Grilled Salmon and a funny spinning class

Posted on August 29, 2013 by Malin

I am so glad this day is finally coming to its end because it has just been one of those days when everything is not going your way! Mira has started first grade this week and it is very exciting but also includes very long days and much more academic work compared to what she did in K. She can’t understand why there is no playtime in the classroom like it was last year in kindergarten and all frustration is released at home (like it should) or this morning before the bus arrived and another round when she came home.

Anyhow I had a funny incident on Tuesday when I did a spinning class over at lifetime. Without offending anyone I do believe the Americans are a little more prude than the swedes 😉 As we were spinning away to a pretty good rhythm of a song I thought I recognized words but couldn’t make any sense of them but all of a sudden I released they were singing in swedish! I did not really except any lyrics in swedish being played in a more or less public spinning class and certainly not that type of lyrics they where singing. It was about running around and shagging and I burst out laughing trying to do an interval at the same time trying to breathe! I had to go up to the instructor and ask about the song and I was pretty sure I heard right as it was “Basshunter” but the instructor had no clue what they were singing about as she only thought it was a good spinning song…lol.

Today is also my second day for my fast of the week and I did not have much time on making dinner so I needed a “quick fix” so I threw together grilled salmon with a touch of tomatoes and it was filling and delish…So here we go…

I used a pice of salmon that was 270 grams (181 cal/100 grams) 488 calories.

salt

lemon pepper

chili flakes

I threw it on the grill and meanwhile I made a “tomato mix”

1/2 cup of crushed tomato

chopped tarragon

splash of lobster stock

salt and pepper

Lean Meat Bolognese and very tried legs

Posted on August 27, 2013 by Malin

So not working out with my girls is a new experience as I am ending up workout mostly on my own. I miss them tremendously (but I still will see them like I use too) but I think I am so focused of making good classes that will challenge them as well as they are well thought-out workouts so it is actually ok just being me and pushing myself like I always do.

Yesterday I went to workout over at lifetime to try out tomorrows session and because I am timing everything I do I don’t have time to chat to the lad next to me who is waiting for his muscles to recover! Not that I am ever so chatty when workout, just ask the girls. I finished another total body workout and even when the focus laid on the upper body walking down to the kitchen this morning was a struggle not to mention the spinning class!

The rest of the day I spent studying resistant training and by the time I picked up the kids from school I was starving. Today is my #2day i.e. my fasting day and I am sticking to my 500 calories so it was very convenient that I had already made a delicious low-carb, low-calorie Bolognese yesterday, just as recommended when following the 5:2 diet. ( I do eat as normal the other 5 days, way over 500 cal)

And here it comes…

200 grams makes 283.5 calories

2 lb./907 grams Minced Turkey (or chicken)

6 oz/175 grams Tomato past

3.5 /100 grams Chopped Onion

1 Garlic Clove

Water

Chanterelle Bullion

Paprika Powder

Thyme

Juniper Berries

2 tablespoons Sour cream

Salt and Pepper

How to:

Fry the Turkey together with garlic and the chopped onion. Add the tomato paste, chanterelle bullion, water together with the spices and herbs and let it simmer for 20 minutes or so.

Mix the sour cream and serve with zero noodles it only has 15 calories/serving.

I sprinkled some feta cheese on top to reach my 500 calories.

Enjoy because Mira certainly did as she brought it to school for lunch and she is a picky eater 😉

My first day at work!

Posted on August 26, 2013 by Malin

Today was the day when everything changed because when I got up this morning Freddie had to send the kids off to school while I was teaching my first class over at the Warehouse…wohoo!

I will admit that I was very nervous but I guess it is like whenever you start a new job, you do not really know what to expect even if you know what you are doing. I know my business and I came prepared, I had put together a cracking total body workout with focus on legs. I have a feeling that the girls will be sore tomorrow and the reason I know this is because I did the workout myself yesterday and my legs are just getting more and more sore as the hours are moving along 😉 But like to old saying, you have to lead from the front, right?!

I hope the girls liked it because I really enjoyed myself and what better job can you have if it is your passion and I am really looking forward to our next session?! So get ready girls… I have already tried out your next workout…ouch 😉

The last and final workout with my girls!!!

Posted on August 25, 2013 by Malin

Wow, I think the summer finally arrived just in time for school to start tomorrow! I really feel sorry for all the kids that has to sit in the classrooms with no air conditioning when temperatures are expected to climb into the mid 90th! Another thing that starts tomorrow is my first class over at the warehouse and I am so excited that the time has finally come but that also means that I did my final workout with the girls this past friday!

Unfortunately I was not able to make in over at the warehouse so we meet up over at Lifetime and cranked out an awesome leg workout.

