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Mind Over Matter Monday
More Motivation to Move: Exercise & Peace of Mind
Photo by Leslie Hassler
Despite a hot and sticky weekend here in New York, I’m ready to face the work week with new energy. While that’s definitely due to a bit of rest and relaxation, it’s also because I made a point of fitting some fitness into my days off. So I thought it was the perfect time to address one of my biggest sources of motivation: exercise helps sharpen my mental focus.
For as long as I can remember, working out has helped me sort through what I like to call mental clutter. Clearing that clutter with a kick-butt cardio session, group exercise class or weight training circuit allows me to me to re-group and tackle whatever issue I need to spend time sorting out in my brain. It’s as if by sweating out the anxiety surrounding the need to address a situation, all I’m left with is an endorphin rush to actually sit down and sort things out.
Putting the serious “stuff” aside for a moment, I can simply say having an improved mental focus helps me get things done. Ever have a to-do list get all jumbled in your head? The tasks of the day, week or even month ahead seem daunting and overwhelming. For me, just 10 minutes in to a 30-minute elliptical session, things start to un-jumble. I listen to my favorite music, feel my heart beating and my breath coming faster and I feel as I’m gaining new confidence with each stride on that machine. Confidence that things will get done. Maybe not immediately following that workout, but I will meet my deadlines and somehow get it together.
It’s after these workouts when I return home, clean up and refuel with healthy food that I can then turn what was once a jumbled mess into a thought-out list on paper or here on my computer so I know exactly what I need to do. Having a plan is the first step in getting things done. Exercise helps me take that important first step.
On the “heavy” side, I can honestly say in times of worry, distress and grief, clearing the mind with a workout somehow helps my heart feel lighter, too. I realize exercise in itself can’t solve the big problems or make life-altering decisions for you. I also know it can take a burdened heart some time to catch up with a newly uncluttered mind. However, through the ups and downs of my life, exercise has always been a good place to start my search for emotional solace. (Okay, I won’t lie, chocolate helps sometimes, too!)
On Mondays, I know many of us look for motivation to put a fitness plan into action or to ensure we stay on course with the one we’ve worked so hard to make a part of our daily routine. So here are my two cents: Why not make this the day you start clearing the clutter so you can get back on track with your plans to have fun, be fit and feel fabulous!
Fast Fitness Friday
Make the Most of August!
I don’t know about you, but I have no idea where the summer is going. I feel like we went from Memorial Day weekend to the beginning of August in the blink of an eye.
That being said, there’s still plenty of the season left to enjoy. If this was the summer you were going to get your butt and your fitness routine in gear, there’s no time like this weekend to get things going!
As our brains start shutting down from the work week and move into weekend mode, I’ll keep this post short and sweet, but hopefully offer just enough motivation to turn the next couple of days into productive ones when it comes to working on your health and fitness goals.
1) Start your weekend with a workout: While I’ve never been a 6-am workout girl, I do like getting to the gym when it first opens at 8am on Saturday mornings. It feels great to kick-start the heart and break a sweat while clearing the mind of the leftover mental clutter from the work week. Afterward, the endorphin rush provides the energy I need to get all those pesky errands done. Then I can transfer the energy to enjoying whatever fun is planned later in the day or in the evening. (The added bonus: not feeling totally guilty if those plans include some cocktails or sweet treats!)
2) Try something new: Have you heard rave reviews about the new Saturday morning Zumba class at your gym? If you belong to a gym, check the schedule for a group class you’ve been meaning to take, but have found a million excuses not to get there. No gym membership? No problem! Make this the weekend you explore that new hiking trail or ride your bike to the beach and then take a long walk on the sand.
3) Make it social: Getting fit with a friend is a great way to incorporate some fun into your schedule! Meet a pal for a walk, group exercise class or to spot each other for a solid weight training session. Afterward, you can catch up over coffee and egg whites!
So, make the most of your escape from the daily grind and enjoy a weekend filled with chances to have fun, be fit and feel fabulous!
Make it Count Monday
Make Every Move Count! Photo by Leslie Hassler
As we kick off another work week, I wanted to offer a shot of motivation for whatever workout you have planned for today and the days to come. It’s a simple concept: whatever you do, make it count!
I offer this bit of advice because it pains me to see people at the gym banging out push ups or lifting weights with poor form – back arched, head jutted forward, knees locked. While they may feel like they’re giving their bodies a great workout, I only see a picture of what the potential for injury looks like.
I’m a firm believer that it’s better to do 10 reps in good form than bang out 20 in a sloppy fashion. No one should start a fitness routine and say “I’m going to run 5 miles on the treadmill, then tackle 100 push ups and 100 crunches” on day one. You may actually get through all of it – but believe me – you’ll pay later. You’ll most likely be so sore from the extreme activity that you won’t be able to resume your new workout routine for a week – and that means you haven’t made any gains in feeling healthier or stronger.
