Uncategorized - fitknitchick

#FatblasterFriday | A Bosu Circuit Workout that won’t embarrass you at the gym

April 26, 2013 by Tamara 22 Comments

Last week I asked my Facebook group (not a member yet? Click on the link and ‘like’ the page) for some suggestions for my next #FatblasterFriday real time workout video (subscribe to my YouTube channel so as never to miss a workout).

My favourite response?

“bosu stuff that I could use in the gym (nothing I’d be embarrassed having people see me do if you know what I mean lol)”

Yes, my friend, I know EXACTLY what you mean

We’ve talked before about why I love the Bosu. All of the wonderful things it can add to your workout. How it can be used for strength and cardio as well as core. How it challenges muscles that you didn’t even know you had…

Today’s #FatblasterFriday workout is a whole body, 5-move Bosu circuit workout that will strengthen your muscles, elevate your heart rate and challenge your core, all without EMBARRASSING you in the gym

Set your timer for 10 rounds of 45 s work and 15 s rest. All you need is a Bosu (and perhaps a mat, if you need to come to your knees for pushups).

CLICK on the video below and DO the workout WITH ME!

Did you like this workout? Then PLEASE

WATCH and DO the workouts with me
SUBSCRIBE to fitknitchick on YouTube
CHECK OUT the #FatblasterFriday Playlist for more, real time workouts
PIN the above WORKOUT PHOTO
GIVE me your FEEDBACK on YouTube or in the COMMENTS section below
LIKE and SHARE my videos with your friends via email, Facebook and Twitter

More VIEWS, LIKES, COMMENTS and SHARES –>> More VIDEOS!

Disclaimer: Although I am a registered Personal Trainer, I am not YOUR Personal Trainer. Always adapt workouts to suit your body and fitness level. Always consult your doctor before beginning a new exercise program.

{22 Comments }

I need your help | it’s blog improvement month!

January 30, 2013 by Tamara 13 Comments

It’s that time of the year…

During the month of February, I’m on a mission to improve my blog. They’ll be some visual changes, a new header and possibly some re-direction of focus. Depending on what you have to say, of course!

I’ve put together a quick survey that I’d love for you to take. Two minutes of your time is all I need, I swear.

The survey has 6 questions (and space for you to wax poetic about my writing, if you please…). It’s all multiple choice and there’s nothing you need to have studied before hand.

Please click on through and tell me a bit more about yourselves and WHY you read my blog.

Click here to take survey

Thanks a bunch!

{13 Comments }

Weighing in on weighing in | how often do you weigh yourself?

January 7, 2013 by Tamara 35 Comments

Yesterday was Day 1 of the DietBet I’m currently hosting (I’m super excited, as the ‘pot’ is just over $5000!).

Participants submitted their initial weights sometime between Friday morning and Sunday lunch. Amazingly enough, by mid-afternoon Sunday, nearly 20% of the participants had already updated their weight (and even more amazing, some had already lost significant percentages of their body weight…).

Somehow, I hadn’t expected participants to weigh in daily. DietBet only requires initial and final weights. That’s certainly all that I was planning on. How often do you weigh yourself?

Now I’m not really a huge fan of the bathroom scales. And Friday’s weigh in was the first time I’d stepped on mine in about a month. (The number was higher than I expected, so maybe I stayed away too long..). My rationale? My scale weight isn’t a true measure of how fit and healthy I am. I’d rather focus on the number of pushups I can do and how many pounds I can squat, than how much my body weighs.

Truth be told, I’ve always found my scale weight to be higher than I think it should be (given what I used to weigh before graduate school, marriage, kids and peri-menopause…) and get discouraged when it shows no sign up changing despite healthy eating and frequent exercise.

But comments from some of my DietBet participants indicate that not everybody shares my view:

~ I have to weigh and post weight daily….whether down or up on the scale….to be accountable. …. I’ve tried that once a week thing & for me it is a disaster, LOL!

~ I weigh myself every day, usually twice a day (a.m. and before bed)

I’d like to hear YOUR thoughts.

How often do you weigh yourself?

Why that frequency (as opposed to any other)?

Why not more (or less) often?

How do the scales help or hinder your weight loss (and weight loss maintenance) efforts?

Please discuss below! (And if you’re participating in Fitknitchick’s DietBet, let us know!)

{35 Comments }

Join my January DietBet: lose weight, win money and have fun!

