The Sleep Conundrum

Sleep is one of those thing we all know we cannot live without but where do you draw the line when it comes to exercise and sleep?  How much sleep is too much and how much is too little? Can you still safely function on little sleep and can oversleeping be detrimental to your health?  As a fitness professional I get asked these questions a lot and the more I research, the more questions I tend to uncover and the more conflicting information I seem to find.  Also as someone who tends to burn the candle on both ends I also know that this information would probably benefit myself as well as the clients who ask me.  In my quest to help myself, here's what I've found.......

NOT ENOUGH SLEEP

1.  Psychologically, I feel lazy, fatigued and unmotivated when I don't get enough sleep and that means I'm more likely going to not make it to the gym to work out or I'll be less focused when I get there and won't really do what I set out to do.  Energy levels can also be lowered with less sleep and you won't execute your workouts the way you intend for them to be executed.

2.  According to an article from the journal "Best Practice and Research: Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism" in October 2010, not getting enough sleep might cause you to gain weight. According to the article sleep deprivation decreases your body's levels of leptin, a hormone responsible for making you feel full, and not sleeping enough also increases your levels of ghrelin, which increases your appetite and makes you want to eat more.

3.  The body releases growth hormones when you sleep which aid in muscle and bone repair.  Limiting your sleep can also limit your recovery especially after strength training.  If you want to recover quickly, try to get some good sleep and allow your body to heal itself before stressing it out all over again, allowing for maximum exertion on your next strength training session.

TOO MUCH SLEEP (while this is not my problem, I thought a little information about this would be helpful)

1.  We've all had the experience of getting too much sleep and waking up more tired than when we went to bed.  This can be a result of the disruption of our circadian rhythm with oversleeping. Our circadian rhythm is the 24 hour cycle driven by our biological clocks that results in physical, mental and behavioral changes.  Basically our bodies don't know what time it is and we react as if we have jet lag.

2.  Other side affects of oversleeping can be brain fog, memory loss and body aches.  All of these can contribute to the same lack of motivation that we felt when we didn't get enough sleep.  Damned if you do and damned if you don't right>

3.  Also according to some researchers, too much sleep can have an effect on some neurotransmitters in the brain, specifically serotonin, causing headaches throughout the day.

So think about it, if you noticed any of these things are happening to you and affecting your ability to get moving through out the day, it might be time to take a look at what you can do to get just the right amount of sleep.

FIXING IT

1.  Set an alarm if you are an oversleep and if you are the one who stays up late binge watching Netflix set an alarm to remind you what time you should go to bed. I personally have one on my phone that reminds me when I should start to wind down based on my schedule for the next day.  

2.  If you keep a normal schedule (an you don't live too high in the northern or too low in the southern hemispheres) sleep when it's dark outside and wake up when the sun comes up.  This will help normalize your circadian rhythm.

3.  Schedule your sleep.  I know it seems a bit funny but schedule your sleep the way you schedule your appointments.  Once you have it written down and you see what your habits are, you will have a much easier time adjusting things that need to be changed.

.....and on that note, I'm heading to bed!  I have an early day tomorrow!

Earth Day 2018 - Make Fitness Green!

I'm back!!!!  I know I haven't posted in a LONG time and I think that's a HUGE problem.  Life has changed and evolved and one of the things I NEED to do is maintain my own personal lifestyle blog.  My new format will be a little shorter and easier to digest.  I promise I'll stop writing novels unless there is really a need for it.  That being said..........

Earth Day is quickly approaching and I was recently asked how can I tie fitness and going green together.  I know that many of us don't think about it but there are many ways you can make fitness more green from where we exercise, how we fuel our bodies to donating our retired running shoes once the "big race" is done.  Here's some of the methods I've found and have started to implement in to my own workout routine to be sure I reduce my own carbon footprint as it relates to fitness.