The bottom line is you need to be safe and realistic. I say this a lot, but it’s worth repeating: Rome wasn’t built in a day, so you shouldn’t expect to see results overnight. Building fitness into your schedule means making it a part of your daily routine, and that’s what leads to a lifetime of health benefits.
Two other things to keep in mind:
- Make it manageable: If the idea of spending an entire hour exercising overwhelms you, scale it back. That doesn’t necessarily mean jumping into a 45-minute “boot-camp” style class probably either. Instead, start with 15 or 20 minutes on a treadmill, elliptical trainer or stationary bike. Make sure to stretch and if you want to add specific exercises, work on your core. Planks and bridges are a great place to start. Trust me, once you start feeling the positive effects from the activity, you’ll want to add more minutes to your workout. Start with 10 reps and remember: make them count! In most cases, that means keep that navel drawn in and those glutes squeezed!
- 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 Jennifer Anniston, 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.
So, leave the “sins” of the weekend behind (e.g. one-too-many margaritas or that second slice of chocolate cake) and use this Monday as a fresh start to your fitness routine. Try a new class, make a workout date with a friend and simply seek out new opportunities to have fun, feel fit and be fabulous!
Fast Take Friday
TGIF!
In anticipation of the sunny, summery weekend they’re predicting here in New York City, I thought I’d wrap up the work week with a list of some of newest favorite iTunes. I’ll be listening to them during my workouts and chill time between now and Sunday. Enjoy!
Energy for the Elliptical or Tabatas (No rhyme or reason on music genres here, the tracks just keep me moving!):
- “How You Like me Now” The House That Dirt Built (I can’t get this song out of my head since recently seeing the movie “Horrible Bosses”!)
- “Unconditional Love” (feat. Melissa Loretta) Amurai
- “Titanium” (feat. Sia) David Guetta
- “Let’s Go” (feat. Ne-Yo) Calvin Harris
- “Scream” Usher
- “Looks That Kill” Motley Crue
- “Shout 2000” Disturbed
- “The Final Countdown” Europe
- “In de Ghetto” Crystal Waters
Mellow music for cooling down, stretching or sitting at the pool, beach or backyard:
- “Empty Streets” Late Night Alumni
- “Like a Waterfall: Flipside Ambient Remix” JES
- “Change Your Mind: Chill Version” (feat. Kyler England) Sunlounger
- “Complicated” Paul van Dyk
- “Everything” (feat. JES) Tiesto
- “Me & You: Dimitri Andreas & Madox Remix” (feat. Rami) Mr. Sam
- “Show Me” DJ Encore
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: good music is one of the things that keeps me motivated to move. I’m always looking for recommendations, so please don’t hesitate to share some of the tracks on your playlists. Here’s to the weekend ahead filled with good tunes, good times and plenty of reasons to have fun, be fit and feel fabulous!
Get Some Sleep!
With Chris Freytag, Chairman of the Board, American Council on Exercise (ACE)
I know it’s Workout Wednesday, but I wanted to take this opportunity to discuss something too many of us are slacking on when it comes to trying to follow a healthy lifestyle: catching those much-needed zzzzzz’s.
If you woke up today after a less-than-restful night, you’re not alone. Here are a couple of eye-opening facts from the Better Sleep Council:
- 73% of Americans are only getting seven hours of sleep or less per night during the work week
- 70 million Americans are affected by sleep problems
Today, my two professional worlds collided and I was able to learn about the effects of not getting enough shut-eye from one of the country’s most respected health and fitness experts. I was thrilled to work with Chris Freytag as the producer on her satellite media tour where she discussed the benefits of getting a good night’s sleep. She also revealed some interesting results from research conducted by Beautyrest to find out just how much sleep we’re missing out on across the country. Check out the video below to see my one-on-one interview with Chris.
(The interview will also be featured in the upcoming July edition of “Health & Home Report” – another element in my production life for West Glen Communications, Inc.)
Surprisingly in the Beautyrest survey, New York didn’t live up to its name as the “city that never sleeps.” It came in at number 22 on the “Top 30 US Cities Most In Need of Recharging” hit list. (Not so surprising? Las Vegas came in at number one.) Click here to find if you live in one of the country’s sleepiest cities!
Remember, if you’re striving to enjoy a healthier lifestyle, make sure to add getting more zzzz’s to your overall plan to have fun, be fit and feel fabulous!
Make a Splash!
Pool at the Hotel Riu, Montego Bay, Jamaica
As we inch closer to the official start of the summer season and kick off another work week on a hot note here in New York City, I thought I’d offer a fun suggestion for how to stay active and beat the heat this season: GO GET WET!
