My son is the best little first grade baseball player on his team!  Yes that is right I am the proud mom that say “that’s my son!” in the stands when he does something only a cute first grader in a little Padres uniform can do.  He is focused, engaged and aware when he is on the field.  When he plays catcher he even puts his non gloved arm behind him.  So darn cute!

I had the chance to walk him down to the Padres batting practice last week.  As we walked through the players hallways below the stadium I reinforced the idea that “one day this will be you, walking to work”.  It’s the ONE DAY idea that compels him and myself to live in a way that is focused, engaged and aware that our choices daily will take us to the ONE DAY place.

 What is your healthy ONE DAY place?  Is it to run a half marathon? To wear the old dress you love? To have calm and healthy eating habits?  I know that we all have them and know them deep down. 

When I meet people and share with them my career of being a food and fitness lifestyle coach, they always confess their health related “sins” excusing their behavior with “I’m so busy”, “I don’t like to…”, “I really don’t care.”  Sure there is some truth, but what if our kids said that about their homework? I have to say, I cant really support those statements only because there is a rebuttal that I can give to each!   There are just some things that must be taken care of daily, and our health is one of them!

 Since I will be blogging with you and RYKA throughout the year, encouraging you to make those ONE DAY healthy goals, lets start with debunking those three excuses now. 

 “I’m so busy.”  I have no doubt you are, we all are actually.  Single, married with kids, college students, full time worker, we all have learned to have busy lives.  But making working out a priority means that every 15 minutes you spend on exercise is only 1% of your day.  So 1 hour is only 4%.  That doesn’t sound so bad.  And since you have to take time to shop, cook and eat daily, streamlining your choices to be healthy is going to actually save you time, so you can work out!

 “I don’t like to.”  Sure who likes to sweat and be sore, eat apples instead of snickers and miss out on happy hour because you’re at the gym.  The people that do have learned that those healthy choices are going to love them back. That snickers really doesn’t care about the size of your hips!  Plus there are so many cool kinds of exercise options now from a ballet class, to salsa dance, to ring fighting to kite surfing.  Have fun in finding something for you.

 “I really don’t care.” On this one I make the face that I give to my kids when they say they don’t really want dessert… really???  Who doesn’t love to rock the skinny jeans?  Who doesn’t love being the cool mom at school playing kick ball with the kids.  Who doesn’t love feeling healthy and knowing that you made self-respecting choices?   What I like to call “Good for me” choices!

 Just like with my son, there has to be a game plan for success.  If he’s going to play major league ball he will need to believe that ONE DAY he can.  I figure someone has to, why not him?  So camps, front yard practice sessions and a lot of encouragement is my plan for his little dream to go big. 

 And with you, that ONE DAY dream is yours to make happen.  Here are some tips I share with my clients to make those dreams, sweet healthy reality!

1. SIMPLY CONSISTENCY- That is the only way it is going to work.  You can spanx, tuck and suck, but doing the hard work is what will work.  It’s choosing to do it everyday, like brushing your teeth.  Even when you really don’t feel like it, you are always glad you did!
2. STREAMLINE YOUR CHOICES- Even I get the hungry eyed unhealthy monster when I walk down the grocery store aisles with all the temping flavorful choices. But I have created a shopping system, cooking style and workout program that makes it a no brainer.  I will be sharing more on all that throughout the year but today I have attached my simple and healthy granola recipe.  (I know what you are I are having for breakfast tomorrow!)
3. SWEAT AND SWEAR- Here is one of my major rules with any client that I personal train.  During workouts, they must hit at least one of these three criteria:  sweating, breathing heavy or sore the next day.  Or you didn’t really get a good workout!  For the swear part (get your mind out of the gutter!) I know that there are just foods I need to swear off because they cause bad eating patterns in me.  No bags of pretzels need to be near me, ever.  It’s the idea that all things are permissible but not all things are beneficial!

So today let’s think on our ONE DAY health goals.  Every woman’s will look different!

Remember that “Healthy always loves you back!”

-          Fit Chef Katy

THE HEALTHIEST AND QUICKEST GRANOLA EVER!

Here’s just a few of the nutritional benefits of these great Super Foods.

High Fiber

1 cup of gogi berries

1 cup of cacao nibs

1 cup of raw unsalted almonds

1 cup of hemp seeds

 Mix all ingredients in a bag or a container and sprinkle on your yogurt and berries daily!

