Circuit Training: Beat Your Workout Boredom

Happy Monday!  How was your weekend?  Were you able to stay on track with your workouts and eating clean?  I was able to get my workout in on Saturday and took a rest day on Sunday.  One of my best friends got married on Saturday night, and we had a blast at the wedding and we ended up being out really late.  So, Sunday was my rest day.  I love Mondays, because it is the perfect day to refocus on your goals.  I am ready to hit this week hard and I have all my workouts planned and have my fridge stocked with healthy foods.  I will do a weekly round-up of my week on Sunday, and would love you to share too!  If you have good food on hand, it makes it that much easier to stay on track and eat clean whole foods.  As, you know from my previous posts, that nutrition is the most important part of fat loss and muscle building, but you also have to challenge your self with your workouts.  

I love lifting weights and the way I look and feel after being consistent in my workouts.  I have been doing circuit training for as long as I can remember!  So what is circuit training you ask?  Circuit training is taking 3-5 exercises and doing them consecutively with no rest between them, they can be weighted exercises like bicep curls, body weight exercises like push-ups and also plyometric moves like jumping rope.  This keeps you moving for more of your workout which burns more calories.  I feel like it makes my workouts fly by and I am sweaty and out of breath for much of my workout!  Now, I will say that it is important to change up your workouts and still do some straight set heavy weight days, and even add in drop-sets and pyramid sets as well.  This will keep you challenged and help get the results you are looking for.  Just make sure to stay consistent for about 4 weeks with your workouts and then change up some variables (days of muscle group worked, amount of weight used for exercises, order of exercises and the actual exercises).  This will help keep you from getting bored in your workouts, and also keep your body guessing.  Ready for a circuit workout you can add to your routine?  Okay here it is:

If you try this workout, let me know what you think.  Have you done circuit workouts before?  Feel free to share your favorite ones with me!

Well I am off to get my chest/arms and treadmill sprints workout in?  What is your workout today?

Feature Fridays: Rebecca Pytell

Happy Friday!  I hope that you are having a wonderful week, and making the time for health and fitness in your day.  Today's Feature Friday is from Rebecca Pytell, who is the blogger behind Strength and Sunshine, and like myself she found her love of strength training at a young age.  She shares with us how fitness and yoga helped to get her out of a dark time in her life.  Read on to hear more about Rebecca, then make sure to head over and check out her awesome blog.

Rebecca's story
I had been a competitive dancer for 13 years of my life.  The only thing I knew was dance, eat, sleep.  But once I got to high school I finally made the most difficult decision that was facing me and decided to finally stop and end my career.  After years of emotional abuse and treatment plus the extreme financial strain on my family, I knew I could not go on any longer with dance.  I needed to focus on my studies and ease the strain I had put on my parents for all those years.  But ending what was my life as I knew it did not make me feel happy or free.  I fell into a deep depression the summer before high school and rarely left the house, cried all the time and needed control.  I was also plagued by with the question of what I would do to get my fitness in.  I had never done any other sport or exercise besides dance, twirling and Pilates.

I needed something to escape in and allow me to enjoy moving my body like I always had.  I decided to join a gym and start strength training.  I had always wanted to and now this was my chance.  To my surprise, I quickly fell in love.  Lifting weights made me feel so powerful and I started to gain my confidence back and see the light out of the tunnel.  Losing myself with the barbells and dumbbells was perfect for me and I couldn't get enough.  As my love for fitness grew I also became an avid healthy living blog reader.  I loved connecting and reading with all the wonderful, strong, and inspiring bloggers out there.  So eventually, last summer, I decided to finally take the leap and start my own healthy living blog.  I now get to share my passion for fitness, food and healthy living with the community I fell in love with.

But during that time I also discovered the beauty of yoga.  Yoga is the number one thing that has changed my life the most.  After two years of self-practice, I have discovered such a love and confidence in myself.  I use yoga as a way to combat my anxiety and depression that still creeps into my life.  But I also use it as my new favorite form of fitness.  A strong powerful Vinyasa flow gets the heart pumping and the muscles working.  I have never felt bad after a yoga practice.  I only ever felt energized, alive, and at peace once I step off the mat.  Fitness is so important for everyone.  It really is a magical activity.  No matter what you do, make sure you love it and move your body everyday.  You will increase your confidence and self-love ten fold!

