You Don't Like to Exercise - But You Want To Start Working Out (01/02)

Aloha readers! 

We're two days in to the new year, and many of us have set new goals and resolutions for the new year.  You've come to my blog probably because you're searching for ways to be more physically active and be more healthy in 2015. 

But exercise may not be "your thing", you say. You've tried going to the gym regularly, maybe you've even tried purchasing expensive, yet ineffective, programs, detoxes, or exercise equipments. Only leaving you feeling unmotivated and disliking what you're doing. 

So what do you do? And how are you going to do it? If you're starting a new exercise program, your goal shouldn't be to become super buff, or lose a tremendous amount of weight (without the guidance of a trainer or a health professional). The first step should be getting to a point where you don't hate exercise anymore. Consistency will lead to results, and with that, you'll be more encouraged to work harder. 

Choosing a program that's very hard or super challenging may seem logical at first, but soon you may find yourself struggling and quickly losing motivation. It's not necessarily about choosing a challenging program, but rather choosing one that you CAN do, allowing you to STICK to the program. 

Once your fitness level starts improving, you'll enjoy the activity of exercising a bit more, and then you can venture off to try new things. But until then, choose something you KNOW you can do, and STICK TO IT. Like Nike said, JUST DO IT - whatever it is. Do it regularly - no excuses! Keep it simple, fun, and energetic! 

(http://www.pinterest.com/pin/502925483358444596/)

Here are 9 tips for starting and sticking to an exercise program that you choose. 

1. Find and build consistency. Like previously mentioned, make a commitment to your program and do it consistently. If you can't do it consistently, re-evaluate the program and make it more suitable. 

2. Take baby steps. Ever tried to jump too far, fell, and scraped your knee? It's the same idea for working out - except you're hurting your motivation and self-esteem. Progress a little bit each time, and do a little bit more each time. 

3. Choose something fun. Workout programs or routines don't always have to be dumbbells and treadmills all the time. Yoga classes, dance classes, martial arts, mediation classes - there are so many FUN options to choose from! Find your fun! 

4. Bring a friend. Motivate and compete with each other. Workout partners are great for keeping each other accountable, and it can feel less scary if you're trying out something new.

(http://womenshealthency.com/articles/bodybuilding-in-the-female-world/)

5. Join a sport team. It could be a new sport, or a sport you've played before. What can be even better than exercising with a friend? Exercising with a group of friends! Not to mention the socializing component too if you're trying to expand your network. 

6. Build an energizing playlist. Music can take you a long way. Do some searching online to create your own playlist, or download a pre-made one. Songza app has hundreds of playlists to choose from. If you want to go the extra mile, create a "pumped up" playlist and another playlist for when you're working out. 

7. Get a caffeine boost. Whether it may be first thing in the morning, or after work, a bit of caffeine can be your best friend to get some energy pumping through you. 

8. Upgrade your wardrobe. Workout shirts, pants, headbands, shoes, gym bag, etc. Pick up something new! There's something about getting new gear and wanting to take it out so you can flaunt it. 

(http://theberry.com/2013/12/21/daily-motivation-25-photos-341/)

9. Reward yourself. Doing something consistently requires a lot of hard work, time, and patience. It's an accomplishment worth celebrating, even if the tasks are small. Give yourself a pat on the back, reward yourself with a little something, and continue to work hard! 

I've went from not wanting to exercise, to having my fair share of struggles with being consistent with my health and fitness, but these tips are going to help both you and I make progress on being consistent too! Share with me in the comments below what you did / are going to do to start exercising!

Cheers! 

xoxo

Booty Move of The Week - Sumo Squats (12/26)

Merry Christmas everyone! 

I know I'm a day late on posting, but the holidays is about spending time with the people you love. And I hope that's exactly what you did! 

Today I'm going to share with you a squat variation that I like to include in my workouts. I seldom get tension in my hips, so Sumo Squats are a good exercise to help strengthen them. It also helps strengthen the quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes! Try these out, and share your feedback with me! 

