It's a Beautiful Thing

You know, I know that I didn't understand all the implications of when Leslie, my sister, spoke out that she wanted to be a missionary. Ten years later, December 2014, I got the chance. I don't think it truly hit until we took them to the airport, zippers bursting on the bags and Lucy slightly sedated for the plane ride. Checking the bags, no big deal. It was starting to become a reality that her and Jeff, her husband, are headed off to language school before they make their final stop in Honduras in a year. They're excited and we're super excited for them. Bags checked, we walk down the short hallway through the small, hometown airport onto security. Now it's time. We're still doing good, smiles on our faces, tears in check. Hugs all around. Then those words come "I love you and I'll miss you". There's no use in holding back the floodgates now. And you know how it goes with crying, it's like a chain reaction. I started it and all the females in the family followed suit (maybe some males joined in and just hid it well). Then they're off to Costa Rica.

Right before Christmas (2015), they come back having completed language school! However, their visit is short, only six weeks. It may seem like a long time, but when they have churches and family and friends to visit with, it seems like no time at all. Before we know it, it's the beginning of February and they are scheduled to fly out to Tegucigalpa, Honduras on a Monday morning. Fortunately (no floodgates this time) and unfortunately, Brandon and I weren't able to be there to see them off, but thankfully we were able to travel in for the weekend before to say bye. Leslie's dream of ten (now eleven) years has finally become a reality. As always it was sad, yet exciting, to see them go.

The last supper (technically lunch)

Our family has been blessed by the Shaw family for many years. They have always welcomed me into their home as I grew up, and now they have taken the opportunity to reach out to Leslie and Jeff (and Lucy;). They have been wonderful by not only paying for Leslie and Jeff's flight to Teguc, but also giving Hannah, my sister-in-law, and I the availability to fly out to visit Leslie and Jeff for free! Hannah and I just flew back to the States this past Saturday. We were able to spend the previous week with Leslie and Jeff. 

The four of us at the farm/school on mine and Hannah's last day

Hannah and I flying down allowed us to bring more luggage of Leslie and Jeff's and Lucy's belongings down to them. The crazy thing was that one of the suitcases we brought down, full of their stuff, was mistakenly (we're not positive about that one) taken out of the airport and we were afraid we had lost the bag forever. We're still not sure how this happened as our suitcase was black and the extendable handle was broken (i.e. if you tried to pull out the hand it just kept coming until it was completely pulled out! Hannah knows this all too well;), and the mysterious suitcase stealer's suitcase was a navy blue. Maybe they were color blind. Fortunately, a few days later the airport called and said that our bag has been returned!! Leslie and Jeff checked and nothing was taken out, including money in an envelope that was in a front pocket that had "somehow" became unzipped while missing.

Hannah and me with a stuffed llama we found!

Living, and visiting, in Honduras is full of adventures! Not only with hoping your luggage arrives when you fly in, but also driving is a whole new experience down there! If you are not the slight bit aggressive when you drive or you're scared to honk a horn or don't have quick enough reflexes to swerve if needed, then I don't recommend that you drive in Honduras. Honking down there can mean a myraid of things. One long, loud blast can mean the person is aggravated while a little short blast is communicating to the other driver that they can come on in, to which they will probably reply with a couple of short honks to thank you. And for some reason, Hondurans believe that if they're hanging their arms out the windows, its like their own signal of cutting in front of you, whether you want them to or not. Having their arm out excuses them somehow for the action, or attempt. Just because someone has a desire to slide into your lane and cut in front, it doesn't always mean it will happen. You always have to be on the alert to break because the largest vehicle wins down there. Also, roads signs? They're just suggestions. And if the traffic is all backed-up, there's good chance the policia is up ahead directing traffic.

Leslie seems to have adapted to the Honduran version of driving quite well, or perhaps the U.S. version was just holding her driving potential back. I'd even venture to say that she enjoys it. Many of the routes that we took gave us beautiful views of the city. The route that we took to go out to the farm and school gave us a good view to understand what the majority of Hondurans live like. When coming to Honduras on mission trips before I saw solely the hungry, the dirty, the weak, the poor. This trip, I got to round out my view of the country. Fortunately, their new presidente seems to be doing a lot of good. So where there use to be basically no middle class, now it is slowly growing.

