Personal training: Helping a friend day seven

surprise

Happy Monday everyone, 

I have some wonderful news to share about today’s adventure at the gym, as always I was supposed to work with John in kicking his ass into shape, but today he surprised me with bringing his sister along with him to workout. I have to admit I was shocked and very happy, I wasn’t expecting such good news and it made the day even more fulfilling.  With this being said, she has decided to hop on board with the #FitFam and workout with John and I, so I will be helping her to lose the weight she wants to lose and hopefully get her feeling better internally and externally. Today I just included her with our workout at a different pace and incline, but tomorrow we plan to sit down and talk so I can get an idea of her goals (short term and long term), have an idea of her activity/fitness level, eating habits, etc. She is said she will be joining John and I again tomorrow for our workout before sitting down with me, so I am looking forward to it. 

Now time to share some not so great news, John ended up weighing himself Sunday, but it was botched because he did it after eating and late in the afternoon, which I always recommend in the morning when you wake up before you eat something. He ended up gaining 2 lb, but this could be for multiple reasons and he basically identified his eating habits are the reason he thinks, and wants to fix, so hopefully he will have a plan in place to help him with that and I can guide him if needed. Nonetheless, he wasn’t upset or sad, he didn’t panic or overthink it, but he said he did ask himself questions so he could understand where he went wrong, and I sent him an email addressing why he may have gained weight. Although our first week together wasn’t consistent, so I have to consider that part myself. Regardless, we are moving on and going to strive for better! I am proud of him for continuing to meet me at the gym, not yet giving up and encouraging his sibling to join us. 

Today’s workout with John:

Warm-up:

Dynamic stretch:

  • walking lunges
  • leg swings, 10 reps each leg
  • walking glute stretch

Workout:

  • Treadmill- 30 minutes, no incline, 4.0 speed
  • Treadmill- 15 minutes, 3.0 incline, 3.5 speed

Cool down:

  • Treadmill- 5 minutes, 2.5 speed, no incline

Today’s workout wasn’t too hard, and he was able to do 4.0 at 30 minutes without reducing his speed this time, so tomorrow we will be doing the same exact exercise & warm-up. I think hopefully I will be able to see him do 45 minutes at 4.0 without reducing his speed, but it might take some time, and that is okay. His sister did her’s at a different pace, but kept up with it, and had no complaints about the workout. She does have an injury though, so I have to be particularly careful of her exercises, which she sees her doctor soon, so I will get more information on it. Today was a good day at the gym and both did relatively well, hoping tomorrow goes just as well!

 

Your Fitness blogger,

 

Shay-lon xoxo

The Black Cat Blue Sea Award, Woah

black-cat

I have never heard of this award before, something different and I don’t own a cat but still think this is neat, thank you TheHangryRunner for nominating me for this award, I feel very pleased. For starters, she is a great person to chat with and someone who really stays honest with you when it comes to her thoughts and she is an avid runner as well (which I am jealous of) because she is able to run great lengths that I only dream of doing someday. She just recently got nominated for the Liebster award, so check out her answers to my questions. 

And now The Rules: 

  1. Anybody nominated can nominate eight other bloggers.
  2. The nominee answers three questions posed by the nominator.
  3. The questions you ask while nominating can be any three questions.
  4. If any of the questions asked are offensive or the nominee simply does not want to answer, the nominee does not have to answer them to earn the award.

My Answers:

  1. If money was not an issue, what would you do? Be less stress out. 
  2. What is your guilty pleasure? I don’t have one. Weird? I know.
  3. What is one thing you have to have? Relationships with others, I need to stimulate my mind with conversation, laughing, crying, etc with others, I need to have someone who I can talk to, whether it be with family, friends, or someone I am dating. I am social bird, I like having relationships with people and socializing. I may not need it ALL the time, but going through life without it, well.. could be harsh. 

My questions for you are:

  1. Which is worse, living the rest of your life poor or alone?
  2. Do you think giving to charity makes someone a good person?
  3. What makes you think the world still has good in it?

My nominees are:

  1. PoojaG
  2. Shawna’s View
  3. Rodrinah
  4. Facelessfitness
  5. Yours_Deepu
  6. Sepultura13
  7. gingerkaratekid
  8. My Nomadic CrossFit experience

Looking forward to reading your answers.

 

 

 

 

Personal training: Helping a friend day six

cardio

To catch everyone all up, today was another day at the gym with my friend John. Yesterday we had to cancel due to him not getting enough sleep the night before, so we did what was expected yesterday, today. 

Warm-Up:

Dynamic stretches:

  • Walking glute stretch
  • lateral lunges
  • Frankies
Workout Session:
  • Step ups- 30 minutes (we used this red light/green light source) during red lights we stopped for about 30 seconds and during green light it would be about 45 seconds to a 1 min of continuous step ups. This sounds crazy but my gym has this room for this kind of circuit and well it is useful.
  • stationary bike- 15 minutes, level 4 resistance, RPMS 80-85 (his choice this time) 
  • step ups- 15 minutes, same goal intended with the red light/green light
Cool down:
  • Walked 2 laps inside the gym 
Overall today’s workout really made both of us work up a sweat, he was covered in it and enjoyed the step up exercise I had us doing together. I definitely will implement this more during out workouts since he is a fan of it, and of course he is making progress on the bike as well, and still loves being on the bike for cardio. His first weigh in will be Sunday Oct. 9th, and he is very nervous about it. I let him know not to worry and to not have expectations, but be happy that he came this far, so hopefully he sees some kind of results but if not, that is fine, because we will get there no matter. I am proud of him for kicking into gear this week and I am not sure if we will be meeting tomorrow for the gym, but if we do, I will keep everyone posted on the workout routine. 
His eating habits haven’t been too bad either, from what I have read on his logs, and he hasn’t eaten fast food except the sushi he had & one slice of pizza. Not eating fast food was his choice by the way, something I thought was pretty cool! So everything seems to be looking up at the moment.  
The editor will get back with me on my article in a couple of weeks. Fingers crossed it goes over well. I have yet to come up with pitches for the other editor but will surely make time for that sometime this coming week hopefully. 
Have a wonderful weekend, thank you for reading, follow, share, comment, like. 
Your fitness blogger,
Shay-lon xoxo

Fresh or Frozen Veggies

veggies

How do you prefer to buy your veggies, fresh or frozen & why?

