10 Reasons why you need to take strength training seriously!!!!!

We know that increasing and maintaining adequate muscle mass is one of the best ways to keep body fat at bay and to improve overall fitness, particularly as we age. We also know that weight lifting is the best way to build muscle mass. Still, the number of women who actually participate in any formal or consistent weight training workout is still extremely low. Most women who exercise are spending most of their gym time on cardiovascular exercise. Whatever your reasons for avoiding the weights, if you are a woman, here are ten reasons why you need to take strength training seriously.

1.       You Will Be Physically Stronger.
Increasing your strength will make you far less dependent upon others for assistance in daily living. Chores will be easier, lifting kids, groceries and laundry will no longer push you to the max. If your maximum strength is increased, daily tasks and routine exercise will be far less likely to cause injury. Research studies conclude that even moderate weight training can increase a woman's strength by 30 to 50 percent.

2.      You Will Lose Body Fat.
The average woman who strength trains two to three times a week for two months will gain nearly two pounds of muscle and will lose 3.5 pounds of fat. As your lean muscle increases so does your resting metabolism and you burn more calories all day long. Generally speaking, for each pound of muscle you gain, you burn 35 to 50 more calories each day..

3.      Gain Strength Without Bulk.
Women typically don't gain size from strength training, because compared to men, women have 10 to 30 times less of the hormones that cause muscle hypertrophy. You will, however, develop muscle tone and definition. This is a bonus.

4.      You Decrease Your Risk Of Osteoporosis.
Weight training can increase spinal bone mineral density (and enhance bone modeling). This, coupled with an adequate amount of dietary calcium, can be a women's best defense against osteoporosis.

5.      You Will Improve Your Athletic Performance.
Whatever sport you play, strength training has been shown to improve overall performance as well as decrease the risk of injury.

6.      You Will Reduce Your Risk Of Injury, Back Pain and Arthritis.
Strength training not only builds stronger muscles, but also builds stronger connective tissues and increases joint stability. This acts as reinforcement for the joints and helps prevent injury.  Weight training can ease the pain of osteoarthritis and strengthen joints.

7.      You Will Reduce Your Risk of Heart Disease. 

       Weight training can improve cardiovascular health in several ways, including lowering  LDL ("bad") cholesterol, increasing HDL ("good") cholesterol and lowering blood pressure. When cardiovascular exercise is added, these benefits are  maximized.

8.      You Will Reduce Your Risk of Diabetes.
Weight training may improve the way the body processes sugar, which may reduce the risk of diabetes. Adult-onset diabetes is a growing problem for women and men. weight training can increase glucose utilization in the body by 23 percent in four months.

9.      It Is Never Too Late To Benefit.
Women in their 70s and 80s have built up significant strength through weight training and studies show that strength improvements are possible at any age.

10.   You Will Improve Your Attitude And Fight Depression.
Strength training helps reduced clinical depression symptoms more successfully than standard counseling did. Women who strength train commonly report feeling more confident and capable as a result of their program, all important factors in fighting depression.

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Frances Anza Fit 4U!: re·demp·tion= Recovery of something!!

Frances Anza Fit 4U!: re·demp·tion= Recovery of something!!

re·demp·tion= Recovery of something!!

Finally the day arrived!!! The minute I got to the airport I was so ready, and excited,  I din't know how it was going to unfold, but it was clear in my mind that I was going to  enjoy every minute of the event,  do my best and let everything else in God’s loving hands…So… I won my category Class B Figure Open @ the NPC Diamond Classic Figure Event this past Saturday, April 9, 2011, in Florida.

More than winning the event, it was a kind of redemption, because I gain back my life, I recover it after being away from everything in general.  When you go  through a  painful event in  life, in my case  my mom died a year and a half ago,  I just  lost interest in life in general, things that I would normally enjoy competing, training, etc. didn’t matter anymore to me.  I step away from stage for almost 2 years.  Looking back now and taking everything in, this is really my come back to life, lots of new and excited things are happening to me since that day.

