351/365 Pantless Yoga

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

Okay that was a trick, welcome to today's post! My point is just that you can be a yogi without the yoga pants (though, let's be real, yoga pants are just the best). Yoga means union; it's a union of the mind, body, spirit, and breath. There are a 196 yogi-isms known as Yoga Sutras (threads). I've been practicing yoga for about 3 years but I never learned about these until about 3 months ago. The meaning of my practice has definitely changed since I have a better understanding of the fundamentals. I'm going to try to do the same for you.

The main principals of yoga are the practice of maintaining a state of tranquility and non-attachment to fears, insecurities, etc. So what does that have to do with the up dogs, down dogs, and holding Warrior 2 for what feels like eternity? We do those yoga poses to bring awareness to our bodies and how our breath moves us through each pose. By focusing on our bodies, we can let go of all the chatter in our minds and anything weighing on our hearts. The goal is for your mind to be clear and to focus only on your breathing by the time you get to shavasana. This is a difficult task especially after just one session; that's why it's called a practice. You are constantly trying to get yourself to that state of ease and peace. With diligence, it's possible!

Back to the title, you don't need to wear yoga pants or be in a yoga studio to achieve a yogi state of mind. Breathing is at the very heart of yoga and you can (and should) do it everywhere. Here's a breathing exercise you can do to clear your mind and burn some calories (breathing deeply burns calories!):

1. Put one hand on your belly and one hand at the base of your ribs.
2. When you inhale, fill your belly first with air, then your ribs, then your chest.
3. When you exhale, release from your chest, ribs, and belly.
4. Repeat until you feel zen-ed out

Move your hand from your belly to your chest then back to your belly so you can feel your breath move within you as you inhale and exhale. It may help to close your eyes to focus. You can literally do this anywhere and practice your yoga. I was in the shower and felt really stressed out. I did my three-part breath, taking in the scent of my soap and letting the hot water wash away my troubles. After a few rounds I felt better and ready to step out into the real world again.

I understand that yoga classes aren't for everyone but I do think that everyone can benefit from taking time for yourself to breathe deeply. There are so many beautiful aspects to yoga. As I grow deeper in my practice, I'll be sure to share them with you. Please share any questions or comments you have!

In health,
Lauren

350/365 Plantz a-Make Her Dance: Tips for Getting More Vegetables into Your Diet

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

We know fruits and vegetables are great for us but are we eating them as often as we should? According to the USDA, we are supposed to consume 3-5 servings of vegetables a day. I know it can be hard to add them into your diet but here are a few techniques I use that may be helpful to you:

- If you eat salad, put all of your chopped romaine, spinach, Bibb/Boston, etc. lettuce in a container at the beginning of the week.I have been reusing the same giant, plastic container I got months ago when I bought Earthbound Organics's Spring Mix. Every weekend I go to the grocery store, chop up all my lettuce for the week, and store it in that container. It makes it so easy for me to put handfuls of salad into my container to take to work in the morning.

egg white omelette with broccoli, celery, onions, and mushrooms

- I've always loved omelettes but, never thought I'd ever have time to make them. Not so! My dad is a genius when it comes to working smarter and not harder. He stores all his chopped veggies in a container so he can just take a handful to fry (in grape seed oil, of course) when he's ready for breakfast. You can be so creative with these. This week I'm enjoying red bell peppers, onions, shitake mushrooms, and Chinese eggplant. Putting in that extra effort to chop everything ahead of time cuts down breakfast making by half. This meal also gets an A+ if you're paleo, more on that later.

- Though it's better to have fresh vegetables over frozen, I understand it's hard to take time to chop your vegetables every week. An easy way to prepare vegetables is to steam them either in the microwave or on the stove. If you're microwaving, pour your veggies in a bowl and fill the bottom with water. Microwave it for 3-4min. They should be vibrant and tender. If they aren't, microwave them a minute more at a time until they are.

