#NationalHydrationDay

#NationalHydrationDay

by | Jun 23, 2018 | Food

#NationalHydrationDay

Today is #NationalHydrationDay! Since we have officially entered into summer (June 21st), hydration is something that we need to think about and start taking into account. This applies to everyone…coach/trainer, athlete, or not…but especially those working out/training in the heat. Staying hydrated is key to performance my dear athletes!

WHO needs to stay hydrated? YOU! “staying hydrated” doesn’t only apply to certain level of athletes. You can find yourself dehydrated from doing just about anything in the heat if you are not prepared. I don’t consider gardening a sport, but you should still be hydrated when doing so. Its scary to think even infants can get dehydrated.

WHAT does it mean to be dehydrated? The best way to check to see if you are hydrated is to look at your urine. What color is it? If it is clear or a light yellow, you are good to go. If it is a strong yellow or even a darker version then you need to drink up buttercup.

WHERE do I go if I think I’m dehydrated? If you are outside, get in the shade ASAP if you cannot get indoors. Best place would be is indoors. And start sipping on water right away, as well as applying cooling packs under your neck, on your forehead, or under your arms, by your armpits.You should go see your family doctor if you (or a loved one):

  • Has had diarrhea for 24 hours or more
  • Is irritable or disoriented and much sleepier or less active than usual
  • Can’t keep down fluids
  • Has bloody or black stool

WHEN does dehydration occur? THIS site puts it plain and simple, when you lose more fluid than you drink.

WHY is it so important to stay hydrated? According to the intrawebs, “Water regulates your body temperature and lubricates your joints. It helps transport nutrients to give you energy and keep you healthy. If you’re not hydrated, your body can’t perform at its highest level. You may feel tired, have muscle cramps, dizziness, or other serious symptoms.”

HOW much water should I be drinking? AT LEAST half of your body weight in ounces. Meaning, if you weigh 150 pounds, you need 75oz of water a day AT LEAST!

What about sports drinks? Have you ever read the label on these things….its scary! There are some companies out there that are challenging the gatorade market and making it more natural but I have one even better for you. Do you ever get to that point where water just isn’t doing it. You really want that ice cold gatorade but you are a smart and look at the ingredients and think twice. No fear, below is a recipe from The Hippie Homemaker for electrolyte drinks and they are so good! I made them every week in my meal prep last summer to have directly after (sometimes during) training. They were refreshing and perfect when I was dripping sweat. PLUS I didn’t feel wooze have a good workout. 100% credit goes to her and her site: Orange You Glad Its A Beautiful Day is my favorite!

Homemade Electrolyte Drink – A Healthy Gatorade Alternative with Four Tasty Flavors

Let me give you a quick in site to what happens when you don’t drink enough fluids…and try to run a half marathon. Below is my post from my previous blog, Red Boots Kinda Day.

Friday, June 24, 2011

DRINK WATER!

I posted this exactly one year ago today and with the temps the way they are I’ll post it again! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE drink water!

