A Better Way with Kersten Kimura

Welcome back to episode number 3 of the Balanced Vibes podcast!

Get your FREE resources:

Is Your Metabolism Slow? FREE guide to faster metabolism: https://kerstenkimura.lpages.co/slow-metabolism/

How to Eat to Get Your Period Back:  https://kerstenkimura.lpages.co/how-to-eat-for-ha/

5 Tips to Reverse Overtraining Quickly: https://kerstenkimura.lpages.co/overtraining-recovery-new/

Your Fit Personality Quiz: https://kerstenkimura.lpages.co/fit-personality/

Inspiring success stories: https://urbanjane.co/testimonials/

Work with me: https://urbanjane.co/work-with-me/

Today’s episode is about eating in a balanced way.

I’m so grateful that you’re here. I know that there are plenty of other things you could be doing but you chose to be here, so thank you!

Today we're talking about balanced diet and how to eat in a balanced way.

Theres so much information out there on how to to eat right, so no wonder we end up confused…

A few years ago I gave a presentation at one start up company’s wellness days. I asked the participants what a balanced diet and fitness looks like for them, and they said:

I lose weight.

Unfortunately, that’s what most of us think. But it’s not that simple. Many of us have experienced how our diet or workout routine helped us lose weight, but wasn’t actually the healthiest for us.

Today's Topics

Here’s what we’ll cover in today’s podcast:

* What balanced eating looks like and how to eat in a balanced way

* Why many diets aren’t balanced and therefore, don’t work in the long term

* How to create your own balanced diet. You’ll learn how to put together your personal diet that is balanced, so that you no longer care about how other people eat

* If it’s necessary to weigh and measure and track your food, in order to eat in a balanced way

* What to think about food restrictions: Are they ever necessary, or are they always a bad thing as the anti-diet culture claims?

What Does It Mean to Eat In A Balanced Way?

There are so many angles from where we can approach this question. In my opinion, there are at least four sides to it:

Nutritious Foods + Fun Foods

In order to eat in a truly balanced way, there has to be room for both nutritious foods and fun foods, with the focus on nutritious foods. Nutritious foods are the ones that grow in nature, plus the healthy proteins and fats. Fun foods are the ones that aren’t necessarily nutritiously dense, but are the things we like to have, like cookies, chocolate etc. These foods should have their place in a diet because if we restrict them, we start feeling deprived.

The majority of our diet should consist of nutritious foods. Food freedom is a great thing and I’m a big advocate of it, but eating too many fun foods simply isn’t great for our health and won't make us feel good.

Balancing Macronutrients

In order to eat in a balanced way, it’s important to eat all three macronutrients: Proteins, fats and carbohydrates. How much of each one depends on each person. Some people prefer higher fat, others higher carb diets. And there are many variations in between.

In general, active people should definitely not limit their carbohydrates too much. Cutting any macronutrient super low is not helpful. For example, right now the Keto diet is super popular, but cutting our carbs to 25 grams or so per day is not reasonable for most people.

Balancing Blood Sugar

High-low blood sugar rollercoaster can cause us a lot of troub...

Hello and welcome to the Balanced Vibes Podcast, episode 2!

Get your FREE resources:

Is Your Metabolism Slow? FREE guide to faster metabolism: https://kerstenkimura.lpages.co/slow-metabolism/

How to Eat to Get Your Period Back:  https://kerstenkimura.lpages.co/how-to-eat-for-ha/

5 Tips to Reverse Overtraining Quickly: https://kerstenkimura.lpages.co/overtraining-recovery-new/

Your Fit Personality Quiz: https://kerstenkimura.lpages.co/fit-personality/

Inspiring success stories: https://urbanjane.co/testimonials/

Work with me: https://urbanjane.co/work-with-me/

The first episode of the Balanced Vibes podcast was the introduction. In this episode, you learned what this podcast is about and what to expect, as well as little bit about my personal story.

Today, we’re going to dig into one of the major topics that I’m really passionate about, and that is overtraining, or under recovery.

Overtraining is one of these things that often causes our bodies to be out of balance. We want to get our fitness results too fast, and do extreme things to achieve them…

But doing so can cause a lot of harm to our bodies.

