Fitspiration Friday!!

After speaking to people about what they find difficult when they start living the fit lifestyle, I often get told that it's the weekends that cause the majority to struggle.

There seems to be less routine, offers of meals/drinks out with friends, long days out, nights out - the list goes on.  I used to struggle with this myself, not planning, not prepping my food to take with me on days out and not setting out a plan for my training - this would leave me under fuelled and partaking in chronic cardio because I didn't have anything organised.
Thankfully this has all changed! Since starting this challenge I now plan and prep everything, no matter what day it is or where I am going to be. It has quickly become a habit and one that I really enjoy :)

So...I decided to put together a little collage of some fitspirational pictures to try and help you remember why you are wanting to live the fit life and hopefully keep you on track this weekend - these certainly work for me...

Hope that's inspirational - have a great weekend!!!
Stay focused - its all about results :)

Can't beat a nice clean Pancake!!

Happy Thursday!

Can't believe how fast this week has gone. I have to say I have loved every minute of it :).
The challenge has really made me step up to the plate - I always push myself hard in training but it has now gone off the chain!! It's great to get even more support from the USN team and all their Athletes/Ambassadors, I feel like I have a growing network of motivational people and that's amazing so a big THANK YOU!!!

And when I thought it couldn't get any better, my nutrition has also been spot on for the whole 2 weeks. I have stayed consistent with fuelling my body with what it requires (quite alot :)) and I know this is allowing my body to recover and get to work building me some muscles ready for the next session. I am even embracing all these carbs I need to support muscle growth, something I have struggled with for a long time.

So, seeing as though I love to cook up some clean and tasty food I thought I'd share with you my fave Sunday breakfast. Here I present you with - Pistachio Protein Pancakes!!!

Ingredients:

• 1 Egg White
• 1 Scoop Pistachio IGF-1 (can use any flavour - they all taste amazing)
• 1 Sachet Quaker Oats/30g Ground Oats
• Fluid to mix to a thickish batter consistency (I like coconut milk)

All you need to do is:

1. Whisk the ingredients in a bowl,
2. Pre heat a non-stick pan on low/medium,
3. Spoon the pancake mix into the pan (I use a tablespoon, sometimes 2 per pancake depending if you want lots of small ones or a few bigger ones)
4. Wait for a few bubbles to appear on the surface of the pancake
5. Flip and cook on the other side for about 30 seconds
6. Remove from pan and place on kitchen towel while you cook the rest of the batch

It really is super easy, they taste amazing and are nice and gooey in the middle.
(if you use 100% whey protein they can be a bit dry and rubbery)
You can even adapt the recipe to suit your Macronutrient requirements - I have made them with 2 egg whites, more oats, less oats etc. As long as the batter is quite thick they seem to work every time.

I like to top mine with Greek Yog, Almond Butter and Berries but the possibilities are endless - just top them with what you love to eat!!

Hope you try them out and let me know what you think - I can't take any praise for the taste though, that's down to the deliciousness of the IGF-1 (USN are spoiling us)

Enjoy the rest of your week and have a great weekend - Keep on track - It's all about results!

Something about a challenge....

Happy Monday!!
Today was the start of week 2 of the challenge and I have kicked things up a notch. Todays training was a series of complexes :) and it was a nice sweaty session, increasing the weights on all exercises. I LOVE getting stronger!!!!

My Personal Trainer has also twigged how competitive I am and set a plank challenge a few weeks ago. Firsty I had to beat his 2 minute plank - easy done with a nice 2.26.
Last week it was on!! I had to beat my previous week and clocked in at 2.56. Sooo close to 3 minutes but didn't quite make it :(
Today I had to hit the 3 minute mark. It was going to be tough following the session I had just completed but I was focused and determined (something about a 12 week challenge that does that to a girl) My whole body was literally shaking, I stopped with the joking chatter and pushed on being encouraged all the time by my trainer.
Once I collapsed in a heap my time was announced.....3 minutes 7 seconds!!!! Whooop - felt like a champion.

All in all it was an awesome session, which always makes me happy for the rest of the day. Plus I got to refuel with a monster protein shake - 1 scoop Pistachio USN IGF-1, 60g ground oats and 1 banana :)))

What's your favourite way to refuel after a hard workout??



 

1st Post!!!

The first post!! I am super excited :)

I signed up for the USN challenge last week and decided I wanted to get a bit more involved by starting a blog to document my journey – who knows, if I'm successful the blog may continue to keep everyone informed about life as an ambassador for what is in my opinion, the best supplement company out there.

 

You can read a bit about my past in the 'my story so far' tab, and this post is to let you all know what my goals are for this challenge, and how I want to transform my lifestyle.

Let me tell you now, it’s all exciting!!

 

I am under no illusions that there will be extremely hard times, lots of ups and downs, successes, knock backs – it’s no easy journey. But I am hard working, dedicated and have a passion to work in the health and fitness industry; it is my dream and something I am not going to give up on. I want to show people that no matter where you have been or who you are, if you put your all into something you can make it a success.

 

So, what are my goals?

Firstly I want to build lean muscle mass. I am naturally small (and can eat a tonne!) and used to use it as an excuse for not being able to build any muscle. This all changed when I started training with my Personal Trainer – in the last 3 months I have gained 3kg of lean muscle mass and now I want more! This is going to take a consistent high calorie diet, and I will do this from clean food sources with a balanced combination of Carbs, Proteins and Fats. Alongside this I will be supplementing with these products.

 

Along with building muscle, I also want to build strength! Obviously physical strength (who doesn't want to be a machine!!) but also emotional strength. As I have become stronger physically I have faced up to many more fears, tried new challenges and pushed myself harder than ever - there have been stumbling blocks and failures, there has also massive highs and some great successes, but through it all I have become stronger as a person. This 12 week challenge is going to throw in more highs, lows, successes, failures and that's great :) Because I will earn from these moments, develop new skills, change tactics and do whatever it takes to make it work.

 

 

I want to live the fit lifestyle - no more yo-yo ing between bulking one week and not fuelling myself properly the next. I will be consistent, I will learn and grow from the struggles, I will ride the wave of the high times. More importantly I will have fun and enjoy doing it because I LOVE fitness!

 

 

Let's not forget - "Out of the ashes grows a Diamond"