4 parts Full body workout
You start with the top box which is the warm up! Start by doing high knees, since they are marked with the #1, then you do plank walks as they are #2, then it's time for high kneew again (#3), and you keep going like that until you've done all 8 sets in the warm up!
Then you move on to the first of the 4 parts, which all are marked in the order you should do them. From 1-4 obviously. You finish ALL 3 or 2 sets in each part before you move on to the next one. Example: in part 2 you do 1 set of plank rotations, 12 butt bridges (the > means more than, so at least 20 kg), and 15 sumo squats! Then you do it 2 more rounds, and when you're finished you can move on to part 3!
[Butt bridges with hip barbell means you do your regular bridges (butt lifts) but you place the 20 kg barbell at your hip bones, holding it there with your hands while lifting your butt! Halfway meeting punches is posted earlier, you basically hold a dumbbell in each hand and punch straight out, so that they are parallel in the middle when one hand is moving outwards and the other one is moving inwards! Plank rotation is also posted previously! Lunge jumps is when you jump straight up, land in a deep lunge, jump up again and land in a lunge with the other leg forward! The rest is very googlable! And btw haha :) this workout could take up to 1,5 hrs (or more obviously) if you arent efficient! SO GET UP AND WORK IT!
Mediterranean fish package
(I wont write out any amounts since you can choose yourself depending on how you like it. I WILL write how much I use for one person)
200 g of white fish, I used haddock
carrot
garlic, I used herb marinated
sundried tomatos, also herb marinated
bacon/italian air-dried ham, I used 125 g of bacon/4 people
lemon
scallions
salt/pepper
shrimp
spinach
- Turn the oven on to 250+ degrees celsius -
1. Rip square pieces of foil. Drizzle them with EVOO and place aprox 2 sliced herb marinated garlic cloves on the drizzle (use maximum 1 clove/package if you use regular fresh garlic)
2. Place your bacon on a baking grid and shove em into the oven for a quick half-crisp up. If you use italian ham you dont have to pre-crisp it!
2. Place the fish on top of the garlic and add some dried tomatoes. Season the fish as you like with salt and pepper.
3. Get your carrot, peel it. And keep peeling it into thin stripes that you top your fish with!
4. Grab the bacon, which is not cooked through, but about halfway so it's partly cripsy, and so that it will be perfectly cooked when the package is done. Pat them dry with a paper towel and place them on your fish. 1-2 slices per package. Lower the heat to about 200 degrees!
5. Add som roughly chopped scallions and one or two lemon slices.
6. Fold you foil together, as airproof as you can, so that the fish gets steamed. Cook for aprox 20 minutes!
7. When you take the package out and open it, add som shrimp to the hot fish and top it with some spinach.
Served with beans and brown rice
Chia vs. Flax
Here are the differences and reasons to why I think you should eat chia seeds instead of flax seeds!
Flaxseeds are known for their high omega-3 fat content, a heart-healthy fatty acid. Flaxseeds contain 150 calories per 1-oz. serving. They also contain 12 g of fat, 8 g of cargohydrates and 5 g of protein -- comparable to chia seeds. Flax, however, is lower in calcium, with just 7 percent of the RDA, and phosphorus, with 18 percent of the RDA. Flax, however, contains 9 percent of the RDA for iron, while chia offers none, and 31 percent of the RDA for thiamin, 27 percent for magnesium, 35 percent for manganese and 17 percent for copper.
Brown flax seeds
Chia is a seed from the salvia plant native to Mexico, once used as a power food for Aztec warriors.
One oz. of chia seeds contains 137 calories, 9 g of fat and 4 g of protein. They are also a source of calcium, with 18 percent of the recommended dietary allowance based on a 2,000-calorie diet. One oz. of chia also offers 27 percent of the RDA for phosphorus and 30 percent for manganese.
Chia seeds
Flaxseeds must be ground to release their nutrients, but chia seeds do not. The gel-forming quality of chia makes them valuable for dieters. The gel makes you feel full longer, helping you to stick to low-calorie meal plan. Chia seeds also help with hydration, as they soak up water when they form a gel -- making them helpful for endurance athletes.
Chia seeds do NOT contain any of those toxic cyanogenic compounds (linamarin, linustatin, and neolinustatin) which are found in flax seed.
And just to compare with some common foods:
Chia seeds contain
- 2 times the protein of any other seed or grain
- 5 times the calcium of milk
- 2 times the amount of potassium as bananas
- 3 times more iron than spinach
- and of course, copious amounts of omega-3 and omega-6
What I eat
Here's how it works!
The first part is just examples of what I would eat during the day, all meals but dinner, cause dinner got its own little part where I divided it into 4 different categories; Main, Side, Veggies and Extras. Then what you do is that you pick one from every category (except veggies/fibre you may choose more, and you dont have to include any "extras"), and assemble your own meal! Of course there are other things that are super great to eat, but I just chose the things I usually eat!