 

About Rebecca

Rebecca is a healthy living/fitness/food blogger at Strength and Sunshine.  She is currently a high school senior who will be going off to college in the fall.  She is looking into getting her 200 hour yoga teacher certification this summer as well so she can share her love of yoga with everyone.  Rebecca is also the social media manager as well as being an ambassador for Plant Fusion.  Through her blog she is also a new FitFluential Ambassdor, IDEA inspired blogger, Sweat Pink, Girls Gone Sporty, and MyYogaPro Ambassador.  She also writes for Pop Sugar Fitness and is a member of Recipe Redux.  Rebecca has Celiac disease and shares her recipes with her readers to show them that having a special diet does not mean restriction or lack of taste! 

Connect with Rebecca

Blog

Facebook

Twitter 

Instagram

Pinterest

Google+

Bloglovin

Thanks to Rebecca for sharing her story of how fitness and yoga truly changed her life.  I look forward to reading more from her in the future!  She is a bright young girl with a great future ahead of her!  Wishing you all the best in college Rebecca!

Why I am Choosing Integrative Health Care

When I worked at Life Time Fitness I went through their nutrition coaching program to become the coach for our club.  I am so grateful that I did, because I learned so much and really found my passion for nutrition.  Actually, I am going to be getting another nutrition certification in the fall so I will be able to offer more in terms of nutrition programs to my clients and potential new clients.  But, back to my point about nutrition.  If you remember last month I posted about being at a plateau that I couldn't figure out.  Well, I am still dealing with it and I also have been gaining belly fat for no reason.  My eating has been clean and my workouts consistent.  In my nutrition coach training I learned that weight loss is more than just calories in and calories out. Our bodies are very complex and we have hormones and other functions that can be disrupted by the foods that we eat and the toxins that we are exposed to.  I also learned about blood testing and how through blood work a medical professional is able to get a better picture of a persons whole health.  So, I decided to seek out holistic care.  I was given a referral to an integrative health care practice (turned out they are covered by my insurance) and I had my appointment yesterday.

It was an awesome experience and I am so glad that I went.  I was informed about the type of care they offer and as the PA was talking I was nodding my head knowing that I had found the right place.  She said that they offer traditional medicine when needed, but mostly practice holistic medicine and seek to find the cause of the symptoms and treat them naturally with supplement and nutrition...ding, ding, ding!  She listened to me and explained what the next steps would be.  She even told me a few things she thought it could be, but wanted to have my blood work before making any decisions.  So there at the clinic I had my blood drawn and made my appointment for 2 weeks to go over the results and make a plan of action.  I am so excited to go back for my results.  Until then, I am still going to keep eating clean and working out.  I will let you know when I find out the results.

I am sharing this with you in hopes that you will seek this kind of care when you know that there is something off with you.  Don't just go to a doctor that will throw a scrip at you and send you on your way.  Unfortunately this is the way "health care" is done here most of the time.  It is more like "sick care".  No one ever really addresses the real issues that are causing the problems and instead of looking at diet or possible food allergies/aversions or looking at your full panel blood work, they treat the symptoms.

I am reading a book right now that talks about how food affects your brain chemistry, your gut function and even how you feel on a daily basis.  If you are eating foods that make you feel less than your best daily, you may not even know how "your best self" feels.  Take a look at what you are eating and decide if it can be the cause of some of your health issues.  I will write more on this topic later when I am done with the book and have done the 10 day elimination/whole body reset diet.

I truly urge you to rethink traditional medicine and how the food you eats affects your whole body.  If you feel that you are having health issues search the Internet for integrative health care practices and call until you find one that your insurance covers.  Feel free to contact me with any questions, I would be happy to help in any way.

