ab-racadabra....

most frequently asked question...

what can i do to tone my abs? i get that question almost every day. 

1.you have to lift, push, pull & squat heavy weights.

2.take a close look at your diet. nutrition is important!
it doesn’t matter how toned your abdominal muscles are if

you have a layer of fat over them.

3. make sure you are not neglecting cardio.

cardio doesn't have to be just running on the treadmill! there's lots of options.

yesterday this is how i balanced my cardio/weightlifting

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 deadlifts

between each round i did 30 double unders.

(if you don't have your double under the substitution would be 90 single jumps)

i had a hard time finding my rhythm yesterday which is evident by the whip marks all over the back of my left leg:) some days i have it and some days it's just not there. but i stuck with it and 270 du's later.....

i used a moderate weight (115lbs.) for the deadlifts.

my marathon is this weekend, so i haven't been trying to go too heavy with the weights. that's my idea of tapering:)

                                                                           getdiamondcut

"How do you get those killer abs?

A: (Jackie Warner)

I actually do not do crunches. This is one of my buzz phrases, Crunches are a waste of time.

Crunches are not going to get those abs. How you get those abs are actually lifting with a big muscle group such as chest, back, legs and butt. The more muscle that you have on your frame, the more fat you literally lose or shrink.

The only way to truly get shredded is to have a pretty balanced diet with a nice balance of cardio, but most importantly, weight lifting."

50 miles....

saturday was a big day for a few boys (and scout leaders) in my neighborhood. my 13 year old son was one of the boys. all summer they have been working towards the boy scout biking merit badge. saturday was the culmination of all their hard work.

a 50 mile ride.

7:00am and it's still dark (and freezing)

if you remember last week we had rain/snow/freezing temps.

these boys were committed!

off they went in to the dark....

we volunteered with another family to meet them at the halfway point with food!

they were hungry (and cold)....

aren't scouts always hungry?

back on their bikes for the ride home.

i am so proud of these boys!

what an accomplishment.

if only we could teach all kids the importance of being physically active.
this is the beginning of a life long habit for some of these boys:)

i made protein balls to take along.

we had these in our van on red rock relay

(which i haven't posted pictures of yet. i am way behind on that post!)
and they were amazing!

thought i'd share the recipe with you:)

i don't know where the credit belongs for the recipe,

i received it emailed down through a chain of people.

PROTEIN BALLS
1 Cup Protein Powder-vanilla

1 Cup Chunky Peanut Butter

3/4 Cup Honey
1 Cup Oatmeal

1/2 Cup Sunflower Seeds-raw/unsalted

1/4 Cup Sesame Seeds

*optional: 6oz mini chocolate chips, or 6oz dates, or 6oz raisins

directions:

mix all ingredients together. roll into small balls. keep refrigerated to keep balls formed. a great protein boost. we kept them in a cooler on red rock, they get soft pretty fast in warm temperatures.
*of the optional ingredients i only used the mini chocolate chips.

the wrecking bell....

i have a challenge for you.

i'd never ask you to try something i haven't done....

and

a lot of my clients, neighbors and friends at the gym

have already given it a try.

your turn....

no, i will not challenge you to push ups with a kettlebell in your teeth.

that is just a little weird.....

                                                                              paulm.com

the challenge is simple — 200 swings every day in 10 minutes or less; rain or shine, easy or hard. no matter what you’ve got going on that day,

you do your 200 swings. you are going to do it for 30 days!

the swings can be performed 2hand or single alternating, your preference. as long as they’re done every day, in 10 minutes or less. *important*– if you are unable to complete a full 200 swings in under 10 minutes in the beginning, this doesn’t necessarily disqualify you. if you legitimately did your best, and fell short, it gives you a goal for tomorrow. don’t give up!

thanks to 'the wrecking bell'

how long?
30 days
what weight to use?

female 25#

male 35#

this 200 swing challenge is in addition to any workout you may have planned for the day.

as i have stated before, i am not in the medical profession. if you have any questions before beginning a challenge like this consult your doctor.

faster, stronger....

it's been a couple weeks since my last post, life has a way of taking over.....

i will get caught up this week with a few things i have been wanting to blog about.

crossfit's main site wod was my workout yesterday, give it a try! i couldn't keep my L pull-ups strict so i did them using the assisted dip/pull up machine backwards.

"joshie"

complete three rounds for time of:

40# db snatch, 21 reps, right arm

21 L pull-ups

40# db snatch, 21 reps, left arm

21 L pull-ups

these are squat not power snatches.

i am surprised i'm not sore today!

i left my heart....

I left my heart in San Francisco

High on a hill, it calls to me.

