Tabata Challenge

It's a fact- Tabata interval drills can make you a lean mean fit machine! Just ask any of my 20 or so 'regulars' that show up to class every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 5:10AM. These folks are dedicated and always up for a challenge first thing in the morning. They show up to work hard otherwise they may as well just stay in bed. Some are retired yet they don't miss a beat even on holidays! Class participants say things like
•I'm fitter now than I was in High School!
•I don't run distances anymore and my race times are improving at challenge races like Spartan Race & Tough Mudder!
•I'm winning half marathons!
•I lost the baby weight!
•I'm lifting more in the weight room!
•I feel like a million bucks!

Now for all you Tabata class haters out there that say "Tabata drills are just for athletes" or "just for doing truly at 99.99% effort on a bike" I encourage you to give a class a shot and see how you feel after. But to give you fair warning: you just might love it.

If you're up for it and want to experience the amazing benefits of Tabata all you need is a free app and you can get to it! You can also watch the clock or your watch if you don't train alongside your phone, iPod or other techie gadget.

In class we do a dynamic warmup followed by 7 Tabata drills. Each drill is a set of 8 intervals of the same exercise at 20 seconds on and 10 seconds off. "On" means all-out! "Off" means rest! After the drill set you get a minute recovery before the next drill. We mix it up in class and do some cardio drills and some strength drills within most every class although there have been times that it's 100% cardio based. Sometimes it's all calisthenics and sometimes it's all kettle bells. In almost two years teaching four Tabata classes a week it's never gotten boring and we've only repeated a workout when we 'test' every several months.

Here's the challenge that my class rocked today. They partnered up and did circuits together around the room rather than all of us going through the exercises at the same time. It was fun to see pairs like Toni and Bryan working together on the ropes! If you don't have a heavy rope available like the kind you can purchase from Perform Better swap it out for some other full body move or, heck, use a garden hose!

#1 L-Sits
#2 Rope Play
#3 Burpees
#4 Jump-Ups or Straddle Jumps onto aerobic step with 3+ risers on each side
#5 Push-Ups with one hand on medicine ball then switch to the other hand on the way up
#6 Jump Rope (ideally double-unders)
#7 Lunge Presses with 1 heavy dumbbell pressing overhead

A quick online search of each drill will give you the gist of the exercise but please save yourself from injury and hire a well qualified Personal Trainer to get the proper form down. Although I'm watching my students intently during class there is only so much I can do for them in a large class setting to help with individual technique. By the way- most everyone can do some form of the above exercises when taking the time to learn the proper progressions. I'm almost 6 months pregnant and enjoy doing Burpees with the class most days. My class is full of different people at different fitness levels with different physical abilities but everyone gets a great workout as long as they keep moving at their best for 20 seconds at a time!

Enjoy your Tabata challenge and please report back your experience.

Your friend in fitness,
'Coach' Amanda

Healthy Thin Mint Shake

Upon hearing that it's Girl Scout Cookie Season I thought of my strong liking for Thin Mints and came up with an idea. You see, I don't even like cookies much but I could polish off those two little rows of Thin Mints in maybe 8 minutes flat. So instead of going on a downward spiral into full blown sugar binge I took those 8 minutes to make myself a delicious Thin Mint Shake.

But here's what happened first. Just a few days ago in a moment I'm not proud of I asked my husband to bring home Thin Mint ice cream. I remember liking it (OK, loving it) in High School and now that I'm pregnant it sounded like the ultimate treat! And how could he possibly say 'no' to his almost 6 months pregnant wife? He so kindly stopped by the store on his way home from work and came home with the goods. Much to my dissatisfaction the ice cream was horrible- so fake tasting and just all wrong. Well good, at least I won't be having anymore of that. But I still needed to get my Thin Mint fix so here's what I so cleverly concocted in the blender:

-Handful of spinach
-Fresh mint leaves
-1 large frozen banana
-a tiny bit of cocoa nibs
-1/2 serving chocolate grass-fed whey protein from Reserveage Organics (not my fave but it's what I have right now)
-1 cup coconut milk (just coconut and water in a can from Trader Joes, nothing else added like they do to their coconut 'cream')
-Blend and garnish with a mint sprig to make it cute

I'll be making this without the protein powder and using cocoa powder instead to make Thin Mint Popsicles for the family!

I'd love to hear how you satisfy your sweet tooth with healthier alternatives- please share!

Blender Blunder: What Did I Create?!

In an effort to use up the chocolate fondue dipping ingredients I had prepped to take to Girls' Night last night I ended up with some creamy goodness for our family's breakfast this morning. Yesterday I stuffed a bunch of dates with almond butter, cut up a bunch of fruit, and froze banana slices- all for dipping in glorious chocolate. But both the baby and husband were sick so I stayed home to be of service.

This morning I had the brilliant idea to switch up our boring breakfast routine and make delicious nutrient packed smoothies with last night's ingredients instead. Well, we've had a Vitamix for three years now and since I'm not big on reading instructions I just blend away and hope for the best. This resulted in our smoothies becoming thick creamy ice cream goodness!

Our boy is almost 22 months and has never had ice cream. He loves it and got a kick out of how cold it is! My husband and I both devoured it (ours was sprinkled with extra cocoa powder on top- yum!).

Ingredients for 3 full servings of
Banana Date Ice Cream:
-1 cup ice
-2 tsp raw almond butter
-5 large Medjool dates
-3 large bananas
-1 tsp cocoa powder
Scoop into a nice cup or bowl ('cause we should eat everything fancifully!) and garnish with a few banana slices & some cocoa powder or nibs. Enjoy this healthy treat for breakfast lunch or dinner!

