Author Archives: The FitBonVivant

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About The FitBonVivant

The Registered Dietitian and Fitness Enthusiast who makes healthy living FUN!

Work that booty

Posted by The FitBonVivant in Fitness Tips and Plans

Today’s leg workout was awesome.  I added in some new exercises that I have not done in a long, long time and it was definitely the right move.  It is good to constantly revamp your workouts to keep your body “guessing.”  I like to call this “exercise distortion” because when your body is not used to something the movement/exercise acts as a shock.  Keep your workouts interesting by trying and incorporating some or all of these exercises into your exercise routines.  All exercises are to be repeated FOUR times (ie. repeat each superset FOUR times).

  • Superset #1:  Narrow leg stance dumbbell squats (10/12/14/16 reps) & wide leg stance air squats (20 reps)
  • Superset #2:  Weighted hack squat machine (10 reps) & running up/down the stairs 6 times (scalable based upon your facility) OR do knee touches for 1 minute
  • Superset #3:  Calf raise machine (15 reps) & lying down hamstring curl machine
  • Superset #4:  Butt blaster (12 reps each leg) & fit ball ‘Swiss ball knee tuck-in’s’ otherwise known as ‘jackknife’ (15 reps) -> this is a great website that outlines how to do the previously mentioned abdominal exercise (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2y03dkaK1O0)
  • Superset #5:  Reverse bridge/plank (hold for 1 minute) & kettle bell abdominal twists (20 reps)

Happy Wednesday!  

Mexican Fiesta Scramble – Serves 1

Posted by The FitBonVivant in Food, Recipes, Nutrition Tips & More!

Who says you have to eat eggs in the morning?!?!  This dish can be consumed easily at lunch and/or dinner if you are at home!  I tend to eat eggs at night because they’re easy and filling!  This recipe is nutrient dense (great source of complex carbohydrates, protein, minerals, and vitamins).  Try this breakfast item in reverse… aka later in the day.  The ingredients below are portioned for one person but can easily be doubled, tripled, etc.

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Ingredients

  • 1 full egg
  • 2 egg whites (sifted from a regular egg)
  • 2 thin green onions (scallions); minced
  • 1/4 c Spanish onions; minced
  • 1/4 c cherry tomatoes; sliced in half
  • 1/4 c yellow bell peppers; diced
  • 1/4 c red bell peppers; diced
  • Olive oil spray (enough to coat frying pan)

Methodology

  1. Coat frying pan with olive oil spray and place on stove at medium heat.
  2. When pan is heated – toss in prepared vegetables and mix to allow for even browning (estimated time for browning/caramelization = 5 minutes).
  3. Add egg mixture to the vegetables and mix.
  4. When eggs are cooked, transfer the finished product to a plate, and voila!  Bon appetite 🙂

Shoulder Power!

Posted by The FitBonVivant in Fitness Tips and Plans

Today’s workout was nice and fast!  All sets were supersets and rest time was minimal!  All sets were composed of 20 repetitions therefore choose a weight that you can use for all 4 sets without having to decrease/increase the weight!  A total of 480 repetitions will be completed at the end!  ENJOY 🙂

  • SUPERSET #1:  Seated dumbbell shoulder press & standing rear delt dumbbell fly
  • SUPERSET #2:  Seated lateral dumbbell raise & standing dumbbell front raise
  • SUPERSET#3:  Standing upright dumbbell rows & bicycle/abdominal crunches 

Optional  :::  Hit the cardiovascular machines for 30 minutes to obtain your daily dose of ideal exercise which is a mixture of both  cardiovascular and weight training totaling 60 minutes!

Work that back!

Posted by The FitBonVivant in Fitness Tips and Plans

Most people dread doing leg exercises at the gym – I dread back.  This workout was quick and fun.  It can be done with a partner which means you can switch back and forth between exercises when doing each superset which makes time fly.  

All exercise sets were repeated four times with 20 repetitions which is a nice and easy number to remember.  In other words, 7 exercises results in 28 sets of intensity.  Rest time between sets within each superset should be minimal.  

