Shoulder WOD

So the other day I post some videos on Instagram about the shoulder workout that I did at home. What I love about fitness is that you can do it any where! At times it can be frustrating going to the gym because it is crowded and you are unable to follow through with you plan. That is why I like the option of doing a home workout.

Home workouts can be fun and different. I have done no equipment workouts, HIIT workouts, and some weightlifting workouts. So the workouts that I put on Instagram can be done at the gym, and they can be done at home. I used weights for this particular workout, but it can be modified for no weights. You can add exercises that are more plyo (pushups/dips), you can also use house hold products for weight (milk jug anyone?!?!)

So here is the workout, enjoy!

1. Alternating Dumbbell Press (3x15)
2. Barbell Shoulder Press superset Upright Row (3x10)
3. Lateral Raise (3x10)
4. Behind-the-Neck Press (3x10)
5. Rear Delt Raise (3x10)
6. Arnold Press (3x12)

Simple and fun. I put a timer on for 30 minutes...so no dawdling around!!
 

Health Food Face Off: Ground Turkey vs. Ground Beef

So today during a meeting I was talking about breakfast (imagine...me...talking about breakfast!!) and I was saying that I had some turkey sausage links this morning and he replied, "You know turkey isn't always healthier than beef". At first it kind of took me aback, but then I started thinking...

IS GROUND TURKEY HEALTHIER THAN GROUND BEEF? 

So there are a couple different points in this debate. (1) Nutrition, (2) Price, and (3) Taste.

(1) Nutrition: just with about anything you can find ground turkey and ground beef that have about the same nutritional value. Some of the things that you want to look for in meat products are saturated fat and calories from fat. Cholesterol is also present in meat products and if you are looking to lower your cholesterol than you should look for meat products that are lower in cholesterol. 93% percent turkey/beef means that both products have 7% fat. These are the nutrition facts for the nutrition facts for turkey and beef at 93%:

 (from Myfitnesspal.com database)

So when you compare you can see that both have similar calorie totals, similar fat, cholesterol is lower in ground beef. 


(2) Price: The biggest thing for me personally is price. I buy a large amount of eggs, ground turkey, oatmeal, and anything sugar free. I have noticed in the grocery stores here (New Orleans) ground beef is more pricey than ground turkey. If you have a hometown butcher that can get ground beef cheaply I would say "you go!!". But if you have to buy in bulk (competitor, family, etc.) lean ground turkey may be the healthiest and cheapiest.


(3) Taste: This is a personal thing. I was raised on lean ground beef  but to tell you the truth I can't really taste the different. Burger and meatballs are pretty much the only thing that I can say that probably would be better if it was 85% ground turkey or 90%, more fat helps the meat stay moist. But at the end of the day I look to seasonings and spices to help increase taste. 


At the end of the day it is up to you! I also encourage people to look at other forms of ground meat that can be tasty alternatives (i.e. buffalo, chicken, etc). It is also ALWAYS important to do your research and know what you are doing. Food is no different. Hope this helps and if you have any questions you can leave a comment or send me an email!


Happy FRI-YAY!!!!


:-)

Stress Less

http://tfosuccess.com/stress-management/

Ok, so this post is going to be a little different than normal. I want to talk about STRESS. Stress is one topic that I don't feel is talked about a whole lot in the fitness industry. Stress effects everything that you do.


So how does stress effect the body? How does it effect your fitness journey? The first thing to note is that stress activates the stress response in the body. The stress response basically tells your body that it is in danger and to protect itself (think fight or flight). In the caveman days the stress response would save caveman from lions and starvation. The stress response releases adrenaline and then cortisol (hormones). The adrenaline helps the caveman get to safety and the cortisol is released later to helps the caveman preserve as much body mass as possible. Cortisol also stores any food taken in as fat tissues, this is helpful later as fast energy. The body will "munch" on muscle because it is nutrient dense tissue and save fat for the very last. This process was very helpful to the caveman, you should thank this process because it's probably why you are here reading this post today! But the stress response is constantly activated in our world today, everything from the alarm clock to your busy day at work activates this system. So its imperative that you work on decreasing stress in order to help your body function at its peak.

So this is all well and good, but what does it have to do with your fitness journey? Well stress can derail your journey in more than one way. How you deal with stress is important, are you an emotional eater? Do you skip the gym because you have to much to do? Do you skip meals or just forget to eat at times? Stress can also derail results, you can be putting in work at the gym and at home, but stress will keep fat tissue and hamper muscle growth. All in all, stress can reek havoc on your journey, that is why it is so important to know what it looks like and how to resolve it.

So what does stress look like?!? Well its different for every person, and somethings that stress me out might not stress you out. Here is a list of possible signs and symptoms from helpguide.org.

Stress Warning Signs and Symptoms
Cognitive Symptoms	Emotional Symptoms
Memory problems Inability to concentrate Poor judgment Seeing only the negative Anxious or racing thoughts Constant worrying	Moodiness Irritability or short temper Agitation, inability to relax Feeling overwhelmed Sense of loneliness and isolation Depression or general unhappiness
Physical Symptoms	Behavioral Symptoms
Aches and pains Diarrhea or constipation Nausea, dizziness Chest pain, rapid heartbeat Loss of sex drive Frequent colds	Eating more or less Sleeping too much or too little Isolating yourself from others Procrastinating or neglecting responsibilities Using alcohol, cigarettes, or drugs to relax Nervous habits (e.g. nail biting, pacing)

Helpguide.org is a super helpful website that has so much information on stress and ways of coping. I suggest everyone go check it out!

Ok, so the last questions is how do I alleviate stress to help me in my fitness journey? Good questions :-) . This can be done is a number of ways. Meditation and self reflection melt my lil social worker soul...so those are good ones for sure. I also like to use exercise (duh!) to help decrease stress. I do this by switching workouts as well as diet style. I also do things that I like in the gym, I'm not a huge fan of cardio so I don't spend hours on a machine. I try to work in cardio with my weight training sessions. I also try not to worry so much about weight that I'm lifting, all I really focus on is getting a good workout in. It's about quality not quantity.

http://lerablog.org/health/useful-stress-management-tips-to-get-a-grip-of-your-life-in-times-of-financial-crisis/

Another way of decreasing stress is by focusing on what you can control. We get all wound up in things that we have no control over. This also goes for things that have happened in the past. I can't change what happened yesterday, so why stress over it? I use it as a learning tool and move on.

The last way that I will suggest (google stress management there are a million ways!) is to get adequate sleep. Sleep helps not only repair you physically but mentally. You need to get a decent amount (somewhere between 6-10 hours) EVERY DAY!!! Decreased sleep has been shown in studies to directly correlate to increase in fat intake (junk food) and decrease in motivation and physical activity. Sleep will help your overall feeling of well-being as well, win-win my friends!!

http://www.kryptonitereport.com/episode-27-beating-stress-before-it-beats-you-and/

Have a wonderful (stress free) day guys!! :-)