It seems like a silly idea. One that is so common-sense that we roll our eyes when we hear it:
Don't cope with your life, live your life.
We think of ourselves as intelligent human beings. Smart. Individual. Witty. Charming. Whatever you may think of yourself. However, we are guilty of doing things that we don't want to do. This is where "problems" are created. I say problems in quotations because they aren't actually problems - you're choosing to make them problems because you're choosing to not do what you want to do.
Blah, blah, blah. You may be wondering what this has to do with fitness, nutrition, and maintaining a healthy weight. So often, I see clients who tell me that they use food to cope with stress. My point is that if there is no stress, you have no reason to cope. You just do what you want to do in the way you want to do it, so there is no need to be negative or look for something to "make you feel better". You're happy not becasue you make yourself happy, but because you live your life and do what you want and so therefore you are inherently happy.
I had a journey the other night and I asked myself these very questions - in this order. The only rule is that you have to write something different each time you answer "who am I". I hope this helps you to find balance in your life!
1. Who am I?
2. What do I like about myself?
3. What do I not like about myself?
4. If I don't like it, why do I continue to do it?
5. Why did I start doing it?
6. What would happen if I stopped doing it?
7. Who am I?
8. What do I like to do?
9. What do I not like to do?
10. Why do I do it anyway?
11. Who am I?
12. Who do I like to be around?
13. Who do I not like to be around?
14. What would happen if I weren't around them?
15. Who am I?
16. Who do I want to be?
17. What is the difference?
18. Why is there a difference?
19. What if there wasn't a difference..?
20. Who chooses who you are and who you want to be?
:-)
Rachel
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Week 5 Workout
Hi All!
Here is the workout for this week:
Round 1: 30 seconds
Round 2: 1 minute
Round 3: 90 seconds
Round 4: 1 minute
Round 5: 30 seconds
1) Jumping Jacks
2) plank
3) 90 degree crunches
4) mountain climbers
5) pushups
6) jump squats
7) side plank
Repeat with minimal rest for the above time increments!
Good luck!!
Here is the workout for this week:
Round 1: 30 seconds
Round 2: 1 minute
Round 3: 90 seconds
Round 4: 1 minute
Round 5: 30 seconds
1) Jumping Jacks
2) plank
3) 90 degree crunches
4) mountain climbers
5) pushups
6) jump squats
7) side plank
Repeat with minimal rest for the above time increments!
Good luck!!
Monday, February 11, 2013
Fitness and Dementia: More reason to stay active!
Hi All!
I came across this article and thought I would share:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/can-exercise-in-middle-age-help-prevent-dementia-later-in-life/2013/02/04/2115527c-6bce-11e2-8740-9b58f43c191a_story.html
The basic (and super cool!) take-away message is that adults who were active were less likely to develop dementia later in life. This is just another one of the great reasons to get and stay active!
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Week 3 Workout
Slightly different from class to class, but the general structure is the same. We did ladder circuits - :10, :20, :30, :20, :10 with series of wall sits and mountain climbers in increasing time.
WARMUP:
5 sets of 8 jumping jacks
3 sets of 8 squats
Arm circles :30 each direction
CIRCUIT 1:
1) Plank (:10/:20/:30/:20/:10)
2) Squat jumps (:10/:20/:30/:20/:10)
WALL SIT - 1 minute
CIRCUIT 2:
1)Pushups (:10/:20/:30/:20/:10)
2) Fast Feet (:10/:20/:30/:20/:10)
MTN CLIMBERS: 1 minute
CIRCUIT 3:
1) Travel lunge - 1 time down and back, 2, 3, 2, 1
2) Bicycle crunch - (:10/:20/:30/:20/:10)
WALL SIT - 2 minutes
CIRCUIT 4:
1) Burpees (:10/:20/:30/:20/:10)
2) Leg extended up - side to side ab raises (:10/:20/:30/:20/:10)
MTN CLIMBERS - 2 minutes
CIRCUIT 5:
1) Static V-sit (:10/:20/:30/:20/:10)
2) Low leg extension (:10/:20/:30/:20/:10)
Wall sit - 3 minutes
WARMUP:
5 sets of 8 jumping jacks
3 sets of 8 squats
Arm circles :30 each direction
CIRCUIT 1:
1) Plank (:10/:20/:30/:20/:10)
2) Squat jumps (:10/:20/:30/:20/:10)
WALL SIT - 1 minute
CIRCUIT 2:
1)Pushups (:10/:20/:30/:20/:10)
2) Fast Feet (:10/:20/:30/:20/:10)
MTN CLIMBERS: 1 minute
CIRCUIT 3:
1) Travel lunge - 1 time down and back, 2, 3, 2, 1
2) Bicycle crunch - (:10/:20/:30/:20/:10)
WALL SIT - 2 minutes
CIRCUIT 4:
1) Burpees (:10/:20/:30/:20/:10)
2) Leg extended up - side to side ab raises (:10/:20/:30/:20/:10)
MTN CLIMBERS - 2 minutes
CIRCUIT 5:
1) Static V-sit (:10/:20/:30/:20/:10)
2) Low leg extension (:10/:20/:30/:20/:10)
Wall sit - 3 minutes
Finding balance
Greetings!!
