Sweat in Style

So part of making working out fun is dressing adorbs!!!! If you feel good about the attire you will feel better about the workout. There are so many hidden gems to choose from on the internet, and of course if you have a TJ Maxx or a Marshall's nearby you will want to shop them too! Here's some of my top picks for Athletic Apparel online! 

My very first pick would have to be Chalene Johnson's line since I'm such a dang big fan of her!!! I teach Turbokick and do Turbofire and Piyo at home, so this is a fun site for anyone who does any of her programs! http://turbowear.com

Next up is a line by one of my all time favorite actresses, Kate Hudson. Not only is she incredibly talented and super adorable, but she tells it like it is! She admits that she had to earn her body and she has to keep working at it all the time with exercise and proper nutrition. Her clothing is not only affordable but functional for day to day chores. http://www.fabletics.com

A more recent discovery of mine has some of the most adorable clothing and accessories I've seen yet for both women and men too! I found them through a facebook ad and on a lark started browsing their website, if you want some clothing as kickass as you are! http://www.bnshapeclothing.com/

anyone with long hair, or bangs, or baby fine hair will understand the workout struggles of being able to keep the hair out of your face while doing intense cardio. Boulder Bands are the non-slip, fashionable headband that is as functional as they are adorable! Visit their site for headbands, but they have also branched out to apparel too. http://www.bbolder.com/

My last suggestion is my personal favorite and is a well hidden gem indeed... an Etsy shop where if I had enough money I would buy 1 of each of her tank tops! I mean it's really hard to narrow the list down to my fave 5 because they are all just so adorable and relatable. I actually was introduced to this site from a dear friend Linda, who shared a pic of a tank top with me saying she thought of me when she saw it. I a went to the site and found easily dozen more that I immediately pinned to a board on pinterest for future reference. PS if anyone wants to get me something for Christmas.....

https://www.etsy.com/shop/strongconfidentYOU?ref=l2-shopheader-name

....It was hard only posting 3 pictures, I wanted to post around 30!!!

Now get to shopping, and buy me something nice while you are at it ;) 

Best Leg Day Songs

Well, I hate to say it, but it is yet again....LEG DAY! I love it in a way, but hate it even more! I'll tell  you time and time again, music is such a huge motivator for me. If I don't feel like working out, I'll put on some of my favorite upbeat tunes, turn up the speakers, get that bass banging, then i'll proceed to dance horribly and sing out of tune all over the house. Soon enough, I'm feeling so much better about getting into a workout. As for the workout itself, I always do 10000% better if I have great music that keeps me pumped accompanying my workout. With Body Beast I turn Sagi down (no disrespect Beast, you are hilarious but the Body Beast music just doesn't do it for me), and I turn on spotify to my ready to go playlists that get me going. Here is a short list of must have songs in your leg day rotation! 

Snoop Dogg-Drop it like it's hot  
What's more fun than changing the words to "drop it like a squat" and working those glutes?

Bubba Sparxxx-Miss New Booty
This song can be your anthem for reshaping your booty, and seriously, who can resist the "Booty booty booty booty rockin everywhere" part?

Unk-Walk it Out
Because doing a bazillion lunges is less painful when you are pretending that you are walkin the streets like a thug to a hot beat

Finatticz-Don't Drop That Thun
Do I even need to explain why this song is awesome? Dead lift to this and thank me later! 

Luadacris-How Low
Luda Luda has to be on pretty much every playlist I create, just be prepared to have the high pitched voice saying "how low can you go" over and over stuck in your head for the rest of the day. My favorite part of the song "face down @$$ up" 


Black Eyed Peas- My Humps
Here's your chance to answer the age old  question, "what you gonna do with all that junk, all that junk up in yo trunk?" Show them how fit chicks use those lovely lady lumps!

Jennifer Lopez-Big Booty
I'm sure this is the Jen Selter anthem! Anyone who takes a squat selfie is absolutely guilty of "Seltering" and if your booty is not at least JLo sized, you need to quit posting your Selter Selfies immediately! 

IceCube Feat Redfoo-Drop Girl
One last Phat beat for Fat Booties! Use it on a Drop set for an extra delicious pun!! You're welcome ;)


If you liked these and would like to see more workout playlists give me a holler, tomorrow is back day and I wouldn't mind sharing songs to rock out while getting a rock hard back! 

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What you need to know when working with weights

If I had a dollar for everytime someone did something wrong or dangerous in weight training, well I wouldn't be blogging from my private island...that's for sure! Here are some Muscle Building tips you need to follow before you pick up the iron! Along with my tips, I'll be adding in photos that make me snicker to myself, just to keep things interesting. Enjoy! 

