My workouts have gotten quite a makeover in the last week. I discovered something awesome that, to be honest, I had only feared and avoided before:
Group Exercise Classes.
Yeah, I know that's weird for a person who is certified to TEACH group ex classes to be scared to take them. I just worried that I wouldn't last the whole class or that I'd look stupid trying to keep up with people who were stronger, faster, better, etc.
It's very similar to a fear that a lot of people have when first joining a gym. They are afraid to go because they don't want to look stupid or fat in front of the other members, who they envision as super buff and never sweating.
That simply is not the case. These classes and gyms are filled with people just like us. People that just want to be fit and healthy and enjoy the exhilaration and camaraderie of working out with others. I truly had nothing to worry about, and neither do you.
So I've been amping up my workouts in a new way. I had started to plateau a little with just doing the same workouts all the time, so I decided the only way to switch things up was to force myself to push harder. The best way of doing that is to have someone else do the pushing. I am now proudly and happily a group-ex junkie!
I take group weight training classes three times a week, core cross training three times a week, pilates on Tuesday and Spin class on Sundays. These are all classes I was so afraid to even try before, and now I can't get enough of them! I can feel the changes in muscles, even after just one week.
My dad suggested that part of the reason for my fatigue might be that I need to weight train. This seemed weird to me at first, but once I started adding weights into my workouts, I can feel such a difference. My body is undoubtedly getting older, and the older we get, the more important weight training and muscle building is! Now that my body is building more muscle, it actually has the energy to, you know, use them!
Whatever you need to do to revamp your workouts to get your body doing what you want it to, go ahead and do it! Don't be scared to "look silly" in front of anyone. They're all doing what you're doing, and they're feeling as silly a you are!
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Blame and Change
"It's because I live in a dorm"
"It's my kids food. I have to keep it in the house for them"
"I don't have any say in what my parents/wife/husband/family feeds me"
"There isn't a gym nearby"
"I just don't have time to diet and exercise"
"It's genetic"
Those might be pretty familiar words to a lot of us. We like to place blame when it comes to any shortcomings. It's human nature. And sometimes, there is something to blame for our unhappiness with our bodies. But for many of us, the only way to shed the pounds is to shed these excuses.
It's not about blame. It's about taking responsibility for your own body and how you treat it, regardless of who or what is "at fault" for what is making you unsatisfied with yourself. The only way to make a change is to admit that there is something that NEEDS to change.
Weight gain, muscle reduction and fat storage are natural parts of aging, something everyone on this planet is going through at all times. I'm not asking you to cheat time, but there are ways of finding a balance as time progresses. You have to change your actions in order for your body to change. And even if you're in a good place with your body at the moment, you can't just stay with what has worked before or even what is working now. You body learns to adapt, and before you know it, what was working is no longer producing any results.
Switching up your diet can be dangerous, so make sure you consult a medical professional before you do anything drastically different with diet. Easy changes you can make are:
-Nix the soda
-Drink more water, overall
-Switch to whole grains (avoid white, processed grains
-Lower your portion sizes and eat more often
-Try going organic
Switching up your exercise routine is just as easy. If you're an elliptical junkie like me, try to throw in a spinning class or some zumba for a change in cardio style. Your body will respond to the difference, I promise. If you're a weight training connoisseur and never really go for cardio, try doing fast paced circuit training in super sets to keep the heartrate up instead of your regular workout. If you can get a good rhythm, you'll be killing both the weight training and the cardio fitness birds with one stone.
The most important thing to realize is that something, or a lot of things, needs to change in order for your body to change the way you want it to. It might be physical change. It might be mental or emotional change. Whatever you think you need to modify in your life to get the results you want, give it a try. Trial and error is definitely an okay way of figuring your body out. Just make sure you do it safely.
