Our Snowboarding trip to Mammoth

Last week we went to Mammoth. Since it was late in the season we were able to get a fantastic deal on an amazing ski in ski out condo on the mountain side. This is the nicest accomodations I have ever had in Mammoth. We shared a 2 bed/2 bath condo with good friends of ours and their little 11 month old. This worked out so nicely because we took turns snowboarding and watching each other's kids.



When we arrived I could not believe the beauty of this place. I have been to Mammoth about 10 times in my life and I never get tired of the surroundings. Anyone who has kids knows how stressful packing is. You have 5 times more stuff than you ever did in your life. Extra toys, bottles, portable crib, stroller, humidifier, diapers, etc.... Our 3 day trip looked like we were going away for a month. We packed the car up to it's maximum capacity. Good thing we drove because there was no way we could bring all of this stuff and fly somewhere. Anyway, I left in a frantic, because I had been stressing all week about different projects I have underway. I was anxious all week with the amount of work I had on my shoulders. But when I arrived in Mammoth all that stress, tension, and anxiety just drifted away. I can not describe what serenity and peace this place brought to me. Just breathing the fresh air, looking at the gorgeous mountain views, being with my little family and great friends was all I needed to relax. Oh and I can't forget the snowboarding that was right at my finger tips. 8-) My favorite activity!


I have decided that it's imperative that I do a trip like this at least once a year. Lyla seemed to have a great time in her cute little snow outfit checking out the snow for the first time. I can't wait to get her started on a mini snowboard. Her and Gianna were sooo adorable playing together. Just watching them together really makes me think I should give her a sister or brother in the near future. 8-)





Now to discuss kettlebells. I had about 2 hour windows of snowboarding both days. And each day I boarded as much as I could for those several hours. I am proud to say not once did my legs get tired or sore. I hardly even snowboard anymore because it just does not fit in my lifestyle at this time. My form and speed remained about the same. I have to give the credit to my body weight exercises and kettlebell training. Before I started training with bells, no questions asked, I would be very sore and shaky the next day after not boarding for awhile. I'm telling you that training the right way ABSOLUTELY helps your snowboarding skills. You can go down longer runs without feeling the burn and really do nice carves in the snow with lots of power. It was amazing!! I was worried that my snowboarding skills would go down the toilet since I have not been consistent for the past 4 years. I am happy to say they have maintained nicely. I have gotten a little more timid over the years because I have more at stake now. If I launch off a jump and severely injure myself I won't be able to work or be their for my family. I decided to throw in the towel and bust out my helmet this year. I never wanted to do it, but if some crazy person knocks me out while I'm speeding down a mountain I might as well protect the noggin.



New priorities! Make at least 2-3 days for yourself to do something that takes your stress away and gives you absolute joy! Keep your kettlebell training up so that you can enjoy your other activities with a powerful start!

Organic Carrot, Orange and Ginger Juice

So that last 2 days I have been making the most delicious fresh juice I have ever had. You would never believe that there is no added sugar. I was feeling really sluggish this past week, due to hormones, and all that fun women stuff. I wanted to start the day off with something a little different. My body doesn't always do well on caffeine, especially when I feel it needs it the most. I crash hard and I am left feeling worse.

Here is the Carrot and Ginger Juice Recipe

6-7 Organic Carrots
2 Oranges (right from my back yard)
1 inch of Ginger ( I love ginger so I put in a little more)

I peeled the oranges so the white part was still on. I also peeled the ginger as well.

I also tried it without the oranges if you are worried about sugar content. It still tasted awesome!!

And Voila! A beautiful looking juice that taste extraordinary. You can tell I'm excited. I don't get excited by too many things, but I felt great after drinking this first thing in the morning.

I've stayed away from fruit juices because of the sugar. But I feel strongly that one glass of FRESH fruit and/or vegetable juice can only have wonderful health benefits.

Does anyone else enjoy making fresh juices? If so, I'd love to hear about other healthy and tasty combinations.

The past 2 months

I know I haven't been blogging lately. Time just has not been on my side. With my projects I have underway, training clients, spending precious moments with my growing daughter, and keeping my husband out of the hospital I would say I have my hands full. So sitting down here at the computer is a luxury.



I will try and recap as much as possible in the most condensed way.

February started out very rocky. Ben had to be rushed to the hospital for his attack on his stomach. This was one of the worst episodes. He had to be wheeled in because he couldn't walk and was almost passing out from pain. The ER was very slow about everything as always and told him they would see him as soon as they could. 2 and half hours later, you would think he was almost dead, they finally got him the medication to give him relief. Then they sent him home several hours later because there is nothing more they can do. I also had to take care of Lyla in the ER while watching this nightmare happen. I think she might be starting to understand because she freaked out when they put the IV in his arm.