The view of Tegucigalpa 

We were able to go to the boys shelter a couple days of the week and spend time with them. If you've read this post of mine, it'll give you a little more understanding of all that I am writing about. Sadly, the boys were being boys, and unruly ones at that, and got in trouble several times this week so we were unable to play with them as much as we had anticipated. On Monday, before they were in trouble, we went to visit and play with them in the evening. They love love love to play tag! And of course soccer :). But really, what they truly desire, is to be loved and showered with affections. Hugs and smiles are a must when spending time with the boys. But after being around them, there's no way that you would even want to withhold that kind of compassion and care towards them. There were a lot of boys that have been there for years and I've played with them before (however, it had been nearly 3 years since I've been there so I had to work on the names a lot. But on the bright side, if you call them Carlos or Christian or Joel or Roberto there's a pretty good chance you'll get it right;), but they've also had some additions. Jonathan is the newest one, he's only been there for three weeks so far. He's the only nine year old and the only black kid, so this transition has been tough on him. Most of the black people of Honduras live on the coast. They, the ministry (FCM), thinks that he and his sister, Fabiana, is from La Ceiba. Even still, they have no idea how Jonathan and Fabiana even got to Teguc. To give you a better understanding, Teguc is a good five and a half hours from the coast. Despite any curve balls life may have thrown at him, his smile is so sweet, he's super (surprisingly, really) strong for his size and age, he loves to play soccer and tag (he always wants to be "it"!), and he will wear you out with thumb wars and rock, paper, scissors! And, really, Jonathan's not the only one that will wear you out playing rock, paper, scissors! The others love it too! And his reading is quite good too! There are so many stories to tell, of the adventures of the trip and of the boys, but Jonathan stuck out to me just because he is new, and needs friends (he's got either big 11 year olds or a 6 and 4 year old-- who are as precious as could be!), and needs love (and sponsors!).

 
  Me with Jonathan & Nelson
 

 Me with Fabiana

  

Joel, our resident "baby", the four year old. Isn't he just precious??

 This is our six year old, Victor. Precious too!

The soccer goal out at the farm. If you look closely you can see chicken wire as the netting.

While at the shelter, I got to see my sister and her husband in a new light. Whenever I've gone on mission trips with FCM it's always been with Leslie and Jeff as the team coming down. But this time, they are the missionaries. They help take care of the children. They help love on the children. They help teach the ninos. It's a pretty cool thing. It's so awesome to get to see them in their element. Listening to them use their Spanish, watching their smiles as they love on the kids and treat them as if they were their own, and hearing them laugh and tease as they play with them. To see someone get to live out their dreams allows a new light to shine within them, and I have no doubt that it's Jesus lighting that candle. While I may not get to see my sister, brother-in-law, and niece-doggie very much, I can handle it when I can see how much joy they are feeling and are creating. And how they are showing Jesus to the helpless and unloved. It truly is a beautiful thing.

Jeff helping Jeffery!


Victor wanted Jeff to tag him so he could be "it"!

Leslie helping with an exam


Leslie helping Osmin study for his exam

  
Tickles and laughs with Victor

Switching to the Keto Side: Part 2

Now we can focus back on my little series about this Ketogenic Diet that Brandon and I have been on for a few months now. Through time it has become easier and easier to do. Considering the way our bodies have reacted, we are so glad we stumbled upon this type of eating and the science behind it! Before, Brandon would always complain of being tired all the time. I always thought he wasn't getting enough sleep or exercise. I never would have thought that the fine food that I was cooking could make someone tired all the time. We ate lots of fruits, veggies, meats, whole grains,  and all the other stuff that we have been taught that is "healthy". Fast forward to now, Brandon never complains of being tired now, unless he eats something with a lot of carbs in it or just natural lack of sleep. He says he just feels better all around also. We abstain from foods with gluten in it (i.e. wheat, barley, & rye products) as well as whole grains and sugar (cause they're full of carbs!!). As for me, my migraines have reduce by a lot! They haven't disappeared altogether yet, but I'm wondering if maybe over time they will.

So you may ask, what is a Ketogenic Diet (KD)?

I'll give you an official definition of a KD from book I have read The Ketogenic Diet: A complete guide for the dieter and practitioner. In it Lyle McDonald states that a KD is "any diet that causes ketone bodies to be produced by the liver, shifting the body's metabolism away from glucose and towards fat utilization" (McDonald, 1998). However, there are several different "types". There's the Standard Ketogenic Diet (SKD), Targeted KD, and Cyclical KD. They will be explained in further detail later.
 
