New Government Dietary Guidelines

Check this out - the government is getting even more specific about diet recommendations.

Basically it comes down to this:

Decrease your calorie intake
Decrease your sodium intake
Decrease your fat intake
Stop eating processed foods - focus on eating whole foods
Exercise more

Be well.

Post snow storm and stomach virus workout

I could have gone to the gym today but I'm recovering not only from the absurd amounts of snow here in the Garden State but also from a recently acquired stomach virus.  My body is sluggish.

A note about how I put my workouts together.  The general recommendation is that you work the following areas in a full-body strength training session: quads, hamstrings, glutes, calves, back, shoulders, arms and abs.  That's a fairly simplistic way of thinking about it.  To go a few steps further and to make the workout more interesting and dynamic, I add multi-planar, ballistic (plyometric), twisting and isometric exercises. Now, not every workout includes all of these components.  For example, today did not seem like a day for jumping around so there are no ballistic movements in the program.

This workout requires an exercise ball and free weights.  I did it barefoot - a nice change for my feet!

15 deep squats
20 lunges (1st set, lunge forward; 2nd set, lunge back; 3rd set, lunge to the side
Repeat above for 3 sets total

10 pushup and row - do as many of these as you can then finish with enough plank rows to do 20 total followed by more pushups to do 15 total.
Repeat above for 3 sets.

On a Swiss Ball:
15 Dumbbell Shoulder Press
15 Dumbbell Reverse Flys
15 Dumbbell Lying Triceps Extension
15 Bridge press with weights on upper thigh
Repeat above for a total of 3 sets

Then
20 Russian Twist on the Swiss Ball followed by
20 Balanced seated twist on ball with dumbbell - this example is with a medicine ball.
Repeat above for 3 sets

End with 2 minutes of plank - break into 30 sec increments if needed.

The whole workout took me about 40 minutes.  I enjoyed listening to piano music performed by Helene Grimaud during the workout.  Good for the spirit!

Be well and drive safely.

Why You Need A Heart Rate Monitor

I tell clients to wear a HR monitor all the time - here's why.

Read here.

Be well.

Becoming Unstuck

I don't know that I've been completely honest here about why I started getting in better shape.  Yes, there was the triathlon and the realization that I was aging prematurely and that I didn't have enough energy to be engaged with my daughter but there was something else.

My engagement ring was stuck.  Really stuck.  Like, wouldn't budge regardless of what I did.

It happened one night just about 2 years ago.  I hadn't put my ring on for about 18 months.  It had become hard to take off and I didn't want to risk it getting stuck.  But, I was feeling nostalgic so I dug it out and slid it on, easily.  A few minutes went by and I realized that it was a bit tight so I tried to take it off.  I twisted, I massaged, I put my hand in cold water, I used windex, olive oil, soap.  Nothing worked.

The next day I was on call in the hospital and showed my hand to my coworkers.  They tried.  We did the wrapping floss around my finger thing - it just made my finger purple and hurt.  We tried again the next morning.  Still no luck.

My husband and I visited a jeweler who took one look at my finger and said it would have to be cut off - that it could damage the setting and obviously mangle the inscription on the inside.  I left the store humiliated.  How could I have let this happen?  Why did I not stop gaining weight?  Why did I have to put that ring on??

I knew that if I lost just 11 pounds that it would come off so I vowed to lose the weight first.  I mean, how long could it take?  A month?

But I was working crazy hours in the hospital and I wasn't really exercising and I kinda (not really) changed my diet. I went on Weight Watchers.

It didn't work - I gained 5 pounds instead.

And then I signed up for the triathlon. And then I met my trainer.  I slowly changed my diet.  I incorporated exercise into my daily routine and slowly the ring got looser.

Throughout these past two years I had a recurring dream that my ring miraculously dislodged from my finger.  But each morning I would awake to find it right where I left it.  Stuck.

Last August I knew I was getting close but the heat made my fingers swell and I nearly went in to have it cut off.  It hurt and the skin was raw but cutting it off seemed like giving up.

So I kept doing my thing.  Eating well, decreasing the sodium in my diet and exercising.  It will happen I told myself.  I'm so close.

And then, last week I had a dream that I took it off, easily.  I just pulled and that was it.  The dream was so vivid and real.  I thought "I'm getting close.  It's going to happen."

The following evening, my brain flashed back to the dream.  I felt my right fingers reach for the ring, gently twist and off it came.  The words that come to mind are shock, relief and joy.  I did it.

I was unstuck.

For the past 3 months the number on the scale hasn't moved.  Of course there were funerals and birthdays, holidays and snow days.  I didn't gain weight, I just didn't lose.  I was stuck.  But giving up wasn't an option.  I've come so far, I'm getting closer.

And then, yesterday, the number was lower.  The lowest it's been in 3 years.

It was unstuck.

It's amazing what a dream or vision can do.  It gives us a goal to work towards.  We are able to visualize what we want.  But in order to get there we need tools.   And it's not a miracle when it happens - it's the result of hard work.  Of sweat, tears and pain.  But oh the joy and relief when it happens.

Liberation.

What's your vision?

Be well.

The Snow-Day-Sick-Kid- I-Can't-Get-to-The-Gym Workout

What a winter!  So freezing, so snowy and so many cold viruses.   Most people have the best of intentions to get to the gym but then mother nature gets involved and messes with the plan.  But don't let this get in the way of your fitness goals.  Even 20-30 minutes of activity at home can keep you on track.  Here's what I suggest - no equipment required:

Find a step in your house, step up and down for 1 minute.
15 squats
10 lunges each leg
15 push-ups
15 tricep dips (use a couch or other low piece of furniture)
30 mountain climbers
20 quadrupeds
20 thread the needle - do the pose and hold for 2 - 3 seconds each side
15 bridge presses
30 seconds plank or modified plank

Repeat above for a total of 3 sets.

Be well and keep warm!

Only a number

First, let me start by saying how much I am enjoying personal training.

A few weeks ago I was performing a fitness assessment on a new member.  Like many new gym members, she was anxious about the number we were about to witness on the scale.  She hesitated.  And then she apologized.

"Why are you apologizing?"

"I'm just so embarrassed.  I can't believe I've let this happen."

"But it's just a number.  It's a starting point, not an end.  It's a form of measurement, the rest is what you have assigned to it.  Take a deep breath and step on the scale.  You will be ok."

I really believe this.  I have to.  My journey is not yet complete.  And I no longer feel obligated to the number on the scale.  Each day is a starting point.  Not an end.

Be well

A wise man told me

I was performing a fitness assessment the other day when my client shared a very wise Chinese saying with me: "Move a tree, it is dead.  Move a man, he is alive."  I love this!  It sums up so much about fitness - humans were designed to be physicially active.  When a person becomes sedentary, her body slows down and stops working well.  Like a machine, her body and mind need to be moved and challenged to keep itself charged.

Another less inspired way to say it is "use it or lose it."

Be well.