Do you need to breathe new life in to your fitness program? Have you been doing the same exercises since the Kennedy administration?

You should never do the exact same fitness routine for more than 3-4 weeks at a time. If you do, your body will plateau and you will cease to see any more gains. It's time to mix things up and challenge your body once again! Visit the ACE website and check out their exercise library. Exercises are complete with descriptions, pictures, and demos. They are categorized both by muscle group and level of difficulty.

This program isn't personalized or geared to your specific goals and it can't replace the results you would see with a personal trainer but it can get you out of your fitness rut and re-ignite your interest in exercise again

http://www.acefitness.org/exerciselibrary/default.aspx

Rock climbing - a new fitness challenge

I have started a new fitness endeavor and I want to tell you about it. It seems that my level of enjoyment with physical activity runs in cycles. Sometimes I can go for months on end lifting weights and striding on the eliptical. Then there are the months when the mere thought of the gym makes me cringe. I can't stand the idea of being what feels like a rat in a cage. You know what I mean, rats will run for minutes on end on those funny wheel things. That's exactly how I feel when I'm staring at the same spot on the wall with my legs repeatedly spinning round and round. So, right now I'm in the "rat in a cage" phase and knew that I needed a new activity to spike my motivation.

I chose rock climbing. My gym offers rock climbing and I took a large class last winter to help beat the winter blues. I really enjoyed it and realized that I had a knack for it. So, this time around I signed Andrew and I up for a private lesson. It's just the two of us and an instructor. This has given me just the challenge that I need. Rock climbing is just as much intellectual as it is physical. It's kind of like a puzzle that you have to solve to get to the top. If you don't use the right technique and you try to use brute strength to pull you up you'll find out very quickly that you won't last very long. Andrew and I have come to the conclusion that if we could meld our bodies into one rock climbing body we would have the perfect combination. He with the brute strength and I with the flexibility would make one hell of a climber.

Rock climbing has made me sore in places i've never been sore before. Talk about a challenge for your grip strength. After an aggressive class I have a hard time holding up my water glass without using two hands. It's also challenging my competitive self and allowing me to bond with my husband at the same time. If you've never tried rock climbing I highly suggest that you give it a shot. Who knows you might love it!

How about you? What do you do to beat the gym doldrums or the Chicago winter blues?

I wanna be that lady in the pic at the top. She's bada#$!

Chicken Marrakesh - Easy, Healthy, AND Delicious!

Well, I'm trying to get back in to the blog swing of things. I was dragged away by the holidays and until today have had a hard time coming up with anything "worthwhile" to put down. I made an amazing dish the other day and thought it was definitely worth sharing. It comes to you from the February issue of Oxygen magazine. It was really easy to make. There was minimal prep time and it's a crock pot recipe so you can throw the ingredients in there and come back to a perfectly cooked meal several hours later. Plus, it makes your house smell fantastic while it's cooking.

CHICKEN MARRAKESH

INGREDIENTS:

1 onion, sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 lrg. carrots, diced

2 lrg. sweet potatoes, diced

15 oz. can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 lb. boneless chicken breasts, chopped into 2-3 inch pieces

1 tsp. cumin

1 tsp tumeric

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

pepper to taste

sea salt to taste

14.5 oz. can of diced tomatoes

DIRECTIONS:

1. Combine the first 6 ingredients in a crock pot.

2. In a small bowl, mix together the spices. Sprinkle over the food in the crock pot. Add the chopped tomatoes.

3. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours

(I have a slower cooker that seems to run hot, I cooked mine on low for 3.5 hours and that was plenty. Then, I set it to warm until we were ready to eat it.)

*Makes 6 servings

NUTRITION PER SERVING:

CAL: 421, FAT: 15g, SAT. FAT: 3g, CHOLESTEROL: 123mg, CARB: 36g, FIBER: 8g, PRO:37g,