Have a healthy and fit day, 

Angelena

  

Feature Fridays: Kalee Sorey

Happy Friday!  The sun is shining here and it is finally warming up a tad...dare I say Spring is on the way?!?  Today's feature Fridays is some Kalee Sorey, who found her strength and self confidence through healthy living.  She loves sharing her passion for health and fitness through her blog and her Facebook community.  Make sure to stop by and check out her blog and Facebook page, you are sure to be inspired! Healthy living can truly change your life and Kalee is a true example of this!

Her Story: 

Standing outside of the classroom, waiting in line, another girl's mother told me I was heavy. I don't remember why or what context she said it; I just remember it hurt. At 10 years old, I knew nothing about food, exercise, or weight really, and I had no idea why I didn't look like the other little girls.   

My mom was always so supportive and kind. She consistently set a healthy example in our house. We ate pretty healthy, especially for growing up in the South, and she always made sure we were playing and staying active. She also did workout tapes and was just a really great role model. She always made sure that I knew I was valued, pretty, and special even on the tough days when I didn't feel any of that at school. 

By high school, I had naturally slimmed down, but I wanted to learn more about my food. My mom and I started sharing a passion for our health and nutrition. We started eating clean 90% of the time, and we never counted calories. The other 10% of our diet was reserved for anything special (aka junky) we wanted. It could be a birthday party, date night, or even a Snickers bar on grocery day. Having that freedom and knowing I was fueling my body correctly most of the time gave me a whole new sense of confidence. I finally felt strong and cared more about nutrition than the outcomes of a "diet" which a lot of my friends were doing.

After adjusting to college for a semester, I was able to get back on track and eating just a balanced diet again. I also added in exercise. That's when I found ChaLEAN Extreme. A friend had recommended it to me, and I bought it and the brand new heavy weights. I fell in love with the power and strength that lifting gave me. Plus the workouts were short, challenging, but doable which empowered me.

Four months later, I added in HIIT workouts from TurboFire, and I got to my happy weight. There is nothing like getting into a healthy routine, feeling confident in your skin, and inspiring others, and that is why I continue to live a healthy lifestyle above any other reasons.

Tips for Living a Healthy Lifestyle

• It's really important for me to remember I'm living a healthy life; therefore, if I totally blow it one day - it's okay. For me, it's not about one really great day, week , or month of eating perfectly clean or exercising like a madwoman. As long as I am consistent with my healthy habits most of the time and staying true to my goals, I know that is enough. Living healthy should be something that empowers you - not brings you down or makes you critique yourself.
• Meal Planning helps me stay focused and organized through the week. I love knowing what to pick up at the grocery, what I will be eating at each meal, and how much prep-time is required every day. Plus, having a meal plan keeps me from getting hungry in between meals or skipping a meal.
• Allowing for a little wiggle room every week helps me stay focused the rest of the week. On a date night or special occasion, I don't track my calories or worry about what I am eating. Having the freedom to just enjoy the meal and company is something I stay focused on and excited about all week.
• Last, but not least - I surround myself with positive, goal-oriented people. If you are around enablers or negative people, it is going to bring you down and make reaching your goals that much harder. By surrounding myself with positive people, I am more confident and happy. If you don't have a local group of healthy friends, follow blogs, reach out to people on social media, or join a  healthy accountability group online. Seeing people's progress and inspirational posts in the morning gets my day started right.

About Kalee
After graduating college with a Marketing & Finance degree and teaching high school for a year, I decided to follow my passion of health and fitness. I'm now 25, a full-time Beachbody coach and full-time blogger. I'm engaged and am so excited to get married this June. I follow a mindset of "building a healthy body and balanced life" that way I know I'm living healthy, but I also allow for a little indulgence here and there. I love strength and HIIT workouts, easy healthy recipes, Quest bars and an occasional cupcake.  My blog is www.soreyfitness.com, and I'd love to get to know you better on Facebook too!

Connect with Kalee:
Facebook
Pinterest
Instagram

Thanks so much to Kalee for sharing her story of creating the life she wanted and sharing her love of health and fitness!  You are an inspiration to many!

Have a healthy and fit day, 

Angelena 

P.S. Stay tuned for a giveaway starting soon!