Breaking Muscle Article: 7 Core-Strengthening Push Up Progressions For Female Athletes

For those doing my Mat Movement workouts with me here and who are struggling with all the push-ups, here is a great article I wanted to share with you that I wrote for Breaking Muscle Magazine a while back. It is a step by step progression to get you super strong for push-ups. Push-ups are an excellent exercise because a strong core is required in order to execute them properly. Often it's not the upper body that is weak, it's the core. A strong push up helps you frame much more effectively in BJJ and good framing is essential to stop your opponent from closing the space and securing side control - for those BJJ athletes.

Have a read of this article and enjoy the progressions. In the end, I guide you to some really advanced push-up options. I wanna know who can do the ones on the ball!!! 

Girl in Gis Live Workout!

I’m so honoured to be guiding you through a BJJ specific work out at Girls in Gis this Saturday at 10 am PST. Join me for the live workout to help you stay strong and healthy throughout this time! And you may even break a sweat!!

The workouts can be viewed HERE!

I’ll also be available to answer any questions that you ladies might have about health and fitness training for BJJ and making weight for competition. Can’t wait!!

Virtual Personal Training Sessions & a Nutritional Plan with SophiaFIT

I am excited to announce that I will be offering Virtual Personal training sessions via Facetime or Skype. Alongside the training session, you will receive a Tailored Nutrition Plan and Workout Schedule!

My programs are very much geared towards overall lifestyle since feeling great and looking good is about so much more than what you are eating. With a personalized program, I will be looking into your food and water intake, your exercise,  your sleep, your supplements and your schedule/stress levels. My aim is to tailor a program that works best for you personally and make sure that it is achievable for you so you can realistically reach your goals. 

Please email me at sophia@sophiafit.com for details and prices.

Quick tips to keep your immune system strong!

Now more than ever we need to keep our immune systems strong. What people don’t realise that bugs such as microbes, viruses and bacteria are around us constantly. In fact, they are on every inch of our skin.  There are good bugs and bad bugs. The good bugs are the ones in our gut which keep our immune systems strong because they are the ones that fight off the bad bugs. 

What we want to do is keep our immune system strong so that if we ever encounter the virus or other bad bugs, our immune system is better prepared to fight them off. 

Below are my tips and methods that BOOST your immune system!

The food we eat is very important for immune health since our immune system starts in the gut. 

Eat loads of fruit and veggies, particularly green lady veggies that are packed with antioxidants.  Eat good quality proteins from sources where the animals are free to roam, such as eggs from pasture-raised chickens, wild-caught salmon and grass-fed meats. 

Drink loads of fresh filtered water. Personally I don’t agree with bottled water because no one knows how long the water has been sitting around in the plastic bottles and if it’s been exposed to sunlight where the BPA can leak into the water. Purchase a good filter to install at your house and aim to drink up to a gallon a day. 

Sleep is where our bodies recharge and heal. This where your body releases most of the human Growth Hormone for healing and repair. If you skimp on sleep then your entire system suffers because it hasn't been recharged. Aim to get a good 8 hours sleep a night to keep your immune system strong. 

Here are some supplements that are essential for overall health and work to boost your immune system too:

Multivitamins are packed with all the vitamins and minerals that your body needs for optimal function. The brand I recommend is juice plus because they are natural rather than synthetic so your body can readily absorb the nutrients.  Check out their products here.

 Probiotics: foods such as kimchi, sauerkraut and other fermented vegetables. Greek yoghurts with no added sugar is packed with probiotics. The bacteria from these fermented foods adds good bacteria to the gut. Supplementing with probiotics such as acidophilus and Bifidus is an option too. 

Fish oils reduce inflammation in the body which will help to reduce inflammation in the gut. If the gut is inflamed the internal flora is affected which can reduce the number of good bacteria and affect or immune-supporting bugs. 

Stress is a major factor in health. More and more studies are showing that stress is a factor in a myriad of health issues but also your state of mind affects your health. In a study performed by Richard J Davidson PhD, Author on The Emotional Life of Your Brain, he shares results for a test he performed whereby groups received the flu shot and those who reported they were happy and who performed specific stress-reducing practices such as focused meditation produced higher antibodies from the flu shot than those who did not practice stress-reducing activities. This indicated that the stress-reducing group had stronger immune systems responded more effectively to the flu shot.

Reduce stress by meditating daily. Results have shown that by spending as little as 10 mins a day to stop, breath and clear your mind can have powerful effects on your state of mind, your health and your immune system. 

My e book at half the price to say 'Thank You’

7 days of healthy meals and snacks mapped out.

It’s so easy to be eating more while we are all stuck at home. There is far less structure and one of the things most of us tend to do is snack when we are bored. In order to prevent piling on the bounds during lockdown its best to have healthy meals and snacks available, if not we’ll head straight for the crackers or the chips. 

My 7 Day Meal Plan is a very straightforward no-fuss meal plan that discusses the basics of nutrition and maps out delicious yet healthy meals and snacks for 7 days straight. Search day is different so there is loads of variety to keep things exciting. There are over 30 recipes in the books. And as a thank you, I am giving you a special discount coupon code that will allow you to receive this book at half price!!!! 

Enter:  STAYHEALTHY at checkout to grab your copy at 50% Off!

My Way of Saying Thank you

While we are all stuck in lockdown I want to help make this time as healthy for us all as possible with the focus on all aspects of health including mental and physical health by keeping us fit and motivated as well as sharing tips and recipes to stay healthy. I am really happy to be doing these workouts with you. It’s so motivating knowing we’ll all be meeting up at a certain time and working out together. As much as we may feel alone, we are actually all part of a collective support group with the same goal of feeling good and staying healthy in mind.  The other week we had 50 people tune into one of my BJJ strength workouts!!! How amazing is that!

I am looking at providing these workouts long term so that you can implement them into your weekly routine once life goes back to normal. So stay tuned for the awesome new program. 

In the interim the workouts will be available on my private FB group, SophiaFIT Health & Fitness Tips  Please invite your friends to the group to join us in the workouts too!

Sophia's Quick Health & Fitness Tip: how to stop your Avocado from going brown!

Often times I don’t need a whole avocado, especially when I’m making food for just myself, so I am left with a spare avocado half. As we all know, the cut surface of an avocado quickly turns brown making it hard to store for long. 

This is due to an enzyme in avocados causes the flesh to oxidize when exposed to air, turning it an unappealing brown color. Many people simply press a piece of plastic wrap over the cut surface to limit the exposure of the cut surface to oxygen is enough. It may be a very short term option but it won’t last longer than a few hours. 

Here are two things I do to keep my cut avocado fresh and green for longer:

1. Sprinkle some lemon juice on it!

I have found that the best way to keep a cut avocado green and fresh is to sprinkle some lemon juice on it. The lemon juice slows down the oxidation process. 

2. Store it with an onion!

The other option is storing the cut avocado in a sealed container with onion. Apparently the sulfur acts as a preservative which also slows down the process.

Mat Movement - Livestream Workouts

I am pumped so I am excited to announce that I will be doing some livestream workouts!!! Each workout will be different and focusing on a different muscle group or different aspect of strength/fitness to help you feel energised and to keep you fit and strong and healthy.

I have already done a few live streams which were so much fun. We did a full body martial arts based workout out and then an abs and booty workout.  each workout starts with a warm up, a vigorous exercise routine and a cool down relaxation stretch with some breathing to help de-stress during these crazy times. 

Join my private Facebook group SophiaFIT Health & Fitness Tips, to view the live stream videos

The workouts are 5.30pm and 12pm PTS. Stay tuned for updates on times and type of workout.