Bicep Growth

You have heard me say over and over again to "make sure you're getting full range of motion!". This article just backs up why you need to take the time to do the exercise correctly, even if it means dropping in weight. Slow down, squeeze the biceps and get full range of motion on every single rep. Read on for great tips on growing bigger biceps.

(This was from an article I found on http://www.criticalbench.com/bigger-biceps.htm.)

STEP 1: DIAL THE RIGHT "FREQUENCY"
Because the biceps are a smaller muscle, and because they're used in compound exercises when working other muscle groups, your arms are more prone to overtraining than any other muscles of the body.

I'm sure you understand by now that your muscles grow when they're at REST, rather than work. So if you keep your biceps at work by targeting them more than once a week, you're setting yourself up for major disappointment!

This is where the "more is better" crowd will lose every time! Stick to only one targeted arms workout per week and you'll give them the much needed recovery time to pack on new muscle.

STEP 2: UPGRADE YOUR R.O.M.
I'm referring to your muscle's range of motion.
If you ever want to grow your biceps to their full potential, you must concentrate on hitting all of the muscle fibers. The only way to do this is to take the muscle from full "pronation" (arm extended, palm facing body) to full "supination" (arm curled, pinky turned in toward body at top of curl, and squeeze).

You're not impressing anyone by stacking up the EZ curl bar with massive weight and flopping your body all over the place like a hooked bass, your arms barely lowering the weight to full extension.

You MUST start every single repetition with your arms fully extended. (Yes…I know this makes the exercise harder, now grab a tissue, wipe away the tears, and get back to work!)
A little trick to help you accomplish this is to briefly flex your triceps before raising the weight each rep.

Since the only way to do this is to fully extend your arm, you'll know you've begun each rep in the optimum starting position to stimulate new muscle growth.

STEP 3: RECRUIT YOUR "MAIN SQUEEZE"
At the very top of your curl, when your bicep has peaked, squeeze the muscle hard for approximately 1-2 seconds.

The hard part will be forcing yourself to actually DECREASE the weight you currently use because, chances are, you've been padding your ego by working too heavy, while sacrificing the most effective ego-booster…BIGGER BICEPS!

Best Exercises For Women

The best exercises for women are total body, multiple large muscle group exercises. They exercise a lot of your lean mass so they will benefit you if you are looking to lose weight, tone up and even build muscle.

What are the Best Exercises for Women?

Since you are most likely not looking for bulking muscles the best exercises for women who are looking to tone up are Combination Exercises.

Combination exercises are multiple exercises performed at the same time (Squat

with Shoulder Press, Lunge with Bicep Curl, etc.). These are the best exercises for women because they will allow you to work multiple muscle groups, and get more

overall work in during your workouts.

• More overall work = extra calories burned = a higher metabolism, which means you will be more likely to burn fat, tone up, lose weight, and be lean.

Not only will Combination Exercises help you burn fat/lose weight, but they are also weight bearing which means it helps prevent osteoporosis!!!

This does not mean that other exercises will not benefit you. As long as you have a healthy diet, perform cardiovascular exercise and try to live a healthy active lifestyle all exercises are beneficial. If you are already in the lean category, certain toning exercises will help you tone your muscles. Toning exercises are isolation movements which concentrate mainly on only one certain muscle. (example: Bicep Curls, Tricep Extensions, Lateral Raises, Calf Raises, Inner/Outer Thigh Machines, etc...)

It is so important that we do exercises of both kinds. The most difficult exercises are usually the combination exercises because they involve the most muscle groups and require the practice of balance and coordination. Many people have moderate to severe balance and coordination challenges.

Yoga is an excellent way to improve your balance and coordination and should be separate from your cardio and weight training sessions. Choose a Saturday orSunday morning to practice yoga. Yoga is a good practice for helping to bring the mind and the body together. That's why when you're in the middle of an exercise and you want to chat about your day, I remind you that "The mind is in the muscle."

Results... and the Law Of Attraction:

If during your work out (whether it be w/ me or your cardio session, etc) you just want to 'get it over with' it is likely that you will not achieve your goal. However, if you learn to enjoy the blood pumping and the heart beating hard and sweat dripping down your face, you will get results. You'll start to look forward to your workouts. You have to learn to love this lifestyle because it is the only option you have for living a long and healthy life! Be proud of your achievements and don't set a goal that is out of reach. Keep pushing yourself as hard as you know you can! There is no magic spell for achieving your goals. Look at any athlete and you can see that they did not achieve that level of fitness easily or quickly.

Knowledge is power so take what you learn and turn your fitness goal into a labor of love for yourself!

Are You A Committer OR Non-Committer

There are two types of people, concerning weight loss: Committers & Non-Committers.

The COMMITTERS lose weight and achieve their goal in a realistic time frame and are focused on consistent good balanced nutrition and consistent cardio. Every time we meet for training they are asking questions and giving me feedback on what is working for them. The key word here is consistency. A positive attitude is also an attribute shared by Committers.

The NONCOMMITTERS do not lose weight (or bounce up and down) and either have a laundry list of excuses for why they have not achieved their goal(s), or they just do the work out to get it over with and do not ask any questions or give any feedback. Their lack of weight loss becomes "the elephant in the room."

I have seen an addiction to food and lack of will power destroy the Non-Committers chance of achieving their goal(s). It's almost like they've given up before they even started. "Comfort Food" becomes an excuse that they feel entitled too.

You've got to say, "If I keep working at this and want it badly enough I can have it." It's called perseverance.

