Deadlifts and Diamonds

Mood Board Time! Whenever I need to refocus myself, I take some time to create a mood board or vision board that resonates with me and reflects back what I'm wanting in the moment and further beyond.  Here's my newest board with things I found on Pintrest and the web. Just find words or images that resonate with you and go with it. Right now, I've been focused on themes of friendship, summertime adventures, and giving myself permission to do the things I truly want to do and need to make time for like go out dancing, call an old friend, take a nap during the day, start a new fulfilling job, or more importantly, to just take a second to relax in the moment and realize how blessed I am, and be happy to wake up to this beautiful life every day.  It is in that moment of gratitude and acceptance and continuation on a path that makes you feel happy and fulfilled that the universe will respond to your desire.  Share your vision and mood boards in the comments below.

I hope everyone had a badass Sunday. Last nite's cheat meal was a perfect mid-rare ribeye with margaritas and it was a feast! I felt like a ravenous lion devouring my well deserved bloody steak and it was oh so sweet--just what my body ordered.   I'm happy to say I am fully recovered today and ready for more! This morning, even after a nite of drinks and margaritas, got up and headed for the gym only to find it didn't open until 10?!! Come on Golds, you're killin' me here.   When the doors finally opened, the other gym rats and I rushed in. I downed a healthy scoop of my preworkout ACG3,  the smoothest most delicious pre workout around, and started my Sunday Funday. Here's the workout below. Just a few weeks ago, this workout had my legs painfully tight and cramped up for days. It was painful just to get out of bed. Now, after that initial body slam, I can recover much faster and be sore while avoiding total immobility. I spent a solid 2 hours in th

Its about time for a Girl Power Workout Mix to keep you ladies and gents pumped, feelin' sassy, and in high gear through the week. This playlist starts off with Icona Pop, then slows it down with some Royals and Florence + the machine (I absolutely love her, so I couldn't resist), then we kick it back up again with some Beyonce and dance tracks. Enjoy!! What song gets your blood pumpin and your mojo running? Let me know in the comments below.  

Its an absolutely gorgeous Saturday, a perfect rest day for all the hard work I put in last week. I've been hitting the gym for 2 hours each day and I feel amazing. Right now I'm hurting and sore, but I'll be ready for more by Monday. I usually don't do big cheat meals, but I may have to splurge on a margarita and a ribeye steak at tonight's BBQ. Totally earned it. Rest day is the only day I get to splurge and style my hair (since it takes so long and I know it will just get ruined after a workout) so I'm feeling extra fabulous today. Here's a recap of some of the workouts I did the past week. I love doing super-sets. The exercises marked super-sets are done back to back, no rest except to switch exercises. If you can't complete the last rep at the same weight, just lower the weight and complete the set. This really keeps the heart rate up, hits the muscles in a new way, and makes the most of your precious gym time. Check it out: Even Jewel

Peanut Butter has been my downfall since I've been eating clean. I used to make trips to the nearest Whole Foods (40 minutes away at that time) just to pickup a container of their peanut butter. True story.  My go-to snack is peanut butter with bananas, which may sound healthy, but peanut butter is loaded with fat. 2 Tablespoons has 16 grams of fat--yeah, i know. If I ever want to get my 6 pack (or abs of any kind at this point I'll take anything) something has to give, so I gave up peanut butter and switched to PB2's powdered peanut butter and it totally delivered.  PB2 has only 1.5 grams of fat in 2 Tablespoons! Score.  I picked up my jar at HEB and rushed home to make my own PB2 Protein Bars. They're easy, and my friends had no idea they were healthy! Here's how I made them:                                         PB2 Protein Bars                         1 cup oatmeal or coconut flour                              4 heaping tablespoons coco

During Leg Day Warm Up: After Leg Day Work Out: 

The best way to allow success into your life is to be prepared for it. Welcome it into your life like you would a long awaited guest. "Well hello there my long awaited goals, I've been expecting you" (Of course, if Daniel Craig dressed as James Bond was to show up at my door, that would be fine too.) Either way, be prepared to go after and reach your fitness and life goals. During my recent move to Houston, I picked up some key items for the move to keep readily available: Protein, a shaker, powdered peanut butter (its oh so yummy, and low in fat!!!), coconut oil (I use it on everything) and tupperware for carrying prepped food and all my dry ingredients like oatmeal, brown rice, & quinoa. Ak! Its like Christmas rite now! :)  I made some yummy Peanut Butter Protien bars with the PB2 powder. Check it out here: 

If you want it, you have to go out and get it, ask for it, and make it happen . If you want something done--you have to do it for yourself. Yes, this is a good thing! I don't mean to say you're on your own or you have to do everything yourself, but it does mean we create our own lives and opportunities. Our lives are created through our intentions, thoughts, and most importantly, action. Every morning we set our intention for our day, think about what needs to be done or what we want to happen and hopefully, take action to achieve those goals. We are empowered to create what we want by deciding, knowing it will happen, then taking action to make it so. Right now, I have decided to live fit and my fitness goal is specifically to gain muscle and earn my six pack by summer. According to this progress pic, the six pack is still a few months away, but I'll keep chipping away at it. :) If you have decided to live fit that's freakin' awesome! I'm so excited for you

First I'm all:  Then just: 

...I have a serious spin addiction.

