Mel's Daily Dose hopes to inspire and motivate you to be your best. How, by giving you the latest information out there on health and fitness. New tasty recipes, some fact or fiction about your health and the newest work out exercises. Hope you'll join me!
Follow the Leeder in Personal Training and Boot Camp!
Good morning, our "Circle of Love" question today in the gym is going to be, what is your daily eating challenge? Or in general your daily diet frustrations! Mine seems to be as of lately, drinking enough water. I can consume copious amounts of coffee no problem but, I can't seem to "want" to drink plain water right now. It has to be either ice cold or flavored with something, like a little squeeze of lemon. Yesterday, my sister-law Lara, sends me this awesome e mail about how to get your water intake up and to add some creative flavoring to it...Lara...you so great!
I thought this was awesome, label the bottles for YOUR daily schedule and below are some tasty ways to add a little flare to your water! Fruit wedges, lemon, lime, grapefruit, cucumber, blueberries, oranges, pineapple...mix them up and try some combo's or add some mint leaves. Let me know what your favorite flavor is!
I asked the question yesterday, in my gym, "What is your morning power breakfast?"...some said, oatmeal w.berries, eggs and toast, protein shakes and I think one or two of you, just made something up as not to receive a lecture from me!...I know you all too well.
What is the big deal about breakfast, let me tell you! Breakfast is the key to staying healthy, no matter how busy you are, it provides the energy you need to start your day with a hop and a skip and even a cartwheel if your hardcore! Some of the benefits are, jump-starting your metabolism in the morning because as you sleep, your body is fasting. Breakfast replenishes your supply of Glucose(Glucose is your body's energy source), so in order to get your body moving the way you want it to, get eating in the am! As well, a good balanced breakfast of proteins and carbs, helps to give your brain fuel so you can actually function in the morning and you are less likely to snack on sugary food throughout the day...unwanted extra calories. I know some of you say that you just can't eat right away, well neither can I. I get up early, have a coffee and within 30mins.I'm ready to eat, not alot but enough to get me going. I do my work out, then I'm ready for a full meal. Start small, see what works, and START a new habit!
Good morning, I don't know what is is about summer time that makes me crave MORE than usual, something sweet...in the morning...in the afternoon...and in the evening especially. I found this yummy treat off of Snack Girlwww.snack-girl.com...this is a really great website with alot of awesome recipes...here is one of them I thought I'd pass along to you, Banana Popsicle's!
Simple ingredients, Greek yogurt, granola, dried or fresh fruit and bananas. If you don't have any Popsicle sticks handy, just cut the banana up into small bite size pieces.
Dip banana into yogurt...I used strawberry yogurt for the kids as they are not fans of the plain Greek yogurt. If you have banana pieces, dip into yogurt with a fork.
Get a bowl and sprinkle a bit of granola and your favorite fruit, I used dried cranberries, over the banana. This can get messy so use a wide bowl or you'll have granola all over the floor...not that I would know!
Line pan with parchment paper, put into the freezer for a couple of hours...
And there you have it, Chase doing quality control for the sake of mankind! Just a note, I actually preferred the small bit size pieces of banana because my teeth don't like biting into anything frozen...this one you might want to eat outside or have your broom handy! Enjoy.
Here you go! A 30 minute full body work out to burn some serious calories!
Full body workout.30mins. plus 5min. warm up / cool down. Circuit #1 / 30sec.Knees-up along the slats on the floor / 15x Thrusters-squats w.overhead press / 8x alternating high knees into 4x alt.jumping lunges 1min. / 10 Good-mornings. 3 sets.
Circuit #2 / 30sec. lateral squat jumps / 30sec.knees up through slats / 12 stationary lunges w. alt. overhead press / SWTICH LEGS / 12 stationary lunges w.alt.overhead press / 6x Plank w.4 mountain-climbers into 4 jumping jacks / 10x Oblique cross-over 1 leg crunches / repeat other side. 3 sets.
