Challenged...my new favorite word!

I started my Saturday unlike most.  I woke up and looked outside and it was....LIGHT!  What?  I slept past 7am?  Ok...I told myself to stay calm, Jenny Mac was on the scene at A2O fitness to cover our Fit Intense 7am and 8:15 am classes....whew!  After the shock had worn off I decided to hit the 10 am Hot Yoga class with Jenny at Summits.  I have not slept for over 10 hours straight since I was a teenager.  This Paleo thing is awesome!  Sleeping like a rock, satisfied and strong all day long.

I recently added two heavy challenging strength days to my training with Jenny Mac, A2O Fitness' Group Class Coordinator, personal trainer an triathlete in training.  We lift together with Clay Lisle a serious athlete and A2O Fitness trainer twice a week and work on heavy strength sets. Last week on Wednesday we did one day of vertical pull and press movement patterns followed by one day rest and then on Friday we did horizontal pull and press movement patterns.  Jenny has been training with Clay for about three months now and boy do I have some serious catch up work to do.  Jenny Mac is a beast!  She officially did 42 unassisted pull ups from a weighted soft grip bar hanging between our gymnast rings on Wednesday, followed by handstand pushups!  This girl means business!  I can't wait to see her kill it on the 70.3 next year.

I wanted to include this new group picture of our awesome A2O Fitness team.  We are so excited to be able to share our love and passion for health and fitness with our loyal clients and friends! This time of year everyone seems to be ready to restart their fitness routine after the Holidays.  I CHALLENGE you to start now, be consistent and intense with your training.  Take it seriously....be committed now and always.  It is after all YOUR health, the single most important thing to be thankful for. Share your healthy habits with those you love this time of year and set an example to your friends and family.  Rise above the excessive alcohol, treats on every co workers desk and Holiday party dip disasters.  Allow yourself to indulge once a week and then get right back on track.  I guarantee you will not have any excess New Year's Resolution weight to lose and you will feel accomplished that you were challenged and you WON.  A healthy lifestyle is just that...not a fad...not a January workout regimin....it's a lifetime journey.  Accept it, embrace it and your health and quality of life will thank you for it ALL year long!

Nutrition today:

9:00 am
1 scoop Coconut butter
1/2 slice of my Paleo pie (I know....it was calling my name from the fridge leftover from Thanksgiving!)

11:30 am
Coffee Black
3 left over Paleo deviled eggs (From Thanksgiving)
2 Isagenix Fish oil
1 Isagenix Multi Vitamin

5:45 pm
Huge salad with mixed greens, red and yellow peppers, mushrooms, olive oil, pecans and avocado.  One baked yam with the skin topped with coconut butter and cinnamon and 2 small turkey burgers patties pan fried in bacon grease. STUFFED!  And super happy:)

2 Isagenix fish oil
2 cod liver oil
6000 IU's Vit D
Siberian Ginseng
1 Kelp (iodine) supplement
1 Magnesium and calcium supplement


Training:
10 am : 80 minutes of intense Hot Yoga
5 pm: 100 burpees (as part of my friend Jim Beaumont's Burpee Challenge)

For more information on our A2O Finess Team please visit our website at www.a2ofitness.com or our Facebook page for all of our upcoming specials and events at http://www.facebook.com/pages/A2O-Fitness/116465051721612.  Happy training!!

Super Simple Paleo Workshop

Yesterday at A2O Fitness we were honored to have our friends from Idaho Kettle Bells bringing us the latest information about the paleo lifestyle, the health benefits, the ins and outs and the science behind why it works so well for so many.  This new "trend" in nutrition is really not a trend at all and in fact it is based on principles of how our bodies were meant to consume nutrients in the Paleolithic era. Jim Beaumot is an expert in the field and his passion for health and wellness inspires me.  He truly believes in helping each individual lead their healthiest happiest most fit life.  He and I have similar beliefs in our training style and technique and both of us strive to bring more education and knowledge to our clients and friends.  Below is picture of Jim speaking about the hormone balances in our body and how they regulate fat burning and our body's energy systems.  We are planning more events with Jim over the next few months so stay tuned to our Facebook page for more information.  http://www.facebook.com/pages/A2O-Fitness/116465051721612?ref=hl

Jim is an amazing athlete and truly "walks the fitness walk".  His martial arts background, kettle bell expertise and persoanl training experience make him a force to be reckoned with in and out of the gym.  He brings knowledge form his sports nutrtion certification and real life client testimonials and helps us transform our outlook on health and fitness. We are honored to be partnering with him on our Paleo workshops and kettle bell seminars at A2O Fitness. You can check out Jim on his website at: /http://idahokettlebells.com/

Today I wanted to update you on a typical training and nutrition routine for me so you can get to know that paleo is not that hard...it truly is eliminating the packaged goods and grains and following the "Back to Basics" principles of how our bodies were intended to be FUELed and how they were intended to move.  I change things up regularly and never stick to the same training schedule for longer than 8 weeks.

I do Hot Yoga for 70 minutes about three times per week to help keep me balanced and flexible.  I find it helps relieve stress, restore our physical imbalances and creates a way for our muscles to lengthened and stretched in a safe way.