I had enjoyed the journey,  learn so many lessons that I’m now applying to my life in  a personal and professional matters.  I guess what I’m trying to say is don’t give up on life, it doesn’t matter what storm you are going through at this moment, just ask for God’s guidance and He will prevail and see you through  all that’s going on. We need to have a propose, meaning or direction in our life’s, and no matter what the outcome will be go for it, because we can’t put our lives in hold, life is movement, its energy even if you don’t realized it; just take it one day at the time, and little by little you will see improvement.  Life happens but we can’t stop living it; today I can say this from the bottom of my heart!!!

“I have studied many times
The marble which was chiseled for me --
A boat with a furled sail at rest in a harbor.
In truth it pictures not my destination
But my life.
For love was offered me and I shrank from its disillusionment;
Sorrow knocked at my door, but I was afraid;
Ambition called to me, but I dreaded the chances.
Yet all the while I hungered for meaning in my life.
And now I know that we must lift the sail
And catch the winds of destiny
Wherever they drive the boat.
To put meaning in one's life may end in madness,
But life without meaning is the torture
Of restlessness and vague desire --
It is a boat longing for the sea and yet afraid”

By George Gray

Remember catch the winds of destiny where ever they drive the boat! I have to thank my loving angels that God sent me through this process of this past 12 weeks and even way before they were all ready there for me: Veronica & Vanessa Martinez you’re the sisters that I dint have growing up but life gave them to me! My Diva Angels thank you God Bless you! And we still have to keep training after the margaritas!!! And a wonderful and special person in my life, he was and is in my corner all the time not letting me give up even when I wanted to, My (PITA)  JDR, your more than my best friend you’re the reason I’m constantly smiling you’re my other trophy! God Bless You too! Can’t wait for life to show us the next chapter!!!

Training Tips:

People ask me what type of training they can do when they are constantly traveling and and the hotels they're  staying don't  have a gym or even if it does sometimes they don’t have a whole hour to work out. So this is the best way to continue your training: 

Resistance Bands Benefits:

• They don’t take to much space in your luggage
• They are light weighted
• Portable to any place
• They don’t limit you to work out only in the gym you can use them in your hotel room, beach, park, any were
• You can work out your whole body:

1. Shoulder presses combine with lateral raise
2. Lunges with triceps extensions
3. Squats combine with bicep curls
4. Chest presses combine with fly’s
5. Rowing combine with lat pull down

Enjoy the video!

B Healthy! B Fabulous

Frances Anza Fit 4U! Lifestyle and more!


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Week #2 & 1, Introspection= self-observation!

Week # 2 is finished and in a couple of days I’m finally leaving to compete and as the days go by I can’t help to get a little anxious, at some point is normal. This past week has been so intense in every possible way, it seems that the closer you get to your goal or finish line there are obstacles that appear and if you’re not careful it can easily take your peace and focus towards what you’re supposed to be doing. 

Introspection is the self-observation and reporting of conscious inner thoughts, desires and sensations that we have while we are in a process of life. It is a conscious mental and usually purposive process relying on thinking, reasoning, and examining one's own thoughts, feelings, and, in more spiritual cases, one's soul.

At this point being so close to the event I have to trust the process and specially God that he will always take care of me because He guides my life. So  looking inward; specifically, the act or process of self-examination, I have to keep thinking positive.  And guess what?  This week at the very end of it, everything finally falls in place.  I kept doing what I needed to, training, cardio, diet, working with my clients and during this process God had everything lined up to help me going.

From positive messages coming  my way, to special and amazing persons surrounding me during this whole process: My Diva Angels Vanessa & Veronica your vision and comforting advice held me through all. And a special person that God sent into my life, he has been pushing me all the way since the beginning, making sure that not even for a second that the thought of quitting could come to cross my mind. So to you my sweet P.I.T.A. THANK YOU!!!! And that word dosent even starts to cover it! Just thinking of my chocolate brownie and bananas that I will enjoy Saturday night!!!

So my friends it doesn’t matter if you’re getting ready to compete or anything new that you decide to do in your life lose weight, run a marathon, etc. never forget:  Why are doing it?  Enjoy the process getting there; be opened minded to try new methods, learn all the lessons that are in store for you, and have fun so when you arrived to the finish line it doesn’t matter the outcome, always remember:  just for doing it that makes you a winner!!!!