I have to say, for the second week in we had a pretty weak turnout :( Don't let your soreness or the challenge of the first week get you down!!
That being said...I can imagine a wide range of responses, and they probably have something to do with
a)lack of time/increased time at work
b)sickness
c)lack of energy.
I'm not implying these aren't valid excuses, but that's what they are. Excuses. An excuse is the physical representation of your brain taking a situation that you view as negative and finding a way to make it acceptable or positive for you. Your hippocampus is a part of your brain that is responsible for your perception of the world, as well as judgement and rationalization. Our environment puts pressure on us to exercise, and at the same time makes exercise less important than, say, making money. This prioritization impacts how we feel about choosing what to do during the course of the day. Since we as a general population prioritize staying at work late to finish a project over leaving on time and going to the gym, we will rationalize that we wouldn't be able to afford our gym membership without work, we can workout some other day, etc. etc. etc. If we're starving and the only thing in the house is a Snickers bar and it's 15 degrees outside, we will tell ourselves it's okay to have it just this once due to the circumstances.
In the face of real problems, rationalization is a miraculous response to keep mental morale up. Imagine growing up in a country where the water is dirty and full of pathogens, and/or you have to share an extremely small quantity of food with a whole family, or you literally have to work in order to buy food on a day to day basis. These are times where rationalization - on a day to day basis- can help you keep a positive outlook. This works, however, because these are actual problems. No offense, but your boyfriend breaking up with you is NOT an excuse to eat a tub of ice cream. And those extra 2 hours at work are not likely going to make or break your career, and if they are, it's probably not worth the money anyways.
So if rationalization is so innate to us, how can we stop? Don't think about how much you rationalize, but focus on why do we do it? If you always got enough sleep, ate the right type and amount of food for you, and lived an active lifestyle, what would you need to rationalize?
Stop for a second and ask yourself why you engage in negative behaviors, if you know you are aware that you shouldn't. I mean, you have have to know that you shouldn't or else they wouldn't be viewed as negative and you wouldn't have to make excuses to do them ;-)
Balance has a much narrower scope as well. I get a lot of questions about how much to eat, what type of foods to eat, how much to exercise, what exercises to do, how many....the list goes on and on. I can give very specific responses, but it's important to understand that all of us are both very similar and very different. We have different goals, our muscles are made of slightly differing percentages of muscle fiber, our genetics cause us to gain muscle or lose muscle at different rates....again, the list goes on and on.
I'm going to touch on this more in later posts, but my view of personal training and nutrition counseling is to teach and empower clients to understand both their bodies AND their minds. This is blasphemy among trainers because it essentially renders our jobs obsolete by modern standards. GASP! A trainer who would rather teach someone to take care of themselves than train them every other day for years? (We'll touch on this more in a later post.. ;0)
Let's take an example: if you truly understand how your body works -- you know how carbohydrates are broken down in the body, you know why you need certain vitamins and why you should eat vegetables and what fiber is -- you would be able to make educated decisions about what to eat and why you're eating it. If you understood why building muscle mass was so important physiologically while we age and the impact of exercise on serotonin production, you would want to exercise to physically feel better. If you feel better and you take care of yourself overall, you'll likely be
a)more productive and focused at work
b)not sick
c)full of energy
See the cycle? By not taking the time or effort to understand ourselves, we end up feeding into the cycle of stressors that leads to more and more excuses. It's a never-ending journey, but I challenge you to find a daily balance so that you can ultimately live the best life possible!
Please feel free to leave your comments :) See you in class!!
Rachel
I have to say, for the second week in we had a pretty weak turnout :( Don't let your soreness or the challenge of the first week get you down!!