- If you've got a little more time and want to be a little more ambitious, try roasting your vegetables. Set the oven to 350F. Get your vegetables together. I recommend broccoli, bell peppers, cauliflower, and potatoes to start. Chop them all about the same size and put them in a bowl. Pour oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder over the vegetables. Toss until they are evenly coated. Spread the vegetables onto a pan and bake them for about 25-30 minutes. Your veggies should be fragrant and a little brown but, not burnt, toasty on the outside and tender. Who knew vegetables could be so dynamic? Roasted vegetables are amazing. I love them. I could eat them literally every day AND since they shrink down and are so tasty you can scarf a whole mess of them down without even realizing it. Heck, you could easily get all 5 servings from roasted vegetables. Moving on...


Vegetables are not as grab-and-go as granola bars or yogurt cups but they are definitely great for you. If you're not convinced that vegetables are super cool or want more of a challenge, watch this video. Jose Andreas is just the coolest:

In health,
Lauren

348/365 It's Me Again because Guess What...It's Never too Late!

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

Wow, it's almost been exactly one year since my last blog post. I know you missed these blog posts blowing up your news feed  :)

So first off, this blog is a testament to the fact that it's never too late to hop back on the wagon. Maybe you set out to work out four days a week but, have only worked out twice in the last three weeks. It's OK! You can always start over. If you've taken psychology in any capacity, I'm sure you've heard of Prochaska's Stages of Change. Basically, you start out wanting to change a behavior, you plan for it, you're ready to go, you do it, you maintain it...forever. But, as we all know, life does not work like that. We get busy. It's the holidays. You've run out of steam and can't think of another fitness topic to blog about...there are plenty of reasons to get off the wagon. Prochaska says, "Ain't no thang baby! Get back out there and try again."

I feel like this post is appropriate since it's nearly February. At this point, you may be a champ and have kept up your New Year's Resolutions. You may be like me and never made a resolution for 2013. It's okay. We can make one now. We can make a new one. We can restart an old one. The world is your oyster, kid. Take hold and do something!

Here are my resolutions for 2013:
1. Finish this blog, maybe even post more than 365 posts
2. PR for my 10K time, shooting for under 53 minutes; under 50 minutes would be really nice
3. Practice yoga at least three times a week
4. Hike and get outside way more; I've got a calendar made already, look out for it and join me if you can! More on that later.

I'm back, internet friends, and it feels good.

In health,
Lauren

347/365 Trying for Triathlons

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

Run, Forrest, Run! That's all I've been doing for the past few months. Running and yoga have been my exercise modes to train for this half marathon. One day while icing my knees after a run, I realized that I should probably cross train so I don't wear out my body one step at a time. Since I can't imagine running for 5 hours (the minimum I would be running for a full marathon), and I have a feeling that my body won't be able to take the pounding of running for long, I thought about what other activities I could do. Why not a triathlon?

I've always written off triathlons saying, "Well, the biking I could do but, swimming? Pssh...swimming is not for me." With a pool at my gym/work, there was no way I could continue ignoring that aspect of training. The lifeguards at my pool are super friendly and were eager to help me work on my form. I'm now into my 3rd week of swimming and am in love with it! Swimming well really just comes down to form (teaser...get excited for a post all about swimming!)

Running? Check. Swimming? Check. Biking? Pending.

Again, using my undergrads as resources, a girl on the cycling team was able to direct me to a sweet road bike by Specialized. I still know nothing about bikes, what you should look for, what's good, what isn't but, I'm told that the Specialized Dolce for Women is an excellent bike to begin one's love affair with cycling.

My next step is to actually get the bike and ride. There are tons of resources on the web for how to train for a triathlon. My modus operandi for now will just be to get all three activities in during the week with some yoga and strength training too. Eventually, I'll have to work on transitioning from cycling to running but that will come in due time. Until then, perhaps give triathlons a second look...the swimming part isn't really that bad!


In health,

Lauren

346/365 Fruit and Veggie Smoothie...Wonder Drug?