Keep posted and the next time we meet I will be sharing my experience of the whole competition with you guys, thank you for joining me during this process!!

 Training Tips: You can do any combination of muscles that you want to workout

• Super set of Chest: without resting move from Incline Press to Flyes
• Super set of Back: Lat Pull Down/Dumbbell Row
• Super set of Legs: Lunge with waist twist/Squat with Front Raise
•  Cardio you can mix them to doing 20 mnts of each selection like: 20 minutes jogging-20 minutes elliptic machine-20 minutes bicycle

Nutrition Tips:

• Make sure you eat your three full meals and snacks every 2 ½ hours to 3 that way we keep our metabolism burning more calories
• For snacks chose healthy choices like fruits they provide exceptional nutritional benefits they contains its own set of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and other important nutrients.  Each color offer different values:
• Blue/Purple- fruits are especially good sources of  phytochemicals such as anthocyanins and phenolic compounds. Blackberries, Blueberries, Plums, Purple Figs, and Purple Grapes
• Orange/Yellow- fruits are especially good sources of antioxidants such as vitamin C, carotenoids, and bioflavonoids.Apricots, Cantaloupe, Lemons, Mangoes, Nectarines, Oranges, Papayas, Peaches, Pineapple, Tangerines, and Yellow Watermelon
• *Red/Pink-fruits are especially good sources of phytochemicals such as lycopene and anthocyanins.  Red Apples, Blood Oranges, Cherries, Cranberries, Red Grapes, 
  Red/Pink Grapefruit, Pomegranates, Raspberries, Strawberries, Tomatoes, and *Watermelon
• *White (also Tan/Brown) the white fruit group also includes tan and brown fruits; they are good sources of anthocyanins and other Bananas, Brown Pears, Dates, White Nectarines, and White Peaches
• Green- fruits are especially good sources of potent *phytochemicals such as lutein and indoles. Avocados, Green Apples, Green Grapes, Green Pears, Honeydew Melon, Kiwifruit, and Limes

   Enjoy the video!!

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B Healthy! B Faboulus!

Frances Anza Fit 4U! Lifestyle & More..!

Week #3; Triple D! Discipline; Determination & Direction

Finally week #3 is gone, and at this point is a mind game with myself to keep on going and being focus.  When I was thinking  what to write this week on my blog, for a minute I thought I was only going to talk about my training, but then someone ask me how can I do this, get ready for a competition and be on a diet and training for 20 to 16  weeks until you get to the day of the event.

Without any hesitation I blurb my answer right away I dint even have to think about it: and the first thing I mentioned was discipline, then determination and finally direction.

Discipline: without it you can’t do anything in life, your daily routine, job, errands, family, you need to be organize, plan your day, your week, and your month, and keep everything in your schedule book. When you plan ahead everything seems to run smoother, you can have a clear look in how is going to be your day and what needs to be done. Keep in mind that you have to continue with your daily responsibilities and the only way is to be organize and in order to be organize you need to have discipline and stick with your plans try to accomplish most of them or all of them.

Determination:  focus on what you choose to do, nobody said it was going to be easy, let’s face it things that are worth fighting for that fulfill you don’t come that easy, it takes a lot of hard work, tired days and sometimes sleepless night trying to figure out how you’re going to accomplish certain things that you need in order to continue. Trust that you have taken the necessary steps to accomplish your goal and let God do the rest, and if the outcome sometimes is not necessary what you excepted don’t give up and try again until you get it right, a very special person in my life told me these words and they have stock with me: Shoot for the stars & land on the moon! Just for trying to do it that right there makes you a winner, learn from the experience and see what has to be change in order to get the total success that we want.

Direction: you need to know where you have been in order to know where you need to go. Make sure you know what you want and what the goal you’re aiming for is. Visualize getting there, making the journey, taking the necessary steps and have very, very, very clear picture of yourself obtaining your goal, dream, your success! When you make your plan and stick with it, but also give it a little room to change for improvement, you’ll do the necessary arrangements in order to make it work, and again it doesn’t matter the outcome, you can never fail because you gave it your 100% and that makes you a winner, it’s always healthy to compete against ourselves, to try to take a step farther than the last time.