Is It Overtraining Or Under Recovery?

There's some debate out there whether chronic fatigue and other symptoms that are caused by too much exercise and not enough rest should be called overtraining or under recovery. There's not a big difference in my opinion, other than this: When we constantly ignore proper rest, recovery and nutrition, we're always under-recovering, and if we do that often enough, we eventually end up overtraining.

So overtraining is made up by many days, weeks, months or years of under-recovery. But in my opinion, in the big picture it doesn't really matter whether we call this state of chronic fatigue that's caused by a lot of exercise and not enough rest, overtraining or under recovery. I'm going to use both.

What Is Overtraining or Under Recovery?

Overtraining or under recovery is our body’s inability to adapt to stress that we put on it. That stress is exercise. Yes, you may not think that working out is exercise, but it really is.

Here’s what we want to happen when we’re working out. Let’s say that you’re a runner or go to a gym regularly. Ideally, your workouts should help you get better because your body adapts to the stress you put on it. That’s what really happens when our recovery, sleep and food are on point because the body gets stronger. We build muscle, our cardiovascular health improves, our overall fitness improves, we get faster, we’re able to lift heavier weights, we put on muscle. These are all great results of working out.

However, when we’re overtraining or under recovering, we’re not getting better. We may spend several hours a day in the gym, run more and more, but not get better because the body is unable to handle the workout load and stress. The body is not recovering properly, there are hormonal shifts happening, we're constantly tired and ever ready for the next workout.

What Causes Overtraining?

The main reasons for overtraining are too much exercise, too intense exercise, and/or too long exercise. Let’s look at each one of them separately:

Too Much Exercise

Too much exercise means that we simply do too many workouts. Many of my clients used to work out every day,

Get your FREE resources:

Is Your Metabolism Slow? FREE guide to faster metabolism: https://kerstenkimura.lpages.co/slow-metabolism/

How to Eat to Get Your Period Back:  https://kerstenkimura.lpages.co/how-to-eat-for-ha/

5 Tips to Reverse Overtraining Quickly: https://kerstenkimura.lpages.co/overtraining-recovery-new/

Your Fit Personality Quiz: https://kerstenkimura.lpages.co/fit-personality/

Inspiring success stories: https://urbanjane.co/testimonials/

Work with me: https://urbanjane.co/work-with-me/

I'm very excited to announce that my podcast — The Balanced Vibes podcast — is here!

Thanks so much for tuning in! Please listen to the first, introductory episode below…

 

Welcome to the Balanced Vibes Podcast!

I've been thinking about starting my own podcast since the summer of 2019… And in April of 2020, it's finally here.

I started this podcast because I wanted to create a resource that truly represents balanced approach to health and fitness, without any extremes because extremes simply don't work. There's so much black and white, all or nothing, right or wrong thinking in the food and fitness industry, but this podcast is different.

What You Can Expect From This Podcast

Goals. My main goal is to bring you a well-rounded, balanced approach to health and fitness that is free from black and white, all or nothing mindset.

We all say that we want to have balance in our lives, however, we often end up choosing extreme approaches… Because they're tempting! I'm hoping that this podcast will help you to find that true middle path because this is where the real health happens.

We keep it fun and complaint-free. I want this podcast to offer great insights into health and wellness and touch many serious topics, but I also want to keep it light and positive. That way, it will be more fun for both you, the listeners, and for me as well as I'm putting together the episodes. My mantra is: No negativity, no complaining and no victim mindset. The focus is on broadening our understanding of what true health and fitness looks like, and provide solutions that help you, the listener, to get there.

Guests. I'm planning to bring on a lot guests. Every time when I've had an inspiring conversation with someone, I tell them: I wish I had a podcast so I could interview you! Now I finally have this opportunity, and I'm happy to bring the knowledge that these people have to share, to you. Of course, there will be plenty of solo pods as well, where you hear me talking about what's on my mind.

Practical tools but also venting… In many of these episodes, I will be sharing tools and tips, but there will also be many where I sit down and talk because there's something on my mind and heart that I have to let out. I'm a pretty intuitive (and sometimes impulsive) person so when I get the feeling that I have to talk about a certain topic NOW, I probably just sit down and record it. It's going to be real and raw, that's for sure!