Fit Chef Katy Clark is a RykaFit Professional and Nutrition and Fitness Expert, where she encourages “Healthy choices, healthy you!” Katy is an accomplished runner, trainer at the highly acclaimed Equinox, and a brand ambassador for Ryka. Katy’s involvement with the Culinary Industry includes being a finalist on The Next Food Network Star, teaching as the Culinary Expert at Williams Sonoma, creating nutritious recipes for different organizations and owning an award winning cafe in Kunming China. She has been featured in Oxygen Magazine, Shape Magazine, Pop Sugar Fitness and KABC Health and Fitness Segment. Katy also strives to give back as she has done multiple fitness and cooking workshops with LA’s BEST and was the chef mentor to the national winning team at the Kid Healthy Competition in D.C. as well as Mrs. Long Beach 2011. She is currently working on FIT. WHOLE. BEAUTIFUL. – her  online site focused on women’s health and happiness. Visit her at www.fitchefkaty.com or www.fitwholebeautiful.com.

As your RykaFit Professional and hip hop fitness and lifestyle expert I like to AWE people with Awareness, Workout and Education. In my years as a fitness expert I have noticed two INITIAL and VITAL steps that most women miss on their journey to a six pack!  Be cautioned before you read on. Once you have this education you have to decide if you want to start your journey towards achieving a 6 pack!

Step 1 Desire/Visualize

If you can dream it you can have it. If you desire it, visualize and work towards that goal you can have it manifested in your body! Most people don’t have 6 packs because they don’t think they can. I used to have the same state of mind. I used excuses like having kids and a C-section as a reason for not having the “desire.” Once I destroyed those limiting beliefs I began my journey to achieve a 6 pack!!!  The first question to ask yourself, “Do I want a 6 pack?” If the answer is yes then your journey has just begun!!! Now that you desire it you must visualize it!! Close your eyes and feel what it feels like to have a six pack, not just a strong core but the literal muscles. Are you stronger? More confident? Are you able to balance better, move quicker, shed fat easier, attain crazy amounts of energy? Picture yourself fueling your body so that you nurture it and help it grow a stronger, faster, leaner chiseled 6 pack. Visualize and BELIEVE you can attain the goal. Do this before during and after your fitness class to attain the goal faster!

Step 2 Commit

Next, you must have a whole mind, body and soul commitment. That is right you must be in harmony with your mind body and soul and…COMMIT. Your thoughts words, nutrition, movement and actions must align so that you are in harmony. Make the 110% commitment to align yourself to help you achieve your goals. For example, people who come to my energy packed hip hop fitness class every now and then are less likely to achieve their chiseled AB goal because they are more committed to what is holding them back. I have heard women tell me they are more committed to their job, money, kids, partner, neighbors, dogs, cats and getting their hair done than to themselves. Similarly those who are addicted and never miss a class but go home to feast on a fat laden hamburger with inflammatory producing white bread and a side of trans-fat fried (or worse frozen and microwaved) French fries will also not achieve results because they are more committed to their cravings, comfort food and discord mindset. Understand that commitment takes time and energy.  When you are aligned with your commitment, your body will start to manifest a 6 pack as you have visualized in step 1!

Now that you have been educated on the first two steps embrace them and begin your journey.  I write this with much love to all RYKA women, I want you to accept you are “Ab Kicking Fat burning machines” if you want to be!!!  This is just the start now you must take ACTION!!!

Yours in Fitness and Lifestyle,

JeannieFit    

Jeannie Reilly Martingano is an expert on dance, health and wellness lifestyle. She travels the country teaching, creating, and inspiring others to choose health as a way of life! Born in Bogota, Colombia, Jeannie moved to the United States in 1986 where she studied dance under the direction of Cheryl Lee Jorgenson. In 2004, she received her Bachelor’s degree from The University of South Florida.  As a fitness educator, Jeannie has trained hundreds of instructors nationwide and has been a guest presenter, dancer, choreographer and lifestyle consultant for NASA, The Oprah Show, The Black Eyed Peas, 15 Seconds of Fame, The Rhode Show, CBS Wink News, and many more! She is currently the fitness creator and educator for ElevationHealth.com a network of nationwide Chiropractic Physicians.  Jeannie is the wife of Dr. Dan Martingano D.C. and a very proud mother of two beautiful boys. 

Fitness Magazine featured their Spring 2013 Shoe Guide in their April 2013 issue – on stands now!  Over 84 pairs of shoes were tested by 140 runners, walkers, bikers and hikers to come up with the “must-buys” for your favorite activity.

