Exercising with Cards

Looking for a way to spice up your at home workouts? Grab a deck of cards and get moving!

Rules:
-Grab a deck of cards
-Choose 2-4 exercises
-As cards are picked, do an exercise for amount shown on the card
-Joker- 30 second break, Face cards- 10, Ace- 15,
-Repeat this alternating between exercises and/or partners

Tips:
-If you can't complete the whole deck at first, start with less cards
-If doing with a partner, you can each do all exercises or take turns
-Do not do more than 4 exercises or do with more than 4 people if taking turns (in order to keep intensity up)
-Be creative with your exercise combos

Some sample combos:
(modifications are in parenthesis)

Extreme Upper Body:
Pull-ups on doorway bar (feet on chair while pulling or lat pull-down with a resistance band)
Push-ups (on knees)

Cardio Blast: 
Jumping Jacks (side steps)
Squat jumps (squats)
Burpees (mountain climbers)
Back lunges, each side (lunges only going up and down, not backwards)

Core Cruncher:
Crunches
Lean backs-small sit ups, not going all the way back or coming up all the way forward
Plank hold on elbows, card represents amount of seconds (on knees)

Triple Thick S&B Smoothie

All you need are strawberries, a banana, and a food processor or good blender to enjoy this vitamin packed treat.

Ingredients:
1 cup Strawberries
1 large Banana (frozen for at least 2 hours)

Recipe:
Peel banana and cut tops off strawberries
Blend together
Enjoy!

Tips:
-For a meal replacement: add 1 tbsp flaxseed oil and one scoop protein powder (soy, rice, and pea are my favorite)
-For a smoother treat: add 1/2-3/4 cup plain soy milk or other milk

-For a cooler treat: use frozen strawberries
-If possible: use organic strawberries

Go Easy on the Chocolates

Valentines day is full of love, friendship, fun, and yes CHOCOLATES. These little chocolates may seem innocent, but they can really add up. Most chocolate candies contain sugar as the first ingredient and are very calorically dense, but nutritionally lacking. One serving of Hershey Kisses packs on 200 calories and 7 grams of saturated fat, not to mention the partially hydrogenated oils(trans fat) found in the ingredient list. M & M's are small, however milk chocolate ones contain 240 calories and 31 grams of sugar per serving!  Most bags found at the checkout counter are MORE than 1 serving, so this number then multiplied! These tiny treats also contain some "delicious" flavors such as: Red 40 Lake, Yellow 6, Yellow 5, Blue 2 Lake, Red 40, Blue 1, Blue 2, Yellow 5 Lake, Yellow 6 Lake....YUUUM! Boxed chocolate is no better, and wanting to try several of the flavors could send your daily caloric count over quickly.

If you choose to eat your chocolates today go ahead, but give yourself a limit. Plan how many you will have before digging in and stick with your plan. Set aside the amount you will have before you even start to eat it, and make sure to adjust your calories for the remainder of the day. Happy Valentines Day from Workout for Wellness Inc.!

Ab Myths

Abdominal muscles are really important to train. Strong abs will help improve posture, reduce lower back pain, and enable you to lift more weights for lower and upper body workouts.  

Here are some common myths that seem to float around the gyms:

Myth- I can workout abs everyday.
Truth- Abs are skeletal muscle just like arms and legs. If you do an ab workout correctly your abs need time to recover, just like arms and legs. If you work them everyday, you are actually not given them time to rebuild and get fitter.

Myth- There are specific ab exercises that help to get rid of belly fat.
Truth- Your body will lose weight where GENETICALLY you lose weight first. You CAN NOT spot reduce with specific exercises. Working total body with both strength training and cardio will help to reduce belly fat.

Myth- There are specific foods that will help get rid of belly fat.
Truth- Though some foods help to reduce bloating, no food targets weight loss on specific parts of the body.

Myth- I should avoid building ab muscles since it will make my belly stick out if I don't lose the layer of fat first.
Truth- It is very rare that you will build up your ab muscles so much that it is makes your fat bulge. Do full body strength training including ab exercises to burn calories and raise your metabolism all at the same time!

Myth- I have to do really long sets of "crunches" in order to get a good ab workout.
Truth- If you are able to do any more than 20 of an ab exercise, it is too easy. Aim for sets of 8-15, if you can do more, you need to find more challenging ab workouts. Which means if you can do 25 crunches...they are way too easy, challenge yourself!

Myth- I can soley isolate my lower ab muscles.
Truth- Even though some exercises have been shown to produce more activity in the lower abs, no exercise can isolate the lower abs without contraction of the entire rectus abdominis.

