Not Having Time vs. Making Time (09/30)

Aloha readers! 

As promised, here is the back and bicep routine I completed yesterday. 

My routines are quite standard, as the school gym is very crowded most of the time and I try to get in, do mostly basic compound movements, and get out of there :P 

Today I wanted to talk about commitment and time management. 

These are things that I really struggled with before, and still encounter problems with even in present days.  I saw this quote a couple days ago, and it can't be said any simpler. 

We all have the same 24 hours in a day, and it's what you do - how you utilize that time - that's makes an impact on your life. Sure, we all have days where we want to stay in bed for 10+ hours and just recharge. However, it can't be like that every day. At least, it shouldn't be ;) 

As much as I'd like to become a morning person, I have failed more than a few times to get up early and start doing productive work earlier in the day. That being said, I'm not a night owl either xD

What does that mean? I'm not too sure myself. I just know that that requires me to use my time efficiently during the day to get my school work done, to get my workouts in, to eat nutritious, and to train any clients or write their workout programs. 

A fellow fitfam friend emailed me last night, and sent some encouraging words my way. 

"That desire has been placed in you for a reason, so pushing through the difficult times is a must. You have a lot going on, but will make it through ... Making time to get our workouts in is a "Must" it's the core of our drive and desire to help others... I claim a week of beastmode workouts, productive study sessions, self-controlled eating choices and an overall feeling of internal success for you! " 

Whenever I get these type of emails, I feel so touched - and grateful - that a stranger somewhere around this globe cares enough to send such encouragement my way! It also made me reflect upon the quote in relation to how we as fitness enthusiasts must make time for our workouts despite all the chaos going on in other aspects of our lives. 

If you want to eat healthier, make time to prep your meals and snacks. If you want to build muscle tone or shed excess body fat, you need to make time to go to the gym. Often times we "re-image" our gym sessions as crucial, business meetings. They cannot be skipped! When you start to prioritize what's most important for you right now - based on goals you've set - and MAKE time for it - It can be done, and it will be achieved! 

I am currently taking on 3 more clients for the remainder of the calendar year. 

If you'd like to get a customized program like (or completely different, based on your goals) the ones below, then send me an email ! Not later tonight, not tomorrow, but now! Don't waste your time coming up with more excuses of why you can't do it. 

Instead, think about what you WANT - to lose the stubborn 5 pounds? To gain more muscle tone? Build the sexy booty curves? Whichever your goal may be, we can work together and I can help you achieve them :) 

My customized programs come with detailed workout routines and diagrams, workout, food, and water intake trackers (pictured below), grocery lists, recipes, and more. Support is available via email and text message, and weekly check-in's are done to ensure suitability of program and make modifications if needed! 

Send me an email @ selinachan.business@gmail.com to get your free consultation for a customized workout and nutrition program :) 

Back to studying for me... because, well, time management! 

Cheers! 

xoxo

Meal Prep + Getting Ready For The Week ! (09/29)

Aloha readers! 

The past week has been insane with the amount of school work I had! 

I'm a bit upset that I didn't make time for the gym, but it's time to put that behind and 

get my butt back into gym gear! 

Today I want to share with you a bit of my meal prep experience and some mind-health tips with you! 

Even though I stopped mid way through the 21 day fix program, I am still putting the resources to good use! These containers not only help me portion out some of my snack foods, they make me look super cool (maybe a bit crazy) when I pull out all 5 of them on my table in lecture xD 

(The yellow container is empty because I fill it up with frozen berries in the morning) 

I still had a lot of vegetables left over from this past week, and I know they are going to go bad if I don't use it up soon. So after dinner tonight, I made a huge veggie bake dish! 

I find this a great and non-wasteful way of using up all your leftover veggies :) I seasoned it with a dash of salt, few sprinkles of pepper, and a generous amount of both Mrs Dash Garlic and Herb seasoning and Original seasoning. 

Another good thing about veggie bakes as part of my meal prep; it allows me to do things while it's in the oven! I cooked this batch for about 25 minutes, and while that was being cooked I was able to: print my notes for class this week, clean the cat littler box, and write this blog entry! 

Multi-tasking at it's best (for me) ! 

Looking at things from a more 

As a college student, I undergo tremendous amounts of stress. Whether that be with school work alone, my personal life, sometimes financial and relationship related, stress clouds are always hovering around me! Many of the things on the left side of the picture does/has happened to me! 

I'm always trying to work on my organization (school, clothing, schedule) to maximize my time. 

