CHALLENGES PRODUCES RESULT

To strive for something in life, whether that be your career, health or fitness, it's not always an easy task. No, it might actually come as a shock to you how hard you have to work in order to achieve something you really, really want. It might even frighten you how hard or exhausting the task at hand can or will be. Now, you have choices. Is it so hard, frightening and exhausting that you choose to quit the journey. OR... Or do you find your motivation, dedication for the desire of your goal, dig deep inside of you and keep the fight going. It is your choice!

After all, it's your fight. Your desire. Your dream. Your goal. Your journey. People can help you walk down the path, but they can't walk it for you. That is where your own strength will show itself. How much do you want it? How much are you willing to challenge yourself in order to produce the results you want?

Yes, it is YOUR choice!

FEEL ALIVE WITH EXERCISE

Me getting ready for my morning cardio run.

Amazing how much exercise can make you feel awake, feel alive, feel better in general. No it's not fun when the alarm rings early in the morning and you have to drag your sorry ass out of bed, but once you're out there, after the first couple of kilometres, your body wakes up, you get that rush of endorphines, and once you've completed more than what you set out to do during that run, THAT feeling is what we all strive for. Set goals, dig in, complete them and feel proud of yourself accomplishing yet one more thing in life.

FEEL ALIVE!

WORLD'S BEST AB EXERCISE

We're always on the hunt for the best ab exercise, the one that will give us the flat tummy we've always dreamt about. Could this be it? American Sports Council have named the Captain's Chair the most effective ab exercise since it hits the ab muscles from all around. The best part is, you can do it while sitting in your chair at work.

The way to do a correct Captain's Chair:

- Sit in a chair high enough where your feet come off the ground when flexed.
- Sit on your hands.
- Put your body weight onto your hands (as if you're about to lift yourself up off the chair).
- Lift your thighs at least 6-8cm (2-3 inches) from the chair. Hold! Then lower them down again SLOWLY and controlled. Repeat for at least one minute.

You won't get a flat tummy just by doing this exercise, but it will tighten and strengthen your core muscles and it's a good complement to other ab exercises. Cardio is the key to losing fat on your body. I, myself, like running, but find anything that gets your heart rate up to 85% of your max pulse and just go mad with it.

NEW FITNESS PROJECT

Missing in action for a while. Sporadic blog updates. Yep, that's me. What can I say, I've been busy. :) But I've got a new fitness project starting which I will be sharing with you. This project of mine is actually a human, a girl who wants to get in shape and I'm gonna train her. My first pro-bono client! Haha! I've got 5 weeks to reduce her weight, body fat and tone her up. She's gonna look smoking HOT when I'm done with her.

I'm really excited about this, as this will be my chance to see if what I've learnt over the years, from others and my own experience in losing a total of 35 kilos (75 pounds), can be adapted to others as well. I'm sure it can, but it will take hard work, discipline and desire... on both parts. I will be joining her as well. Won't hurt me to tone up even more. ;))

If you have any questions during the process, comment away. Or even better, join us you too. Wherever you are in the world, follow us. Isn't the internet great?! haha.

That said, my feed day is over and I'm looking forward to a nice early run tomorrow morning. Hope Murphy feels up for it. Will get up real early before the heat strikes so he doesn't suffer too much. See ya'll tomorrow. Nite!

BUILD YOUR UPPER-BODY STRENGTH WITH THESE PUSH-UPS

Now that you've been training for a while, you can do sets of push-ups without even breaking a sweat. Feels good, right? Well, maybe it feels a little too good. It might be time to push yourself a bit by introducing some push-up variations to further train the chest, triceps, and shoulders. And that is on top of the Walking Komodo Dragon Alligator push-ups you're already doing in my BodyCombat class... ;)

Here are two advanced push-ups to add to your workout:

Plyo Push-up
Start in your usual push-up position. Slowly lower yourself to the floor. With an explosive burst, exhale and push yourself up, bringing your hands off the floor and clapping them together. Land in the push-up position and repeat. The plyo (for plyometric) push-up increases muscle power by adding extra difficulty. An easier alternative to this move is to do the push-ups on your knees instead of your toes.

