~Anika’s Point of View~

People have been asking me lately if I have any energy. Am I tired? Am I moody? These questions kind of confuse me, so I ask why and it always comes back to the diet. People seem to think that if you are doing a figure competition you are crash dieting; limiting the amount of calories you eat to the point where you feel tired and moody.

I tell you, I AM NOT crash dieting or limiting my calories to the point of feeling that way. Anything that gets in the way of training hard and strong is something that I DO NOT do! I eat well, I eat every 2-3 hours, I cook and or prepare my food and never let myself go hungry! I may not be eating pizza or cake but I am eating plenty. Of course our bodies need food, but muscles NEED food! I have so far been able to maintain my muscle mass while ridding body fat and most of all I’ve managed to keep almost all of my strength! At 1 week out, I’m thinking this is the way to go, I feel great and proud and it’s not because I went hungry for 12 weeks!

I am a mesomorph, which is good a bad. I luckily put on muscle fairly easily, but to see it I MUST do my cardio consistently. I have a love hate relationship with cardio, I do like the way it makes me feel and look but man…can it get boring!!!  Here are some ways to mix it up and keep it interesting!

Intervals
**Warm up for a few minutes first!**
 Sprints: 30 seconds ON/30-60 seconds OFF. The off should be a fast walk to jog. Increase your sprint speed gradually. Great news… ONLY 20 minutes and you’re DONE!

Ok..so it’s only the best if you LOVE Peanut Butter! (Thank you Oxygen for this recipe!)

ALOT of protein bars are NOT good for you at all….they may have some of the things  we are looking for in them, but there is usally LOTS of things in them that we DONT want, these are the perfect replacement! My boyfriend Chris works outside and eats out of his cooler everyday, these are so quick and easy even HE can make them (which I love him dearly….but is saying how easy it is lol, lets just say I AM the cook of this relationship!) He was very excited when I found and made this recipe, I make a batch on Sunday and have wraped servings in the fridge for him to make eating like a bodybuilder that much easier and CHEAPER!!!!

No Bake Pnut butter Protien Bar

2 cups Quick Oats

4 Scoops Whey protien (I use syntha-6 Chocolate, but any would do)

1/2 Cup Natural Peanut Butter

1/2 Cup Water

1 tbsp. Flax seed (optional)

All you do is combine ingredients in a mixing bowl, put in a wax paper lined brownie pan and again optional, spread a thin layer of peanut butter on top and freeze for 30 minutes. (don’t over freeze) Take out, slice into squares and wrap in foil for a quick breakfast or snack! THEY ARE SOOO YUMMY you will think it’s a cheat meal!

Has anyone ever taken X-pel? I am 10 days out from competition and i am pretty sure I am supposed to take X-pel for 10 days….the bottle has 20 serving or 10 days per bottle. So the question is: Should be taking it for the next 10 days or only 5 days before competition?

Help if you can! Thanks You in Advance

I love comfort food, I will still sometimes crave those things my mama used to make! I have come up with ways to still eat comfort foods and feel satisfied but not sabatoge my clean eating diet.  

Shepards Pie (1 of my personal favorites!)

Ground Turkey cooked with onions, garlic + cracked salt & Pepper

Frozen bag of corn with 1/4-1/2 cup of cream corn

Mashed Sweet potatoes (skim milk and spices to mash)

2% cheddar (add at the end and broil until browed)

Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes

By replacing the hamburg with lean ground turkey and white potatos for sweet makes this comfort food much better for you!