1. Stand up straight, with feet wider than shoulder width apart, toes pointed out (top pictures).
2. Keep your chest up high, shoulders pulled back, and keeping your back straight.
3. As you squat down, go to parallel level or even lower if you can (bottom pictures).
4. As you come back up, push up through your heels. Like a normal squat, squeeze your glutes at the end for a couple seconds.

Cheers! 

xoxo

Booty Move of the Week - Curtsey Lunges (12/17)

Aloha readers! 

For the next few weeks, I'd like to feature some of the moves I like to do in my leg day workouts. 

Todays post will be about one of my favourite moves to do during leg days. I find that when I do regular pulse or walking lunges, I get a lot of pressure in my knee and hip joints. To work around that, I like to do curtsey lunges. There's less pressure on those joints, AND it really works the side of your booty :) 

1. Stand with feet slightly wider than shoulder width apart (top picture). 

2. Starting with your right foot, take a step back and cross your right foot behind your left foot, without rotating your hips (bottom left picture). 

3. Slowly bend your knees and bring your right knee to almost touching the ground, as if you're doing a curtsy (bottom right picture). 

4. Push up with your left heel and return to the starting position. 

5. Alternate legs each time, for a total of 15 reps per leg. 

Try this out, and leave a comment below and tell me what you think! 

Cheers! 

xoxo

I'm Back!

Aloha readers! 

I'm back! If you've been wondering what I've been doing lately and why I haven't posted, the reason is what it always is - school ! School, school, school :) But exams are finished now, my holiday break has started, and I am back for good :) 

Along side with studying, I've been putting some time aside to figure out how to manage my time to keep this blog running throughout the 2015 year, as well as what type of content to bring to you! 

I love sharing my workouts, but they can get boring after so long! I've put a lot of time and effort into brainstorming some topics to kick off 2015, but I'd love to hear from you too! 

If there's anything YOU would like to read more about or see more of on my blog, leave a comment below, or send me an email @ selinachan.business@gmail.com ! 

For the month of December, my friend Rhonda and I have co-started a Facebook support group called "New Booty for the New Year". It's a support group for females who are doing the Brazillian Butt Lift,  or any other booty focused workout, and share their workouts, tips, and motivation to keep each other going! My job as an admin is to post a booty-building move each week and share with the ladies how they can incorporate it into their workouts to build the tush! 

This week's booty move was the glute bridge! 

Some things to remember with the glute bridge is to master the proper form before adding on (heavy) weight. This is crucial because we want to learn how to maximize the glute activation in order to get the full benefit of the exercise! This can be done by following through with the full range of motion. 

1. Keep your feet as close to your butt as possible (top picture). You can put your hands on the side to help stable yourself. Push up with the heels of your foot. 

2. Bottom left picture shows what it looks like if you are not pushing your hips all the way up. You want to hyperextend your hips, like in the bottom right picture, and really squeeze your glutes as you get to the top. This helps fully activate the glute muscles! 

3. To really get the burn, slowly lower yourself back to the ground in a controlled manner. 

I hope you like these picture guided movements - I hope to bring you more of it, as well as educational content! Visit back often ;) 

Cheers! 

xoxo

Day 11 (Pilates Fix) - 21 Day Fix

Aloha readers! 

I did what I promised I'd do! Woke up this morning (a little bit later than planned), and went to attack my Pilates Fix workout. It's still really challenging, especially when we get to the leg series, but the familiarity of the routine makes it easier to go through :D

What the leg series included: 10x each of forward-fled-backward-pointed toes, forward bicycles, reverse bicycles, stir-the-pot mini circles, reverse mini circles, and front and back double-toe-taps. Wheu! Now take all that and times two for the other leg! My legs and glutes are feeling like jello by the very end of that.

Here's a little video from the plank series of the pilates workout.