Close-Grip Push-up
Start in a push-up position but keep your hands directly under your shoulders instead of out to the side. Your legs should be extended straight out behind you, your feet slightly apart, so you are balancing on the balls of your feet as well as your palms. Keep your elbows pressed firmly against your torso as you slowly lower yourself down. Exhale, press back up to the starting position, and repeat. This close-grip push-up places more emphasis on your anterior shoulder muscles and triceps as well as your chest.

Now, get going! :)

OWN NATURAL MIX

What's this then?! I look like a bumpy toad, huh?! It might look frightening, but this is completely back to nature. All the stuff on the market nowadays say they are good for your skin, and then they are full of chemicals, alcohol, parabens, propylene glycol... and the list goes on. So, in my own search for a non-harsh, non-abrasive scrub and mask, I simply made my own.

I looked around to what others had tried and decided to mix up a blend of oatmeal, sugar, honey and some water... and voilà! We got ourself a mild scrub and mask that is kind to your skin, completely natural and even tastes good...

Give it a try. You'll love your post-smooth skin.

YUMMY SAUCE

Sure, you can! To eat delicious food, that is, while eating helthy. It doesn't have to be boring. Just use your imagination and your taste buds (and calorie counter) to create some excellent tasting foods that suits your palate.

For me, I love my broccoli, green beans and chicken for dinner, all cooked up in a frying pan with water and loads of herbs and spices. However, I miss my sauces, so I came up with a very low-fat, low-calorie, yummy tasting sauce. I mix 1dl of Organic low-fat Yoghurt with some Dijon and regular mustard. DELISH! And only 45 calories for the whole serving. Can it get any better?!

Now, dig in! :)

HOW TO TAKE OFF THOSE LAST 10 POUNDS

You know what I like to call those last 10 or 15 pounds that won't come off no matter what you do? Vanity pounds. The term describes our desire to lose weight that, as far as our bodies are concerned, actually feels healthy. Today's society pressures us to want to look a certain way, so for aesthetic reasons we try to be thinner than our bodies want us to be. Personally, I have gained and lost the same 8 vanity pounds more times than I care to admit.

Losing your first 50 pounds might have been tough, but believe me, dropping those final few stubborn pounds is a whole different challenge. The body struggles to hold on to that last bit of fat for survival purposes. Now, don't get me wrong — you can lose the weight if you want to, but it will require you to muster a tremendous amount of restraint and willpower. If you're really up for it, do the following for 30 days:

1. Cut your sodium to 1,000 mg a day.


2. Drink at least 80 ounces of water daily.


3. Cut out processed foods.


4. Abstain from alcohol.


5. Train at 85 percent of your MHR (maximum heart rate) for 1 hour 5 times a week.

You can do a lot in 30 days — in fact, I can pretty much guarantee you will lose at least 5 pounds. And you'll feel like a rock star!


From LOSING IT! With Jillian Michaels

FAT BURNING INTENSITY MATH

Ever notice the colour-coded exercise "zones" listed on cardio machines? There's a "fat burning" zone, an "endurance training" zone, and so forth. The colors look nice, but how many times have you chosen the "fat burning" zone and watched as your fat stayed put? That's because fat-burning programs keep you at a lower intensity level, when to lose weight you really need to burn big calories. That only happens when you exercise at a higher-intensity level.

Let's look at the math. In a half hour of low-intensity exercise, you might burn 100 calories. Of those 100 calories, roughly 80 percent will be fat calories, meaning that you've burned 80 fat calories. In a half hour of high-intensity exercise, you might burn 300 calories. Of those 300 calories, roughly 33 percent will be fat calories, meaning that you've burned around 100 fat calories.

Get it? Even though the percentage of fat calories burned is higher during a low-intensity workout, you're burning so many more total calories during a high-intensity workout that, percentages aside, you are still burning more fat calories — not to mention the 200 additional carb calories.

So if you only have 20 minutes to work out per day, would you rather burn a minimum of calories altogether strolling on the treadmill? Or would you rather burn a whole bunch of calories RUNNING?! ...and keep the fat furnace burning several hours afterward as well...? Your choice. I know I would sprint it out! :))

THE ART OF WHAT?

Serenity

Feeling a bit overwhelmed having a day off. Restlessness is creeping in my soul and I'm trying to restrain myself. What can I do to be resting optimally? But that's what rest is, doing nothing... or is it? There's so much I could be doing, being productive with my day and then I realise I never get any rest, when I need it. Everyone needs to chill now and again. It's my own fault and maybe it would be easier if I didn't get a huge guilt trip over the fact that I'm not doing anything... Something! That could probably be a start... not to feel guilty when trying to relax. The art of serenity.