We started out with by warming up the gluts with bridge, glut kickback and walking butt lifts. I know this exercises looks really silly but with a high rep count you get a nice burn going on the backside 😉

Non of us had a lot of time to spare so we hurried into the next circuit where we started out with some stabilization movements and I decided to go heavy on the weights when I started the single leg romanian deadlift followed straight into a reverse lunge with a high knee.

This super set was in combination with some core work where we completed 15 leg raises and Leg pulls from a Pilates ball continuing both working the hamstring and the glut as well the shoulders and the abs.

I would not say this was a walk in the park by any means but we stepped it up another notch and moved over to the leg press and leg extension machine. I decided that we were going to do drop set on both machines and it work well because when we were doing the step up with a jump I really had to fight through the last 5 repetitions. The legs were wobbling as I was walking back towards the machines to take my well deserved rest 😉

This picture was that sharp but you get the gesture 🙂

When the hour was almost up we still had our last circuit for the day and I thought I would end it where I started it. So again I picked up the 25 pound kettlebells and lunged it over the floor and it worked out to be about 30 very hard and heavy steps before I finished it out with pikes and hip abductors on the TRX.

When I woke up yesterday morning my hammies wore quite sore but I can not say this enough, Knut is my true inspiration as he is working his butt off getting ready for the hockey season and I guess I can’t complain cos my bones weren’t sticking out…lol

5:2 Grilled Chicken with lentils and feta

Posted on August 22, 2013 by Malin

So it’s been a while since I posted any recipes but I guess things has just been crazy lately. But tonight I made my 5:2 diet dinner with 500 calories and I was surprised how much food I actually ended up eating. This is my fifth week doing this and it supposedly it has a lot of health benefits (www.thefastdiet.co.uk). And with that being said I do feel great but I will admit that the first two weeks I was constantly thinking about food on my fasting days and could not wait until it was over but I don’t anymore…

1 portion

Grilled chicken (479 calories)

250 gram Chicken breast 187.5 cal

salt

Pepper

cayenne pepper

Garlic powder

Tomato Lentil sauce

1/4 cup green lentils 140 cal

4 oz / 114 grams tomato sauce 12 cal

5 fresh chopped basil leaves 4 cal

salt

pepper

Chili flakes

Feta Salad

30 grams arugula 12 cal

100 gram cucumber 12 cal

2 slices of red onion 12 cal

10 cocktail tomatoes 30 cal

28 grams Feta cheese 70 cal

1/2 tablespoon Champagne vinegar 2.5 cal

How to: This is dead easy, season the chicken and grill it on the bbq. Boil the lentils for 5 minutes, rinse and add them into the tomato sauce. Season the sauce and let it heat up serve your dinner with the salad and feta cheese!

Lunch with the girlfriends…naaaw!!!

Posted on August 21, 2013 by Malin

So today I had the pleasure to hang with my girlfriend (as I do) over at the gym where we cranked out a workout from insanity but before we got into the nitty gritty parts we did a nice warmup with a nice chat.

The workout was pretty straight forward, it was built up into three circuits which was perfect because Laura had already been at the gym for half an hour when me and Tania rocked up and she had some business to attend to.

First out was 15 wood chops. Now, the thing is over at Lifetime Fitness they don’t always have a lot of medicine balls around so we ended up using kettle bells that had “sand” in them. This made the workout a little bit more interesting because the five first exercises we used the kettle bell and the sand kept on moving around and shifted the weight.

(pics taken in between the circuits I used 20 lbs blue kettle bell)

The movement number two was sumo squat jumps into and overhead press and although it was hot today the air conditioning was on but I was sweating like a p…lady that works hard 😉

So it was almost a relief when we got down on the mats to complete 15 jack knifes and 50 russian twist but this was nothing compare when we finally could let the “ball” go and give the shoulders some when we finished our 20 superman extension.

After completed the three sets we took a little longer break to recover our muscles before got back at it again. This time we switched the kettle bell out to a dumbbell just because I could not find the weight I wanted. I did end up with 20 lbs at the end when I realized 15 lbs was to light. Anyhow, second circuit started with 10 reverse lunge with a twist coming into a high knee with a twist. And I think it was Tania who mentioned that this movement was so hard and it is so true. But I guess the thing is, it is always the things you find hard that is your weak link and you have to get better at!

(used the ball for the pics)

Back down on the mats we finished out 20 spiderman climbers, 50 bicycle crunches and 15 push ups before we finished out 1 minute on the bike with high resistance going as fast as we could.

They only have two bikes over at the “floor” at lifetime so we moved over closer to them so we could occupy them during the last and final set. With 10 single arm rows with pulling int the knee in between each rep we jumped back on the bike and cranked out 2 minutes medium resistant as fast as we could followed by 1 minute fast run/sprint.

