TURBO KICK! & why I think it's a GREAT cardio workout!

Well helllllo! It's been a while since my last blog post! I hope everyone has been doing well, eating healthy, and working out!! Labor Day Weekend was pretty long and eventful, and if you are anything like me, you PROBABLY ate and drank a little more than you should have. And getting back to the gym was definitely a struggle.
Have you ever heard that when you eat like crap, you feel like crap? There's all these technical chemical reasons as to why this happens, but bottom line is, it's REALLY tough getting out of that funk! I went to the gym after a 4 day break of not going to the gym, and I was REALLY depressed going there! After some good cardio and strength I felt so much better but MAN, are they right about food affecting your mood.
Anyway, today I wanted to talk about a class I have been taking for a few years now at 24 hour fitness called "Turbo Kick"! First of all, I just want to throw it out there, I'm not an instructor, nor a promoter or anything like that for the Turbo Kick class/program. I'm just an avid lover of the class and would love to spread the word!! If you don't go to 24 Hour Fitness and you are enjoying your gym work outs, keep doing it!! No need to switch, but if you are just trying to get into some fitness for not too expensive of a price, 24 hour fitness is a great option! There are so many gyms all over CA that you can go to! And once you are a member of 24 hour, all of the group fitness classes are COMPLETELY FREE! Some of the more popular classes (BodyPump and Spin) you have to sign up ahead of time, but everything else you can just walk in and take the class!!

So Turbo Kick. Have you heard of it? It is a 1-hour full, sweaty, fun, cardio kick boxing class that you can take at most any 24 hour fitness that provides Group Fitness classes. I've taken some step classes (which I love!) and pilates, and yoga, but Turbo Kick has definitely been one that has stuck to me! If you love dancing, constantly moving, punching air (and feeling like a bad ass doing it) this is definitely the class for you. It's a little more advanced in the sense that, you kind of have to know the moves ahead of time, like certain punches, kicks, twists, etc. but after about 2 weeks you will have all the moves down and be able to follow along effortlessly. :)

Usually there is one instructor who teaches the class and will call out the moves and sometimes explain it to you prior to the class beginning. When you have a great instructor they truly motivate you to push yourself so much harder!! And I absolutely love that the playlist that we workout to is usually always music that is popular and upbeat so it almost feels as though you're just dancing!!

Obviously each class is very different, but here is a break down of how the class usually goes down:

Warm Up

- The usually shoulder rolls, jabs, kicks, stretching, just to get your body warmed up.

Turbo Part 1 (I have no idea if it's actually called this haha)

This is the first phase of the cardio kickboxing, usually filled with tons of punching, kicking, twisting, and yelling. They definitely make sure you work both sides of your body and within the first 5-10 minutes of this phase you should be DRENCHED in sweat.

TURBO!

This part is VERY intense. It's kind of like a 1-2 min HIIT workout. It's supposed to be the part where you just go ALL OUT, with tons of burpees, knees, jumping jacks, tucks, and it's all very super fast! 

Recovery

So after doing a couple rounds of Turbo, this is the time where you enable your body to recover. Bring your heart rate down a little, but not completely. Recovery usually starts very slow and it's very controlled and just let's you be funky and fun! It's a great way to cool off before the last part of Turbo Kick... the FINALE!

FINALE!!

Finale! As the name of it explains, it's where you just go ALLLL OUT. It's usually very upbeat, loud, and it's the last 5 minutes that you can give it your ALL. There should be no regrets at this point of the workout because you just did a WHOLE HOUR of cardio!!!

Usually after I'm done with the Turbo Kick workout, I do 5-10 minutes of abs and then I am just exhausted. The first few times you take the class, I will warn you. You WILL be sore. Each class uses all parts of your body, and if you are not used to working out a lot, it may be a bit of a surprise, but once you are doing cardio on the regular with running as well as some HIIT workouts, you will be keeping up with the rest of the class in no time!!

If you have any questions about Turbo Kick, feel free to ask me! I've had such a great time with the class, I just want to spread how great it makes me feel!!

Love you all and as always, let me know if there is anything you want me to blog about!! Keep the fitness up! NEVER GIVE UP!

5 Helpful Tips on Successful Dieting!

I feel as though it has been forever since I last blogged! I've had a crazy week of weddings galore! Summer is TRULY wedding season! Well, as some of you saw on the Facebook page, I posted a picture of my progress. Although it's not a HUGE difference in both pictures, I definitely feel leaner and healthier since 3 months ago!

May 2012 and August 2012

Not perfect...but getting there!

So as I've mentioned before, from what I've researched and just as general rule of thumb with weight loss, it's 20% actual excercise and 80% diet/what you eat. And trust me, I know how hard it is to watch what you eat. I find that whenever I go to parties, it's so hard to stay away from the pasta's and creamy dips (ugh...). But you just have to be able to have self-restraint. That's what a lot of what dieting is all about. So here are some helpful tips that I've read/used that will make dieting more realistic and goal-worthy.

