Archive for the ‘Spouse Fitness’ Category
Get ULTRA RIPPED with the MAN OF STEEL Workout
I was fortunate enough to be invited to the movie premier of Man of Steel before the rest of the world. I was shocked to see how ripped Henry Cavill (Superman) got. After some research I discovered his secret for packing on massive muscle in such a short time. Let me share with you my findings.
First, let me state that Henry Cavill worked with a top fitness expert named Mark Twight. He owns a gym called Gym Jones in Salt Lake City. Mr. Twight is the same person who worked with the cast of 300. Guys, if you haven’t seen this movie, ask your girlfriend/wives, I guarantee you they remember this movie fondly. The movie 300 had more six packs in it than Animal House.
Ok, let’s go through Henry Cavill workout routine that got him huge for Man of Steel, then we will discuss his meal plan.
NikkiFitness Faves: Summer Products
Feel and look great this summer from what you eat, to how you sleep and what you wear with my new NikkiFitness Faves!
SUMMER CLEAN EATING
Gardein – Why spend an hour chopping and cooking when you can spend 30 minutes working out and 30 minutes showering and getting gorgeous for dinner? When I don’t have time for a workout and a home-cooked meal, I go for these great-tasting, meat-free protein options for people looking to live a healthier lifestyle. If you are trying to limit your red meat consumption, and include more fat-belly fiber in veggies, try these quick meals. They are low-calorie too. Find them at a grocery store nearby by visiting www.gardein.com and putting your zip code into their handy store-locator.
A Salute to Support
Each year, it is estimated that the military discharges nearly 300,000 Active Duty, Reserve and National Guard members. For those of us who have been in the military or are members of military families, the transition to the civilian word can be challenging. My husband, Mark, worked tirelessly to develop an initiative here in Maine called the High Tech Patriot Program (HTPP) helping guardsmen and women attain high tech jobs. It was a win-win for the employer and the military member. Here are some of my other favorite organizations that may provide support to you and your family.
Concussions and Brain Damage: What do the Military and NFL Have in Common?
One thing that the NFL and the military have, besides “love of the game” is the potential for brain trauma. This is certainly not the pretty side of military service, or of playing football, but it happens none-the-less.
The good news is that because of the budgets, resources, research, science, and investment in gear (and sharing of knowledge) by both industries, soldiers and players may get the tools and care they need to keep healthy long after they hang up their uniforms.
In this article, we’re going to take a look at the issues from the standpoint of the NFL because what we are seeing in the sports arena is spilling onto the battlefield and vice-versa.
Women’s Health Slimnastics Travel Workout
Summer can be a nice break from every-day life, but that also means traveling, which can hurt your workout. I recently did a sample routine for the June issue (on stands now, pg 72) of Women’s Health Magazine. It’s a “No-equipment-needed 15 Minute Body-Weight-Shape-Up” for when you are staying in a hotel, flying through airports, sitting in traffic, and trying to stay on track with your fitness routine this summer. Summer fitness is especially important with beach season and bathing suits that show so much skin!
Editor Caitlin Carlson wrote about my book and DVD called The Slimnastics Workout , “This equipment-free body-weight routine, created by Glor, combines plyometric and cardio moves (think jumping and kicking) with ones that improve your balance. You’ll burn calories while building strength, flexibility and stamina.”
Can Strong Bones Lead to a Weak Heart?
Did you know that people who exclusively supplement with calcium or take an average multi-mineral supplement with calcium could be laying a foundation for poor cardiovascular health?
Your body is not an island. Everything works together, for better or worse. It’s very hard to address a single health concern with a single supplement or a single food. Yes, there are great super-foods and adaptogens out there, and every day we are discovering more about the functions of a single vitamin or mineral. However, we are also realizing just how much they all work together.
Your body is in a constant state of construction with millions of cells turning over every day. Cell regeneration is a group project. Just like your military unit, and just like the mission of the military as a whole.
Summer Travel Workout Tips and Moves
Ever take a few days off from the gym that turned into a week, then two weeks, then a month? By the time you mustered up the motivation to go back, your body had to start from scratch. You felt sore muscles and fire in your lungs from lack of endurance, and it had you cursing your workout instead of enjoying it. The only reason you pushed through was the pounds packed on around your middle and the giggle in your arms that you just couldn’t live with.
