Today it’s Sunday, i’ve just come back from an amazing overseas holiday and I don’t really feel like spending a whole lot of time worrying about what to organise for my lunches this week. One batch of this salad fixes my problem. One batch and I am good for the week!

I know this salad looks like a mess and not the most pretty but far out this is my new favourite salad.

I have been getting in the habit of making a dish that I can make last for future meals. I made a big batch of the above salad and it lasted me all week. Lunches were taken care of for the entire work week, one day I even had some as a mid morning snack instead.

I am all about making things easy when it comes to food. I am not the best at preparing different dishes but I give it a shot. I like to already know what I am having for lunch so I don’t have to worry about it on the day sometimes when i’m feeling lazy and already hungry I just have toast or the closest easy carb which is not going to do much for me at all energy or protein wise.

Below is what my yummy chicken salad is made up of:

1 bbq chicken (no skin) shredded into little pieces or however you desire

1 bag of mixed salad leaves (I LOVE spinach leaves and rocket so yummy) washed

2 large carrots cut into small sticks

4 stalks of celery cut into small sticks

1 large tomato diced

2 cucumbers  sliced  and then cut in halves

1.5 avocados mashed up to coat salad

1/4 red onion (or desired amount)

Dressing:

1 tblspoon cold pressed extra virgin olive oil

few sprinkles of cracked pepper to taste

Add all the ingredients in a large salad bowl. Add the avocado last, then your oil and pepper. I personally use my hands (cleaned of course) to gently mix all the ingredients together to make sure they are all coated in avocado and oil.

Now that is one easy salad right? You’ve got your mix of protein, carbohydrates and fats all sorted! You can of course add whatever you want to it.

It will last you the whole working week (if you havent eaten all of it earlier!) keep refrigerated. It tastes GREAT cold. Get creative and add your own ingredients and flare to it.

There you go, your lunches and/or dinners are sorted 🙂

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Now this is going to sound a bit lame but I am going to share it with you anyway.

I was after a bit of a workout one day and I didn’t feel like doing what I usually do. I also had a day off and had some housework and odd jobs that needed to be done. So instead of doing my usual exercise workouts I thought i’d kill two birds with one stone.

I raced around the house with my vacuum cleaner, I squatted up and down whilst hanging the washing and then I looked through my window at my car and had a good idea. It was looking a bit dirty and the sun was out and the weather was nice and warm it’s as if the car was calling me “please wash me, please!” so who am I to deny my car a nice bath.

I got all my car washing equipment. My bucket, hose, car wash liquid, sponge, squeegee (yep a squeegee) and chamois to dry it off and buff it up.

I also had my trusty stop watch…. yes you guessed it, I turned washing my car into a competition. I tried to make sure I moved around as much as I could, squatting down, reaching over, swapping hands to share the scrubbing love and buff it up to make it look pretty. My score was 27.50 min, not too bad considering I did the wheels too and also put on that spray to make the tyres look black and new. All in all a good effort I thought. Not quite the workout i’d get with a weights session but hey I got my body moving and my chores done. Success!

It’s amazing how competitive you can get when you decide to time things….. quite funny really.

What are some ways you like to get some accidental exercise?

This is a holiday AND workout post. Yes the two can go together!

In Australia it’s winter, a time for covering up in warming layers, cursing cold dark early mornings and for a lot of people slowing down their physical activity and healthy eating. Time to get out of here! A lot of people choose to flee the cold at least for a little while and seek fun in the sun. Me too!!!

I am off to Thailand tomorrow but wanted to let you know that you will still be hearing from me so stay tuned!

I’ve had clients often go away on holidays and come back a bit worse for wear in the health department. Some of my clients have the best intentions and ask me for a program, some of them complete it, others not. I just recently said Bon Voyage to a wonderful client of mine  who asked me for a holiday program. This client has achieved unbelievable results, she is truly inspirational, she works hard and her efforts show.

The guidelines I was given was she wanted something she could complete in her hotel room, she would be taking a skipping rope and wanted something easy to follow.

I don’t think she’d mind me sharing the following with you 🙂

Circuit 1

20 squats

20 push ups

20 crunches

100 skips with skipping rope

Circuit 2

20 step lunges

20 mountain climbers (like you’re starting a running race and jump the legs back and forth)

20 tricpe dips

1 minute high knee jogging

Circuit 3

10 x sumo squat (legs wide toes pointed out, sink down into squat, chest up slow on way up)

20 lat jumping (jumping to side, almost leaping then push off jump to other side)

20 seconds wall sit (back up against wall slide down til legs 90degrees, feet close together)

20 star jumps

These circuits are quick and easy, no thinking just get in get it done and you’re set. My client has the option to do 5+ sets of a circuit each day swapping them around or doing 3 sets of each circuit all after each other. Mix and match to keep it fun!

