10 Motivating Workout Songs

I am ALWAYS on the lookout for the best music to workout to or do yoga to. The right song can get that extra rep in help push you to dig a little deeper. 

Here is 10 songs I find super motivating and fun to workout too!

1. AWOLNATION - Sail
2. BEYONCE - Run The World
3. JANELLE MONAE - Yoga
4. JENNIFER LOPEZ - On the Floor
5. KELIS - Bossy
6. MIKE POSNER - Top of the World
7. ROB BAILEY  - Beast
8. CALVIN HARRIS - How Deep Is Your Love
9. BRITNEY SPEARS - Work Bitch
10. EMINEM - Rap God

What are some of your favourite songs to work out to?

Love,

Jen the Bitchin' Housewife

It Doesn't Have To Be Perfect

My verdict on astrology is still out, but as a Cancer (and a Pitta in the Ayurvedic world) I have a small problem with perfectionism. Sometimes I find myself not even starting a task because I know it will not work out perfectly or know that I don't have the time to do it perfectly.

This evening as I am hand washing some dishes that didn't fit in the dishwasher, I started thinking about the mess that currently is my home and everything that needs to be done to clean it. To perfection no less.

Today, for several reason I do not have the energy for this task. I normally may have even left the dishes in the sink to "catch up" on them tomorrow, because I certainly don't have the time to clean the whole kitchen and then house. I did them though, to make at least a small impact on the mess.

I think this is many people's problem with fitness and/or nutrition. Inner dialogue may sound a little like this: 

"If I am not going to perform the most efficiently in the gym, why should I even go? How can I perform the most efficiently if I don't know what I am  doing? I need to research or read about how to do things perfectly so I can make the most of my time while there. Okay, research first, get a plan and then go."

Days, weeks or even months pass. Waiting for the perfect plan, perfect moment, perfect outfit, perfect timing or whatever. Then it becomes a kitchen full of dishes that never get done. Am I right?

What if we stopped trying to make everything perfect and we just try? What if I learn to accept the mess around me for what it is, but know I can make a small impact right here, right now. A small step in the direction I wish to travel. Soon these small steps turn into these big milestones. These milestones turn into big moments and these big moments turn into the way I live my life?

Maybe at lunch when I have some cheesecake instead of sticking to my salad and egg whites I accept the "mess" and continue on with my plan instead of "well today is shot, may as well go down hill from here."

It doesn't have to be perfect. You don't have to be perfect. You just have to take a small step in the direction you wish to travel. The rest will follow eventually. 

Love, 

Jen

An Evening With Michael Spinks

As a lover of everything fitness, and working with athletes, I love the chance to meet top level athletes. Oh to be able to chat with the greats in the world and discover what it is that makes them different from the rest of us weekend warrior types! 

Do you have a man in  your life that loves Boxing? In Edmonton on July 22nd is an event you don't want them to miss! Boxing legend Michael Spinks is coming to Edmonton for a meet and greet dinner. Now is your chance to get a great gift for Father's Day for the boxing lover in your life. Exclusive to BitchinHousewife.com readers is a special discount code for 50%!

Every attendee will have the all-inclusive experience of:

• Lavish European Dinner Buffet
• Complimentary Champagne
• Meet&Greet, Photo Op and Personally Autographed Memorabilia
• Cash Bar
• DJ and 80s dance party

Head on over to Safecom to Buy Your Tickets, using the code "friend" to receive 50% of this event. Offer is only available until June 30th.

Self Care Sunday - Walking

Welcome back to Self Care Sunday. Last week we talked about A Simple Bath. Did you make time to care for yourself this week? It's okay if you didn't. Guess what? You get another shot this week! 

This week I want to chat about walking. Again a simple self care most of us can do. Almost every day I wake before my family. I'm an early riser. A few days a week I meet my friends and we do workouts at 6am, but one day this week I woke up and went for a walk in my neighborhood. I felt the rising sunshine on my face, the still crisp cool morning air on my skin and since I was walking without a "purpose" or "place to go", I was able to slow down and take in the smell of the trees, lawns being watered and notice details of my neighbors houses I've never noticed before. 

I finally walked far enough to this space that open up and overlooks the river valley. I've been here before, but never really paid attention to the view or noticed the trail that leads down the side! I've always been so busy as I pass by. I took a moment to sit on the ground and have a few big beautiful breaths and stretches. I got home feeling refreshed and rejuvenated as much as a sweat dripping, muscle burning workout. 

Walking is a simple task, it feels good and gives you the time to reflect. Daydream a little, sort out problems in your head, listen to your favorite music, plan your week ahead, reconfirm mantras and positive affirmations. You can also check out this wonderful post 17 Health Benefits of Walking.