The Ryka Dynamic was chosen as “The Best for The Gym” and Fitness went on to describe the Dynamic and it’s versatile features:

Whether you’re pumping iron or using the elliptical, the “lightweight yet supportive” Ryka Dynamic features distinct heel and forefoot grooves to ensure that you won’t slip.  The breathable mesh upper is structured to “hug your foot in all the right places,” and the shock-absorbing midsole and arch-cradling sock liner provide ‘ample cushioning’ and “support and flexibility.”

Check out the article below and be sure to get your pair of Dynamic!  Available now on Ryka.com

Your ankle is an architectural marvel. All of your body’s weight funnels down into a narrow bridge of bone that sits on top of your feet. If your feet don’t strike and hold the ground in a balanced way, the ankles negotiate their own limited range to help you find your footing.

 Footwear greatly influences the effectiveness of your ankle mobility. High-heeled shoes compress the toe-bones and perch the ankle into a permanently steep grade that distorts the full range of motion in that joint. Over time, this weakens a lot of muscles while over-shortening others, and these compensations affect the entire body, not just in the region of the feet and ankles. High heels also come with inherent risks of rolling the ankle joint and leading to ankle sprains or strains.

But heels are not the only reason we sprain our ankles. It’s easy to make a misstep in your sneakers on slippery pavement, off-road trail running, or perhaps you’ve had the misfortune of falling down the stairs like I did a few years ago!

Whether you’re a klutz like me, a Lady Gaga wannabe or a trail-runner, we all need to care and condition our ankles for optimum function.

I happily present to you one of my favorite dynamic stability exercises for the ankles that I call Wheelies in the Parking Lot. I shot this video during my pre-New Year vacation to Kona and spent the day on an empty golf course doing running drills. Add some Wheelies before your workout to prep your ankles for lateral moves and to get your heart-rate going. Tack some Wheelies at the end of your workout, especially if most of your exercise involves forward motion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfEQ4JOEI10&feature=youtu.be

You will look like a cat chasing it’s own tail, but you will also become as nimble and agile as one. Cats always land on their feet. And you will too.

Ryka ambassador Jill Miller has more than 27 years of yoga practice and fitness expertise which weave seamlessly into her signature fitness therapy format, Yoga Tune Up®. Her compassionate nuts and bolts approach of helping students uncover and heal the root cause of physical pain and imbalances have catapulted her corrective exercise and self-care methods to the forefront of mind/body fitness. Jill can be found presenting at international fitness conferences, yoga retreat centers or teacher trainings at fitness clubs, yoga studios, clinics and CrossFit. Known as a “teachers teacher,” she certifies movement educators of every style to teach Yoga Tune Up®. Her work has been featured on the pages of Self, Shape, Whole Living, Fitness, Redbook, Prevention and Yoga Journal.  Her media programs include Gaiam’sYoga for Weight Loss, the Yoga Tune Up® At Home Program, Coregeous®, Quickfix Rx: Upper & Lower Body, Quickfix Rx: KneeHab, YTU Athletic Stretch DVD, Pranamaya’s 3 DVD set, Yoga Link: Easy Access to an Ageless Art and the YTU Therapy Ball Programs. For more about Jill, visitwww.yogatuneup.com,  Twitter @yogatuneup

Maybe it’s the time of year, or maybe it’s my age, or maybe it’s my version of the 7-year itch. I’ve been missing my girlfriends something awful. We are flung across the world, all at different stages of marriage/divorce/child rearing. One just published a book, another is launching a brilliant new business, and another just did her first TED Talk. My friends are absolutely amazing. And for that, I am most grateful.

When I first met my husband 7 years ago, I was not on Facebook. I had a major aversion to my computer and had no interest in cluttering my mind with what I saw as nonsense and filler in the “worldwide web.” I was a yogini who spent several hours a day practicing, meditating, taking walks and teaching. He encouraged me to embrace social media…and so I did but with great reluctance.

My opinion was that social media cut us of from one another-kept us from real intimacy and served as a constant distraction. At the time, I could never imagine that 7 years later I would be a contributing author of 3 blogs, max out my personal FB page and grow additional FB pages https://www.facebook.com/YogaTuneUp , Twitter (https://twitter.com/yogatuneup)  and youtube http://www.youtube.com/user/yogatuneupvideos  communities.

One of my favorite things about Social Media is watching the growth of my friends’ brands, business and circle of influence. I love commenting, liking, sharing, reading and engaging in words of praise, humor and heartache. Reading through Twitter rants and sharing private moments in public has become a new form of intimacy between me and my girlfriends – I just never expected that I would feel so genuinely connected to all of them.

