FitFeat

Posts Tagged getting motivated to exercise

No Better Way to Start the Day

Oct 12

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit | 4 Comments

Good morning friends!

I’ve been in that phase again where all I want to do is be outside for my workouts:  walking, hiking, running, intervals.   Once winter is full swing, I don’t get out as much with the shorter days and cold temps.  So I feel like I want to take in as much as I can right now.  Plus fall in Colorado is wonderful.  I think October sunrises are some of the prettiest of the year.  I flew through a speedy upper body workout yesterday so that I could hurry up and get outside.

  • DB Chest Press x 5 sets
  • Bent Row with Oly Bar x 4 sets
  • Shari-style Crazy 8s x 3 sets
  • DB Bicep Curls x 3 sets
  • Skullcrushers x 3 sets

My iPhone doesn’t do this scene justice at all – you have to look closely for the mountain range (pictured below). I love when the clouds and mountain tops are pink and the low mountains are violet.

I had some company on the path:

Even the moonrise was gorgeous yesterday – the full moon looked like the sun!

Seeing beautiful scenery and wildlife starts my day off perfectly.  It’s peaceful and just puts me in a fantastic mood.

On that note, I’m on my way out right now!  I wonder what I’ll see this morning!

– Shari B. =)

 

 

 

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I Thought It Was Friday

Dec 15

Posted by Shari B. in Do Something Daily | 6 Comments

Good morning!

I did this a couple of weeks ago too, but all morning long I was thinking today was Friday.  Now I’m bummed that it’s really only Wednesday! At least this time I didn’t send out the “Friday Follows” on my Twitter, like I did last time – which then had OTHER people thinking it was Friday too!  (whoops!)

I’m heading off to school, but wanted to get a post out for us to comment on with our day’s exercise.  This morning I dug out my P90X DVDs and did the Plyometric workout for 45 minutes (it’s longer than that but it was time to hop in the shower).  Nothing like jump squats to empty the sinuses!  LOL!

Have a WONDERFUL WEDNESDAY!

– Shari B. =)

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Homemade Red Cabbage Kraut

Dec 10

Posted by Shari B. in Do Something Daily, Natural Chef Culinary School | 6 Comments

Hi friends!

Sorry for this post being late in the day – I didn’t have an opportunity to post on the blog before school this morning.  I saw that a lot of you have entered your Friday movement via comments already, thank you!

My movement for today was walking hilly foothills streets a total of about 25 blocks plus 30 minutes of Bikram yoga.

I’m SO happy it’s Friday.  One more week of class and then we get a little break for the holidays – woot woot!  Although I do have to say that this week has been really fun.  We’ve been preserving, making agar jams, making fruit leather, sauerkraut, coconut kefir, etc.

I got to bring home some fresh whey made from raw goat milk, so I decided to swing into the store and pick up some cabbage and make my own batch of sauerkraut at home.

I can start eating it after 3 days.  I’m very excited!  If you are buying your sauerkraut on the shelf at your grocery store, it’d been pasteurized (meaning it’s been heated so darned hot, there’s just not much left in the way of nutrients).  If you make your own fermented sauerkraut at home (or buy a brand that is refrigerated and confirmed as not being pasteurized) then you get the benefit of the probiotics, live enzymes, and the Vitamin C content is further enhanced.  If you’d like to read more about fermented sauerkraut, click HERE.  And click HERE for the exact recipe I used (from Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon).  Now you can start making your own!

In case you are wondering why I chose to use red cabbage over green, here is a little snippet of health info for you:

Red Cabbage: Members of the cruciferous family, such as cabbage, should be eaten on a regular basis in order to reduce the risk of cancer, according to the American Cancer Society (Murray 2005, 177).  But red cabbage has even more protective phytonutrients than green cabbage:  per 100 grams, red cabbage contains 196mg of polyphenols, while green cabbage only provides 45mg (www.whfoods.com).  And red cabbage has six to eight times more Vitamin C than green cabbage with 50% of the RDA per cooked cup, and 91% of the RDA for Vitamin K (www.whfoods.com).

Do you make your own fermented products, such as kefir or sauerkraut?  What’s your favorite?

Hope you are having a FABULOUS Friday!  See you soon!

– Shari B. =)

***

Resources:

Murray, Michael. The Encyclopedia of Healing Foods. New York, NY: Atria Books, 2005

The World’s Healthiest Foods’ www address www.whfoods.com

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Midterms Behind Me, Homework Ahead of Me

Dec 4

Posted by Shari B. in Do Something Daily, Natural Chef Culinary School | 5 Comments

Hi friends!

