Trail running

Hey there fitfam!!! Hope you all are having an awesome week and are staying on top of those fitness goals! Today's post is going to be short and sweet but a fun one! 

This last weekend, Aaron, my brother Joel and I went trail running up on blue sky pond trail! It was absolutely beautiful and such a fun run/hike!

This is starting the trail and my badass brother running his heart out! 

I absolutely love being outside! Must be the country girl in me but there is nothing more rejuvenating then running or hiking outside! 

My handsome man Aaron ;)

And I don't know about you but when it's lush and green out it just takes my breath away!! Love this picture oh so much!! 

Try doing something different for fitness! Go out and hike, bike, run, get some fresh air! Just remember to take plenty of water and stuff for food or emergency heaven forbid you would need anything for an emergency ha ha but you just never know!!! So get out and do something different!! 

Quote of the day: "the world is just one big giant playground! So go play!" 

Let's kick it up a notch!

Good morning all and happy Father's Day!! :) today's blog is going to be a fun one and an intense one at that! This will be my first official post of showing you a circuit training session that will not only get that heart rate going but will be so beneficial! I'm also including a protein shake with ingredients and flavor that will knock those tennis shoes right off your feet! 

Here we have, oats, silk almond milk, liquid egg whites, and myofusion protein! Now, you don't always have to use oats, but they are great for first thing in the morning, but let's say you want it for later on in the afternoon and don't want oats in them, then no worries, you don't you don't have to put them in there! This is how I made it:

8-9oz almond milk

2oz of water 

3 egg whites (measurements are on the back. Also, these liquid egg whites won't make you sick drinking them raw)

1 scoop myofusion protein 

1 tsp cinnamon 

Then if you want oats, 1/2 cup 

You can either blend it up in a blender, or you can do as I do and jus shake it up for about a minute! And voila!

I absolutely LOVE this!! There's protein, good carbs and cinnamon is my favorite spice and for those of you who don't know, cinnamon helps increase blood circulation and helps get that metabolism going!! 

So after drinking my fabulous shake it was off to the gym to do a circuit with my brother Joel! 

So here I have our circuit set up. Now, it doesn't look like much, but believe me, there is more to be had. Just wait and see. 

Here we have a medicine ball, kettle bells, dumbbells, a regular mat and a barbell. Choose weights that are about medium weight for your strength. Here is what we did: 

Curls 12 reps

Sprint

Abs 20 reps

Sprint 

Tricep 15 reps

High knees 45 seconds

Bent over rows 20 reps

Sprint 

Shoulder press 15 reps

Sprint

Squats 20 reps 

Mountain climbers 30 seconds 

Oblique twists 20 reps 

Sprint 

Now, for those of you who may not know what each of these workouts is I will show you! 

Bent over rows

Triceps 

Squats! Make sure you go low! 

 Shoulder press 

My brother Joel doing abs! Make sure to keep those feet hovering above the ground at all times! This works the lower abs like crazy!

And when you finish you should have the look of exhaustion on your face! Like this one haha :) love you brother. 

Now, you can go through this once and see how you feel but if you can keep going!  Try to go through at least 2-3 times. This helps get that heart rate up and spikes that metabolism! What I also like about this workout is you can do it outside! Just use your body weight and then sprint on grass for a certain distance! 

Let me know what you think about this workout! Try it and don't give up! It's killer but that's what gives you results! 

Quote for the day: "Do something today that your body will thank you for tomorrow." 

Have a fabulous Father's Day!! 

Who the heck are you anyways?

Early good morning to all my fitness family!! I'm literally doing my morning cardio as I write this! Ha ha! And as I'm doing my cardio I was thinking about what I could blog next, and I thought, many people don't really know who I am, what i do, and where I'm going. So I figured I would tell you a little about myself!! 

