Holiday snacks laced with trans-fat and simple sugars should be out of the picture by now. But is it necessary to give up all forms of indulgence?
Giving up tasty treats may sound good on paper, but do you really want to live so stringently? Such rigidness is more likely to create a binge down the road than to get you to your goal. Better to anticipate dessert cravings, and prepare accordingly.
Bring some healthy dessert options home with you from the grocery store so that you can be satisfied and stay healthy!
A choice favorite: “the bodybuilders’ dessert,” otherwise known as mixed frozen berries.
Frozen berries are cold like ice cream, tasty like frozen yogurt, and full of anti-oxidants. Enjoy them unthawed after dinner as an alternative to ice cream.
The “bodybuilders’ dessert” can be purchased in the freezer section of your favorite grocery store. At Costco you can pick up four pounds (nearly 15 servings of fruit) for less than eight dollars!
For more flavorful dessert options less than 100 calories check out: http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/slideshow.asp?show=6.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Give Beyond Yourself
It’s better to give than to receive, no other season says it better than the holiday season.
It’s about being self-less.
After winning eight gold medals in Olympic Swimming Michael Phelps remarked “This was about something way bigger than any personal accomplishment… [it was] to elevate swimming’s place in the American sports landscape.
Phelps is a great swimmer, but his impact transcends his own self interest because he acts selfless.
Most fitness goals (particularly new-years resolutions) are established on selfishness.
Selfishness wants to build bigger muscles or a trimmer waistline, but also wants every other waning desire that comes about.
Selfish motives dissipate your energy and deter you from the road to your goals.
So; how can your personal health habits become a selfless gift to someone else?
Here are three hints:
*Childhood obesity portends more sickness and shorter lives for today's youth.
*98 percent of kids' meals in chain restaurants do not meet fundamental nutrition standards– they're way too high in salt, calories, or saturated fat! (How about at home?)
*Increased numbers of children have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and type 2 diabetes– all results of excessive weight.
This season, begin to give the gift of good health by encouraging sound nutrition for your kids, getting children involved different types of aerobic activities, and most importantly by making a resolution now to set a positive example for your children to follow.
In the coming new-year will your family be an excuse or a reason?
It’s about being self-less.
After winning eight gold medals in Olympic Swimming Michael Phelps remarked “This was about something way bigger than any personal accomplishment… [it was] to elevate swimming’s place in the American sports landscape.
Phelps is a great swimmer, but his impact transcends his own self interest because he acts selfless.
Most fitness goals (particularly new-years resolutions) are established on selfishness.
Selfishness wants to build bigger muscles or a trimmer waistline, but also wants every other waning desire that comes about.
Selfish motives dissipate your energy and deter you from the road to your goals.
So; how can your personal health habits become a selfless gift to someone else?
Here are three hints:
*Childhood obesity portends more sickness and shorter lives for today's youth.
*98 percent of kids' meals in chain restaurants do not meet fundamental nutrition standards– they're way too high in salt, calories, or saturated fat! (How about at home?)
*Increased numbers of children have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and type 2 diabetes– all results of excessive weight.
This season, begin to give the gift of good health by encouraging sound nutrition for your kids, getting children involved different types of aerobic activities, and most importantly by making a resolution now to set a positive example for your children to follow.
In the coming new-year will your family be an excuse or a reason?
Monday, December 1, 2008
That One Thing
If there were just one exercise you could do for the rest of your life what would it be?
Would you like to ski, swim, play tennis or just bang weights forever? Well, one physical exercise that can greatly benefit your health and wellbeing at any age; but particularly as you mature, is stretching. Stretching is one of the best things you can do to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
In school students are taught the popular stretches like the hurdlers stretch or a seated groin stretch. However, these may not be the most useful stretches for you. When it comes to optimal performance you need to stretch specifically where your tightest muscles are. The best way to know which muscles need stretching in your body is to consult a professional who understands how to asses muscle imbalances, and who can help you create a program.
A tough fitness fact is that short bouts of activity (3-8 weeks) will seldom produce meaningful results. If you are going to see change then you must commit to the long term… period. This goes for stretching as well as lifting, running, swimming, or any other activity for that matter. Nothing worth having comes easy.
Stretching is actually very easy to do; the problem is that it’s also easy not to do. All you need are 5-8 key stretches that you do after each workout for 20-30 seconds each. If you’re above 65 years old you should hold your stretches for about 60 seconds.