Myth- I have to do big movements to give my abs a good workout.
Truth- Abs only need to move in about a 30 degree angle to get full contraction. Doing big ab movements allows abs to become uncontracted and will result in less of an ab workout. One of the best ab workouts is a plank hold on forearms and toes not even moving!

Myth- Sucking in my abs is contracting them.
Truth- Sucking in abs is holding your breath! Contracting is tightening the ab muscles. To practice this lay on back with knees bent, put your hands on your stomach and hold a "crunch" position, this is contracting them.

Superbowl Taco Dip

Go heavy on the dip and light on the chips!


Ingredients:

• 1 16 oz can of low sodium vegetarian refried beans (these do not contain LARD, like that found in regular refried beans, don't worry I promise you won't miss this artery clogging ingredient)
• 5 tsp low sodium natural taco seasoning (check the label to avoid monosodium glutamate and partially hydrogenated oil)
• 1 large ripened avocado (make sure it is brown, if not, put in a closed paper bag with an apple until ripened)
• 1 16 oz jar of salsa (organic if possible)
• 3/4 cup organic cheese (optional)

Recipe:

• In a mixing bowl combine refried beans and taco seasoning.
• In a separate bowl mash contents of avocado with fork.
• Layer ingredients in 7X7 in OR 9X9  dish in the following order: refried bean mixture, mashed avocado, salsa, and cheese if desired.
• Serve chilled with veggies(try bell peppers cut wide) or chips.

Peanut Butter Decoded

Peanut butter is a delicious treat on fruit, veggies, crackers, ok let's face it...in cookies, and of course we can't forget the ever famous PB&J. It typically has about 95 calories per tablespoon, however not all peanut butter is created equal. Peanut butter can be tricky and labels such as "reduced fat" are misleading.

Stay Clear of:
"Regular" pb- Should be called fake pb, since most have additives and trans fats.
Skippy Regular consists of- hydrogenated cottonseed, soybean, and  rapeseed oil (all trans fat).
Jif Regular consists of- fully hydrogenated rapeseed and soybean oil (both trans fat).

Reduced Fat- Most reduced fat versions of pb contain the about the same amount of calories as their "regular" counterparts. However these options have more carbohydrates and way more added junk in the ingredient list.
Skippy Reduced Fat has- 16 ingredients opposed to 6 in the regular version, and only 10 less calories than "regular."
Jif Reduced Fat has-16 ingredients opposed to 8 in the regular and has the same amount of calories as the "regular."

Get the bread ready for:
Powered PB2 -This pb has had most of the fat removed and can be reconstituted with water. It only has 45 calories per 2 tbsp and is great for smoothies.~

Natural (need to be stirred)- Teddie, Smuckers, or mill at the store yourself, this is often times cheaper and will last longer without stirring, tastes better too!

Natural (no need to stir)- Teddie, Skippy Natural, Jif Natural. These taste like a better version of "regular" pb, there is no need to stir and you can taste the peanuts since there are no trans fats or chemicals covering them up.

Naturally More- This pb has 7 ingredients, but they are all whole, not chemicals or trans fat. There is only 169 calories and it packs a protein punch with 10 grams. This one is my clients' favorite!

Make your own pb- Add desired amount of peanuts to food processor and blend...voila it's done. If desired, add a small amount of salt and sugar for taste. There is enough oil in the peanuts and no need to add additional fat with extra oils.

**When choosing a peanut butter, the most important thing to look at is the ingredients. Rule of thumb: if there are more than 5...put it back. Avoid any pb with hydrogenated oil listed in the ingredients (including partially hydrogenated). Even though most peanut butter is packed with protein, healthy fats, and vitamin E, it is important to limit portion size.

Easy PB snacks under 275 calories:
1 granny smith apple cut into slices with 2 tbsp pb (270)
6 oz plain organic yogurt mixed with 2 tbsp pb (270)
1 cup milk ~try silk in the green container~ with 1 cup frozen strawberries and 1 tbsp pb blended (270)
1 whole grain piece of bread toasted with 1 tbsp honey and 1 tbsp pb (260)
1 cup prepared oatmeal with 1 tbsp pb (245)
1 piece of whole grain bread with 1 tsp all fruit no sugar added jelly and1 tbsp pb (230)
7 baby carrots with 2 tbsp pb (225)
1 banana with 1 tbsp pb (215)
7 Reduced Fat Triscuits with 1 tbsp pb (215)
2 organic celery stalks with 2 tbsp pb (200)
2 tbsp pb right off the spoon! (190)