PROGRESS!!!!!!

There are very few things that are as rewarding as seeing progress. ...in any aspect of life.

I am so proud of my workout partner and I as we have been really focused on achieving a goal of unassisted pull ups.

When Maddy and I started we could do ZERO wide grip and 3 close grip with a little push on the rear end for the last ;) .

We work chest and back once a week and have been doing pull ups (as many as we can!) consistently every week for the past 4ish months... and drum roll please......

We currently do 4 wide grip pull ups (yaaaahhhooooo)
And 3 sets of 7 close grip
**dont mind the faces..this is hard sh*$

This is a celebration blog post :) and though we are no where near our goal (which is typewriters ..google it..amazing!!) We are getting there,  seeing progress and celebrating it!

Xo
Kara

Clean eating day 4

Whoops.. woke up a little late this morning and the kids and I were on the run.. my eating schedule got pushed back a bit but thats no problem.. just remember - you need to eat every 2-3 hours regardless of if your wake up time is 4am or 10am.

Water

Breakfast 8am 2 poached eggs on rye toast, half an orange (kept the other 4ish slices for later), glass of water

Out the door.. No time for a coffee..get to the gym!

Snack post workout on the run I brought some dehydrated apples (these are delicious!! And ingredient list is as follows: apples  . They are crunchy like a chip and oh so good) and I had two arbonne fit chews for protein.

Spent a couple hours with my sons class and brought them skating..fun fun.

Lunch.. more like a snack again as I had decor to put up and not really a ton of time. Yoghurt (typically prefer the greek unflavoured unsweetened but I was in a rush) , the other half of my orange and some leftover protein pancake from the other morning.

With my second liter of water I was not feeling much like another snack so just had a fit chew to keep my metabolism humming along.

Supper I roasted a whole chicken and I took off the skin before eating. Sweet potatoes crispy, veges ..water . I added a little siracha to my chicken. It was moist but I needed a kick. ** this is very close to what a pre figure competition meal would look like without the corn and add another green veg. 

Curtis and the kids fully enjoyed the crispy chicken skin :/ .

After supper COFFEE ! Ya.. I had been looking forward to it all day :)

Snack.. I had made soup from the chicken carcass and leftover veg. So I had a small bowl for a snack and right before bed I also had a tea.

Happy ( clean) Eating!
Xo
Kara

AB Hell

Most people on this planet would love to have a six-pack. It seems so unattainable,  it is a sign of low body fat, of commitment, and of perseverance. We all know how many crunches it takes to get them.. a friggin lot.. and we also all know that it takes a pretty lean diet as well.

Abs are made in the kitchen.

I have put together a group of exercises that works core, abdominal muscles and oblique muscles. 

Having a strong core helps to have a healthy back & hips and really affects our daily lives and the tasks we perform. 

Welcome to AB Hell.

Now..remember a few things. .just like any other exercise make sure you breath. We want to hold our breath when doing hard exercises. Make sure to take deep steady breaths. .exhale on the exertion. Dont forget to stretch too.. again these are muscles just like your shoulders and legs. Stretch to help ease the soreness that may come from a hard workout. Stretch back and hips as well. Warm up, Drink water, crank up the tunes and get them done!

I wrote the #of reps i did beside each exercise but you can start with whatever number you can do to complete all exercises..remember it should be difficult :) so maybe you can do 10of each or maybe you can do 50. Do whatever makes you struggle and if you get through it and can do more..great!

There is many differing opinions on how much and how often to work your abs. Even top trainers disagree with whether you should do a little abs every day, or full stand alone workouts with rest days in between.  They are muscles so it seems to me that some rest in between makes sense, but on the other hand we use our stomach and core daily in almost everything we do so they are used to it! I have personally had success with both so i suppose you can do what you feel works for you. 

There are many many many different exercises you can do to work your core just make sure you are always working upper, lower and obliques when doing abdominal work.

Here's to a sexy strong mid section!!

Kara

Supermans! Lijhggft legs and arms and hold

Shoulders and cardio

Loved this Sunday morning workout! There was very few people in the gym, so space and equipment was totally up for grabs!

I passed on the cardio machines and set up a little workout to get the heart pumping and the body warmed up.

50high knees
25pushups
50jumpsquats
15mountainclimbers
15burpees
25pushups
50jumpingjacks

Repeat!

