Lauren Brooks Fitness

First I want to thank everyone for all their positive thoughts, prayers, phone calls, emails, and so on. I never realized how many people I have around me that would help me out in need. So thank you! The good news is Ben is out of the hospital and home. He is still in pain but slowly recovering back to his old self. He has been on a liquid diet and will be moving to soft foods shortly. After almost 3 weeks of waiting patiently to get the results of the camera test, we find that the video camera NEVER left his stomach during the test. When I found this out my jaw dropped and could not believe it. Supposedly this happens to 15% of the people. I was angry because it took them 3 weeks to tell us this. He now has to redo the test in a week. This time instead of swallowing the camera they are going to place it passed his stomach so this does not happen again. So hopefully they will find some kind of answer for these horrible episodes. Poor guy has been through way too much! Tomorrow w...

LIfe has been one heck of a rollercoaster this past week. Ben had to be carried away in an ambulance and is now staying in the hospital. Still no word about the camera test results. I am so angry with the ambulance. They took 15 minutes longer to get to the hospital than I did. But that is a whole other story that I can go on with. IDIOTS is all I can say. We are also only 5 minutes away from the hospital. The stupid driver got lost! AND on top of that when I got to the emergency room the people at the front had no idea that my husband was even coming in. They said, "Are you sure they are taking him to THIS hospital?" I was about to collapse from being so upset. And on top of that having to rush out of the house to kiss my baby g'bye in a panic. Thank god Ben's cousin lives right around the corner and was able to come over immediately. I will write on this more later. I am going to go back in to the hospital now. Once things settle down I will continue to blog. But ...

Yesterday my husband swallowed a pill with an extremely small wireless video camera inside it. He had to wear a pack around him with wires that made him look like a bomber for 8 hours. This pack held a special tape to record from the wireless video camera passing through his body. Technology is absolutely amazing these days. Why did he do this you ask? Well the past 2 years I have had to rush him to the emergency room at random times due to EXTREME and unbearable abdominal pain. He has had every test done to figure out what is causing this pain. From blood work, CT scans, Endoscopic Ultrasounds, Endoscopies, Colonoscopy, you name it. Still no diagnosis! I have even tried taking out certain foods and still nothing has been consistent of why this happens. How frustrating can this be? It all started almost 2 years ago when we took a family trip to Hawaii. His entire family got sick towards the end of the trip one by one with vomiting and diarrhea. Fortunately I did not get it. Ev...

I have been flucuating on my body fat scale this past week. Getting a bit frustrated, I have been averaging about a 21.6% body fat. I consider this way too high for my own personal standards. My weight of 115 is great, but the body fat is telling me I need to start working a bit harder. BUT I have a big question running in my mind.  Does breastfeeding hold on to that last bit of fat I am trying to shed? I am fitting in to all my pre pregnancy clothes but I want my super lean look back! Most people say breastfeeding helps you lose weight. Which initially I agree with. I am definitely not trying to make excuses, but I think nursing causes you to hold on to a certain amount of fat. Back in the days in order for the baby to survive when the food was scarce, I believe the mother was designed to hold on to a certain amount of fat, to make sure milk could still be produced for the survival of the baby. I have spoken to many many women who breastfed and said they dropped about...

Absolutely! No matter how great of a trainer you are you can always learn from having a trainer yourself. If you are in the training business, you will know it is hard to find the time and motivation to train yourself after training people all day long. Even if you just get 2 or 3 sessions here and there from a respectable trainer it will drive your motivation back up and help you revamp your own training. After I had my baby I luckily was able to lose all my weight by 6 weeks with plain old nutrition. After I got the clearance to start working out at 6 weeks I slowly started working out again. It was very humbling going in to a gym and lifting 50% of what I use to lift. My goal was to put some muscle back on and get my strength back. I managed to gain a little strength back but I wanted something more. It was hard to juggle my time with my daughter and working again. I needed an appointment with someone and did not want to think for once. So after some thought I decided to get ...

