Archive for March 15, 2010

Extended Vacation

I may be living in California for the month of April!

I will have to give more details when I have them, but we’ll see. It may or may not work out.

I thought I’d post a few food items that I have been eating lately!

Roasted Green Bean Fries

Ingredients: Green beans, cinnamon, stevia

Pre-heat the oven to Broil.

Place green beans on a baking sheet and spray with Pam.

Top with cinnamon and stevia.

Cook for about 10-15 minutes, or until crispy.

I dip mine in mustard(people think it’s so weird, but it’s goood!), but they are great plain too.

Oatmeal Pancake

While in California, I didn’t have access to a microwave. I’m too lazy to cook oatmeal any other way, so I did the next best thing and made it a pancake. It ended up being SO good.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup oats

1/4 cup wheat bran(you could also just use 1/2 cup rolled oats and not use the wheat bran)

1/2 banana

blueberries

cinnamon/stevia to taste

1/2 to 1 scoop of protein powder

2-3 egg whites

(depends how much fuel you need ;-))

Put all ingredients into a bowl and mix with a fork.(Use the fork to mash the banana). You could also blend the ingredients, but I like the thicker consistency.

Once it is all mixed up, cook it like a pancake and enjoy. Different flavored protein powders make different flavored pancakes, and almost anything would probably taste good. I’ve tried cherry vanilla and vanilla and liked them both.

IHRSA 2010 Recap

If you didn’t know, I was gone this past week working at the IHRSA 2010. (Click on the link for more details.)

Basically, it is a huge international trade show in San Diego. Every exercise equipment company I could think of was there and it was HUGE! Apparently it has actually shrunk since previous years, but still, a very big show.

I was working at the Keiser Performance booth doing demos and bringing traffic to the booth. Keiser equipment is SO COOL!! I had never had the opportunity to try their equipment before and now I’m in search of a gym that has it. Right now Athlete’s Performance is the only place I know of, but let’s face it, that’s a little out of my price range 😉

Keiser’s focus is on POWER. In a macadamia shell, strength x speed = POWER. You can be strong as hell, but if you have no speed, you don’t have power and vice versa.

Keiser has a ton of different types of equipment from spin bikes, to striders, to AIR RESISTED machines. These are what I am currently obsessed with. The technical description of how it works is here, but basically you set your resistance on, say, a squat machine and work on the explosive movements of a squat. These machines tell you your power output(in watts) and the percentage of power you are using. Very cool, and showed me just how powerful I am not! I’ve always known I don’t have much speed or explosiveness, but this has inspired me to work on that issue!

Okay, moving on. This was probably the most fun expo/trade show I have ever worked! Keiser was great to work with, and the show itself was just fun.(Um, hello, I basically got to play on a gym equipment playground!)

The people that I met at this show were….interesting. I made a lot of great connections and had some wonderful networking opportunities, but while handing out stress balls, we encountered some hilarious people. All I’m going to say is I think I am now married to a 45 year old man from China. Apparently tossing him a stress ball while a train is coming means I want to marry him, according to him. No worries, his wife took our picture…..(i really hope he e-mails me the picture because then I can fully explain the story and try to convey just how funny the experience was.)

All kidding aside though, it was a blast.

Outside of the trade show, we were staying at a friend of mine’s in Carlsbad. He was generous enough to let me stay there while he’s gone. I will just let the pictures paint the story of how jealous I am that he lives here. He lives RIGHT on the beach.

It was so beautiful there and it just confirmed how badly I want to move there. I will get there eventually!

My roommate and I also were able to find a great gym to workout at while there. We tried to get a 3 day pass at 24 hour fitness in Carlsbad, but the guy wanted to charge us $70!!! For 3 days!! No thanks…..the gym we went to next was much nicer and gave us a 3 day pass for free.

I should also mention, working for Keiser’s booth also entailed 30 minute spin or strider classes 2-3 times per day. That plus the weight training and cardio that my roommate and I did BEFORE the trade show each day, meant I definitely got my cardio in 😉 Only 2.5 hours per day…no big deal……… 😡

Thank you to Paco and Buddy for teaching the BEST spin/strider classes, and to all the other people at Keiser who made this show so much fun! Also thanks to Clark Bartram for giving me the opportunity to work the booth and being an inspiration as always!

checking in!

