My Fitness Journey!

I want to be a warrior.

[mermaidgains]

Thick thighs save lives.

[make-me-a-warrior]

RAE IS BAE ❤

[make-me-a-warrior]

On the treadmill

Me: runnin like a fuckin pro athlete

Me: so ready for this 10k

Me: come. at. me. motherfuckers.

Me: sweatin like a pig, lookin like a fox

Me: ahhhh yeeeeee

Me: better stop. Cant injure my beastly bod

Machine: ran .5 miles in 15 minutes

Me: what

[tshirtdesignsdash]

[teachingliteracy]

- (by shahriyar21)

[unwillingadventurer]

Happy 51st Anniversary Doctor Who!

[ohmumford]

[strain]

[barbellsandbeakers-blog]

The Math Behind Losing Weight: The Caloric Deficit Explained

Losing weight comes down to creating a “caloric deficit.” That is, burning more calories a day than you eat.This takes into account more than your BMR.

BMR = basal metabolic rate. This is how many calories you burn from existing. If you sat around all day and did absolutely NOTHING your body would burn this many calories just to exist.

TDEE = BMR + activity level, or “total daily energy expenditure”. Since the average person doesn’t sit around on the couch and not move at all, this takes into account other things. For example, a sedentary person (who works a desk job and doesn’t exercise) may have a TDEE slightly above their BMR. Someone who is very active (their job is manual labor, or they lift very heavy multiple times a week) may have a TDEE almost twice their BMR.

How do you calculate your BMR or TDEE? Let’s cut the math - here is my favorite calculator. You input your gender, age, weight, body fat % and “activity level” and it will tell you how many calories you need to maintain, lose weight, etc.

So what is a caloric deficit?

Let’s use a real life example. My BMR is 1550 calories a day, my maintenance is 2,100 calories a day. Based on how often I exercise, how I spend my day, etc. I need to eat 2,100 calories to maintain my weight. If I want to lose weight I need to eat less than 2,100 calories a day. What’s important to note about this number, my maintenance number, is that it takes my TDEE into consideration. I don’t subtract the amount of calories I burn from exercise, that’s already taken into consideration. That’s the definition of TDEE – total daily energy expenditure. It’s already taking into account that I exercise as much as I do, or I’m as active as I am at my job.

If one pound = 3,500 calories, to lose one pound a week I need to have a deficit of 3,500 calories that week. Divided over 7 days, that’s a 500 calorie deficit a day. That means eating 1,600 calories a day for me. It’s also important to remember that your body takes an average. 24 hours is a human invention, as long as you have -3,500 calories a week it doesn’t matter what your day to day intake is. It doesn’t matter if these calories are eaten at 5pm, 6am or 12am.

What is NOT a caloric deficit?

When I was sick I used to think that a caloric deficit meant my total numbers for the day were a negative. Basically, I would eat 600 calories a day and then exercise off 1,000 calories and think that I was in a 400 calorie deficit. What I didn’t realize is that my body requires a certain amount of calories to exist that’s independent of how many calories I eat a day – that’s my BMR.

The BMR Trap

People who don’t understand what BMR is believe they need to eat less than their BMR. What they’re forgetting is that they do more than sit around all day. Yes, some people live very sedentary lives – they work at a computer desk, only get up to use the bathroom, go home and eat dinner in front of the TV. These people may need to eat at their BMR because they don’t move enough to create a TDEE much higher than their BMR. Others – people who walk from class to class, go to the gym a few times a week, have a job where they’re on their feet all day at a restaurant or as a nurse – these people have a TDEE higher than their BMR. If they eat at their BMR they will find themselves energy deprived, sluggish, and fall into the trap of binging to compensate for their low energy.

[dentelle-antique]

time to go study some french! i got up a bit later than expected today (8AM) and i’ve spent the better part of my morning routine from breakfast to doing my hair watching tyler oakley, hannah hart, and superwoman (lilly). whoops. time to be productive! i will respond to all messages soon.

...

[getdragon]

😅😅😅 regram @bossgirlscertified Take note 😳 #bodybuilding #fitness #thatass

[the-exercist]

The kind who wear their hair long and the kind that wear a ponytail?

The kind who cross their arms and the kind who stand with arms at their side?

The kind who stand in upright posture and the kind that tilt their pelvic bone?

The kind who like loose fit shirts and the kind of like fitted?

The kind who wear two watches and the kind who don’t wear any?

But if we’re being completely honest, I’m only seeing one kind of “female” here: The kind who experiences constant judgement from outsiders who have absolutely no right to talk about their bodies or appearance without permission. 

Trust me, we don’t need to take notes about this - Women are already well aware that our worth is defined by how sexually attractive we are to men.

