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Getting Back On Track
It’s been an unprecedented week for most New Yorkers with an earthquake and a hurricane taking a bite out of the Big Apple. As I made my way through my elliptical workout this morning, while my iTunes played in my ears, my eyes were glued to the TV monitors around the gym as live shot after live shot described all the preparations for Irene’s arrival. Afterward, my usual Saturday errands were replaced with a hunt for batteries, tape and water. (Luckily, I found everything I need.) Now, I write this post not knowing how many people will be able to read it on Monday should we experience the major power outages predicted. As we brace for the storm, I realize this is a perfect example of how the best laid plans can be altered at any given moment and throw off our normal schedules – and that includes our exercise routine.
Weather aside, I just wrapped up a week filled with many unexpected happenings. Most involved work, and a string of events forced me to stay at the office much later than expected for not one, but three nights in a row. This ultimately killed my workout schedule, with the worst of it meaning I had to scrap my favorite group exercise class of the week. I was also on my own at home, which threw off my eating schedule. I found myself giving in to my old, bad habit of not having small, smart meals every few hours and then ending the day eating almost nothing for dinner. (One “Lean Pocket” and a tall vodka-light-cranberry on the rocks is not what the body needs after a long day at the office.)
So, you could say I fell off the fitness wagon. It’s not the first time it’s happened, and I know it won’t be the last. Do I feel more sluggish this weekend? Absolutely. Will this feeling last forever? Absolutely not! Instead of beating myself up about all the “bad” things I did last week, I look forward to starting a new week with a brand new attitude and plenty of chances to take better care of myself. Just like Hurricane Irene, the storms that sometimes make a mess of our everyday lives do pass. (For me, exercise is a great way to deal with the aftermath.)
The next time your best laid plans to follow a healthy lifestyle hit a tailspin, don’t sweat it. Just remind yourself of why you’re doing it in the first place, and before you know it, you’ll be back on the right track so you can have fun, be fit and feel fabulous!
Exercise & Grief
I don’t mean to start the week off on a “down” note, but an unexpected event happened over the weekend that triggered the idea behind this brief post. As I left my apartment Saturday morning for the short walk to the gym, I called my parents to say hello. My mom then broke the sad news that a very dear family friend in Florida had lost her battle to cancer.
Her name was Anne, and she was like a surrogate grandmother to me during all my years traveling to Florida. She was a fun, feisty Irish gal who always had a sparkle in her eye and a fun story to share. While I was relieved to know she was finally at peace and reunited with her husband Bill, I was also sad and found myself reduced to tears in the street. (Luckily in New York City, no one finds this odd.) I composed myself, said a prayer and continued on to the gym. I then unleashed my sorrow in an intense cardio workout that lasted just shy of 60 minutes.
I realize not everyone is going to run to the gym after receiving sad news to jump on an elliptical machine or start circuit training. Each of us must deal with grief in our own way. This experience, however, reminded me how exercise has helped me through some of life’s not-so-great moments and given me the strength to face the reality of those moments with a bit more clarity and energy. Whether I was dealing with the loss of a loved one, an illness in my family, the demise of a relationship or trouble at work, even something as simple as a good, long walk managed to help clear my mind and unburden my heart just the slightest bit.
No doubt life will throw challenges our way that make it difficult to have fun, be fit and feel fabulous. When that happens, sometimes having a good cry or breaking a major sweat can help you get back on the path to the place you really want to be.
Make Time for Yourself
There is a phenomenon in fitness called the cumulative injury cycle. Basically, if you continue to exercise without correcting any postural distortions that lead to muscle imbalances, the compensations your body makes to allow you to follow through with the exercise will eventually lead to an injury. I am also a firm believer our mental fitness can take a serious hit if we don’t take time to rest and regroup.
