Physical Funness for the Motion Starved

Fit more fun into your fitness while exploring the outdoors.

Category Archives: Fitness


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To pop or not to pop, that is the question

Gross!

Someone once told me not to pop a blister. He said, “blisters are natures band-aid” don’t pop them. Then, not too long ago I saw a Dr. Oz segment suggesting that we pop our blisters. It’s all very annoying and confusing as I find that I’m always at a loss for what to do when I get a blister.

With that, I decided to look into the matter. Here’s what I found.

If the blister isn’t too painful, try to keep it intact. Unbroken skin over a blister provides a natural barrier to bacteria and decreases the risk of infection. Cover a small blister with an adhesive bandage, and cover a large one with a porous, plastic-coated gauze pad that absorbs moisture and allows the wound to breathe. Don’t puncture a blister unless it’s painful or prevents you from walking or using one of your hands.

If you need to drain/pop a painful blister, follow these steps:

  • Wash your hands and the blister with soap and warm water.
  • Swab the blister with rubbing alcohol, and sterilize a clean sharp needle with rubbing alcohol.
  • Puncture the blister at several spots along the edge. Apply antibiotic ointment and cover with a bandage.
  • After a few days, remove the dead skin with a sterilized tweezers and scissors. Apply more antibiotic and a bandage.

And so now we know…

P.s. The above advice is taken from the MayoClinic.com


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Coconut Water, not just for the shipwrecked anymore

Coconut Water

A couple of years ago my coach at the time suggested I try drinking 100% coconut water to rehydrate after a hard workout. Sadly at the time his words went in one ear and out the other. Now, years later I’m finding that the cloudy liquid inside a coconut has become highly popular and is currently all the rage.

Basically, coconut water contains more potassium than most sports drinks along with a huge list of other impressive claims: it cleanses your digestive tract, fights viruses like Herpes and AIDS, raises your metabolism and I even saw some data that suggested that it promotes hair growth (soak your bald head with it).

In the end, 100% coconut water is a naturally refreshing drink full of electrolytes. Use it to rehydrate after an intense workout. I think it tastes pretty good, although my friend Jacks thinks it tastes like “toilet water.” My suggestion to her was put it in the blender with some frozen fruit and whip up a post workout smoothie. Try it with frozen banana chunks, strawberries, add some yogurt, whatever floats your boat.

What the heck…give it a try, I’m glad I finally did.


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Uh-oh!

Ouch!

If you exercise, most likely you’ve experienced physical pain. They say that 42% of exercisers hurt themselves every year. As I read about pain and injury, I realize that there are many kinds of pain as it relates to exercising. I can’t be sure, but I believe the 42% refers to the percentage of people who actually damage their bodies during exercise, not those who simply experience a few hard workouts and feel “pain.”

I can’t tell you how to heal yourself or diagnose your injuries. I’m not qualified to do that, although I am extremely familiar with the concept of inflicting damage to ones body as a result of exercise. I am going to share a few bits of wisdom that I have accrued over the years. Maybe they can help you; they pretty much keep me alive.

  • Feeling pain? The first thing you need to do is to figure out if you have an actual injury, or just the pain that results from a hard workout. Pain that comes on gradually over the course of the workout is most likely just the lactic acid and carbon monoxide that builds up during exercise. A sharp, sudden or constant pain is the kind of pain that requires rest and possibly the attention of a professional.
  • If you’re healing from an injury or simply a hard workout you should not stop exercising. Activity delivers oxygen and nutrients to help mend your body as well as boosts your spirits.  All you need to do is find something that doesn’t aggravate your injury. Try something new.
  • RICE. Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation. Generally speaking, if you feel you have an injury to a muscle, ligament, tendon or bone the basic treatment is to begin RICE’ing immediately.  Example: I tore my Achilles recently, the first thing I did (after I dragged my poor wounded carcass home) was to put on my magic compression socks, lay on the floor, put my leg up on the couch resting on a big fat bag of ice. That ladies and gents, is RICE.
  • My favorite part of healing is the mental part. If you focus on your pain and the doom you feel, your pain will seem more intense and last longer simply because you’re focusing on it. When you focus on pain you stress yourself out which in turn puts stress on the body and keeps it from healing. It’s a nasty downward spiral, you feel bad so you fret about it making things worse. All you can do is acknowledge that you’re wounded, come up with mending plan and go with it. Focus on what you can do rather than what you cannot. That, is your only option.
  • Most of all, respect your body. It’s very good to you. When it’s wounded be kind and let it heal, don’t stress it in any way, let it relax and know that you love it and it will respond by healing and helping you to become even stronger than ever.

