These are a few of my favorite things.

Well the holiday season is in full swing with Christmas baking, Christmas parties, Christmas baking, Christmas turkey, Christmas baking...It can be hard to keep those pounds from creeping up. It's true that the month of December most commonly packs a few pounds on us but take heart, it doesn't have to be that way. Finding a few calorie free indulgences can really help to boost your willpower when your faced with that cookie tray.So here are a few of my most favorite treats recently...

I'm loving this new coffee by Presidents Choice...

It's the perfect flavored coffee and because it's decaf you can drink it after dinner instead of dessert. Yes it is that good. Only $4.99 too!

Next up is any nail product by essie

Bobbing for Baubles is my current favorite. You can also find this at superstore for around $8.00 a bottle. It's the perfect non-food reward for sticking to your fitness goals:)


And lastly I LOVE epicure selections cocoa powder. I add it straight to hot milk without any sugar and it's a beautiful guilt free low calorie treat. You can pick this up from yours truly if you want to give it a try.

Have a fantastic night,
Sarah

Move It Monday!

It's a wet and cold Monday so let's beat the winter blah's with a new exercise. This move target's your entire body. It take a basic butt lift to a whole new level by engaging your core and shoulders. Try adding a few sets of these into your workout to change things up!

Start on hands and knees and draw your stomach into your spine. Keep your head in line with your body.

Dig in with your toes and lift your knees up off the ground. Notice how my back and neck are still in line.

 Lengthen your leg back out and up

Notice how there is little/no arch in the lower back.

Return to the starting position, making sure not to drop your knees.

Repeat this sequence 10 times on each leg to complete a set. Aim for 2-3 sets. For an easier variation. Perform the same move but don't lift off of your knees. 

Have a great night and thanks for dropping in!

Sarah

Go Green Part 2

 So here I am, watching the snow fall outside my window. The snow invariably makes me think of soups,chili's, earthy and warm flavours. Unfortunately it's well after lunch time and a bowl of hearty soup would probably send me to the couch in a carb induced coma. So why not whip up some Coconut Curry Kale Chips. (I almost had an alliteration there!) These are soooooooo easy, have healthy coconut oil, tummy warming curry, and an awesome crunch. In other words,the perfect snow day snack:) So here you go!

Coconut Curry Kale Chips

4-5 Large Kale leaves

1.5 tsp coconut oil (melted)

1 tsp of curry powder (I use epicure's curry dip mix)

Preheat your oven to 450. Tear Kale into bite sized pieces. Only use the leaf, not the center stalk. In a bowl, microwave the coconut oil until liquid (about 30 seconds) stir in the curry powder and add salt if you'd like. Pour coconut mixture over kale and toss. Spread out on a cookie sheet in one layer and roast for 5-8 minutes. This is the critical part. You want the leaves to be starting to brown but if you wait to long they will burn to a crisp. Make sure you start watching after 4 minutes. Let cool and enjoy. Let's be honest here though, this is Kale and not Pringles so your expectations have to be adjusted accordingly but this recipe is a great way to get some extra greens into your family's diet. 

 

 Cade gave them a try and decided to give them a thumbs down, but after the camera was put away, he polished off half the plate:)

Have a great evening everyone!
Sarah

Hello Wednesday!

So having given up on prescheduled posts for this week, you'll have to rely on my shoddy memory to get these up and running:)

Here's our next challenge. It's raining in Vancouver today but I'm still going to head out onto the patio and get my workout in so be sure to carve out 15-20 minutes and get this challenge in.

Isaac and I are in the hospital and I'm still working out so you have no excuses challenge #2

Upper Body Time Challenge Blast

warm up with some jogging on the spot and arm rotations for a few minutes. Set your stopwatch and see how fast you can complete the following two exercises alternating between each exercise.