1) Form is EVERYTHING: If you aren't doing an exercise with the form that was intended then not only are you not getting the intended benefit from the workout but you are also putting yourself at risk for injury. If you are unsure of how a certain exercise is done you need to research it, ask someone who does know (a reliable source please!), or just don't do it! If your form is slipping because of the amount of weight you are using, then you are not ready for that heavy of a weight and need to immediately decrease. Perfect your form with lighter weights before you move up. 

2) Maximize each exercise: People get fixated with the size of the weights instead of the more important aspects of lifting. Make sure that you are doing full extensions of whatever move you are performing. I.E. a Bicep Curl should start from your arms dangling as far down as they can reach and be brought all the way to the shoulder, (but not touching the shoulder) Also, you need to really SQUEEZE, its not just about lifting and lowering, you need to focus all of your attention on the muscle you are working and squeeze on your way up (positive part of the rep) and have full control on the way down (negative part of the rep). 

3) Isolation is Key: Many people "sling" weights. This not only a no-no according to rules 1 and 2, but rule 3 tells us that we need to use as much of the muscle that is currently being targeted as possible. Don't throw your hips forward, don't shrug your shoulders or put resistance on your neck, don't overgrip the weights, all of these things are making OTHER muscles do the work and you will not see increased strength in your targeted muscle. Sit on your bench for sets and focus on keeping your back upright and your core tight, make sure that your back is making light contact with the bench and is not arched, don't move your legs around (that means don't let them do the "this is heavy dance") if you can't keep still and need  to move other parts of your body, your weights are too heavy and you need to decrease. Another trick to isolation is to focus on that muscle, not on what's for dinner, not on the pain, not on what is going on in the other room. If you are working chest, think chest! 

4) Timing: This can be broken down into two topics. The first one would be timing of your sets and reps. Depending on what kind of set you are performing (single set, super set, progressive set, combo set, multi set) will determine the time you need to rest between sets. Start with your light warmup weights and end with your heaviest weights but get the proper amount of rest time between sets of the same exercise and make sure to take a 90 second break between switching exercises. 
The other part of timing is knowing your tempo. Some exercises are performed with a simple 'up 2 down 2' tempo. meaning you lift your weight up in the positive motion for 2 counts and then you are lowering into your negative for 2 counts. Other exercises work best when focusing on the negative and you would want to lift for 1 count and lower for 3 counts. Different tempos will yield different results. Never rush through a set, that will get you little result. If you feel the need to rush....wait for it, wait for it....your weights are too heavy and you need to decrease! 

Can you tell a huge mistake people make is lifting too heavy for their own capabilities? sure, you can brag what you are "slinging" but you are not maxing your potential and you are only taking longer to improve yourself and of course you are putting yourself at an increased risk of injury. 


anyway back on track

5) Overgripping: I touched on this earlier but I wanted to add a bit more to it. When you grip your weights too hard you are doing a couple of different things. You are disbursing some of the weight to your wrists and forearms and not isolating your targeted muscle. By doing this you are giving your forearms more of a workout and they will fatigue quickly and make it harder if not impossible for you to get through the rest of your workout with the power you desire too.

6) Proper Fuel: Speaking of power you desire, if you are lifting weights on an empty stomach, you are not reaching your max potential. You need to have Carbohydrates in your system to burn as fuel, so eat a good source of starch at least an hour before your workout. Also consider a preworkout drink to help open up blood flow and circulation before training. Another mistake that women especially make is under eating. When you are not eating enough, your body starts to eat itself, and around 40% of what it is eating is your pre-existing muscle. If you want to gain muscle, and I assume that you do if you are lifting weights, then you will want to eat enough to sustain your current muscle mass and support new growth. Find out how much you should be eating and stick to it.

7) Symmetry: It is important to keep everything even when working out. You work out the left side of your body as much as the right side. This means when you are doing an exercise that is using both arms at the time they are coming up and going down at the same rate and always meeting in the middle. If you let one side do more of the work your muscles will develop disproportionately. Likewise, when doing a legs move for example, if you are tired after doing the left leg, take a short break and then do the exact same amount of reps on the right leg with the same weights. Also, make sure to train each of your muscle groups, do legs one day, arms another day, back, chest....you get the idea. 

8) Stay Safe: This is obviously the number 1 rule, though my rules are in no particular order! Use clamps on bar exercises, when picking up your weights use power from your knees and not your back, use a spotter for heavier weights, keep your work area clear of tripping hazards, and stay focused on what you are doing! 

