I am not exactly what someone would call a beauty expert by any means.  I am not girly enough of a girl to have makeup how-to's or hair tutorials.  That being said, I do try to take care of my skin as much as possible, in hopes I can keep it as healthy and age well! I've been told many times that I have nice skin.  To me, its a big compliment, especially when I am not wearing makeup.  I have noticed since I started taking my health seriously, my skin has improved greatly! So here are my personal rules or things I do to take care of my skin. 1.  I eat lots of veggies and cut out the crap!       We all know that eating healthy is great for keeping a healthy body weight as well as upkeep of our internal organs.  Remember that your skin is also an organ, therefore it also benefits from healthy eating.  There aren't a whole lot of studies that I could find on a direct link between food and skin damage, but the general consensus is that ...

We had a busy weekend filled with Ju Jitsu and family time. Friday was our usual, teaching kids class and training; then Saturday we went to a Ju Jitsu seminar at KP that was put on by mine and Ernie's Sensei, Joseph. Joe was our Sensei who brought us up to black belt level and now we instruct what he taught us.  It was awesome this past Saturday to have so many of our martial arts family members come out to learn some of what he taught us over the years.  I felt like it was a great refresher to practice drills and moves we've forgotten about or haven't worked on lately. One of my favorite things we worked a lot on was doing lots of throws!  When I was a younger martial artist, I hated drilling throws.  They were difficult for me, I could never get the timing right or I was too small to be able to move a person around enough to knock them off balance.  I never really did realize the importance of being able to do a great take down or a throw until I got olde...

I've heard many different excuses for people not wanting to go to the gym.  I've heard they have no time, no motivation, they hate working out, etc.  One excuse that actually surprises me is that people feel embarrassed to go to the gym because of their weight and what people will think of them.  They are afraid to go to the gym because they are insecure about what they look like and feel like they are being stared at or judged. It bothers me that people really think that other people at the gym are staring and judging them.  I know for myself, I am usually so lost in my own little world in my workout, I hardly notice there are other people even at the gym!  If I do notice an overweight or out of shape person at the gym, I think that is awesome because they are striving to better themselves and their lives, which is the same reason I am there! So, I thought I could do everyone a public service and alleviate some of the worries of making an ass out of yourself...

I know I've been pretty MIA lately with my blog, I am preparing for the first part of my personal training test this weekend, so I've been spending my blog writing time studying instead.  I make my promise that I will be better about writing once my test is done this weekend! Last time I wrote, I talked about the first part of my journey of confidence.  This type of journey is similar to my fitness journey in that there is no end point when it comes to confidence because always a struggle.  Some days I don't feel so hot about myself.  Either my skin breaks out or I'm bloated or I screwed up at my job and feeling low about myself.  But I tell myself that I know what my real abilities are and I am just having an off day and to keep pushing on and it will get better. The second part of my journey is about applying my hard learned lesson about confidence I talked about in part 1 of this blog ( see here ).  Last time, I talked about how I had a hard time fig...

I am making this blog into a two part blog.  It is the journey of my self confidence and the role my fitness journey played into it.  Part 1 is about learning to accept who I was. During this fitness journey I've started on I've learned a few things: 1) keep your back straight 2) eat yo veggies! And 3) have confidence in your abilities and be happy with your body-no matter what! The first two are no-brainers, the third is the most tricky of all!  When I was young, I had a hard time learning to appreciate myself for who I am, and it  had nothing to do with my body. I knew growing up I was smart and a pretty easy going kid. I never really had any body issues, instead I had issues with what others thought of me. I remember being six or seven and wanting to have friends so badly that I begged my mom to help me change my wardrobe so I could wear stuff that other girls did.  I'm glad she didn't give into me, it was the beginning of a big learning curve for me....

The topic of equality and feminism has been a hot topic this past year- or maybe it's just my news feed on Facebook.  Either way, its a topic I feel relates to my message with Fit Like a Girl. I created Fit Like a Girl for girls like me.  Girls who work hard, strive for independence, workout and go against the grain of what it means to be a "girl"; the tomboys, the fighters. I proudly consider myself a feminist.  Even as a young girl, I've aspired to be an independent person, who can live life on my own if needed.  My parents raised me to think for myself, and be smart so I don't have to rely on "being a girl" to get myself through life.  In other words, my sisters and I had the exact same expectations as my brothers did. In school, all the expectations were the same in our family.  We were all expected to meet the same grades and go to college- no exemptions!   It was the same thing when it came to doing chores on the farm. Once we were old eno...

When most people say they need to "get in shape" and "start working out", they think they need to slap on their running shoes and hit the treadmill.  People associate cardio training with what is needed to get in shape and transform their bodies.  There is also the age-old theory if you want to lose weight, do cardio, and if you want to bulk up with muscle, then you strength train!  These theories are not always the case. To determine what is the better choice, we must first analyze what they do for you! Weight or strength training has several benefits to the body and fitness goals. First of all, weight training obviously builds and strengthens muscles.   The more muscle a person has, the more benefits come with it! When people strength train, they actually cause microscopic tears in their muscles.  When the recovery happens, the muscles heal and grow.  As the muscles recover and grow, they require calories during the process. In short, the more musc...