I hope you are enjoying the quick tips, workouts and fitness motivation I have been posting. I love searching Pinterst for fitness inspiration, and hope that the stuff I find, inspires you as well.
Tag Archives: Health & Fitness
Don’t Give Up
Remember, that little voice inside your head begins to lie when you force yourself out of your comfort zone. You are capable of amazing things, you just have to keep pushing yourself.
Filed under Fitness Inspiration, Health & Fitness
Healthy Baking Substitutes
It’s the most wonderful time of the year, and that means many of us will begin baking for family events, holiday dinners, office parties, cookie exchanges and quite honestly, just because it makes us feel festive.
That sweet tooth and favorite cookie recipe doesn’t have to be ignore this season. All you need to do is change your perspective on food and make a few improvements on those sugary, overly processed ingredients our recipes normally call for.
Here’s a handy list I found on Pinterest:
It’s amazing how much sugar and how many calories you can save with these simple substitutes. What’s even more amazing is that you can’t even tell you changed anything with most of them.
Do you have any healthy holiday baking tips?
Filed under Recipes, Snacks & Treats
{Workout} Shapely Squats
Once again, I’ve been trolling around on Pinterest and I stumbled upon this workout that I thought you guys might like.
I love doing lower body workouts when I’m short on time. They work so many major muscles, that you really feel your heart-rate increase and know that you are working hard, even if you are short on time.
Filed under Health & Fitness, Quick Workouts
{Fitness Friday} Let’s Talk Apps
This week I have been focused on getting back into my fitness routines. Hurricane/Superstorm Sandy brought the hubs and I to a halt last week, when she slammed into the East Coast leaving us without power or heat for almost a week.
Monday I restarted the third week of Phase 3 for P90X. I use the official P90X app to track my progress (I forgot to take a screen capture of it and to be honest, I’m being lazy and don’t feel like doing it now to insert in this blog. Yeah, I know, I’m a slacker…get over it!)
I also decided that I wanted to give running a shot again, so I downloaded a Couch to 5K type of app, laced up my running shoes and hit the pavement. I have always struggled with pacing myself and endurance, so following an app seemed like the most logical step for me, and I really like it.
5K Runner: 0 to 5K run training. I love that I can use it with RunKeeper and it prompts you over whatever music you’re listening to as to when to run/walk. Well worth the $2.99
RunKeeper – If you walk/run/bike, etc, I highly recommend this app! It also has a coaching feature which I haven’t tried.
Daily Yoga – I have to be honest, the accent of the person instructing you makes me giggle. I have only done one routine so far, but I like this app. There also seems to be a routine difference between the iPhone and Android platforms. Droid users seem to have more FREE routines. Sigh.
MyFitnessPal: Because if you dont track what you eat, your ass will!
Filed under Fitness Inspiration, Health & Fitness, P90X
Baked Ranch Chicken Fingers
Football season means finger foods, chips, salsa and beer! It also means a lazy day in my house, but I don’t like to toss out all of the hard work I’ve accomplished all week, nor do I like to give up all of the foods that I enjoy. I’ve been avoiding the beer and trying to keep the finger foods on the healthier side, which can be tricky, but I was pleasantly surprised by this recipe. It’s not picture perfect, but when compared to the deep-fried ones you might normally pull from your freezer and heat up, or order at your local sports bar, they are a gift from heaven. Plus, you can feel like you are cheating without all of the guilt!
Baked Ranch Chicken Fingers
(Makes 6 Servings)
Baked Ranch Chicken Fingers – served with baked sweet potato fries and bbq sauce.
8 boneless skinless chicken breasts (sliced into strips) – or a package of chicken tenderloins
1 cup corn flakes (crushed)
¾ cup grated parmesan cheese
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon black pepper
1 (1 ounce) packet Hidden Valley dry ranch dressing mix
1 cup milk (I use 1%)
1 egg
Directions:
Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with non stick cooking spray.
In a shallow dish combine crushed corn flakes, parmesan cheese, garlic powder, black pepper, and dry ranch dressing mix. In a small bowl beat together eggs and milk.
Dip each chicken strip into the egg/milk mixture and then roll in the crushed corn flakes/ranch dressing mixture. Repeat until all of your chicken strips are well coated.
Place chicken onto your coated baking sheet and bake, uncovered for about 30 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through ( internal temperature 165 degrees).
This recipes is really quick and simple, plus it goes great with some baked sweet potato fries. I have made it a few times already and even my son, who is a VERY picky eater LOVES them!
What are your healthy football snacks?
Filed under Main Course, Recipes
Do It Daily Workout
This morning I decided to take my own advice from yesterdays post “Progress and Change”. I haven’t had to leave for work as early the past few shifts and I was either reading in the morning or wasting time on Pinterest. (Neither is an awful thing, but I have recently set some fitness goals for myself and neither was really helping me reach that goal, know what I mean?).
While on Pinterest, I tend to look for healthy recipes and new workouts to try, so it’s not a total waste of time, but I could be doing the workouts I already pinned and haven’t tried before looking for new ones, right?
This morning I tried this one:
It’s a perfect before-you-take-your-morning-shower-workout. I felt a great burn in my core from it, and since I had extra time, I held the plank till I couldn’t anymore, which resulted in 5 minutes 10 seconds of plank. (Not too shabby)
I’m in my rest week for P90X right now, so I’ll be doing Core Synergystics later tonight. Phase 3 starts on Monday….I can’t believe how fast this round is going by!
