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A Little Motivation
As we kick off another Workout Wednesday, I’d like to thank my fellow St.Mary’s High School Gaels for providing the inspiration for today’s post.
Jennifer recently posed the following question on my LauraLovesFitness Facebook page (which prompted a “like” from Susan):
What are your tips to get motivated? I know that everyone says they are busy and have very little time to work out; I am in that club. I have a full time job, children etc. I know exactly what I need to do to get fit, I have a physical therapy degree. The pounds are not so slowly creeping up on me but I have no motivation. Help!
Kids or no kids, all of us juggle so many daily tasks and activities. Add the time we spend here online to write and/or read blogs; check/send email; post status updates; “like” our friends status updates and create clever tweets, and it’s no wonder we feel we have zero time to do anything “good” for ourselves. Well, guess what? We HAVE to make time because no one else is going to do it for us.
So, where do I get my motivation to move amidst the madness? While we can come up with a hundred reasons not to exercise, my list for why I stick with it is pretty short and sweet:
- Regular physical activity provides countless benefits which include controlling weight; fighting a variety of health conditions ranging from heart disease to arthritis and promoting sleep.
- Stress-busting power! After a 12-hour shoot day or edit session with an intense client, nothing clears my head like breaking a sweat. That doesn’t mean you have to bust your butt in a 90-minute boot-camp class. Spending 15 minutes on a treadmill (which Jennifer admits she has in her home) or taking a brisk walk around the neighborhood can channel negative energy to a much healthier focus.
- Endorphins and Energy! You’ve heard of the “runners’ high.” Well, I don’t run, but the mood-elevating endorphin rush I get from Tabata training or a Club Strength class is probably the biggest reason why I keep moving. Exercise also boosts your overall energy levels more effectively than pumping your body full of crash-inducing caffeine or sugar-fixes. For all you parents, adding some exercise to your life could be just what you need to keep up with your kids!
Along with my motivators, here are a couple of other things to keep in mind:
- Don’t tackle exercise with an all-or-nothing voracity: If the idea of spending an entire hour exercising overwhelms you, simply scale it back. Start with 15 or 20 minutes and build on that. Once you start feeling the positive effects from the activity, you’ll want to spend more time doing what makes you feel good!
- Don’t compare yourself to others: Until I win the lottery and can hire my own personal trainer to kick my butt five days a week and pay a chef to take the guesswork out of making healthy meals that actually taste good, I remind myself everyday that in my reality, I’m doing the best I can to take care of myself. So, while I may never have legs like Cameron Diaz, I do have a strong heart, strong spirit and strong desire to fit my workouts into even the most hectic weeks so I can get that rush where I feel like I’m on top of the world – even for just a little while.
If all else fails, remember this: exercise CAN be fun! The key is finding what that fun is for you: running, boxing, Zumba or even meeting a friend for a daily brisk walk with hand weights. Don’t be afraid to experiment and mix things up. Even if you never define exercise as more than a “necessary evil,” you can still make a program work on your terms so you can have fun, be fit and feel fabulous!
Allergies & Exercise
This is the time of year Mother Nature smiles down upon us with warmer temps and spring breezes. That makes it the perfect time to move your indoor fitness routine outside. If you’re just getting started on a workout program, adding some outdoor activity to your daily routine can be a great way to ease into a routine.
Unfortunately, if you’re like me and the thousands of other allergy sufferers around the country, the outdoor activity can trigger more than an endorphin rush. Instead, you can find yourself sneezing, coughing or wheezing and trying to find relief for those itchy eyes.
I don’t have to hear the numbers on the news to know the tree pollen count is off the charts. Since everything isn’t concrete and steel here in the Big Apple, the lovely breezes are doing a great job spreading pollen around from the trees in my neighborhood and nearby Central Park. I’ve continued my daily 30-block morning walk to the office, but I usually arrive with swollen, red eyes and the sensation that there is cotton stuck in my throat. So, I thought it was a good time to offer some of my allergy-season survival tips that help keep me in motion.
- Take note of the time: Pollen counts tend to be highest between 5 am and 10 am. Unfortunately, that’s when many people enjoy their get-the-day-started jog, bike ride or walk. If you can move the activity to a time that’s not so pollen-heavy, great. If not, hopefully some of the following tips will help.
- Wear sunglasses: You can create at least a minimal barrier for your eyes by wearing sunglasses (or even goggles) if you plan to exercise outdoors for a long period of time. Using eye drops before you head outside can help, too.