Trust me on this…


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Iron, not just for Popeye!

Popeye The Sailor Man

You know that you need to make sure that get enough iron in your diet, but do you actually know why?

Iron does many things in our bodies but mainly it carries oxygen from our lungs throughout our bodies. Iron also helps our muscles store and use oxygen. Too little iron in the body will result in iron deficiency and eventually anemia. The terms anemia and iron deficiency, are often used interchangeably but there is a difference. Iron deficiency refers to depleted iron stores without functional or health impairment, anemia, being more serious, affects the functioning of several organ systems.

How do you know if you’re iron deficient? — It’s pretty clear. Do you feel tired all the time, dizzy; get headaches, or leg pains?  These are a sampling of the symptoms, and are especially common in women and intense exercisers.

So, how much iron do you need? — Premenopausal women need 18 milligrams of iron daily and men require 10.

Think you need more iron? — First you need to understand that there are two kinds of iron. Heme and non-heme iron. Heme comes from blood or meat and non-heme comes from plant sources. When consuming iron from non-heme sources you’ll need to help your body absorb the iron by also eating Vitamin C. Vitamin C helps your body absorb the non-heme iron foods you eat, especially when the food containing non-heme iron and the vitamin-C rich food are eaten at the same meal.

Here’s where you can find the best sources of iron — If you opt for the heme form of iron, go for animal products such as liver, clams, salmon, oysters, and sardines. A nice steak will work too. Good non-heme sources are: oats, soybeans, green leafy vegetables, broccoli, spinach, eggs, black currants, fish, dried fruits (figs, apricots), nuts, fortified breakfast cereals, chocolates, tofu; almonds, avocados, beets, dates, kidney and lima beans, lentils, peaches, pears, brown rice and wheat bran, and sesame seeds.

Fun fact — Cooking in a cast iron skillet increases the iron content in food. The longer the food is in contact with the skillet, the more it absorbs.

Just for fun pay attention to your iron intake for a few days and see how you measure up. I’ll bet you aren’t getting enough. Figure it out and prove me wrong! Here’s a chart to help you calculate.

P.s. You do realize that I am not a doctor, right? I just research things that interest me and then share the broken down, nuts and bolts version with you. If you think you have a health problem of any sort it’s important that you contact your healthcare provider.


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Summer’s a comin’… Chop, chop!

Old School's the way to go!

Yippee! The weekend is upon us. What are you doing with your weekend? You know, there are only 11 days left until the first official day of summer. Does that encouraged you to get a little more exercise than usual? It does me.

How about I challenge you to mix it up with some of your favorite household items? You don’t have to do anything structured, just look at the list below and play around with as many of the items as you see fit. Just for fun see what you can do to get a little extra exercise and be creative. Just add this challenge to the other things you plan to do this weekend. Call it extra credit, or extra burn, as I like to think of it. Let me know how you do.

