WORLD Conference

I am off to IDEA WORLD Conference for five days! Lots if new choreography, exciting business possibilities, and new torture... I mean training ideas! Be back in a week... California here I come!

Variety

Variety spices up your diet, your workouts, and your life... it is KEY to staying motivated and interested in your pursuits of a healthy body and mind. Here are a few ways to spice up your diet and your workouts...

DIET:
** Eat breakfast foods for dinner and dinner foods for breakfast. Who says you can't have eggs and toast at dinner and a chicken wrap for breakfast? It will help change the way your body processes carbs and proteins and rev up that metabolism!

** Buy one new fruit and one new vegetable at the grocery store (or farmer's market) and find a new recipe to use it in. Websites like www.allrecipes.com and www.recipezaar.com are wonderful resources. Maybe try a papaya, star fruit, or ugli fruit today. Or perhaps kohlrabi, radishes, or swiss chard for dinner tonight?

** Challenge yourself to use only what's in your refrigerator and pantry to create new flavors and foods. Include a new flavor or two from that rarely used spice rack to spice it up!

WORKOUT:

** Try a new machine at the gym like the rowing machines or the Versa-climber. Using new muscles will expose your body to new planes of movement and burn more calories because it always works harder at a new exercise.

** Try a 10-10-10 workout... 10 minutes on the treadmill (with a 2% incline walking or running), 10 minutes on the bike (increase resistance to at least 4) and 10 minutes on the stair stepper or Elliptical (using your core strength to hold you up... no leaning on the railings!!)

** Add in a jump rope to your strength workout to kick up the intensity! 100 jumps between sets will increase cardiovascular endurance and a get a good sweat on!

Stay on track and keep spicing it up...

Playground workout

Have you ever been at a park with your kids and wanted to make the most of your time outside? Why not work out while they play?

Depending on the play structure, there are LOTS of exercises you can incorporate into your routine. Plan on breaking it into 10 minute sections and try to repeat 3-4 times. Pick any of the exercises listed in both the cardio and strength sections and mix and match as you please (10 minutes combines both strength and cardio exercises).

Cardio: Run around the play structure alternating jogging and sprinting
Invite your kids to play tag and run as much as possible
Quick taps on a step/ tire/ slide
Run up and down the stairs (or run up the steps and slide down :)
Squat down low and jump up

Strength: Cross the monkey bars as many times as you can (it's harder than I remember!)
Using the end of a slide, do as many tricep dips until fatigue
Using the end of the slide still, do as many push-ups until fatigue
Using the end of the monkey bars, turn your palms towards your body and 'pull-up'
Using two parallel bars, hold yourself up and draw the knees in using the abs
Lunge around the perimeter of the play structure/ park
Using the end of the slide, place one foot on the slide, the other on the ground and
quickly squat down three times then jump and switch sides

Enjoy playing like a kid... it's a great workout and a lot of fun!

Hiatus

It's been a while since i last posted, sorry for the break. It's been busy yes, but it's been my lack of discipline to sit down and write a post that caused that lapse in posts. I promise to do better and to be more disciplined.

For my re-entry into the blog world, enjoy this new workout!

Repeat the whole sequence 3 times: (You'll need 5 or 8lb. weights and a chair)
15 push-ups (on toes)
20 jumping jacks
15 tricep dips on edge of bench/ chair
20 jump squats
15 bicep curls
20 skis
15 rear fly
20 lateral jumps
20 lateral raises
50 jump rope jumps

Let me know if you have any questions. Enjoy and keep working hard!

Did you know?

We all know that fast food options are less than nutritious, but did you know that McDonald's hamburgers have 62 ingredients!? A recent report on Yahoo released the top 10 ingredients in Fast Food, which included citric acid, monosodium glutamate, caramel color and monoglycerides. Hmmm... not very appealing! So next time you need to grab a bite at McDonald's opt for the grilled chicken snack wrap (without cheese) and a fruit and yogurt parfait instead of a burger and fries. It will taste better and save you about 275 calories! Make good choices today!

To all the Moms...

Happy Mother's Day! May you be inspired as you inspire others to live a healthy and full life. Wishing you lots of sweet memories to cherish for years to come!

New Bootcamp workout

This is a new creation... enjoy!!

1 minute of each, repeat three times per set

Set 1:
Fast feet (AKA football run)
Push-ups (on knees or toes)

Set 2:
Side shuffle to the right and left
Squat and abduct one leg ('abduct' means to lift to the side)

Set 3:
Jump rope
Shoulder press with free weights

Set 4:
Squat thrust (squat down, place hands on floor, jump back to plank position, jump in and repeat)
Upper back row with free weights

Set 5:
Jump lunges
Bicep curl then tricep kickback with free weights

Set 6:
Crunches with feet flat on floor
Side plank (resting on one elbow, top arm in air)

Stretch!