Sculpt Those Shoulders in 5 Exercises!

Let's be honest.. as women, we don't want to bulk... Don't worry, you won't become like

                                                              The Built in Neck Pillow

                                                                       or the Hulk

                                                                 or even, The Alien.

Shoulder strength is important for everyday usage, and not a lot of women like to work it. You use your shoulders for a lot more than you think, and it's important to make sure you strengthen the muscles that support your shoulder. Doing so will help prevent injury, and keep your range of motion.

 Below, I've created a quick workout with 5 exercises that ANY woman can do. Aim for 3 sets of 12



Bow and Arrow: *For a little more challenge, do this single leg switching between sets.

Stand with you feet about hip width apart. Using dumbells, (I use 3-5 lbs) hold them straight out in front of you with your palms facing each other. Now just pretend you're holding a bow and arrow! Pull one arm back keeping your elbo parallel to the floor, and not letting it droop. Bring it back to starting and switch to the other arm. 

Do 12 each arm, 3 sets.

                                               

  

Shoulder Flexion with Upward Rotation: 

Stand with your feet hip distance apart. Holding dumbells, bend the elbows to make a 90 degree angle with your arms. From there, pretend you're a puppet and keep your arms at the same angle as you raise your elbows, making your arms parallel to the floor. Hold 1 second, then rotate your arms up. (as if you were being arrested and the cop said, freeze! ;) ) Rotate back down, then lower the elbows

Do 12 reps, 3 sets.

Shoulder Fly: *For more of a challenge, do this single leg, switching between sets.

Stand with your feet shoulder distance apart. Keep your abs tight, and bend at the hips. With dumbells in hand, palms facing forward, keep your arms straight as you 'flap' like a bird. Focus on squeezing your shoulder blades together as you lift, and keeping them from falling forward as you return to starting. 

Do 12 reps, 3 sets

Shoulder Row: *This can be done with dumbells, or a barbell. Or even your laundry soap container ;)

Stand with your feet should width apart. Grip the barbell over hand. Extend the thumbs leaving about an inch between them. Shooting your elbows to the side lift the barbell up to your chest keeping it as close to your body as you can. Hold at the top for a second, then lower.

Do 12 reps, 3 sets.

Clean and Press: *If you are not familiar with the clean, just stick with the press as to not perform it with improper form which can cause injury.

Start by doing a shoulder row, but instead of holding and lowering, once you get to the top, get your body underneath the barbell. Press it overhead, lower, then reverse. Make sure you are keeping your elbows to the side as you pull up and release down while keeping the bar as close to your body as possible! This will take the pressure off your biceps and the front of your sholders. (this form is especially important! If you ever start lifting more weight, form is everything. We don't want injuries!)

Do 12 reps, and work up to 3 sets

                           Before you know it, your shoulders will be scuplted and strong! 

The Thigh Gap

When it comes to health and fitness, everyone has a different starting point, and ending point. (I'm pretty sure I've said that before)

I was talking to one of my clients and she mentioned something to me that disturbed me a little. 

As she was reading a magazine one day that said a good way to test if you were skinny enough was to see if you had "the thigh gap". 

I looked at her stunned. She let out a fake-ish laugh and looked at me with curious eyes. I told her to never ever believe that. Whoever said that is full of it. All of our bodies are made different; some people have broad shoulders, others have super long legs, while some have an overbite. Everyone is made differently, and that is a wonderful thing! Otherwise we would all look like robots.....

I personally like to be unique.

Kind of half laughing, I told her that I used to think the same thing (which sadly, is true). Back in high school I felt the need to have the "thigh gap" Being a dancer and a teenage girl in high school, there was a lot of pressure to be TINY, and every time I looked at the girls who seemed to be in perfect shape; dainty, skinnny, tall, and tan, the little green monster inside of me would grow. Feeding off my feelings of vanity for what others had, that monster convinced me to take drastic measures to look like the "perfects". I don't want to get into it, but let's just say I was miserable. After high school, as I researched and studied human anatomy, nutrition, and kinesiology, I realized that my body will never have the thigh gap. It's just the way my hips were made. Just like I will never have my middle splits completely because of my hips. 