December 18, 2012 by Tamara 16 Comments

I’ve done a ton of Christmas baking this year. While I’d love to tell you that I’ve been happy to just sample a bite, here and there, I can’t. I’m a terrible liar; always have been, always will be. But in my own defence, I have thoroughly enjoyed every single bite : )

I’ve upped my daily exercise in an attempt to offset the increase calories-from-sugar load (you’ve been following my Twitter #30FOR30 hashtag, right?), but I suspect that it’s not quite enough to prevent the inevitable 3 or 4 pound weight gain I’m likely to notice come January (I don’t weigh myself regularly, but I can tell when I’ve put on weight by the fit of my favourite jeans…).

Sound familiar?

If so, I invite you to join my January DietBet!

January DietBet

Here’s how it works:

Join Fitknitchick’s DietBet <<<<—— by clicking on the link.
Set up your profile and ante up ($25)
Submit your starting weight photo a couple of days before the contest starts (photos and weights remain private; nobody will see it but you!)
Lose 4% of your body weight in 4 weeks and claim your share of the pot!

The more participants, the bigger the pot and the larger your share of the winnings!

In addition to the monetary prize, I’ll also be rewarding the top ‘loser’ with a special ‘Fitknitchick’ prize. Watch the video below for more details!

And since a big part of weight loss is getting adequate exercise, I’ll be posting daily workouts on my Facebook page for the entire month of January! Make sure you’ve ‘liked’ my page and have added it to your interests list (details on how to do it can be found here).

Do you make New Year’s Resolutions?

If yes, is losing weight one of them?

Will you be joining my January DietBet?

What size are your feet?

{16 Comments }

Fitness over the holidays | The #30FOR30 movement challenge

December 1, 2012 by Tamara 7 Comments

Do you find it difficult to stick with your fitness and nutrition plan once the holiday season starts? (I know, some of you don’t need the holidays as an excuse; sticking with fitness is challenging no matter the time of year…)

Every year I tell myself that this will be the year that I don’t indulge. Christmas baking? Who needs it! Seasonal cocktails? I can do without.

Guess how long my resolve lasts? About as long as it takes the second pan of gingerbread to cool!

Why? Because food is a huge part of family celebrations and traditions.

This year I’m taking a completely different approach to fitness over the holidays.

In addition to maintaining my regular workouts, I’m challenging myself to add an extra 30 minutes of movement to my day, each and every day in December (with the possible exception of Christmas Day itself; time off for good behaviour, you know!). That way, I can still enjoy the tastes of the season without worrying about their effects on my waistline!

I’m calling my challenge #30FOR30; 30 minutes of activity for 30 days in December. Care to join me?

That extra activity can be anything you choose; a run, a walk, shovelling snow, building a snow fort (surprisingly hard work!), washing the floors, taking a Zumba class. As long as you’re moving and it’s 30 minutes MORE than you’d usually do in a day! Regular workouts don’t count

I’ll be sharing my #PROOF with you on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using the hashtag #30FOR30. You should too!

Make sure you’re following me (I always follow back unless you try to sell me followers or post naughty pictures to my feed):

Twitter: fitknitchick_1

Instagram: fitknitchick_1

Facebook: Fitknitchick

Looking forward to seeing what YOUR daily #30FOR30 looks like!

{7 Comments }

#FatblasterFriday | 8 Resistance Band Exercises for Home or Travel

November 23, 2012 by Tamara 21 Comments

Well, the turkey and mashed potatoes are finished. The last of the pumpkin pie cheesecake was eaten for breakfast. The wine bottles have been carried to the curb. Another Thanksgiving dinner is over and done.

resistance band exercises

Now’s the perfect time to haul yourself off the couch and squeeze in a quick workout!

I know, you’re not at home and you don’t have any equipment other than that resistance band I suggested you pack

resistance band exercises

This week’s #FatblasterFriday workout is a short and sweet, whole body strength workout, perfect for regular exercisers and newcomers to fitness alike. Just twelve reps of each of 8 resistance band exercises and you’re done (unless you had seconds on dessert; then you need to do the circuit two more times…).