I would bet that a lot of us eat A LOT of chicken! here are few marinades to help keep it clean and interesting! :) 

Mustard Chicken

Yellow + Grain Mustard + 1-2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil + 2-3 chopped garlic cloves + cracked salt & pepper

 Honey Mustard Chicken

Yellow mustard + honey + 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil + salt & pepper + cayenne pepper

Peanut Butter BBQ Chicken

1/2 cup crunchy or smooth natural pnut butter, 1/4 cup hoison sauce, chopped garlic and ginger, salt & pepper

Balsamic chicken

extra virgin olive oil, balsamic viniger, soy sauce, chopped garlic, Salt & Pepper

Herb Chicken

Red wine viniger, extra virgin olive oil, chopped garlic, any fresh herbs + salt&pepper and any dried herbs (I like rosemary and tyme)

Orange Ginger Chicken

Orange juice, orange rind, extra virgin olive oil, chopped garlic and ginger + salt&pepper

So legs legs legs…we all want nice firm, toned legs and lets not forget BUTT!! Just thought I’d share some exercises that I think REALLY work! So here are a couple good leg workouts:

Workout 1

Squat: 4 sets of heavy squats. (for me at 5′3" 125lbs, this means 135# 12X 10X, 155# 8X 185 for 4-6X)

Reverse BB lunges: 4 sets atleast 8 each legs, if you are going lighter on weight then 12-15 each leg (I usually do 4 sets 8each with 95#’s)

1 leg press or squat: 4 sets 10 each leg (as heavy as you can)

Cable glute kick backs: 4 sets 12-15 each leg (use an ankle strap and low pully cable and squeeze that glute! Adding these to my routine has really helped shape my bum)

Calf Raise: 4 sets 12-15 or to failure

Workout 2

Smith Squat: 4 sets 6-12 as heavy as possible with good form of course

Single Leg DB Romanian Deadlifts: 4 sets 10 each leg

DB or BB step ups: 4 sets 15 each leg

Cable kickbacks: 4 sets 10-15 each leg super set with Jump Rope 200 jumps is 1 set

Do some super incline (above a 6) cardio after these workouts for about 20-30 minutes and you will feel it the next day!!

I am a magazine junky! There is nothing more exciting for me and my motivation then to get a new issue of Oxygen or Muscle and Fitness Hers in my mailbox!

However, I was at Walmart the other day and saw an issue of Fitness RX for women with Alicia Marie on the cover….this intrigued me so I picked up the issue. I have been HOOKED ever since! I love this mag  because it really gets into the science of nutrition and fitness! There is a little bit of beauty/fashion stuff in there….but not much at all..which I think is great. There is some REAL information in there and I TOTALLY recommend it!

If the Fitness RX for men is the same then I would absolutely recommend it too the men out there too!

Check it out my fellow magazine junkies!

wow….I HAVE ABS! holy crap!

I have been consistently working my abs (and everything else) for close to three years now. Although I had managed to get a decent flat stomache with a bit of definition I now know that abs are made in the kitchen! There are definately three components to getting those rock hard totally 6 pack abs that we all crave so much.

1. Work the abs from all angles 3-5X per week (esp. leg raises, reverse crunches, weighted crunches … and truly lower back exercises really help with abs too)

2. Stick to your cardio!!! for me this means atleast 5X per week (total mesomorph with a bit of endomorph here!)

3. EAT CLEAN!!! We all cheat, I know I do. I cheat 2X a week, but otherwise eat 5-6X per day sticking to lean protein, lots of green veggies, some fruit and things like sweet potatos, squash, brown rice and quinoa. My best advice here is to eat what YOU cook and or prepare at most meals! Also magazines like Oxygen, Muscle and Fitness Hers and Eat Clean Magazine have great clean reciepes to help you have variety, learn different cooking styles and flavor combinations.

These three things have made this once flabby maggy have a 6 pack!

I did my regular workout and had extra energy to try something new…here is the whole workout:

1. Bench Press: 4 sets 10X 10X 10X 8X

Perform the following as a super set 5X (must get 10 reps everytime, so drop weight if neccassary)

2. Incline Flye super w/ DB Incline Press

3. DB or BB Decline press 4 sets 10 10 10 8

Heres the extra: Perform as a super set, 3-4 sets reps to failure

4. Push ups w/ feet on stabilty ball.. immediately go into stability ball roll ins for abs

I did follow this up with:

Incline reverse Crunch: 4 sets 15X

Weighted decline crunch: 4 sets 25-30X

  Good workout!