A few tips for getting in your walk:

• Schedule a day (or more) and the time that you will take this walk. Put it in your calendar and note it's as important and someone asking you to do something else. Note if you are a morning or evening person and possible go with the sunrise or sunset.
• Wear comfortable clothes and shoes. This isn't a fashion show.
• Download some calming music or an inspiring podcast if your neighborhood or time of day is a noisy one.
• Talk a water if you will be gone a while or it's hot out.
• Get help with children. Ask your partner for this time alone, ask another friend to watch your kids and then when you are done you watch hers and she can go for a walk. If you have to bring the kids, there is no shame in giving them toys or distractions in the stroller to occupy them a little. Remember this is about you, not them.  
• Put your phone on airplane or don't bring it. No Facebook or tweets or emails or phone calls. This is your time to be with yourself. 

Share with me where your walking journey takes you.

Love,

Jen 

Fitness Goal Setting

Goal setting. Seems simple enough right? "I want to loose weight"," I want to build muscles" or "I want to run a half marathon." Seem simple that think about something we want and boom it's a goal. 

But is it? Not to pull out all the cheesey fitness quotes but as Antoine de Saint-Exupéry said "A goal without a plan is just a wish." 

So how do we set fitness goals? How do we make it a goal and not a wish, a real live attainable thing? Let's take it back to elementary school with how to solve a problem. Figure out the 5 W's and the H.

• What? What is your goal? Do you have an event you want to race in, a weight/size you are looking to achieve? This I think is the easy part of goal setting of course. What do you want?
• When? When do you want to achieve this goal by? Thinking something reasonable, maybe planning to run a marathon in 3 weeks and you've never run a day in your life is a bit too much too fast. But set some timelines of the things you wish to obtain.
• Who? Who do you need to support you in your goal? Tell these people your plans. They can hold you accountable and/or help you with your goals. You might be surprised to find the people rooting you on and/or you inspire to do the same! Do you need a personal trainer or coach? Do you need workout buddies?
• Where? Seems like an odd question, but in reality, where do you need to be in order to obtain this goal? Do you need a gym membership since home workouts and self motivation you know are a hurdle for you? Do you need to be able to run outside, do you have a place to do this?
• Why? Ah, this is the tricky one. Think good and hard about why you want to obtain this goal. If you heart isn't really there, the love and joy of obtaining your goal likely won't. I wrote a bit about loving your personal fitness journey and it helping in this post Love Your Fitness . Take some time to sit and actually think about why you want to do something, because if it comes from this place of self hate or self loathing, you'll likely hate every minute. Taking an honest look at your feelings will help you use them constructively, instead of burying them inside a workout. 
• How? Sit down and write out how. I'm a pen and paper gal, where if I write something down its official. Maybe you like spreadsheets of how often you plan to workout or what your nutrition will look like. Write it out, type it, print and put it somewhere you see often. A reference to look back on to see if you are on track, or a place to write what did or didn't work. Remembering sometimes our journeys take us different routes then we thought.

Now go and take action!!!! You have planned and prepared, go crush those goals!

Love, 

Jen

Trinity Workout

Our 6am club has been doing the stairs and a full body style workout at the top halfway through. I made this "Trinity" workout and designed it to be legs, then arms, then some core/abs work. Trinity because well, all the 3's. I'm weird like that. 

We did 7 rounds of the stairs today so only went through this workout once, but I'd love to hear if you did it the full 3 times! Rest in between each of the sets for a minute or two and get on it!

Quick description of each move is below.

Squats - Bum low, chest up

Tricep Dips - palms down, fingers pointing to toes, bend at the elbows

Plank Toe Tap - 15 a side. High plank reaching opposite hand to toe

Lunge to high knee - 15 a side. Lunge back then draw back knee into the chest.

Push Ups - Can be done from the knees.

High/Low Planks - high plank to the forearms is one 1, then back up and down for 30.

Plie Squat - feet pointed out, legs wider, chest up.

Diamond Push up - hand in a diamond shape on the ground, bum high, feet wide. Draw the head to the floor.

Genie Abs - On the back, arms over the chest, draw the knees to the arms and lift the bum. 

Enjoy!

Love, 

Jen

7 Tips To Get Up Early To Workout

1.Set a couple of alarms. I won't lie to you my friends, I'm a morning person and I even need to set two alarms some mornings to wake up. Just this morning I fell asleep after the first one, but luckily 15 minute later I had another going

2.Lay out your clothes the night before. If you happen to wake up on that second alarm, or third, your clothes are ready to go. Change and you are on your way. 

3.Plan your workout ahead of time. Plan to attend a class or pop in a specific DVD or print off your Take It Outside Bodyweight Workout. Knowing what you plan to do, makes sure you just get into, instead of making an excuse to just go back to bed. 

4.Put your water bottle and/or morning snack on the counter. Depending on how hungry you are (or how you function on low blood sugar), maybe plan to leave a quick easy snack such as a banana on the counter. 