Does eight minutes maximum per session sound like too much time? Ok… how much time do you spend talking during your workout? How hard would it be to turn talk time into stretch/talk time? Find or make a friend as you stretch… you can open up the conversation by talking about how great it is to do!
Would you like to ski, swim, play tennis or just bang weights forever? Well, one physical exercise that can greatly benefit your health and wellbeing at any age; but particularly as you mature, is stretching. Stretching is one of the best things you can do to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
In school students are taught the popular stretches like the hurdlers stretch or a seated groin stretch. However, these may not be the most useful stretches for you. When it comes to optimal performance you need to stretch specifically where your tightest muscles are. The best way to know which muscles need stretching in your body is to consult a professional who understands how to asses muscle imbalances, and who can help you create a program.
A tough fitness fact is that short bouts of activity (3-8 weeks) will seldom produce meaningful results. If you are going to see change then you must commit to the long term… period. This goes for stretching as well as lifting, running, swimming, or any other activity for that matter. Nothing worth having comes easy.
Stretching is actually very easy to do; the problem is that it’s also easy not to do. All you need are 5-8 key stretches that you do after each workout for 20-30 seconds each. If you’re above 65 years old you should hold your stretches for about 60 seconds.
Does eight minutes maximum per session sound like too much time? Ok… how much time do you spend talking during your workout? How hard would it be to turn talk time into stretch/talk time? Find or make a friend as you stretch… you can open up the conversation by talking about how great it is to do!
Reap the Rewards of Rolling
Foam Rolling, the newest prescription anti-depressant
Imagine that rolling your body across a little blue tube, i.e. a “foam roller”, can reduce anxiety. Preposterous; isn’t it. If anything the sheer embarrassment of sprawling across the gym floor twisted up like a pretzel on some strange blue tube should INCREASE your anxiety! Added to which the indignant expressions on your face when you hit your trigger point (which you know your on when if feels like someone is squeezing your leg with a pair of needle nose pliers)!!! But; according to a recent article produced by the National Academy of Sports Medicine, foam rolling regularly can “decrease feelings of anxiety and fatigue.”
Foam rolling is a relatively mainstream method of inducing what experts call “ischemic compression” on the body. Some doctors, chiropractors, and massage therapists have been using this type of compression for years to reduce pain in the body (although through other tools than a foam roller). This type of compression works to alleviate pain by diminishing the effects of trigger points (active or latent) within the body.
The “pain receptors” in your body (interstitial receptors and ruffini endings) that indicate a trigger point have recently been proven to do much more than just indicate pain. The receptors themselves have autonomic functions within the body that include changes in heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration.
The following are examples of how foam rolling can greatly decrease the overall effects of stress (emotional or physical) on the human movement system:
Foam rolling reduces internal pressure on the muscle and increases blood flow. Blood flow brings about more oxygen and nutrients, removes waste bi-products, and facilitates tissue repair.
Foam rolling makes for a more uniform density throughout each muscle group thereby increasing the way your muscles work with each other in the body. This in turn translates into fewer faulty muscle contractions, making you more physically coordinated and less prone to injury.
Foam rolling builds humility and character by making you flop around the floor like a fool.
AND
Foam rolling can actually lead to better oxygen content in the blood and better respiration which can decrease feelings of anxiety and fatigue.
Foam rolling really does give credence to the saying that “sometimes you have to go through hell to get to heaven!” Once you make rolling a habit, though, it’s really not that bad. Considering all the good that rolling can bring should encourage you to add rolling to your stretching routine. Find one trigger point in each muscle you stretch before you stretch that muscle, and reap the rewards of rolling!
Imagine that rolling your body across a little blue tube, i.e. a “foam roller”, can reduce anxiety. Preposterous; isn’t it. If anything the sheer embarrassment of sprawling across the gym floor twisted up like a pretzel on some strange blue tube should INCREASE your anxiety! Added to which the indignant expressions on your face when you hit your trigger point (which you know your on when if feels like someone is squeezing your leg with a pair of needle nose pliers)!!! But; according to a recent article produced by the National Academy of Sports Medicine, foam rolling regularly can “decrease feelings of anxiety and fatigue.”
Foam rolling is a relatively mainstream method of inducing what experts call “ischemic compression” on the body. Some doctors, chiropractors, and massage therapists have been using this type of compression for years to reduce pain in the body (although through other tools than a foam roller). This type of compression works to alleviate pain by diminishing the effects of trigger points (active or latent) within the body.
