Monday Delt Demolition !!

Hello and thanks for stopping by my blog, hope you're all having a good start to the week!!!!!

As promised on my Facebook page, I said I would post the shoulder workout I did earlier; it was SUPER effective; hit my shoulders from every angle pretty much, kept my heart rate up throughout the whole workout and got a SERIOUS PUMP!!!!!!

Here it is:

First Round (Giant Sets-Goal: KEEP HEART RATE UP!!!)

1. Standing arnold presses 15 reps (I used 20-25lb dumbells)
2. Dumbbell Up and Outs 15 reps (I used 8lb DBs)
3. Front plate raise with a 25lb weight plate for 10reps
4. Walkout pushups 10reps
5. Bent-over Rear-delt flyes 15 reps (8lb DBs)

Repeat 2-3x!!! After each round  I did 5min HIIT cardio on different machines (ex. Incline treadmill sprints). Resting for 1-2min in between rounds!

Second Part of the Workout:

1. Alternating overhead DB press Seated 10reps each side (i used 25lb DBs) superset with Front raises with DBs 10-15reps (7.5-10lb DBs)
2. Seated Side lat raises 4 sets DROP SETS (8reps w/ 15lb DBs-6reps w/10lb-9reps w/7.5lb DBs)
3. Single arm rear delt flyes on cables (standing or bent-over) 10reps each side 4sets (I made sure to use a light weight to really isolate the rear delts and focus on form)

I finished up this workout with ABS and bodyweight Squats!!! 4 sets of each: lying leg raises and wide stance body-weight squats (focusing on squeezing the glutes!)

Have a great rest of the week and Happy Thanksgiving Weekend to everyone in CANADA!!!!!!! :)))) xoxoxoxo

-Alex L.

Resilience: The Fitness Journey Continues...

Hi Guys!

Hope you're having a great week!!
I decided  it would be a good idea to write a short post about the new chapter I've begun; it started last weekend. Not this weekend that just past but LAST weekend!
I went to Niagara Falls to watch my friend/co-worker, Alicia compete in her first figure competition! It just so happened to be the first huge bodybuilding/fitness event that my coach, Mindi O'Brien was hosting! So, naturally I was very curious to go watch and also see my friend reveal her new physique on stage!!!

After watching the whole show (Alicia won 1st place in figure masters and figure short-open class by the way ;))), I felt inspired and motivated to kick it up a notch with my training and nutrition!

I'd hit a bit of a stand still last year and decided to take a step back, take a break and sort my life out/get my priorities in order. I missed having killer workouts and meal plans sent to my e-mail and having guidance, motivation and inspiration from my coaches, Mindi O and Dennis Beitler so I decided last Sunday to start training with them again!
As a personal trainer and nutritionist myself, being on top of my game is imperative! Always learning new techniques for different exercises and increasing my knowledge on nutrition is essential in order to constantly challenge my clients and teach them everything I know! It's also important to have a mentor and someone to look up to! I feel I'm in good hands with Mindi & Dennis so I look forward to what the rest of 2016 will have in store.......

I definitely learned an important lesson; there is no ALL OR NOTHING when it comes to fitness; it's a life long journey and no matter how much you feel like you've fallen off track, as long as you find the motivation to keep going and learn from past mistakes the possibilities are endless! Muscle memory never fails and there is a special nutrition format for each and every person.. So no such thing as failure; only TRIAL AND ERROR and POSITIVE THINKING!!! Life will always go on and as long as you can shift your perception and find a way to see every challenge as a learning experience, the journey can be very exciting.....

I'll try and post frequent workout/nutrition updates so stay tuned :)

xo,

Alex L. :)

Running Followed by 3 Day Meal Prep And Me Rambling....

Hi Guys!