Hey guys…still in San Diego!!

Just wanted to say I’m still alive haha. The expo is SO cool. I get to play on exercise equipment and take spin classes all day. LOVE IT.

If you haven’t used Keiser equipment before, you need to check it out(if you can find a gym that has their equipment.) They use air resistance and it’s unlike anything I’ve ever done before. So cool!

Back Saturday, but going to a wedding, so I’ll catch up on Sunday!

California, Here I come!!

woo!! It’s 1AM and I am still awake. What the hell?! So unlike me, but I just got done packing and everything so late, and I’m just SO excited for cali that I can’t sleep!!!!

Yes, I’m going there for work, but I only have 10.5 hours of work, and I will be there for 4 days 😀 THIS is why i love the fitness industry. I’m getting paid to go on vacation!!!! And the work I am doing is demoing fitness equipment. Getting paid to talk about my passion, I couldn’t ask for anything better 🙂

Not sure where I’m going with this, but I just have to talk about it. I am young, but I feel like I’ve learned a lot in the “professional world” in my few short years through it. I worked at  a real estate office, as a licensed commercial real estate agent for 3 years. I got my license about a week after I turned 18, and had already been interning with some of the agents. By the time I had my license, I was able to begin actually working on projects and knowing what I was doing.(Over achieve much?) I was so driven in the business sense, and I believed in my heart that i could prove to everyone that being young didn’t make a difference.(Of course this was pre-workout freak days, so I had to put all that passion into something, right?!) Well after jumping around from commercial leasing, to land sales, to commercial building sales, the company I worked for finally fell to some serious legal issues, and I knew it was time to get out. I thought about moving to other companies, but at this point, I had spent my first two years of college working 30 ish hours a week AND going to school. I was a little burnt out and had other opportunities to explore.

Enter project management. My dad was starting a business on the side of his main company, and needed someone to head up the launch. I thought this would be a great thing for me. My dad had faith in me, and we gave it a shot. I had so much fun with this. I got to organize the shoot for the infomercial, gather the data for the website, hire people for various jobs, and make sure that everything was running smoothly. I had just begun working out more seriously and it was great to be able to work on my own hours. I also got to work from home on my laptop, aside from a few meetings each week, and absolutely loved what I was doing. Due to some random issues, the company didn’t get to where it needed to be, and it eventually fell through. I also realized that working for my dad, directly, wasn’t exactly the right fit.(Working with family is not an easy thing to do.) As I started to get more and more into working out, I became more and more aware of what I wanted to do with my life. And after competing, I really knew that the corporate world was not for me. As much fun as I had, it was never my TRUE passion. After getting so involved in the fitness world, there is no doubt in my mind that this is where I’m supposed to be. The other thing I learned about myself is I like change. I like new things, and I don’t like doing the same thing over and over and over. I would prefer to have 5 part time jobs, than to have 1 full time job. It keeps me guessing and no day is ever the same.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that, although if I decided to get back into commercial real estate, I could make a crap-load of money, it isn’t my true passion. I may only make enough to get by doing the various fitness related jobs that I take on, or maybe I will end up making a comfortable living out of it, I’m not quite sure yet. I do think that if you follow your heart and do what you LOVE, you can make ANYthing a successful business and your income will reflect the work you put in. If you know what you want out of something, you can make it happen. My dad always instilled in me that I could be successful and find a way to make money doing anything that I love, and maybe it has made me a little too optimistic, but I truly believe that. I’ve had people tell me I am way too optimistic about things, and that you just “can’t make that much money in this business.” Well, those people will always be sitting on the sidelines eeking out a living. If you believe you aren’t going to amount to much, well, you’re right. If you believe you can be successful in something that you are truly motivated to be successful in, I dare someone to try and stand in your way.

I plan on living my life doing the things I love, regardless of how much money I make. Of course having a comfortable income can relieve a lot of stress in many areas, but like I said, if you want to succeed in an industry, then you will.  People spend 40+ hours per week working. If you hate your job, you are losing out on a lot of happiness each week. If you aren’t happy at work, that is 40 or more hours a week of happiness that you are wasting. No amount of income can replace that.

