Equipment for Hammer and Chisel

Hi there! My name is Christy Kilgore. Personal Trainer, ACE certified Group Fitness Instructor and an online fitness Coach. I just completed 8 weeks of Hammer and Chisel and wanted to share with you some of the  equipment needs you will want to have on hand to be successful completing this program

To feel better prepared to start the Hammer and Chisel program right when it arrives to your front door, it's a good idea to know what kinds of equipment pieces you will need to jump right into it. That way if you needed to go out and purchase additional pieces, you can do that before your package arrives. Right away, I make sure I am ready to journal the whole process. It doesn't have to be an expensive, leather bond journal, just something that will allow you to track your weights and your experiences as you go. It also allows me to write a little testimony each work out about how I felt during the work out and afterwards. At the end of the 8 weeks, I can look back at how I felt in the beginning to how I felt near the end. It's cool to see that progression that maybe you don't see WHILE you're doing it. So your first equipment need would be a journal.

You will be doing LOTS of pull ups. If you don't already have a pull up bar installed in your home gym, or have a door jam pull up bar, you can get by with resistance bands. I got mine at Target. It came with 3 different resistances: light, medium and heavy. As you progress through the series, you may find you want to increase your intensity, so going up on your resistance would be a great option. These are the ones I used for the full 8 weeks. Make sure you have a secure spot to use your resistance bands. If you don't, than consider the bands with door attachment. You want to make sure you're safe and that the bands will not snap and break. My husband attached our bands to our garage door track. He first used duct tape to protect the bands and then secured them on top.
I also used my TRX suspension trainers too, when I could.  There are various ways to effectively complete the pull up movements, even if you do not have the actual pull up bar. Do what works for you and challenges you that is also within your budget. Message me if you need modifications to make your work out work for you.

If you don't already own a bench, you can do some of the movements on a stability ball. Pay close attention to the size of your ball and how that fits your height. You want to ensure you are fitted correctly. Instructions are usually included on the packaging. You will find that using the ball over the bench will actually be a little more challenging in some cases, which is potentially a good thing! You're using more core and stabilizers to hold your position versus a static bench. However, if you don't have the bench, you would just simply do a variation of the movement on the floor instead, for some of the cardio segments that use the bench. Still a great modification.

You will be doing some core work on the floor, so if you don't already down a mat or have a carpeted surface you can work from (and use a towel for), you will want to invest in a mat .

In terms of weights, it's important that you go light when instructed, and go heavy when instructed. That will be relative to your fitness. The smaller weights are for smaller muscle groups: tricepts, shoulders, etc and the heavier weights are for larger muscle groups: chest, legs, etc.  So, have a few options at home you can work with...and remember you may need to up your weights over time, as you start to build up muscle strength and endurance. NOT A BAD THING! I was able to find a set of Select Techs off craigslist which worked great for me, but you can also find random sets of weights on there too, or any of the local sports and fitness stores, like Dick's, Academy, Sports Authority, Target, Walmart, etc

I want you to feel prepared so hopefully this will be helpful to you. As you work through the 8 weeks of this program, you may find you need additional equipment. Do what works for you. If you have any questions, you can always personally contact me, I am more than happy to help!

----->>> Christy Kilgore Personal Trainer

GET HAMMERED! 

Becoming a Vegetarian

I thought I would journal my way through these next 21 days. I figure I might as well do that so that it holds me accountable and gives me a resource to refer to at the end of this journey or in a year or tooA month ago, I hosted a 10 Day Clean Eating Challenge group. Clean eating is something I think I do well, but ALWAYS know there is room for improvement. I am very fortunate enough to have friends all around me, who practice healthful living so I asked them to be apart of it. Each friend who presented their story and recipes had such diversity and conviction, that not only did the followers in the group benefit from their story, I did too.

When the group finished, there were some spin off topics discussed. One of which was the food documentary Knives over Forks. I was encouraged to watch it, so I looked it up on Netflix and soaked it all in. Here is a snip it of what this documentary discusses: (you can also view the full documentary on YouTube)

Forks Over Knives

The documentary in its entirety was an eye opener. Much like Food Inc was when it first came out. Why? Because I grew up on a dairy farm. We named our animals. We let them out into the pasture to eat and roam. We fed them whole food. We drank their milk. We ate their beef. We grew our own vegetables in a garden my grandfather maintained. That to me was what ALL farmers did because in my mind, farmers were lovers of animals, not big business capitalists. Boy was a I naive.

I found that watching Forks Over Knives, and hearing the perspective of the presenter, a dairy farmer's child himself, talk about the increased risk of cancer cases, he was convinced derived from the animal proteins we consume, I had to make some changes. Cancer was eating my family alive.

So, I thought: why not? Why not give it a try? What do I have to lose, besides a little weight? I am also ALWAYS looking for ways to improve my diet in any way. Trying new things. Sampling new foods. Not to the extreme of course, but incorporating more foods to improve my wellness inside and out. I am convinced going plant based with my eating will help do that for me. And better my odds AGAINST disease, specifically cancer. These next 21 days, I be treating this as an experiment of sorts.I will be honest in the way I proceed forward and I will be real with my journey.Coincidentally, as a Beachbody Coach, I was starting a round of the 21 Day Fix and this round I was interested in seeing if I could see this through with the support of my accountability group, but also combined with a program designed to create better eating habits in 3 weeks through portion control and exercise. I thought it was perfect timing.

So with that, on February 23rd, 2015, I started my path towards a vegetarian lifestyle. With Day #1 under my belt, I wanted to share how it went.

All my meals were 21 Day Fix Approved:

Breakfast:

Greek Yogurt mixed with flaxseed, raw almonds, raspberries, black berries and strawberries
2 mugs of coffee
8 oz of water

Snack was 5-6 baby carrots
8oz glass of water

Lunch:
Chocolate Vegan Shakeology, mixed with 2 tbs natural peanut butter, a banana and light and unsweetened almond milk.
8 oz of water

Snack: pretzels and hummus and some raw pecans and 8 oz of water

Dinner: 3 grade leaf wraps with rice, red peppers and onion and 8 oz of water



I went to be feeling very full but did not eat enough protein for the day. I was three containers short!!! So I definitely need to reevaluate that moving forward. My water was done by 2 8 oz servings too. Something to work through.

Eating more fiber and more dense nutrition is giving me that satisfied, full feeling. Looking at this list of food, doesn't seem like much, but I did feel full the entire day. (and I worked out too)

Going into Day #2, I am keeping the proteins on my mind. I am not trying to deprive myself of any nutrition by doing this. Just need to figure it out.