Awesome Post Workout Lunch/Dinner Meals

1.  Quinoa, Spinach and Chicken

2.  Charred corn salsa with grilled steak

3.  Personal Protein Cake:
Mix 2-3 Tbsp, 1/4 cup wheat bran, 1 Tbsp. whole wheat flour (or rice flour), 1 Tbsp. oatmeal (or gluten free oats), 1 tsp. baking powder, dash of salt, 1/2 cup milk (or water or almond milk), 2 Tbsp. yogurt (makes more moist), 1 egg white.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Bake 20-25 min until slightly firm.

4.  Chicken and veggies with low fat cottage cheese

5.  Quick Quinoa Salad:
Mix 3/4 cooked quinoa, 1 tsp. Veganaise, 1 Tbsp. lemon juice, half an avocado chopped into small chunks.  Drizzle with olive oil.  Add 1/2 of a tomato chopped into chunks and a handful of fresh basil.  Top with sea salt and pepper if desired.  Gently toss all ingredients together.

6.  Low fat Greek yogurt, fresh berries and granola

7.  Fresh Salmon, rice and fresh vegetables

8.  Super Protein Tacos:
One cup of shredded chicken, 2-3 egg whites (scrambled), lettuce, onion, tomato, cilantro, mix with plain low fat Greek yogurt and top with guacamole.  Serve on whole wheat tortilla shells

2012 Grandma's Marathon & Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon - Duluth, MN | DetermiNation

2012 Grandma's Marathon & Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon - Duluth, MN | DetermiNation

YOGA FOR SHIN SPLINTS

How can you help shin splints with yoga?

Shin splints are an irritation of the muscles and connective tissues that attach to the shinbone. The pounding of running stresses the tissues along your tibia, and if the amount of stress is greater than the runner's ability to recover, pain results. The condition is an example of how important recovery is for improvement in sports -- we must give the body time to grow stronger to make gains.

If your shins are sore from pounding the roads, trails or treadmill, try three simple yoga poses.

1. Legs Up the Wall

Sit about 6 inches away from a wall with your left side facing the wall. Swing your legs up onto the wall, laying your head and shoulders flat on the floor. Spend about 10 minutes in this position, allowing the muscles in your legs (especially your lower legs) to relax. If the position is too intense, try the legs-to-the-coffee-table pose, where you rest on your back on the floor with your calves on top of a sofa or low table.

2. Hero Pose

Kneel on the floor with your feet flat and toes pointing behind you. Sit back so that your butt rests on your heels. You’ll feel a big stretch along your tibialis muscles and the tops of your feet. Breathe deeply into the areas where you feel sensation. Hold for 30 seconds to a minute. As you grow more comfortable with the pose, you can increase the time.

3. Tree Pose

This is a simple, single-legged balance pose that helps build strength in your lower legs, helping you to avoid future shin splints. Stand with both feet on the floor about shoulder width apart. Shift your weight into your left foot and lift your right leg. Turn the leg and place your right foot against your left leg, wherever you can comfortably position it: on the calf or the inner thigh, but never against your knee. Lift your hands upward, or keep them at your sides for balance. Hold the position for five to 10 breaths, then repeat, standing on your opposite leg.

SAQ Sports Conditioning

What is SAQ, you ask?
Speed
Agility
Quickness

SAQ workouts consist of short, intense drills that require you to accelerate or decelerate quickly, while moving backward, forward or side-to-side.  SAQ improves balance, power and neuromuscular firing patterns so that your movements become fast, dynamic and precise.  You’ll notice improvements in your response time and your ability to change direction lightning fast.  These workouts are great for athletes!

There are many other sports are explosive—and explosive sports must be trained explosively.

SAQ training helps protect you from injury when you are trying new sports or adding new challenges to your routine.  If you teach your muscles to fire contrary to what they are used to, you will prepare your tendons, ligaments, muscles and joints for the unexpected.

What happens to your muscles?
The central nervous system (CNS) sends messages to a muscle’s individual motor units to team up and recruit more muscle fiber –and that’s a good thing.  The only thing to be cautious about is too much CNS activity, because when you go 90% or faster, it puts a tremendous amount of stress on your CNS and muscles, which makes you stronger, but which also can cause deep fatigue in your body.  So make sure that you recover between SAQ workouts—it takes about 72-96 hours to recover.

Getting ready for SAQ drills:
For the first three weeks do multi-directional movement patterns into your routine. These are fundamental skills that move you up, down, forward, backward, laterally, and diagonally—on flats, hills and stairs.

Weeks four and beyond add SAQ drills 2-3 times per week.  You will want to begin 6-8 weeks before your sport.

Time / Reps

• Beginner/Intermediate:  30 seconds for each drill, with 30 second active recovery of walking  (1-3 sets)
• Intermediate/Advanced: 30-60 seconds for each drill, with 30-60 second active recovery of walking or light jogging. (5-10 sets)

For more on SAQ training, please contact me! 

Best Body Weight Exercises

1.  Squats
2.  Push ups
3.  Bridges
4.  Lunges
5.  Planks
6.  Tricep dips
7.  Single leg deadlifts
8.  Spinal balance
9.  Bicycles
10.  Leg hovers
11.  Side lunges
12.  Burpees
13.  Lunge jumps
14.  Pull ups
15.  Jumping jacks (squat jacks)
16.  Mountain climbers
17.  Tuck jumps
18.  Butt kicks
19.  Frog jumps
20.  Plie' squats

*Looking for more information on training using some of these exercises, contact me*

Are you obsessed with eating healthy foods?

As I was researching today, I ran across this article posted on the Livestrong website.  I found it very interesting, and thought I would share with you. 

http://www.livestrong.com/article/481891-health-food-passion-or-dangerous-obsession/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=110809

Post your comment, and let me know what you think.