Thursday, September 24, 2015

How to Mom and Lift Heavy Things

Just want to start off by saying, I am by no means a parent, nor close to one. I am still very much a child, and probably be at heart my whole life; even when I have little munchkins of my own running around.

I want to let everyone know, this blog is an opinion, if you disagree with me, then sure that's completely fine, if you agree with me, then great! I am simply an observer from the window, I don't know how it is on the inside when it comes to parenting.

Now, lets get down into it...

Couple months ago, I was reading an article about finding your niche in the fitness industry. When I took time to think about it, I always thought it would be athletes. I grew up playing every sport you could imagine, and naturally thought I'd be training pro athletes one day. Well that's not how my career shaped into; I personally think it turned out far better.

I finally came to a conclusion that my niche of training is women...Primarily mothers. If you have ever noticed my Instagram/Facebook account, all the photos and videos I post of clients are fit and bad ass Moms.

Especially, the ones who I've trained for over a year; they become super heroes! From heavy dead lifts, full pull ups, and push ups from the floor, many of my female clients are stronger than their husbands.

I have an army of strong and bad ass Moms kicking butt in the gym every day!


After years of training these super heroes, I think I have a better grasp of what it takes for a new mother to get back into shape and feel good about herself after having a little one.

Here is my personal list for new mothers, or mothers who left fitness on the last of the priority list.

1. Make it a priority! I know this sounds redundant, but ask yourself when was the last time you allowed 1 hour to yourself a day? Or better 2 hours a week?!?!

No matter how many children you have, you can allow 2 hours a week to yourself to sneak off to the gym.

Can't find a sitter? Step one, ask your husband, keep nagging him until he breaks and says yes to look after the kids when you go to the gym. If this doesn't work, find an ultimatum; no home cooked meals for a week, no clean laundry for a week, or just get creative! 

Go through your circle of friends and family, make a deal with them to watch your kids. I'm sure family and friends don't mind once in a while to take turns looking after your kids.

Remember the proverb "It takes a village to raise a child" play this card and ask for help!

2. Set an example. As your children grow up, seeing their mother as a strong and fit individual will benefit them in the long run. Wouldn't you want your daughters to see that women can be as strong as the boys? Wouldn't you want your boys to see that women are not beneath them when it comes to strength?

They will also learn that physical exercise is a part of a healthy lifestyle, and wouldn't think twice of sitting on the couch all weekend staring at the TV or iPad. 

3. Enjoy life. After you get into a gym routine, learn to enjoy life! Appreciate what your body is going through. Don't criticize every inch of your body, but instead focus on what parts of your body you love. The better appreciation you have with what you got, will go a long way for your mental state;it embodies a healthy love for yourself . 


After realizing my niche is mothers, I truly believe its better than training any pro athlete out there. I can change their lives for the better, not only for them, but the entire family. 

It's better to bring happiness to someone's life than trying to better an athlete for him or her to make more millions per year.

What do you think?


Thursday, September 17, 2015

12 Pounds in 6 Weeks, Here's How I Did it!

Many of you might have known of my little experiment I've been working on lately.

I took the pledge to put on weight in shortest time possible, I chose 6 weeks.

I know, you all think I probably mowed down burgers from the drive through to reach my goal of gaining some lbs. But no, I ate clean and added 2 things to add on mass, and the best part is, I will share my experiment with you!


About 6 weeks ago I weighed in at 155lbs and 7.4% body fat, according to a bioimpedance scale. My daily diet consisted of:

5am: 2 Litres of water, 4 tablets of BCAAs, along with 1 cup of green tea

8am: 4 tablets of BCAAs

11am: Some sort of meat (chicken, beef, fish, etc) huge salad, along with some sort of fat (avocados, nuts, or spoonfuls of peanut butter)

3pm: 2 eggs, sauerkraut, kale chips, and fat ( avocados, nuts, or spoonfuls of peanut butter)

6pm: same as the 11am meal.

