Hey Everyone!

I hope you all had a great weekend! With the holidays coming up I want to focus on staying focused during this time. Remember we all want to have a good time, and no one wants you to not enjoy the holidays. Having cake, pie, stuffing, etc is ok in portions, but its important to stay focused on health and goals. During this time I try to enjoy the things that I like to eat (sweets, sweets, sweets) but I also continue to go to the gym and eat my normal food 90% of the time. Don't let all your hard work go to waste!!

So this is what I am purposing..."No Fat November". This is a plan that is relatively simple and will help us all stay focused. I will be the first to admit that since I got back from vacation it has been hard to stay focused. I want this to be the time of year that I complete my goals and get focused for my future fitness goals.

What I also think is important is that we set goals that are not directly related to the gym. Maybe its eating better, maybe its focusing more at work. I think that it is important to focus on health and wellness, but that does not just incorporate the gym and nutrition. It also includes your mental health and physical well being. So think about something that would help your overall health. This month I am going to try (please bare with me on this) to let you know about the workouts I am doing, as well as food. If ever in doubt, check out my Instagram page, I definitley get more stuff going there.

Here is my workout for today:

-Back and Biceps

1. Seated Row superset Dumbbell Curls (4 sets, 15-10 reps)

2. Dumbbell Row superset 21's (see description below) (3 sets, 15-10 reps)

3. Lat Pulldown superset Hammer Curl (dumbbells or cables) (3 sets, 15-10 reps)

4. Push-up superset Burpee Curl (5 sets, 10 reps)

-Cardio: 30-45 Minutes - Interval Training.

--Descriptions:

1. Dumbbell curls can be done in a variety of different ways. I like to start with my palms facing my outer thighs, and while bring the weight up I turn my wrists to face the ceiling. You can also start with your wrists facing away from you and bring them straight up with no pivot.

2. 21's - using a barbell, 7 full curls, 7 curls where you stop at 90 degrees, 7 curls from 90 degrees to 45 degrees. See my Instagram for a video example.

3. Lat Pulldown's can use a variety of different bars. Make sure which ever bar you are using that you pull with your lats. At times when the weight gets heavier people tend to want to use their arms to help...don't do that. You also want to make sure that your back stays straight during the motion, don't use momentum to bring the weight down either.

4. Burpee Curl - do a modified burpee, when you come up to standing position, instead of jumping you are going to curl. Make sure the weight is relatively light this exercise is very challenging.

Happy Lifting guys! :-)

WOD: Leg Day :-)

So Monday was leg day, one of my favorite days! Leg day has always been a favorite of mine because I have naturally strong legs. I want to share my leg day workout so that all of you can have fabulous legs and booty :-)

When doing a leg day one must first understand muscle usage. You will get a much better workout if you are thinking about the muscle you are supposed to be using when doing an exercise. For example, I have very strong quads so when I would do a leg curl I would pull with my quads totally defeating the purpose of the exercise. So I found a diagram of the leg muscles that you can look at to make sure that you are using the right muscle. I will also put on the workout what the primary muscle is from the exercise.

(Picture from make-me-strong.com)

I hope this helps, if at any point you have questions feel free to ask!

WOD:

1. Leg Curl Machine (focus - hamstrings)
Sets - 5
Reps - 15, 12, 10, 8, 15 (last set return to lighter weight)

2. Seated Leg Press (focus - quads and glutes)
Sets - 5
Reps - 15, 12, 10, 8, 15 (last set return to lighter weight)

3. Seated Leg Press, Calf Raises (focus - calves)
Sets - 4
Reps - 30, 25, 20, 15

4. Smith Machine Squats (focus - complete leg)
Sets - 4
Reps - 15, 15, 15, 15
**to make this more difficult I use a BOSU ball. I put the ball on the dome part and balance myself. I like this because it forces me to engage my core during the exercise, which is what a lot of people forget to do during squats**

5. Inverted Leg Press (focus - quads, hams, glutes)
Sets - 5
Reps - 15, 12, 10, 8, 15
**towards the end of this workout you may be getting tired, but if you're not I would pulse for as long as you can on the last set to help start the "burnout" process.**

6. Reverse Lunge into Step Up on Bench (focus - hamstrings and glutes)
Sets - 3
Reps - 20, 20, 20 (ten each leg)
**to see an example of this check out my Instagram, I put a video up**

7. Barbell Calf Raises
Sets - 3
Reps - 30, 30, 30

30 minutes of cardio
- For cardio on leg day it depends on how I feel which kind of cardio that I do, steady state or interval. On this leg day I chose to do interval because I didn't feel to terribly bad and wanted to push myself. I change up machines (treadmill, elliptical, bike, stair climber, etc.) that I use and the interval routine. I don't have a specific routine that I like to do, I just mix a bunch of different types of intervals together. So here is a little routine you can try.

3 min warm up (incline 5.0, speed 2.0-2.8)
1 min jog (incline 1.5, speed 5.0-6.0)
1 min walk (incline 1.5, speed 3.5)
30 sec sprint (incline 1.5, speed 8.0+)
30 complete rest
Repeat sprints 5 times total
1 min jog (incline 1.5, speed 5.0-6.0)
1 min walk (incline 1.5, speed 3.5)
1 min walk (incline 10, speed 2.8)
1 min walk (incline 11, speed 2.9)
1 min walk (incline 12, speed 3.0)
1 min walk (incline 13, speed 3.1)
1 min walk (incline 14, speed 3.2)
1 min walk (incline 15, speed 3.3)
2 min cool down (incline 1.5, speed 2.0-2.8)

Total time - 20 minutes

Happy Lifting!!