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

In my family, my dad is notorious for health fads, specifically fruit/vegetable smoothies.  Every few years since I was young we have welcomed a new blender into our kitchen and the smoothie craze would begin. We drank everything from carrot juice to green juice to mangosteen and back to carrot juice again, and so on. These phases would last a few months then die out. My father has always had an obsession for juicing. This time I think it's here to stay.

My dad showing off the variety in our daily smoothie

After watching a documentary on food and healthy eating, my father made a list of foods that we should eat on a daily basis. These foods include kale, beans, cauliflower, red wine, mushrooms, beets, and so much more. It's a lot to prep and cook these foods. My father is all about working smarter and not harder; enter smoothie phase 2012. He decided to invest in the Ninja Kitchen System 1100. Here he can stuff all the veggies and fruits possible (pears, beets, radishes, an apple, grapes, acai juice, celery, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, kiwi, a banana, berries, and flaxseed since variety is key!) and blend them to a pulp. In about 1 minutes and 30 seconds you have a variety of nutrients blended and several servings and fruits and vegetables gulped down into your body.

We certainly don't do it for the taste. We drink this mad concoction because we know it is a great way to prevent disease and infection. Note the dominance of vegetables in this smoothie. Vegetables have less sugar than fruits and are still packed with antioxidants. I think we can all agree that we get plenty of sugar in the rest of our diet and it's harder to eat lots of vegetables compared to lots of fruits. I don't feel particularly healthier just yet but I'm sure the unseen processes in my body are singing. With all the running and swimming (more later) I'm doing, I'm certain my cells are thankful for the antioxidants to battle the stressors and free radicals floating around inside me. I will say this, my dad's hair is darker and thicker than it's been in a long time. "Pope head," as my parents have lovingly called balding, seems to have been staved off at least for now. Cheers!

In health,
Lauren

345/365 Thrills of Running Down Hills

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

Running hills are a great way to train to run faster. The motion of running on an incline is an exaggeration of how we run on flat ground. By training up hills, you can work on your knee drive upwards and your leg extension as you propel yourself forward. If you find a nice stretch of hill (like 400m/0.25mi), sprint up and jog down four to six times for a quick and exhilarating work out. Form is crucial for running up and down the hills to avoid injury and increase performance.

As you may know, my cousin and I are training for the Rock and Roll Half Marathon in March. Our neighborhood offers a nice variety of terrain for us to run including those dreadful hills. Too many hills on our runs seems to have caused my cousin's knee to bother her. She went to the local running store to purchase a sleeve for her knee. The sales associate however advised her to wait on the sleeve and to just try to take it easy and not run so many hills. Since we cannot just make perfectly flat routes out of thin air, he coached her on how to approach declines.

When running down a hill, I usually just let my body fly while still maintaining a toe strike; I feel my knees a little more when I do that. Instead, he suggested to run with a gentle heel to mid strike and to lean forward. Your lean doesn't start at your waist but at your ankles to keep your posture the same as if you were running on flat ground. This requires you to bend your knees more on your landing and be more aware of your posture. I tried doing this and in fact, I did go down a lot faster with more control and no knee pain. Speaking of knees, be sure to ice after a tough run especially if you have previous injuries. Icing will decrease inflammation and speed recovery; 15-20min is ideal.

As always, stand tall, tuck your pelvis underneath you, drive your knees straight up (to avoid twisting of any kind), keep your shoulders and head back, and have a great run.


In health,

Lauren

344/365 New Year's Goals

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

I was talking with my client and friend Anthony today about New Year's Resolutions. We've decided to scrap "resolutions" and replace it with "goals". Behavior changes can happen anytime. Although the new year is a nice round reason to make a new change, I and my fellow gym staff members can tell you that these behavior changes die out by February. Instead, we shall make goals of things we'd like to accomplish over the year.

