Simple veggies...

Day 15 of Sugar Free September asked for a picture of my dinner. It was yummy. It was simple. My favourite type of dinner....

Ingredients {Serves 2}
300grams of lamb fillet
4 red capsicums
4 red tomatos
1/2 bunch of chopped coriander
1 glove of garlic finely chopped
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Directions
1. Pre-heat grill to 180*
2. Cut capsicum in half and de-seed and tomatoes into quarters
3. Place on a baking paper on baking tray and drizzle with olive oil and add salt and pepper.
4. Grill for 45 minutes turning occasionally
5. Once cook allow to cool before roughly chopping. Add to salad bowl with coriander and garlic
6. Lightly coat lamb in olive oil and salt and pepper.
7. Heat frying pan and cook for five minutes on each side on a medium to high heat.
8. Allow to rest for a few minutes before slicing and serving with the veggie salad.

Delish!!!

erineleini.com is live...

I am so excited to announce that my new website www.erineleinifitness.com is now live!!!

Building a website around a little baby has been quite a juggling act with most of the creation, writing and editing done during day sleeps and in to the evenings after Frankie has gone to sleep. But I am thrilled with the finished website and would love to hear what you think!

I am also really proud of myself with the extra work I have been putting in behind the scenes to get my independent Personal Training business up and running in time for my return to work in just five sleeps!

I am truly humbled that the people I worked with prior to my maternity leave have chosen to return to work with me and I can't wait to get started with them again and see them continue to smash their training and their goals!

I do have a few sessions available for any new clients that would be interested in working with me. If you are looking for a Personal Trainer that can offer you a 360* approach to your health and fitness then I am the girl for you so please do get in contact! I would love to have the opportunity to get you in awesome shape in time for summer!!

Sugar Free September...

Today is the last day of winter!! Tomorrow we wake up and Spring should be in the air! The days will start getting longer and beach days won't be too far behind.

I posted this photo on my instagram a few days ago...

A challenge to go Sugar Free for the whole of September. A photo challenge to post a refined sugar free photo each day of the month. I love this challenge and I am looking forward to getting a bit more creative with my instagram as well as completely ditching sugar.

Are you up for the challenge? Could you go a whole month without the sweet stuff? Are you sweet enough?

To offer a bit of encouragement to you all I have decided to run a competition to those that want to take part in Sugar Free September.

Successfully complete Sugar Free September including a refined sugar free photo each day of the month and you will go in the draw to win ONE MONTH FREE one on one personal training with yours truly.

And here is the fine print for the competition.
1. Your refined sugar free photo must be posted each day to my facebook page so that we can all keep each other motivated. Jump over now and like my page here and be sure to upload and tag me in your photo each day.
2. There will be two one on one personal training packages awarded at the end of September. Winners will be selected randomly.
3. New clients will receive two 30 minute PT sessions a week and existing clients can double their number of weekly sessions already booked. The sessions must be taken over the four week period in October.
4. Personal training sessions to be taken at Fitness First Balgowlah where you will need to be a current member.

Good luck and have fun!! I can't wait to see your pictures!!

Leg press...

Some love it, some hate it! Me, I have a bit of a love hate relationship with it! But there is no denying that the leg press is a pretty awesome machine for building up strength and lean mass in your legs.

And what is so good about the leg press is that you can hit some many different parts of your legs with the leg press simply by changing the position of you feet on the platform.

So here is a picture of the muscles in your legs, a front view...

and a back view...

The standard position with your feet in the middle of the platform, feet about hip width will work predominantly the quadriceps muscles, which are at the front of your thigh, and also your gluteus maximus, your bum.

Move your feet vertically up the platform to a high, standard position and you will take the emphasis off your quads, leaving the glutes to work alongside your hamstrings, so the back of your legs.

Move your feet vertically down the platform to a low, standard position and this makes the exercise even more challenging on the quads than the standard position.

A wide stance, so wider than your shoulders, will target the inner quads and the adductor magnus and a narrow stance, feet together, will ensure you are targeting the outer quads and the muscles on the outside of your hips known as the abductor muscles.

 

Move the balls of your feet to the bottom of the platform and you have yourself an exercise for your gastrocnemius; a big muscle in your calves.

The leg press is a great machine but because you are in a seated position you recruit less of the stabilising muscles and your core. Please make sure when using the leg press in your lower body work-outs that you still incorporate the big compound movements like squats, deadlifts and lunges.

Have fun!

New chapters...

I am a creature of habit. I love routines. I eat the same thing for breakfast every morning; I get this habit from my Dad. I do the same thing in the shower each morning, in the same order. I can't help it, I am a stickler for routines.