5 sets of 10 reps of push-ups (wall, knees, or toes)
5 sets of 10 reps of pike presses (see pictures)

 Start on all fours with arms and legs slightly wider than shoulder width apart

 Slowly start to bend at the elbows and lower head towards the ground. Your goal is to touch your head to the ground but go down only as far as you can bring yourself back up.

 Once at the bottom, reverse the motion back up. This is one rep.

 Side view: Make sure to keep your abs engaged and back as flat as possible. The closer your arms are to your feet, the more challenging the exercise.

See how fast you can get through all 5 rounds of each exercise and let me know your time!

Sarah

Back in the hospital so here come the challenges!

Hmm, so I tried  the scheduled post thingy on here but I appeared to have an operator error since I've looked now and it's not here! So anyways, this is what should have posted yesterday!

Isaac and I are stuck in the hospital and I'm still working out so you have no excuses Challenge #1

Make sure you warm up for a few minutes before begining. Set your timer for 10 minutes and perform as many rounds as you can manage. Make sure to grab a scrap of paper and record your #'s

1. 30 jumping jacks
2. 20 crunches
3. 10 push-ups

Time to cool down and stretch. Easy but you'll be sweating I swear!

Have a great night!

Lets do an exercise challenge!

It's Tuesday and I think all the kids are heading back to school this week. Sydney my middle kidlet is heading off to Kindergarten and is beyond excited. All of this translated, means a tight squeeze for time and fitting in exercise. It's amazing what mini exercise sessions can do. So be on the lookout this week for my mini exercise challenges. Each one will be 5 minutes long and designed to give your metabolism a boost. Make sure you do a light warm-up before beginning and a stretch after.

So here's your exercise challenge for today...

Duck-Unders!
Set your timer for 5 minutes and complete as many reps as possible during the time with proper form. If your form starts to slip, take a small break and then jump back in.

So here's what they look like. Also get used to seeing this outfit over the next few months. I convinced my WONDERFUL husband to head to the park with me and take pictures of different moves so I'll have lots to show you over the fall and winter:)

Imagine there is a pole to the left of you and your job is to squat down and shift under it, standing up on the other  side:)

Start in a standing position

Start lowering into a squat while at the same time, shifting your weight to the side.

Once thighs are parallel to the ground, shift the weight onto your other foot.

Slide your body so your weight is completely on the other foot.

And finish in the stand. Repeat this sequence going the other direction. 

Going Green...

Good morning. What a beautiful Sunny Day we're having. I'm trying to cherish every last one before the fall officially arrives. So today's topic is all about going green. I'm not referring to recycling, composting, or reusing. What we're touching on today is the glorious, wonderful, mind blowing goodness of green drinks! It can take awhile to get your head around chugging back something that looks like this...

Even the rose doesn't help to make it look all that more appealing:) I promise though, once you start experimenting with green drinks, you'll grow to adore the beautiful hue!  

Here are a few reasons why you should consider adding some green drinks to your diet...

1.  Increased fiber. Because your blending your fruits and veggies instead of juicing them, you get all that good for you fiber that is easy to miss out on. Read: Weight Loss Aid!

2. Energy in a glass. Blending your food will make the minerals and nutrients more readily available to your body. Smoothies are easy to digest and much quicker than sitting down and eating a salad.

3. Drinking your greens instead of eating them  greatly reduces the high amounts of added unhealthy fats and sodium found in salad dressings and condiments.

4.  A SUPER EASY way to dramatically increase your consumption of fruits and veggies. The more you consume green drinks, the more your body will start to crave good for you fruits and vegetables.

5. Improved skin and hair. Not that vanity is why you'll do this, but because your increasing the amount of produce in your diet, your skin and hair will start to look great from the inside out. Much better than expensive face creams:)

6.  Green smoothies are FAST. Only minutes to make and you'll be sipping back delicious, nutritious, veggies and fruits all day.

I honestly could go on and on about the multitude of benefits to green smoothies but there are a ton of sites that can expand on them much better than I. Here's a great one with a ton of different recipes to get you started.

