workout

Time To Get Shredded:)

Welcome back to Kickin’ it with Kiki! Since I have been stuck at home I am deciding to start the Chloe Ting Workout Program! 

Some of you may know who she is and may even follow her blog and I think it would be a great idea for you to join in on this trend as well. Chloe Ting is a blogger who started a trend of people to follow her workouts! There are two weeks worth of workouts and since I am inside all the time I figured it was the perfect opportunity to try something new. I am super excited that I came across this challenge because I am going to try and get my friends to join me on this challenge.

It is the perfect opportunity to get activity in for each day and see what results I end up with. For some people the results may be completely different and I would love to test that theory and see which parts of my body will get stronger or more firm.

These next two weeks I will be working hard to stay in shape during quarantine which is totally possible. You can do whatever you put your mind to and I am ecstatic to see what change I feel not only in my bodily health, but my mental health as well. I will be posting updates on how I feel and the differences from what strength I felt before to what I feel each day.

After the first day I can already tell that this is going to make a difference. It was a little tough and I found myself getting tired about halfway through but in the end it will be worth it. I can’t wait to get my endurance back because it is so much easier to do workouts at home than most people think. There are so many things around your house that can be used as a prop and they WILL make a big difference.

I challenge you to get up and get active by joining me on this “2 Week Shred Challenge”. I will supply the link below! Have a great week and stay safe (and healthy 😉 ).

https://www.chloeting.com/program/2019/two-weeks-shred-challenge.html

Simple Workouts To Do While On Quarantine

Welcome back to Kickin’ it with Kiki!

Being stuck in the house has been pretty difficult for me and we are only two weeks in! That means we still have AT LEAST a month… that is dreadful. It can be hard for some people to work out during this time because all gym’s are closed due to social distancing and I completely understand why some individuals have just stopped working out. It is just simply ‘too hard’, but I am here to tell you that is not true! There are so many simple workouts to do at home that you do not need any gym equipment for. 

Below is a short list of ideas:

  • Jumping jacks
  • Push ups
  • Air squats
  • Burpees 
  • Crunches
  • Wall Sits
  • Russian Twist
  • Curls
  • In n Outs
  • Plank
  • Bridges

Running is also an awesome way to burn some calories and get your heart pumping fast! Even if it is for a couple minutes it is better than sitting around all day. If you have a dog they are perfect running partners too!

I have been doing a few of these workouts every day and they have helped so much, I love the way that I have been feeling! Pairing some workouts and healthy food go hand in hand to making your body feel good. If there are any workouts that you are not sure how to do just look them up on the Internet!

After the news for Indiana came out about school being cancelled this becomes even more important! Keeping a normal schedule will help immensely with feeling good and staying positive through the tough times. 

I challenge you to try a couple of these at home workouts this week! I promise you won’t regret it, have a fantastic week!

Raising the Bar

Power clean is my favorite Olympic lift. The benefits are insane and it helps with mental toughness as well. I have started to develop little tricks for myself to help my max’s continue to rise that may help you too!

If some of you do not know what power clean is, it is a full body lift using the power you generate from the ground. Using the push from the ground is key when power cleaning. It helps you to get the weight high enough and your hips through to push the weight up.

To start a power clean both feet should be a little wider than shoulder width apart, similar to how you would squat, and your hands should be on the inside of your legs near your inner thigh. To initiate the power clean, you should use the ground to pick the weight up from the ground and drive your elbows under the weight to catch it in a front squat. One of the most important parts of this are staying on the balls of your feet and not going to your toes because that is not an athletic position. Another important piece of power clean is making sure your elbows are high and in front of you so the weight stays balanced and your back stays straight to ensure a healthy rep. Once the weight is caught in a front squat, your hips are used significantly by pushing them forward and lifting the weight up, still resting on the front of your shoulders and your wrists, to a standing position. At that point the rep is done!

Power clean works specifically on power. Specifically, it focuses on generating power from the ground which helps you run faster, jump further, jump higher, and lift more. It works on explosiveness from the start of a race and also generates power through the ground to explode into your jump. 