"It's my kids food. I have to keep it in the house for them"
"I don't have any say in what my parents/wife/husband/family feeds me"
"There isn't a gym nearby"
"I just don't have time to diet and exercise"
"It's genetic"
Those might be pretty familiar words to a lot of us. We like to place blame when it comes to any shortcomings. It's human nature. And sometimes, there is something to blame for our unhappiness with our bodies. But for many of us, the only way to shed the pounds is to shed these excuses.
It's not about blame. It's about taking responsibility for your own body and how you treat it, regardless of who or what is "at fault" for what is making you unsatisfied with yourself. The only way to make a change is to admit that there is something that NEEDS to change.
Weight gain, muscle reduction and fat storage are natural parts of aging, something everyone on this planet is going through at all times. I'm not asking you to cheat time, but there are ways of finding a balance as time progresses. You have to change your actions in order for your body to change. And even if you're in a good place with your body at the moment, you can't just stay with what has worked before or even what is working now. You body learns to adapt, and before you know it, what was working is no longer producing any results.
Switching up your diet can be dangerous, so make sure you consult a medical professional before you do anything drastically different with diet. Easy changes you can make are:
-Nix the soda
-Drink more water, overall
-Switch to whole grains (avoid white, processed grains
-Lower your portion sizes and eat more often
-Try going organic
Switching up your exercise routine is just as easy. If you're an elliptical junkie like me, try to throw in a spinning class or some zumba for a change in cardio style. Your body will respond to the difference, I promise. If you're a weight training connoisseur and never really go for cardio, try doing fast paced circuit training in super sets to keep the heartrate up instead of your regular workout. If you can get a good rhythm, you'll be killing both the weight training and the cardio fitness birds with one stone.
The most important thing to realize is that something, or a lot of things, needs to change in order for your body to change the way you want it to. It might be physical change. It might be mental or emotional change. Whatever you think you need to modify in your life to get the results you want, give it a try. Trial and error is definitely an okay way of figuring your body out. Just make sure you do it safely.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Small Start = Big Results!
If you're just starting out with a workout plan, don't expect to start at an hour. If you're not used to doing cardio exercise, you have to start small. You also should appreciate, every little amount of exercise that you do, even if you just run for five minutes, that's five minutes more than your used to doing right now, and that's a big deal.
Don't think that just because you only worked out for 5 minutes at a time that it doesn't have any effect. It can all add up to huge calorie burns if you keep up with it. If you can only run for 5 minutes on your first day, that's fine! It's 5 minutes of cardio you didn't get the day before, and that's a big step. If you want to go a bit further, but you cant handle more than 5 minutes before you get out of breath, do it in intervals. Do 5 minutes, then rest. Then get back on for another 5 minutes before resting again. Repeat until you feel that you've met your workout goal for the day. It doesn't have to be all in one sitting. Just add it all up at the end. Now that's making math work for you, lol!
Example:
A 150lb person burns about 50 calories in just 5 minutes on the elliptical trainer. Do just 4 sets of 5 minute runs on this machine and you've burned 200 calories. Not bad, huh?
That same 150lb person can burn 25 calories doing low-resistance cycling, 40 calories speedwalking on a treadmill, or 35-55 calories swimming (35 for laps, 55 for treading water). All these seemingly little numbers can really add up if you do a little at a time.
Believe it or not, when I started working out, I could only run for three minutes before getting too tired (interestingly enough, most songs are only three minutes long, so that's how long I would dance at a time in class and on stage lol). I knew that it wasn't a very long time to run, but I had to be proud of myself for those three minutes. And I was even prouder when I pushed it to five. I felt so good about myself when I could do ten minutes without stopping. It took me months to get to twenty minutes, and when I did, I stayed there for a while. It became my twenty minute morning run for almost a year, until I was ready to push myself even further.
You gotta do what your body can, and know when to push yourself and when not to.
