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If you have been following my personal IG you may have noticed I have been posting about my heart rate a little bit and I thought I’d share why I’ve been tracking it!
Depending on your training style and your purpose for training heart rate can be a really great tool in understanding your out put! For example if you a CrossFit athlete understanding how to correctly pace your workouts will be vital if your someone who likes to compete!
Let’s take a fran style wod, 21-15-9 of thrusters and pull ups, go as fast as possible! You are wanting a fast time under 5 let’s say! So your likely going to do your best to have a very high heart rate and your goal will be to continue to keep moving while maintaining that heart rate to be able to finish’s quickly!
Next take Murph, 1 mile run, 100 pull ups, 200 push ups, 300 squats, 1 mile run, goal 45 minutes. Your not going to be able to have that “Fran” heart rate for that entire wod, however time is still important therefore your going to need to know that fine line of the highest heart rate you can keep moving but not blow up and try to recover in the wod!
How do you know what those numbers are? By tracking and training. When I first moved to Texas my goal was a heart rate of 135 for 20 minutes, nice and steady, fast forward 6 months and I want to be able to maintain a heart rate of 155 for 20+ minutes.
Start by building that consistency with different length workouts to see where you are at and then you can adjust and make your goals from training there.
Incase you haven’t been following me for long, you do not have to go FULL OUT every workout to become more fit, in fact I recommend against that idea!
When covid hit it seemed like a good time to give up personal programming right? I mean you don’t have a full gym... sooo....
Not this client, she stayed on and with limited equipment we were able to attack some major weaknesses and now those weaknesses are going to be strengths in the upcoming season!!
When I am able to write programming and nutrition for clients it’s a pretty ideal situation, I don’t have to worry about volume being to high for my clients lifestyle and stress and I don’t have to worry about butting heads with the other coach!
Not everyone requires individualized programming but if you have some major weaknesses in your game this is a great way to fix them!
Eating fats does not make you fat! Now you can eat a lot of bad fat and pack the pounds on but if your not eating enough healthy fats your also going to pack the pounds on!
🍳why fats!? Well from a health stand point fats help support healthy hormones! Healthy hormones help us maintain our mood, energy levels, and can help curb our hunger! Good fats in can help our body’s metabolism! Fats can help lubricate our joints and keep our fine bodies running! Omega 3’s help with inflammation and pain!
The list goes on and on from lowering the risk of heart attack and stroke, to lower blood pressure to weight loss!
Eating a well balanced diet of all three macronutrients will not only keep your healthy but it’ll be the easier to maintain then diet trends (keto, low carb, high carb, no carb, blah blah blah 🙄)
Just remember everything in moderation is just fine!! If your tracking I actually like to have MOST of my client have 40% of their calories from fat!!!
I hope that helps clear up some confusion! Have a good Monday!
#vitalnutritionandperformance
Between quarantine and summer I can almost guarantee your alcohol consumption is a lot higher then normal. I don’t know about you but by supper time I’m really wanting to have a glass of wine!!
If you’ve noticed in your logger that a lot of booze has the calories in there but not necessarily the right macros so here’s a little cheat sheet for you!!
They can add up quickly so if body composition and performance are high on your goals I would definitely stay away from booze, but realistically having a glass of wine on date night isn’t going to break them either!
Carbs can get a bad reputation.
When I’m talking to clients about the benefits of eating more carbs I’m talking about whole food carbs! I’m talking veggies, fruits and starches!
Consuming a diet with the appropriate amount of carbohydrates will give you
✨More energy
✨Increased recovery
✨Improve your athlete performance
✨Help support your hormones (ladies, yes your cycle needs carbs)
✨and let’s face it that taste good!
If your going to “skip” on the carbs make sure it’s the cupcakes, doughnuts and booze!
Don’t be afraid of carbs just be sure your consuming the ones that support your goals!!
Funny, when I made this I thought “man how useful” now I’m like hmm, maybe not!?
Either way, we can all end up in the car, boat or beach longer then we thought and having some good snacks on hand can keep us from getting realllll hangry!!