My friend/coach Rhonda commented on my little Facebook blurb this morning about how honest I was being - and that honesty brings change in habit and routine. I was very happy to hear the motivational words she had for me, and it definitely made me want to keep going even further, even harder. Thank you Rhonda!

It definitely brings a good feeling when I'm crossing off things my to do list! 

And how cute is my kitty. She kept walking around me today purring and meowing as I was doing my workout! Then she decided to take a seat while I was on my 30 second break xD 

Tomorrow will be Day 12, and I have work at 11. So that means I'll have to go to bed a little early tonight, and wake up an hour earlier than usual to get my cardio fix workout in and get ready for work ;)

Cheers!

xoxo

21 Day Fix - Progress Photos

Aloha readers! 

So I slept in this morning, and woke up knowing that I had a couple errands to do and that a steamy hot latte was in need :P 

I got to the Starbucks here and there wasn't even a single seat open :'( So now I'm stuck tapping away on my tiny iPhone screen instead of my giant iPad keyboard. 

Anywho, this post is for the progess photos of my 21 Day Fix. These were taken on Day 1 and Day 7. 

So these 7 days were more like 10 days, because I had some "off" / rest days. And my eating was by no means on track for hald of those 10 days :( That is the reason why there are only very small changes in these photos 

Hands on the side 

In this photo, my stomach appears to be a bit smaller - you see a little more definition in the upper part of my stomach 

With my arms up above my head 

Stomach looks a little less round, noticeably closer to the top 

Side view, hands above my head 

Upper portion of stomach looks slimmer, lower portion of stomach not much change, thighs and glutes look more toned

Side view of lower body, hands above my head 

This angle makes my lower stomach look more round that before. The glutes and thighs appear to be more toned though. 

It's taken a lot of time for me to come up with the courage to post revealing, progress photos like these. So if you don't have anything nice to say, please keep it to yourself. 

I'm using different tatics when it comes to eating and meal planning this week, so hopefully this will help with me staying on track, and I'll continue to work hard on my workouts! 

I'll be sure to post some more progress photos in the upcoming weeks. 

Cheers! 

xoxo

Day 10 (Total Body Cardio Fix) - 21 Day Fix

Aloha readers!

Firstly, I apologize if my "days" for 21 day fix are all over the place... I have a hard time debating whether I include the days I missed or not...

Anyways, today is Monday! It's a new week! We all get a fresh start! So get yourself ready to kick some butt this week ;)

On this week's agenda:  last stretch of studying for my ISSA Certified Fitness Trainer Exam, meal prepping, 21 day fix workouts, prepare progress photos, meeting up with some friends for an afternoon picnic, hopefully only a couple days of work (gross!), and getting my stuff ready for back-to-school !

I woke up on time as I had planned to get my 21 Day Fix workout in! 

Boy, every time I do one of these cardio or leg workouts I'm sweating BULLETS. 

The workout is only 30 minutes long, but I do a bit of extra stretching at the end because I know my body needs it. Number wise, that's a decent number of calories burned in 30 minutes of non-stop work. 

Post workout / breakfast today was 2 hard boiled eggs with some sweet chilli sauce, and a strawberry, blueberry, vanilla rice milk smoothie 

My usual breakfast consists of toast, scrambled eggs with sausage, and some fruit (whole or smoothie), so it's hard for me to take my sweet time to make that after an exhausting workout like that. Which is why I had these eggs boiling during my workout, then whipped this smoothie up once I caught my breathe and gobbled them up! 

Saturday afternoon was grocery shopping with Mom time :) 

I took this opportunity to stock up on what I would need for these next 2 weeks before school starts again! 

Pictured here, I've got about a dozen bananas, few pints of blueberries (which aren't super sweet, sadly), and some fresh, ripe strawberries. I'm not the biggest fan for raspberries because of the seeds, but I know it's good for me - so I snack on them at times or throw them into my smoothies. 