This month Jim and I are challenging our clients and anyone who wants to join us for a burpee 100 per day challenge.  So I typically do 100 burpees either spaced out over the day with my clients or in one of our Power Express classes taught by out Triathlete in training Jenny Mac. You can find her blog on our website at: www.a2ofitness.com

Typically these classes are 40 minutes long with lots of metabolic body weight exercises that vary from core work to plyometrics to sprints and dead lifts depending on the day Jenny really mixes it up to make sure we get a total body workout and burn off as much energy as quickly as possible.  You can find our class schedule on our website at www.a2ofitness.com. She is a rock star and a super star athlete herself. I try to do these classes at least 3 days per week. Some weeks more some weeks less depending on my sleep, schedule and work load.  I try to listen to my body...if you are tired and planned on working out that day I encourage you to rest.  Your body tends to be very truthful when we listen.  Surrender and accept that each day is different. Your overall health will thank you for it.

Nutrition:
On a weekday I am up at 4am and I generally have a egg white protein shake with an avocado, almond butter or coconut butter all blended together at about 7 or 8 am.  Its delicious and the fat keeps me satisfied and energized throughout my morning.  I have one huge cup of coffee black with stevia and cinnamon every day.  I drink green tea most of the morning after that and if I get hungry I eat raw macadamia nuts or almonds.  On the weekends for breakfast I typically am a bacon and eggs kind of girl.  Three whole farm fresh local eggs cooked in clarified butter and three strips of organic bacon with lots of avocado and salsa.  I munch on raw nuts like pistachios if I am hungry...typically I am not. Every night around 7 pm I eat a very large green salad every night with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and what ever fresh veggies my friend brings me that week from her garden.  In the winter I eat a lot of squash and mostly bake them.  I include a main dish of whatever sounds good that week.  Sometimes steak, sometimes curry chicken, cod or sometimes turkey burgers with a flax seed bun.  Always meat and always greens no matter what with lots of added good fat like seeds nuts and avocado.

My hope is that my blog can help inspire or motivate you to make one small change everyday to improve your health, fitness and overall quality of life.  I hope you enjoy and I hope you will pass this along to anyone who may need a little extra encouragement or support.  For any personal training questions, Paleo nutrition question or class schedule information please feel free to email me at jenn@a2ofitness.com

So simple even a caveman could do it?

It's been a while I know, this busy mom is plugging away with her clients at A2O Fitness these days and I apologize for the delay in my blog posts.  I am back for a few moments while my daughter is knee deep in Justin Bieber songs. I wanted to dedicate this post to some topics I am asked on a daily basis from my clients, friends, family and potential clients about all the fitness hype out there.  I am going to try and break it down nice and simple for everyone.  I have a few guidelines (not rules...people break rules and tend to follow guidelines)

1. Intensity + Consistency = RESULTS. Fitness is about working out intensely and consistently.

2. A workout is not a walk. A walk is just well....a walk. We were designed to move and walk constantly. People come to me and say, "But I walk everyday I do exercise!" My response is always the same, "Good for you. What would be the alternative? " My point is that walking is a great way to get outside and enjoy the outdoors and sunshine not a great workout.

3. Be honest with yourself. Don't do more than you can handle, don't set unrealistic goals and always evaluate your progress based on your personal expectations not on the results of others.

4. Work smarter not harder.  Do not try to reach your fitness goals logging endless hours on a treadmill.  Do not over train instead train in short fast intense bursts that make you huff and puff and your heart rate soar.  Sprint for 1 minute, rest and then do it again. Move your body in all different directions, up, down, reverse, sideways and use your WHOLE body, not one body part at a time.  Don't stand in the mirror and do bicep curls thinking this makes you fit...it doesn't it causes muscle imbalances and kinetic chain issues that can lead to injury. Believe me I have done this and it is time consuming! Do pull ups, then squats, then push ups instead. Work smarter, faster and harder!

5. Be PRIMAL and do the following as much as possible: (based on the Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson)

-Sleep (my own personal fitness downfall...I never get enough myself).  Nine hours per night is optimal for recovery from exercise and keeping cortisol (stress hormone) levels low in the body

-Drink water...OFTEN

-Eat only when you are hungry (I was a firm believer in the past to eat 5 times a day and now I would never recommend this strategy when trying to improve body composition)

-Exercise when you are slightly hungry or first thing in the morning before breakfast

-Eat protein at all meals (pork, beef, bison, fish, poultry, eggs)

-Eat fat at all meals. Some good sources are avocado, almonds, coconut oil, nuts, clarified butter and my favorite animal fat...yes that means BACON

-Eat organic, eggs, meat, poultry and wild caught fish 

-Eat green vegetables every day

-Avoid ALL grains

-Avoid GMO's

That's it.  Really.... 

For more information on the Primal or Paleo Lifestyle we will be holding a Paleo seminar on November 17th at 9:30 am at A2O Fitness located at 511 Americana Blvd Boise with our fellow "Caveman" friend and Paleo expert Jim Beaumont of Idaho Kettle Bells.  Follow the links below for more information.  We hope to see you all there!

http://www.facebook.com/events/372411842847273/

Or contact me directly for details:

fitlud@gmail.com