm going to share with you my staple vegetables. I find these veggies very versatile and can be put in pasta, stir-fry, wraps, and salads...yum

Red Onion

Mushrooms

Peppers: I change the colour weekly

Romaine Lettuce or Spinach (I tend to buy spinach to put in pasta, wraps and salads)

Cucumbers

Tomatoes: my favourite is fresh tomatoes in whole wheat pasta

Zucchini

Broccoli

Garlic: good for heart health

There you go! For my next blog I will be giving an awesome beginner exercise program as well as motivations tips for those starting out on the road to a healthier lifestyle.

Stay Strong

Byn

Tuesday; Cardio Sculpt and Healthy Eating!

Oh Hello There!

So this morning was my first cardio sculpt class at the gym I work at. I have taught the 6am classes before and had found them difficult as I usually teach noon or evening classes and pre-prepare earlier in the day. Last night before bed I went over everything I was going to do. I'm going to share my class set up with you, try it out yourself and let me know what you think.

What you'll need
2 Steps, one lower than the other
Hand Weights: no heavier than 8lbs, for example I used 5lbs and it was tough
Barbell: This one can be heavier, mine was about 25 lbs this morning
Bosu: optional
Mat

So here's the workout, I go by time (I find it more challenging) but you can go by reps if you would like :D

Warm Up: Dynamic Arm Rotations: You want to warm up the shoulder joint, do this for approx 1-2 minutes
Jumping Jacks: 30 seconds
High Knee Rear Kick: Raise the right knee up then kick behind with the left leg 1 minute then switch sides

Round 1: Cardio!
a) Stair Run on 1 of the steps: 1 minute
b) Up Up-Side Side on Bosu: step both feet up on the bosu step both feet off to the side, back up then to original position: watch the bosu because you can twist your ankle! 1minute
c) Box Jump Burpie: jump onto the low step going into a squat until thighs are parallel with the floor, jump off and kick the feet out until you are in a plank position with your hands on the box. 1 minute
d) Plank Jacks: in a push up position with hands on the low step kick both legs out to the side then bring them back to the middle. 1 minute
e) Mountain Climbers on Step
Repeat Again

Round 2: Strengthening
a) Straight Leg Deadlifts with Barbell: 30 seconds
b) Straight Leg Deadlifts with Barbell with Trap Raise: 30 seconds
c) Straight Leg Deadlifts with Barbell with Trap Raise moving to a Military Press: 30 seconds
d) One legged Deadlift with front raise (dumbells) 30 seconds each leg
e) Twisted Lunge (weight optional): Keeping the hips forward and the right knee pointing forward lunge the left leg back behind the right leg at about a 45 degrees, then bring the left  up and to the side bringing the knee as high as possible: 30 sec each leg
f) Arm Combination: stand on one leg (optional) and using your dumbbell do this sequence 1. lateral raise 2. front raise 3. front raise all the way up then shoulder press: 1.5 minutes
g) Plank Triceps: go onto all fours and extend the left leg back off the floor and with the right arm do triceps kick backs for 30 secs, then extend the right arm backwards palm facing up pulse towards the ceiling 30 sec, repeat with other side.
h) Push Ups: 1 minute

Round 3: Repeat Cardio Circuit 2 times

Round 4: Repeat Strengthening

You should be toast after this. Remember to take breaks whenever you need it, but push yourself HARD.

This circuit will boost your metabolism and confuse the hell outta yer muscles!

Any questions feel free to ask

I've also had a very healthy eating day! Go me! Breakfast was yogurt a banana, lunch was a spinach wrap with tofurkey, lettuce, low fat may, tomato, onion, avocado and yellow pepper and some jasmine tea!

Stay Strong

Byn

Monday: HIIT, Climbing and Yoga!

Salutations!

So I am sitting here at 7:30am wide awake, so I figured it was time for an update. I hope all of you are having an awesome New Year and are staying fit and healthy. Here is what I did yesterday, I'll write about today later... today haha

Yesterday my friend Erika and I were going out for dinner so I went to the gym mid afternoon since I didn't have to work nor did I teach my usual spin class at noon (due to the schedule change). Here's what I did...

Cardio: 25 minutes of HIIT, for those of you that do not know this stands for high intensity interval training, and it's the only way I can stand to be on a treadmill for more that 10 minutes (I get very bored very fast).

Here's the standard format I use
Warm Up: 5 minutes 4.0 mph 4.0% incline
Low: 5.2mph= 1 minute
High: 5.8 mph= 2 minutes
Low: 5.5 mph; 1 minute
High: 6.5 mph: 2 minutes...you get the idea.
This technically isn't "true" HIIT, as that is done on a track usually, where you sprint, walk, sprint, walk... but this is my version and it works for me and my clients. Usually the goal is to push yourself as hard as you can during the two minutes high and "take a break" during the low... usually I have people start out walking during this.
Benefits: Increased metabolism and there is also research out of McMaster University that suggests that this form of the training elicits the same benefits as 45 minutes of steady state running in half the time
However! You don't want to do more than 25 minutes of HIIT... it's not necessary. If my clients insist on doing more cardio after the 25 min I say a) they didn't push themselves hard enough and b) to just do steady state at the 25 min mark.

After my cardio I had half an hour to burn until yoga so I did laps on the climbing wall at our gym until I couldn't feel my hands. Since the wall is pretty much vertical I first did two warm up laps using all holds focusing on my movement mainly then did 6 more laps on the one wall focusing on crimping and the slopers, I then took a short break and did four more laps on the other side for funsies.

Then I finished off with an hour of slow yoga flow, which wasn't really that slow, but I enjoyed it.

So that was Monday! I'm not going to say what I ate because I ate like crap and went to Red Lobster, but was sooooooo goood!

Stay Strong

Robs