Since I have this neat blog, I can look back to what my goals were last year. Out of my four fitness related goals, this is how I did:
- Beat my 10K personal record (PR)
    - I injured myself before my 10K race in June and didn't run one for time afterwards
- Participate in at least 3 races of any distance
    - I signed up for one race but got injured before it
- Take kickboxing or some martial arts class
    - I taught a kickboxing class when I worked for Verizon, not sure if that really counts
- Become or work on becoming a yogi starting with 1 session/week
    - I do yoga 2-3 sessions/week, success!


My scorecard does not look very good at the moment... However, I am determined to do better this year! I'm so excited about it that I wrote it down yesterday. 


- Continue to be a yogi
- Participate in 3 or more races (I'm already signed up for 2!)
- PR for 10K
- Go hiking in at least 5 places I've never been

Who wants to share? Happy goal making and have a wonderful New Year's Eve celebration!

In health,
Lauren

PS: As my mother still says, "Don't drink too much tonight."

343/365 What's GU, Pussycat?

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

My cousin and I are training for the Rock and Roll Half Marathon in DC next year, who's in? "But, Lauren," you think to yourself, "how could I ever run a half marathon?" Well, I am still asking that question to myself even as my cousin and I are doing our long runs on the weekend. How does one train for a half marathon?

I am certainly no expert on the subject of long distance running, I just do whatever my cousin tells me otherwise I probably would stop training altogether. Our game plan though is to run just 3 times a week. On off days, I do yoga to stretch out my calves, hip flexors, hamstrings, and core to help recover and prevent injury. Day One of running is 2 miles run and Day Two is a slightly longer run. These runs are meant to keep the wheels greased, to train our minds to easily conquer that first leg, and to work on speed. Our long run on the weekends started at 4 miles and have gotten longer by 1-1.25 miles each week. Once we got over the 10K marker (6.2 mi), it was time to whip out the energy gel.

Energy gels, GU Energy, Sport Beans etc. are products that give you a boost of energy. They are mostly made with sugar to deliver energy quickly to your body; they also usually have electrolytes and protein. On a long distance run, you're burning a mixture of fats and carbs, carbs being glycogen floating around in your blood or stored in your liver. Conditioned endurance runners will be able to burn more fat since their bodies are more efficient and can take the time to use fat. At some point though, all of us will burn more carbs than fat since it takes a shorter time to burn carbs and we need the energy immediately. To top off those sugar levels, energy gels come in to save the day! By taking in a bolus of sugar that is easy to digest, we refill the bank of sugar our body can withdraw from to create more ATP, energy.

The thing to keep in mind with energy gels is timing. Though you may not feel tired 30-45 min into the race, a few more minutes longer at that intensity without fuel could be your end. It's recommended that you take a "shot" 15 min before running to top off your fuel levels and then every 30-45 min. GU Energy says to take the whole packet at once but for me, it's a little too much and I feel really weird and shaky. I take about a third each time interval and it has worked out well for me. I have yet to hit my wall, just my lactate threshold on some hills.

Before trying it, I joked about goo packs and how weird or gross they were. After two weeks of goosage (goo usage ha ha) I can truly say that they're not so bad. My gel has been hard and cold since it's been frigid outside which is fine by me. I can't imagine soft, warm gel; maybe that's just me. I've only tried GU Energy's Tri-Berry. I've also taken a few punch flavored Sport Beans before running because I actually have time to chew it. These are also pretty good, I'd just be slightly afraid of choking if I took it while running. The best thing I can recommend is giving it a try and seeing which kind/brand you like. And as always, drink water! These companies don't really say why you should drink 24-30 ounces with it but my guess is to help wash it down. Of course, you should absolutely stay hydrated whether you're running or hanging out anyway because Mama Lauren said so.

If you are a gooser (goo user ha ha), let me know what you think, what flavors you like, and which brand you enjoy the most.