5.Leave your gym bag in the car/at the front door. Again, the easier things are to just pick up and go, the more you are likely to do them! Have your gym bag with a change of clothes for work, your running shoes, toiletries or whatever you may need in your bag and ready by the door to go. 

6.Go to bed a bit earlier! Try crawling into bed even an hour earlier. Some say for every hour of sleep before midnight, it's worth 2 hours of sleep after 12!

7.Find some friends to keep you accountable. I can't tell you the amount of times I didn't want to go to a 6m workout and I knew I would be letting down my friends if I didn't show up. Let me tell you, I have yet to regret going! The Power of A Workout Buddy is like no other!

Need a little more motivation? Here are some reasons why my friend gave that they like their 6 am workouts:

"The feeling after a morning workout is so awesome! . I can start my day with a level head (most days) and so much energy."

"Just knowing you did it and you can focus on the rest of the day, spend time with your family, not worrying about fitting it in."

"It helps me make good eating choices throughout the day. I have less desire to eat junk and am more drawn to healthy options - to fuel my body not just satisfy a craving"

Honestly at first it's hard. I won't tell you it's easy. But the more you do it, the more of a habit it becomes and then you get excited to wake up early and kick the day's butt! On days I don't work out I'm even up early before my kids taking some time to myself. Meditating, reading emails in the dark or just enjoying a hot coffee. 

What motivated you to get out of bed to work out?

Love, 

Jen

Take It Outside Workout

This morning my 6am club friends and I took our workout outside. It's been record breaking warm and beautiful here in the city for mid April and we took advantage of it. 

We met up at the bottom of one of the 50 sets of stairs in our city and got to it. Up and down a few times and at the top as the sun rose we did a fun bodyweight workout I put together. 

We laughed, we moaned, we had a blast and I feel refreshed and energized for my day. Not just from the workout, but the fresh air and the quality time with people I adore. 

At the top of the Whitemud ravine stairs is this awesome crochet/pom pom tree project.

Grab some friend and try this workout! 

Where do you like taking your workouts outside?

Love, 

Jen

Uncomplicating Fitness, Health & Nutrition

We live in a world of information at our every turn. Need an answer?, within seconds and a few taps we have an answer. This is amazing, but at the same time overwhelming.

My goal with this blog, with everything I do in regards to health, fitness, yoga and nutrition is with the goal in mind to make it simple and approachable. 

I was having a conversation with someone about fitness and they said to me "I wish I was one of these people into working out and fitness". You know what I said? "I said that exact same thing 6 years ago." I tried many different things, running, weights, yoga, bikini competing, home DVD's, macro counting, gym group classes and so on. My love of fitness just sort of developed as I tried new things. 

We all start somewhere and I think so of us "fitness people" forget that a little. There is always new research coming out for better ways to work out and nutrition tips and so on. I think that is the most overwhelming part. We don't want to start working out, put time and effort in to find out we could do it an easier and better way? Burn fat faster or build muscle more efficiently right?

But I believe that's part of the fitness journey.  Trying things, finding out they don't work and trying something else. As I said in my Love Your Fitness blog post, try a bunch of things, find what you love and go with it. Who cares if it really burns fat the fastest if you hate doing it. What is there is a more efficient way at building muscle, but it draws everything out of you mentally to do it. Is it really that much more effective? Just MOVE YOUR BODY!

Experiment with eating styles even. In a world of paleo, macro counting, clean eating, gluten free, vegan and so on, there is more then one way to get to whatever your goal is. Try something new. 

Health tips are another one. I remember years ago eating pomegranates was a huge craze, stores couldn't keep them in stock. It was the new superfood. Kale, almonds, arugula, turmeric, lemon water etc. Try some new stuff and what you like/what works for you is what you need.

The only thing I will say, is give it some time. With each thing you try, give it some time without giving up so quickly. But if you like what you are doing and it feels good, it's likely not going to be that hard! If you like it you are more likely to stick with it, so tell nay sayers of your workout or eating choices to shove it!

Love, 

Jen

Self Improvement & Self Love

I love that we are living in a world where we are starting to encourage self love. I think it's because most of us grew up in an age still where marketing and so on, basically told us we weren't good enough or pretty enough. 

Maybe that's a whole different post. Today I want to talk about the fact that we can love ourselves and want to improve at the same. In yoga we speak of rajas (goal seeking, change and activity) and tamas (rest, digest, inactivity), 2 of the three Gunas (the third part being Satva or balance). Without getting to yogi on you, I think many of us struggle with the balancing act. The balance between wanting more and remaining the same.

Extreme examples of  Tamas and Rajas

We wish to improve on ourselves, me for example, I have some wonderfully cute spring/summer clothes that don't fit. I would like to fit into them and be comfortable wearing them. In order to obtain that goal, I think to myself I'd like to loose "a few pounds".