So, I am an NPC bikini competitor! And I'm sure many of you wonder how I got started doing that right? Well, a little over 4 years ago one of my best friends approached me about competing in bikini division. As he was doing bodybuilding at the time and during a posing class saw these girls posing and thought I would do good at it. So, after he told me about it, my response was, "ummm are you crazy?? I am NOT strutting around on stage in a bikini!" Ha ha! Well at the time I had started back at the gym, just doing cardio, because I "didn't want to get bulky." As all iof ya girls say! Well, I eventually got bored. You can only do so much cardio before you die of boredom ha ha! So, I was sitting at work one day and was thinking of what goal I could set for myself. I wanted to do something more and accomplish something huge. So, I shot him a text and said I would do a show, and from then on it was my major life changer, and one of the best decisions I've ever made! 

My very first show was The Warrior Classic. I placed 3rd in Novice and 1st in the open! Biggest accomplishment of my life!! And one of the best experiences I've had as well!! From there I did the GNC natural and placed 2nd. The mile high in June 2012 and placed 2nd. Went on to compete in Vegas at The USAs in July and placed 5th and was in Oygen magazine!! My second biggest accomplishment!!! I did USAs the following year and placed 16th. I wasn't in the right place. Didn't have a very good prep, but that's when you step back, get your mind focused and you keep driving through!! 

This is the change I've made in less than 4 years! It's been blood, swear, and years believe me!! But it takes dedication and perseverance!! Don't ever give up on your goals! We are all going to struggle but if you want it bad enough you will make it happen!! 

My next show is August, and that will be The Warrior Classic, that I'm doing again!! My handsome man Aaron will be doing it as well as this is his first show!! :) I'm excited to start fresh and this time coming in strong and VERY focused!! My goal is my bikini pro card! And I'm so excited to have this blog to share my journey with you!  

If anyone ever has any questions on shows, or wants to consult with me about a show, just let me know!! 

Have a great day!

Today's quote:"make your body and mind work for you, not against you!"

Meal Planning

Good afternoon my fitness friends!! Today's post is going to be about meal planning. I say meal planning because this isn't dieting. I'm not cutting you short of what you need to intake. There is no special secret. This is not in any way harmful to your body. This is good for you and will help you reach your weight loss goals! So let's dig deep and I will show you what each meal should look like, I'll give an example meal plan, and all the ins and outs of it ALL! 

So, I get so many questions about meal planning, exercising, etc. But the main one I always get is "what should I eat?" Well I'm so glad you asked! 

Now, depending on your exact goal, this will definitely vary. But I'll jus do basic information on just losing weight and getting in shape. First thing is eating small portion meals every 3 hours. And by small portion I don't mean celery and a cracker. I mean a small portion enough to feel satisfied but not super full. Eating small meals every 3 hours helps keep that metabolism working which is exactly what you want it to do, to help lose weight! Now, if you're on the go and always running around, that's fine. Prepare. There's no excuse for not eating every 3 hours. I've worked 36 hour shifts at work and ate every three hours. You can do it! 

So, the next question is "what do I eat in those meals?"  You must always have a protein, veggie and a good carb! I will make a list that shows what proteins, veggies, and carbs I mean. 

Protein: 

Chicken

Steak

Lean ground turkey

Tuna

Tilapia

Eggs

Low fat cottage cheese

Protein powders 

Low sugar yogurts 

These all are great proteins that you should eat a serving of in your meal plans!  For women, 4-5 oz is perfect for the top 5 proteins. The last 4 you will see in my meal plan what serving to do. As each one is different! For men, you should eat 6-8 oz of the top 5. Men need a lot more protein because of their metabolism and testosterone! So for any men reading this, whatever meal plan I post for the women, double the serving size. 