While taking a shower the other day, happily un-wired, I felt all of the “cyber-energy” of my dear girlfriends surrounding me and supporting me. It may sound a little woo-woo, but the actual web of community that we’ve created in cyber space was entirely real and present. It grounded me and I no longer “missed” them because in cyber-space, they’re always there.

Ryka ambassador Jill Miller has more than 27 years of yoga practice and fitness expertise which weave seamlessly into her signature fitness therapy format, Yoga Tune Up®. Her compassionate nuts and bolts approach of helping students uncover and heal the root cause of physical pain and imbalances have catapulted her corrective exercise and self-care methods to the forefront of mind/body fitness. Jill can be found presenting at international fitness conferences, yoga retreat centers or teacher trainings at fitness clubs, yoga studios, clinics and CrossFit. Known as a “teachers teacher,” she certifies movement educators of every style to teach Yoga Tune Up®. Her work has been featured on the pages of Self, Shape, Whole Living, Fitness, Redbook, Prevention and Yoga Journal.  Her media programs include Gaiam’sYoga for Weight Loss, the Yoga Tune Up® At Home Program, Coregeous®, Quickfix Rx: Upper & Lower Body, Quickfix Rx: KneeHab, YTU Athletic Stretch DVD, Pranamaya’s 3 DVD set, Yoga Link: Easy Access to an Ageless Art and the YTU Therapy Ball Programs. For more about Jill, visitwww.yogatuneup.com,  Twitter @yogatuneup

I workout at gyms all over the world on my travels for work. One trend that I am thrilled to see is that more folks are getting down on the floor after their workouts and working out their post-exercise aches & pains with a variety of massage balls, rollers, sticks and more. I am a huge fan of self-care, it’s literally the backbone of my Yoga Tune Up® format. But I’d like to see that self-care start BEFORE you load your body with weights, complex movement patterns or speed.

Treat BEFORE you train.

Massaging out your tissues prior to training helps to awaken the body’s inner sense of itself, also known as proprioception. Your body is loaded with these specialty sensory nerve endings that helps the body to locate tissues from inside out. These proprioceptors are especially prevalent in deep joint capsules, all along the spine and in the multiple fascia soft tissues that interconnect all of the body’s structures together. 

You can awaken these body sensors and help them to function better by using a self-massage tool. Awakening your body-sense pre-workout means that you can make better choices about your position within a workout. Becoming more aware of your body during your workout means less injuries and movement gaffes! When you treat before you train, you’ll find you won’t need to roll out your pains post-workout because you’ve already eliminated the issues within your tissues.

Here is one of my FAVORITE moves from my Coregeous DVD to help pry apart tight back muscles so that your spine, ribs and deep breathing muscles can function well throughout your workout.

RIB ROCK

HOW TO:

1)  Place 2 grippy Yoga Tune Up® Therapy Balls  (can sub tennis balls) along the side of the spine in the upper back region, between the shoulder blades.

2)  Breathe slowly into the ribs and rock from side-to side and allow the balls to massage in towards the rib joints. 1-2 minutes on left side of spine, then switch sides

HOW IT HELPS:

Uncorks tension along the upper back and spine so that the spinal bones regain fluidity and mobility. This frees up trapezius, rhomboids, erectors and intercostal tension, mobilizes rib joints and spinal joints, posterior diaphragm rib connections and massages deep back musculature.

Ryka ambassador Jill Miller has more than 27 years of yoga practice and fitness expertise which weave seamlessly into her signature fitness therapy format, Yoga Tune Up®. Her compassionate nuts and bolts approach of helping students uncover and heal the root cause of physical pain and imbalances have catapulted her corrective exercise and self-care methods to the forefront of mind/body fitness. Jill can be found presenting at international fitness conferences, yoga retreat centers or teacher trainings at fitness clubs, yoga studios, clinics and CrossFit. Known as a “teachers teacher,” she certifies movement educators of every style to teach Yoga Tune Up®. Her work has been featured on the pages of Self, Shape, Whole Living, Fitness, Redbook, Prevention and Yoga Journal.  Her media programs include Gaiam’sYoga for Weight Loss, the Yoga Tune Up® At Home Program, Coregeous®, Quickfix Rx: Upper & Lower Body, Quickfix Rx: KneeHab, YTU Athletic Stretch DVD, Pranamaya’s 3 DVD set, Yoga Link: Easy Access to an Ageless Art and the YTU Therapy Ball Programs. For more about Jill, visitwww.yogatuneup.com,  Twitter @yogatuneup