To make a long story short, the next day I had to call the paramedics. I had just finished teaching one of my classes when I thought I would check on him to make sure he is drinking enough water. He was barely conscious. That's when I calmly called the ambulance. It turned out the doctors gave him too many drugs in the ER that somehow interacted with his other daily medicaiton. If I didn't check on him he would have died! So rushing him in saved his life! That put a scare on all of us.
I need to take deep breaths when I talk about this.

Moving on, things have been better since then. Lyla is still being very cautious walking on her own. She will push her toys around while walking and walk while holding someone's hand. But at the moment she has no desire to let go. She is growing right before my eyes. She's not a baby anymore. It's just so hard to believe. 8-(





My training has been very simple. I have just been training to maintain so it hasn't been very exciting. Now that the RKC 2 is starting to get closer I will have to work more on my Clean and Jerks the RKC way. Something I have never had real instruction on. I have seen and tried other ways, so hopefully I'll get that part down before the Cert. By the way, if anyone in San Diego is going to Level 2 in June please email me. Maybe we can exchange some ideas as well as coordinate traveling, since Minnesota is not around the corner.

Once I have finished my project I will be excited to let everyone know about it. Until it's done I have no right to be discussing details. Life is definitely excited and I'm grateful for everything I have!

Saturday's Practice and Food

Here is yesterdays workout which I think of more of a practice.

Warmed up with Joint Mobility 5 minutes and 2 minutes of Swings 12kg

Did the following exercises 3 times.

Pull Ups 3 , 4 , 3
Pistols 2 , 3, 1 per side
Bent Press 12kg 3, 3 , 3 per side
C & J 12kg 8, 8 , 6 per side

Then I finished off with

Snatches for 3 minutes with the 12kg total of 73 snatches.

I don't usually train high reps so I was surprised how nice those 3 minutes felt. I paced myself at around 24 snatches a minute. I'm not training for any thing but I wanted to see how I would feel with that length of time. Maybe I'll try 4 minutes today.

Morning weight is 108. Been eating 5-6 times a day. Here is what I ate yesterday. Not typical since it's a Saturday and I had time to have some lunch by the beach. Couple of people ask me from time to time if I am eating. I think I eat a good amount of food. I have just been more cautious of what I put in my body because most of the food out there isn't really food. And I don't have time to cook extravagant meals. These days with my limited time fast healthy fresh is what I can do.

Breakfast Quinoa Flakes 1/3 cup
2 Organic Omega Eggs

Snack 1/3 of a Fresh Pineapple
2 handfuls of Raw Almonds

Snack 2 Lean Body Whey Protein Shake (pesticide free whey)
1 tsp of Cod Liver Oil

Lunch (went out to lunch with friends so this is not typical
One Carne Asada Taco, Refried Beans, and Cabbage Salad
And I had Chips, Salsa, and Gaucamole. yummy!

Snack Hummus
Cucumber Slices
Seed/ Flax Crackers (gluten free) Mary's Gone Crackers is the brand

Dinner Organic Free Range Chicken 6 oz
Small Yam
2 cups of Mixed Greens with Balsamic Dressing

Dessert 3 big Squares of 71% Dark Chocolate from Trader Joes. Less than 2 grams of sugar per square.

Does the FDA give a crap about our health??

The answer is no! Money is really what drives the decisions of the FDA. It's such a shame because who do we trust if we can't trust the FDA? If you have not heard, the FDA feels that meat and milk are safe from CLONED animals. I am not a vegetarian by any means, but if this is hidden from the population, I will be forced to be a vegan. This problem could hurt our kids more than anything. Since this is the cheaper way, restaurants probably wont need to put this on the menu either. Another reason why you need to be even more careful with going out to eat. America is making it harder and harder for the population to eat clean, pure and healthy foods.

If you click below you can sign a very fast petition to allow the consumers to know if the meat is cloned or not. This will effect everyone. Thank you in advanced for supporting the health of ourselves and children.

http://cu.convio.net/labelclonedfood

Does anyone else feel as strongly about this as I do?  Or could I be over reacting?

Please vote for Exercise TV's top trainer

I don't really know much about Exercise TV but some how I was nominated to be in the running for Top Trainer.  Believe it or not I am in 2nd place as of now.  It would be great to see a kettlebell trainer to be in first place.  I have never competed in anything before so just thought I would put it out there and ask you all who have benefited from my services or advice to take a minute and vote.  I thank you in advance for supporting your fellow kettlebell instructor.  Just click the picture above to vote!

Thanks to all who have already voted!!!

Happy First Birthday Lyla

I can't believe my baby is 1. This year flew by and I survived. For some reason I'm very emotional right now, which doesn't happen to me very often. As a nursing mom I have never spent one day away from her. I didn't think I would be this attached. I have watched her grow from this little infant to a baby that interacts with me and says things like "wow" and "hi". Watching her every move just amazes me. From seeing her feed herself the little pieces of food I put on her tray, to pulling herself up on anything she can find, and talking to her stuffed animals in the morning. It all melts my heart. I fell in love the second I met her.