While there are a ton of different ways to make your smoothies, here's how I do mine.

Step 1. Add your fruits and veggies into a blender with about a 50/50 ratio to begin with. As your taste buds adjust, you can decrease the amount of fruit. I suggest starting with spinach as it's flavor is easily masked by pretty much any fruit. For this particular smoothie, I used 1 banana, 1 large nectarine, and 1 small bunch of kale.

Step 2. Add anywhere from 3-4 cups of water and 1 cup of ice. I usually aim to make about 1.5 liters of smoothie for each recipe, so I just top up my water to around that mark. I also add 1 tbsp of a good quality omega 3 oil. I really find that this cuts down on the foam that can occur.

Step 3. Blend away! I know not everyone can afford an awesome blender like a vitamix or a blendtec but if you can, I HIGHLY recommend them. If your using a basic blender, just make sure your adding your fruit and veggies in stages so you don't jam up your machine.

Step 4. Drink Up! I make a big batch, drink a glass, share with the kids and then pour the rest into a wide mouthed drink bottle to enjoy for the rest of the day.

Cade guzzled his back in about 60 seconds flat!

Despite how these look, they are really good. So give one a try and let me know what you think!

Happy Sipping,

Sarah

Fit Fast Schedule Change...

Happy Friday everyone! Just wanted to let everyone know that effective immediately,due to poor participation,  the Saturday 8am Fit Fast class will be ending.  If for some reason you feel that you really would like to join me on the weekends, drop me a line and I'll get back at it. It can be pretty lonely all by myself though on a Saturday morning:)

See you all on Monday!
Sarah

The cheapest massage ever...

Good morning! If you've been coming to the absolute abs week at Fit Fast this week then your muscles are surely starting to ache by now:) In light of this I wanted to highlight a great little tool to add to your home gym arsenal. Foam rollers are a perfect solution to sore muscles. This article does a good job of explaining the basics of using this product.

http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/flexibilityandstretching/ss/FoamRoller.htm

Remember, we're not talking pool noodles here, make sure you look for a high density foam roller. Speaking from experience, this can be quite painful at first if you have a lot of knots and sore muscles.  Rolling regularly can really pay off long term so it's well worth the temporary agony discomfort:)

Happy Rolling!
Sarah

Challenge #2

So how did the squats go for everyone? I'll admit, I was squatting away beside Isaac's hospital bed trying to be as quiet as possible and praying that no nurses would walk in! So for today, I want you to set a timer for 10 minutes and try to complete as many rounds of the following exercises as possible...

20 jumping jacks
10 push-ups (modify as needed...wall push-ups, from knees, from toes etc...)
20 mountain climbers
10 dips off a chair

This will be quite challenging. You really want to go as quickly as possible while still having good form. Be sure to let me know how you did!

Sarah

Time to get back to blogging!

While it might have appeared that I've fallen off the face of the earth, I can assure you I'm still around and kicking:) This summer has been busy so with teaching classes, other work, spending time with family and now a hospital stay for my oldest boy. No time like sitting in a hospital room to update my blog. As a small thanks to all my clients who are missing out on classes this week, I thought I'd post some fitness challenges to keep you all busy. So here's the challenge for today.  Set your timer and complete 300 squats.  Don't freak out, I'll do it with you! You have a choice, you can break them up into sets of 10,20, 30,... take as much rest in between each set but make it your goal to complete all 300. Feel free to post how you did even if it takes all day:)

Have a great night!

Sarah

Kids in the Kitchen

So over the past few weeks I've been venturing into the world of cooking with my kids. I've baked with them in the past from time to time and let them help with dinners occasionally but there hasn't been any concerted effort to get them into the kitchen. Usually despite my best attempts, our cooking adventures have left me feeling beyond frazzled and the kids not getting nearly as much out of it as they could. So now that I'm a professional I thought I'd pass along a few helpful tips and some of the many benefits of bringing your youngest family members into the kitchen...

