Kate Rita- Personal Trainer and Diastasis Expert

Day 2. Here is the layout: Each Set 30:10 x 6 Alternating Exercises = 4:00 Use subs in lieu of having BOSU Round 1: BOSU Leans (sub mat Reptiles) 23/25/26 vs. BOSU Jumps 16/19/21   Round 2: Ball PU 20/14/13 vs. Ball Knee Tuck 18/14/13 Round 3: BOSU Pike jump overs (sub mat pike jump overs) 55/34/32 vs. Squat High Knee Twists 15/15/17 Total reps = 390 I did this on the road visiting a friend. I had to get it done and I roped him into logging some reps with me :) Get yours on!

In the hopes of making a push, I am hosting a daily 12:00 HIIT workout. Log your reps and post your results. Here is Day 1: Core Trio- I did this from the HALO (on floor) and feet on BOSU. You can shake it up as you wish or just hit the mat old school: 30:10 x 6 = 4:00 Plank Knee Tucks 47/46 Reptiles 30/26 Running Mountain Climbers 46/49 Total 244 Lower 30:10 x 6 = 4:00 Reverse Lunge High Kick L/R 15/16 Squat lats 15 Reverse Lunge High Kick L/R 14/14 Squat High Knee Twists 14 Total 88 Mat 20:10 x 8 = 4:00 Alternate exercises for 2 rounds Tricep PU L/R 14/13/14/13 Side Bridge Dip Outside Elbow Knee Touch R/L 11/11/12/12 Total 100 My total 12:00 workout = 432 Hard reps! What's your #? I earned my post workout banana, eggs & toast :)

Here is a Challenge I put on Facebook: OK Folks.... It is THAT time of year again. Halloween is upon us. 'Tis the season of wee chocolate bars and wee bags of chips, wee bags of cheezies, candy, and more chocolate. Some of us have already dug into Halloween stash and have had to buy more- this year I bought none and therefore have eaten NONE. You know I am all about my strategies! After Sunday there will not only be leftovers, but also piles of loot from our kids who rarely notice when it goes missing, little by little :) It's time to get strategic with this CHALLENGE! I am leading a NO sugar for 7 days challenge, beginning tomorrow. The only sweeteners allowed are honey, maple syrup, agave, etc and natural sugars in fresh food. No added sugar in coffee, no bon bons, ice cream, chocolate, donuts, cake, pie....... c'mon it's only 7 days! WHO IS WITH ME? Join us on Facebook for support!

This is an article I wrote for Mississauga Kids in August: It's good solid advice! Now that that your Mississauga Kids are back to school that means there's more time for moms and dads to focus on taking care of themselves.  The summers can be a busy time and often parents put their own fitness needs on the back burner while they are busy taking care of keeping the kids busy and healthy.  Here are 5 tips from Mississauga Personal Trainer Kate Rita to help you get back on track this fall. 1. Schedule It in! As you are mapping out your Fall routine be sure to include yourself in the list. Book “appointments” with yourself for workouts and value your time as much as you would anyone else’s. Don’t stand yourself up and be consistent. 2. Involve the Family. As schedules become more hectic during the week, plan for your quality family time to involve everyone in active fun! Get a quick swim in after school. Plan a hike for Sunday morning or go apple picking. I...

This is an article I recently wrote for Core Expectations : It is my fundamental goal to set you up for success. An individualized fitness program is customized to your life’s busy schedule so you will succeed over the long term! People think it’s crazy when I tell my clients that my goal is to set them up so they don’t need me. Am I on a mission to become unemployed? Hardly, but as a personal trainer I do have another mission in mind: 1. To inspire my clients to fall in love- not with working out necessarily, but with how it makes them feel! That is a significant motivator, especially as we age. 2. To incorporate fitness into the healthy picture of a balanced life; for both stress management and physical, mental, emotional and social health benefits. I sincerely believe that we will not reach our full potential without learning to incorporate exercise in to our lives. The reality is that very few people can afford to hire a personal trainer ...

I need to blog. It's been too long and I have been run off of my feet. With a new Pfilates certification under my belt, I have a growing arsenal of tools for the new clients coming on board every week. I have tons of workouts to post, recipes to share and general information updates to make. It's on the to-do list ;) Stay tuned.....