OK so I'm not a big fan of waiting til Monday to get your life back on track from the ciaos of the weekend but today seems to be appropriately so. I had family in town over the weekend and let's just say, I indulged just a wee bit! You know all the good stuff that comes out when company arrives and it gives you an excuses to eat it or drink it! I had 2 glasses of wine on Saturday and I swear I'm still feeling the wrath of it. Yesterday was totally "Slug-Sunday" and today I had a 3 hour nap!!! It's now late afternoon, and finally I'm getting back on track. The point is, summer is here and you're going to enjoy it, so do so, and do it guilt free...as long as you get your work outs in and eat clean leading up to the pig out days. Try alternating a glass of water between cocktails and always have a veggie tray out...at least it will look like your trying to behave!
Well I was shopping at my fav. store and look what I found! Pretzel Braids or more like pretzel sticks, anyhow they are soooo awesome plus to make them more "sophisticated," they added a hint of honey. You can chow down on 17 of these and it will only be 200 calories, 2g fat, 4g protein and yes, of course there is some sodium, 330g. But the point is, this is a great alternative to pigging out on a bag of chips any day. There are 11 pretzels on that plate and after inhaling those, I was full...17 is a big portion. So cut it in half for half the calories, add some veggie sticks and enjoy!
OK so I saw on Cityline the other day they did a burger comparison of several fast food and resteraunt burgers. Let's face it, summer is here, back yard bar-b-ques are gonna happen. So go ahead have a burger, just don't make it a "Bacon-ater"...before you bit, make it an informed decision! As well, don't be fooled by thinking your making a "better" choice and choose a fast food salad, some of those, once you add the dressing, mind as well of had the Bacon-ater! Here's just a couple of comparison's...
Big Mac 540cal./29g fat /1020 sodium / 5g sugar / 24g protein.
If you did indulge in one of these, don't worry I have a work out below guaranteed to burn those calories off!
Full body work out, with a little bit extra love for lunges! Warm up.A.M.R.A.P.(as many rounds as possible)2 min. rounds/30 sec. skipping x 2. 5 alt. jumping lunges / bear crawl up/down floor.for 2 mins. then 30sec. skipping, 2 rounds. Circuit 1 / 15 Squats w. DB(dumbells) / Plank 20 sec. hold w. 2 plank push ups repeat 3x / Low jumping jack squats 30sec. / Abs Scissors 1 min. Do 2 sets, increase intensity, do 3 sets. Circuit 2 / Stationary lunges right leg front 30sec./ Shoulder circles w.DB 5lbs. 1min. /30sec. alt.jumping lunges / stationary lunges left leg front 30sec./ reverse shoulder flyes 5lbs.DB 1 min./ alt. jumping lunges 30 sec./ stationary lunges right leg 30sec./ front raise, open to side and down, do reverse.5lbs DB 1 min./ alt jumping lunges 30sec./ stationary lunges left leg front 30sec./ Back ext. or Supermans 1min. Do 2 sets, increase intensity hold weight for lunges. Cool down stretches.
Wow, today was a hot one! Awesome to see how hard everyone was working, especially at the end, maximum effort was put forward by everyone. The end of today's work out was great for building your running and increasing your endurance. What did we do?...everyone paired up, one partner doing smash ball squats or ManMakers and the other ran up the hill, then you switched off.
The smash balls are on the left, they are great because it is a full body movement that requires you to go all out...the ball is called a "smash" ball because it is really freak'n heavy and doesn't bounce. You throw it over your head, fast and hard so that it gets a tiny inch off the ground and then you have to scoop it up, repeat, repeat, repeat!
The other half the group was doing ManMakers, again a full body movement that combines, overhead press, into squat, bupee jump out, 1 arm row, jump feet back, clean dumbells back up to a press, repeat, repeat, repeat!
Then your partner has to run up the hill and down, fast you hope! The idea here is that your heart rate is ALWAYS elevated, so by the time you get around to the run, you are grateful as it seems like a rest! So here you are running up the hill SEVERAL TIMES today, increasing your distance bit by bit. Then next time you do a flat run you will notice not only are you not breathing as hard but you ran your set distance with more ease!
