Archive Monthly Archives: May 2017

Hero

Did you have a childhood hero? Superheroes are individuals with superhuman abilities that are unattainable for us as mere mortals. However, a true hero is someone who does the right thing, at the right time, in the right circumstance despite any fears that they may have. Look for ways to help people and you will be a hero too. How can you use who you are and what you have to truly help someone today?

“A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.”

-Christopher Reeve

Have a great day!

Winning

Good morning, 

What habits do you have? Are they good ones or bad ones? Are your habits taking you where you want to be or are they keeping you from it? Take a close look at your habits and decide which ones are positively affecting you and which ones aren’t and fix it. What is one thing that you are doing that is helping you win?

“Winning is habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.”
-Vince Lombardi

Have a great day!

Shai

difference

Good morning. 

What are you doing in your life that is making a difference? How are you affecting the people around you positively? Look for something to do that is worthwhile and do it. It doesn’t take a celebrity or someone famous to do great things. You have the full potential inside you but you have to act on it. What can you do today that will make an immense impact on the world around you?
“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.”

-Benjamin Franklin

Have a great day!

Step It Up: Get Fit with Stairs

Step up your fitness routine.

Here are some ways to incorporate stairs into your exercise routine for fat-burning and strength-building results.

Have you ever thought about utilizing stairs for your workouts? If not, you should because walking and/or running up stairs has numerous benefits, including fat-burning, cardiovascular conditioning, strength training and improved coordination.

Remember, exercise should be fun, so try and set yourself a challenge to keep motivated. See how many stairs or reps you can complete in a set amount of time to add an extra element of challenge, and try to beat your record each week. You could also set a ‘no elevator rule’ at the office to encourage others to take the stairs. Whatever you need to do in order to stay motivated and have fun is worthwhile, because every step counts when it comes to getting fit and shedding fat.

How to Get the Best Stair Climbing Results

Beginner Level: Moving into Your Fat-burning Zone

When you’re doing steady, prolonged aerobic exercise, your body turns fat into fuel. Keeping your exercise intensity at a moderate level requires discipline (especially for me, as I always want to sprint up). Using a heart rate monitor is helpful, or simply rate your intensity level on a scale of 1-10 and try to stay in your 6-8 range.

A basic walk up/walk down is a perfect introduction to stair training. Stepping for 20-30 minutes is ideal, but there’s no reason not to squeeze in stair training, even if you only have 10 minutes. (You know I always say that any exercise is better than no exercise!)

Adjust your walking speed to keep your heart rate in the target zone, and increase/decrease your speed to make sure you continue to push yourself and keep burning fat.

Intermediate Level: Building Your Strength

I have talked before about the benefits of running up hill, and running up stairs is very similar in that it uses the posterior chain muscles (butt, hamstrings and calves). The gradient forces your body to work harder, compared to exercising on a flat surface. This increased workload burns extra calories, and the high-impact nature of running up steps promotes muscle building.

Sprint to the top of the stairs and slowly walk back down. Force yourself to take your time going down and concentrate on your movements. Doing timed intervals is a great way to enjoy sprint stair training. Try completing as many flights as you can in three minutes, followed by a 90 second rest. Do this for 5-8 rounds for a great strength training session.

Advanced Level: Push Your Power and Coordination

This style of stair training is considered advanced and is not recommended at the beginner or intermediate levels. To effectively train to improve power, try bounding up the stairs while skipping steps. This advanced approach is an effective power-builder and used a lot in athletic training. You can perform this as single leg hops or double leg jumps; it requires balance, concentration and co-ordination.

Try high-performance hops or jumps up 10 steps and then return to your starting point, aiming for a maximum of 10 total sets.

Because of the high impact nature of this type of exercise, I recommend working for a maximum of 20 minutes per session. If you want to challenge your upper body for the remaining workout time, do push-ups.

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Save Time with These 8 Make-Ahead Meal Ideas

A little food prep goes a long way.

Here’s how an hour or two of food prep on the weekend can help you put together healthier meals for the entire week.

Make-ahead food ideas help me stay organized, save time and always provide something healthy and delicious for when I’m hungry. I like to spend an hour or two on the weekend preparing some staple foods that I can use all week. Take a look at my top eight make-ahead food ideas.

Salad Greens

Pre-washed salad greens are convenient, but they can be pricey. Instead, I buy a variety of lettuces and greens, break them into bite-sized pieces for salads, then wash and spin them in my salad spinner. Then (don’t laugh) I put them in a pillowcase and store them in the crisper drawer of the refrigerator. The salad spinner gets the greens really dry, and the pillowcase works better than plastic bags to keep them fresh and crisp. The greens don’t get soggy this way, and they stay fresh for a full week.

Pre-cut Vegetables

I pack a salad nearly every day for lunch, and I make a salad almost every night for dinner, too. To make it easy, I prepare a lot of different veggies and store them in individual containers in the refrigerator. My standbys are thinly sliced cucumbers, red onion and bell pepper, grated carrots and chopped parsley. To prep my food ahead of time, I often blanch some broccoli or cauliflower florets or roast some zucchini slices or asparagus spears in a hot oven and chill those. These veggies quickly and easily get worked into my lunch salad and dinners throughout the week.

Pan-Seared Chicken Pieces

Cooking some chicken in advance is a real lifesaver for me. Starting with about two pounds (1kg) of chicken tenders (goujons), I sprinkle them with a little salt, pepper and paprika. Then I brown them on one side in a little bit of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. I flip them over, add a few tablespoons of liquid to the skillet (white wine, broth, water, or lemon juice), cover the skillet and let them cook for 5-6 minutes until they’re done. I often add these to lunch salads, stuff some into whole grain pita pockets with veggies and hummus, or use them to make a quick soup or pasta for dinner.

Beans or Lentils

Slow cookers are great for making homemade beans or lentils. I like to slow cook black beans with onions, garlic and spices. Once they’re cooked, I keep them in the refrigerator to mix into my salad for lunch or use them as a base for a soup or chili.

Hard-Boiled Eggs

Eggs are one of the best protein sources around, and it only takes a few minutes to hard boil them. I use hard-boiled eggs as a protein source in my salads, and I often grab one for a quick snack. I like to spread a rice cake with some grainy mustard then top it with a sliced egg and some of my sliced vegetables.

Tuna Salad

When I have tuna salad in the refrigerator, it’s a lot easier for me to work more fish into my diet. I mix flaked tuna with either mashed avocado or hummus, a little mustard and a lot of chopped vegetables (again, those pre-cut vegetables). It serves as a protein source for my salad at lunch, or I’ll use a little scoop for a high-protein snack on some whole grain crackers.

Hummus

Hummus takes only a few minutes to make and will stay fresh in the refrigerator for a week. It’s also very inexpensive to make, compared with the price of store-bought versions. Start with a can of beans (garbanzos/chickpeas are traditional, but other beans work just as well). Drain the beans, rinse and drain again, then whirl in the blender with a little olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper until smooth. Hummus with raw veggies makes a great snack, but I also use it in place of mayonnaise in tuna or egg salad, or I’ll thin it down with a little vinegar and water for a delicious salad dressing or sauce on steamed vegetables.

Salad Dressing

Bottled dressings are expensive and often high in salt, sugar and preservatives. Making your own dressing is simple and allows you to control the ingredients. I mix two parts olive oil to one part acid (citrus juice, vinegar), then add salt and pepper to taste. I vary the acid and often use a blend, like lime juice and rice vinegar. You can experiment with adding dried herbs, mustard, garlic powder or onion powder.

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