The 12 Minute Athlete Holiday Recipe Cookbook is Here!

12 Minute Athlete Holiday Recipe Cookbook

There’s no question about it, it’s tough to eat 100% healthy over the holidays.

There are just so many delicious sweet and savory foods that seem to only make an appearance this time of year. And while I would never suggest you avoid all of your favorite holiday foods, if you go too overboard for the next month you may find you’ve set yourself back further than you wanted come January 1st.

That’s why (as someone with an admittedly huge sweet tooth) one of the things I love to do this time of year is to make healthier versions of holiday indulgences—and this year, I’m bringing my very favorites to you in the first ever 12 Minute Athlete Holiday Recipe Cookbook.

Read more

The Army-Inspired Tough Mudder Workout

Tough Mudder Army workout

This post is sponsored by the U.S. Army Reserve

Last week, I told you guys all about my day training with the Army Reserve as part of their Tough Mudder partnership (if you missed the post, you can check it out here.

So today, as promised, we’ll be doing a workout to help get you prepared for a Tough Mudder race.

I’ll tell you right now, this workout will test your personal limits, so be prepared to collapse in a heap of exhaustion and sweat at the end of it (I certainly did). There will probably be times you’ll want to quit. But don’t underestimate yourself—you are indeed stronger and more capable than you think, and pushing yourself past your comfort zone is the best way to build up your mental and physical strength.

I know it won’t be possible for all of you, but I would encourage you to do this workout with a friend (or a group of friends). Because individuals are stronger as a team, and by working together and cheering each other on, you’ll be able to rise to any challenge.

Disclaimer: Always make sure to consult a physician before performing this or any exercise program. You can go here for a full disclaimer.

So in partnership with the Army Reserve, here is your Army-Inspired Tough Mudder Workout:

Read more

Building Mental And Physical Strength: My Day Training With the Army Reserve

Krista Stryker Army training

This post is sponsored by the U.S. Army Reserve

When I think of the U.S. Army Reserve, I think of some of the fittest people on earth.

Striving to be the world’s best and most versatile team, the Army Reserve Soldiers train incredibly hard both mentally and physically and are continuously learning and adapting to an always changing world. Bringing together their diverse skills and backgrounds, they rely on teamwork, courage, and strong leadership skills to be able to rise to any challenge at any time.

So I was more than a little curious (and intimidated) when I was invited recently to train with the Army Reserve as part of their partnership with Tough Mudder.

If you’ve never heard of it before, Tough Mudder is an obstacle course designed to test your physical and mental strength with infamous challenges like the Ring of Fire (where you literally have to jump through a ring of fire) and the Dead Ringer (where the goal is to sideways climb along a series of ascending and descending pegs while high up in the air). Yet unlike most races, Tough Mudder is a team-oriented course focused on the premise that individuals are stronger both mentally and physically as a team—which is exactly why it’s such an awesome matchup with the Army Reserve.

So in partnership with the Army Reserve, I’m excited to bring you a play-by-play of my day training at the Army Physical Fitness School in Fort Jackson, South Carolina. Here is a super honest breakdown of my experience, including my shortcomings as well as successes:

Read more

How to Stop Binge Eating (And How To Start Treating Food as Fuel)

 

I don’t talk about it much publicly, but when I was younger, I use to binge eat—a lot.

It would happen mostly when I was lonely, or depressed, or even just bored out of my mind. Sometimes, it would happen when I was celebrating, too—but always when I was alone. I would go to the store, buy way too much junk food, and go home and eat as much of it as I could.

I’d eat until I honestly didn’t think I could eat another bite, and felt so sick I wanted to puke. Then, I’d wait a while, and when the feelings of nausea started to subside, I’d start eating again until either the food was gone or until I fell asleep in deep shameful sleep.

Without fail, I’d wake up feeling like absolute crap the next day. I’d beat myself up about it, forcing myself into an unending spiral of guilt, always wondering why I kept doing this to myself.

To make myself feel even worse, I’d look at the mirror and tell myself how terrible I looked and that I would never be good enough until I could stop liking food. That if only I could somehow turn myself into one of those people who just “forgets” to eat, then I’d finally be good enough.

But that was the wrong approach. Obviously.

Read more

How to Keep Track of Your Reps in the 12 Minute Athlete App

How to keep track of your reps in the 12 Minute Athlete app

One of the newest features that I’m most excited about in the 12 Minute Athlete app is the ability to track your workout reps.

This is something I’ve personally wanted to be able to do since I first created the app, and I’m so stoked that it’s finally integrated right there in the app.

Note: Rep tracking is currently only available to Super Athlete subscribers. You can learn more about becoming a Super Athlete and all the cool features you’ll get with the membership here.