We also wish to self love and be just who we are. At the same token I want to love myself and where my body likes to sit at and enjoy eating a drinking and being merry with friends and family. I can always buy new pants right?

I've actually struggled with this quite a bit lately. Finding that balance between loving myself the way I am currently and wanting a little more. But something I have forgotten is that they can actually exist together. I don't have to be one complete way or the other. I remember when I was on a mission to loose my "baby weight" after my second was born. It actually seemed to melt off, and during the process I was proud of myself. I loved my body for the limits I could push it to, the amazing things I did with it, such as grew a human and breastfeed! 

Taking a look back at the last while or so I've struggled with my balance, my internal dispute I feel as if I have forgotten how to set healthy limits/goals and still love myself in the process. When  I choose to love myself I sort of loosen up a bit too much and just LOVE all the things. When I decide to set goals and limits I become strict and unwavering, until I've decided I'm tired of it and loosen up.

The vicious cycle I believe all of us face. So how do we balance self improvement and self love? Like with anything, practice. Spending time actually thinking about our goals, instead of them being gut reactions to the scale or situations we've endured. Then realizing boundaries and limits can be done in a healthy way. And ALWAYS that we can forgive ourselves. 

Progress, not perfection they always say. Even if some days progress is realizing that we can try again tomorrow. 

Love,

Jen

The Power Of A Workout Buddy

I've been mostly a loner in the gym. I like to workout by myself, go at my own pace, do the exercises I want to do and just jam out to my music.  When my husband was/is in town we usually spend some time in the gym together. He helps motivate me  and pushes me a little harder and I love that too. 

But the past little while I've been very busy with some new adventures and teaching that I've lost a lot of motivation to go to the gym or work very hard while I am there. 

Maybe a month or so ago I invited a couple friends to come do a 6 am hot yoga class with me atthe gym. I wasn't teaching, it was just to get some Zen in before starting our day. We felt so good getting a bit of work in, getting zenned out but I think just being there together too.  Of course in classic gym style if you don't take a selfie it didn't happen, so here we are. My friends are babes even after hot yoga. (While I look a bit like a drown rat. ha ha)

Then something compelled me to take my Insanity Live Instructor training, and I thought "crap, I should probably take a few classes so I'm conditioned to teach it!". So I asked my friends if they wanted to take a 6am Insanity class with me the next week. We all almost died and there was no selfie taken because I think we were all in too much of a haze to think to take one.

But we realized we all loved getting up before our kids and husbands and getting in our time and doing it together. We created our own little message group and ask each other to go to classes. Yoga, HIIT, Insanity whatever. We go to at least one class a week and we motivate each other. 

Another friend recently started coming and she's loving it. Even drives across the city almost to meet up with us. This morning she text me as I was getting into my car "sorry I slept through my alarm".  I woke up a bit tired and sore this morning so I thought to myself this was the perfect excuse to get back into my warm bed. I messaged the other two friends to see if they were going since they seemed on the fence the night before hoping they would say no. But no, they both said they were going to be there. Motivation back on. Game time. Let's go. 

The power of having those friends to hold me accountable is simply priceless. We even motivate each other while working out. Push each other harder and faster. And take pictures of you doing post workout yoga poses so you look cool....

Thanks my friends. You are amazing.

Find your tribe and love the shit out of them! 

Love,

Jen

Arbonne Preworkout Review

Last  year I wrote What's In Your Pre workout? A post going through some of the things in one particular workout powder. Although It was just the one, many of them have the same ingredients and stimulants in them. 

Recently Arbonne came out with a new sports line. If you don't know Arbonne, it's a direct sale company with everything from makeup to nutrition and skin care. Well I asked a friend who sells Arbonne about it and she gave me some to try out. I ordered some. 

This preworkout I don't believe to be anything like other pre workouts. I've heard of many people saying the look for ones that don't give you the jitters or "prickly skin" or make your heart feel like it wants to come out of your chest. These are all things I definitely don't want to be feeling. I fear that if we feel so jacked up that our hearts are going to jump out of chests, how likely is it to injure ourselves? Additionally the havoc it may cause on our bodies nervous system? This is why they tell you to cycle pre workouts. Every few weeks stop taking it. Your poor body thinks it's fighting a lion every time you workout. Not in the mental sense like "you're a hardcore beast, kill this workout" either.(Sorry)

During the workouts I used the powder I felt like my normal self. I just noticed on cardio day that maybe I wasn't completely dead by the time I reached the last intervals. On lifting days I could get a few more reps in. My friend who sells Arbonne said she notices she has a little more motivation. She isn't a regular gym rat, so the little bit of extra umph to her workout helps. 

Here is the part I really like. The ingredients. So lets go through them.

Vitamins A, C, E, B6, B12, thiamin, riboflavin, sodium and potassium.- Different key vitamins and nutrients for the body. Pretty straightforward. 

