Go Be Fit!

At one of the sites where I teach group fitness I recently spotted someone riding a stationary cycle while doing bicep curls with heavy weights. Yikes – I thought to myself – this is a recipe for disaster. My first question was, “What are they doing? What is their goal? Are they trying to get their cardio and strength workout done simultaneously? The next thought that entered my mind was that they might sustain an injury. Doing bicep curls while cycling does not make much sense and is detrimental. It reminds me of the people I see walking with hand or ankle weights and sometimes running with them. This is dangerous practice – this attempting to do it all at once.

Bottom line is that there are no shortcuts to strength or cardio training. There is a safe and efficient way to exercise – a mindful way! It is best to dedicate time to do each segment and not combine them or try to cut corners.

This week a group fitness particpant asked me, “Do you exercise to music?” My passion is music – since I study Opera and love all genres of music, I had to respond, “But of course!” On most occasions I workout to music, with minor exceptions such as hiking deep in the woods of Western Mass, or any other woods for that matter!

I elaborated further on that question and here is what I came up with. Do you prefer to workout to your favorite TV show or maybe cycle while you catch up reading the news? Or maybe you exercise outside and prefer the natural noise of your surroundings? Or maybe you like the quiet so you can hear your heart beating hard as you increase your exercise intensity? Or so you can exercise with a buddy and carry on good conversation?

I find that if I am in indoors I prefer to exercise to music because it helps vary my workout intensity and keep me motivated. Outdoors is another story – I like to hear all of the sounds in the environment. There are times when I like the welcome escape that a good song on my IPOD can provide.

Without mentioning any names of popular video games on various platforms – this blog entry asks if video games can aid in fitness?

Utilizing video games to exercise can help to a limited degree. It is best to use these games as a supplement to a regular exercise program. While there are some benefits to them – there is nothing like exercise in the good outdoors!

Recently video games are being used in rehabilitation programs at hospitals and have proven to be quite effective. If you are rehabilitating an injury and are limited in what you are able to do, a video game can keep you in the game! If you are sedentary and are just getting back into shape, a game can be the boost you need to get off the couch!

I do not dismiss the value of these games. I do, however, suggest that you supplement them with the real thing, because you may not be getting enough exercise to make health and fitness gains.

You can still enjoy your games and incorporate other forms of exercise as well!

There are road races throughout the country devoted to Halloween. Take the “Halloween Hustle 5K, where people run in costume and maybe get a goody bag filled with treats – healthy I suppose.  In the past I would have been one of those people who would run for candy or run to expend the calories consumed over Halloween.

Now I have a different perspective – I buy candy that I dislike so I won’t be tempted to eat the leftover candy not taken by the neighborhood kids. Left to my own devices I could easily devour handfuls of candy corn, M&M’s, and Good and Plenty, Necco Wafers and more!

With the holidays just around the corner, a good piece of advice is to either refrain from buying the wrong foods, foods that tempt you, or buy things that you dislike and serve them to family members that you dislike :). They’ll never figure it out! Why engage in stressful eating when you can avoid it!

Snow in October???? Isn’t it a bit early for a winter day in mid-October? We hardly had a summer and now we are barely having a fall. Yesterday at 5:00 or so I looked out my window and saw huge snowflakes descending from the sky. I thought at first that it wasn’t snow. However, a second long look out my window confirmed my suspicions.

I quickly grabbed my camera and snapped some photos, doing my best to capture this strange but beautiful moment. My neighbor’s kids were outside laughing and playing. There was another neighbor out walking his dog. I would have gone outside, but it began to rain and snow simultaneously. Instead I remained inside comfortable in the warmth of my house thinking about what this snow may portend – a harsh winter or just an October snow?

A client says to me, “I was bad this week. I only ran twice.” Another client berates herself for only going to yoga class this week, while another one constantly says, “I am so out of shape.” Then there is the client who didn’t keep a food log during a busy week, over ate and is ready to “throw in the towel,” on her weight loss journey.

Why do we do this to ourselves? Why do we beat ourselves up? We look at what we are not doing and harp on the negative. 

A new and inspiring approach is in need – an approach that motivates rather than berates! Focus on what is working and honor it, be it a large or small area of your health and fitness. Build on what is working, rather than get caught up in what isn’t happening or what you think should be happening.