One thing I've learned the past few months is prioritizing tasks! The disconnecting part is more difficult for me as I'm almost always using my computer for school work and business work, and I use my phone to communicate with friends, classmates, and clients. I have been trying to set it to airplane mode when I'm at the gym so I have a distraction-less workout! :) 

If you're feeling overwhelmed, take 5 minutes of your time, have a seat and take a deep breath. 

Use a pen and a piece of paper and write down why you are feeling overwhelmed (ie. tasks that need to be done), and jot down steps that need to be done in order to get those tasks done. By the end, you should have a more step-by-step plan of how to get your tasks complete! 

-----ANNOUNCEMENT---
I'm on Facebook now!
Please support my growing blog and business by liking my Facebook page!
https://www.facebook.com/sellychanfitness

Back to studying-a-go I go now! 

Cheers! 

xoxo

Grocery Haul! (09/21)

Aloha readers! 

I hope you've all had a great weekend, and are all ready to kick some butt this week! 

I went to go get some groceries today, but of course I took a couple selfies before leaving the house :) 

I also like to take some time to plan out roughly what I'll be eating each day, possibly even each meal, and then use that information to plan out how much food I want to pick up! 

I was a little short on time today, but here's a rough idea of what it would look like:

Top left corner: grocery/ingredient list 

Notebook: plan of meals for the week 

I had full intentions of making this week's photo more interesting, ie taking photos with my grocery cart or while I was shopping...but I forgot =P So for another week, you will have to settle for this overfilling table food! 

On the table (left to right): celery, carrots, sweetened vanilla almond milk, light thai coconut milk, mixed spring greens, red pepper, zucchini, onion, coffee grinds, strawberries, simply whey protein bars, sour cream, burger buns, chia seed bread, broccoli, garlic, brussels sprouts, natural beef hot dogs, some milk. 

Some meals that I'm planning to make (nothing crazy) include my signature coconut curry chicken (using much of the veggies pictured, and the coconut milk), toast with scrambled eggs and cheese, tuna and legume pasta salad (not pictured), spring mix salads, sweet chili chicken burgers, and more! 

I've got a busy busy week ahead of me, but since I'm not a huge fan of prepping meals for more than 2 (max of 3) days, I'm going to opt for quick and simple foods (rather than always buying food, like I have been!)
Things like the sweet chilli chicken burger, tuna legume salad are all quick easy options! 

Not to mention the ingredients can be all made together during dinner, and used for lunch foods too! 

For some time, I always thought "why can't I meal prep like other people?" "how come they're seeing better results than I am?" Well, the result part was obvious - because I wasn't 100% committed! Why wasn't I 100% committed? Because what works for them DOESN'T work for me. In other words, in order for me to succeed, do well, and see the results I deserve, I need to find out what works for me and stick with it! Be 100% committed! 

Organizing for a Fresh, Clean Start (09/19)

Greetings readers :) 

So after the many thoughts that were flying through my head wednesday night, I decided to take some time last night to clean my desktop. It was partly inspired by a couple of my instagram fitfam members (posting their desktops and how it inspires them, how it's their temple, and where all their work is done). 

I like to be organized, but I am by no means the most organized one. 

I have to admit that my desk was getting a bit out of hand! Books were everywhere, crumbled up paper, coffee cups (guilty). 

So I put on one of Chalene's podcasts, and started cleaning away! What I kept myself looking forward to at the end of the cleaning was that I got to open my Indigo package that arrived earlier that night. 

The aftermath:  

I'm going to slowly work on a Vision Board to put up on the blank space above my desk area. I have yet to figure out exactly what I want to really do :\ so I'm holding back on making the board. 

Inside this lovely package was the following:

(laptop not included! hehe) 

I cracked open the Essentialism book, along with my "Do What You <3" mug, and instantly got hooked on it! I even snuck some reading time to my barely in-existant lunch break :P 

Even though I already have a customized personal planner, this new 2015 planner will be dedicated to my clients training times, program writing, consultations, assessments, etc. Very excited! 

It's a bit smaller than I expected, but still very classy! 

It's late into a Friday night as I'm posting this, so for the rest of my evening I'll be enjoying another cup of tea while I read Essentialism, and then the weekend will be planned out for much needed studying, a fair minimal work on my online business, and a date night with my handsome boyfriend (I can't wait!!) 

Have a great weekend everyone! 

Cheers! 

xoxo

When Life Throws You Curve Balls (09/17)

Aloha readers. 

Today's first blog entry will be a little bit more of a rant / relief post. 

I've been having some struggles with balancing school, my personal life, and my just-starting-off online business. 