As I sit here looking at the ocean in Montauk, I realize what a different person I am today than just two days ago. I attribute this mind-altered state to two factors: I am on vacation and I am doing things for myself I simply do not do enough of at home. That includes:
- Letting the sound of the ocean drown out my anxieties about work
- Not rushing through my workouts
- Sitting in the steam room after my workouts
- Getting a massage
- Eating dessert
- Not worrying about having less-than-optimal cell or WiFi service
To expand on that last point, I haven’t been able to upload any pictures taken on my iPhone to my Facebook page and I have only been able to update my status once. I have been able to open my work and personal email accounts, but I haven’t been able to send a reply. Forget about Twitter or LinkedIn. I finally decided to stop trying to open my apps and simply said: “You are on vacation!” If someone really needs to get a hold of me, I can still retrieve voice messages from a few spots in the parking lot.
Whether you run the household, run a business or have a job where you answer to a boss, everyone works hard. No doubt the state of the economy has shattered whatever our definition of financial security was in the past. Many of us still struggle from the aftershock of losing a job or may be trying to keep a business afloat. This makes it all the more important to take some time to be good to ourselves when we can.
Realistically, a vacation or trip to the spa may not be attainable at the moment, but that doesn’t mean you can’t shut out the world for an hour or two a week. Some escape plans include:
- Replace that Bluetooth in your ear with ear buds for 30 minutes a night and plug them into a sound machine tuned to the ocean surf or frogs in the forest.
- Add 10 minutes to your workout routine and stretch.
- For once, try yoga instead of that heart- and muscle-pounding cardio kickboxing class.
- Take a bath instead of a shower before going to bed.
- While summer is still here, take your dinner outside and have a picnic in your backyard, roof deck or nearby park.
While it’s important to focus on work, we owe it to ourselves to find our own unique ways to have fun, be fit and feel fabulous!
Don’t Skimp When it Comes to Stretching!
An old friend, Shannon Palermo, posted the following comment on my LauraLovesFitness Facebook page:
“So, what is the recommendation when it comes to cardio and stretching? I walk/run on a treadmill at home. Do I warm up then stretch or stretch first or stretch after? Also any suggested stretches? I recently pulled a muscle in my hip causing me to be sidelined with major hip and knee pain. I believe this is due to my lack of stretching and my need for new sneakers. ”
These questions raise several important issues, but first and foremost is the subject of pain. Whether you’re a fitness novice or trained athlete, if you really listen to your body, you can tell the difference between muscle soreness from an intense workout and pain that indicates something is wrong. If you experience “major” pain in any area, you could be suffering from an acute or cumulative injury. I’ve been the victim of many cumulative injuries because of one simple reason: I’ve ignored the warning signs and simply pushed through the pain.
If you experience pain that causes significant discomfort and doesn’t subside with ice and/or over-the-counter pain killers for more than a day or two, you should see your doctor. When you let an injury linger, other parts of your body will compensate for the injury, throwing off your body’s proper mechanics and causing postural distortions. In the end, an injury to your foot will lead to compensations that create stress on other parts of your body’s kinetic chain – and you can easily end up with pain in your knees, hips or back. For my friend Shannon, if you’re simply guessing that you pulled a muscle and haven’t seen a doctor, please make an appointment soon.
As for stretching: the jury may still be out on when to stretch, but there is no debate about the fact that everyone needs to include flexibility training in their workout routine. As I learned through my NASM training, countless studies show a link between decreased flexibility and injury. For example, decreased flexibility in the hamstrings and quadriceps significantly contributes to tendonitis in the knee.
NASM’s training model includes stretching as part of a warm up and again during the cool down period of your workout. The stretching-before-cardio-or-strength-training idea is stretch the muscles that may be tight so that you perform an exercise as optimally as possible and reduce the risk for improper movement and injury. For a runner like Shannon, it’s optimal to stretch certain muscles like the hamstrings and hip flexors before a hitting the treadmill or the road. Here are two links I found helpful about stretching:
http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_1/126.shtml
http://www.stretchingworld.com/staticstretching.html
We’ve only scratched the surface and I look forward to writing more about injury prevention and flexibility training , but I hope the information in this post is a good start to proving why stretching is a crucial part of our quest to have fun, be fit and feel fabulous!
