Paleo Sweet Potato Pancakes

I was really craving a nice hefty breakfast the other day, and I wanted pancakes! I didn't want any old regular pancakes.  I needed sweet potato pancakes. I like substituting sweet potatoes anywhere I can. It is high in Vitamin A and other vitamins and minerals versus ingredients that are white flour...barely nutrient dense food. So this is how I did it--

Information: Serves: 2, Gluten-free, Paleo, Dairy-free

What you will need:

• 1 cup - of sweet potatoes or yams, mashed
• 2 tbsp - of Pamela's pancake mix flour or coconut flour
• 2 tsp - of ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp - of baking soda
• 1/2 tsp-  of vanilla
• Coconut oil, to grease the pan
• 3 - eggs

Directions:

Step 1

Measure out the mashed sweet potatoes or yams. Mix together with eggs in stand mixer. 

Step 2

Mix in the rest of the ingredients (except coconut oil) until smooth

Step 3

Put coconut oil in the frying pan and heat the frying pan over medium heat. Add the sweet potato pancake mixture to make any size pancakes you desire. Make sure to cook throughly.

Thats it! Its as simple as that. You can sprinkle on some cinnamon to the finished product and add a splash of any type of syrup that follows your diet plan. 

How I passed the ACSM CPT exam - Military wife

Well guys! I did it! I passed the American College of Sports Medicine Certified Personal Trainer exam and I could not be more proud of myself. A little background of myself:

I grew up as a 'tom boy.' I was the only girl out of 4 kids in our family. But don't worry I was not treated as the princess of the family..I had to mow the lawn like everyone else! I was always involved in sports growing up from gymnastics to basketball to cheerleading to track and to my biggest passion swimming. I swam throughout high school and received a athletic scholarship for swimming. In college I graduated from the College of Charleston with a bachelors degree in Physical Education with a concentration in Health Promotion. I am currently a USA swimming swim coach. I have always had a passion for fitness and health and I believe that getting my CPT is just the natural progression of all of that.

Now-- Since I am a military wife and my husband is less than a O-3 I was able to utilize MYCAA. This is a military spouse financial assistance for certifications and/or degrees that further your career. This allowed me to pay for all of my study materials, webinars, and exam fees without any out of pocket expenses! This program is incredible! I was able to save $135 for all three books. $240 for the 6-week webinar. $280 for the exam. I was able to save a total of $655 dollars!!  

I chose ACSM due to its high quality certification that it provides you, the fact that MYCAA covered all of this certifications expenses, and is certified through the National Commission for Certifying Agency (NCCA).

My timeline:

1. Contacted MYCAA in October- Did the whole process of registering myself, contacting my counselor, and creating a academic plan in conjunction with MYCAA and ACSM. 
2. In late October I received my books and registered for my webinar
3. Right away I began my webinar
4. Finished webinar in mid-December
5. Studied off and on 
6. Registered for my exam in mid-March
7. Took the exam April 2nd

How I studied:

I probably should of studied more than I actually did. I studied like I did in college..here and there and a lot the few days working up to the exam. Old habits die hard I guess. I did buy the ACSM study Personal Trainer Study Guide. and I also downloaded pocket prep cpt. This app was great because I was able to take practice tests whenever I wanted to. Tests from 5-400 questions. Read Section 3 in the Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription.  Read as much of the ACSM Resources for the Personal Trainer as you can possibly bear. Read the whole thing if you can. But focus mainly on the planes of motion, last chapter in business, anatomy, exercise physiology, and kinesiology. 

What you need to know for the exam:

• Equations:
• BMI with inches-- Lbs/height (in) x height (in) x703
• How to calculate target body fat with given weight and body fat %. Find out how much they should weigh with given target body fat %. 
• How to calculate HRR
• How to calculate target heart rate with given percentages.
• How to calculate METS
• How to convert inches, cm, m, kg, lbs
• Words
• Ambivalent
• Spirometer
• Self-efficacy
• Negligence
• Superset
• Pyramid
• Concepts to know:
• Risk Stratification!!!! Very important
• Exercise Prescription! Read Section 3 of your Exercise Prescription small book
• General Population
• Pregnancy
• Children
• Older Populations
• Know about business plans
• Negligence
• Transtheoretical Behavior Model
• Motivation - Intrinsic/extrinsic
• Eccentric/Concentric
• Running up a hill/Running down a hill- What the quads and hamstrings are doing
• Uphill: Quads Concentric. Hams Eccentric. Down: Quads Eccentric Hams Concen
• Liability
• Most cost effective form of advertising
• Rotator Cuff muscles (SITS) and their functions
• Deltoids and anterior, posterior, and middle head functions
• Abduction/Adduction
• Spotting Techniques. This is in the main textbook and youtube some videos for a visual.
• Macronutrients
• How many calories are in each macronutrient. 
• Protein- 4, Carbs- 4, Alcohol- 7, Fat-9. 
• Recommendation for exercising in humid heat
• Client Assessment
• Planes of Motion and what plane your body moves in
• Flow of blood through the heart

Advice

Please know that this is a hard certification. Go ahead and humble yourself now. You do need to study even if you do have a bachelors degree in exercise science and/or a gym rat for a while. Think about needing to know this information for your future clients, not just to pass the exam. The more you can learn the better. This certification does not do as great of a job helping your create workout plans or how to actually do or teach the exercises. My advice is to go to a gym and learn and do these exercises yourself. Get taught by a personal trainer. Or even better..be a student before you become a teacher. Hire a personal trainer and learn what you like what you don't like how you will do better or do things the same. I learn best by doing, and I think this is the best way. I know I would never be as good of a swim coach if I never was a swimmer. 