Anyone have any travel plans coming up!?
We are waiting to hear if/what school is going to look like for Bentley and then decided if we’ll be able to come back in the fall or not, other than that we’ve got nothing planned!!
Are you getting enough protein!? Unless your tracking it, I doubt it.
I always like to recommend 1gram/lb of lean body mass. The only we get the harder it is to build muscle and maintain muscle! Protein has a lot of benefits outside of “big muscles”
✨Protein reduces appetite and hunger levels when your eating the appropriate amount! This can be super important for those of you who are “constantly hungry” and “binging non stop”
✨Like mentioned above helps us to increase muscle mass and strength! Again this is important because body compositions made up of lean mass will BURN more calories! Who doesn’t love a boost in your metabolism!?
✨Helps is to build stronger bones!
✨Can contribute your lower blood pressure!
✨Helps is to maintain weight loss! Again this goes back to the fact that protein leaves us feeling satisfied longer!
✨Dealing with chronic injury or slow healing? YUP! Protein helps with that too!!
Protein is sounding pretty good hey!!
If your someone who refuses to track and log I can guarantee your not getting as much as you think you are and from a coaching point of view if I can offer one really important tip TRACK YOUR PROTEIN!!!
#vitalnutritionandperformance
Mommas!!!! Let me say this louder...
YOU MATTER TOO!!!
I get it! As a momma we put ourselves last. We eat what’s left, cold and last. We don’t have time to brush our teeth let alone workout right!?
Wrong!!! We have time. It might not be how you used to doing things but something is always better then nothing!!
I can promise you, once mommas is happy and feeling good, it has major positives for the whole family!!
What’s holding you back!?
Vital has one on one coaching and group coaching if your looking for something a little more affordable! Take your coffee money, your wine money, and bam, you can afford it.
(For the record I don’t think we should give up coffee we can just make it at home 🤣🤣, coffee is life)
Are you getting enough vitamin D!?
The baseline recommendation of vitamin D is between 600-800IU per day or “10 minutes in the sun”
I use the quotations because many rely only on sunlight which can be really hard if you live in colder climates.
Why is vitamin D important!?
☀️Your body must have enough vitamin D to absorb calcium to promote bone growth. ☀️Vitamin D also helps strengthen the immune system (which with all this Covid-19, is super important! ☀️Vitamin D also reduces depression and helps regulate our mood! Have you ever found yourself “happy” on sunny days, and kinda “blue” on colder dark days!?
Now I know y’all are thinking oh great another supplement and really it’s a pretty cheap one but you can find vitamin D in foods too! Salmon, sardines, egg yolks, shrimp, fortified milk/yogurt, fortified cereal and orange juice!
With all the sunlight down here I definitely have noticed overall my mood is a lot more stable however I still am taking a low dose just to ensure that I’m getting enough!
Let me know if you have questions!
**the recommendations come from WebMD**
#vitalforlife #vitalforhealth #vitalnutritionandperformance #vitalforperformance #fitness #health #weightloss #strengthtraining #immunesupport
It’s common to stick to the same foods when we are trying to lose weight, and many start to avoid fruits and berries!
While we can all agree to much processed sugar can halt weightloss we need to remember that natural fruits and berries are a great way to not only enjoy our foods but they also help us with micronutrients!
Consuming 200-300grams of fruits and berries will not keep you from losing the weight you want so enjoy it guilt free!
It’s so easy to overlook the basics and think that our bodies are more complex then just needing proper nutrition and hydration! With all the great coaches out there firing off free information I am still seeing the popular trend of starving ourselves because we think that’s the only way!! News flash!!! It’s not!!! Take care of your body! You only get one!
#vitalnutritionandperformance
What’s seed cycling!?
Ladies listen up! Our hormones can cause us a lot of problems! From hair loss, to weight gain, brittle nails, acne and the worst... painful periods!! So what are you doing to support your hormones (outside of 🍫 and 🍷)🤣🤣
Well let me give you a little run down and then direct you where to find some more info if you need it!