The Skinny on Walking
My friend Paula, the List Producer, offered up the following question for a blog topic: what IS the deal with walking anyway? To address this, I offer my personal experience along with input from Brent Brookbush, fitness guru and President of B2C Fitness, LLC; and throw in a link to an article I found particularly helpful about the subject.
These Streets Were Made for Walking!
Since moving to New York City four years ago, I can honestly say I have taken every opportunity to walk wherever and whenever I can: from home to work; work to the gym; the gym to someone else’s home – you get the picture. I have always thought walking is better than no activity at all and it turns out, Brent agrees with me. However, he also stresses that while it can be a good starting point for beginners or those who fell off the fitness wagon and are slowly working back into a routine, it’s not going to do anything to improve actual performance. Why? Well, you’d have to walk ridiculously fast to get your heart rate up to just the first of three training zones – and how many of us can say that’s what we’re doing even as we try to pick up the pace on a walk to work?
To get some actual data to discuss the difference between running and walking, I searched the Internet and found this article by Rick Morris particularly helpful and hope you will, too. (It even includes a 1000 calorie fat-burning workout.)
http://www.runningplanet.com/training/running-versus-walking.html
So put this information together and what does it mean? While walking to work may not give you the same cardiovascular or calorie-burning benefits of a 30-minute bout on the elliptical machine or treadmill or a high-intensity 45-minute spin class, it’s still better than no movement at all. Since I’m a big proponent of taking care of your body and your mind, if that walk to work helps you clear your head and makes you want to kick things up a notch with a run in the park or a bike ride over the weekend, then more power to you!
Remember, in the end, we all have to walk, run, ride or skip along our own path to have fun, be fit and feel fabulous!
How Can I Help You Have Fun, Be Fit & Feel Fabulous?
- Montauk 2010
I’m not sure where the summer is going, but here we are at the start of August. Soon, I’ll make my last summer escape to a place I’ve been visiting every August since childhood: Montauk, NY. August of 2011 is a bit different, however, as today also marks the two-week “anniversary” of the LauraLovesFitness kick-off.
This seems like a good time for me to take the pulse of my readers and see where you’d like things to go from here. Basically, I want you to help me help you get what you want from reading this blog. You’ve taken the time to visit the site, read the posts and some of you have even gone the extra mile by leaving a comment and sharing the things that work in your own life. In order to make you want to keep coming back for more, I ask this one question: what fitness-related topic would you like to see addressed in a future post?
As you can tell from what I’ve written so far, I am a true believer that there are so many components to fitness that reach beyond the confines of a gym or your neighborhood bike trail. Everything from our sneakers to our snack choices will affect our overall well-being. Don’t be shy! If it’s something you’re curious about, it’s probably a topic someone else wants to know about, too. I can’t promise I’ll have the answers immediately, but I’ll be more than happy to do a little research, ask opinions of even more experienced “fitness gurus” and let you know what I find.
Let me take this time to also thank all of you who have shown your support by signing up for an email subscription, liking my Facebook page, following me on Twitter or spreading the word about my blog. (Please keep up the good work!) I look forward to receiving your questions and suggestions for future posts so we can work together to have fun, be fit and feel fabulous!
Food & Fitness
Nutritionists and registered dietitians are the experts when it comes to healthy eating. I am neither, but as part of the fitness industry, I get plenty of questions about what people should and shouldn’t eat. So, in order to address this topic early in my blogging adventures, here’s a 100% personal account of how I try to maintain a healthy diet.
I joined Weight Watchers in May 2007. Why? Because the post-divorce “diet” I started which included a dinner of half-a-jar of peanut butter with chocolate syrup and a side of vodka on ice was not a healthy regimen to maintain. Also, being in my 30s, I couldn’t rely on the workouts I started during my Northwestern days to counterbalance the bad food choices I was making too often. Aside from worrying about gaining weight, I felt absolutely awful.
Today, I am a lifetime Weight Watchers member. I continue to go to meetings when I can and the program works for my lifestyle. Again, for me, it was not about losing a lot of weight, it was about learning to eat better. I’m not here to offer a lesson about point values and food. Instead, here’s a snapshot of what I’ve learned that helps me stay on track.
