Sharing a combination row and strength workout that you can do at home or take to your next gym workout. Our favorite rower for our home gym is here!

Hi friends! Happy Monday! How’s the morning going so far? I hope you had a great weekend. We finished decorating (just need the tree!), had an amazing dinner at Vivace, and got together with some friends. It’s also been rainy here and lovely. I hope you had a great weekend, too!

For today’s post, I wanted to pay a tribute to a fitness tool that we’ve added to our home gym and that we absolutely LOVE: the Aviron! (<— that it my affiliate link and they’re having a Black Friday promo right now! It’s their only sale so far this entire year.) You can check out my full review of Aviron here. Since we added it to our routine, it’s been so amazing to have for at-home rowing workouts, especially since we can stream Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, and play games. I watched half of Les Miserables while getting in an excellent cardio workout.

My all-time favorite way to use the rower is for combo strength and cardio. I’ll do sprints or drills on the rower and alternate with total body strength training moves. It’s also amazing that you can use the seat almost like a Pilates reformer; I’ll often use it for sliding side lunges and pikes.

Here’s a workout that I’ve been enjoying lately! Give this at whirl at home or at your next gym session. As always, talk with a doctor before making any fitness or nutrition changes. Modify as needed and honor your body.

Row and strength combo workout

You’ll complete three rounds of each circuit, separating each circuit with a rowing drill that will increase your heart rate and give you an awesome sweat.

The exercises:

Rowing warmup 5-7 minutes

Take this time to set up proper form, focus on your breath, and get your mindset in the game for a great workout. Play a song that will pump you up!

Circuit 1:

Biceps curl to overhead press x 10

Starting Position: Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, holding dumbbells by your sides.

Biceps Curl: Curl the weights toward your shoulders, keeping elbows close to your body.

Overhead Press: Press the weights overhead, fully extending your arms.

Return: Lower the weights back to shoulder height, then down to the starting position.

Repetition: Complete 10 controlled curls and presses.

Goblet squat x 12

Hold a Dumbbell: Hold a dumbbell close to your chest with both hands.

Feet Placement: Stand with feet shoulder-width apart.

Squat Down: Lowe

Hi friends! Happy Friday! How are you? I hope you’ve enjoyed the week. I feel like it was our first *real* week back in the world. I started to ease my way back into workouts, the girls were back at school, and we got to celebrate my birthday with the fam.

I just wanted to get together for brunch, so we had a lovely brunch at First Watch with our small party of 15 🙂

We had the BEST gluten-free funfetti cake from Lovin’ Spoonfuls with buttercream frosting:

(fun inside scoop: I went to high school with their pastry chef and we order the cake from her every year. I also look forward to it all year! My favorite cake in the world.)

And the rest of the day was perfect and low-key. I read a book, we had a Pilot-cooked dinner here at home, and watched Home Alone. The rest of the week has flown by in a blur and I’m looking forward to the weekend!

Liv has a birthday party and one of her friends is sleeping over, I’m getting a much-needed mani pedi, we’re going out to dinner, and decorating for Christmas. Since we’re traveling next week, my favorite grinch gave the green light to decorate early. Usually he’s the captain of team “Honor the Bird” but he’s making an exception this year.

Flashback to our enormous tree! Frida is too big to move her now. 😉

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Sharing some exciting exercises you can do with the cable machine.

Hi friends! How’s the day going? So happy you liked the chicken salad recipe!

So for today, let’s talk about this thing.

A long time ago, I wrote this post about the fairly intimidating cable machine. It kind of looks like a torture device. I also shared some of my favorite cable machine exercises.

I’ve found that it’s so easy to get into a gym routine and use the same tools for the same things. In order for me to really switch things up, I have to make a conscious effort. Today, per reader India’s request (thank you, India!) I thought I’d share some of the more unique uses for the cable machine.

Exciting Cable Machine Exercises

What Is A Cable Machine?

First of all, let’s go over the cable machine and what it is. It’s a piece of equipment (pic above) that you’ll see in almost every gym. The great thing about the cable machine is that it has adjustable pulleys so that you can target your entire body and do a variety of exercises. Pretty much any *traditional* strength training exercise can be done using the cable machine.