That being said...I can imagine a wide range of responses, and they probably have something to do with
a)lack of time/increased time at work
b)sickness
c)lack of energy.
I'm not implying these aren't valid excuses, but that's what they are. Excuses. An excuse is the physical representation of your brain taking a situation that you view as negative and finding a way to make it acceptable or positive for you. Your hippocampus is a part of your brain that is responsible for your perception of the world, as well as judgement and rationalization. Our environment puts pressure on us to exercise, and at the same time makes exercise less important than, say, making money. This prioritization impacts how we feel about choosing what to do during the course of the day. Since we as a general population prioritize staying at work late to finish a project over leaving on time and going to the gym, we will rationalize that we wouldn't be able to afford our gym membership without work, we can workout some other day, etc. etc. etc. If we're starving and the only thing in the house is a Snickers bar and it's 15 degrees outside, we will tell ourselves it's okay to have it just this once due to the circumstances.
In the face of real problems, rationalization is a miraculous response to keep mental morale up. Imagine growing up in a country where the water is dirty and full of pathogens, and/or you have to share an extremely small quantity of food with a whole family, or you literally have to work in order to buy food on a day to day basis. These are times where rationalization - on a day to day basis- can help you keep a positive outlook. This works, however, because these are actual problems. No offense, but your boyfriend breaking up with you is NOT an excuse to eat a tub of ice cream. And those extra 2 hours at work are not likely going to make or break your career, and if they are, it's probably not worth the money anyways.
So if rationalization is so innate to us, how can we stop? Don't think about how much you rationalize, but focus on why do we do it? If you always got enough sleep, ate the right type and amount of food for you, and lived an active lifestyle, what would you need to rationalize?
Stop for a second and ask yourself why you engage in negative behaviors, if you know you are aware that you shouldn't. I mean, you have have to know that you shouldn't or else they wouldn't be viewed as negative and you wouldn't have to make excuses to do them ;-)
Balance has a much narrower scope as well. I get a lot of questions about how much to eat, what type of foods to eat, how much to exercise, what exercises to do, how many....the list goes on and on. I can give very specific responses, but it's important to understand that all of us are both very similar and very different. We have different goals, our muscles are made of slightly differing percentages of muscle fiber, our genetics cause us to gain muscle or lose muscle at different rates....again, the list goes on and on.
I'm going to touch on this more in later posts, but my view of personal training and nutrition counseling is to teach and empower clients to understand both their bodies AND their minds. This is blasphemy among trainers because it essentially renders our jobs obsolete by modern standards. GASP! A trainer who would rather teach someone to take care of themselves than train them every other day for years? (We'll touch on this more in a later post.. ;0)
Let's take an example: if you truly understand how your body works -- you know how carbohydrates are broken down in the body, you know why you need certain vitamins and why you should eat vegetables and what fiber is -- you would be able to make educated decisions about what to eat and why you're eating it. If you understood why building muscle mass was so important physiologically while we age and the impact of exercise on serotonin production, you would want to exercise to physically feel better. If you feel better and you take care of yourself overall, you'll likely be
a)more productive and focused at work
b)not sick
c)full of energy
See the cycle? By not taking the time or effort to understand ourselves, we end up feeding into the cycle of stressors that leads to more and more excuses. It's a never-ending journey, but I challenge you to find a daily balance so that you can ultimately live the best life possible!
Please feel free to leave your comments :) See you in class!!
Rachel
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
What is a "meal" to you?
Hello group!
I had a very interesting conversation with a friend of mine last night regarding the idea of a "meal". Broadly speaking, we collectively have terms for certain ideas....for example, "sky". It's only three letters, but once you hear it you instinctively picture the visual aspect of our atmosphere. Okay, think "blue sky" versus "gray sky" versus "night sky". Same sky, different shades, different mental pictures that are triggered from slightly different words.
This relates to meals and the timing of our day, too. I argue that we are environmentally conditioned to eat three meals a day in a predetermined time frame based on a combination of generations and generations of societal acceptance, media and marketing, and social cues.
Here is what I want to present to you: we all have a slightly different schedule, different activity levels, different genetics, and therefore we require different amounts of food at different times of the day. Why do we conform to having to eat three meals a day, at the general times of "morning", "afternoon", and "evening"? Is the fact that these concepts exist triggering your brain to release chemicals around those times that make you feel hungry even though you may not be? Are we overriding our innate physiological balance of food by conditioning ourselves to eat at certain times and rationalizing our portions with the fact that it is related to a "meal"?
