fitbottomedgirls.com

No Fitness Goal In Sight and Loving It

Erin — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 11:00:45 +0000

It has been a most insane year for me. With book writing and never-ending sickness at our house, it's only been this last month that I haven't felt super sick or been tending to sick (and demanding) little people. I've seriously had both versions of flu, cold after cold, pink eye and sinus infections that would make grown men cry. I've felt so damn energetic for the last couple of weeks, and only in writing this have I realized that it's because I actually feel like a normal human again. Although we're big believers in goal-setting around here, I'll be honest: I'm not really working toward any goals right now. I'm impressed with avid goal-setters, don't get me wrong. I just finished reading Tri-Mom: Swimming, Biking, and Running Through Motherhood, and wow, triathletes, huh? They're insane---in a good way---and set and check off workouts and goals. And take Kristen: She's knocking down amazing triathlon feats like crazy. And Jenn's always working toward a goal, whether it's a rope climb or turning her workouts on their heads. Tish? Well, she's selling tickets to her gun show. But I'm currently goal-less. I'm not training for a race. I'm not trying to lose weight. Heck, because my gym workouts get interrupted because Kid 2 doesn't love gym daycare, I'm thrilled to get in 10 minutes of any workout. But instead of being content with a few stroller walks as my workouts, I've been trying to fit more intense activity in on top of my already very active everyday life. I've taken some online workout classes. I've felt some serious burn with workout DVDs. I've been fitting in the 10 minutes of tough workouts that I can. I'm truly enjoying moving my body more frequently and with more intensity than I have in the last year. Once I feel like that base level of fitness is back where I want it to be, I'll probably start throwing down some more serious goals. But for now, it's nice to simply have my health back and to be enjoying workouts again. I guess we all fall somewhere on the exercise spectrum---those who flounder without goals and need goals to drive them to the next level and those who are content just to move. Right now I'm on the latter end, and I'm perfectly okay with that. Do you need goals to get you motivated or are you perfectly content just moving with no finish line in sight? ---Erin

FitLinks: Food and Your Mood, CrossFit Quotes From Bob & More!

Intern — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 10:00:58 +0000

FitLinks for your pleasure, your garden, your mood and your groove. Let's get this summer started! Making a difference. ---Girls on the Run A trailer with moves to get you in the Bollywood groove. ---BollyFit Putting the VEG in Vegas! ---Fit Bottomed Eats Bob's best CrossFit quotes. ---HuffPost Healthy Living New insights on how your mood affects your taste buds. (Wow!) ---Greatist Yard work is no joke. ---Fit Bottomed Mamas Staying positive, even when you hit a weight-loss plateau. ---PopSugar Fitness Arms on fiyahhh! ---Blogilates Any of these links get you thinking you're ready to make changes in your life? Share! ---Maria

thinkThin, Think Coconut!

Jenn — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 12:00:09 +0000

We think thinkThin was on to something when the company named its new line of chocolate and coconut bars Divine. Because, seriously, they are exactly that if you're a fan (or obsessed, like me) of the combo of chocolate and coconut...divine. We've been noshing on thinkThin bars for years now, but these little guys (they are a touch smaller than the normal bars) are less of an everyday post-gym snack and more of a treat. A decadent treat that kicks the heck nutritionally out of any Mounds Bar. High in fiber (8 grams) and protein (6 grams) with lower sugar (10 grams), these are filled with all those healthy fats in coconut that everyone is talking about. The nice people at thinkThin sent us the three Divine flavors to try---Dark Chocolate Coconut, German Chocolate Coconut and Chocolate Mint Coconut---and let's just say that they didn't last long at FBG HQ. Gluten-free and with 160 calories a bar, they're the perfect fix to any chocolate craving. While they all were good---and sweet without being too sweet---the Chocolate Mint Coconut was our favorite. Decadent and rich, the mint also made it refreshing. Second best was Dark Chocolate Coconut, which, to us at least, was the most coconutty of the bunch. Our least favorite was the German Chocolate Coconut, which was awesome, just not the most awesome. (We couldn't taste exactly what made it German---we didn't pick up on much caramel. Although the bar was still plenty tasty.) So, yeah, the thinkThin Divine line lives up to its name. We wish it had just a touch more protein (I know, I know. We're so darn picky.), but it's one heck of a tasty chocolaty and coconutty treat to enjoy. If you have a craving, stock up. Are you a fan of the chocolate and coconut combo like we are? Tried these? Agree with us? Disagree? ---Jenn

