Fit Meals

My WordPress Blog

WITHOUT OPEN GYMS, ISOMETRIC EXERCISES ARE YOUR ALTERNATIVE

by Leave a Comment

With or without open gyms, isometric exercises are a good way to continue toning the body and, above all, strengthening the muscles through a different stimulus and without the use of special equipment. The main characteristic of this type of training, and the most attractive for many, is that it is carried out from postures and techniques that do not involve as much movement, therefore reducing the risk of injury.
If you want to know more about this alternative to implementing it at home while there are no open gyms, then stay to read this content.

WHAT IS ISOMETRIC TRAINING?

Perhaps the name sounds a bit strange and complicated, but it is a very common form of training and surely you have already used it. The clearest example is the planks for the abdomen, those in which you place yourself face down with the only points of support on the floor being the tips of the feet, the hands, or the elbows while keeping the body completely straight and without movement.

SIMPLE, BUT EFFECTIVE EXERCISES

And is that staying static is all you have to do in these exercises. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Well, it is, but it also has its degree of complexity, since over time, which can go from 5 to 60 seconds, the position begins to do its job: reaching body tension for a certain time and, consequently, a direct stimulus in the muscles involved.

FOCUSED WORK

Since the work of the isometric exercises is carried out in a focused way, without making other parts intervene, they are very effective in a GAP training, that is, to strengthen the entire central part of the body and tone the muscles of both glutes and abdominals and legs, but also arms are included in the objectives of this type of exercise.
Whether it’s an ironing routine or a gym routine for marking muscles, isometric exercises will help you create a solid structure for any sports practice.

YOU DON’T HAVE TO WAIT FOR GYMS TO OPEN

Since no external equipment is necessary for its execution, isometric exercises are a good option for this quarantine, in which there are no open gyms. The proper use of your own body is more than enough, although of course, if you are advanced and want to give more intensity to the exercise, you can add some extra kilos with dumbbells or discs. If you do not have this type of accessories, do not worry, here we give you some homemade options to offset the weight.

MAIN ISOMETRIC EXERCISES

  • Iron for the abdomen: the most recognized isometric exercise, which has many variations to mark a different job in terms of body areas and intensity.
  • Static squats: it is about leaning your back against the wall and sitting in the air as if there were an imaginary chair.
  • Stance or static stride: the same position and indications of the normal stance, but in this case, you will maintain the posture with the legs flexed as much as you can.
  • Push-ups or static lizards: the isometric alternative to the well-known lizard. Just be sure to keep your elbows flexed.

TO PRACTICE THE ISOMETRIC EXERCISES

With isometric exercises, you already have another alternative to keep your muscles active at home and not have to wait for gyms to open to reach your goals. Don’t forget to alternate this type of training with one of toning; in this way, you will be able to exercise your body in a balanced way gaining resistance and mobility.

TIPS AND EXERCISES TO AVOID LOSING MUSCLE MASS

by Leave a Comment

EXERCISES AND TIPS TO PRESERVE MUSCLE MASS

Keep training

This is the most important point since, without exercise, there is no way to keep those muscles active. On our Train at the home platform, you will find various free options that will be very useful to achieve your goals. For this purpose, hypertrophy routines are ideal.

Don’t leave the weight off

Although the use of your body weight can help you, the idea is that you do not stop adding a few extra kilos or resistance to your exercises. Although you don’t have sophisticated gym equipment, you can try some homemade alternatives that will serve you, such as bottles and jugs of water, suitcases, food cans, or elastic resistance bands.

A healthy diet with the presence of proteins

Diet also plays an essential role in preserving your muscle mass. Remember that proteins are the structural component of muscles, so it is essential to provide this nutrient in your diet, depending on your weight and the number of exercises you do. Here you will find some examples of protein sources.
Do not forget that any change in your food, including protein to increase muscle mass, must be supervised by a specialist.

Recommended exercises

To maintain the muscle mass of the lower body, that is, legs, glutes, abdomen and calves, it is recommended to add some resistance to the exercises, it can be with weight or elastic bands, you decide! Ideal movements are squats, hip lifts, hip extensions, or lunges. 
In the case of the upper body, that is, chest, arms, back, and shoulders, it is also recommended to work with weight or resistance. The recommended exercises are rowing, deadlifts, press, and push-ups, or push-ups in their different variants (open, closed, or with a touch of the shoulder to name a few). To give you a better idea of ​​these movements, you can consult this functional training that is part of the Entrena en casa platform.

