Lauren Brooks Fitness

As many of you know I design nutrition programs for people all over the country. I rarely get the privilege to design Vegan programs. My client Sandra, who lives in Wisconsin, is a dedicated vegan and very motivated to have a clean vegan program planned out for her. I did quite a bit of research and even had several vegan meals myself this week to see how it feels. I have to give people who are vegan tons of credit. It's hard enough to eat extremely healthy when you can eat animal products. But to take out eggs, chicken, fish, and dairy is much more of a challenge. Eggs, chicken and organic grass fed whey protein are huge staples of mine. But I will be thinking twice after testing the waters on the vegan side this week. Unfortunately many vegan eaters live off of soy and wheat products such as processed fake meats made of tofu, soy, wheat, gluten, and lots of sodium. So to have a healthy program as a vegan you can be quite limited to your food choices. My view of a health...

Lyla has developed so many amazing milestones in the last 3-5 months. She went from crawling to walking, she is now saying so many words and repeating us, and is just the cutest most affectionate little girl. It's so weird when I actually sit down and think about her how emotional I get. She means the absolute world to me and it's so hard for me to imagine that I can ever love any child as much as her. I almost feel bad for the baby inside me because I am so in love with Lyla. I have talked to several moms and I guess this is a common feeling. But once the next baby comes you fall in love all over again. Which is so hard to imagine for me because my heart is filled with my Lyla. 11 Weeks Pregnant and my Kettlebell Workout (will provide a picture soon) So all the morning sickness talk was not even morning sickness. It turns out I had Salmonella poisoning. The baby and I are fine but it was not a fun week. I lost over 8 pounds that week and was so depleted. I have now g...

Workoutmommy.com did an interview with me regarding kettlebells, fitness, nutrition, while being a mom. This is a wonderful site dedicated to inspiring moms to be fit and healthy. Just up my alley. If you are a mom or a husband, son, or daughter trying to encourage the woman you love to get moving check out this site. Click on this link to see it. One fit mommy and her kettlebell: Lauren Brooks

I'm excited to announce that my kettlebell/ exercise DVD is finally available.  This is the project I have been working on for so long.  Above is a video clip of the highlights.   This DVD Features 15 basic Kettlebell and Body Weight exercises deomonstrated step by step even for the complete beginner. Follow along Fat Blast Workout - Low to Medium Intensity. 12-14 minutes long and can be repeated twice if you are ready.  Follow along Sculpt and Conditioning Workout - Medium to High Intensity. 40 minutes of intensity Joint Mobility section for warm up and cool down. Designed to get you in tip top shape no matter what your fitness background is. Especially great for moms trying to shed that baby weight and get in better shape than before their pregnancy. DVD is over 80 minutes long of step by step instruction. Motivating music in the Follow Along workout sections and Joint Mobility section For more information you can go to my website at www.ontheedgefitness.com . I want to thank my ...

You wont want to miss this workshop. Lisa and Lauren have teamed up to design a special total body sculpting workshop just for women. Space is limited and this workshop may never be done again.  Spend just 5 hours with us and we will give you the tools and techniques you need to sculpt and tone your body in record time. This is a very unique workshop designed just for women by women. This workshop has never been done before and it may never be done again. To find out more details and what we will cover follow this link  here . Reserve your spot right now at http://www.ontheedgefitness.com /   In addition you will receive Lisa and Lauren's DVD at the workshop. For more info about Lisa's DVD you can check it out here More info about Lauren's DVD click here .

(This was written last Thursday) I have not been able to get yesterday’s occurrence out of my mind. Writing my thoughts and feelings down is such therapy for me. Whether I will post this or not at least I will get it on paper. At this moment in time I am sitting on a plane, on my way to the Level 2 RKC in Minnesota, without my daughter for the first time ever. Yesterday started off as a normal wonderful day. Ben and I have been waiting anxiously for our doctor's appointment that will allow us to see the first glimpse of the baby inside me. That’s right everybody I am pregnant again. Almost 7 weeks. I am normally one to wait and share the news until after the first trimester, but this story would not be the same if I left that part out. Anyone who has had kids will know that the first appointment is the most extensive. They do a full physical, then you have an ultrasound that can be a bit uncomfortable, and then you get lots of blood drawn for various tests. I had been throug...

First I want to thank everyone for such a great weekend. I had an awesome time meeting so many wonderful people. It's just so nice to get together with a group of people that love kettlebells as much as you do. I wish I took more pictures but unfortunately I was pretty sick for the most of the workshop. I some how managed to pull through and pass, but my face was a little green. More details of why I was vomiting and sick to my stomach for most of the trip to follow. Fawn was so nice to have a bbq at her house on Friday night. I got a chance to hang out with Tracy and RIf (such a great couple), Fawn and Aaron, Kettlebell Kate, Christine (my new friend from New Jersey), Taikei who came all the way from Japan, and some of Fawn's friends. Thanks again everyone for a great evening. Seeing Lyla after not seeing her for 4 days was the best feeling in the world. It's definitely nice to be back. But unfortunately I am still pretty sick and have been in bed most of the time....