Length of the episodes. The episodes will be 20-60 minutes in length, and I'm planning to release a new one at least one a week. There probably will be some surprise episodes though!

The Backstory

Before we get to our first official episode, I want to give you a little backstory about myself: Who I am, what I do and why I do what I do. When you read or listen to my story, there's a good chance that you recognize yourself in some parts of it, and maybe even say: That's me too!

I've posted several posts about the way I've been working out after getting my first recovery period, and sharing post hypothalamic amenorrhea workout advice otherwise. 

Here are some posts on that topic:

One More Reason to Want Your Period Back: Better Workouts

Getting Back to Working out After Hypothalamic Amenorrhea

Today, I thought, it's a good time to do another update on how things are going for me on the workout front now, when I've had 16 cycles.

Long Recovery from Back Injury

As you may know, I've been suffering from back pain for a long time — about a year now, to be exact — and it wasn't until a few months ago that I started to feel much better, thanks to an amazing chiropractor. The past two weeks though, have been REALLY GOOD. I'm so super grateful for having been practically free from pain for the last 2 weeks!

During the time my back pain was really bad, I of course worked out less than I would have wanted. When I still had hypothalamic amenorrhea, I couldn't work out because of that; then, when my hormones were better, my back didn't allow me to train the way I wanted.

It was frustrating, yes. But I make myself to think that all these kinds of things are good for something.

In this case, the fact that I threw my back out, meant that I was forced to take even longer break from working out (at least from heavy lifting, HIIT and running). I decided to see it as a positive thing because now I gave my body the chance to really calm down and enjoy the rest and recovery even longer. I feel like by doing so, I allowed my healing to get even deeper, and get my hormonal health even more solid.

A few months ago, when my back started to feel better, I jumped back into weight lifting. Not a great idea… I took a step backwards again, after making such a great progress. I had a serious conversation with my chiropractor, who told me: You do know that there are other ways to strengthen your body too, than by doing deadlifts and other heavy lifting??? 

Of course I knew. I'm a trainer, after all! But receiving this kind of tough love was important for me. I decided to step away from iron for a little bit, and see what I can do with just bodyweight.

Bodyweight Training Can Be Done In Many Ways

Many people would say: Bodyweight training is awesome! You can burn tons of calories by doing jump squats, burpees and sprints!

They're right, but first of all, my back didn't allow me to run, sprint and jump. Secondly, my goal isn't to burn tons of body fat. I'm still quite careful with HIIT training — I've been playing around with it a bit (more on that in a second) but I don't think doing HIIT 5 or more days a week would  be healthy for someone who has suffered from hypothalamic amenorrhea not so long ago (and possibly even for healthy people).

I had to find other ways to do bodyweight training, and I decided to keep things really simple. I'm at a point where I know I've lost incredible amount of strength. I've been building some of it back, as much as my back and hormonal health has allowed, but physically, I am nowhere near to where I was 1.5 years ago, so I decided to start training really simple again.

The Type of Bodyweight Training I'm Doing Now

I found a workout program that seemed very, very basic. I simply told myself: You're going to do the very basics. Yes, these workouts may have been your workouts once, but today, they're your workouts, just throw your ego out of the window accept it.

The crazy thing about this program is that the exercises are incredibly simple. The breaks are long enough. I've been working out three days a week, about 30-40 minutes each time, and I've been feeling energized instead of drained after working out.

For many women who are experiencing hypothalamic amenorrhea, gaining weight and losing the physique they've worked so hard for, are the biggest sources of fear and stress.

But losing strength can be equally frightening.

I haven't been lifting weights for a looong time now. Four months, to be specific. I stopped training in December when I realized I have to start working full force to fix my hypothalamic amenorrhea. There was a 3-week period in January though, when I went to the gym about 4 days a week, but at one moment, I stopped doing it because I realized that I'm pressing gas and break pedals at the same time.

I'm glad I realized that, because I wasn't doing myself a service. Yes, I had already stopped doing cardio and I was eating more, but if I kept weight training, wasn't it still defeating the purpose of all this and making the recovery even longer?