L-Arginine - An amino acid found in the body, said to help improve function of blood vessels. There are contraindications for people who have history of heart attacks. Although I'm sure if you've had a heart attack you likely know better then to take stimulants or pre workout powders!

L-Citrulline - Another amino acid found in the body and foods like watermelon. Oddly enough our bodies use this and turn it into the above Arginine. 

L-Carnitine - An amino acid that Bodybuilding.com has a whole article on. Check it out 11 Super Side Effects of Taking L Carnitine

D-Ribose - A sugar or energy source but this ingredient is also said to help some people with muscle soreness too.

Ginseng - Many of us have heard of ginseng. Some come to it for when they don't feel well or use it as a bit of energy boost. Ginseng is an ingredient with many benefits. Here is a website with a lot of interesting information Gingeng Panax

Tumeric and Cayenne - Again we have all seen these before. Spices used in cooking perhaps. Or the dreaded "cleanses". They have detoxifying properties and aid in digestion. 

OTHER INGREDIENTS: organic cane sugar, citric acid, rice syrup solids, orange flavor, pineapple flavor, silicon dioxide, stevia leaf extract.

Since there isn't a bunch of artificial sweeteners, and cane sugar/rice syrup are used there is some calories added. 

Macros are: Fat 0g, Carb 9g, Protein 0g. Making for 36 calories (9 grams carb multiplied by 4 calories per gram). Although the website will tell you 50 calories. 

Overall I really like this preworkout. Especially if you are not a "hardcore gym rat" and/or newer to fitness! If you want to order some check out Amanda Sten Arbonnne .

Love, 

Jen

Restart, Do Over, Just Try Again!

Tomorrow is February 1st. A time to reflect on our year so far. Many of us set resolutions or intentions for the month, year etc and now it's time to check in. 

According to Static Brain only 8% of people complete their new years resolutions. This makes me wonder why? In our world of immediate access to information and usually access to the tools we need to do almost anything we want in life, why do we set goals for ourselves and then forget them?

I imagine there is many reasons, that are very personal to each and every one of us. And that is okay. You are trying your best.

That said, let's take February 1st as our "restart", January was our trial run and we can try again. Let's take it past that though. After February 1st you will likely fall off track from whatever your goal or resolution may be. That important thing is you try and try again. 

Seldom do things go the way we plan they will. When we hit traffic on our way to work, or a meeting doesn't go how we thought it would, do we turn our cars around and drive back home? Do we walk out half way through the meeting? Not usually. So why do we do this with goals? Why do we say "Crap, I fumbled on my diet plan" or "I didn't put away the money I planned to the past two weeks" and believe we just weren't meant for success? 

Get back on the horse, ride through the rough patches and the gentle strolls and reflect on maybe this is what your success looks like. Perfectionism isn't real. Think about anything you've accomplished in your life. Did it go perfectly? Would it have been as fun or as much of a learning experience if it did?

Good luck to you, in whatever your goals are. Just keep trying again. 

Love, 

Jen

Bundle The Bissell

My friend Christine over at Just Another Edmonton Mommy contacted a couple of us about wanting to do a drive for the Bissell Center. A local to Edmonton non for profit company that helps the homeless and vulnerable of our city. With her heart of gold and best intention I was inspired and offered to run a yoga class or two to support this drive. People could come and attend the class for free as long as they brought a donation for the Bissell Center.

Then another wonderful and generous friend, Deanne from Box Social Event Planning, who works with some local malls on events, said she would check to see if someone had a space for this type of thing.

Well lucky for us, Kingsway Mall was gracious enough to donate some space for us to hold this drive. Here is some wonderful pictures from the weekend.

At the end of the first day the bin was overflowing and even more came in on the second day. We didn’t have as big of a turnout as we had hoped (was a very super cold weekend, and many yogis were shopping a super sale) but even then, the people who should up, really showed up!

It was a great pleasure and wonderful honor to guide these generous people through a yoga practice.

The Bundle The Bissell Drive is going on until the 22nd of January. If you missed the yoga event you still have time to drop off donations at these locations:

WHAT TO DONATE TO BUNDLE UP THE BISSELL

o    Gloves

o    Toques

o    Scarves

o    Winter Work Gloves  

o    Winter Jackets

o    New Underwear/Long Underwear  

o    New Thermal/ Wool Socks

WHERE TO DROP OFF DONATION ITEMS

Dominelli School of Music North -#203, 8119-160 Avenue
Monday-Friday 1pm-9pm Saturdays 9:30am – 5pm

The Grange Physical Therapy – 2484 Guardian Road NW
Monday –Thursday: 8am – 9pm Friday: 8am-8pm

Wheaton Toyota on the Trail – 5210 Calgary Trail Edmonton
Monday -Thursday 9am-9pm Friday & Saturday 9am-6pm

Pamper & Play Salon and Spa – 228 – 91 st SW
Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday 10:00 – 6:00
Thursday 10:00 – 9:00
Saturday 10:00 – 5:00

Today, see if you can stretch your heart and expand your love so that it touches not only those to whom you can give it easily, but also those who need it so much. - Daphine Rose Kingma

Thank you everyone for your support!

