Superman Row, Overnight Oats, Tortilla Stratta

This morning I got up ready to hit my workout hard with Mike (my Evil Training Monster) knowing full well that my arms would feel like jello after an hour of punishment.  Today's featured "move" from Mike is the Superman Row.

This exercise is for active strengthening of the upper back muscles, lats, rhomboids, and trapezius while simultaneously work the core muscle of the lower back, pectorals, abdomen, glutes and engaging the muscles of the legs, hamstrings and quadriceps.  The move is moderate to advanced.  A good starting point for those just starting out is to do the move without weights (pictured below).

  Mike Rouillard

Superior Personal Fitness

Okay, that's a whole lot of words to say that this move works!  It has really helped me develop overall upper body strength.

If weights are too much for right now, try the move without.  Still a pretty hard workout!

After my workout with Mike I was STARVING and happy to have a bowl of Overnight Oats waiting for me at home.  Today's oat mixture contained:

• Steel Cut Oats
• Quinoa
• Dried Sour Cherries
• Wheatberries
• Almond milk
• Organic Peanut Butter

We spent the day in Los Angeles at the Western Foodservice Expo looking for companies that might be a fit for our upcoming San Diego Bay Wine & Food Festival and The Gourmet Experience events.  Needless to say five hours of walking in 31/2 inch heels can wear a girl out.

I knew it would be a hectic day so last night I used up a bunch of leftovers to make a tortilla stratta.   Have I ever said how much I love breakfast for dinner?  I'll post the recipe tomorrow (I sort of made it up so I need to put it all down for you), but in the mix is:

• Ground Turkey, cooked and seasoned with cumin, oregano and red pepper
• 1/2 cup of onion, cooked with turkey
• stone ground corn tortillas
• black beans
• jalapenos
• zucchini
• lowfat cheddar cheese
• egg whites
• lowfat milk
• cilantro
• green onion

SO good! 

Push Up To Ball Roll

I get a lot of questions about my training with Mike and most are about the equipment we work with or the torture exercises he puts me through.  Each week, we will highlight one exercise and Mike will give me details about it to share with you.  Here's this week's Push Up To A Ball Roll which we did in Monday morning's session.

The purpose of this exercise is to strengthen and build the upper back, chest, shoulder and arm muscles while engaging the core muscles of the lower back, abdominal wall, the glutes and hamstring complex.  This exercise challenges the whole body as well as working our stabilizers for balance.  This is a moderate to advanced exercise but can be modified for beginners.

Mike Rouillard

Superior Personal Fitness

Start with your hands on the ground, feet on the ball, in a plank position:

Bend arms so you move down into a push up

As you push up, bring your knees in so you get a little abdominal crunch

Push legs back out until you are back in a plank position, repeat!

Or, if you want more of a challenge, you can add a Bosu to this move:

Early Morning Wake Up Call

My morning started at 5:00 a.m.  Bright and early, too early sometimes I think for training with Mike.  Today we worked on several moves using negative resistance.   According to Northwest University Health Sciences:

Negative training refers to emphasizing the eccentric or negative part of the contraction. This can be a great tool for reducing momentum that you might be using to help you and to break past plateaus you may have reached in your training. Typically, you lift the weight for 1-2 seconds and lower it for 2-4 seconds. In eccentric or negative training, you would still lift the weight for 1-2 seconds but would take 8 to 10 seconds to lower it, thus forcing the muscle to control the weight in a different part of the movement.

I didn't exactly leap out of bed this morning eager to have my butt kicked but I felt great when I was done.  Workout?  Check!

Monday? Already?

Monday rolled around fast and so did my training this morning with Mike (E.T.M.)  For any Fitness & The Foodie reader interested in:

Working on balance:

Strength:

Upper body:

Don't forget that this week's Win It Wednesday will be a one hour training session with Mike!  I complained all morning during this workout (okay, 6:00 a.m. is just really early), but I absolutely find the training invaluable.  I even got Jamie into the act!

After work today we took Hunter on a walk in the neighborhood.

And came home to a whole wheat pasta bake with leftover ingredients from Pizza on the Grill night. 

Its was so hot inside our house tonight we ate outside while the sun set

Today has been full and I've actually got a bunch of work to do for our upcoming San Diego Bay Wine & Food Festival.  Our team just produced a fun video clip featuring Chef Bernard Guillas and a salmon recipe I can't wait to try.  Keep an eye out tomorrow for the post!

Good night!

Win It Wednesday (A preview!)

Tomorrow morning before heading to the WSET class I train with Mike, my Evil Training Monster as I so fondly call him.  Keep an eye out for my post of this training session because next week's Win It Wednesday will be for a one hour session with the E.T.M himself!

I'm really excited that Mike has offered this to Fitness & The Foodie readers as working with him over the past two years has taken my fitness and strength to a whole new level.

Stay tuned!

Recovery, Day 1

So, like I mentioned yesterday, I've decided that beating myself up over all the excess will not do me any good.  What's done is done and I'm only in control at this point on what I do from today forward.  I find that writing it down (and broadcasting it out to the whole world), helps me stay focused and stick to the plan.  Here's what I plan to do this week to get back on the wagon:

• Sign up for another round of Game On
• Go to Spin Friday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings
• Train with the ETM on Thursday, Saturday and Monday
• Food Journal EVERY day
• Stock the house with my favorite healthy snacks
• Plan meals out in advance
• Drink 3L of water a day

I made a step in the right direction and tonight, Michael and I did an hour of intense training with the Evil Training Monster (E.T.M.) and man, did it feel good to get back!

After the workout, I knew I'd be tired and too pooped to cook a big meal so I kept it simple.  I baked sweet potatoes and piled 1/2 a cup of Amy's Organic Chile with a little low fat cheddar and green onion.  I also made a yummy green salad to go along with it.  Lo-cal, filling and not too heavy after the workout!

Now I'm off to do a bit of studying for the WSET wine certification class I'm enrolled in.  I'll tell you all about that tomorrow (I have not started reading the book...yikes!)