 

I typically purchase them frozen because they tend to last longer than fresh and sometimes they are cheaper & since I live on a college student budget, the price matters to me; I like more bang for my buck.  If you haven’t read my blog on grocery shopping 101, please take a look at it: https://fitness9555.wordpress.com/2016/05/19/grocery-shopping-101/ definitely worth your while & will save you time and money. 

I do like fresh vegetables, and will splurge on them for peppers, onions, tomatoes, etc. Not all my veggies are bought frozen (mostly just the broccoli, green beans, artichokes) stuff like that. This isn’t a blog post about whether one is better than the other, I figure the only thing that matters is how they are cooked and if you are getting the full nutrients. Although here are some things to keep in mind when purchasing vegetables whether fresh or frozen:

  • If buying frozen, check the sodium content, sometimes frozen vegetables if mixed in pre-made sauce or have other seasonings will have more sodium content. ( I buy the plain veggies with nothing added and add my own seasonings when I cook them)
  • when purchasing fresh veggies, make sure to have knowledge around when they are ripe, when they are no good (spoiled) and sometimes the prices change during certain seasons. 
  • Fresh veggies tend to hold in the flavors more, especially peppers and what not. 
  • cook them in a way to not lose all the nutrients.
  • you can eat most veggies raw, chances are you won’t want to eat frozen veggies raw.
  • Fresh veggies can be good for some “fur babies” (pets)
  • Both taste good- bias opinion
Everyone is welcome to share vegetable recipes on this post as well as let us know what your favorite veggies are! Thanks for reading, feel free to comment, like, share.
Your fitness blogger,
Shay-lon xoxo

Superman (Exercise)

superman

Hello bloggers and readers alike,

I have decided to do another exercise post today, one of which is a bit more difficult for a beginner, so I would highly recommend as a beginner to get into habit of holding it 5 seconds at a time and as you your fitness level increases, increase the length of time. I know for one thing, this is an exercise that is popular among athletes, I remember having to watch the football players do this exercise every morning while I was a strength and conditioning coach intern at the University.  This was not one of their favorite exercises to do and they were told to hold it as a team for about 15-30 seconds, and trust me it is difficult to do if you haven’t done it before, but for those of you who may be advanced athletes or fitness persons, please feel free to challenge yourself and use a weight plate in both hands or using one weight plate and switching it back and forth between the two hands, around the body, etc. Many different things can be done if the basic superman is too easy for some of you. 

I am aiming to speak on the basic superman, but again I will list some alternatives to challenge yourself if you wish at the end, and any modifications that can make this exercise any easier for my beginners. Let’s get started. 

Superman- how is it done:

  1. Lie straight and face down on the floor and/or mat, Arms fully extended in front of you (starting position)
  2. Simultaneously raise your arms, legs, and chest off the floor, and hold this contraction for two seconds. Exhale during this movement, 
  3. Slowly begin to lower your arms, legs and chest back down to the starting position as you inhale
  4. Repeat for the recommended amount of repetitions
When performing this exercise it is important to know that you will need to use your back muscles to help hold you up, do not perform this exercise if you have  back injuries or had back injuries, and have not done a proper warm-up. Consult with your doctor first to prevent further injury, and consult with a fitness specialist if you need instruction on form/technique.
Modifications made to make it easier:
  1. If lifting both arms and legs are too difficult: you can lift alternate legs and arms at one time.  
Do you want a challenge:
  1. hold your superman for 1 minute at a time
  2. do more sets
  3. use weight plates in either or both hands
  4. using a weight plate or medicine ball, pass them back and forth between each hand 
  5. using a weight plate or medicine ball, pass them behind you (pass to the left or right hand, hand it over your back to the other hand and repeat)
I have done the more challenging one where I used the weight plate in my CrossFit class and it was no joke, took me by surprise. 
Superman benefits:
  • Strengthen the upper and lower back
  • also strengths the glutes and hamstrings
  • using different variations you can work your core muscles
Warning:
  • This exercise has been known to cause back issues if not done correctly and if done excessively
  • some scientist have gone to prove that it might have minimal significance on the back muscles, glutes, and hamstrings. 
  • Small ROM (range of motion)
Nonetheless, if you are beginner, start off with 1-2 seconds, maybe even 5 second holds, if you are natural and pro at this exercise, challenge yourself if necessary and like I always tell people, there are ALWAYS better options out there, so don’t rely on just this exercise, go out and explore others. Not every exercise I mention do I implement in my workouts, do I love, do I recommend, do I agree with and not every exercise I mention should be done by all populations. This is when research and asking questions should be done before jumping into an exercise. My goal is to talk about each and every exercise I have done, haven’t done, seen done, researched, etc. I may never get to all of them but it is one hell of a goal, not to mention doing this means I can come up with ideas for myself or clients. Thanks for reading, please share, comment, like.
Your fitness blogger,
Shay-lon xoxo