So, outside of this three week period, I haven't done basically any weight training since December. It's been the longest period in my whole life when I haven't trained.

In this post, I'm sharing how my strength and conditioning levels have changed.

Strength

The other day, after teaching a bootcamp, I stayed at the gym for a while to hang out. There was this pull up bar that started staring at me… and I decided to give it a try and see if I can still do any chin ups.

It's been a long break from chin ups. Actually, even longer than my “official” 4-month break. I haven't been able to practice them since October because I injured my wrist by doing a pull up program that had me working out 4 days a week. Apparently, it was too much for me and I ended up injuring a ligament in my wrist.

Before getting injured, I was able to do three chin ups (palms facing me), but I could barely do one pull up (palms away from me). And then I stopped for nearly six months.

Back to the gym. There I was, staring at this pull up bar, tempted to try. You may find it weird but I have this inner need to climb and hang on things whenever I see something that is suitable for it. We have even stopped a car a few times on our way somewhere, if I've seen a kids' playground or a monkey bar nearby. I just have to go and climb on this stuff. 🙂

I gave it a try, and here's what happened:

It wasn't pretty, but I was able to do two sets of chin ups, first set three and second set two reps (the one you saw in the video).

Is it really possible?

Apparently, it is! Sometimes less really is more. I haven't really exercised, but I can still do chin ups.

[tweet_box design=”default”]Sometimes less really is more.[/tweet_box]

I know that three and two aren't big numbers when we're talking about chin ups. For someone, they can be failure. But it was enough for me. My strength was not totally lost, even though I may have thought so.

Sure, had I kept working on my chin ups, I would likely be up to more reps right now. But given that that wasn't an option because of my injury and my hypothalamic amenorrhea recovery, it's still pretty awesome. Being able to do the same number of chin ups that I did before I stopped, is not bad at all.

Not all my strength was gone!

I also do some push ups once in a while and these aren't too bad either. I haven't tried to do maximum or anything, but I do a few here and there to break up my workday when I'm working from home.

Honestly, not much hasn't changed with my push ups either. I can still do them comfortably and with proper technique and I'm feeling strong and confident doing them. I don't have to do them fast and turn them into a HIIT workout, because the last thing I need to do right now is to burn ...

There are some basic movements that work the best, if the goal is to get as strong as possible in the shortest amount of time. 

Of course, in the shortest amount of time doesn’t mean those exercises work like a magic pill. Or, they kind of do, but only when we actually do them–and do them often. Focus on the basics, put in the work, perform he movements with proper technique instead of rushing, and you see results pretty quickly.

Here they are, three (+1 bonus) exercises that everyone who wants to get strong quickly, should be doing:

Squats

Squats are, of course, first and foremost, a leg exercise. Anyone who wants to build strong legs knows it. And of course those too whose focus is to build a nicer booty.

However, squats are also a great core exercise. When we do squats with weights, may it be kettlebells, barbell or even by just just holding a medicine in our hands against the chest, if we could put our one hand on our belly, we'd literally feel our ab muscles working during squatting. (but we can't, because we have that kettlebell to hold with both hands, so don't try it but take my ford for it.)

One thing that often gets forgotten when doing squats is to engage the core before starting the movement. By engaging the core, we build a much stronger foundation for the squat and are able to actually squat with heavier weights. Engaging the also helps to protect our lower back.

How to engage the core? Think that someone’s about to punch you in your stomach. I hope it never happens to you but it’s a good way to visualize what your abs should be doing. To get yourself “punch-ready”, you don’t suck your belly in so hard that you can’t breathe. You just tighten the abs to be ready to take the punch.

There are many variations of squats, and it’s literally impossible to get bored with them. If our time is limited or if we don't have the time to figure out all variations, regular squats are the best bet. By adding some weights to our squats, we make them squats even more useful and efficient.

Push Ups

When done properly, push ups work everything, from our arms to our heels. Honestly, I think that everyone should be able to do at least some push ups.

Push ups are also very simple to do–all we need is a little bit of room. No equipment, no excuses!

