Physical Funness for the Motion Starved

Fit more fun into your fitness while exploring the outdoors.

Category Archives: Well-being


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Inspiration seeds

Bespoke inspiration

You’ve heard of “paying it forward” right? It’s when you do something nice for someone and in turn that person pays it forward by doing something nice for someone else, and so on and so on and so on. Pretty soon everyone is doing something nice for someone else and the world is a much better place.

The same thinking works for inspiration. If you inspire someone to better himself, they may just inspire someone else to do the same, and so on and so on… See where I’m going with this?

Here’s a current example:

Last January  I started working with Diana, she wanted to lose some weight and tone up. At first, Diana could do about 3 abdominal crunches before she’d slam her legs to the ground and groan in pain. After a few months Diana got much stronger and actually began to like working out, she lost a nice chunk of weight and people took notice. One day about six months into Diana’s training, her mother became so impressed with Diana’s new ways that she talked her neighbor into power walking 3 mornings a week with her, something she had not done in years. After a few weeks of steady walking Diana’s mother and her walking partner inspired another neighbor to join their morning walks. Now, six months later they’re walking five mornings a week and have added another two walkers to their group.

So you see… it started with Diana, she inspired her mother, her mother inspired the other three walkers, those three walkers have now gone on to inspire their friends and family.

Pretty cool, don’t you think?

Inspire someone; all you have to do is plant the seed in one person and then watch it grow…


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Things that go crunch

Crunch!

I first posted this piece, this time last year. Looking back at my year in blogging I realized that I’ve covered a shitload of topics and that my newest followers and clients have not been privy to some of my (in my mind) best work. That said, do me a favor and have a read, or read this post again. It’s got some smart ideas.

Popcorn – Popcorn is a whole grain that provides carbohydrates and fiber. One cup of air-popped popcorn contains only 31 calories, and when popped in oil is only 55 calories per cup. Stay away from the “butter” they slather all over it at the theater, that’s a whole different story. By the way, National Popcorn Day is January 19th 2012!

Leaves on the ground – Try this, it’s fun. First, think like a kid. See a leaf, step on it. Step on all the leaves you see on the sidewalk ahead of you. Unless the sidewalk is paved with leaves you’ll find that you have to zigzag and do some jumping.  It’s good for your agility, it’s fun and it burns more calories than just walking along. I do it all the time.

Lettuce – It’s popular these days to substitute lettuce leaves for bread when having a sandwich or even a burger.  Good idea for a change of pace but if you keep to whole grains you can have your bread and lettuce too.

Abdominal exercises – Okay so your abs don’t actually make a crunching sound but I’ve heard some other noises come out of people while doing ab work.  I suggest starting with as many crunches (any variety) as you can do at one time. Rest for a minute and then do it again. Do this three times.  The next day, do it again.

Toasted whole wheat bread – There’s nothing wrong with a piece of whole grain toast spread with a little nut butter before a morning workout or for an afternoon snack.

The sound a motorcycle makes when you back into it while parking – If this happens best not to panic. Get out of your car, assess the damage and leave a note containing your name and telephone number.  Then pray the owner’s not really big and really pissed.

Apples – You know what they say, an apple a day keeps the Dr. away. Make sure to eat the peel that’s where most of the fiber is.

Cereal – Choose a cereal containing whole grains and lots of fiber.  Breakfast cereals are good sources of vitamins and fiber. Watch the sugar level. The recommended amount of sugar consumed per day is a maximum of 12 teaspoons (48 grams).

Your ankle when Dr. Barbara adjusts it – Call me a dummy but I didn’t realize that I could go to a chiropractor to have my ankle adjusted. When I sprained it last month Coach B suggested that I do just that.  He was right, once the swelling went down Dr. Barbara gave it a little twist and the next day I was back on the prowl. Remember that.

Nuts – All nuts are yummy and contain lots of good things. Try Almonds as they’re full of fiber or Walnuts, which are high in fiber as well as omega 3’s, both good for heart health.  Personally I like Brazil nuts which contain high amounts of selenium. Selenium is shown to reduced risk of both breast cancer and prostate cancer.