These pictures are really for me to look back on. Starting from the first day she was born.

He's absolutely head over heels in love! Just born. I am in awe here. She's not even 2 hours old.

1 month old






More pictures to come when I have more time. Of course Lyla is eating a Gluten free sugar free banana muffin I made her.

One more important thing to add to post below

This article came out this past June.  Not to scare any of you parents but it is good to be aware how much narcotics can influence breast milk.  This is a rare case, but a full term healthy baby actually died from the high concentrations of narcotics in the mothers breast milk.  She was just taking the prescribed dose of what the doctors gave her.  She ended up taking half of the dose 2 days later due to constipation.  Here is the article you can read for yourself.

  http://www.nationalreviewofmedicine.com/issue/2007/06_15/4_patients_practice04_11.html

Just wanted everyone to be aware!

On a happier note my baby is turning 1 tomorrow! This year has been incredible.

My workout yesterday

Push Ups 30 seconds
Body Weight Squats 30 seconds
Swings 12kg 30 seconds

Pull Ups 4
Pistol 1 / 1

Repeat 3 times

Snatches 12 kg 2 min

What Doctor's don't tell you after a C-section

I have had several emails from husbands and wives wanting to know more about recovery after C-sections.  I am no expert since I have only been through one C-section, hopefully that will be the last. I do know that I have had to do lots of outside research to help my muscles around my incision as well as my Transverse Abdominis (TVA)  

These are some of the things that the doctors DO tell you after a Cesarean:

1. Do not go up and down the stairs for 2 weeks (which I did as soon as I got home)

2. Do not lift anything heavier than the baby for 6 weeks 

3. Take your painkillers (ex. Percocet)

4. After 6-8 weeks you can start exercising again

Good luck!

Here is what they don't tell you after a Cesarean. and I have added my opinions to this:

If you take your painkillers that are encouraged, it WILL slow your bowels down. Not to mention they are already very slow after this major surgery. It can give you a false sense of feeling better and you might REALLY over do it.  If you're breast feeding there are many pediatricians that think it can be harmful to the baby when taking strong painkillers such as Percocet. I feel it can really cause your baby to be sedated and constantly fall asleep during feedings. Let's not forget the highly addictive qualities these narcotics have.  The last thing a new mother needs to be dealing with is withdrawal symptoms from this drug.  

You may have pulling pains near the incision even 30 years later.  I have several clients who are in their 50's and had C-sections. To this day they still have mild cramping and pains near the incision every once in awhile.  Now why does this happen?

 Down to the important stuff.  After your abdominal wall is cut open and your muscles are separated to get a large baby out of your stomach, you are sewn up with several layers of stitches.  What they don't tell you is after this surgery your brain loses proper connection with these muscles.  Many women experience numbness and/or a pooch belly because they are never properly taught how to re-establish the communication between the brain and these stomach muscles.  Therefore it's important to do specific exercises to activate these muscles again.  

When you are starting to feel better from the surgery or /and you have been given the clearance to exercise, start with these TVA exercises. Since everyone heals at different speeds you may feel ready to do this as early as 3 weeks. Doing the typical crunches and sit ups will only target your Rectus Abdominis, which will not help at this time.  Some simple exercises to start are:

PLANK on your knees for 30 seconds.  Getting on your elbows and knees. Really tucking your pelvis under.  Even if you can go on your toes for the plank it's better to start small, so that the right muscles are being used and nothing else is taking over.

PELVIC TILTS - lying on your back (you can even do this in bed) tilt your pelvis under while pressing your lower back flat against the ground. Do a little squeeze and hold.  Also take your fingers and press in to your pelvis area where you should be feeling it. This will also help tell the brain to start turning these muscles on.  Do 15-20 reps of these and repeat 2-3 times when your body feels ready.

4 POINT TUMMY VACCUM (read this in Paul Cheks' book, How to Eat, Move, and Be Healthy)  Getting on your hands and knees inhale and let your stomach hang to the floor. Then exhale and bring your belly button in to your spine. Hold and repeat 15-20 times.  

KETTLEBELL SWING - this is an excellent exercise to get the TVA.  

I could go on and on with diet and more exercises. But to keep this relatively short these are some rehab exercises that doctors do not tell you to focus on after a Cesarean.  Why they don't tell you, I don't know.  We just get sewn up and are expected to deal with muscles that don't properly work and a "pooch" belly.  For those who want their stomach to feel and look the same or even better, these are some ways to regain this.  Hope this has answered some of your questions.  There could be a book written about this!

But let's not forget the real reason why we go through this.  It's worth every bit of this and more! Here is me all sedated since they pumped me with Morphine, without my knowledge, holding my baby.  Couldn't have been happier in this picture.