When the semester started, I knew what I was getting myself into, and I was ready to take it on with all my strength. But it's actually a lot harder than I imagined. And it's only 2 and a half weeks into the semester. 

For any of my college student readers, you can all relate to how heavy the work load can be, and how it can feel overwhelming when your to-do lists start filling up fast. That is exactly where I am today. 

I was up until roughly 2 AM trying to do my own studying, and by then I was too exhausted to focus 100% on creating plans for my clients. One thing about me is that, when I want to do something I want to do it 100%, no half-assed stuff. It just wouldn't be fair to my clients! With my current committed clients and the course load I have with school, I can easily say I am well beyond overwhelmed! 

But that also brings me to this: 

You can dream all you want, but at the end of the day if you aren't putting in effort to get one step closer to that dream, you're only dreaming. A dream will just be that, a dream! That's why despite all this overwhelming feelings I'm having, I'm going to stay strong and keep going with it. That being said, 

I won't be taking on any clients at the moment :( However, I will still be working on some workout programs to release on my blog (slowly), and there will also be more client trial programs hopefully closer towards the Christmas and New Years holiday times. 

Going to go through a marathon class (it's 5 hours long), do some MORE studying, and head home for the evening. Happy humpday everyone <3 

Cheers! 

xoxo

Workout of the Day: Legs, Calves, and Core - 09/15 (Week 1)

Aloha readers! 

Guess what day it is today...it's LEG DAY!!! 

I put my gym session in between my classes today, so I was on a time crunch between getting my workout in and done (full effort, no half ass shit!) and getting some lunch in my stomach - so no selfie today :p 

However, I'll remind you of this! 

Today's workout routine consisted of the following: 

(BW = bodyweight) 

My knee tends to crack a LOT when I've got it at a bad angle or there's too much pressure on it. So as you can see, I went with bodyweight lunges instead of DB lunges. Slowly working back to using dumbbells! 

Also focused a lot on my squatting form and my breathing during exercising. 

I definitely felt a sense of accomplishment when I was able to do 10 reps of bodyweight squat with good form, AND had my heart rate up in the 130's :) I've struggled with my HR in bodyweight workouts when I don't push myself hard enough! 

Even though it's a bit more stressful to try and fit in my sessions between classes (when I'm used to doing it after), it feels good to know that I'm putting my break time to good use and not just "wasting my time" on social media sites browsing. I think this is one step forward in improving my time management, as it allocates more time after school for me to study and spend time with friends and family 😉

Cheers! 

xoxo

What Inspires Me to Help You

Yesterday, I was scrolling through my instagram feed, and I happened to come across a post by the gosupersisters. It really touched me, not only because of similar situations among our family, but because of their passion for health and fitness. It reminded me of why I took the first steps of starting my own fitness journey, and what inspired me to help others. 

"Did you know more Americans die from heart disease than anything else? We know the dangers firsthand. When I was in third grade, I remember our mom telling us to GET IN THE CAR NOW because dad was sick and needed help. We drove to the hospital while he was in the backseat clutching his chest. We waited in the hospital for hours, unfed, sleep deprived and extremely scared. Our dad almost died that day. His heart, it just stopped. The unhealthy lifestyle finally caught up with him. 

Growing up in Michigan, you're not often exposed to healthy eating or exercise unless your parents teach you. Especially if you live in a food "desert" where you don't even have access to healthy food at all. But you still have to TRY. Why? Because people who care about you are depending on you. As if watching our dad almost die as kids wasn't scary enough, several years later he was scheduled to have spinal surgery and it got delayed due to his heart condition. 

Sadly for him, that delay was too much. His spinal discs slipped and severed his spinal cord, paralyzing him from the waist down. He can walk now after years of physical therapy, but not well. He's been disabled ever since. 

We don't just share exercises and recipes to help you "look" a certain way. We want you to have a better quality of LIFE because we've seen firsthand what poor choices can do to a persons health and how it can affect literally everyone who knows them. If we are looking at the bright side, this experience made is who we are now. We take care of ourselves much better now and the thing is... We also look younger now than we did years ago, simply for the fact that we eat well, hydrate and strength train on a schedule."

After reading their post, it made me reflect upon why I chose to take the first steps to living a healthier lifestyle, and why I want to have the knowledge and the capability to help others to do the same thing. 

Because I've watched someone become ill and lose their life over a bad lifestyle habits, and it created a huge impact on my life. 

