Great Day for a Ride!

Rode almost 85km today and it was awesome!!  The sun was out and it even warmed up a bit :)

One of my favorite parts of a great ride is the coffee afterwards.  Did you know that 1-3 cups of coffee (that's regular 8 oz cups - not giant cups that are bigger than your head) can actually be good for you? 

Coffee is a great source of antioxidants!  But what about the caffeine?  Won't it dehydrate you?  Good news!  When you drink coffee you do get some water from it, and the amount of caffeine in 1-3 cups of coffee is not enough to cause you to lose more water than you're able to retain.  It's only when you go above 3 cups (or your cups are giant) that it becomes a problem.  I would still recommend drinking a glass of water for every cup of coffee you drink, but as someone who sweats A LOT,  I'm big on hydration :)

So no more feeling guilty about enjoying a quality cup of coffee!  Just don't ruin it by adding a bunch of crap to it (sugar, cream, flavoured syrups, whipping cream etc) and you'll be fine.  Also, since coffee crops are one of the heaviest sprayed crops, you should only consume organic coffee and the coffee should remain in bean form until you're ready to use it so it doesn't go rancid - you want to keep all the goodness intact until you're ready to consume it ;)

Fat Torching Workout for All Fitness Levels!

Were you just sitting there wondering what to do for your workout today?  Even if you weren't here's something to try!

Super simple and you can do this on any piece of equipment, or go out and walk, run or bike ride.  Here's what you  do:

Warm up for 5-10 minutes.

For 3 mins. do whatever activity you've chosen at an easy level (ie leisurely jog)
For 2 mins. do the same activity at a higher intensity (ie run slightly out of your comfort zone)
For 1 min. do the same activity at the highest intensity level you can handle (ie sprint)

Then repeat for however much time you want to spend working out (each set is 6 minutes long).

Finally cool down and stretch each muscle group for 30-45 seconds.  Contact me anytime at info@wholeyfit.ca if you need any good stretches to do or just need some advice ;)

Want another fun workout?  Check out my homepage: www.wholeyfit.ca

Nutrition, Health & Weight Loss

I was speaking today with a fellow passionate fitness leader about nutrition and how important it is to your success, whether you want to lose weight, get stronger or just improve your overall health.  One of the things we spoke about was how so many people don't make the connection between proper nutrition and optimal health.  When someone wants to get in shape and improve their health nine times out of ten the first thing they think about is adding exercise to their lifestyle.  A great place to start but that's not all there is to it.  You also have to think about eating proper, real foods that are nutrient dense and not processed.

I get so frustrated when I hear so called nutritionists insisting that weight loss hinges only on calories in versus calories out.  That's just too simplistic and very misleading to the average person who doesn't know enough about proper nutrition on the cellular level.  Sure - if you eat a ton of calories and don't move you will gain weight, but think about this for a moment: if you meet two people and one of them is eating a 1500 calorie diet consisting of fast foods and processed foods and the other is eating a 1500 calorie diet consisting of real foods that actually occur naturally (and will go bad if left out on the counter for a day or two) you will have two completely different bodies, not to mention brains.  Not only will the fast food person be physically unhealthy, they will also be mentally unhealthy.  They'll probably suffer from depression, lack of energy and a whole slew of other health problems.  The sad thing is they may never make the connection between healthy food and a healthy mind and body.

People have to realize the importance of what they put in their body.  I like this analogy: if you build a condo out of crappy materials what do you get?  A leaky condo of course!  If you build it out of high quality materials what do you get?  A beautiful home that you'll be able to live in for a long, long time.  So why would you think your body is any different?  Put crappy materials in and you end up with a body that's unhealthy and breaking down.  Put high quality materials in and you end up with a strong healthy body that you will live a long, happy, productive life in free of a lot of the pains/ailments that many people suffer from today!

In this age of processed and convenient everything we've managed to save some time, but we've lost our health.  That's too high of a price for a little convenience if you ask me. 

