I get asked all the time how to shed the pounds from the stomach. Everybody wants a flat mid section with tight and toned abs.
The truth is, no matter how many sit-ups you do, your diet will be the thing to make your stomach flat and cut. Don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do abdominal work in the gym. In fact that’s what gives you strength, increases your lean muscle mass and helps you shed pounds faster.
Still, in order to see a difference in how your stomach looks, clean eating needs to take its place in your daily routine. That means lean proteins, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and healthy fats. The more natural foods you eat and the more you spend time cooking your own food instead of eating out, the more likely you are to see a flat stomach.
So remember:
Healthy Clean Eating + Abdominal Work = A Flat Stomach
Hard work pays off. So start today and you’ll see a change in a few months!
Hi everyone! Sorry it’s been so long. I wanted to share with you all today a wonderful easy dinner I just made. Although I’ve never been a chef myself, eating healthy and experimenting with spices makes it easy to cook anything. Here’s my dinner recipe!
Lemon Chicken with Whole Grain Rice and Snow Peas
Skinless Boneless Chicken Breasts
Lemons
Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
Garlic
Italian Seasoning
Pepper
Garlic Powder
1. Marinate chicken by placing it in a bag with freshly squeezed lemon juice and rind, EVOO, Italian Seasonings, and Pepper. Leave in fridge anywhere from 30 minutes to 24 hours.
2. After letting it marinate, cut chicken into small square pieces and place on skillet on medium heat. Cut fresh garlic and add to the skillet along with the lemon rinds, EVOO, Italian Seasonings and Pepper to your liking. Cook for about 10-15 minutes covered or until chicken is no longer pink inside.
3. Wash and cut off the ends of the snow peas. Place in a different skillet on medium heat with EVOO, fresh garlic, pepper, Italian Seasoning and Garlic Powder. Cook for about 2 minutes or until the skin browns just a bit.
4. For the whole grain rice, I use the Success brand so that you can put the individual bags in a pot with boiling water and have it done in about 3 minutes. Add EVOO and spices to the rice to your liking.
5. Serve it all on a plate with some extra lemon slices for those that want a little more of its flavor.
And there you have a healthy, refreshing meal. Hope you enjoy!
It's been awhile, but I am trying to get back into writing more consistently with this blog. I wanted to talk about the psychology of the mind and how powerful it really is. I've been reading the book The Answer by John Assaraf and Murray Smith (a very good read by the way about business). In one chapter they talk about the difference between the conscious and the nonconscious mind.
Conscious mind:
1. Responsible for the past and the future
2. Controls 2-4% of perception and behavior
3. Deals with short term memory, up to 20 seconds
Nonconscious mind:
1. Responsible for the present
2. Controls 96-98% of perception and behavior
3. Remembers everything it experiences forever
What does this have to do with fitness you may ask? The nonconscious part of the brain is where we develop habits. The conscious is where we set goals. If we continue to say "I will" or "I want to" we are never actually developing a habit. If we begin to say things like, "I am eating healthy," or "I do exercise everyday," our brain starts to register that as an act we perform regularly which ultimately becomes a habit. The nonconscious part of the mind is more powerful than the conscious mind will ever be. So start saying things in the present tense and see how it affects your fitness and life goals.
Although most places will be closed on Thanksgiving Day, there are many fitness options for friends and family to enjoy before heading home to eat the turkey.
*** As seen posted on
You've probably seen the ads on TV of an attractive fit woman talking about a new fitness shoe while the camera zooms in on her legs and butt. The somewhat sexy ad is for Reebok's new Easytone Shoes.
As a fitness professional myself I should tell you not to fall for the gimmick too quickly. Although wearing the shoe may create some tone in your legs due to the balance pods on the sole, the reality is, you need to exercise in order to get toned legs. Just walking in the shoes during a normal day won't get you the results you hope for when watching the women in the commercials.
Strength training, cardio workouts, and healthy eating are what make people fit and toned. A shoe, like other fitness gimmicks, only contributes to a small portion of it all. So if you decide to buy the shoes, think about starting an exercise program that includes more than just walking. Then having a firm butt and legs will actually become a reality.
(This article was also posted by me on http://www.examiner.com/x-26225-DC-Group-Exercise-Examiner)
I’ve heard clients say it, friends ask me, and even myself at one point have asked, how do I get toned arms? The names Kelly Ripa and Michelle Obama have been mentioned once or two hundred times. I guess one of my pet peeves is the misconception women’s fitness magazines make. They post an article stating things like “5 Exercises for Sculpted Arms,” but then they show a skinny girl lifting only 3-5 pound weights. In my opinion, the only reason anyone should be using 3-5 pound weights is
a) You are a child.
b) You have a recent injury.
c) You are very frail either due to age or some other circumstance.
So that leaves most of us over the age of 15 or so banned from the use of 3-5lb weights.
Ladies, men have already figured it out, why can’t we? If you want toned and sculpted arms, you need to lift heavy! Not too heavy where you can barely lift it at all, but that by the last 2 or 3 reps of a set of 12, you’re really struggling to lift the weight.
Now you never want to compromise form for any exercise. I always tell my clients that I put them at a weight I think they can lift 12 times but it doesn’t have to be in a row. Sometimes when I’m lifting heavy and I get to about 8 or 9 and I feel my form lacking, I stop, take a deep breath, roll my shoulders back and continue.
A good rule of thumb – if you think you can do more than 12 in a row, up the weight.
I recommend men and women to do 3 sets of 12 for each exercise. You can do 1 set and take a minute break then do the next, or you can do what’s called super-setting.
Super-setting – Performing back-to-back exercises of opposing muscle groups with minimum rest in between. For example, you could do 1 set of bicep curls followed by 1 set of tricep extensions and repeat 3xs. This will guarantee you worked those two muscle groups well and by super-setting you save time, which is something we all love.
So ladies, get rid of those 3-5 lb weights and start lifting those 12, 15, 20 lb dumbbells. You’ll feel strong and look cut.