With that said (or typed ;), let me briefly explain to those of y'all that may not know what it going on in your body when you eat or when you are hungry and haven't eaten. On a "normal" diet, when you ingest food it raises your blood glucose levels. That is the signal to the pancreas to release insulin. That insulin goes and finds the blood glucose particles and puts them into cells to be used for energy. Those cells, full of glucose, then get stored in the liver and in your muscles as glycogen. Any extra glucose that can't fit into your liver or muscles then gets stored as fat (ugh). So it's been a while since you've eaten, you're getting hungry, and your blood glucose levels are declining. That sends another signal to your pancreas to emit glucagon. The glucagon's job is stimulate the liver to break the stored glycogen back into glucose and then release it back into the bloodstream. Thus, your blood glucose proceeds to rise, and you have fuel yet again.

My degree is in Exercise Science so I took a couple nutrition classes with a bunch of other classes about health and exercise. Through that, it got stuck in my head that you need carbohydrates because they are your body's main source of energy. After playing soccer ever since I was five and through college, they always harped on carb loading nights before game day. Turns out, I was wrong - about part of it. In fact, our bodies have no requirement for carbohydrates, if we never ate anymore carbohydrates ever again we would be totally okay. As Dr. Tim Noakes said, "there are no carbohydrate deficiency diseases" (Moore, 2014). Our bodies do readily absorb carbs for energy, it is our body's first choice, but it can also use fat as an energy source. Whether it comes from dietary fat or our body's stores, it doesn't matter. The awesome thing about using fat for energy is that we don't have all these spikes and drastic drops in blood glucose that we normal do when the majority of our diet comes from carbs. So if you withheld carbohydrates, your stores of them (glycogen) would empty out. The body has to run on something so it will turn to alternative fueling: free fatty acids (FFA) and ketones. The lack of carbs will decrease your insulin levels and increase your glucagon levels. Once the glucagon has no more glycogen to break down into glucose it will turn to your fat stores for fuel and begin to break them down. When fat is broken down it turns into the FFA, and the ketones are a byproduct of the FFA breaking down incompletely, which all results in ketosis. In order for your carbohydrate stores to deplete, you must ingest 100 grams or fewer of carbs per day. And let me tell you, that's not much at all. You would be amazed how much carbs are in everything!

Think of this form of nutrition from a weight loss point of view. You've got excess fat that you want to lose, but you eat a diet high in carbs. Your body is only going to use carbs for energy because you feed yourself so many, it has no need to use the fat stores you have accumulated (for energy). So, if you lessen your carb intake (to 100 g or less) then your body will run out of energy from that source and then will have to turn to fat to burn instead! Now, you can't eat an excess of calories and expect to lose weight on this kind of diet (or any diet for that matter). There's the law of thermodynamics you have to remember (energy coming in must be less than the energy being expended if you want to lose weight).

I'll let y'all chew on that information for a while and end this post with an absolutely delicious recipe!! It's one of Brandon's all-time favs!

Zucchini Lasagna

Serves: 8

1.5 lb beef
3 cloves garlic
1/2 onion
1 tsp olive oil
salt and pepper
28 oz can crushed tomatoes
2 t dried basil
3 medium zucchini, sliced 1/8" thick
15 oz part-skim or regular ricotta
16 oz mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese, shredded
1 large egg

 

In a medium sauce pan, brown meat and season with salt. When cooked, drain fat. Put the meat in a bowl off to the side. 

 

Add olive oil to the pan and sauté garlic and onions about 2 minutes. Return the meat to the pan, add tomatoes, basil, salt and pepper.

  Simmer on low for at least 30-40 minutes, covered. Do not add extra water, the sauce should be thick.

 

Meanwhile, slice zucchini into 1/8" thick slices, add lightly salt and set aside or 10 minutes. Zucchini has a lot of water when cooked, salting it takes out a lot of moisture. After 10 minutes, blot excess moisture with a paper towel. 

On a gas grill or grill pan or a regular skillet, grill zucchini on each side, until cooked, about 1-2 minutes per side. Place on paper towels to soak any excess moisture.
Preheat oven to 375° F.