I suppose it's a work in progress. A progress I have to figure out. We all have our stuff to deal with and today I'm gonna try to conquer this one of mine.

Have an amazing day all of you!

COMMON DIET & EXERCISE MISTAKES

Many things can go wrong when you under estimate the importance of being meticulous. Before I start mentioning some common mishaps, I want to remind everyone who is JUST starting changing their lifestyle that if you right now have a lot of bad habits, been eating too much for too long time and have many many pounds to lose, you are up for a treat: in the beginning whatever good change you make will show on the scale and in the mirror. Just changing some meals from bad to better, maybe add some walking to the daily regimen you will see changes. However, as the weight drops, so do the results from doing those SMALL adjustments. The less you have to lose the more meticulous you need to be. It always gets harder and harder the better conditioned you are.

Common mistakes:

1. Reading labels on condiments, sauces etc about the calorie content but not the ingredients. In America a serving which has 5 calories or less can be called calorie free. So let us say a little tablespoon of some delicious sauce has 1 gram of SUGAR, it counts as 4 calories and thus voila calorie free. Since you forget that you think it is a free food. You heap up maybe 5 tbsp and suddenly it is 5 grams of sugar. That is 20 calories. If you do that every day for 30 days it comes up to 600 calories. That is a pound of fat in a year you might hold on to due to the little spicy sauce.

2. Forgetting that the fat burning zone doing cardio is not challenging for your body. You are just doing your time. You need to kick it up regularly or your body will get used to the routine. If it gets used to it you will see no further progress.

3. Not counting vegetables. Well, this I understand if you are following any regular diet plans where a cup of broccoli with your dry rice and chicken breast is considered calorie free due to the tiny serving of it, but when you are on the Fighter Diet you better count; 1 pound has about 100 to 150 calories. So if you eat five pounds a day it is a lot. How could you not count that?

4. Thinking you are not having carbs because you are not eating grains at lunch and dinner or after workout. Veggies have carbs. Yoghurt has carbs. There is some carbs in most protein powders. You won’t die ok?

5. Falling into the belief refeeds is a cheat day. it is not. Refeed is carb loading, not junk loading. If you spike your insulin levels with lots of carbs, then add fats, you are getting yourself in trouble since that opens up the fat cells pretty well and you can just scoop in the fats there quickly.

6. Not eating enough vegetables and then get hungry and cheat. Fighter Diet is all about preventive eating. You eat yourself FULL so you won’t SNACK later. If you just cannot stomach a lot of volume, well, then just divide it into smaller meals or snack all day on the veggie amount. However if you just don’t eat you will get too few calories and then comes the craving attack.

7. you change your weight training regimen that built your body because you believe you should do so to get leaner. No, most likely not. You need to diet and do lots of cardio. Don’t change the weight training so drastically because if you change that stimulus you will change your body’s muscle development. you want to keep it but just tighten up? CARDIO and DIET.

8. If you are well trained at a high level, you must keep on pushing the limit in the gym. In cardio too. It is not “dangerous” to get out of breathe, you are supposed to if you train intervals etc. If you can keep a poker face you are not training hard really…

9. Forgetting that in order to train hard you need to take care of your body. massage, stretching, foam rolling. Your body does not “owe” you to keep up with your demands. You have the obligation to take care of it. you do have one body only, treat it with respect.

10. relying to much on your emotional ups and downs. You should not let your emotions run your fitness life. If you don’t want to go train, ask yourself why. because you had a bad day? what are you going to do instead: watch tv?….. Stay committed. Don’t just do what you want but what you should to get to where you want.

11. Not measuring your protein sources. A lot of people read “oh a heaping scoop” and make it one an a quarter scoop just because it must be ok amount. It’s “just protein”. Well that is more calories than the scoop said on the label. Same thing with chicken, meat etc. you don’t KNOW how little 3 oz cooked is until you actually weigh it. it is ridiculously little. Protein is not calorie free.

12. Believing that protein snacks are ok to add to a restricted diet. well, no, not if you are right on spot with how many calories you are supposed to take in. protein is not less calorie rich than carbs. And if you overdo the protein, well, how good is that for your health or the environment for that matter?