If you work hard enough with no rest in between each set you will achieve a high intensity circuit workout.

I will be sure to keep these circuits in mind when I am laying on the beach…. or maybe not!

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Some clients of mine are familiar with this workout i nicknamed ‘sweaty fantastic’ and i am sure they are cringing.

Sweaty fantastic is just as it’s title describes, you sweat a lot and that is a fantastic thing! This is just a little workout to spice up your gym routine and give yourself some variety.

It consists of:

2 minutes on the treadmill – Your effort must be at approx 70 – 80% (save your 100% effort for next!)
Followed directly by 20 squats.

Repeat 3 times with NO rest in between rounds, I want you pressing pause and getting straight back on as soon as it is finished.

NO REST Next machine!

2 minutes on cross trainer (elliptical) make sure you add on some resistance (effort level option should be on the machine)
20 step lunges (step forward, lunge, step back and change legs)

Repeat 3 times, no rest in between sets

NO REST Next Machine!

2 minutes on rowing machine (this time I want you to take note of your distance and beat it in following rounds)
20 push ups

Repeat 3 times with no rest in between sets

NOW you can relax 🙂

Not a member of a gym? If you only have access to one of these machines or even a bike do your 2 minute rounds on your piece of equipment and then do the corresponding strength exercises.

No equipment? Get outside and start jogging/running!

Can’t get outside right now? Jogging on the spot, skipping rope, star jumps etc for 2 minutes then the corresponding strength exercises.

See where there’s a will there’s a way – you’re out of excuses!

Have fun!! GO HARD!!

Note to self I am in fact not a muscle woman.

This part of the redecorating involves ripping, lifting and embarrassing myself in the parking lot after a trip to Ikea.

My room was successfully painted, it looks nice, i’m ignoring the small imperfections I have created and i’m ready for phase 2.

Ripping up carpet wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. It could have had something to do with my dad and boyfriend ripping it up for me i’m not sure. Yes, the carpet not so much a problem it was more so the staples underneath that became my problem. Anyone who has ever had to pull up staples from the floor of an old house will understand what I mean. My hands were blistered after the hundreds of staples I extracted. I seriously had to question the state of mind the previous carpet installer had been in when he laid the old carpet with a gazillion staples some 30years ago. If he was alive today I probably would have shook him silly and asked him why on earth he did it.

Ok so the carpet was gone. I had chosen some new furniture from Ikea to give my room a new look and ‘simplify’ it. I was going to wait for some help obtaining the new items, but decided to take it upon myself. I’m strong I can do this I told myself. The cabinet in question came in 3 intimidating large boxes which I was determined to move. I cleverly slid the boxes onto the trolley and was quite proud of myself for lifting those heavy things a few inches. This is great I thought as I made my way to my car, I had manoeuvred them safely to the destination. I opened the door and attempted to get them in. I had nearly no grip on them and only managed to lift them slightly, had they gotten heavier? I heaved, I hoed, I eyeballed any fellow shoppers in the hopes they would offer some assistance, alas nothing. I finally got all three boxes in the car and discovered that I couldn’t close the door. After about 10 stressful minutes, I conquered the puzzle and made my way home. I enlisted muscles to get them out of the car for me. My arms were sore for days, apparently I am not the muscle woman I thought I was, but gee I gave it a good effort!

Phase 3 was to get my new carpet laid. A last minute phone call informed me that I could have the carpet laid that very day, in a few hours in fact if I wanted to, did I want to? Of course i’d been waiting for it for a long time there was just that tiny issue of the furniture still being in my room. I had exactly 1 hour by the time I got home from work, once again I heaved, I hoed and I lifted things I didn’t think should be lifted and then balanced them in a way I probably shouldn’t have. My heart was racing as I threw my whole body against my queen sized mattress that was sitting vertical and didn’t want to make it through my doorway and round the corner. It’s funny the things you try when you’re by yourself and needing to get things done. I did some pretty interesting things trying to get everything ready in time and wish it had been filmed as I probably would’ve won some sort of prize.

Mission accomplished. Perhaps I am the muscle woman after all.

A lovely client of mine brought up a topic the other day that I found very interesting. My client is 27 weeks pregnant and  and received a massage recently. The massage therapist told my client that she would avoid the ankle area as this can cause miscarriage.  In my studies of pre natal there was no mention of this so I wanted to find out for myself if this was true or not.

