WOD: Biceps/Triceps

Good Morning!! Happy Monday!

I know that Monday's are probably the most hated day of the week, but I choose to focus on it being a new beginning. Every Monday you get a new shot at your goals...at things you didn't get accomplished last week...you get to try to achieve those things in a NEW week. In social work we call this the strengths perspective...try this week to look at things in a positive way and I promise that you will have a better week!

So today I want to give you guys a workout. One of the areas that I am personally trying to better is my upper body. I struggle with a small upper body and that is why I workout upper body 4 times a week. 

1. Cable Curl (or barbell) (4x15) superset with Jumping Jacks (30)

2. Extension (4x15) superset with Burpees (10-15)

3. Tricep pushup (or close grip bench press (3x10)

4. BOSU ball shuffle (3x10) (see notes)

5. Dumbbell curls (standing) (4x15) superset with Tricep dips (4x15)

6. Shoulder Press (4x15)

BOSU ball shuffles - If you fortunate enough to have a gym with BOSU balls you should try and use them all the time! They help with creating core strength. BOSU ball shuffles - start with your hands on the dome, place right hand out, tap left hand to right, replace both on dome, repeat on the left side. Focus on keeping your arms straight, you should feel it in your shoulders, triceps, and biceps. ALSO don't "bow" your butt up. Make sure you stay straight in plank pose. Keep your core tight the entire time. Remember to breath, and go at a pace that it comfortable to you. I am going to put up a video later on Instagram so make sure to go check it out!

Happy Lifting! :-)

Motivation...Where do I get some of that?!?!!!

Hey Guys!! I hope you are having a fabulous start to your week. I am feeling good, I am on track with my diet so my energy levels are great, I'm sleeping well, and I am having great workouts! But...this isn't how I feel all the time. Sometimes I think we get caught up in the "hoopla" of other people and become discouraged. We see that "so and so" is always happy, always thin, always motivated and we get angry at ourselves for not feeling this way all the time.

I'm going to be real with you guys...sometimes I just want a big cookie, ice cream, brownies, and a glass of wine and sit my happy butt on the couch! I won't pretend that I have good gym days, or that I don't mess up on my diet at times. I won't pretend that I am always happy, but what I can tell you is that I work for those things constantly. I already talked about my views of happiness...it was a pretty good post if I don't say so myself, go and have a gander.

So the question becomes...how to do I keep my motivation up when I feel it going down. WOW what a GREAT question ;-)

I once had a client ask me about motivation...so I obviously gave them the definition...the act or process of giving someone a reason for doing something : the act or process of motivating someone (Merriam-Webster). But what does this actually mean? How can we increase our motivation so we stay focused and on task even when we don't want to...well I'll help you out with a few of mine (and with the help of another blog, you can check it out @ http://zenhabits.net/get-off-your-butt-16-ways-to-get-motivated-when-youre-in-a-slump/).

1. Set one goal - often times we get ahead of ourselves and set lots of goals. Unfortunately the human mind and body rebels against a lot of change at one time. Take one goal and make it your primary focus. For example most people set the goal to get healthy for a New Years Resolution. That's great...but being healthy encompasses a LOT of stuff. So set one goal, maybe get active 3 days a week or eat health 5/7 days, or not eat fast food. Once that becomes a permanent change (2-3 months) create another goal.

2. Find people that inspire you - you can do this is lots of ways. Social media is amazing (and not so amazing) with connecting people of similar mind sets. When I started my fitness journey I followed every fitness model/bikini pro/gym rat I could find...if they were out there I followed them. They helped me with new and different exercises, recipes, and motivation. I eventually weeded out some and only followed people that really inspire me. If you have Instagram, you can follow me @fitcassie_88 you can also look at my page and see the people I follow. :-)

(One of my faves, Amanda Latona is an IFBB Pro Bikini Athlete)

3. Think about it Daily - When you want sometime bad enough you should think about it all the time. Goals are meant to challenge you, that being said you want to find one that you have to think of new and creative ways to crush it. I haven't been doing the same fitness routine for the last two years...I change it up...challenge my body. I read articles and magazines everyday to learn more about fitness and nutrition. I talk with my friends everyday about it...probably to the point that they want to shoot me in the foot :-P But doing this makes it your primary focus.

4. Support - you want to have people around you who inspire and help you through this time. Whatever your goal may be, it will be challenging, you will want to quit, be with people who will force you to stick to it. I have a friend that I talk about prep with...she isn't doing a competition, she doesn't have the same fitness goals, but she pushes me and gives me that nudge when I don't want to do something (cough cough cardio).

