Thursday, April 30, 2009

ROCK THE HOUSE

Today I rocked the house with my workout. I was actually at a gym and had someone cancel, so of course I took advantage on my FREE hour and rocked it out.
Busy Mom Fat Loss Workout- today I took my time with my warmup and made sure my thoracic spine was open before beginning and training squats and lifts. This is always where you start if you feel pain in your low back or restriction in you shoulders and neck, you can trouble shoot other issues from here.

Busy Mom Fitness- Rehab circuts with reverse lunge into adduction/flexion knee pulls, plank reach, ball elbow rollouts, rotational plank.
Metabolic Circut- burpie with shoulder press, jump squats, burpie with weighted jump squat and shoulder press, jump squats. Alternating 1 arm kettlebell swings, side and middle kettlebell swings alternating, Full Kettlebell rotations (Taking the V step further-stall at top and back push 180 degrees)brutal to say the least. Full weighted corkscrew (chop motion)
Strength Work- bentover dumbell rows, glut/hamstring drops into explosive pushups, standing lat pull, scapular protraction/retraction

It was great, everyone was staring. I was lifting more than the meathead men at the gym and working about 4x as fast. One of the trainers with their client called it "inspirational to say the least" I indicated if I have a free hour I'm going to take full advantage of it, I may not get the chance again for a few days.

I had a great pasta meal the night before with homemade veggie and meat sauce. This helped with my extra energy today. Hope this motivates you to ROCK THE HOUSE with some exercise.

The other night while driving home from the grocery store I relived my teenage years for 3 minutes. I had the windows down and cranked JOURNEY on the radio as I passed cyclists/walkers in the bike lane everyone stared again. Who is that crazy rocker with 2 car seats in the back. It felt good. I pulled into the driveway, turned down my music and resumed the role of MOM, as I unpacked the groceries. I thought of where I came from and what I have become, it's all good.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

My Kid Barfed Up At School

So before I could get to my workout today, I was interrupted by a call from my husband. "Kasia has barfed up at school, just inside the school doors". That cut my day short. I headed home, and watched HORTON HEARS A WHO with my daughter. I will not eat treats tonight, I am more careful if I miss a workout.

It happens, kids are unpredictable, life is unpredictable. If I miss one workout to spend time with a sick child, no big deal. I am not addicted to exercise, but I do love it. I have made it my goal to eat extremely clean today, tomorrow is a new day. Part of being able to eat clean is being prepared. I grocery shopped last night and have a fridge full of great food, I am so glad I did otherwise I would not have been prepared for what happened today. As a busy mom you have the role of dropping everything and rushing to the aid of your children. Work/housework is set aside, exercise and diet are set aside and sometimes even a shower. I was grateful that I got up this morning and prepared my "SPICY PULLED PORK" in the crock pot with rice and lentils and had a fridge full of healthy options- one less thing for me to think about when things get out of control.

I had a busy mom fitness home workout yesterday with one lift circut and one core circut. My core circut was prone jack knife, stability ball toe taps/mountain climber combo move. This is a great move that kicks my butt every time.

SPICY PULLED PORK
pork shoulder in crock pot, cover with olive oil and a few table spoons of water
1 tbsp paprika
2 tbsp cumin
2 tbsp crushed garlic
1tsp oregano
1 tsp Cayenne pepper
2 sprigs fresh thyme
salt and pepper

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

BE PREPARED


What a busy fit mom eats-part 2. How do I manage to serve a healthy meal while taking care of the kids after a day of work that starts at 5am? I am PREPARED.
BUSY FIT MOM DIET

Breakfast

My breakfast sausages are cooked for the week and waiting in the fridge, the strawberries are cut and I make Kasia a sand which when I get up in the morning.

Snacks
The fruit snacks like melon are cut and waiting for Kasia to get them herself. She is always hungry and visits the fridge to get the bowl of cut fruit out for herself. I have shredded organic cheese ready for the baby, Ava and she has rice krispies as well. There is a cupboard of KID snacks at ground level that Kasia also has access to- it is filled with raisins, apple sauce, and granola bars. For myself I have fruit and a 1kg bag of almonds in the house. I keep an apple and a dish of almonds in my gym/work bag at all times. I have a quick Prograde recovery drink when I have a busy schedule at work as I get very hungry and don't have a break.

