Physical Funness for the Motion Starved

Fit more fun into your fitness while exploring the outdoors.


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OMG! Why did I sign up for that?

Around and around we go...

I have a client who’s running her very first 5k and it’s in just a few weeks. Currently, she’s pretty calm, but experience tells me that the night before her running debut she’s gonna wonder what the hell she was thinking when she signed up for such a thing. We all do that, we do it no matter how many times we race, participate in a competitive event or sign up for something that’s new to us. It’s just the way it works.

My advice to my client and to the rest of the world is to remain calm. Freaking out uses valuable energy that you’ll need later.

If you were smart, you’ve trained and planned well for your challenge. Perhaps you even scoped out the course, or spied through the window of a dance class so you’d know exactly what you’re getting yourself into. You read the event information packet ahead of time and you have all your ducks in a row. It’s anticipating surprises that freak us out, I think. Maybe you remember when I did that stair climb in the B of A Building for charity a few months ago, I got all freaked out because at the last-minute I read a note in the race rules that said “do not crawl on the stairs.” Just reading that set off all sorts of horrific thoughts in my head. I imagined that people become so exhausted that they had to crawl to the finish. In the end, I found that I was being very silly as the race itself was a piece of cake (because I trained for it!).

With that, my best pre event suggestions are as follows:

  • Get yourself completely ready a few days before your event. Make sure your cloths are clean, have good food in the house, read all the event info, collect your race number/chip everything you need so the last few days you can chill.
  • It’s important that two nights before your event you get a good night sleep. You may be anxious the night before making for a less than perfect nights sleep so focus on two nights before. If you have a good sleep two nights before, the night before you’ll feel less anxious.
  • Eating the night before. Frankly I never recommend stuffing yourself the night before. No matter how far, or what it is you plan to do. Remember, the more you eat the harder your body has to work to digest it. When your body works hard it gets tuckered out and can affect your sleep.  Remember, you don’t want to carry around a pile of pasta in your gut while you attempt to race. Get what I’m saying here?
  • What to eat the morning of your event can be tricky. The rule of thumb is, eat 2-3 hours before your event to allow your body time to digest the food (and so you don’t yack it up). That can be a problem when your event is in the early morning. From years of experience I’ve found that I can stomach oatmeal w/raisins & walnuts a couple of hours before seriously exerting myself. But, that’s come with years of trial and error and now I stick with just that. The most important thing I can tell you is that you need to practice eating just as you would anything else. As you train, try different foods and at different times. Not only will you figure out what to eat, and when to eat, you’ll find out what foods give you most energy. It’s trial and error.
  • Bottom line, never try anything new the day of the event. No new food, drink, lotion, shoes, clothing, nothing! You have no idea how you’ll react to it so don’t take the risk. As far as shoes are concerned, it takes 2 weeks to break in new shoes so if you need new shoes get ‘em early (bike shoes too!).
  • Lastly, have faith in yourself. Trust that you’ve trained and are ready for this exciting new challenge. As you lay in bed the night before say to yourself: Okay, self…this is how this is going to work… you’re gonna have a good night sleep and wake up feeling great. You’re gonna get to the event and you’re gonna go, go, go feeling great the whole time. Everything will be smooth and easy, and you’ll feel unbelievably great when you’re done.  It works every time. Trust me.

Now, go make me proud…


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Start with 10

I burned off 25 cookies today!

I first started exercising many years ago to lose weight. At the time I didn’t need to lose weight, but like most young women I thought I did. Because of my lack of sense, I ran 6-10 miles a day and lived on diet soda, apples and nuts. This system made sense to me at the time although I could never figure out why I kept getting fatter and fatter and eventually became so exhausted that I completely passed out one day.  After that little fright, it still took about 20 years for me to realize that one must eat to keep their metabolism going and legs moving. Geez…what a dunce I was!

Now, some 30 years later I eat plenty. Too much sometimes, but fortunately for me my metabolism now runs pretty high. I’m especially lucky being that I’m an “older gal,” at an age when typically ones metabolism slows way down. Mine however runs relatively high because I’ve learned not only to exercise, but also to feed my body keeping my furnace/metabolism running hot.

I exercise basically every day. Some days I workout hard, and some days I just walk and/or do an easy yoga/stretch class. The bottom line is, I move around quite a bit and have done so for years. Because of that, I’m still reaping benefits from exercise sessions I did years ago in the form of a much appreciated, fired up metabolism.

