Deadlifts and Diamonds

As you're dominating your day, throw in this 20 minute workout to keep you bustling with energy. Set your gym boss timer, or you can download the Round and Workout Timer from the android market. It allows me to listen to music through my phone and beeps at the end of each 50 second interval to let me know to switch this way I have my music and timer together. This circuit is challenging. Adjust the weights as needed throughout the workout. Take a minute rest after going through the circuit before starting again. You can slow down, drop the weight if you need to, but just keep going. Here it is:  Awesome, you're done! Well for the circuit at least,  now throw in some free weights and call it a day. 

I dropped the ball on doing an all week meal prep this Sunday so I ran to HEB at 10 at nite to stock up on the usual:  bananas, 2 cartons of organic eggs, cottage cheese, frozen and fresh veggies, peanut butter, and almond milk, tuna, and of course, sweet potatoes! :)  I always keep these dry ingredients stocked: couscous, quinoa, brown rice, beans, and oats. Shopping late at nite is the way to go. Yes, you might have to dodge late nite re stalkers and their towers of  food pallets rolling down the ailes, but that's why we use the nimble half size carts rite? After a full day, I cooked up some quinoa, homemade protien bars, and spaghetti squash to hold me over until the weekend. We know abs are made in the kitchen so stick to making meals and snacks ahead of time to avoid reaching for a McDonalds biscuit (God forbid you even think of doing that) or a donut at the office. Here's a montage/ collage of yesterday's eats:  Breakfast Ezekiel English Muffin wit...

  SXSW Interactive starts this week to kick off the SXSW film and music festivals. If you plan on attending the slew of cocktail parties, surprise celebrity shows, and all the amazing Austin food and craft beer you can drink then cheers to you! For these next two weeks, enjoy all all out sensory feast and for those of you Fitness Evangelists out there, until #SXSW has more input from the fitness community then check out these fitness offering during your stay. Sunday  Group fitness by Equinox.  They will host classes  Saturday and Sunday at Fast Company Grill, aka The Cedar Door, at 201 Brazos Street. Sessions for Free!  Register in advance at  http://austin.equinox.com/  . Click on Classes.  Plus, omg, this is so dope, I can't even.... Free Spin Classes by CYC this Saturday the 8th  with breakfast & goody bags at multiple time slots! If you haven't tried spin..why the hell not? Just do it!! It is sooo fun, and yes it ...

Lets get lifted ladies!   Here's my Hump Day workout. When all else seems to fail--just hit the gym. TREADMILL SPRINTS ON INCLINE 5 min walk 1 min Sprint at 6.0 speed at 5.5 incline 2min walk X9 last sprint at 7.5 speed Cool down :) PLANKS- 1 MINUTE EACH Plank Left Star Plank (side plank and lift arm and leg to look like a star) Right Star Plank X3 LEG PRESS 170 lbs 5 sets of 20 reps last set, drop to 130 to failure LEG EXTENSIONS (QUADS) 90lbs 5 sets of 12 reps last set, drop to 70 lbs 10 reps DEADLIFTS  70lbs 4 sets of 20 reps SQUATS ON BOSU BALL 50 For a full leg torch that will leave you sore for 2 days just pick your favorite hi energy song and blast off with jump squats to the end!

The most important part of living fit is resting! Just allow yourself the time to chill out, relax, and just REST. You earned it. For some of us, like me, this is actually the hard part as we crave an endorphin rush, the bumping music in our headphones, the sweat pouring into puddles around us, and the thrill of a new challenge completed.  This was me a little over a month ago. I was making some good progress until  I overworked my body by training hours a day and weekends for 2 weeks. I went from invincible to sick when I caught a low grade flu and stayed out of the gym for 2 weeks. Two weeks is a long time of not training, but I plan on having a healthy body for life so I took the time to recover, rest, and eat. Thankfully, I still ate clean and got back in the saddle--or tried to. On my first day back, I could only do 20 minutes of cardio before being completely winded and totally gassed out. I tried again the next day for another 20 minutes---still totally gassed o...

Track your workouts! To transform your body, you first need to know what your limits are so you can blow right past them.  I use a small 4x6 notebook to jot down my reps, times, and a list of exercises I want to do.  My handwriting is a little sloppy and shaky after pullups so I'll spare you the handwritten. Here's the work I put in during last nite's back workout starting with an ab circuit. I absolutely love to do circuits. They're intense, timed, with little rest and it allows you to track your progress.  AB CIRCUIT 1 min. V-SIT with 18 lb ball 10 sec rest 1 minute RUSSIAN TWIST with 15 lb dumbbell 10 sec rest 1 min PLANK  10 sec rest 1 min CRUNCH ON STABILITY BALL Finish with reverse crunches with 18 lb ball and knee tucks on stability ball BARBELL BENT OVER ROWS 50 lbs 5 sets of 10 with short rest 15-30 sec in between reps on last set, drop to 15 lb dumbbells to failure DUMBBELL ROWS ON WEIGHT BENCH ...

I absolutely love eating eggs, its just an added bonus that they are loaded with protien and I can cook them up with just about anything. This post is typical of what I eat any given day after I've tired of eating of sweet potatoes, chicken, and quinoa which I eat a lot of. Here it is: chicken sausage or turkey sausage as lean as you can get it, alfalfa sprouts and eggs. Top it off with some fage yogurt and I'm set!