Nutritious choices made simple®
I’m not going to lie. Sometimes, I don’t follow my own advice. By the end of the winter, even with a gym membership (and even a free one at the school I coach at!), I struggle getting myself there. But recently, something amazing happened. Since spring sprung (you know, way back last week), I’ve gotten back into running, and started doing it two or three times a week during lunchtime. Not enough to make me sweat, usually 2 ½-3 ½ milers.
Balancing everything that we need to balance in life is not innate… It takes time and effort to find your secret weapon that makes it all “work.” …We all know it is important to take care of our bodies, exercise and eat well. Yet everyday many of us partake in a risky experiment that challenges this… Take a moment to make space in your day for better balance.
In Maine, we don’t have 4 seasons; we have two: winter and spring/summer/fall. Winter lasts from November to mid-April here in the Northeast and with a possible 5+ months of snow-covered ground, it’s sometimes hard to stay with your fitness routine.
I’ll admit it: I’m not a winter person. I think the snow is beautiful, but by this time of the year, I’m ready for my garden to start blooming. I’m also ready to start running outside again and, for many of us, the treadmill looks better this time of the year than a jaunt through the snow and ice. Never fear, fellow warm-blooded Mainers, there are ways to combat the dreary days of March and April.
I see and hear about it far too often: fad diets and people punishing their taste buds with flavorless meals – all in the name of losing weight. Well, my friends, it doesn’t have to be that way. You can eat what you enjoy and still look (and feel) great!
What IS the best exercise for your glutes? This can certainly be debated. It could be the back squat, the front squat, Romanian deadlift, or, as is my choice, a variation of a lunge. I like the reverse lunge because it utilizes one leg at a time and it’s lift phase is pushing up and forward, much like activities in “real life”.
One of the hardest things about the holidays? Coming out of the sugar-turkey-carb- wine coma and start the New Year with a healthy resolution. Sure you took some dietary liberties throughout November and December, but the holidays don’t have to suck the life out of your diet or your exercise routine.
Lack of time is cited as being one of the biggest reasons people don’t work out. Traditionally it was thought that doing cardio, and the longer the better, was the way to lose fat. Well, that sounds time consuming, doesn’t it? In the past few years, a great deal of research has proven that we’ve been wrong. HIIT or High-Intensity Interval Training has been shown to be far more effective than standard cardio training for fat loss.
Interval training is doing a certain number of bouts of exercise with a set rest period between. HIIT is taking those work intervals and pushing ourselves as hard as we can. HIIT has been getting more and more press as of late, possibly because of the popularity of CrossFit, P90X, Turbulence Training, Spartan Workouts, etc. that base their programs on the principals of HIIT…
OK, so you got your gym membership. Check. Now it’s time to actually go!
With the winter months approaching, it’s easy to ignore your exercise routine; especially when you no longer have to worry about looking good in your bathing suit. Don’t fret, there are a few tips that will make your gym membership pay off.
I’m never happy with the overhead music they play at the gym – do they expect it to pump anyone up? No problem. Make sure your iPod is jam packed with the music that you just can’t help but get up and dance too – or run to!
Spend your drive to the gym thinking about what you’ll do when you’re there. I’ve found simply having a plan (even something as simple as “running for 30 minutes, followed by an arm workout, and finishing up with abs and stretching) can keep you from getting distracted, or worse – giving up and going home.
I find one of the hardest parts about getting motivated at the gym is simply getting there. Once you step in the door, it’s hard not to get to work!
You have a plan, but what are you working toward? Do you want to run for a mile longer than you did yesterday? Or maybe for just 5 minutes longer? Do you want to be able to do 5 more reps of a certain exercise? Or lift 5 pounds more? Goals keep us on track and even better: keep us motivated to keep coming back for more!
Well….why don’t one of you suggest one of yours! What keeps you motivated at the gym?