Lunch
This is usually packed up left overs form the night before dinner.

Dinner
I also cut my veggies and keep them in the crisper. They are readily available for that nights meal. I use my crock pot often, especially when I need to clear a load of vegetables from my fridge. I have my meals organized in my mind for the week. I have been cooking for a family for about 25 years now and am used to this.

Groceries
This is where is begins, the most important part of my eating. I go with a list. I have an idea of meals that I want to make or new ones I want to try and get the ingredients. I don't visit the junk food aisle. I start at produce move to meat counter, go to Organic and them baby food area. (this is already 80% of my shopping) I then visit the butcher area and lastly the frozen and preserved food aisle for a few incidentals.

Visit www.babybumpfitness.ning.com for today's update on what I ate today. Again, I do not measure anything and do not follow a specific meal plan, I just fill the house with GOOD FOOD.

I felt strong today during my workout and did all lifting and pull ups.

What Does A Busy Mom Eat?

Follow along this week and I will be posting what I eat to feel energized, manage a physical job and take care of the kids. Post along with me, What do you eat?

If anyone knows me I am by no means strict with my diet, I just eat when I feel I need to and try to have the best quality food I can.

I never measure my portions, I am old enough to know when to stop eating. I love chocolate and I love food. I am not afraid of food or trying new recipes, if anyone has any suggestions let me know.

To follow along with me this week and view my food blog visit BABY BUMP FITNESS social site. The first 2 days of the week are posted.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Quick BUSY MOM FAT LOSS Workout


OK, so I just completed this workout. It will be featured in my upcoming program as day 2, phase 2. If you are post partum and feel ready for a new challenge and capable of regular exercise this program is great for you. It can be performed anywhere. All you need is an 8x8 space and a resistance band.

BUSY MOM FAT LOSS WORKOUT

Warm Up 2x through
-Front Plank 30 seconds
-Wall Shoulder Rotations with Press Ups 10x
-Side Planks 10x each side with 3 second hold
-1 Legged Glut Bridge 10x/leg
-Stationary Lunge 10x per leg
-Squat with Arm Circle 10x
- Lateral Band Walks 10 Steps each direction

Exercises Day 2 Phase 2-CIRCUTS
Reps 10 of everything, Sets 2x through, Rest 1 minute between circuts


1 a)Burpie with Reach
1 b)Steps Ups
1 c)Plank with opposite Elbow Touch
1 d)Quick Body Weight Squats
1 e)Modified Pullup/resistance band row
1 f)Side Plank with Reach Under

Perform all 6 exercises consecutively with no break, rest suggested time and repeat the entire circut. Try to improve each circut-intensity matters
Time taken to complete each circut approx 4min


This should give all you MOMs a Monday boost. It is raining here in Toronto and you may need a little motivation to get up and go today.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

HOW'S YOUR DAY?


I was speaking with one of my clients today about our evening routines. As a busy mom I often feel out of touch with current events, I basically get the update of daily news from my clients as I listen to what restaurants they visited or friends they met up with the evening before. I get up at 5am, make breakfast for the kids(Kasia's breakfast always- rice krispies, a bowl of cut strawberries, a drinking yogurt and a ham and cheese sandwich) I make my coffee, and prepare dinner for the night and go to work. I pick them up as soon as I'm done training, give them a snack, bath them, cook the dinner, feed them dinner and put them to bed. Then my husband gets home from work.

I indicated my special time now will be picking the kids up in the stroller because the weather is nice, and I can catch up on their daily activities. He laughed and asked, "what do you talk about? the economy". So I let him into our lives. I ask Kasia about her activities for the day, was she nice? did she eat her lunch? She talks about the letters on the street sign as she is just learning to recognize them, asks why are there running shoes hanging over that hydro wire and asks to stop at the store and stare at candies. During the bath time she asks questions about my body and hers, while the baby eats the bubbles in the bath and the dog licks all the water off the side of the tub. She often mentions she will get boobies when she is a woman. GREAT!

