Tracy Evelyn Health & Fitness

I like to have my clients at the gym do some squat variant almost everyday, goblet squats, back squats, thrusters, air squats, single leg squats - the list could go for a while.  Obviously I LOVE to squat - its always challenging and engages SO many muscles!  Here are the muscles that wikipedia says the squat works :   ... thighs ,  hips  and  buttocks ,  quadriceps  femurs muscle ,  hamstrings , as well as strengthening the  bones ,  ligaments  and insertion of the  tendons   throughout the lower body.  As well as developing  core strength .  Isometrically , the  lower back , the upper back , the  abdominals , the trunk muscles , the costal muscles , and the  shoulders  and arms are all essential to the exercise and thus are trained when squatting with the proper form. HOLY MOLY people. That's A LOT of muscles being worked! With all those muscles working properly, yo...

Here is another simple workout for you to do at home!  (Check out the  first   at home workout too!) Sometimes it's after dinner and all you want to do is sit on the couch and watch tv with your husband (aka - my life). Instead of plopping down on the couch - warm up with some in place high knees or jumping jacks for a few minutes and get your timer going on your phone! Do 1 minute of lunges 1 minute plank (on hands or forearms) 1 minute overhead presses with whatever hand weights you have (even if all you have is a few cans of food! Seriously! Just don't stop for the whole minute!) 1 minute rest Go through this series 3-5 times and make sure you're working for the entire minute! You will get sweaty, I promise! Have fun! xxoo

Just made this delicious chicken for dinner and my taste buds are forcing me to share it with you! SO GOOD. Crispy Coconut Chicken with Spicy Honey Orange Sauce Please make it ASAP.  We had ours with some brown rice (you could do quinoa) and some steamed broccoli! Your mouth will thank you. Check out my  Pinterest  boards for more meal ideas!! xxoo

Do you guys use some sort of smart watch or fitness tracker to keep track of your calories burned or steps? When I started personal training in June, I decided I needed some type of 'smart' watch to help me at work with timers and keeping track of when I had clients coming in.  I started out with the Fitbit Flex - which I liked a lot for basic tracking. It did a great job with keeping track of my steps and my calories, but seeing my sucky sleep pattern was disheartening, so I got rid of it, haha! Fitbit Flex Next I moved on to the Garmin Forerunner 235. This was SUCH a cute watch - I got it in teal and it was so perfect! The Garmin was also great for tracking, and it even had some smartwatch capabilities, it would tell you when you had a text or email come in and it had a great timer as well, but after just one day of using it, I decided I wanted a watch that had MORE of a smartwatch feel. Garmin Forerunner 235 Yup, you guessed it, I went and exchanged the Garmin ...

Getting back into my training groove finally - and excited to start sharing some at home workouts and fitness tips! Here is a quick burner for when you / your Kids are napping - or watching tv. Husband is playing with the kids outside. Wakeup before anyone else in the house. Just have a few minutes to get some fitness in! 15 min AMRAP (As Many Rounds As Possible) 50 Single or double under with jump rope (or pretending to jump if you don't have a rope) 40 Air Squats 30 Sit-ups 20 Burpees 10 Push-ups Have fun!  Youtube any movements you aren't sure about, or if you need a modification for one of the movements, just ASK ME! Go get your fitness on! xxoo

I turned 30. I started a whole NEW decade! I decided to kick it off in the happiest place on earth!  DISNEYLAND!!! I harassed my sisters and forced them all to go spend a ton of money with me in SoCal and had an amazing time. Here is just a few pictures to get me through another month of no longer being at Disney *insert extreme sad face*. I'm so grateful to have 4 sisters who love me enough to spend their time (and money!) coming all the way down to California to celebrate with me. We spent the whole day Friday (my birthday) in Disney and then Saturday we spent hanging out around Huntington Beach, getting mani-pedi's and eating AMAZING breakfast burritos from Nick's in Seal Beach. 30 is going to be a great, great decade. xxoo

This past weekend I had the opportunity to participate in a Holy Yoga  class and it was AMAZING. When working out I never have related my body movement and thoughts with my relationship with God, but the more I moved through this class the more I felt Him speaking to me. Working through my family woes, my heartbreak over things from years past - I could just feel him pushing His way into them. Things that I had been shoving inside deeper and deeper into my heart where I wouldn't have to think about them, but always felt them lingering. At the end of the class we laid in childs pose or on our back and the instructor came by, anointed us and prayed over us individually while she manipulated our postures to be better (if we needed) and even rubbed my shoulders briefly . As soon as I felt her push on me it was as though she was helping me push those old harbored feelings and thoughts out - in that moment I felt God and released those bad feelings and cried. Shake cried. It felt amazi...

As a 'new' Personal Trainer and less than part time blogger, I decided I needed to increase my daily reading, first to know more for my clients and second to be more well read. When I became a mother, reading started to slip through the cracks and I read only 3-5 books in two years. Reading has always been something I love to do so this year I decided to try and read one book a month, and so far I'm ahead of schedule! Here are the most current books that I buried my nose in  : On Writing Well by William Zinsser This book was fantastic. I started reading it because I wanted to start blogging more about my personal training. There were a few times that I felt he was telling me things that I - as a seriously part time blogger - would never use, but most of the stories William told were so well thought out and beautifully written. It did really make me feel like I could be an author! The way Zinsser describes how to be a writer was so easy to understand. I know I won...