Chocolate Pudding

In an attempt to kick my obsessions with milk chocolate and processed sugar I tried a new dessert today. I whipped it up in all of 2 minutes as a treat for Mom and me, and she was NOT a fan! I think it tastes great but she's calling it 'chocolate guacamole.'

Ingredients:
3/4 of a giant Haas avocado (or 1 regular)
2 tsp honey
2 tbsp cocoa powder

Rather than sacrificing any of my dessert to the Vitamix blades I opted to mush it all together myself with a fork. This worked just fine and my 15 month old baby got to lick a tiny bit of it after. He's never had honey or cocoa but so far he's seeming ok with it! I ate some fresh and froze a little. I tried cayenne with the fresh batch- yum! Then raspberries- even yummier! With the frozen batch I sprinkled just a little pink sea salt from Hawaii- yum! I think coconut flakes or even lavender would be good as well. I'll also do my old 'chocolate' recipe again soon with cocoa and coconut oil which was much preferred by my family.

Try your own twist on this recipe and toppings and please share!

Don't Feed The, Uh, Children?

I live in a town full of adorable dogs with their own Facebook fan pages. These dogs skateboard, star in fun parades and costume contests throughout the year, accompany their human parents to fine dining establishments, are blessed by pastors, have beaches named after them, are toted around in doggy strollers, go to doggy day care while their parents are at work, and have owners whipping up homemade gourmet dog food like it's no big deal. Maybe we're such a dogcentric (not a real word) community because Snoop Dogg and Nate Dogg were bred here. Anyway, we in Long Beach California absolutely positively LOVE dogs! So much so that we would be flabbergasted at the idea of feeding someone else's dog a treat or scraps without politely asking permission of the owner first, right?

Why, then, is it okay to feed my human child without asking? He could have allergies. We could have philosophical, religious, and health reasons as to why we do or don't eat certain foods. The bottom line is there's a lot more at stake in feeding a human than potentially ruining his shiny coat.

My 15 month old baby eats A LOT. He is well fed. I promise you he is not hungry. He eats at the table, he eats when he's hungry, and he eats foods we deem nourishing. We always enjoy foods together as a family and as a community with our friends, because we think it's important. He is learning that food is good for the body and good for the soul. I grew up with food behaviors that I do not want to pass on to my son such as mindless eating, emotional eating, and eating nutritionally void foods, but that's a whole other post. So it aggravates me when my baby is given snacks the moment we arrive somewhere. It aggravates me when he is fed 'just because'. But it aggravates me most because a lot of the foods being offered (and I know people mean well, they really do!) are not foods we eat.

I'm not trying to be a food snob here. I grew up on disgusting school lunches and junk food, spent time in third world countries where food can be scarce, and have helped at homeless shelters that offer meals to the public as well as food pantries where families show up willing to take whatever is being handed out that week. Yes, sometimes people just need calories to not go to bed hungry. But that is not my reality right now. I appreciate food and am blessed to have things like fresh California produce and farm fresh eggs available to me. Instead of taking food for granted I value it highly as my family's source of vitality.

We respect signs that read 'Do Not Feed The Wildlife'. Should we make a sign for our baby to wear so he gets the same respect as bears and ducks? That would be silly, so instead I'll be the mama bear to my cute little boy cub and roar, I mean ask, that you don't feed him without asking. I know you all mean no harm at all and are offering food and snacks out of generosity, and I appreciate the gesture. I genuinely respect that you are trying to be kind in offering him food. Please, though, respect if we choose to decline.

It's not always "No thank you." Babs that runs The Belmont Athletic Club Childcare shares her snacks with Ari that she knows we love like fresh veggie sticks. The picture here is of our baby with Chef Timothy of Ari's Natural Foods. One week at Farmers Market Chef Tim asked if he could give our baby Ari a treat, and every week since Ari squeals in delight to go behind the booth and taste all of Chef Tim's delicious samples. See, I'm not a mean and terribly uptight mom, just a little uptight and hoping for some respect when it comes to our family's food choices.

Preventative Care

Last week was rough. Tuesday I faced some fears and went to the doctor for preventative measures. What prompted the visit was my desire to stay disease-free and take good care of myself for my own sake and my family. That was a week ago and I'm stuck with this gnarly bruise on my arm from the catheter. I had to 'pump & dump' my breast milk for 48 hours so Baby Boy wouldn't be effected by the iodine used for the CT scan. Watching that milk go down the drain for two days sucked, as did not nursing my baby and missing work for a day of poking and prodding, but at least I know with certainty that at the moment I'm healthy by doctors' standards.

One year ago my 28 year old baby sister was diagnosed with colon cancer. Her fight ended exactly one year later on April 28, 2013. She didn't recognize signs of disease until it was too late. On Tuesday, upon arriving home from a very emotional day at the doctor office I was informed that a dear friend my age has colon cancer. It makes no sense. Healthy young women don't need to get colonoscopies. How could this be?

So although I've never been a big fan of conventional medicine and doctor visits I vow to listen to my body and take action when necessary. This blog will be upbeat 99.9% of the time and I'll get back to pictures of food, fitness and fun. But today I beg you to consider this story and make the vow to take your health into your own hands. Make that doctor appointment today, start eating better, exercising, meditating, or whatever you need to do to be well. And stay tuned for my sister Megan's story because I love to talk about her and it needs to be heard.

Fitness Freebies

Thanks is due to two people for this giant pile of FREE workout shorts that were left in my office today. My boss Josh for Personal Training his client into skinny-dom, and his sweet sweet client for donating her too big clothes to me! This stack of clothes cost a pretty penny and is in perfect condition. Time to start rocking shorts!