Tracy Evelyn Health & Fitness

This month I kicked my fitness level (and nutrition) into high gear! After taking this year to build my training business and explore the essential oil world, I'm ready to get back to my heavy lifting / pull-ups with no problem / squat everyday self. That also means I need to keep an eye on what and how much I'm eating to fuel my body properly for the bigger workouts I've started incorporating! I have got to throw in a few at home workouts this week, now that Peanut is back in school (hallelujah) and I don't have to feel guilty for spending 45 minutes in the garage alone! Woo! Here's a workout I did this week that I though you would enjoy (and it'll make you work pretty dang hard). 5 min airdyne bike/ warm up (or go for a quick 5 min jog/row) 20 min AMRAP (as many rounds as possible, basically, set a 20 minute timer and do as many sets of the following as you can before the timer runs out!) - 25 Double Unders (or 50 single unders with the jump rope) - 1...

You gotta take supplements guys. I'd love to say that our healthy diets are providing us with all the nutrition and micronutrients we need - but  - it just doesn't cut it. Eating a carrot with lunch, some salmon and a handful of spinach and broccoli at dinner isn't giving your body what it needs to stay above the wellness line. Micronutrients are required for normal growth and development of cells (organisms). 2000 IU of Vitamin D is recommended for adults between 19-50 years old and double that for when you're 50-65 years old. Guys. Taking omega 3's can help with depression. WHAT. ( here ) The one I take has DHA and EPA as well as some Vitamin D & E. Also Clove - Google clove guys. Friends, we are constantly being bombarded with pollution / toxins / emotional and physical stressers. We don't get enough sleep / movement / sun and our bodies have a hard time keeping up with the pollutants we are subjected to! Vitamins and minerals aid our bodies d...

We've all been there. You workout for 3 weeks, go out to dinner, grab a few drinks with friends, forget why you were going to the gym in the first place, lay on the couch watching endless episodes of FRIENDS and suddenly you haven't been to the gym in a month. Here are 5 things you can do to get your booty motivated again! 1. Enlist a Friend.  - Look, it's hard to go at it alone. Grab a friend and pinky promise that you won't quit. 2. Get on a Program.  - Here's the thing, you're either going to go to the gym without a plan and walk around for 15 minutes until a cardio machine is available OR you can join a regularly scheduled class and hold yourself (and your friend) more accountable. It gives you an absolute time / place to be working out AND you don't have to plan ahead of time what to do! No brainer. Join a spin or pump class, a group class at our local small business gym (like Wimberly Training ;) ) or try out a CrossFit gym (I love CrossFit!)...

Waaaayyy back in February my friend and co-trainer at Wimberly Training asked me if I wanted to train for a Sprint Triathlon with her - I thought, SURE, I'm basically terrible at all of those things, so I can only improve - right? Things you need for a tri : 1. Swimsuit or Wetsuit 2. Bike + Helmet 3. Running shoes. I had running shoes, so we got started with a 20 week training program that Katie designed. Luckily I had a friend who let me borrow her wetsuit and bike (shout out to MaryAnn D!). We started swim training at Evergreen State College and, well... I was terrible. I couldn't swim more than 10-15 meters at a time before having to stop and grab the wall. Yup, it was a good thing we had 20 weeks. Every week we did a swim, run and biking session. I added in an extra run or bike when I could, but not any extra swimming because we had to pay for each session and I wasn't trying to win or anything ;). We also tried to keep up with weight training - but as per...

Woah. It's been a while friends. I've been, oh you know, busy. Life gets crazy. I'm planning on trying to stick this out a little better this time around. My olympic weightlifting was put on hold for a few months while I was training for a half Triathlon! I want to tell you more about tri - but for now, I'll leave you with these REALLY COOL photos of me basically dying at the end of it. Have you done a triathlon? I want to hear ALL of the details, ASAP!                                                                                                                                                       ...

