Tone it Tuesdays: a Heart-Pumping, Energizing Workout to Battle that Winter Slump

On this last edition of January's Tone it Tuesday series, Jenna Klane of the Training Fix has graciously shared with us a video from yesterday's workout to inspire us to get moving!

"A winter Monday is a day needed for movement.  There is not much to do around here when its 15 degrees out and after sitting around most of the weekend I needed to move this morning. Not every workout needs to be filled with high intensity, and super heavy weight loads.  I think getting strong is empowering, and extremely healthy as we age, but to be honest some days I don’t have it in me.  This doesn’t mean you can’t get a great sweat in. Just moving around for 30-60 minutes a day can do wonders for your mood and energy during the cold winter months.  Today I pulled out a few of my favorite exercise tools ( kettlebell, vipr, and sandbag) and put together a quick full body circuit that gave me a nice sweat and actually gave me some energy instead of draining me of all my energy.  What I like about this workout is its working in different planes of motion so its challenging my body in a very different way compared to when I just lift heavier weights.  Different stabilizers are forced to activate which equals more muscles recruitment, as well as a nice shock to the nervous system.  This shock on the nervous system is what gives you that little extra boost of energy.  Give this a try and let us know what you think."

Workout Video Link

Thank you Jenna for the motivation! Lately with life's business, I have put off doing any form of squats and so to get motivated once again, I have created the 30 day Squat challenge below : 

As Jenna said, moving around each day gives us the energy to survive the cold, winter months and feel good about ourselves.  January's "Tone it Tuesday" series has been a wonderful way to keep us motivated to do so, and I hope that these past few Tuesday monthly series, in general, have served as motivation for practicing a healthy lifestyle.

  In November, Creatively Lu was launched and the  November series of Thankful Tuesdays began. Then in December, we ran the series- Take Out Tuesdays which featured healthy tips when dining out. Finally, in January we have run the series- Tone it Tuesdays featuring Jenna Klane, who has  shared her 3 essential moves for mastering the booty,  her tips for healthy snacking-before, during, and after your workout, as well as the energizing workout today.

Rather than, continuously change out the Tuesday themes each month I am excited to announce that I have created 4 Tuesday series that will continue every month. Here is the Tuesday calendar from now on:

• On-Trend Tuesdays: a look at the hottest trends for that month

• Tacky Tuesdays: Here we will hold an intervention for the trends that just don't quite make the cut.

• Tranquil Tuesdays: Tips for creating inner peace.

and finally.......

• Tone it Tuesdays featuring Jenna Klane

Yup, that's right Jenna will continue to provide her tips for staying healthy!  And these Tuesdays will be featured over on the new website:

So keep an eye out for Jenna's February edition of Tone it Tuesdays over on Creativelylu.com in a few weeks! Below is your daily dose of inspiration, inspired by my friend Kelly who committed to living a healthy lifestyle over the summer and has successfully lost over 40 lbs during her journey.

Kelly Lennon with her motivational/workout coach, 3 year old nephew, Colin.
The Lennon Household, Fall 2013.

Create a toned Tuesday everyone!

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Tone it Tuesdays: Pre & Post Workout Routine

The following nutritional advice is from my guest Tone it Tuesday's contributor for the month of January, Jenna Klane of the Training Fix. I'll be sharing Jenna's workout and nutrition advice throughout the Tone It Tuesday series. In today's post, Jenna will be sharing how to properly fuel yourself before and after your workout...

Hey everyone, its Jenna Klane Nelson, the owner of the Training Fix in Easton, MA. There is no doubt in my mind that eating whole foods, improving posture, exercising often, and resting often, are the key ingredients to living a life filled with vitality ! Today, I am going to focus on the first ingredient: eating whole foods.  After-all, a clean diet is non negotiable if you want to reap the full benefits of your workout. 

When you spend time and effort at the gym to reach your fitness goals, you better be sure you’re refueling your body or else you may be wasting your time and energy. Think about the stress you’re putting your muscles under. You need to recover from the losses that you went through and the best time is right after your workout- within an hour.

