Catching up with A&J

A:

Wow! What a weekend I have had! As you know I was headed to Ohio on Thursday for the Arnold Expo and it couldn't have possibly been more amazing. I arrived on Thursday and spent the evening watching the men's physique along with women's bikini, fitness and figure prejudging. I spent the first night with Nikki (@pennywakefield) who is such a complete sweetheart.  Friday was spent meeting some my fitspo inspirations such as Jazzy (@jazzythings) Amy (@fitamysuzanne) and the one and only Dana Linn Bailey! Friday evening (which included dinner and a group lifting session) along with the rest of the weekend was spent with Lacey (@faithandfit) Emilia (@emiliafit) Zoe (@zoelivelovelift) and Kim(@pbeechie). Love these girlies! I learned so much from them and had a wonderful time getting to know them. What an experience it was to see Instagram friends turn into real life friends. They are all so supportive and I left feeling 10x more comfortable about my upcoming competition and my current prep. The expo was absolutely amazing, so many muscles in one place! I received samples from all my favorites: Cellucor, Optimum Nutrition, and Quest. I discovered new favorites such as Fitmiss and Perky Jerky. I could go on and on about my weekend and I will expand in other posts. Stay tuned for the weekends expo fashion- what was bought and what everyone was wearing. Also to come is a more in depth look of some supplement brands and samples that I fell in love with!

J:

Okay, so although I am super jealous of Arlene because she got to go to the Arnold Expo and had tons of fun, my week was pretty eventful too as well. I had some great workouts at the beginning of the week burning anywhere from 1600-2800 calories per session. I felt like I had a break through and honestly was getting the most of my workouts. I decided to reward myself with some new gym clothes. By Thursday I realized that I had a lot of homework to finish before my classes on Monday. Thursday night I got a call that I would be starting my new job at OSH on Friday. I spent all weekend at work trying to familiarize myself with the processes and the way things are done. Between that and getting caught up with my school work, I didn't have time to go to the gym all weekend. I woke up today feeling really down about myself, although I had been eating clean for the most part I still felt like I had taken three steps back. The more I thought about the missed opportunities I had at the gym, the more unmotivated I started to feel. Then I saw a quote on Instagram "Don't wait until you've reached your goal to be proud of yourself. Be proud of every step you take toward reaching that goal." I started looking back at old pictures of myself and I looked at myself in the mirror. My body still looked the same as it had 3 days ago, and while I definitely hadn't gained strength or muscle, I hadn't gained any fat either. I took a look at how far I've come and realized that skipping the gym for a few days isn't going to kill me or make me fat again. It just gives me that much more motivation to kill my next workout. I was stuck in class until 10pm but I definitely hit the gym afterwards and was proud of what I accomplished. 

Food for Fuel

Today we are going to go back to the beginning where my fitness journey began. Whether you're starting off for the first time, trying to get back on track or just looking for new recipes this one is for you. As Jocelyn has stated we are constantly on the go, which can make eating healthy difficult. If you aren't prepared for on-the-go days it will be really hard to stay on track. As they say "Failing to prepare is preparing to fail". And we want everyone to be set up for success. With that said, let's go back to where I first saw success: Green Smoothies. Green smoothies combined with a few runs a week and never setting foot in the gym left me 13 pounds lighter and my mother 20 pounds lighter. Green smoothies are a great way to begin and a perfect way to detox if you've slipped up. Now this recipe will be slightly different as there are so many options and add-in and substitutions you can do. I will give you my go to recipe and then show you ways you can mix up your own.

2 handfuls of spinach
2oz of water
1 apple
1 banana
1 tbsp chia seed
8 Ice cubes

Toss everything into a decent blender and there you go!! I would say that this serves up two servings; I usually drink one glass and take the rest with me in my Isobag. As long as it is refrigerated, it is still delicious later on in the day. Now, I have been drinking these bad boys for over a year now and I am quite accustomed to the taste but here are ways you can make it a little sweeter or just was to tweak it to fit what you have in the fridge. I have tried every item I am suggesting but certain combinations will taste better than others just listen to your stomach. Be cautious not to be adding in too many sweets, fruits are plenty sweet so let's try to keep it simple. Simplicity is key.