In case you didn’t know it, swimming laps is one of the best ways to get all your major muscle groups in motion. It burns calories and improves cardiovascular health.
According to the freedieting.com website, at my age, height and weight, if I swim laps for just 30 minutes, I’ll burn between 282 – 295 calories. Add a couple of tabatas to the mix and I’ve got a great workout! So, I say whenever you have the opportunity, jump on in and enjoy! (And if you’re lucky enough to get some vacation time at the ocean or near a lake, those natural environments can add even more challenges to your swim.)
Don’t know how to swim, but feel comfortable enough to hang out in the shallow end of a pool? Walk your way or even jog from one side to the other. Hang out on the side of the wall and do leg raises and/or bicycles. And there’s always the “old-fashioned” treading water. If you’re lucky enough to get invited to a backyard BBQ with a pool, you can burn a few calories in between rounds of food or beverages by cooling off and doing some exercises under water. Another benefit: you can still socialize at the same time!
For all you parents out there, go ahead and join your kids in some of their pool games and enjoy some calorie-burning bonding time! Maybe this is the summer you treat the family to one of those pool-ready basketball backboards so you can shoot some hoops and perfect your slam-dunk in the water. (I can tell you, when I was enjoying my Jamaica vacation in March, the one afternoon I joined in a pretty intense water polo game, I was seriously ready for my nap afterward!)
Don’t have a pool, but you do have a lawn? Why not set up a sprinkler and get the blood pumping by chasing the kids around for a game of sprinkler tag? No kids – no problem! Who says grown-ups can’t have some fun, too?
For all you landlubbers, there’s always badminton, frisbee, wiffle ball and dodge ball. It can be fun to use some childhood favorites to add some variety to your workout routine. Of course, for all these outdoor activities, don’t forget to apply and re-apply the sunscreen and stay hydrated with non-alcoholic drinks, preferably water.
This has always been my favorite time of year for adding some extra fun to my typical fitness routine. By taking advantage of Mother Nature’s warm temperament, it’s prime time to find activities that get your heart rate up while keeping you smiling and moving forward on the path to have fun, be fit and feel fabulous!
Pushing Through the Pain
On this Workout Wednesday, I thought I’d address what many consider a “touchy” topic: pain.
I’m currently starting my second week of physical therapy for a lower back and hip issue. I’d like to say the problem just popped up and I got on it immediately, but I’d be lying.
This problem began back in September of 2011. What started as a dull pain in the left side of my lower back and hip area turned into tingling and numbness down the front of my left thigh, calf and all the way down to my toes. Lifting weight over my head, kettlebell swings and push-ups made the pain worse. So what did I do? I pushed through it.
After a couple of months, getting out of bed in the morning became painful and sitting at my desk at work gradually for longer than 20 minutes became practically unbearable. I finally went to my sports medicine specialist last month to get checked out. An MRI showed I have a bulging disc in my lumbar spine. (Specifically between the fourth and fifth lumbar vertebral bodies, commonly referred to as L4/L5.)
The “mystery,” however, is that the MRI showed the disc issue is on the right side of my lower back back while the symptoms I’ve suffered have affected the left side of my body. Is my left side compensating for the dysfunction on my right or is the disc something I’ve had for years and not even part of the problem? This is what my doctor and now my physical therapist are trying to figure out. Meanwhile, I just want the pain to go away!
The bottom line is I’m pretty angry with myself for ignoring the pain for so long. Basically, I didn’t follow one of the cardinal rules I share with my own personal training clients and anyone who asks for advice on following a safe and effective fitness program: Listen to your body!
So, I thought this was the perfect time to remind everyone when you should NOT wait out the aches and pains:
- If you’re in an accident or experience sudden trauma. If there’s no help where you are, get to an emergency room or urgent care center. It’s also a good idea to get checked out if your muscle or joint soreness lasts more than 2 – 3 days following a vigorous workout or if you tried a new sport, group exercise class or other activity (e.g. gardening) around the house.
- If your pain affects every day functions. Does it hurt to raise your arms overhead in the shower or bend down to pick up your child? If your knee is bothering you when you walk up the stairs, guess what? You could end up with pain in your hip and back, too, as your body makes compensations to keep moving. Now you have pain in more than just one area of your body.
- If you have chronic but mild pain in any area of the body that doesn’t change no matter what you. This is what happened to me. What you may feel as muscle pain in your back that you have had for months could be coming from several other areas not even related to your spine.
Click here for a link to great list from WebMD about pains you should NEVER ignore.
