PALEO BLUEBERRY SCONES

1 1/2 cup blanched almond flour

1/4 cup arrowroot

pinch of salt

1 tsp. baking powder

1 cup fresh blueberries

1/4 cup extra virgin coconut oil

3 T. maple syrup

2 tsp. vanilla

1 egg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9 inch round cake pan with parchment paper. Combine dry ingredients, then mix in the blueberries. Combine wet ingredients and mix into the dry ingredients. Stir well and then spread into pan. Bake about 30 minutes until golden and toothpick comes out clean.

• 1/2 cup spelt flour (or all-purpose or Bob’s gluten-free) (60g)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• pinch stevia extract, or 2 tbsp agave or pure maple syrup
• 1/4 cup shredded carrot (32g)
• 1/3 cup milk of choice (decrease by 2tbsp if using the agave/syrup) (80g is 1/3c)
• 1 tbsp more milk of choice or 1 tbsp oil (15g)
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract (4g)

Combine first 6 ingredients in a mixing bowl, and stir well. In a separate bowl, combine remaining ingredients. Grease your waffle maker, with oil or oil spray (be sure to grease well if using the oil-free version), then let it preheat. Pour wet ingredients into dry, and stir to make a batter. When the iron is hot, pour half the batter into the center of the iron, and close the lid. (My machine has a light that goes out when the waffle is ready. Don’t lift the lid before the waffle is finished cooking.) Frost these vegan carrot cake waffles with either coconut butter or my healthy cream cheese frosting (linked below the second photo in this post).

Top as you'd like!

Skip the home fries and try these sweet potato wedges instead. Baked in the oven, they are packed with beta-carotene and are lower in fat than a fried potato--but still have a satisfyingly crisp skin.
              

NOTE: Ingredients for a changed serving size are based on a calculation and are not reviewed by the author or tested. Please also consider scaling up or down cooking containers as needed.

Serves: 4 Prep:  10min |Cook: 22min |Total: 32min

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary or 2 teaspoons dried
• 3 medium sweet potatoes
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 450°F.

2. In a small saucepan, melt the butter with the oil over medium heat. Stir in the rosemary.

3. Cut the sweet potatoes lengthwise into 1 1/2-inch-thick wedges and place in a large bowl. Season with the salt and pepper, and drizzle with the rosemary mixture. Toss gently.

4. Arrange the wedges on a large baking sheet in a single layer so they don't touch. Bake in the upper third of the oven for 20 minutes, turning once, or until softened and lightly browned. Season again with salt and pepper, and carefully remove from the sheet (the wedges are relatively fragile after cooking).

Nutritional Facts per serving

The last thing you need is an injury keeping you from the gym. Here are 10 training pitfalls you need to avoid when hitting the iron.

1) Incorrect Technique

The most common weight-training injuries are those related to the use of poor exercise technique. Incorrect technique can pull, rip or wrench a muscle or tear delicate connective tissue quicker than you can strike a match. An out-of-control barbell or stray dumbbell can wreak havoc in an instant. Each human body has very specific biomechanical pathways. Arms and legs can only move in certain ways, particularly if you're stress-loading a limb with weight. Strive to become a technical perfectionist and respect the integrity of the exercise —no twisting, turning or contorting while pushing a weight. Either make the rep using perfect technique or miss the weight. Learn how to miss a rep safely; learn how to bail out.

2) Too Much Weight

Using too much weight in an exercise is a high-risk proposition ripe with injury potential. What's too much: If you can't control a weight on its downward, loading trajectory; if you can't contain a movement within its biomechanical boundaries; and if you have to jerk or heave a weight in order to lift it. An out-of-control barbell or dumbbell assumes a mind of its own; the weight obeys the laws of gravity and seeks the floor. Anything in its way (or attached to it) is in danger.

3) Inadequate Warm-Up

Let's define our terms: A warm-up is usually a high-rep, low-intensity, quick-paced exercise mode used to increase blood flow to the muscles. This quick, light movement raises the temperature of the involved muscles, while also decreasing blood viscosity and promoting flexibility and mobility. How? Everyone knows that a warm muscle with blood coursing through it is more elastic and pliable then a cold, stiff muscle. Riding a stationary bike, jogging, swimming, stair climbing and some high-rep weight training are recommended forms of warm-up.

Try a 5-10-minute formalized warm-up before stretching. If you choose high-rep weight training, try 25 ultralight, quick reps in the following nonstop sequence: calf raise, squat, leg curl, crunch, pull-down, bench press and curl. Do one set each with no rest between sets. This can be accomplished in fewer than five minutes and warms every major muscle in the body.

4) Not Stretching

Stretching is different than warming up. Properly performed, a stretch helps relax and elongate a muscle after warm-up and before and after weight training. As a result of warming up and stretching, the muscle is warm, loose and neurologically alert — at its most pliable and injury-resistant. In addition, stretching between sets actually helps build muscle by promoting muscular circulation and increasing the elasticity of the fascia casing surrounding the muscle. Finally, if you perform muscle-specific stretches at the conclusion of your workout, you'll find that this will virtually eliminate next-day soreness.