The “pain receptors” in your body (interstitial receptors and ruffini endings) that indicate a trigger point have recently been proven to do much more than just indicate pain. The receptors themselves have autonomic functions within the body that include changes in heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration.
The following are examples of how foam rolling can greatly decrease the overall effects of stress (emotional or physical) on the human movement system:
Foam rolling reduces internal pressure on the muscle and increases blood flow. Blood flow brings about more oxygen and nutrients, removes waste bi-products, and facilitates tissue repair.
Foam rolling makes for a more uniform density throughout each muscle group thereby increasing the way your muscles work with each other in the body. This in turn translates into fewer faulty muscle contractions, making you more physically coordinated and less prone to injury.
Foam rolling builds humility and character by making you flop around the floor like a fool.
AND
Foam rolling can actually lead to better oxygen content in the blood and better respiration which can decrease feelings of anxiety and fatigue.
Foam rolling really does give credence to the saying that “sometimes you have to go through hell to get to heaven!” Once you make rolling a habit, though, it’s really not that bad. Considering all the good that rolling can bring should encourage you to add rolling to your stretching routine. Find one trigger point in each muscle you stretch before you stretch that muscle, and reap the rewards of rolling!
Sunday, November 9, 2008
The case for isloating movements
Why should you care about “optimal movement?”
Many people are both secretly and openly frustrated with the inability to see change in their bodies. Part of the reason that even the most devoted “gym rat” can plateau is that they are relying on the same old movement patters used since birth. Faulty muscle recruitment patterns can “skip” the muscles they really want to develop and instead; by using the path of least resistance, develop other muscles which may not be as important.
Performing challenging new exercises with good form is like skiing. When done by an expert, both new exercises and skiing can seem graceful and harmonious. When done by a beginner both are awkward and slow.
Learning to ski is one of the most humiliating activities an adult can take part in. After all, an adult has been walking for a long time. She knows where her feet are, how to move one foot in front of the other to get somewhere. But her old movement won’t do anymore, as soon as she straps skis on her feet it’s like learning to walk all over again. She stumbles to the chair lift, slipping and falling before even getting onto the mountain. She may get her skis crossed, slip and fall again and again before lumbering back to her feet and flopping right back down face first into the powder.
Even the best instructor seems at first to be of no help. The ease with which the instructor performs the actions she says are simple (but that the student secretly believes are impossible) is almost insulting. How can you remember everything the instructor says to remember? Bend your knees. Look downhill. Keep your weight on the downhill ski. Keep your back straight but nevertheless lean forward. The commentary seems endless – how can you think about all that and still ski!?!?
The point about skiing; of course, is that to be a great skier you cannot focus on each individual movement of every part of your body. The acts should blend naturally and gracefully as you simply make your way down the hill – avoiding other skiers and following a smooth line. You must learn to forget the separate acts in order to perform all of them, or any of them in unison! But in order to perform the separate acts in unison you must first learn them individually! Only when you take command of each individual movement are you ready to put them all together. This is exactly the case with mastering new exercise techniques. You need to isolate muscles first, give them time to develop and then begin to move your whole body in a more efficient and functionally sound manner.
When you are done with your lessons; and have become a proficient skier, the skill of skiing will have been attained. Your new skill; however, will be of little use unless you are in your ski boots. But you are always in your body! With the right exercise program you can become not only a better skier; but a better golfer, soccer player, or any other sport for that matter! You will have attained a balanced body and knowledge of how to use it. By so doing you will be less prone to injury, and seem to have more energy because you have become more efficient with every move of your body.
Many people are both secretly and openly frustrated with the inability to see change in their bodies. Part of the reason that even the most devoted “gym rat” can plateau is that they are relying on the same old movement patters used since birth. Faulty muscle recruitment patterns can “skip” the muscles they really want to develop and instead; by using the path of least resistance, develop other muscles which may not be as important.
Performing challenging new exercises with good form is like skiing. When done by an expert, both new exercises and skiing can seem graceful and harmonious. When done by a beginner both are awkward and slow.
Learning to ski is one of the most humiliating activities an adult can take part in. After all, an adult has been walking for a long time. She knows where her feet are, how to move one foot in front of the other to get somewhere. But her old movement won’t do anymore, as soon as she straps skis on her feet it’s like learning to walk all over again. She stumbles to the chair lift, slipping and falling before even getting onto the mountain. She may get her skis crossed, slip and fall again and again before lumbering back to her feet and flopping right back down face first into the powder.
