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Fitness Fun in the Sun!
Bring on Summer!
TGIF!
I hope everyone’s ready to enjoy some R & R during the Memorial Day weekend. It’s so important we all remember the true meaning of this holiday. It’s a day dedicated to honoring all the men and women who have died while serving in the United States Armed Forces.
Memorial Day weekend also marks the unofficial kick off to the summer! If Mother Nature smiles down on your plans to enjoy some time in the backyard, at the beach or nearby park, keep this in mind: now’s the perfect time to kick-start a whole new season of fitness fun!
Wherever you’re going, when you pack up the sunscreen, sunglasses and snacks, why not toss a football, frisbee or paddle-ball game into your bag or the trunk of the car? Adding some activity to your holiday get-together is a great way to keep some of the beer and BBQ calories in check. It’s also a great reminder that you don’t need a gym for a great workout.
If you’re really inspired, there are plenty of exercises you can perform on a sandy or grassy surface. Some examples include burpees, squats, push-ups and planks. Of course, if you have any knee, ankle, hip or back issues, I’d highly recommend wearing your sneakers when attempting to bang out some reps on an unstable surface.
Whatever you do and wherever you do it, here are some timely tips for the holiday weekend that will take you through the entire season:
- Drink plenty of non-alcoholic fluids, preferably water.
- Apply and re-apply plenty of waterproof, sweat-proof sunscreen. Sore muscles from a game of beach volleyball can be rewarding, but a sunburn never feels good!
- Finally – don’t forget to stretch! After giving those arms and legs a good workout, static or active-isolated stretches can help the body recover. Remember: static stretches need to be held for a minimum of 30 seconds.
Wishing everyone a safe and Happy Memorial Day and an entire weekend filled with plenty of opportunities to have fun, be fit and feel fabulous!
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!
Attention Beautiful Women Everywhere!
I’m not trying to alienate any of the guys who check in here at LauraLovesFitness (and are often kind enough to retweet or “like” my posts), but in honor of Mother’s Day, I thought I’d start off the week with a shout-out to all your fabulous females who somehow manage to do it all.
Love my mom!
I’m beyond proud of my mom who at 71-years-young has embraced a much healthier lifestyle during the past six months. Along with watching her diet, she’s moving more. In fact, we just got back from a lovely walk along the beach not far from my childhood home on Long Island. Her newfound focus on her health is an inspiration to me.
Then I think of my other friends who are moms who somehow fit fitness into their daily schedules. Whether it’s Lori Ann who’s on her elliptical before the sun comes up, Michele who makes a point of getting to one or two Zumba classes each week or Linda who toils away in the garden, they’re a constant reminder even to a fitness lover like me that if breaking a sweat is something that helps you keep an even keel to get through the craziness – it’s important to make that time for yourself.
So, I thought that was the perfect way to encourage women everywhere to take part in a really cool competition going on right now. Even though the official kick off happened a couple of weeks back, my contact tells me it’s not too late to get in the game.
As I’ve mentioned in past posts, Under Armour is my workout wear of choice. Now the brand has launched a social competition for female athletes called “What’s Beautiful.”
It’s a nine-week competition where women are asked to declare a goal and document their journey. As you’ll see at WhatsBeautiful.UA.com, that goal can be anything from running a 5K to helping kids get more involved in fitness. Document the journey and post anything that shows monumental effort.
At the end of three months, UA will pick 10 competitors that blew them away. Eventually, the finalists will be whittled down to three top winners who will win thousands of dollars in gear and be the new faces of the Under Armour brand.
Needless to say, this is something I’d love to be a part of. Unfortunately, based on my current full-time profession and other responsibilities, this will have to wait until the next go around. However, for those of you who think you can find the time to get in on the action, go for it! I’d love to say I know one of the winners and a new face of my favorite workout-wear brand.
Regardless of whether you enter the competition, always remember being active is one of the best ways to stay on track with your lifelong goals to have fun, be fit and feel fabulous!
Just Say No!
What a difference a week makes!
It was only seven days ago I was heading home to New York after one of my more “relaxing” business trips in recent memory. Unfortunately, the professional and personal chaos that erupted since then has been simply exhausting. However, If you’re a repeat reader here at LauraLovesFitness, you know it’s not my style to harp on the negative – and I’m certainly not about to start today.
Instead, I want to focus on something I’ve been working on improving in my life – and that’s recognizing when the things that normally make you happy become a burden. I’m learning – albeit slowly – when that happens, it’s definitely time to take a step back and examine what’s on your plate.