5) Bad Spotting

If you lift long enough, you'll eventually get to a point where you need to have a spotter(s) for a number of exercises, including the squat and bench press. When you work as hard as you're supposed to, you occasionally miss a rep. Nothing wrong with that — it's a sign that you're working to your limit, which is a good thing if it isn't overdone. Yet when you work this hard, you need competent spotters. A good spotter should conduct himself at all times as though the lifter is on the verge of total failure. Your training partner can also give you a gentle touch that allows you to complete a rep you'd normally miss. A top spotter needs be strong, sensitive and ever alert to the possibility of failure — not looking around or joking with friends.

6) Incorrect Use of Cheating & Forced Reps

Cheating and forced reps are advanced techniques that allow the lifter to train beyond normal. Taken beyond the point of failure, the muscle is literally forced to grow. When incorrectly performed, a cheat or forced rep can push or pull the lifter out of the groove. The weight collapses and a spotter has to rescue the lifter.

Cheating movements work; real-world data prove this statement. Yet cheating, by definition, is dangerous. Any time you use momentum to artificially goose rep speed, thus allowing the lifter to handle more poundage then he could using strict techniques, you risk injury. To play it safe, use the bare-minimum cheat to complete the rep. On forced reps, make sure your training partner is on your wavelength. Don't go crazy.

7) Training Too Often

How does overtraining relate to injury? It negatively impacts the body's overall level of strength and conditioning. Overtraining saps energy that, in turn, retards progress. You can't grow when you're overtrained. It also interferes with both the muscle's and the nervous system's ability to recuperate -- ATP and glycogen stores are severely depleted when an agitated metabolic status is present. In such a depleted, weakened state, is it any wonder that injury is common, particularly if the weakened athlete insists on handling big weights? The solution is to cut back to 3-4 sessions per week and keep session length to no more than an hour.

8) Poor Nutrition

If you undereat and continue to train hard and heavy, you're likely to get hurt. Again, it relates to your overall health: Beware of heavy training when in a weakened state brought on by severe dieting or restricted eating. Best save the big weights, low reps, forced reps and negatives for nondiet growth periods. While dieting requires reduced poundage, this doesn't mean you can't be intense in your workout -- it just means you need to use lighter weight.

9) Negatives

Negative (eccentric, or lowering) reps are one of the most difficult and dangerous of all weight-training techniques — and very effective at stimulating muscle growth. What makes negatives so risky? The poundage you can handle in negative exercise is likely to be the highest you'll ever lift.

Normally, we only lift what we're capable of moving concentrically. In negative training, we handle a lot more weight. Most bodybuilders can control approximately 130% of their concentric maximum on the eccentric phase of a lift. Someone using 200 pounds for reps in the bench press, for example, would bench roughly 260 in the negative press. Because of the increased weight with negatives, you need strong, experienced spotters. Exercise extreme caution. If the rep gets away from you, the spotters need to grab the weight immediately.

10) Lack of Concentration

If you're distracted, preoccupied or lackadaisical when you work out, you're inviting injury. Watch a champion bodybuilder train and one thing you'll notice is his or her intense level of concentration. This is developed over time, and the athlete systematically develops a preset mental checklist that allows him or her to focus on the task at hand. More concentration equates to more poundage. More poundage equates to more growth. More poundage can lead to getting hurt if you don't pay attention. Train smart.

muscleandfitness.com

Ingredients:

• 1 (29 ounce) can pumpkin puree, approx. 3 1/2 cups or fresh
• 3/4 cup apple juice
• 1/2-1.5 teaspoons ground ginger (optional, sometimes I omit)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 cup Sucanat (or brown sugar)
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1-2 tsp fresh lemon juice

 Directions:

1. Combine pumpkin, apple juice, spices, and sugar in a large saucepan and stir well. Bring mixture to a boil, covered with lid ajar (I prop it with a wooden spoon). Reduce heat to low-medium and simmer, covered with lid ajar, for 35-45 minutes, stirring frequently. Be careful as the mixture bubbles and pops!

2. Remove from heat and let it sit for a few minutes before removing lid. Adjust spices to taste. Stir in lemon juice. Once cool, pumpkin butter can be kept in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 weeks. Makes enough to fill one large mason jar or about 3.5 cups.

Note: canning is not reccomended.

In the spirit of fall, I decided on a chili recipe!

Earlier this year, Sarah Barkley and I took an amazing Kettle Bell class and there was a common cue we heard from our instructors. It was: “Squeeze your glutes like you have a quarter between them.” For some reason this cuing stuck, I don’t know why, but it struck a chord with me...and if you ask my clients, I use it ALL of the time!

I know everybody is probably doing planks. Unfortunately, most people know how a plank should “look” they just don’t execute it perfectly. Many people are not quite sure what muscles should be firing to align the spine to get the correct muscles working. So here are some strategies to help you find that “Perfect Plank.”

First things first..get yourself in front of a mirror or have a friend take a picture of you doing a plank..if it looks like the picture below, you are a rock star and don’t need to read any further!! However, if you aren’t quite here yet..please continue on..I promise it will help!