I had only about an hour so I chose high intensity and only one main muscle (shoulders)

Once warmed up I chose multiple shoulder exercises alternating with a cardio move to keep the heart rate up. All shoulder exercises were alternating lighter weight (to 12reps) and heavier weight (max out at 6reps) 4sets (2 of each weight)..examples are below!

-shoulder flys to the side 12lbs to 12reps, alternate with the skater jumps to 25, then 20lbs to 6reps (pictures of these are attached below!)

-seated shoulder press with 50lbs for 12reps alternate with bench step ups to 25 then 80lbs for 6

Etc. Etc.. find exercises that work the muscle group you are targeting and keep the heart rate up in between. This will really burn calories and increase your cardiovascular health.. all in a small amount of time.

Anyone can go to the gym for an hour.. what you make of it is up to you!

Xo in health and happiness for 2015!
Kara

A Weekly Food Journal

I have been inspired by something on Pinterest :

"Anyone can work out for an hour a day, what you decide tonyou on your plate for the remaining 23 is the hard part"

Wow.. light bulb right!?!?! Becasue it is 1000000000% TRUE. Your body is 70% what you put in your mouth, 10% genes and 20% exercise and any qualified trainer will tell you that.. some will even bring that number closer to 80 or 90%

Sure, there are many many things that affect what we eat.. work, lifestyle,  schedules, etc etc but all of them can be overcome with proper planning.  So..I will show you what I eat for this entire week. Not only will this help to give you an idea of some clean options and portion sizes but it will also keep me on track as I need to start dialing in my diet if April will be my competition date.

First thing first.. plan it out! Im an old fashioned girl when it comes to that so paper and pencil it is. Close to competition the diet gets quite restricted and a little boring.. yes.. those pictures of row upon row of Tupperware is competition dieting (can you say fish for breakfast ???? ) but that is by far not the norm of my yearly food consumption. Good food is pleasure and giving up sugar and refined carbs does not mean you have to give up flavour.

In all honesty I much prefer going to the grocery store, seeing what is fresh and inspiring and plan in my menu from there. .and I have no issue going every day. I rarely make the same thing twice in 6months and leftovers are for breakfast or lunch..never supper again. I get just as bored with food as I do workouts! 

I will.plan on baking a treat and a healthy snack each week and the rest is made from what I have in the pantry and the fridge.  Here is what im looking at for the week but it could certainly change once I get to the store!

Snacks: protein balls, shakes, raw almonds and pecans, sliced fruit and veges with clean "dips" almond butter, peanut butter, hummus, salsa etc, boiled egg, popcorn

Breakfast: protein pancakes, oatmeal & fruit, greek yoghurt, eggs poached/boiled/scrambled, baked oatmeal/quinoa, guacamole on toast

Lunch: leftovers from clean supper, tortilla wraps with veg and lean meat, salads with protein (chicken/tuna/beans), home.made soup

Supper: shrimp curry, chicken in salsa, roasted salmon and veg, turkey breast mashed cauliflower,  lean meatballs and brown rice,  bbq steak and leeks

Drink: WATER, herbal teas, ginger tea, arbonne fizz tabs, coffee (black)

I will post the weekly pics all together on Sunday night. I hope it helps to inspire you to take a close look at your diet and see if you can make small changes to eat more frequently,  to drink more water, and to choose healthy options when it consents fill in your.plate.

food is fuel.

Xo
KARA

Gorgeous Gams

Legs. Thighs. Butt. For me this is my trouble spot. This is where I gain weight first and lose it last.

I do love my legs.. they have always maintained some muscularity, and they are pretty long so I can stretch out any weight gain and still look proportional but it can be frustruating when you are seeing great results everywhere else but the place you want to see go down the most is the most stubborn! For this reason... I never skip leg day! 

It is easy to put off things that are difficult to do.. and legs are certainly one of the most challenging areas to work becasue a lot of the exercises are big compound movements.. meaning that they use more then one joint. .often requiring your entire body. Boy oh Boy can these muscles burn when you ate really hitting them hard.

If you talk to anyone who knows anything about exercise, muscles, weights, you will be hard pressed find someone who, if asked "what is the one most beneficial leg exercise: ... the answer will 99.9999999% of the time with SQUATS

So.. lets focus on those. I think most people think squats and they think Squat Rack... lots of plates.. some grunting and yelling... and knee injuries. The majority of stereotypes about weight lifting are perpetuated by steroid injected muscle heads and yet the majority of people hitting the gym are very far from this.