Nothing too exciting. Several short workouts posted

I enjoy sometimes when life has settled down and there is no big news to discuss. The big family holidays are over and things are mellow.   I have been in a super laid back mood since I got back from Marin County. Going with the laid back theme I have kept my workouts as such. Very short ones as usual.  Here are a couple ones I have done in the last several days. One I got from Ross's training book Never Gymless.

Workout 1 (feeling lethargic so eased back in to this first workout on the cardio part)

Swings    8kg      50 reps   

Suitcase Deadlift  2 24kg's  6 reps

Swings 12kg    50 reps

Suitcase Deadlift  2  24kg's  6 reps

Swings 16kg   40 reps

Suitcase DL   2 24kg's 6 reps

Snatches 12kg   10 per side

Presses  12kg   6 per side and repeated 2 times

Rehab for my TVA .  Still feeling C-section pains and that the muscles are not working correctly. ( I will write a post later on what they don't tell women and should after this major surgery)  Need to start all over with teaching my brain how to slowly use and tighten my TVA.  

4 sets of planks on my knees.  Need to start with 25-30% intensity to get the right muscles activated. 

Workout 2   10 min  Got this little fun one from Ross's book and used a slight variation

Burpees  

Ring Rows 

Body Weight Squats

Kettlebell Push Ups

Went through each exercise for 60 sec, then 45 sec, 30 sec, and 15 sec. Took as few breaks as possible. Took me 12 minutes to complete. Suppose to be 10 minutes with no rest. 

More knee planks and 4 point tummy exercise from Paul Chek's book.

Workout 3  Today

Bent Press 8kg   3 per arm x 3

Pull Ups   3/2/2

One arm Push up with other arm on a bell (feeling a bit weaker today) 4 per side x 3

Rested 45-60 seconds between exercises

Clean and Jerk 12kg, 16kg   8 reps, 5 reps per side

Pistols      2 per side x 3      

TVA rehab   

That's all for now. Looks like another beautiful day here in San Diego.   

Another little quickie

I'm all all fired up this morning because I am headed to the mountains this evening. That's right, it's snowboard season.  This is what I use to LIVE for. If I didn't have a baby right now I would have hit the slopes the second the mountain opened. Ben and I will be going up there with Lyla. So we will have to take turns taking runs. So with all my excited energy I wanted to get in a quickie workout before getting in the car heading to slopes.

Here it goes!

2 Handed Swings 12kg 40x

Alternating Swings 12kg 42x

Double Cleans 12kg's  10x

Dead Double Cleans 12kg's 10x (tough)

High Pull Catch and Squat with a Burpee  12kg 10x 

High Pull Catch and Squat with a Burpee 12kg  10x

Double Snatches  8kg's  15x

Double Snatches 8kg's   18x

1 Arm Push ups  2 per side

Ab wheel roll out  10x

1 Arm Push ups 2 per side

Ab wheel roll out  10x

Stretches with baby and done!  

Last season I had just had Lyla and there was barely any snow left. Remember I'm in southern cali.  Here is a pic of me hitting the slopes as soon as doctors gave me clearance since I had a C-section. I got 2 hours total in for the whole season.  8-(    Yay for today!!! 

Just messing around

After my 3 mile walk/jog one of my girlfriends came over to check out my new little garage gym. My friend and I were playing around with the pull up bar like we were kids. I was also pushing Lyla around in the little radio flyer wagon in between messing around with pistols and swinging on the bar. I then wanted to try a one arm push up. I decided, what the heck, let me give it a whirl and fall flat on my face. Well surprisingly I did it! Then I did it again and then on the other side!  Woo hooo.  Hmmmm how did this happen since I haven't really trained for one arm push ups??  My guess is tension or lots and lots of stress built up.

I have been practicing pistols and pull ups for the past 2 weeks, which both require tons of tension.  I just used the same breathing and tension technique to the push up and I actually did it. There was definitely some snap, crackle, and pops going on.  

Strength works in mysterious ways sometimes.  I strongly feel that the mind can take over and provide you with the extra strength in time of need. Especially when you have lots of built up energy inside that is ready to explode! The story of my life.  

Under 12 minute workout

I have been feeling pretty good these past couple days. During the holiday season I am not as busy so I have some more down time.  Even though my baby tends to tire me out, I am feeling rejuvenated! Today I squeezed in two mini workouts.  

Morning workout

2 Handed Swings  12kg  1 min

Snatches                 12kg  2 min

Jump Rope                      1 min

Alternating Swings 12kg 1 min

Alternating Snatches 12kg 1 min

Jump Rope                            1 min

Pull ups           3x

Took 1 minute break in between each exercise

Evening workout (my client was running late so I squeezed another one in)

Turkish Get Ups  16kg   2/2

Pull ups                            4x

Pistols            10lb          3/3

Windmills             12kg  4/4

Went through each exercise with minimal rest and repeated 2 times

It's amazing how wonderful the mood and energy picks up even with just these short practice sessions!  I love it!!!