Slow movements 

The alternative to achieve greater muscular work is through slow cadences, this means that the movements must be carried out calmly, controlled, and with the best possible technique. This way of working will allow you a greater flow of oxygen and nutrients in the muscles. 

More reps

Since you will not be able to work with the same weights as in the gym, the option is to perform more repetitions in the exercises to achieve a better definition of the muscles, with quality fibers in the absence of fat.

Avoid overtraining

Exceeding in training will become a point against since it will not allow the body to recover properly. Well, they say that balance is important to achieve better results.

Rest is part of the training

Sleep and rest are important parts of achieving goals, as they allow your body to repair its structures and help you increase levels of growth hormone. 

Hypertrophy routines

Hypertrophy refers to the process that occurs within the body as a result of resistance training and that leads to growth or increase in muscle. Under this concept, it is ideal that you look for some exercises aimed at muscle hypertrophy, such as the routines that are offered completely free of charge on the Train at the Home platform. 

How to choose a good turkey sausage?

by Leave a Comment

From our blog, we always recommend introducing all kinds of healthy foods into the diet: fruits, vegetables, whole grains, etc. But one of the foods that we know is the most practical for you to turn to is turkey as a meat derivative or sausage, a source of protein that does not have to be cooked, and that usually pleases all people who follow omnivorous diets, of course. In this article, we will explain how to choose a good cold cut or turkey sausage and avoid catching it by the hare.
The turkey breast is lean or white meat has less fat than usual, so it will always be a more advisable alternative to other meat or processed meats with more fat as fuels, chorizo, chopped, mortadella, etc. But right now there are very poor quality turkey sausages on the market and we want to teach you how to recognize the best option by following these 5 tips:

1- Read the list of ingredients

To detect if the composition of a food is healthy or not, just look at the list of ingredients and it is not necessary to go to the food composition table. If you go to the market, you can ask the clerk to provide you with the label or read this list of ingredients. Remember that the ingredients that appear in this list are placed from the most present in the product to the least present. Thus, if the first ingredient is “turkey”, it means that it is the most present ingredient.

2- Be suspicious of marketing

Perhaps the most trustworthy turkey cold cuts or sausage container is in soft colors and austere design, which inspires a “natural” product. This packaging may also highlight features such as “low fat”, “gluten-free”, “lactose-free” or even “natural”. These types of attributes do not make the sausage a healthier product. If it does not have gluten, but none of these characteristics will make it a healthier process.
These attributes do not assure us that the turkey is of quality if later among its ingredients we find additives, starches, sugars, salt, etc.
In some supermarkets, there is a wide variety of turkey cold cuts or deli meats with names like turkey mortadella, turkey fuet, turkey ham, turkey chopped, and even truffle-flavored turkey with pistachios. They may contain turkey and may have a container that inspires us that they are healthy, but they will not be. In fact, among these names, you will surely find the lists of less healthy ingredients. You have to assess the product set to assess its quality.

3- Look at the amount of turkey that the food has

You have to check the percentage of turkey that the product has. Ideally, those containing around 80-90% or more meat so that the alternative you choose are healthier than other options. This will make the rest of the ingredients present a minority and that the quality of the processing will be higher.
It is important to clarify that it is not the same reading on the label of the product “turkey cold cuts” that “turkey breast”. The first is of poorer quality because it contains less protein since they add starch (flour, starch …) that can be present in up to 10%. These substances retain more water and increase the weight so that the product is more economical.

4-Not only turkey does man live

Turkey is processed food and the ideal is to avoid not abusing this or other sausages and consume it only once in a while. Also, by varying the protein source and resorting to other sources such as eggs, canned tuna or sardines, vegetable purees such as hummus or nuts, you will make your diet more varied and balanced.

Rich and healthy Christmas menu

by Leave a Comment

This year we want to congratulate you on Christmas by sharing a rich, simple and healthy menu: rich, because it is Christmas and you have to work it out a bit, simple because the cooks also deserve to enjoy the banquet and not be aware of spherifications in the kitchen, and healthy because being a healthy menu is perfectly compatible with being a spectacular menu.

Christmas dinner appetizers

Blinis with salmon

To make about 10 blinis: beat one egg, one plain yogurt, 1/2 sachet of yeast, 50g of flour, and a little salt. In a greased pan, put half a scoop of the mixture. Cook the pancakes, round and round.
Once cold, place the smoked salmon and a little tartar sauce on top. The tartar sauce is prepared by chopping capers, pickled gherkins, a little onion, mustard, parsley, and lemon juice.

