Trainerkristinw's Blog

Hello all! I will be changing my website from sweatsquadbootcamp.com to something else shortly. Will post when I do!

This week was the first that I added my Cardio Circuit class. This is a 45 minute class that is the perfect mate to boot camp. In boot camp, we focus a lot on strength, so with the cardio we pump that heart rate up and burn fat! It’s so much fun and such a different way to get movin! We  do not do the same thing twice, this is not you mama’s workout!

What a great year! My camp has seen highs and lows, large classes and small classes and I have to say I’ve loved every minute of it. Here are some pics from today’s class…

New year, new you! It’s a popular time for resolutions and working out, some things will stick and some will fade away. The problem when people set these fitness resloututions is that they eat, sleep, and breathe the gym for the first few weeks and get burnt out. Getting healthy is a lifestyle change, slow but steady. It comes from slowly incorporating healthy habits into your daily life. Putting this crazy pressure on the gym and diet foods to magically change your life will just put too much pressure on yourself.

Two years ago, when I decided to get healthy I did it by just adding yoga classes to my weekly routine. That snowballed into taking a boot camp class which eventually turned into me keeping a food journal. Two years and 30 pounds later, here I am today. I’m not done, I still (like everyone) have areas I want to work on or habits I would like to change but like I said, it’s a lifestyle. Good habits take time and patience, so give it just that. Below are some tips I drill into my boot campers heads. Print these out and paste to your refridgerator.

MY TEN FITNESS COMMANDMENTS:

10. Drink drink drink! Try to drink 75-100 ml of water a day.

9. When grocery shopping, stay on the outside of the aisles. The best places are the meat, dairy, and produce sections.

8. Lifting a heavier weight will not make you bulk. This is a terrible myth that haunts women everywhere! It’s impossible for women to look like those crazy magazine covers, they are NOT natural. Get rid of the fear and pick up the 20 pounder!

7. Don’t ever sit on the couch with a bag/box. Doing this is just a bad habit. It makes you numb to when your stomach is full. If you plan on snacking in front of the t.v., prepare the serving as listed on the nutrition label and leave the rest in the kitchen.

6. Abs are made in the kitchen, not the gym. Sticking to a healthy diet carves away the fat and shows what you work hard for at camp.

5. Eat every 3-4 hours. Going too long without food is terrible for your metabolism. You fuel up before a long drive, right? Don’t run your energy tank off of fumes.

4. Never say never! If you deny yourself something, all you will do is obsess. You want an oreo, eat one. Eat ONE or two. Then walk away. The more you deny the more power you give over food. A cookie is just a cookie!

3. Pair a carb, a protein, and a fat when choosing a meal. A serving of carbs should be the size of your fist, a serving of protein is the size of your palm, and a serving of fat is the size of your thumb.

2. Cardio is KEY. 4 sessions of 40 min cardio workouts per week not only keeps you energized, but it keeps the tummy firm. Try something you love, and turn up the intensity.

1. Keep a food journal! I know that I sound like a broken record but it’s a method that works time and time again. Writing down everything you eat keep you accountable and let’s you see what you’re consuming. Keep track of just the calories, try to stay between 1500-1700 a day.

10. Drink drink drink! Try to drink 75-100 ml of water a day.
9. When grocery shopping, stay on the outside of the aisles. The best places are the meat, dairy, and produce sections.
8. Lifting a heavier weight will not make you bulk. This is a terrible myth that haunts women everywhere! It’s impossible for women to look like those crazy magazine covers, they are NOT natural. Get rid of the fear and pick up the 20 pounder!
7. Don’t ever sit on the couch with a bag/box. Doing this is just a bad habit. It makes you numb to when your stomach is full. If you plan on snacking in front of the t.v., prepare the serving as listed on the nutrition label and leave the rest in the kitchen.
6. Abs are made in the kitchen, not the gym. Sticking to a healthy diet carves away the fat and shows what you work hard for at camp.
5. Eat every 3-4 hours. Going too long without food is terrible for your metabolism. You fuel up before a long drive, right? Don’t run your energy tank off of fumes.
4. Never say never! If you deny yourself something, all you will do is obsess. You want an oreo, eat one. Eat ONE or two. Then walk away. The more you deny the more power you give over food. A cookie is just a cookie!
3. Pair a carb, a protein, and a fat when choosing a meal. A serving of carbs should be the size of your fist, a serving of protein is the size of your palm, and a serving of fat is the size of your thumb.
2. Cardio is KEY. 4 sessions of 40 min cardio workouts per week not only keeps you energized, but it keeps the tummy firm. Try something you love, and turn up the intensity.
1. Keep a food journal! I know that I sound like a broken record but it’s a method that works time and time again. Writing down everything you eat keeps you accountable and let’s you see what you’re consuming. Keep track of just the calories, try to stay between 1500-1700 a day.