Here's my equivalent of a Sad Desk lunch post (check out the site  here ), but I spruced it up with bright photos to make it look yummy. Here's my meal plan for the day: Breakfast Oatmeal (rolled oats, not instant) with honey, blackberries and almond milk Snack Banana with chocolate peanut butter (trying to get some calories in!!) Lunch Sweet Potatoes with Chicken and a bit of Brisket and zucchini Pre/ post workout snack Banana, Protein Shake Dinner Chicken with beans, sweet potatoes and salad Snack Protein Shake

After a full day of jamming music and packing up my apartment for the big Houston move, I took a break to hit up Gold's for a Les Mills BodyPUMP class. Its a great high energy full body workout and it will definitely leave you sweaty, sore, and feeling amazing. Its been a few months since I've gone and I feel much stronger since my last class. My pushups and squats are stronger and more powerful now. When the instructor mentioned we would be doing tricep pushups I think I did a little victory fist pump-- Yesss Pushups! The only way to get better at pushups? Do more pushups! First, you'll hate it, then you'll crave it. :)

A tube of raw cookie dough rarely stood a chance against me, I would never bake the cookies, I'd just go ham on the raw dough of course, but since I've started eating clean I've switched to this paleo recipe and its oh so yummy. These cookie dough bars are loaded with healthy fats and flavor and are so easy to make! Honestly, too easy. Here's the recipe I used, feel free to taste as you go and add honey, vanilla or the sweetener of your choice. Without the sweeteners, the recipe is a bit bland, so feel free to add. I'm so excited for you to try it! Enjoy :)  Here's what you'll need:  1/2 cup Shredded Coconut 2 TBSP Coconut Oil  2 caps or 1 tsp of Vanilla Extract 2 TBSP Honey (Raw) handful of Chocolate chips 1 Cup Almonds  Place all ingredients in the blender, and mix well. Taste and add more vanilla or honey if you'd like. Careful not to add more coconut oil since it melts at room temp, with too much oil, the bars won't be po

Lift heavy, lift often, and lift like a girl.   Yes, girls lift and no, it does not make you bulky. If it did, I'd have my summer 6 pack already, but its getting closer.  Here's what weight training will do.   Adding weights to your routine will build muscle, which burns stubborn fat. Instead of doing steady state cardio for 45 minutes then lifting light weights, switch to a 20 minute HIIT cardio session like sprints followed by heavy lifting.  This allows you to get an intense muscle building workout in a shorter amount of time. Keep your HIIT sessions to 2-3 times a week, but keep lifting 3-6 days a week. When I work abs, I don't start counting until it burns. When I lift, I go to failure. In the end, female training is very similar to male training programs. Muscles don't care which sex you are, they grow from challenge and focused, hard work day in and day out.   So get in, lift like a girl, and get on. 

\ Happy St. Patty's Day! Its a beautiful day to run stairs right? Riiiight?  I mean, what else would you be doing? Apparently, you'd be flashed by a leprechaun, that's what, and probably much worse. Nobody has time to be flashed by a leprechaun. Here's a suggestion. Run stairs! I woke up Monday with an urge to run--specifically, to do stair sprints. I wanted to run stairs to completely exhaust myself and empty the tank and finally fulfill this nagging feeling I have had. I felt like my little inner child was tugging at me saying, "can we run stairs today please? Its so nice out, and you had a rest day yesterday, can we please". No kid in their right mind would ask to run stairs, but today it seems like playing outside is more of a rare privilege than an expectation--so of course I gave in. Monday was an absolutely gorgeous day and perfect for an outdoor workout at Mt. Bonnell in Austin, TX (with a later workout at the Golds Gym downtown). If you don&#

Happy Monday Ya'll!   I hope you had a lovely weekend and you're as pumped as I am for today's workout. I absolutely could not wait to get to the gym today. After visualizing my workout and jamming to my girl Tina Turner and Beyonce, I nearly tripped over myself to get out the door with protien shaker, banana, and playlist in hand.  This is a solid leg workout for you. Its challenging and hits all areas of the leg. I definitely felt shakey and a bit giraffe-legged once I hit the weights so I threw in some pushups and pullups to let my legs recover a bit. Check it out:  But wait a second honey, we're just gettin' started! Finish off with this Tina Turner Leg Routine and Shake a tail featha! 

Fitness is truly a dedication to your own heart and its desire for expansion, growth, challenge, boldness, and full expression.   Its insatiable beating keeps driving us forward, guiding us as we surrender to its unfolding and desire to live in the ever changing present. Fitness activates our mind and body connection and pulls us out of our heads and back into the present moment to feel, to breathe, to focus, to let go, to push the mind past its limits, to trust the heart. The present is life, it is action, it is lived in the wildness of the heart and its expansion.  This quote by Gene Tunney resonates so strongly with me. Its so good, I had to remake it twice. :) Below is Gene Tunney, an undefeated Heavyweight Champion and pioneer of boxing strategy. Read more here:  Gene Tunney

We know that creating abs is all about diet, but we do need to work them hard to help build the muscle as muscle burns fat. Toss in these ab exercises into your day and feel the burn. If its not challenging, its not working so add weights and rounds as needed. Summer is around the corner so lets get to work! 6 ab exercises, 50 seconds each, 10 second rest. Repeat full circuit 3X. Here it is below. Save it or print it out for later: Read on for instructions...

Tabata is a great way for you to structure your HIIT workouts and easily switch up your routine. Just select a few exercises you would like to try and do each one for 20 seconds on, 10 seconds rest and repeat 16 times. If you choose 2 exercises then repeat 8 times and so on. Below are 3 Tabata rounds for a Full Body Workout. Be sure to warm up and stretch for 5 minutes, then get to it. Here we go! After this round, take a minute rest and setup for Round 2--after the jump.  Take a minute rest and finish off with a 3rd Round for a complete workout.  Congratulations! You made it! Let me know what you think & share your favorite Tabata workouts below.