The benefits of a proper squat is that it increases ↑↑↑↑↑↑↑ both the flexibility and strength in core, hips, and knees.

A basic body weight squat.. no rack, no barbell, no gym.. can completely transform your workouts and your body.. so lets focus on how to do it.

1- feet should be hip width or slightly wider and slightly turned out

2-back straight and core tight.. actually your whole body should be flexed

3-neck should not be looking at the floor or the ceiling. .this causes strain on your neck and spine..esp when you add a barbell. Keep your eyes and chin slightly up but you should be looking at the wall **this is a debate with body buildings and trainers as many think you should be looking skyward.. do some research, talk to your doctor even and make your own choice.

4-weight should be on your heels and some on the balls of your foot. You should be able to lift/move/wiggle your toes at all times throughout a squat.

5-when you squat down you should be pushing your hips back, keeping back straight and knees remain over the toes..never going past.

6-the weight lifting term "ass to grass" is when you squat all the way down so your calves and hammies are basically touching..and then push back. A full squat is when your hip bone comes parallel to your knees.. anything less is considered a partial squat.

7-when pushing back up you exhale, drive your hips up while clenching your butt.

Doing squats will help you with everyday tasks such as shovelling snow, avoiding injury,  keeping a lean body (glutes, quads, hamstrings burn a ton of calories so keep them in shape!)

See the pictures below for better understanding of how to properly work this amazing exercise. Take 5min while making supper...do 3 sets of 15 body squats every day and your bathing suit will thank you come summer :)

Rock the Squat!
♥ Kara

Clean eating chicken balls

I love making recipes CLEAN ..

Basically that means that they have to follow all of the clean eating rules AND still taste great.. because food is fuel ..the better the fuel..the better your body will run...  but it is also one of lifes greatest pleasures..  im not interetsed in eating anything that tastes like cardboard or kleenex..

I am very much a meatetarian ..  meat and veges  is basically what I cook most often for supper. ~ lamb, steak, chicken, salmon, lean pork, lean hamburger,  ground chicken, turkey, tuna as well as any wild meat.. yummmmmm partridge.. and every vegetable under the sun.. also some clean carbs and occasionally pasta.

In all honesty, my cooking is much like my working out (and my life in general) .. I dont really plan what im going to cook and I definitely never cook the same thing in a month.. having Fridays as pizza day, wednesday as pot roast and monday as mac and cheese is not something that appeals to.me.. I also dont do leftovers
.. eat it.once... maaayyybee for mmmmm lunch or breakfast the next day but probably not.  So .. I go to the grocery store..se what looks fresh.. buy it and make supper that night. We keep staples on hand... greek yogurt, fruit, milk, eggs (always!) ans nuts.. small amount of pantry items like.peanut butter, olive oil, herbs & spices, honey, whole wheat bread, brown rice cakes etc etc.

Typically our meat comes froma  local Mennonite butcher. The cuts and quality are better then anyone else.. they make their own breakfast sausage and their bacon barely shribks with littlenamount of grease melting off.... seriously these will be a post all on their own. Today prime ground chicken was on special at the local Independent Grocer and so I went woth that.. got home and decided to make meatballs..... clean meatballs.

Im not a recipe kinda girl but here is approx so you can make them at home.

2lbs ground chicken, 1c ish oatmeal flour (basically throw oatmeal in bullet and shake and grind till four) , 2 eggs, sea salt and ground pepper..mix. I found it a little soft so I added a good handful of whole oatmeal too.

Mix with your hands, pull out balls and fry in a little cold pressed extra virgin olive oil.  use a pan that can go into the oven becasue once you get a nice golden yummy crust throw them into a 350° oven and cook 20ish minutes till no longer pink..this will depend on size of balls..best to check by splitting one open.

I made a sweet & sour sauce for the family but kept mine out ad they were delicious on thier own and I want to start dialing in my diet a little.  I had my sister in law, brother and their kiddos over too so I made some basmati rice, carrots and a salad of spinach, pomegranate (STOKED when these are back in season ..one of my absolute favorite fruits), almond slices, and feta with homemade balsamic dressing.. (please make your own dressing!!!!!) . 