Lifting weights is enjoying and has tons of benefits when incorporated into your lifestyle. Just make sure to follow the rules to get the best experience! Hope these tips helped, if you have tips feel free to share with me! 
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Muscle Soreness

Today's post is forefront in my mind because, well, my legs don't want to move! Not everyone is the same when it comes to post workout soreness. Some people don't ever get sore, it's not that they didn't get a good workout in, it has more to do with their genetics. Other people get sore very easily (UMMM ME!) So here are some tips of what you can do to help reduce the soreness that you will be feeling after your intense workouts. 

First off, let me briefly explain why your muscles get sore in the first place. When you are working out, no matter the workout, you will experience little tears in your muscles. The more intense the workout, the larger the tears. Now, while this sounds like a bad thing, it's actually exactly what you want. Just like when you break a bone and the doctor reassures you that when it heals it will be stronger than before, your muscles (when properly cared for through diet and continued fitness) will grow back larger and stronger. Your body goes to work straight away on repairing those tears, for example, when your body starts breaking down carbohydrates (which is exactly what exercise does), then lactic acid is produced and disbursed throughout the body. Now, in the past, people blamed lactic acid for muscle soreness, but truthfully its out of your system before you feel any of the real fatigue. Anyway, that's another topic for another day, back to relieving soreness! 

Here are a few tips you can use to help  you fight the battle against muscle soreness. *disclaimer* you can't fight off all of it, you can just make the soreness more manageable! So here we go:

Warm Up: Don't skip warming up before you workout. A warm up can be as little as 3 to 4 minutes and still do your body a ton of good. Warm ups should NOT consist of deep stretching or high impact moves. Ideal warm up moves would be jogging, lifting very light weights, lunging, squatting, rolling your shoulders, etc etc etc. Whatever you do start with small movements and as you feel your body warming up make them bigger movements, this is referred to as progressive warm ups.

Cool Down Stretching: When you finish your workout that is the time for stretching. Your muscles are now warm and pliable and therefore less susceptible to being pulled or seriously injured. This is where you can not only combat the soreness you may be feeling the next day, but it's also a good time to work on increasing your flexibility. While to some, especially men, this does not seem important, let me remind you that the more flexible the muscle the more strength potential it has! 

HOT HOT HOT: A hot bath, soak in a hot tub, or use of heating pad to areas that have just been worked out will help you out tremendously. This helps to relax the muscles and let the healing process begin. When something is heated, it will expand, that's not any different for your muscles. When your muscles are expanded then fluids and nutrients can be streamlined to them with more ease. 

Massage: This one is a love/hate tip for me. Massaging the affected areas of soreness will help push out any excess fluids in the muscle and stimulate the healing process. While the natural response to something sore is "DON'T TOUCH IT! LEAVE IT ALONE! I WILL EAT YOUR SOUL!" We do need to work them out with tissue massage for faster recuperation. 

Compression Clothing: You know those ultra cute but ultra expensive Under Armour outfits, they aren't cheap for a reason! Not only does compression clothing help you during your workout with friction issues (man i used to get some itchy legs from flab on flab action!) But they aid in post workout as well. Wearing compression garments over the area you just worked will improve circulation to that region, that means more pure oxygen will be swarming to the muscle and giving CPR to them. 

Nutrition: From the minute you finish your workout till about an hour later is a moment called "the Anabolic Window" This is when your muscles are the most hungry. I've just explained that after the carbs are broken down via exercise, the lactic acid is formed and released, and that in post workout hormones trigger responses in your body to send all nutrients, blood, oxygen, so on and so forth to those muscle tears to start repairing them. Sooooooo, this means during that first hour you need a GREAT protein source in  your system via a fast metabolising protein such as whey instead of a slow digesting protein like casein. This will get the protein straight to that torn muscle and build a stronger and bigger muscle. Likewise, you will need some carbs in your system during post workout, from a fruit such as a banana is good with the added potassium, but there are also post workout drinks if you don't feel like making yourself a meal and forcing yourself to eat it. I use Results and Recovery formula which has a blend of protein, carbs, and fat to replenish the body after a tough workout. I also add a little bit of extra unflavored protein to it for extra muscle support.

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Find your Why

Everything that we do in life, we do for a reason. We work to make money, we make money to pay the bills, we pay the bills to survive. Those are basic, but what about hobbies, leisure, extra curricular kind of things? Fitness for example, you don't have to do it to survive, it usually doesn't pay the bills, so why? Apply a why to anything that you want to be successful in, but as usual, my post will focus on fitness.

