This week's Bootcamp Class

This is what I have put together for this week's Boot Camp class that I teach on Monday nights at our local Y.

I have a great group of dedicated people that continue to come each week. I love it as we have a small class. We only take 10 people, so the ratio is 5:1 for students/instructor.  My friend Toni helps with the class too. We work great together. She is so much fun and high energy!

We set up 10 circuits around the room. We demonstrate how to do each one.   Start with a warm-up, then we start!

Each circuit is timed for 20 seconds, of 100% effort, all out. Followed by 10 seconds of rest to get to the next station.   After one complete round is done, they get 1 minute of rest/water.  Then we repeat, for a total of 4 rounds.  Followed by cool-down and stretching.

I mix it up weekly...they never know what they might be doing.....we are able to help with proper form, encouragement to go harder, push them to their max. It's a lot of fun, and all over in 30 minutes!

LOVE IT!  SO I am off to do it again this morning in my home gym, because I NEVER make them do anything that I haven't tried myself.  I am in pain right there with them!  Last week was a serious ARM and CHEST killer, so this week, I have focused more on Cardio and Legs.

Give it a try!

20 Minute Work-out with Maximum Results

This workout is a 20-minute workout that will take you to your maximum physical effort as well as your maximum heart rate. The object of this workout is not to rest in between exercises. You will see that one minute of a particular exercise will burn out the targeted muscle group as well as increase your heart rate to a fat and sugar burning zone. Try the 20 minute workout below - if it is not challenging enough for you try it again, totaling only 40 minutes of your time in the weight room.




20 Minutes Circuit Workout by Stew Smith







(*choose light weights for max reps)






1) Bench press* or pushups - max in 1:00


2) Squats - max in 1:00


3) Pullups or pulldowns - 1:00


4) Bike or jog - 3:00


5) Military press* - 1:00


6) Lunges - 1:00 each leg


7) Bicep curls - 1:00


8) Bike or jog - 3:00


9) Tricep extensions.- 1:00


10) Leg ext - 1:00 (requires leg machines - or repeat squats with weights)


11) Leg curls - 1:00 (requires leg machines - or repeat lunges with weights)


12) Situps - 2:00


13) Crunches - 2:00


14) Stretch






There is an unlimited number of ways to organize a circuit workout. The above workout is organized with upper body, lower body and cardiovascular exercises. By simply doing the above upper body and lower body exercises in such a way, you will be able to rest your upper body muscles while you workout your lower body muscles, but you will never rest your heart. This is how you make the circuit workout challenging to your cardiovascular system as well as your major muscle groups. Studies have shown that mixing a resistance training regimen with a cardiovascular element will increase your metabolism, therefore burning fat and building muscle. The result is a decrease in body fat percentage.




So, if you are looking to lose inches and body fat, workouts like this coupled with 4-5 smaller meals and 3-4 quarts of water everyday will help you achieve your goal. The best thing about this diet program is that you do not need a single dietary supplement - just good old fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fish and other lean meats. The key is to burn more calories than you take in and this workout will help you with that - promise


Stew Smith is a former Navy SEAL and fitness author certified as a Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) with the National Strength and Conditioning Association. If you are interested in starting a workout program to create a healthy lifestyle - check out the Military.com

Try adding this to your day!

Another great little work-out move to add to your day!

Work your entire body in a few simple moves. NO equipment needed. I will be adding this move to a few routines for sure!

FOOD, FOOD, FOOD! my week in pictures!

I have been a good girl all week, eating my home-made protein oatmeal on the go after each work-out.

Eating lean chicken and bean taco salads for lunches,

Friday came around- Was going to pig out with burgers, but I decided trout almondine, ( baked) with a fat free sauce that I made out of lime, wine, and garlic, some steamed mussels, and then I had a craving for snails!  So I made an escargot bruschetta on my seed bread that I made earlier, with low fat Swiss.  All on a big salad.

Saturday lunch!? What to make the family? No oven yet, so I found some home made naan that we made earlier in the week and Indian curry in the freezer. Put some arugula on , topped with sauce and a small amount of reduced fat mozzarella. BBQ to bake.

It is still Saturday, our day off from eating TOO healthy, and ribs were on special this week.  So Alan got the smoker out, the Green Egg grill and these babies became perfection by dinner time. He makes his own rubs, and sauces, and this one!? IS our #1!  We went on and on.....grilled some potatoes with cheese, and grilled veggies.

UNBELIEVABLE!  HEAVEN!

Sunday morning- I got spoiled!  Home-made biscuits, and sausages, with a Costa Rica Rice/Bean dish. SO bad for me, but SO good!

I kept being bad.  Toasted french bread with melted brie and caramelized onion. OH LA LA!