Avoid this scenario and don’t take a vacation from your workout just because you are going on vacation. On my last trip, I ran four miles, took a spin class the next day, did yoga outside the next, worked out to a DVD the day after, and so on.
My Fit Travel Workout DVD was shot around the world to prove you can get a workout anywhere, and my tips include wearing your sneakers on the trip to save packing room, and doubling your pajamas as workout clothes (sleep in your leggings and tank top then work out in them the next morning.) Once you have the gear, do these three things…
Competitive Sports Military Training: Can Cross Training Improve your Skills?
Competitive sports training whether it’s on a military sports team or for recreation requires ability and skill. Some argue that skills can be learned; but, ability is something more innate.
This may or may not be true. After all, there are plenty of zero to hero stories out there that tell how someone with little skill or ability was able to overcome the odds and win an event as a results of their desire and passion.
There is no doubt that cross training can build muscle and endurance. But does that transfer to making you better at your sport? In fact, some studies suggest that training programs like the use of weighted objects (such as wearing a weighted vest when you run to make you run faster once the vest is removed) actually do little more than provide the perception that you’re running faster once you’re lighter.
The Top 2 Fitness Concerns: Keeping it Simple
Every person has health concerns.
What concerns you most is going to depend on your current level of fitness, your personal goals, your family history, and all those vanity and virility issues that we obsess over.
So what did our readers say when we asked them: What are your top fitness concerns?
Move of the Week: How to Get Guns with One Fast Move
Multitasking is the way to save time and lifting is the way to sculpted arms. If you don’t have a lot of time, my 6 count combo move will hit your biceps, triceps and shoulders simultaneously! Bonus exercise — adding a squat targets quads and gluteus too! All you need is a pair of weights heavy enough for you to lift 15 times and feel challenged. I use 12 lbs weights.
Here are some photos from a segment I did on WCBS The Couch in NYC.
Change is Good
Change is good. How good? Well, since becoming a marine spouse, resigning from my government career, moving to Okinawa and becoming a first time mom all in two year’s time– I’m here to say from experience “Change is REAL GOOD!” I now have a beautiful husband and daughter AND work from home. My work is so rewarding! I get to help people realize their true potential. I help them peel back the layers to unveil their inner beauty and fierceness! However, this is not an easy task. The “C” word can make ‘em or break ‘em. Fear and apprehension of change can really F things up for a person. I can’t even imagine my life any other way and would have none of this– NONE– if I had let anxiety over CHANGE hold me back.
Sooo, why is change such a scary thought when it comes to health and fitness?
Be on National TV for Military Spouse Appreciation Day!
Mother’s Day Workouts To Put Your Health First
Military Spouse Appreciation Day is Friday, May 10th. If you live near or are visiting the NYC area and want to be on national TV, email nikki@nikkifitness.com. Fox & Friends is doing a segment with my Military Wife Workout DVD, and if you participate, you get one for free after the show! (Get more info on the 30 minute multitasking toning and cardio workout at http://www.nikkifitness.com/dvd-military-wife-workout.php)
If you are ceelbrating Mil Spouse Day and Mother’s Day this weekend, but can’t join me in NYC, here is a Fit Minute workout you can try to put your health first while being pampered this weekend (even if just for a few minutes).
I recently did a prenatal workout from my (Baby Bootie Camp DVD i shot with my baby) on a NYC show called The Couch. Here is a link to the video so you can try this move. It is save for any trimester (works abs when you can lay on your back anymore), works your back, arms, balance, core, chest and more. Its also a great move to include in your every day workout if you are not with-child. It supports good posture, and tones your back and abdominal muscles. I do it every week.
Speed Training Programs for a Better Personal Best
Sports training involves various conditioning methods like a speed training program, endurance training, or strength training. Each
has a purpose based on the desired outcome.
You might have an upcoming sports event or want to stay fit for military, special ops, or Seal training. Or, you might be training for an event such as the Marine Marathon and you want to learn how to run faster.
De-Stressing Routine for Anyone
Here is an email from a security officer I have known for a few years who primarily does personal security details nearly everyday of the week.
Stew, I am trying to get back into workouts but with 18–20 hour travelling security details, I barely have time to sleep before I am up again preparing for the next day. This last month has been brutal with travel, daily security details, and eating like crap. I am ready to turn this around and start working out hard again. What do you recommend and where should I start?
