Coach Angela Featured on Shore Magazine

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Joe and Julia of The Shore Weekender. It was a blast! I taught Joe and Julia how to perform the kettlebell swing and got a plug for our Saturday kettlebell workshop! WOOT! Read more

Mastering the Kettlebell Swing Part Three

You are now ready to swing that kettlebell. You are driving with your hips, you can sumo deadlift with perfect form and all that awaits you now is fat loss. Remember the lock out at the top of the swing. Don’t skip that important step or you will feel it in your lower back. If you do, go back to part two and work on mastering it first. Read more

Master the Kettlebell Swing Part Two

Now that you have worked on conquering the hip drive against the door, now you must master the sumo deadlift squat. In my boot camps, participants must get very efficient at this exercise, especially the lock out, before I allow them to swing a kettlebell. Read more

Christmas Fitness Gift Guide for 2008

Before you head out to your local sports store to purchase that expensive treadmill or recumbent bike, take a look at my fitness gift guide and see how you can use inexpensive equipment to get in the best shape of your life. 

I’ve put together a list of things that I and my clients use.  There are no machines whatsoever in our programs.  It’s simple and it gets the job done fast! Plus, you won’t have huge equipment hogging up space in your house which means more room for bookshelves!  Always a plus for homeschool moms.

Here is a  list of my favorite equipment to create your at home gym. Read more

Strength Training For Women

I have had the craziest week ever! I don’t think I’ve had a chance to catch my breath since last Saturday when my band spent 13 hours in the recording studio.  It was a lot of fun but exhausting.  On Sunday, our church had it’s annual Thanksgiving dinner and I performed a special as Hannah Montana’s alter ego.  It was a hoot but my voice was already exhausted from the day before and by Monday I was feeling it. 

I am hosting a kettlebell workshop this Saturday so I needed to get my manual finished for all the attendees.  It is almost done.  I need to take some pictures today and I’ll be able to take it to the printers.

My free website for homeschool moms is moving along with 23 members as of this morning.  A lot of great questions have been asked, such as, what do you eat for snacks and lunch, how to identify trigger foods and many, many more.  Be sure and jump on board to get the answers to your most pressing fitness and health questions.

One question I received is, “What is the best exercise program for me to use?”  Well, of course I’m going to say mine.  Ha! 

Seriously, women need to be strength training.  It should be the main focus of your program.  Building muscle will enable your body to burn off unwanted body fat.  More muscle = less fat.  I don’t like videos or programs that have women moving little pink dumbbells around. You will never make significant body composition changes with those little gals.  Lifting heavy will not bulk you up.  Lifting heavy will make you lean and strong. 

When you strength train you will improve the strength of your ligaments and tendons which support your joints.  When your joints are strong you will have a lesser chance of injury from other activities.

You will reduce your chances of osteoporosis.

Your metabolism increases from the increase in lean muscle tissue.  This is due to your muscle tissue coming alive and active using energy (calories) while you are resting.  It’s nice to know that you’re burning off fat while sitting on the couch reading with the kids.

Are you really afraid you will get too big?  Women do not produce enough testosterone to produce bodybuilding sized bodies.  We are not genetically made that way.  The difference you will see when strength training is toned, lean muscles.  You will also have more strength and energy!  Very important when you’ve got kids to teach.

Don’t think that you have to lose all your body fat first before starting to strength train.  If you perform strength training exercises along with intervals for cardio, you will burn more calories than you would if you only were doing cardio only.  Also, combining strength training with cardio will help reduce the problems of droopy skin from loss of weight but lack of muscle tone.

A really well put together strength training routine can be done in 20 minutes.  Great news for busy moms.  You should be challenging your muscles when you work out otherwise you’re wasting your time.  Stay away from isolation exercises like bicep curls and tricep extensions.  Go for multi-joint exercise that cause you to expend more energy like squats, lunges, deadlifts, rows, pull-ups and push-ups. 

I am partial to kettlebells because you can get your strength and cardio workout done in 20 minutes or less with one piece of equipment that easily stores in a little cubby hole somewhere.   

Don’t shy away from strength training.  It will reshape your body and help you remove unwanted body fat fast!

A Turkish Get Up Strongman Style

David Whitley of www.IronTamer.com performs a turkish get up using my RKC partner, Aileen. Crazy stuff! Read more

RKC and Proud of it!

 I just got back yesterday from my Russian Kettlebell Challenge and can now call myself an RKC Instructor. It was the hardest thing I have accomplished besides giving birth to four daughters!

Russian Kettlebell Challenge

It has finally arrived!  I am hopping on a plane today and traveling to St. Paul, MN. 

I can’t believe how quickly the time has flown.  I am now ready to realize another goal for the year.  I trained hard for this weekend and I know it will pay off.

When I return I will be start some kettlebell boot camps as well as fitness camps for kids.  So many new things starting up that I am absolutely excited about!

It is so important to set goals for yourself.  Not just fitness goals, but also goals for your family, spiritual, school year, career, financial and educational.  I make sure to always review my goals every day at least once but I attempt to read it three times a day.  Make a list of your goals and don’t be afraid to dream BIG.  Then, take action!  When you have a goal you are working toward you have focus and a purpose.  You’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish.

Well, off to do my last minute packing.

Stuck In a Rut?

I love trying out new workout combinations and exercise equipment.  I’m not talking about machines.  I stay away from those the majority of the time.  I mean equipment such as kettlebells, resistance bands, Valslides, stability balls, medicine balls and rings.  All these things are small and easy to store.  Most importantly, they make exercise fun. 

For people who don’t like to exercise due to boredom, you should try new things regularly.  A lot of exercise equipment now come with instructional DVD’s or charts to get you started. 

I tried kettlebells out a year ago and haven’t stopped loving them.  I’m even going away for my birthday weekend to become a Russian Kettlebell Certified trainer.  Who would have known?

Besides the anti-boredom factor of trying out new things, you will also keep your body from plateauing.  Our bodies are extremely adaptive and an exercise program you have been following for 4-6 weeks will no longer give you the same benefit as it did when you first started it.  To keep your body progressing, you need to change up your routine every month.  You don’t always have to change the exercises themselves.  You can:

• Change up your reps, sets and rests. 
• Create supersets by combining two exercises together and eliminating a rest period between them. 
• Instead of doing an exercise seated, stand up.
• Throw in a cardio move at the end of a superset before resting.
• Split your full body workout into two Push/Pull workouts.

The possibilities are endless.  Ladies who are part of my online coaching program receive a new program every 4 weeks to keep them from plateauing.  Their results have been amazing. 

Keep changing, learning and growing.  Stay out of the rut.