While Alan made his Tuscan meat sauce....no time to make fresh noodles, but I ended up using the left over brie breads into croutons in the Caesar salad.

Here we are. BACK to healthy eating! MONDAY!  I had my work-out, my oatmeal, and lots of water....then a nice lean taco chicken salad for lunch ( I keep the meat portions in the freezer for quick meals)

And since I am teaching a Boot Camp tonight and won't be home until 7pm, I made this up for dinner. Kids will eat it too. Salad with roasted potatoes, beets, red quinoa, eggs, and drizzled with balsamic.

Fitness- Is it ever easy?

Some people think just because I work-out a lot, eat right 90% of the time, that it must be easy for me.

HA! not at all. In fact, here I sit, after a great week-end of goodies, drinks, chocolates, CHEESE and now that it is Monday, I need to get my BUTT IN GEAR again.  blah!

This is why I teach classes, as it FORCES me to be accountable and right now, I have to head down to my home gym and put together a tough boot-camp for tonight's class at 6pm.  SO I better try it out myself to make sure it is a good mix for the class. Then I better get working on my Core/Stretch routine, and Spin Class again.  I like to give my classes an entirely new routine each time.  I know, I don't appreciate doing the same thing over and over again...however, as an Instructor, that makes for a lot of work!  GOOD think I love thinking of new things and searching for music to work with it.


However, right now, I could TOTALLY sit on the couch in my PJ's with a big cup of coffee, and home-made bread, toasted with lots of butter and crispy bacon.....BUT!  Egg-whites and whole grain rye it was, and now off to put on my gym clothes and push myself- HARD.

HAPPY EASTER! ( and I still don't have a working oven--BUT) this is what we accomplished!

So I love to entertain, I love to cook, I love to set a pretty table, pick out the wine, etc....and now it is EASTER! yay.  My oven ( Sears!  ) broke down at Christmas and it is still not repaired! Don't even get me started on THAT!...so lets talk about the good stuff instead....

I invited my family and Alan's for Brunch on Sunday, ( I am the type of person that will invite everyone, as the more the merrier and I wouldn't want anyone to feel left out, or celebrate an occasion alone) This stems from our past living in Ottawa. There were many holidays where  Alan and I wouldn't be able to get home to see our families, due to our shift work in Health Care and we were so far away. No one wants to be alone so we decided,   we would let EVERYONE know...WE are having a meal at " _____" time , our place, please come if you are free.  We have had people from all over the world, as people tend to come to Canada to get their medical degrees. I still have the most beautiful basket from one of our  guests that was Muslim.  ( Yes, we had people from every race, every culture, religion, sexuality, etc) We would show them what Canadians normally eat and do on certain holidays and they would share what they did back in their own Country. It was really interesting...some of the best memories!

  One year, little did I know that Braun, a co-worker of mine...a fellow R.N, came for Christmas, and that was was his last year alive. He died of unexpected Cancer before the next Christmas.   Honestly, you just never know...invite everyone possible. Life is too short not to. No regrets!

Well, enough of that rant. After all of that, it turned out that my in-laws were free today, and the rest of the people we had  invited had somewhere  else to celebrate, or they were working or with other family.

It was still a very nice meal, as we tend to eat at my in-laws a lot, so it was nice to return the favour. I told her NOT to bring a thing, it is time for ME to do the work for her...



Grilled Grapefruit  Brûlée- 1st course- an experiment, and turned out really good actually!



Pan seared scallops on a bed of spinach, edamame, strawberries, almonds, carrots and a  honey /lime dressing. Served with Italian Prosecco!



Cleanse the palate with Key Lime Sorbet...

For this dish was got the basic recipe from Food and Drink magazine, but changed it up a bit. Spaghetti with a garlic, wine, Parmesan sauce, with basil, red pepper, crispy pancetta, and lemon asparagus. Topped with a runny, gooey, poached egg that releases all it's yumminess all over your pasta...

I can't " bake" so I put some frozen vanila bean yogurt in a dish, and poured on some caramel Baileys and skor bar bits...served with a biscotti.

Tea, espresso and coffee...

It was a great day!

POP Pilates: Pick-Me-Up Quickie Workout!

LCBO- Food and Drink- Spring 2012

 Food and Drink Magazine from LCBO has an amazing Braised Short Rib Recipe.  We made a few alterations, as I wanted to keep the meat on the bone.

You need to start this recipe a day or two ahead of time, as the Short Ribs soak in a wine sauce for at least 24 hrs, then seared and slow cooked. We happened to serve ours on top of a horseradish whipped potatoes, and oven roasted beets, carrots and squash, with arugula for some colour. It was SO good!

iPhones take pretty good pictures too!

We had to serve it with a wonderful bottle of French wine we have been saving in the cellar for a few years, as the meal was worthy of it.  What a great night.  Everything was so good!