Hope you're having a nice weekend... it's pouring rain out here in Toronto and not very pleasant outside :( I'm sitting on my couch under a blanket, still in my pajamas LOL... Had a blueberry/spinach/avocado protein shake about 2 hours ago and I think i put too much ice in it; still feel chills !!!
Yesterday was a VERY interesting day... I believe i got to bed just before midnight on Friday but got up at 6am Saturday morning and couldn't fall back asleep.. Didn't have my first client till 10am (typical Saturday) so I wasn't sure what to do with the extra time, and knowing me if I laid in bed trying to sleep my brain would have gone into over-drive/think-tank mode!
Anyhow, I decided to have a scoop of my new BCAA's (Amino-Energy lemon-lime) and go for a run in the sun :) ! I also left my mp3 player at home so I could have a more focused run and take in the surroundings and hear the birds chirping... 
Got back home after about 6-7km and had my breakfast: eggwhites with broccolini and a side bowl of oatmeal with cinnamon and chia and almond milk (added some honey as a treat for going on an unexpected run) ! I either have a smoothie for breakfast (fully loaded with protein, berries and omega 3,5,6,7,9...) OR I'll have eggs/eggwhites and oatmeal depending on if I want a cool refreshing meal or a warm meal! 
As I had mentioned in my last post, part of getting back into this lifestyle of super clean eating and high intensity exercise involved learning how to make food less boring and more tasty so it's something to look forward to, not something to dread. VARIETY AND OPTIONS ARE KEY!

After work I did a quick upper body workout (bent over rows, lat pull-downs, seated rows with different grips, bulgarian split squats, bench press and a few sets of tricep extensions... Started feeling under-whelmed so I left the gym, grabbed a tall dark-roast coffee @ Starbucks and headed to the grocery store!

Got home form the grocery store around 3pm, unpacked all the food I bought and had my next meal (sweet potato, lemon poppyseed chicken and grilled broccoli with some chia and hemp seeds), tried to watch TV, sipped 2 glasses of dry red wine (a Malbec from Argentina called Trapiche...yummm) and ate 2oz of assorted dark chocolates, ate some greek yogurt then passed out!

 
Woke up around 730/8pm and felt a bit disoriented! I tried eating a frozen banana dipped in cool whip with more greek yogurt and sat down to watch more TV. I have a phobia of too much TV, couch time, and sitting down for extended periods of time - I know- sounds crazy! But what can you do? My brain is wired in a weird way; it requires constant planning and motion or I start to feel depressed.

After about an hour of attempted movie-watching and trying to be normal on a Saturday, I started dozing off into a state of mental staleness and depression, so I called my mom and asked her to come over; as usual, she had to shower and wash her hair etc... and do all sorts of stuff before coming over. She has the keys to my place so I told her to just head over whenever! In the meantime, I flew off the couch and ran into the kitchen, mixed a scoop of Amino-Energy lemon-lime into a shaker cup with glutamine and ice and shook it up and chugged it! I took out some extra lean ground beef I'd defrosted from the night before and threw it in a bowl (about half a pound of ground beef)! Added: 2 tsp turmeric, 1tsp raw honey, 1/4 cup ground flax, approx. 4 eggwhites and one whole egg, sriracha sauce, 2tbsp bbq sauce, bbq steak seasoning, 1/2tsp sea salt and 2/3cup oat-bran! added 2tsp "stubb's hickory liquid smoke" and mixed all the ingredients WELL and formed 6 fat-ass meat balls!!! I preheated the oven to 350F and sprayed a baking sheet with PAM and lined up the meat balls! 

Stuck my meat-balls in the oven as my mother was walking through the front door! I washed my hands and told her I'd be back!!! I went for another 6-7km run... LOL my hyperactivity got the best of me and I had to make up for my 3-4hours of couch potato syndrome. Most of this run was up-hill due to the paths I chose! I got back to my place in approx. 40minutes and the meal prep continued!!! I fed my mom some chocolates and this really tasty white wine we've been enjoying (Stoneleigh from New Zealand) and put on a movie for her so she wouldn't get bored while I was having my cooking marathon.
I have a new meal prep/planning system where I prep/plan for 3 days in advance and change the menu each time so I have something to look forward to (trying new recipes that I come up with) and don't get bored.