Recent studies have found that low glycemic foods, which are digested more slowly, eaten before exercise may contribute to increased performance by increasing the availability of nonessential fatty acids during exercise. Examples of these carbohydrates include plain yogurt, strawberries, and oatmeal. Carbs are essential during exercise because it’s the body’s preferred fuel source. Therefore it’s important to not only eat them before a workout but also after to replenish glycogen stores.

 Endurance and resistance training exercise both stimulate muscle protein synthesis, which is enhanced if protein is consumed around the time of the exercise. Eating protein immediately after exercising helps in the repair and synthesis of muscle proteins. If you’re looking to lose weight, then protein intake can help preserve lean muscle mass and allow weight loss to come from fat rather than the lean tissue. Protein not only repairs muscle, but also helps stimulate the development of new muscle tissue.

Different types of protein are better at different times. Whey protein is easily digested and is known for its ability to stimulate muscle protein synthesis. Casein protein is slowly digested and can last in the bloodstream a few hours. If you’re looking for optimum muscle building then one would suggest casein-based protein prior to exercise and whey-based protein during and following exercise. The body has a limited capacity to use protein to build muscle so it’s important to not be excessive in protein consumption. The average person requires .8-1.0kg/body weight and athletes need 1.2-1.7kg/body weight.

One thing you want to steer clear of in your post-workout snack is fat. Fat slows down digestion, and this isn’t something you want after a workout.

If you’re new to exercising then this can seem like a lot of info that you’re not necessarily looking for, but it’s important to have an understanding of why we want you to eat before and after a training session; to maximize your results.

Food Ideas:

• Banana with almond butter
• Plain greek yogurt with fruit
• Tuna on Ezekiel/whole wheat bread
• Sliced turkey and hummus wrap
• Protein shake with banana
• Rice cake with almond/peanut butter
• Hard boiled egg and apple
• Sweet potato with plain greek yogurt
• Quest or Rise Bar
• Chocolate Almond Milk with strawberries

Now that you have an understanding of what and why you need to properly fuel yourself you should be sure that your workout really requires the post-workout snack/meal you’re consuming. A 15 minute leisurely walk, a 30 minute light strength-training session or 30 minutes of stretching aren’t the moderate to high intensity workouts that burn up your muscles and deplete your blood sugar levels to a level where you need a snack to recover. So be mindful of the snacks you’re choosing based on your workout.

Your workout can never make up for a bad diet, so make sure you’re not “rewarding” yourself with a post-workout snack because “you deserved it.” Give your body the proper fuel it needs!

Create a toned Tuesday everyone! Below is your Tuesday dose of inspiration. 

*"Like" the Training Fix Fb page & contact Jenna over on  the Training Fix website

*Now you can follow me on BlogLovin' for a daily email notifying you of that day's topic. 

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Tone it Tuesdays: 3 Moves to Get the Most Out of Your Booty

Jenna Klane Nelson of the Training Fix

shows us the 3 staple exercises needed

to master those glutes.

Photo Courtesy of: Jess McDougall

I am excited to feature  Jenna Klane Nelson, personal trainer and owner of the Training Fix in Easton, MA for this week's Tone it Tuesdays post. Jenna is the perfect person to offer tips for safe and effective workouts, as she specializes in posture and movement assessment.

At her training studio, the Training Fix, Jenna  performs postural analysis and functional movement screenings for each new client in order to understand each person's postural behavior and functionality. By correctly finding where the problems lie, Jenna is able to effectively create a unique program for each client that will help him or her to improve vitality and strength.

I, like Jenna, believe that it is absolutely essential to clean up any faulty movement patterns in order to achieve effective strength training. Contrary to popular belief, strength training is an essential component for  weight-loss, as well as toning the body. While cardio can also assist with the weight-loss process, it only breaks down your body's existing tissue, thus, leaving you with that soft, "skinny fat" booty. It is strength training that actually changes your body's composition, giving you that all over toned look.

Today Jenna will explain why we should master  the fundamentals so that strength training can become a safe and effective part of our daily  lifestyle. She will also share why we should love our booty and share 3 videos featuring the 3 essential moves for getting our glutes toned and poppin'.