5. Start small...super duper small - I know what it is like to have a big dream. Problem with big dreams is that sometimes getting there can be overwhelming and we eventually give up. It's better to start off small (with a larger goal/dream in mind of course) and celebrate small successes. Say you want to lose 25 pounds...wow that's a lot of weight...for anyone. Instead of focusing on the 25 pounds all the time...focus on 1 pound, keeping one pound off, keeping two pounds off...etc. That way you are happy with progress you have made and don't become discouraged by not reaching your 25.

6. Lastly...think about the benefits - being healthy is hard. I won't lie...it was so much easier to be fat and unhealthy. I didn't think about the food I was eating, I didn't care about how much weight I could squat, I didn't really care about calories...problems is I was unhappy...probably bordering on depressed about my weight. I had poor self esteem. Being healthy makes me happy on the inside and outside :-) it has pushed me to try new things. I have made new friends, pushed myself to get a new job, and to get on stage in a tiney tiny bikini in front of hundreds of people!! It may be a pain to weigh/measure all my food and exercise 5-6 days a week...but it's MUCH BETTER than the alternative!

(Progress pics for week 2)

Happiness :-)

Today I thought that I would give you guys a little bit of background on myself and why I decided to do this blog. About a year ago I ended a long term relationship, at the end I started to feel like I had lost myself somewhere and had no idea who I was or what I wanted from life. During this period I thought, well might as well get in shape while I think about who the hell I am. This was the greatest thing I could have ever done for myself. I have learned so much about myself in the last year than I have in the previous 25! One of the biggest changes I see is my self-esteem and overall happiness. I talk to my patients about happiness all the time, so I thought I would share some of my helpful hints that I have picked up over the last couple of years to increase happiness. Enjoy :-)
 
1. Positive Thinking - in typical social work fashion this has to be first! If you know anything about Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, you'll know that changing negative thinking into positive thinking is one of the main tenets. How do you do this you ask?! Well when you start to feel yourself, or catch yourself, being negative make a quick change to something more positive. Example - "I feel fat" change to "It's a beautiful day outside today". People a lot of times think that they have to make thinking changes toward themselves, that's very difficult in the beginning, it is much easier to just think about random positive things. Think about your favorite flower or a funny joke. Eventually those negative thoughts will decrease and you will begin to see things in a positive way.
 
2. Positive Peer Group - Have you ever heard that saying, "you are what you eat"? Same concept..."you are who you hang out with". If a person hangs out with people who do drugs and steal the likelihood of them participating is high. If you hang out with someone who likes fitness and health eventually it will be something you like as well. You want to be around people who bring out the best you possible. You want to be with people who push you to be better and are positive. Believe me...I have known positive Penelope and negative Nell and one is DEFINITELY better than the other. 
 
3. Self-Esteem - you are probably like "duh Cassie, this one is obvious". Unfortunately there are so many people out there that do not like themselves. Low self-esteem is for a variety of reasons. Some of it stems from early life experiences. Sometimes it develops later on in life due to continuous negative experiences. Whatever the reason people, a vast majority of these people are women, do not like themselves. I am very guilty of this. During my first prep I was CONSTANTLY comparing myself to others. I wanted to look like them, I wanted what they have. Well what is so fricking wrong with what I have right now?! Nothing is exactly right. I started to change the way I was looking at things, stopped comparing myself to others and almost instantly I was happier.
 
4. Love of Others - One thing that I have learned in life is that I have not gotten to this place in my life without help from other people. I have amazing parents. I have an amazing boyfriend. I have amazing friends. All of these people have been with me through thick and thin. This one is not "loving" someone in the romantic sense, it is about knowing that there are other people out in the world. This world does not revolve around you. When you have a bad day the world doesn't stop spinning. To love others is to leave your problems at the door sometimes as well as being able to trust others with super secret spy stuff (aka SSSS) :-) Believe it or not there are people out there that do not trust and all they think about is themselves, it's sad because they have to be very lonely. 
 
5. Spirituality - I honestly don't care if you believe in God or Jesus or Muhammad or whoever. Knowing that you are here on this planet for a reason should give you solace. It should be something to relish in and focus on when you feel off "centered". Spirituality is about knowing that no matter the reason, you are here and you have a purpose. Finding that purpose is the spice of life. Live it up, find what you like and go for gold! Meditation, prayer, church, yoga, deep breathing are various examples of ways to evaluate spirituality.