I guess you get a lot more said during a lunch with your girlfriend compare to what you get during a workout with them because when Tania asked me a question I couldn’t answer as I had a enough of just trying to breath…lol

All good thinks comes to an end…

Posted on August 20, 2013 by Malin

…but it is not always a bad thing!

So there is a lot of change going around in my life at the moment not only that the summer vacation is coming to an end but my little baby is starting first grade on Monday and this means that I will have a lot more time on my hands.

So with a new chapter in my life I am starting my certification as a personal trainer (or I have actually already started). This has been my plan for a very long time and I am very happy to finally take on this new challenge! I am also starting to teach a class over at the wear house and I am truly excited about it.

So with my nose in the books please wish me luck!

For all of you lot who missed out on a kick ass workout!

Posted on August 8, 2013 by Malin

Yesterday we had a great workout session that was a combination between legs and upper body, almost like a combination between last weeks leg and arm workout and let me tell you I am in pain today!

We started out with warming up the hips by walking sideways with a rubber band between the legs and a medicine ball in the hands.

When the 10 steps was completed we did the “truck driver”… and no I did not scratch my belly or reached for a giant soda but twisting the medicine ball 180 degrees with the hands straight in front. The warm up continued with 10 single leg squats to warm up the rest of the leg…

The serious business started with leg extensions and I don’t think I ever will enjoy them because they are so unbelievable painful and this was combined with shoulder presses. My last set I picked up the 25 pound dumbbells and it was heavy… but be damned if you give up even though when the shoulders are screaming!

The next exercise we did was the leg press and with the combination of the leg extension we worked the entire upper leg so when we moved on to the next circuit the legs was very pre-exhausted. With the barbell we did a sumo squat with an upright row and as always when it is heavy I always count by five to make it more manageable and I think all the gals I workout with know how to count to 15 in swedish…haha.

As figured it was not only the legs that was working it was also the arms and shoulders so the combination with push up from the TRX with 2 hip abductors in-between each push up. The last set I did I completed the push ups on pure will!

But the workout did not finish here we still had a long way to go as we moved back working the hamstrings while doing the romanian dead lift (RDL) with a very, very heavy barbell (at least for me).

The RDL was mix up with reverse flies and I like to mix them up sometimes using the dumbbells and sometimes using the machine as the mechanic of the movement changes as well as how I actually work the same muscle group.

The last and final circuit of the day was hamstring curls combined with weighted walking lunges and it was a challenge just trying to stay up right and not losing the balance.

The legs were wobbly when I left the gym and I do feel sorry for my friend Heidi who had to go into an important business meeting and was probably walking a little bit funny but I bet her head was clear, bright and sharp as a knife!

Let’s do some arms to match the crazy leg workout

Posted on August 7, 2013 by Malin

Ok, I’ll admit…I’ve been lazy with the updates but it seems like the days only begins before they come to an end and here am I thinking I would have more time during the summer vacation…yeah, right!

So last week Wednesday we did this crazy leg workout that left me sore for days so by the time Friday came around Jonathan thought we should do the same workout but for the upper body and it was absolutely awesome!

We started out with doing to sets of 25 scarecrow…

… and 10 shoulder raiser from the side moving the dumbbells to the front and down. Every time we came back to the side we counted one so even though it was only two exercises in this little warm up it took a little bit of time.

As soon as we were nicely warmed up we moved straight to the barbell for some presses and they were done exactly the same way as we did the squats. We started out by doing 8 presses (I can’t remember the exact weight) again because we were doing less rep counts we did four rounds. At the end of the last round we dropped two plates and took it to exhaustion then we dropped all the weight only working with the barbell and once again worked to exhaustion. I guess it’s good not working this alone as it is great to have someone to spot you just in case 😉

We weren’t given much rest till the next circuit that was built up between two movements chest flies on an incline using between 12-15 pounds and push up from a bench.

When Jonathan told me that we were using the bench I thought it was going to be easy but I was so wrong because the arms, shoulders and pecks was really tired at this point!

As we moved on we gave the muscles a bit of a break because we moved on to the pulldowns focusing on the lats. This was built up by building up the weight and at the last set we dropped back the weight and took it to exhaustion every time.

We moved straight from the lats working the triceps and shoulders doing triceps extension from a bench using one dumbbell and with the lats already being tired I could feel I was helping out using my core…

This was combined with rows using the TRX…

When we moved into our last and final circuit I started to feel real pumped, I get the feeling that my skin doesn’t fit and I then know I worked to max! Like I said we finished out the day with priestess curls, dips and hammer curls…

2013-08-02 11.11.44

Turkey Burger with a Feta Cheese Creme

Posted on August 6, 2013 by Malin

Today is my first fast day of the week and when I think eating soup is a great way to fill yourself up with limited calories I wanted to explore what else I can come up with within the 500 calorie limit…and I have to say it was not too shabby…;)