Filed under Health & Fitness, Quick Workouts
Progress and Change
You have to change the way you think if you want to see results.
Stop telling yourself you can’t run, do circuit training or even attempt yoga. You might not be able to run a 5k right away, complete the circuit or hold all of the yoga poses without toppling over, but with practice and persistence, you will begin making great strides in less time than you think.
Stop telling yourself that eating fast food is your only option or that it’s cheaper to do so. With proper planning, eating healthy doesn’t have to cost a fortune and it can be even easier! Your body will thank you for doing it, too!
It’s up to you to change your mindset and believe that you can do these things. Once you do, anything is possible and change will be inevitable.
Filed under Fitness Inspiration, Health & Fitness
{Fitness Friday}
It’s Fitness Friday again! I know I missed last week and kinda dropped off the grid for awhile (I do that…I know. I try not to but life just kinda happens..sorry) but I’m still doing P90X and as a matter of fact, just completed the 3rd week of Phase 2, which means next week is my rest week!
The hubs and my schedule got a little wonky this week, so we ended up doing Back and Biceps last night instead of Wednesday. As a result, I can’t do Legs and Back tonight because my back needs the day of rest. The hubs birthday is tomorrow so pushing Legs and Back back a day won’t work either. To remedy this, I decided to do a lower body workout I found on the web to see how I liked it. Here is the workout I followed:
Move 1: Squats (15 – 25 reps depending on fitness level. Add weights if you would like for extra resistance)
Stand with feet hip-width apart, feet facing forward, arms by your sides. Sit back and lower down slowly, as if you were sitting into a chair. Keep your back straight and lower yourself as far as you can. Keep your eyes looking ahead. Immediately rise out of the squat and return to standing.
Move 2: Forward Lunges (10 – 20 reps on each side, depending on fitness level. Add weights if you would like for extra resistance)
Stand with feet hip-width apart. Step a wide step forward with your right foot, and bend both knees as far as you can without losing your balance until your right thigh is parallel to the floor and your left thigh is straight up and down. Your back foot will be flexed. Press off your front foot and step back into starting position. If you can’t go all the way to parallel, start by going partway down. If you need to, stabilize yourself with your hands on your hips, or a stable object.
Move 3: Plie Jumps (15 – 25 reps, depending on fitness level)
Stand with feet wide apart, with your feet turned out, and hands on hips. Stand tall with abs in. As you squat, press knees wide over your feet. You should feel a stretch along your inner thighs. In one explosive movement, push from your feet to straighten your legs and hop into the jump off the floor. As your feet come back to the floor, try to land softly, absorbing the landing from toes through heels.
Move 4: Fire Hydrants (10 – 20 reps on each side, depending on fitness level)
Start on all fours, knees directly under your hips, and hands directly below your shoulders. Keep your back and neck straight and look forward. Keeping your knee bent, raise your right leg out to the side, until your thigh is parallel to the floor. Keep your pelvis stable. Slowly lower your leg back to starting position. (You’ll feel this in your shoulders and core, too.)
Move 5: Quadruped (10 – 20 reps on each side, depending on fitness level)
Start on all fours, knees directly under your hips, and hands directly below your shoulders. Keeping your right knee bent to 90 degrees, lift right leg until thigh is parallel to floor. Your foot should be flexed. Pump the sole of your foot toward ceiling in a small movement. (You’ll feel this in your shoulders and core, too.)
Move 6: Bridge Lift (10 – 20 reps, depending on fitness level)
Lie on your back on a mat, knees bent, feet flat on the floor near your buttocks. Place your arms along your sides with palms flat on floor. Contract your abdominal muscles and slowly lift your hips off floor so that your body forms a straight line from knees to shoulders. Squeeze your glutes tight, as you press your hips toward the ceiling. Hold for a second, then lower slowly back down to the floor.
Move 7: Clams(10 -20 reps on each side, depending on fitness level)
Lie on your side on mat with your hips and shoulders in a straight line, head lying on your outstretched arm. Bend your knees so that your thighs are at a 90-degree angle to your body. Stack your hips, shoulders, and knees directly on top of each other. Use your core muscles to hold this alignment as you do the exercise.
Keeping your big toes touching, open your top leg up like a clam shell opening. Press your knee open only as far as it can go without disturbing the alignment of your hips. Slowly return your knee back down. Repeat. You should begin to feel a burn in your upper hip muscle.
I repeated the circuit 3 times and was very happy with the muscle burn I felt. I achieved a nice jello feeling in my legs from this and I will definitely keep this in the rotation. As many of you know, I become bored quickly with workouts and often look for the quickest, yet effective ones to do.
Nutrition has been going pretty well for me too. I had a few slip ups here and there but that’s life and I no longer beat myself up over stuff like that the way I used to. I have a few recipes that I tried and plan on sharing soon!
What have you been doing to get fit and healthy? Do you have any workouts or recipes to share? I’d love to hear about them if you do.
Filed under Health & Fitness, P90X
Love The Journey
Three years ago, I had a goal to lose weight. That was it. I set up small goals to reach, always thinking that one day, I would reach my goal and finish. Little did I know back then, that this becomes a way of life.
No wonder I had failed so many times before.
There is no finish line when you truly embrace a healthy lifestyle. The key is to enjoy what you are doing to become healthy. If you don’t enjoy it, you won’t do it.
Filed under Fitness Inspiration, Health & Fitness
getfitwithnikki.com 