Supper took little time, I have salad and chicken balls leftover for lunch, kids love anything that looks like a ball.. and they were easy to make, provided protein, were filling, healthy and low in fat.. perfect!

Take the time to eat at home. Make food. Know what you are adding and eating. Show your kids how to cook. Give your body the very best so it can perform the best.

Enjoy!
Kara

Tis the Season

So.. there will be the regular.. how to stay on track at the holidays.... how to fit in your workouts... how to not drink too much eggnog and spiced rum. Etc etc.. but this is just a little post becasue #1 I saw the pic below, love the Grinch and thought it was funny.. and #2 .. for some reason my local gym is all about playing the Christmas tunes. Yeah yeah.. I know .. bahhhumbug :)

Hmmm..   super happy for my ipod!!! I do love Christmas music.. the kids and I sing them in the car all year round. We often google the words to know more then the first verse of many Carols and look forward to the Holiday season and all that goes along with it.... BUT .... there is nothing ... absolutely nothing about "Silent Night" that gets you pumped for a workout.. or how about "Ill be home for Christmas" to get you really amped up for some heavy lifting??? Ya....No.

Stoked I charged up my music... Rancid it is! 

And just as I was finishing up I was treated to a beautiful rendition of "my favorite thibgs"... you know the one.... "raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens.." .. so.. in honour I created my own "favorite things ~ gym version" .. keepthe tunes and sing along :)

Barbell and Kettlebells and feel in the burn

Intervals and supersets, no taking turns

Walking on stage with bikini and bling

These are a few of my favorite things.

Bulking and cutting and not eating carbs

Forced reps and hard sets in converse high tops

No sugar, white flour and no gin slings

But these are a few of my favorite things! :(

Lean body mass and hitting your peak

Pass on injections and being a juice freak

Racking up.plates and supplement stacking

These are a few of my favorite things!

When the glutes ache

When the calves sting

When my lungs are feeling had

I look at my pipes and know im the king

And then I dont feel so bad

****ya.. im a total geek like that :) enjoy!

~Happy December 1!

Xo
Kara

Snow day yoga!

I kind of had an idea that it may be a snow day today... living in Northern Ontario  .. we get a few. I am very blessed to have my Arbonne business that allows me to be able to stay at home with my kiddos when this (often) happens and not be struggling for daycare or braving the icy roads to get to my j.o.b.

Blake, Gracie and I get to spend the day cooking, playing and doing whatever we want. . looking at this snow day as a gift rather then a pain in the butt.

I do have to modify my workouts a bit tho..but with the internet at my fingers I can come up with a decent home workout.

Yesterday was HIIT (yep..me and Jake again this time with 40bar sprint intervals..holy sweating!!!!) And legs.  U was super stoked as it was the first time I did actual squats is Forever since knee surgery.  Sure it was pretty light but I dont care.. I did the full range of motion  and without pain.. and even today, not much swelling. Last night I had a couple reflexology sessions and finished up around 8:30pm...  ... with my kids already being in bed I guilt free hitting the gym again.

I dont often work out twice in a day except when I seperate cardio and weights.. but knowing today may be a write off, and frankly I typically do team sports at night..without these I have been going a little crazy :p.

Last night..bike and glutes.. not a huge workout but enough to get sweating and I didnt hit glutes when doin legs in the morning.

Today the kids and I did a yoga workout off of youtube.. 30min. Then I did some pushups & crunchies. Basic stuff but gets you moving!  On to crafting, dancing and outside playing :D

Be thankful for today!
♥Kara

Chocolate dipped Strawberry Protein Bars

I swear this is not a cruel joke.. I'm not lying to you either.

These are Heaven.

I have been doing my very best to stay out of the kids Halloween candy and frankly,  its been going quite well but only becasue I have come up with a plan... make healthy treats!

I have made my fair share of protein balls to curb the sweet cravings and though I absolutly love them and make them slightly different each time.. I needed a change... and well.. here it is!

Simple, few ingredients, no bake, and so yummy ..... pretty proud of this!

21/2c strawberries (I only had frozen on hand.. thawed and they worked great) blend till smooth
Add
1cup of each coconut flour and vegan vanilla protein powder.. mix together till forms a soft dough and spread it on wax paper on sheet.. thickness is up to you.

Place in fridge and melt 1c (ish ;) ) dark chocolate  and spread over strawberry protein base.

