Fitness and Beyond Programs

Wilson X Connected Basketball

noreply@blogger.com (Fitness & Beyond) — Thu, 24 Mar 2016 12:09:00 -0700

Fitness and Beyond Programs has partnered with CoachUp and Wilson to provide clients with the new Wilson X Connected Basketball. With this ball, players can track shots made and missed! For more information visit the following link.

http://www.wilson.com/en-us/explore/basketball/wx.html

3 on 3 Basketball Fitness Program

noreply@blogger.com (Fitness & Beyond) — Mon, 30 Jun 2014 17:40:00 -0700

We have 3 on 3 Basketball Fitness Summer Programs at Leyden Community Recreation Center. Contact us for more details.

Alison Blaker: Avoiding Barriers and Eating Clean

noreply@blogger.com (Fitness & Beyond) — Wed, 16 Oct 2013 12:53:00 -0700

Food Prepared By: Elis Espinoza

Most of you have probably heard the phrase "abs are made in the kitchen," or "80% of your results come from nutrition and 20% of your results come from working out." So why do so many of us still struggle with clean eating and how can we overcome some of these barriers? This has honestly been something that I've struggled with even as a health and fitness professional who loves healthy recipes and to spend hours working out. After years of learning this myself and helping others out I want to share my top 10 tips to get you on track for good!

1. First thing's first! Find recipes that you enjoy!!! Eating clean and healthy doesn't have to be bland and boring. There are so many great websites and books loaded with recipes. I love Hungry girl cookbooks, Tosca Reno's Clean Eating series, http://www.toneitup.com, and http://www.skinnytaste.com

2. Accountability! Find a way to be held accountable. Some of you may know that I run monthly accountability groups to help people get on track with their workouts but also nutrition. Another great option is to use http://www.myfitnesspal.com the site and app are free and it really helps you see how much you are eating. Just be careful because it recommends a really low calorie intake number, I recommend adjusting it a little bit so you're not starving yourself (http://caloriecount.about.com/tools/calories-goal). But almost every food is in there, even some recipes and it's really easy to save frequent foods and enter in new recipes. Something that I just started doing is taking a picture of each meal and then at the end of the night sharing it with my Instagram and Shape up with Alison friends. Not the easiest of ways to track but it's very effective. It made me realize that I was eating too much peanut butter! It's also a great way to see what your portions really look like. These are just a few suggestions but find what works for you and your lifestyle.

3. Plan out your meals for the week. My new favorite things to do on Sunday mornings is to sit down with my boyfriend and go through cookbooks and write out our meals for the week. Then I make a grocery list and write out what we are eating on what day of the week. If you have a busy schedule try to cook a few meals on a day where you have some extra time.

4. Strive to eat clean 80-90% of the time. Allow yourself 1 cheat meal a week. If you are striving to be completely perfect with your eating it's easy to get discouraged when you fall off a little bit. Be nice to yourself and recognize when you did a great job for the day. Take it one day at a time. Let yourself have a cheat meal once a week. (Let me clarify though, I didn't not say a cheat DAY) And on a day that you do have a cheat meal do not starve yourself all day to set yourself up for the cheat meal...that will just set you up for a binge...which leads to my next point.

5. Stay away from your trigger foods. This may sound silly but I can not have granola bars or protein bars in my house. To me they taste like candy bars and I can eat multiple bars in one sitting. Everyone has different foods that set them off so just don't keep them in the house. If your significant other wants to have things in the house that set you up for a binge have them hide them or keep them in their car.

6. Alright this is an oldie but goodie, put a curfew on your kitchen. Yes there are studies that say it's ok to eat at night, but there are also studies that say that it's not good to eat at night. So my suggestion is to make sure you're done eating at least 2 hours before you go to bed. I find that night eating usually ends up just being mindless snacking. So try to make a cup of tea instead. Which leads me to #7

7. Make sure that you are not skimping all throughout the day and then have a HUGE meal at night. Try to eat every 3-4 hours per day. Once you know your calorie goal number for the day split it up into 5-6 meals. Keep your "fire" burning throughout the day.

8. Check your water intake?? Are you drinking half of your body weight in ounces?? A lot of times when we think we are hungry we are actually thirsty so drink up.

9. Another thing I hear people complain about is the price of eating healthier. If you plan out your meals properly and are cooking at home you really won't be spending that much more money to eat clean. Think about how you feel when you eat something unhealthy vs how you feel when you eat something healthy?? Is it worth it to you?? So many times we use money as an excuse for choosing unhealthier options. But in the long wrong it's going to cost more if we are unhealthy and faced with some of the serious consequences that come with being overweight.

10. Start a journal or find a support group. I'm not just talking about a food log but I'm talking about a journal about your feelings. A lot of us, myself included, like to eat our feelings. Food is an easy drug and in the short term can help numb the pain. But eating when you're stressed, lonely, sad, bored, tired, or angry isn't going to make anything different or anything change. It's just going to give you another problem to deal with. I'm starting to get emotional while typing this because I have used food and dieting as a coping mechanism and I know I'm not the only one out there who's been in that type of situation. So find out what the real issue is...if you know how to eat clean and are exercising regularly then what's holding you back? There are support groups out there as well that can help prevent overeating. Please know that you are not alone and that a lot of people have the same struggles and are here to help get you through it.