I knew I wouldn't want to follow the same footsteps, and I wouldn't want to see anyone I love and care about to follow those footsteps either. I want to be able to help others live a healthy life, while bing happy at the same time. That is what inspires me to help you - to help you take the steps needed to develop healthy, lifestyle habits! I'd like to help you live a life where you're not only healthy, but be able to have confidence in your own body image, while making healthy choices and still being able to enjoy yourself! 

Online coaching is now available for any of you who are interested! Let me help you take those first steps to living a healthier, happier life! Send me an email at selinachan.business@gmail.com to get your fitness and nutrition plan started today!

Happy Sunday! 

Cheers! 

xoxo

Online Shopping Haul!

Aloha readers!

My apologies for not getting the Chest, Tricep, Shoulder workout up on my blog as I promised.

I was extremely tired that day, woke up feeling sick the next day, and am still feeling sick today. I even had to stay in bed for almost a whole day to let my body rest and heal.

Anyways, as promised, here is the workout!

For those of you wondering, I am keeping the weights low so I can do higher repetitions, fatigue my muscles, and aid in endurance training rather than focusing on muscle size. My goal is to shed excess body fat, and have toned, lean muscle to show for it! :) 

So as I was laying in bed on Friday, I was bored and decided to do some mindless online shopping :P 

I ended up picking up: 

a cute new coffee mug (I like to believe that a cute mug with coffee in the morning can help start off your day right) 

a new 2015 planner agenda and a fox pen to go with it (I plan on using the planner for my client training times, appointments, and scheduling for writing blocks for nutrition and workout plans) 

a couple books that were recommended that teaches about how to find your drive, and how to work smarter but hypothetically not harder. Very excited to try and make time in my busy busy schedule to read these!

 

Since I'm ill this weekend, I wasn't able to do my legs workout on Friday :( To make up for that, I'll be doing my leg workout on monday, and then doing chest, tricep, and shoulders on Tuesday! 

Stay tuned for my leg workout post! It's going to be killer! 

Cheers! 

xoxo

Workout of the Day: Chest, Tricep, and Shoulders (Week 1)

Aloha! 

Here is my mini meal-prep for today. 

Wednesdays are the loooongest day of my week. I have a class at 10AM, then a class from 12 - 5PM. 

Believe me when I say it's hard to muster the strength and energy to go to the gym right afterwards.

Doesn't stop me from putting on a smile on my face before heading out the door! 

Here's my mini meal-prep of the day: 

Pictured: C4 Pre-workout (fruit punch flavor), Simply Whey Cinnamon Apple Protein Bar, Rice and veggies with fish, Fruits (watermelon, grapes, and mango) 

Not pictured: small container of almond milk, a 5 oz. bison burger with a slice of cheddar cheese, on a kaiser bun with veggies and condiments 

Today's chest, tricep, and shoulders workout is from my 12 week "Strong and Sexy Total Body Transformation" program. Customized and built completely to help me achieve my goals and to fit around my schedule! If you are interested in having a customized workout, such as something like this, please visit my online coaching page for more information! 

I gave this workout a test run last friday, and it left more sore all weekend! This makes me even more excited to get to the gym after a long day of classes to crush my workout! I will post the workout routine later on tonight! 

Cheers! 

xoxo

Workout of the Day: Back and Bicep (Week 1)

Aloha readers!

Today kicked start the second week of school, and as I'm writing this post at 9PM, I am already having trouble staying awake. 

Although I have to wake up (what I consider) early, go to school, workout when I can, study, and work on my blog and business plans, I know all this hard work and effort will not go to waste! 

Firstly, here is a quick recap of today's workout. 

I haven't worked out my back in a long time, and it definitely felt really good. One thing I did well was focus on my breathing. I am trying a new technique out, which is to breathe out during eccentric (negative), and inhale during the concentric. There were a couple sets where I started off the reversed way, so there's lots of work to be done :) 

Secondly, I also want to talk about how I've been feeling since becoming certified as a fitness trainer. To be bold and truthful, there is a lot of pressure on me right now. Both from myself (mentally and physically), and from society in general. Don't get me wrong, there's no people making rude comments towards me or anything, but it's the ideal pictures of society that is pressuring me. 

Right now, I am not at my fittest and healthiest stage. And as a trainer, I feel that I am pressured to be and appear my very best in order for people to see me as a suitable candidate for being their personal trainer. However, I am working on slowly letting that false thought go. 

Why? 

Because even though I am not at my best appearance physical wise or have the greatest eating habits, I have studied hard to learn the information I need to help others achieve their goal. Just because I am a work in progress DOESN'T mean I am incapable of helping others. 

