Workouts in Torun

not-only-training -clothes picture

For few days I'm in Poland, at my home-place. Beeing away from work and Norway doesn't mean beeing away from my daily lean body routine. Exercising also helps me dealing wth hard time I'm having now.

my home workout equipment

I stick to (slightly modified) plan and I did:

* Thursday: legs&abs workout followed by 30 minutes of intervals on elliptic machine

* Friday: 30 minutes morning cardio

* Saturday: back&biceps followed by 30 minutes of intervals

plus each day some classic push ups.

I really enjoy the fact that I have own elliptical machine at home and few weights. This let me exercising on a daily basic without need to buy gym access for that week. 



Beside that I try to enjoy my stay (as much as it is possible) by visiting spa, eating delightful food and enjoying time with my family and good book. 

Little break from Norwegian reality.

Norwegian Easter

As far as I observed, Norwegian are all about celebrating and getting into right celebration mood. 
I think it is very good to celebrate tiny little things, to make your life more colourful - Norwegians obviously know that too!

Easter goodies - lots of chocolate and marzipan

Shops were filled with Easter goods for about two month ago. 
Easter treats, Easter eggs, yellow flowers - everything which is yellow, with bunny or egg has its priority place in the shop shelves.

So how Norwegians celebrate Easter (norw. påske)? Few things catches my attention:

present boxes in shape of eggs

• presents (most of the times candies) are packed in egg-shaped packages

• it is a time of cross country skiing and having mountain trip

  

  'typisk norsk' tour kit

• trips to country houses are the standard 

•  Kvikk Lunsj (chocolate waffle) and oranges are THE MUST on that trips

• it is more about celebrating outside than inside

påske krim - also on to-do list during Easter

•  at least one criminal novel has to be read during Easter time 

For me Norwegians are spending their Easter in a very active way which is one we should learn from them! :)

 

 

 

Lean body workouts - first two days

pre-workout toilet photo is a must! ;)

So I am officially after second day of Lean Body workout plan. 82 to go! ;)

Yesterday I did biceps&back workout together with 30 minutes sessions of intervals on treadmill. I have to say that those intervals were challenging, due to the fact the higher one last for whole 4 minutes! I'm definitely used to short ones, but what does not challenge you, won't change you, isn't it? :)

pseudo biceps flex ;)

Today's training consisted of chest, shoulders&triceps work. All exercises consists of 3 sets. 2 sets with 10-12 repetitions and the last one which is max rep. to failure. Ouch! 

12 weeks of new training program

Today I'm starting a new training routine based on Lee Labradas program from bodybuilding.com.

Program based on 3 split weight training combined with interval trainings with one typical cardio day. 

Goal is to get ripper and leaner body with muscles definition.

Resistance training splits consists of:
1) chest, shoulders, triceps
2) back&biceps
3) legs&abs

interval training chart

Cardio trainings consists of:
 
1) interval trainings (short ones)
2) one longer cardio on rest day (which can be done also outside the gym)




 


In what this program is  different than my previous routine? 
It has more cardio, definitely and all the exercises were already composed by somebody else than me :)
Another new thing to me is that I won't do this challenge alone, but with my training buddy - Ania :) 

Big advantage of this program is for each week exercises are already prepared (and filmed in a high quality!), you only have to print out the schedule and do it. 
So it is a perfect solution for those who don't know were to start with their gym trainings or for those who would like to try something new (like me:) )

Program provides also complete nutrition guide. As long as my diet is pretty good I will only do some small improvements than implementing whole suggested diet.

Tomorrow I will sum up two first training days with this new routine :)

Waffel day in Norway

At the same day when I am implementing my new training routine (more about it in next post) there is a waffel day in Norway!

This extraordinary day express Norwegian's love to that piece of baking. They served waffles preferable with Norwegian brown cheese and jam.

 

I have to admit that I haven't eat wafflels for years and it seems that I won't because I don't have special machine for making them at home.

However, I would like to share Funksjonell's Mat recipe with you for healthier waffels which do yourself at home (recipe in Norwegian can be find here)

 
You will need:

50g butter/margarine
4 eggs
100g Sukrin Gold
240g flour
40g FiberFin
0,5 spoon baking powder
0,5 spoon cardamom
5dl (50ml) of milk


Mix all ingredients and let them stay for 15-30 minutes. After that bake in waffel machine. Serve preferable with soe lowfat quark or cottage cheese and jam :)

Energetic Sunday!

Hello!

How is your Sunday? Mine is sunny and energetic! I started day with gym training which consisted most of cardio work - 5km on treadmill and some ABS work after that! 

Good dose of endorphins for the rest of the day :) Have a good one!

Girlie shopping list

I am home alone for few days before my Poland trip. I have to do some food shopping and it came out very, very girly I guess ;) 

On my shopping list there was:

* organic broccoli&bean soup
* low fat vanilla quark (mager kesam vanilie)
* cottage cheese
* glutenfree oats
* feta cheese
* flavoured rice cakes
* Coca Cola Zero (my weekend weakness)
* cod
* portion of salmon
* Skyr (natural non fat quark)
* sweet potatoes
* fresh green beans
* little avocado (hidden somewhere)
* sprouts
* fresh blackberries (my favourite fruit together with raspberries!)

Now when I'm stored with good food, I am ready for the next part of the weekend :)

My daily supplements: magnesium and BCAA

After beginning series of articles about supplements with one about Omega 3, I would like to write a little about other two supplements which I take daily (magesium) and on training days (BCAA).

Magnesium is a mineral which is essential for thousands of chemical reactions occurring in our bodies, keeping out heart rhythm steady and keep our bones strong. If you are exercising often and drinking lots of coffee, you probably experience lack of magnesium which results in trembling muscles ;)

I take my daily dose of magnesium together with vitamin D. You can consider supplementing magnesium together with cink and vitamn B (ZMA). This combination is said to help the best to those who train actively.