The oddest component to keeping a healthy metabolism is eating. If you don’t eat enough your body thinks you’re trying to kill it. It imagines that you’re starving it to death, and when you exercise on top of not eating, that just accelerates the body’s reaction. Think about it. Your body doesn’t want to die. It goes to great lengths to rebuild itself and heal when you hurt it, right? So it makes sense that it would freak out when you starve it. It responds by shutting down and holding onto the little food that you do give it and stores it as fat for later use. Basically it slows down your metabolism to keep from burning too much fuel. When you feed your body it burns hotter as long as you move it, giving it a reason to burn.

On that note, I once again ask you to make an effort to exercise. The more you exercise the more you get to eat. Think of that. My suggestion for today is to make an Exercise Box. Take a shoebox and place at least 5 short, 10-minute workouts in the box. Every morning after you’ve had your coffee, but your hand in the box, pull out a workout and perform the exercise noted.

10 minutes, that’s all it takes to feel better, jump-start your metabolism and might even encourage you to work out a little longer. If 10 minutes is all you can muster for the day, than fine, but it’s my hope that as time goes on, you’ll add more to your daily workout routine. Whether it’s working out for a longer duration or doing 2 or 3 of these short workouts a day.

Here are some ideas for your Exercise Box

  • Do 30 jumping jacks/15-30 bench dips/ 10 push ups (any style you choose) repeat the sequence for 10 plus minutes.
  • Walk ¼ way around the block/skip ¼ way around the block/jog ¼ way around/side shuffle both directions (face left/right) ¼ way. Repeat for 10 plus minutes.
  • High knees (like running in place, bringing your knees toward your chest/pump your arms) count to 30. 20 squats/20 lunges/10 burpees. Repeat for 10 plus minutes.
  • Run around the block/stop and do 20 squats/run around again/stop and do 20 mountain climbers. Repeat for 10 plus minutes
  • Do 20 jumping jacks/25 crunches/25 bicycle crunches/25 leg raises (lay on back bend legs at waist and bring them straight up/don’t rock/this is a small movement) finish with plank position for 60 seconds. Rest for a few seconds and repeat plank pose if you have time left. Do plank for up to 3 efforts.

Make a commitment to yourself, complete at least 10 minutes of exercise regardless of how tired or busy you may feel, five days a week. If you have kids, get them to join you. It’s only 10 minutes, how bad can it be?

If you need more suggestions, ask…


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Happy shoulders

Eagle Pose

Sitting at a desk all-day, or hunched over some other contraption can wreak havoc on your shoulders. There are lots of things you can do to give your shoulders a break, swing your arms around and across your body, shrug your shoulders and my favorite, Eagle Pose. In Sanskrit, it’s called Garudasana (gah-rue-DAHS-anna). Garuda was the mythic “king of the birds.” The word is usually rendered into English as “eagle,” though according to one dictionary the name literally means “devourer.” Do this stretch a few times a day and it will devour your shoulder stiffness. Trust me!

Eagle Pose

  • Stand with your big toes touching, heels slightly apart.
  • Bend your knees slightly, lift your left foot up and balancing on your right foot, cross your left thigh over the right. Point your left toes toward the floor, press the foot back, and then hook the top of the foot behind the lower right calf if you can, or you simply cross your legs. Balance on the right foot.
  • Extend your arms straight out in front of your body. Drop your left arm under your right. Bend your elbows, and then raise your forearms perpendicular to the floor. Wrap your arms and press your palms together (or as close as you can get them). Then, lift your elbows and reach your fingertips toward the ceiling. If your palms don’t touch quite yet, press the backs of your hands together, instead.
  • Hold for up to one minute, focusing on your breath and keeping your gaze fixed and soft. To release, unwind gently and repeat on the other side.

Doing this stretch while standing also works on your balance, which is always a plus. If you can’t be bothered to get up from your desk, do the stretch seated. Sit up straight in your chair, both feet on the floor and do the arm portion only.

Try it; let me know what you think.

Namaste…

P.s. Don’t forget to breathe!


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WaterMelisous

I love watermelon. I simply cannot imagine anyone taking issue with watermelon. In my mind Watermelon is the yummiest fruit ever invented.

As I sat at my desk the other day munching on some ice-cold watermelon chunks, I began to wonder just how nutritious watermelon really is, so I asked Google. For the most part my findings were pretty boring, however I did come across one small bit of info that flabbergasted me and proves my point.

Lets start with a few interesting bits

  • Watermelon is thought to have originated in the Kalahari Desert of Africa and made its way to the US via African slaves.
  • Hollowed out watermelons were used as canteens by explorers.
  • In 1990, some dude in Tennessee grew the largest watermelon at 262 pounds that is still on the record books.

Nutrition & facts

  • Watermelon season runs from May – September but peak is mid June – late August.
  • 1 cup = 46 calories, 1 gram fiber, 1g protein.
  • Almost 92 percent of watermelon is water, but the remaining 8 percent is loaded with lycopene, an anti-oxidant that protects the human heart, prostate and skin health.

