How to Do a Proper Squat

Leading a fit lifestyle includes exercising and of course, trying new things at the gym.

So starting to work out can be intimidating. So can trying out new exercises. No one wants to feel stupid while trying an exercise they have not done before. While learning to lift I'm sure I was the laughing stock of the entire gym, due to the fact that I had to read the instructions on every machine and learning how much I could lift by adjusting the weights every few minutes. Let's say I backed up some of the machines like 5 o'clock traffic some mornings. 

But, learning free standing exercises that are not on a machine can be trickier. Just because they don't come with detailed instructions. Often just watching someone else do the exercises, with out them explaining what they are squeezing or why they are standing a certain way for can be confusing. It can also injure you. Ask me about the medicine ball. Just kidding, it's still too soon. Ha! 

Here is a video I found helpful in learning how to properly squat and what to avoid to help prevent injury. No one wants to show off their New Fit Body in a back brace. Learning to squat has been so beneficial to me and I love squatting. In fact I've even started with variations using weights. If you're feeling ready, squat along.

SEE! Looks good right? My beginning exercises were three sets of ten squats a day, for three days a week. Now I do them once a week on leg day with weights. Be sure to do only as many as you can comfortably do and not injure yourself.

Yummy Try Me Recipe

Howdy! So after posting some info on good foundations for eating. I wanted to share a recipe I found in one of my magazines. I subscribe to several fitness magazines to keep ideas flowing and motivation going from month to month.

I also love to see new research they look into and of course the products and tools for fitness coming out. But, subscribing to several magazines may not be something you do and they can all be found online. I just want to bring you things that catch my eye as I'm going. I'll always link it back to the original site I found it so you can explore more if you want!

This recipe comes from Women's Health Mag...and heres the original link.

http://recipes.womenshealthmag.com/Recipe/lettuce-cups-with-chicken-and-peach-salsa.aspx

I wanted to try a new dressing for salad and salsa seemed like a great idea. I also just discovered I like the sweet of cranberries in my salad. When I saw peach salsa in the recipe I was excited because its so different and has the sweet factor I was enjoying lately.

Adjusting it to the New Fit Body standards was easy! Instead of using vegetable oil, substitute that for extra virgin olive oil. Also, the chicken in the recipe we used was organic/free-range/grassfed to keep with the real and whole foods standards. 

Here it is!

	Lettuce Cups with Chicken and Peach Salsa
	Photo: Zach DeSart

Ingredients:

Serves: 8
              

• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 3 thinly sliced peaches
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
• 1 tablespoon minced jalapeno
• 2 cups cooked shredded chicken
• 8 leaves of butter lettuce
• garnish with fresh cilantro

Directions

1.

In a bowl, whisk 2 tablespoons lime juice, 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, and 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika. Season with sea salt and black pepper. Add 3 thinly sliced peaches, 1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion, 1 tablespoon minced jalapeno, and 2 cups cooked shredded chicken. Toss well. Divide among 8 leaves of butter lettuce and garnish with fresh cilantro.

Nutritional Facts per serving

CALORIES

101.4 CAL

FAT

3.2 G

SATURATED FAT

0.6 G

CHOLESTEROL

29.8 MG

SODIUM

76.1 MG

CARBOHYDRATES

6.9 G

TOTAL SUGARS

5.2 G

DIETARY FIBER

1.2 G

PROTEIN

11.6 G

ENJOY!!!!!!

Foundations for Eating

While building the New Fit Body program and getting a basis of knowledge that led to fixing my diet and lifestyle, I spent countless hours scouring the internet for information. Textbooks, journals, online resources all had so much to offer, but that was also the biggest problem. There was so much information available out there that it was hard to figure out what worked for me, and exactly what to start trying.

As I started to work on fueling my body better for being fit and active I struggled to change my diet. Even though it has been a long road there have been a lot of articles that helped me establish not only what I should be doing, but what was holding me back. I don't follow each and every suggestion but this article by a fitness training company called Precision Nutrition helped me identify what was lacking as well as helped me get a good idea of portion sizing and how much of each type of food to eat.

Of course these are just helpful guidelines. Anything I post is due to the fact that I think it has helpful information and can used for what you need. I always suggest you take from it what you want and need because everyone is different and there is no one way to do this!

ENJOY!

http://www.precisionnutrition.com/fix-a-broken-diet is the link to the original article! They have a great website.

In this article you will find the three steps Precision Nutrition uses to help you fix a broken diet. The first step is identifying nutritional deficiencies and fix them with in your diet. They provide this chart:

This chart shows how common nutritional deficiencies are in our diets. Our bodies are amazing but without the correction nutrients we might just not be running at our highest efficiency. The article then goes on to explain how to correct these problems.

The second step Precision Nutrition talks about is adjusting the foods you eat by looking at how much you are eating overall as well as how much of each food type your eating. The author explains why calorie counting is a flawed method and I agree with this. Instead the focus they use is calorie control.

This section also goes into body type, which I thought was interesting but I do not follow these guidelines strictly just as a general idea of portion, and how body type can help you decide what you eat.

Heres the Chart for the male and female body types they go into:

Once you identify what type you are, there is a food portioning guide for each body type that is visually easy to follow. It even uses your fist as a guideline for measuring so that you don't have to carry around measuring cups with you. I really love the portion control aspect of this section. It was a big wake up call on how much I was really eating and what portions look like.

The third step they use is called fine tuning and this is the section dedicated to meal frequency, calorie and carb cycling, and work out nutrition. I scanned this section because I don't really follow any rules specifically when it comes to meal frequency, and I do not cycle foods. But, it is interesting to read about.

Overall this article was very informative and I love the program these guys run. http://www.precisionnutrition.com/fix-a-broken-diet 

Welcome to your New Fit Body

I Woke Up in a New Fit Body!

So I didn't just wake up in one. There has been a journey. But, here is a blog dedicated to all of us girls and guys, (all of who cannot be at the same place, eating and working out together every week so this is our meeting spot) that are over weight or obese, considered skinny or average size, and even those under weight looking for a new fit body.

How do we accomplish this? By starting the New Fit Body Program.

New- Eating Habits.
Fit- Active Lifestyle. 
Body- Changing Results.

Here's to an awesome journey!