Stick to the Foods

Now I don't mean, eat ONLY one food every single day. That would be SO boring! But people who are successful dieters tend to stick to the same foods week after week. That way, you know exactly how much calories, carbs, sugar, and protein your body is intaking with those foods. Also the foods that dieters tend to eat, are healthy (I know, what I concept?!). That means less fried foods and creams, more veggies, whole grains, fruit, fish etc. If you eat the same things, you can portion control and that'll help you get on track too!

Be Specific

All of us can sit here and say, "ugh... I want to lose weight..." But unless we set specific goals we want to achieve, it'll be very difficult to start losing weight. And these goals don't have to be HUGE goals. They can just be, "I want to lose 1lb in a week" or "I want to fit into THESE pants in 1 month". When you have a goal, you have something specific you are working toward, and it'll help you see the goal more realistically. That said, make sure they are realistic goals! I'm sorry to say, losing 20lb in 2 weeks just isn't going to happen.

Surround Yourself with Motivation/Positivity

This has been something that has helped me a lot. Let's face it, not ALL of your friends are going to be on the same weight loss track as you are. Some people may not care at ALL and will be munching away on their potato chips and hamburgers (curse them!). Obviously I would never tell you to get rid of your friends!! However, what has helped me a lot is to surround myself with people that have the same feelings and goals as me when it comes to my weight. When you talk to people that are trying to lose weight and get fit like yourself, you feel more comfortable talking about your goals, your struggles, your plan. And they REALLY listen because they know exactly what you are going through. These people will become your biggest cheerleaders and when you have positive influences in your life that tell you to keep going, that's going to really help you go that extra mile.

Track Your Success

What I do is keep a log of my weight in a small notebook, and I write the date, my weight, and what time I weighed myself (I try to weigh myself at around the same time every time or at least see how my weight fluctuates during what times). Now to be totally honest, I've been having a few cheat days lately, and I get so DOWN when I weigh myself on cheat days. But, looking through my records, I can see I lost a solid 5lb since a few months ago. I can see that because eventually my weight stops yo-yoing and I stay around the same weight for a few days or weeks. And it's an AWESOME feeling seeing that change!

Instead of "I CAN'T eat that" say "I DON'T eat that."

This is something I read in Women's Health and literally had a MIND.BLOWN moment. This is for situations in which let's say your friend offers you some food that you KNOW is bad for you (i.e fried foods, candy, cookies) When you say "I can't eat that", it shows weakness and you are giving yourself the opportunity to give up and eat that bad food. But, if you say, " I don't eat that." you are showing a firm decision that you choose not eat that food and it shows you have more will-power to say no!

Well I hope these were some helpful, realistic tips that will help you in your goal towards fitness and weightloss! :)

Nike Trainer App!

Wow, this weekend was incredible! I got to work my first fusion wedding at the Hummingbird's Nest Ranch in Simi Valley. The decor was literally my ideal wedding! Got me sort of thinking "for real" about my own! But just because I'm working my weddings doesn't mean I can't give you guys some of my new fitness tips! So I recently downloaded an app on my iPhone called "Nike Trainer". I was just browsing through my apps online for fitness and came across this one. & It is SO awesome! It provides you with different types of work outs for different fitness levels you are trying to achieve.

I decided to choose "Get Toned". Then it gives you the option to choose Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced. So I saw that if I average 3-5+ work outs a week, I should choose Advanced, so I did. Oh my goodness, I was in for a treat. It was SO incredible intense (will explain work out later), I think I'm going to have to go back to "Intermediate" haha.

After I chose Advanced, they give me a few different options for 30-45 min work outs. I decided to choose the first one, "Body Remix". 

So then once you choose that, it shows you exactly what consists of the work out, and how many minutes you will be doing it. Then you choose a playlist to have playing during your workout, and then you begin! 

So the COOLEST part about this app, once you begin your workout, there is a voice that motivates you through the entire workout routine. It's like having your own personal trainer on your phone! It tells you exactly what moves to do, how to do them, and it even tells you that you're doing a great job! :) Some of the moves are pretty simple, but the ones that are a little more difficult, the app actually has mini tutorial videos that have an actual person doing the moves so you can follow. I was seriously mind blown by this app, and let me tell you, after 30 minutes of "attempting" the workout routine, I was DRENCHED in sweat. Needless to say, this is my go-to for workouts from now on! So, for those of you who don't own this app (it's completely free, just download it from the app store, it might take a while because there is a lot of content), here is the routine for the "Body Remix" workout I did!