Happy Saturday!  Midterms are finally done (oh thank goodness) and I’ll get my grade for the whole week sometime on Monday.  I’ve seen grades for the written and identification portions (rocked ‘em!) and the knife skills portion (rocked it!) but I don’t know my grades for the improv cooking segments.  Yesterday I used two leafy veggies for my salad that weren’t what I thought they were and so it ended up CRAZY bitter.  Apparently I used radicchio thinking it was red cabbage (oops) and used escarole thinking it was green leaf lettuce (another oops).   Guess I need to hit up the produce section and get a little more cozy with random leafy veg! :)   My instructor gave me credit though for taking a risk in the kitchen, even if it didn’t turn out as I’d planned – that was a very kind thing for her to say.

Then last night was the big benefit event that we Bauman students were working for externship credit.  By 10:30 last night I was ready to drop after having been on my feet (and awake) since 4:20 in the morning.  It was an interesting evening.  As it turns out, we weren’t cooking on the line as we’d thought – we mostly did food prep, plating, food running and clean up.  It was a really great learning experience and I have to say that I have SERIOUS respect for people in the restaurant / catering industry.  It is hard work and requires a LOT of stamina and a LOT of “go with the flow” mentality.

Here are a couple of pics snapped with my phone.

The event was held at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art:

However, we were set up in a tent behind the building.  Check out the huge rental oven!

Food prep before the dinner service started (all of the electricity was provided by a generator just outside the tent and when I got home last night, MSP said I was talking extra loud!)

The chef on the left is Kyle Mendenhall, Executive Chef of The Kitchen restaurant in Boulder, and on the right is Hugo Matheson, Co-Owner and Executive Chef of The Kitchen.  It was really an honor to get to work alongside these men – one thing I noticed was how CALM they were during the all of the chaos and excitement.

By the time I drove all the way home from Boulder, it was almost midnight.  You guys know this fuddy duddy is usually in bed at 9:00.  (When I’m really tired I get about as whiny and cranky as a 2 year old toddler that missed a nap.)  Some of the other students were staying to dance and enjoy the benefit once the ‘work’ part was done.  I just didn’t have anything left in the energy tank.  I realize that I missed out on an opportunity to spend some fun quality time with my classmates but it was all I could do to keep my eyes open on the drive home.  I even missed an exit on the highway and ended up just lost enough that I had to pull over and get out my iPhone to Google Map myself back to civilization.

I had only water to drink yesterday, but feel hung over this morning.  I often feel that way when I stay up too late the night before, which is partly why I’m such a stickler for getting to bed on time.  Does that happen to you?

Tired as I was this morning, I got up and WORKED OUT!  I have to credit our “December DSD challenge” for staying on track (otherwise I may have given myself a pass).  I got up a bit before 7, had my coffee and lounged around and then we strapped on our heart rate monitors to do some Wii dancing.  High heart rate today was 173!!  We did that for 45 minutes and I just have to say that MSP took me to SCHOOL in “Just Dance” today.  Usually this is one game that I can beat him at – but he was on fire this morning!  And unfortunately I will have Donna Summer’s “Hot Stuff” song stuck in my head the rest of today….

And now, the weekend of homework begins…. so far I’ve dreamed up:

Northern Italian Eggs Benedict on Sage Polenta with Porcini Mushrooms and Yogurt “Hollandaise”

and

North African Crepes with Almond Fig Filling and Sweet Balsamic Reduction

I have four more to come up with, one to prepare, run the ingredients through nutrition software, write 2 pages about one of the regions, and write a recipe analysis of the one I prepare.

I think this will require more coffee…  ;)

See you on the other side of the homework!  Thanks for posting your exercise info – keep it coming for the challenge!  You are all doing a FABULOUS job!

– Shari B. =)

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December 3rd Check-In For DDSD Challenge

Dec 3

Posted by Shari B. in Do Something Daily, Keeping Fit | 9 Comments

Hey blog buds!

I am SO ENJOYING seeing all of you posting your exercise and participating in the December Do Something Daily challenge!  Makes my day every time a new comment comes in!

Friday is finally here which means my FINAL day of midterms (wahoo!!) AND the big cooking event tonight at the Growe Foundation benefit.  I’m so excited!  I haven’t recapped about school much lately since the last week has been all testing.  Next week we start a new module “Farm to Table” – should be fun!