There are people who can bust out high numbers of push ups. But there's nothing to brag about if those push ups are wonky or aren't low enough (the goal should be to get the chest as close to the ground as possible), or they’re done with hips high up in the air…

It’s much smarter to really focus on technique instead of the number of reps, at least at first, even if it means less push ups (and it probably does). Don’t worry about it, you get much more out of push ups that are slow and controlled than than fast and wonky.

To do push ups properly, engage the core, keep the elbows at about 45 degrees from the body, keep the head neutral, shoulderblades together and lift the hips just very slightly. Engaging the core and glutes makes push ups so much more than just upper body exercise.

Remember that essentially, push ups are a moving plank. Elbows are the body part that create that movement, the rest of the body should form a nice long line and stay like this through the movement. No lifting or sagging hips or wiggling butt.

One tip that helps you realize if you’re doing your push ups (or any exercise, for that matter) correctly is to film yourself! Seeing myself in videos a made me realize that my push up form was far from good. My head used to be dropped between the shoulders, I was shrugging my shoulders and my shoulderblades were not contracted at all.

Check out some ways to make your push ups easier or harder, according to your needs.

If you're working out with kettlebells, you're probably done kettlebell swings. Today, let's talk about how to do them right. 

If you know me, either in real life or through this blog or social media, you've probably noticed that I have a slight obsession with kettlebells.

I think that at least one moderate to heavy kettlebell is a must in every home gym. No matter if you have a huge backyard or a single bedroom or your home is a size of a walk-in closet, you'll always have some space for a kettlebell and a bit room to do kettlebell swings.

Let's Start From the Beginning

If you've never worked out with kettlebells, because it seems way too complicated, it's time to change it.

Please don't think that kettlebells aren't for you! They are 🙂 Kettlebells are not scary, and picking them up won't turn you into a pile of muscle (even though I like muscle, not all people do–and that's okay).

So, if you're a beginner, this post is for you. It's always easier to learn something from zero than fix wrong movement patterns, if you have them.

But, if you've already done kettlebell swings or even do them regularly, it's good to double check if you're doing them correctly.

Why You Should Do Kettlebell Swings

Here are some good reasons why you should learn to do kettlebell swings, and what you get by doing them:

They're Safer Than Many Other Back Exercises

Kettlebell swings aren't only a back exercise, but they do work your back a lot. Compared to some other exercises for lower back, such barbell deadlifts or “good mornings”, in my opinion, kettlebell swings are safer. The reason is that the swinging motion doesn't require you to pull and lift as much as the other traditional low back exercises do, and also the weights are a generally lighter than they usually are in heavy barbell exercises.

They Help You Build Strong Hips

When doing kettlebell swings, the power is generated with your hips (and not with arms, but we get there in a minute). Strong hips help you to do the following things better:

* Run faster. If you're a runner, hip strength is extremely important for you. Strong hips help you with the forward swing and knee drive of the legs, which is essentially all you do when you're running. In fact, lack of hip strength was probably one of the most important reason why I was never too good at sprinting, but it wasn't until later when I figured that out, thanks to getting more interested in how muscles work.

* Jump higher. Strong hips also help you to jump higher. I can speak from my own experience. I usually do kettlebell swings at least three times a week, and I believe they have contributed a lot to why also my box jumps, which are my nemesis, have gotten so much better. Of course, to get good at box jumps, you have to practice box jumps first and foremost, but kettlebell swings are a great assisting exercise.

You Can Do Your Strength and Cardio Training At the Same Time

Swings will help you to build strength, which is obvious, because you workout with weights. But swings are also an amazing cardio exercise. There's no stop or break or putting the weight down at any point throughout the movement. Because you're constantly moving, your heart rate will be elevated and you'll be gasping for air in no time.

So, you get your strength and cardio done at the same time–no need to go for a run after your strength work.

They Help to Avoid Pain and Improve Your Posture

Kettlebell swings strengthen the back, glutes and hamstrings. But none of this is important just for the sake of being strong.

The thing is, strong is healthy.

Strong back,

Good morning!

I hope your weekend was nice and that your Monday starts off well. I think any day is a good day to start a change–any change you want to make in your life–but for many people, Mondays are especially great for that.