Ok I don't want to end on such an intense point, but I do want you to overcome your barriers. In the end a lot of you reading this article have probably heard this before. So now it's time to stop making excuses and apply it so you can live your best life! I'm here for you anytime!

www.alisonblaker.com

shapeupwithalison@gmail.com

WE IN HERE!

Tom Larson Lifestyle: Fitness From The Other Side

noreply@blogger.com (Fitness & Beyond) — Mon, 14 Oct 2013 14:52:00 -0700

When asked to write an introduction article on anything related to fitness I was very excited and overwhelmed at the same time. Where do I even begin to start what fitness has done for my life? Physically, mentally and emotionally fitness has given me the widest perspective on life that no other experience could have done for me. I titled this Fitness from the other side because I have been on both sides of the fitness coin… most of my life I was overweight and lived with all the “what if’s”. Living my life through fantasies of what if I wasn’t morbidly obese and had the normal body that “everyone” else had.

“Tommy would be good looking if…”

“I would get a date if…”

“I would be happy if…”

“If only people could see the real me not the obese Tommy”

“If I wasn’t so big I could be a good athlete”

Then after years of never truly living the life I wanted and seeing all the things I longed for so bad just pass me by I hit my light bulb moment. Let’s go back to 2006 when I was just starting college at Southern Illinois University Carbondale and by that time I had gained 100lbs from the end of my junior year of high school through my freshman year of college.

Facebook had just come out and seeing pictures of myself for the first time as I really was made me take in just what I had done to myself. I right then made a decision that no matter what it took I would lose the weight and get healthy for me and only me. All the horrible moments I felt all my life being truly unhappy were going to stop, the doubters who never believed for a second I could do it, and more importantly for all those who did believe and gave me more strength then I could ever express in words.

I started a journal that day, printed out all the most horrifying pictures of myself I could find and taped them in my journal and began to write down every motivation good and bad that I had to propel me when times got tough. I went to the rec and will always remember the number I saw looking down at the scale on day 1…353 pounds… what a daunting number for a 19yr freshman in college about to join a fraternity. I needed all the adversity stacked against me to realize only I could pull myself out and make the change that I thought was unattainable. I remember thinking that no matter what I knew I was on the inside and no matter who I envisioned myself to be, the way I would be judged would be forever unfair and it was up to me to show that my outside would match my inside.

I was on a mission of getting my life back and really, to be honest, get it started. All I thought about was why I was doing what I was doing and that it felt so right. I started living my life like the 185lb person I wanted to uncover. So many amazing things have happened since those rock bottom days where I only had one choice and that was to change.

Fast forward about five years from then, now I am living a life that would have seemed impossible to me. I have accomplished many once in a life time goals that are just more proof to me that when your heart and soul is into something the whole world will conspire to make your dreams a reality when the intention is from a balanced loving place. I have finished 8 half marathons, 2 Full marathons, a Tri-Athlon, and was featured on a couple different local news broadcasts, and in September of 2009 I was featured in Men’s Health magazine in the Belly-off club, and this past January my twin sister and I were in People magazine for losing half our size. These have been the most amazing experiences and helping my twin to take control of her life has been the best reward and I say all this not to boast or brag but because I was morbidly obese with seemingly nothing going for me until I decided that I would MAKE better things happen for me.

That is ultimately what fitness has done for me, it has given me the life I always saw myself living and has made me even hungrier to try everything this world has to offer and be grateful for every amazing breath I am blessed with. The promise I made to myself when I started was to never leave any regrets behind and to share my story and help as many people as I can. There is magic in misery, and looking back on everything the journey was the best part of it all it gave me everything that I used to look outside myself for and showed me I possessed all the power the whole time.

Inner Motivation: Alison Blaker

noreply@blogger.com (Fitness & Beyond) — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 15:10:00 -0700

I fell in love with fitness at a young age. In junior high I started doing Denise Austin workout videos to get ready for high school and just because I thought they were fun. I started dance lessons at age 3 so I always loved to move and be active. I went to the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign and received my BS in Community Health - Health Education and Promotion because I always knew that I wanted to be in the health and fitness field and I had a passion for helping others. Fast forward to 2013 and I now own my own online health and fitness business. I am also a certified personal trainer with NASM and group exercise instructor with AFAA and Zumba Fitness. Through all of my years in the industry I've found that people need have their mindset to get the results they need. Here are my 5 tips for finding your inner motivation

1. Evaluate how you feel - do you wake up every morning with energy and are excited to start your day? Do you get sluggish throughout the day? At night do you go to be feeling like you accomplished something?

2. Do you have the right support system? Have you signed up with a trainer or an accountability coach to help push you and get your to your goals? Is your family ready to be supportive with your decision to get healthy?

3. Have you set aside your YOU time? Working out requires you to take time out for you. So set a time and commit to it. This is your time to let everything else go and focus on yourself.

4. Are you ready to change your nutrition? Eating healthy is 80% of getting you to your health and fitness goals. So make sure that you clean out the cabinets and create a healthy meal plan that you and your family can easily follow. I recommend doing a lot of cooking and prepping on Sunday to save you time during the week.

5. WRITE your goals out! Create a vision board or write out on paper what your goals are so you can see them everyday. You can honestly accomplish anything if you have your mindset right!

Bottom line is that as a health and fitness professional I can't FORCE anyone to change if they are not ready. You have to have your mindset right and find your inner motivation to get the results you desire. But know that as soon as you're ready to get going that I'm here for you!

www.alisonblaker.com

shapeupwithalison@gmail.com

We In Here!!

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