Even the best instructor seems at first to be of no help. The ease with which the instructor performs the actions she says are simple (but that the student secretly believes are impossible) is almost insulting. How can you remember everything the instructor says to remember? Bend your knees. Look downhill. Keep your weight on the downhill ski. Keep your back straight but nevertheless lean forward. The commentary seems endless – how can you think about all that and still ski!?!?
The point about skiing; of course, is that to be a great skier you cannot focus on each individual movement of every part of your body. The acts should blend naturally and gracefully as you simply make your way down the hill – avoiding other skiers and following a smooth line. You must learn to forget the separate acts in order to perform all of them, or any of them in unison! But in order to perform the separate acts in unison you must first learn them individually! Only when you take command of each individual movement are you ready to put them all together. This is exactly the case with mastering new exercise techniques. You need to isolate muscles first, give them time to develop and then begin to move your whole body in a more efficient and functionally sound manner.
When you are done with your lessons; and have become a proficient skier, the skill of skiing will have been attained. Your new skill; however, will be of little use unless you are in your ski boots. But you are always in your body! With the right exercise program you can become not only a better skier; but a better golfer, soccer player, or any other sport for that matter! You will have attained a balanced body and knowledge of how to use it. By so doing you will be less prone to injury, and seem to have more energy because you have become more efficient with every move of your body.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
No Weights, No Time, No Problem
Can you meet your goals with no machines? Undoubtedly yes. You have the two most important machines with you at all times; your body and your mind. Whether you are on the road, at home, or on a county park walking trail you have all you need to get results.
When all you have to work with is a floor, a wall, and maybe 20 minutes to spare you are going to have to throw out all the bells and whistles. Forget about running a perfectly executed program, go back to basics.
Equipment free workouts:
Beginner:
Step Ups and pushups
1 minute left leg step (max reps)
1 minute right leg step (max reps)
1 minute wall Pushups (max reps)
1 minute rest
*Repeat 1 to 3 times; then follow some of the core exercises that are attached.
Experienced:
300 squats
200 situps
100 pushups
*Sound too tough? Set aside 20 minutes and try to get as many rounds of 30 squats, 20 situps, and 10 pushups as you can. After just 10 rounds your done, and you’ve burned some serious calories.
Bored with squats? Follow the following guidelines for activating your quads on a lunge.
Lunge Tips:
1) Find a wall.
2) Put your left big toe right against the wall and kneel down on your right knee.
3) Put your left knee against the wall, make and keep contact.
4) Check both legs to make sure that there is about a 90 degree angle.
5) Use your left leg only to press your body up and over your left foot. (repeat)
For more information on exercises you can do at home or on the road check out the attachment.
It’s hard to be motivated outside of the gym. So if you don’t feel like exercising then just tell yourself “I’ll start with a warm up… and if I’m warmed up and I still don’t feel like exercising then I don’t have to.”
When all you have to work with is a floor, a wall, and maybe 20 minutes to spare you are going to have to throw out all the bells and whistles. Forget about running a perfectly executed program, go back to basics.
Equipment free workouts:
Beginner:
Step Ups and pushups
1 minute left leg step (max reps)
1 minute right leg step (max reps)
1 minute wall Pushups (max reps)
1 minute rest
*Repeat 1 to 3 times; then follow some of the core exercises that are attached.
Experienced:
300 squats
200 situps
100 pushups
*Sound too tough? Set aside 20 minutes and try to get as many rounds of 30 squats, 20 situps, and 10 pushups as you can. After just 10 rounds your done, and you’ve burned some serious calories.
Bored with squats? Follow the following guidelines for activating your quads on a lunge.
Lunge Tips:
1) Find a wall.
2) Put your left big toe right against the wall and kneel down on your right knee.
3) Put your left knee against the wall, make and keep contact.
4) Check both legs to make sure that there is about a 90 degree angle.
5) Use your left leg only to press your body up and over your left foot. (repeat)
For more information on exercises you can do at home or on the road check out the attachment.
It’s hard to be motivated outside of the gym. So if you don’t feel like exercising then just tell yourself “I’ll start with a warm up… and if I’m warmed up and I still don’t feel like exercising then I don’t have to.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