My Transformation

This post is not about anyone's body being transformed. It's about my ugly garage being transformed in to a kettlebell / training studio. I have been extremely busy the past several weeks trying to make this happen. It was a lot of work but the outcome is worth all the headache. For the past 8 months I have been training everyone in my backyard, which has worked out great. But when it rains or it's dark it isn't the best place to be. So looking at my horrible garage I thought it would be a good investment to use it wisely.

The most challenging part was forcing us to get rid of lots and lots of crap! Which is probably one of the best parts about this. The next best part is I now have a home kettlebell gym that is fully insulated. I wasn't able to convince Ben to get a shed for some of our storage so we settled on getting nice cabinets. We still have room for storage AND a nice little desk for the online training and nutrition consultations I do. Here are the before pictures. I couldn't even walk in the garage. We had an old garage door, holes all over the wall, and old shelves that were built in the wall.

This is what I did to re do everything. Had the old shelves demolished, put new cabinets and a desk in. Updated the garage door so I can have a roll up one with windows. Had nice lights put in on the ceiling. Rubber flooring and mirrors. Lots of drywall repair with energizing colors of paint. This painter was amazing and very reasonable. If you are looking for a good painter this guy is your man. He did more than he needed to with his part. http://www.myspace.com/wcpaint
Well here is the almost final pictures. There is a couple more little touches that will be added. Areas to place my exercise and medicine balls. Places to hang my ropes. And I will be adding a pull up bar to the beam. That way I can also hang my gymnastic rings from the pull up bar.





Yay for being done with the transformation!

My trip to London with lots of walking

Where do I start? It was an unforgettable trip. I went to visit my grandparents to introduce Lyla to them. They are 84 years old and I didn't expect them to make the trip all the way over here. So we decided to go there. I will say I was half asleep for most of it. Lyla decided to be up from 2-5 a.m. every morning and sleep several hours during the day. We still made the best of it even though we were dragging.


For 2 days of the trip Ben and I rented a car and we drove outside of London. One of the places we went to was Leeds Castle. It was absolutely gorgeous.






I didn't really get a chance to do too much exercise since I was so tired to begin with. I did manage to get some Turkish Get Ups in with my carry on bag. My family thought I was crazy. Then I went outside to use my jump rope one time. My intentions were good. 8-) Just did not turn out as planned.

During the trip I had no choice but to get off my healthy diet. Several days in to the trip I was starving from trying to work around my diet. There is only so many nuts, seeds, and bars I can live with. The English are huge on their biscuits and tea time so of course I had to go with the traditions. It was so cold there that I also had some hot chocolate. Which I never do when I am at home. The hotel served a buffet breakfast every morning filled with cereals, breads, yogurts, and eggs. It had been almost 6 months since I have eaten toast, by the 3rd day I was going for it. Not to mention had dessert almost every evening. Suprisingly enough I didn't have too many stomach pains. I actually felt really good after eating it. I did get a little bloated towards the end of the trip. When I got home the bloating went down after one night's sleep.

I didn't want to step on the scale. I was convinced I had gained at least 5 pounds. I was 109 before I left. Which is ridiculously low for me. So I wouldn't have minded too much if I put on a bit of weight. Sure enough I get on the scale and I'm 108 pounds. Now how the hell did that happen? This is the only thing I can think of. I had to walk almost everywhere I went. Which probably averages about 3 miles a day. I was holding Lyla much of the time since she would start crying when I put her in the stroller. (She is at the stage that she wants to see everything going on around her. And wants her mommy to hold her constantly). I ate tons of food, didn't really work out, sat on a plane for many many hours, and actually lost a pound. I was so surprised by this I had Ben step on the scale. He indulged just as much as I did, if not more. He lost 4 pounds! Can walking everywhere be that effective? It must be. 8-)

London

Hello Everyone! Sorry for not posting in so long. I am in London right now. I packed my jump rope with me and some bands. I haven't had a chance to visit any kettlebell instructors while I'm out here. Travelling with a baby is quite a challenge. I will update everyone in the next several days when I have more time to chat.

Halloween

I would have put a picture of peanut butter cups or chocolate bars but I wouldn't want to entice anyone to have some. I would be lying if I said that I resisted the halloween candy temptations. When food is brought in to my house I will end up eating it. Every day this week I have managed to eat some candy. I feel guilty but then again I feel it's ok. I have been so strict with what I have been eating that I allow myself to indulge every now and again.

Speaking of my normal eating habits, Tracy had encouraged me to take a picture of what I eat. Last night I made Spagetti Squash and put organic marinara sauce on top with some turkey meatballs. I also steamed some cauliflower and brocolli to get some extra veggies. Then for dessert I had a fruit salad that I made. Everything was pretty simple to make. If I can make it anyone can. Here is what it looks like. I found it bit humerous taking a picture of my dinner plate. The picture of the Reeses peanut butter cup is not in there. That should go next to my fruit salad. 8-) Yes I am human too, which many people joke around with me about.