1. Divide and conquer.   In the past I'd have both the kids in the kitchen with me and it was beyond annoying. The kids are fighting over who gets to do what, dumping things over when I'm helping the other. In one word, CHAOS. So now I only allow one kid in the kitchen with me at a time.

But how does this happen?

2. Each child has a night that is there territory. Tuesday is Sydney's night to cook, and Thursday is Cade's. This helps twofold. It helps to prepare both the kids and me mentally for what to expect. There's no more whining that Cade wants to help when it's Sydney's night and vice versa. I'm not left pulling my hair out because I can concentrate all my attention on Syd. Now it's still messy don't get me wrong but it's different when you know all week that Tuesday and Thursday will be a bit of a gong show.

3. I let the kids menu plan. Instead of me deciding what we're going to eat and having the kids do the tasks, they decide early in the week what they'd like to make and we plan from there. I have to say I LOVE this. It's such a great tool to teach your kids proper nutrition. For example: Sydney wanted to make this vegetable soup for dinner on her first night. That's wonderful and nutritious but I don't know about you, but 50 calories isn't going to fill this girl up! So we talked about needing to have a few food groups represented and rounded out the menu with some homemade cheese toast. Cade on the other hand wanted to make grill cheese sandwiches and that was it. We then talked about it and decided broccoli would make a nice addition. So in this way you can educate your kids on what a proper meal looks like. 

4. Really let the kids go at it. It's so hard (at least for me) to let others into my kitchen! Especially when it involves messing up, but it's important for the kids to really take an active role in the preparation. Cade made pancakes the other day and the cracking of the eggs (and subsequent scooping out of eggshells) took soooooooo much longer than necessary but he loved every minute of it. Which brings me to the last point...

5. Allow for extra time! Enough said.

So here's a few of the many benefits of getting your kids in the kitchen.

1. It builds self-esteem. It's amazing to see how proud the kids are of their creations.
2. It promotes creativity. We focus on presentation at the table too, and the kids love putting their personal touches on it.
3. It makes picky eaters eat better. Even if the dinner hasn't been the best, boy do the kids gobble it up.
4. It grows appreciation for the effort that putting meals together takes. From the grocery shopping to the cooking, and cleaning. The kids have fun but work hard on their nights.
5. It will make them killer spouses down the road. (Hopefully!)

In the midst of all our cooking I've been looking for a few good websites that really promote healthy meal planning with the younger set in mind and I'll be posting that in the coming weeks. 

Have a great day!
Sarah

It's a Party in the Park!

Okay well maybe not so much of a party but there will be fun to be had! It's been a long time coming but the wait is over! What dear friends am I talking about? Why the FIT FAST classes are starting up! One week from today, Monday the 23rd at 7pm will be the first class! I'm so super pumped and hope that many will attend! To make it even better, the first week of classes are completely free. You just need to let me know that you're coming. (It's fine if you can't make all of them, just let me know which ones you'll be attending!)

So here are the details!!!
When: Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 7pm and Saturday mornings at 8am
Where : Watson Glen Park (beside the twin rinks parking lot)
Class Description: These classes are intended to whip you into shape in a short amount of time. These are aptly named Fit Fast because they're only 30 minutes long! We'll be using a mix of bootcamp style exercises, interval training, tabata, and circuits. These classes will blow by and you'll lose fat and gain muscle like never before. Fit Fast classes are open to all levels of fitness participants. Please ensure that you come to class 5 minutes early so that we're ready to get started at 7pm sharp (or 8am!)
Cost: Free the first week! And after that these are drop in classes so for an individual class the cost is $6 or only $40 for a ten punch card. 

Please note, the classes will be run rain or shine! Can't wait to see you there! If you're attending please let me know via facebook, here or on my cell 604-378-7430:)

Have an awesome day!

