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 :)

Adventures with the Go Pro: Amatuer Hockey at it's best!

For those that don't know, I am more than just a gym rat.  I know it must be hard to imagine with my last couple of posts.  In fact, as a personal trainer, I don't spend much time there at all.  Maybe 3-4 times a week (not including the time when I'm with a client).  Majority of my time is spent outdoors (or at a indoor arena) doing various activities (which is something I encourage all my clients to do). 

Recently, one of my fellow players on my Hockey team (James, our goalie) thought it would be fun to capture one of our games using his GO PRO Camera.  Oh man, was it ever a great idea.  We as a team learned so much from watching ourselves play this past week.  Here are the highlights from our game against our nemesis The Aviators.  Unfortunately it was a losing effort (4-3 OT).  Look out for me, number 11 in the white jersey.
      

If you ever get a chance to, I highly recommend that you capture yourself on camera doing the things you love.  Not only will you get a whole new level of satisfaction and appreciation for yourself, but you may also notice a few new things to change/add to help yourself improve to that next level.

Now, go play outside and push yourself to the limits no matter the conditions.  You won't be sorry you did :)

A Personal Trainers Workout: Day Five

So, it has been about week since I've posted another "A Personal Trainers Workout".  Some of you fitness enthusiast must be worried that I've dropped off.  Don't you worry, I am still going strong.  Truth be told, it's going so well that I've expanded my horizons into new a skill/hobby.  This week I took up knitting.  Man, for something that I deemed girlie in the past, I can say it is very peaceful and takes a lot of patience and discipline.  Reminds me a lot of  when I first started playing the guitar, patience and discipline were an issue.  But over time, with practice, I over came them.  And in a few weeks, I will I have myself a brand new scarf (that I made myself lol).  But, enough about that.  For those that are wondering, I have been in the gym four times since my last "routine post".  I did this routine Last Sunday: 

Body Ball Inner Thigh Squeeze and Bridge
Body Ball Hamstring Roll In
Single Leg Shoulder Raise with Single Leg Calf Raise (on yoga block) 
Single Arm Bicep Preacher Curl (I used a 45 degree bench, stood behind it with my arm resting against it)
Olympic Dead Lift
Tricep Dips (on Dip Wrack)
Bent Over Single Arm Reverse Fly (on Pully Machine)

Again, I did 12-15 reps and 3 sets each.  The workout took me about an hour to finish.  For the remainder of the week I revisited my previous two workouts and this one once more.  I will most likely be switching up my routines next week or the week after next so stay tuned.

As always, I dare you to try it if you think your ready for it lol :)  And like before, if your unsure about a exercise, msg me and I will give you feed back on how to achieve it.  Have fun, play hard, and remember to stretch for 10-30 min after your workout (it's just as important as the workout itself).  Stay healthy kids!

The Food Colour Wheel

Got this image from a friend of mine this morning.  After reading through it, I instantly knew I needed to share this everyone.  I'd give one of my usual descriptions, but I think the image speaks for itself.  Enjoy and share!