Category — Fitness

Hey Sweeties!

I got crazy today and made a lil’ video for you – check it out, and leave your thoughts in the comments!

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I often find that March is when I can get more serious about taking off the few winter pounds I’ve taken on, and that I’m more incentivized to take my workout to a new level now too . . . spring is in the air, even if Mother Nature is a fickle old bird. The holidays are over, Girl Scout cookies are gone, and we’ve gotten our winter vacation out of the way. I have a 3-4 month span of nicer weather with few holidays and temptations to help me get where I want to be for summertime.

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In today’s guest post, Daniel Max reminds us that we can take the emphasis off food by finding something that really engages us . . . .

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Do you remember being a child and getting so wrapped up in creative play that you didn’t want to stop when it was time to eat or left your meal half-finished to get back to your game? Children innately understand that food is secondary to what is most nutritious and primary in life: fun and play.

As adults we seem to have lost our instinct to prioritize play. In our busy world, with its emphasis on work and responsibility, in order to be healthy and balanced we must work on more than just our bodies; we must feed our hearts, minds and spirits.

When our body, mind and spirit are engaged in a creative project or happy relationships, our reliance on food may appear to decrease. Likewise, when unsatisfied with relationships, job or other areas of our life, we often depend on food to cheer, soothe or numb us. When our life is out of balance, no amount of food can feed us where we truly need nourishment. The food that we eat is very important for health and balance, but what really feeds us-a full and fulfilling life-doesn’t come on a plate.

Putting things that excite us on hold for the sake of responsibilities may at times be good logic yet we often make these decisions from a place of fear rather than good sense. “If I’ll lose weight, then I’ll start swimming/ buy new clothes/ start yoga….”   Let’s do the things we want to do NOW. Any statement containing “if I achieve__then I’d be happy” never holds truth and brings nothing but dissatisfaction. While our future goals are a motivation to better ourselves, they do not hold back our happiness. Finding a peaceful pleasure in our current state of being will motivate us to progress from a sense of ease. We stop working away from what we don’t want and work towards moving towards what we do want.

Create a positive attitude and wonderful environment around you and enjoy the process of becoming healthier and happier every step of the way!

Have fun. If going to the gym is a “chore” then try a yoga or dance class instead. Find a way to play while moving your body. If by deciding to eat healthy you are mostly focused on what to restrict, shift your focus to all the new foods and flavors you get to incorporate and explore.

What is fun for you? What makes you light up and excites you? Make time for it this week. Even if you don’t have much time for fun, try approaching a “serious” activity with an attitude of play. This can greatly reduce stress and anxiety and bring more pleasure to your day. Take your focus off food, try adding more fun into your life and watch the magic unfold. 

Daniel Max is a Nutrition and Health Counselor, Life & Wellness Coach, Massage Therapist specializing in Shiatsu, and a Yoga Instructor. Providing an integrative approach to naturally reclaim control of your health, Daniel offers an initial hour-long consultation. Gaining a greater perspective on your health, this session includes a full discussion of your health history and health goals, a chance to get your questions answered and establish your first steps in creating a personalized health program, completely catered toward your lifestyle and needs. Consultations are available either by phone or in person.  To Learn more about Daniel and his services, visit www.MaxSenseOfSelf.com.

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Did you notice?  No post at 9 a.m. today?  I’d drafted a post about my newfound love, chia seeds, but somehow WordPress had other ideas and deleted all but three lines . . . discovered this at 9 p.m. last night and was just too beat (L. up at 5 a.m., thank you time-change!) to regroup and redraft.  Lesson learned.

So this’ll have to be quick – I’ve got PT soon and a bunch of errands on tap today – I promise I’ll get back with a better thought-out post tomorrow!

I was p*ssed off this morning about the post, and had scheduled myself to ride the bike at the gym today (pool was closed, double grrr) . . . so what did I do?  I took out my anger on the bike (D. & L. will thank me later).  I have to say, it was one of the best rides I’ve had in a while, and that’s saying something since I ride the bike a lot. 

To what do I attribute my success this morning?  Two things – first, I got a great night’s sleep last night, so I was rested and strong.  Second, I decided to switch up my music today and cycle to a Podrunner mix.  You may remember this post on workout music, I mention the Podrunner mixes there.