Body Remix

Get Toned/Advanced/30 min

Need: 8lb dumbbells and medicine ball

(Warm up)

Back Pedal-1min

Slide and Glide-2 min

Light Jog- 2 min

Recover-1min

(Workout)

Burpee to Shoulder Press-1 min

Push ups with Feet on Medicine Ball- 2 min

Plank Row to Rotation-1 min

Ski Jumps-1 min

Basketball Lunge with Medicine Ball Press (this one made me feel very uncoordinated haha) - 2 min

Squats and Arm Curls - 2 min

Bunny-Hop with Medicine Ball above head (oh lord, you look like a fool, but feel like dying haha) - 2 min

(Abs)

Bicycles-1 min

Toe Touches- 1 min

Kick downs - 1 min

Push-up to Frogger (these are AWESOME)- 1 min

Single Leg Deadlift Dumbbell Row ( I still feel unbalanced and weird doing these) - 2 min

Medicine Ball Triceps push up (Can't even do these without toppling over) - 1 min

Alternating Forward Lunge to Shoulder Press - 1 min

(LAST SPURT!) 

Mountain Climbers - 30 sec

Knee Tucks - 30 sec

(Stretching)

Standing Hamstring stretch- 2 min

Pretzel Stretch- 1 min

Lying Quad Stretch- 2 min

And DONE!

And what is even cooler is, the more workouts you complete (minutes), you get to unlock more workouts! I definitely reccomend this app, especially for those of you trying to mix up your workout from the regular old treadmill and elipticals!

 Keep on working hard!!

Healthy Food Options When on Vacation!

So I just got back from a fun, crazy weekend trip to Las Vegas! However, after 4 days out on vacation, I definitely ate a TON of CRAP food. In N Out, BBQ, Taco Bell, AYCE Sushi... just to name a few. And my body took a toll, because by the last day I just felt disgusting. And I knew so many people out there are going through the same problems as me this summer. You want to enjoy your vacation and it's so hard to resist all those bad foods! That is why I decided to make this blog post about some healthy alternatives that you can bring along while you are on vacation to keep you on track for your goal towards health and fitness!

Before I give you some snack/food options, here are some suggestions I have for when you are on vacation:

Stay Somewhere with a Kitchen

Our group stayed at the Tahiti Village in Las Vegas and the coolest part about this hotel room was that it had a kitchen! It came with a fridge, stove and microwave. If there is a kitchen, you can bring your own food which not only can save you a ton of $$ but you can keep eating healthy too! Anything that might be perishable (i.e veggies, soy milk, fruits, yogurt etc.) you can just stick in the fridge! How awesome is that. And by having a stove top, you can control how much oil and sauces you use in your meals! You might not be cooking for every meal (because let's be real, you are on VACATION), but at least try to cook some meals!

This is the exact room I stayed at the Tahiti Village! Having a kitchen was great!

Bring a Cooler Bag! (If There is No Kitchen)

 Now most hotels you stay at are not going to have a kitchen. If you're lucky you MIGHT have a mini fridge if that. So if you know you are just going on a weekend trip, bring yourself a cooler bag. When you first leave, make sure you have some ice packs in there, and once you get to your hotel room, bring some plastic baggies that you can fill with ice from the ice machine to stick in the cooler bag. You can pack some pre-made snacks (I shall list out later) that you can snack between meals so you don't starve yourself at any point. 

Don't Forget to DRINK WATER!

I know we're on vacation, but we can't forget to keep at our routine of drinking water!! Stick to drinking 8 or more cups of water a day. If you are out in the sun all day, you'll want to drink more to keep hydrated! 

Stay Motivated, Try as HARD as You Can to Not Be Persuaded!

This is something I struggle with not just on vacation, but on an every day basis. Not everyone of your friends is going to be as health conscious as you. Especially on vacation they are just going to tell you to "pig out!" "don't worry you're on vacation!" "one time won't hurt!"... and it's so hard to say no. But just remember, when you come back home and you've eaten all those bad foods, your body is going to pay for it. It's okay to "live a little" and splurge sometimes, but just remember your future goal towards fitness!

All You Can Eat (AYCE), Maybe Just Once?

When you're in Vegas, it's realllllly hard to avoid the AYCE buffet. I just went to one! Makino's sushi buffet. nomnomnom... So I get it! But, what you can do is, especially if it's just a weekend vacation, just go ONCE to the buffet, and when you're there, still eat all the healthy stuff! Try to salad bar and stick to fish, avoid fried, saucy, foods. And for dessert, instead of the chocolate ice cream, go for the fruit!!

Alright so I hope those were some helpful tips, I know I will definitely be taking my own tips into consideration when I go to Vegas in November (for the Marine Corps Ball!). So as promised, here are some healthy snack options that you can bring on your trip!! 