Time is a little short today, so this is a brief post but I wanted to get out here and get my movement posted.  MSP and I just did 45 minutes of Bob’s Weight Loss Yoga (oh the shaking shoulders from planks and pushups and downward dogs and warrior holds).  I chose to do yoga today since I’ll be on my feet in the kitchen between noon and 10 PM tonight.  I figured it wouldn’t be a good day to do heavy squats.  ;)

What’s your movement for today? Drop a comment!  Any fun plans lined up for the weekend?

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More Reasons to “Do Something Daily” – A Giveaway!

Dec 2

Posted by Shari B. in Do Something Daily, Giveaway Contest | 10 Comments

Hi friends!

WOW, we have a great group for the December Do Something Daily challenge!  Cindy, Joan, Julie, Carrie, Allison, Ashley!  Excellent!  So excited to have us all keeping each other motivated to keep moving this month!

It’s only Day 2 so there’s still time to join the fun if you worked out yesterday!

Spread the word:  Tweet it, Facebook it, email it.  Let’s get everyone moving!

To sweeten the deal a little bit, everyone who completes the challenge by working out / moving their bods all 31 days of December AND posting about it here at FitFeat in the comments section will be entered into a drawing to win a FREE Eating for Health book written by Ed Bauman, Ph.D. (the founder of the culinary school I’m attending):

*** AND… ***

a FREE 45-minute phone coaching session with yours truly.  You can use that 45 minutes to pick my brain on fit living – we can talk about exercise, healthy eating, healthy cooking during the call*, similar to the calls I conduct with my clients.  So start thinking about what you would do with that time!

Keep me up to date on your progress by posting in the comments sections at FitFeat and after December 31 I’ll assign each completing participant a number (using first names in alphabetical order) and then I’ll use a random number generator to draw the winner.

So now that we know what you’re all playing for, the question is:  What was your movement today?

The first part of my exercise today came courtesy of Margo, the Brooklyn Fit Chick.  Margo recently hosted a fitness DVD giveaway and I was lucky enough to be one of the winners!  The DVDs arrived last night (perfect timing!!) and so this morning I did a 20-minute endurance workout with Marta Montenegro.

It definitely got my heart pumping!  Bodyweight squats, pushups, burpees, knee tucks, etc.  I’ll give a better review of it after I’ve spent more time with the DVDs.  Thanks again Margo for the wonderful gift!  I LOVE to try out new fitness DVDs and mix things up with my workouts.  And I can’t tell you how fun it is to await the arrival of a prize coming in the mail!

After that, even though it was only 38 degrees, I knew I had to get outdoors.  The sky was blue and the sun was shining, so I couldn’t resist (Mother Nature is still smiling on Colorado – it will be 58 later today and 60 tomorrow).  I spent 40 minutes doing intervals of running “downs” and walking “ups” on a hilly loop in our neighborhood.

I had a pink face and cold hands when I got back.

So I warmed up with a Shari favorite of toasted Ezekial with raw almond butter and raw honey.  To spice it up a bit, I sprinkled on cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.  Oh. Emm. Gee.  I wanted to eat the whole loaf like this.  Try it – you’ll love it!

And a side of organic green jasmine tea:

Alright blog buds:  I better stop yappin’ so you have time to go get your workout done!  Make it a FIT and HEALTHY day!  Don’t forget to post what you did so you can stay in the running for the giveaway!

– Shari B. =)

* Currently the giveaway contests hosted at FitFeat are open to US residents only.

***

Shari Becht is a Fit Living Coach and ACE Certified Personal Trainer.  She is extremely passionate about teaching people how they can take steps to fit healthy living into their busy lives.  She has decided to take her love of nutrition one step further by enrolling in the Natural Chef Culinary Program at Bauman College and will graduate in Spring 2011.

If you or someone you know could use some help learning how to fit more “FIT” into life, please feel free to email her at shari [at] fitfeat  [dot] com.  For more information, click here.

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December is “Do Something Daily” at FitFeat

Dec 1

Posted by Shari B. in Do Something Daily, Keeping Fit | 21 Comments

Hey blog buds!  Happy December 1st!

I have a little confession to make.  I’ve been struggling here and there to get my workouts in.  When my mind gets “busy” like it has been during the past few weeks (months?), it affects my sleep sometimes, and then feeling tired affects my motivation, and so on and so on.