Have you ever heard the phrase, ” Your nerves are shot?” Basically you are over stressed and need to focus on the basics right now. Truly though, your central nervous system takes a beating when you are not sleeping well and having long stressful work days which can negatively impact your personal life (thus more stress), and not eating right.
To Bar or not to Bar: “Nutritional” Bars Put to the Test
Nutrition bars are increasingly popular. but you may need to take a closer look at the labels. You might be consuming more sugar and calories then you would from a candy bar, you might be surprised to see what else is in them! Check out my Fox & Friends First segment for what to look for if you are supplementing your diet with these bars.
My advice, skip the bar for real, non-processed food like hard boiled eggs, apples, milk, yogurt and almonds. The only bar I lift is a barbell.
Sitting is the New Smoking: Office Workout Moves
Ever wonder how bad sitting behind a desk all day is for you? Maybe you used to be in the field and now think that your 30 minutes at the gym is enough to combat 8 hours behind a desk? Studies show that you are better off working out at the office several times a day than sitting and then hitting the gym!
Do my suggested office workout several times a day and you will fight that sitting disease.
The A’s of April: Acupuncture
With four rambunctious children in the house, my parents always found creative ways to burn off our endless energy/wear us down in the evening. One of my favorite memories was going to the old fashioned drive-in movie theatre in town possibly because it was the only time we were allowed to dress in our pajamas in public! We cuddled under blankets and watched The Jungle Book. Big old Baloo was my favorite character, a lumbering bear who didn’t have a care in the world and yet was full of wisdom for a wide-eyed jungle boy named Mowgli. One thing for sure about Baloo was his ability to enjoy the “simple bare necessities of life” from back scratches on the bark of a tree to picking “a pawpaw or a prickly pear.” Maybe Baloo was onto something - the right prick can be painless and may just heal what ails you…”You better believe it baby.”
Easy Weight Loss with the Right Cardio Training
If you’ve put on a few pounds since bootcamp and want an easy way to lose weight, then this is perfect for you. If you’ve got something coming up, a sports event, a fitness test, a class reunion, or beach vacation where that gut you’ve been sucking in will be unleashed (or unbuckled), then this is for you too.
Losing weight doesn’t have to be a losing battle. And as they say, starting is the hardest part. Sure, some people say sticking with it is harder, but when you see results and you feel those results, then sticking with the workout plan becomes very easy…and we’re going to talk about how to easily burn those calories, lose the fat, and get in better shape in just weeks.
Take Your Winter Workout Outside for Spring
Warmer weather is here, and if you’ve been hiding inside the gym on machines all winter, here are some ways to get outside without crashing your workout.
1) Treadmill to Running Outside: When you run keep the incline at 3 on the treadmill to simulate outdoor track where the ground doesn’t automatically move away from your feet. Add hills and inclines to 10 height for about 60 seconds, then back down to 3. If you like doing intervals on your treadmill, you can buy a timer. I like GymBoss.com. Its smaller than a beeper and made for fitness interval timing.
2) Spin to Biking: Make sure you do those “hills” in spin class or if you do stationary bike alone, be sure to add hills where you have to stand up on your pedals. Outfit yourself in reflective, warm and breathable clothing. Like to read a magazine or book on the bike? Try MacMillan Audiobooks. They have a “Listen while you work out campaign” where the books like Family Pictures have timed chapter tracks so you can figure out how many calories you burn per chapter!
Fact: Better Soldiers Have Less Body Fat
According to scientists at the Neuromuscular Research Laboratory of the Department of Sports Medicine and Nutrition of the University of Pittsburgh less body fat improves physical and physiological performance in army soldiers.
According to results of this study soldiers meeting the Department of Defense (DoD) body fat standard and those exceeding the standard were subjected to a Wingate cycle protocol to test anaerobic power and capacity, an incremental treadmill maximal oxygen uptake test for aerobic capacity, isokinetic tests for knee flexion/extension and shoulder internal/external rotation strength, and the Army Physical Fitness Test.
Results showed that group 1 performed significantly better on 7 of the 10 fitness tests. In Soldiers with similar amounts of FFM, Soldiers with less body fat had improved aerobic and anaerobic capacity and increased muscular strength.
