Squatting Barefoot?

The other day I was in the gym, It didn't happen to be my leg day but I saw an older guy who was squatting and he was doing it barefoot. My immediate thought was that's disgusting do you know how much sweat is on that floor!!! Once my moment of disgust passed I wondered why is he squatting barefoot? I came home and did some googling and found a few discussions boards on the topic. 

From the discussion boards I found that alot of bodybuilders like the barefoot because it helps their stability and balance which I guess I could understand how being more grounded could help with your balance. I also found that some people found the barefoot at the gym just as gross as me and some of them would squat in socks rather than barefoot, which is better hygiene wise for sure. 

While I did find many supporters of the barefoot their were many people who suggested that if you are going to be lifting frequently go out and buy chuck taylors or lifting shoes because they are worth it. I also found that if you are truly going to be doing alot of lifting then running shoes are an absolute no no. My brother who has been lifting for awhile has shoes made for lifting he hasn't gone the chuck taylor route because he doesn't do any crazy Olympic lifting however he found that nikes that were geared towards lifting worked much better for him in the gym all around compared to his running shoes. 

This is where so research  in to journals comes in. In (THE EFFECTS OF WEIGHTLIFTING SHOES ON SQUAT KINEMATICS  Dave Fortenbaugh1, Kimitake Sato2, and J. Kyle Hitt2) they found that shoes that are made for weight lifting are best to use they help in keeping the best form while squatting.

So what am I to do? I currently have running shoes, why after reading all of this you might ask... personally I spend alot more time doing cardio and hiit intervals then I do squatting and dead lifting (I dead lift like never to rarely). If I ever feel that I am lifting more or doing much more in the weights area of the gym I may splurge on some lifting specific shoes, and I can guarantee you will never see me lifting barefoot, I'm still alittle grossed out to be honest.   

What do you think? Barefoot? Lifting shoes? Running shoes? let me know your opinions in a comment below! 

Stephaniexx

Protein Pancake Sample

Yum! Pancakes! 

When I ordered my protein and aminox I also received a sample of this protein pancake mix.I have seen plenty of people eating protein pancakes and thought hmm those look good but I never went after it, however seeing as it was a free sample my brother and I just couldn't resist trying them and I must say if I wasn't moving in to a dorm with no kitchen I would consider buying them because its something different for breakfast besides my usual eggs with feta. I will say the 8g of sugar makes me a little weary but I wouldnt eat them more than occasionally, It does have 12g of protein and 2.5g of fat which is a plus. 

Our sample pack was one servings worth which me and my brother split, we also topped them with fruit, and the half serving was pretty good substance wise and one serving would have had me satisfied and full. 

They were super easy to make on the griddle and only requires the mix and water 

I had the ones with strawberries and my brother had the blueberries they are very moist and thick pancakes which makes them filling. They also have a great buttermilk taste and are delicious with your favorite fruit.
I would absolutely recommend these pancakes to anyone!

What is your favorite protein pancake recipe? Do you use a mix or something homemade? I would love to know so leave a comment below

Stephaniexx

Just A Little Update!

Hello Everyone :)

not a lot but a lot at the same time has been going on with me, I have been working random hours and trying to study and spend time with Eddie and get all this craziness in before I get to school. We also had a minor mishap at my parents and spend the week fixing the pool so it was a hectic past week and I am ready to start a new week. I am one of those weird people who love Mondays because  I look at them as a fresh start and a new beginning a clean slate to a new week that you can make the best of. 

Before we move into this week I will share with you some of my fun weekend with my family in Saratoga. Going to the races in Saratoga has always bee one of my favorite things when I was younger we would go every summer, so it was a lot of fun for us to go back both my brother and I were of age to bet so we had a lot of fun as a family! 

my delicious white wine sangria

Mango Icee

So this recipie has given me a bit of struggle the past few days I love the taste and the texture but when you freeze it you need to make sure you give it enough time to thaw before you try to eat it. However, it is really good and very clean and easy to make you only need 3 ingredients and a blender. I also was able to whip it up quickly and on summer days like this it is really refreshing and cools you down which makes it a fantastic summer treat that you don't feel guilty about. 

What You'll Need

- about 2 Large Ripe mango's (Make sure the mangos are ripe which means when you squeeze them they give alittle the more ripe the more of it you will be able to use) 

- 1/2 cup of water

- 2 tablespoons of lemon juice 

Measure out so that you have about 3 cups of mangos 

Add the Mangos and 1/2 cup of water to a blender or food processor and blend until smooth 

Once smooth add the lemon juice and blend again

Once real smooth pour in to Tupperware container 

Seal the container and freeze 

I froze mine over night but it should be frozen enough to eat after an hour or two

If you freeze it over night like I did be sure to leave yourself time to thaw it when you want to eat it. I put mine in the refrigerator the next morning and was able to have it at lunch time and it was like a slushy 

Let me know in a comment below if you try out this recipe and what you think of it! Also let me know your freezing process and how it worked out for you! 