Hummus and eggplant canape

First, we cut the eggplant into slices and let them rest with a little salt so that they lose the bitter taste.
While grilling the eggplant, prepare the hummus by grinding a cup of cooked chickpeas, 1 teaspoon of tahini, lemon juice, and half a clove of garlic.
Now all you have to do is grab a biscuit or toast, spread the hummus, put the eggplant slices, and top with a few drops of an emulsion that you can make by crushing olive oil and fresh basil.

Spinach and Mushroom Muffins

These muffins can be a good way to incorporate vegetables into your Christmas banquets but attractively.
Preheat the oven to about 180º. Meanwhile, for about 5 muffins: sauté 1 onion, 1 clove of garlic, about 400g of mushrooms, and 300g of spinach.
On the other hand, in a bowl beat 3 eggs, 50g of evaporated milk, and salt and pepper.
Add the vegetables to the bowl, well-drained, and distribute the mixture in muffin or muffin molds greased with an
oil drain.
Bake about 25 min at 180º and you will have your muffins ready.

Stuffed endives

It is endives stuffed with chopped lettuce and prawns in guacamole sauce.
To make the guacamole sauce, crush a clove of garlic, red onion, tomato, and avocado flavored with salt, oil, lemon juice, and cumin until there is a homogeneous sauce.
You have to cut and chop the prawns and the lettuce to mix it with the guacamole sauce.
Then all that remains is to wash the endive leaves well and fill them with the sauce.

Mozzarella skewers

It is about skewers of cherry tomato, mozzarella, basil, and black olives.
First, wash the cherry tomatoes. Then, we will assemble the skewer by clicking the ingredients in the following order: a tomato, a mozzarella ball, a basil leaf, and half a black olive. Season with oil and salt and that’s it.

Anchovy and grape skewers

They are made with anchovy macerated one day in vinegar and lemon and the spices that you like the most. The skewer is assembled by wrapping the clean grapes with the anchovies and nailing them one by one. In this case, it is better to opt for seedless grapes.

First course: escarole salad with pickled quail

They are prepared in a pickled sauce, 4 clean and washed quails: season with salt and pepper, fry with ½ glass of oil, and 3 whole cloves of garlic. Cook in a saucepan with onion, carrot, garlic the pan, bay leaf, thyme, and peppercorns. We put the quails on top and cover them with the oil of the pan, 1/3 of a glass of sherry vinegar, and ½ a glass of water. Cook for about 25 minutes.
We make quail strips and to prepare the salad, mix the strips with the escarole, pomegranate, some dates, prunes and raisins, dried peach, and pine nuts.
Dress with salt, olive oil, and sherry vinegar.

Main course: salmon with citrus sauce and sweet potato chips

We will buy a salmon loin per diner and season them in a dish suitable for the oven.
Preheat the oven to 180ºC, with heat up and down.
On the other hand, in a saucepan, add a little orange juice and natural grapefruit, a little soy sauce, honey, and grated ginger. We boil until the sauce thickens a little. We remove and add a little olive oil.
Bake the salmon for 15 minutes and at the time of serving, pour the sauce over it.
We accompany it with sweet potato chips: we wash the sweet potato, cut it with a mandolin, and wash it again. We dry it and spread it on the baking tray. Remove when crispy.

Dessert: Macedonian

It is prepared with green and red apples, bananas, kiwi, strawberries, and pineapple, all cut into very small cubes and with natural orange juice and a little lemon or lime.

Drink

We suggest you fill your cups for these festivities with sparkling water, ice, and red berries. It is a way of being able to share “healthy drinks”.

Infusion of cardamom, fennel, and cinnamon

Including an infusion, after the Christmas feast will hydrate you, and depending on the spices, it can be digestive. better. In this case, we propose fennel, cardamom, and cinnamon: cardamom and fennel are added to achieve a digestive function and then cinnamon is incorporated to flavor the infusion. Other options to flavor it is: a lemon wedge or grates a little ginger in the infusion.