I don't eat until 11am as I follow a intermittent fasting protocol. (I might write about this in another blog)

Now the way I was eating here was perfect to maintain my 155lbs frame and my weight would fluctuate a couple pounds here or there only if one of my cheat meals over the weekend exceeded my daily calorie intake. 

Beers and burgers usually does it.... 


Now, you might be asking, what was my trick to gain 12lbs in 6 weeks? 2 things:

1. Peanut butter jelly sandwiches 

2. Chocolate milk.

1. Why PB and J? Reading a book called Mass Made Simple by Dan John, he recommended on workout days having a good old fashion PB and J sandwich after a heavy workout. He swore it was the best thing you could do to replenish/recover and put on some mass.

After my workouts for a snack I would add in one of these sandwiches. I used whole grain bread, natural peanut butter, and an organic strawberry jam, which had no artificial colours or sweeteners.

2. Chocolate milk? Reading an article from Precision Nutrition about one of their Olympic winter athletes sparked my interested. They described an off season regiment of bulking. The athlete would often gain 20-30lbs during the off season to focus on power and strength. The secret? Chocolate milk. Getting in 2 litres per day after workouts.

Reading further, the reasoning behind this madness was, drinking calories is a lot easier than eating them, and its easier on the digestive system.

So, what I did I do? Week one: 1 cup of chocolate milk in combination with my PB and J sandwich after workouts. Week two: 2 cups, week three: 3 cups, week 4... I think you got the idea. By week six its 6 cups of chocolate milk after workouts.

My diet started to look like this:

5am: 2 Litres of water, 4 tablets of BCAAs, along with 1 cup of green tea

8am: 4 tablets of BCAAs

11am: Some sort of meat (chicken, beef, fish, etc) huge salad, along with some sort of fat (avocados, nuts, or spoonfuls of peanut butter) with PB and J sandwich and chocolate milk (1-6 cups, depending on the week)

3pm: 2 eggs, sauerkraut, kale chips, and fat ( avocados, nuts, or spoonfuls of peanut butter)

6pm: same as the 11am meal, excluding the PB and J and chocolate milk.

Now I weigh in at 167lbs and depending how the scale wanted to spit out my body fat, it ranged from 8.4% to 9.6%..

I personally think this experiment went well. If you have any questions please let me know, as now I am a beast and can hardly make it through a door with my broad shoulders and swole biceps.


Thursday, September 3, 2015

Self Confidence and Fat Loss

"I feel fat."

Is one of the most common phrases thought of and spoken of, on an every day basis when trying to get fit. There is a huge pyschological barrier in every day life when we look at ourselves and constantly twist and rupture our very own spirit and well being.

Why?

Probably from images like these we see every day....





and don't forget the guys too....



There is no amount of workouts, meals of chicken breast and broccoli you could have in a week, that would make you feel good about yourself while looking at the images above. We begin to teach ourselves that we are not good enough to the standard....Apparently the standard is celebrities.... The ones who get paid to look good on camera.... Seems silly to me.. 

It would be equivalent to comparing yourself trying to cook on Chopped the TV show beside 3 executive chefs and lose the first round because you stood there over 3 ingredients of kumquats, cactus pears and duck breast, not knowing what to do with it. Seems like a high standard huh? Apparently our minds don't see that when comparing our body in the mirror.

These celebrities only job is to look great on camera. From exercising 4 hours a day and eating 5000+ calories to become the next super hero or limiting your calories to 1200 per day while at the same time dehydrating two days prior to a photo shoot, these are some of the things they need to go through in order to look acceptable to the public.

Below are some before and after shots for photo shoots that have been photo shopped for covers.


Do you notice anything in this Beyonce photo?




Apparently things like skin folds while curving your body is not acceptable... I don't know about you, but when I sit down at a table I feel like my abs are non existent and feel like I ate a dozen doughnuts.....

 


So what could you do? I'd suggest the next time you look at yourself in the mirror, rather than saying

"my arms are too fat"

"my legs are too big"

Look at one part of your body and tell yourself it looks great, and why. Tell yourself everyday one thing of your body you love. Love yourself and don't worry about anything else.