ABPT Personal Trainer

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Double slow cookers back at it again 💪

Slow cooker chicken

This is going to seem ridiculous, until you realise the pay offs…

🧠 It reduces my mental load. It’s one less dinner I need to think about this week.

🥦 I don’t have to stress about the details. I’ve made this meal 100’s of time. I know the macros, the portions, it’s full of vege and my family will eat it ✨

🕰️ I don’t have to be in the kitchen at 4pm tonight or tomorrow 😉. This means I have 2 extra hours free this week.

Tomorrow when I take my youngest to guitar, I know I don’t have to cook dinner when I walk in the door - it’s already done.

🧽 I don’t have dinner dishes to clean up tomorrow.

❤️ Here’s the coolest bit and why so many trainers advocate for meal prep 👇

💰The total cost of one full meal is $31.55
💰Each slow cooker makes 6 portions.
💰Each portion is only $5.20 👈 Less than the cost of a coffee.

You don’t have to do this everyday. But on the days that you have the opportunity, you buy yourself back time, money and sanity.

✨ Keep it simple ✨

The full recipe and macros and in the posts below 😉⬇️

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Will specific shoes help me lift weights?

The answer is sometimes. We always want a strong foundation from the ground up.

But we need to be mindful we’re all different and blanket advice can be confusing at the best of times.

Ideally for lifting weights it’s a flat shoe with a wide toe box. The TYR CTX and the Metcon’s are very popular in the gym community.

If it’s Olympic lifting or Squats a “Lifter” shoe can be helpful. These shoes have a raised heel which creates more favourable levers to allow a person to achieve better depth - this is for people who enjoy technical lifting 🏋️‍♂️

But the questions we should be asking are?

👟 Are you feeling stable in your lifts?
👟 How long have to had your current shoes?
(They might be fine or they could be 10yrs old)
👟 Do you have any on going hip, knee of foot pain?
👟Do you have a history of planter faciitits? Ankle laxity? Or have you ever sought help for foot pain the past?
👟What type of weight training are you doing? barbell, dumbbells, machines, skill based barbell?

Everyone’s going to be different.

🦶Some people have tiny feet and shoes increase their “base of stability”.

🦶Some people have MASSIVE feet and phenomenal calf insertions and shoes make very little difference, they’re a sturdy birdy either way.

🦶Some people have connective tissue issues, it doesn’t matter what they try.

These guys may need insoles because it’s not their foot muscles that are the issue, it’s what’s holding them together. Be cool, no one signs up for this stuff. A podiatrist is their best call.

🦶Some people have flat feet or high arches and it affects them, Some people have flat feet or high arches and it doesn’t affect them.

🦶Some people have more strength without shoes. As they can feel their base more effectively.

🫡 Some people are male kiwis … good luck even getting shoes on this section on the population.

🦶Some people just like cool kit. Never underestimate the power of cool kit, for some it’s a confident booster, others it’s their joy and fun ✨

📦 Best advice is to try new shoes, not trying makes it “Schrödinger Shoes” - we wont know until we try stuff out.

Have fun out there guys 💪

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Zambero’s in the sunshine on a Friday 😎

A small lamb burrito with garlic aioli is give or take 560 calories, 22.5g of protein. It sets me back $12.70.

After a week of coaching, getting myself a burrito is one meal I don’t have to make myself, I look forward to it and it’s delicious 🤤

It is nutrient dense, and depending on the extras, the calories are fine, it’s a good amount of protein, and vege.

If a diet is overly restrictive it cannot be maintained long term, knowing the calories allows me to chill and enjoy,

👉 Here’s the kicker with eating out, the calories also depend on if the server likes you.

After many, many years working in hospitality, I can assure you, if you’re a regular and the staff love you, they’re giving you extra toppings.

Extra shots of coffee, upsizing your drink, extra caramel, extra fries, extra garlic aioli. Everyone does it.

This is going to make the calories inconsistent.

Always remember 80/20. 80% of the time, sensible choices. When you make it yourself, you know what’s in it. 20% of the time chill.

❤️ Extra warning for the charming, salt of the earth, kind and chatty individuals that everyone in hospitality loves.

👉 IF you have a goal, you might want to tell your sever no extras. It’ll break their heart, but if they love you, good chance they gave you extra cause you make their day

(Or not ❤️ sometimes the most sacred bond, is the bond with your barista ☕️)

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Eeee, some days if you’re really, really lucky you get a client like Paris 🥰

If I’m doing my job effectively as a personal trainer. You shouldn’t have to think, you just get to do.

Paris is a nurse, she spends her days and nights helping people at the hospital.

Personal training is Paris’ hour. I’ve done all the planning, everything’s set up, I count the reps, time the rests, track the progressions, pack away the weights, hand you your water.

I get you through all your mobility/warm up, all your weights (every rep), I make sure all your stretching is done.