Tool Talk Thursday!

Well after an unplanned hiatus over spring break, Lighten Up Fitness is back and ready to inspire! So we'll dive right in with Tool Talk. Today's tool is the swiss ball.

So here's the scoop on why I love the swiss ball.

It's fantastic for improving core strength. All those stabilizer muscles get challenged to the max with a variety of different exercises. Try doing a crunch on the floor and then try it again on the ball, and you'll feel those deep muscles firing to keep you stabilized.

It's cheap. This is another piece of equipment you can pick up for your home gym for under $30.

It's a great multi-tasker. You can get a tough workout for you back, butt, abs, triceps, chest,  and back. Pretty much you name, you can tone it with the swiss ball.

It's useful for flexibility training. Not one that I use all the time in this area but the ball is quite effective in helping to stretch out the back, chest, abs, and obliques.

One thing to note is that you do want to get the correct size ball for your height.  Here are the sizing guidelines..

Height                                       Ball Size
4'8" - 5'5"                                 22 inches (55cm)
5'6" - 6'0"                                 26 inches (65cm)
over 6'0"                                   30 inches (75cm)

This coming week I'll have a few exercises on Move it Monday to make up for the past few weeks and be sure to look for the swiss ball!

Have a great day:)
Sarah    

Tool Talk Thursday! The chin up bar!

Happy Thursday everyone! I'm so sorry for the long hiatus. Life was crazy and now I've been down with the flu all week:( I'm heading to the walk-in clinic this morning to figure out if I have an ear infection as well. Honestly this year has been the year of bugs in the Bruneski household. I don't normally get hit by weird things so this has been quite humbling! Hopefully today's post will be coherent.

Our next tool of the trade that I encourage people to get is a chin up bar. For some reason this piece of metal is quite intimidating to the average female but most definitely has a lot of practical uses in the home gym. 

First of all there are a few different types of bars that you can purchase so let's go through them...

Up first, the door installed bar...

This is the type that I personally use at home. The main reason? I don't have standard doors in our house. These are great because they adjust well to wider or even narrower doors with ease. Very easy to install. Trust me, if I can do it so can you:) The flaw, it's always there so probably not something you'd put up between your dining room and kitchen door. These are best if you have a dedicated space to work out. Cost is approx: $30

Next is the portable bar. This is the one that's getting all the attention lately.

These are great because you can easily take them up or down, move them room to room or even bring them with you to a friends house. I have this one as well more for working with clients or using at bootcamps.  The only downside is if you don't have standard doors they aren't an option. There are a few companies that have extension pieces but check into that before purchasing. Cost is again around $30-$45.

Lastly is a wall mounted option.

This is great if you have a set aside workout area but honestly I would go with the other two first just to keep the integrity of your walls intact. The wall mount units when installed properly can also handle a heavier load then the door mount options.

So why do I love these? Well basically because they are so multi-functional. Besides chin ups and pull ups you can do ab work through hanging knee raises. You can also use the bar as an anchor for those wonderful resistance bands that I talked about a few weeks ago to perform exercises like lat pull downs, tricep press backs, chest flys etc... If you have the removable door mount pictured second you can also mount it lower in the door for further ab exercises as well as use it free standing on the floor for push-ups. 

Now many of you may already have a chin up bar at home but have been hesitant to use it and to this I say : Courage my Friends!  Pull out a stool for an assist and give it a go.  Use the stool or chair to help you bring your body weight up. Honestly getting a pull-up done is an upper body all over super blaster so don't discount this cost efficient piece of strength training equipment!

See you tomorrow!
Sarah

Tool Talk Thursday!

Happy Thursday everyone! I hope you're all finding yourselves nice and warm with this cold shot of weather:) So up until now I've told you about the few items that I believe are an absolute must for a home gym. From here on out we'll be exploring the various types of exercise equipment and the pros and cons of them.  So today we're focusing on...