Here’s how to keep track of your reps in the 12 Minute Athlete app:

Read more

9 Push Up Variations To Mix Up Your Training (Video)

Push ups are one of the best bodyweight exercises of all time to work your entire upper body and core muscles.

Not only do they require your entire body to work together in order to properly perform the exercise (meaning they’re super functional!), they also use absolutely no equipment—meaning you can do push ups absolutely anytime, anywhere. And adding them to your workouts or even just busting out a couple of sets in the morning will help you build up strength before you know it.

Note to beginners: You can do any of these styles of push ups while on your knees or with your hands on an elevated surface. No excuses!

Here are 9 ways to mix up your push ups to keep them interesting and mix up your training:

Read more

Super Athletes: How to Track Your 100 Burpee Challenge Times

[fullwidth background_color=”” background_image=”” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”” padding_top=”20″ padding_bottom=”20″ padding_left=”0″ padding_right=”0″ hundred_percent=”no” equal_height_columns=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” menu_anchor=”” class=”” id=””][fusion_text]How to Keep Track of Your 100 Burpee Challenge Times in the 12 Minute Athlete App

In case you (intentionally) forgot, tomorrow is the start of the October 100 Burpee Challenge weekend. Get excited!

Since it’s a new feature in the app, I thought it would be cool to show you guys who are already Super Athlete members (or are considering joining in the future) how to easily keep track of your 100 Burpee Challenge PRs and times in the app. It’s pretty simple, but if you’re not familiar with all the features yet, you might have missed it.

Here’s how to keep track of your 100 Burpee Challenge personal records right in the app:

Read more

29 Things I've Learned in 29 Years: My Annual Birthday Reflections Post

29 Things I've Learned in 29 Years

Today is my 29th birthday. Apparently time flies when you’re having fun.

Yet in all honestly, I barely feel any different than I did when I was 15 years old. The biggest difference between then and now is that I feel much more confident in my own body and mind. Oh, and I no longer have a curfew and can eat breakfast for dinner any day I want. So a few differences, I guess.

But really, though a lot has happened in these 29 years I’ve been on earth, I still feel like a total kid. Always learning. Always making mistakes. Always feeling like I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing… yet doing my best to follow my dreams anyway.

So, since this is the last birthday I’ll have before I enter my 3rd decade, I thought it would be a good time to share some of the things I’ve learned with you guys along the way. Not everything will be fitness-related, so if you’d rather go do a workout instead, please, go crush that workout.

Because I’ll warn you, this is going to be one of those ramble-y posts where I’m super honest with you guys, in the hopes that some of the things I’ve learned will help you along your life’s journey as well. Because I sure wish I knew this stuff even just a few years ago.

Here are 29 things I’ve learned in 29 years:

Read more

How To Resist Social Pressure To Stay Out Of Shape

 

We’ve all been there.

We make a commitment to ourselves to get in shape, work out consistently, and eat better overall.

But then we go to a party, out to dinner with friends, or over to a family member’s house, and somehow, our healthy choices seem to be an affront to the people we’re with.

“Just have one slice of cake, it’s not going to kill you.”

“Here, have some greasy mozzarella sticks with that salad, you don’t need to lose any more weight anyway.”

“It’s Friday! You have to let loose sometimes.”

Soon enough, we’re drowning ourselves in too much unhealthy food, even though it’s not even what we really wanted in the first place.

And although I’d never recommend trying to eat perfectly 100% of the time, even when trying to lose weight (I live by the 80/20 rule, after all), it can be incredibly frustrating when you feel like others are trying to sabotage your efforts to stay in shape.

So today I’m super happy to have my friend and fitness hack expert John Fawkes talking about this very subject and how to deal with the inevitable social pressure to stay out of shape.

Here’s how John suggests dealing with food pushers:

Read more

7 Healthy Dessert Recipes To Curb Your Sweet Tooth

 

In case I somehow haven’t made it clear already, I have a huge sweet tooth.

As a kid, since we didn’t have a lot of sweets around in the house, I would sneak bowls full of sprinkles and shredded coconut when my parents weren’t looking because that was the best sugar option I could find (that was until I discovered that my dad had a secret treat stash of his own).

As I got older, my love of sugar and all things sweet didn’t go away, and would lead to me binge eating bags of jelly beans/peanut butter M&Ms/frozen yogurt/chocolate chip cookies whenever I was bored, lonely, or depressed (which was more often than I’d like to admit).

Unsurprisingly, I realized somewhere along the line that this sugar addiction of mine wasn’t good for my overall health, physique, or confidence. But rather than try to give up sweets altogether (because really, what fun is that?), I’ve actually really enjoyed learning to make healthier versions of my favorite desserts that don’t leave me in a sugar coma or make my waistline expand.

Here are 7 of my favorite healthy dessert recipes to help curb your sweet tooth:

Read more