[millwallmark]

If this picture had 2 men, one with 16 Inch biceps and one with 11 Inch biceps, captioned “There’s 2 types of males in the world…” do you honestly think someone you bitch & moan as much? And the 2 women I see in this are someone who probably squats and someone you probably doesn’t, which is what OP meant. How is that so sexualized? 

[the-exercist]

"If this picture had 2 men…" But it doesn’t. It has two women. The meme is pitting two women’s bodies directly against each other for the sake of men’s judgement and opinion. 

When you search for “There are 2 types of men in the world” memes, guess what comes up:

Notice a pattern?

When we’re comparing women, we’re comparing their bodies and pitting them up against each other. We’re taking on the male gaze and judging their bodies based on what straight men are typically attracted to. Yet when we compare men, we compare them in terms of their heterosexual masculinity and their women. There’s a reason why you have to speak hypothetically about memes that compare men’s biceps - Our culture doesn’t support that type of objectification of men, yet it’s completely acceptable and outright popular to objectify women in that manner. Even if such a meme exists, it isn’t going to be spread as widely as the versions posted above. 

Not to mention - You cannot look at a person’s body and immediately know what their exercise routine is like. A big butt does not inherently mean that a woman squats, nor does a flat butt mean that she doesn’t squat. Judging a woman’s fitness routine just by looking at her ass is an incredibly basic manner of sexualizing exercise -  You are focusing directly on a woman’s ass, cutting her face out of the photo, never identifying who she is, and talking about her in terms of “females.” You’re not even calling her a person, just a female. 

That is not how you treat women respectfully. 

[getdragon]

😅😅😅 regram @bossgirlscertified Take note 😳 #bodybuilding #fitness #thatass

[the-exercist]

The kind who wear their hair long and the kind that wear a ponytail?

The kind who cross their arms and the kind who stand with arms at their side?

The kind who stand in upright posture and the kind that tilt their pelvic bone?

The kind who like loose fit shirts and the kind of like fitted?

The kind who wear two watches and the kind who don’t wear any?

But if we’re being completely honest, I’m only seeing one kind of “female” here: The kind who experiences constant judgement from outsiders who have absolutely no right to talk about their bodies or appearance without permission. 

Trust me, we don’t need to take notes about this - Women are already well aware that our worth is defined by how sexually attractive we are to men.

[captaincwillows-blog]

YES.

As per usual, spot on.

[davidandhisworkouts-deactivated]

Goes for men too.  No matter our character or personality, our worth to girls is ultimately defined by how sexually attractive we are to them

[the-exercist]

Nope - I’m looking at a huge indicator of your personality right now and there’s definitely nothing there that I’m interested in. It’s you, your thoughts, your words and your actions that we don’t like.

Don’t hijack a post about women. If you want to discuss men’s issues, you can scoot on over to your own post about it instead of taking attention away from this one.

[the-exercist]

Leg Levers

Lie faceup with your arms extended in line with your shoulders, palms facing up. Raise your legs until they’re perpendicular to the floor, knees slightly bent (a). Brace your core, then take three to five seconds to lower your feet as close to the floor as you can (b). Reverse the move to return to start. That’s one rep.

[fit-feast-fashion]

A lower abs workout Do 20reps x 3sets

Is really good for losing the belly >.~

[the-exercist]

Nope nope nope

This is not a “lower abs” workout. There’s no such thing as lower abs. When you exercise your abs, you ‘re working the Rectus Abdominis in it’s entirety. Always. There are no “upper abs” and no “lower abs,” just this one long sheet of muscle that instead happens to look like several small muscles. No matter where you may feel an ab exercise, even if it seems to concentrate only in one region, you are still working the length of the entire muscle.

Nor is this “good for losing the belly.” Since this is a form of strength training, it’s actually going to help you gain muscle mass in your abdomen. Targeting your core with this type of exercise is a way of developing stronger (and larger) muscles in that area.

What you’re instead referring to is spot reduction, which is a myth. Exercising your abs will not make you lose the fat that’s sitting on top of your abs. Your body is what controls how and where you store fat. It’s very possible that, when you begin the weight loss process, your core will be the first thing to lose fat. It’s also possible that you’ll have to lose a dangerous amount of weight before your “belly” will budge even a little bit. Only your genetics and environment will determine when your abdomen will start to slim down. 

Your blog says that you are a certificated personal fitness & pilates trainer - Please use this opportunity to teach your readers about good fitness habits instead of supporting exercise myths! Let’s not teach people incorrect information. 