As I explained this to her, a look of relief washed over her. I could see hope in her eyes. She smiled. 

Just like I once was, (and occasionally still am) she is very concerned about her body image, and losing weight. I tell her every time I see her that it's not about getting your body to look like those on the Victoria's Secret windows, but to become HEALTHY. 

Healthy is a complete lifestyle change. It doesn't happen over night, and it's a constant mental battle. 

Because of this conversation, I decided to change the name of my Facebook page, and blog. I want people to know that I am not perfect, nor have I ever been when it comes to fitness and health, but I do my best. I know that my body will never be like the girl my 16 year old self thought I had to be, and I'm perfectly ok with that. :) 

Love yourself, love your body, and NEVER compare yourself to others. 

 

And So It Begins...

Remember about a month ago, I posted about buying ORGANIC (click it to see previous post) and how sooner or later crops were going to become resistant to the harsh chemicals  used to ward off insects?

Well, it's happened. 

http://www.takepart.com/article/2013/05/30/rise-zombie-wheat?cmpid=foodinc-fb

Take a peek at this article... 

Scary stuff. 

I cannot emphasize enough.. buy ORGANIC, and LOCAL. :) 

*****************************

In other news, the hubs and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary! yay! 

It was a wonderful weekend in Park City at an AMAZING resort (thank you Priceline!).

While I was there I had some pretty amazing gluten free pizza, and THE BEST sushi I've had! Granted, I've only had sushi 2 times now.. but the first time I tried about 10 different rolls. No joke. 

 We also had some delish edamame. mmmm 

A california roll with salmon on top, and I can't remember the name of the other one, but it had cream cheese, salmon, and sesame. 

My mouth is watering...

5 Ways to Stay Motivated During Race Season

It's race season, and one of my favorite races to do is the Women of Steel Spring Triathlon in American Fork. 

Pre race jitters set in as soon as I stripped down to my swim suit, lined up along the pool, and felt the very cold wind touch my bare skin. In fact, I was so nervous that I forgot to run across the timing strip to activate my timing chip. I just jumped right in, realized I had to jump back out in order to actually start, then got back in. Embarrassing to say the least, but at least my nerves were calmed due to the fact I was laughing at myself. ;)

The race started, I swam, I biked, I ran, and beat my pr! What?? Let me share with you some tricks that will help you get through your next race.

1: Trust your body! 

      Bodies are an amazing thing, and if you are preparing for a race, you are one lucky human being. Some people aren't able to run, let alone sign up and prepare for a race, so be grateful for the body you have and trust its amazing abilities.

2: Think of how far you've come!

      During the second loop of the bike session, I started thinking of the dreaded run that I had to do after. The thought got me down a little. I'm not the best runner by any means, and I was dreading that 3 mile run. (I know, 3 miles? Easy...) My legs were already on fire, plus I was still soaked from the swim. The weather was rainy, cold and windy. The last thing I wanted to do was run. BUT I had to look on the bright side. I had already swam, and biked... running was that last thing! I couldn't give up!

3: DO NOT compare yourself to others!

      There is nothing that can destroy your spirit like comparing yourself to others. There's always going to be someone ahead of you, and someone behind you. All you need to think about is beating your pr, or thinking about what's waiting for you at the finish line. That sense of accomplishment is like nothing you will ever experience. 

4: Have a mantra!

      During the middle of my race, when my legs were tighter than those rubber bands you use with braces, and my lungs were on fire, "The faster you run (bike), the faster you're done!" kept running through my head. I cannot tell you how much that helped! I wanted to get done and beat my pr, so that running through my head kept me going.

5: Have a cheering section!