Taking that into account, here is your challenge for this week - don't focus on the time. Take the time to listen to your body. You wake up - are you hungry? Should you be eating? Why not wait until you start to notice the physiological signs of hunger. Once you feel hunger, be conscious of the changes in your body with every bite. You have enzymes in your mouth that start breaking food down immediately. Eat slowly and with purpose. Stop eating when you're no longer hungry -- which is much different than stopping when you're "full".
Let me give you another way to think about this concept. Imagine your body as a car - a vehicle in order to go from place to place and complete tasks. Your car requires energy, in the form of gasoline (don't groan Prius owners..). What if you grew up learning that in order to complete your day, you had to fill your car up with gas three times a day? Okay, now think about three different scenarios. Car one is sitting in the garage all day. Car two is driving around town, completing errands, but nothing too strenuous. Car three is on a massive road trip from Chicago to Florida, with non-stop driving.
How much fuel should Car 1 have? Car 2? Car 3? I'm not saying don't eat if you're not active. These are extreme examples. My point is to think about your food as fuel for your activity.
Take this week to pull back from the norm and focus on YOU. How much do you really need? Why are you eating? What are you eating, and is this the best fuel for you?
I had a very interesting conversation with a friend of mine last night regarding the idea of a "meal". Broadly speaking, we collectively have terms for certain ideas....for example, "sky". It's only three letters, but once you hear it you instinctively picture the visual aspect of our atmosphere. Okay, think "blue sky" versus "gray sky" versus "night sky". Same sky, different shades, different mental pictures that are triggered from slightly different words.
This relates to meals and the timing of our day, too. I argue that we are environmentally conditioned to eat three meals a day in a predetermined time frame based on a combination of generations and generations of societal acceptance, media and marketing, and social cues.
Here is what I want to present to you: we all have a slightly different schedule, different activity levels, different genetics, and therefore we require different amounts of food at different times of the day. Why do we conform to having to eat three meals a day, at the general times of "morning", "afternoon", and "evening"? Is the fact that these concepts exist triggering your brain to release chemicals around those times that make you feel hungry even though you may not be? Are we overriding our innate physiological balance of food by conditioning ourselves to eat at certain times and rationalizing our portions with the fact that it is related to a "meal"?
Taking that into account, here is your challenge for this week - don't focus on the time. Take the time to listen to your body. You wake up - are you hungry? Should you be eating? Why not wait until you start to notice the physiological signs of hunger. Once you feel hunger, be conscious of the changes in your body with every bite. You have enzymes in your mouth that start breaking food down immediately. Eat slowly and with purpose. Stop eating when you're no longer hungry -- which is much different than stopping when you're "full".
Let me give you another way to think about this concept. Imagine your body as a car - a vehicle in order to go from place to place and complete tasks. Your car requires energy, in the form of gasoline (don't groan Prius owners..). What if you grew up learning that in order to complete your day, you had to fill your car up with gas three times a day? Okay, now think about three different scenarios. Car one is sitting in the garage all day. Car two is driving around town, completing errands, but nothing too strenuous. Car three is on a massive road trip from Chicago to Florida, with non-stop driving.
How much fuel should Car 1 have? Car 2? Car 3? I'm not saying don't eat if you're not active. These are extreme examples. My point is to think about your food as fuel for your activity.
Take this week to pull back from the norm and focus on YOU. How much do you really need? Why are you eating? What are you eating, and is this the best fuel for you?
Week 2 Workout!
Slightly different for each class, but here is the general structure:
CIRCUIT 1
1---Split squat - 5 sets of 8 on each side
1) Set 1 - arms down by sides
2) Set 2 - arms out wide
3) Set 3 - arms up (fingers to ceiling)
4) Set 4 - static lunge hold for a count of 8
5) Set 5 - lunge to knee balance
2---Pushup-taps
First set perform 20, second perform 30, third perform 40
3--Mountain climbers - 30 seconds
4--Hip raises - 30 seconds
Repeat 1-4 for 3 times
CIRCUIT 2
1--Fast feet/burpees - 60 seconds
2--Plank taps
First set - 30, second set - 40, third set - 50
3-- Hop-ins - 30 seconds
4-- Tuck and release - 60 seconds
CIRCUIT 3
1- Hip extensions ("dog peeing on a fire hydrant"- 30 seconds dynamic, 30 seconds static (hold up) each side
2 - Triceps pushups - 3 sets of 8
3 - Jumping jacks - 3 sets of 8
4 - Leg leg extensions (lay on back, press low back down, extend legs long and at an angle. Remember, bringing your legs lower means more of a challenge BUT you should still be able to press your low back down) - 30 seconds for set 1, 45 for set 2, 60 for set 3
GOOD LUCK!