So the next time you sit down to eat something ask yourself this: if I didn't have access to any stores and had to hunt for my food would I be able to find what I'm about to eat?  If you're about to eat a twinkie, I have some bad news: there are no twinkie trees out there.  If you're about to eat a salad and a nice steak you're making a wise decision that will affect your body in a positive way.

Any questions?  Please feel free to comment below or contact me at info@wholeyfit.ca.

Free Workout & Recipe for you!

Just wanted to share a fun workout and a delicious recipe with you:

Warm-up (5 minutes)  You can jump rope for each circuit, or do jumping jacks (or low impact jacks).

Circuit 1

• Jump rope or Jacks -  1 minute
• Stationary Lunge with right leg in front 30 seconds, jump squats 30 seconds
• Stationary Lunge with left leg in front 30 seconds, jump squats 30 secondsCircuit 2

• Jump rope or Jacks -  1 minute
• Plank 30 seconds,  triceps (narrow placement of hands) push ups 30 seconds
Circuit 3Plank 30 seconds, regular push ups 30 seconds

• Jump rope or Jacks -  1 minute
• Pulsing low squat 30 seconds, burpees with a push-up 30 seconds
Pulsing low squat 30 seconds, burpees 30 seconds

Circuit 4

• Jump rope or Jacks -  1 minute
• Hip bridge left foot on floor right leg in the air, flip over and do 5 shoulder push ups (you're in a pike position with your butt up in the air and doing push ups.  Range of motion may be quite small)
Circuit 5Hip bridge right foot on floor left leg in the air, flip over and do 5 shoulder push ups (you're in a pike position with your butt up in the air and doing push ups.  Range of motion may be quite small)

• Jump rope or Jacks -  1 minute
• Bicycle crunch 30 seconds, reverse crunches 30 seconds
Bicycle crunch 30 seconds, regular crunches 30 seconds

Stretch!

e-mail me at info@wholeyfit.ca if you have any questions about that :)

Sweet Potatoes with Warm Black Bean Salad (makes 4 servings)

Ingredients:

·    4 medium sweet potatoes

·    1 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed

·    2 medium tomatoes, diced

·    1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

·    1 teaspoon ground cumin

·    1 teaspoon ground coriander

·    3/4 teaspoon salt

·    1/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream (or plain yogurt 2% or less) - optional

·    1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Preparation:

1.     Place sweet potatoes in a baking dish and bake at 425 degrees F until tender all the way to the center, about 1 hour. 

2.      Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine beans, tomatoes, oil, cumin, coriander and salt; heat in a small saucepan over medium heat until heated through.

3.     When just cool enough to handle, slash each sweet potato lengthwise, press open to make a well in the center and spoon the bean mixture into the well. Top each with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkle of cilantro (optional).

mmmmmm mmmmmmmmm!

Stay posted for news on my studio!  I'm going to be running indoor cycling classes, cardio boxing classes (I supply the equipment), HIIT classes and more!  So much fun!!

Fat Loss Supplements

This is going to be a bit of a rant about supplement companies that have no conscience.  I recently had a past client of mine call me to ask what I thought of a certain supplement company and their 90 day challenge to lose weight.  This person is getting married in a few months so when she heard about this program at the studio that she trains at she bought the supplements and program and was super excited about it.  She had called me to see what I thought and when I found out what the program was I had to burst her bubble a little bit. 

This particular supplement company uses questionable ingredients (ie artificial sweeteners and soy based protein shakes - soy based protein is highly estrogenic and women who have a family history of breast cancer are highly recommended to stay away from all soy based products.  This information is not on their website.).  Another red flag is that when you try to look up their ingredient labels on their website it's really hard to find - their key ingredients are easy to find, but not all the other crap they put in.  The actual amount of the key ingredients is not listed - this is info that you need to know before you put anything in your body.  The supplement industry isn't regulated so they don't have to put that info out there.  If someone's not willing to give you all the info on all the ingredients in their product there's something wrong.  Another red flag is that anyone who wants to sell their products can make money doing that as well as by recruiting others to sell it - it's a pyramid which is another huge red flag.  This company just wants to make money and has no interest in anyone's health.  As long as they get your cash they're happy.