Do what works for you, and you WILL see results. It has taken me years to get to the workout load I take on now, and some days, I still have to break my workouts into little bits just to get through it. It's okay to take small steps, and even the smallest step can lead to big results. <3
Don't think that just because you only worked out for 5 minutes at a time that it doesn't have any effect. It can all add up to huge calorie burns if you keep up with it. If you can only run for 5 minutes on your first day, that's fine! It's 5 minutes of cardio you didn't get the day before, and that's a big step. If you want to go a bit further, but you cant handle more than 5 minutes before you get out of breath, do it in intervals. Do 5 minutes, then rest. Then get back on for another 5 minutes before resting again. Repeat until you feel that you've met your workout goal for the day. It doesn't have to be all in one sitting. Just add it all up at the end. Now that's making math work for you, lol!
Example:
A 150lb person burns about 50 calories in just 5 minutes on the elliptical trainer. Do just 4 sets of 5 minute runs on this machine and you've burned 200 calories. Not bad, huh?
That same 150lb person can burn 25 calories doing low-resistance cycling, 40 calories speedwalking on a treadmill, or 35-55 calories swimming (35 for laps, 55 for treading water). All these seemingly little numbers can really add up if you do a little at a time.
Believe it or not, when I started working out, I could only run for three minutes before getting too tired (interestingly enough, most songs are only three minutes long, so that's how long I would dance at a time in class and on stage lol). I knew that it wasn't a very long time to run, but I had to be proud of myself for those three minutes. And I was even prouder when I pushed it to five. I felt so good about myself when I could do ten minutes without stopping. It took me months to get to twenty minutes, and when I did, I stayed there for a while. It became my twenty minute morning run for almost a year, until I was ready to push myself even further.
You gotta do what your body can, and know when to push yourself and when not to.
Do what works for you, and you WILL see results. It has taken me years to get to the workout load I take on now, and some days, I still have to break my workouts into little bits just to get through it. It's okay to take small steps, and even the smallest step can lead to big results. <3
Friday, June 3, 2011
Support systems
Been a while. Sorry about that. Can't begin to explain why, but let's just move on to the real good stuff: workouts! :)
Earlier this morning I mentioned teamwork and peer pressure as a great means of motivation for working out and getting fit, and I cannot stress this enough. Finding a gym partner, a workout group, a class or anything that brings you into a group dynamic for working out is the BEST way of making sure you stick to your workouts.
It's really hard to motivate yourself. It is, I promise. Even the most dedicated fitness enthusiasts need outside motivation sometimes to stay at the gym, get through a whole class or even get up in the morning in time for a workout. We need the support of our friends sometimes to drive us through to our fitness goals.
Sometimes finding a gym partner or a class can be hard, I know. I wish my friend Raven lived near me so we could be gym rats together. It's hard for me to find anyone who wants to go to the gym super early like I do. But I'm kind of hoping that I can be that friend for some of you and you guys can be that friend for me through this blog.
I plan on posting some video blog entries soon featuring yoga poses, stretches, exercises and dance moves. Any thoughts on that? Would you guys like to see some of that? If so, do you want me to do anything specific? I'm completely open to anything fitness related that my readers want to see and learn. I am here for you, and your support is absolutely amazing to me. Thank you. :)
Earlier this morning I mentioned teamwork and peer pressure as a great means of motivation for working out and getting fit, and I cannot stress this enough. Finding a gym partner, a workout group, a class or anything that brings you into a group dynamic for working out is the BEST way of making sure you stick to your workouts.
It's really hard to motivate yourself. It is, I promise. Even the most dedicated fitness enthusiasts need outside motivation sometimes to stay at the gym, get through a whole class or even get up in the morning in time for a workout. We need the support of our friends sometimes to drive us through to our fitness goals.
Sometimes finding a gym partner or a class can be hard, I know. I wish my friend Raven lived near me so we could be gym rats together. It's hard for me to find anyone who wants to go to the gym super early like I do. But I'm kind of hoping that I can be that friend for some of you and you guys can be that friend for me through this blog.