Love, 

Jen

Arbonne Preworkout Review

Last  year I wrote What's In Your Pre workout? A post going through some of the things in one particular workout powder. Although It was just the one, many of them have the same ingredients and stimulants in them. 

Recently Arbonne came out with a new sports line. If you don't know Arbonne, it's a direct sale company with everything from makeup to nutrition and skin care. Well I asked a friend who sells Arbonne about it and she gave me some to try out. I ordered some. 

This preworkout I don't believe to be anything like other pre workouts. I've heard of many people saying the look for ones that don't give you the jitters or "prickly skin" or make your heart feel like it wants to come out of your chest. These are all things I definitely don't want to be feeling. I fear that if we feel so jacked up that our hearts are going to jump out of chests, how likely is it to injure ourselves? Additionally the havoc it may cause on our bodies nervous system? This is why they tell you to cycle pre workouts. Every few weeks stop taking it. Your poor body thinks it's fighting a lion every time you workout. Not in the mental sense like "you're a hardcore beast, kill this workout" either.(Sorry)

During the workouts I used the powder I felt like my normal self. I just noticed on cardio day that maybe I wasn't completely dead by the time I reached the last intervals. On lifting days I could get a few more reps in. My friend who sells Arbonne said she notices she has a little more motivation. She isn't a regular gym rat, so the little bit of extra umph to her workout helps. 

Here is the part I really like. The ingredients. So lets go through them.

Vitamins A, C, E, B6, B12, thiamin, riboflavin, sodium and potassium.- Different key vitamins and nutrients for the body. Pretty straightforward. 

L-Arginine - An amino acid found in the body, said to help improve function of blood vessels. There are contraindications for people who have history of heart attacks. Although I'm sure if you've had a heart attack you likely know better then to take stimulants or pre workout powders!

L-Citrulline - Another amino acid found in the body and foods like watermelon. Oddly enough our bodies use this and turn it into the above Arginine. 

L-Carnitine - An amino acid that Bodybuilding.com has a whole article on. Check it out 11 Super Side Effects of Taking L Carnitine

D-Ribose - A sugar or energy source but this ingredient is also said to help some people with muscle soreness too.

Ginseng - Many of us have heard of ginseng. Some come to it for when they don't feel well or use it as a bit of energy boost. Ginseng is an ingredient with many benefits. Here is a website with a lot of interesting information Gingeng Panax

Tumeric and Cayenne - Again we have all seen these before. Spices used in cooking perhaps. Or the dreaded "cleanses". They have detoxifying properties and aid in digestion. 

OTHER INGREDIENTS: organic cane sugar, citric acid, rice syrup solids, orange flavor, pineapple flavor, silicon dioxide, stevia leaf extract.

Since there isn't a bunch of artificial sweeteners, and cane sugar/rice syrup are used there is some calories added. 

Macros are: Fat 0g, Carb 9g, Protein 0g. Making for 36 calories (9 grams carb multiplied by 4 calories per gram). Although the website will tell you 50 calories. 

Overall I really like this preworkout. Especially if you are not a "hardcore gym rat" and/or newer to fitness! If you want to order some check out Amanda Sten Arbonnne .

Love, 

Jen

Helping Healthy Friends

Welcome to 2016! Happy New Year! With New Years, as usual comes New Year’s resolutions. And with these also comes New Year’s resolutions posts. Fitness and health blogs all around the world writing endlessly with tips and tricks you should do to help you achieve your goals this year. My post is a bit different. 

I recently had a friend speak to me about helping change a friend. She has concerns for her health and well-being. Physically, mentally, emotionally. Knowing that many of the emotional and mental well-being has to do with the physical. Health, not just body image. I’ve had many friends ask me for advice on nutrition, exercise, weight loss, stress, etc, and to be honest I tell them what I think they “should” do.

During my yoga teacher training, my teachers said something that really stuck with me. “Stop shoulding all over people”. Funny? Yes. True? Even more yes.

I’ve spent hours giving advice to friends, solicited or not (guilty), about diet and exercise. And after thinking on my own experiences and to be a little bit of a hypocrite the advice I gave my friend for her friend was this:

You can’t force her to change her life. It has to be on her own accord. She has to seek it out. She has been given advice and suggestions and they’ve never stuck. My guess; likely because she didn’t feel it to be her own solution, or supported the way she needs. She needs to Find Her Own Village.

Next time she complains of her weight or health issues, maybe we need to stop “shoulding” on our friends and family and start asking them how we can help. What would you like to change? How can I help you make that change? How can I support you in your journey?