- Don’t forget your meds: I got allergy shots for several years when I was a kid. They helped make my acute reactions less severe over time, but I still battle through hay fever season every year. Today there are so many over-the-counter and prescription allergy medicines that can offer relief. (Important note: I don’t like to take a lot of medicine, but as far as I’m concerned, I’d rather take something for a few months that will keep me from scratching my eyes out!) Talk to your doctor about what treatments might work best to alleviate your symptoms. To prevent the onset of those symptoms, it helps to take your medication an hour before your outdoor workout. If you get out of bed and head outdoors immediately, ask your doctor if you can take your medication before bed so it’s in your system when you head outside.
- Clean up: Get out of those sweaty and pollen-infused clothes, take a shower and wash your hair as soon as possible following an outdoor workout. The longer that pollen lingers, the more severe your reaction can be. (You also don’t want to spread the pollen around your home by sitting on the couch or lying on your bed.)
Probably the best advice I can offer is this: listen to your body. If you’re trying to get your heart rate up outdoors but all you’re feeling is misery, be smart. Stop. Head indoors, shower and re-group. Maybe that’s the day you turn to an air-conditioned group exercise class or pop in a Zumba DVD in at home to help you have fun, be fit and feel fabulous!
These Dark Times
Welcome to the beginning of December…and the end of 2011!
I wrap up this week addressing a timely issue raised by my colleague, Joe. He wants to know how we can stay motivated to workout during these dark times. I’m not referring to the state of the economy or the political shenanigans going on in Washington. I’m literally talking about the dark days we must endure between now and the springtime.
Many of us leave our homes each morning in the dark only to leave work at the end of a long day and find ourselves enveloped in darkness once again. Add some colder temperatures to the mix, and it can become all too easy to look for any excuse to ditch your exercise plans, change into comfy clothes and make a bee line for the couch. So here are a few ways to stay on track:
- Don’t Leave Home Without the Workout Wear: If you normally exercise after work, make sure to bring a gym bag to the office. If you have to go home to change before your workout, you’ll only find yourself face-to-face with that all-too-tempting comfy couch.
- Get Physical at Lunchtime: If you usually head to a gym for a morning workout before heading to the office or after dropping the kids off for school, why not consider moving your workout to lunchtime? Even if the sun is hidden by some wintry clouds, it will be brighter in the middle of the day and sometimes that’s all you need to boost your mood and get your butt into the gym. This could also be the perfect time to see if a group exercise class you’ve been curious about is offered at midday.
- Make a Workout Date: Plan to meet a friend for that morning power walk, lunchtime step aerobics or evening Zumba class. The “guilt” factor involved with not showing up for a friend may be all you need to keep you committed to your scheduled exercise plans.
I leave you with this final tip: remembering how good you feel after a workout may provide the biggest incentive to help you stick with your routine even on the darkest days of December. Never underestimate the power of that post-exercise endorphin rush as you continue on your journey to have fun, be fit and feel fabulous!
Cross Training
I hope you enjoyed some rest and recovery time over the weekend. As you outline your attack plan on how to fit fitness into the week ahead, I offer this bit of advice: mix things up a bit.
Whether you’re a fitness novice, getting back to a routine or have been exercising for years, variety can make the world of difference when it comes to sticking with a fitness regimen and also preventing injuries. Doing the same routine day after day causes repetitive stress and can lead to overuse and stress-related injuries. Some of the more common ones include:
- Chondromalacia patella (often referred to as “runner’s knee”): An overuse injury causing pain in the kneecap. Pain can occur from weight-bearing knee flexion activities like squats or sitting for long periods of time with bent knees. Symptoms may also include swelling or grating noises.
- Stress fractures: Microscopic fractures usually to a weight-bearing bone like the tibia in the leg or metatarsals in the feet.
- Tendonitis: Inflammation in the connective tissue that joins bone to bone. (One common form is “tennis elbow”)
If you love group exercise classes, one of the easiest ways to avoid overuse injuries is to mix up your schedule. For example, the twisting, dance-like movements executed in Zumba classes put extra stress on your knees and can be damaging if the surrounding muscles (e.g. the quadriceps) are weak. The same can be said of cardio kickboxing. Repetitive high kicks and other movements places stress on the hip region. If any of the above mentioned exercises are not performed in proper form, the risk of injury is even greater.
I am not saying you can’t take your favorite group ex class multiple times during the week, but try to give yourself a day in between to allow the muscle groups to repair and recover. If you’re a five-day-a-week-group-ex “addict,” here’s a possible schedule:
- Monday: Cardio kick
- Tuesday: Pilates mat (Followed by 30 minutes of cardio)
- Wednesday: Zumba
- Thursday: Pilates mat or Yoga
- Friday: Cardio kick or Zumba
The same can be said for strength training. Most beginners should aim for a resistance training workout of two days per week and not on consecutive days. If your schedule forces you to strength train on back-to-back days, split the muscle groups over two days.
