20 ways to Kick your Workouts up a Notch

It's Summer - have your workouts taken a back seat??? Let's get back into gear, here are a few tips to switch it up....

1. Change the time of day you workout.
2. If you always do cardio first, try doing it after the weight lifting. Or vice versa.
3. Vary the intensity. You don’t need to kill it every workout.
4. Alter the order you do the exercises. Do you always start with the same exercise? Do small parts first?
5. Redesign your workout altogether. Start over. Change up all the exercises.
6. Don’t do your lifting and your cardio on the same days if you always have in the past.
7. Take up a new sport.
8. Join a new class. Or even a new gym! Change of scenery is good.  **Better yet, come join my class - I love fresh new faces!
9. Get a workout video you can do at home.
10. Change the number of reps you do in each set.
11. Change the number of sets you do of each exercise.
12. Shorten or lengthen your rest periods between sets.
13. Don’t count reps at all! Time yourself instead and just do as many as you can in a given time frame.
14. Add some explosive, plyometric exercises to your routine.
15. Set a goal.
16. Buy yourself some new workout clothes! (But earn them first by adhering to #15 for 4 weeks.)
17. Switch up your music.
18. Get a workout buddy.
19. Increase the weight you’re using.
20. Make it FUN again! We USED to go outside and PLAY. Now we go to a gym and “WORKout”. Make it recess again!

Get up and Get Moving!!!!! 

Until next time, Be Well,
Jen

Healthy Take on Cucumber Raita

Oh my, thinking back to my first introduction to cool cucumber raita was shortly after college I was camping with some friends and her grandmother had made an extrememly tasty cucumber dip with onions and a white creamy substance.  I loved it.  Probably snuck some when noone was looking. 

It was later in grad school in one of my nutrition classes when I learned to create a healthier, lighter version of the said recipe...it is a STAPLE in my house each and every summer.  I hope you will enjoy.

Ingredients:

• 2-3 small-medium cucumbers, seeded, diced
• 1-2 small onions, diced
• 2-3 small tomatoes, seeded, diced
• Fresh basil - 3-4 leaves
• 1 cup non-fat, plain yogurt (plain greek yogurt is good too)
• 1/3 cup cider vinegar
• Pinch of sugar (to taste)
• Salt & Pepper (to taste)

Instructions: 

1) Dice onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, and basil.  Put in bowl.

2) Add yogurt, vinegar, salt, pepper & sugar

3) Use as a dip, or a crisp, cool topping for grilled pork chops, chicken, steak or fish

This Raita chills nicely and allows flavors to blend with time. Fat-free yogurt will combine with water in cucumbers and will thin out.  Greek yogurt will make it more thick, plus the added benefit of protein is a pleaser. Two different taste options.

ENJOY!

Until next time, Be Well.

Jen

Go Ahead...Nobody's Watching!!!

My husband and I have been part of a very special team at our church for our entire marriage and every year this poem is read at the close of our session.  I feel compelled to share it tonight because with all that is going on in the world, in our country, in our communities and homes...NOW is the time to Get Up, Take a Stand, and GET MOVING - sure, I am a trainer and a self-proclaimed adrenaline junkie...but I am talking more than just moving our bodies to be healthy.  I'm talking about getting off the couch and living. Doing. Taking Action!  I am tired of seeing other people's "realities" on the television.  It is a great disservice to all that can be happening outside our own front door (or in, for that matter).

If you are tired of being tired.  Tired of where you are.  Ready to make a change...well - don't let anything stop you.  As we all know...Life is a blink.  Make yours count.

DANCE LIKE NOBODY'S WATCHING:

We convince ourselves that life will be better after we get married, have a baby, then another.

Then we are frustrated that the kids aren't old enough and we'll be more content when they are.
After that we're frustrated that we have teenagers to deal with. We will certainly be happy when they are out of that stage.

We tell ourselves that our life will be complete when our spouse gets his or her act together, when we get a nicer car, are able to go on a nice vacation, when we retire.

The truth is, there's no better time to be happy than right now.

If not now ... when?

Your life will always be filled with challenges. It's best to admit this to yourself and decide to be happy anyway.

One of my favorite quotes comes from Alfred D Souza ...

"For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin.
But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life."

This perspective has helped me to see that there is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way.

So, treasure every moment that you have. And treasure it more because you shared it with someone special, special enough to spend your time ... and remember that time waits for no one ...

So stop waiting until you finish school ... until you go back to school ... until you lose ten pounds ... until you gain ten pounds ... until you have kids ... until your kids leave the house ... until you start work ... until you retire ... until you get married ... until you get divorced ... until Friday night ... until Sunday morning ... until you get a new car or home ... until your car or home is paid off ... until spring, until summer ... until fall ... until winter ... until you are off welfare ... until the first or fifteenth ... until your song comes on ... until you've had a drink ... until you've sobered up ... until you die ... until you are born again to decide that there is no better time than right now to be happy ...

Happiness is a journey ... not a destination!!

Thought for the day:
"Work like you don't need money,
Love like you've never been hurt,
And dance like no one's watching."
Author:Crystal Boyd

Until next time...Be Well.

Jen