I have 2 more weeks to go, this is for all the marbles, push myself even more even harder, trust the process and can wait to see what excited and Bless things God will bring!

Training:

 This time I’m adding a video of my training so you can follow it more easily, I’ll be doing my leg work out:

Compound exercise:

•                 Reverse lunge with lat pull down
•                 Sumo Squat with cable rowing
•                 Step up Lunge

Nutrition:

•                 Healthy snacks don’t need to be tasteless you can eat almonds they are low in saturated fat      and     contain many other protective nutrients - calcium and magnesium - for strong bones, vitamin E and compounds called phytochemicals, which may help protect against cardiovascular disease and even cancer.
•                 Greek yogurt happens to be a better pick than the standard ones. It has higher content of protein. When you take a low-fat, plain yogurt, you obtain between 10 - 12 grams of protein, and that is good, but g.y. product can provide you with 20gms, its low in carbohydrates, around 9 or even less in some brands. Not to mention, it’s a better choice for   diabetic diet.

Enjoy the video, leave me your comments!

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B healthy, B fabulous!

Frances Anza Fit 4U! Lifestyle & More…!

Week #4, where I go to find Inspiration?

The days of the competition are getting closer, I’m little more tired and got to admit somehow sometimes it’s hard to maintain focus and energize; especially when your job is to keep others inspired and motivated to keep going and don’t give up. This has been a very intense week: training is harder, diet tighter than ever, and your daily life has to keep going as normal as possible dealing with your family, friends etc. Watching the news what’s going on around the world, we are human and it affects us even if you don’t want it to (if your sensitive towards others sad and tragic situation).  At some point I just needed to shut down and regain my strength, not that I lost my motivation because is still there, but being tired and overwhelm takes a lot out of you.

Where I go to find inspiration? Besides having great people supporting your goal and cheering for you, we need to have the inspiration from inside because that’s the one that will always be there for you when everything else is not. The strength that comes within is greater than anything else, is that force, energy and voice that tells you to keep going, that loves you no matter what, that says to you Trust Me I will not leave you never had and never will, that strength is God in me, guiding me and letting me know that while I’m tired and fell like I can’t take one more step because life happeneds, His taking them for me, caring me and all of my worries.  And to make sure that I received all the messages, there was always a sign a signal, in all the possible ways that I could and couldn’t imagine, loving angels are always surrounding me!

This is how I got my Inspiration and fuel to keep going:  through daily messages from different sources such as: http://www.thedailybibleverse.org/ ; Joel Osteen daily messages: http://www.joelosteen.com/Pages/Index.aspx ;  Reiki from a dear friend and client Vanessa,  I truly recommend it, wow! it does wonders; words of encouragement and great vision from Veronica thank you girls you don’t have an idea, how much you have helped me (you’re both my diva Angels);  My PITA a.k.a  TB (words can’t describe all your support and I'm still craving for bananas) also  through songs,  Billboards on the road while I’m driving and at the right moment I turn my head in read the message; and of course kind and loving words from friends that support my dream and goal. And most of all during this process is to enjoy the journey and the lessons that have nourish and train my mind and soul to become stronger and be proud of myself for doing what makes me happy and fulfills me.

This time I’m focusing on the journey, the prize is being able to do it again, the rest is giving all I got in me,  for the next 3 weeks 150% and the outcome will be knowing that I gave it all and Trust God and his loving angels! You see all we have to do is ask and He will be there for us!

Tips for this week:

• Build your net support group, positive friends and people that support you, and positive is the key word, shut, kick, and get rid of all the negative people or at least block their energy
• Surround yourself with positive material: books, webpage’s, and your iPod with great positive songs
• Booked a massage, Reiki, or arrange to take a couple of hours off for yourself, go to the movies: “Adjustment Bureau” highly recommended  
• Training:If you don’t feel like it push yourself, once you start you’ll feel great and when finish even better
• Do Giant sets mix exercises it spices things and changes the energy of the training
• Nutrition: Change the way you cook your meal:  instead of eating the breast buy ground chicken season it with garlic, onions & cilantro and form patties you’ll feel like you’re eating burgers with your veggies and if you’re not getting ready for a show you can eat it them in a wrap or pita bread.
• My clients often ask me for healthy snacks here are a few that are good for you: Fat free jello, homemade granola (with oatmeal), almonds, Whey Protein Shake, Greek yogurt to name a few

 I got 3 more weeks ahead of me, this is the final ¼ of mile getting closer to the finish line OMG can’t wait to get there!