LIfe is definitely getting better! Ben also had his first workout yesterday. He is very sore today but I am proud of him!

Yay!!!

Dealing with the Fires

First I want to start off with a positive note. I feel extremely lucky to have a home to come back to. My heart goes out to all those who lost their homes and valuables in the fire. It is hard to feel sorry for myself when people have it so much worse. This has been an eye opener this week. It really puts things in to perspective.

On Monday Oct 22nd, I woke up smelling smoke at 6:00a.m. I looked outside and there was ashes falling and a red haze in the sky. I immediately turned on the TV and on every station there was BREAKING NEWS wild fires. I phoned my friend Laura that lives 10 minutes from me. She had been evacuated at 5 a.m. from her home. It then occured to me that I better start thinking about what is important to me. I knew as long as I have my family including my 2 cats, that is all I would need. I got a knock on my door as I was sitting there in shock. It was my neighbor from across the street inviting me over to their home so we can breathe cleaner air. They have a special air filtration system so their air was much better than the air in my home. I decided to take them up on their offer since I was already starting to get a sore throat. I grabbed my baby and put a blanket over her head. Then I ran across the street as quickly as possible. It smelled so bad it was like swimming in an ash tray.

Several hours later, some neighbors came to the door saying they were getting evacuation calls. So I ran back across the street and got my husband out of bed. He at this time, was dealing with an extremely painful migraine. I let him know what was going on and he got up, but said he needed to take a bath!! I wasn't in the happiest moods hearing this. Then we packed up our important documents, baby gear, waters, and our cats. We filled up our car and drove to Laguna. To make a very LONG story short I am now back at my house in Encinitas. The air quality is extremely poor and we have been told to stay in doors. All schools in San Diego have been cancelled for the whole week. I am definitely going stir crazy since I haven't been able to be outside since Sunday. My days have been spent watching the news and waiting until the conditions are somewhat healthy for me to return. Talking to loved ones to make sure everyone is okay. Rescheduling all clients and who knows when it will be safe to workout outside again.

Life can be crazy some times! It's wonderful to see this city really work together and become a close community. Sometimes it takes disasters to bring people together. In the end none of the material stuff matters. Having my friends and family are the most important thing to me! Thank you everyone for all the phone calls and emails!

Thought we were in the clear

We were getting really excited to start Ben's program last week. Then I had to rush him to the emergency room at 6 a.m. Now that he is off the Prednisone he is much more vulnerable for painful flair ups. I personally think we have gotten a little too comfortable with our eating and need to go back to a strict Ulcerative Colitis friendly diet. We don't know what the exact cause of the flair ups are. If we knew we wouldn't keep having this problem. The pain is so unbearable that he required pain medicine 4 times stronger than Morphine, which is called Dilauded.

Once things settle down I will continue to post. My daughter hasn't been sleeping well either for the past several weeks. At 3 a.m. she decides that she needs me! With no sleep and high stress, it's very hard to stay above water. My body has finally said ENOUGH! My lowered immune system from everything going on, finally gave in to a virus. With that being said, I do not workout when I am sick. Once I build my immune system back up I will be ready to go again. In the meantime I am forced to rest as much as my time allows. Which is very difficult for me. Ben is feeling much better now but still a little bit sore. Whenever his stomach is feeling fully recovered we will start his journey to health! I will keep everyone posted.

For those who are able to get a good night sleep, cherish it! I envy you. I never realized how much I liked sleep until I am this deprived. Anyone learn to live on very little sleep and still feel great? If so, please let me know who you are. I don't see myself getting good sleep for awhile!

A Challenge for my Husband

Those who have been with me from the start with my blogging will remember that my husband was suffering from severe stomach problems that landed him in the emergency room over 15 times and admitted in the hospital 3 times. I would like to announce that he finally got off the steroids that the doctors put him on. The prednione (steroid) may have saved him but also came with a whole list of horrible side effects we had to deal with. So I am now becoming a very happy women seeing my husbands health start to improve almost drug free.

Since working out for him has not been an option for longer than I can remember, I am now giving him a challenge. I told him last night that if he did just 20-30 minutes a day of kettlebell workouts, 5 times a week his health and physique would improve dramatically. I am talking about a transformation. Of course proper nutrition would be part of it as well. We would take pictures, measurements, log everything to keep him on track. You would think since his wife is a trainer and nutritionist he would jump at this opportunity. For those who don't know Ben he is quite a comedian and never takes anything to seriously. If you check out his post of me discussing this challenge with him you will see what I am talking about. I encourage you to read it and post a comment to tell him to take this challenge! I need all the help I can get.

The pictures he put on his post are not him but to make you laugh! Here is his link http://www.lylasdaddy.blogspot.com/
or just click on Film Buffs blog in my link section.