13. believing that protein bars are healthy. No they are not. Seriously, check the ingredients. Does it look like health foods? Unless you use the bar for energy needs (which means you are not a dieter, you are into performance or NEED extra calories, for instance you are a distance runner going into hard workout) or it is some kind of fiber supplement bar (I am creating one without crap!), then there is no reason to eat bars. Tastes good? well, hell yeah, check the crap in those bars and you see why!

14. Being afraid of being full. Hey, those fibers and veggies add bulk in your stomach and intestines momentarily. it does not mean you are getting fat. And don’t you dare weigh yourself throughout the day with all that. Seriously. If I did I would be around 130 lbs and I weigh in at 115 on a good day….

From Fighter Diet Blog.

GLYCEMIC INDEX VS GLYCEMIC LOAD

What is the difference between glycemic index (GI) and glycemic load (GL)?

Your blood glucose rises and falls when you eat a meal containing carbs. How high it rises and how long it remains high depends on the quality of the carbs (the GI) and the quantity. Glycemic load, or GL, combines both the quality and quantity of carbohydrate in one ‘number’. It’s the best way to predict blood glucose values of different types and amounts of food. The formula is:

GL = (GI x the amount of carbohydrate) divided by 100.

Let’s take a single apple as an example. It has a GI of 40 and it contains 15 grams of carbohydrate.
GL = 40 x 15/100 = 6 g

What about a small baked potato? Its GI is 80 and it contains 15 g of carbohydrate.
GL = 80 x 15/100 = 12 g
So we can predict that our potato will have twice the metabolic effect of an apple. You can think of GL as the amount of carbohydrate in a food ‘adjusted’ for its glycemic potency.

Want to know more about this subject, go to:
FAQs Common GI Questions

HOW TO PET AWAY THE PET HAIR

For all of you cat and dog owners, who are having problem with the shedding seasons... When you can't believe your eyes how much hair is being rejected from your beloved animals body and stuck to your clothes, furniture, bedding, and winds down on the floors and rugs like a lovely carpet of fur. Well, I have a tip to share with you in order remove some of those stubborn hairs off of your animal's body that sometime don't get stuck in the brushes, and it's a bit more pleasant to the animal than brushing.

Arm yourself with a vacuum cleaner standing by to hoover it all up and get out your gorgeous dishwashing gloves. Slip the gloves on and "brush" away. The rubber material will extract the hair off your pet's body and either stick to the gloves or gather up somewhere where you can hoover it up. Excellent! I tried it today and it worked like a charm. Plus they both enjoyed the attention. :) Good Luck!

CONCERT SAMUEL LJUNGBLAHD

Cousin M. was nice enough to take me to the concert. Thanks Cuz!

Went to Samuel Ljungblahd's concert last night and it certainly was an experience. Maybe it's not the kind of music I listen to everyday, but it sure lifts your heart, spirit and soul. I loved it! The reason why is simple to explain. Here's an artist that gives, gives and gives. He's generous with his feelings and passion to music and performing, and it rubs off immediately. Not to talk about the amazing voice he's got and good songs to match the persona. I recommend checking him out! Here's some clips from last night:

NO RACE DAY

The day I have been longing for, the goal I had set up, the atmosphere I was craving to feel... all gone! Sometime you have no power in the outcome. I will simply bury my head in the Nutella jar (only sniffing of course...!), have a bit of a moan, wipe my tears with my startnumber tag and then bounce back. Next time. Next race. I'll be there. But for now, I have to cure myself and make sure I regain my health for real. No pneumonia for me!

WHEN MIND TAKES OVER

Last night, I just had enough. I felt so much energy and motivation for my fitness and health that I would take no "NO" for an answer from my body. I know that a thought can conquer everything if you put you mind to it. As the saying goes: Mind over matter! It's true, and I know it. But after being sick for a week and realising the only thing I want is health, it just drove me to push myself that extra inch and something just switched in me. My mind had taken over.

Although I hardly got any sleep last night, because of horrible fits of coughing, I sprung out of be at 5:45am when the alarm rang with Cassie Davies singing Do It Again, threw my running clothes on, downed a protein shake with some caffeine and off I went with Murphy trotting along beside me. No music, no sounds to distract me. And yes, it was hard, but I didn't give up. The feeling afterward was priceless. My face was beaming all day long! I had conquered my body. And I conquered it again instructing my Zumba class tonight. Spiritual energy with a strong mind and some god-damn-it! Awesome recipe for today.