Find what you love, and find out where you fit in. There are always options, and it’s never too late to change things. Save some of your money,  but spend it too. You won’t be able to go cliff jumping or surfing when you finally decide to spend your money on a nice vacation in the Bahamas at the age of 75(well, some 75 year olds can, but you catch my drift…). Live NOW. Don’t put off living!! If an opportunity presents itself, TAKE A RISK!! Those who take risks are the ones who get the biggest rewards. Step out of your comfort zone and take a chance on something great. You will regret the things that you DON’T do more often than the things that you DID do.

Live life now, and worry about the rest later. It is good to plan things out to an extent, but you have to remember that each minute that passes by is a minute you will never get back. Do what you want in life, and do it now. There will never be a “perfect time.” There will ALWAYS be a reason NOT to do something. That’s all 🙂

Oh yeah, my workout today!

Only did 20 minutes of cardio today because i was just not into hanging out on a machine.

My shoulder/ab workout was great though!!

Barbell press, hanging leg raises, db lateral raises, db front raises, russian twists, lying leg raise+hip up, lying rear delt pulls, plate presses, and inch-worms.

I swear, everytime I get in the gym and have a great lift, it inspires me again and again. I get so excited for my workouts. Every workout is a chance to do something I’ve never done before, and I get to experiment with my muscles. I probably sound like a crazy person(which i am) but I seriously just LOVE exercise and pushing myself beyond the limits. It’s a feeling that nobody else can achieve for you and that nobody can take away from you. Fitness is YOURS and can always be improved on. It is a never ending game and it rocks!!!

Okay I’m done now I promise. I’m going to bed 🙂

A Break

That’s what my body was begging for. I woke up on Saturday so completely exhausted. I hadn’t taken a day off from exercise since the previous Friday(besides yoga) and I could just tell my body needed some time off.

I took both yesterday(Saturday) and today (Sunday) completely off from exercise. I rarely take two days off in a row, but I tend to overtrain and I think this is a good thing for me. I’m itching to get a workout in, but I’ll put it off until tomorrow. I’m excited to kick my own ass tomorrow though 😀

I’m wrapping up week 15 and moving into week 14. Crazy how fast the time goes. I’m noticing small changes, but nothing drastic yet. I think it tends to happen that way, at least for me. If I stay doing well with my nutrition, I don’t really notice changes the first few weeks and then all of the sudden I start seeing them almost daily. Hopefully that time is coming soon 🙂

I feel like I have so much going on right now, but I’m pushing through. Trying to get as much rest as possible today so I can hit it hard this week!

Un-Rest Day

Sorry for the disappearing act! Just wanted to make sure my magic skills were still up to par 😉

Workouts

Wednesday: Leg day!! My quad was kind of bugging me(nothing serious, just a little overuse) so I didn’t want to do any plyometrics and further the problem. I tried to focus mostly on hamstring-a-lings.

Stiff Legged Dead Lifts, Low Box Squats, 45* Hypers, Seated Ham Curls and possibly something else that is slipping my mind today?? I finished it off with 30 minutes on the stairway to hell stepmill.

Thursday: I boxed in the morning and Steve absolutely kicked our asses! I was shaking by the end.(Being on my 4th day low carb probably helped make it a little extra hard ;-)) Good stuff. Afterwards, as if my shoulders weren’t already fatigued enough, I did Shoulders/Abs. I am shocked that my abs aren’t sore today, because they were screaming at me. No literally, I had to tell them to just shut up.(wow. i just reached a whole new level of nerd.)

One arm Arnold Press/Hanging Leg Raise in Captain’s chair

Cable Crossovers/Decline Sit ups with 10lb plate

DB Lateral Raises/Lying leg raise to Hip up(these are what really got me)

DB Rear delt raise/ swiss ball crunch

Finished off with 30 minutes on the e-cliptical and called it a day.

I was so damn tired by this point, and it lasted ALL DAY LONG. I was not only tired but 4th day of low carbs and all I wanted was to just sleep, but I had to work. I did take a nap when I got home though from 6pm-8pm haha. Back in bed by 10pm and slept through the night.

Friday: Ahh today has been glorious 🙂 For one, I woke up feeling so refreshed! 2nd, I knew it was a CARB DAY  😀 😀 3rd, no work, nADA + pay day from all 3 jobs  and it was also a rest day. Well, at least it was supposed to be.

