House of Glutes

  One of the biggest misconceptions about eating healthy is that it has to be expensive. Granted, you can get more calories with $20 spent on junk food than you can with $20 spent on healthy food, but those calories also come with tons of added sugar, fat, etc. I decided to take on a challenge for my family of 5 and see how low I could get our food budget. Now, taking into consideration that this family consists of: 1 baby, 2 picky children, 1 nursing mother and 1 large husband with a hearty appetite, this challenge was no easy task! Here, I will break down my process and explain how I was able to feed my whole family for roughly $400 for a month’s worth of food. Now I will preface this post by saying that this isn’t a gluten- free, organic, paleo, whatever trendy, expensive diet is out right now. This is simply feeding regular family normal, healthy foods. Yes, I would love to be able to buy some of those things, but unfortunately, shopping at Whole Foods isn’t in thi...

What is Diastasis Recti??? Ah, Motherhood. It's hands down the greatest thing to ever happen to a woman. We give up our minds, souls, (and mostly) our bodies for our children! But what about the aftermath? What about when the baby is born and all hell has been ravished upon our insides??? Almost everything goes back into place within about 6-12 months of delivery. But I'm going to discuss something that may be a permanent change after childbirth: diastasis recti. Some of you may or may not have heard of this, but all women experience it during pregnancy. Diastasis recti (also known as abdominal separation) is commonly defined as a gap between the two sides of the rectus abdominis muscles, or the "6-pack" ab muscles. These are the most external of the abdominal muscles. For a woman to carry a child, these muscles must separate in order to accommodate for the growing baby. After childbirth, these muscles are supposed to grow back together. And for me, they did so a...

Ahhhh New Year’s... the time to evaluate our lives, set goals and start over. Did you know that 66% of New Year’s resolutions include setting fitness goals? Whether that be losing weight, stopping smoking, or simply maintaining a current healthy lifestyle, many people use this time to achieve something greater in their lives. However, only 8% of resolvers actually attain their New Year’s goals. That’s less than inspiring. Personally, I don’t set any resolutions. I never have. For me, if I want to attain something or reach a goal, I will do it no matter what time of year it is!!! This is why I kind of take New Year’s resolutions with a grain of salt. If you want to change your lifestyle and be healthier, then do it!!! Just do it… everyday... period.   Being healthy shouldn’t mean reaching a certain number on the scale. It also doesn’t have to mean depriving yourself, or setting unrealistic expectations. When I work with clients who want to lose weight, I make sure and expr...

The new little peanut Well, it’s been exactly 3 months since I last wrote any blogs and my life has been nothing less than chaotic since then! We welcomed our third baby girl on August 18 th and she is everything we had hoped for, and sometimes several things we had NOT hoped for! Having three girls under the age of 8 certainly has had its challenges, but we are all doing our very best to adapt to the changes. My oldest has really stepped up as the big sister and helps me A TON with the little ones and while my 4 year old loves her baby sister… she doesn’t always love not being the “littlest” anymore. My 2 big girls started school the day after the baby was born, setting off a whirlwind of changes (…and diapers, and cheerios, and hair bows, and everything else associated with little ones!)   at our home within a matter of 24 hours. Needless to say, all this excitement has left very little time for me to care for myself. This is a time in a woman’s life when our needs are w...

Alright folks, are we ready for round 2 of my butt blasting series?!?! The first post was a huge hit so I’m hoping this one will be too. Now, just because this is my second entry DOES NOT mean that these workouts are secondary to the previous workouts I mentioned. In fact, these are some of the best moves for complete isolation of the glutes! So without further ado, let’s get to it: •              Leg press (narrow stance): This is one of my favorite exercises!!! And arguably the one that I’m the saddest about not being able to do while pregnant. The leg press is an excellent weighted machine for lower body work. With a traditional leg press movement, the legs are about shoulder width apart and the focus is on the quads. However, with a narrow stance, the focus shifts to the glutes and hamstrings. I prefer to place my feet right next to each other and put my feet high enough up that my heels are in the very center o...

Ahhhh… summertime! It is officially upon us. And seeing as how this season brings on the land of shorts and bathing suits, it has been requested of me to write a blog specifically targeting the glutes. Now, per the name of this blog, this is something that I happen to know quite a bit about J And if summertime clothing tell us anything, it’s that there isn’t much room to hide this beautiful arch of the female body during this time of year!   In past workout blogs, I have given a specific workout plan for each muscle group. However, for this one, there are SOOOOOOOO many things to do both in the gym and at home in order to round and firm your patoot, that I am simply going to give a list of my favorite butt-blasting moves! Personally, when I split up my workouts I have 2-3 upper body workout days per week and 2 lower body workout days, with one of those days targeting specifically the glutes. Your hip and gluteus muscles are some of the STRONGEST IN THE BODY! They are detrimen...