Healthy Snacks to Bring

• Brown Rice Cakes
• Apple Sauce (the above two make a GREAT healthy snack)
• Veggie Sticks (carrots, cucumbers, celery)
• Peanut Butter Sandwiches on 100% whole wheat/multigrain bread
• Fresh Fruit (apples, bananas, peaches, pineapples, strawberries... some of them you may have to keep in the fridge)
• Oatmeal (GREAT for breakfast, and if you bring the instant one you can just mix it with some hot water!)
• Pretzel Thins
• Hardboiled Eggs (this is something you might have to finish on the road trip there...might spoil)
• Canned Tuna (don't forget a can opener)
• Canned Veggies (corn, green beans)
• Cereal/Granola
• Yogurt (make sure you have somewhere to store it)
• Bottled Water!
• String Cheese
• Nuts/Trailmix (but make your own instead of buying the sugary ones)

I hope this helps! Comment below if you have anymore suggestions!

Control what you EAT!

If you look through a lot of health and fitness blogs, they will tell you, if you are trying to lose weight, it's 20% fitness 80% diet! So it really matters what you are putting in your body! Even if you are lifting those weights and running all those miles, if you are eating JUNK, then you will get no where. Also, it's all about portion control. It's great if you choose to replace white rice with brown rice, or start eating more fruit. But, if you are eating TOO much of it, then you are probably going to be taking in more calories than you are burning, and you'll hit a plateau. The best way to get over this, is controlling the sizes of your meals.

This is something I found on Pinterest and I think this is GENIUS! So I decided to get something similar for my lunches.

I got my lunch organizer at Rite-Aid for less than $7.00. When i saw it, I knew this was something that would become very useful for me and my new diet plans! The way its set up, you can put 3 little "appetizers" or salad toppings and because each section is smaller, you don't have to worry about over eating!

It comes with a container you can put dressing in, and it won't spill!

So I decided to take this to work for my lunch. I decided to make a salad. I absolutely LOVE salads because there are so many options in what you can have in it! But beware, not all salads are healthy!

Regular romaine mix from Trader Joe's and some grape tomatoes peeking through!

Cucumbers, Chicken, and Carrot Sticks. With a touch of Olive Oil and Vinegar Dressing

And it was delicious! Just the right amount I needed for a lunch. And if you feel that you get a little more hungrier after that meal, try having some yogurt, or maybe a few hours later, grab a granola bar to fuel your energy. It's important to not starve yourself at any point of the day, and try to eat small snacks through out your day to keep your metabolism up!

Try something new for lunch today, maybe skip out on that pizza? Or that hamburger? Try something refreshing! Keep checking back for more new posts!

Medicine ball Workout

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Well, it took me long enough to finally start this fitness blog! I've been wanting to start this blog for a while now, and I finally found some time in my schedule to start it. There are so many things I want to say/cover in my blog, but I guess I will keep it short and sweet for each post, so I have something good and useful to say for every post!

I'll begin with what my workout regiment was today. I am well aware that a majority of us LOVE Pinterest and it's actually really useful when you want to find a new workout routine. It's always good to try new things so you're muscles in your body are constantly working. I decided to try out this medicine ball workout I found.

If you can't see the photo (the photos aren't me! for those of you who are my friend's it's pretty obvious though haha) this is what the medicine ball workout consists of:

- Medicine Ball Burpee

- Sit N' Reach

- Russian Twist

- Basketball Jump Squats

- Medicine Ball Plank

- Toe Tap Soccer Drill. 

So for my workout today, I started off with 18 minutes of warm up on the eliptical ( I sometimes do a 15x4 workout routine, where I do 15 minutes each on the eliptical, treadmill, stair master, and bike, but I am trying to up it to 18 minutes now!) and 18 minutes running on the treadmill. Then I started my medicine ball workout. I did 3 sets of the whole work out with 10-30 reps of each. I'll break it down for you so it's easier to see visually. 

1. 18 minutes elipitical
2. 18 minutes treadmill
3. Medicine Ball workout (3 sets)
• (10) Medicine Ball Burpees
• (15) Sit N Reach
• (30) Russian Twists
• (15) Basketball Jump Squats
• (30-45 sec) Medicine Ball Plant
• (20 each) Toe Tap Soccer Drill
4. Mountain Climbers (4 sets, 25 each leg)

Needless to say, after that, I was drenched in sweat! Came home, had a nice bowl of "Life" cereal mixed with some granola with soy milk (lactose-problems), and a glass of water. I absolutely love having a great work out and then coming home and eating something healthy. I've been trying to cut out fried foods out of my diet lately, and it's gotten to the point that if I eat any sort of fried food, my body just starts going out of wack. My face starts effusing oils and my stomach just feels DISGUSTING. It's true when they say, "You Are What You Eat." 

I'll try to post pictures of my meals and maybe when I get confident enough, some pictures of myself working out! Well I hope you guys enjoyed my first post, keep following for more! 

"Don't let one bad day kill your confidence and progress."