House of Glutes

Who in their right mind decides to lose weight in November?!?! Right before Thanksgiving, Christmas parties, family get-togethers, fudge, candy canes, and egg nog??? Ashley Saylor, that’s who! Ashley is a friend of mine whose story deserves to be shared. Her journey is one of no excuses, no fancy pills, no expensive personal trainers, and no starvation diets… nothing but clean eating and hard work! Oh, and did I mention she did it all with 2 small children and a husband at home…? (Insert re-evaluation of your long list of excuses here)                  One year ago from today, Ashley weighed 240 lbs. She had struggled with her weight since 2004 and now she was also holding onto excess baby weight from her son, who was 1 at the time, and she was ready to for change. After trying diet pills in the past, she knew that she needed to try something different… something that would be a permanent lifestyle change and not just a quick fix. She needed a change that could be maintained

Today I burned almost 900 calories doing a cardio, bicep, tricep and abs supersets! Here I will give a detailed workout of how exactly I was able to both torch fat and also build lean muscle in my arms and abs: Cardio: 15 min step mill 15 min incline trainer 15-20% incline at 3 mph On assisted pull up machine: Close grip pull ups Superset with tricep dips   On this I did 4 sets of 3-4 pull ups, unassisted, with assisted tri dips, sets of 10 Then I switched to assisted pull ups 3 more sets of 8 with assisted tri dips sets of 8 I did this because I want to strengthen my grip and get better at pull ups! But I want to do it at the beginning of my workout, when I’m the strongest. So I did as many as I could by myself, then used the assisted bench to finish out my reps.   Curved 40 lb barbell superset: 6 reps wide grip curls, 6 reps narrow grip curl, 12 reps narrow bench press for triceps Repeat X 4 In between sets, I did 12-15 reps leg raise with 10 lb plat

After almost 20 blog entries of my own over the last 4 months (with over 3,600 views!!! Thanks everyone!) I have decided to bring in guest bloggers in order to bring in new ideas and topics and also to keep thing on my page fresh and interesting! For this entry, I have asked my beautiful friend and spin instructor Sam, (who royally kicks my butt every Friday morning) to give her opinions on health and exercise from a fitness instructor's point of view: It Comes Down to 100% My name is Samantha Votaw, and I’ve been a group fitness instructor for over 18 years.   I’ve taught many different things throughout the years, but currently I teach three Spin classes per week.   Spin is an interval style group cycling class.   If you haven’t tried it, what are you waiting for??? This may come as a surprise, but being the teacher does not make it easier to look fit or to be fit.   Oh, how I wish it were the case!   Doing something on a regular basis actually makes you VERY effici

One of the biggest goals for a woman is to have toned arms! Likewise, the biggest misconception is that getting good arms comes from only working your biceps. This is partly true, but in reality it is the trifecta of working out the triceps, biceps and shoulders that will fully shape the upper body and give the look of sculpted arms! Also, having a full, round shoulder cap gives the illusion of having a smaller waist, this is why shoulders are such a HUGE focus for female fitness competitors, such as Amanda Latona, pictured here:   My shoulders aren't naturally very round, so I always spend a whole days workout on them. I try to really focus on my weak points in order to bring them up to par with my stronger muscle groups. So here I will give a detailed shoulder workout, and also explain how I can burn almost 900 calories in a single workout!   I started off with 30 minutes of cardio, 15 min on the step mill and 15 on the tread climber machine. This burned about 300-

I’ve been asked to shine the light on how to stay fit before, during and after pregnancy. Personally, I look better now after having 2 kids than I did in high school! I attribute this to one thing and one thing only…. I made the CONSCIOUS DECISION to not let myself go when I got pregnant with my first daughter Lili. It was not an accident, it was not genetic, and it was not a fluke. It was a decision I made. I learned in a nutrition class when I was pregnant with Lili that a pregnant woman only needs an extra 200-300 calories a day to sustain a healthy pregnancy, that’s less than a bowl of oatmeal with raisins and a banana (see the pic above)… AKA not very much food! Yet the majority of women take pregnancy as free reign to eat as they please and let themselves go, meanwhile thinking “I’ll just lose the weight after I have the baby.” HAHAHA! Yeah right. Guess what new moms, you won’t even have time to shower, much less workout or count calories! It’s SOOOOO much easier to be proact

Probably my favorite muscle group to work is my back! There's so much to do and so many options that it never gets boring. Plus when you sculpt and taper your back, esp the lower back, it gives the optical illusion of a smaller waist and rounder rump! (note the picture to the right) My fave moves for that are Underhanded barbell rows and hip extensions on the Roman chair, both listed in the work out I did today. I always make sure and go to the gym for back day because I lift pretty heavy, but for a person just starting out, many of these moves could be done at home with lighter weights. Seated close grip cable rows warm up set 70 lbs X 20 reps Then increase to 90 lbs 4 sets of 8 with 1 min rest in between sets   Floor Seated lat pull down warm up set 120 lbs X 15 reps then to 140 lbs X 8 reps X 4 sets   Underhanded barbell rows warm up set 65 lbs X 20 reps then to 95 lbs X 8 reps X 4 sets Burn out set 45 lbs X 30 reps   Dumbbell pull over / db single row su