Stephaniexx

New Cooler Bag for Work!

So my most recent TJmaxx find is one of my favorites! They have these awesome cooler bags that look cute and fashionable almost like second purse

Its by a company called fit fresh and It comes with a larger sandwich cooler that has an ice pack in it as well as a smaller one for fruit 

I also find that the cooler bag is pretty big I can honestly fit both containers and a 32oz. water bottle which is perfect to bring to work with me and will be great for school if I need to bring a meal to go some days. 

So ultimately I would recommend looking in to this awesome cooler bag especially if you are someone who likes to bring a packed lunch to work keeps you eating clean and from going out to lunch because you know you have a great lunch packed in your adorable convenient bag

Also just a side note my new favorite outdoor activity Kayaking!! I love it! My parents just got one and I went for the first time yesterday and I had such a great time its relaxing just you your kayak and the water 

Anywayyy Hope you all enjoyed this post leave a comment below! I would love to talk to any of you! 

Stephaniexx

Any Women Who are Interested in Health and Fitness Should Read This!

I found this article on the bodybuilding.com website and I love it! it has really dispelled a lot of female training myths for me and helped keep me motivated. They past few days I have been struggling wondering if I am lifting to much or over doing this and starting to look like a man but this article has really helped me through my nervous slump! One of my favorite things about this article is that it promotes resistance training for women now I have been using resistance training for the last month and I enjoy it I feel stronger I feel like I am toning and not bulking!! and this really helped to dispel my fear that I will. 

So you can read this article Here >> 8 Ladies Fitness Myths

Now as I have said recently I have been really looking for motivation and my tumblr has been the key! There are many motivational quotes on this site that have been really helping me through and for those of you who do not have a tumblr and are not interested in one I have created a motivation tab  which I pan on really working on and building up for all of you! Below's a quick preview 

Let me know your opinions on the myths I would LOVE a discussion with anyone on this one!! 

Stephaniexx

Beginner Treadmill Interval Workout

While some cardio days I like running endurance (even though I'm not great at it) and others I feel like I get a better work out when I am running Intervals. This is my most recent interval work out that I tried and really loved it pushed me and definitely got my heart rate up. However, this is definitely more of a beginners workout because my brother looked at it and told me to increase some things next time but it was a good start so I figured I will build in to it more and more as I go.

Treadmill Interval Workout

1 Minute Walking at 3.8mph

4 Minutes Jogging 6.3mph

1 minute Run 8.0mph

30 sec rest with your feet on the sides of the treadmill

1.5 minute run 8.0mph

30 sec rest 

1 minute Run 8.0mph 

30 sec rest

1 minute run 8.0mph 2.5 incline

1 minute rest
1 minute run 8.0mph 2.5 incline
1 minute rest
1 minute run 8.0 mph 2.5 incline
1 min rest
30 seconds run 8.0 mph 4.0 incline
1 minute rest
2.5 minute jog 6.5mph
1 minute walk 3.8 mph

This was my calorie burn after those first 21 minutes of interval cardio If you are looking for alittle extra burn like I was I finished out my 30 minute treadmill workout with 9 minutes of  walking at 3.8mph and a 10 incline! this really just keeps your heart rate up and finish out the 30 minutes

This was once the whole 30 was done! It was a great workout for me and it kept me going instead of a long endurance run which occasionally I get bored while doing that on a treadmill. 

I hope you enjoyed this post and let me know in a comment below if you try this workout or if you have any other interval workouts for me to try out! 

Stephaniexx

What Is Going On?!?

My Blog has changed! New Title and URL I am so sorry for the confusion if any was caused but I decided to change some things up with my new healthy life style and this was already the title of my tumblr and I liked it so decided to carry it over to here :) I also added a few pages to help make things a bit more organized and easier to navigate. If you have any questions about the change than please leave a comment below and more and more new posts will be coming to you soon :) 

love yah

Stephaniexx

Turkey Quesadilla

The other day for lunch I was staring in my refrigerator thinking lunch is the HARDEST meal to come up with! I never really come up with a good healthy meal for lunch thats, when I saw my .5lb of turkey and thought what can I do with this and eventually this quesadilla came to my mind. It was delicious and really simple to make!! 

