Emily Bragg Health &Fitness

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It is so hard to find the perfect leggings that work for you. They have to be high quality material, not slip while working out, tight but not too tight, high waisted, fit in all the right places, not accentuate the wrong places, the list goes on. I know some of you may not put that much effort in to choosing a legging but when that is all you wear every day you want to make sure they are perfect! These 5 pairs that I have chosen are my absolute favorite leggings/brands and they check all the right boxes.

1. Balance Athletica: They release a new leggings every few months to make it more “exclusive”. They are a new/small brand right now but they put a lot of time and effort into the design of these pants. The material is amazing, the way the seams help shape your body, and the waist of these pants are my favorite.
2. Lululemon Align: The softest, highest quality, all around best leggings on the market. Although they aren’t cheap they are well worth it.
3. Gymshark seamless: A more affordable option with out losing quality. I have so many pairs of these leggings because they are durable, they come in a bunch of colors and they fit perfectly in all the right places.
4. Bombshell: The design originally caught my attention so I thought I should order a pair. I love how these look and feel and offer high quality and are super high waisted.
5. Lululemon Wunder Under: These are a thicker material then the Align pant so they offer a bit more compression. They are still super soft high quality material and look great on!

Hopefully this will help give you some direction when looking for the perfect workout leggings!

You may think that the best thing to stay super fit is to go hard ALL the time. While that may sound like a good idea it can also lead to injuries which can in the long run hurt your progress.

It is extremely important to take time to recover your body from intense work outs. There are so many good ways to ensure that your body is getting the recovery that it needs. I want to share my top 5 favorite ways to recover!

1. Foam rolling: It is basically a tool that helps you massage your muscles on your own. It releases tightness/soreness and can help prevent injury.
2. Drinking BCAA’s: Branch chain amino acids have been shown to reduce muscle fatigue. Most people will drink bcaa’s during or after a workout
3. Stretching: In addition to foam rolling stretching will help the overall elasticity of your muscles and will help reduce soreness
4. Epsom salt bath’s: Besides being extremely relaxing epsom salt helps release muscle tention
5. REST: Get some extra sleep, go for a walk, try to take time off to rest your body!

Creating a blog was definitely something new to me. It was a great learning experience and a tool that will help me in the future endeavours.

Reflecting on the semester with this project I would most likely want to try and improve the overall look of my content. I don’t like to use a lot of color and prefer a more simplistic look but it may be boring to others. I found it hard that I could not use pictures of my self that others took of me since that is how I market my self and my self as a brand on Instagram.

Something that I really enjoyed was trying to think of new interesting content for each post. I felt that it gave me an opportunity to think outside of what I normally post on social media.

I only promoted my blog to twitter so I could have promoted it to all of my social media and most likely would have gotten a lot more views. Learning how to effectively blog is something that could potentially help me in my career as a PR professional because being well rounded in all social media aspects is useful for that specific field.

Overall I really enjoyed this project!

I had a tie for the week of February 11, March 11, and April 8th I had 6 views for all of those weeks. The post that did the best all semester was “the best hamstring workout you will do this week”. I think that it did the best because I have more female followers on twitter and may have appealed to them. The post came in with a whole 6 views! Nothing was too surprising to me but I was actually surprised that any of my twitter followers clicked to view the blog since I don’t talk about fitness on my twitter.

A lot of women in my life always say that the dread doing upper body because they don’t want to be “bulky” in their arms. There are a few things that I want to share on this topic so that I can encourage women to work out their whole bodies!

The biggest difference between someone who wants really big arms and someone who wants to just tone their arms is the weight that they use. Heavier weight= more muscle being built. Low weight = less muscle being built. Both are perfectly fine ways of working out but should match whatever your goals are!

Personally, I like to use heavy-ish weights because I like to be somewhere in the middle of building and toning. It is also important to remember that building muscle takes time and it is not something that will happen over night. With that being said, it should be a reminder to not be afraid to lift upper body as it will not make you “bulky” instantly.

I want to share one of my favorite work outs that will help you have nice and toned arms. You can also watch a video here for guidance!

8-10 reps / 4 sets of each

Single arm cable tricep extension

Cable bicep curls (with bar)

Skull crushers

Curls with plate

Hammer curls

ENJOY!

Often people believe that prepping your meals can be boring and time consuming and simply not worth the work. I want to shed some light on how meal prepping can be a positive thing to add to your life.

Instead of thinking of meal prepping being a daunting task try to change your mind set and make it something fun. Put on some good music, do it with a friend, watch your favorite show, anything that will make you happy while you cook.

Having your meals prepped can also help you from straying away from eating nutritious whole foods when it is already prepared. I have found that this helps me a lot from making the excuse of not wanting to cook or wanting to go out to eat. I know that I will be wasting my prepped food if I do that.

It is important to get creative! Your meals DO NOT have to be boring. I feel like a lot of people are under the impression that healthy food has to be boring and that couldn’t be further from true. Use spices, low cal sauces and veggies to amp up your meals. Look up recipes that include the macros, this can be super helpful when trying to mix up your meals so that you don’t get bored.

We all have bad days where we absolutely do not feel like going to the gym or eating anything even remotely healthy. I am here to tell you that you are not alone and it happens to everyone even the most fit of all people.

When you are starting to feel like you are falling into the unmotivated stage there are somethings that can help you get out!

Wake up early and DON’T snooze the alarm. Forcing your self to get out of bed and getting things done in the morning can cause an increase in energy for the rest of your day.

Drink a gallon of water a day. Making sure that you get in all of your water for the day can have long term positive effects on your overall health and energy. An easy easy way to make sure you are drinking enough is to get a gallon sized water bottle.

Bring a workout buddy. Having someone else to keep you accountable and motivate you to go to the gym could result in less days off.