I plan on posting some video blog entries soon featuring yoga poses, stretches, exercises and dance moves. Any thoughts on that? Would you guys like to see some of that? If so, do you want me to do anything specific? I'm completely open to anything fitness related that my readers want to see and learn. I am here for you, and your support is absolutely amazing to me. Thank you. :)
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Fitness on a budget
Times are hard, and we're all feeling it. I'm, as I type this, thinking about all the ways that me and my husband can cut back on some things to save a little money now that performance season is coming up. I'm a saver, so I like to start early making a small nest egg, and this unfortunately might mean cutting back on....my gym membership.
Saving $50 a month sounds pretty good, but when I weigh it with losing all that gym equipment, tons of classes and free/open rehearsal space, it's hard for me to give it up. Still, I think it might be worth it to put a little money away so Dave has some financial cushioning while I'm off doing my thing. So I've started to think of more ways I can exercise without a gym.
First of all, my apartment complex has a small gym. The only problem is that the ellipticals in that gym are AWFUL.But, I can use mine at home then go to the apt gym for weights and other machines. It's doable.
But many people don't have apartment given fitness centers and I may not always have that luxury, so I definitely had some creative thinking to do.
Fitness doesn't have to cost $50/month or $99 per week or whatever gyms and trainers cost these days. You can get fit in the beautiful outdoors or the comfort of your own home for next to nothing, especially if you have someone like me giving you tips, tricks and training sessions online! lol Glad I can help!
Here are a few ideas for exercising at home or outside:
-Take your own stairs. Walk up and down the stairs while listening to your iPod. It's like having your own stair master, complete with interval training! Doing this for 30 minutes will easily burn 300 calories (based on calorie chart for a 150 pound person). Trust me a half hour or even an hour will go by fast when you're listening to your favorite playlist.
-Play some tag or sports in your lawn or at the park. Join a pick up game of football or ultimate frisbee if you see people playing at the park. Get your friends together for a game of basketball. Got kids in your life? Great! Nothing can motivate you to get up and move more than getting your butt kicked at tag by a 10 year old. :)
-Yoga/pilates/zumba/etc on tv. here are actually fitness channels now on Comcast or other cable/satellite provider listings that have easy to follow workouts that you can do right in your own home! Give it a click!
-Take the dog, or your Significant Other, for a walk!
Go fast or go slow; it doesn't matter. Just go! Spend an hour just walking around or to the store and back. Those calories will burn away and you'll actually get to connect a bit more with your furry friend, your beau or yourself.
I have plenty of ideas along these lines and as I try them myself, I'll keep sharing them with all of you and let you know what seems to work the best :)
Saving $50 a month sounds pretty good, but when I weigh it with losing all that gym equipment, tons of classes and free/open rehearsal space, it's hard for me to give it up. Still, I think it might be worth it to put a little money away so Dave has some financial cushioning while I'm off doing my thing. So I've started to think of more ways I can exercise without a gym.
First of all, my apartment complex has a small gym. The only problem is that the ellipticals in that gym are AWFUL.But, I can use mine at home then go to the apt gym for weights and other machines. It's doable.
But many people don't have apartment given fitness centers and I may not always have that luxury, so I definitely had some creative thinking to do.
Fitness doesn't have to cost $50/month or $99 per week or whatever gyms and trainers cost these days. You can get fit in the beautiful outdoors or the comfort of your own home for next to nothing, especially if you have someone like me giving you tips, tricks and training sessions online! lol Glad I can help!
Here are a few ideas for exercising at home or outside:
-Take your own stairs. Walk up and down the stairs while listening to your iPod. It's like having your own stair master, complete with interval training! Doing this for 30 minutes will easily burn 300 calories (based on calorie chart for a 150 pound person). Trust me a half hour or even an hour will go by fast when you're listening to your favorite playlist.