This week I have not used the weight machine much as my wrists have been sore and recovering. I did a small set with the guys to do some "grip testing" in an attempt to adjust the set up of the machine for better form. The problem with the Universal is the way the machine adjusts- seat height and position are simply notches - the adjustments are bell-curve incremental. I can't refine it to the perfect position which will give me perfect form. Dang machines. What is interesting (although a bit demoralizing) is that with better position/form I am only benching 30lbs, not the 60 I thought I was up to. It never ceases to amaze me how much "better" you can perform with crap form (but not for long before injury takes you down!) Whenever I  reign in my runners' form they invariably slow down and then complain about how much faster they run "their" way. You may run a 1:35 Half, but how will your performance stand the test of time? Poor form over thousa...

On June 9th I hope to become a certified Pfilates instructor. There have been changes in the way we approach Ab Rehab at Core Expectation, and Pfilates has been a big part of that. The most recent research as well as our own experience in the field has shown that the Tupler Technique, while effective, is aggressive and may create other problems through the core. These imbalances can include too much intra-abdominal pressure on the pelvic floor muscles resulting in a dysfunction, as well as lateral spine and thorax rotation ROMs reduced, as in chest gripping. Kim Vopni of Epi-No Canada will be giving the course along with the creator, Dr. Crawford on June 19, 2012. The course is available for fitness professionals only and I believe it is booked full. I am so very excited to attend! Not only will I have another completely practical certification I have the opportunity to spend an academic day with my team, learning! How fun is that :)

Accompanying all of the delicious food I just blogged out were some serious late night workouts. I have been very busy training clients which leaves me always backed up with paperwork. I do my best to work diligently all day so that I earn my 9PM "check out" to hit the gym and clear my mind/work my body. We had 2 pretty serious weight training sessions where I pushed my max weight and reps to test myself. The result? I am happy with my strength and muscular balance (so far) but my wrists have been killing me :( I took a big 4 day break, working out calisthenics with clients only, and even then I laid off the tricep pushups for 2 entire days. On Monday evening we were joined by the fiancee of a client of mine who is interested in more effectively integrating plyometrics into his weight training program in order to round-out his approach to fitness. I took him through a few sets and kicked his butt- Core trio, Pike jump overs, Knee Raises..... you all know the drill lo...

It's been a busy 10 days since I blogged and a lot of eatins been going on! I was given a beautiful BBQ last weekend by my friend Maria (thank you!) which inspired some sizzling meat menus to accompany our strength push in the gym. It all started with that big meat sale we scored at Sobey's last week :) ........... This is a load of chicken breasts & thighs that lasted us for days. We BBQ'ed in the garage after a workout on Sunday. It was fun :) ---> <--- BBQ Chicken, steamed greens, steamed potatoes, tomatoes & cucumbers with homemade dressing. Mmmm. This was the official BBQ celebration feast post workout. Perfect fuel for replenishing!  We had lots leftover that then served to accompany several days worth of meals:  <---Chicken with 3 delicious salads that were shared with me by my friend & client Sue. Let's see if I can remember- a chick pea salad, Mediterranean spinach with feta, and a Quinoa vegetable salad, served with homemade...

 This week we are making a push, hitting the gym every night at 9PMish for an hour long strength workout. We are using the new Universal machine, adding calisthenic sets during active rest. The reps are adding up and anyone who knows me knows that the "rep whore" in me is loving that lol! We logged 5 workouts in 7 days; I also logged a good number of reps in session with clients, and although they aren't max effort, they do add up. This summer the plan is to add muscle! With 2 good years of solid calisthenics/body weight training I feel ready to pump a bit. I know I have a solid foundation of strength, balance, agility, coordination and damn near perfect form to support pushing some weight. I can already see big changes in my body over the past 6 months and I am excited to see where I'll be in September. Please notice the missing reps on the guys' scores. They suck at logging and I resent being secretary ;) Today I ran 9K in 50:00- about a 5:45. My...