B Healthy, B Fabulous!

Frances Anza Fit 4U! Life style & More…!

Week #5 Transformation=Synchronization!

Finally!!!  When you look in the mirror and you wonder: who the heck is that person staring at you? Then you stare a little bit longer into the eyes that are looking back at you and there it is… it’s you!!!  A renew, different, changed you, now the outside starts to match the inside, the mind, soul and the body are one in touch with each other, all three are strong, and working together!

 This has been an incredibly excited and bless week all over, like a roller coaster of emotions. Seeing little by little how your transforming yourself takes a while to take it all in, I dint realize how much I changed physically speaking because mentally it’s been going on for a while and let’s face it will until the day we take our last breath of air. 

When things or people that you used to have close to you for some reason they’re not probably is not because they have change or the circumstances is that you change and what use to be “ok or all right” is not anymore,  because you’re the one who’s change, and keep in mind things will be 100% about  our attitude towards it, how do we react and handle ourselves, we can chose to see the glass half empty or half full, I decided to see it full!

I’m in the final ¼ of the mile of the marathon and now is the time to be more focus and in touch with myself, when one of my clients caught my attention when she pointed out on a photo how I look, (BTW Jomy you're a very talented and creative photographer) it hit me hard, it took me a while to take it in and at the same time it gave me even more energy to keep going to conquer my dream, to live it, and as I been mentioning this past week’s it’s about enjoying the process because they’re so many lessons to lived to enriched us and help us grow even more, so I’ll keep savoring the moment!

I don’t know the outcome but I can guarantee that the process has been one of kind and just for taking back on my hands my dream and goal has help me so much to find myself again,  who am I, that I can’t wait for the next 4 weeks!


Every day in every way through the Grace of God I’m getting better, stronger and happier!!!! 

As always I have to thank my (P.I.T.A. pain in the ass) for being there and calling them like he sees them even if I don’t like it, I'm craving for bananas!  and of course my Angel’s under construction: (clients) Jomy, Shirley great things ahead for you too! Veronica & Vannesa your peace and wisdom touch so many life's  including mine, thank you girls! and Lourdes your words of encouragement like you said gave me a natural high and also for letting me help you to achieve your goal, girl soon you’re going to be ready for stage too!!!

Tips of the week:

• Want to target even more your butt & hamstring do little sidekicks (20 to 30 reps) you’re going to feel the burn
• Do a circuit training (resistance training-5mnts. Cardio-resistance training) try to complete at least 30 minutes in cardio
• Nutrition: this one is from my client Lourdes she’s always on the look for healthy and yummy things is an oatmeal recipe instead of doing it in the stove or microwave bake it just mix it with egg whites and she adds a little bit of  baking soda and OMG!!! Its yummmyyyy!!!
• Nutrition: this one is mine and is one of my favorites also, oatmeal pancakes with your protein powder, mix it and just pour it like a pancake their good too!

So until next week #4 and I can’t wait to share with you all the amazing, wonderful things that God has for me and my clients!!!

B healthy, B fabulous!

Frances Anza, Fit 4U! Lifestyle & More...

WK #6 when one door closes, God opens many more 4U!

Week #6 it’s finished and what a week it has been, as intensive my workout and diet gets, at the same time my circumstances are also changing. It’s incredible that as I see my body transform little by little towards where I want it to be, everything around me also is changing.