CIRCUIT 1
1---Split squat - 5 sets of 8 on each side
1) Set 1 - arms down by sides
2) Set 2 - arms out wide
3) Set 3 - arms up (fingers to ceiling)
4) Set 4 - static lunge hold for a count of 8
5) Set 5 - lunge to knee balance
2---Pushup-taps
First set perform 20, second perform 30, third perform 40
3--Mountain climbers - 30 seconds
4--Hip raises - 30 seconds
Repeat 1-4 for 3 times
CIRCUIT 2
1--Fast feet/burpees - 60 seconds
2--Plank taps
First set - 30, second set - 40, third set - 50
3-- Hop-ins - 30 seconds
4-- Tuck and release - 60 seconds
CIRCUIT 3
1- Hip extensions ("dog peeing on a fire hydrant"- 30 seconds dynamic, 30 seconds static (hold up) each side
2 - Triceps pushups - 3 sets of 8
3 - Jumping jacks - 3 sets of 8
4 - Leg leg extensions (lay on back, press low back down, extend legs long and at an angle. Remember, bringing your legs lower means more of a challenge BUT you should still be able to press your low back down) - 30 seconds for set 1, 45 for set 2, 60 for set 3
GOOD LUCK!
Monday, January 7, 2013
Cardio Challenge this week!!
ARE YOU READY????
I'm giving you all a challenge this week...see who can do the most miles! You can walk, jog, or sprint -- but be sure to track how far. Post your progress on this blog and the winner will get a free 30 minute personal training session. NO CHEATING, pleeeeasseee :)
The challenge will run from today (Monday) through next Sunday.
GOOD LUCK!!!!
-------Rachel------------
I'm giving you all a challenge this week...see who can do the most miles! You can walk, jog, or sprint -- but be sure to track how far. Post your progress on this blog and the winner will get a free 30 minute personal training session. NO CHEATING, pleeeeasseee :)
The challenge will run from today (Monday) through next Sunday.
GOOD LUCK!!!!
-------Rachel------------
New Year Shape Up -- Week 1 Workout
Hi All!
Here's the workout from this week. Try it on your own at home!
WARMUP:
10 sets of 8 squats
Hold squat down for 30 seconds
Repeat 3 times
Jump rope 30 seconds
Fast feet/squats for 60 seconds
Jump rope 30 seconds
Fast feet/ jump squats 60 seconds
10 seconds pushups
20 seconds jump rope
20 seconds pushups
20 seconds jump rope
30 seconds pushups
20 seconds jump rope
Fast feet/ pushups 60 seconds
10 sec plank
20 sec jump rope
20 sec plank
20 sec jump rope
30 sec plank
20 sec jump rope
fast feet/plank 60 seconds
jumping jacks - 10 sets of 8
arm extensions:
circles - 30 seconds
pulse down - 30 seconds
pulse up - 30 seconds
seal claps - 30 seconds
repeat 3 x
jump squats - 5 sets of 8
stable v-sit - 60 seconds
bicycle crunch - 60 seconds
repeat 3x
Here's the workout from this week. Try it on your own at home!
WARMUP:
10 sets of 8 squats
Hold squat down for 30 seconds
Repeat 3 times
Jump rope 30 seconds
Fast feet/squats for 60 seconds
Jump rope 30 seconds
Fast feet/ jump squats 60 seconds
10 seconds pushups
20 seconds jump rope
20 seconds pushups
20 seconds jump rope
30 seconds pushups
20 seconds jump rope
Fast feet/ pushups 60 seconds
10 sec plank
20 sec jump rope
20 sec plank
20 sec jump rope
30 sec plank
20 sec jump rope
fast feet/plank 60 seconds
jumping jacks - 10 sets of 8
arm extensions:
circles - 30 seconds
pulse down - 30 seconds
pulse up - 30 seconds
seal claps - 30 seconds
repeat 3 x
jump squats - 5 sets of 8
stable v-sit - 60 seconds
bicycle crunch - 60 seconds
repeat 3x
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)