When you are starting something, you need that sense of purpose. There is more to it than just setting yourself goals, though that is an important part to succeeding at what you do. WHY? Why do you want to reach this goal? Why is it important for you to start now? Your why, is the base of your journey and therefore you need to know it well. 

Sometimes this takes a lot of thought, you can't just answer it quickly and simply. I got started because I was sick and tired of feeling sick and tired....but that isn't a very strong base. I sat around a little at a time over a span of 3 days to come up with a deeper and more meaningful why. I started to think about health, I thought about family, I thought about my future, what I wanted to be. After pondering for several days who I wanted to be versus who I was, I was able to finally sit down and write my WHY.

My personal why, which is in my fitness binder, is rather lengthy so I won't share the entire thing, but rather give you the highlights of what I came up with:

Why Am I Committed to Fitness? I want to be around for my children, and not just around, but actively involved in their lives. I want to take them to their ball games, volunteer for functions, ride roller coasters with them, play outside with them, and not feel sluggish and tired. I want to be healthy so that I don't spend time in the doctor's office instead of with my family, so that my family doesn't have to worry about me, so that I don't have to worry about if I will be around long enough to become a grandmother. I want QUALITY of life, I want to be an active participant in this world and not just an onlooker. Leading a fit life with healthy eating is the best way to ensure that all of this happens. 

All my life I've had to weather storms: In Texas and Georgia it's been tornadoes, in Washington, Colorado and Maine it was Snowstorms, everywhere has had bad Thunderstorms. I like to think of my Why as my fallout shelter. In the event of a storm we would gather in the basement or a small enclosed room on the bottom floor of the house. It's a safe place where you can ride out the storm. We all have emotional ups and downs, we all have failures and successes, we all have doubts and despair. When you are in a bad point in your journey and you feel like giving up, that's when you revisit your why. Really read over it and let it soak in, why did you start, why do you continue? Without a storm shelter you aren't likely to survive the storm, without a base your house has no foundation, without a why your success is left shaky.

Take time, think about your life, think about what is important to you, devise a why, write it down, and refer back to it as needed! I wrote mine over 3 years ago and it still applies to my life to this day. A good why is timeless, so don't be afraid to put a little time into writing it out! 


I love doing these blogs and helping people through their journey, for more free services from me sign up to become one of my team beachbody clients! Find me on facebook! facebook.com/suzylonglais
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What your Cravings are Really Telling You!

We all have them....those urges to eat foods and drink liquids that our bodies DO NOT need! It's hard to resist and sometimes we think it will even make us feel better to indulge in them (though often we have eaters remorse!) Next time you have the itch to ingest junk, think about what is actually fueling the need. Here is what your body is telling you that you are insufficient in when cravings attack:

Let's start with one of my biggest vices....DUN DUN DUN (that was suspenseful by the way)
CHOCOLATE! 
When you are craving chocolate, that means your body is deficient in Magnesium. This is a very important mineral for the body and only a small percentage of the population actually gets enough of it! Magnesium is responsible for supporting your immune system and healthy blood pressure and blood sugar levels. It also aids in maintaining strong bones and teeth as well as keeping your organs healthy and efficient. 

When you crave chocolate, try eating magnesium rich foods such as:
Fish
Nuts
Seeds
Spinach and other deep green veggies
Potatoes (with skin)
Yogurt

Next up, Salty foods....ya know like those chips you want to reach for!! When you are craving salty your body is really trying to tell you one of two things: you are stressed or you're depriving it of 2 specific minerals.  If you are stressed you need to take time for some "me time" to do things such as meditation, yoga, a workout, sit in silence, read a book, take a bath.If you are not stressed reach for foods Chloride and silicon to help mellow out the craving in a healthy way:

Goat Milk
Fatty Fish
Nuts and seeds

Now we ALL get this craving....BREAD! Yummmmy carbs! Yes Yes Indeed! Actually, this craving isn't that far from the truth, we can just make healthier subs to get what we need. When we want breads and pastas our bodies are really saying that we are low in Nitrogen. Nitrogen, as you can imagine is fuel. Like any machine, your body needs fuel to carry out all of its activity. If you are a more active person, you will need more fuel, if you are less active, you won't need as many carbs, but they are still important for your body. Here are some foods to fuel you, fill you, and not put on the bulge that bread most likely would:
Chia seeds
Quinoa 
Lean meats
Beans