- I never skip breakfast. During the work week, I’ll make my own parfait with non-fat plain Greek yogurt, sliced banana, strawberries or blueberries (there’s two – three servings of fruit for the day!) and a serving of high-fiber cereal.
- Instead of having three big meals, I eat every three to four hours. This prevents me from being so hungry that I go overboard at the next meal.
- Every Sunday, I spend 30-60 minutes chopping red peppers and celery and pack up the sticks up with baby carrots or cherry tomatoes in individual containers, one for each day of the week. It’s an easy way to get in two servings of veggies while sitting at my desk. (The idea works just as well if you’re home.)
- I have embraced whole grains! I like Weight Watchers breads for sandwiches, cook whole grain pasta at home and on “bad”nights when we order Chinese or burritos, we ask for brown rice.
- Finally, I refuse to say “I will never eat (a fudge-covered Oreo/a bacon cheeseburger/lasagna) ever again!” First of all, life’s too short. Second, in my experience, the longer you deny yourself something you really like, the better chance you have of over-indulging when you do finally “break down.”
Life's Short - Eat Dessert!
Now listen, I have my fair share of “bad food” days. I love dessert, especially chocolate, and I love Prosecco and red wine. But one bad day doesn’t have to mean “well, I blew it today, so I may as well throw the whole week out the window and start over on Monday.” On the contrary, every day offers a clean slate and a brand new chance to have fun, be fit and feel fabulous!
Fitness & Footwear
Like many women, I love shoes. I love them even more when I find a great pair at one of the discount shoe paradises that have popped up all over the country. There is one type of shoe, however, that I will gladly pay full price for if I have to, and that would be my sneakers. Why? Because wearing the proper footwear while you workout is one of the easiest ways to protect yourself from exercise-related injuries.
Here’s a little trivia for you: there are 26 bones, 33 joints, 107 ligaments and 19 muscles and tendons in each foot. (No, I didn’t have those numbers memorized, I looked them up in AFAA’s Fitness: Theory & Practice, Fifth Edition.) That means there are 370 places vulnerable to injury in your feet alone. Now consider that improper foot support can lead to compensations made by your knees and hips, and you are putting your body at risk for a world of hurt.
So, what’s the best footwear? It depends on your foot type. If you have a high arch, you need sneakers with good shock absorption. If your feet are flat and/or “roll” inward or outward, you need a sneaker with stability. An “average” foot needs a shoe with both cushioning and stability.
I don’t know your foot type, but I can tell you what works for me. Since my fitness routine includes walking, elliptical training, riding the stationery recumbent bike, rowing, and weight training, cross trainers keep me well-grounded and stable. I started wearing New Balance cross trainers five years ago (I currently wear the 1011s), and I get a new pair every six months. I can honestly say if I wait longer than six months, I start to feel pain in my knees while I’m on the elliptical or while doing squats and lunges. My current pair are two months old, and at the moment, I wear them with orthotics as I continue to recover from a stress fracture in my left foot. (A subject for a future blog.)
While I am not a runner, most of my friends who are will only pound the pavement in running sneakers. I also have friends who have sneakers specifically for when they’re on the tennis court. Many basketball players like high tops for the extra ankle stability. If there is one sport you play often, it’s a good idea to get a pair of sneakers specifically for that activity, and also have a more “universal” pair, like cross trainers, for days when you mix up your routine.
I look at it this way: I have far too many purses in my closet and most guys have more ties than they will ever need. So why wouldn’t you spend the money to have at least one good pair of sneakers to protect you from injuries while you’re working so hard to stay healthy?
In the end, wearing the proper footwear is one of the easiest ways to have fun, be fit and feel fabulous!
Fitness for the Mind
It’s no secret that exercise does a body good. But when’s the last time you gave your brain a good workout?
Our daily lives are filled with emailing, texting, Tweeting, blogging, DVR-ing, updating our Facebook status and searching the Internet for the latest information on the latest trends. In a world where we can easily suffer from sensory overload, I offer this fitness challenge for your mind: disconnect and re-boot.
