Slam of the week: Kid fights back!

I may be an hour late with this, but in honor of anti-bullying day (which was yesterday, if you haven't caught on yet) I am happy to present the slam of the week (a post I hope to be doing regularly to highlight people's achievements). Without further ado...

Great to see this kid standing up for himself.  This is a clear case of high school bullying.  No one deserves to be scared and helpless.  With that said, no one should have to take shit from anyone either.  Glad to see this kid stand up for himself.  After doing some research, all I could dig up was his name is Casey Heynes, and that this incident occurred at a New South Wales, Australia high school.  Good on ya, Casey!  Way to lead the charge!

As my parting words regarding bullying - Lets all band together. Stand up for our friends and stand up for strangers that are in need.  Lets stand up for doing whats right.

    

A Personal Trainers Workout: Derailed... Not! (At-home workout Part 1)

Oh man... life has become busy. Good busy of coarse. However, good busy is still busy lol. Some of you may have been wondering why I haven't been posting under my "Personal Trainer's workouts" tags. I'm happy to report that everything is going great with my training. Because of the busyness of the last couple of weeks I've resorted to at-home workouts (which I'm happy to share with you).

If you didn't already, at home workouts can be just as effective as workouts at the gym. All you need is some simple equipment (that can be found at any fitness equipment store), some open space (you'll be surprised how little is really needed), some know how, a open mind, and the will-power to stop when you drop.

The first routine I did:
Inner thigh body ball squeeze
Body ball reverse bridge hold hamstring roll-in
Elbow to thigh sit-up/crunch (90 degree legs on ball)
Push up (hands on ball)
Alternating bent knee jackknife/straight leg jackknife lower abs roll-in
Body ball ab rollout
Body ball weighted bridge with butt drop (used kettle bell as weight, placed under belly button. Any weight will work)

All I used for this routine is a body ball & kettle bell. This routine works on a lot of core, chest, hip stability, glutes, and hamstrings. Simple right?! Try it yourself :)

Stay tuned next week for more at-home workouts. Chao!

Health Fact: How many greens are you eating?

 



Fact:  Greens are the No. 1 food you can eat regularly to help improve your health - That's because leafy vegetables are brimming with fiber along with vitamins, minerals, and plant-based substances that may help protect you from heart disease, diabetes, cancer, etc.

Check out this great link for the top ten vegetable choices CLICK HERE

Recipes when I feel like it: Homemade Penutbutter & Banana Protein Bars

It's time again for another protein bar recipe.  My curious mind hasn't stopped racing with ideas since my last protein bar post.  Since then I've been experimenting with various recipes.  Here is my favorite out of the bunch.

Just like before, to make things easier, I will again separate the ingredients into a dry and wet bowl.  Remember  you will need two large bowls that make up your dry and wet bowls.  However, this time around your wet bowl may be metal as nothing will need to be melted.  Lets get started!     

Dry Bowl Ingredients:
2 cups Oats
1/4 cup Shredded Coconuts (Sweetened or Unsweeted, pick your poison)
1/2 cup Raisins (or dates, cranberries, dried fruits, etc)
1/2 cup Dark Chocolate Chips or Chunks (Check out the benefits)
1/4 cup Almonds (shredded or whole, your choice.  Can also substitute for other nuts)
2 tsp Cinnamon
1 cup Protein Powder (Natural, Vanilla or Chocolate are best for taste)

**Optional**
2 tbsp Flax Seeds (Check out the benefits)
2 tbsp Chia Seeds (Check out the benefits)
1/2 Apple (cut into small chunks)

Assemble everything into one bowl. Mixing everything up. Now put your dry bowl a side to make room for the next bowl.

Wet Bowl Ingredients:
1 Ripe Banana (mashed)
1/4 cup Maple Syrup (or honey if that is all you got) (Check out the benefits)
1/2 cups Peanut Butter (prefer natural but if all you got is skippy or Kraft - go with what you got!  Any other nut butter will work as well)
1 tsp Vanilla

Unlike the last bowl, where it was just collecting ingredients, the wet bowl will require you to use some "elbow grease". Before assembling the ingredients together, you will need to first place a pealed banana into the bowl and mash it up.  I found a spoon works best, but anything you find that you believe will get the job done will work.  After the banana is completely mashed, you can begin to assemble the remaining ingredients into the bowl.  Mix everything up! 

Now that you have your two bowls completed, pour the contents of your wet bowl into your dry bowl.

Now for the fun part (finally!). Time to get your hands all up in there and mix everything up.  Remember though, wash your hands first lol ;)


Once everything is mixed together, transfer the contents to a baking tray to be put into the fridge for an hour or two (or in the freezer if your in a hurry). I found long tupperware containers works well as well (so save those pastic chinese take out containers). Keep the tray in the fridge until ingredients have completely solidified.

Voila!!! The protein bars are done!!! I'll leave you with the freedom to decide how to cut into smaller bars.

Enjoy!!!  And again, don't be shy - If you have an input on how to make this better (or different, in a good way) send your thoughts my way :)