In health,

Lauren

342/365 Back in the Saddle Again (plus a plug for TRX)

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

Remember that one time when I totally stopped writing in my blog back in June? I almost forgot too! Well, our lives are cyclical and I do believe I got slightly burnt out from my (nearly) daily blogging routine. Alas I have returned! As with our healthy lifestyles, sometimes we have to take a break and get back in the saddle again. I'm going to finish out these last 33 posts and perhaps beyond at my leisure. This way I don't get burnt out and your Facebook feed won't blow up with my postings.

On to the plug for the TRX Suspension Trainer...

This is a great system that I've only gotten to play around with recently. It's a super simple training tool that, with creativity (and the help of youtube videos) allows you to work nearly every muscle group in less than 15 minutes. The TRX Suspension Trainer is a rope with handles, foot holds, and clasps to adjust the length of the rope. You can clip it around a sturdy bar and off you go!

Some fun stuff you can do are:
Assisted pull ups
Push ups
Bicep curls
Rows
Tricep extensions
Shoulder (posterior and frontal) raises
Pikes, planks, and mountain climbers

Do that three times around and you will be drenched in sweat. I can say that because I've done it and was spent by the end.

In health,

Lauren

PS: I hope you didn't miss me too much  :)

341/365 Red Skin Potato Fries

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

My favorite potatoes are sweet and red skin. Today I made red skin potato fries, sorry no picture! I actually bought these last week when I decided to shop locally. Since my no-A/C apartment was cool from a storm a few days ago, I heated up my oven and got to baking my fries.

Ingredients:
- Red skin potatoes cut into equally sized wedges (however many you want to eat/serve)
- Canola oil
- 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1/2 tsp Onion Powder
- 1/2 tsp Oregano
- 1/2 tsp Salt

Recipe:
1. Preheat your oven to 425F
2. Toss potato wedges in a bowl with the oil and spices until evenly coated.
3. Spread onto baking pan.
4. Bake for 15 minutes, flip over the wedges, and bake another 10 minutes.
5. Remove from oven, cool, and enjoy!

This is a super easy recipe and produces fantastic results. Red skin potatoes are naturally creamy and taste amazing against the crisp, salty, and spiced exterior.

In health,

Lauren

340/365 Donate Blood

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

You may already know that donating blood saves 3 lives but, did you know that there are benefits to you as well? Here are 5 benefits you may not know about.

1. Maintain a Healthy Heart
The high level of iron in your blood will make you more susceptible to suffer from heart disease. When you regularly donate your blood, the amount of iron in your blood will be more stable; this will reduce the risk of heart diseases.


2. Increase the Production of Red Blood Cells
Your spinal cord will immediately produce a replacement for red blood cells that are donated.  With that, you will get a new blood supply every time you donate your blood.


3. Decrease Body Weight
Being a blood donor is a good method of burning calories, and it is powerful, because by donating about 450 ml of blood, it will assist the process of burning approximately 650 calories.  That is a high amount of calories to make you to have a slimmer waist.

4. Satisfy your Psychological Needs
A study found that people, who regularly donate their blood, feel more energized than those who don’t.

5. Detect Serious Diseases
There is a standard procedure before donating blood.  Your blood will be checked from various diseases, such as, HIV, syphilis, malaria, and many other diseases.

If you are interested in donating through the Red Cross, click here to find drives near you. Here you can also find donation centers where you can drop in any time. Be sure to drink lots of water before and after you donate. Grab a snack on your way out and take it easy for 24 hours so that your body can fully recover. I did Yoga shortly after donating and you can ask my mother how I felt.

In health,

Lauren

339/365 Are You a Person for Bikes? Make the Pledge!

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

Do you agree with the following statement?

"I am for bikes. I'm for long rides and short rides. I'm for commuting to work, weekend rides, racing, riding to school, or just a quick spin around the block. I believe that no matter how I ride, biking makes me happy and is great for my health, my community and the environment we all share. That is why I am pledging my name in support of a better future for bicycling—one that is safe and fun for everyone. By uniting my voice with a million others, I believe that we can make our world a better place to ride."