Walking in a winter wonderland.

Or should I run?

Run from this “wonderland” filled with candy, brownies, and pie. Oh Santa, why in the world must you tempt me with reese’s filled cookies and my mom’s famous pumpkin bread. What did I ever do to you? Did I come up there and put you on a diet? No way, in fact every year I still give you my milk and cookies so please throw me a bone and all I want for Christmas is a smaller waist.

For those of you that know me, you know the only house I want to live in is a gingerbread house. I want to brush my teeth with egg nog, use peppermint bark as a loofah, and sit down to a nice pumpkin pie dinner. Ok, ok enough already I know but sugar is my drug. It’s so hard for me this time of year, with all of the office candy and friendly baking gestures from friends and family.

How will I ever survive?

Instead of living in denial, I’ve decided that there’s a better way to handle this holiday food obsession. Eat. Did you hear me? Yes that’s right. Eat. Every day I stick to my usually eating habits, except I allow myself one small piece of something very bad in order to keep my sanity. My workouts are still consistent which is key, and what the body needs the most. I keep my food journal and stick to my allowed calories per day. Although it seems obsessive, it’s what works for me. I don’t keep track of anything but the calories because honestly, who has time? This form of keeping track is great for anyone who likes to snack, and sometimes can lose sight of how much they ate in a day. I recently told my campers to do the same, and they’re seeing up to 6 pounds lost in the last month. For this time of year, that’s amazing!

I wanted to share some tips with you that help me through the holiday parties and meals. First off, never go to a party hungry, that’s a recipe for disaster! Eat a balanced snack before, something with protein. My favorite is a Greek yogurt with some pomegranate seeds and a few crackers. Eating protein helps you stay full for a long period of time, mix that with the crackers and you should feel very satisfied. When you get to the party, always have a drink in hand like some water with lemon, coffee, or light calorie drink (vodka soda). Sip on this while everyone is picking at the snack table, this keeps at least one hand busy and you’re still able to enjoy something. Remember that sugar makes you crash after a few minutes so when it comes to the snacks, stick to a small cube of cheese, vegetables with hummus, or a meat kabob. Real (protein, vegetables, beans) food keeps you full and satisfied where processed foods (baked goods, candy, and anything from a package) are not full of the natural things your body uses as fuel. Your body takes one look at this and says “huh, are you kidding?” and then continues to tell you to “FEED ME SOMETHING I CAN USE!”

Along with being mindful of what you’re eating, there’s a big need for your body to move. Especially now that’s dark and cold, you tend to want to hibernate. Instead of shunning the workouts based on the weather, embrace the season! It’s surprisingly beneficial:

• Ice skating burns 252 calories per half hour.
• Decorating the Christmas tree: 81 calories
• Writing Christmas cards: 61 calories
• Wrapping gifts: 51 calories
• Building a snowman: 285 calories an hour
• Having a snowball fight:  319 calories an hour
• Making snow angels: 214 calories an hour
• Shoveling snow: 200 calories per half hour
• Sledding: 474 calories per hour

Have a happy holiday with family and friends! Remember that your health goals will still be there on the 26th, so be mindful of the way you treat your body through the holidays. Next week, learn some new moves for blasting those holiday calories!

