There's been huge hype on this quinoa recently. What is it exactly? First off, it's delicious, healthy, and filling.
Quinoa is a whole grain, it is cooked just like rice but offers more health benefits. It provides all 9 essential amino acids, lots of protein, and some good carbohydrates. It tastes great, low in cost and quick to make.
I've been playing around with some recipes and here's what I like best:

 Quinoa Salad
Ingredients:
1 can corn
1 can black beans
1/2 cup edamame
1/2 tomato
1 cup dry quinoa

Prepare:
For the quinoa boil 1 1/3 cup water, when boiling add quinoa and simmer for
12-15 minutes.
While cooking drain black beans and corn, rinsing with water. Cut the tomatoes
and add edamame to bowl
When quinoa is done add to the mix and stir.
Enjoy!!
Makes 6 servings

Nutrition:
Per 1 cup:
Carbs: 42g     Protein: 9g     Fat:3g     Calories:223     Fiber:5g
 To get a little more protein I cooked up a 4oz piece of chicken to add 26g more
to my dinner.

By: Dave Cavanagh

It's 4:15am, it dark. I mean dark, dark. The moon has called it a night and the sun's alarm hasn't gone off yet. The other side of the bed is a bustle and suddenly empty. I'm not a morning person so the rest of this is blurry at best. You can hear the rustling clothes on hangers, the flicking of the on/off switch to the bathroom light,  and the water turning on, off, on again, and off again. Then the refrigerator opens and closes. Then silence falls the tiny apartment shared by the "cutest couple known to man" (not my words). The silence is almost long enough for me to drift off again, suddenly dishes are in the sink and the front door opens and closes, though it never seems to get locked. It's not a normal routine by any stretch of the imagination. Not everyone wakes up before the sun, not everyone beats the opening staff to the gym. Jen does, almost every morning. This is a day in the life of a guy who dates a personal trainer. 
     First off I am really motivated. I have worked out almost every day for 4 years. I pride myself on how I look, how strong I am, and how much better I have become. When I say Jen puts me to shame and makes me feel like I do nothing with my life, its not an over exaggeration. It's, in fact, a under statement to make myself feel better. I work on a fire department full time, I work two 24 hour shifts a week. I don't even scrap the surface of how many hours she puts into her clients and workouts. Now I wake up at 8-9 o'clock on my days off. Jen has been at the gym for almost 4 hours by that point. Right now because of extenuating circumstances, we are down to one car (and it's not doing too hot right now either but that's life right) so I wake up to her coming home on during her free 30-45 mins. She doesn't even look like she has broken a sweat yet. We discuss the day so far, her funny clients, her tough clients, whats ahead for her, and what I plan on trying to get done while we eat breakfast or in Jen's case second breakfast. On average, a 150lbs person doing one hour of high intensity circuit training will burn 756 calories. Even if she took it easy we can estimate Jen burned well over 1500 calories before I even woke up. Yet she's still as chipper, energetic, and as beautiful as the moment I met her even though she still has a long day ahead. I finally get dressed and its off to the gym for us.
     I can admit now that before I met Jen, I was doing a lot of excising. I was in good shape, looked good, and felt good. After I met Jen, I began training. For what you ask, who knows. Life, my future job ( I wasn't a firefighter yet), or maybe just because. Her love of the human body and what it can do is amazing. She's on client number 3 or 4 by now. Still smiling, rooting them on, and above all still doing every exercise in some fashion with them. Every movement is very particular, if you are lucky she forgot the weighted vest that day or if you are really lucky she left it at home to give you a day off. I'm kind of client number 5, I am still learning myself on what to do with my injuries cropping up all the time or my bad joints acting up. I catch her from time to time making sure my breaks are not too long and my form is perfect. Trust me, I can't cheat with my workouts. The clients get days off, I don't. Client leaves, client comes in. Recently she's been giving me stink eye on my lack of cardio endurance so today I will stay past my 2 hour mark and ride the bike, just to make her happy. 
    I'm done for the day but it's time for Jen to switch costumes. Now she moves on to the local gym to be the on duty personal trainer. You heard me right, its now 11 maybe 12 o'clock and she's starting her second job. This works out to be something like 8 hours of free, yes you heard it right, free personal training for the members. Mostly they are middle age to older clientele told by the doctor to hit the gym or see an early exit. It hard I know, but only 46% of Americans get regular exercise. Not good enough for the world's best country. Right now, Jen is lucky enough to have the New Year Resolution flock still keeping her busy and on her toes. Before I leave I always force food on her, weather it's my protein bar or shake because I know she hasn't eaten enough. A person who does just regular exercise should take in upwards of 56 grams of protein a day, of course that has huge variables but for now just say its true for everyone. It's hard to tell the trainer to eat, not hard for the trainer to tell you what to eat. 
     Time goes by and I get sparse text messages, about the nice people she meets or the evil people she has to deal with. Sometimes a get a phone call to tell me how I am missed or a funny story she heard. Its quick, couple of minutes but it's all she has. Every half hour she has a class. Each body group broken down, cycling through as the day progresses. By 3:00pm, Jen's done 3 to 4 full body workouts in the 11 hours she's been awake. Finally, 7:30 rolls around. Today I got lucky, her evening client bailed but rescheduled for tomorrow morning. There goes her break, but it doesn't bother her. This is where I sound bad. I can't cook very well, I am your typical guy. I can muster up something sometimes but usually it comes out flavorless or burnt. She cooks, I help. That's how amazing this girl is, 16 hours after she woke up and she's cooking for me.
      Now the sun's long called it a day, our stomachs are full so its time to unwind. Jen and I will spend sometime mapping out the plans for our new gym. I'll tell her the spaces I've found, what I learned to help the cause. You can see the excitement building in her eyes, a place for her to train anytime and anyday. I am just happy to have a gym to start really mastering my parkour and teaching it to the new clients it will bring in. But I can see she's worn out, so we drop it, click on the TV. It doesn't take long, it never does but it's 10:00pm and she's sound asleep in my arms on the couch. Tomorrow she will apologize for falling asleep so early but it never bothers me because she is doing what she loves and makes her happy which, as corny as it sounds, makes me happy. I always wanted to be a superhero growing up, I never thought I would end up dating one instead. 

