STRETCHING

I just uploaded my stretching video on YouTube, but I want to talk about the benefits of stretching and what to avoid.

It improves your flexibility. Most guys don't care to be "flexible", i understand, but it's NOT like that. Flexibility helps improve your athletic performance and it also decreases your risk of injury. Think of it like this - when you have full range of motion, such as running, throwing, & jumping, you perform better. and at the same time, when you exert your energy into doing those movements, you can pull a muscle that isn't used to being stretched in that way. Get it?

It ALSO helps with your exercises - ex: squats - if you can't go low on squats because you lack that range of motion, you don't reap the full benefits of the movement. same with lunges. another example - sit-ups. Decline sit-ups are more effective than sit-ups on a leveled ground. but if your back can't handle the stretch, you're hurting yourself more than you're helping yourself.

WHAT TO KEEP IN MIND WHEN STRETCHING:

1. Make sure your muscles are warmed up before you start stretching. You can improve flexibility more when your muscles are warm too, so I recommend stretching AFTER your workout if you're crunched on time.

2. Stretch the muscles that you used or will be using. There's really no point in stretching your legs if you're doing arms.

3. BREATHE. yes, even when you're stretching, you need to focus on your breathing. deep, relaxed breaths of air can help you calm down so you're not tensing up while stretching.

Now...GO CHECK OUT THE VIDEO :)
Stretching with Alina

Healthy Snacks & Cheat Meals

Happy Sunday!! I hope your week has been going great :) I just uploaded my "Circuit Training with Alina" last night so feel free to check it out on my channel - Alina Belly

I get a lot of questions regarding diet and what to eat. It's hard to explain sometimes, but i found some things that helps me explain it a bit better on here.

Soooo..snacking is NOT a bad thing, if you're doing it right. and this pretty much means - don't eat if you're not hungry. pretty simple...but difficult to do lol snacking is meant for times like:

1. you're in-between meals and are starting to get super hungry, but don't want to or can't eat your meal yet
2. you're up later than you thought and you don't want to eat, but you're hungry and won't be able to sleep if your stomach is growling
3. you don't have time to eat, but you NEED to get something in your tummy

I found a list of healthy snacks that you can buy to munch on and what some of their benefits are.

1. FRUITS:
    -Mangoes: protect against a variety of cancers
    -Peaches: rich in potassium, fluoride, and iron
    -Blueberries: protects your heart
    -Oranges: helps maintain great skin and vision
    -Apples: helps develop resistance against infections
    -Watermelon: helps control your heart rate
    -Pineapples: helps fight arthritis

2. Snacks that give you energy:
    -Raisins
    -Dried plums
    -Dried Cranberries
    -Bananas

3. OTHER HEALTHY SNACKS (Boosts Metabolism - M; ):
    -Almonds
    -Cucumber
    -Celery
    -Peanut Butter
    -Hummus (with carrots! =D or Naked Chips)
    -Broccoli
    -Oats
    -Yogurt

AND....CHEAT MEALS!!
Everyone loves cheat meals...just not the after effect haha What I found out to be most effective for me is this thing called the 90-10 Diet (EXCEPT IT'S A LIFESTYLE =P)

It pretty much means that you eat healthy 90% of the time and it's okay for you to eat a cheat meal 10% of the time. This is hard to calculate, i know. But the way I think of it is: I am allowed to have a cheat MEAL 1-2 times a week. Doesn't seem like a lot, but it WORKS. It's not a day filled with eating whatever you want, because you should still take into consideration that you have to portion your food and the aftermath of a whole cheat day. So remember that IT'S OKAY to reward yourself to help with keeping those cravings down. Just don't do it all the time.

Video Blog :) Face-to-Screen

And yes, I am aware that there is one strand of hair that's sticking up...lol oh well.

Hope your enjoy! Good night everyone :)

Maximum Fat Loss & My Unofficial Boot Camp

So yesterday, I hosted an unofficial boot camp for some of my Houston/Sugar Land friends. They've been asking me to train them and workout with them so I figured, hey, let's just get a group together and work them all out at once. It's difficult for me to find time when I'm in Houston anyways because I'm there visiting family.

So, the boot camp ended up being pretty awesome and a great eye opener for me! I didn't realize how overwhelming it could be trying to keep track of time, making sure form is correct, and demonstrating the exercises. (I'll post a video of some of the exercises when I get the video edited) I was NERVOUS at the beginning since I'm only used to teaching a bunch of little kids at work lol but it was a lot of fun :) 10 people ended up showing up, which is good for me, but hopefully I can get a bigger turnout next time! =) Thank you to everyone who came out & to my awesome boyfriend for recording for me :) And I got some feedback so that's always good too

We did Tabata style workout, which is 20 seconds high intensity, 10 seconds active rest. With some of the sets, I allowed them to just rest, but to keep their feet moving. Also incorporated High-Intensity Interval Training which is a GREAT way to workout! It can burn calories for more than 24 hours and it really challenges your body.

Sorry I haven't really been updating much on my blog. I'm going to try and start updating every Sunday, but if you don't hear from me, you can always follow me on Instagram at o_olala. I'm also trying to start editing some videos and uploading them to my YouTube as well so subscribe to Alina Belly :)

Arms

I did arms with the boyfriend yesterday and edited my very own YouTube video for the first time. Guess I'm starting to get the hang of this stuff lol

Just make sure to stretch your arms well before, in-between, and afterwards. And don't forget your water!

Watch, subscribe, like, comment.
Arms with Alina!