Dinner time gets silly, Kasia brings up all of the toilet words (I guess it's a phase) and I discipline her. Today she told me a boy at school called her a baby so she lifted her dress at him to give him a mooner. The baby has learned to spit food at me, feed the dog and shove couscous down the side of her high chair. In all honesty eating dinner with them grosses me out. I often just look blankly at my dish. And then I hear it, "Mommy, how was work today?" Every meal time she has started to ask about my day. She listens and wants to be a part of my life. She is now practising to be the water/towel girl for my summer bootcamp.

So that is what we talk about. He disclosed, "that's priceless, you will remember that forever, I cannot even tell you the details of my conversation last night". It was very rewarding to hear that, not that I need validation, it just made me feel lucky.

My busy mom fat loss workout - 2 supersets and a tabata. Superset 1- Underhand grip pullups with full front squats 2x with 1 minute rest between supersts. Superset 2-20x push press with 20 front chops, 1 minute rest and repeat. My Tabata (20 second work/10 second rest intervals) 8 sets of explosive body weight squats. I will never claim this is an easy program, but it is quick and made for busy moms. You can perform bent over rows (like in the free starter fat loss program download)instead of pullups in this program. You will see more programs like this in a mom fitness protocol I'm working on. To make a change sign up for my free newsletter and get your starter fat loss workout immediately.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

VENT- The Truth About Fat Loss for a New Mom

Ok, I rarely do this but I have to vent. I have been cruising around the Internet and reading blogs, getting the posts sent to me regarding mom fitness and pregnancy fitness. A few things confuse me

1. I keep seeing mom fitness posts and programs advertising "Get Your Arms Tank Top Ready"- are you for real?? If you have time to worry about this, you are obviously not a busy mom. What a waist of time. A- you cannot spot reduce .
and B- studies have been done with body builders, one group performing deadlifts only and one group performing biceps curls only. Guess who had the stronger biceps at the end of the program- You guessed it the Deadlift group. Total body is the way to go (like the deadlift). I would rather spend time with my kids rather than worrying about my arms.

2. This is another popular one -Walking on a treadmill is the optimal way for new moms to lose weight. What a load of crap. Walking will not make you lose weight, this is a submaximal effort activity. You need to reach your maximum intensity you can handle to lose weight (anaerobic threshold). Short, maximal burst of resistance training has been proven to be the most effective form of fat loss- period. 4 minute circuts with 20 second work/ 10 second rest intervals otherwise know as Tabatas are the best.

3. Many sites and entire businesses are based on Jogging with a Stroller and again indicate this is a great way to burn the baby fat. NOT, this one is down right dangerous. Most women still have relaxin in their body 4 months post partum and joints are not stable, your abdominals are still weak. Holding onto the stroller handles does not allow proper cross rotation of your body (opposite arm/leg moving in unison). Your arms are stationary and your low body will over rotate to compensate, this condition coupled with an already weak muscle and unstable joints can contribute to back pain. OK, so that is just one point why I don't agree with jogging with your stroller. If you think you will burn the baby fat think again. Jogging is still a submaximal effort activity and yes you will burn calories while you are jogging, but this is not optimal for fat loss. A better option is to do maximal sprint intervals without a stroller- but for new moms stress incontinence becomes more of an issue when performing these.

The truth about fat loss. Short bursts of maximal effort resistance is the best form of fat loss exercise. Lets break this down. There is something called Oxygen Debt (other call it EPOC of Afterburn)that means the more effort you put into your workout the more depleted your energy stores (including oxygen) you have to REPAY to your body. Your heart rate will remain slightly elevated after your workout for this to happen and burns more calories throughout the day. Using resistance training you will be building muscle that has a greater metabolic rate burning more calories. Short burst, because if you if you are working out at your anaerobic thresehold this is all you could manage. Your anaerobic threshold is approximately 220-age (ex. 220-36=184bpm). I also like short resistance workouts, especially for busy new mothers, because they are manageable if you are sleep deprived. You will not be training long enough to suffer from repetitive strain injuries (that you are already extremely susceptible to) and you can make your resistance program a multi directional full body functional workout.

I just think many new mothers are being lead a stray with their workouts. You can probably get your training done in about a quarter the amount of time from home. Fat Loss results can be made with a little as 4-10 minutes per day. 12 minute maximal effort is ideal. So realistically with warmup and stretching you can get a full fat loss workout done in 17 minutes.