What You'll Need

- about a half pound of lean ground turkey 

- 1/2 cup of green peppers

- 1 stalk of celery 

- 1/8 cup of cheddar cheese

- Hot sauce to your liking

- 1 tortilla ( I used an original one because it was all that was in the house but use whole wheat or any kind you would like)

What to do

- defrost the turkey if frozen 

- Chop the vegetables in to small pieces 

- Then place the vegetables in a frying pan with a very small amount of cooking spray or oil on medium heat and cover for about 5 minutes or until the vegetables are starting to soften 

- 

- Once they have begun to soften add in the ground turkey and mix until turkey is well cooked

- for the next step I used a griddle set at 350 degrees but you can use a grill or oven which ever is available to you

- first place the tortilla on the griddle or grill to warm it up alittle then add the turkey and vegetable mix and sprinkle with cheese then add the hot sauce to your own liking

- fold over the tortilla and flip about half way through cooking total cook time is about 10 minutes

- cut in to three pieces and enjoy! 

- you make about two servings out of this I split mine with my mom or you can refrigerate them and enjoy the next day! 

Let me know what you think of this recipe in a comment below! 

Stephaniexx

A Weekend Away!

This weekend I got to go back to New York and Stay with Eddie for the weekend, for me this was the weirdest combination of excitement and nervousness. When I was in New York at School my life consisted of eating out and drinking with semi regular work outs spread in. So that is the only life I know there and now that I am getting used to living a much healthier life I knew going back would be hard trying not to get back into old habits. Eddie was really great about the whole this which helped alot. He is also working on being healthier by eating less fried foods and being more active which helped make it much easier for me. I did have some cheat moments but what is life without some splurges. 

We also got active by playing tennis which was tons of fun we just enjoyed each others company and although we were not that good at it we just had so much fun running around and trying that it was a great time and great work out! 

So all in all I do feel a little bad that I ate a few things that I know I shouldn't have but I am glad I stayed active and I think it was a step in the right direction! 

I hope you all had a great weekend 

Stephaniexx

Sweet Potato Sliders

One of my favorite new foods is Sweet Potato, I love it its like dessert at dinner that's good for you. With just alittle salt it is fantastic, but today I wanted to try something different with it and after some thought I came up with the idea of making sweet potato sliders using the sweet potato in place of a bun and a slider size turkey burger with cheddar cheese. 

Don't They just look fantastic!! and I promise they taste just as good as they look. It is a great combination of salty and sweet. 

What You'll Need 

- 2 Sweet Potatoes

- About .5lbs of ground turkey 

- Cheddar Cheese block 

- Salt

- Pepper

- Olive Oil 

What To Do

- Peel the Sweet Potato and slice so that they are about 3/4 of an inch thick you should end up with about 10-12 slices

- Cut up slices of Tinfoil for each 

- place a Slice of Sweet potato on a rectangular piece of tinfoil

- Coat each side with olive oil salt and pepper to your own liking

- Fold up the tinfoil so that the potato is wrapped completely

- Place on the warmed up grill 

- Cook on the grill for about 20 minutes flipping half way between 

- While Sweet Potatoes are cooking roll ground turkey in to balls then flatten so that are sliders shaped

- Once the Potatoes have cooked for about 15 minutes put he burgers on the grill I put a piece of tinfoil on the grill and cook the burgers on that it helps keep them from falling apart and thought the grates of the grill

- When the turkey burgers are almost completely cooked slice the block of cheese thin and put one slice on each burger

- Take the burgers and sweet potatoes off

- Unwrap the sweet potatoes as you want to serve them so that they stay warm

- Place the burger between two slices of the sweet potato and enjoy! be careful biting in the sweet potatoes are really hotttt!!! 

My whole dinner this evening was two of these sliders green beans and a cucumber 

I Hope you Enjoyed and try out this recipe and let me know what you think in a comment below! 

Also let me know if you like these recipe posts or what other kinds of posts you would like to see!

Stephaniexx

Teriyaki Kabobs

Finally A Food Post! 

It has been a while since I posted a recipe, mostly because all of my meals lately have been pretty basic and I have been working on getting the healthy eating down and now that I have a better understanding of nutrition and health I will hopefully be posting more foods. Now I am no expert and I am not a calorie counter so none of them will have calories and nutritional value information however I can say that they will be made with much more natural ingredients and much less sugar and little to know processed food. This also does not mean in any way shape or form that I am paleo I am just aiming to avoid processed garbage as much as possible and eat more organic although I realize the expense makes it hard those are just my general goals to eating. 

Now on to todays recipe is Chicken ( or steak ) Teriyaki Kabobs 

These were delicious! 