This past weekend I went out to Marathon, TX with my family to run my 3rd Marathon. I did 16 weeks worth of training for this event. I left Thursday morning, so I could get use to the 4,040 elevation. After my 2 mile run on Friday (to get the feel of running in that climate), the parents and I drove around Big Bend (BEAUTIFUL) getting out to walk and take pictures (meaning I was not sitting for hours on end). I ended that night with a great pasta dinner that was served for the runners.
Saturday was the marathon. I got up and ate my usual race day breakfast 1/2 bagel (carbs), 1tbs peanut butter (fat/little pro) and a banana (potassium). I had the right equipment…gels, water pack, hat, etc. The race started at 8am with a shot gun on the side of the highway (literally) and we were off. I felt fine even running into a head on wind of 20mph. After my parents getting breakfast at McDonalds they stopped at mile 6 to take pictures. Then they were off to mile 9. I opend my first gel at mile 8 and quickly put it down. At mile 9 I exchanged water bottles with the parents; the bottle I handed off was 1/2 full. I wouldn’t see them till mile 15. I started feeling a little woozy, but just figured it was okay b/c I was running a marathon, into the wind…so I started to chew on my tounge (it took the thought of the pain in my legs to a different part of my body). I wasn’t sweating, so I thought, therefore I didn’t think I was that hot…man was I wrong!
I don’t remember anything really after mile 9, so here is what I was told that happend. I did another water bottle exchange at mile 15 then when I passed mile 16 I was staggering and drooling and bleeding from the mouth (from biting my tounge). The people at the water stop set me down and I was not responding, I had passed out. My parents car wouldn’t start for some reason, and after getting a jump at mile 15, they drove passed and mom said “aww look a runner is down” and then noticed it was me and said “That is my daughter!” (I wear a bright colored hat so my parents can see me) My dad rushed out of the car and him and another wonderful runner (who gave up time to help) put me in the car. Daddy stopped and asked a sheriff where the EMS was and they said that they were coming to get the girl who was down. Daddy quickly replied “she is in my car!” then he drove 96mph the 10miles to the finish line where EMS then took over. They gave me oxygen and iced my body to get my temp to drop (BP 140/90). I wasn’t able to respond for a little bit. They kept icing me down and trying to give me fluids to get my temp down. Some fluids stayed, most didn’t.
When I finally came to I was unable to move my limbs VERY SCARY I might add. After a lot of questions I discoverd that I didn’t drink enough water. As you know water makes you tinkle and if you know me, you know that I don’t want to even take time to slow down to tinkle, therefore I didn’t drink the proper amount of H2O. This was the STUPIDEST decision I have ever made in my life. I cannot stress enough to you to drink water…especially if you are active.
The city of Marathon has some wonderful people living there. Everyone rushed to help me and was very nice about it. Even a girl who ran the 1/2 jumped in the back of my dad’s car and helped take care of me (she was a nurse from ATX). She squirted gatorade into my mouth everytime I needed a sip. I have the best parents a girl could ask for! They were there for me every step of the way and doing everything they can to help me. I am VERY lucky.
This was a VERY scary experience for me and a very good lesson. Yes, this kind of thing CAN happen to you, no matter who you are or how active you are. Please take care of yourself and
DRINK H2O!!!

#NationalOnionRingDay

#NationalOnionRingDay

by | Jun 22, 2018 | Food

#NationalOnionRingDay

Today is #NationalOnionRingDay…who knew there was such a thing. I didn’t get into the whole onion ring thing till my later years, but they are growing on me! I found a recipe for you to make a healthier, paleo friendly version of an onion ring from Clean Food Crush, enjoy!

Ingredients:

  • 4 medium yellow onions or 2 large sweet onions, sliced into 3/4 inch rings
  •  1 cup almond meal/flour
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1 Tbs dried/freeze dried parsley
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt.

Combine all dry ingredients with a fork

  • 2 eggs, beaten

Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees f
  2. Dip onion rings into beaten eggs, then into the almond flour mixture to coat.
  3. Work in very small batches so that the almond flour does not become soggy (it will not stick if it’s soggy.)
  4. Place coated rings in single layer on a flat baking tray coated with avocado or coconut oil. I also sprayed (very lightly) the tops of these with coconut oil immediately before baking, so they were crispy.
  5. Bake 14-16 minutes, until they begin to brown.

#NationalVanillaMilkShakeDay

#NationalVanillaMilkShakeDay

by | Jun 20, 2018 | Food

#NationalVanillaMilkShakeDay

Today is #NationalVanillaMilkShakeDay! While I’m more of a chocolate milk shake fan but since I like to celebrate all the things I found a paleo friendly (dairy, egg, nightshade, nut, & shellfish free) vanilla bean chia milkshake recipe from Primal Palate, so we can celebrate the day and maintain mindful nutrition. Enjoy, 100% of the credit goes to Primal Palate!

Serves: 1

Ingredients

Process: Place all the ingredients in a blender and blend on high until smooth.

Notes

You can substitute 1 Tbsp of vanilla extract for the vanilla bean. For a sugar-free option you can substitute 5-6 drops liquid stevia.