Today is Wednesday. That means it’s no-TV night. You read correctly – every Wednesday, the TV stays off after work. No news, no “Sex & the City” re-runs, no Food Network…zip. Instead, after dinner, my husband and I decide what game to play. Whether it’s Gin Rummy, Backgammon, Monopoly, Uno or Scrabble, we focus on the game, focus on each other and leave all other distractions aside. That includes ignoring our text messages and any other electronic alerts. Sometimes there are no games, and we’ll just sit and talk or maybe look through old photo albums and laugh. It’s amazing what some good conversation and laughter can do for your overall well-being.
Depending on our schedules, these weekly “dates” may only be filled with an hour of two or no-TV activity, but it’s enough time to remember that we were interesting people before we ever started stressing over what witty status update or Tweet we would post next.
I realize every household is different, with everyone on different schedules juggling different responsibilities. Establishing a weekly time to get together may not be realistic, but perhaps every two weeks could work. Maybe it only involves an hour of time together while walking around the neighborhood, cleaning out a closet or finding a fun card or board game that two or more people can play. If you live alone, it’s no different. Your mind could use a break from all the gizmos and gadgets that bombard you all day long, too.
The bottom line is this: despite our demanding schedules, many of us make a conscious effort to fit exercise into our lives to take care of our physical health. So, why wouldn’t we make an effort to carve out some quality downtime to take care of our mental health, too?
Never underestimate the power of your mind. It plays a huge role in your ability to have fun, be fit and feel fabulous!
Why Water is King
You’ve probably heard this before: you are what you eat. But here’s the thing – you are what you drink, too! The human body is two-thirds water. As the hot and hazy days of summer continue, here’s some timely information we all need to remember regardless of our fitness level.
Drinking adequate amounts of water has many benefits including:
- Regulation of body temperature
- Alleviating fluid retention
- Distribution of nutrients and oxygen to cells and organs
- Improvement of metabolic function
- Decreasing appetite
Personally, I find that last point a little hard to swallow. I do my best to drink the recommended 5-7 glasses of water each day, but I don’t know how much effect it’s had on my appetite. (Anyone who knows me knows I do love to eat!) However, will say when I’m hungry and nowhere near a healthy snack, drinking a glass of water can stave off my hunger long enough to avoid eating something I’ll regret later. (Chewing gum works for me in a pinch, too.)
Now let’s look at some of the physiologic effects of what happens when you don’t consume enough water and become dehydrated:
- Decreased blood volume
- Increased heart rate
- Increased core temperature
- Sodium retention
- Decreased sweat rate
To punctuate just how important water is to the body: the body can go for a long period of time without food, but can only survive for a few days without water.
Here are the guidelines of what we should be drinking when we exercise, according to the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM):
- Drink 16 oz of water two hours before exercise. In warmer weather, feel free to add an additional 8 – 16 oz.
- During exercise, drink 20 to 40 oz for every hour of exercise.
- If you exercise for more than 60 minutes, you can re-hydrate with a sports drink containing up to 8% carbohydrate to replace both fluid and dwindling muscle glycogen stores.
- When exercising for 60 minutes or less, water is best. (My personal choice).
That last bullet brings me to an important point made by Brent Brookbush and Rick Richey, the amazing NASM instructors who taught the Personal Fitness Workshop I took back in March. If you have just one hour to spend in the gym or running through the park, or only time for a 45-minute spin or strength training class, why would you want to put all the calories back in your body that you’re working so hard to burn?
Now, I know there are some people out there who simply can’t stand water and need some flavor. There are plenty of zero calorie flavored water options available. In my personal opinion (which is backed by many articles I’ve read on websites ranging from WebMD to ACSM), having a flavored drink with zero calories (or 5 calories if you add one of those flavor-crystal packets to your water bottle) is better than NOT drinking anything at all.
In the end, something as simple as drinking (water!) to your health is an easy way to have fun, be fit and feel fabulous!
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