Ice – Who doesn’t like to crunch on the ice in their glass after finishing a beverage (I like a Manhattan these days but I should probably suggest juice or water)? Crunching on the ice works your facial muscles and ice is water so that’s always a good thing.


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Resolutions are for sissies, goals are the real deal

My New Years resolution is to exercise

It seems like everybody wants to know what my New Years resolutions are. It bugs me when people ask that because I think resolutions are for the birds. Or, “for sissies” according to a woman I know.

The dictionary says, a “resolution” is: a resolve or determination: to make a firm resolution to do something.  Okay, that’s great, but you can’t just “do something” without a firm, reasonable goal and a clear path to reach that goal. From my experience, most folks make long mental lists of New Years resolutions and abandon them by February. Why? Because once they sober up they get lost in the enormity of the resolution and lose direction if there’s no established means to the end (path to the goal).

Example: To say, “I am going to spend more time this year with my family and friends” is too big a notion. How are you gonna do that? You need a specific plan of action that you can commit to, simply determining to resolve the notion will not make it happen.

Course of action: First, set a reasonable, measurable goal. Next, figure out a path or plan of action. Then, take it one step at a time, focus on the goal and move forward until you attain the prize. Remember, take small steps. If you mess up, stop, refocus and go again.

So, it’s time. We all need to set some goals. Start with breaking the year down and setting small goals within manageable chunks of time. Example: If you want to run a marathon this year and you currently don’t run, break your larger goal down into 5k, 10K, 21K etc, chunks. Make yourself a schedule or calendar that spells out exactly where you should be, and when. Same goes for weight loss, be reasonable, schedule yourself 2 pounds of loss a week and add some exercise goals in there too. Take things one month at a time.

As for me, one of my goals is to attend bikram yoga classes 3 days per week during the month of January. That’s all I feel comfortable committing to. In February I’ll reassess how I feel about bikram and my related goal. In this case, if I focus on one month at a time I’m more likely to reach the goal. Thinking about attending bikram three days a week for an entire year is far too daunting.

Lastly, remember that it takes three weeks to make something a habit. Try starting with a three or four-week challenge or goal. Sign up for a few weeks of fitness class if you want to lose weight or get in shape. If you want to cut back on alcohol, start with cutting back for one month. Three or four weeks sound a lot better than “this year” and after those few weeks are up, you can reassess your goal. This way you’re more likely to keep with the program.

Any questions?

P.s. Here’s a post I wrote this time last year it’s called Goal setting Kelley style. You may find it interesting.


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I can’t wait until 2012!

Climb to the Moon

Climb to the Moon

Happy New Year everyone!

While 2011 was a fantastic year I’m super excited to begin 2012!

To start the year off right, Motion Starved has a couple fun things on tap to feed the truly motion starved and offer opportunities for us all to get moving, get healthy and have a good time doing so.

Check it out!

Stair Climbing Workouts – Each Saturday for seven weeks we’ll climb a different set of stairs visiting all parts of San Francisco. This Saturday we meet and climb at Lands End. This session runs from 1/7 – 2/18.

The price for seven, one-hour workouts is $40 paid in advance, the drop-in rate is $12 per workout. We workout rain or shine!

Why stairs? The beauty of climbing stairs is, no matter your pace you always get a fantastic cardio and booty-boosting workout. These workouts will include core and stretching exercises as well as interval stair climbing. Participants are encouraged to climb at their own pace but will be urged to push themselves. Walkers as well as runners are welcome.

Climb to the Moon 2012 – This “event” is completely free of charge and is about fun, motivation and being part of something larger than yourself.

Here’s the short version of the story: One day, my friend Dawn and I wondered how many stairs you would have to climb to reach the moon. Dawn did the math and found that you’d have to climb over 4 million stairs to reach the moon. Yikes we thought, that’s a lot of stairs, we’re going to need a team to help us walk, run/climb if we’re going to make it to the moon in a reasonable amount of time.

That’s where you come in. Dawn and I would like to invite you to help us climb to the moon this year. Think about it, it’s kinda cool to imagine that with enough people we can actually get as far as the moon.

