Lauren Brooks Fitness

For those who know me I don't spend a whole lot of time in the kitchen. This banana bread is THAT good that I wanted to share it with everyone. Yesterday was Ben's birthday and I wanted to make him a cake that we could both eat without feeling too guilty. Guilty meaning no stomach pains and bloating afterwards. This banana bread / cake is made with Almond Flour. Here are the ingredients. I found this on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet website but used less honey, more bananas, and added spices to make it a little healthier and tastier. Here is the recipe. 3 cups of Almond Flour 1/3 cup of honey 3 eggs 2-3 very ripe bananas 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar 1/2 tsp of cinnamon and nutmeg Smash Bananas or put in a food processor. Mix all ingredients together unti smooth. Pour in a loaf pan and bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes depending on your oven. If you pour in 3 mini loaf pans (which I did) then bake for only 40 minutes. It was moist and sweet. I...

What do you choose??? Well if I have a choice I will choose the nice ass! As all you kettlebellers know, swinging those bells can really roughen up the hands with ugly calluses. I have several people including myself that every now and again get bothered by it. I have never been one to spend time making my hands look really pretty in the first place. With the work I do they would be ruined in one day, so I don't even bother too much. So this is a message for those ladies who let the calluses stop you from swinging kettlebells and doing pull-ups. One of the affects that kettlebell swings have on the body is a very strong nice butt! Tracy Reifkind, the swing master, is the woman to talk to if you have a question on swings and hand care! She is a perfect example of what the swings can do to your body. Suck it up because the rewards are worth it!!!! On another note, today was an awesome class. It rained outside during the class but my husband and I managed to put a tarp o...

I wanted to wait until her 8th month birthday but I am bursting with love so I felt like expressing it today. As I write this blog she is crawling all over me trying to press all the buttons. Life is sooo different right now. Everything I have she wants to put in her mouth. It is very funny! It is amazing how life changes so much as a new parent. I am so lucky to have the career I have. I am able to be with her most of the day. I don't know how I would have continued to breastfeed if I had a different schedule. I will say that priorities change big time. I don't get the personal time to myself like I use to. Especially big windows to do long workouts. When you see the schedule below you will have an idea why. This does not include diaper changing, bath time, play time, etc... This probably wont interest you unless you are a parent or an expecting parent! A typical day of feeding Lyla. I have had to add some extra nursing times because I was starting to lose my m...

Lately I have been having many more women show up to the classes. To be honest with you, I think that the girls overall are tougher than the boys! I'm sure you guys know that though. Today it was a mix of beginners, intermediate and advanced kbellers. So it gave the advanced people a chance to go heavier than they are use to safely. Here is the workout. I took a couple pictures to give you an idea of what it looked like. Warmed up with Joint Mobility Body Weight Squats 15 x 3 Windmills 3 x 3 Low Swings 15 sec Medium Swings 15 sec Alternating Swing 30 sec Medium Swings 15 sec Low Swings 15 sec Rest for 1 minute and Repeat 2 times Circuit 30 seconds on 30 seconds off with a partner Kettlebell Tricep Pushups Alternating Step Ups Double Clean, Squat, and Press Knee Tucks on skateboard Alternating Snatches Ring Rows Repeat 3 times Finished with a Plank Hold and Stretched! Another gorgeous day!

Here are sompe photos of yesterdays class. We had lots of fun because it was a partner circuit class. Each station was either a kettlebell exercise, a ring exercise, bosu, or bodyweight. The rings were probably the most challenging part for some. Thanks to Greg Everett for suggesting me to get them, I am having the most fun with them. They are brutal though. I love it! Some of the exercises we did in the partner circuit were Snatches, Swings, Double Clean and Press, Bosu Pushup Burpees, modified pull ups with rings, Turkish Get Ups, and more.... The weather was beautiful this week.

Still on very little sleep due to coughing. But I couldn't get it out of my head that I wanted to try to snatch the 20kg. Even at my strongest when I was weighing 117 pounds right before my pregnancy I have never tried this. This morning my weight was 110 so I thought for sure my strength would be compromised. I pretty much did the same workout as yesterday, which is posted on the previous post. After I was fatigued from my workout, I was impatient and wanted to try it already. So I picked up the bell and my heart started racing. The last thing I want to do is hurt myself. But I went for it and then did it again. Now I am really fatigued, but wanted to do it one more time just to get it on video. I am very shakey at this point as you can tell in the clip. Next time I'll get a video at the beginning of the workout when feeling fresh.

The past several weeks I have been surrounded by 2 friends with Bronchitis and a client getting over Bronchitis. I have been lucky to have a great immune system and normally don't get sick. If I am not sleeping very well, I am bound to lower my immune system, no matter how healthy I am eating. So with that being said, I picked up a nasty cough and have been fighting it for over a week. This bronchial cough has taken even more sleep away from me. It has been hard to find the energy for a good workout. It has also been disgustingly hot here in San Diego, and I don't have air conditioning! Today I made myself do a 30 minute workout. I kept the reps low but the weight high. Warm Up Set 1 Pistols holding 8lb medicine ball 1/1 One arm Push-ups on 18 inch box 3/3 Turkish Get Up 16kg 2/2 Snatches 12kg 15/15 Rested 90 seconds Set 2 Pistols with 8lb medicine ball 2/2 1 arm Push-ups on 18inch box 3/3 Turkish Get Up...