How to create healthy, balanced and delicious breakfasts

by Leave a Comment

With breakfast, our day begins and we want you to ask yourself with what energy do you want to start it. With this article, we invite you to create your healthy breakfast menu. In the article, we will be breaking down all the food groups that you can include in your breakfasts or lunches, their nutritional properties, and also ideas of easy and delicious recipes to add variety and richness to your breakfasts.
Remember that breakfast provides us with energy and nutrients and that is why it must be as healthy as the other meals of the day. Maybe you are not one of those who like to have breakfast as soon as you wake up, but you do prepare yourself a good breakfast at 10 in the morning. This depends on your preferences and needs. Let’s do it at the time we do it, this first meal of the day helps us establish a habit that leads us to maintain a more regular, complete, and balanced diet, not starving, not feeling lacking in energy

What foods should we include at breakfast?

The foods that we include must fulfill 2 premises:
  1. That they are healthy foods. From any food group, but healthy.
  2. That the foods are as varied as possible. Incorporating different groups and different foods within the same group. This will cause us to introduce different nutrients to our diet.

Dairy at breakfast

The first group that we are going to see are dairy products such as milk, cheese, and fermented dairy products such as yogurt or kefir. Dairy is a very nutritious group, but the intolerant and vegans have options to replace them, so do not worry. Dairy products provide us with protein, calcium, and vitamin D and are beneficial for bone health. It is advisable to consume 2 or 3 servings a day, so it will be interesting to include one at breakfast. If you did not feel like it at breakfast, it would be interesting if you ate it at another time of the day, for example as a snack or as yogurt, in desserts, etc.
The dairy you choose can be in the form of milk, yogurt, or cheese. To the milk, you can add coffee, pure cocoa, tea, cinnamon, or use it to make a smoothie along with other foods. Regarding cheeses, prioritize fresh ones such as Burgos, ricotta, or ricotta, and take very cured or fatty cheeses more sporadically. And if you choose yogurt, better without added sugar and you can sweeten them with fruit, nuts, spices (cinnamon, anise), etc.

Vegetable drinks at breakfast

In this group, we find soy drink, almond milk, oat drink, spelled drink, dried fruit drink, etc. Each drink comes from different foods, so each one will have different nutrients and different properties. They do not replace dairy, they are different foods. If you don’t drink dairy, try to make these drinks rich in calcium and vitamin D.

Breakfast cereals

The group of cereals would include bread or breakfast cereals like oat flakes, corn or wheat, whole muesli or granola, and without sugar. Its integral version, in addition to being more nutritious, provides us with slowly absorbed carbohydrates that give us long-lasting energy. The integral carbohydrate will be satiating and there are many quick ways to consume it, whether in bread, toast, oatmeal, etc.
Cookies and pastries contain added sugar and fats, they are not recommended foods for regular consumption (if you make them at home you can modify the amounts of sugar and fat). Pay attention to the amount of sugar in breakfast cereals, they usually contain added sugar, so choose those that contain less.

Fruit at breakfast

This group is full of vitamins and minerals: the fruit, a true natural pharmacy for sale in greengrocers. We can take it as a whole piece, sliced, in the form of homemade fruit salad or a smoothie, mixed with other groups, etc. Again, we recommend varying its shape when taking it. Remember that it provides us with fiber, vitamins, minerals, and other antioxidant substances and therefore, regulates intestinal transit and prevents us from cardiovascular diseases.
We should consume 2 or 3 a day, so including one in breakfast helps us cover one of them. You can take it with breakfast or mid-morning.

Healthy fats for breakfast

Foods such as avocado, olive oil, nuts or seeds, or natural nut creams are in the group of healthy fats. They are a source of energy.
Foods such as avocado or olive oil can accompany the bread. Nuts, on the other hand, are perfect to eat alone or with a yogurt or oatmeal bowl.

Protein at breakfast

When we talk about protein, we refer to the inclusion of foods such as eggs, ham, turkey, tuna, sardines, salmon, which goes so well with bread, on the days that I have opted for this version of carbohydrate. It does not always have to be the classic sausage we recommend that you vary this option. You can include eggs in an omelet, scrambled or cooked. Both tuna and canned sardines are rich in salt, so it is better not to include their consumption more than 2 or 3 times a week. The most recommended sausages are cooked ham, turkey, and chicken. Cured ham or stuffed loin can be incorporated, vary these proteins a little, but in moderation.

Vegetables at breakfast?

If you enjoy eating vegetables, do not hesitate to include them in your breakfasts: sliced ​​natural tomato, radish, cucumber, spinach, lettuce, eggplant, pepper, carrot, vegetable pate (hummus, eggplant, beet). In short, any vegetable that you fancy is correct.