I woke up at 5:30am (too late for yoga :-() but knew that I wouldn’t know what to do with myself if I just sat at home. So I headed to the gym. I decided on my way that I wanted to do a short and sweet conditioning workout. I did the same one I did last Sunday and it kicked my ass once again. I have been begging people at the gym to try it, but I have no takers so far…

5 min. 6.5mph 1% on the TM

15 HIGH box jumps(as in, as high as you can go for 15 without not being able to make it onto the box)

10(20 for dudes) jumping pullups to burpees.(make sure the pullup bar is high enough. it makes it much harder ;-))

sled push with 55lbs today

Repeat that 3 times.

This is definitely NOT a beginner workout, and is really tough. Unless you have done this type of training before, make sure you have someone supervise it so you don’t get injured. I don’t want to be responsible for a broken face from not making it onto the box 😉

That took me about 30ish minutes, and then I hopped on the elliptical for 30 minutes to stretch out the leggies. My sister doesn’t work on Fridays and likes to go hiking, so I went with her cuz I’m a god damn good sister. 😀

Today’s food has been g-l-o-r-i-o-u-s

So far:

*1/2 cup oats, 1T Chia seeds, 1 scoop protein powder, 3 Egg whites , cinnamon

*1 scoop protein with water(post workout)

*4 oz. tilapia w/ 1 tsp coconut oil before the hike

*1 apple and 13 strawberries after the hike! 🙂 oh how i’ve missed fruit. i ate this while driving home because it had been about 3.5 hours since i’d eaten and i was STARVIN MARVIN

*1 whole sweet potato, 2 TBSP Almond butter and 6 egg whites. This. was. delicious. Pretty sure if i could have this for every meal, I would!

*Double protein shake!! 2 handfuls of ice, water, 1/2 cup liquid egg whites, 1/2tsp xanthan gum, 2tsp unsweetened cocoa powder, 2 scoops of protein

I am totally full right now, but totally happy. I’ve got boot camp tomorrow and then maybe I will ACTUALLY rest on Sundays. Rest days are important, but I also need to get a sprint workout in this week(didn’t on Tuesday because of my quad issue). I may try to do just that Sunday morning, but we’ll see.

I leave for San Diego in 5 days!!! Can’t wait!! I will be working an expo for 2 of the days, but then I get to play the rest of the time 🙂 My schedule for march is totally crazyy! Next week alone I have:

Wednesday(possibly tuesday night): Leave for San Diego

Thursday & Friday: Work at health expo(demoing spin bikes. Pretty sure I will be spinned out after 13+ hours of spinning in two days!! Please god let us take breaks haha)

Saturday: Fly home and go straight to pre-judging of the NPC show here(tons of friends competing!!) and then my BEST friend’s older brother(who is like a brother to me) is getting married that night!!!

After that I only work 40 hours the next week and then it all starts over with more weddings, another event, fitness conference and bachelorette party. This month is going to FLYYYY by!!

Oh, and my birthday is next Wednesday! I keep forgetting because I have so much going on, so you may have to remind me 😉

Take care!

Great day and Things I love

Well yesterday’s bad mood was replaced with an amazing mood today 🙂 Love it! Just goes to show, for every downside, there is an upside.

I’m currently at work right now at the gym. I was working out and my manager needed to leave, so I told him I’d work the rest of his shift. I got to finish lifting and do a half hour of cardio while working. Not too shabby 😉

This morning’s workout included 30 minutes of AM cardio before breakfast(elliptical) and then it was time for Chest and Triceps!

4 sets of each superset

Barbell Incline Press/Incline Pushups

DB Flat Bench Press/Wide Grip Pushups

Pec Dec/Bosu Pushups

Decline Pushups/Rope Pulldown

Skull Crushers/One Arm Overhead Extension/Bench Dips

I know I’ve said this a bagillion times, but pushups are my favorite thing to do on chest day. I just think it is such a great exercise for your entire body, and they always challenge me.

After that workout, I hit up the stepmill for a sweaty 30 minutes of speed intervals.

I figured I’d let you all in on some of my favorite things. These are things I swear by.