Today’s mix was called “Upgrade*,” and it is a 140-170 BPM mix.  You can look it up in the archives that are right on the Podrunner home page.  This mix gradually increases in tempo as you get further through the hour.  It helped me go faster and longer today – I’ve figured out, finally, where to set my bike so that I can spin fast, with lower resistance, and still keep my heart rate in the zone . . . in the “old days,” before foot issues, I used to cycle with a lot more resistance, but at a slower RPM.  So actually now, the Podrunner mixes are even better for me than they were before!

I urge you to check ‘em out – you don’t need an iPod, just a MP3 player.  You can subscribe on the site and be up-to-date on the latest mixes (now bi-weekly due to budget issues), or if you do have an iPod, you can just subscribe and you’ll be scheduled to download new mixes as they become available. 

And if you like what you hear, do us all a favor and donate to Podrunner . . . they’re remarkably well-thought-out mixes for a fraction of what you’d pay to download and create your own playlist.

Happy sweatin’!

*P.S. Another one of my favorites is a 140 BPM mix called “Progressive.”

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Many of you know I’ve been dealing with some pesky orthopedic issues that are keeping me from weight-bearing exercise.  After 8+ months of this garbage, I’m getting a little nutso . . . watching my fitness level and body tone decline and just feeling bored and out-of-sorts about the whole deal.  So lately, I’ve been getting aggressive about seeking out new ways to regain my strength and conditioning.

One Saturday, I was complaining to my Pilates instructor that my right hip was sore and bound-up (as it has been for months).  She whipped out a foam roller and showed me some self-myofascial release techniques (really a fancy phrase for self-massage) that have given me more mobility and comfort in my hip and IT band than I’ve had in years.  Seriously, I am not exaggerating.  I bought one from her at the end of my session, brought it home, and began to explore workouts using the roller.  I can’t believe that in 20 years of being an avid exerciser and PT-regular, I’ve never used one of these.  I’m a convert.

You can use a foam roller in myriad ways – to stretch and massage sore spots, but also to do some challenging balance and strength moves.    A foam roller costs about $25 and it’s easy to store – a perfect addition to your home-exercise studio (or living room, as is the case in our house!).  Some days, I do moves on my roller while I watch t.v. at night, others I’ll bike at the gym, swing home, and do another 1/2 hour of stretching and strengthening on the roller. 

I have a 36″ full round roller (they also come in 1/2 round, if you need more stability to start with).  Most gyms have them, so if you want to try one out for “free,” check one out there.  If you want your own, you can order a foam roller from Amazon, and read up on all the variations.  Power Systems has them too, for less money, and I’ve ordered from them before with good results.  Or, you can call around to sporting-goods places and/or medical supply outlets in your area to see if they carry these.

Here are just a few of the great resources I’ve found on the ‘net for foam roller workouts:

• This guide from the About.com Sports Medicine area gives good background on what myofascial release is, how it works, and includes tips for self-release techniques for common hot spots.  Includes pictures.
•  This detailed guide shows you, with photos, how to get at some of your rough spots, and then goes through some good balance and core strengthening exercises.  Some of their exercises require 2 rollers for extra stabilization work.
• This total body routine from Paige Waehner at About.com incorporates pushups, extensions, stretching and more.  It also includes pictures and recommendations for beginners, intermediate and advanced exercisers.
• This set of 6 Pilates-based moves provide a nice combination of balance, strength and stretch, and also includes pictures. 

I would never say that the roller replaces the good work of a manual therapist (our PT is absolutely amazing, if you need a recommendation, email me), but it’s a great way to work out kinks on your own, in between sessions, and/or to keep up the good work you’re doing elsewhere.  Give one a try!

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Today I’m proud to announce my first guest blogger, Jill Feldman.  Jill’s going to tell us about a passion of hers, Nia – a workout, lifestyle and personal growth program all rolled into one. Many, including Jill, have found that Nia’s a fabulous way to condition, heal and transform the body, mind and spirit.

Maybe Jill will inspire you to try Nia?  It can be incredibly refreshing for your body and your mind to take up a new form of exercise after many years of doing the same ol’ thing.  I’m going to try it out and I’ll keep you posted – Jill is going to lead me in a special Nia session adapted to my current zero weight-bearing exercise restrictions . . . yes, you can even do Nia in a chair!  [Read more →]

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Do you know the Hungry Girl?  She’s Lisa Lillien and she has a great web site and daily email about nutrition and weight loss that you can subscribe to for free (“tips and tricks for hungry chicks!”).  Although I’ve been a subscriber for years, I definitely pick and choose what I take from the Hungry Girl’s emails.  She gives lots of good advice about counting calories and food awareness, and she highlights new diet-friendly foods and all the time, but a lot of those foods have loads of artificial ingredients, which I try to avoid.