Resistance Tubing



So what's the deal with these things? Pictured above are resistance tubes but you can also find resistance bands which are skinny and flat with no handles.

What's to like...

Resistance bands and tubes are great for home but even better for travelling. If you're going to be away for a few days, they add easily into your suitcase.

You can essentially do any exercise with tubes that you'd find at a gym or with dumbells.

They're cheap! Costing an average of about $20.

They're durable.

They are useful not only for strength training but also in flexibility training.

They offer a different resistance from dumbell training which leads to the supporting muscles working harder.

Some things to consider...

Because the resistance feels different from lifting a traditional dumbell it does take some getting used to. Take the time to learn how to use them properly. I also find that when using them, you really have to be aware of your wrist positioning. It seems much harder to keep proper alignment than it does with a dumbell.  You also need to check them regularly for wear and tear. This is more an issue with the bands over the tubes. Even a pinhole tear can cause them to snap which could lead to an injury.  But as long as you make sure to check them out, they are perfectly safe.

Bottom Line:

I have them and I particularly like them for working the back and shoulders, two areas that are difficult to target with body weight exercises alone. They're also fun to double up with a dumbell in various exercises.  So if you have no other resistance equipment in your home gym, these are a great first piece to start off with.

Have a great day and see you tomorrow for Foodie Friday!

Sarah

Move It Monday!

It's snowing! It's snowing! Okay so it probably won't stick but I LOVE the snow. It brings such a sense on serenity to the day, and seeing as it's so rare around here, you have to enjoy it while it lasts. I hope everyone had a great weekend and is ready to learn a fabulous exercise using our trusty chairs! Today's exercise is a multi-joint lower leg and cardio attack. For those of you who find the chair to challenging, you can substitute a stair or stool. So here we go....

Step up, High Knee, and Lunge Combo!

Take a step up with your right leg

 When you get to the top, drive your left knee up like pictured

 Step back down onto your left leg and immediately swing your right leg down into a reverse lunge

 This is your finish position. It will take a few times to get the rhythm but once you do you'll be flying:)

 From the lunge position swing that right leg back into a step up. Repeat this sequence 15 times on the Right leg and then repeat 15 times on the left.

Clear as mud? 

Son now, get your running shoes on, do the move of the day, have a quick stretch, relax with a cup of tea and watch the snow fall before it's too late:)

Sarah

Foodie Friday!

Happy Friday everyone! The sun is shining, it's a pro-d day and the kids are having quiet time. Life doesn't get much better. Today I'm sharing a recipe that just got tested this morning. It's been approved by the Bruneski kids so I'm sure it will be a hit in your home as well. These muffins are a perfect healthy snack and with the quinoa, they're protein filled. I love that the recipe makes just 12 so they won't go stale before they get gobbled up. This recipe comes from the Quinoa 365 The Everyday Superfood. I picked it up at Costco. I adapted is slightly so here you go!

Strawberry Banana Muffins

Ingredients

1/4 cup quinoa

1 cup of whole wheat flour

1.5 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

3/4 cup of brown sugar packed (I used sucarut)

1/4 cup of vegetable oil

1/2 cup plain yogurt (of course greek for me!)

1 large egg

1 cup of mashed ripe banana about 2 medium

1 cup of frozen diced strawberries

The bakers

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place quinoa and water in a small sauce pan. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer for 10 minutes. Turn off burner but keep pot on it with lid on for an additional 15 minutes. Fluff with a fork and let cool.

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a bowl. Add cooled quinoa to the mixture and stir until combined

In another bowl, combine oil and brown sugar. Mix in the yogurt, egg and vanilla.

Mash banana with a fork and add to wet mixture. Add the diced strawberries to the flour mixture. Pour into wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Place batter into lined muffin tin and bake for approximately 30 minutes. I gave it a few extra:)

Enjoy a fantastic snack!

Have a wonderful Sunny day!

Sarah