  

In a medium bowl, mix ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese and egg. Stir well.

 In a 9x12 casserole spread some sauce on the bottom and layer the zucchini to cover.

  Then place some of the ricotta cheese mixture,

 

Then top with the mozzarella cheese and repeat the process until all your ingredients are used up. I generally just make two thick layers.

  Top with sauce and mozzarella and cover with foil.
Bake 45 minutes covered at 375° F, then uncovered 15 minutes.

  Let stand about 5 - 10 minutes before serving.

Zucchini Lasagna -serves 8
1.5 lb beef
3 cloves garlic
1/2 onion
1 tsp olive oil
salt and pepper
28 oz can crushed tomatoes
2 t dried basil
3 medium zucchini, sliced 1/8" thick
15 oz part-skim or regular ricotta
16 oz mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese, shredded
1 large egg

In a medium sauce pan, brown meat and season with salt. When cooked, drain fat. Put the meat in a bowl off to the side. Add olive oil to the pan and sauté garlic and onions about 2 minutes. Return the meat to the pan, add tomatoes, basil, salt and pepper. Simmer on low for at least 30-40 minutes, covered. Do not add extra water, the sauce should be thick.
Meanwhile, slice zucchini into 1/8" thick slices, add lightly salt and set aside or 10 minutes. Zucchini has a lot of water when cooked, salting it takes out a lot of moisture. After 10 minutes, blot excess moisture with a paper towel. On a gas grill or grill pan, grill zucchini on each side, until cooked, about 1-2 minutes per side. Place on paper towels to soak any excess moisture.
Preheat oven to 375°.
In a medium bowl mix ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese and egg. Stir well.
In a 9x12 casserole spread some sauce on the bottom and layer the zucchini to cover. Then place some of the ricotta cheese mixture, then top with the mozzarella cheese and repeat the process until all your ingredients are used up. Top with sauce and mozzarella and cover with foil.
Bake 45 minutes covered at 375°, then uncovered 15 minutes. Let stand about 5 - 10 minutes before serving.

Nutrition: (part-skim) 573.9 calories, 41.6 g fat, 15.7 g carbohydrates, 36.93 g protein
           (regular) 600 calories, 45.4 g fat, 13.93 g carbohydrates, 36.93 g protein

p.s. While I didn't create this recipe, I can't remember where I found it so I can't give credit where credit is due. Sorry!

Sources:
McDonald, Lyle. (1998). The ketogenic diet: A complete guide for the dieter and practictioner. Austin: Morris.
Moore, J. (Producer). (2014, November 12). Professor Tim Noakes: August 2014 Low-Carb Down Under Seminar Series [Episode 894]. The Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show.

Get Away From Those Stinkin' Abs Machines!!!!

My next post was suppose to be "Switching to the Keto Side: Part 2", obviously this is not it. I just had to write about this first while it was on my mind.

You see, I get reminded of this every time I go to work out lately. The gym has been crowded with all the folks that have put fitness somewhere in their New Year's Resolutions, and I think that is awesome. I really, truly do. I applaud those of you that have decided enough is enough and you're going to get off that couch and get some exercise. It's funny because I groan when the "New Year Resolution" people come because the gym gets all crowded, and I hate it when the gym is crowded. I like having the gym to myself if I can help it. But at the same time, I'm pumped for y'all that have decided to stick your neck out and go to a place that you're unsure of and attempting to do brand-new things.

But there's two things I have to suggest for y'all:

1. Quit spending all your time on the treadmill, elliptical, or bike.

2. Don't even bother with the obliques and abs machines.

Whew. I got it out. Thanks.

You can always tell which people want to lose weight and/or get abs, but don't really know exactly how to go about it. I'm excited you want to make a change!!! But here, let me give you some suggestions.

Say getting healthy is on your resolution list, so that's divided into two categories: nutrition and fitness. If you try to tackle both at the same time it's pretty likely you're going to get overwhelmed, frustrated, burned out, and just give up on it cause it's just. too. hard. So, pick one to work on first, and I'm going to pick fitness for you. That makes it easier doesn't it? :) Next, what are your goals? Why do you want to work out in the first place? You want to lose weight; you want to be able to play with your kids (or grandkids!) without keeling over in exhaustion after five minutes; you want to impress that special someone, whether it's a boyfriend/girlfriend or husband/wife; you want to get stronger, have some abs (I mean, c'mon, who doesn't want those;) The list could go on, and it's good! I don't care how many reasons you have to get your booty in the gym, hang on to them. You're going to need them.

