Tips to beat the holiday stress

Thanksgiving is approaching.  That means the holidays are officially upon us.  Now the question becomes: Are you prepared for the stress that inevitably accompanies the festivities?  Whether your answer is yes or no, here are some tips and advice for conquering the holidays without sweating like you just finished an hour long metcon.

#1: Delegate tasks. I know, I know.  You are Wonder Woman or Superman; you can carry the world on your shoulders, cook the perfect turkey, and bake a pumpkin pie all at once without a second though, but even the most super of superheroes has their crew backing them the entire way.  Don’t be afraid to divide up the tasks.  Have the family get together and decide who will help provide drinks, who will bring side dishes, who will make what for dessert, who will cook a turkey or ham, etc.  This way everyone feels that they are helping contribute to the celebration, and you can relax a little more and enjoy the family time.

#2: Budget.  Create a budget and stick to it!  Grocery stores post sales adds all the time.  Look at the adds.  These adds are your friends!  Plan your grocery list and stick to it.  I, personally, love the Kroger app, because it allows me to make my grocery list on my phone, organizes the items I put on my list based on what aisle they are on, and all I must do is follow the order of the groceries on the app; it saves me time and keeps me more on track than if I wonder up and down the aisles, picking up a package of cookies or two that I don’t need in the house.  

#3: Ask for help.  This is what the holidays are all about!  Family and friends coming together to spend time together and appreciate all that they have.  Use those people to help you!  Like I said earlier, I know you are all superheroes, but hang the cape up for a day or two and let others help.  No one will know you need help until you ask. 

#4: Take time for yourself.  The other good thing about the holidays, other than family, friends, and food, is the much-needed time off from work.  Take time to pamper yourself.  Use the time off to go get a massage or take a hot bath or just sit and enjoy some peace and quiet.  There is nothing saying the holidays must be filled with constant travel and hustle and bustle.  Stop and breathe.  Take a deep breath and enjoy all the end of the year has to offer. 

Always remember to consider yourself and your sanity during this time of giving.  You cannot give from an empty cup, so take time to do things that make you happy and fill your cup.

Happy (not) sweating!

-Kirsten

Total Body Tabata

    Tabata training is an easily used form of high-intensity interval training that is short, sweet, and to the point.  Tabata training was discovered by Dr. Izumi Tabata, a Japanese scientist, who, with the help of his research team from the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Tokyo, conducted a study to determine that high-intensity interval training had a great impact on the aerobic and anaerobic systems.  If you are interested in reading more about the study and what the team of researchers did, click this link to read the article.  

     The Tabata program goes as follows: 8 rounds of 20 seconds of hard work with 10 seconds of rest.  It's that easy.  Any movement you like can be turned in to a high-intensity workout.  Do not be deceived by the fact that you are only working for 20 seconds at a time, if you are going hard on every round, you will be feeling it.  That's the glory of the Tabata; the short amount of work time is still enough to leave you breathless, sweaty, and wanting more.  

     This short video demos 5 moves for a full-body Tabata workout that will only take you 20 minutes to complete.  Each movement is performed for 8 rounds before moving on to the next movement, but no extra rest time is added in, i.e. when you finish the 8th round of push-ups, you have 10 seconds to get ready for your first round of mountain climbers.   Below the video, I have listed instructions and points of performance for each exercise, as well as options to scale down if necessary.

Good Morning - Hamstring, Glutes, and Low back

• Feet hip-width apart, slight bend in the knees, and a flat back
• Keep your weight in your heels as you push your hips back, bending at the hips
• You should feel a pull in the hamstrings (the back of your legs) and your glutes

Plank to Down-dog - Shoulders and Core

• Start in a solid plank position, wrists directly beneath the shoulders, and belly button pulled in to towards the spine
• Hands and feet will not move
• Open the shoulders, so your armpits are towards your thighs, and push the hips in to the air
• Bend the legs as needed to take pressure off of extremely tight hamstrings
• Return to your plank position

Push-up - Chest, Triceps, and Core

• Still in your solid plank position, lower the body down towards the ground so that the shoulder is in line with, or just below, the elbow
• Push back up to the starting position
• Modification: If you are unable to perform a push-up, or cannot perform very many push-ups, without losing core stability or failing to be able to return to the start position, feel free to come down on to the knees.  Another variation, find an object such as a bench or a wall to lean against in a more upright plank position and perform your push-ups that way.