Remember during week # 7 & 8 I regain my passion for what I do, my training, my clients, everything else is also falling in place; from people that no longer are in my life, and at some point I knew I had to get away from them because of their constantly negative criticism and comments toward me and how I live my life, and most of all because I have change and I'm not the same person I was a year before.  To  positive and energetic persons coming into my life for different but also positive reasons. Little did I know that once the house is being clean, OMG! It’s like someone removed whatever was holding me back  and now I'm moving forward.  Once more, don’t ever let anybody criticize whatever is your dream or goal in life, after all it’s your goal and if it makes you happy, fulfills you, nothing else should matter, positive and constructive criticism it’s always welcome, reinforcing and encouraging us to move forward and not the other way around.

Applying this to my training maybe what use to work in the past or for other persons not necessarily is working now, keep in mind your body and  metabolism has changed and it doesn't respond to the same methods that use to work before, don’t be afraid to just take a minute analyze it and if necessary change it completely and trust your gut feeling, if its screaming for a change, after all if we don’t take risk we will never know if it’s going to work. With a few changes my body fat % is also melting away, I’m more relaxed, focus on my training and most of all I have peace of mind.

I also saw a huge change in one my clients, she opened up to herself, facing things that probably dint want to, winning the battle of kicking  cigarette habits, but once she did, she is also seeing great changes in her body, mind & soul, keep up the good work JJ, God has great things in store for you too, and the most important thing your regaining your health and yourself back!

I’m finally seeing a complete transformation my legs, are slimming down, and the rest of my body is getting tighter, I feel great and I’m really looking forward for the next 5 weeks because I know more great changes are on my way through my diet and training, also as I go on with my daily life working with my clients helping them achieve their goals of being healthy, and of course to look great too. 

Never doubt Gods way of doing things in your life everything happens for a reason.  Thank you (P.I.T.A.) my pain in the ass, jaja! for being there with encoring words, in a sweet and powerful tone!!!!! You don’t have an idea how much you’re helping me!

This week I increased the time in my second cardio of the day, now I’m doing 45 minutes and those 15 minutes that I added have made a huge difference. Also this week I decided to change my training routine adding new exercises, changing reps and sets, it has made a difference. And my second depletion has been for more days and also has made a huge difference.

So the tips that I share with you this week:

• Try increasing the time in your cardio workout, try adding 5 minutes or 15, if you think you can handle it, but every little change you made your body is going to react to it and I’m sure it will be in a positive way
•   Also increase the days if you normally do 3 try to add one more or two, remember to keep in mind what is your goal
• Switch every other day the order of exercise that you do, confusing the muscles is always a good training technique
• Try other versions of the same exercise for example: Lunges is a complete exercise for your legs, but every once in a while change the style from stationary to walking lunge, or step up lunge, just kick it up a notch
• Keep close to your life those who always have a positive and constructive criticism, and most of all support your goals even if they don’t like it, or understand it but they respect them as you respect theirs
•  Peace of mind is always, always, always something that we should try to have in this intense world that we leave in, don’t be afraid in making changes and taking risk, at the end if we don’t try it we will never know if they will work
• Trust God, His in control even if we can’t understand the way things unfold they are always for our own good.

Until next week looking forward for all the great things ahead.

B Healthy! B Fabulous!

Frances Anza Fit 4U! 

Lifestyle & More...

Week # 7, Training your mind & soul is part of the process to get there!

Physical training and  mental-internal training are important. Let us say that your health already is affected therefore our mind & spirit also, is deteriorated untying a chain of events none of them wished (although that has not been our intention); you may have the desire to begin to improve and heal your body and mind but you must go step by step, we cannot in a day recover what it has taken months or even years to build inside. Let’s take for example a long distance runner that’s training to run a 26 miles marathon, at first he does not run that distance. But practicing every day he develops more endurance, speed and perseverance. Gradually he improves his capacity, and finally reaches his goal to run the event without any problem. Or in this case myself when I decided to compete again after being off stage for more than year I knew it had to be little by little to get back in condition one more time.

A way to training our internal life, (mind-soul) can be through meditation and visualization exercise, it will helps us to get ready to face our own life marathon. Therefore the daily practice of both physical and mental training little by little, will increased our capacity to improve, learning to have discipline and control of our life.

Exercise helps us obtain a good physical condition and also helps us in our internal life, having aspiration, control, felling good about ourselves, being more active, creating a balance between: Mind-Body-Soul; after all  that is our true nature.