I had cut up rainbow colored peppers,rinsed and chopped up a tray of mushrooms and added chopped garlic, shallots and sea salt/ one envelope soy sauce and layed out the veggies on a baking sheet. Grilled them at 450F and they were ready to be combined in small containers with one meat ball (approx. 3-3.5oz) and topped with hemp seeds and sriracha sauce. THIS IS MEAL 2!

Next, I laid out BASA fish on a baking sheet and added PAM and some water... seasoned the fish with turmeric, bbq chicken seasoning and sea salt (I love salt and salt loves me-I actually feel fatter and more bloated when I cut sodium FYI). Baked the BASA at 450F for approx 15-20min (guestimate). I had also rinsed and chopped up broccoli and zucchini (peeled and sliced) and placed it on a baking sheets with sea salt and seasonings, water and PAM and stuck it in the oven. On the stove top I had a pot with 2 sweet potatoes cut up into chunks, steaming. Once all the foods were ready I got out all my tupper-wares and combined the following: 4oz BASA, 1/2 cup cooked sweet potato, 1/2 cup broccoli, 1tsp hemp and chia seeds as topping and 1tsp extra virgin olive oil and sriracha sauce: THIS IS MEAL 3.

Lastly I combined: 1cup grilled broccoli and 1cup grilled zucchini, 4oz BASA, topped with extra virgin olive oil, seeds and sriracha sauce; THIS IS MEAL 4.
So, with all my meals ready all I have to worry about is breakfast which will likely be a smoothie, and when I get home from work I'll probably have a huge spinach salad with tomato, cucumber and either TUNA or EGG-WHITES!!!

Hahahahhaha, that was a LONG blog post to let you guys know about my 2 unexpected outdoor Saturday runs and my meal prep for the next 3 days.. Hope I didn't lose you guys or bore you ;)
Stay tuned for more exercise and nutrition posts, and in the meantime don't hesitate to e-mail me any questions re: nutrition/training/meal-prep inquiries!

xo,

Alex L. :)

STARTING A NEW JOURNEY WITH NEW GOALS

Hi Everyone!!!
I am so sorry I've been MIA for a very long time and haven't really kept my readers or anybody in the loop! I also deleted my Facebook accounts and have not been doing the social media thing at all... Just needed to take some time to figure myself out and decide what direction I wanted to start sailing in next.

So, last time I posted on here I was prepping for a figure show LOL.. I think that's all I've really talked about online... training for shows and getting ripped!
Over the past few months; actually since September of last year (2015) I decided to take a break from high intensity dieting and training.

In January of this year I went on some crazy "getting rid of muscle" and doing lots of cardio expedition, which led me to realize: EVER SINCE I STARTED WORKING OUT, ALL MY GOALS HAVE TO DO WITH HOW I LOOK AND ITS F&CKING RIDICULOUS AND SHALLOW!!!!!! NOT TO MENTION A PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDER!

That being said, I slowly started easing my way into a new journey and have set different goals for myself with fitness and nutrition!
Over the next few weeks/months, I hope to share with you guys some of the ways I have discovered to make eating healthy and preparing meals much more enjoyable and a fun challenge as well as how I've turned my hunger for more with fitness, into goals that are more sustainable and translate into a healthier body/mind and soul.

One example of my shift in perception would be: going from eating and training to get shredded, to eating and training for athletic performance and to be a faster runner/sprinter!
I also stopped taking a million selfies a day because it was contributing to my basing my self worth on how I look ... lol but I took a few this morning when I rolled out of bed before my morning run, and one face pic before heading out for work.. just so you guys know I'm still alive!! hahahhahaa

xo,
Alex L.:)