Tips for working with a resistance band?

always check your band for tears and holes before you begin your workout; a band that snaps during exercise will leave a nasty bruise on your arm, leg or face
bands with padded handles are easier to use than bands without
bands generally come in 4′ and 6′ lengths. The longer the band, the more versatile (you can always shorten it when more resistance is needed; see below)
make sure there’s tension on the band at the beginning of each exercise; no tension, no added resistance
increase the resistance on the band by shortening the distance between the handles, either by wrapping the excess band around your wrists (as demonstrated in the video) or by stepping on the band with both feet (again, see the video for more details)

Ready to go? The “Resistance is NOT futile” Band Workout!

resistance band exercises

Did you like this workout? Then PLEASE

WATCH and DO the workouts with me
SUBSCRIBE to fitknitchick on YouTube
CHECK OUT the #FatblasterFriday Playlist for more, real time workouts
PIN the above WORKOUT PHOTO
GIVE me your FEEDBACK on YouTube or in the COMMENTS section below
LIKE and SHARE my videos with your friends via email, Facebook and Twitter

More VIEWS, LIKES, COMMENTS and SHARES –>> More VIDEOS!

{21 Comments }

Healthy holiday gifts for the fit and the fit-to-be

November 17, 2012 by Tamara 3 Comments

Christmas is less than 6 weeks away. This fact stresses me out. So much to do, so little time to do it all in. Are you feeling it too?

I am here to help.

Head on over to Wish and Whimsy and check out my list of 10 healthy holiday gifts to give (and receive!) this holiday season.

healthy holiday gift ideas

You’re welcome!

P.S. I still have a lot of shopping to do, myself. Any healthy holiday gifts you can think of to add to my list?

{3 Comments }

Sexy, air-brushed fitness model photos: inspirational or disheartening?

July 30, 2012 by Tamara 25 Comments

Last week, I waded into a Facebook discussion about the potential negative effects of the sexy, glamourous fitness model photos now seen daily in fitness magazines and websites.

Are they inspirational or disheartening?

Motivating or spirit-crushing?

Positive or negative?

Do ‘ordinary’ people (I count myself in this group), look at them and think “Hey, I want to look like that; if she can do it, I can too”? Or do they quickly click away, feeling defeated and inadequate and even less inspired to head to the gym and bypass the dessert menu?

Lots of interesting points of view were raised. I’ve paraphrased some of them below (and added my own thoughts in parentheses).

nobody is forcing anyone to look at the images (true, but hard to avoid and even a glimpse can subconsciously affect some)
who defines the word ‘fitness’? (it means different things to different people and is not necessarily the same as ‘skinny’ or ‘sexy’)
we’re all looking through different lenses, defined by how we feel about our own bodies (body image is personal and can be changed)
not just women are affected; young, ripped male bodies are the example older men have to gaze upon
seeing ‘before’ photos can make the ‘after’ pics more inspirational (I love ‘before’ and ‘after’ shots)
many of the digital images we see are altered and everybody knows it (but do they really?)
the fitness industry relies on new recruits to sell products and services; we need to be easy to approach to those who most need us (how do we get plus sized participants into our gyms if everybody working out there is a size 0?)

I, myself, love to see progress pics of people on fitness journeys.

I like to see their abs appearing and their muscles becoming more defined. I’ve posted progress pictures of myself and hope that they haven’t deterred anyone from starting or continuing to improve their own physique. I promise that I’ve never air-brushed my abs or photo-shopped my butt (not that I would even know how to!).

But I draw the line at fitness model photos that reveal too much. I don’t believe in sexualizing my body to sell videos (heck, nobody would buy them!) or promote blog posts (my husband thinks that taking the pictures is fine, but publicizing them on Facebook is not; for his eyes only please!)

I would love to continue this discussion with you.

Sexy, air-brushed fitness model photos: love ‘em or hate ‘em? Comments below please!

{25 Comments }

The ‘Functional Four’ workout and a bonus move for your butt

June 12, 2012 by Tamara 29 Comments

I work as a personal trainer in a public gym. The majority of my clients are women in their 40′s who need to lose (by their own admission) 15-40 pounds.

In my experience, the best way to do that is to perform whole body, compound exercises at an intensity that elevates your heart rate for the better part of your 45 minute workout. (In addition to eating clean, of course).

The workouts that I prescribe typically include four functional movements; squats, lunges, pushes and pulls. Each of these types of movements target multiple muscle groups and hence, won’t increase the size of your biceps or triceps or tighten your inner thighs exclusively.

Curls and triceps extensions and calf raises? Vanity moves. Exercises that can improve the look of a single muscle group, but only once the layer of subcutaneous fat that covers them is burned off!

Am I suggesting that you shouldn’t perform vanity exercises? Absolutely not! I love vanity moves too!

Instead, I suggest that you place them at the end of your program, once the heavy, metabolic, fat-burning lifting is done! Think of bicep curls as a reward for completing your squats and lunges! Tricep extensions as the dessert to your meal of pushups and bent over rows. Hamstring curls on the ball as a rest for your arms and back after finishing your third set of pull ups!