Prep your food for the week. If you cook all of your food ahead of time that you need for the week you have less excuses for why you can’t eat healthy.

Have a goal! I think that this is one of the biggest motivators for a lot of people and also a reason why a lot of people stop going to the gym when they don’t have a set goal. This can be a weight loss, weight gain or just to feel good!

Hopefully these little tips will help you get the motivation back that you need!

You may be thinking “what the heck is a circuit” but I am here to explain. A circuit is basically a continuous work out made up of 3-12 different exercises. You do each exercise for 10-12 reps then move on to the next with out any break and repeat until done. Rest at the end of the whole circuit for about 1 minute and then repeat 4 times. This type of exercise ensures that you are keeping your heart rate up to get the maximum calories burned.

I prefer circuit workouts because they are challenging but you can also get them done in a quicker amount of time. This results in not being stuck in the gym for over an hour and barley breaking a sweat because you are taking long breaks.

I wanted to share with you an awesome leg day circuit that you can do with out even moving spots in the gym. For this workout you will need one dumbbell and a smith machine, thats it! I would also bring a lot of energy cause your legs will be jello after. View the swipe video here. Have fun!

You will be doing 10-12 reps each and repeating 4 times:

• Straight leg dead lifts (on smith machine)
• Sumo squats with dumbbell
• Lunges (right leg/left leg)
• Pulsing straight leg dead lifts with dumbbell
• Close stance squats

I want to tell everyone about MyFitnessPal. It is a mobile app made by Under Armour that allows you to track your food and goals. Throughout my fitness journey I have found this app to be one of the most useful tools for me to stay on track and stay accountable. MyFitnessPal has expanded their platform into a blog so that they can put out useful and interesting information  about health and fitness!

I love this blog because it is an all in one. I like that it doesn’t specifically cater to one niche of fitness. They post a huge variety of health and fitness related content to cater to a little of everyone. You can find healthy recipes, workouts, tips and tricks to staying healthy, yoga, and even mental health tips.

MyFitnessPal sets up their blog in an easy to read manner that will make it comfortable for any level of fitness. With the use of straight forward titles and clear pictures to match the content it is easy to navigate and find what you need/want. 

Go ahead and check them out and begin to expand your knowledge on health and fitness!

Find MyFitnessPal on Twitter

Have you ever heard the saying “breakfast is the most important meal of the day” ? While it may have been annoying to be told that when you were younger it definitely stands true as an adult. It is important to give your brain and body the fuel it needs for the day especially when you are constantly on the go. When you fail to eat breakfast in the morning your body starts to conserve calories rather then burn because it is still in starvation mode from the 6-8 hour fast it had while you were sleeping. It is important to consume clean whole foods in the morning to ensure that you have a positive start to your day. In order to be able to do this you need to give your self the time to either meal prep the night before or wake up a little earlier. I like my sleep too so I am not suggesting waking up at 5am and needing 3 hours extra. I suggest giving your self a solid 20 extra minutes and you will defintley have enough time to make your self something healthy and filling. I want to share some of my favorite fast and easy breakfast meals that take 20 or less minutes to prepare!

Egg White Omelet

Prep time: 20 min Ingredients:

• egg whites
• green and red bell pepper (pre-cut)
• white onion
• tomato
• spinach
• avocado

Protein Waffles/Pancakes

Prep time: 10 minutes Ingredients:

• Protein powder of choice (I use PEscience snickerdoodle linked below)
• egg whites
• cinnamon
• 1/2 banana

Directions: mash banana with a fork until desired consistency then mix in 2 cups of protein powder, 1/2 cup of egg whites and 1 table spoon of cinnamon. Mix together well and then pour into waffle maker (or pan for pancakes)! I love to put almond butter or honey on top.

https://www.bodybuilding.com/store/physique-enhancing-science/select-protein.html?skuId=PES2440260&PLASKU=PES2440260&mcid=CG_PLA_US_OD_US_Low&gclid=CjwKCAiA45njBRBwEiwASnZT58yl4iY3XXdyM1RsXfaqxn7zfb8p2TAujQju859w7iYhvFffk8h9mBoCidAQAvD_BwE

Protein Smoothie

Prep time: 5 minutes Ingredients:

• Smoothie packs (HEB brand linked below)
• egg whites
• almond milk
• flax seed
• any other desired powder supplement

Directions: Throw frozen smoothie pack into blender, add 1 cup of egg whites, 1/2 cup of almond milk and 1 tablespoon of flax seed (or any other desired powder supplements). Blend together till smooth.

https://www.heb.com/product-detail/h-e-b-select-ingredients-blendables-powerhouse-smoothie/1753332

If you would like to learn more about why breakfast is so important you can read further here: https://www.rush.edu/health-wellness/discover-health/why-you-should-eat-breakfast

WELCOME TO MY SITE

My name is Emily Bragg and I am a public relations major and a junior at Texas State University. I am originally from Colorado and moved to Texas a little over year ago. I am currently living in New Braunfels, Texas, with my fiancé and my german shepherd, Kota. I am creating this website because I have a huge passion for fitness and health. My biggest passion in this area is weight lifting and eating well. I find a lot of joy in being an all around healthy human and figuring out the best ways to achieve that. One of my main goals is to be able to help others reach their goals and live the best and healthiest life that they can. I am always learning on this journey as well and hope to explore new ideas that I can share with others. I am a college student and I know it can be difficult to handle all the stressors that come with that. I want to be able to help people my age understand how to fit in a healthy lifestyle even with being busy. Instagram is my favorite social media platform and I feel that is has brought a lot of opportunity into my life that would not have happened with out it. For that reason, I hope to connect with people through my website and Instagram as well!

instagram.com/emilybragg