From my boot campers, I get a lot of questions about what to do when you only have 20-30 minutes to work out. To be honest, you can get all of your muscles worked in that amount of time it’s just about pairing muscle groups together. My aunt was asking how to fit it all in before work. I simply told her as long as you can do you weight/strength training in a circuit style, paired with some cardio after, you’ll be good to go! Here are some videos showing what exactly you can do:

Dead lift with back row:

–          Level one: both feet on the ground, soft knees (don’t lock), chest and chin up towards the ceiling leaving a nice flat back. Bend over as far as you can so you feel that hamstring stretch, come back up a little and row the weights with your elbows by your side squeezing your shoulder blades. (10-12 reps, 3 sets)

–          Level two: the same idea but with only one foot on the ground and coming into a T position with the shoulders and leg. You can alternate legs or switch every set. (10-12 reps, 3 sets)

Squat to clean:

-This does wonders for the rear and shoulder. Love Jessica Biel’s arms? Here you go. Squat down with the weight in between the legs. Again, chin and chest are always up with your abs in tight. After you squat (squeezing the cheeks together) press the weight up towards your shoulder and lift over head. Inhale as you squat, exhale as you push. (8 reps with one arm, then switch. 3 sets)

Plank to push up:

–          This is a doozy but works the abs as well as the chest. In a plank position (can be done on the toes like shown or on your knees for level 1) push one arm up and the other follows. Make sure to switch arms for example: pushing up right then left then down with left down with right. You can repeat the same for the other arm. (perform this for up to 1 minute)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_K851LVkzaQ

A special thanks to my boot camper (and best friend), Valerie who has lost 60 pounds and is an inspiration to me every day! Keep it up!

Before I go start my rant, there is one thing you must remember: abs are made in the kitchen, not the gym. This means that when Ms. Britney Spears said all she does for her abs are crunches, she was lying! Yes, it is very important to work your core, but you will not have a magic six pack unless you fix your diet. We will go into this more in depth in the weeks to come. Long story short, eat better quality food, and the correct portion size. The exercise will sculpt what the diet flaunts. The diet shrinks the fat and the exercise tones the muscle.

            Here are my favorite ab and core exercises. Like all muscles, you must fatigue them before they actually start to “burn” so perform these exercises up to three times. Think of the first as a warm up, the second to make your muscles remember the motion, and the third as actually advancing the muscle into toning. Always remember, the last set is the most important, it’s your gold star!

            In the first video you’ll see some sets of planks always in 3 different levels. The first is front plank performed on the elbows. It’s important to keep your hips in line with your shoulders, holding in your belly button, and squeezing the cheeks…not the ones on your face. Hold each position starting at 30 seconds, build up to 1 minute. 

–          Level one: on your knee or toes making that straight line from shoulders to hips.

–          Level two: lifting one leg so all of your weigh is on both elbows, and one leg. Adding balance will work all of the little tiny muscles attached to the larger ones.

–          Level three: lifting one leg and the opposite arm. Wowza! It’s challenging but worth it!

Side plank: This is really challenging. Again, this is something that takes a lot of practice. If you have to use your knees, that’s fine and work your way up to being able to have your whole body just resting on your feet like you see in the video. Try this for 30 seconds and work up to 1 minute.

–          Level one: just holding this position. Focus on squeezing your hips up higher and higher.

–          Level two: add a five pound weight to the hand in the air.

–          Level three: Now with the weight in your hand, inhale while your hips are almost touching the ground and exhale those hips right back up to the side plank position.

The second video you see is another set of exercises I love. The first being V-ups, the second gut busters, and the third hip thrusts. Again, try these starting at 30 seconds and build up to 1 minute.

– V-ups: exhale as your legs and arms come up to twelve o’clock. As your get more advanced, add a small weight to your arms and v-up together. Try to keep your knees straight as well.

                        – Gut busters: with your hands under your hips, inhale your legs down almost touching the ground, and exhale them back up to twelve o’clock.

                        – Hip thrusts: again, keeping the hands under the hips exhale and lift your hips off of the ground. Try not to put any pressure on your hands, squeeze your belly button as your hips lift up.

Try each of these in a set of three. Just like everything else these take practice, so schedule in about 10 minutes into your workout for these. Take some good tunes, a timer or stop watch, and good luck! Special thanks to my boot camper, Nafeesa for letting me film her! She’s an awesome example of how dedication will get you the definition you want.

try three sets, hold for 30-60 seconds.