Do some research. Ever heard the saying "knowledge is power"? That saying wasn't thought up for no good reason! Don't let the lack of knowledge about working intimidate you. Use it to motivate you to figure out what to do. You now know what your motivation is for getting fit, now you just need to figure out a work out. This is where looking up things come in handy. The website I love to use to give me new ideas for exercises or even different kind of workouts is Body Building.com. They have so many resources it's awesome! Go check it out!

Figure out if you're wanting endurance, strength, or powerlifting abilities. Depending on what you want, will tell you what kind of exercises to do along with how many repetitions and sets. For instance, if you're just wanting to be able to do things (any sort of physical labor or activity) for an extended period of time, you're going to want to be in the endurance category. Perhaps you just want to get stronger, be able to lift more, say throw a football harder (though if it's anything like kicking a soccer ball, I can tell you right now the majority of that is technique!), or you just want some muscles to show off, strength is where you're going to be aiming. Powerlifting is for those guys and girls that love to compete and/or want real big muscles. Depending on what your goal is will depict how your workouts will go. These are pretty basic examples:

Endurance: high rep, low weight. That means, pick a weight you're comfortable with -- now, not so easy that you could chuck it if you wanted-- but something that will actually make you work. You want to pick a weight that you could lift fairly comfortably (at least for the first set) for 12-15 reps, doing 3 sets of the 12-15 reps. You don't have to use the same exact weight for every single set, you can start out light and get heavier with each set (and this goes for all categories).

Strength: moderate rep, moderate to heavy(ish) weight. For this one, you're aiming for 8-12 reps, so you need to pick your weights accordingly. What I like to do (this is my "category") is go for a fairly comfortable weight that I can do 12 reps for the first set, but I'm definitely working hard to get out those last few reps. My second set I aim for 10 reps, so I go up in weight and try to pull out 10 reps. But if I can pull out 12, then awesome! I'm doing better than I expected. My last set I'm going to aim for a pretty heavy weight. My goal is to get 8 reps, if I can go more, then do it. But that means that I really picked too light of a weight this time and need to adjust for next time. Say you can only push out 6 reps, that's okay. If you have someone working out with you (or just ask the person nearby), get them to assist (spot) you just enough so that you can push past those last two reps. It's good to go all the way to failure and then some, it means you're pushing yourself. So, good job :)

Powerlifting: low rep, high weight. Honestly, I don't know a whole ton about this area, but I will tell you what I do know (and then you can look up the rest;). You're aiming for 5-8 reps and I would still go for the 3 sets. You still want your first set to be more of a moderate "warm up" set. By your last set rolls around, you better be really struggling for those 5 reps.

Granted, you don't have to do exactly what I said in regards to the quantity of reps and sets. That's the "basic" way to approach it, and honestly it works just fine. The strength category is what I've been going off of lately, and I honestly don't know about Brandon. I mean, I make the work out, but I don't know how many reps he does. Anyhow. This is where the research can come into play. Perhaps you don't want your work out to be so "traditional" and that's totally cool. I love switching things up, and then next workout I make will probably have a less traditional feel to it.

For example, Brandon worked out with a personal trainer when he was a bachelor living in South Carolina and the trainer had him doing 4 sets (of all exercises) and 8-12 reps. Here's where it was different: in the aspect of picking weights. The first two sets were based off 50% of his one rep max, the third set was 70%, and the final set was 85%. It's okay if you don't know what you're one rep max is. I know if you use the app "JEFIT", it will calculate it for you. There are also equations for figuring that stuff out. But if you're fairly new, I'd stick with keeping it simple.

Cardio isn't the answer. It's funny how everyone flocks to the treadmill or elliptical as soon as they make plans to go to the gym. Cardio is super important. It's important to give your heart a chance to work out, get stronger, and build endurance, it's also been shown in studies to improve brain function, especially growth of the hippocampus (memory center). So I'm not knocking treadmills completely; heck, I use them some! But it isn't my only go-to. Mainly the only use treadmills, bikes or ellipticals get out of me is when I'm going to warm up before a work out or cool down afterwards, which you want to do for 5-10 minutes. Sometimes I'll run on a treadmill, but I'd much rather run outside. Much prettier and a lot less boring :). I can believe you can lose weight with cardio (that typically only applies to those are have been very sedentary and overweight), but you'll benefit more if you add in some weight lifting. Believe it or not, you actually burn more calories and more fat when you do weight lifting as opposed to just cardio. According to WebMD, 10 pounds of muscle can burn 50 calories just at rest during the day, when 10 pounds of fat can only burn a measly 20 calories a day at rest. So why not pump some iron??