This brings me to another rant.  This is about the gyms/studios that actually sell this crap to their clients!  Most people think that their gym is owned by a fitness professional and as fitness professionals it's our duty to educate ourselves on the latest in fitness and nutrition and help our clients reach their goals in the safest way possible.  Clients trust us to do that so when someone's gym or training studio offers a nutrition product they figure it has to be good, otherwise 'why would this person who is the expert and who I trust want to sell it to me?'  Why?  Money!  I think it's disgusting.  As a fitness professional myself, I value each and every one of my clients.  I will go out of my way to make sure they're getting what they need from their program and I will never, ever try to sell them something that can possibly harm them in the long run just to get some quick results.  The studio that sold that program and supplements to my past client has no business being in the fitness and nutrition business - apparently they're making quite a bit of money selling these products and jeopardizing people's health so I guess they must feel pretty good about that. 

I love my job, I love helping people and I love educating them on fitness and nutrition.  I take what I do very seriously so when I hear about stuff like this I can't help but get angry.  It's sad when people let money come before everything - especially their client's health and well being!

If you are looking for healthy supplements to add to your current healthy diet, try Vega (note: the link on my website to Vega is an affiliate link so I do get compensation when you order from that link.  That was not my motivation to get the link - my motivation was to be able to promote a company that I truly believe in and respect.  You can also shop for Vega products at http://shopca.sequelnaturals.com/ if you'd rather not use my affiliate link).  I use Vega products myself and I always give my clients free samples so they can try it out themselves.  Their ingredients are all natural and their protein is vegetable based - you'll actually recognize what each of the ingredients are!  They sweeten it with stevia leaf extract which is an all natural sweetener.  I must admit it took me a bit to get used to the taste - it's kind of like when you first switched over from white bread to whole grain bread - at first it's not what you're used to but then you develop a taste for it ;) 

If someone offers to sell you a supplement and it's part of some sort of program please, please go home and research the product before you spend any money.  If you're not sure please contact a fitness professional you know and trust - feel free to contact me if you like.  Fitness professionals are supposed to help people, not harm them!

Thanks!

My Studio

I'm in the process of setting up a studio.  It's not going to be your typical fitness studio where you go to workout and that's it.  My studio is going to be a place where people will actually learn how to take care of their health through exercise and nutrition - a sort of self improvement course.  Of course there will be weight loss if that's a goal, but that'll just be a nice bonus.  People who come to my studio will finally find out what foods they should actually be eating and when to eat them, how to set proper goals, how to stay on track when motivation starts to slip and what kinds of exercises work the best - and they're going to have a blast doing it.  It'll be like a little community of healthy, happy people!

That's not going to be it though - listen up aspiring fitness professionals!  I'm going to offer programs that will teach you how to teach a great class, how to engage your clients and how to keep them coming back for more.  You'll get to practice your routines in a studio environment until you're totally comfortable with it and then go out and teach at your gym of choice.  When I first started out the only way to practice my 'craft' was to convince a gym to hire me even though I had no experience (not an easy feat) and then get up in front of a large crowd of people who are expecting a great workout and have no patience for a newbie who seems nervous - it can be a cruel world out there!  Once you've taken my program you'll have the confidence to walk into any gym, teach your class and have a fun and positive experience.  I'll even teach you how to handle a not so positive experience - let's face it, it happens to the best of us.  I've been teaching for a lot of years and had to learn some hard lessons, but I learned them well and now I'm going to teach them to you so you don't have to go through any unnecessary pain ;)

Stay posted for my launch date!

Healthy Desserts!

I LOVE dessert!  I could eat apple pie until I popped but I don't like the consequences of that ;)
So here are some desserts that I indulge in quite often - they're delicious and nutritious!

All natural peanut butter and Banana, or apple, or raisins, or dates, or....(I love peanut butter!)
Hummus and grapes
Yogurt and papaya or mango - toss in some almonds for crunch and a bit of cinnamon
Almonds and raisins
Dates stuffed with almonds
Cheese and apple

What's your favourite healthy dessert?