If your weekend was awesome, then try to think about Monday as the extension of all the positive and fun things you experienced in the weekend. And even if you can't do the same things you did, like going on a relaxing hike and having wine like I did, you can still try and bring the same, relaxed and positive mindset to your new week.

Saturday Morning Bootcamp XIII

I teach anywhere between 3 to 5 bootcamp classes a week, but it has become a tradition for me to share the one that we do on Saturdays here on the blog. However, you can let me know if you like these posts where I share the bootcamp workouts and if you'd like to see the workouts that we do in my other classes as well and I'm happy to post them too.

I just really like Saturday morning workouts and the crew who shows up. Of course, I also love the people who come to my classes any other day too, but Saturdays feel different. People seem happier, more energetic and they are really ready to kill it at the bootcamp.

Last Saturday's workout was called Kettlebells and Cardio. I have a slight obsession with kettlebells, and I love short intense boosts of cardio mixed with kettlebell strength exercises, so this is pretty much perfect combination.

After a 15-minute warm-up, some dynamic stretches and mobility exercises, we did three 5-minute AMRAPs (as many rounds as possible in 5 minutes), all of which consisted of two strength exercises done with kettlebells and one cardio exercise, done without any equipment.

5-minute AMRAP #1

5-minute AMRAP #2

5-minute AMRAP #3

Here are the descriptions for all three kettlebell exercises (bodyweight exercises are shown in videos below):

Kettlebell Renegade Rows

Why to do them: They're an amazing upper body and core exercise. They work the upper back, arms and especially triceps. You need to engage your abs and keep the core super tight to maintain your balance.

How to do them: Renegade rows can be done in various ways, with one weight or two weights. We used one. Find a chair or bench. Get into a plank position, one hand on a chair, bench or other elevated surface. Tighten the core. Grab the kettlebell handle with your free hand. Lift the kettlebell up, moving the elbow really close to your torso so that the elbow is pointing back and not to the side.

Kettlebell Swings

Why to do them: Because kettlebell swings are the best ever exercise out there... I'm not joking, because in my opinion, swings really are one of the best exercises you can do to work the whole body. It's a great power exercise and especially helps you to build great hip strength. Any interest in building better backside? Do swings. (And squats, of course).

How to do them: Stand over the kettlebell with feet hip-width apart, chest up, shoulders pulled back and down. Bending your knees, grip the kettlebell with palms facing you. Stand up. Keep your arms loose, tighten the core. Keeping the heels firmly on the ground, lower your butt down a bit and swing the kettlebell back between your legs. Powerfully push through your hips to swing the weight forward.

Kettlebell Goblet Squats

Why to do them: To build strong glutes, quads and hamstrings and core of steel. Sq...

Hello, hello!

Happy Monday! Today, I want to share my Saturday morning bootcamp with you, which last week was a lot of fun, and then my two quick go-to meals, both made using tortilla wraps. 

Alphabet Workout

On Saturday, I wanted to do something new at the bootcamp. As a fitness instructor, you want to keep your workouts interesting for the participants (and yourself!), so variety is important.

Whenever I need a good idea for a workout and I don't seem to be able to come up with anything super excited, I head over to Pinterest for some ideas.

A workout called “The Name Workout” immediately caught my eye–it seemed like it could be a fun one!

Here's how it goes: Every letter in the alphabet means a certain exercise that you do for a designated number of reps. For example, A could mean 15 burpees, B 30 sit ups, C 50 jump squats and so on. Then you put together your first and last name by doing the exercises that you find under each letter.

I loved the idea, but modified the exercises. That's what my workout looked like:

It turned out really fun. There were people whose names had tons of S, A, M, I and H letters, so their workout ended up really cardio intense–hello all the burpees and tuck jumps! And if you had two N-s or M-s in a row, you were lucky to do 30-40 burpees in a row.

The only pieces of equipment that we used were jump ropes and exercise balls. Here are the two exercise ball exercises, in case they're new to you:

Exericse Ball Crunches

Simply lie on the exercise ball, keep your feet on the ground, then lift your upper body up. The ball makes you the workout harder than regular crunches are, as you have to constantly maintain the balance.

