Friday fun

  So my boyfriend and I celebrate our 16months together this time and I seem to be getting better with gifts I’m super excited for him to receive what I’ve got him. Christmas he received a star was voucher to see the new film at the cinema along with a light saber and some cool key rings etc. Oh and he got a food prep bag as he’s also a bit of a fitness fanatic. My work colleague recommened this company and its a mystery to me what exactly comes in the gift which is exciting but it’s super geeky and I know Josh will 100% love how cool it is! Will update you all once he has received it and give you more details on where you can get one from too.

Cardio! Stairmaster

  
  So my work out at the moment has upped my cardio and I’ve found love for types of cardio I hated before! I think my love has grown because I am seeing a change in my body now.  The stair master is one of my favourite machines in the gym you can be on it for 5minutes and have broken out in a sweat. Try having it on a slow speed and doing a squat on the top step before stepping back up again. Or doing kick backs! Creates and absolute burn. The best bit about the stair master is a 30 minute session on it burns an average of 223 calories. 

Working out

  
today’s work out consists of 30 minutes on the stair master and a heavy session. 4 sets of
10 wide leg squats- on the smith machine
10 normal squats – on the smith machine
10 flat bench chest press
15 flat bench flies
20 sit ups with added weight
and 60second plank
looking forward to feeling the burn.
currently got a routine that consists on more cardio than weights but still enough weights to not lose any muscle that I’ve built over the last 2 years of hitting gym.
 
 
 
 

Weekly motivation

Weekly motivationimageSo the first of many weekly motivation posts!

  
This week my inspiration post goes to Laurenbill. Give her a follow on Instagram you won’t regret it! I’ve been following Lauren for nearly 2 years and the journey she has made is incredible, not just her fitness journey but her business journey also. Her’s and her boyfriends gym The Hiit centre opens in Adelaide Australia next week and I have made it my plan to get over there some time and try it out! So if you are from Adelaide be sure to visit and let me know what it’s like I’d love to hear! She has a body to die for and her Instagram is full of fitness tips and videos.

Supplements

  
So excited to try all these new products as soon as possible. I decided to try MyProtein as i have tried there BCAA’s before and they tasted amazing. So wanted to try their bundle it also works well alongside the 6 week Bikini challenge am doing.Diet impact whey – simple blend of proteins that will contribute to the growth and maintenance of muscle mass, along with added green tea and L-Cartine

pre-workout formula to improve performance*. MYPRE contains all the pre-workout essentials including BCAA 2:1:1 and a combination of creatines, making it perfect when on the go.

combination of caffeine and Vitamin B6 and B12 to improve focus and contribute to the reduction of tiredness and fatigue

Omega 3, an essentially fatty acid that contributes to normal function of the heart. – great when on a budget and can’t afford all the fancy fish that contain Omega 3

Active Women provides a mix of vitamins and minerals that will contribute to a healthy immune system.

So far I’ve tried the blue raspberry pre work out this tastes amazing so is so easy to drink before a work, I can make it before I set off to the gym and be finished it by the time I start my work out. I also felt like this helped my energy levels throughout my work out.

I’ll you know how I get on with the rest.

Fruit delivery to the work place

  
I love the fact my work place are getting us weekly fruit deliveries , they are so popular in the office atm it’s gone within two days of it arriving.
 Here’s some reasons why fruit is good for you.

Fruit are important sources of many nutrients, including potassium, fiber, vitamin C and folate (folic acid)

Bananas are good for your heart. They are full of potassium, a mineral which is required to keep your heart beating. Bananas are high in fiber, which can help keep you regular. One banana can provide nearly 10 percent of your daily fiber requirement. Bananas can be helpful in overcoming depression,

Plus, vitamin B6 can help you sleep well, and magnesium helps to relax muscles.

Oranges are a low-fat, nutrient-rich food with a low glycemic index, which make it an ideal food to consume to protect against obesity, which can lead to other diseases such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure and stroke.

These are just two of my favourite fruits there are many many more good benefits the fruit so keepin eating. As they say 5 fruit of veg a day keeps the doctor away.

CARBS

  
We need Energy to stay alive. It also helps us grow, keep us warm and active. Food and drinks we consume provide us with the energy we need to do this.Our Muscle and brain source energy from the Carbohydrates we consume. So plenty of Carbs to keep those fueled.