     My mom and husband came to cheer me on. The best part of this race? EVERYBODY cheers you on. I passed tons of people with posters cheering on their family and friends, but every one of them cheered me on as well. I even had a little boy cheer my on as I ran past his soccer game. Cheering people on, and having people cheer you on helps IMMENSELY! Please, if you're in a race, or supporting someone at a race... cheer EVERYONE on. 

Me and ma sista

Done!

We are Women of Steel!

Celiac, No Silly Act.

In honor of National Allergy Awareness week, I've decided to share my story with Celiac with you. I stole this from my other blog... So I guess it's not stealing... ;)

For those of you who don't know, Celiac disease is an intolerance to gluten. NOT just an allergy, an INTOLERANCE. Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye.

So.. in turn, a gluten intolerance means that my digestive system can't absorb the protein so it ends up damaging and scaring the lining of my intestines. It is an autoimmune disease which in turns makes my ability to fight off infection a lot harder.

Here is my story:

The end of my junior year in high school I started getting really sick. I was dancing about every morning from 6-9, and every night from 5-9. Meaning I needed to up my caloric intake so my body could keep up. It was then, I started to feel like everything I ate made me sick. I started taking naps every time I could and going to bed sooner and sooner. It seemed like I couldn't get enough sleep and I never had energy.

During the week before a dance concert we spent almost every waking hour on stage practicing which meant lots of time on my knees, rolling on the ground and throwing my body every which way. One night I got home and realized my shins  were killing! I rolled up my pants and found HUGE red bumps. They looked like someone had taken a crow bar to my legs. You know when you get a good ache? I had 5-6 of those PER LEG. The slightest movement hurt. Even my pant legs rubbing against them hurt. That week, I felt like crying every time I did a dance.

I went to the doctor later that month to see what was wrong. The doctor came up with what seemed like a hundred different diagnoses (diagnosies..?) khrons, thyroid problems, cancer, anemia, and so on and so forth. Countless blood tests proved nothing, except that after your 20th poke in the same vein, you tend to not feel it so much.

My doctor decided to schedule me for a colonoscopy (aka, a camera shoved up your who-ha). The results of the test showed that I had what was called Collagenous Colitis. Here's the doctor's words when he read my me results "Are you sure you're 18? Because your intestines belong in an 80 year old's body."
Um... how do you respond to that. I laughed and said, ya.... He went on to explain that Collagenous Colitis is typical of the elderly because your intestines are so scared, they don't absorb the nutrients your body needs. With that diagnosis we were one step closer to finding out what the root of the problem was, but we were still in the dark.

Constant stomach aches and 18+ hours of sleep a day was definitely taking it's toll on me. I was in my freshman year of college as a dance major and found myself feeling even more tired CONSTANTLY. I would nap in between classes, after class, and my bed time was now 7 pm due to the lack of energy.

I started losing weight rapidly, along with my hair. In the shower, I would run my hand through my hair and pull out hand fulls. I don't know how many times I clogged the shower drain in a week, but my hair was constantly falling out. Within about a month or so, I realized that the once blue carpet I had on my floor was now a brown color. I vacuumed it to find that hair was COVERING my floor. I had to cut the hair out of the vacuum 4 times before I was done because my hair kept clogging it.

Being a girl and losing your hair in handfuls is not an easy thing. You're hair is your identity. I again went to my dermatologist (who I'm pretty close to now because of all the skin problems caused by celiac) who diagnosed me with Alopecia Areota. I had lost all the hair around my ears, and it was now starting to fall out on the top of my head.

In the last picture, you can see red spots. Those are where I had a steroid/cortisone cocktail injected into my scalp. Every time I would have my 'cocktail', I would get 2cc's of it which may not seem like a lot, but it led to 50-60 stabs with a needle into my scalp which is super tender, causing a headache that would take me out the rest of the day.
Patches of hair started to slowly grow back, but my hair got to the point where I had a 'Y' of hair. If you looked at the top of my head from an aerial view, you would see what looked like a Y. I decided to cut it which turned out to almost be a buzz cut. As I arrived home from the salon, I broke down to my mom telling her I looked like a boy. It may seem silly that hair can have such an effect on someone, but you don't realize it till it's gone.