Base
- Water
- Almond Milk
- Coconut Water

Greens
- Spinach
- Kale
- Romaine lettuce

Fruit
- Apple
- Banana
- Pineapple
- Berries

Vegetables
- Carrots
-  Cucumber
-  Celery

Add-ins
- Almonds
- Coconut
- Honey
- Protein powder
- Greek Yogurt
- Chia seed
- Flax seed


-A

Catching up with A&J

A:

Another week has passed by, which means I'm one week closer to my competition! Many nights this week were spent filling out forms and setting up appointments for my competition. And boy oh boy does it all really add up. I might have slightly underestimated how much this will all cost but I know it will all be worth it when I step on stage. I have put my heart and soul into training and watching my eating, also just becoming more in tune with my body and how  I feel. That might sound crazy, but to be in tune with yourself is such a wonderful thing. I constantly say that this journey is as much of an emotional one as it is physical. To put trust in the process, to put in the effort day after day even if you don't see changes and to have the self control to stick to your meal plans- these things can really get to you if you let them. So to feel more in tune with myself this week makes me happy and it sets me in the right frame of mind to continue moving forward with prep in a healthy way. I think the gym this week has really helped. Two friends and I had gym dates at least 3 morning this week- and one workout was followed by a protein pancake party! They have really helped to keep my spirits up and get into the right state of mind. On another note, the Arnold Expo is in 3 days! I have been looking forward to this for months! So stay tuned for posts, updates and pictures of the expo!

J:

So this week has been full of excitements, firsts, and accomplishments. Excitement came to me in the form of having a few training sessions with my friends. I was more than eager to go to the gym and help them out by giving them a few tips and helping them get the most out of their workouts. My first this week was trying out protein pancakes!! I took Arlene's protein waffle recipe and tweaked it a little and cooked up some super yummy strawberry protein pancakes. I'm definitely going to be making those a lot more in the future! Also I discovered that adding a dash of cinnamon powder to the batter is AMAZING. Finally my accomplishment was in running. Anyone who has met me knows that I absolutely loathe running. Even that is an understatement, but running five 5k's this year was one of the New Year's goals that I set for myself so I've been trying to run 5k every week. Well this week I managed to run 5.5 miles in 45 minutes meaning that I finally got my mile under the 8 minute average!! I was so ecstatic about that. With all the positive energy from this week I cannot wait to see what this next week will bring us!

Catching up with A&J

A:
What an exciting week this was!! I am currently 10 weeks out from my first bikini competition (April 25th, 2014). Early this week my stage shoes arrived in the mail!! So after strutting and posing around my living room realizing how quickly this is all happening I jumped online and purchased my competition suit!! That was the highlight of my week, hands down. With that said, the excitement and anticipation of my stage day approaching also stirred up some nerves. While I am truly excited, fears crept up of not being able to reach the appropriate percentage of body fat. I am currently right on track and have been giving 110% in the gym and the kitchen and I am just trying to keep positive thoughts. At the gym, I'm lifting my max weight but not much of an increase due to cutting calories. This week was unique because my friend David and I teamed up and hit the gym together every morning, even though we worked out different things, it was motivating to have a gym partner! My lifesaver this week has been the Yasso frozen Greek yogurt bar (Costco!). It is delicious and slightly sweet. Tonight I ate it dipped in almond butter it was the perfect end to a long, eventful week. 

J:
My goodness! This week... Where do I begin? I'm on day 41 of my 60 day yoga challenge today and I have seen some HUGE improvements when I compare my poses to day 1. I can absolutely see the gain in flexibility and feel the difference it has in relaxing my sore muscles after a crazy gym sesh. This week I was offered a new job at OSH. After having worked for a year at Home Depot, I couldn't be more excited to be in a management position. On the downside, this means that I am going to be busier and I'm fearful of how that might affect my gym time. Ending the week on a good note, I went on a 5 mile run and worked out legs tonight. I never really had given legs the attention that they deserved, but in the last couple of weeks I've been making sure that I never skip a leg day and have been seeing my quads grow and my calves become more defined.