Below is my ‘Functional Four’ workout.

Complete 10-12 repetitions of each exercises using the heaviest weight (or most challenging progression) you can. Then move immediately to the next exercise, cycling through the entire workout 3 or 4 times. Your heart rate should remain elevated throughout; don’t rest until you’re done! Options are given for beginners, intermediate and advanced exercisers.

fitknitchick workouts

And no, I didn’t forget about your abs! Almost all of the above exercises require you to work your core in a functional manner. Stabilization and mobilization while other parts of your body are moving.

If you want to increase the challenge of the above workout to your core you can (1) offload the weight during a given exercise (e.g., offset load squat, change the pushup into a T-pushup) and (2) use a stability tool in place of either the floor (e.g., lunge with foot on Bosu) or a bench (e.g., chest press with head and shoulders supported on a stability ball)

Once you’ve finished the heavy work you can indulge in a vanity move or two. One of my favourites in a hamstring curl on the ball.

Check out today’s Tuesday Trainer for some other great vanity moves.

Do you include the functional four in your workouts?

What’s your favourite vanity move?

{29 Comments }

Jock itch and athlete’s foot: not just for men and the hygiene-challenged

May 14, 2012 by Tamara 15 Comments

Just a quick announcement; come June 1st, I’ll be offering my readers a free monthly newsletter with fitness tips, seasonally-relevant menu ideas and an exercise of the month. Sign up by entering your e-mail in the box to the left (I never pass your email addresses on to third parties) and please, feel free to forward to friends and family who might benefit from some healthy lifestyle advice!

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There’s a fungus amongus.

Lame, I know. But no better way to start a conversation about jock itch and athlete’s foot than with a joke!

Jock itch and athlete’s foot (also known as ‘ringworm’ of the foot) are both fungal infections of the skin that cause scaling, flaking and itching. They are caused by fungi (don’t you love that word? fun-ji? like there’s anything fun about it?) in the genus Trichophyton. Most commonly seen on the foot (it’s typically transmitted in moist areas where people walk barefoot), it can also spread to other areas of the body, including the groin (now called ‘jock itch’).

Now I’ve always thought that jock itch was something only men experienced. After all, they tend not to be as hygience-conscious as us women (although my husband is a 3-showers-a-day kind of guy; go figure) and they have those dangly bits that brush against each other keeping folds of skin moist; the perfect breeding ground for Trichophyton.

But just yesterday, a friend and class participant of mine told me that she had recently been diagnosed with it. The most likely mode of infection? Stepping into clean panties after a shower at the gym. Fungus on the floor may have come into contact with the fabric of her panties via her feet, and presto, a nasty fungal infection of the lady parts. Yikes! Yet another reason to go home for a shower after a workout!

I myself have had athlete’s foot on and off for years. Some weeks it’s worse than others. When it’s really bad, my entire foot (just my left foot, weirdly enough) is scaly and red, with small patches of blisters that itch like the dickens. Especially at night. For some reason, the itching is worse when I’m feeling stressed and during the week before my period arrives. Hmm.

I’ve visited my doctor, repeatedly. He always dishes out the same advice; apply anti-fungal cream twice daily, change your socks and shoes frequently, avoid greasy foot lotions (which may exacerbate the problem) and line your shoes with a fine layer of sweat-absorbing foot powder.

I’ve done it all. Diligently. Repeatedly.

I’ve changed products (there are lots of different products on the market, some just different brands with the same active ingredients, others with different ingredients that might be expected to be better at combatting different species of fungus). I’ve discovered that if you put too much powder in your running shoes before you teach a step class, grape vine will leave you slipping and sliding and landing on your keister (excess powder has a way of whooshing itself through the tiny vents in your shoes!).

Just last week, I switched products again and realized, today, that I haven’t been itchy all week. No fungally-induced insomnia. No weeping blisters. No scaly patches. Is it really gone? (I realize, that just by writing this, I’m daring the fungus gods to inflict on me the worst bout of night scratchies I’ve ever experienced; call me reckless). Only time will tell. (For the record, the active ingredient in the product I’m currently using is tolnaftate 1% USP).

I’ve always been embarrassed to talk about my ‘foot problem’. I don’t do pedicures with the girls, because I don’t want an aesthetician touching my feet. I usually wear shoes that cover my toes and have only recently gotten comfortable going bare foot in yoga (“there is no judgement on the mat”). Perhaps this is the year I wear flip flops with pride!