I use BCAA from MyRevlution with orangeade taste :)

BCAA is other supplement I take very often, but only when training. Branched chain amino acids has anabolic properties (prevent muscles from 'burning out' during workout and resting times) and enhance performance. 

BCAA of protein powders?

Any good protein powders has BCAA in it. BCAA though has no or very little calories. If you are on a diet and you want to lose fat, not muscles, try BCAA then. Spare calories for some real meal with real protein sources. 
That doesn't mean that I am not a fan of protein supplements, I will write about them soon :)

Better late then never

Finally (after months from first publishing) I've got Kristine's Weber new book "Sunn og ster med protein. Mat for muskler" (ang. "Healthy and strong with proteins. Food for muscles"). 

I am double happy because it is my easter gift from my beloved!

one of Kristine's desserts: cheesecake

This book is not only a cook book, it is a history of Krisitne who has one many of Norwegian body fitness competitions. She writes about healthy diet attitude, training and taking all the best from gym training. It is a great summing up and addition for her blog kriweb.no

What makes my happy is the fact that nowadays this book is on the 4th place of best selling books in Norway. Kristine truly deserved it! 

And I am so glad that healthy and protein rich recipes are sooo popular among Norwegians :)

Unfortunately this beautiful published book is only in Norwegian which makes it difficult to read for not Norwegian speaking readers. But.. you always can look and admire Kristine's kitchen ideas and her perfect femine body :)

Silence

Lot's of things happened recently and together with two very exhausting days at work it all results with a little silence on the blog.

from yesterday's aerobic class

But I will come today again with some good food!

Sunday's pizza time!

home made pizza with paprika, minced meat and fresh spinach and rucola with mozarella cheese on top

Oh yes, I did that!

Normal pizza, on a normal wheat dough, with normal cheese and ingredients. It's all about moderation and healthy mind.

If you want to check my previous, healthier pizza versions click here and here.

Yummy Saturday

After two intensive days I really enjoyed the slow Saturday full of good food.

Gymgrossisten is a Scandinavian shop with supplements

I was at the opening of new Grygrossisten shop in Oslo today and bought some zero calorie pasta and few protein bars.

today's arrivals: zero calories pasta and protein bars :)

I splurge us with delicious reindeer stew and simple and easy dinner - shrimps with garlic baguette.

dinner: stew with reindeer and quinoa

Delicious dinner: shrimps and garlic bread, yummy!

Sweat&endorphines

Hello!

With Monday and Wednesday off from training, I had really good 2 training days after!

On Thursday had I step class (60min) which I followed with quick intervals session on treademil (45s x 45s).

Pink girl attack! ;)

Friday is my usual double-trainings-day. I started it with resistance training (30min) with my lovely group and I will follow this one by another step hour (60min). 

 



Classes which I have on Fridays are the one I can design myself (and listen to my clients needs, of course). 
That is why I always try to do things different, change routines, choreography etc. This time instead of doing typical aerobic choreography, I will made a step class with resistance training (15 minutes step, 15 minutes strength,  followed by another round of step and strength training with stretching at the end).








Productive two days, full of sweat and endorphines! :) Have a nice weekend!

Breakfast muffins

 

Good morning!

If you have a little more time for preparing breakfast, try this recipe for breakfast muffins.


Mix eggs, eggs whites with scoop of sesame flour, scoop of baking powder, salt and pepper. Add vegetables of your choice and parma ham. 



Fill cupcakes forms and bake muffins for about 20 minutes in 200 degrees.

Great alternative for old good breakfast! :)

Tuesday gym time

here in my favourite Better Bodies shirt from here

Recently I have quite many aerobic classes and running workouts, which limited my gym training a little. 
But, having a resistance training after 6 days off from weights was really great! 
Good energy and plenty of exercises was made :)

Tuesday's circuit training consisted of:

* back - verical row, hyperextensions
* triceps - dips, cable upright rowarm pull   down
* chest - chest press, pull over
* legs - leg press, squats with barbell, leg curls, calf muscles on leg press machine
* abs - crunch with 4kg medicine ball
* shoulders - shoulders press with dumbbells

2 weeks to go!

So, it is another week going on! And another week closer to my trip to Poland. Counting days! 

I started this week with proper meal preparation and day off from training.

lunchboxes for upcoming days:  rice with chicken or atlantic trout

Last week I run 10km, did intervals session, resistance training and had 3 aerobic classes and one of them was on Sunday. So my body is little sore and just needed rest. 

form pic from Friday

Now I am enjoying quick break from work and soon I will start my second shift for today. In a meanwhile I restored my energy with delicious portion of fruits. 

berry quark with kiwi and orange - vitamin boost for a good Monday!

Cupcakes!

chocolate muffins with lemon and chocolate frosting

Sunday is a great day to prepare some sweet cupcakes!

For base I used Funksjonell Mat chocolate cake mix. It is a ready to bake mix which contained 40% less calories, 10% more fiber, has no sugar and, most importantly, is very, very tasty!

I made two types of icing - lemon anc chocolate one.



Preparartion:

Make cupcakes base from Chocolate Mix, add 3 eggs, 1dl of oil and 3dl of water. Put the dough into cupcakes forms and bake for 30 minutes in 180 degrees in the oven. Let them cool down before putting glaze on them.

For lemon frosting: mix Kaseam Mager with Sukrin Melis, jucie from half a lemon, additionally you can add yellow pigment.
For chocolate frosting: mix Kesam Mager with Sukrin Melis and 2 scoops of MyoProtein Mocca Chocolate Flavour.

Happy Sunday! :)