While we all have different tolerance levels when it comes to pain, I hope sharing my experience is an example of why it’s not smart to take chances. I haven’t been completely sidelined, but I have had to slow down. As a bona fide fitness fanatic, that’s not easy! At the end of the day, listening to your body is probably one of the smartest things you can do to make sure you continue safely on your journey to have fun, be fit and feel fabulous!
Using Fitness to Make a Difference
If you’re looking for ways to add some variety to your fitness routine, why not turn your passion for being healthy into a vehicle for helping others?
As many of us look for ways to take our workouts outdoors, this is the perfect time of year to sign up for a walk, run or other athletic event in a town near you that raises money and awareness for everything from cancer to childhood disabilities. Just this past Saturday, my friend Rob laced up for a 5K run in Central Park to benefit the YAI Network, an organization that’s been helping people with developmental disabilities and their families since 1957.
Of course, there are also plenty of fun and meaningful indoor fitness activities to join. I was so excited when my weekend mail included my ticket to the June 29th Zumbathon event at Roseland Ballroom. The proceeds will benefit the Michael J. Fox Foundation and its fight against Parkinson’s Disease. The event co-stars the legendary Tanya Beardsley, who I was lucky to have as my instructor for my licensing workshop earlier this year. I can’t wait to enjoy a heart-pounding good time with some of the gals I met at that workshop, and make some new Zumba friends. The best part will be knowing I shook my booty for a great cause!
If you’re looking for ways to combine your love of fitness and the desire to do good deeds, I found a pretty cool website called CharityHappenings.org. You enter your home state or zip code, the range of dates you’re looking for, and you can then select from a list of activities ranging from golf outings to dancing. You can even narrow your selections by causes ranging from animals to autism.
Whatever you do, another bonus to signing up for a fitness event is you can encourage members of your fitness family to join in the fun. Not only will you motivate each other to push through the last mile or spin cycle, but you get to enjoy breaking a sweat with people you’ve probably been hoping to spend more time with anyway!
We all know the health benefits exercise has to offer, but how great is it being able to turn your heart-pounding moves into positive energy for the world around you? I can’t think of a better reason to continue the search for the countless ways to have fun, be fit and feel fabulous!
Friday’s Food For Thought: The Liquid Edition
Welcome to June!
We’ve had some warm and sticky weather here in New York City since the Memorial Day weekend, so I thought it was the perfect time to remind everyone about the importance of staying hydrated.
I often talk about the fact that the human body is an amazing machine, but it’s important to remember that machine is made up of two-thirds water. Like anything else, if you want the body to keep running properly, you need to give it what it needs.
Here are some of the benefits of staying hydrated:
- Regulation of body temperature
- Alleviating fluid retention
- Distribution of nutrients and oxygen to cells and organs
- Improvement of metabolic function
- Decreasing appetite
I’m still waiting to feel the effects of that last bullet point. 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 overall appetite. (I love to eat!) However, I admit if I’m hungry and nowhere near a healthy snack, drinking a glass of water can stave off my hunger just long enough to avoid eating something I’ll regret later. (Chewing gum works 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
Think of it this way: the body can go for a long period of time without food, but can only survive for a few days without water.
The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) offers the following guidelines for drinking water when exercising:
- Drink 16 oz of water two hours before exercise. In warmer weather, you can 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).
Here’s how I rationalize that last point: If I’m pressed for time and can only squeeze in a 30-minute elliptical session, I’ll burn up to 340 calories. During that time, if I guzzle a sports drink like Gatorade or Vitamin Water, I’ll consume 125 calories. So I walk away from a shorter than normal workout, and I’ve only burned 215 calories. That is not the post-cardio high I was looking for!
I realize some people simply can’t stand the blandness of water and need a little flavor. Luckily, there are lots of zero-calorie flavored water options available. Remember, 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, raising a water bottle to your health is an easy way to have fun, be fit and feel fabulous!
Happy Memorial Day!
I hope your extended weekend has been filled with fun in the sun and good times with friends and family. Today, I offer my “wish list” for you on Memorial Day.
1) Take at least a moment to stop and remember the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice so that the rest of us could live in this wonderful land we call the United States of America.
2) Fit some fitness into your holiday fun. I’m excited to take a Zumba class at 10:30 this morning. Not only will it be the first Zumba class I’ve been able to squeeze into my schedule in months, it also ends early enough that the rest of the day awaits! (Click here if you need a few reminders on how to fit some fitness into your holiday fun.)
3) If you’re outside, don’t forget to apply and re-apply the sunscreen!
4) Whether you’re celebrating the holiday indoors or out, stay hydrated. If you plan to drink alcohol, make sure to designate a driver to ensure everyone gets home safely after the Memorial Day fun.
Wishing everyone a very Happy Memorial Day! Here’s to the summer ahead and all the chances we’ll have to have fun, be fit and feel fabulous!
lauralovesfitness 