When I started to learn how to power clean and what it does for me I began to realize some things are different for everyone. I developed my own tips to continue to increase my max’s which has helped a lot in the past year. The most recent thing that I have changed is flexing my arm muscles right before I take a rep to get my mind right. It has helped me focus and helps me make sure that I bring the bar up to the correct place for a good rep. 

A really important aspect of power clean is having the correct form. If form is off there is a possibility of getting hurt. When we first learn how to power clean we are not able to add weight until our form is perfect because of how important it is. Your back should be straight at all times; to do this you should lift the weight with your legs and bring your back straight up from the first position. Your back should also stay straight when lifting the weight out of the front squat by pushing your hips forward instead of letting your back curl over.

Pre-Season Preparation

As my senior basketball season has come and gone, as bittersweet as that is, softball season is getting closer and closer! Our first official practice is coming up and I could not be more excited for what this season has to offer!

Weights is a big part of our sports programs; so, three times a week the players that do not have the advanced physical condition class go work on running technique, agility, or explosion then head to the weight room to build muscle and become better athletes. Since I have started lifting my speed and agility has gone up immensely and the weight I can lift has gone up as well, translating to my throwing being harder. This comes directly from learning how to use the ground for power and push through the ground to release the ball at a faster speed.

This season we started doing YOGA once a week! Yes, that means yoga for our whole team and it is awesome. The relaxation after a session is immense and it has really helped lower my stress of scholarships and school work. I believe my flexibility has also grown, which is much needed to be a catcher! The more we work on yoga, the more I wonder why I never tried it before. Although it can be hard and focus is one of the biggest parts of it; I believe it is helping our team by creating a sense of togetherness and focus that will translate to the field when we finally get to start playing.

We have open cages about two times per week where anyone who wants to get reps in, can! Our open cages are nearly full every time and our program is full of awesome athletes who have shown everyone what softball means to them. We fill the batting cage and softball tee’s every time we have an open cage and it has helped me prepare for the season extremely well. I will admit, not swinging a bat for a while due to volleyball and basketball is a little weird and hard to get back into but tee work does an insane job of helping.

There are so many drills that we have learned that can target certain portions of our swing and help us improve our batting average without completely changing the swing that is natural to us. As we rotate around in the cage we are able to see front toss from our coach which helps to time the pitches until we can get outside and start playing live!

As the season is creeping up on us we have started to go into detail about throwing technique. We learned how to properly warm up and get our arms loose through stretching, rolling, and strengthening our arms and wrist. We have so many new gadgets that are designed to keep athletes from being injured and we have been working on the off-season in hopes that our in-season bodies will be healthy. Soreness will of course be present, but the aching that some players get should not be there this year with the amount of work we are putting towards keeping everyone in good health!

Every Wednesday our pitchers and catchers have a workout designed specifically for them. We pair up with the baseball team’s pitchers and catchers and work on strengthening our legs and conditioning for the season. Being in shape before the season starts is a huge bonus; it means our bodies do not have to adjust to the demands catching and pitching takes when games start. This day also creates a special bond that is always needed between a pitcher and catcher. We are working together the whole game and without a bond our signs may not work because the amount of trust we have in each other could not compare to anything else on a softball field.

This time of the year is always a bit hard for three-sport athletes but I have never had more energy. The feeling of starting off my last high school season is sad, of course, but it is also a reason to leave everything on the field each day because I will never get these days back. Our girls’ teams have done amazing things this year and softball is on its way to creating a memory our players and fans will never forget. The amount of passion I have for the game is incredible and it truly has spread to the rest of the team to create an unstoppable force this season. The work we are putting in is going to pay off and we will be representing our school in a championship game this season.

Get Down to the Facts With…

Welcome back to Kickin’ it with Kiki! This week I was able to talk back and forth with an awesome lady, Diemend Chanel, about her health and fitness coaching! I was so thankful when she messaged me back and said she would love to be featured on my blog and I was able to learn so many things from her! Below is everything I was able to learn from her, I hope you find it as interesting and helpful as I did and of course go follow her @diemendchanel.