Pick a good one

  • The most common method states that a good melon should feel heavy for it’s size. I use my grandfathers method: Thump the melon by flicking your middle finger off your thumb against the melon, it should produce a deep thudding sound.
  • Melons will continue to ripen and soften a little at room temperature but not much. Whole watermelon should be stored in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Pretty interesting tidbit

  • Apparently, this delicious fruit is unusually high in an amino acid known as citrulline. Our bodies use citrulline to make yet another amino acid, arginine, which helps cells divide, wounds heal, and ammonia to be removed from the body. Citrulline relaxes and dilates blood vessels much like Viagra and other drugs meant to treat erectile dysfunction. Watermelon may be a natural Viagra, according to researchers.
  • How much watermelon does it take to get your love up and running? They can’t seem to figure that out yet. Probably quite a bit but in the mean time eat up. Watermelon is low in calories and provides potassium and the phytonutrients lycopene and beta-carotene, in addition to the citrulline. So even if you don’t get some hot lovin’ out of a slice you’ll be getting some good old-fashioned nutrients.

Happy weekend! I’ll see you Monday. Eat some melon and let me know if it works!

P.s. Don’t forget to wash your melon before you slice it. You don’t know where it’s been!


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Oldness

Seriously?

Nancy The Guit (as I like to call her) had a birthday this past weekend. According to Nancy she is now “old.” It was hard for Nancy to turn “old,” just as it was for me last year. When we’re kids we learn that birthdays are something to be celebrated, that they’re “our special day.” We get attention and gifts, and we eat cake, yippee, a day to look forward to.

But then, we get older and we become sensitive to the number attached to that special day. We get stuck on those double digits representing the years of our life; numbers that are reminders of the approaching deadlines for the goals that we had hoped to achieve and may have missed. At which point, celebrating is the last thing you want to do (although cake is still welcome).

In spite of our best, educated intentions, The Birthday Dreads take hold. You can’t stop them and nothing can be said to make the transition from young to (your perception of) old any easier.

All you can do is let the dread/sadness run its course. It’s okay to be emotional but there’s no point in making a big deal of it and fretting. Like everything in life, you gotta let it flow.

With that I would like to remind you of a few good things that come with being “old:”

  • A good thing about getting older is that you’ve seen a lot of things — You’ve felt things, seen things and lived through them. With that, you come to know who you are, you become more confident, have greater perspective and make wiser decisions.
  • When we’re old, we have a better understanding of others — We allow people to be as they are, we’ve come to realize that there’s no need to change anyone, it wouldn’t do much good to try anyway. We appreciate those who have been kind to us and let go of those who have not.
  • In case you’re concerned — People don’t get grumpy when they get old. It’s grumpy young people that become grumpy old people. As you age you’re more emotionally (except for the days when your hormones go through the roof) stable making you happier/less grumpy.
  • And — When you get super old, they let you to into the movie for really cheap and public transportation is practically free!

In the end, let the good times roll and stop thinking about where you haven’t been and start thinking about where you want to go next…


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Independence = freedom

Chilly water, only the brave dare...

During my workout class at the beach tonight, I spied a notably chubby 30 something fellow stripping down to nakedness, aside from his remarkably tight swim trunks. I peaked at him as he dropped his trousers, hoisted off his shirt and stuffed them into an equally over stuffed backpack. As he wrenched on his fluorescent orange swim cap I found myself commenting to my clients about how he needed to join our abdominal workout. You see, this fellow wasn’t the sort that most of us would find suited to bare himself in public and certainly not wearing such an ensemble. He was quite a chubbster, clad in gear that only emphasized that fact.

As the snarky comments slid from my lips I immediately felt horrid. Who the hell was I to say such things? This fellow was proud and clearly not affected by the “rules’ of the world. He was living his life and doing as he pleased. For this I should be giving him props and envy his moxie.

To the chubby fellow I say, “You go boy.” I support your independent ways and I apologize for my shallow thoughts and snarky words. I confess to you that I’m a woman who swims only to keep from drowning, and frankly, I could use a few ab exercises myself. To you I say, live and let live, may the force be with you, and you’ve inspired me to take a plunge into the ice-cold bay in my less than appropriate swimming costume (that’ll be a story for another day).

To the rest of the world, may you all enjoy a wonderful, safe, Independence Day weekend. And if you happen run into someone who’s not exactly the way you think they should be: Stop for a second and look past the exterior, you might witness something inspiring.

I’ll be back on Monday, until then, travel, celebrate and exercise safely…


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Can you do this?