I've been experimenting with some new food ideas and have been asked to share my recipes. So here goes! Cookies: There are several protein no bake cookie recipes out there, but this is the one my family likes! 4 tbsp. margarine, butter (or Greek yogurt) ½ cup skim milk 2 scoops chocolate protein powder ½ cup natural peanut butter 3 cups quick oats 3 tablespoons vanilla extract  1/4 cup Splenda or Truvia Melt butter, then add protein, milk, & Truvia Bring to a boil, then remove from heat Combine melted mixture with pb, oats and vanilla Mix this all together, shape into cookies and place on wax paper (I put mine in the fridge to set)   Turkey: I get the leanest ground turkey I can find (95-99%) and mix it all into a sauce pan with uncooked veggies (for example bell peppers, onions, jalapenos, spinach, kale, tomatoes, zucchini, etc) and any spices you want (I use garlic, salt, black pepper and some Italian seasoning). Mix this all into sauté

 Supplement stores can be very overwhelming! There are so many options to chose from, I suggest reading reviews on sites like Bodybuilding.com and know what you want before you buy anything. Sales people at a store will often try to push certain items.... like the ones they make the most profit from! Ah, the billion dollar industry of supplements…. With most of those dollars coming from false claims from weight loss pills claiming you can eat whatever you want, sit on your ass and still lose weight! I would like to preface this blog with a disclaimer: SUPPLEMENTS IN NO WAY REPLACE HARD WORK AND A GOOD DIET!!! Supplements should be used only as an aid for hard exercise and clean eating. Nothing will ever make you lose weight without making you pay for it in one way or another. Nothing! I'm going to break down what I take, what I have taken, what supps are good for various goals and what I would like to possibly try in the future. What I take daily for exercise: A f

I had a really good leg workout today!!! So I thought I would share it because I often have people ask me how I determine how much weight I do or how many reps and so forth. So here I breakdown the how's and why's of one of my workouts. I will preface this by saying that I don't gain muscle very easily, especially in my lower body! My legs are pretty lanky and I have no hips, so for me to have any curves at all I have to lift pretty heavy on my lower half. Also, I do legs twice a week. My upper body responds to exercise much quicker than my lower body, therefore I focus more time on building leg and glute muscles than some women may have to. It tooks me MONTHS over the summer to get this kind of size of my quads... And that's nothing compared to most women I  know! So here's a typical leg day for me: Warm= 10-15 minutes on the step mill; I do this to get my heart rate up and also to get my joints warmed up on my left knee, which I have issues with. First

Full body circuit = Ten min warm up with body weight: 30 seconds jumping jacks 30 sec high knees 30 sec mountain climbers 30 sec plank Do these all with no rest, then after one circuit is done, rest for 1 minute. Repeat 3 X My heart rate on this got up to 80% of my max heart rate, as measured by my heart rate monitor. First weight circuit: Bicep curl, overhead tricep pullover, reverse lunge, seated shoulder press Do one super set of 15 reps of each exercise. I used 20 lb dumbbells. Repeat super set 3 X Reached 90% of MHR Second weight circuit: Hammer curls, tricep dips on a chair, dumbbell squat, shoulder front and rear delt raises 15 reps of each exercise. I used 20 lb db on legs and biceps and 10 lb db on shoulders. Repeat superset 3 X Reached 88% MHR. Ab circuit: Medicine ball passover from arms to feet, 15 passes Then right side plank for 30 sec followed immediately by left side plank for 30 sec. Repeat 3 X Total workout = 1 hour and 10 min 551 calories bu

Arguably the busiest section in any gym in the cardio area, yet when I look into this god forsaken part of my gym I see the majority of people doing all kinds of crazy nonsense!!! If you don’t properly perform an exercise, you’re wasting your time as well as the time of the other people who are waiting to use the machines (*cough**couch* my friend caithilin lol)   .   So here’s my top do’s and don’ts, as well as how to get the most of your cardio sesh…. ·          Rule #1, #2 and #3: DON’T HOLD ON!!!! I can’t emphasize this enough!!!! When you are walking/running/stepping/whatever you’re doing , let go of the damn machine people! Here’s why: If you’re doing the step mill or a stair stepper and you rest all of your weight on the handrails, you’re taking ALL THE TENSION OFF OF YOUR GLUTES AND LEGS! If you have to hold on for balance, do it very slightly, or even just with one hand. But if you want the benefits of a stair stepper and want it to tone up your legs and butt, for g