Mountain Climbers - Cardio, Core, Upper back, Legs

• This movement is much more cardio intensive.
• From your plank position, raise the hips slightly.  Not as high as in your down-dog, but not straight in line with your shoulders as it is in your plank
• Draw the knees in towards the chest as fast as you can
• Modification: Do not feel the need to hop with the reps, keep it more low impact by pulling the knee in, step the foot back, draw the other knee in, and repeat for the 20 seconds.

Jumping Lunges - Cardio and Legs

• Set up in your lunge position, one leg forward and the other leg back.
• Lower the back knee towards the ground, keep the front knee tracking over the ankle, and the upper body should remain upright.
• Hop and quickly switch legs, lowering back down in to your lunge position of the other side.
• Modification: Take out the hop.  To make the movement more low impact, simply step the foot forward to your lunge, step the foot back even with the other foot, and switch.  You still get the benefits of the lunge without the harder impact of the jump.

Leave a comment letting me know what you thought of the workout and what movements you enjoy incorporating in to your Tabata training!  

Happy sweating!

-Kirsten 

Apple Cinnamon French Toast

     Well, I'm not sure about the rest of the United States, but it feels like winter has hit Arkansas hard over the weekend.  I don't particularly love winter (I personally enjoy being able to wear shorts and tank tops and not needing a dozen layers to walk out the door), but I do love baking and making warm breakfasts during the colder weather.  I decided to experiment with making French toast yesterday morning but with a little variation.  Unpopular opinion, but I think pumpkin spice is overrated; I just simply do not get what is so great about pumpkin spice.  So when I was scrolling through Pinterest the other day and came across pumpkin spice French toast, I decided to make my a fall variation French toast that I think deserves more love, apple cinnamon.  (But for real....apple cinnamon will always be superior to pumpkin spice in my world.)  So let's get to the recipe...

To start out, I cut a few slices of French bread and peeled and chopped 3 yellow delicious apples.  You could use any type of apple you would like, I just prefer yellow delicious apples.

I put a tablespoon of butter in 2 different skillets and made an egg mixture for the toast and the spice mixture for the apples.  The egg mixture consisted of: 2 C milk, 2 eggs, 2 tbsp brown sugar, 2 tsp cinnamon, and 1 tsp nutmeg.  The spice mixture consisted of: 1/4 C honey, 2 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp vanilla, and 1/4 C water.  Very simple to mix and take no time at all.

For the fried apples, I put the apples in the warm skillet (kept on medium heat) for about 4-5 minutes to start browning a little.  Once the apples started to brown, I poured the spice mixture over them, covered the pan, and let them continue to cook for 3-4

For the toast, be sure each piece of bread is completely coated with the egg mixture.  In the other skillet, also heated on medium heat, cook each piece of bread for 3-4 minutes on each side, until they are slightly toasted on the outside.

I then plated the toast, put some apples on each piece, and then poured the liquid from the apples over the pieces of toast.  If you let the apples cool for a few minutes, the liquid will thicken up in to an almost caramel consistency, and it is absolutely wonderful.  These were sweet enough to not need any extra syrup or sugar on top.

I did not calculate the macros for this breakfast, because I did not want to take the time to do it.  Yesterday was a wonderfully relaxed morning for Jason and I, and I just wanted to enjoy making breakfast for the both of us and not be concerned with doing a bunch of math and exact measurements.  Some days are like that; being in the moment and enjoying yourself are sometimes more important than knowing the exact calorie breakdown of what you're eating.  The mental release from cooking for the pure pleasure of cooking is just what you need some days.