I would like to share this with all the new and old mom's out there. Here is an article I wrote for www.liftkettlebells.com . Click this link to read it. Kettlebells for women with children Hope you all enjoy it!

Last week we went to Mammoth. Since it was late in the season we were able to get a fantastic deal on an amazing ski in ski out condo on the mountain side. This is the nicest accomodations I have ever had in Mammoth. We shared a 2 bed/2 bath condo with good friends of ours and their little 11 month old. This worked out so nicely because we took turns snowboarding and watching each other's kids. When we arrived I could not believe the beauty of this place. I have been to Mammoth about 10 times in my life and I never get tired of the surroundings. Anyone who has kids knows how stressful packing is. You have 5 times more stuff than you ever did in your life. Extra toys, bottles, portable crib, stroller, humidifier, diapers, etc.... Our 3 day trip looked like we were going away for a month. We packed the car up to it's maximum capacity. Good thing we drove because there was no way we could bring all of this stuff and fly somewhere. Anyway, I left in a frantic, because I had ...

So that last 2 days I have been making the most delicious fresh juice I have ever had. You would never believe that there is no added sugar. I was feeling really sluggish this past week, due to hormones, and all that fun women stuff. I wanted to start the day off with something a little different. My body doesn't always do well on caffeine, especially when I feel it needs it the most. I crash hard and I am left feeling worse. Here is the Carrot and Ginger Juice Recipe 6-7 Organic Carrots 2 Oranges (right from my back yard) 1 inch of Ginger ( I love ginger so I put in a little more) I peeled the oranges so the white part was still on. I also peeled the ginger as well. I also tried it without the oranges if you are worried about sugar content. It still tasted awesome!! And Voila! A beautiful looking juice that taste extraordinary. You can tell I'm excited. I don't get excited by too many things, but I felt great after drinking this first thing in the morni...

I know I haven't been blogging lately. Time just has not been on my side. With my projects I have underway, training clients, spending precious moments with my growing daughter, and keeping my husband out of the hospital I would say I have my hands full. So sitting down here at the computer is a luxury. I will try and recap as much as possible in the most condensed way. February started out very rocky. Ben had to be rushed to the hospital for his attack on his stomach. This was one of the worst episodes. He had to be wheeled in because he couldn't walk and was almost passing out from pain. The ER was very slow about everything as always and told him they would see him as soon as they could. 2 and half hours later, you would think he was almost dead, they finally got him the medication to give him relief. Then they sent him home several hours later because there is nothing more they can do. I also had to take care of Lyla in the ER while watching this nightmare happen. I th...

Here is yesterdays workout which I think of more of a practice. Warmed up with Joint Mobility 5 minutes and 2 minutes of Swings 12kg Did the following exercises 3 times. Pull Ups 3 , 4 , 3 Pistols 2 , 3, 1 per side Bent Press 12kg 3, 3 , 3 per side C & J 12kg 8, 8 , 6 per side Then I finished off with Snatches for 3 minutes with the 12kg total of 73 snatches. I don't usually train high reps so I was surprised how nice those 3 minutes felt. I paced myself at around 24 snatches a minute. I'm not training for any thing but I wanted to see how I would feel with that length of time. Maybe I'll try 4 minutes today. Morning weight is 108. Been eating 5-6 times a day. Here is what I ate yesterday. Not typical since it's a Saturday and I had time to have some lunch by the beach. Couple of people ask me from time to time if I am eating. I think I eat a good amount of food. I ha...

The answer is no! Money is really what drives the decisions of the FDA. It's such a shame because who do we trust if we can't trust the FDA? If you have not heard, the FDA feels that meat and milk are safe from CLONED animals. I am not a vegetarian by any means, but if this is hidden from the population, I will be forced to be a vegan. This problem could hurt our kids more than anything. Since this is the cheaper way, restaurants probably wont need to put this on the menu either. Another reason why you need to be even more careful with going out to eat. America is making it harder and harder for the population to eat clean, pure and healthy foods. If you click below you can sign a very fast petition to allow the consumers to know if the meat is cloned or not. This will effect everyone. Thank you in advanced for supporting the health of ourselves and children. http://cu.convio.net/labelclonedfood Does anyone else feel as strongly about this as I do?  Or could I be over...

I don't really know much about Exercise TV but some how I was nominated to be in the running for Top Trainer.  Believe it or not I am in 2nd place as of now.  It would be great to see a kettlebell trainer to be in first place.  I have never competed in anything before so just thought I would put it out there and ask you all who have benefited from my services or advice to take a minute and vote.  I thank you in advance for supporting your fellow kettlebell instructor.  Just click the picture above to vote! Thanks to all who have already voted!!!