Smooth As Silk—and Way, Way Healthy

Jenn — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 11:00:10 +0000

The following is a post sponsored by Silk. For our sponsored post policy, click here. Okay, I'm getting a touch spoiled. First, I got to go to Minneapolis to get the behind-the-scenes scoop on General Mills, and last week I got to go to another one of my favorite places---Colorado---to check out one of my favorite brands: Silk. And I am so ecstatic to announce that we are an official blog ambassador for them---woot! In the coming months, we'll have many more goodies to share with you about Silk, but for now, I want to dish on my trip. Oh, it was a good trip! I've been drinking Silk for YEARS. In college, I drank a ton of Silk Vanilla Soymilk, and since then I've fallen in love with the brand's Almondmilk and Coconutmilk. In fact, every time I make a smoothie (which is, like, daily---addict, here!), Silk goes in. So I knew it was already a product that I loved, and I knew it was healthy, but, gosh, I learned so much more about it. We began our Silk Immersion trip by meeting a few of the people behind Silk, along with a little bit more about the company and its products. Owned by WhiteWave Foods, here are a few fun facts that kinda blew my mind:

Silk dairy-free milks use 77 percent less water and create 47 percent fewer greenhouse gases when made, as compared to cow's milk.
All Silk products are non-GMO, gluten-free and all-natural.
Silk's milks are all as nutritious, if not more so, than cow's milk.
They make iced coffee. And it's amazing, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

After learning all this info, all of us bloggers went for a hike. Say hello to (from left): Run Eat Repeat (love my fellow redhead), Carrots ‘N’ Cake (ya'll know Tina!), Oatmeal After Spinning (my new BFF who has the cutest nails), Rebecca Scritchfield (an RD who knows her stuff---and has the cutest daughter), Cook Like a Dad (our token male who is bringing healthy cooking to dads everywhere), Skinny Mom (possibly the sweetest person ever), me and Sharon Palmer (brilliant and coined the term "plant-powered," people). Now how good looking is this group? Don't worry; we have our sunscreen on. Hiking in Colorado is one of my favorite things EVER. So I happily chatted with the other bloggers and the kind Silk peeps and gazed at the gorgeous scenery. This is seriously like heaven for me. After about an hour on the trail, we headed back to the van. And tried some Mocha Iced Latte. With as much caffeine as a cup of coffee and 100 calories in a one-cup serving, it was the perfect sweet end to a workout. (And maybe my new obsession---especially when diluted down with a little extra black coffee to cut the sweetness if I'm having it as an almost everyday treat. Or, maybe in smoothies. Oh, the possibilities.) After cleaning up, the Silk team took us bloggers out for dinner to a heck-of-a tasty spot, but I'll make you wait to read about all my eats on---cue maniacal laughter---Fit Bottomed Eats soon! That next morning, we got up nice and early for a little yoga. Silk has a yoga instructor on staff (um, awesome), and she was just lovely. Kinda goofy, full of energy and yet calming at the same time, she knew her stuff. I told her about my stress fracture in my foot, and she was amazing at helping me work around it. (And, seriously, I was so happy to do some kind of yoga again---it's been a month-plus!) After the yoga, we were all super zenned out and ready for the rest of the day, which included a few more meetings, lunch in the WhiteWave cafeteria (organic salad bar...yes!), educational sessions and maybe my favorite part of the whole trip: a smoothie-making competition. They gave us a random number (I was five), laid a ton of ingredients out for us to play with... (How amazing would it be to have all THIS at the ready every day for smoothies? Smoothie heaven.) And then we got to creating! I mixed some kale, spinach, banana, cherries, Silk Coconutmilk, cinnamon and vanilla extract together for mine. A quick blend-a-roo... Turned out a little brownish...but that's okay. 'Cause I ended up taking third place in our highly scientific and objective competition! (We put our heads down on the table and voted anonymously---took me back to my Heads-Up-Seven-Up days.) I'm not sure how I placed that high; they were seriously all so tasty. And pouring them in the little taster cups was really fun. I kinda geeked out over the whole thing. After our intensely delicious smoothie competition, I had a full belly, and we had another quick meeting, good-byes (seriously, one of the best parts of these trips is just meeting new people who are passionate about making the world a healthier place, and I can honestly say that's true of all of the Silk people I met and the other bloggers), and it was off to the airport. There was bad weather, so I did get stuck in Denver and not make it back home until 1 a.m. BUT, I got to see this. Man, I love the mountains. The delay might have been worth it. The trip definitely was. Thanks, Silk! Do you have a favorite Silk product? Anything you'd like us to find out from them? Let me know! ---Jenn

Surf’s Up! Trying a SURFSET Class at Chelsea Piers with RipSurferX

Administrator — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 10:00:33 +0000

