Kate Rita- Personal Trainer and Diastasis Expert

My (almost) 8 month old is extremely interested in feeding himself. I have been trying to find foods that he can safely practice with feeding to himself. I started with Baby Mum Mums and formula based biscuits- they are pretty messy, and of course I gravitate towards a more homemade and wholesome alternative. But that hasn't been as easy as I expected. We had great success with buttered toast fingers. Perfect. Just make sure the bread is whole wheat and without any grains/seeds in it. Next I tried dicing up apples and pears and steaming them for about 30 minutes, hoping they would achieve a mushy texture that would melt/dissolve. They ended up being rubbery and too small for little hands to negotiate to a mouth- FAIL. I tried steaming fingers of extra firm tofu which also remained rubbery. FAIL I tried baking potato bits but the pan side browned resulting in a hard crust. FAIL Finally I steamed chunks of white potato to a soft but firm consistency. I then dipped the chunks in ...

I have been admittedly on a cardio junkie kick. Over the past 5 days I have walked over 10K, run over 25K, and even squeezed in a fullbody crosstraining workout. Let's start there.... On Monday I did an "empathy workout"- I did a client's workout, amped up to my level. She is a beginner, so she does exactly half of what I busted out. I felt this would probably be a good indication of how difficult it is for her. It was a great workout: 20:10 work:rest maximum reps for a total 4:00 per exercise x 4 exercises, + 2 exercises set reps x 2 rounds Squat Push Up Jumps Lunge Jumps Break with 1 x 16 reps supine side leg lift with center bunny hop, Tricep push ups x 13/side Pike to Plank Explosive Star Repeat break set as above. My reps weren't super high, but my form was A+. It felt great, and took about 45 minutes w/warm up and cool down. I finally got both kids out for a family run- Seth in the stroller and Jenny on her bike- a quick 3.5K roundtrip to the playg...

To all of my hardworking Ab Rehab clients: I want to share with you my own progress on the Ab Rehab program. It is my hope that it will give you some kind of a real life timeline, as to what kind of progress you can expect if you keep on the program, as diligently as you are able. I began the program in February with a separation of 11 fingerwidths total (3-4-4) and very weak connective tissue, 3 months postpartum from baby #2. I think that is as big of a separation as any of you are trying to close. We are all on the program so we can all appreciate how challenging it is to stick to it! While the exercises are not difficult, finding the time and mental discipline to complete the sets and reps every day, each week, can be daunting at best. Like any fitness goal, it is a mountain and it takes baby steps to climb. Like you, since I began in February I have had countless interruptions and distractions, but I keep returning to the program and trying my best to stay on trac...

Day 4- Core day. I have been doing set reps on time challenge to build up the strength to do maximum reps 30:10's and hold a modified plank in between exercises. Interestingly, because my core exercises are all executed from the plank position, it fatigues my deltoids as much as my core! To date I have had to use the child's pose between exercises, unable to hold even a modified plank for the rest intervals of the 4:00 set. So today I did my 30:10 x 3 exercises x 2 rounds, successfully holding the modified plank between exercises- although I did give myself a 0:10 child's pose between rounds. This is progress. I added a bonus set, holding modified plank through round 1, but having to fall into child's pose during rest for round 2. Add to that 2 timed sets of side leg lifts with center hops, and I had a pretty good 20 minute high intensity core workout. During my session I thought to do a diastasis check as it has been 5 weeks since my last check and with these intense...

Life is hectic. I swear the hours pass so quickly, the day is done, and there is seemingly always more to do! Do you want to slooooow down time? Wouldn't it be great to just slooooow everything down a little? Well you can! The secret? Exercise of course! Not a runner? Try going out and doing 1:1 run:walk intervals for 10 minutes. The run intervals will be the longest minutes of your day! Hop on a stationary cycle or elliptical. After warming up, try to bust out a 2:00 maximum intensity interval. Again, the longest 2 minutes of your day I promise you! Try one of my 20:10 workouts from this blog, doing maximum reps for a total of 4:00. You'll be watching the seconds tick away as if in slow-mo. It's magic!

Today is a fun cardio junky day. I did 2 sets on the stationary bike, plus I will be running approximately 4K with a client tonight at 9PM. It should amount to about a 90 minute cardio day. Here is my HRZ breakdown from today: Set 1- 26:00 3:00 120 7:00 130+ 8:00 140+ 4:00 160 4:00 130 Set 2- 26:00 6:00 120 8:00 130+ 4:00 150 8:00 120 My RPE was consistently about 14, spiking to 16-17 during the 150-160 4:00 intervals. Using the Heart Rate Reserve Method of Calculating Target Heart Rate Zones (TZ), here is my breakdown: Kate: HRR TZ 129-164 Date <130 Warm Up/Cool down TZ 60-70% Maintain or lose weight 135-146 TZ 70-80% Improve Cardiovascular Fitness 146-158 TZ 80-90% Improve Athletic Performance 158-170 07/21/10 17:00 19:00 12:00 4:00 A chart like this kept as a log is  a useful tool for at-a-glance overview of what you are achieving during your cardio sessions from a HR perspective. I keep log charts like these for my clients and I check their HR's during our worko...

So after 5 days of life-imposed rest I came back with a full tank of gas! Day 1 Core Core Core! 07/19/10: I completed my core workout cycle of set reps, 3 exercises x 6 rounds x 3 times (usually I only do 2x!) so I added 1/3 more to today's workout AND I set my PB to date in the time challenge both in the 2nd AND 3rd round. I also added a new exercise which is killer for the hip flexors, core and back, completing 2 sets of 25 reps. Add to that 6 full cycles of sun salutations and I STILL had gas in the can. Mentally I wanted to hit the stationary cycle but my body put itself to bed around 9PM (haha). I guess I was tired after all! Day 2 20:10's x 8 rounds x 5 exercises and I set PB's for maximum reps in every exercise! My RPE was high around 16-18 but I got through it! I was determined to log those scores and I was confident I would set PB's. Tomorrow I have a running session with a client so I am planning a dedicated cardio day.  It will give me the motivation to...