BUT… I also know that ENERGY CREATES ENERGY.  If I were my own client, I’d be telling me: “Get moving to keep moving.”

So I’m going to CHALLENGE myself and all of you to DO SOMETHING DAILY this month to move your body.  (Yes Cindy, I said “challenge”!)

I know, we’ll all be super busy with the holidays.  Yes, I’ll be busy with school stuff, especially in the next few weeks.  But I am putting my foot down NOW on my excuses.

How ’bout you? Are you with me?

Have you been in a rut or feeling a lack of accountability?  You can be accountable to me by posting a comment here each day with your activity.

I’ll keep you updated on what I’m doing – and I would LOVE to hear from each of you what YOU’RE doing too!  It doesn’t matter if it’s simply a walk with your family or pets, a bike ride or ice skating.  Or whether it’s lifting weights, yoga or running.

The only rule is that if you are working out with high  intensity most days of the week that you allow one day of active recovery each week (like walking or gentle yoga) in place of the high intensity routine.  I don’t want you to overtrain and wear down your immune system, especially around the time of year when the cold/flu bug likes to get busy.

What will you do today??

My workout today was 40 minutes of strength/cardio Tabata:

  • Static Ball Squat w/ Static Shouder Side Raise
  • One-Arm Alternating DB Press on Ball
  • Step Ups with Medicine Ball overhead
  • Seated Machine Rows
  • Planks/Side Planks
  • Wall Ball Squats
  • Explosive Lunges (1 set)
  • Overhead Tricep extension (1 set)

If you feel like doing something but are just plum out of ideas, here are some past posts to get you started:

Now I’m off to have a green smoothie, shower and do some last minute cramming for Day 2 of midterms!

Looking forward to reading your comments on what you’re doing today to get moving!

– Shari B. =)

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One Way to Trick Yourself into Exercising

Jun 22

Posted by Shari B. in Hiking | 7 Comments

Hi friends!

If you’re a reader from the early days, you may remember that hiking is probably my all-time favorite type of exercise.  You get a heart-pounding cardio workout (especially if you run the downhills), you get strength work on your legs and core, and the muscles that stabilize your lower body joints get a lot of attention (especially the ankle joint) from the uneven terrain.  Best of all, it doesn’t feel like exercise when you have gorgeous scenery to admire.  So if you feel like you haven’t been as motivated lately to get out and move the ol’ bod, just plan a couple of hilly hikes and you’ll be able to “trick yourself” into exercising!  :)

We tried out a new hiking trail, this time in the foothills outside of Boulder.  And during the hike, it became apparent how the town of Boulder got its name…

The uphill portion of the hike (90 minutes) had my heart rate in the upper 170s most of the time with plenty of high step-up movements on to big rocks along the way.  Coming down (60 minutes) it was around 115.  Total change in elevation was about 2,400′.

Before 8:00 AM the trailhead parking lot was already full:

Gentlemen, start your engines… err… GPS watches!

An old lodge tucked in the trees along the way:

So much is green this time of year!

The upper portion of the trail got really steep – check out the trees as a vertical reference point:

Steep enough that we were doing a 29 minute mile pace!!  S-l-o-w

But slow going allows for great viewing!

At the “summit” of this hike (approx 8,159′):

On the top of the stack of rocks is a plaque that shows you which mountain peaks you can see from this amazing vantage point.

Unfortunately about 6 minutes before we hit the top, the clouds rolled in and this was our view from the plaque:

And of course the sun came out again on the way down!

That just gives us a reason to go back again soon though, which is OK by me!

So while the hike itself only ended up totalling 4.75 miles, the calorie expenditure was much higher (somewhere around 720 for me) from the uphill portion alone.  On the way down our legs started to get wobbly and we were making sloppy steps, so it was time to sit and share a Larabar.

And a touristy photo op.  :D

Are you convinced yet?  Hiking is a FABULOUS workout. If you live anywhere near some hills, I encourage you to get out this coming weekend.  Just promise you’ll share the pictures with us!

Random tip for GARMIN FORERUNNER users: if you find that your Garmin is charged but won’t power on, press and hold the MODE and RESET buttons simultaneously and then try the power button (while holding the other two still).  Release all three and it should come on just fine.  It took me two tries to get it going again and let me tell you, my heart sank when it wouldn’t power on at first.  I’d be lost without my Forerunner (quite possibly LITERALLY lost too!)  ;)

Make it a GREAT and FIT day friends!

– Shari B. =)

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