-Play some tag or sports in your lawn or at the park. Join a pick up game of football or ultimate frisbee if you see people playing at the park. Get your friends together for a game of basketball. Got kids in your life? Great! Nothing can motivate you to get up and move more than getting your butt kicked at tag by a 10 year old. :)
-Yoga/pilates/zumba/etc on tv. here are actually fitness channels now on Comcast or other cable/satellite provider listings that have easy to follow workouts that you can do right in your own home! Give it a click!
-Take the dog, or your Significant Other, for a walk!
Go fast or go slow; it doesn't matter. Just go! Spend an hour just walking around or to the store and back. Those calories will burn away and you'll actually get to connect a bit more with your furry friend, your beau or yourself.
I have plenty of ideas along these lines and as I try them myself, I'll keep sharing them with all of you and let you know what seems to work the best :)
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Changes
Sometimes we all have to make changes and sacrifices in order for our bodies to do what we want them to.
I know as a dancer that I must demand a lot from my body, and my diet has to work for me. The problem is finding a diet that works for both my lifestyle and my body. This has proven very difficult. If I don't get enough protein, I can't work out as hard. if I don't eat enough carbs, I barely have a kickstart for my workouts and practices. If I don't get enough fruits and vegetables, I get dehydrated. It's really hard to find a balance.
And not just for dancers. Everyone has to find that perfect balance between what they eat, what they do with their bodies, and what they want their bodies to be like. This is so much harder than even I expected, but it's also super important.
It really is all about balance. If there is something you want to eat, you have to balance that desire with how badly you want to shape your body and really think about what effect that food will have on your goal.
I know how I want to eat, but recently I found out that it simply doesn't work for my body and my needs. It's really unfortunate, but it's something I have to deal with because right now, being a dancer is more important to me than eating certain foods. I need to make my nutrition a priority above all else, or my dance career might come to a screeching halt. Lack of proper nutrition can lead to illness, injury or worse, and I just cannot afford that right now. I don't know anyone who can.
We all have to find the nutritional balance that works best for ourselves. No two people are alike and no one diet will work for everyone. Do what's best for you, and most importantly, figure out what is important to you and feed that desire. :)
I know as a dancer that I must demand a lot from my body, and my diet has to work for me. The problem is finding a diet that works for both my lifestyle and my body. This has proven very difficult. If I don't get enough protein, I can't work out as hard. if I don't eat enough carbs, I barely have a kickstart for my workouts and practices. If I don't get enough fruits and vegetables, I get dehydrated. It's really hard to find a balance.
And not just for dancers. Everyone has to find that perfect balance between what they eat, what they do with their bodies, and what they want their bodies to be like. This is so much harder than even I expected, but it's also super important.
It really is all about balance. If there is something you want to eat, you have to balance that desire with how badly you want to shape your body and really think about what effect that food will have on your goal.
I know how I want to eat, but recently I found out that it simply doesn't work for my body and my needs. It's really unfortunate, but it's something I have to deal with because right now, being a dancer is more important to me than eating certain foods. I need to make my nutrition a priority above all else, or my dance career might come to a screeching halt. Lack of proper nutrition can lead to illness, injury or worse, and I just cannot afford that right now. I don't know anyone who can.
We all have to find the nutritional balance that works best for ourselves. No two people are alike and no one diet will work for everyone. Do what's best for you, and most importantly, figure out what is important to you and feed that desire. :)
Friday, May 6, 2011
Salt Life?
Okay so I don't have a sweet tooth lately, which I thought was a good thing. But no, it has caused me so many problems in the last few weeks: mainly that I'm gaining water weight. No one likes water weight. It feels gross and it's not real nice to look at. I'm not a fan.
Why did this happen? Because instead of having a sweet tooth, I've been craving salty foods. I've been eating a lot of soy sauce with my sushi, popcorn and Amy's pizza. These are all low calorie, good for you foods, but they are incredibly high in salt, it turns out. There was my mistake.
So as usual, when things aren't going my way, I turn to research. I read books, browsed websites and called nutritionists to figure out why this was happening and I have found the answers and some solutions. I know I'm not the only one who has to deal with this, so I DEFINITELY want to share what I've learned with all of you.