1.  DITCH DISPOSABLE WATER BOTTLES!

1.  It's really easy to grab a bottle of water at the local corner deli or even at the studio you take class or workout at but you can reduce your carbon footprint drastically by bringing your own and filling it up!  Try to find one that is BPA free or even get a stainless steel or glass bottle (if you aren't afraid of dropping and shattering it).  I personally love my Hydro Flask Double Walled Bottle since it is designed to keep my water cool on a hot day.  It's got a BPA free cap and it wide mouthed for easy access (although you will sometimes spill if you are drinking too fast).

2.  AIR DRY YOUR WORKOUT GEAR!

2.  I know it seems time consuming but if you take the time to air dry your workout gear you not only reduce your carbon footprint by not having to run the dryer as long (or at all) you prolong the life of your workout gear which, in this day and age, we usually spend some decent $$$ on.  Hot dryers tend to "fry" the elastic in our workout gear and they stretch-out and lose their support when there is no elastic to hold you together.  They also fade those bring vibrant colors that can help motivate you!  Your body, you mind and the Earth will thank you.

3.  DONATE YOUR RUNNING SHOES!

3.  You've successfully completed that race you've been training for but did you know your shoes can be used after you’re done with them to help those in need? There are many charities that recycle used running shoes and use the proceeds to help those in need. Here's a few places you can donate your old running shoes; Give Your Sole , Soles4Souls and Jack Rabbit's Shoe Donation Program (they take lightly used workout clothing too!)

3.  PLANT A GARDEN!

4.  Part of heathy living and reaching health and fitness goals is fueling your body with proper food. Planting a garden not only helps lower your carbon footprint but also provides you and your family a source of nutritious locally grown herbs and vegetables. Fuel your fitness and plant a garden even a small herb garden can be kept in an apartment window.

5.  GET OUTSIDE!

5.  Take your fitness to the great outdoors! Working out outside helps save energy by reducing the amount of air conditioning being run and lights that are on. Plus working outside gives you a perk with fresh air and sunshine. Be sure to wear sunscreen and hydrate. An outdoor workout rather than an indoor one is a great way to easily take your fitness to the next level of GREEN.

Are you ready to make your workouts GREEN?

I JUST CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!!!

Someone close to me had an emotional, stress driven meltdown recently and I was there for the whole ordeal.  Everything came to a head, the world seemed to be smothering her and she was drowning in her emotions, her body image, her family life, her social life, EVERYTHING!  We were scheduled to work out together and it was obvious that the most important thing necessary in this situation was a shoulder, and ear and a new point of view.  Working out can be a great reliever of stress but sometimes you just have to know when enough is enough.  Needless to say, we did NOT work out but had a cathartic conversation and a nice half hour stretching session.  On my way home from her house I began to think about the affects of stress on the body and working out.  When will a good workout help you get through it and when do you just need to tune out all the stimuli and put on a good movie, soak in the tub or read a good book?  When I got home I couldn’t sleep.  I found myself feeling for her and her situation and I was starting to stress about the fact that I couldn’t solve her problems.  I ended up taking on a kitchen project at 10pm and by 2am I had turned 5lbs of peaches in to preserves and was finally able to sleep.

Stress is a killer.  It makes you feel awful.  It makes you lose sleep.  It makes you sleep too much.  It makes you binge eat.  It makes you lose your appetite.  It makes you lash out at people who are trying to help you.  It makes you needy and dependent.  It wires you.  It exhausts you.  It makes you want to re-engage bad habits to drown it out.  It makes you gain weight unnecessarily.  It makes you lose weight unhealthily.  The worst part about it?  EVERYONE reacts differently to it.