Abs are made in the kitchen. Ever heard that saying before? Hate to break it to you, but it's for real. Any intelligent personal trainer will back me up on that. You can have abs of steel, but it doesn't matter if they're covered up by all that flab. So I guess you could say that abs are made in the gym, but they are revealed in the kitchen. You can crunch on that crunch machine and twist on the oblique machine to your heart's content, but there ain't gonna be nothing to show for it (unless your body fat is low enough). I'll give you a prime example. Last year, and kinda the year before that, I was super consistent in working out. In the fall of 2013, I lifted weights (strength category, mind you) regularly, 3 times a week. I'd do cardio as well, usually I'd run a mile on the treamill to warm up and some other running on other days. I also thoroughly love my yoga class (those days you're really feeling it after a tough work out, it's the place to be!). Then come January, I switched up my work out and decided to do round 2 of Insanity, and let me tell you, it is insane. Insanely awesome!!! That's an example of about 7 months of consistent work outs. Yeah I built muscle in the fall lifting heavy and yeah I slimmed down a little during Insanity. But there were no abs to show for my hard work, I didn't even slim down like I wanted. That's because of my nutrition! It's made in the kitchen, if you stay tuned for the series I'm starting on the Ketogenic Diet (high fat, low carb), you'll understand it.

Girls, I know what you're thinkin'. Don't even. You would not believe how many times I've talked to girls and they don't want to lift heavy weights in fear of getting "bulky". First of all, the main reason guys get bulky is because of this hormone called testosterone. Both males and females have it, but females have so little of it because they have more estrogen and progesterone (if you didn't well....you wouldn't be a girl that's for sure). Guys have the ability to get bulky because of their testosterone, but even still they have limits because of their genetic makeup. My husband, for instance, he's a tall, lanky guy. Yeah he's got some nice muscles, but he isn't going to be the size of Jay Cutler. He works hard, he ensures that his nutrition is where it needs to be, and he obviously has testosterone in his body. It's just his genetic make up will let him get only so big. And you can also thank steroids for the ability for bulking up, but I'm not getting into that one. But you say to me, what about those women body builders? Well, I'd be very inclined to believe that they are under the influence of steroids, a lot. But they have to work really hard and for a long time to get that way. And still, you have to be reminded of your genetic code. Some people easily build those muscles that pop out and others have to work a ton harder. So, girl, let me tell you. Don't be afraid to pick up those heavy weights. Show those boys what you can do ;)

Don't get cocky. Somewhere, somebody has bigger muscles than you, can lift heavier or for longer, or can outdo you in some form or fashion. Use those people as your motivators!! Don't let them intimidate you so that you shy away from the free weights or really try to challenge yourself. Accept the challenge to be bigger, better, faster, stronger. You can do it! But just because the person next to you is doing a heavier weight than you, don't be stupid and try to do as much as them even though you haven't been training for it. Everybody's body is different and trains differently and recovers differently. For instance, Brandon and I work out together and he takes a lot longer to heal than I do. If I get sore, I'll be sore for two days max (unless it was a really intense and new leg day work out, then it usually takes a few extra days), but when Brandon gets sore, his soreness (or DOMS, delayed onset muscle soreness, as some of y'all may know) doesn't even start until day two and is likely to go on until day five, at least during the first few weeks of intense exercise.

Switch it up. It's important to change your workout every 2-3 months. When your muscles get use to things, the motions and weights, they begin to lose the hypertrophy (muscle growth) that they were once showing. 

Record it. It's important to record what you lift and how many times. You ought to know so you can pick up right where you left off and you don't have to rely on your memory. Plus, it can be very rewarding to see how far you've come!