If so, take the People for Bikes pledge (it only takes 2 minutes)! This organization strives to make bicycling more prevalent in this country. This isn't just for the racers or the mountain bikers; this is for the commuters, recreational cyclists, and your neighbors too! So join me and unite your voice with thousands of others to make this country a place for bikers of all kinds. After I posted this to Facebook, my friend Phil commented that he just got his bike so that he can commute to and from his new job. I couldn't be more proud.

In health,

Lauren

338/365 Book Review: The Omnivore's Dilemma

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

I can't honestly say that my kick to pick my own fruit wasn't inspired by reading Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma. He explores the 4 different avenues in which we can attain food: industrial, organic, pastoral, and personal. Food produced industrially is essentially based on corn. It's the kind of nightmarish things that you see in the documentaries Super-size Me, King Corn, and (I imagine) Food Inc. He unveils the secret behind organic food and what organic actually means. He then visits a highly sustainable, small farm whose livestock is grass-fed only. It's incredible actually, my favorite part. Lastly he ventures into the woods to be a hunter-gatherer and makes a whole meal on foods that he found, hunted, and harvested.

This was a long but great read. It will open your eyes to the truth about the Food Industry (sad that we can legitimately call it that). It gave me the impetus to do what I've wanted to for awhile: stick it to the man and buy everything local! The prices were comparable to what I would have bought at the grocery store and I had the satisfaction of knowing that my food didn't travel over 100 miles to get to me. Does it taste any better? Sensually no but psychologically yes. I just gave my soul a hug with my food. I totally recommend this book but be prepared to make a few changes in your life after you finish it.

In health,

Lauren

337/365 Pick Your Own Produce

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

Yesterday I decided that it was time to visit my local farm and pick some strawberries. The strawberry season is winding down so get out there while you can. Picking your own produce is rewarding and fun. It makes you realize the hard work and care that goes into harvesting all the fruit we take for granted. Real life isn't like Farmville where you can harvest raspberries in 4 hours or artichoke in 4 days. It takes patience and diligence. Blueberry picking is just around the bend so get out there! Local Harvest is a helpful resource for finding farms, farm stands, CSA's and more. Happy picking!

In health,

Lauren

Picked by yours truly!

336/365 Turkey Sausage Pasta Sauce

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

I was craving pasta with meat sauce and came up with this. It serves about 8-10

Ingredients:
1 pkg of spicy, lean turkey sausage (6 links), casings removed
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 32 oz can of crushed tomatoes
1 16 oz can of tomato sauce
salt
ground pepper
basil
oregano
1/2 c pasta water (water leftover from cooking your pasta)

1. Heat a large skillet with oil. Cook turkey sausage, breaking it up as you go.
2. While there's still some pink in the sausage, saute the onions and the garlic. Throw in the salt and ground pepper to taste. Cook until soft and transparent.
3. Add in the crushed tomatoes. Add tomato sauce depending on how thick you want your sauce. Season with basil and oregano for sweetness. Simmer for 15-20 minutes so that the flavors can mingle.
4. Add in the pasta water; this will help the sauce cling to the noodles better, yum!
5. Serve over pasta of your choice, sprinkle with cheese, enjoy!

According to livestrong.com, 1 serving of sauce is about 160 calories.

In health,

Lauren

PS: Picture coming soon, blogspot isn't working for some reason.

335/365 If She can Do It, so can You

Friends and Fitness Enthusiats,

A great lady at the gym just told me this morning that she ran 3.5 miles in 35 minutes. This woman is in her early 30s, is a mother of 4, and started smoking when she was 12. If you asked her 4 months ago if she would be able to do a 10 minute mile, she would have laughed in your face. With lots of dedication to the gym, determination to be healthy, and assistance from personal trainers (a-thank you!), she has been able to do this. Thing is, nobody told her to start running; she just did it. Nobody told her to quit smoking; she decided to do it for herself and her kids. If you don't think that you can start an exercise program and stick to it, think about this story. If she can push herself to do the "unthinkable," odds are you can too.