What helped you realize you wanted to be a health and fitness coach and when did you know for sure that coaching was your passion?

“I realized that I wanted to be a Health & Fitness coach my senior of college when senioritis hit. I felt like i needed to have my life together right after i graduated, but when i looked at my resume i noticed that i didn’t put any work towards expanding my resume for what i went to school for, which was biology. I originally wanted to be a nurse. After asking myself the right questions I came to the realization that if nursing was my true passion then i would have put in the necessary work required to be successful. I reevaluated my resume again and realized I dedicated my time to volleyball and fitness. Still feeling the pressure of “needing to have life figured out after graduation” I was unsure of how i would even make a career out of health & fitness. That’s when 2 weeks before graduation i tore my ACL which forced me to sit down and slow down, during my recovery process i gained weight, didn’t like who i saw, then changed it and that’s when i had an epiphany moment of “I can’t be the only one who goes through this” which sparked my passion to impact as many lives as possible.”

How did you grow your social media platform in the beginning and what was the hardest part of getting people to recognize you?

“When i made the switch of having a personal/private instagram to a professional/business profile, i deleted everything that did not support any meaning or purpose to my business. I began changing simple meaningless captions to captions that inspire and provide value. What really jump started my following was when I created a “Greek Fitness Challenge”, I followed a lot of people within the Greek communities and had Greek pages repost my flier. From there people shared/reposted my content.”

Who were your biggest online influencers when you started online coaching?

“MASSY ARIES !!! She still is my favorite!”

Did playing D1 volleyball in college help you when you began to coach others?

“Playing D1 Volleyball did help me when i began coaching others, I jumped into this space already knowing that people perceive and process information differently so it’s important to speak from a place of understanding, clarity, and conviction.”

What does your typical day look like as far as planning, working out, coaching, etc.?

“My new routine has been incredible!: Wake up @5:00am, take a 5-10 min cold shower meditation, head to the gym, plan out my day from my notes from the previous day (which normally consist of client calls, some form of business education, mapping/ brainstorming business strategies, implementing business strategies, and creating content).”

Do you have any suggestions for me to get my blog out there and help it get more views and followers?

“First things first: design your bio to let people know that you have a blog and showing people where to find it. ~Keep reaching out to other accounts so they collaborate with you (have them re post the blog when they are featured). ~Create social media content that provide value. ~Be transparent so your followers can relate to you. ~Dive into ad placement on your blog. ~Start mentioning brands and companies”

In the beginning of this idea I was so nervous to put myself out there and reach out to women who had a bigger influence than me. It turns out it was a fantastic idea and I was able to speak and learn from an amazing woman who I aspire to be like! I encourage each of you to get out of your comfort zone every once in a while and talk to mentors that you thought would not answer because, more often than not, they would love to help you out! If you share any interest in health and fitness I highly encourage you to check out Diemend Chanel and her accounts; they are so encouraging and her feed is filled with new ideas and how to get yourself going when you have no desire to! Her handles are @diemendchanel and she has a website link if you are interested!

Life as I know it

From the second I wake up, working out is on my mind. It has become an escape from reality when I need it and is truly one of my greatest allies. Thoughts continually flood my mind of what to prepare for lunch or dinner. The excitement of new recipes and ideas is one of the greatest muses for each day. Pinterest; frankly, is a blessing in this aspect of my life. Seeing people in pain or not having the capability to do something for themselves hurts me more than anything else in the world. Through high school, what I want to pursue has been orchestrating through my mind constantly as it is the next BIG decision ahead of me. Food and physical activity tend to make up a majority of my day and through my research I have become stuck between two things; a dietitian and a physical therapist. Sundays are strictly family time and I would not have it any other way. Coming together with the people I love as well as my brothers and sisters in Christ brings a joy that compares to nothing else.

I am quite simple yet 100% authentic and original. I am an athlete, a lover of food and others, and purely led by God in all aspects of life. My friends, they call me Kiki.