Exercise Ball V-Passes

Lie down on the floor and place the exercise ball between your feet. Extend your arms overhead. Lift your arms and legs simultaneously (getting into a letter “V” position) and take the ball from between your feet. Holding the ball in your hands, lower your arms and legs gently touching the floor, then lift them up and pass the ball again.

 

There are tons of ways how to do this Alphabet workout. This one consisted of mostly bodyweight exercises, but you can add in exercises with whatever equipment you like.

Two Favorite Meals with Wraps

Lately I've been into wraps. I've been making my own wraps once in a while, and of course, homemade is always healthier and more nutritious way to go. To make grain-free Paleo wraps, I've followed this recipe here. They've been great, but for two people, you want to at least double the recipe.

But I don't always have a ton of time, so instead of making my own wraps, I like to have some store-bought ones in hand. Regular wheat wraps may not the most nutritious food in the world, but if you fill them with tons of great ingredients, you can still put together an awesome meal.

Just recently I came across a really good deal on wheat wraps and I've been now using them in various meals. Here are two of my favorites:

Starbucks-Inspired Spinach and Feta Wrap

I like to work from a coffee shop once in a while, and often end up going to Starbucks. I love, love, love small independent coffee shops much better, but you can't really beat Starbucks wifi.

Unfortunately, what comes to food, there are not too may options to choose from. Their protein boxes are fine,

Good morning!

I hope you had a great weekend and that your Monday is off to a good start.

Saturday was one of the most fun days I've had in a while, because I took my first Flying Trapeze class and was able to spend much time outside after that. Moving + being outside + hanging out with fun people = perfection.

Saturday Morning Bootcamp VII

My Saturday started the way it has been starting for the past 10 or so months (except for when I've been traveling), with a morning bootcamp.

As I've done for the past six weeks, I'm posting the workout we did also here. It can give you some inspiration for your own workouts or if you're a trainer too, for your bootcamps.

After a some light running exercises, dynamic stretches, squat jumps and push ups, we did the following circuit workout.

The circuit consisted of  6 stations and we spent a minute on each exercise before moving on to the next one. There are some exercises that we used equipment for, but you can do them with just bodyweight–see the instructions below.

Here are the exercises:

Mat Pushes

Here's how to do it: Place three three gymnastics mats on top of each other and push the pile until the minute is up. It's the same thing that you do with a sled, like I'm doing here.

If you don't have access to neither, simply substitute for push ups.

Reverse Lunge and Knee Drive (with or without kettlebell)

Hold a kettlebell (if using it) against your chest. Do a reverse lunge by taking a step back, then drive the same leg back and up close to your chest. Instead of kicking with the leg, lift the knee up.

If you don't have a kettlebell, simply do the same thing with bodyweight and hop up to add some intensity.

Plank Kick Throughs

Get into a plank position. Lift the right leg up, bring it from under your body to the left and kick. Repeat the same with the left leg.

V- “Run”

Your core will absolutely love this exercise! Get in a V-Sit position, both legs and upper body lifted up. Move your hands back and forth as fast as you can, as if you were running.

Balance Squats

Stand on a bosu ball and do regular squats. Because the surface is unstable, you'll have to maintain the balance, which also makes your core work hard.

If you don't have a bosu ball, do narrow stance squats by keeping your feet as close as possible.

Roll Ups

Lie on your back, then rock back and roll yourself up so that you end up standing up on your feet. If this is too easy for you, you can try rolling up to one leg, which is a great pistol squat progression.

We did two rounds of this circuit, then finished up with one minute of both:

Weighted Wall Sits. Sit against the wall, holding a weight against your chest. If you want more challenge, extend the arms out.

Boat Pose. Lift your legs and upper body up, just like we did in V-“Runs”, and hold this pose for one minute.

My Workout

After the bootcamp it was time for my own workout. It was probably the most intense workout after my full week off, even though it was just about 15 minutes long. If you workout with kettlebells and add in burpees, you really don't need more to finish your workout dripping in sweat.

Here's what I did:

5 rounds of

8 Double Kettlebell Rack Squats