✨Start on time, finish on time, educate along the way, make sure you’re having a laugh as we go ✨

✨That’s my job, that’s what the personal training is

Paris gets to de-stress, switch off and train 💪

Most of my client base have high empathy people facing roles. Personal training is their hour where it’s about them, instead of about everyone else.

✨They get to fill their cup back up, so they can go back out and do it all again ✨

I always look forward to training Paris, work ethic for days!!! 🙌✨

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Kelly is such a cool example of what happens when you’re consistent over the decades.

Kelly has had her 3 babies, she trains because it’s a joy for her, and what she puts in she gets back 10 fold.

If you’re consistent over the years, you get the keep it. All of your strength, all of your muscles. They’re yours to keep 🙌

Moving into her mid 40’s its about making it more specific and making sure Kelly’s fuelling her body and taking rest days.

I give Kelly solid foundational strength training, then Kelly gets to continue having her fun in the group fitness room.

An absolute joy to train 💪

Not here to move feathers 😏

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Meal prep done ✅

Double slow cooker night 💪

Working with the 2 slow cookers, I was able to batch cook 12 portions 🙌

For a family of 4, that’s 2 nights worth of dinners for everyone and lunch for everyone the next day.

Don’t forget as parents how much you do…

Not only are we …

🧠 Thinking about the nutritional choices for the family as a unit, catering to allergies and preferences.
🛒 We then have to buy the week’s worth of food.
🧑‍🍳 Cook all the meals.
🧽 Clean up after all the meals.
😅 Teach our babies to cook/clean up while we’re at it.

🧐 Meal prepping as an individual its roughly 21 meals and 14 snacks to think about each week.

😳 As a mum with a family of 4 this can go up to 84 meals per week and 56 snacks per week as a minimum, met with resistance 😂

👉 Keep it simple.

✨ Save fancy for when you have time for fancy.

💪 If you’re wondering why it’s hard, it’s because it is. You’re doing great.

🍌 Never feel bad about the banana for crunch and sip, there’s 55 other opportunities to re-visit it this week 😂

You guys are doing great!
Keep going 💪

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This recipe is originally from Elli Tamar | Easy Recipes it fast became a staple and it’s been in my regular rotation for years.

👩‍🍳 Slow cooker chicken

Each batch gets you roughly 6 portions, depending on how quick it goes. Macros are based on serving 6.

Protein 38g | Fat 28g | Carbs 46g | Fibre 9g | Calories 603

Ingredients:

1 x packet of diced chicken breast
1.5 x large zucchinis
1 x punnet of cherry tomatoes
1.5 x brown onions
1 x packet semi dried tomato strips
1 x jar Natures Kitchen Sundried Tomato Pesto
1 x 300ml Light Thickened Cream
1 x packet Vetta Smart Protein Spirals

Method:

• Set slow cooker to high.
• Add diced chicken straight into the slow cooker.
• Finely dice onions and add to the slow cooker.
• Roughly chop zucchini and cherry tomatoes and add to the slow cooker.
• Add cream, pesto, and 3/4 a cup of water to the slow cooker.

🕰️ Leave on high for 3 hours.

After 3 hours, add the pasta to the slow cooker and mix in, leave for another hour.

Serve and eat! 🙌

⚡️Pro tip 1: Buy diced chicken breast and sun-dried tomato strips to save on time.

⚡️Pro tip 2: Buy a second slow cooker. If everyone is eating your meal prep. Buying a second slow cooker isn’t actually that insane. This method means, dinner is done for today, and tomorrow and Callum and I still have lunch the following day 😎.

🏆 Bonus points: if you have extra spinach in your fridge you can also mix this in just before serving.

✨Enjoy✨

Aimee 😉💪

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Breakfast Smoothie

When supporting exercise/training we need to give the body building blocks to perform the workouts and also recover from them.

Ideally over any personal training we want to slowly improve the quality of a persons diet.

This recipe is an example of how to improve the quality of a persons diet by adding in additional vegetables.

🫘 The beans increase the fibre to help a person feel fuller for longer and also helps to reduce cholesterol for heart health.

👩‍🍳 Chocolate Breakfast Smoothie

1 x banana
1 x cup of hilo milk
30g of chocolate protein powder
1/2 a cup kidney beans (rinsed)
1 x heaped tablespoon of cocoa powder
1 x teaspoon peanut butter

Protein 42g | Fats 12g | Carbs 62g | Fibre 10g - total calories 523

🤓 From a nutritional point of view we have …

A serve of fruit
A serve of calcium
A serve of vegetables
A serve of fat (remember we need fat in our diets to absorb vitamins A, D and E)
40% of your RDI of fibre

The kidney beans can be switched out for black beans or chick peas depending on preference. I just prefer the kidney beans as the high folate in them makes my hair shiny.

Pro tip 1: cocoa covers the taste of everything, you can’t actually taste the kidney beans.

Pro tip 2: Ideally weigh your peanut butter or add it with a teaspoon. Peanut butter is as delicious as it is calorie dense 👀

Have a go 💪
Aimee 😉