Here’s all you have to do: run, walk or climb stairs, the idea is to inspire you to walk, run and climb a little more than you might normally. You’ll need to record your steps either by wearing a pedometer, counting miles or if you plan to climb actual stairs those are pretty easy to count. Every day or when you choose to, Tweet us your steps and that will record them on our website. The big (477,714,000 steps) number on the site will go down the closer we get to the moon. It’s our goal to start counting with the light of the first full moon on 1/9 and reach the moon by the last full moon in 2012 on December 28th.

That’s the basic idea, there are other details like we’re working on prizes for those who climb the most within a certain time period but that’s still in the works. For fun we hope that folks will take photos and tweet them to share where they’ve been climbing. It’s likely that we’ll have folks from all over the world climbing with us so it’d be super cool to see photos from other places. Don’t you think? Another hope is that we can get individuals and corporations to donate money to their favorite fitness related charity as an incentive for us to reach our goal. Currently we have a $5000 donation promised to the San Diego Downtown YMCA if we’re able to make it half way to the moon by July 1st.

So, won’t you please help us? All you have to do is run, walk and/or climb a few extra stairs, open a Twitter account (super easy, you can use any profile name you like), follow @MoonClimb and tweet us your progress. Details on exactly how to make sure your tweet will be picked up by us are at the bottom of this page in the footnotes.

That’s enough for now; let me know if you have any questions. Please join the fun and help us make 2012 a really amazing year.

Kelley

* Sample tweets: You must tweet the number of steps, the word steps as well as mention moonclimb. Like: I did 100 steps for moonclimb today. OR moonclimb inspired me to climb 50 extra steps today. Easy!

** The average person’s stride length is approximately 2.5 feet long. That means it takes just over 2,000 steps to walk one mile, and 10,000 steps is close to 5 miles. If you count miles please do the conversion before you tweet.

*** Pretty Please “like” both Motionstarved and MoonClimb on Facebook!!!!

**** The Moon Climb 2012 site is not up yet but very soon! Stay tuned and check here.


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Thank you 2011!

This is my last post of 2011. It’s been a wonderful year and I have you, my readers, friends and clients to thank for that.

As I sit here at my desk gulping down a Pluto’s salad racing to get everything done, I’m reflecting on the year gone by. I ask myself, “do I have an regrets?” No, never. I don’t believe in them, I believe only in opportunities to learn and make life better.

With that, I leave you a little homework assignment to ponder as you start planning your 2012. Consider what I ask, and we’ll talk more about these topics in the new year.

  • Make a list of all the fun things you’d like to do in 2012? They can be new things or things you’d like to do again. Here’s an example of 100 super cool ideas Jennifer suggests.
  • Pay it forward. Think of small, unexpected ways you can do something nice for a stranger. If you haven’t seen the move Pay it Forward, watch it!
  • Think about what you should do rather than what you should not. Same goes for food/diets. I saw Chef Alton John on TV last night. He lost 50 lbs by making a list of all the things that he should eat and concentrated on those foods. He never thought about or considered the foods he should not eat. The same thinking can be applied to anything in your life.

Again, thank you for reading my words and for playing along. I hope I’ve helped or inspired you in some small way.

Have a wonderful holiday, I’ll see you in January.

Kelley


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Small bits that help (The Season of Eating – Navigation Tip #6)

Me+Frosty

Yowza! Two weeks from today is Christmas! The pressure is on over here for sure. I’m kinda anxious and not appreciating the feeling one single bit.

With that, here are a few things I’m working with that seem to help.

  • Things don’t have to be perfect. Life doesn’t reward you for being perfect. Life rewards you for making your best effort.
  • Do what you feel comfortable with and don’t worry about pleasing everyone.
  • Practice selective listening. Are there people in your life who never seen to be happy? Maybe they don’t realize it but they’re kinda downers. Normally I’d say ditch ‘em and find more positive people but sometimes you can’t do that. In this case, all you can do is to tune them out. It’s okay, better than letting ‘em bring you down or stressing you out. You can deal with the issue after the holidays.
  • Cool gift idea – Fill a box with dozens of slips of paper, each one detailing something you love about the person. Or if you’d rather, skip the mushy, lovey-dovey stuff and write down fond memories you have of that person (example: “Remember when you sucked the juice out of the wet nap and I almost died of dehydration?”)
  • Be kind to yourself. Take time to relax, and breathe!