What you'll Need 

- 1 Package of Chicken (or Steak) 

- 2 Zucchini 

- 1 Green Pepper 

- Bag of mini potatoes

- 3 Onions

- Teriyaki Marinade 

- Olive Oil

- Salt or a seasoning

What to Do 

- First Chop up the vegetables in to manageable chunks 

- then add oil and seasoning to the vegetables 

- Marinate the Chicken for about an hour with Teriyaki Marinade 

- Then its time to stick it to em! 

- We first wet the Sticks this helps to keep them from burning too much on the grill it also puts moisture inside the stick to help cook through every thing. 

- while putting the meat and vegetables on kabobs be careful! I poked my self a few times and it was actually pretty painful 

- Cook them on the grill for about a half hour but be at the grill to watch them rotating to make sure that no one side burns and they are cooked through 

- Now enjoy! 

I really loved this recipe it was some work but it was worth it! 

Let me know if you try out this recipe and what you think of it in a comment below! 

Stephaniexx

Where Does Your Time Go?

Recently I have been realizing that I am always saying I never have enough time to do things or I can't spend as many hours as I want doing something. This made me think Where does all of my time go? and How much of my time do I waste? 

There are 10,080 Hours in a week and I am going to break it down here to see just how much free time I actually have. 

I work between 25 and 30 hours a week Lets say I max out at 30 

that leaves 8,280 minutes

I sleep for 8 hours a night so now we are down to 4,920 still quite a bit 

I also need to eat and that is about 2 hours a day? probably less any way so 2 hours a day so 4,080 minutes left in my week 

Now my work outs which are a very important part of my week so I work out for about an hour and a half a  day... that still leaves me with 3,450 minutes or 57.5 hours!! 

Which basically leaves 8 hours a day unaccounted for... this is obviously not exact because I do not work on the weekends so those days I have alot more time then the week days still that is a huge amount of free time that I am wasting. 

Generally in that time span I need to 

shower and get ready, study medical terminology, work on my blog, read other blogs, I also will usually swim for a little 

so that accounts for maybe 4 or 5 of those hours... SO WHAT AM I DOING WITH THE REST. 

This truly makes me think I must be spending much more time than necessary on my computer or in front of the TV, time when I could be going for a walk or hike, laying in the sun, playing with the dog, or even doing more studying and preping for school. Now that I have realized how much time of my day is actually being wasted I must begin to work on my time management skills. This doesn't mean that I will be planning out every second of the day or that I wont leave my self some free TV time (my obsession with The Real Housewives is just too strong for that) So this is my new goal and plan to work on getting my time management skills down because I am tired of wasting my hours in front of electronics. 

I'm sorry if this was ranting and involved some math but I have been thinking about this for a couple days and I thought it was pretty important to share because I am sure that I am not the only one who feels that they spend too much time watching TV or on their computers and it is time that we change that and get our butts moving and our time well spent! 

If you have any opinions on this post please let me know in a comment below! 

Stephaniexx 

My Favorite Fitness App of the Moment

As someone who is just begining my look in to health and fitness and trying live better by living healthy one thing that I have been doing alot more recently is downloading any and all free fitness apps trying them out seeing what I do and dont like about them. My favorite of these apps at the moment is the bodybuilding.com app, I really like the layout and the accessability of this app not to mention that it is a free app and I can honestly say that I rarely pay for an app I'd rather my money go towards music. 

Any way so In general I love using bodybuilding.com and I am not what I would call a body builder and you dont have to be to use this site there is alot of good information about nutrition and exercise that you can get out of it, I would recomend signing up for an account and even if you dont use it religiously as I do its something to look in to in my opinion it has a wide range of programs and something for basically everyone my entire family has accounts and me and my brother use the app all the time especially at the gym and I will tell you why shortly

This is the main page of the app 

The My bodyspace, stats and goals, workout tracker, friends, and photos are all links to your own profile I like the stats and goals section as well as photos because they go by measurements and pictures rather than the scale because the scale is the enemy when it comes to trying to lose weight and be healthy 

My favorite section of this app is the exercise section 

When you click on exercises the first page you will come to lists different categories of exercises so strength training, plyometrics, ect. I also really like to use the streching section the variety of streches and exercises you get from the tab keep your workout changing and your body guessing so its not getting in to a groove with exercises its getting to experience different things. 

Once you pick a category of exercise it then narrows to the body part you want to target which I find very helpful in figuring out what muscle exactly a exercise is working out so you are not under or over working any particular muscle group

lastly once you pick your muscle then youre given a list of exercises when you pick an exercise you get images of how the exercise is done, a description of how to do it and what its working on, as well as the option to view a video of how to do it

I love this part of the app because It is handy at the gym If I want to try a new exercise or am not sure what to do to work out a specific muscle then I grap my phone bring this up and I am set I know the muscle I am working and I get to see and read the exercises before I do them so I know I am doing them correctly. 