Good luck in all of your endeavors. If you have anything to add to this blog I am all ears!

Cheers!

Cardio : Weight Baring ratio workout

I missed Monday's workout due to the fact that this weekend I went on a overnight backpacking trip. My body felt a little used up and not ready for a high intensity workout. Today's workout was a little bit different than others I have done in the past. This was set up to make it be as hard as you are willing to make it.

What you will need:

• Weighted Bar
• Box 
• Rower 
• TRX

Cardio : Weight Baring

Everything is 3 minutes total. Cardio will be done straight through for 3 minutes and the weight baring exercise will be broken up per minute.

3 minutes                                                 3 minutes: 1 minute per exercise            

Row                                                         TRX

Goal: 750 meters                                      Chest Press, Squat Row, Bicep Curls

Jump Rope                                               Weighted Bar

Goal: 300                                                   Shoulder Press, Tricep Extension, Row

Suicide Run                                              Body Weight

Goal: 6                                                       Plank, Right Side Plank, Left Side Plank

Box Jumps                                                Box

Goal: 60                                                     Decline Push-ups, Dips, Toe Taps

Goal for the weight baring exercises are to do as many as you can in one minute. Give yourself a minute in between your weight baring exercise and your new cardio workout. Only give yourself 30 seconds between the cardio and the weight baring exercises. 

This is a great workout that will get your heart pumping! 

                            

Skinny No flour cookies

Tonight after dinner I was craving something sweet without being unhealthy or making me feel gross. I know I do have a roll of Girl Scout cookies in my freezer right now, and I am trying to avoid eating them as much as possible. I'll just make sure to give them to my friends who come and visit me at my house right? Ha, just kidding…

What you will need:

• 2 ripe bananas
• 1 cup of rolled oats
• 1/4 cup of raisins
• 1 tbsp of honey
• 1/4 cup of walnuts, chopped

Instructions:

This recipe is very SIMPLE! 

• Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

• All you need to do is combine all of the ingredients in a bowl together. Make sure all of the banana is mashed completely. I used a hand blender to combine all of the ingredients together.

• Spoon it out evenly on a greased baking sheet

• Bake for 15 minutes

The final result were sweet and chewy cookies that really curved my sweet tooth that I was having. YUMM!!! I have a feeling I am going to be making these a lot. 

Crossfit Style Workout- No equipment needed!!!

15, 12, 10 reps with suicides

This workout was hard! I am not sure if it was just super high intensity, or if it was because I had too much fun Saturday night at my friends Bachelorette party. This workout might of hurt more due to 'extending' myself too much Saturday, ha! No regrets though! 

Equipment:

• Heavy weighted bar- About 30% of your body weight 
• Mat
• Area to run at least 45 yards

The concept of this workout was to do a set amount of reps then immediately afterwards to an exercise to failure. Failure means you no longer can go anymore while keeping the same speed or pace. 

Every workout you will do three times through. First round is 15 reps, then 12, then 10 reps. After each round you do 1 suicide. 

Exercise                                                                   Failure

Back Squat w/ weight                                        Plyometric Squat

                                          -1 lap of suicides-

Shoulder Press w/ weight                                   Push-Ups

                                          - 1 lap of suicides-

V-up Sit ups                                                        Regular Sit-Ups

                                          -1 lap of suicides-

Dead Lifts                                                           Burpees

                                           -1 lap of suicides- 

Explanation:  You will start out with 15 reps of back squats, then do plyometric squats until you can no longer do them. Then you will do 1 lap of suicides. Then you will do 12 reps of back squats with weight. Then plyo squats. Then 1 lap of suicides. Then 10 reps of back squat. Plyo squats to failure. Then 1 lap of suicides. Continue this with the shoulder press, v-up sit ups, and dead lifts until you have completed the workout. 

Back Squat

Shoulder Press

V-Up Sit Ups

Dead Lift

Strawberry, Banana, date, and almond smoothie

        This morning I randomly decided to try to make a smoothie. I pretty much went to my pantry and my fridge and brought out things that I thought would go well together. I wanted something sweet, healthy, and packed with protein. Here is what I came up with:

Serves: 2

What you will need:

• 1/2 Ripe Banana
• 7 Strawberries
• 1 Tablespoon of Coconut Oil
• 1 Tablespoon of Almond Butter
• 1 Date, pitted
• 1/2-1 scoop of Whey Protein (optional)
• 1/2 cup of Almond Milk
• Add ice (I used 5 cubes)

Directions:

• Place all ingredients in your blender

• First use the 'crush ice' function on your blender until all of the ice is crushed down to a small size
• Then use the 'liquify' option and blend for about 30-45 seconds
• Then it is ready to eat/drink!!

Nutrition Facts:

• Calories: 189
• Protein: 10g
• Calcium: 60%
• Carbohydrates: 16
• Sugar: 6.5g

**Remember most of the sugar comes from fructose**

Kristen Approved!!