That’s all I have for you right now. Hope it helps!


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Go with “naughty” this year (The Season of Eating – Navigation Tip #5)

Naughty or nice?

You better watch out!
Better not cry!
Better not pout!
I’m telling you why,
Santa Claus is comin’ to town.

Remember that song? As a kid did it make you want to be “nice” so you’d get lots of presents?

He’s making a list
and checking it twice.
He’s going to find out who’s naughty and nice.
Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town.

It’s hard to be nice all the time and frankly I think it’s okay to be a little “naughty” once in a while. With that here’s my Season of Eating Navigation Tip # 5.

  • Regifting – My thinking is, if you receive a gift that’s just not your style it’s okay to give it to someone who might better appreciate it. It’s better than tossing it in the trash or the back of the closet for 5 years.
  • Go ahead and have some chocolate. Just stick with the good stuff and the darker the better. I say, “Once you go dark you never go bark.” (Did you get that?)
  • It’s okay to decline an invitation or two during this busy time. You don’t have to attend everything you’re invited to. Why stress yourself out and others too.
  • Santa always wants to know if you’ve kept your room clean. Don’t beat yourself up if you have to let the dust bunnies build up a tinny little bit. Just don’t let it get out of control. Better yet, give yourself the gift of a maid service once or twice this season. In this case your naughty behavior ends up benefiting another by giving them work.
  • Flirt a little. Santa says to be “nice” I say tis the season for a little friendly flirting. Harmless flirting is good for the spirit and makes folks feel good.

So you see, do it right and naughty becomes the new nice. Have at it!


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More bang for your buck (The Season of Eating – Navigation Tip #4)

My first dumpling

Okay, I get it! We all have way too much to do this time of year. Along with our regular duties we now have to add holiday shopping and celebrating to the list of to-dos. I don’t know about you but I’m overwhelmed and very behind.

If you workout with me you know that I like to choose exercises and activities that work more than one part of the body. Like doing squats with overhead press together.  You get “more bang for your buck” as you work the lower and upper body all at once. In my mind it’s about time management as much as it’s about getting more sweat for your effort.

With that here’s today’s Season of Eating Navigation Tip # 4 – More bang for your buck.

  • Rather than going to lunch/dinner/drinks with friends to celebrate the season, go for a hike and take along a bottle of bubbles to sip at a sweet spot in the trail. You get your cheer and exercise at the same time.
  • Gift cards are cool but why not give a friend a gift certificate to a workout class or workshop that you can attend with her/him. Give a gift and get one in return. See where I’m going with this? How about, Hip Hop, Hula Hoop or ever hear of Cocooning? Ooh…how about Massage for Couples!
  • Take your friends/family ice-skating. You can stop for a drink after. Remember, you burn more calories in the cold. If you decide to go, here are some helpful things to remember.
  • Teach somebody something. I learned to make Pork Dumplings this weekend. Rather than having a party where you just sit and eat, my friend Dora invited her friends over to learn how to make traditional Chinese Dumplings. We drank wine, ate yummy healthy dumplings, learned something cool and socialized. At the end of the day Dora sent everyone home with dumplings to enjoy another day. It was a great event and wonderful gift from Dora to all her friends. (Thanks again DL)

There you go, find ways to accomplish more than one thing at a time. Some say, “kill two birds with one stone” (but I never liked the image that congers up). You get the idea… and please feel free to share your “more bang for your buck” ideas.

Happy Monday!


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It’s my birthday and I’ll do what I want to

That's a lot of candles!

If you follow along you’ll have noticed that I’ve completely slacked off this week. I have no excuse. I just didn’t feel I had anything interesting to say so I didn’t post like I usually do.

Today however, is my birthday. Normally I wouldn’t toot my own horn unless I did something amazing, but today I’m going to talk about me anyway.