To be where little cable cars

Climb halfway to the stars!

tony bennett

everyone has been asking me if i will be running over

the golden gate bridge in the

nike women's marathon.

how cool would that be?

i guess not very cool.....

 not the bridge, but i will be running some hills:)

check out the elevation map.

the hill around mile six looks especially nice:)

oh...then a few miles later i get to come back down

but wait....then i get to go back up again.

that's what makes it great

right?

 well, that and the tiffany's necklace at the end.

roasted salsa....

i decided to do something productive with all 3 of the tomatoes in my garden. we are so...not a gardening family. my mister planted something between the tomatoes and pumpkins....no idea what it is:)

looks like a cross between a cucumber and zucchini?

any ideas?

 he can't seem to remember what he planted.

i'm sure it was a good idea at the time.....

guess we were never cut out to be farmers.

 i made fresh salsa.

first i roasted 3 (big)tomatoes

1 white onion, halved

3 jalapenos

3 garlic cloves, unpeeled

i had a picture of what they looked like on the baking sheet

but....i accidentally erased it when i was loading the pictures on to my computer:(

the picture above is what the veggies looked like after they were roasted and i had put them in the food processor.

roasted salsa

heat broiler, with rack in top position.

place 2-3 (approx 1 1/2 lbs)tomatoes, halved white onion, 3 jalapenos and 3 garlic cloves, unpeeled, in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. broil 6-8 minutes, until vegetables are blistered and slightly softened, rotating baking sheet half way through.

discard garlic skins. in a food processor, pulse garlic and vegetables until coarsely pureed. add 3 tablespoons lime juice, season with salt and fresh ground pepper. pulse to combine. transfer to a bowl and stir in 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro.

everyday food magazine

i will be running red rock this weekend!

a 187 mile two day adventure.

again....

i've got some really good mileage in this past week.

feeling good!

i am counting on this race as marathon training.

i have that coming up in october....

and (maybe) november...

i promise i will take december off:)

wishing....

a wish is a desire without an attempt.

what are you working towards....

plan on being sore....

i have been working on a hiit (high intensity interval training)workout for my clients to do on days they aren't training with me. yesterday i tried out the one i've been working on....today i am very sore, as the night goes on it is becoming increasingly worse:)

a little background on hiit:
hiit is an acronym meaning high intensity interval training. simply put, hiit is based around this concept: go fast then go slow. repeat.

hiit is the best when it comes to burning off fat. studies have shown that it can be up to 10 times more effective at burning fat than normal steady state cardio. this is because the intense intervals result in the release of fatty acids that steady state cardio just cannot release. also, hiit results in increased hgh (human growth hormone) levels and epoc (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption). hgh is a fat burning hormone, higher levels means higher fat burning. The good thing about hgh is that it maintains muscle mass at the same time it is burning off fat!

epoc is pretty much the afterburn effect of your workout which causes you to burn off calories.

warning:
the drawback to hiit is that in its very nature it is intense. this means it is impossible to perform hiit every day. if you are performing hiit every day you might not be doing it correctly. performing hiit every day will result in over training and injuries. Plus if you are really going all out for your intervals your muscles will be too tired to perform the next day.
check with your doctor if you have any questions about performing this type of a workout!!


a few charts i found on line can help you create hiit workouts according to your fitness level, not mine, not your friend, not the person next to you on the treadmill!

and now....i am sure you have been anxiously waiting for this....

here is what i did.

5 minute warm up with incline at 1 and speed at 7 on the treadmill

now set the incline to 15 and speed at 6.1

(stand on the side platforms until treadmill is adjusted to the incline/speed)

you are going to run for 30 seconds at 6.1

then hold on and step on to the side platforms

for a 30 second rest interval.

during this 30 sec. you will turn up the speed to 6.2

leaving the incline at 15 for the entire workout.

continue the workout this way:

30 sec run @6.2

30 sec rest

30 sec run @ 6.3

30 sec rest

30 sec run @ 6.4

30 sec rest

30 sec run @ 6.5

30 sec rest

30 sec run @ 6.4

30 sec rest

30 run @ 6.3

30 sec rest

30 sec run @ 6.2

30 sec rest

30 sec run @6.1

put incline back to 1 and set speed to a comfortable cool down speed

cool down for .25 mile

yeah...have fun with that:)

and

remember to scale speed and incline according to your fitness level!

sal·ad noun \ˈsa-ləd\....

yesterday i was craving a salad for lunch.

here is what i whipped up.

i grilled a couple chicken tenders on my cuisinart panini grill

 made a vinegar/strawberry dressing

 i feel like this is an infomercial with my cuisinart & magic bullet:)

 i was pretty happy with the end result!

grilled chicken/berry/nut salad

dressing:

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

2 tablespoons sugar free strawberry preserves

3 tablespoons canola oil

combine dressing ingredients in a blender until well mixed.

salad:

6 chicken tenders, grilled and chopped

6 cups field greens/spinach mixture

1 cup sliced strawberries

1 kiwi peeled and sliced

1/3 cup macadamia nuts, chopped

top salad with dressing and mix well.