[dentelle-antique]

guess who just crushed the gladiator rock n’ run? ;) 6K, 17 obstacles, & a lot of bruises. the DOMS are going to be killer tomorrow, but i’m so glad i did this.

time to get back to being strong again! (i’m also going to start going to yoga classes on thursday nights.)

this is our second year at the run and we vastly improved.  better time, we did the obstacles we couldn’t do last year*, and if we had already done an obstacle relatively well last year, we pushed ourselves and doubled our load**.  *if you can’t do an obstacle, you do 10-15 burpees. **(so, for example, for one of the obstacles, you have to carry these super heavy rice sacks down a long, hilly forest path, loop around, and offer them to a buddha statue back at the start. this year, doug and i took two sacks each and tried to power walk the path.  for a harder obstacle like the “down ups”, we tried to complete it really quickly. the “down ups” are basically a series of tall walls (about 5’8”) with no grips, slats, etc that you have to launch yourself over. then, you fall into a pit with a trench and shimmy under wire. do that 2 more times for a total of 3 sets. it’s brutal.  we did it as fast as possible this year. we upped the ante on each obstacle that we were already confident in.  it was a good practice.)

[xcheerperfectionx-blog]

[the-exercist]

#faster #better #harder #Stronger

And don’t forget to add the tag #Photoshop, too:

[fittestofthefitblrs]

[rachaeldee]

Yoga for Runners

Hello friends! Due to the success of my Yoga for Hip Openers guide and finishing up my second half marathon last month, I thought I would put together a warm-up & cool-down guide for runners. Hope you enjoy!

Dynamic Warm-Up

When I go out for a run, I generally warm up by running about half a mile at a nice easy pace and then stopping to do some dynamic warm-ups. These will get your heart pumping and the blood flowing to your legs.

Standing Leg Swings: You can use a tree, or even a sign pole, to steady yourself. Keep your base leg straight and rise onto the ball of your foot, and swing your leg to the side and across your body. Do 10 of these before switching legs. You can also then turn and swing your legs front and back on each leg. Warms up your ham strings and hip flexors.

High Knees: For these, take very small steps and bring your knees up close to your chest. Keep your core engaged and upright so you’re lifting from your abs. I like to do these for 20 seconds, walk a bit, and then do 20 more seconds.

Butt Kicks: Taking small steps again, bring your feet up to kick your butt. These stretch out your quadriceps and calves. Go for 20 seconds, walk a bit, and then repeat.

Others you can include are: grape vines (sideways one step in front one step behind), backwards jogging, strides (elongated stride running), walking lunges, and skipping while swinging your arms across your body! 

—————————————————————————-

Static Cool Down

After your run, these yoga poses are great for cooling down and stretching out all the muscles you just used. Try to keep your breathing steady and hold each pose for 5-10 deep breaths.

Downward Facing Dog: Keep your back straight and your legs long. You’ll feel this one down the backs of your legs. Don’t be afraid to walk it out, bend each leg, and even lift one leg up at a time. Keep your neck long and look back between your legs.

Runner’s Lunge: Swing one leg through and have your knee bent at 90 degrees, hands on the ground, back leg straight and up on the ball of your foot. Make sure your knee doesn’t pass your big toe and feel this one through your hip flexor.

Triangle Pose: Front leg facing forward, back leg turned out to 10pm on the clock. Keep both legs straight and keep your core engaged and back straight as you lean over. Extend your top arm high and if you have the balance, turn to look at it. Don’t keep any weight in your bottom hand!

Standing Separate Leg Head-To-Knee Pose: I learned this one from the Bikram series - from Triangle pose, centre your hips to face forward and gently bring your chest toward your front leg while keeping your back straight. Don’t worry if your head doesn’t get near your knee! Reach with the chest, not the head.

Warrior I Pose: Bend your front leg and extend arms high, keeping same leg position from previous pose. You’ll feel this one in your back calf and quad.

Eye of the Needle Pose: Come onto your back and bend one leg across the other. Thread the needle by reaching through the bend in your leg and gently pull the underneath leg toward your chest. This one targets the glute and feels so great after running. 

After completing, go back to downward facing dog and repeat with the other leg in front!

Some other poses I like to include are bound angle pose (stretches out the groin), standing and seated forward folds, and happy baby pose (great for hips and groin). Also in the first picture - using a tree or pole to stretch out your calves feels soooo good after a run!

All clothing pictured is from Nike and my shoes are the Bionic Free 1.0 DC edition.

[rachaeldee]

in honor of National Running Day, here’s my Yoga for Runners guide again :) 

[ifyouwantitgoforit-deactivated2]

Working glutes and legs today! 🙈

[toronto-six]

hello hi yes I’d like to have your legs and well the rest of your body as well, please.