Explosive Training Day

Today I was determined to do a little kettlebells and some other bodyweight exercises. Just needed my baby to take her morning nap. I decided to warm up with an 8 minute walk around the neighborhood. Just enough time to get her to sleep. Once I got home I knew it was just a matter of time until she would wake up. I needed to hurry up and get my workout done.
Here it is.

Explosive Push Ups 10
Jump Pull Ups (just using my tippie toes) 4
One Leg Explosive Box Squat (18 inch box) 10/10 on each leg
Snatches with 12kg 20/20

Went through each exercise with little to no rest. After Snatches rested 1 minute and repeated 3 times. Felt great after this. The best thing is this took about 20 minutes to do.




I could have been done but since she was still asleep I decided to use the extra time.

Lying Hip Rotations 10x
Wheel Roll Outs 12x
Medicine Ball Twists 30x

Did 2 sets and then she woke up. I wanted to get one more in so I brought her outside and finished one last set with her laughing at me.



Another successful day of working out while watching my baby. Yay!

Interval Training Day

Today was my interval training day. I had planned to do kettlebell swings and snatches. My baby needed my full attention this morning and was resisting her nap. I knew my plan of swinging bells was not going to happen. Instead of just not doing anything, which many times happens, I had to be flexible and figure out another way. Those who have babies will know that putting them in a stroller will usually put them to sleep. So I decided to kill two birds in one stone. I put Lyla in the jogger, grabbed my stopwatch, and left the house. Lyla fell asleep within 5 minutes and I was then ready to expel some energy. I wanted to run fast but only for a minute at a time. I decided to do 1 minute intervals of running and fast walking for about 35 minutes.

Pushing a stroller and running up the hills were just as challenging on my heart as swings and snatches . I have never been one to love running long distances. I somehow completed a half marathon before, but don't have any intentions of doing so again. The 1 minute intervals of running and walking turned out to be a perfect workout! It was fun having the timer tell me when it was ok to stop and go. The interval times were short enough to keep me motivated.

This post is to remind me that there are no excuses! Sometimes things just don't go as planned. I have had to learn to go with the flow!

Strength Workout today

I am going to start implementing a system to keep me more well rounded with my exercises. As much as I believe you should only have a few goals at a time, I am not going to be competing in anything anytime soon. So for me to be well rounded it's important for me to work weekly on explosive strength, maximal strength, interval training, endurance training, isometrics, and more. Unless someone is training for a specific strength competition or a marathon, I am starting to change my views on training. We all know our bodies will adapt to the same type of training.

Today my workout was dedicated to strength. It took about 30 minutes to complete. Rested 45-60 seconds in between exercises to be fresh for each set. Always made sure there was 2 reps left in the bank. Practice needs to be perfect! Next time I will add weight to the double squats since 8 reps is high for a strength workout.

A1 Ring Pull ups 3 reps 4 sets
A2 Double Front Squats 12kg's 8 reps 4 sets


B1 Double Clean and Press 12kg's 5 reps 3 sets
B2 Snatch 16kg 8 reps 3 sets


C1 Ab wheel roll outs 10 reps 3 sets
C2 One Arm Push ups on 18 inch box 3 reps 3 sets

Pistol 8kg 1 rep each side (body felt tired) should have done this in the beginning!

Performance Menu Magazine

Just wanted to share this magazine with you guys. I enjoy the nutrition/recipes articles that come out of this magazine as well as the fun and unique exercises that are shared. I believe you can try a free sample issue. I am glad I was able to be apart of this.. The picture on the front is me doing a clean and jerk. There are some better looking pics of me inside the issue. 8-)

To get to the actual site you must go to http://www.cathletics.com/. It's on my links section as well if you click on Performance Menu. Enjoy!

Gluten and Dairy Free Banana Bread

For those who know me I don't spend a whole lot of time in the kitchen. This banana bread is THAT good that I wanted to share it with everyone. Yesterday was Ben's birthday and I wanted to make him a cake that we could both eat without feeling too guilty. Guilty meaning no stomach pains and bloating afterwards. This banana bread / cake is made with Almond Flour.

Here are the ingredients. I found this on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet website but used less honey, more bananas, and added spices to make it a little healthier and tastier. Here is the recipe.

3 cups of Almond Flour
1/3 cup of honey
3 eggs
2-3 very ripe bananas
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp of cinnamon and nutmeg

Smash Bananas or put in a food processor. Mix all ingredients together unti smooth. Pour in a loaf pan and bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes depending on your oven. If you pour in 3 mini loaf pans (which I did) then bake for only 40 minutes. It was moist and sweet. I loved it and have a hard time not eating so much of it. The calories are a bit higher due to the fat from the Almonds. But it's good fat and low carb! My stomach feels great. Besides, I don't count calories anyway.

Nice hands or a nice ass???