Having a new born baby has taught me that not every minute of the day has to be planned. Frankie has taught me that it is ok to not get everything done that needs to be done. It doesn't matter if the house doesn't get vacuumed. If the washing doesn't come in off the line. I have learnt that I should sit; sit and enjoy being her Mum; cuddle her for as long as I want. I can now go and sit in a coffee shop for half an hour instead of getting a take away on the run. I can sit and smile at her, hold her and enjoy my latte.

Having said that, I am looking forward to Frankie getting in to a routine. She is not likely to do this for another four to six weeks until her biological clock has developed a little more. Until then I am going to enjoy her random feeding times, her unusual three hour day time sleeps that seem to happen every now and then for no apparent reason.

When Frankie is in a routine is when I will return to work. I will be a working Mum. I am truly blessed to have a job that I can work around Simon's work. I don't, at this point, need to worry about child care. This doesn't make it any less hard knowing that I will have to leave her for a few hours in the morning. And it doesn't make the thought of getting up after her morning feed any easier. But I love my job, I love my clients and I am looking forward to being a personal trainer again.

This is kind of a new chapter for me. I am closing the chapter on working for Vivid Fitness and I have decided to become an independent personal trainer. After 12 months working as part of Vivid Fitness I have decided that it is time for a new challenge of running my own personal training business and working alongside a new mentor that can help further my professional development.

Erin Eleini Fitness, not quite sure what will happen to the name when I get married next year but it definitely has a certain ring to it! So my business name has changed and I am working independently but everything else will stay the same; the same awesome personal training sessions, the same great customer service, the same bespoke lifestyle and nutritional coaching, and most of all the same great relationships I have with my clients.

My mobile number will be the same but my new email address will be erineleini @gmail.com. Keep your eye out for my new website that I will be launching soon. And don't forget to follow me on my social media pages. I post quite a bit of info that encompasses health, fitness and well-being on these pages so they are definitely worth checking out!

Facebook www.facebook.com/ErinEleiniFitness
Instagram http://instagram.com/erineleinifitness
Twitter https://twitter.com/erineleini1984

I am looking forward to starting this new chapter and I hope you will continue to share my fitness journey with me!

Cacao Slice...

Craving a sweet but want to skip the sugar? Then this one is for you!!

A super quick, super yummy snack that we have just tried and tested in my house!

Cacao Slice...

Ingredients

2 cups of raw almonds
2 tbsp. coconut oil
2 tbsp. honey
1/4 cup of goji berries
2 tbsp. raw cacao powder
Splash of cold water
Desiccated coconut as topping

Directions

1. Blend the almonds in a food processor until course
2. Add the honey, goji berries, cacao powder and water and mix until combined
3. Melt the coconut oil and then stir through the mixture
4. Line a baking tray with baking paper
5. Spread the mixture evenly and squarely into the tray
6. Sprinkle the desiccated coconut on top of the slice
7. Place in the fridge for two hours and then cut in to individual serves {I cut mine into 16 serves}

Total Approximate Nutritional Breakdown
Protein 71grams / 16 pieces = 4.4grams
Carbs 142grams / 16 pieces = 8.9grams
Fats 162grams / 16 pieces = 10grams

Only one piece a day!!!! ;)

HIIT...

We all know I am not really a fan of cardio although I am doing a lot of walking at the moment. I am not able to get to the gym as often as I now have a little person to look after so I put Frankie in the stroller; we are really clocking up the km's.

When I do make it to the gym and I have time I try to finish off my weights session with a bit of HIIT {High Intensity Interval Training}. I wrote a whole blog on this type of cardio training which you can read here.

I have been asked on numerous occasions whether it is better to do your HIIT before or after your weights session. The answer to this, in my experience, is after your weights session. And here is for why...

Our bodies use glycogen as fuel in everything we do. Glycogen is carbohydrates stored in our bodies and is used for energy. Although we use a huge amount of glycogen when we weight train, a gruelling HIIT session will leave your glycogen stores completely depleted.

There is no way, after a HIIT session, you will be able to really push yourself 100% in your weights session. Doing HIIT before will result in a pretty ineffective weights session. You simply won't have the energy {glycogen} needed to smash out those last few reps. And it is during these reps that we stimulate the most muscle growth.

Hit the weights first and follow this up with your HIIT session. Your glycogen stores will be slightly depleted from the weights, the HIIT will completely empty the tank. Your body will then need to recover, your muscles will overcompensate with their ability to take up nutrients. This will leave you with fuller muscles that are able to store a greater amount of glycogen ready for you to lift bigger during your next work-out.

We all know the best way to build and strong lean body is to weight train. Even if your goal is fat loss, weight training is the most beneficial way to reach those goals, not hours and hours of cardio. The more you can deplete your muscles the better. Your muscles will then recover and take in more glycogen making them bigger and stronger. The bigger and stronger your muscles, the higher your metabolic rate. Your metabolic rate is the amount of energy your body uses to run. The higher your metabolic rate the more calories you burn at rest.

We all want to burn calories if our goal is fat loss!!