Don't you dare quit. I know sometimes it can be frustrating because we're not making the gains, or losses, that we're wanting. They take time. Like weeks. Whenever you get discouraged or frustrated, remembered why you started in the first place and where you want to be. That usually helps me. Don't fall into the category of the "New Year's Resolution people" at the gym. Be different, outlast them. Don't quit.

The next step. So now you've been lifting weights for 2-3 months now and it's going pretty good. You've got into a rhythm and you're feelin' pretty good too. Great! Now let's work on what you're putting into your body, keep a look out for my next post!

Just because I love y'all, and I'm awesome, I'm gonna share with y'all the new work out I made for Brandon and I. We do weights three different days. Chest, shoulders, and triceps one day, the next is back and biceps, and we save the best for last: leg day (I personally love leg day)! I've been thinking for my next set of workouts I'll pair them like this: chest, back, and abs; triceps, biceps, and shoulders; and leg day. It's good to work those "complimentary" muscles together (like bicep/triceps, hamstring/quads, etc.). Now, with no further ado.....

Chest, Shoulders, & Triceps
Body up


Close grip bench

    (The point of this picture is for you to see how close the grip is)
Svend press

Flat bench dumbbell (DB) press

Assisted dips

Incline bench DB press

Skull crushers

Rope tricep pull downs
 
Shoulder circuit
   -Lateral raises, Bent over lateral raises, Upright rows, Overhead press. Pick a light, light DB(I use 5 lbs DB) and do 10 reps of each, 3 sets (try to do nonstop or build up to it). Then at the end, hold your arms up for 60 full seconds. Feel the burn!!!! And love it!


Back & Biceps
Double bicep cable curls


Reverse grip (prone) bent over barbell rows

(oopsie, wrong grip!)
Incline hammer curls


DB reverse grip (prone) curl

Close grip front lateral pulldowns

Burn outs
-These are bicep curls. Pick a fairly light weight. Act as if you're doing a bicep curl but only go 1/4 of the way up, do 5; for the next five, go halfway up so your arm is at a 90 degree angle; the next five will be done as you are curling up to 3/4 of the way; do a full bicep curl and do 10; then you work your way back down! 3/4, 1/2, 1/4, done! (You should barely be able to get those last five out)

Superman back extensions

Ab roller

-If you can't go all the way flat yet, it's okay! Go as far as you can and make it your goal to go further each time.
Medicine Ball (MB) full body twist
-This is a partner exercise. If you don't have a partner to work out with, I'd just do russian twists with a MB. Pick a weight that seems challenging, and do 3 sets of 10 full rotations. 
Plank set
-Start out planking on your elbows, then as you get stronger you can build to your hands. First start in a typical front plank hold for 20 seconds or so (make sure you do it long enough so that it's tiring), then switch to holding your plank just on your right elbow, then left, and back to front one last time. Make sure to keep your body flat as a board (hence, the name: plank), and when you're on the side don't let your hips sag or try to twist. Also, increase the time each time. You will get stronger!

Legs (my fav!!!!)
Jump Squat

-Just body weight. The goal is to jump as high as you can. We're working on that explosive ability.
Glute machine

-Works those hammies as well!!
Full Barbell Squat
 
-I recommend your first time going into this (disregard if you've been doing these), start with body weight. Make sure you have good form. I cannot stress that enough. Don't let those knees go inward, use your muscles to keep them parallel as you push up, and don't let your knees go over your toes. I want your knees to be good for a long, long time :). Make sure your butt is going back far enough so that your knees stay even or behind your toes. If you can't do that, go down in weight. Seriously.
Quad Extensions

Hamstring curls
 
Smith machine calf raises

-Find something that you can stand on that gives your heels a deficit. There are three different exercises within this one. First go regular, feet straight out normal, then eversion so your toes are pointing out, and inversion where your toes are pointing inward. That's one set ;)
Side to side box shuffle

-This one will be hard to do because your legs ought to be really exhausted. Make sure to get yourself adequate breaks (30-90 seconds). I recommend you time yourself the first time. See how many "shuffles" you can do in 20 seconds. For the next few workouts, just do 3 sets of 10, but you want to shuffle as quickly as possible. After a monthish, time yourself again, see if you've gotten any quicker.

Remember, it's all in your head as to how far you can go. Your brain "tires" out a lot quicker than your body. Know you can do it but also respect your limits (don't cross over them!!).

"The greatest plateau is the one the mind builds for itself" -Brandon Ensor