Finally, after no direction from my doctors, only treatment of SYMPTOMS, not the root problem, my mom researched and researched and researched. I had been testes for Celiac disease numerous times through blood tests, but all came back negative. I also had biopsies done during my colonoscopy but still, negative. (blood tests never work I've found out, and only the effected parts of your intestines will show a positive result. This was 3 years ago so hopefully testing has advanced!) As my mom and I talked and researched, Celiac disease kept coming up so I decided that I'll try to go on a gluten free diet for a couple weeks because it never hurts to try.

Within a week, I had energy like I never knew I could have. My color came back and I no longer looked anemic. Plus, I didn't have to sleep 18 hours a day! I could go a whole day without taking a nap, which was HUGE. My body didn't ache or hurt anymore.

We immediately went back to my doctor with the good news. He explained that if I had let my symptoms progress as quickly as they had been, cancer would have been the next one. SCARY.

The last 3 years haven't been easy and I'll admit, I've caved into temptation because you don't realize that gluten is in EVERYTHING until you can't eat it anymore. If I did cave though, I was instantly reminded why I don't eat gluten. I get bloated, tired, SUPER agitated and angry.

My hair still falls out in certain areas sometimes, but it grows back so I'm not complaining. :)

I would love to be able to help those who are struggling with this disease which can lead to infertility, alzheimers's, and even cancer.

Ab Slayer!

Now that I've established my blog a little more, I'm hoping to start posting more workouts on here.

If you have any questions about how to work certain areas, or how to work on your endurance, intervals, weight loss, etc, feel free to ask and I'll come up with workouts to help!

Now then.. onto what I like to call the Ab Slayer workout. Try doing this at least 3 times, and work your way up to 5 or 6.

EQUIPMENT: Swiss ball (workout ball)

V-ups: Start laying on the ground with the Swiss ball (or an imaginary one) in your hands over your head. At the same time, crunch up and put the ball between your legs. Release back, let your arms come back over head, and only let your legs go to about 45 degress. Repeat 10 times.
*If you let your legs go all the back down, your back with arch and your quads will take over. You want to use those low abs to bring your legs back up!

Photo Courtesy: www.runnersworld.co.uk

Swiss Ball Pike: Start in a push up position with your feet on top of the ball. Tucking your abs in, lift your hips and roll the ball forward until you're in a pike position. Return to plank, keeping your abs tight, and repeat 10 times. 

Photo Courtesy: www.womenshealthmag.com

Side Ab Lifts: Lay on your side up on your elbow. Make sure your elbow is right underneath your shoulder. Lift your hips up as high as you can, pushing into your feet and elbows. Hold 5 seconds then repeat 10 times each side.

Bicycle Crunches: Lay on your back with your hands behind your neck. DO NOT INTERLOCK YOUR FINGERS. Hold them gently behind your neck, crunch up and twist so your right elbow touches your left knee, then alternate. Do 50 reps.

Elbow Plank: In this plank position, do not grasp hands. Instead, have them straight out in front like the sphinx in Egypt, looking out in front, just past your fingers to keep your spine in alignment. Keeping abs tight, don't let your hips drop and don't pike them up either. Hold 1 minute.

Photo Courtesy: www.goldsgym.com

Repeat this at least 3 times, and work your way up to 5 :) You're abs will thank you!

GENIUS

First of all... this kid is a genius. He's smarter at 11 than I was at 20.

 Second, I hope my kids are like this kid and understand why I won't be feeding them hot dogs, pop tarts, red meat, and other 'normal' food. 

Third of all, I think that public schools, and home schooling both have their pro's and con's. I'm not for or against either one.