Stretching is one activity you can do every day of the week. One of my personal fitness goals this year has been to incorporate more flexibility training into my routine. If only I had made that goal a priority earlier in my life, I’m sure I could have avoided many trips to the doctor along with multiple X-rays and MRIs.
That being said, we can all push ourselves a little too hard at times. However, if a couple days of rest, ice and over-the-counter anti-inflammatories don’t alleviate the pain, you should talk to your doctor. Preventing injuries is one of the most important things you can do to ensure your body and mind are working together to have fun, be fit and feel fabulous!
I Got Myself to the Gym. Now What?
You took the plunge and signed up for a gym membership. You change into your workout wear, turn on the iPod…and find yourself completely overwhelmed surrounded by a sea of equipment. Don’t worry, you’re not alone. One of my best gal pals from Northwestern University, Molly, recently posed the following questions:
“My problem with getting/staying fit right now is not knowing exactly what to do with myself once I’m at the gym. Should I just focus on cardio? (I’d like to lose a few pounds.) If so, do I stick with one machine like the treadmill and work on building speed and endurance, or switch it up and try the elliptical sometimes? Should I start again with the weight machines, which I haven’t done in a while? (I’d also like to tone up and gain strength.) Take a class?”
Two important points to address right away:
1) They key to losing weight is burning more calories than you take in. That can be done through cardio and/or resistance training. Whether you’re an exercise novice or seasoned gym-goer, your body will benefit most from a combination of the two.
2) Find what you like to do at the gym, and you will stick with it. Then with some help from perseverance, self-discipline and motivation, you can get the results you’re looking for.
Reminding myself how good I feel after a workout fuels my perseverance and self-discipline. As for motivation, if you’re new to the gym, I strongly recommend meeting with a personal trainer at least once. Aside from helping you get familiarized with the gym, a personal trainer will also conduct fitness assessments to determine if you have any postural distortions that need correcting as part of your routine. In the simplest terms, you will learn what areas of your body need to be stretched and which need to be strengthened.
Many gyms welcome new members with a complimentary training session. If your gym doesn’t offer this service and a personal training session is not in your budget, then recruit a friend who does know his or her way around the gym to be your training partner.
Group exercise classes can also be a great source of motivation. With classes ranging from cardio kickboxing to Zumba, there is something out there for everyone. To avoid boredom at the gym, I’m a big fan of mixing up group exercise classes with your own program during the week.
Cardio is a topic that warrants its own blog post. For now, I recommend newcomers try the treadmill, elliptical and stationary bike for 10 minutes each. Determine which one you like best, then work on being able to run, stride or cycle for up to 30 minutes where you notice a moderate increase in your heart and respiratory rates. Doing this five to seven days each week with two days of resistance training is a good workout plan to strive for.
One final note: it takes six weeks before something becomes a habit. So, your first trip to the gym is the first big step in making exercise part of your routine to have fun, be fit and feel fabulous!
The Benefits of Group Exercise
Boxing? Yoga? There's a Class Out There for You!
Every Tuesday night for the past six years, unless I was sick, on vacation or on the road for work, you’d find me in the front right corner of the group exercise studio in the New York Sports Club near my office sweating it out in my favorite class of the week. “Club Strength” utilizes free weights and weight plates for a total body workout of resistance training. Add the kick-butt choreography and music selections from fitness instructor Wayne Sims, and you have all the makings for a class that gets the heart rate going and brings on the burn in all your muscle groups. I absolutely love how I feel when I leave this class.
Of course, even Wayne has to take a vacation or sick day now and then and a substitute instructor fills in. Unfortunately, the sub who filled in tonight just didn’t do it for me. I’m not here to name names or bad-mouth anyone, as everyone has their own teaching style and technique. Maybe some of the other class regulars enjoyed tonight’s workout. For me, it was simply disappointing to leave the gym without my normal Tuesday night rush.
While this let-down won’t prevent me from going back to the gym tomorrow, I realize one not-so-hot class experience can wreak havoc on your fitness goals if you’re just getting started on a workout routine. You decide to take the plunge and join a gym, you try a class and then you simply hate it. Well, here’s what I say about that predicament: don’t despair and don’t give up!
There are so many different classes available today that it would be hard not to find something you like. Whether it’s “old school” aerobics, spinning, boxing, core conditioning, Pilates or yoga, there really is something for everyone at every skill level. Group classes can be intense, but between the heart-pounding music and the contagious energy of your instructor and classmates, it’s a fun way to get a great workout – sometimes in less than an hour. Enjoying all these benefits for so many years and wanting to spread the fun to others is what led me to study and become a Certified Group Exercise Instructor with the Aerobics & Fitness Assocation of America (AFAA).
Like many other activities in life, when it comes to exercise, you need to find something you like doing so you can stick with it. Participating in group exercise classes can be a great way to find your own groove on how to have fun, be fit and feel fabulous!
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