In this weeks “Ask the Trainer” Tuesday segment with Lori Murphy, personal trainer and fat loss expert from My Stronger Self Fitness Studio in Brighton, MI, demonstrates two common strength training exercises: the squat and fly. Good form ensures that the movement only uses the main muscles, and avoids recruiting secondary muscles. Proper form is only one ingredient in your overall fitness program. But just like any other recipe, getting one ingredient wrong can ruin the whole project. Form has this power. Get it wrong and you are looking for trouble, if not just bad results. Get it right and you will be that much closer to the body-improving fitness results you seek. Proper form also also lowers your risk of injury.

If you have an exercise or fitness related question, send an email to FitForLife@MyStrongerSelf.com.

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Listen in as Lori Murphy of My Stronger Self Fitness Studio in Brighton, MI answers a couple of great questions this week regarding the difference between using machines or free weights. Lori also answers a question regarding diet and exercise and how we can never outwork a bad diet. If you exercise, eating to fuel your body is most important so it matters even more what you eat. By getting the protein, carbohydrates and vegetables with each meal/snack, you are properly fueling your body and muscles to work most efficiently and for extended periods of time. Ultimately producing the most energy throughout the day, and support for intense workouts!

If you have a question about health and fitness that you’d like answered leave us a comment here or contact us via email at FitForLife@MyStrongerSelf.com. We’d love to hear from you.

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It’s Sunday, you’re determined to plan your meals for the week because you know that’s the only way you can make good choices when your schedule gets hectic (and it always does!). Sometimes we just need a quick fix to get us through the day. Well, we found a great article and visual presentation of what 300 calorie meals look like courtesy of diet-blog.com.

Breakfast – 290 Calories

1 whole wheat English muffin
2 pats low fat butter
1 hard boiled egg
1/2 cup of fruit
8 oz fruit juice
8 oz water

Cereal – 300 Calories

1 cup of cereal
8 oz 2% milk
1 banana
1 coffee or tea

Baked potato – 305 Calories

1 medium baked potato
2 tablespoons sour cream
2 tablespoons salsa
1 cup sliced melon
12 oz water

Oatmeal – 325 Calories

1 cup oatmeal with raisins
1 cup of fruit
1 cup coffee or tea
1 banana

Soup – 350 Calories

1 bowl of soup
1 small tossed salad
2 tablespoons reduced fat oil and vinegar dressing
12 oz water
4 saltine crackers

Chicken – 345 Calories

6 oz of chicken
1 cup of green beans
2 pats of low-fat butter
1 small tossed salad
2 tablespoons reduced fat oil and vinegar dressing
12 oz water

Chicken Salad – 350 Calories

1 large tossed salad
2 tablespoons reduced fat oil and vinegar dressing
6 oz sliced chicken
1 cup of low fat wheat thin crackers
12 oz water

Scrambled eggs – 360 Calories

2 scrambled eggs
2 strips of turkey bacon
1 piece whole wheat toast
1 pat of low fat butter
1 coffee or tea
8 oz water

Fish – 365 Calories

6 oz broiled white fish
1 cup of mashed potatoes
1 pat of butter
1/2 cup of peas
8 oz diet iced tea

Chicken and Rice – 395 Calories

6 oz cooked chicken
2 tablespoons of barbecue sauce
1 cup of mixed vegetables
1/2 cup of brown rice
1 small tossed salad
2 tablespoons reduced fat oil and vinegar dressing
12 oz water

Believe it or not, the average American consumes around 3,800 calories per day. That’s more than all the food shown on this page.

We stumbled across this fresh side dish, guacamole salad and thought how beautiful and healthy it looked. It oozes summer and for Michigan residents it’s something we’ve been waiting for all winter long. Not only would it look great next to a piece of salmon but also make an excellent turkey burger topping too if you if ask me!

Ingredients

• 2 avocados, diced
  

  Guacamole Salad

• 1 English cucumber, diced
• 4 large-ish tomatillos, diced
• 1/2 red onion, finely diced
• handful cilantro, chopped
• 2 limes, juiced
• salt

Method

The only thing I really need to explain (probably) is how to deal with tomatillos, so here goes…

Remove the green husks. You’ll feel that the tomatillo is slightly sticky to the touch. Rinse those suckers under some warm water, then chop ‘em up like the rest of the ingredients.

In a large bowl, add all ingredients together and enjoy!

Recipe courtesy of Health-vent.com

We’ve got a couple of great questions this week regarding strength training. Teresa asked the question if it’s good to add a third day of strength training to her fitness routine. And the last question comes from Lisa in Howell and she wonders what’s the difference between using heavier weights and doing less repetitions versus lighter weights and more “reps”. A lot of women have misconceptions about strength training or using weights in their workouts and therefore always stick to cardio based exercise. Cardio is great, but we all need to strength train to create those lean muscles which helps keep our metabolism burning for us.

If you have a question about health and fitness that you’d like answered leave us a comment here or contact us via email at FitForLife@MyStrongerSelf.com. We’d love to hear from you.

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We answer a couple of questions this week, but one in particular comes from Angelina in Brighton, MI. Angelina wonders what she should eat before a workout. This is a common question and it varies a little on the person and the type of workout. Listen in and let me know what you like to eat before and after your workouts.

