November 2015 | Pre Natal and Post Natal Fitness

3 for £10…yumminess

yumminess chicken image

Having a husband who pops to Waitrose on a Saturday morning post gym, is great! He grabs his coffee, a 3 for £10 meat deal and presents them to me. We have 3 chickens! Yay!

…. Now… What to do differently with 3 whole chickens, in a family where dds latest whinge is… “… But we always have chicken..!” and do proclaims… “I hate chicken!”

So… One roasted for a Saturday roast with lots of green veg, one slow cooker with leftover chicken stock, on a bed of cherry tomatoes ND peppers, topped with Cajun spices….. The third?
Well I’ve left it til tonight for this delight…. Out comes the slow cooker again… I’m sooo in love with my slow cooker at the moment…. It’s just a tad small (Xmas list..? ?). So, I squish and squash my whole chicken in. This time remembering to cut off the parsons nose. Add a tablespoon of coconut oil and then rub in turmeric (2 tsp) , cumin seeds (1 tsp) & hot chilli powder (1/2 tsp), add in about 75 ml of water, a handful of raisins and whole almonds. Pop the lid on and set to auto. Breathe…..

Go to the chiropractor (bliss, but thought he’d pulled my actual arm off!), pop to Waitrose for a coffee and pick up pizza & gluten free pizza as visiting friends, pick up kids from school, go to friends, get kids faces painted, feed kids pizza, go swimming, come home, feed kids post swim pudding. Phew!

Open my new found love and inhale the deliciousness of my creation. Prod it. Decide it’s cooked. Yay! Attempt 3-4 photos, before the one above….. Now…. To wait til kids are in bed and devour…. Serve with leafy greens or broccoli…. Breathe and relax….

Squats and the wibbly knee

So you’re trying to achieve the perfect squats. Squatting. Heavy….for a girl.

You have the bar in place, you have the plates loaded. You breathe in as you go down, brace your core, nearly get there…..and your knee caves in. Damn that knee. You Nearly had your PB. Again. Sound familiar?

So what causes these imperfect squats and what can you do to correct it?

More prevalent in us girls, we have the problem of wider hips. Wider hips and a larger Q-Angle. Unfortunately, it’s anatomy.

Problems can be exacerbated by weaknesses in hip abductors and external rotators, glutes, hamstrings, ITB tightness, over pronation and also…bad habit!

So how can we start to correct these imperfect squats?

Strengthening and stretching, with a bit of foam roller added in for good measure. Use a mirror. No…not to check your makeup, but to watch your form. Get a massage. No, not a relaxing lovely smelling one, a sports therapy treatment. (Emily Campbell at Priority 6 is great for Oxford locals!)

Work on single leg squats, especially on your weaker side. Start the day with some glute band walks and stretch and roller that tightness out of your ITB. Add in hamstring curls and single leg kettlebells deadlifts.

Start over with your technique. Do a week of squatting technique, low weight. As you come up from your squats, concentrate on exhaling (connecting to that PF) and pushing your knees out.

Get fixed. Get heavy. Get lifting.