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You’ve successfully completed another whole year! Now you’ve gotten enough experience to level up and unlock another great one to fight your way through. 8D

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Look at that, you’re already starting out the new year with a little bonus luck and positivity from Jacqueline here at Chibird. >w< Happy 2014!

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Last night for my family-stay-home-NYE I made Macadamia & Caramel Cheesecake using The Whole Pantry app, you can too. There are three parts to the recipe. Crust 150 grams sunflower seeds 115 grams shredded coconut (Blend these 2 for 30seconds) 60 mL brown rice syrup or honey 1 tablespoon melted coconut oil 1 pinch sea salt flakes (Add the rest and blend for 1-2 min. I put it in the oven for 10 minutes to make the crust 'crusty'. - I know it's technically not a raw desert if you do this but it tastes so much nicer! Now put in fridge until it is time to fill it with filling). Filling 240 mL coconut cream 225 grams macadamia nuts 120 mL melted coconut oil 60 mL brown rice syrup 2 teaspoons vanilla bean extract 1 lemon, juice (Combine all and blend for 1-2 minutes until a thick creamy texture. Pour onto crust and place back in the fridge until caramel topping is ready). Caramel Topping 18 Pitted medjool dates 120 mL coconut cream (Combine and blend until a paste texture. This can either be mixed/swirled/spread on the filling or can be poured on heated or not heated to serve. I swirled it on.) There are two options for setting the desert. The first option is that the Cheesecake will need to be refrigerated for 4+ hours OR alternatively the second option is that it is placed in the freezer for 1-2 hours. I put mine in the freezer for around 3 hours.)

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Fitspo/Healthspo

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Animal-inspired bodyweight workout A circuit of 5 moves: - 1 min Bear crawl (5 steps forward, 5 steps back) - 1 min Duck walk (5 steps forward, 5 steps back) - 1 min Bunny hops - 1 min Frog jumps (5 jumps forward, 5 jumps back) - 1 min Cobra push-ups (also known as dive bomber push-ups) 

For 5 rounds! (=25 min) Exercise descriptions: www.fitnesstreats.com/2012/10/animal-inspired-bodyweight-workout

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"So Gentlemen Prefer Buff Chicks? Here’s Why That Is SO BESIDE The Point"

Getting fit should be about improving health, strength, and confidence—not just looking sexy to men.

Last week, the New York Post ran an article called “The New Pin-Up: Why Gentlemen Prefer Buff." The piece profiled several women fitness models and bodybuilders who offer workout and diet advice online. The Post noted that these superfit females have huge followings of both women and men on social media. “If Instagram is any indication,” stated the Post, “Strength is sexiness—and there’s a growing attraction to women who embrace a lifestyle of hard training and heavy lifting.” 

Don’t get us wrong: we’re all for women who work out hard and embrace their toned bodies. It’s the idealization of the “fitness chick,” as the Postdubs her, which smacks us the wrong way. (As do those “Fit is the New Skinny” photos on Pinterest.) 

Holding up their bodies as the new desired female physique is reminiscent of the years that “thigh gap" (and all that entails) was so widely coveted as the preferred female body shape. It’s just trading one idealized form for another—and one that the typical woman, who isn’t naturally waif-like and doesn’t have hours to devote to bicep curls and bench presses, can’t or, more importantly, doesn’t want to achieve. 

There’s nothing wrong with women being motivated to get in better shape to look good for their partners. We’re just saying that it shouldn’t be the only reason to hit the gym—and it shouldn’t be something women feel pressured into doing because the media has decided that skinny is out and buff is in.

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Marching Bridges

 (A) Lie down on your back, arms by your side, knees bent up, toes touching the wall. (B) Walk your feet up the wall a step, pushing your hips up so your body is flat from knees to shoulders. (C) Slowly march your legs in toward your chest while engaging your glute muscles to keep those hips high. A rep includes both legs; go for 8 of ‘em.

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Bridge with Squeeze

Start on your back with your knees bent and your feet hip-distance apart. Place a pillow, a ball, or a toning ring between your knees.

Push your hips off the floor, coming into a bridge. Keep your ribs aligned with your pelvis.

Without raising or lowering your hips, do 20 glute raises (small pulses up and down). Then keep your pelvis still, and slowly squeeze your block 20 times.

Lower the pelvis, and bring your knees to your chest to round and relax your back.

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Which Should I Do First: Cardio or Strength Training?

The question: Should I start my workout with strength or cardio?

The expert: Exercise physiologist Marta Montenegro, CSCS, SFN, NSCA-CPT

The answer: Where to begin? For most women, the right answer is at the weight racks.

See, when it comes to slimming down and shaping up, strength training and cardio work best in that order. Here’s why: When you start your workout with weights, by the time you get to the treadmill or bike your anaerobic energy systems will already be tapped out, meaning your body will have to resort to burning fat to keep your aerobic system going strong, Montenegro says. That means more calories burned, not just in the gym, but after your cool-down, too. 

Also (and this should be common sense), but if you log your miles and then try to do squats, those squats are likely to be weak and sloppy, she says, neither of which makes for eye-popping results.

Still, there are reasons to make a beeline toward your fave cardio machine as soon as you set foot in the gym—like if you’re training for a half-marathon. In general, it’s best to prioritize whatever’s your goal, be it endurance, strength, or even toning a certain muscle group. In fact, one study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found that whichever muscle you train first reaps the biggest benefits. 

Your third option—and this is the one to take if you’re dead set on going all out from start to finish—is alternating your strength and cardio days, Montenegro says. Just remember that schedule will require more (albeit shorter) visits to the gym. The choice is yours. 

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detox

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After a 2 hour gym session and mum painting my nails I made the best paleo smoothie it was a cross between ‘caramel’ and ‘banana peanut butter’. The recipe is as follows:

Banana-Nut-Caramel Smoothie In your blender or food processed add 1/3 of a banana, 1 and 1/2 tspn of peanut (or any) nut butter OR if you don’t have any, cups if peanuts (or any nut). 1/2 cup of coconut water 1 pitted date (use 2 for a sweeter result but increase of natural sugars and kcals) 2 tspns of vanilla egg white protein powder (or any protein powder) 2-3 ice cubes Blend until smooth.

I recommend drinking with a straw as it will be chunky if using chunky peanut butter. The peanut butter I used was 100% peanuts and nothing else. It will be MORE caramel-y if you use 2 pitted dates. Such a perfect Paleo smoothie which is my two favorite flavors- banana peanut butter and caramel. I

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This is not how you separate an egg told from a white. Goodluck fellaz. Who writes this?

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The National Ballet of China’s Swan Lake to the Queen E Theatre

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Jamie Eason is by far one of the most recognizable fitness models in the industry. However, Jamie wasn’t born with a silver dumbbell in her hand; she had to fight tooth and nail for where she is today. And like any great success story, Jamie had to battle in the trenches before she reached the summit of success.

Jamie overcame every woman’s worst nightmare: breast cancer. Her personal struggle with the disease flipped her motivation switch. She began to make healthy lifestyle changes, building the body she never thought she’d have again, but better! 

With 7 years under her belt since her bout with cancer, Jamie has accumulated an array of health and fitness knowledge that has aided her in her own rendition of survival of the fittest. 

In an exclusive Bodybuilding.com interview, Jamie shares her best tips about training, nutrition and supplementation - tips that she has used to set herself apart in the world of fitness.