  • SUPERSET #1:  Barbell Romanian deadlift & barbell bent over row
  • SUPERSET #2:  Wide grip lat pull downs & close grip rows (cable machine for both)
  • SUPERSET #3:  Bicycle crunches, back hyperextensions with/or without a weight, and hanging leg raises

Get to work it’s time to work YOUR back!  

Time to make those legs hurt the rest of the week…

Posted by The FitBonVivant in Fitness Tips and Plans

Today’s morning workout was simple.  Four sets of all exercises and complete 30 repetitions for every set.  EASY PEASY.  Each exercise is scalable.  Choose a weight that is somewhat heavy but NOT your heaviest because you will use that weight throughout the four rounds…

  • Barbell wide squats
  • Leg press machine (medium stance)
  • Barbell or dumbbell stiff leg deadlift
  • Barbell lunges (in place)
  • Calf raises on leg press machine
  • End with a bang aka some cardio = 20 minutes on the stair master

…Now the rest of YOUR day can begin!

Cinnamon Spiced Chicken and Pepper Medley – Serves 2

Posted by The FitBonVivant in Food, Recipes, Nutrition Tips & More!

More experimentation gone right!  I love cinnamon on everything and best of all it is good for you!  Cinnamon has many health benefits: slows the rate of digestion, improves blood sugar control and response to insulin making it a great spice for those with type I and II diabetes, anti-clotting effects, and may help stop the growth of bacteria.

This dish is absolutely delicious, colorful, and best of all, EASY.  I made this concoction the other night for dinner but when I had it for lunch the next day… it was the Rolls Royce of leftovers!

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Cinnamon Spiced Chicken

  • 2 chicken breasts, chopped
  • Olive oil spray (to coat the pan)
  • 2 tbsp cinnamon
  • 0.5 tbsp paprika
  • 2 tsp ground black pepper or Montreal steak seasoning
Methodology: 
  1. Measure, portion, and prepare all ingredients with necessary cooking supplies.
  2. Coat a large frying pan with olive oil spray then apply heat.
  3. Toss in the chicken then top the chicken with the spices.
  4. Cook in usual fashion – rotate and flip the chicken pieces so all areas are cooked well and browned evenly(minimum internal temperature = 165 degrees Fahrenheit).

Pepper Medley

  • 1/2 yellow onion, thin slices
  • 1/2 yellow bell pepper, diced
  • 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
  • 1 c broccoli florets, frozen
  • 1 tsp ground black pepper
  • Olive oil spray (to coat the pan)

Methodology:

  1. Follow step 1 from above with the ingredients for the pepper medley dish.
  2. Coat a medium frying pan with olive oil spray then apply heat.
  3. Toss in the onion, peppers, and broccoli – allow the heat to be absorbed and for caramelization to occur.
  4. Sprinkle the ground black pepper atop the vegetable mixture while cooking.
  5. When the vegetables are evenly browned, set aside in a serving dish with the portion desired, then place the chicken on top
  6. Bon Appetite!

a new favorite snack… yum!

Posted by The FitBonVivant in Food, Recipes, Nutrition Tips & More!

I really love small snacks throughout the day.  This one is ideal and easy!  Sounds weird but it’s not – I promise.

  • 4-5 ounces of plain low-fat, Greek yogurt
  • 1 cup red grapes (sliced in half)

…combine the aforementioned ingredients and mix.  Viola!

Now you’ve got a low calorie, high protein snack that is of low GI content (glycemic index) which will be a great boost to your energy and satiety level!  Grapes are associated with improved blood sugar control, in other words, improved insulin regulation/sensitivity.  Grapes also have phytochemicals/nutraceuticals that come in the form of resveratrol (found in the skin and flesh of a whole grape).  This element is believed to play a role in longevity.

The best part is that this snack serves to replace cravings for something juicy, creamy and overly sweet which tends to usually be high in unnecessary calories that do NOTHING for you!  Now you can have a snack that does it all: helps YOU and tastes great.

It’s a cardio sort of day…

Posted by The FitBonVivant in Fitness Tips and Plans, Food, Recipes, Nutrition Tips & More!

