There's not much more to say than what this video proclaims. The government labeled gyms as being a non essential business when Covid hit. Cr8 Fitness shut it doors and went remote for almost two months. That label is not going to define me and it shouldn't define you. 

Hold on tight because the Christmas Season flies by. Lets start right away with the 12 Days of Fitmas! Yes, that's right Fitmas. There is two parts to being healthy and fit. Both are equally important. Our 12 Day Fitmas Challenge has two parts as well. 

In case you didn't take time to watch the fun video or you just want to recap all the details. Here is how the 12 Days of Fitmas plays out.

There you have it. The 12 Days of Fitmas Challenge. It begins December 1st. With all this Fantastic Fun there is going to be some amazing prizes that only you can imagine. Just think what you could award yourself with at the end of 12 Days? The prizes of limitless. 

Ready, Get Set, Go!

Coach Nancy

P.S. I could really use your help to pass around all the crazy fun we have at training. We work hard but we also laugh a lot. Can you help me find peeps just like you who want to train hard? Get them started with this challenge. I know they'll love Cr8 Fitness and want to stay with us forever and ever. 

I know I could be better at doing good, how about you? Great thing is we have a new day to Make It Happen. I could rant on and on about how crazy things are now, how politics make me feel, about the financial market, and how challenges are piling up but I am not going to do that. In fact I want to do the opposite.

I want to rant and rave about the 10 great things in my life now.

1. God is in control. He always will be
2. Coach Dean is by my side and holds me up daily. He's my bestest friend and I can't imagine a day without him.
3. I have awesome kids. Dean and I have 6 of our own and there are others in this world that I count it a privilege to help mentor along the way.
4. Cr8 Fitness - The little gym in the woods is open. We're working on our 13th year in business. 
5. Cr8 Fitness peeps are more than peeps, they are family. I love hearing your stories. Living life with you is a dream job. Not many people really enjoy doing what they do for work. I do. 
6. I'm enjoying a warm house located across from a country pond on a rural road. Life is quieter here.
7. Food, Yep, I like to eat. I'm thankful for grocery stores that carry whatever my heart desires. (Right now they have toilet paper so stock up.) 
8. Bees- I never knew how fun these little creatures were to watch. Of course I watch them inside the safety bee keeper clothing. We got a hive a month or so ago. 
9. Cr8tive Gardens. Just picked salad greens, micro greens, and herbs will soon be available in the gym's fridge. Farming in the winter is going to be a new adventure this year. 
10. Friends. I'm surrounded by amazing people. 

These are just the top 10 things that popped into my head. Life is good and with God's help I'll do more good daily. 

Take a moment or two to jot down your top 10 good things and rant about them. It feels so much better than ranting on the negative side. It feels better because I can directly effect change for even more goodness.

To Your Best Health,

Coach Nancy

Christmas is coming.......

Recipes are great, but they aren't the law! I use recipes as guidelines. There are times I follow those guidelines strictly and other times when I allow a bit of creativity to enter in. Sometimes my creativity pays off and other times not so much. Today was a payoff day. I wanted a breakfast that had healthy fats, protein, and produce without any starchy foods. Here is what I came up with.

Blueberry Chia Seed Breakfast Pudding

• 1/4 cup coconut milk (healthy fat)
• 1 Tablespoon chia seeds (healthy fat and tons of fiber)
• 1/3 cup blueberries (produce)
• 1 scoop vanilla UMP (protein)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon (natural sweetener)

Mixed it all together and let it sit for 10 minutes. It was FANTASTIC! 

Happy Halloween Everyone! Yes it is Halloween and today we also had a great Thanksgiving Dinner. In fact it was probably the first and only Thanksgiving dinner where I left the room and went to grab breakfast. The crazy peeps at 6:15 training brought shirts for everyone to wear that signified a piece of Thanksgiving. I think some of us we're destined for the shirt we were given. Its just a crazy bunch of peeps, check us out. 

I know some of you are thinking why don't we get a costume fairy to help us out..... Don't be jealous just enjoy the silliness of one crew wanting to make each other smile and you as well. 

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Coach Nancy

By the way if you are in the mood for a delicious Turkey recipe give this one a try. 

Turkey Pot Pie

          For the filling:

•                1 small onion, chopped
•                1 pat butter or 1tsp. coconut oil
•                1 1/2 cups leftover turkey, cut into chunks
•                2 cloves garlic, minced
•                2 carrots, chopped
•                1/2 cup button mushrooms, sliced
•                1/2 cup chicken stock
•                1 tbs arrowroot (or cornstarch)

           For the topping:

•                2/3 cup almond flour
•                1/8 tsp salt
•                1/4 tsp baking powder
•                1/2 a beaten egg
•                2 tbsp coconut milk

Directions for the filling:

In a large pan with lid, melt the butter and saute the veggies and garlic over medium heat. Add in the turkey chunks and chicken stock. Make slurry with the arrowroot powder and a little bit of cold water. Add the slurry into the stock and turkey mixture. Lower heat and cook until the stock thickens. Remove from heat and distribute evenly to 2 ramekins or small bowls.