But can she walk like that?

Apparently, good posture makes you act more confident. And, as I’ve said before, it makes you look slimmer as well as being critical to maintaining a healthy back.

It’s pretty simple. Stand up straight, sit up tall. Do a self-check every so often; imagine you have a book on your head (surly you’ve heard that before). As you imagine the book on your head, pull your belly button in toward your spine, open your chest and think like you’re squeezing something between your shoulder blades. Voila! Posture perfect. Now hold that, and check yourself every hour.

Okay, so maybe it’s easier said than done. Obviously exercise and flexibility help. Start by making sure you don’t neglect your back muscles when working out. Especially the rhomboids. They keep the shoulder blades in place, weak or tense rhomboids are the main cause of hunching. Try this super easy move to strengthen your back:

Lie facedown on a mat with your arms by your sides, palms down. Squeeze your shoulder blades together, lift your chest and arms off the floor, hold for two seconds. Do this 30 times. When you’re done with those, give your back a little stretch by spending a minute or two in Childs Pose.

If you need more, there are special chairs you can buy, you can sit on a stability ball, or the latest trend is something called a Posture Shirt. Read up on them if you want but basically it’s a girdle for your upper body. They’re super tight so you have no choice but to stand up straight. Frankly, I think you should just pay attention to your posture and practice the moves I suggested above.

Off you go…


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Crumbs in my keyboard

Standin' tall

It’s come to my attention that I’m spending a large amount of my time on my blog and not enough time bringing home the bacon. With that, I’ve decided to post only on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Three days a week should allow me more time to score some bacon and put some punch into my posts. At the very least I hope catch a few of my errors.

In turn, this slow down will allow you more time to keep up on all the engrossing information I choose to share. Five posts a week is a lot to read and I know you read every one of them. Right?

So, enjoy your Tuesdays & Thursdays off, if you need something to do in place of reading one of my posts, I suggest walking up a hill, up some stairs or around the block. Easy as that.

Tomorrow I’ll be back with a very important reminder. The image at the top of this post is a clue…


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Sometimes you gotta just suck it up and dig deep.

I have a really nice house with a really nice yard, a really needy cat and lots of good friends, all of which are constantly calling for my attention. If it’s not one thing it’s another, the cat vomits, the lawn needs mowing, friends need calling. There’s always something to do. My point is, it’s hard to get out and do things that require more than just a little effort. Specifically things that take a significant amount of guts, or offer a challenge.

For example; last weekend Penny and I participated in a trail run/race that took us up 3,000 feet in the air within the first 3.5 miles. After that we still had to climb another 2,000 feet. Translation; up, up and up till you think you might puke, then down, around and up some more. Pen took second place in spite of the fact that she has a full-time job, two babies, a husband, a house and a very needy dog. Pen did so well because she dug deep and sucked it up. She knows no other way.

This weekend SarahSwitchblade participated in something we call The Double Dipsea. It’s another trail run/race. Translation; it dips from a mountain top to the sea and back up again, hence The Double Dip-sea. Switchie took first place in this torture fest. To my knowledge she didn’t puke, although my guess is she thought she might, more than once. Switchie too has a house, a bike racer husband whom she supports, pets, a job and all that.

When my Dad rode his bike across Iowa a couple of summers ago he didn’t wear socks with his Topsiders (not exactly “proper” cycling shoes). The ride was 7 days, and 500 miles filled with wind, rain, heat, pork chops and corn. Dad’s ankles bled the whole time. At one point I said “Dad! Your ankles are bleeding!!!!” Dad said, “What? No they aren’t!” Given that Dads ankles looked like hamburger, I then realized that he was sucking it up, doing what he need to in order to complete his challenge, so I shut up. Dad, has a very big job, a very, very big house, a wife, a not so needy dog, a cat and 3 grown, problematic children.

I know stepping outside of your comfort zone is hard. It’s hard every time you do it. It’s hard for me, for Pen, for Sarah for my Dad, for everyone. We’re all everyday people.

Remember, it’s not about “winning” something, it’s about making the effort, having the experience, or in my case, the story. Because in the end, it’s all about the stories!

(Am I right Pen? Switchie? Dad?)


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All Personal Trainers are not created equal


We’ll talk more next week about how to pick a Personal Trainer.  For now, I send you off for the weekend with a short glimpse into what it’s like to attend one of my classes.

Note: My client Diana has been having a hard time at work lately. I took that into consideration when planning todays workout (watch the :16 second video).

Enjoy your weekend. Get some exercise and do 200 crunches minimum, I’d prefer you do at least 500, but I told my clients 200 was okay.

See you Monday. Make me proud…