Yesterday was a busy day since I was flying all morning but as soon as I hit the ground…  I popped back into action.

  • 20 minutes on the ARC elliptical trainer with program/intensity increasing every 5 minutes
  • 40 minutes on the treadmill – running intervals with a .15 walk in between (intervals: 1.25/1.00/.75/.50/.25/.25)
  • Deep stretch

This week I will be doing workouts that incorporate more cardio than strength training.  I am trying to take it easy on my shoulder… but that won’t keep me away!

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During the evening I attended a really awesome lecture about childhood obesity given by Christina Economos, Ph.D. and I must say it was great.  It really hit home because the consequences of obesity are multifactoral.  There is no one particular reason for its occurrence.  When professionals of varying specialties share knowledge and work together we can stare down obesity.  Our environment is toxic, everywhere we go there are choices and it is getting harder and harder to know what the RIGHT choice is. 

One of the things that I didn’t think so much about before yesterday is that juice is a huge component of diets during childhood and it’s elimination would be beneficial.  Rather than having processed sweetened beverages or natural sweetened beverages in addition to fruits/vegetables, parents should try to eliminate it.  Rather than having both fruits and vegetables plus juice – only one or the other should be chosen.  A great tip would be for parents to blend up their own beverages with natural ingredients for children who may or may not be picky.  In the blended beverage, items such as fruits and vegetables can be added effortlessly (serves as a great way to add in vegetables without having a huge grimace about taste). 

On a final note I wanted to highlight a new statistic that I thought to be fascinating:

  • Children with 1 overweight/obese parent is 60% more likely to be overweight/obese
  • Children with 2 overweight/obese parents is 80% more likely to be overweight/obese

Making the Time to Run

Posted by The FitBonVivant in Fitness Tips and Plans

I’ve been so busy lately that I haven’t posted recipes or workouts… BUT I have been doing them!  My most recent workout was cardio based but it was great!  I started with abdominal exercises therefore while I was running/stepping I felt my stomach at work!

  • Windshield wipers: 3 sets, 26 repetitions
  • Lying straight legged lifts with a raise at the top: 3 sets, 15 repetitions
  • Side 1-arm planks: 3 sets, 45 seconds (each arm)
  • 30 minutes on the stairmaster
  • 15 minutes running on the treadmill

All moves can be scaled to your ability that is why there are no specifics listed.  Enjoy!  I was in and out in slightly over an hour 🙂

Shoulders, shoulders, and shoulders!

Posted by The FitBonVivant in Fitness Tips and Plans

Yesterday was a super busy day and it was “REGISTERED DIETITIAN DAY” but that did not keep me out of the gym!  I had a short but sweet workout and the weight numbers have been omitted to allow for scaling based upon your ability…

  • Treadmill for 30 minutes: Run/walk every .25 of a mile at a fast/medium pace
  • Dumbbell close grip narrow stance squat shoulder presses -> 4 sets, 12 repetitions (pyramid the weight up gradually each time)
  • Dumbbell side lateral raises supersetted with dumbbell front raises -> 3 sets, 12 i each (keep the weight challenging throughout)
  • Dumbbell shoulder shrugs -> 3 sets, 15 repetitions (pyramid the weight up until the last 3-4 repetitions are difficult to complete)
  • Shoulder press machine (utilize outside handles) -> 3 sets, 12 repetitions (keep the weight challenging throughout)
  • Rear delt machine -> 3 sets, 15 repetitions (keep the weight challenging throughout)
  • Handstand push ups -> 3 sets, as many repetitions possible (AMRP)
  • Abdominal bicycle crunches -> 3 sets, 25 repetitions
  • Lying down leg raises -> 3 sets, 15 repetitions
  • Stairmaster for 10 minutes: Keep the level stable (50 side steps/50 center steps/50 side steps and repeat until the time is up)

And… as the title states this workout was predominantly shoulder focused!  The rest time was minimal therefore the entire workout was pretty fast and took slightly over an hour for completion thus was a time saver = score!