If you are one of those ABC-TV Shark Tank fans (OMG, what a great show!) then you might have seen SURFSET Fitness in action. Or maybe you saw it mentioned here on FBG. If you have no idea what I am talking about, allow me to explain. The SURFSET board is the creation of founder and CEO Mark Hartwick who wanted a way to take his love of surfing indoors (when he wasn't playing pro hockey!). SURFSET is an indoor surfing/paddleboarding class that has been getting tons of media attention lately. It's a fun activity that will give you an overall body-conditioning workout on a strapped-down surf board---without the hassle of finding a beach (or even the need for decent weather). I decided to check out a class at Chelsea Piers and see what all the excitement was about for all of you Fit Bottomed Girls' readers. The moment you step onto a SURFSET board your sense of balance will be challenged, to say the least. Even the arm-paddling exercises (which you perform lying on your stomach) will make you grab the sides of the board to ensure you won’t roll off. I can’t claim to understand the technology all that well, but, in essence, the SURFSET board is strapped into a contraption that mimics the water and will constantly put your back and abs into "active mode." Instructor Diana Garrett is a tiny dynamo who gave excellent instructions throughout the class and even took the time to show off a few yoga poses on her board when we were done. Almost from the start, the group was performing “pop ups” on the board, which is just about the toughest thing I have ever attempted physically. First you need the strength and agility to jump up to a standing position, and then you need the balance to stay up there. Yeah, it's not easy. The class also features a cardio portion (hopping over the surf board), and then an abs section that really tested my entire core. I could feel the workout in my arms and legs for days afterward! Overall, it was an incredible time, and I may even now have the guts to try a surf class on the water one day! (Well, maybe…) Have you ever tried surfing or paddle boarding? What new kinds of workouts are you dying to try out? ---Margo

The Perfect Summer Survival Kit Giveaway—and Free Sunscreen for Those Who Need It!

Jenn — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 12:00:58 +0000

It's Friday! And we feel like a giveaway. (Especially since we haven't really had one since all of our fun birthday partyin'!) So behold the The Perfect Summer Survival Kit. It's up for grabs courtesy of Neutrogena to three lucky U.S. readers! As you've probably already read, we're a blog ambassador for Neutrogena, and we are super passionate about skin health. So much so that I even recently went on Kansas City TV to help inform people about how to protect their skin during the summer months. But, the sad fact is that not everyone can afford sunscreen---or afford good-quality sunscreen. Which is where today's giveaway (and the below video) comes in... For any Neutrogena product with SPF purchased through July, Neutrogena will donate one to a family in need, up to $10 million in retail value. Every child deserves protection from the sun's harmful rays---so join in spreading the word by sharing this post and video with someone in your life. Then, leave a comment with who you told and how you told them, and you'll be entered to win that Perfect Summer Survival Kit! Winners will be announced in about a week in both the comments and directly via email. Hooray for a healthy summer---for all! ---Jenn

Kristen’s Best Fitness Memory

Kristen — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 11:00:32 +0000

What's your best fitness memory? That's the Question of the Week that each FBG is asking herself! Inspiration for this post comes from the super cool Brooks Running Run Happy campaign! As seems to be the case with my fellow FBGs, I sure have a lot of amazing fitness memories. However, two of my absolute favorites---the Leadman Tri and Santa Barbara Wine Country Half Marathon---are things I've written about recently, and, well, I think this is a great opportunity for me to take a little jog down Memory Lane, right?

Kristen's Best Fitness Memory

The year was 1990 (or close to it, anyway). I was going into sixth grade, which meant that, at that point, I'd been in tumbling classes for six years or so, and I loved it. Never mind that, even though I was often the youngest in my class, I was also the tallest---by a good bit. I mean, hey, when has height ever held a gymnast back? (Oh, right.) And, well, I don't have much natural flexibility, but it was something I worked at daily and I'd gotten to a point where I could do the splits (on one side, anyway) and easily arch my back enough to touch my toes to my nose. (I've, uhh, lost that talent in my adult years. By a long shot.) But what I did have was strength, and my tumbling super power (if I had one) was being able to walk on my hands for, like, ever. I could walk the length of a basketball court, no sweat. Of course, that wasn't enough. Like every young gymnast, I wanted to be able to do a roundoff back handspring. I wanted it so badly I dreamed about it. In class each week, I couldn't wait until we got to the part where we practiced back handsprings. I could do one---just one---standing, but the whole landing from a roundoff and throwing myself backwards onto my hands? It just scared the crap out of me. Which, in turn, pissed me off to no end. So, basically, I was a scared and angry 10-year-old (and probably a total cliche, right?). One summer day, I was in my back yard, practicing. I kept trying to reduce the amount of time between landing from the roundoff and going into the back handspring. It got shorter and shorter until, suddenly, there was no hesitation. I just went for it, and it was glorious. I screamed for my parents to come out (which surely didn't terrify them at all), and did it again. And again. And over and over until my arms were shaky, and I absolutely had to stop. From there, I was able to easily transition into doing multiple back handsprings in a row, which is a pretty fun party trick for a middle-schooler. Sadly, in the next couple of years I gave up dance and tumbling in order to focus on team sports, but that feeling of accomplishment never went away. And I got it back, just a bit, about 10 years ago when I decided I wanted to be able to do it again. It was kind of like riding a bike, and came back pretty quickly, but went away even faster when I stopped working at it. I think I've probably done my last back handspring at this point, but hey---never say never, right? Do we have any former tumblers or gymnasts out there? Do you remember any of your first tricks? Aerials, back handsprings, back tucks? ---Kristen