I added sliced almonds to half leaving the other clear so kiddos could pack it in their lunches (no nut school policy) .

Once dark chocolate has hardened up, remove from fridge, cut into bars or squares, pack up and back to fridge...

Try them!

*** other protein powders will work ok too but the pea & brown rice combo of Arbonne really is better for flavour and easily digestible.  It is also vegan, gmo free, and doesnt contain artificial colour or flavours. The flavour of your protein is paramount in this recipie!!!

Xo
Kara

Going heavy

LOVE LOVE LOVE the new workouts!!!!

Today was shoulders, biceps and triceps and I was feeling the pain by the end.

Almost every exercise was switched up so that I did one set of 12 then one sure heavy set of between 3-8 reps depending on what I was working... and it felt awesome to grab soemthing super heavy and really tear things up! :)

Here.is a couple examples:

Triceps push down on the cable machine.. on a typical day I would do this super set with a bicep.. maybe dumbbell curls with the tri being 25lbs, and the bi being 15lbs. I would do 3 sets with of 12-15reps.

This new workout I did not superset...

Triceps push down was 12 reps at 30 rest 1min then push down for 8reps at 45lbs. Rest repeat,  rest, repeat.

Then change exercises to bicep..
12reps of 15lbs rest then 6 reps of 25 . 
I have never curled 25!!! Felt awesome and my body is going to respond with some gains in size and strength and I cant wait!.

Today is leg day which will be interesting and I will modify as I am still not able to add weight to most exercises.. so a super heavy set is obviously out... but I'm definitely keeping the heavy sets in for any body part I am able!!!

Woop woop

(Yeah.. this kinda thing gets me excited :)

♥
Embrace change and challenges!!!
Kara

Date with Jake

Great workout today! Started off with my Jake.. love that thing! 15min with intervals  and then switched Maddy for another 15 on the bike... (I dont like sharing him, but I will always share with my Derby wife Merciless Maddy ;) )

It got us sweating so we hit back and chest.. pull ups, pull downs, flys, seated row, bent over rows, bench press, and Divebomb pushups...

Divebombs are insane and hit your shoulders and core as well.. see pictures below! Its live diving down under a fence and then he a up and reverse. . down and back up is one rep..

It has been working out that Maddy and I do chest and back on tuesdays.. but we always change up the exercises to keep ot interesting,  keep our bodies guessing,  and also becasue she has a stronger chest and I have a stronger back... so we push eachother with our weights and reps.

A good (& buff!) friend gave me some workouts to try so we will jump into those tomorrow and I will let you know how we make out.  Thanks Jeff! Looking forward to switching things up again.

Back to the gym

So.. it has been over a week since I have been to the gym :( and it has killed me just a little bit.

Monday and tuesday last week were snow days and besides playign outside with the kids.. we mostly did crafts and baking. Wednesday I spent 7.5 hours in a friends tattoo chair getting a coverup for a fairy tattoo on my ankle that I have had since I was 15 (not getting into how many years ago that was).

I absolutly LOVE it ~ see pictures below :D

It did however derail the few days post. So I spent most of Wednesday clenching every muscle in my body and considered that a decent workout.

The next 2days it started to swell my ankle and was still a little goopy, pretty sore and I slept on the couch propped up on pillows as I was scared I would wake up stuck to my bed sheets . ha! but seriously I was scared. Friday night we had an awesome roller derby fundraiser dance where I... of course... still squeezed my cankle (not a typo)  into my 3" heels.. and did some dancing...

Saturday & Sunday I was feeling the pain (and should have taken photos of the size of my foot!)  and had a full two days of hockey tournament with my son Blake.. no time for hitting the gym.. though with the up and down and jumping around in my seat I still burned a few calories :p

And here we are.. Monday and finally the tattoo is starting to dry up and scab over and though it still feels a little tight,(& bloody itcht!) im not so concerned about getting a little sweat on it.. and we all know.. when I come to workout, I come to sweat!

Still a bit of work to be done on the tattoo but nothing as major as Wednesday and im probably NEVER going to get anything close to my achilles again.. (rather birth a third child then do that again... ;)

Some pics below of the work in progress as well as the swelling! Worth it in the end, just make sure to plan any work you are getting done so you can put life on hold a bit after.

Back on schedule!! And loving it ♥ Did an hour on the bike to start the week off right then some legs and core .

Xo

KARA