What do you choose??? Well if I have a choice I will choose the nice ass! As all you kettlebellers know, swinging those bells can really roughen up the hands with ugly calluses. I have several people including myself that every now and again get bothered by it. I have never been one to spend time making my hands look really pretty in the first place. With the work I do they would be ruined in one day, so I don't even bother too much. So this is a message for those ladies who let the calluses stop you from swinging kettlebells and doing pull-ups. One of the affects that kettlebell swings have on the body is a very strong nice butt! Tracy Reifkind, the swing master, is the woman to talk to if you have a question on swings and hand care! She is a perfect example of what the swings can do to your body. Suck it up because the rewards are worth it!!!!





On another note, today was an awesome class. It rained outside during the class but my husband and I managed to put a tarp over the overhang. Putting the tarp up was quite a challenge. Not to mention holding the baby in one hand and the wind blowing at 20-30 mph. We are lucky we are still married after that task. 8-) All joking aside, I added some rope training to the class. I was searching on the web and found battlingropes.com. There is a whole certification of just rope training. It was crazy how in to it these guys were. So I bought a 50 foot 1.5 inch manila rope from McMaster.com, referred to me by Ross Enamait. McMaster had great prices and recevied the rope at my house 3 hours later! The only time I have ever done Rope Waves were at Franz and Yoana's gym. These rope waves are no joke! They get your heart rate up big time and it's a full body workout. I definitely recommend it to those who are looking to add more to their training.

The sun is now coming out. Looks like it will be turning in to another beautiful day. Yay!

Loving my baby and a typical day of feeding her

I wanted to wait until her 8th month birthday but I am bursting with love so I felt like expressing it today. As I write this blog she is crawling all over me trying to press all the buttons. Life is sooo different right now. Everything I have she wants to put in her mouth. It is very funny!

It is amazing how life changes so much as a new parent. I am so lucky to have the career I have. I am able to be with her most of the day. I don't know how I would have continued to breastfeed if I had a different schedule. I will say that priorities change big time. I don't get the personal time to myself like I use to. Especially big windows to do long workouts. When you see the schedule below you will have an idea why. This does not include diaper changing, bath time, play time, etc...

This probably wont interest you unless you are a parent or an expecting parent!
A typical day of feeding Lyla. I have had to add some extra nursing times because I was starting to lose my milk.
Breastfeed 6:30 a.m. and then pump
Feed her breakfast 8 a.m.
Breastfeed 10:30 a.m.
Breastfeed 1 p.m.
Breastfeed 4 p.m.
Feed her Dinner 5:30 p.m.
Breastfeed or bottle with breastmilk 7 p.m.
Pump 9 p.m. for bottle

As you can see much of my day is spent feeding my baby. Believe it or not I still do work. My husband will take over many times in the evenings while I am working. I also have some clients come to my home in the morning between breastfeeding times, so my husband or our cousin will watch her at this time. it has worked out very nicely. During the day when she will take her nap I will work on nutrition or online programs. After she is in bed at night I will work on my articles. So I'm busy!

I never thought I would be this head over heels in love with my baby. She lights up my world. It's amazing how I have lived 27 years without her and now I can't imagine 1 day without her. Every new step and new sounds is so exciting. She is worth every bit of this. I truly enjoy my days with her. I will not lie, they can get exhausting. I have enclosed a mini video of her. This blogger thing is great. I can share this clip with family members who don't get a chance to see her often. Technology can be good at times!

Saturday's Circuit Class

Lately I have been having many more women show up to the classes. To be honest with you, I think that the girls overall are tougher than the boys! I'm sure you guys know that though.

Today it was a mix of beginners, intermediate and advanced kbellers. So it gave the advanced people a chance to go heavier than they are use to safely. Here is the workout. I took a couple pictures to give you an idea of what it looked like.

Warmed up with Joint Mobility

Body Weight Squats 15 x 3
Windmills 3 x 3
Low Swings 15 sec
Medium Swings 15 sec
Alternating Swing 30 sec
Medium Swings 15 sec
Low Swings 15 sec

Rest for 1 minute and Repeat 2 times

Circuit 30 seconds on 30 seconds off with a partner

Kettlebell Tricep Pushups
Alternating Step Ups
Double Clean, Squat, and Press
Knee Tucks on skateboard
Alternating Snatches
Ring Rows

Repeat 3 times

Finished with a Plank Hold and Stretched! Another gorgeous day!

Breaking in the new Rings

Here are sompe photos of yesterdays class. We had lots of fun because it was a partner circuit class. Each station was either a kettlebell exercise, a ring exercise, bosu, or bodyweight. The rings were probably the most challenging part for some. Thanks to Greg Everett for suggesting me to get them, I am having the most fun with them. They are brutal though. I love it!

Some of the exercises we did in the partner circuit were Snatches, Swings, Double Clean and Press, Bosu Pushup Burpees, modified pull ups with rings, Turkish Get Ups, and more....
The weather was beautiful this week.