I don’t want to scare any of  my pregnant clients or readers, I just want to share a few links with you that you may find interesting.

http://www.babycenter.com/400_is-it-true-that-foot-massages-causes-miscarriage-or-preterm_7891613_391.bc

http://community.babycenter.com/post/a3533295/foot_massage_cause_miscarriage

http://www.melmassage.com/pregFAQs.htm

Both my client and I have now learned something new! 🙂

Remember pregnancy is a completely individual thing, everyone’s experience is different. If you are ever concerned be sure to ask your Dr for their advice.

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I have been refreshing over all my anatomy books lately so as a result you are going to read an article I wrote with my science hat on.

It is a bit technical for which I apologise but personally I find it interesting and it also relates to my previous article I want to look like her

There are three predominant body types. The ectomorph, mesomorph and endomorph. To train better, you should get to know your body better.

Toward the end of the second week of an embryos development there are three primitive layers already being outlined: the outer layer called ectoderm; the middle layer, called mesoderm; and the deep layer, called endoderm.

Each of these layers gives rise to specific parts of the organism.

• Ectoderm forms both epidermis (skin), sensory organs, central nervous system and peripheral nerves
• Mesoderm forms the bones and muscles, urogenital organs, cardiovascular system and the blood
• Endoderm forms the intestinal mucosa and related glands

The predominance of one of these three layers during growth provides the person with a well defined body type.

Ectomorph

Ectomorphs appear fragile and delicate, they are lean and narrow in the shoulders. Although slender, their skeletons are prominant and the almost complete absence of fat reveals all the fibres of the muscle system even when it’s not really developed.

Their thyroids are generally hyperactive, which accelerates their metabolisms so that they need to consume lots of calories to maintain weight. Ectomorphs who try to fill out can train daily because their bodies recuperate quickly, but they need a well balanced diet rich in protein. To gain weight they must consume more calories than they use. Ectomorphs often lack muscle tone and commonly have vertebral problems (like kyphosis, lordosis, scoliosis) due to lack of strength in erector spinal muscles and abdominal muscles. Ectomorphs need to increase muscle tone to correct postural issues.

Mesomorph

Mesomorphs tend to be muscular with large bones and thick joints. They have big clavicles and muscular shoulders, which give them a burly appearance. Their rib cages are well developed relative to their waistlines. One of the striking features of the mesomorph is they have powerful calves and forearms that can equal the thickness of the upper arm.

Because one of the effects of testosterone, the main hormone secreted by the testicles, is to increase muscle mass, naturally a large proportion of mesomorphs are men. However testosterone is also secreted (ALTHOUGH IN LESSER QUANTITY) by the adrenal gland, so some women are also muscular mesomorphs types because of the increased activity of these glands. Remember though their development never matches that of male mesomorphs (it’s ok you won’t ‘bulk up’ like men).

Mesomorphs respond to intense activity, they often need to be active. They can successful at most sports, however, their significant muscle mass is kind of a handicap in endurance activities such as long distance running. Only when they overeat do mesomorphs develop weight problems, whereas even moderate training allows them to maintain a toned athletic physique.

Endomorph

Endomorphs tend to be chubby. The development of their fat layer erases the muscle outline, which gives them a soft appearance.  Their extremities are ham-like, coming to a point with relatively predominant thighs and upper arms above the calves and forearms. Although endomorph skeletons are not as fine as ectomorphs, they are also not as thick as the mesomorphs.

The greater development of their digestive system gives them a thick, sometimes potbellied waist. The endomorph type is more frequent in women, whose digestive systems are proportionately more developed and in whom fat is more abundant

Endomorphs have lazy thyroids; their metabolism is slow and recovers more slowly than the other body types. On the other hand they don’t need to eat a lot, which is a significant advantage during scarcity. To lose weight, they often must follow restrictive diets that ultimately lead to nutritional deficiencies that will affect their health.

Endomorphs rarely have back problems, their spines are swaddled by the significant volume of their torso and have adapted to the masses they must support by losing some of their curves, which give them a columnar shape. On the other hand they frequently have knee problems. In fact the volume that they have acquired before the end of their growth deforms their legs.

To keep in shape and to try to limit the amount of fat they carry, endomorphs need to combine regular training with a strict diet while taking care not to overtrain and avoiding nutritional deficiencies.

Please keep in mind that there are no pure body types, you will find that most people will be a mixture of all three in various proportions with one or two predominating. For example a sprinter is often a mesomorph-ectomorph, or the model with the svelte figure – more of an ectomorph as is the long distance runner.

The important thing is to recognise your individual predominance so that you can have an appropriate training program. One type cannot be turned into another, if you are shorter and stocky with thick bones, you cannot look like the tall twig like model. However training can help people tone up by limiting the development of fat while firming up your predominant shape