Depending on your BMI (Basal Metabolic Rate) which measures the amount of energy you use for basic functions of the body to be maintains and also your level of actvity, will determine how much energy you need, as we are all different. Carbs include Bread, Rice, Pototoes, pasta, pulses and breakfats cereals.

Obviously the more active you are the more energy your body uses up. You will use up alot more energy if you are physically active as you can be increasing your muscle mass. Even when you are resting.

When it comes to your Weight it all depends on the balance between how much energy you consume from food and drinks and how much energy you use being active.

If you use are eating or drinking more energy than you use up you are going gain weight. Same goes for if you eat and drink less energy than you consume you will lose weight

Good fats and bad fats

Good Fats and Bad FatsFat is a rich source of energy. Fat is made up of Fatty acids; Saturated, Monounsaturated or polyunsaturated depending on their chemical structure. Some of these are essential to the diet but others are bad for our health if we consume too much.

Too much of any fat can encourage weight gain. Foods that contain alot of fat provide alot of energy and are called energy dense foods. Too many of these can lead to excess energy intake. This will be stored as fat and overtime can lead to obesity, Which then increases risks of various health conditions like heart disease,cancer or type 2 diabetes.

Reference Intake

Males -95g total fat

Females – 70g total fat

Saturates

Males – 30g

Females -20g

Basic nutrition

A healthy diet should include a variety of foods, from each of the main food groups, as this allows us to get all the nutrients that we need.

See the table below that is a guide to how much of what you should be eating daily.
  
Foods and drinks provide the energy we need to go about our daily lives but consuming more energy than we need over a period of time will cause weight gain.

The five groups in the eatwell triangle

 – Bread, Rice, Potatoes, Pasta, and other starchy foods. Carbs is what fuels us the most so your diet should consist of around 6 carbs a day, I personal go for wholegrain rice or sweet potatoe and sometimes pasta as a treat, these seem to be the healthiest options

– Fruit & Vegetables. As they say 5 a day keeps the doctor away.

– Milk & Dairy Products – 3 of these per day is ideal Milk and Yogurt are a good healthy source

– Meat, Fish, Eggs, Beans and other non dairy sources of protein – about 2 sources of this a day is regarded as being healthy.

– Food and drinks high in fat or sugar- very little should be consumed daily

Bikini challenge

  
MyProtein’s Nina Ioanna’s bikini body challenge.I won’t give you the full plan but if you want to check it out and try it for yourself check out http://www.myprotein.com/home.dept there website is full of information on work outs, hints and tips from their ambassadors and athletes who really do know there stuff. As well as selling supplements and clothing but see more about that on my nutrition page.  

The work out!!

So I’ve started Nina’s bikini body work out and it’s really shocked my body straight away and I’m aching almost straight away after my work outs and definitely getting a serious case of doms up to two days after work out. I’m only on week 1 but I’m so excited to carry on with her regime.

  
The work out consists of a mix of cardio and weights which is just what I need to mix up my work out after not feeling like my previous workout had stopped doing anything. (Not to say it hadn’t before but it’s important to shake your workout up often to see more results.)

So each day apart from rest day there’s between 30mins to 45minutes of cardio of some sort of another.

E.g

Treadmill,

bike,

cross trainer

and rowing machine.
Which I think is why I have been seeing results happening already throughout week 1 as I’m such a weights girl, I’ve always avoided cardio. There are two days in this regime that are purely cardio days which for me has been a real test to stay away from the weights section and I must admit one of the days I didn’t even make the gym for that cardio day
For week 1 for weight training it’s mainly body weight or light weight for me. I also a girl that prefers to go heavier that light. So the body weight stuff was a bit of a shock. The push up especially as I think the last time I did push ups I could only do 1 or 2. I also felt like I looked like a fool doing burpees but forced myself into theses.
I love how this workout is going so far, I’m loving the mix up of weights and cardio training, and the best bit for me is the fact I have 1 lower body day and 1 upper body and a full body work out.

I will continue to let you know how the other weeks go.
And to see the nutrition and diet that goes along side this check my post in the Nutrition part of my site.

Let me know if you check this workout out and let me know what results your finding..