We all have professional and personal aspirations, most of the times we visualized them being fulfill remembering past challenges that we have overcome. What’s the source of those experiences?  It is not because some of us are more or less spiritually developed than others it’s because of superior experiences.

Sometimes it happens that the Divine Inspiration touch us in a very special. Most of these people, like professionals, housewife, student, athletes etc., they have carried out their daily routine of visualization (and often without realizing they are doing it) or for an athlete practicing sports during many years, and now the Universe wants to show us  that there are superior realities in the life.

That Divine source means to us: “You do not stop yourselves here! Now you are doing something to obtain name and fame. If you get first place, you will obtain joy, and if you are the last one, you will feel miserable. But there is another world. In that world, you obtain tremendous joy. Here you are thinking that there are so many things that you must do, so many things in front of you, and you feel that you cannot do them all. But in that other world, not only you will be able to make more things, but that also will obtain joy and passion while you’re doing them.   You will not have to wait for the results to obtain joy.

 “Because day to day you’re taking control of your internal life (mind-soul) and your external life (body) having the motivation to continue improving and creating a quality of life superior to the one you have lived until now. If we trained, our body and mind we see that our capacities grow. Previously they were sleeping; they did not work within us. But when we reconnect again with ourselves and regain our passion, we managed to discover our hidden capacities or tap into them, we are able to do something and to transform us into something even better. Everything in us is extending, improving. Once we managed to extend our own capacity of transforming our self our personal best be are more productive, healthy and happy.  That’s our true nature, our internal mechanism activates and we begin to see the possibilities where we did not saw them before.

So this week with my passion again in my life for loving what I do, training to become a better athlete, person and most of all a Personal Trainer for my clients, I’m having so much fun again training myself, and my clients because I’m empowering them to become better, healthier and love the process while achieving their healthy goal!

Training Tips:

• Visualize yourself were how you want to look
• Keep the eye in the prize but enjoy the process
• Have fun with it, laugh even if at first you can do all the repetitions of sets you wanted to do Once a week get out of the gym go for a run or power walk at the park or beach 
• Use resistance bands and do a circuit training for the complete body it will do wonders for your mind and body at the same time
• 1-  Keep a daily journal and pour out  your heart in it, write down everything positive and specially negative it’s a great outlet 
• Keep positive people close to you that will support you and never ever will have a negative word of criticism toward you as a person, and if they do shut them out of your life.

Keep up the good work, until next week!

B healthy, B fabulous!

Frances Anza, Fit 4U, Lifestyle & More...

Blogger: Frances Anza Fit 4U! - Edit Post "Week # 8, Reconnect with the process, old friends ..."

Blogger: Frances Anza Fit 4U! - Edit Post "Week # 8, Reconnect with the process, old friends ..."

Week # 8, Reconnect with the process, old friends your muscles and during the journey with yourself, then it means you're in the right path!

This journey has taking a few twist and turns that are really interesting,  remember when I mentioned keep the eye on the goal but learn to enjoy the road because there’s where the lessons are learned and you rediscover who you are and what you’re made of.

This week was my depletion week, everyone who’s ever done it knows it’s not very easy, because of the absence or low carbs in the diet; “Carbohydrates provide the body with a ready source of energy, although other forms of food such as fats and proteins can also be used for this. When absorbed from the gut and metabolized they provide the glucose that cells convert to energy. The greatest consumer of glucose in the body is the brain”.

Knowing this once we lower them or eliminate them for diet purpose our body and mind completely feels it, such as lack of energy, tiredness, hard time to focus, and mood swings (crankiness). But somehow this week I did experience some of these effects except the crankiness and that was a bit of a good surprise.

 I wanted to search deep inside me to try figure out why I wasn’t cranky at all, and I discovered a few good reasons: this time around I’m enjoying the journey, the process and the changes that my body are having, seeing again little by little every morning when I wake up more definition, my skin getting thinner making it easy to see my veins and I know that means the my body fat is lowering, and overall being more tight and smaller and that’s the purpose of a Depletion diet.

Besides these physical changes, I also have the support of my PITA (pain in the ass) special and great friend, but the most important thing of all these process is that I know I’m in the right path because I feel great, every day I wake up with a smile in my face thanking God for His Blessing in my life.