I believe we hear/see everything we “should” or should not do. We know we SHOULDN’T eat junk food. We know we SHOULD exercise. We know we SHOULD eat leafy greens. We know this already. 

Listen to our friends and family when they start wanting change. Listen to ourselves when we wish to change. How can you help yourself? How can you find the support you seek? Maybe that’s really what we crave. Or what really makes the difference? 

I wish you love, happiness, peace and laughter in the New Year.

Love,

Jen

Workout Gear Review: Winners Balance Collection Athletic Pants

I get a lot of people ask me about reviewing workout gear, they want to know what's out there. So, I thought today I would write about the these yoga/athletic pants I got from Winners.  Being from Winners and costing $25 makes me think they are accessible and affordable to most people. Now I know you may be thinking "But Jen, Winners prides themselves on the fact that every time you go there is something new. They have commercials saying the item could be gone in a hour!" Yes, this is true. And I can even think of sometimes I didn't buy something only to regret it later when it was gone. The one thing I've noticed they keep pretty reliable is their workout gear section. There are brands (such as these) that I've seen every time I go. 

Moving on to why we are here. The pants. 

The pros:

I really like the fact that they are lightweight. I love them for hot yoga and cardio. I don't feel like they are make me even warmer and they are breathable. I like that they stay on me for these types of activities too. Some pants I find start falling down as I hit the treadmill. (Subscribe to email to watch for which ones!) These pants don't move. 

I like the fun design/colors they have. The crazier the better seems to be the trend in workout gear and they've got a lot of great options. Side note here; with the designs and so on it hides sweat marks really well! 

The wide waist band rocks. This is basically the very first thing I look for on workout/yoga pants. Being a mom of two, the lower part of my stomach doesn't always "behave" with pants. Wide waist bands are nice to keep everything tucked in and secure. 

They are not see through. I went to take some pictures to show you how they aren't see through and decided against posting pictures of me basically bent over full bum in the frame shots. So here is one of me off to the side. The flash is really bright here and you still can't see through them.

They cost $25. Yeah that's a big difference between some brand names of upward to $200.

The cons:

There is no small key pocket. I used to think these were useless. But I use these pockets in pants alllllll the time. I usually take off my rings for weightlifting and put them in these pockets. If they are big enough and the location works, I sometimes put my music device in there too!

I have bought pants basically exactly like this and enjoyed them immensely, but after about a year the had a hole in the side, where the seem split a bit. I haven't had this exact pair that long but they are the same material and stitching. This is the difference in pricing. The expensive pants usually last a really long time and these types not so much.

Final Verdict:

Great for activities like running and yoga.

Good choice if maybe starting to workout and looking for something inexpensive to start with. Also if you are planning to very dramatically change your body (read as loose say 40 lbs) they would be good. This way you aren't buying really expensive stuff that wont fit. (soon hopefully)

Share with me some brands you'd love to see a review of!

Love, Jen

Gymnasts and Savasana

Over the course of the summer I have had the pleasure of working with a local gymnastics company. I've been doing conditioning and yoga with their competitive girls. A few had taken a yoga class or two and that's about all the exposure they've had. 

I remember telling a few people that I was going to be teaching gymnasts yoga and the response was like, "but why, they are so flexible and strong already?". True enough but they are strong and flexible in just the things they work at. Like any person, you become skilled at what you put effort into. I was, and still am sometime baffled at the fact there are some poses they cant do or cringe at as I show them it.

But aside from their strength and flexibility, two big parts of any athletes training is mental focus and learning the ability to relax. Especially for competitive athletes. Here is where I think simple Savasana is important. This seems sort of simple doesn't it? Relaxing I mean. I sometimes think I'm the master of it with my Netflix binges. I don't think it's quiet so simple for athletes to do this. 

Bringing me back to the gymnasts, at the beginning of the summer, our first Savasana was a bit "rough". Most, if not all of the girls were fidgeting, some kept opening their eyes and looking around, and some were even still talking. Now I can completely understand the awkwardness of their first Savasana. Not to mention they are 7-12 years old. I'm pretty sure at 7 I personally had the attention span of a goldfish.  

My 4 year old can do about 30 seconds. Ha Ha. 

Some of my wording with these girls is "Lying down in Savasana, working out any last stretches, itches and scratches and finding that comfortable spot." Little more talking and as they settle down say "coming to lying completely still". Over the summer they would tell me that every time I said that they would all of a sudden have an itch again. I know. That's the point. Stay still. Let that itch be all you think of or let that stuff go. Sounds weird that you wouldn't scratch an itch right? But the itch only comes because they basically mentally created it from me saying that. Makes sense that mentally they itch it I think. Let it go. Relax.

Mental focus, or unfocus for that matter. As a competitive athlete there is a million things that can go wrong or we do wrong. This is why we practice. While learning not to point our foot that way or grab this way on the bar, we also need to learn to let go afterwards. Constantly focusing on the way we are bouncing off the board incorrectly or the "itch" is the same thing. Honor it for what it is, learn from it and let it go.  