#NationalWatchDay

#NationalWatchDay

by | Jun 19, 2018 | Has Affiliate Links

#NationalWatchDay

Today is #NationalWatchDay! As a coach, a watch is a valuable tool…a must have! But picking the right one with the exact bells and whistles is a very personal and important decision. If you are constantly timing clients (or yourself) then you all these things are something to consider. Things I look for in a watch for coaching purposes are:

  1. Waterproof. Not water resistant, but waterproof. Will it survive the swimming pool? The ocean? How deep can I dive down? This includes the band
  2. Visual. Can I see the screen and the numbers? Are they too tiny? Are there to many “things” on the screen? With a quick glance am I able to see how long my client has to hold their plank?
  3. Durable. Whats this thing made of? What is the band made of? What is the buckle closure made of? What happens if a kettlebell or dumbbell hits it? Can it handle the heat? (we are in Texas) Especially look at the band and where/how it connects to the watch.
  4. Color. What color is it? Will it go with most of my outfits? I know this is fitness but fashion is still a thing.
  5. Cost. Am I going to use $300+ worth of gadgets? Do I need to know what time it is in China while my clients are exercising?

Disclosure: There are some affiliate links below, but these are all products I highly recommend. I won’t put anything on this page that I haven’t verified and/or personally used.

The watch I’m currently wearing….and have been since 2013 when I won it in a CrossFit competition…looks really close to this one and I LOVE IT. I cannot recommend it enough. Mine is black so it goes with everything and it satisfies my checklist from above too. The following year I won a smaller Baby G and while it was a good looking watch it was really hard to see the numbers on the screen. My clients don’t want to hold a plank or a wall sit any longer they have to. I give this watch two thumbs up and highly recommend it.

Click on image to Amazon link.

I’m going to look into these when my Baby G bites the dust for sure. These have come a long way. Don’t get me wrong, I love my Flex 2 Fitbit step counter BUT I think these can do a lot more than I’m giving them credit for. I just wonder about durability. What happens if I forget to take it off and a KB or DB slams into it? What if I never take it off? What do I do if it dies mid workout , I’m without a watch…and my poor client then. However the gadgets and gismos of these two watches seem pretty incredible and would add value not just to someone exercising but also to a Coach.

Click on image to watch link.

My Globo Gym Thoughts

My Globo Gym Thoughts

by | Jun 15, 2018 | Coaching Tools, Exercise PDFs, Move

Globo Gym Thoughts

What does it mean when someone says “Glo​bo​ Gym”? I have a personal, stereotype definition that I have created,​but I wanted something in more of an “adult-​ish” form, but when I  ​googled the definition, ​all I could ​find was (very) funny memes and jokes about defining “global gyms”​. For example:
Urban Dictionary (a dangerous site not meant for kiddos, but has funny stuff) defines it as: A typical big-box fitness franchise, where people more often than not don’t get in shape worth a damn. “You doing crossfit?” “Naw, I’m stuck at a Globo Gym with the rest of the pansies.”

The movie Dodgeball did a stellar example of your typical stereotype globo gym…highly suggest you watch it.

Due to ALOT of changes in my life recently I have become less consistent in crossfit and more consistent in a global gym. Having been fully submerged in the crossfit community (as a competitor, coach and co-owner​) for so long I’m still a big fan of crossfit as a sport AND

for​ fitness. It can do wonders for a persons health both mentally and physically and so many levels (I’ll save that for a different post)​.
Since I’m unable to attend a crossfit class consistently I have joined a global gym (yes my heart did sink and cry a little as I signed the membership agreement)​ I have to keep telling myself, “​I’m no longer trying to be the best at exercising I’m just trying to do my best to exercise.​”​ Just note I will forever be a crossfitter at heart.

However in my search for a “global gym definition” I did come across THIS article in Breaking Muscle. ​Breaking Muscle, defends global gym by stating, “don​’t​ judge a book by its cover”. I agree with them.​…cheesy comment and all, but I also call it like I see it…if it quacks like a duck, then its a duck. While I’m uber comfortable in almost any fitness setting/facility It was really hard for me to step back from (not out) of the crossfit community and into ​a global gym setting…I mean REALLY hard…come on, I’m a 100% cool aide drinking crossfit snob…what did you expect? In this article they discuss 5 misconceptions about globo gyms. Here are my two cents…