The fabulous Hungry Girl also often gives up the 411 on nutritional information for restaurants and “fast casual” places – she is correct that knowledge is power when it comes to taking charge of your waistline and your health.  A lot of places have made this information available on-line (try Googling “Bruegger’s nutrition information” or “Panera nutrition information,” etc.), but many places have been loathe to disclose.

Well, because so many cities and states are requiring restaurants to post their nutritional data, more information is becoming available every day . . . including (finally) info. on Friendly’s, a place that I actually eat sometimes with my daughter.  There is this Honey BBQ Chicken Supermelt sandwich that I dream about, and, well, after checking the stats just now, I don’t think I’ll ever order it again.  Even I, a dyed-in-the-wool calorie-counter and health-conscious consumer, never anticipated the disaster that is that sandwich . . . . check it all out for yourself here, (scroll down to the second reader question) and also find info. on food at the Cheesecake Factory, Olive Garden, IHOP, T.G.I. Fridays & Applebee’s – places I know for sure some of you eat.  ‘Fess up.

Next time you’re going to one of these places, take a peek at their nutrition info. before you leave, and try to choose something that’ll fit into your daily budget for fat and calories.  Even if you’re not counting calories, etc., you can think about how you’ve been eating in a given week – if there’s been a lot of junk or rich food and not a lot of greens and fiber, you might want to try easing up a bit at, say, Friendly’s.  And if you want to damn-it-all and enjoy that Supermelt, well, you know what you’ll have to do to make up for it afterwards. 

Belly up!

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I’m usually tired when I arrive at the gym in the morning.  And if I’m not tired, I’m often bored – I am there an awful lot, and even though I have strategies to beat machine-boredom, it happens.  But more often than not, once I get in the building I can motivate myself to exercise hard, despite my boredom and/or fatigue.  So what’s my “secret?”   Music.  Nothing psyches me up more than a high-energy workout mix.  Music will inspire you, and research shows that music can distract you from fatigue so that you can exercise longer and harder.

It turns out that even some serious athletes use music as a source of inspiration to aid their performance in both training and competition.  The British tennis player, Barry Cowen, listened to a personal stereo system during his match with Pete Sampras at Wimbledon in 2001.  And Cowen later partly attributed his excellent performance to the inspirational music he was listening to during the change of ends. Ethiopia’s Haile Gebreselassie set an indoor world record for 2,000 metres while his favorite song was playing in the Birmingham arena. He later suggested that the music gave him a rhythm that matched the required pace of the run. And in a longitudinal study of Russian weightlifters, participants found that their training quality, volume and intensity improved substantially when music accompanied weightlifting sessions.

There are all sorts of things mere mortals like us can do to harness the motivational power of music in our workouts.  I often do intervals to songs – if I’m on the bike, I’ll cycle at 70 RPM as a base, and then rev it up to 80+ during each chorus.  Or if you have songs of differing beats per minute (BPM) in your mix, you can do longer intervals – speed it up for the high BPM songs, slow it down for the lower.  If you’re in the treadmill, do hills for the slow songs, and then bring your incline down to 1 or 2 and run or speed walk for the fast songs.  If you want to get really fancy, iTunes will show you the BPM of your downloaded music, and you can make a mix tailored to your gym activity – you can make up a classic warm up, high intensity, then cool-down mix.

I suppose you want suggestions?  I have eclectic music taste, and although I’d rarely listen to it outside the gym, I have a lot of cotton-candy pop, hip-hop and house music in my workout mixes.  If you’re interested, I’ll see if I can make some of my workout mixes public on iTunes. 

Another tip – for variety, I also listen to the PodRunner/PodRunner: Intervals mixes – they’re organized by BPM, but a warning:  they’re geared more toward the high BPM activities (running, for instance).   You can download these directly from the site, but if you do have an iPod, you can subscribe to the PodRunner podcasts on iTunes and you will have a continuous stream of new material. 

For even more ideas, take a peek at this Boston Globe article from last April – I can attest to the fact that the majority of these’ll get your heart pumpin’ and your fitness level up.

Go for it!

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