It amazes me how willing we are to remove some high-caloric items from our diet in an effort to shed a few pounds, but we’re not so willing to remove the extras when it comes to shedding the stress. Unfortunately, not taking the time to remove one or two things from our never-ending to-do lists can eventually be harmful to our mental and emotional health.
In my case, exercise has always provided a steady boost of positive energy even when life pitches those inevitable curve balls. Since last July, writing this blog has also been a great outlet for some of my nervous energy. Then this week, I had a couple of days when the thought of working out or writing a post became overwhelming. So here’s what happened:
- I did NOT get to the gym Monday: I had to choose between a normal “hard-core” work out before getting to an evening appointment or burning a few calories on a less-intense walk home and prepping for a busy Tuesday so I could get home from my appointment and get to sleep at a reasonable hour. While I hated “bailing” on the high-intensity cardio burn, I knew my body needed rest and sleep in a big way. So, I opted for the walk and an earlier turn-in time.
- I CANCELLED on a personal training client Tuesday night: I woke up Tuesday morning feeling lousy with a sore throat and sniffles.Then my edit session at work turned into a more intense situation than planned, as did the follow ups I had to schedule with a couple of doctors. (Everything’s fine, by the way) You know what? My client, Kristen, thanked me for not wanting to get her sick, told me to feel better and rescheduled.
- I DID make plans to meet up with a gal pal for drinks after work Thursday night. Sometimes a glass of wine and a few laughs with friends is just what you need!
I think it’s important for all of us to realize saying no to something doesn’t make you weak. Instead, maybe one of the strongest decisions we can make is to figure out a way to focus on you for awhile – whether it’s for an hour or a whole evening.
So as we head into the weekend, I hope everyone – especially all you moms! – finds some time to have fun, be fit and feel fabulous!
Help For Your Hip Flexors
We made it to another Workout Wednesday!
Photo by Leslie Hassler
For this week’s post, I wanted to concentrate on an area of training that should be a key component in everyone’s exercise regimen regardless of his or her fitness level. Unfortunately, it’s also an area that’s often tossed aside thanks to time constraints. I’m talking about flexibility training.
Whether you clock countless hours each week sitting at a desk, commuting or shuttling the kids around town, chances are you suffer from an all-too common problem for modern-day Americans: bad posture. This matched with an ever-increasing sedentary lifestyle make a recipe for disaster and makes flexibility training more important than ever. It’s one of the easiest ways to decrease muscle imbalances, joint dysfunction and overuse injuries.
While I can’t assess how your body moves via this post, I can tell you about one of my biggest “problem areas.” When I’m not “out in the field” producing shoots, I spend way too much time sitting in front of my computer. Since I’m almost always on deadline, I tend to lose track of just how long I sit there. These extended periods of sitting unfortunately cause tightening of my hip flexors, which are made up of five muscles including the psoas.
The good news is it’s not hard to find relief for those tight hip flexors. In my latest video (from the LauraDLovesFitness YouTube channel), I offer an easy stretching solution to this common problem area:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pygoAAbyQE8&feature=youtu.be
So what happens if I I don’t take the time to stretch my hip flexors and just get right into the “heart” of a workout? There are plenty of terms in exercise science to describe the problematic results, including altered reciprocal inhibition, synergistic dominance and arthrokinetic dysfunction. Here’s what those problems look like when it comes to performing one of the most popular exercises known to man: the squat. If I repeatedly perform squats with a tight psoas, the “wrong” muscles end up doing the work. The gluteus maximus should be the prime mover, but tight hips flexors inhibit the gluteus maximus from doing its job and getting strong. Instead, the workload gets picked up by the “B team:” the hamstrings and erector spinae. Not only does this make the butt-kicking exercise pretty much ineffective for actually toning my butt, but I’m also putting myself at risk for low back pain and potential injury.
The bottom line is this: if I had a time machine and could fix some of the fitness mistakes I made in my younger days, I’d try to make up for some of the lost time I didn’t spend on stretching. Making flexibility training a part of your daily routine is truly one of the best things you can do to have fun, be fit and feel fabulous!
A Change of Scenery
California skies from Ocean and Colorado in Santa Monica
I’m definitely going to lobby for more business trips on the West Coast!
While the shoot I worked on last week involved many hours of pre-production long before I ever boarded my JetBlue flight to Los Angeles and involved a detailed run-of-show, I somehow managed to feel more rested at the end of the three-day jaunt than I have in recent memory.
I think there were two things responsible for the energy boost:
- Thanks to the time change, I had to stay in California for a minimum of two nights. So, instead of rushing to the airport as soon as the shoot wrapped and hoping I’d make my flight, I had time to decompress after the work was done.