Perfect Plank

A proper plank includes more than just cueing to squeeze the glutes, flex the quads, and brace the core. It also requires you to fully align the spine in a neutral position. By aligning the spine along with squeezing your glutes, flexing your quads and bracing your core, you will keep your abs firing at all times. You definitely want your abs firing instead of finding ways to compensate. Many times the back, especially the lower lumbar, gets overworked. Quite simply, if you feel your back, you are out of position and something in your kinetic chain is off.

By planking correctly, you can transfer this neural recruitment pattern to most other movements and exercises. For example, all a basic push up is, no matter what step or progression you are on, is a moving plank. The push up just recruits a few more major muscle groups like the pecs (major and minor), the anterior deltoid, and the triceps.

Here are a few common form issues that you can visibly correct:

Low Back Arch:

This arching will compress the lower vertebrae and many times will cause a sore lower back. (Guy at the top of picture) By continuously doing movements like this with poor form, you will create poor neural recruitment patterns. Meaning, your body will automatically fire the wrong muscles at the wrong times leading to more and more aches and pains over time, possibly some chronic pain and even injury! To fix this, try taking a small exercise ball and placing it between the knees before you start (while kneeling), then gently squeeze the knees while getting into the plank position.  This keeps the knees in alignment with the hips and takes the pressure off of the low back, forcing you to use your abs correctly.

Neck Reach or “Bobbing For Apples”:

This is usually the first visible sign someone is struggling with a plank and push up. (Guy in the Middle) By doing this poor movement pattern you are making the upper traps and neck muscles strain. This generally leads to upper back pain, neck pain and even constant headaches.

Butt in the air:

Not the worse of the bunch mentioned above but it can put excess stress on shoulders and kink up your traps and neck. (Guy in the bottom of the picture directly above) You are not engaging your hips and glutes so you are actually not firing your abs very much if at all. So, why do something that doesn’t give you much of a benefit? Simply do a proper plank for a few seconds, put your knees down when form begins to fade, and then pop back up when ready.

Solution:

So, by squeezing your glutes like there is a “quarter between your cheeks” you will get the hips in proper position to allow the abs to fire. By firing the quads along with your glutes, you are helping your glutes line up your hips so that your spine is in a neutral position.  (if necessary please use a small exercise ball between your knees, one of the purple ones here at Gold’s) By doing this, your abs should turn on throughout the movement you are doing. Start by doing a high plank or push up position until you have improved your core/ab strength enough to do them on your elbows. Holding for one minute is a solid time frame to hold a true plank.

And just for fun..you should end up looking like this:

All of us here at Gold’s are here to do one thing..help you on your fitness journey to success!!

Please feel free to contact us with any questions you might have or have us check your “Perfect Plank” for you!!

Happy Planking!

Trish Wulfman

Certified Pilates Mat/Reformer

Group Exercise Instructor

• 1 cup unbleached or all-purpose flour
• 2 scoops (1/2 cup) BSN Lean Dessert Protein Powder (Choose your favorite flavor: Banana nut bread, cinnamon roll, or whipped vanilla cream).
• 1.5 teaspoons non GMO, aluminum free baking powder
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup low fat, no sodium cottage cheese
• 1 teaspoon McCormick imitation butter flavor

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I am sure that many of you have heard the term “Plantar Fasciitis”, but don’t really know what it is. If you are familiar with the term, then either you have had it or known someone who has.  A little over a year ago, I was diagnosed with it by our local Dr. Shroeder, in Wenatchee.  I had gotten a little over zealous and decided that doing plyos in my awesome 5 fingered shoes were ok. Boy was I mistaken!  I learned a lot from visiting him and thought I would share some of the information that he gave, along with stretches that might help ease the pain..yes there is that nasty word..pain!

The pain is caused when the plantar fascia tendon is stretched too far and causes small tears and inflammation to the area of the heel. Symptoms are extreme pain as soon as you get out of bed in the morning and try to stand or take a step. Stretching and strengthening exercises can help the ligament become more flexible and can strengthen muscles that support the arch, in turn reducing stress on the ligament.   

Here are some stretches and exercises that might help some!

My favorite: Take a frozen bottle or tennis ball (Yes, wet it down and freeze it! Trust me, it feels soo good!) place it under the arch of the foot and roll gently back towards the heel and forward to the arch of the foot!

Second: Use a belt, band, or towel and place it on the ball of the foot and gently pull the foot back towards your nose.

Third: Massage the area using slight pressure run your thumbs from the heel all the way up the center of the foot, applying as much pressure as necessary to help loosen the fascia and muscles in the foot.

Remember, the feet are your foundation.  Take care of those peds! Stretch, flex, and massage often to help prevent injury!  If you have any questions, please feel free to ask any of our amazing Personal Trainers here at Gold’s Gym and we will be more than happy to help you!

Have an amazing summer, pamper those feet!!

Trish Wulfman, Certified Pilates Mat/Reformer & Group Exercise Instructor