I'm just so proud of her that I wanted to share her story. It's amazing and I'm very excited to see what she does next; hopefully a 5K is in her future...is it in yours?

In health,

Lauren

334/365 WebMD's Dessert Wizard

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

Need a quick tool to help you decide if eating your favorite dessert is worth it or not? Enter the Dessert Wizard. If you don't like counting calories, this calculator will translate the desserts you want to eat into the number of minutes you need to exercise doing a variety of activities. It's super quick so give it a try! It quickly puts things in perspective and clears up the question of, did I work out hard enough to earn _____________ dessert? Hint: the answer is usually no.

In health,

Lauren

333/365 Spin Routines Part 2

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

As promised, here is one more spin routine for you (of course you're gong to warm up first, right?). You'll be in a seated position the whole time. The percentages represent your percentage of effort that you're putting out. If you have a heart rate monitor, you could also base the percentages off of your max heart rate. Practice safety: if your legs start to spin too fast and without control, increase your resistance.

Sprint Pyramid - 8min
0:00 - 0:40 - 60%
0:40 - 1:00 - 70%
1:00 - 1:45 - 60%
1:45 - 2:00 - 80%
2:00 - 2:50 - 60%
2:50 - 3:00 - 90%
3:00 - 3:50 - 60%
3:50 - 4:00 - 110% BREAK YOUR BIKE!
4:00 - 4:50 - 60%
4:50 - 5:00 - 90%
5:00 - 5:45 - 60%
5:45 - 6:00 - 80%
6:00 - 6:40 - 60%
6:40 - 7:00 - 75%
7:00 - 8:00 - 60%

This is a pretty killer dog workout so get ready! You make it as hard as you push yourself. Put on some great long techno song and you'll be good to go. Rock it!!

In health,

Lauren

332/365 Spin Routines Part 1

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

Spin has been my saving grace for exercise these days. It is kicking my tail but I feel great and man do I break a sweat. I genuinely love feeling like I'm going to die when I work out. Certainly I'm not exhausting myself to the point of no return but I like pushing myself to the point where my body is saying, "Hey...I didn't think we had that extra gear, way to go!"

Anyway, here is a sample routine that you can do on a spin bike at your gym. Of course, ask your gym attendants for help if you've never been on a spin bike before.

Ramp Work, 4:30 min:
0:00 - 1:00 - Spin sitting on the seat
1:00 - 1:25 - Climb!
1:25 - 1:30 - Climb and sprint
1:30 - 2:30 - Spin sitting on the seat
2:30 - 2:55 - Climb! Increase resistance
2:55 - 3:00 - Climb and sprint
3:00 - 4:00 - Spin sitting on the seat. Back off resistance
4:00 - 4:25 - Climb! Increase resistance
4:25 - 4:30 - Climb and Sprint

One more routine to come. I don't want to give too many away because you should totally try a spin class at your gym if you've never done one before. They are killer...if you want it to be. It's as tough as you make it, how hard are you going to push yourself?

In health,

Lauren

331/365 Simple Syrup

Friends and Fitness Enthusiats,

Who likes iced coffee? How about iced tea? As a lover of both, I just saved myself money and saved myself from high fructose corn syrup and other foreign sweeteners. I made simple syrup!

I've been wanting to do this for ages. What is it? Liquefied sugar! It makes sweetening your favorite cold beverages a lot easier and pretty much for free if sugar is already in your pantry. The beauty is that you really get to control how much sugar goes into your beverages. Sure you have the option of pumps when you go to Starbucks or what have you but when you're in control, you win.

Here's how to do it:
1. In a saucepan, pour equal parts of sugar and water. I did 1 cup of sugar to 1 cup of water.
2. Bring the concoction to a boil. Take it down to a lively simmer for 15 minutes. Stir occasionally and watch the syrup consistency emerge.
3. Pour into a squeeze bottle or jar and enjoy!

In health,

Lauren

PS: Everything in moderation!