But first, coffee Find your STRONG.
I was chatting with a friend today and she asked me what my mission was in one sentence.
The first thing that popped to my brain and out of my mouth was that “I want to help women find their strong.”
The strong I’m talking about is 3-fold.
STRONG Physically (YES!) because lifting is awesome and muscles are even more awesomer, ha! I love training hard and pushing my limits and I want to pass that love 
It seems that this is the weekend for holiday parties. I’ve heard more than a few people mention their plans for this weekend.
But not just the holidays, this time of year in general we tend to take a few more days off from our normal schedule and visit places (like Apple Hill) and people that may not be around the rest of the year.
By now you know I heavily lean toward enjoying life and choosing your indulgences because this is a lifestyle right?
Pumpkin Spice has taken over. I guess that means fall is here 🙂
Now I’m not here to tell you how sugar loaded those PSL lattes are. You already know that right? 
I mean you haven’t missed that fact that a Grande, nonfat, no whip PSL has 49g of sugar.
And you know that compared to the fact that an adult female should strive for no more than 25g of added sugar a day that PSL is off the charts.
The fact is if you like ’em you’re gonna get ’em right?
Are they a good idea? I’ll hold my opinion to myself.
I have this friend that is always talking to me about getting lean.
We have these passing conversations a lot. They go like this:
Her: I want to start eating better. I really need to.
Me: Okay, what do you plan to do for your lunches this week?
Her: I don’t know. It’s really hard because I don’t always know where I’ll be, whats around or if I’ll have a microwave.
Me: Then all the more reason to make your lunch and take it. Then you won’t be left to the mercy of whats around.
Her: Yeah…but I try to eat healthy…..
Me: (blank stare) Alrighty then……hey so are we gonna go to mall or what?
Now please don’t think badly of me. I don’t lack patience or compassion most of the time. Promise.
It’s just that I have this same convo with this friend ALL. THE. TIME. Like, EXACTLY the same.
We just can’t seem to get pass this one thing…..
Ever heard someone telling the story of how a pill, natural remedy or routine relieved their pain or healed an ailment?
But then someone usually says “that’s a placebo, it’s all in your head” but they say it like it’s a bad thing.
I see it differently.
I believe that if something can make you have such a strong mental connection to your body that you make physical or emotional changes for the better you should embrace it.
But the reverse is true as well. You can make yourself unwell with your mind or even cause yourself to fail at achieving your goals because of your mind.
Even when it comes to your goal of having a flat stomach or lifted butt.
Imagine that you are running a marathon and based on the way you’ve trained for this event at certain intervals you are going to pick up your pace for a specified period of time to get ahead faster, a sprint so to speak.
So you do your sprint and then you turn around and walk back to where you started…..wait huh?
“How many days a week should I work out?”
I get this question a lot and I wish there was a total blanket answer but there just isn’t.
Almost always the answer starts with “it depends….” And then I list some factors to consider.
Because at the end of the day how much you move and how your body handles that movement is very individual. Those factors are critical to you feeling better not just beat down, being healthy and getting results.
So how many days already?
My answer: Two…..(maybe three) to start.
And this were the blank stare or the eye rolling begins [Read more…]
Funny thing happened last week. I had to “listen to my body”. I caught a nasty cold and was OUT. Minimal work, no workouts. Laying around watching TV, OUT. I don’t do any of those things often.
Now a few emails ago I told you how anti self-love/accept yourself I used to be and how it made me wanna kick somebody. I have since grown and reached a better understanding.
Well this whole listen to your body thing was something else I threw up a little in my mouth over each time I heard it.
To me this meant yet again making excuses. “Oh I’m tired” “Oh I’m sore” “I’m listening to my body so I’m not working out”. Yeah right. You’re lazy is what you are (this is what I used to think).
I once worked out with 102 fever because I don’t like to cancel set commitments and I was hard core (so I told myself), I could push through.
Wow, not only was that dangerous for me but how inconsiderate of those I was training around (I’m different now, don’t judge).
Over the last two years I have made a lot of progress in my education, mindset and wisdom and now know that listening to your body is not always a fancy way of making an excuse. Here’s how you can know too:
I have a super sweaty new workout for you to try this weekend or the next time you need something you can do at home.
As I’ve mentioned before when I work out on my own at home or at my Sacramento boot camp studio I like to keep my move count to 3-5 most of the time and do about 5 rounds instead of lots of moves and only 3 rounds. Nothing is a hard and fast rule but 8 out of 10 times that’s my go to pattern.
For this workout all you need is a low step. You can go as low as mine in the video (6”) or higher. [Read more…]
Let me tell you about this workout….I headed to my studio to shoot the videos. And that’s all I think of it as; shooting a video, not a workout. I do all my takes, get the angles I want and head back to my home office. A few hours later I start getting a throbbing soreness in my glutes. It kept getting more and more intense until the next day I woke up and I wasn’t sure if I was sore or seriously injured. Truly, It was bad. And every bit of it deep down in my butt cheeks. Nowhere else. [Read more…]