Everything is endlessly variable, so give it your own twist!
banana omelet
eggwhite omelet
protein pancakes
oatmeal w/ mango, banana, berries
whole wheat hard bread w/ ham etc + fruit
Snack
smoothie
cottage cheese w/ fruit, berries
egg whites on hardbread
cottage cheese mixed w/ yoghurt and berries
Lunch
eggwhite omelet with turkey/chicken sausage
scrambled banana egg whites
chicken breast salad
tuna salad
whole wheat pancakes
1. Main (protein source)
chicken breast (grilled, seared, fried, oven baked/roasted, steamed etc)
tuna (grilled, seared, fried etc)
STEAK (grilled, fried, oven roasted etc)
shrimp (seared, steamed, fried, boiled, stir fried etc)
different types of white fish (grilled, seared, oven baked, steamed etc)
salmon (grilled, fried, seared, oven baked, steamed etc)
ground beef (meatballs, patties, loaf etc)
ground chicken (same as previous)
chicken/turkey sausage
2. Side (complex carbs)
whole grain pasta
brown rice
quinoa
potato (boiled, oven baked etc)
sweet potato (chips, oven baked etc)
oven roasted veggies
3. Veggies/fibre
onion
carrot
celery
kale
cucumber
pepper
chili
tomato
salad
beans/haricoverts
zucchini
aubergine
salad
pumpkin
radish
mushroom
avocado
4. Extras/fat source
yoghurt based sauces
hot sauce
avocado
nuts
cottage cheese
tomato sauce
From top left: clean eating lasagna w/ pear, brown rice sushi, thai chicken with veggies, sesame seed breaded salmon with walnut salad, salad tacos with chicken, veggies and avocado, chicken sausage, tuna salad, shimp w/ whole grain pasta,grilled salmon with quinoa and a haricovert salad, grilled chicken breast with aubergine chips and roasted veggies and potato.
Abs, core and back
This exercise looks a lot like a cable crunch, but it's not since you don't crunch, but bend at the hip!
1. Stand like shown in the picture. Nothing but your hips should move during the exercise!
2. Hold on firmly to your rope-handle and start bringing your head down towards the ground by bending at you hip and pulling with your stomach, keeping your back straight, abs and core tight!
3. When you almost touch the ground, you start going back up to your starting position, keeping the resistance, moving slowly and not bouncing straight up.
4. When reaching your starting position: do it all again!
Full body, mainly core
This exercise targets most parts of you body, but mainly your core!
1. Place yourself in the regular plank position, hold it for 30 secs!
2. Now rotate into a side plank, and hold for 30 secs!
3. Keep turning in the same direction, now into a back plank/reversed plank, as shown in the 3rd pic! Hold for 30 secs!
4. Rotate into a side plank again, obviously not the same one as before, but the other side! Hold for 30 secs!
All 4 planks counts as one set. Do 3 or 4!
Summer workout inspo
Where to find all these goodies? It says below the picture! All these things are available in the U.S., mostly online, and some are available in sweden and the rest of europe as well!
1. H&M
2. H&M
3. Nike
Breathe properly when running
One thing that bothers a lot of people who try running as a weekly/daily exercise is the breathing part. It’s a common problem to get a sore throat or shallow and rapid breath, which many times causes unnecessary fatigue or unwanted pace deceleration. Here are the basics of how to breath right when running!
When breathing - inhaling and exhaling - we use muscles. The intercostal muscles (the musles located between all your ribs) and the diaphragm (the muscle separating the chest from the abdomen) are examples of these breathing-muscles. Just like all any other muscles, they can be toned by exercising them!
"When you take a breath, 80 percent of the work is done by the diaphragm. If you strengthen your diaphragm, you may improve your endurance and be less likely to become fatigued." *
So, how can you exercise your diaphragm and intercostal muscles?
The basic concept on strengthening your lungs and the muscles helping you breathing is to inhale and exhale more fully. When you take slow, deep breaths, more parts of your lungs gets used = better oxygen utilization, and by doing this when running you will strengthen your diaphragm!
In ordinary life, while not running, we’ve been taught to breath with our stomachs. This means that when you inhale, your chest should not expand, but your stomach, as if your lungs were located in your belly. Now dont get me wrong; your chest will expand a little, and it should, but your belly should expand more! And when exhaling, your belly should “deflate”. This very much applies to breathing while running too! Your chest should basically not move very much, while you stomach “inflates” and “deflates”.
If you don’t know if you normally breath right you can easily test yourself: Just sit down and take your shirt off (easier to see)! Place one hand on your chest and the other one on your belly. If your belly-hand moves up and down with your stomach when you breath, you’re doing it right. On the other hand, if your chest moves more than your belly, you are not breathing properly, which could cause shortness of breath in any situation. It also causes unnecessary tenseness in you upper back and shoulders since you have to use your whole upper body when chest breathing. Chest breathing also wastes energy that could be better used!
Finally: Should I breath in through the nose and out through the mouth or reversed or what?
You should breath in though both to get as much oxygen as possible! Personally I try to breath in a little bit more though the nose since mouth inhales makes my throat very sore. But don’t exclude mouth inhales completely! When exhaling you should also use both nose and mouth to get rid off the carbon dioxide!
SO , quick list!
1. Inhale and exhale more fully. Deeper inhales will provide space for more oxygen, and proper exhales will remove more carbon dioxide.
2. Focus on breathing slowly and deeply
3. Breath in and out through both your nose and mouth!
4. Breath with your belly, not your chest!
5. The best one :) Don’t over-think the breathing process! Of course you have to focus on it in the beginning of your run, but try to trust your body to keep the correct breathing going without you thinking of it. If you are a newbie runner you might have to “control” your breathing some minutes after beginning your run, to get it back on track. But again, try to relax and let your body get into it!
I hope this motivated some of you to give running a new try! And remember, we are all rookies in the beginning! It takes time to work up a good running and breathing technique, so don't give up!
*Everett Murphy, M.D., Olathe Medical Center, Olathe, Kansas.