Appreciate what is going on for you in the here and now. You may notice great things happen when you make the space to look at what’s working.

I get so irked by misleading fitness class descriptions that wreak of pseudoscientific claims! There are classes that promise a “Fat burning cardio workout,” (whatever that means) to a special strength training class for older women that recommends 3 pound weights, (excuse me – my briefcase weighs about 12 pounds!), to the possibility of “Flattening your abs!” I’ll be dead and have flat abs.

Ok – I apologize. I am sorry to rain on anyone’s parade out there but these claims are ridiculous. My best advice is to read fitness class descriptions carefully and do not be swayed by those kind of promises that sound too good to be true. They are at best unrealistic, unfounded and outdated.

While on vacation in San Francisco my sister-in-law and I dropped in her neighborhood yoga studio for a class in the Iyengar style. The room was narrow and small. Ropes or straps of sorts hung off the wall, looking a bit daunting and peculiar. Our instructor was a young guy who was shirtless and wore baggy shorts like old fashioned bloomers. He began the class with a long chant that the small group of us tried to follow as we sang disjointedly. I did not know what to expect and did not want to pass judgement without giving the instructor or the class a chance. I kept an open and curious mind.

We were barely into the class when he came over to me while I was getting settled into warrior pose. Suddenly, he pushed down on my thigh firmly and screamed, “Give me your groin! Give me your groin!” I thought at first that I must not be hearing him correctly. Then he repeated his demand. I wondered what he wanted with my groin. Maybe he meant my hip, to open my hip. Being a fitness instructor, I am sensitve to how instructors communicate and empower or disempower students. Besides, I certainly didn’t want to give him my groin, such an odd and uncommon demand!

I glared at him and told him firmly, “This is as far as I am taking the pose.” I wanted to use some martial arts punches and kicks on him and yell, “Back off Buddy! This is my body that you are attempting to mess with!” I remained in a strong warrior pose, mortified and wanting to leave that instant. My sister-in-law glanced over at me and saw the look on my face.

How dare he push me and touch me without asking permission? Isn’t yoga about listening to and respecting your body and those of your students? He then proceeded to defy yogic philosophy as I understand it, and began to press my sister-in-law’s breast bone, trying to force her into a pose that she clearly wasn’t ready for. (She returned home with red marks on her chest.) If this wasn’t enough torture for one night, as I was lying in corpse pose, breathing audibly (sighs of stress and relief that this awful experience would soon be over,” when he screamed, “There is no place for that kind of breathing in this class!” That sour and sharp note concluded the yoga class from hell!

 

Imagine a city that has 42 hills and hidden staircases inviting you to walk, hike, bike and or run and discover it’s beauty, charm and diversity. This is the allure of San Francisco, a city that is a magical mystery, shrouded in fog one minute and then bathed in sunshine the next.

I spent much of my vacation walking the neighhorhoods, via the staircases that connect them. My legs ached with DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) from all of the uphill and downhill climbs. I admired the runners, walkers and cyclists who passed me by with an adept grace and ease. I loved watching the day unfold from a foggy start to a glorious sunny finish as I walked the sand of the Golden Gate Promenade.

I had no agenda on this vacation. Each day I awoke to explore and take in every aspect of the city on foot. One day I ran uphill and then downhill and around Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park, my legs screaming to me – “You’ll pay for this tomorrow!!!” I did indeed feel the DOMS, a San Francisco type of DOMS, which was well worth it, all because its Hills are Alive bursting with energy!

 

I am off to San Francisco tomorrow to spend time with my dear brother and his family. This is a spontaneous trip that was concocted last week. I am taking a well needed break and changing the scenery for 10 days. There will be lots of walking in Golden Gate Park, the Haight, Mission, Castro, North Beach and Berkeley neighborhoods. I may borrow a bike and explore the city and it’s hills! I hope to hike with my brother. I know that there will be lots of browsing the used book and CD stores. There will be a solo night out at the SFO opera. It’s been years since I’ve gone out for a night out by myself (that’s another blog story). Best of all there will be lots of hanging out with my niece, nephew, brother and sister-in-law.

From my perspective – life is short – and so I say – If you can, seize the moment before it slips away.