The Training Fix

"If I am doing a glute exercise, I better feel it in my glutes.  If I don’t then I need to clean it up and get it right.  I think the glutes are big, beautiful muscle.  Mine have been large since I was about 5 years old.  I used to hate it !!! Once I realized they weren't going anywhere I decided to embrace it and make them as nice as I could.  I love doing glute work.  For starters, most of the major lifts that work the glutes really work your entire body ( squats, lunges, dead-lifts, step ups, thrusters) .  Killing two birds ( or ten) with one stone is my kind of workout.   The biggest thing I have noticed with clients over the years is that they weren't really feeling their glutes when they should.  Bottom line is if you don’t feel it, its not turning on… and that's a problem. We are all created differently and sometimes our posture creates compensations in how we perform our lifts.  For myself I am very mobile in my mid and low back.  For years I thought I had great hip extension when I really broke down the movement I was doing the lift from my back and not from my glutes.  That is why I wasn't feeling my glutes.  Seems obvious, but its not always that easy to figure out when you are working out".

"True hip extension gets the glutes to activate to their fullest potential. Strong glutes are a bonus for both men and women for a few reasons:

1. Strong glutes can help eliminate low back pain.
2. Strong , shapely glutes are nice to look at  better than saggy , weak glutes.
3. When you really get your glutes to engage you will suddenly develop this power in your lifts that you were never capable of before".


"Here are 3 staple exercises we do at The Training Fix that require full hip extension to be done correctly. I have made videos of myself doing each one with both the proper and faulty technique".

1. Hip Thruster

"For the hip thruster you will start with your head and shoulders on a bench.  Your feet will be on the floor directly under your knees.  Driving through your heels you will lift your hips up using your glutes. In the finished position you should have a straight line from your shoulder to your hip to your knee.  The video on top shows me with poor form and the video on the bottom is with the correct technique".

"You want to make sure that you get your hips up high enough so that you get that straight line throughout the body, but you want to make sure you get it by using your glutes and not your low back.  You also want to make sure that you don’t let your rib cage flare up into the air.  I am very mobile through my mid back and would naturally love to do this lift by letting my rib cage lift way up.  It almost create a rainbow shape throughout the torso.  This exercise is very challenging for me and I feel my glutes plenty by just using bodyweight.  Work your way up to 3 rounds of 20 repetitions and at then you can consider loading it".

Hip Thruster Video

2. Step Ups

"Step Ups are such a simple and highly effective exercise. The problem is I find that most people leave out some of the key elements that make it so good for you.  First off you want to make sure the foot of the stabilizing leg is fully on the step.  Keep it planted and drive trough that heel as you step up.  Make sure to keep a nice, tall spine throughout the movement.  When you get to the top you want to make sure that you fully extend the hip of the stabilizing leg.  It should be a straight line from the shoulder, to the hip, to the ankle.  In this video the video on the left shows me doing this with good technique and the video on the right shows the faulty patterns I discussed above".

Step Ups Video

3. Planks

"Planks ? Not many people would think of planks as a glute exercise.  Ultimately they would be considered a “core” exercise, but that doesn’t mean they don’t work the glutes as well.  If you do these with good technique at the end of a good workout, you can’t tell me that you don’t feel your glutes.  When doing a plank your elbows should be directly under your shoulders, your legs should be straight out with the knees fully extended.  Your butt should NOT be up in the air. You should have a straight line from your shoulder to your hip.  Take a look at the video below to see two videos comparing good and bad technique. I think its pretty obvious but the top video is clearly being done incorrectly".

Plank Video

"So, whether its for function, for looks, for strength, or for power. You can’t lose by getting the most out of your glutes in the gym".

Thanks Jenna for the booty tips! I will be sure to incorporate these movements into my schedule. And to make sure that I really work on my least favorite exercise, the plank, I have created a 30 day plank challenge:

Create a booty-poppin Tuesday everyone! Below is your daily dose of inspiration inspired by Jenna and her adorable son Henry (who you may remember from Wordless Wednesdays).

Jenna and her son, Henry
Summer 2013

*"Like" the Training Fix Fb page & contact Jenna over on  the Training Fix website

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Thrifty Thursdays: Afternoon "Pick-Me-Ups"

I am so excited to have finally found a substitute to that heavily desired, Starbucks latte I crave around 2pm each day. Its not only 1/4^th  the cost, its also 1/4^th  the calories.