The most common myths about abs

Myth 1: Crunch your heart out for a six pack
Doing 500 crunches a day will strengthen and build up your abdominal muscles, however spot reduction unfortunately doesn't work. You must lose overall body fat to be able to see those muscles! 

Myth 2: You can work your abs out everyday
9/10 people think it's okay to work their abs out daily. This is definitely not true. They're a muscle just like every other, and if it's not okay to work your biceps out every day, then it's not okay for your abs either. Your muscles get stronger when they rest, and heal themselves. When you don't take rest days you'll never get those abs stronger and you could cause other problems for yourself.

Myth 3: You only need crunches to do the trick
Now we've moved on from doing abs everyday, and you've lost enough body fat to show those washboards, but you don't see results from the sit up and crunch routine you have going. That's because your ab muscles are made of different muscles. Crunches are great for the front, but without using different angles and moves to engage your core your six pack will be lacking. Involve rotational movements as well as incorporating your legs into your routine. 

Myth 4: I did abs today.. I can totally eat that donut
As delicious as it sounds, having a six pack... or an 8 pack is 20% gym, 80% nutrition. You won't show it off if you're diet consists of fatty foods like that. Fill your fridge with leafy veggies, natural foods and plenty of water. These foods help keep your fat count down as well as aiding in overall weight loss

Here's a great recipe for clean eating! Could be a delicious breakfast or snack. I like adding a scoop of vanilla protein for post workout.
Being prepared is key in clean eating, so I pre-packaged little baggies of the strawberries and bananas, all you have to do is add ice, milk and blend.
Ingredients:
6 strawberries
1/2 banana
1 cup ice
1/2 cup milk (I use coconut)

Nutrition:
Carbs: 24g   Protein: 5g   Fat: 0g   Calories: 120
                                                  
                                                   

Happy Valentines Day!
Do this ab workout to look good for your valentine

Tomorrow, Feb 11 and 15 I'll be appearing on channel 9, Weymouth for an interview for Oceanside Fitness. The show will be on at 8:30am and 4:30pm both days!

Tune in and get some cool workout tips and see a 15 minute workout you can try at home!

I'll also be putting the taping on Youtube shortly after the show is on.

So ecited!

Happy Superbowl Sunday!
The biggest food eating day next to Thanksgiving.
Here are some tips to keep your day slightly healthy

1. Stay hydrated today, with all of the alcohol and sodium in your snacks, you're going to need a lot of water!
2. Eat a little dinner before heading out to a party, just enough to keep you full
3. Reach for the carrots or broccoli every time you grab a cookie or chicken wing
4. Guacamole is full of healthy fats and vitamins that lower your cholesterol, eat up!
5. Go for a baked chip instead of fried chip
6. Trail mix makes for a healthy, protein filled snack
7. It takes at least 20 minutes for you stomach to tell your brain you're full, eat slowly!
8. Most important- it's only one day of eating snacks. Don't get down on yourself. Have a great time!

Oceanside Fitness has always operated out of local gyms and outside at beaches and parks during the warm weather. 
We are super proud to announce the coming of our very first facilty for 2014. Located in the South Shore area, it will be convenient to get to from Hingham, Braintree, Quincy and surrounding towns.

What will the gym offer?
Oceanside Fitness is all about having fun while getting in shape, so we're offering a variety of classes including:
Bootcamp Classes
Obstacle Bootcamp Classes
One on One Personal Training
Kids Fun Fitness Classes
Parkour Classes
Weight/fat loss Consultation
Nutrition Guidance

Those are some of the classes that will be offered, if you have any suggestions, we'd love to hear them!
Not into classes? The gym will also offer a "free gym time"
       Come and workout in our gym however and for as long as you'd like!
What equipment will we have?
We'll have everything you'll need for your workout, including cardio machines, weight training equipment, free weights, climbing rope, gymnastics and parkour equipment.
If you have any questions, we'd love to hear from you as we get ready to open this gym!
Contact me here or my email/cell
Jen@Fitbyoceanside.com
339-499-8131

43% of women use more protein intake as a way to lose weight. To slim down eat .5g of protein per pound of body weight.
Example: If you're 150 pounds, try getting at least 75g of protein spread throughout the day. (4 oz of chicken can contain 26g!)

It always feel good to know how you impact someone. A review from a client let's you know how you're doing, so thank you very much for the great review!


"My wife & I have only been clients of Jen's for a short time, however the results have been amazing. Jen is Jillian Michaels without the "mean". She has an awesome ability to motivate through encouragement and inspire through her dedication to her personal training and journey. She's not just a "trainer" - she is in it with you!"

Tim S. Hingham, Ma