Cheese is another sneaky craving. While some cheeses are good for you, most of them are too fatty or are accompanied by pizza toppings, sauce and a crust! Needless to say, when you are craving fatty cheese, your body needs healthy fat! Fat is so important in a healthy well rounded diet and aids in things such as flatter tummies and healthy weight management. We need fats to lubricate our joints and keep our hearts healthy. Reach for good sources of fat (and not too much of it) when you are feeling the need to cheese!
Walnuts
Fish
Nut butters
extra virgin olive oil....EVOO to you fitness fanatics out there
Salmon

And very last, if you are having an extra hungry kind of a day, you need water!!! About half the time that you feel hungry, your body is really trying to alert you that you have not consumed enough H20. We need half of our body weight in ounces to stay at the proper hydration level. It's important for our organs, for our hair skin and nails, (I know skin IS an organ) and for our overall health. 


All of these vitamins and minerals, plus tons that I did not even mention (around 70) are in Shakeology: the nutrition shake I've been drinking for over 3 years. Shakeology, when drank daily reduces your cravings and supports healthier eating. If you find that you cannot control your cravings with the foods that I listed, you may want to incorporate this drink into your daily diet. Feel free to get in contact with me on here or facebook @ www.facebook.com/suzylonglais or look at the website to see what this drink is really all about www.myshakeology.com/suzycutie86

WHEN to eat WHAT

By now we all know that what we eat is important. We need to make wise choices in order to achieve happy, healthy bodies, but did you know that when you eat is also important? There's a lot that goes into this topic, but in the interest of not overloading you, here are a few things you can start doing to get more benefits out of what you are currently eating.

Let's start with Breakfast: It's the most important meal of the day! Why? Well it sets the mood for your metabolism! Start off each day by eating a large protein source within the first hour of waking up. I hear a lot of people say they "can't" eat breakfast, I used to feel that way, truth is you can train your body to do anything so stop the excuses! Breakfast!!! Eat it!!! Good examples of High protein breakfast foods would be: 

Protein Shake
Eggs prepared how you like
Peanut Butter toast
Breakfast meats such as turkey bacon, turkey sausage, canadian bacon/ham


Next up the importance of your preworkout meal. What you eat preworkout will vary some based on what kind of activity you are doing. Rule of thumb is 30-60 minutes before you hit an intense workout, eat a good source of carbs. This can come from starches or fruit, they are different kinds of carbs, but both convert into energy and give you a boost through your  workout routine. So for example you could eat:


Banana
Apple
Sweet Potato
Quinoa 
Oatmeal
(the list goes on and on)


You may also want to try a preworkout drink. Try a nitric oxide booster if you are looking to increase muscle mass. They are anywhere from zero to fifteen calories per scoop so you don't have to make room for them in your caloric intake. Rather, it opens up your blood vessels allowing for more blood, oxygen and nutrients to be rushed through the body. This helps you with your workout performance and also aids in recovery time. *WARNING* there are risks and side effects labeled on these powders so read them before you decide to buy.

When the workout is done, PROTEIN! This is the best thing you can be giving your body during the anabolic window (right after your workout to an hour after your workout) your muscles are torn and tired and you have released hormone responses telling your body to gather protein for repair.Feed yourself a post workout shake or food with protein:

Meat
Beans
Nuts
Greek Yogurt
low fat cheese


Let's talk about those Carbs again, the starches in particular. Bread products are in the starch group but you don't want all of your starch calories to come from breads (they convert to sugar and are stored as fat in the belly region) instead, open yourself up to the world of squashes, corn, potatoes, wild and brown rices, oatmeal, and more. As far as ingestion, you should make sure that you get your starches eaten earlier on in the day. I aim to get all of my servings in by 2 pm. This gives the body time to burn off the energy and for minimal amounts to be stored as fat. 

Veggies are easy as far as flexibility is concerned, they can be eaten any time of day and you can basically have all you can eat, its quite hard to overdose on vegetables.Try to incorporate veggies into most of your meals and snacks to help both fill you up and fuel you up!


Lastly, at least an hour before bed, have a casein based protein source. this is a slow digesting protein that will keep your digestive system working through the night. the more your digestive system works, the higher your metabolism, the more calories and fat you burn, and the less hungry you feel. Cottage cheese (casein not whey) or a casein protein powder are good for bedtime snacks.


Speaking of snacks, I'll leave you with this: Try to eat every 2-3 hours. That means lots of snacking! Breakfast....preworkout snack....lunch....afternoon snack.....dinner....before bed snack! that's just an example, but feel free to sit down and figure out how best to fit these meals and mini snacks into your lifestyle. Try to map it out where you have your starches earlier on and a good source of carbs before your workout, and don't forget a slow digesting protein before bed!