Now on to the delicious carbs! :) ah, how we love carbs! So, little side story, my wonderful boyfriend Aaron Cox recently got into a discussion with some folks about carbs. The people he was talking to said that our bodies don't need carbs or sugar to function. Baha! Uuum, yes we do! Our bodies use carbohydrates for energy. The key to carbs is how much you take in! If you take in too much carbs, whatever your body doesn't use will store as fat as a survival mode. Same for sugar! So keep it to where whatever your body weight is or whatever you goal body weight is, do 1g of carb per pound body weight. So for example, if you're 120lb then do 120g of carbs a day. If you cut out carbs completely to lose weight, and you do that for a period if time, it will do so much harm to your organs, brain and body function. It won't last long. Trust me. Why do you think the Atkins diet didn't last? People were getting sick from it and harming their bodies. Plus, people put crap carbs Into their bodies half the time(I.E. Breads, pasta, crackers..). You need good clean carbs to fuel your body and muscles! Here are good clean carbs to eat:

Sweet potatoes 

Yams

Oats (instant or old fashion is fine but not the packages oatmeal that has flavor. Way too high in sugar)

Rice (brown or white) 

Rice cakes 

Notice how there isn't bread or anything that has refined sugars or gluten in there! These are carbs that your body will use as good energy to fuel your muscles and your daily activity! For serving sizes, again it depends but usually 1/4-1/2 cup for these will be about 18-25 g of carbs. So remember to just calculate out your carbs for your body weight! If you want to lean out a little bit, drop the carb Intake by 20-30 g but not much more than that. Otherwise you will feel ill and we don't want that! We want you to be happy healthy and feeling good! So, just keep that in mind!! 

Now on to vegetables!!! Haha! You either love them or hate them. There really is no in between! :P but regardless, veggies are absolutely amazing for you! Packed with nutrients and healthy benefits. As your fitness motivator, I demand you eat them! (How's that for bossy, haha) but really, there's so many veggies out there that reap so many healthy weight loss benefits. That after I tell you, you're gana be ready to eat them! 

Broccoli- high in fiber which helps the intestines, natural thermogenic (which helps lose weight), negative calorie food, which means takes more calories to digest than to actually intake, high in Vitamin A, K, and C and helps keep you fuller longer. 

Asparagus- is also a natural thermogenic, negative calorie food, high in Vitamin A, K, C. High in potassium which helps from your muscles cramping. 

Spinach- extremely high in Vitamin A, as well as Iron and calcium! Darker green leafy veggies have more nutrient benefits for you, jus as an FYI. 

Zucchini- high in vitamin A, C, and K. High in potassium, calcium and magnesium. This veggie is my favorite!! 

Each of these veggies and then some have so many benefits so my suggestion is a cup of veggies per meal with your meal plan will be ideal for getting the nutrients you need! 

So now, my wonderful friends, here is your example meal plan you can follow! Try it out, let me know if you like it, if so we can personalize it more and go from there! 

120 gram carb day 

30 min morning cardio

Drink protein shake during 

7:00am

1/2 cup oats (27g)

4 egg whites

10:00 am

4 oz chicken

Cup broccoli

1/2 cup rice (25g)  

1:00 pm

4 oz chicken

Cup of spinach with Olive oil 

3 rice cakes (25g) 

4:00 pm

5 oz extra lean ground turkey

3 oz sweet potato (22g)

Cup of broccoli 

7:00 pm

5 oz turkey breast

1/2 cup rice (25g)

Cup of zucchini

10:00 pm

Cup of low fat cottage cheese before bed 

Obviously you will want to workout somewhere through out the day but make sure you eat! Fuel that body with food that has come from the ground or took a breath of oxygen! No packaged foods or chemical processed foods. If you can't pronounce the ingredient, your body won't know what to do with it!  Now, this meal plan may look super plain jane but you can find so many ways to spice up the meat, veggies and salads so it tastes good! Believe me, I've found tips and tricks so do some research! A couple of my favorites is sprinkle cinnamon on the sweet potatoes, or sugar free jelly with my oats or cottage cheese. Honey mustard is my go-to dressing for salads and chicken. There's ways to make it tastes good! So make it happen!! 

Please try this meal plan and let me know! If you wana move forward do more in depth work with me, let me know! Email me, find me on fb, anything and we will move forward! Remember, everyone starts somewhere! And you build up! Keep up the hard work! 

Subscribe and I will keep posting health food recipes, workouts and much more!! Until next time my friends! 

Quote of the day: "if it were easy, everyone would do it."