  • Water Bottles — Fill ‘um and go for a walk or use as hand weights while you watch TV
  • Gallons of Water or Milk — The original Kettlebell – Use as a weight
  • Backpack — Fill it and go for a hike/picnic
  • Stairs — Up and down, up and down, hop or walk, also good for doing calf raises
  • Lines on Pavement — Hop from side to side back and forth, for as long as you can stand
  • Wheelbarrow — Push it around, empty or better yet fill it a friend/kid
  • Sledge Hammer — Swing it
  • Axe/Hatchet — Chop, chop (be careful with this one!)
  • Saw — Be sure to use both arms though – balance both sides of the body
  • Shovel — Dig it up!
  • Push Lawnmower — I do this every few weeks! It’s great fun and good for the core
  • Car Pushes — Push a car, just make sure someone is in it ready to use the brake when it’s time to stop!

Have fun! See you on Monday…


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Walk up Wednesday


Walking is one of the quickest ways to blast up to 25% more calories and exercising outside is said to earn you up to 30%. So, ditch the treadmill get some fresh air.

My workout suggestion for today is to go for a power walk around your neighborhood. I’ve got some things for you to do so you don’t get bored and zap even more calories.

Here you go:

Warm up — Swing your arms around, front to back and across your body like you’re a crazy person hugging yourself. Circle your ankles 20 times each direction. Do a few jumping jacks, 25 should do it. This should take about 3 minutes.

The Meat of it — Start by walking at a quick, but comfortable pace that you can hold. (Keep a forward leaning position, it should feel like you have to take a step to keep from falling forward. Abs tight.) Keep walking, when you see a hill or set of public stairs, take the challenge and head up, even if it means you have to change your course. Hold your quick pace! You should be huffing and puffing your way to the top of each hill or set of stairs. If you can hold a conversation, you aren’t working hard enough.  Continue on your walk taking every hill or set of stairs you come upon. Use the down hill portions and flat areas as recovery, to catch your breath but keep a relatively quick pace. For bonus points add some triceps dips, bench push ups and or ab work at the top of each challenge. Just keep thinking of all those M&M’s you are burning off!

An hour of this and you could easily zap 500 calories!

P.s. Adding 3,600 steps to your day can help you lose 15 pounds a year! 3,600 steps equal about 1.5 miles. If you do the workout above correctly you will have covered about 4 miles!

P.s.s. Watch the above video at your own risk, it might make you a little dizzy. I know it’s silly but I think it’s funny.


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Like a dog sits for treats, I exercise for cookies

I made some cookies this weekend. They were “healthy” cookies. Meaning, the original recipe had been revised to cut calories and fat in an effort to make a healthier, more figure friendly treat. The problem I have with these sorts of treats is two-fold. First, I find that people think that because something is low-calorie/fat that makes it okay for them to eat twice as much. Second, in my experience these “healthy” foods usually aren’t as fulfilling as their not so healthy counterparts and not worth a single calorie, certainly not 100 plus.

While I’m very conscious of what I put into my mouth, I’m clearly of the thinking that if you’re going to eat something, it should be the very best of it’s kind available to you. Meaning, it should be fully worth the calories it contains.  With that, I am mindful of the relationship between what goes in my mouth and what has been, or is expected to be immediately burned off.

Example: Yesterday I didn’t do much. I cleaned house, baked cookies, talked on the phone for hours and worked on the computer. Sure, I moved around but I didn’t burn off any extra calories. Due to my low-level of movement I chose to eat foods that reflected how I spent my day.  I had yogurt and fruit for breakfast, a grilled chicken sandwich for lunch with some cherries and a big salad for dinner. For a snack I did treat myself to 3 of those “healthy cookies.” After all, I needed to test them. Today however, I went on a 10-mile trail run and participated in an hour of yoga along with a few other household duties. Due to my extended exercise I allowed myself to eat a little more than yesterday. The AM portion of my meals was pretty much the same as the day before, but for dinner I had a yummy pork chop smothered in a mushroom/onion gravy, mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus. For dessert, I shared, homemade strawberry shortcake, with vanilla bean ice cream.