Also this week I reconnected with an old friend, and she’s also getting ready to compete this summer, she went through her own process last year and now she’s on top of her game too; talking and training with her helped me reconnect again with the whole process, and one of the things I missed from competing: the good memories that we gain from meeting new people and sharing stories with different competitor with all kinds of background. Bibiana Delgado kudos to you girl!!!! God bless you and never forget that His in charge of every little detail in our lives you’re going to be okay, thank you for calling me!

So its funny how one thing lead to another, like a domino chain effect: enjoying the process, my friends and along the way I finally found again Frances reconnected with myself, my mind, and my body!!! It doesn’t matter the outcome but for just having this amazing experience this right there is my prize, thank you God!!!

Ok my tip for this week:

1.   To shred that stubborn fat lower (carefully) your intake of carb
2. Increase your amount of time of cardio workout
3.  Try new exercise that you normally won’t do, give them a chance personally I loved the results after doing Wood Chop upward and downward Cable twist for our oblique’s and intercostals abs.
4. After finishing your cardio add a few sets of walking lunges and kickbacks you will feel the burn.

Keep up the good work, feel free to comment, see you next week, until then.

B Healthy, B Fabulous from

Frances Anza, Fit 4U! Lifestyle & More…

Wk #9 sometimes a kick in the butt “literary” is all we need…

Wk #9 sometimes a kick in the butt “literary” is all we need…

Like everything in our daily life’s we have ups and downs, good days and let’s not say bad days I like to call them not so good, just because I want to keep a positive attitude towards everything I do in life, regarding personal matters and professional. Stuff will always happened to us in our daily basis but the difference is the attitude we can assume when the situation occurs they say its 10% situation and 90% of the attitude I will choose to face the situation.

As days go by and I increase my training doing the cardio twice a day, adding more sets or repetitions to my routine is completely normal that I will fell a little more tired its part of the process. The moments that feel like you can’t go on I just think about my goal to keep going.

Not everybody understands your dream; your passion for something is what moves you go after your goal. Let’s face it, not everybody is going to understand it and they might even say is not worth it, is a stupid thing to do, always criticizing you, at some point you get tired and feed up with them, I always say if you don’t have anything good or positive to say just don’t say anything at all; JUST SHUT UP!!!!  But don’t go around putting people down, nobody has the right to do that even if they’re our “friends”.

 At this stage of my training my mind set of concentration  is: shout out all distractions and sometimes I just don’t want to be “chatty Kathy” calling everybody blabbing on and on about how I am and what I’m doing, I just don’t.  So that said and out of my system I moved on with my daily life and my training.

Doing things completely different, this time I also need to be completely blunt and honest with myself, there’s too much on the line at this point. On the other side of the rainbow I have friends who understand my dream and goal and support me.  That’s why I have to thank two persons this week that literally kick my ass: Paco your honesty and clinic eye as an experience and a damn good photographer woke me up! Thank you for that; and to my special and sweet P.I.T.A.  (pain in the ass) sweetie kudos to you for not sugar coating anything for me and call them like you see them (bananas are good source of potassium among other things ;-) ).

So these are my tips for you this week:

1. 1- Once you know your goals make a plan and go for it, but also make sure every once in while you get an honest feedback of people that truly support your goal; and be ready to shout down does who do not respect it, they don’t need to understand it but at least respect it.
2. 2- Training tip for legs: walking lunges are the most complete workout for your legs there more intense than the stationary lunges, and at the same time you’re working a little bit cardio because your heart rate will increase, meaning you’re burning a little bit more body fat, at the same time.
3. 3-If you’re advance you can also do it as a super set: walking lunges/leg curl, that combination will burn as hell your butt and hamstrings.
4. 4- Also do single leg exercises like single leg press or single leg curl, this will make both legs work hard even our weak side and the benefits are incredible try it, and let me know how it feels.
5. 5- And finally don’t ever ever ever let anybody put your dreams down; nobody has the right to do that.

So until next week, 

B healthy, B Fabulous, God Bless

Frances Anza Fit 4 U! Lifestyle & More…