Finally, last week was our last summer session. And before sending them off to their final weekend of summer, school starting and coming to focus on training for competition season over the fall I had them in  a 10 minute Savasana. And wow. Almost from the time they put their heads on the mat they were still and peaceful. For the full 10 minutes. To the very moment I started with "starting to slowly move the body". That's progress if I ever saw some. I mean I can't tell you what's going on in their heads, but as young, high energy athletes (that talk A LOT) seeing them still, speachless and relaxed for a full 10 minutes was amazing. My hope for them is that they be able to take that ability to relax the mind and body during high stress times, say the evenings after a day of competing. 

I'm excited to work with them through the fall and can't wait to see them grow even more. 

As an athlete, what do you do to unwind and relax from the stresses of training?

Love, 

Jen

Fitness Gear Review: House Of Koopslie Bamboo Headband

I will admit that I'm not much of a headband person. Not because I don't like them, but because I get irritated with them moving and always needing adjusting. I always figured I must have an odd shaped head.

Here is a big thing I like about this House Of Koopslie bamboo headband. I put it on my head it doesn't move. I taught an entire one hour, hot yoga class without it moving around. That's um sort of a big deal. Ha ha.

It keeps those crazy baby hairs that sort of grow wings and fly when you're working out tucked away. So instead of looking like Medusa, the baby snakes, err I mean hairs are tamed. 

In a hot yoga room or on a cardio machine we can all agree you are sweating right? Yesterday on the stairmill I had sweat dripping from chin, but was keeping a good portion of it out of my eyes with this headband. The only issue I had was the leather knot was at the back of my head so when I went to lay down for Savasana I had to move it over. Yeah, not really an issue. 

And finally, if not the most important. It's cute as hell. I wear it grocery shopping, teaching or working out. Sometimes with the combination of all three. As a busy mom of two the reality is I normally don't get to shower and get pretty between the gym and grocery shopping. Not when lunch and naps are required before afternoon playdates and activities. It's nice being able to workout/teach and then head out to grocery shop while getting to look sort of put together. The headband adds an extra cuteness to my messy workout bun. Like it's on purpose. 

And of course it's made locally in Edmonton by another busy mama with a fun and great attitude. Who doesn't love to support local business?

Want your own House of Koopslie Headband? Check them out  HERE. They have tons of colors!

Love, 

Jen

Fitness Takes A Village

We often say this when talking about raising children. And that is very true. I will not contest that in the slightest. What I don't think that gets spoken about often is that its needed in our health and fitness lifestyle too. 

In our day to to day lives, how many times are we exposed to offerings that are not in our diet or meal plans? Daily, hourly, every minute (thanks Instagram and Facebook and your damn food accounts pfft). Oh sure we can argue it takes willpower. Sure it does. That's not the whole bit of it though. 

Starting a journey into fitness can be exciting. Being honest though, like most new things, the novelty wears off a bit. You have to find that sort of love for it. Read my Love Your Fitness post talking all about that subject. But one thing that can keep you motivated is finding your "village". 

Thinking back on to the hot new fitness regimes out there all the time. A big part of it seems to be the people. Crossfit being the best example of this I think. They compete with each other but in a supportive way. They all do the same daily workout. They are a village in it together. The Zumba phenomenon years ago. A village, dressing in bright colors expressing themselves through their creative dance. Yogi's looking to each other for support and guidance and assistance. Body builders coaching and spotting and competing together. From what I've seen most successfully winning in groups. Families. Villages. 

Taking that outside of the gym, zumba room or barre class, you need your village in support of your friends and family. And that's the more difficult one. You may want to change your ways but your husband or friends don't. You want to stop the Saturday nights binge drinkfests, ball team cookout that could feed an army or just fast food picked up daily by the family. So many motivational and inspirational messages tell us we can't change others, only ourselves. It is a matter of willpower and strength. Half right. Half wrong. We can not change them, but we do not just have to grin and bear it. Seek a village. Seek those with goals like yourself. Connect with those that inspire you, lift you up and support you. 

Something I found profoundly powerful? Asking to be supportive. I tell my husband, "Hey I need to really stop with the wine and candy for a bit. I'm not feeling so hot these days." Now my husband is amazing and he says "okay, I'll be as supportive as I can". Because you know, he's one of those jerks that can eat like crazy and loose weight. *Love you babe* But even if he didn't say that, now he knows my intention. My reason for not having a beer on the deck with him, but a water, or a salad instead of ordering pizza. 

Put your intention out into the world. Really the scariest thing that can happen is you get what you ask for. And hey who knows, maybe you are the one that inspires those around you!

Take care and you are ALWAYS, ALWAYS welcome to share with me here and we can be our own village. 

Love, 

Jen