This morning I decided to invite a couple friends over to do a little workout in my backyard. Some of them have been asking me to show them how to do kettlebells so I though this would be fun. It was 6 of us total and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. I had some good music going and the sun came out for a little while. Since I was lacking equipment I put together a circuit for 6 and everyone was winded by the end. Most of the group was new to kettlebells so I kept it as simple as possible Warmed up with Good Mornings and Light Swings 1 minute on 1 minute off 3 sets in this order Kettlebell Tricep Push-ups Medicine Ball Twists No handed TGU's Clean and Squat Skateboard Back Lunges (Yoana Snideman taught me these) They are AMAZING!! Swings Stretched

It's been 2 and a 1/2 months now since I have had my baby. Now that I am feeling myself again I felt the need to share an activity with my husband other than watching tv, eating, and taking care of our baby. We took walks together with the stroller, but that got old pretty fast. Since my husband prefers sports I had to think of something we can do together. I don't think he would have much fun if we played basketball together, since he is really good. So I have convinced my husband to start playing tennis with me. Neither of us are very good, but it's something that the two of us can share together. And when we travel it's something you can do all over the world. I don't know how many times I hear complaints from different people that they don't do any activities with their spouse or significant other, except eat and watch tv. I feel every relationship should try and share something together that they can do outside. Since my husband and I have such differ...

My workouts have been pretty sporadic these past couple days. That is why I have not been posting. Here is my short workout I did today. Very simple but my shoulders were shaking at the end. All done with 26 pounder kettlebells Suitcase Deadlift 12 x 3 KB Push Ups 10 x 3 (barely made it to 10) Snatches 10 on each side x 3 (feeling the forearms swell) Rest and repeated 3 times. Pretty tired after that but I managed to get through this next sequence. Baby started crying towards the end so I did not get a chance to do more. Squat and Press 5 on each side x 3 Swings 20 x 3 Now I can empathize with my clients about how the forearms get a bit tender. I guess I am just not use to having the kettlebell rest on my arm like that. I remember I built up a little tolerance several years ago. So I guess I have to do that again. Even though I felt my form was better than average. I do feel stronger. I can now use the 12kg with most of the exercises ...

Today I did a workout with my friend Carolyn outside in front of her house. She has become so strong over this past year. She was doing snatches with the 20kg. I was very impressed. Of course I stuck with my 8kg throughout the workout, except for the Renegade Rows. But I did it with a smile. 8-) Here is the workout Warm Up Sling shot both directions 1 minute Two Handed Swings 1 minute 1. Push Ups on Kettlebells 4 seconds down on the negative 4 times Swing, Catch, Squats 10 times 3 SETS 2. 5 presses to 5 back lunges on each side Renegade Rows 3 times Burpees 1 minute ( only made it for 45 seconds) 3 SETS 3. Alternating Snatches for 1 minute Janda Sit-Ups

Today is Lyla's 2 month birthday. I can't believe it has already been 2 months. She is getting so big. I'm even starting to feel like a real person again. Here is my quick workout that I did today. KB Push-ups 6 x 3 Lat Pull down 60lb 8 x 3 Single Front Squat 26lb 5 x 3 each side 1 minute rest at the end and repeated 3 times Hanging Leg Raises 15 x 2 Windmill 26lb 2 x 2 Waiter Walk 26lb 30sec x 2 Repeated 2 times Plank Hold 60 seconds (core was already tired from hanging leg raises, so barely made it for this one) Stretched

Well I managed to get a workout in while my baby sat peacefully in her chair. It was amazing. I am so happy she is letting me put her down a bit more without crying. And i actually got 6 hours of sleep last night. What a record. She probably thinks her mom is crazy swinging this weird thing around. So lucky to have found kettlebells. I don't know what I would do without them. Went through the sequence without stopping and rested after the last exercise for about a minute. I repeated 3 times for each sequence. A. Turkish Get Up 18lb 2 reps each side Clean &  Press 18lb 6 reps each side Alt Tactical Lunge 18lb 10 reps on each side B. Renegade Rows 26lb Alternating 5 on each side 2 Handed Swings 26lb 20 reps Snatches 18lb 10 reps each side (first time doing this since having baby) I feel pretty good. This was quite challenging for me. Turkish get ups are starting to feel better since the C-section.  Renegade Rows are stil...