As for veggies, I've got a huge bag of carrots and cucumbers to get through, some lemons for my lemon waters in the morning, and some greek yogurt for my proteinnn! I still have some veggies left from small grocery trips before, so the carrots will be incorporated into those stir-frys. 

On top of this, I also got a HUGE pack of chicken boobies - enough to last me more than 2 weeks! Seriously, I bought about 7 pounds worth! 

Stay tuned for my 21 Day Fix (not-so-much) progress photos this week! 

Cheers! 

xoxo

Day 7 (Cardio Fix) - 21 Day Fix ... So Close I Can Taste It!

Aloha readers! 

Today is Friday, and the week is coming to an end! 

It has been a great week thus far, but today has been a little off today.

I got woken up at 6:30 AM from a weird phone call from a stranger, and it threw my sleep off a bit. I woke up with some tight hip flexors, so I decided to push my workout for later on today so I can work on stretching it out and let it rest a bit before pushing it full gear again :) 

It's almost 3:30 PM and I still haven't gotten my workout yet in. However, I've been spending the morning working on my certified personal trainer studies. I am getting so close I can taste it! 

It looks like I will be fully certified sometime next week after the exam! 

Once that has happened, I will be looking for 5 individuals who are interested in improving their health and fitness level and eating habits with my help. When I've completed my studies, I will put time into creating the graphics and give you a full list of details on what you will expect, what you will get, how to keep track of your progress, and more.  For these 5 individuals, I will prepare for them customized nutrition meal plans, as well as a fitness exercise routine to follow based on their goals and current fitness and activity level! 

In the mean time, I'm going to study a bit more, do that cardio fix workout, and post some progress photos hopefully! :) 

Cheers! 

xoxo

Day 6 (Pilates Fix) - 21 Day Fix

Aloha!

Today is Day 6 of the 21 Day Fix. 

Something I've been trying to work on is waking up early to start my day off right with the workout. This is about how my alarm looks like.

Despite this, I still couslnt wake up until 10:30 today, hehe. But I still got changed, went downstairs, and attempted to kill my Pilates workout. But instead, it killed me! 

I never knew Pilates was so hard! The amount of strength required to do all those bodyweight exercises is shocking. I could barely make it through the full 60 seconds for some exercises!! 

That's another thing I'd like to keep in mind for working on: aiming to push with these Pilate workouts to strengthen my core! Or as Ryan would say: 

I'm determined to do better with my eating plan / color codes container system, so after my workout I portioned out my food. 

I also had a hard boiled egg on the side for the extra protein to fuel my muscles.

This consisted of: some pineapple friend rice, green curry chicken with vegetables, half a container of green beans, and half a large apple. 

After this lunch, I'll be getting back to my PT studying and then haircut appointment and home-cooked dinner with my boyfriend. 

I'm starting to brainstorm some ideas for the upcoming weeks, and as soon as things are sorted out, I'll be sharing it with all of you! Can't explain how excited I am :) 

Cheers! 

xoxo 

Day 5 (Lower Body Fix) - 21 Day Fix

Aloha! 

Another day has gone by in the 21 day fix. 

If you're a new reader of my blog - welcome to my fitness journey! If you're a regular, thank you for continuing to support me and reading my blog <3 

My plans were to wake up and do the workout, and then go through my list of things to do for the day. Instead, I went for an eggs benedict breakfast with my beloved boyfriend, shopped around for a car, had dinner, and then came home to do the workout. 

I'm not gonna lie, I was afraid that I would start saying "I'm too tired to workout", or "I need to spend my time studying" by the time I got home. But I told myself I couldn't use those excuses. If my diet hasn't been on par to give me the best results already, cheating my way out of the workout isn't going to bring me any closer either. 

The minute I got in the door, I mixed together some pre-workout, put on my workout clothes, and made it downstairs for the workout! BOY, it doesn't get any easier, even after doing this workout once already! Note: I will definitely be incorporating some of these moves into my future client's workouts! They gon hate me but love the booty they gonna build! 