Do you get where I’m coming from? It’s pretty simple. Skip the “healthy” cookies, unless you actually like them. Either way, you gotta burn ‘em off. Don’t forget, always choose foods that are freshly made of natural, organic ingredients rather than ingredients you can’t pronounce. Make your eating experience worth the calories and you’ll eat less and feel better.

It’s called The Common Sense Diet.


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Petite Chunkage

Happy Friday Everyone! This week seems to have flown by. I hope it’s treated you well.

Today, I’d like to send you away for the weekend with a few small chunks, things that have flown my way this week.

A client of mine didn’t understand why she’s felt incredibly hungry this week — Folks, when you work out your body gets hungry! Food is fuel. Your body needs fuel to operate, just like your car. The more you work it, the more it needs. Just watch what you eat. No cheese puffs. If you want it to work, and keep working, you need to feed it.

Nap time — I hate naps. Naps are for kids and usually make me cranky. This week however, I took a nap on three different occasions. I’m still cranky but at least I can stand up and focus my eyes. If your body wants to sleep, let it. When you’re tired is when you are most likely to injure yourself during exercise, or in my case walking down the street. Listen to your body. Do what it says.

If you’re gonna ride a bike, learn to fix a flat and take flat repair gear with you on every ride — If I see one more person standing by the side of the road with their bike turned upside down waiting for someone to come pick them up, I am going to scream. Be smart, be self-sufficient.

Yep, it’s been raining — They’re calling this month Junuary. It’s funny but then it’s not. Remember: Those cold and rainy training days are the days that later pay off and help you reach your goals. Endure!

See you next week. I’m making Cowgirl Cookies this weekend. Will let you know how they turn out.

Be smart…


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Simon Says…We Won!

Team Motion Starved

Yipee! Today we played Simon Says as we traveled along on our Fitness Walk. Team Motion Starved traded commands (via our iPhones) with our friends at The Exercise Space in Seattle. “Simon Says do 20 Jumping Jacks” or, Simon Says… Lunge up hill for one minute.” The commands were doled out about every 5 minutes allowing for lots of time to walk and enjoy the scenery as well as get a little sweat on. Maybe it’s just me but I think these games are super fun. It really doesn’t seem like exercise. Today I wished we had more than an hour to play. I hope the rest of my team felt the same way.

Anyway, Team Motion Starved prevailed today, we had a small but strong group and while our competition was just as worthy they kindly gave us the win as our team had a little easier time completing the tasks.  Next week we’ll be doing another Scavenger Hunt. Scavenger Hunt #2 will involve walking, light toning exercises and hunting for items that are more interpretive than literal. Things like, find something cold, mysterious, twisted, stuff like that.  I’m gonna need to enlist some creative thinkers to help me with this round. Interested?

If you can’t join me on one of my Fitness Walks consider doing your own. Trade commands with a friend who’s walking with you, or on the phone. The scavenger hunt is fun to do either in a group or send the list to a friend far away and have them send you photos of what they find. It’s fun to see what others find.

Lastly, Thank you to my friends from both Team Motion Starved and Team The Exercise Space! Good job tonight! I look forward to next week!

Carry on…


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Workout Wednesday – The Cheek Challenge

Last week I offered you a Plank Challenge. Did any of you do it? I hope so but based on the zero response I don’t have high hopes. Seriously, how much easier can I make this fitness business? There ain’t no magic pill or shot, folks.  You gotta move your body.

How about this – Squeeze your butt cheeks together, that’s super easy! All you gotta do is stand there and squeeze! Do it while you’re washing dishes, making Xerox copies, on Facebook, waiting for the bus, wherever! Squeeze your butt cheeks together like you’re trying to crack open a nut, squeeze really hard, hold for 10 seconds and release. Repeat this exercise 100 times throughout the day. There’s no easier way, it’ll boost your butt, work your abs and burn some cals! Try it! Don’t worry; nobody will know what you’re up to!

P. s. Today is June 1st. That means you have only 21 days to get ready for the first official day of Summer. I’m just sayin’!