1. Salt = water retention.
Eating excess sodium causes your body to retain water, and everyone retains this in different places. Most women retain water around their midsection and legs while men tend to retain it just in their stomachs and chests.
2. Sodium is in so many foods.
It's not just cutting back on adding salt to your food. Sodium is in everything, especially processed foods. Canned soups, frozen dinners an snack foods are filled to the brim with sodium. Steer clear, or just lighten your intake, if you want to avoid bloating up. I've had to give up soy sauce, popcorn and frozen seasoned veggies. I'm sad, but the weight is practically evaporating off now.
3. Natural diuretics CAN help, but only to a point.
Drinking tea or coffee can help reduce some of the water retention, but only a little bit. Use them at first to help your system flush out a bit, but make sure you drink plenty of water too.
4. Water helps get rid of water.
Seriously, drinking water helps to get rd of water retention. It flushes you out better than anything. Drink water. It's the best thing you can do!
5. Don't mistake water weight for body fat and visa versa. Try to be in tune with your body and know what is causing your weight gain or loss so yo can better know how to deal with it. Don't be afraid to visit a nutritionist for extra advice. The best advice is that which is tailored to your specific situation. Everyone's body is different.
I hope I don't miss the salt in my food, but I'm certainly ready to be rid of this water for good. Let's just hope I can keep on track with this!
My favorite seasoning (salt substitute) are McCormick Salt Free seasonings: lemon pepper. The lemon gives me a great acidic flavor that can seem salty to my taste buds and it's great on everything. I also have started to just sprinkle ground ginger on my sushi instead of dipping into soy sauce. It's awesome! I'm sorry I didn't think of it before!
What are some of your favorite salt-free seasonings?
Why did this happen? Because instead of having a sweet tooth, I've been craving salty foods. I've been eating a lot of soy sauce with my sushi, popcorn and Amy's pizza. These are all low calorie, good for you foods, but they are incredibly high in salt, it turns out. There was my mistake.
So as usual, when things aren't going my way, I turn to research. I read books, browsed websites and called nutritionists to figure out why this was happening and I have found the answers and some solutions. I know I'm not the only one who has to deal with this, so I DEFINITELY want to share what I've learned with all of you.
1. Salt = water retention.
Eating excess sodium causes your body to retain water, and everyone retains this in different places. Most women retain water around their midsection and legs while men tend to retain it just in their stomachs and chests.
2. Sodium is in so many foods.
It's not just cutting back on adding salt to your food. Sodium is in everything, especially processed foods. Canned soups, frozen dinners an snack foods are filled to the brim with sodium. Steer clear, or just lighten your intake, if you want to avoid bloating up. I've had to give up soy sauce, popcorn and frozen seasoned veggies. I'm sad, but the weight is practically evaporating off now.
3. Natural diuretics CAN help, but only to a point.
Drinking tea or coffee can help reduce some of the water retention, but only a little bit. Use them at first to help your system flush out a bit, but make sure you drink plenty of water too.
4. Water helps get rid of water.
Seriously, drinking water helps to get rd of water retention. It flushes you out better than anything. Drink water. It's the best thing you can do!
5. Don't mistake water weight for body fat and visa versa. Try to be in tune with your body and know what is causing your weight gain or loss so yo can better know how to deal with it. Don't be afraid to visit a nutritionist for extra advice. The best advice is that which is tailored to your specific situation. Everyone's body is different.
I hope I don't miss the salt in my food, but I'm certainly ready to be rid of this water for good. Let's just hope I can keep on track with this!
My favorite seasoning (salt substitute) are McCormick Salt Free seasonings: lemon pepper. The lemon gives me a great acidic flavor that can seem salty to my taste buds and it's great on everything. I also have started to just sprinkle ground ginger on my sushi instead of dipping into soy sauce. It's awesome! I'm sorry I didn't think of it before!
What are some of your favorite salt-free seasonings?
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