- The time change also worked to my advantage when it came to kicking off my day with a morning workout! I admit, early morning workouts here at home in New York really aren’t my thing. However, in California, I woke up without an alarm somewhere between 5:30 and 6:00 a.m. So, I put that energy to good use in the hotel’s fitness center. Here are the down and dirty workouts that kept me energized on Pacific Time:
Happily started my mornings in the Shore Hotel’s fitness center
Day one – After the 5-hour flight:
- 30 minutes elliptical
- 15 minutes recumbent bike
- Squat Tabata (4 minutes)
- Push-up Tabata (4 minutes)
- Stretching: 7-8 minutes
- Total time: 60 minutes.
Day two – Pre-shoot jump-start:
- 30 minutes elliptical
- Four back-t0-back Tabatas: squats, planks, crunches & push-ups (16 minutes)
- Stretching: 5 minutes
- Total time: 51 minutes
Day three – Pre-flight
- 25 minutes recumbent bike (not my first choice, as I knew I’d be sitting on the plane for another 5 hours, but the ellipticals were taken)
- Plank Tabata (4 minutes)
- Push-up Tabata (4 minutes)
- “Crazy Eights” for shoulders: 8 reps of lateral raises, 8 reps of front raises and 8 reps of overhead presses. No rest between each exercise and no rest before moving on to next muscle group.
- Single-leg bicep curls: 12 reps each leg. No rest between switching legs or moving on to next exercise.
- Single-leg overhead triceps presses: 12 reps each leg.
- Repeated Crazy Eights through triceps overhead presses for three sets total.
- In an effort to feel as loose as possible before the flight, I spent a full 10 minutes stretching to wrap things up.
- Total time: 55 minutes
Post-work fun with Molly & Jessica at The Lobster in Santa Monica
In the end, probably the best part of the trip was being able to find a balance between work and play by catching up with my dear Northwestern gal pals Molly and Jessica. We had a fabulous dinner catching up over Prosecco and seafood after my shoot was finished. Making new friends with my videographer Jake and his crew was the final bonus.
So, what did I learn from this LA experience? Even when you’re working, it’s important to find some time for yourself. Whether you’re making new friends, catching up with old ones or breaking a sweat and taking in some new scenery, no matter where you are in the world, it’s important to take some time for yourself so you can have fun, be fit and feel fabulous!
Back to Reality
Happy Spring everyone!
When I last wrote, I was excited to be leaving for my Montego Bay escape to celebrate Elisa’s 40th birthday. Today, I’m happy to report the trip was everything I hoped it would be: five days of rest and relaxation fueled by tropical breezes, turquoise water and Jamaican rum. I feel refreshed and ready to tackle reality again. (I’m pretty sure the birthday girl feels the same way!)
Another great thing about this vacation was how it allowed me to mix up my exercise routine. While I hit the fitness center every morning for 60 minutes of cardio and strength training, the hotel offered some super fun alternative calorie-burning activities you simply can’t find here in New York City.
Sylvester ran a fun 45-minute aerobics class on the beach every morning while the entertainment staff offered daily Reggae lessons by the pool. There were also water polo games which got pretty intense for some of my vacationing teammates! At night, the cardio could continue in the hotel’s nightclub and on our last night, the dance party moved to the beach where we enjoyed more good music (and more rum punch) under the stars.
While I did my best to keep my body in motion, I made sure my brain did the least amount of work possible. The most stressful decisions Elisa and I had to make everyday dealt with whether we wanted to sit at the beach or by the pool and what we wanted to drink. I bought “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest” by Stieg Larson at the JetBlue terminal before we boarded the plane. I think I made it through 90 pages. (I did, however, read two People magazines from cover to cover.) I often lost track of time simply looking at the water, listening to the breezes rustling through the palm trees and enjoying the Reggae music playing from the pool bar’s speakers.
Sure, I came home greeted by a flood of emails and texts. One by one, I read them and responded as needed. The back-to-reality errands like stocking the fridge and doing the laundry got done. Now, I face the week ahead with new energy for work and to get back into my “serious” exercise routine.
I’m especially looking forward to getting back into my UFX small group training class Monday night to work off the vacation pounds I know I put on thanks to all those fruity drinks along with plates of jerk chicken with rice and beans.
So while I realize a Caribbean getaway isn’t something we can indulge in every month, I can’t stress enough how important it is to find a way to decompress and re-boot your body, mind and spirit from time to time to make the daily grind a little less taxing. It’s a surefire way to embrace the attitude that nothing is going to stop you from pursuing your quest to have fun, be fit and feel fabulous!
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