Another part of this app that I love are the forums where both experienced trainers and unexperienced athletes can post as they wish the trainers have great in sight and the athletes are there to ask the questions that maybe you didn't think of but could be alot of help for you and your goals. 

I really hope you enjoyed this outline of my favorite fitness app of the moment and I hope you take advantage of this awesome app. 

Let me know in a comment below what you think of this app? If you use it? If you like a different but similar app better? 

Stephaniexx

Favorite Songs For Different Parts of Your Workout

So yesterday I was at the gym and was thinking about how I like to listen to certain songs for certain parts of my work out. For example I have a specific song I like to listen to when I'm trying to push through my last set of squats or bench press so I thought I would go through my favorite songs for specific parts of your workout 

Working on my muscles as you can see above i am a poor example of biceps

I will list when I like to listen to it then the artist , song, and album hope you enjoy! 

Starting up your Cardio or the Begining of a run

Fall Out Boy - The Pheonix - Save Rock and Roll 

The Downtown Fiction - I Just Wanna Run - Best I Never Had 

When you need that Extra push to get through the rest of cardio 

Fall Out Boy - My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark - Save Rock and Roll 

Zedd - Clarity - Clarity

Linkin Park - Bleed It Out - Minutes to Midnight

Wolfmother - Joker and the Thief - Wolfmother

That Last Set 

Skillet - Hero - Awake 

Miley Cyrus - We Can't Stop - We Can't Stop 

Atreyu - Blow - Lead Snails Paper Anchor 

Plyometrics or A HIIT Interval 

Avicii - Levels - Levels

Cartel - Typical - Cycles 

Cool Down 

One Republic - Counting Stars - Native

Avril Lavigne - Heres to Never Growing Up - Heres to Never Growing Up 

Robin Thicke - Blurred Lines - Blurred LInes 

Hope this was helpful to anyone looking for some new songs for your playlist 

Leave a comment below if you Have a specific Song that you listen to at a certain point in your work out! 

Also be sure to check out my tumblr for my almost daily food and exercise logs! 

Stephaniexx

So I'm Buying a Laptop

I am in the market for a new laptop and I have NO idea what to buy I am clueless I currently have a sony vaio I love it because it is purple and pretty and everything but I have cracked the screen twice aka I am a cluts thier screens are so easy to replace which is positive so I dont know 

I have given thought to a mac but I am so used to working with windows do I want to switch or do I not want to switch, but I would really love the mac unique programs, I would love ivideo and iphoto but at the same time I know how to use my photo editor on windows and I understand how programs run on windows so less getting used to. 

I also have thought about getting one that is a touchscreen which I really like the idea of especially with the new windows which as a person of habit and not a fan of change I am nervous of so right now I am really focused on a lenovo touch screen I have heard lenovos are good computers thats the kind my brother currently has and he likes it so I dont know ahhh such a decision!

If you have any opinions on a computer What computer you have had? Computers you have liked? or Ones that you have not liked Pleaseee let me know in a comment below! 

Stephaniexx

Happy Birthday!

Yesterday makes it official I am no longer a 21 year old i have moved deeper into my twenties and dont feel any different.. maybe because I still look like an 18 year old but Ill take people thinking I'm younger for now Im sure I will appreciate it when I'm alittle older. Any way so I had a wonderful birthday Got to the gym for leg day then off to work and home to spend time with Eddie and my family. We went to Hibachi for dinner and it was great!!! Then I had a few friends over overall a very good birthday 

Yes I am wearing a minnie mouse crown my brother was clever and bought me a card for a 3 year olds birthday because it had a crown in it. I also got some new athletic shorts from my brother because they have zipper pockets so he doesnt have to hold things for me when we go to the gym I now have my own pockets. My parents also got me a Polar heart rate monitor that measures your heart rate and calories ect. which I am really excited to use be sure to check out instagram because I am sure I will have many pics with it in the near future Lastly eddie got me a bottle of pineapple malibu He knows me all too well. The drink is from  Hibachi it was peach something lol 

The Hibachi experience is awesome I recomend it to any and everyone!! I had chicken mixed vegetables and rice so delicious and its so entertaining he even made me a rice birthday cake with a candle I had to blow out!

Well today is my day off so off to do something exciting hopefully make sure you check out my twitter and instagram with more daily updates about what I am doing 

Stephaniexx