TODAY'S THE DAY, HOORAY - HOORAY!! Online Training is officially UP AND RUNNING! You can jump in anytime you want - You won't regret - PROMISE! xxoo

Supplements for me have always been tough. I hear stories about plumbers always finding whole vitamins in the sewers, or synthetics being added into vitamins and it scares me, so I never buy them. But getting perfectly well rounded nutrition is hard, especially if you have a slim budget. We do our best to feed our bodies well, but its a good idea to be taking some vitamins and supplements as well  :)  This Young Living line up is ENDLESS, so get ready! Master Formula - Full spectrum, multi nutrient complex, providing premium vitamins, minerals, and food based nutrient support to general health and well-being. It utilizes with Synergistic Suspension Isolation process - SSI Technology - and is delivered in three distinct forms. Collectively, these ingredients provide a premium, synergistic complex to support your body. Naturally supports general health and well-being for the body. Gut flora supporting prebiotics Ingredients help neutralize free radicals in the body...

I have always LOVED helping you all with health and fitness - and soon my training is going to be available to anyone! I am starting an online fitness group! It will be through my personal training job at Wimberly Training and I couldn't be more amped up about this new project! It will be for anyone - just starting, adding a few extra workouts into your week and add-on capabilities for avid fitness-ers! Expanding my horizons and making dreams happen xxoo

I know, I know - You guys are all dying for your next at home workout! I really should give you at least ONE a week (instead of closer to one a month, PLEASE tell me that you're getting sweaty more often than that!). Here you go! EMOM (every minute on the minute) Within every minute you need to finish that number of minutes worth of repetitions of each movement. Go until you can't fit them all into the minute you are on! Example - Choose Burpees and Squats Minute 1 - 1 burpee and 1 squat Minute 2 - 2 burpees and 2 squats Minute 3 - 3 burpees and 3 squats Continue until you can't finish that minutes amount of reps! Choose any two movement and do one round until completion, rest a few minutes, then choose a different two movements and go again! Ideas for movements - Situps, v-ups, squats, burpees, lunges, jump squats, kettle bell swings (if you have a KB) bicycle crunches, cleans, presses - anything you want! HAVE FUN! xxoo

A lot of people struggle with shoulder pain or stiff shoulders that don't want to move. The more time I spend in the gym, the more I notice the soreness and stiffness that goes alone with working out. Here are a few things you can do to keep your shoulders healthy and moving longer. - Build a healthy foundation for your shoulders. Something I have my clients do at least once a week is called Y-T-W's.  Hold some 2.5 pound plates or hand weights, bend at the knee slightly and with a tall proud chest and straight tight back lean forward at a 45 degree angle. Keeping your arms straight, lift your arms up and create a Y shape, 10-15 reps, then lift your arms laterally and create a T  shape 10-15 reps and finally, pull your elbows up first and then rotate your hands upward so your head and arms look like a W. - Mobilize! Breaking up the facia build up in and around your shoulders is really important, it helps them move around better and feel better too. My favorite tool (and the...

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

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

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 woman who LOVES lifting weights, clients often tell me that they aren't interested in looking 'bulky'. A few weeks ago I even had a client tell me she was concerned about her friend who had been lifting weights at the gym and looked like she was gaining weight from it (insert HUGE  eyeroll).  Let me be very clear when I tell you that unless your plan is to bulk up -   LIFTING WEIGHTS DOESN'T MAKE YOU BULKY. In fact, lifting weights helps your bone strength through something called the Mechanostat Theory . It tells us that our bones are always adapting to what we are exerting daily, so if you aren't active and using your muscles often then your bone density slowly gets weaker because they don't have much that they are working to do. The more you lift weights and add muscle to your body, the more your bones are working and supporting and the bone mass will adapt. We all know that as you age, your body will lose muscle mass (1-2% a year after 30 if ...

..that it has caused a MAJOR obsession with workout gear. I'm not joking. I buy WAY too much crap for the gym. I currently own at least 10 sports bras, 7 pairs of shorts, 6 pairs of gym shoes and 15 pairs of workout pants. That's a problem. These are just a few of my favorite pieces from my clothing collection - Found on sale at  Eastbay  right now! Also on sale on  Eastbay ! Nike These photos make it seem like I have a Nike addiction. Well. I guess I probably do. I've promised myself that I wouldn't buy any more workout clothes for the next few months. I'm going until November!  Its been almost 3 weeks, GO ME!! xxoo