Do you want it badly enough? You want it but not bad enough to work that hard for it? Is cutting out sugar really such a bad thing? You can give yourself 1 cheat MEAL (not cheat DAY!) per week. If you can't commit to that then it's safe to say that you don't really want it.

Are you just fine with being a "C average" or do you want to be an "A+"?

Only YOU can make the COMMITTMENT. I am here to motivate you and teach you. There's nothing I want more than your success!

80% to achieving your goal is diet so you'll need to take the necessary steps to gain control. 4 words: FREQUENT-SMALL-HEALTHY-PORTIONS.

Vegetarian Alfredo Lasagna

I use dry milk and water and mix with the alfredo powder (instead of buying the pre-made alfredo in jars or using half & half or cream). Follow directions for alfreado sauce on back of sauce packet.

Cut whatever vegetable you want in it, into bite size pieces or smaller. Mix vegetables into the alfreado sauce.


3 cups of sauce mix (vegetables mixed with alfredo sauce)
6 uncooked whole wheat or quinoa lasagna noodles
15 oz. Skim Ricotta Cheese
2 cups Skim Mozzarella Cheese
1/4 c. grated Parmesan Cheese

In a 2 quart shallow baking dish (11x7") spread 1 cup veg/sauce mix. Top with 3 uncooked lasagna noodles, ricotta cheese, 1 cup Mozzarella cheese, Parmesan Cheese and 1 cup veg/sauce mix. Top with reamianing 3 uncooked lasagna noodles and remaining veg/sauce mix. Cover.

Bake 375 for 1 hour. Uncover and top with remaining mozzarella cheese. Let stand 5 minutes.

This is a high fiber, high protein and low fat meal. Freeze leftovers as single portions for a quick and easy meal.

Staying Fit In The Summer

Here's the link to my "staying fit in the summer" segment for Sonoran Living ABC15 that I did this morning. It was really fun! Turn up the volume :)

If you refer someone you gain a free session. If you sign up and refer you gain 2 free session.

If anyone local needs a trainer I charge $20 for 30 minutes and $35 for one hour. Go to http://www.shapeuptraining.com/ for sessions packages. (The first session is always free - try before you buy)

Wendy Allen
480-235-8850
dream.train.achieve.

Sodium Consumption

According to the CDC, Americans consume an average of 3,436 milligrams of sodium per day, though dietary guidelines for adults suggest limits of 2,300 milligrams daily as a general recommendation and less than 1,500 milligrams daily for individuals who are 40 years of age or older, African-American, or have a history of high blood pressure.

Tips to Cut Salt in Your Diet

Jeannie Gazzaniga-Moloo, PhD, a nutritionist and spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association, had several suggestions for how to easily, and painlessly, cut your sodium intake now:

• Downsize your portions."More calories in the meal equals more sodium. It's that simple," Gazzaniga-Moloo says.
• Fill half your plate with fruits and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables are high in potassium, and potassium is important to keeping blood pressure low.
• Scan the "Nutrition Facts" panel on packaged foods for sodium content. About half of consumers read those labels. You should also, not just for salt, but for sodium content.
• Ask to see nutrition information when eating out. Most chain restaurants have it on hand, but independent restaurants may not.
• Retrain your taste buds."By gradually and slowly reducing sodium we can retrain our taste buds to not want so much salt inour diet," according to Gazzaniga-Moloo. Try mixing foods with their low-sodium versions for a nice "middle ground."
• "Compare, compare, compare." Sodium can vary widely even for similar food items. A 1-ounce serving of bread can range from 95 milligrams to 210 milligrams of sodium. Similar styles of salad dressing can range from 110 milligrams up to 505 milligrams for 2 tablespoons.
• Know your seasons. Fruits and vegetables that are in season tend to have more flavor on their own and need less salt to taste good.
• Spices, vinegar, and wine can add plenty of flavor without increasing sodium.
• Add healthy fat for flavor. Healthy fat-containing foods like olive oil, avocado oil, nuts, and seeds can add flavor without extra salt.

Mix It Up with Cardio!

Hey everyone! Just a reminder to mix up your cardio routines! We always mix up your strength training routines doing circuits one day and supersets another...reps to failure, etc. Remember to do the same thing with your cardio!

For example:

Day 1: Spin class

Day 2: Run or bike

Day 3: Swim

Day 4: Kickboxing

Day 5: Elliptical

There's also the opportunity to take a yoga class or aerobics class. I hear Zumba is a lot of fun...Kickboxing and Boot camp classes are always a lot of fun.

Keeping a fresh routine leaves you always looking forward to it rather than dreading the same thing every single day! Even just going between 3 machines at the gym: treadmill walk on incline, bike interval training, elliptical interval training.

Have fun being fit and reaching your goal. You don't have to just sit on a stationary bike every day for 30 minutes, but that is a good way to hit a plateau~

You love to swim? See how many laps you can do in 5 minutes. Then take a rest and let your heart rate come down. Then do it again and try to beat your record!

If you're on the bike, choose a hill program and try to keep your RPMs up when you're climbing! Push yourself. Set a goal for your cardio that day. "Today I want to run 3 miles in under 30 minutes!" or take that spin class that you've been so nervous to take. You'll have a blast! Your quads will burn way more than your butt on that seat so get in there and spin.

Most importantly set goals, work hard and have fun. When you achieve the goal you're personally rewarded with a sense of achievement that keeps you pushing for more.

Dream.Train.Achieve.