So with that being said, I am going to continue to go through with my plans of bringing you ladies (and some gents) both customized workout and nutrition plans, some simple, yet detailed workout guides, and more! However, I will only be setting aside so much time every day and week to work on all of this. Slow progress is still better than no progress!  ;) 

Cheers! 

xoxo

First Day Back to Lifting

Aloha readers! 

I have survived my first week of back to school :D hehe 

I also took this opportunity to hit up the gym and lift some weightssss. No doubt, it felt good! 

Sporting my black and white camo tights from abs2bfitness 

Lifting weights help me feel strong, and workouts like the ones from 21 Day Fix make me feel good (probably from all the sweating). 

Speaking of the 21 Day fix, I guess you can say I've diverted away from it before completing it entirely :( the last few days of work diverted my attention and energy, and I was very concerned with finishing my personal training exams. 

Newest pair of tights from abs2bfitness. I have loved their tights from day 1! They always fit comfortably, no tugging and pulling required, and it's an eye-catcher when you're at the gym and out and about. Click the link above and use SELLY15 for 15% off your purchase! 

This pair, specifically, is loved by the mr and mrs bumble bees D= I looked like a lunatic swatting at them as I was walking to the bus stop! 

Today I wanted to talk about something that often falls into how people define themselves. 

People often say "I am fat" because they feel down because they are overweight, and perhaps even have a lower self esteem and not much confidence over their own body. 

However, we shouldn't let that define us. I have excess body fat that I want to shed too. But I don't / steer away from telling myself or others "I am fat". There is so much more to a person that defines who they are than simply by their outward appearance. It's a combination of what's on the outside and the inside. 

For me, I am a fitness enthusiast who is always trying to do better. I am a dedicated student who puts many of my hours into studying, for dusk till dawn. I am a personal trainer with a growing passion for health and fitness, who hungers for knowledge, and wants to do what I can to help others like yourself achieve their goals. Oh, and yes, I have fat on my body too.
But that's not what defines me! And it shouldn't define you either. The point is, move forward and dig deeper to find something that shows who you truly are.

Learn to love yourself for who you are, each and every piece of it! 

Cheers! 

xoxo 

Day 1 of Being an Officially Certified Personal Fitness Trainer

Aloha readers!

I am beyond estatic to share this great news with you! After months of hard work, many starbuck trips and study sessions, I received conformation for officially becoming a certified personal fitness trainer through the ISSA. 

The exam was quite extensive, but luckily I finished the exam with an excellent score of 95% (please, let me have a moment to brag here) :D 

Today also marks the first day of school for me, so there is quite a lot of new changes, and excitement going on in my life right now. 

As you may recall, I already have a lot of different ideas of things I would like to do in the upcoming future, and I have full intentions of putting those thoughts into actions very soon. Because if there's one important thing that I've learned on this journey, it's this: 

Opportunities are created by you. They appear based upon the things you say, and the actions you take. They don't just appear right in front of you if you wish for them every single night. 

When I first started following many aspiring and inspirational fitness and (in general) leaders on instagram, I found that I kept asking myself "Why am I not as successful as them despite being close in age? What do they have that I don't have, that may have been the reason they are more successful than me?" 

It took me a little while, but in the end I realized - that it's not what they have that I don't have. There is no one to blame for the difference between myself and these inspirational people. As a matter of fact, the differences that set us apart is what they do that I don't do / didn't do. That is what separates us between our various levels of success (not to compare who has a higher level and what not). 

They worked hard. They persisted. They never gave up when they ran into obstacles. It was through these inspiring leaders that I really saw and learned how these quality traits can change a persons life. I hope to slowly build into my life as well (because I know it won't happen overnight), and I'm most positively sure that as long as I keep working as hard and evern harder, learn to do my homework, be persistent and consistent, be adventourous, I will one day be successful too. 

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With that being said, I have been creating opportunites for myself to get some hands on practice with creating meal and nutrition plans. I am offering 4, 6, and 8 week trial programs to any of my readers and followers who are interested. Because this is a trial program, the time committment isn't as long as a regular program would be, and the cost of the program is significantly less expensive.

I have already reached out to people and vise versa, so I will be starting to write my blocks in the time coming. If you are interested, please leave a comment below in this post, or email me at selinachan.business@gmail.com with "Trial Program" in the subject title. I will also create a separate page on the blog where more information about the trial program (and future programs) can be found. 

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Hehe, just some fitness humor. If you find yourself or your friends saying this, STOP! Sign up for my trial program today and end this dieting cycle! 

Cheers! 

xoxo