Creatively Lu

This homemade coffee is easy to make, costs nearly nothing, and despite the lack of calories it certainly does not lack any of the flavor. 

So How do you Make this Beautiful, Frothy Coffee? 

Creatively Lu

Ingredients for Wellness Mama's Healthy Coffee Recipe:

• 1 cup of coffee (keurig or brewed), or an herbal tea
• 1 T. of coconut oil  (feel free to use more, especially if you choose to leave out the butter)
• 1 t. of unsalted butter (preferably organic)
• ½ t. of vanilla extract
• ½-1 packet of Truvia*

*I also really like Sugar in the Raw or a few drops of honey

Brew Your Coffee (or tea)

I like to buy my Keurig pods at Bed, Bath, & Beyond.
There is a large selection of flavors, and they are offered in bulk at a steep discount. (I got my pack of 18 ct.Breakfast Blend Kerug pods  for $12.99).

If you do not have a Keurig, brew a pot of regular coffee or boil some hot water for a comforting mug of tea.
I  really enjoy this recipe with green tea. It tastes similar to a chai latte, while stimulating your metabolism and energizing your mind. Not to mention, green tea  is an excellent antioxidant, which is perfect for the Winter flu season ahead. 

Blend it all together 

• Pour your mug of coffee or tea into a blender. Add in the coconut oil, butter, Truvia, and vanilla.
• Turn Blender to the "whip" setting & whip for 20 seconds or until frothy (or any high speed settingworks).
• A Single Serve Blender like the Magic Bullet or Oster, My Blend Personal 20 oz blender that my friend Amanda gave me last Christmas works great and provides an ever easier clean up. 

Feel Energized and Renewed

With this afternoon pick-me-up you will feel renewed and ready to  lead a  more productive day. It may even make you kinder to co-workers, and whoever else you have the pleasure of gracing with your presence that day. And if nothing else, it'll get you one step closer to that holy weekend.

Pinterest.com

Coffee Shop Talk 

I think that coffee shops are a great place to go once or twice a week as a treat. I go there most Sundays to work on the blog and always enjoy a latte or tea, while I'm there. However, the recipe above tastes just as good and will save you lots of money and calories. Use it as a "most days" cup of joe, and save the coffee shop for special occasions. 

Sleeping Beauty

If you still feel that you hit that afternoon rut this may have a lot to do with your sleeping habits.No matter what you got going on, it is essential to make rest your priority:

• Stick with a routine: Try, as best as you can, to keep a steady bedtime and wake-up time. You can even set a daily reminder in your phone that it's time to start to wind down. 
• The idea is that you're creating a habit that the body then wants to stick to, so it tells you that it's tired at the chosen time- Huffington Post
• Keep technology out of the bed.:Those lit up screens found on your iPhone, laptop, and even Kindle will keep your mind stimulated and suppresses the sleep-producing hormone melatonin, keeping you wide-awake for hours to come. 
• Make your bedroom your sanctuary. Light relaxing candles, play the Spotify Unwind Playlist, do a Night Time Yoga routine, whatever you need to do to get into the sleep mode. 
• "Pencil in" your exercise just like any other appointment in your calendar.
•  Find a time to exercise that makes you feel re-energized, and in which you can continue to block out in your calendar. 
• I find that working out between 5:30-6:30pm gives me the best night's sleep; any later, and I'm wide awake all night. I listen to my body; if I haven't worked out yet and its already past 6:30 that night, I know that it is better to choose sleep over a workout.

An Energizing Playlist

 Below is a heart-pumping, energizing playlist that you can listen to on my Spotify account (Lindsay Opper) when working out or simply when you need an afternoon pick-me-up.

Photo Courtesy of: Amanda Bucci
Pretty Lights Concert, Fall 2013

As a spinning instructor and personal trainer with over 4 years of experience, I am excited to share my music playlists with you. I have thousands of songs that I have tested out on both and clients, along with myself, and I know which really push you to perform better.

If you guys are looking for similar health posts, along with full, workout plans, get ready for "Tone it Tuesday's" s debuting in January! Below is your daily dose of inspiration...

Photo Courtesy of Caitie Sprague
Grand Canyon, Fall 2013

I hope you all create an energized-filled Thursday!