Are Equalizers a Good Home Workout Tool? Is Dark Chocolate Good For You? 5 Ways To Fire up Your Workouts! How To Be Happy With Yourself

Hey everybody!!! How are you all doing?

I've been buried under snow! UGH. My kids have had 3 snow days all ready, one kiddo has had strep throat twice, the other one once, and now this week they are on February vacation. I'm losing my mind! LOL.

I'm still managing to fit in my workouts for the most part. Most of my workouts have been at home, and I miss the gym. Getting out my house is GOOD for me!

I saw Zuzka did a workout  with the Equalizers the other day, and I completely agreed with her. I have some that were given to me as a gift and I do not use them either for the same reason she stated - I find them completely unstable. Do any of you use them? I know BR.TV are big believers of them, but I had even mentioned this in the past - I found them to be unsafe. Other than using them to do a few select exercises I wouldn't use them at all. And for the few select exercises (push ups and inverted rows) they are not worth the money - TO ME. Anyone else?

Many of you also know I am a huuuuuge chocolate lover. Only dark chocolate though - no milk or white chocolate. People at work make fun of me I eat so much of it - and actually many people at work hunt me down for it because they know I always have a stash of it hiding somewhere!
I found a great article about it on T-Nation:
https://www.t-nation.com/diet-fat-loss/tip-is-dark-chocolate-a-bodybuilding-food?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=article5438

I'm not a candy bar fan or anything like  that - but I do LOVE dark chocolate. I'm addicted!


I found another great article on T-Nation (I love this site!) about making your workouts twice as effective. I can't remember if I shared this before, but it is worth mentioning again.
We've talked about being in a rut before as well on this blog, and I think this advice can help:

https://www.t-nation.com/training/5-ways-to-fire-up-your-workout?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=article4963

It talks about ways to fire up your workouts - which I lot of us can use. I keep thinking of doing CrossFit at my own gym, but half the time the workouts are just ridiculous in my opinion. Just
TOO much. I was lucky enough to be a judge in a CrossFit competition last weekend and it was amazing! These man and women were AMAZING athletes. It made me want to participate in CrossFit SO badly, but again - how does one deal with all that volume of work several times a week? I feel like I would fall apart!

I'm on a new month of Strong by Bret and it is a push-pull month with more volume than normal, so we will see how I do. It will be an easy week though, because I am forced to take a day or two off as I'm taking my kids away to an indoor water park for their school vacation. This means I will have to be in a bathing suit. AHHHH! Good thing I've been sticking to my workouts. Pictures will be taken so I'll be my own worst critic and I'll be able to see how much of a diet I need to go on. LOL.

It's funny how we as women are SO hard on ourselves - right? I try not to be, but then again I want to be to keep myself in check. I don't want to be one of those people who lets themselves go. I know there is a happy medium in there somewhere. I know what is most important is being happy with yourself. If anyone has the secret to that - please DO TELL. Ha!

I think this is why I always had issues with Lisa. She always kept telling us to be happy with ourselves when she clearly was not happy with herself. I hope she is now. I never look at anything from BR.TV anymore, I've unsubscribed from their emails, and unfollowed them on FB, so I don't keep up with what they do. I don't follow Zuzka on FB anymore either, but I do on Instagram, so I see her videos from time to time. I DO think Z is happy with herself. I thinks she has found a lifestyle that works for HER. I don't think it is an easy lifestyle or normal one OR one that most people can follow, but I DO think it works for her. AND that is why it makes her famous. Just like other athletes are famous. If they were normal they wouldn't be athletes!

Just my 2 cents for a Sunday morning! :) XO ~Gina