1. Everyone there is just to look beautiful. 
I think this depends on the facility/gym you go to. The one I go to, I think its a even split. The younger crowd (both male and female) is in there to look beautiful and the older people are just trying to stay moving. I think demographics of the city that you are located in determines a lot of what the motivation behind people’s globo gym attendance. I’m not going to lie I’m in there because its one of the few ways I can exercise these days and guilty as it sounds yes I do want to look good, especially for a vacation I have coming up at the end of October.
2. It’s full of no-neck meatheads who spend too much time in the mirror and not enough time on functional movements. 
There are DEFIANTLY a lot of “bros” and “bro lifting” (bad form lifting…things that make all decent coaches cringe) inside this particular globo gym. Yes sometimes I do have to walk away because they make my insides turn. On the other side of the coin, there are a lot of crossfit coaches that let athletes get away with bad form. However I have never been to a crossfit box where there are mirrors which I think is a good thing in my opinion (its weird watching yourself lift….I feel the need to make faces in the mirror, but that makes it more weird). But can you imagine if they put mirrors in a crossfit box…I would 100% want video. Come full circle, again I think it goes back to the demographic of the city to make this a valid statement.
3. There is no community.
I like to think it is how you define community (I know, back to definitions which is what started all this). Wikipedia defines “community” as: 
1. a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common.
2. a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals.
I would like to think there is more to community than just attendance to a class, or in my case going to the gym at the same time. but I think those are more descriptive words like #squad or #tribe (both words that I like) which is a smaller, more tight knit version of your community. I think community is BIG and surface level. The “crossfit community” is large and spread out all over the world. You might know everyone by name at the box, but when you see them grocery store you do a casual wave or you might even go speak to them. I think globo/bro gyms are the same. If I see someone at the gym consistently because they go the same time I do, then I see them getting gas at the same place, I’m going to throw a casual wave. However if they are in my #squad or #tribe and I haven’t seen them in a while or they have skipped class/gym, you bet they are going to get a “nasty gram”. So to say globo/bro gyms don’t have a community I think is wrong.
4. Most people don’t know what they are doing.
Having done enough people watching in my new globo/bro gym setting…and watching following a lot of feeds on the insta, I would say this is true. Yes a lot of people DO know what they are doing in the gym which is why they can go in and be productive. They don’t need to read the machine stickers to see how to correctly load or sit in the machine (doesn’t mean they use it correctly). But a lot of people walk around aimlessly doing a rep or two here on this machine, a rep or two on that one…avoiding the free weights like its the plague. Which makes me feel all the emotions, I’m happy that they are brave enough to walk into a gym but it saddens me that they don’t know what they are doing and they are risking injury and could get seriously hurt.
I have to admit, this is a reason why I started this post. Because I can talk to a brick wall I have made friends with a lady named Susan who workouts out at the same time I do therefore we are in the locker room post workout together getting ready to go back to work (I have also made friends with Lisa the cleaning lady, she is wonderful). Susan use to workout with a trainer but stopped for unknown reason and now attends the class they have at the gym. In conversation, Susan made the comment that “she was late and didn’t want to walk into the class late, and she has stopped training with her trainer so she is just going to walk around and figure it out” (yes she said those words). I did my small talk and said “good luck, see ya out there” but that thought/idea stuck with me…most people, don’t know what they are doing in a globo gym…which kinda saddens me because even though I’m a HUGE crossfit fan there are some benefits and a time and place for a globo/bro gym (I wouldn’t get consistent weightlifting if I didn’t have access to one). I would rather you exercise, move your body in some form or fashion than not at all. So maybe you can’t go to a crossfit class now for some reason, but you can go for 30mins and walk on the treadmill on your lunch break…something is better than nothing.
5. CrossFit is better.
With the right coach and the right community I will agree with this 100%. If you have a coach that thinks more weight and shitty form is better than good form you need to leave and find another coach before you get seriously injured. Conversation over!
I’m really happy I found the article by Breaking Muscle, it made me feel less guilty about having to go to a globo/gym at this point in my life. It also motivated me to create this simple PDF for those that ARE just winging it in a globo/bro gym. Here is a plan for you to do. You can mix and match or just do all the ones listed in the muscle group or just do the machines listed in the muscle group. I just want you to use your time wisely in the gym.