3 WORDS

Love this song! Great collaboration between Will.I.Am and Cheryl Cole.

FOOD LOVE

Did I mention I love vegetables? Tonight's dinner. Yum!

As I haven't been able to do much exercise lately because of injury and sickness, I have had to refocus my game completely toward my diet. Calories in, calories out. But also, making sure the quality of my food is really good. I am still keeping strong with eating lots of organic foods which are naturally affected by hormones, such as eggs, milk, yoghurt, etc. It's crucial to eat those products organic. Was extatic when I found organic eggs from outside hens. Yay! Finally. No more inside hens. And remember, raspberries are vital to eat organic, as is coffee and cacao as they spray these produce to death!

Tried making those oatmeal chocolate pancakes I wrote about yesterday. But of course, I made it into my own recipe, as always. They were delish. Had a big pancake for breakfast together with a tablespoon of my own homemade raspberry jam. Yum!

FLEXIJOINT

I finally got the Glucosamine supplement I ordered online for Murphy... and for me. It's a liquid supplement to help stiff joints, which is something that affects bigger dogs with hip problems as well as humans who are very active or have reumatism. This is what it says on Equimins website, where I got it from:

Flexijoint, the proven joint supplement for horses, dogs and humans. Flexijoint contains a superb combination of ingredients which include: Glucosamine, Chondroitin sulphate, Hyaluronic acid, MSM and Ascorbic acid. These high specification products promote healthy cartilage, strong joint structure and they also improve the quality of synovial fluid. Flexijoint Liquid contains all the benefits of Flexijoint, the proven joint supplement with the added bonus of Devils Claw to provide further help for stiff joints.

Both Murphy and I have been taking it for a couple of days now and it doesn't seem like Murphy has any problems with the taste or the smell. Me, on the other hand.... Just thinking about taking my morning shot, makes my stomach churn and my gag reflex worried. Let me put the taste and smell in one word:

VILE!!!!

It is absolutely disgusting! But I'm figuring out ways of masking the taste, which is impossible. The lingering taste afterward is soap. Very potent chemical soap. I have been able to mask it a little by mixing lemon juice with it, but it's hopeless. Oh well... we should both notice a change in our joints becoming less stiff in about 6 weeks, so I'll hold out until then.

THIS IS WHAT IT TAKES TO GET THERE!

These are some of the best motivational words you'll ever read...

"If you dream about having a perfect body it’s time to stop dreaming and act on making the dream come true. Every day. It means you will not be a member of the “I occasionally visit the gym” crowd anymore, you will team up with the loyal league of gym rats who are the gym franchises worst customers because we USE their equipment HARD. When you want to get lean so you can feel your abs under your shirt you will need to treat the cardio machine like your car: it will TAKE you places.

Getting a perfect body means you will go to the gym and workout because you planned it. If you don’t feel like it, it does not matter. You know you cannot love every workout and it’s ok. It’s ok and mandatory to be a bit worn out from time to time, it’s just a sign you are working hard.

Getting lean means stepping out of the comfort zone where it’s ok to cheat during weekends and work your way up again during the following week.

Getting lean means you KNOW there won’t be any treats on a daily basis and be ok with it.

To reach your goals you must accept you will need patience. You will need dedication. You will need discipline. None of them you can find anywhere to buy. Can you imagine, the only things really stopping you from achieving all those goals with your physique are inside your mind?

Accept and acknowledge that YOU are the only one who can whip your butt in shape. No trainer can push you through workout after workout, you must be the driving force, the trainer your helper. Not the other way around.

You must scrutinize every little diet add-on on your daily plan. You must check yourself for sneaking in bad choices. No more can you say “oh I had NO idea this was not nutritious” because THERE IS GOOGLE people. You must research before buying and even more before EATING.

You will need to create your own super human. Your super human YOU. There are no excuses, nothing is too hard, it’s only a matter of how much you want it. Do you want it enough? Ask yourself daily. When you see that donut or cookie on the shelf, before you just drool away, ask yourself if that taste of it for a minute is worth 3 more cardio sessions on top of your daily routine of double sessions 5 to 6 days a week?"

Text from Fighter Diet blog.