If you have a question about health and fitness that you’d like answered leave us a comment here or contact us via email at FitForLife@MyStrongerSelf.com. We’d love to hear from you.

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Running low on healthy recipe ideas? Or just a little tired of the old standards. Sometimes we need to spice things up a bit. I found a recipe that maybe you’ll give a try this weekend.

Recipe courtesy if :LivWise: Easy Recipes for a Healthy, Happy Life”

LivWise

For some reason we see a lot of people either practice Yoga or participate in cardio and weight training activities, but not necessarily combining both regimens to compliment their more healthy lifestyle. We’d like to challenge that thought process with 7 reasons to include Yoga into your fitness routine:

1. Yoga adds flexibility

   As we age  our muscles, tendons, and ligaments lose their springiness, and become more prone to sprains and tears. Adding a consistent stretching and balance routine like Yoga keeps these parts well ‘greased,’ and will significantly cut down on injuries from your other activities.

2. Yoga can soothe and strengthen your back

   Proper body alignment and good posture through Yoga, which helps maintain the natural curvature of the spine, is an important part of reducing or avoiding lower back pain.
   

3. Yoga provides a wider range of unfamiliar movements

   Holding unfamiliar positions through several breaths strengthens and loosens areas that typically aren’t touched during normal weight and cardio routines.
   
   

4. Yoga improves your endurance

   Because of the deep, mindful breathing that yoga involves, lung capacity often improves. This in turn can improve your endurance.

5. Yoga increases your sense of balance

   As we get older, we tend to lose our ability to maintain our center of gravity. Yoga provides a number of movements forcing us to hold our balance for several breaths. Learning to balance while standing on one leg, or while twisting in strange positions, will teach your body to recenter itself, and this will translate to your daily routines.

6. Yoga helps make your body more resilient

   Improvements in balance and flexibility, will make your body much more durable. Not just for your weight and cardio routines, but in most other activities as well. Thanks to your new found flexibility, you won’t spring your back the next time you bend the wrong direction to pick up something heavy.

7. Yoga will increase your overall fitness

   By gently working the muscles and ligaments, your blood supply begins reaching areas of the body that haven’t seen much oxygen over the years. This helps flush out toxins and provides nourishment to these nooks and crannies.

With that being said we are very excited to introduce our new Yoga Instructor to the My Stronger Self family, Denise Johnson. Denise is  RYT 200 Certified (Registered Yoga Teacher) and she is delighted and excited to serve the members of My Stronger Self. As a member of the international professional organization, the Yoga Alliance, Denise honors the mission to offer yoga instruction to individuals of all ages and all fitness levels.

Yoga - Brighton MI

Having practiced all levels of yoga for over 25 years, Denise is passionate about sharing the many health and wellness benefits realized through a yoga practice. During the past 5 years, Denise infused her love of yoga into a health and wellness curriculum for her special needs students, wheelchair students, and senior citizen population. Denise’s classes emphasize the need to build and maintain the strength, length and flexibility of both the spine and thirteen main bodily joints, build and maintain upper body strength, and the maintenance of bone density and muscle mass, noting these areas as vital to maintaining general health and wellness.

Denise looks forward to seeing you at both the Wednesday 9:30 am and Saturday, 9:45 am yoga class!

Thursday, April 5th, 2012 on our Facebook Fanpage we’ll be kicking off our first “Virtual” Book Club discussion. We’ll be reading “Younger Next Year” and “Younger Next Year for Women” books by Chris Crowley and Henry Lodge. Starting next week we’ll take a couple of chapters at a time (from both books – guys, you can get in on this too!) and use Facebook to discuss. The books can be purchased from links below for less than $8 … we hope you’ll join us.

The best part about our virtual book club is that anyone can participate!

Turn back your biological clock. A breakthrough book for men–as much fun to read as it is persuasive–Younger Next Year draws on the very latest science of aging to show how men 50 or older can become functionally younger every year for the next five to ten years, and continue to live like fifty-year-olds until well into their eighties. To enjoy life and be stronger, healthier, and more alert. To stave off 70% of the normal decay associated with aging (weakness, sore joints, apathy), and to eliminate over 50% of all illness and potential injuries. This is the real thing, a program that will work for anyone who decides to apply himself to “Harry’s Rules.”

Click Link to Purchase

Now, a women’s edition. A New York Times bestseller with 115,000 copies in print in hardcover, Younger Next Year is the breakthrough program for women to turn back their biological clocks and live healthier, more active lives into their 80s and beyond.

Click Link to Purchase

I received a question last week about what’s the best workout if you’re using a treadmill. We get this question a lot because sometimes we can’t make it to our group exercise class but we still need to get in a great workout. Most of us know by experience, it’s hard to push yourself when you’re not in a class with others. We hop on the treadmill and maybe flip through a magazine or watch TV while doing it. It’s really easy to get complacent. While it’s great we are up and moving, it’s important to keep yourself challenged and working hard. Take a look at my video and if you’d like a copy of our 12 Week Treadmill Workout, shoot us an email and we’ll send you a free copy.

If you have a question about health and fitness that you’d like answered leave us a comment here or contact us via email at FitForLife@MyStrongerSelf.com. We’d love to hear from you.

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