Are Cable Machines Effective

YES! You can adjust the resistance to make the exercise more challenging. With cable machines, you’re able to smoothly work through the fun range of motion for an exercise. I find that using this type of resistance encourages you to use your core to help stabilize. Make sure that you breathe as you brace your core and work through cable machine movements.

How To Use a Cable Machine

You’ll need to adjust the cable position, depending on the type of movement you plan to do. Overhead movements, like overhead triceps extensions and lat pulldowns, require the pulleys to be higher. Chest presses and flies require a mid-point setup. Deadlifts, biceps curls, and upright seated cable rows require a low setup.

Something to keep in mind: when you pull the prong out of the pulley system to slide it up or down, you’ll notice that the stack of weights for resistance will also move. An easy way to prevent this is to put your hand ON TOP of the stack of weights before adjusting the cable pulley. Keep your fingers away from the stack of weights. If it drops down, it can pinch your finger(s). If you need help with pulley setup, ask a trainer at your gym or studio and they will show you how to use it safely.

Here are some favorite exercises! I tried to choose exciting ones outside of the usual biceps curls, cable crossover,

Compound:

Squat and row

Source

Make sure to keep your weight in your heels

Hi friends! I have a new podcast episode up with my good friend Kate Ares. 

Here’s what we talk about:

– Her *many lives* and her amazing background and story

– Immune system tips as we head into the holidays and winter season

– Her experience navigating food allergies for her children and how they’ve improved their allergies

– Her tips for staying Healthy in Real Life

and so much more.

Here’s more about Kate and her background:

Hi! I am Kate Ares. I am a registered nurse, nurse coach, and mother. My husband, Nate, and I have two daughters, Elora and Olive, a son, Bowman, and our first baby, a German Shepard, Willow. Throughout my life and career, I have found that I am passionate about helping people build confidence through self-trust, discipline and curiosity. It is through my personal journey I discovered my path in becoming and creating The Wholesum Nurse.

You can check out her Instagram here and her website here.

More resources from this episode:

I love love love the meals from Sakara Life! Use this link and the code XOGINAH for 25% off their meal delivery and clean boutique items (early Black Friday deal). This is something I do once a month as a lil treat to myself and the meals are always showstoppers.

If any of my fellow health professional friends are looking for another way to help their clients, I highly recommend IHP. You can also use this information to heal yourself and then go one to heal others, which I think is a beautiful mission. You can absolutely join if you don’t currently work in the health or fitness industry; many IHPs don’t begin on this path. They’re friends who are passionate to learn more about health and wellness, and want to share this information with those they love. You can do this as a passion, or start an entirely new career.

You can use my referral link here and the code FITNESSISTA for up to $250 off the Integrative Health Practitioner program. I highly recommend it! Read more

Sharing a full Thanksgiving menu that’s entirely gluten-free! Check out the details below. 

Hi friends! How’s the week going? I hope you’re having a great one so far. I’m here cranking through work and really, really looking forward to Thanksgiving next week – my favorite holiday!

Thanksgiving is almost always celebrated with an elaborate spread of food, desserts, and drinks, and some traditional Thanksgiving dishes, such as gravy, stuffing, casserole, etc. may contain gluten. Some members of your family (or you!) may have gluten intolerances or may be gluten-free. Planning a gluten-free Thanksgiving menu may seem daunting, but how there are plenty of gluten-free dishes you can prepare that are just as good as any traditional Thanksgiving recipes. Today, I’m sharing a gluten-free Thanksgiving menu to help you create a spread everyone can enjoy!

*Note: if any family members are Celiac, please be extra mindful of cross-contamination. 

Here is a roundup of delicious meals that you can enjoy on Thanksgiving – all of these are gluten-free, and many of them are vegan, too!

Gluten-free Thanksgiving Menu

The Best Thanksgiving Turkey in all the land

The turkey is the star of the show, and while it can seem daunting, it’s really super easy with this foolproof brine recipe. It makes the turkey super moist and delicious!!

The easiest turkey gravy

This recipe is not designed to be gluten-free, but just swap out the flour for your favorite gluten-free flour. I love Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 baking blend.

Sweet Potato Casserole

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