This week has been all about making a push! With workouts in high gear post race, we are hitting the gym a lot and paying attention to the nutrition supporting these workouts. Here is a snapshot of how we are eating, high in protein for weight training on the Universal machine. We are building muscles baby! <--- Oatmeal breaded chicken strips with seamed potato, steamed beets, quinoa rice, steamed greens, apple slices w/homemade apple sauce/butter, cucumber, snow peas, sour cream.  Homemade perogies. Heart shaped :) --->;  Potato & Cheese with homemade pasta wrap. <---- We bought these beautiful steaks at The Apple Factory last weekend. It was served with asparagus stalks (a but tough but we steam them extra long and enjoy the high dose of fibre- pragmatism over aesthetics lol), steamed beets, homemade apple sauce/butter, snow peas, tomatoes, dandelion root stir fry & homemade pasta. We are certainly focusing on high protein meals. Today w...

It is 1 week since I ran the Mississauga Half Marathon in 1:55:29. It was hands down my best race ever and I have been digesting it all week. I have wanted to blog about it but was too busy, and now there's so much more to blog about! I'm going to back it up from here: Congruent with my strategic approach to motivation I booked this weekend "off" to study for a course exam- I have been procrastinating. By blocking off the time I looked forward to having a "college girl" weekend of books rewarded with good food and beer. This is what I have been munching on today (I warn you this post will be food picture heavy, but you guys always ask me what I eat!). Last night we hit the Apple Factory in Brampton where the produce was not only A+ but also inexpensive. We bought these beautiful sprouts, cranberry goat cheese, blackberry syrup and so much more! The hummus is a homemade refried bean/chick pea dip with tahini, lemon and no garlic- I do like it plain. This ...

After 3 days of carbo purge I had bread for breakfast yesterday- fresh from the bread machine at 7AM. My house smelled amazing when I woke up and the first word my 2 year old said upon waking was "bread". Admittedly I was feeling a bit "off" after my protein-focused carb purge - a little crampy and thick, and even a bit hungry. I didn't go crazy yesterday morning. I had 1/2 slice of bread with 1/2 banana en route to my first client, then finished the last half an hour later driving to client #2. I also drank 8oz of water every hour. I started to feel like my old self but still a bit uneasy in the gut. For a mid afternoon meal I had rice, tofu, mushrooms, leeks & bean sprouts. Slowly reintroducing carbs I plodded through the day. I was feeling quite sore from my badass workout Tuesday  and stretched a lot- 4x in the AM with clients, +2x on my own in the afternoon, then again last night with my PM client. While working out (in side bridge) my shoulder...

I am on Day 3 of my pre race carb flush. Here is my food plan for today: Wednesday: - Coffee & Banana <--- Left was my mid day post client meal- chicken chunks, red cabbage and spinach in a white sauce, quinoa. ---> Right was my dinner- raw veggies with homemade mayo, bacon (mmmmm), 2 perogies, edamame. Tonight I had 1/2 pear, cheddar cheese chunks and 3 thick crackers. O yes and this...... Sangria FTW! :) I am wrapping up the 3rd and last day of my carb flush. Tomorrow I begin to replenish, Friday is the big homemade pasta dinner we have planned, then Saturday is bean salad and regular program pre-race day. I have completely avoided refined sugar even in my coffee (favouring extra milk over sugar). I will continue this until race day and beyond, now seemingly hyper-mindful of glycemic indexes and performance (from race day to every day!). The Mississauga Half Marathon Clinic at the Winston Park Dr. Running Room store had its last clinic meet on Tuesday. I l...

I am 6 days to race day- my 2nd Half Marathon of the year and I have been training steadily. Ambitious for a modest PB I am trying to be systematic and have all of my elements in place- a formula for success. What does this encompass? Sport Specific Training: I have been running consistently since September- 9 months. My distances slowly increased. Although there are weeks when I am only running 1-2x/week (work gets in the way) the extra months of training offset it. I have trained pace with tempo/hills, steady runs and LSD's. I have logged about 500K in the past 9 months and I feel ready for another 21.1. Cross Training: I have been disciplined with dedicated strength & plyometric workouts during my run training. With focus on core and hips, I am working steadily to build stronger muscles where it will help my running the most. The plyo also has increased my speed and performance at the onset of any run. I have also been stretching diligently to offset aches, pains, tight...