*the salad made enough for 3 people.

just thought i'd tell you that so you don't think i ate the whole thing myself!!

although....i was really tempted to eat the entire bag of macadamia nuts:)

fitness tip....

school is back in full swing....
i drive in jr high and high school carpools.
the high school carpool is a whole different post that could turn into a long story about a 16 year old that is afraid to get her drivers license...
boo!
she is perfectly happy riding her bike....until a bike accident last week left her with a broken nose and body....
boo!
ok...back to the original post
so thursday was my first day picking up the jr high boys.
i was parked in a little bit of a different place than i told them i'd be
so i got out of the car, walked towards the school until i could see that the boys saw me.
i turned around and got back in my car to wait.
my son climbed in the front seat and said,
'do not ever get out of the car again!!!'
apparently it is a huge embarrassment to have your mom walking around the jr high in her gym clothes.....
i got quite the lecture about how embarrassing it is.
and was told over and over
never, ever get out of the car....

this is what i was wearing.....

my fitness tip of the day

do not ever get out of the car:)

today i ran 5.5 miles

disastrous.....

i should have gone earlier when it wasn't so hot.

lesson learned.

and now....

to reward myself

i will go buy new running shoes.

 

an epic life....

last weekend i ran with 11 friends from logan to jackson hole.

i know...crazy...right?

I got that a lot from people in the weeks leading up to the race.

"is it lotoja?"

nope....that requires a bike, we are running.

"why are you doing that?"

why not....

"isn't that kind of far?"

yeah, just under 206 miles to be exact.

"you know you guys are crazy?'

yeah...we know:)

not going to lie, it was really stressful leading up to the race. i was team captain and trying to organize 12 people, 2 vehicles, coordinate food, starting times, logistics for van 2 to meet up, hotel for the night before (if the hotel only knew how many people we put in  a room)....well, you get it:)

lucky for me i had the most amazing 11 friends to run with and they made my job a whole lot easier.....

we packed up two vehicles with bananas, trail mix, water, headlamps, running shoes and hit the road.

according to epic...."it's a running party with friends. you might sleep, you might not. all you need is: you, 11 of your friends and the desire to run through the most beautiful countryside in america."

yep...that pretty much sums it up! 

want to know more about epic?

      

i will not ever be able to put in to words what this experience is like

so...for lack of words

i will show you in pictures.

 checking in at the start line. our start time was 6am.

 our team was 'witness the fitness'....or wtf for short:)

our bib # was 83

and here is our first runner ready for the cow bell to signal the 6am wave start.

 love love love this sign!

 we knew we'd be crossing the utah/idaho border during candice's 1st leg. we wanted to get a picture by the state sign....until we realized we were on a dirt road in the middle of no where....pretty sure there's not going to be a sign, so we made one!

 and there is always time for a dance in the middle of no where:)

 jodie is a little excited for her first leg.

 while jodie is running....we decided to get dizzy!

thanks for the push greg.

 and do a few chin ups:)

 even with all the playing we always remember to support the runner!

the runner is always our first priority!

well, except when we are hungry and go in the grocery store and don't know our runner has run by the store....oops...sorry candice:)

 well....unless there are cows. then we must stop and play with them...

 until it licked me.....sick!

i had a nice bath with baby wipes after that little incident.

you know...it is all fun and games until someone gets licked:)

 guilty face....

 alrighty....my turn to run. i was the last runner in van 1.

 by then it was hot. the major exchange i am headed to had a dunk tank for the hot runners:)

 katie is finishing her leg in style, she was the last runner in van 2....our turn to take over again. at this major exchange epic made snowcones for everyone and handed out water, shot blocks and cliff bars.

 just like i said earlier, that little blue sign became a very wonderful thing to see.

 headlamp, check

reflective vest, check

red blinking light, check

we finished up our night legs around 11:30pm

then van 2 took over and ran through the night:)

yeah...they rocked it!

 early morning legs....

 absolutely breathtaking!

 early morning stretching:)

 nice try guys....

 my last leg....

 look at the scenery...seriously...this is why i run epic relay!

done.done.done. 3 legs down! 

now it's time for van 2 to bring us to the finish line:)

 burpees in jackson hole on a saturday afternoon.

bet you have never done that!

 van 1

 heading to the finish line waiting area so team wtf can run to the end together!!

 206 miles later....so proud of team wtf!

we came in within 15 minutes of my projected spreadsheet!

15 minutes earlier:)

the end...happily ever after...isn't that the way the story always ends?

well...except for van 2's tire blow out on the way home.

it was an epic journey:)