 
6. Hobbies - for goodness sakes do fun things! I mean for real, what do you like to do? Find fun things and do them! We tend to let hobbies go due to kids, job, time management problems, etc. Don't let these things get in the way of your happiness. Hobbies should be the thing you turn to when you need an escape, when you want to turn that frown upside down. :-( ---> :-)
 
7. Healthy Lifestyle - this one is probably the easiest to understand. Put crap in = get crap out. Healthy lifestyle - this includes exercise and diet. But it also includes sleep and your emotional/mental well being. I am not going to go into health a whole lot because I mean...seriously this is a blog about health, come back and I'll CONSTANTLY tell you about it ;-)

 
8. Practice, Practice, Practice - happiness is not something fixed...it is fluid. Some days will be better than others. You want to practice these 7 things DAILY! I promise that if you practice you will feel much happier :-)
 
I know this is not a typical post for me...but I think that mental health is just as important as physical health...you cannot have one without the other. Hope this helps...please ask questions in the comment section if you have any!!

Fasted Cardio: To Do or Not To Do, That is the Question?!

Fasted Cardio

 

So lately I have been seeing a lot of articles on fasted cardio. I am not one to jump into a program lightly so I have been doing some research. I was surprised to find so many articles contradicting the other. So I want to discuss the reason people do fasted cardio and my opinion on cardio.

 

First, the definition. Fasted cardio = cardio on an empty stomach. Second, the purpose. The purpose of fasted cardio is so that your body will be at a glycogen (fuel) deficient state that your body will have to pull fat to burn for energy. So is fasted cardio better than "normal" fed cardio? To the best of my knowledge...no it is not. For people looking to put on lean muscle mass, fasted cardio can acutally be detrimental to your progress. During fasted cardio your body is breaking down fat and fatty acid are released into the bloodstream, but there are too many and the body isn't able to process and therefore they are reabsorbed back into fat cells. It has been shown that low intensity fasted cardio does burn fat, but you have to do cardio for longer than 90 minutes...thats 3 episodes of The Big Bang Theory! I don't have that kind of time lying around in the morning! Fasted cardio may burn more calories upfront but you stop burning calories the minutes you stop doing cardio. To burn fat you want your body to go into "excess post-exercise oxygen consumptions" (EPOC) this is called afterburn, these are calories you burn hours after you have stopped exercising...this doesn't happen with fasted cardio.

 

My suggestion? HIIT cardio. It has been proved over and over that high intensity interval training is the best cardio for your body. First, it is quick (average 15-45 minute sessions). Second, it can be done anywhere (outside, home, gym). Third, intervals keep the person guessing so time goes faster. I LOVE HIIT. This is the only way I do cardio anymore. Usually I do cardio right after weight lifting so 15-45 minutes is the perfect amount of time. I also like it because it's not boring...I am not one of those people that can run on a treadmill or ride a bike for hours...I would DIE. My suggestion is to get a heart rate monitor, doing this you will be able to monitor your heart rate and adjust intervals to your necessity. I have posted a couple of HIIT workouts...some of my favorites are on the treadmill but I have recently started going outside to do cardio. Cardio outside is also great because I can do it with the dog...two birds with one stone anyone?!?!

 

HIIT is also super awesome because it help your hormones. When you have a good diet, sleep 7-8 hours a night, lift weights, your hormones will be super helpful in building lean muscle. Always remember...

 

lean muscle = more fat burning = awesome sauce

 

Cassie's Tips for Cardio: (kinda sorta stolen from Men's Health)

1. Always Always Always warm up - at least 5 minutes before cardio AND weight lifting

2. SPRINT - do max for 30 secs and then recovery for 90ish secs

3. Good posture - when on any cardio machine it is easy to have bad posture, you want to make sure that you have good posture in order to decrease possible injury.

4. Recovery - when doing interval you want to go to 90% of your effort, with this being said you need to give your body time to recover. When sprinting you should find it hard to breath at the end of the 30 secs, and then 90 sec recover to normal breathing.

5. Take your cardio outdoors - I mean hello...vitamin D!! :-)

This is one of my treadmill HIIT workouts. 

1. Warm up - 5 minutes (spd 3.0, inc 7)

2. Lunges - 1 minute (spd 1.8, inc 1.5)

3. Walking plank - 1 minute (spd 2.0, inc 1.5)

4. Push-ups - 10-15 reps

5. Jump squats - 10-15 reps 

6. Walk- 1 minute (spd 2.0, inc 1.5)

Repeat x4

6. Cool down - 5 minutes (spd 3.0, inc 7)

***like what you see?! Check out my Instagram page for workouts, recipes, and motivation!!!  @fitcassie_88***