Some things you need to know about me are that I have zero patience; I despise excuses and people who constantly make them. I adore animals, I eat things that are bad for me, I drink a little too much wine sometimes and I don’t play hard to get, I am hard to get. I stop listening when people talk about negative things or their shitty lives, jobs or physical/mental ailments. If I like you, I will do pretty much anything for you to a fault (hence my being single). If I don’t like/respect you, I block you out because I feel we should focus on, and spend our time/energy on/with those who offer positive experiences. I believe we should surround ourselves with friends and lovers that make our lives better and whose lives we can better. People seem to like me but I find that odd, as I am not an easy person. In the end, I feel that life is about coming to terms with one’s self and truly appreciating the gifts that The Universe gave to us.

When I say that we need to appreciate the things The Universe has given us I mean all the things. The people, the good ones and the bad ones. The nuances of our bodies, the things we like and the things we don’t. The simple things like the really chubby ladybug that landed on my pillow today and the chicken dinner I “cooked” for Jackie’s dad years ago. Appreciate the things you’ve learned and be excited for the things you will come to learn.

One of the most important things I’ve learned in my life (and I just recently figured it out) is that you must let people be who they are. If you change them, they will no longer be the person you cared for. Appreciate, and embrace the good and the bad within the people you choose to spend your time with. If you can simply not bear to let them be who they are, then let them go.

Lastly, we are in control of our lives. Each of us makes zillions of decisions every day that drive our lives in the direction they’re heading. Remember this, and take responsibility for yourself and your life.

I leave you with those words of wisdom and that lovely view into the mind of Kelley. I hope you take the wisdom part to heart…


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I want to but…

That's Me & Mr. Skinny

Yesterday I read an article about how to keep people interested in your writing. It said that it’s important to let your readers know that you aren’t perfect. Nobody wants to be read about perfect people or people who presume to be perfect. Being perfect doesn’t inspire. It also said to be genuine and let your personality shine through. Thank goodness I thought, lord knows I’m not perfect and trying to hide my personality is like trying to hide my big nose.

After reading the article I did a little self-check. Do I pretend to be a know-it-all? Do I practice what I preach or am I full of shit? I decided that I actually do make an effort to follow my own advice and I think I’m pretty genuine. Last week I encouraged folks to try chia seeds even thought I hadn’t tried them myself, and in truth, I wasn’t in any hurry to do so. After my little self-check I decided I’d better get some chia seeds and have a taste. I’m happy to report that they’re pretty unobtrusive as far as taste goes and they really do expand in liquid so don’t let ‘em sit around in a smoothie or something. You’ll be sorry.

If you follow along, I tend to spout off exercise challenges and routines for you to try. Those I do try before I write them, but in some cases I don’t actually keep them up. Take Kelley’s Ab Challenge from a few months back where I published a photo of my very own abs. My abs looked pretty good at that point and I was working to make them look even better. At the time of the challenge I did keep up my end of the bargain, however since then I’ve slacked off so badly that I had to loosen my belt a notch last night. Can you imagine, a trainer letting such a simple thing as her abs go to chub? It’s beyond shameful!

As for my pushing you to try different things, get out of your comfort zone; I do try to keep up that end of things but here again, not always. Most recently my trainer friend Dawn challenged me to push my running pace by taking a minute off my average mile. I did make an effort to reach this goal but it was half-assed and now I’m ashamed of myself.

I once had a friend who I was absolutely crazy about but he had a habit of saying “I want to but…” In his case, “I want to but…” meant he’d rather be with someone other than me. To this day those words continue to haunt me. When you say “I want to but… “  You don’t get credit for saying or thinking that you want to do something.  You only get credit when you actually make the effort to do it. Remember, actions speak louder than words in everything you do.

So, I wanted us all to try chia seeds, I got on it and I tried them. I want us to step outside of our comfort zones so this weekend I’m taking a paddleboard lesson at the famed Mavericks. No, I am not perfect nor am I that interesting really, which is why I try new things like chia seeds and potentially make a fool out of my self on a paddleboard, in a wet suit that’s sure to emphasize my currently less than impressive abdominal zone.

In the end, I am not a perfect know-it-all, the only difference between some, and me is that I make the effort. “I want to but…”  is not in my phrase book.

See you Monday; if I survive I should have an amusing paddleboard report that’s sure to reek of personality.

Make me proud this weekend…