-Chia Seeds: You may already know about my obsession, but I like to call these little seeds of greatness Nature’s Redbull. They give me energy, they are the perfect ratio of Omega 3 to Omega 6 fatty acids, and they just rock. I put them in oats, sometimes I let them soak in water and make a pudding with them using cinnamon and stevia, and sometimes I add them to shakes. These.things.rock.

Quinoa-OH yes. Quinoa is actually a seed, not a grain, but it is probably one of the best complex carbohydrates you can get. Quinoa has higher protein, fiber, and antioxidants than your typical brown rice, oats, etc. The flavor is kind of a nutty flavor, hard to describe, but it’s good! I also have gotten started on Quinoa flakes. These are ground down to little flakes(kind of looks like confetti lol) but I’ve used this in place of oatmeal in the mornings. It works for a sweet oatmeal, but is better as a savory “oatmeal.”

XTend: This is a powder form of your BCAA’s(Branched Chain Amino Acids.) Although there is artificial sweetener in this, it tastes great and is a good way to get your BCAA’s in. Powder form is usually a better choice than pill, and let’s face it, plain BCAA’s in powder form doesn’t taste very good. I like to mix 2 scoops of Xtend with 1 scoop of vanilla protein powder post workout. It takes on the taste of the Xtend and assures I’m getting my protein and BCAA’s right after my workout. There are tons of flavors but I like watermelon and lemon lime.(I pronounce BCAA’s like Bacaws!(think of a chicken haha. yes i am a weirdo, thanks for asking.))

Walnuts: You may have heard of these things?? 😉 Anyways, although I do love my beloved almonds, these are a nutritional superstar! Walnuts are high in Omega 3 fatty acids. The texture of them is probably why I like them so much, and they are surprisingly filling for the amount you can eat at a time. They are higher in fat, and therefore much more calorie dense than almonds, but I think it’s worth it. Even loving them as much as I do, I don’t ever have a problem eating too many of them. They are very satisfying. I usually eat about 1/2 ounce at a time. It is seriously like 6 walnut halves, so not much, but oh well. 1/2 ounce is about 95 calories, so it is the perfect addition to a balanced meal.

Anyways, I have about a million other favorite things, but those are just the ones I have been going with lately. Coconut oil and avocados also top my list, but I’ll save those for a different day. If you have any questions feel free to e-mail me at [email protected] or visit my website www.fitlizzio.com and you can contact me there as well!

 

NOT sick.

Hola amigos.

Como esta? Okay, no more espanol. No seriously.

So I woke up today in a grumpy mood. For absolutely no reason. As I did my 30 minutes on the elliptical before breakfast at my little apartment gym, I tried to figure out what was pissing me off. Nope, nada.

I got done and headed back to my apartment and drank my protein shake. Still grumpy. I made my egg whites with spinach, mushroom, tomatos and onions. It was amaz-az-ing, and then headed to the gym.

I got in a great back/biceps workout today! My muskulls were completely failing by the end: SUCCESS.

Lat pulldowns/High cable rows

T bar rows/T rope

Straight arm pulldowns/low one arm cable rows

ez bar curls/rope hammer curl

4 sets of each superset.

I finished off the workout with 30 minutes on the stepmill. Twas shweaty.

I was STILL in a bad mood at this point, so I went outside in the perfect 75 degree, sunny weather and just hung out in the sun. I thought maybe some vit-D could shake the mood.. Nope!

At that point I just accepted that I was having one of those days and tried to look at the positive. It didn’t really change my mood, but I rolled with it anyways. I think I was just pretty tired from a just-okay night of sleep.

I worked through the afternoon and then came home and had a protein shake with green beanssss. I love me some green beans and they actually made my day a little better. Noted. 😉

I cooked and cleaned and replied to some e-mails, and then made another egg surprise: spinach, onions, tomatoes, mushrooms, 1 egg, 5 whites. And of course Hot saunce! I am addicted 😀

I feel like I might be getting sick, but I am determined to not let myself get sick. It just IS NOT going to happen.(Maybe if i keep repeating that I won’t get sick?? I’m a weirdo and I actually believe in that kinda thing ;-))

Okay, off to bed to sleep this thing off!

Tomorrow’s agenda:

30 min. AM cardio

Chest/Triceps

30 minutes more cardio

worky work

Sprint workout

schooly school 😡

Lata!

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