I have been much more strict with my eating this week. I already notice a huge difference in how I feel. Some of my staple snacks are green apples and almond butter, grass fed whey protein shake w/ flaxseed oil, hardboiled eggs, and raw nuts. Trying to eliminate simple sugars all together. It can be very tough when you are always hungry and constantly snacking. While breastfeeding you also tend to feel that you never have enough food. I've really been able to track my eating very well with this great online nutrition tracker. It's free to use and very helpful. Thedailyplate.com is what I've been using. I know there are others out there but this one seems to track the foods the easiest with a good amount of detail. My workout yesterday for 3/19 was raised up a couple notches. Already feeling like my strength is coming back. Every thing below were Supersets. I am feeling a bit sore in my legs and upper back. Nothing too bad. 1.Leg Press 90lb 10 x 3 ...

Thought I would try to step it up and use the 25 pounder for some of the exercises. I was surprised that I actually was able to do it for some of them. We'll see how I feel tomorrow. As of now I feel good. 1. Turkish Get UP's with an 18lber 3 x 2 Squat to Press with 25lber 5 L and 5 R x 2 2. All with 25lb Kettlebell Push Ups 5 x 2 Renegade Rows 3 x 2 (felt the area of my C-section so kept the reps low) Swings 30 x 2 3. Brisk walk up and down hills with stroller for 30 minutes Thank you for your interest in our cutting edge fitness programs and information. To be apart of Lauren’s unique and motivating online gym experience; sign up here for our virtual gym, Lauren’s Playground , while registration is open! Lauren’s Playground will be open for registration at the end of January 2020! If you’re brand new to kettlebell fitness, access our FREE Kettlebell Swing online class here to get your fitness journey starte...

Today I did a nice little kettlebell workout in my backyard. It felt really good to get back in to it. I was very shakey because it has been so long. Keeping it short was best for me so I can work on keeping good form without getting too fatigued. Right now just trying to focus on getting my basic strength back. I repeated each sequence twice. Windmill 18lb 3 TGU 18lb 2 (challenging, use to be able to do it with 35lb kettlebell) Double Suitcase Deadlift 2 26lb 10 Kettlebell Push-ups 5 Swings 18lb 20 Single Front Squat 18lb 5L and 5R Walked 2 miles with the stroller up and down hills.

Since this is only my second weight lifting workout it is very similar to Saturday's workout. My abs were a little bit sore from my snowboard session, but otherwise I felt wonderful. I plan on doing kettlebells for tomorrow's workout. 1. Leg Press 50lb 12x3 Assisted Pull Up -90 10x2 2. Leg Extension 35lb 10x2 Leg Curls 40lb 10x2 3. Tricep Pull Down 30lb 10 x 3 Bicep Curls 12.5 10 x 3 4. Windmills 18lb 3x2 Flys 12.5lb 10x2 5. Back Extension 5lb 15 x 2 Ball Crunches 15 x 2 Plank 60 second hold I did not take any rest in between sets except to drink water. I finished the workout with a slow paced jog for 1 mile and stretching.

I decided since it was okay by my doctor to exercise why not try and get a day of snowboarding in. Being in San Diego I am very lucky. I am only a 2.5 hour drive to the local mountains. It was sunny, hot, and absolutely beautiful in Big Bear. Not much snow, but I just wanted to test my body to see how I did. I have to say it felt absolutely amazing to be snowboarding again. I even tried hititng some jumps in the snowboard park. I only went for 2 hours because it's hard to be away from my little girl for more than a certain amount of time at this stage.

It's been about 6 weeks since giving birth to my little girl via C-section. I have just got clearance to start lifting weights. As excited as I am to get back in to the gym I know I have a long long LONG way ahead of me. Before I got pregnant I was relatively strong for my size. I was able to easily press and squat two 25 pound kettlebells at the same time. I was also able to do pistols (one legged squats), pull-ups, and swing heavy kettlebells. After 9 months of being pregnant, 6 weeks of recovering from a C-section, and little to no sleep I am very deconditioned. I tried pressing an 18 pound kettlebell and my shoulder was actually shakey. Before I got pregnant I could press that weight in my sleep and hold it over my head for many minutes. So that is just one example of where I am starting from. I decided because I have lost so much strength, muscle, and mobility to start back with a variety of traditional weights, machines,kettlebells, and snowboarding. This workout...