Sweaty, but all smiles :) 

Quick look at the calories burned - always greater when doing lower body workouts vs. upper body workouts 

Tomorrow is Pilate Fix Thursday, and I'm super excited! I've never done pilates before, so this will be an interesting change for me! I hear it's great for improving flexibility, which I clearly lack quite a bit of :) 

Until tomorrow! 

Cheers! 

xoxo

Day 3 (Dirty 30) - 21 Day Fix

Wooh! 

I got home from work a couple hours early tonight, which was great cause I has plenty of energy to do my workout.

Today's workout was the Dirty 30. It included things like sumo squats, shoulder raises, side lunges, Tricep kickbacks, and more! 

Definitely got me sweating buckets! That's something I love about these workouts! 

Following the meal plan hasn't been the easiest, but I'm trying my best! 

My weakest link is my carb intake - I love my carbs! 

My stronger link is I am getting adequate protein intake according to the meal plan :) 

Thanks for reading and following my journey! 

Cheers! 

xoxo

Life is About Welcoming New Challenges - The 21 Day Fix

Aloha readers!

Sorry for being MIA the past week.

I do have some very happy news to share with you guys.

For the first time in a long time, I worked out again today (you have no idea how happy I felt by the end of it). This is a big deal for me because it's me picking up where I left off. I only want to be better tomorrow than I am today.

I met a good friend on instagram a while back, her name is Rhonda. I can't quite remember what it was that got us started talking, but we've been pretty good at keeping in touch via email. Rhonda has been aware of my struggles, and she always tries to offer sound advice and encourages me to join her support group via a beachbody workout program. Of course, I had been trying to work on my own programs, so I wasn't able to do so. Until now.

Rhonda enlightened me about the 21 Day Fix, which is a program that "fixes" your eating; mainly teaching you things about portion control, food selection, at home workouts, and so on. The idea was really appealing, since it is my eating habits that I have the most difficulty with. I knew this would be a good opportunity for me to get my eating habits sorted out and solidified.

The challenging parts I see in this workout: following closely as possible to my recommended eating guide (I'm still getting the hang of it), and doing one of the 30 minute workouts every day. I'm not used to working out every day, and the workouts are quite different (more full body work, rather than lifting weights and solely resistance training)

Today I did one of the workouts (Wednesdays calls for Lower Fix), and I have never sweat so much in a long, long time. I can't even remember if I've ever sweated that much! I wiped my sweat off my forehead and my hands were WET. I had sweat dripping off the ends of my hair too. Crazy! This definitely made me really pumped for continuing on with the programs workouts :)

I will try my best to post frequently, maybe once every day or two, to keep you updated on my 21 Day Fix progress! Until then! 

Cheers! 

xoxo

Why Do You Exercise? (05/28)

Seeing my friend post about why she exercises got me thinking about the question. 

1⃣ I don't want to be overweight - I've always remembered being a chubby kid growing up, and my parents were always encouraging me to "lose weight". I'm older now, but no doubt I am still overweight. 

2⃣ I want to be healthy. By no means does being a bit overweight directly links you to being unhealthy, but I definitely don't feel great about myself when I'm feeling breathless after 3 flights of stairs (I hate you university) 

3⃣ I want to feel more confident over my body. Some days, I feel like a sexy panther 🐯and I'm ready to take on the world. Some days, my body makes me want to hide in a bag 👝 

4⃣ I want to live up to my promises. I've made many goals in my lifetime, some accomplished some left unfinished. Being able to lose the excess body fat and keeping it off has been one of the unfinished ones. I was able to lose 15 pounds over a 6 month period, but school stress and lack of exercising helped me regain that quickly.  

5⃣ I want to use my knowledge and passion for health and fitness to help people. 