I can't believe my baby is 1. This year flew by and I survived. For some reason I'm very emotional right now, which doesn't happen to me very often. As a nursing mom I have never spent one day away from her. I didn't think I would be this attached. I have watched her grow from this little infant to a baby that interacts with me and says things like "wow" and "hi". Watching her every move just amazes me. From seeing her feed herself the little pieces of food I put on her tray, to pulling herself up on anything she can find, and talking to her stuffed animals in the morning. It all melts my heart. I fell in love the second I met her. These pictures are really for me to look back on. Starting from the first day she was born. He's absolutely head over heels in love! Just born. I am in awe here. She's not even 2 hours old. 1 month old More pictures to come when I have more time. Of course Lyla is eating a Gluten free sugar fr...

This article came out this past June.  Not to scare any of you parents but it is good to be aware how much narcotics can influence breast milk.  This is a rare case, but a full term healthy baby actually died from the high concentrations of narcotics in the mothers breast milk.  She was just taking the prescribed dose of what the doctors gave her.  She ended up taking half of the dose 2 days later due to constipation.  Here is the article you can read for yourself. CODEINE LINKED TO BREASTFEEDING DANGER from National Review of Medicine Just wanted everyone to be aware! On a happier note my baby is turning 1 tomorrow! This year has been incredible. My workout yesterday Push Ups 30 seconds Body Weight Squats 30 seconds Swings 12kg 30 seconds Pull Ups 4 Pistol 1 / 1 Repeat 3 times Snatches 12 kg 2 min

I have now been through 2 C-sections since writing this blog post and thankfully I've recovered beautifully from both with the appropriate progressions. For those who are new and are just finding me. WELCOME! First let me say I did NOT want a C-section. I did everything in my power to avoid the first and even the second. I'm a kettlebell fitness strength and conditioning coach who relies on her body to share, teach, educate, and I was under the impression that having to give birth via C-section would and could destroy my body and career. Boy was I wrong! If you're feeing the same way, start by reading this article I wrote many years ago that still applies today! Many people have asked and here is part of my experience.  I don't claim to be a medical expert but not only have I successfully healed my C-section, my abdominals are no longer numb, and I've successfully helped others who've had multiple C-sections (even some 20 years ago) find their core aga...

I enjoy sometimes when life has settled down and there is no big news to discuss. The big family holidays are over and things are mellow.   I have been in a super laid back mood since I got back from Marin County. Going with the laid back theme I have kept my workouts as such. Very short ones as usual.  Here are a couple ones I have done in the last several days. One I got from Ross's training book Never Gymless. Workout 1 (feeling lethargic so eased back in to this first workout on the cardio part) Swings    8kg      50 reps    Suitcase Deadlift  2 24kg's  6 reps Swings 12kg    50 reps Suitcase Deadlift  2  24kg's  6 reps Swings 16kg   40 reps Suitcase DL   2 24kg's 6 reps Snatches 12kg   10 per side Presses  12kg   6 per side and repeated 2 times Rehab for my TVA .  Still feeling C-section pains and that the muscles are not working correctly. ( I wi...

I'm all all fired up this morning because I am headed to the mountains this evening. That's right, it's snowboard season.  This is what I use to LIVE for. If I didn't have a baby right now I would have hit the slopes the second the mountain opened. Ben and I will be going up there with Lyla. So we will have to take turns taking runs. So with all my excited energy I wanted to get in a quickie workout before getting in the car heading to slopes. Here it goes! 2 Handed Swings 12kg 40x Alternating Swings 12kg 42x Double Cleans 12kg's  10x Dead Double Cleans 12kg's 10x (tough) High Pull Catch and Squat with a Burpee  12kg 10x  High Pull Catch and Squat with a Burpee 12kg  10x Double Snatches  8kg's  15x Double Snatches 8kg's   18x 1 Arm Push ups  2 per side Ab wheel roll out  10x 1 Arm Push ups 2 per side Ab wheel roll out  10x Stretches with baby and done!   Last season I ...

After my 3 mile walk/jog one of my girlfriends came over to check out my new little garage gym. My friend and I were playing around with the pull up bar like we were kids. I was also pushing Lyla around in the little radio flyer wagon in between messing around with pistols and swinging on the bar. I then wanted to try a one arm push up. I decided, what the heck, let me give it a whirl and fall flat on my face. Well surprisingly I did it! Then I did it again and then on the other side!  Woo hooo.  Hmmmm how did this happen since I haven't really trained for one arm push ups??  My guess is tension or lots and lots of stress built up. I have been practicing pistols and pull ups for the past 2 weeks, which both require tons of tension.  I just used the same breathing and tension technique to the push up and I actually did it. There was definitely some snap, crackle, and pops going on.   Strength works in mysterious ways sometimes.  I strongly feel that the mind can take over and provid...