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Tuesday, April 7, 2009

BAD WEATHER IS NO EXCUSE

My Mommy max strength experiment is coming to and end this week. I will trying my exercises tomorrow and will post result at the BabyBump-social network link. Over the past 2 weeks I have been woken every night by a teething baby- she now has 4 teeth. At least something to show for all of the sleeplessness. Last night she slept through the night- I was startled out of my sleep at 5:25am by my alarm. When I went out to my car for work it was covered in ice and snow, I had already taken my ice scraper out of my car so I just waited for everything to warm up. I am telling you this because I notice a funny thing at the gym this morning while training my first client- WE WERE THE ONLY ONES THERE. This is a prime training time and is usually busy. A bit of snow and ice and people take the opportunity to skip a workout. Depressing to see ice and snow YES, well how do you make yourself feel better- WORKOUT.

It just seems people use any little excuse to skip their workouts. There is a time to rest and a time to work. We talked about the rest last week- take a day off if you are extremely sleep deprived, fighting a virus, feel over trained or injured. Do not take a day off because it snowed- this is just an excuse that will lead to non compliance. You still have time today to give this Busy Mom Fitness program a go- you are worth 15 minute today.
You are a busy mom and never get to schedule anything, so try this right now as you are surfing on your computer.

BUSY MOM HOME CIRCUT

1. Warmup- leg swings both directions, arm swings, arm circle.
2. 10x body weight full squats
3. 10x/leg body weight lunges
4. Front plank 30 seconds than last 30 seconds perform alternating front plank toe taps.
5. Side planks 10x/side with leg lift
6. Jumping jacks 20x
7. Pushups 10x
8. Reverse fly with just bodyweight arms/resistance band or dumbells 15x
9. Burpies- 10x
10. Wall shoulder rotation with press
REPEAT 2-10 and stretch

Don't let a little bad weather get in your way, stand up and give this workout a try right now- where ever you are. Let me know how you feel afterwards.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

COFFEE ANYONE?


I performed my Max Mom Strength Experiment yesterday- see results after taking a week off of working out due to food poisoning Week 5 Max Mommy

I did a great busy mom fat loss workout in the spare 20 minutes that I had 2 days ago. My busy mom fat loss workout- warmup then performed a Tabata workout with 20second work/ 10 second rest intervals for 4 minutes straight. My exercises were 20 lb dumbell burpie presses, stability ball alternating 1 legged hip flexions, 20lb dumbell push presses, forearm planks on stability ball with small rollouts repeated 2x with a 2 minute rest. I performed the circut again followed by some muscle balancing exercises- hamstring curls on stability ball, hip extensions on stability ball, adductor bridge squeeze on stability ball. It was intense and I was toast.

CAFFEINE- know your limits. I am a busy mom, so therefore coffee is a big part of my life. It is my vice, I rely on it and I love it. Current nutritional guidelines suggest "women's daily consumption of up to 400mg of caffeine (about 2 mugs of brewed coffee) has no adverse effects on the fetus or breastfeeding infant". If you love your coffee you can always make a better, healthier cup. It is full of antioxidents you know. Caffeine is also in chocolate and many colas, but today the points will focus on coffee.

1. Always choose organic coffee- procedures such as crop spraying and processing use harsh chemicals

2. Choose Espresso (50mg) for a double shot, over a brewed cup as it contains just over 1/3 the amount of caffeine as a regular brewed cup (135mg). Espresso also has a much lower acid content.

3. Be weary of DECAF- again this procedure uses harsh chemicals (such as chlorine) to extract the caffeine from the bean. Choose Swiss Water natural Decaf to avoid these chemicals.

4. Avoid coffee an hour before nursing if you are implementing a nap/sleep routine and/or trying to sleep train them through the night.

Enjoy every last sip.

I noticed tonight at the dinner table that my baby started licking food off of her tray, like a dog, she has regressed from using her hands. To get her back to progressing like a biped, I decided to teach her how to cheers instead. Yes, eat like a dog, or cheers like your in a German beer hall, I don't know what's worse. I am way out of my league. My 3 year old toddler just responded telling me "it's a chick thing". What!! is that swearing? I guess not, where is this coming from. Again I am way out of my league. I need a coffee or a beer. CHEERS until next time.
 
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