My 135lb Squats

Squats are a great exercise for your glutes and your legs. Just make sure that you're pressing down with your heels and not with your toes. Don't want to strain your knees or ankles. A good trick is lifting your toes up to make sure you're not using the balls of your feet.

Make sure you're stretching before and warming up as well. And if you need a spotter, get one. Better safe than sorry. 

CLICK ON THAT LINK BELOW. Thanks to my oh-so-amazing boyfriend, Hoang T., for recording this video for me. (HOPEFULLY THIS WORKS. I've been trying to upload this video for about an hour now....what a pain.)

Squats

My First Video WOULD be an Abs Video!

I got the opportunity to do an abs video with my friend, Hanh Champion! Thanks to Jenny, his amazing girlfriend, for the idea! We had fun shooting this and I hope it helps with anyone not knowing what to do for abs or need a change-up in abdominal exercises. CHECK IT OUT below and SUBSCRIBE cuz there will be more videos to come! It's a long video, but it's worth it :) And also, I'm sorry about the curse word.... o_O

ABS WITH ALINA

Diet Tips for People Who Want to Get Lean

Even though I do not like calling it a "diet" because diets are viewed as temporary, here are some tips for the way I diet/live.

1. Drink AT LEAST 2L of water a day. Yes, you will probably pee a lot when you start drinking this much, but your body will definitely thank you for it =)

2. Cut out carbonated drinks, sugary juices, sweet tea, etc. Substitute with 100% juice (ex: Naked juice), 100% green tea, black coffee. Sweeten with honey, if desired.

3. Stop drinking alcohol. YES, I KNOW...it is soooo hard for many people to ditch this. But if you're serious about gaining muscles, learn to live without the alcohol. It harms you more than it helps you, even if you can't see it yet.

4. Eat about 4-6 SMALL meals a day, snack healthy in-between if you need to. Portion your foods and STOP eating once you're satisfied. It takes a while for your brain to tell you that you're full so if you stop when you realize you're full, you've eaten too much and will probably feel stuffed.

5. Cut out carbs after 7pm. Stop eating about 3 hours before you fall asleep.

6. GET SOME SLEEP. Who cares if someone calls you a grandma/grandpa if you sleep at 11pm? It's great for your body and your brain...AND your muscles. Sleep at least 7-8 hours a night. And try to sleep around the same time every night & wake up around the same time every day to get your body into that circadian rhythm.

7. Get some protein in your system before or after your workout. Protein is what helps build muscles and if you want to tone, you need muscles...therefore, you need protein.

Don't worry if you slip in your journey, just get back on track. Everyone fails, you're not alone. Get up and keep going.

My 2-a-day Workout and some other info

So before I start, I just wanna tell everyone that:

1. I'm not a professional (YET!!) and everything that I personally write down is from my own experiences and it's worked for me.
2. The workouts that I do may need to be modified for you, based on any injury or whatever else that could effect your form.
3. YOUR FORM IS IMPORTANT when you're doing a workout. There is a fine line between challenging yourself and hurting yourself and it's NOT okay to jeopardize your safety.

AND NOW...the fun part:

This morning, I went to Nike Training Club (my addiction) at 9:15am at the 24 Hour Fitness in Frisco. Warming up, we jogged, did walking lunges, and sideway slides. We worked shoulders, abs, arms, legs, and did cardio. This NTC class consisted of burpees, squats, pulsing lunges, planks, mountain climbers, and high jumps. We also did several other explosive exercises. My thing is: doing explosive exercises is one of the BEST ways to slim down and tone up. NTC has been my addiction for almost a year now. I started off with a Wednesday night class in Allen, and I hardly ever miss it cuz my trainer there, Danielle, is AMAZING. if you ever get a chance, you should join me on Wednesday nights in Allen at 24 Hour Fitness at 7:30pm. It's only an hour, but it's definitely a tough hour...but so worth it!

After my morning NTC class, I had three flag football games (12pm, 1pm, and 3pm) and those were great for cardio. Since I was rushing for parts of it, it's a great workout for my full body because it's a sudden explosion of speed. We won all three of our games, by the way :)

After football, I hit the gym up again. Warmed up with: 50 lateral pull downs, 50 bodyweight squats, 50 pushups, and 50 sit-ups. You can finish those in as many sets as it takes you, but make sure to push yourself and don't rest too long in-between! Then went on to superset (3 sets) bench press on the flat bench (65lbs, 10 reps), bent-over rows (45lb plate, 10 reps), and leg lifts into hip extension on the flat bench (20 reps). After that was weighted abs into lunges (forward lunges and side lunges). Then I did some pike roll outs (I will probably make a video for this later because it's one of the BEST ab exercises for you). Threw in some weighted russian twists (10lbs) and stretched my legs and back.

IT IS SO IMPORTANT TO STRETCH BEFORE AND AFTER YOUR WORKOUT! (I'll probably make a video about how I stretch sometime soon for you)

ALSO!!!! I tried this one out for the first time yesterday for 30 seconds at the end of my workout. GREAT FOR SHOULDERS, LEGS, and ABS!! Thanks Antonio for recording! (He only got the last part of it though lol and i'm hoping the video works)

AND...just to add

I get a lot of my motivational pictures from Tumblr sites and Instagram. I'm not on Tumblr, but you can follow me on Instagram at: o_olala

New to this Blogging stuff

This is my first time ever blogging so please be patient with me! I'm gonna motivate & offer tips and advice to help you on your journey to be more fit, healthy, and positive. NO NEGATIVITY ALLOWED. Advice is always welcomed and appreciated though :)

Thank you and have an AWESOME night