With seed cycling your going to ingest 1 tbsp of ground flax seeds and 1 tbsp of ground pumpkin seeds from days 1-14. Days 15-28 you’ll ingest 1 tbsp of ground sesame seeds and 1 tbsp of ground sunflower seeds!
The different seeds provide our bodies with the support it needs to help us through the different phases of our cycle!
I have been really impressed with the improvements I have noticed in my cycle. I had the worst cramps, so painful I was taking pain killers using wheat bags and hating life! My cycle was different lengths and everything just felt a bit off! Migraines like crazy!!
I did three months without missing a day and honestly with my first month I had a 28 day cycle whereas the month before was 22 days! I took the 5th month off and man that period sucked a lot again so I’m going to continue!
You could put these seeds in your power balls, yogurt, smoothies or whatever else you come up with!
If your going to try it give it a solid 3 months and see how you feel!!
If your looking for more information check out @drjolenebrighten and @food.period
With summer on the brain we all think about BBQs and beer! There is nothing wrong with enjoying your summer but our gut health can sure take a hit!
A great way to stay on top of that is by making sure we are getting enough fibre!
There are a lot of great benefit to fibre!
☀️fibre can help us maintain a healthy weight because fibre can help us to feel full longer
☀️helps maintain our blood sugar levels
☀️Lowers our odds of heat disease
☀️Helps is to have healthier gut bacteria and
☀️Helps us to have consistent bowel movements!
So do yourself a favor and save this little cheat sheet!
Of course your wondering how much do I need!? Well depending on your current lifestyle and gut health conditions the recommendations vary! If you need a starting place I like to get my ladies to shoot for 25-30grams and males 35-40grams!
Are you suffering from under eating without evening knowing it!?
So many clients come to me wanting to lose weight and once we get started we are quick to see that after years of dieting it’s not going to be as simple as just cleaning up their nutrition and the perfect macro prescription.
For along time the theory was “Eat less and Train more”... after years of seeing this we are seeing the effects, a quick weight loss followed by even faster weight gain, OR clients who have been eating 1200ish calories for 5-10-15 YEARS!!
FYI: 1200cals is enough food for a 4 year old!!
Reverse diets can be mentally exhausting and then hanging out in maintenance is not what you want to hear but ask yourself, do you want to lose the Weight and keep it off or do you want to keep searching for the next cash grab month after month.
Every case is different but just know patience and consistency will pay off when executed correctly!
#vitalnutritionandperformance #vitalforhealth #vitalforlife #weightloss #countingmacros
Data alert! I really REALLY encourage you to stop and take a look if you are someone who CrossFit’s, works shift work, lives high stress and are feelings like you might not be making progress with weight loss or skills.
This is my one clients whoop information. For a little back ground this lady works her BUTT off, not just at the gym but in everything. She is a full time vet student, works 911 dispatch, (night shifts), wants to train 5-6 days a week, qualified for canwest, was training before the crack of dawn, and married to an emergency responder. Talk about life stress right.
We had talked about her getting a whoop and I said only if your actually going to use the data. After about a month she voiced she was wondering why her recovery and HRV always stayed lower then she had hoped, and I went back to my “you have to much stress and your training is to intense, you need a break”
After a few weeks of this talk I finally convinced her to take some time off working out. I wanted to show her that her body was under recovering WITHOUT working out so she could see how much her life stresses are impacting her.
Take your time looking at the data! I have included more days of non trading then training because I wanted to show that even her first few days of not training her number stayed low so imagine if your only ever taking one rest day a week!? Or never!!!
Data is only handy and helpful if your going to use it. Is she happy to take time off working out!? No, she loves it and loves the mental stress relief it gives her but we need to keep the goal the goal. Healthy body composition and elite fitness so we have to do the RECOVERY WORK TOO!!
We have implemented hot/cold showers, hot baths before bed, and now a couple weeks rest to let her body have the break it’s begging her for.
The solutions we give as a coach aren’t always easy but sometimes you just gotta trust us!
#vitalnutritionandperformance