For the topping:

Preheat the oven to 350 F Mix all dry ingredients together. Mix the egg and the water in a separate bowl. Combine the dry and the wet ingredients together. Spread the dough evenly on the ramekins filled with the turkey mixture. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until the crust is golden.

Serving Size: Makes two generous mini-casseroles 

Tips:  I suggest using homemade chicken stock for this recipe if you have it. You can use canned, but homemade stock is LOADED with gelatin, which gives the pies the richness that you normally get with cream.

On Tuesday I asked almost everyone, "What is your favorite thing about this time of year?" Here's some of the answers I got.

• The leaves and all the color they bring
• Knowing we're one step closer to spring..... some actually said winter
• Pumpkin spice coffee
• No bugs
• Great weather for hiking
• Enjoy the transition of everything
• The cooler weather
• Better sleeping
• Whoopee pies
• Woodstoves

Its refreshing to take time to focus on the positive. It does your body and mind good. 

Keep that positivity going. I understand its a bit harder to be positive and it is easier to jump on the bandwagon of complaints and irritability. Do the hard thing and Stay positive for yourself and others. 

Pumpkin Bars

• ½ cup oats
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• ½ cup brown sugar

• ½ cup butter

• ½ teaspoon cloves

• 1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon

• ½ teaspoon salt

• 2 cups milk

• 3 eggs

• 5 scoops UMP Vanilla

• 2 cups pumpkin

Heat oven to 350. Place butter into a 9×13 pan and let melt in oven while it is preheating. In the meantime mix the oats, flour, and the brown sugar. Pour over the melted butter and press down with a spoon. Bake for 12 minutes. While crust is baking, scald milk and the spices. Stir in the pumpkin and then the eggs followed by the protein powder. Pour this over the crust and bake for another 20 minutes or until the pumpkin filling is firm to the touch.

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

• 1/3 cup pure pumpkin, canned
• 1 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil (or walnuts, almonds, flax, chia, etc)
• 1 scoop vanilla whey protein powder
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 2/3 cup water
• Ice 

Mix all ingredients in blender until smooth and creamy. Pour immediately into a large cup. Eat with a spoon or a large straw. 

Pumpkin Overnight Oats

• 1 1/2 cups steel cut oats (do not substitute quick cooking, instant, or rolled oats)
• 3 cups water
• 2 cups milk, any kind you like (I use unsweetened vanilla almond milk)
• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 1/4 cup ground flaxseed meal (or swap an equal amount of chia seeds, hemp seeds)
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves or allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  
  

For serving: chopped toasted pecans, dried cranberries, chopped dried apricots, peanut butter, or any other mix-ins you enjoy with pumpkin

Pumpkin Chia Pudding

• 1.5 cups almond milk
• ½ cup pumpkin puree
• 1 scoop UMP Vanilla protein powder
• 2 TB almond butter
• 1 TB raw honey
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• ¼ tsp. nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/8 tsp. ground cloves
• ¼ cup chia seeds
• Sea Salt, a pinch

Blend all ingredients, except chia seeds, until smooth. Place the blended mixture into a reseal-able large jar (or 2 smaller jars) then add chia seeds. Seal jar and shake.

Place in refrigerator overnight or for at least 3+ hours. Feel free to shake jars once or twice in between to make sure they didn’t become too gelatinous. Breakfast, snack or post workout recovery is served!

Are you in? Do you have any favorite pumpkin recipes? Please share them!

Enjoy Good Food,

Coach Nancy

Packing your gym bag so you can hop into your car for a drive to the gym requires you get a few things ready before you go. For most of us going into Cr8 Fitness thats a water bottle and a pair of sneakers. Your coach has all your equipment ready for your training once you arrive. 

What if you are training at home using Zoom or doing the daily recorded training session? There are a few things to get ready so your training runs smoother and you don't miss a second of time with your coach. 🙂 Here's are a few things you'll need to have handy.

• Water bottle 
• sneakers

 (The first two items were a gimme, I knew you already had those things ready. Here's what you might not have thought of)

• Foam roller
• red band 
• throw pillow- literally to throw
• towel - they are not just for the beach anymore
• dowel rod or broom stick, an 18 inch piece of PVC pipe works great too.
• 2x4 about 2 feet long
• 2 paper plates 
• dice 
• deck of cards
• scrap paper and pencil just in case the coach wants you to write something important down

Not everything in your home gym bag is just like what we use in at Cr8 Fitness. That's kind of cool. Thinking outside the box is a good thing. If you have other suggestion, let me know. My goal is to make your experience a whole lot of fun while doing a whole lot of hard work. 

See you in the gym,

Coach Nancy