6⃣ I want to be able to live my life as an example and help others. I've finally been accepted into Dietetics Nutrition this year, and with the completion of my degree I will be able to help many others with their health challenges. 

7⃣ I want to have a flat stomach one day - doesn't have to be ABS. Just a flat tummy - cause I've never had a flat tummy 

8⃣ I want to have that big booooty! 

What to Expect in the Upcoming!

Happy Easter Weekend!

I'm back to tell you that the blog is now off hiatus - and hopefully I'll be posting on a more regular basis again! :)

So to give you guys a quick look at what's to come in the short future and further into the summer

1. Continuation of daily workout posts - posting my daily workout routines were a big hit on the blog, so I plan on continuing to do that! I do have to admit that I spent a lot of time trying to make it look fancy and pretty, and it really wasn't time efficient. I may take another shot at it again, but sometimes keeping it nice and simple is the way to go :)

2. Keeping some of the old things the same, I want to add new things to make the blog more exciting. For this reason, I'm going to start posting more grocery haul photos and videos, and hopefully even some fitness clothing/related item hauls (depend how tight on cash I am going to be this summer haha)

I can get a little crazy during grocery shopping, so that's always fun to watch! And what girl doesn't love shopping!!

3. They say that the best way to represent what you do is to have and show what you're selling. I'm selling a 6 week bikini booty program right now, and I will tell you that I don't have that bikini booty. That's the whole reason I have designed this program, and the reason why I'm going to do it myself. 

Sure sure, I can trial run it on myself this summer and then release it next summer, but who wants to wait another year to feel 100% comfortable and happy at the beach in their swimsuit. So that's why I am eager to get it out this summer, and to trial run it on myself to show you guys the results. The workouts are all based off of and in combination with new workouts that I've put together, so I know they work. 

Here's a sneak peak at what's in the program:

                                 

                     

The official release date will be sometime during the lats week of April, but you can pre-order it in the meantime at a discounted price

buy

4. There's also going to be giveaways of all sorts in the next few months, varying from food to clothing, shopping sprees, and all other possibilities! So stay tuned for more news on that!

That's all for now everyone!
I hope you're all as excited as I am!

Cheers!
xoxo

Back at the Gym + Inspirational Figures

It felt so good to be back at the gym today! It sucks to fall off the bandwagon so many times, but every time I get back on I'm a stronger person :)

Here is how I looked after 3 weeks of not lifting and enjoying the festive feasts.

Today's workout was inspired by Fitness Barbie Lauren gleisberg's workout.

Lat Pulldowns - 60 lbs 

Reverse grip lat pulldown - 45 lbs 

Seated cable rows - 57 lbs 

Bent over rows - 40 lbs 

My favorite part of the body to work is the backs, so I decided to do a back workout to give myself a good pump to start things off.

The idea of focusing on building one major muscle group for a certain period of time really attracts me, although I don't know if spending extra workout sessions for just one month will show evident change in ex. my back muscles. Definitely something I'll consider though!

On another note, today I am grateful for my #fitfam and my Instagram community. Someone in particular I want to mention is Miss Lauren Gleisberg (who also happened to have released her 12 weeks at home workout ebook, and I supported her by downloading my own copy).

What I was most interested in was hearing Lauren's story. She's such an aspiring person - a truly amazing individual! I am so glad to have came across her Instagram, because I have learned so much from her!

Aside from the health and fitness related topics, she has definitely opened my mind on the outlooks of things - how one sees things. Is your glass half full or half empty? Are you thankful for the things you have, or do you constantly complain about the things you don't have?

One of the reasons I started writing entries about things I feel gratitude for is also because of Lauren - her influential, positive, and vibrant personality makes ME want to be a better person - the better version of myself.

I hope after reading this, you too will take a few minutes of your time to ask yourself: what am I thankful for? What are the things/relationships I have that have really impacted me? What can I do to show others that I appreciate what they do for me?

That's all for tonight!

Cheers!
Xoxo