Fit Tip Friday: Venus Williams Talks Workouts and Hair

Jenn — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 10:00:20 +0000

Last week we showed you Tony Horton's awe-inspiring Super Burpee (and the crowd goes wild...ahhh!!!), and today we have even more video fun from the Jamba Juice FiTrends Expo. And this one features THE Venus Williams. (Love her!) She was seriously so awesome in person. Sweet, a little shy and very honest, we were pumped to be in her tennis-reigning presence! At the event, other bloggers and Tish and I had the chance to ask Venus a few questions. And today's Fit Tip Friday comes from Tish's question! She asked Venus about her workouts and her hair. Watch her response below! (And be sure to turn your volume up; we didn't get great sound, but it's definitely worth a close listen!) And stay tuned for our next Fit Tip Friday, as we'll feature another one with Venus! ---Jenn

Well, Aren’t These New Sunglasses Swell?

Jenn — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 12:00:00 +0000

Sing it with us now: Our fit future's so bright, we gotta wear shades. What? It doesn't go like that? Well, it should. Regardless, it's summer! And summertime comes with sunshine and lots of outdoor workouts. Workouts where your peepers might need some extra protection. From UV rays to debris to bugs (Ever got one in your eyeball or mouth? Grossness.), sunglasses do more than just make you look cool, they keep your eyes safe. And like these Oakleys we recently reviewed, the new Guideline Swell that we were recently sent to review is a really nice mix of performance, comfort and cuteness. A little funky and fun, the frames are certainly cute, and the large square polycarbonate lenses are polarized, durable and 100 percent UV A and B ray protective. The copper lens have a silver flash mirror, which may look cool, but actually help with lower-light conditions and overcast days---especially useful when jogging or biking through full sun and shaded areas. With a comfy fit, these feel great when you're out doing just about anything! And the copper lenses have a way of making gorgeous green-and-blue landscapes even more beautiful. And at just about $70 they're not cheap, but they're also not as pricey as some other performance sunglasses on the market. Do you always rock a pair of sunglasses during your outdoor workouts? Have you invested in a performance pair or not? ---Jenn

On Sneakers and Stilettos and Legos and Dolls

Kristen — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 11:00:15 +0000

I've been told that I'm difficult...to figure out. I don't fit neatly into one box. I'm an introvert but, in the right situation, have no problem being the center of attention. I'm highly organized, but you'd never know it to look at my workspace. And that's without even touching on gender roles. I grew up going from ballet class to softball practice. My mom would let me play with her makeup, and my dad would show me how to cast a fishing rod. Matchbox cars and My Little Pony toys were scattered in equal measure around my playroom. I had slumber parties with my girlfriends and played basketball with the boys. I might not have been a typical girlie-girl, but I was never a total tomboy, either. When the 1981 LEGO ad, pictured here, started making the social media rounds a few weeks ago, my heart did a little leap of joy at the responses I read. Hell yes, little girls can like LEGOs. And little boys can like Barbies, for that matter. What's the difference, so long as the kid is playing happily? At the same time, I felt a lurch in the pit of my stomach to see what a huge deal this seemed to be. I don't have children, and while, sure, I hear the buzz when some company or another makes a toy specifically (and unnecessarily) targeted to one gender or the other, the fact that it's 2013 and an ad from 1981 made us sit up and take note of how socially advanced it was is a jagged pill to swallow. I don't know how the message was received at the time---I mean, I was a year old, and not quite the socially conscious chica I am today. But I know I love the message. It's the same message my parents taught me. There's room in my closet for sneakers and stilettos in equal measure, and no amount of marketing (one way or another) is ever going to change that. Does marketing make you feel pressured to define yourself as uber-feminine or a straight-up tomboy? Have you found any companies that seem to be a perfect fit for you in this way? ---Kristen