As a fitness professional I work with people on a daily basis in a one-on-one setting and part of my job is looking at the kind of day they are having and modifying workouts, cues, stimuli and expectations based on their state of mind at the time I see them.  There is a fine line between babying someone or enabling them and being supportive of a bad day and helping them work through it.  On one hand I want to listen to them and empathize with them to be sure they know I am aware that something is going on.  I don’t need to know every last detail of the root of their stress (although most people tell me everything anyway) but I do need to know that something is affecting them and it may affect their workout.  I need to take in to account the amount of sleep they have been able to get, or not get.  I need to be sure they are still eating so they have energy to use in their workout.  I may even want to see if they speak to someone on a regular basis to help with their stress especially if they are going though something overwhelming and life altering.  Once I have these answers I am much better equipped to decide if a good intense workout is just what they need to focus and hit the reset button on themselves or if it’s time to slow down and, God forbid, take a day off.

My general rule of thumb is that if a client is about to or is in the midst of a meltdown, it’s time to stop.  It’s time to get them on a stretching table or just slow down and breathe so as not to panic.  Tears, screaming and pacing can escalate in to heightened blood pressure and bursts of energy that can lead to injuries which is the last thing a person under a lot of stress needs.  Catharsis is inevitable in this situation and letting all of that angry energy out is good but they need to slow down and allow themselves to let go and focus on things in a way that is more productive to finding a solution.  By breathing and stretching I have found that people are better able to focus on the components they can control and they can prioritize their actions to come to better solutions.  If a meltdown is not on the horizon this is the time to turn what, in meltdown mode, is a tearful and verbal catharsis in to a physical act that allows them to expend all that excess negative energy so all that is left is the high of endorphins that makes them feel better and puts their mind in a much better place to deal with what is bothering them.  

Why Do My Feet Hurt??? Plantar Fasciitis

Quick anatomy lesson, the body is given structure by the skeleton, the bones are held together by ligaments, muscles surround the joints and contract to move them and those muscles are connected to the bones by tendons.  Plantar fascia is the connective tissue that supports the arch of the foot and runs from the tuberosity of the calcaneus bone to the heads of the metatarsal bones.  In layman’s terms, from the heel to approximately the ball of you foot on the bottom side.  Two main parts of the body that are famous for fascia are the IT band and the fascia on the bottom of your feet.  Well let me tell you something, the fascia on the bottom of my feet HURTS!  If I had to jump out of bed and run from the demons that just jumped out of my closet, the demons would get me since I would most likely fall on the floor and barely be able to hobble away.

Why do my feet hurt you might ask.  What is causing it and what are you doing about it?  I am suffering from plantar fasciitis, an inflammation of the fascia on the plantar side (bottom) of the foot.  The plantar fascia supports the arch of the foot during any weight bearing exercises by acting as a tie-rod on the bottom of the foot.  When the toes are dorsiflexed or pulled back during walking or running the plantar fascia becomes tight and shortens the foot by increasing the longitudinal arch in the foot (the arch that goes from your heel to the ball of your foot).  This reaction behaves like a spring and acts to conserve energy when walking or running.

ccording to Wikipedia,

 “Treatment options for plantar fasciitis include rest, massage therapy, stretching, night splints, motion control running shoes, physical therapy, Cold therapy, orthotics, anti-inflammatory medications, injection of corticosteroids and surgery in refractory cases.”

For those of you who know me how often am I going to rest?  I would love to be able to get a massage on a regular basis, I highly doubt I would sleep in a splint, motion control shoes seem a bit excessive, physical therapy I would do and medications, injections and surgery just scare the living crap out of me.  So what to do?  In the interest of prolonging not only my training career but also my dancing career I need to do something right?

Let’s start with something simple.  I have to be sure that every day before I wake up I don’t even think about putting weight on my feet before moving them.  That means, roll my ankles in circles, flex my feet as hard as I can to stretch the fascia and generally “wake up” my feet before they take my weight.  Second, I try to be sure to strengthen the muscles in my feet so the plantar fascia is not the only thing supporting the arches.  This includes scrunching a towel under my toes and creating an arch in my foot with the toes and heel still in the ground.  Basically I have to re-train my feet to create an arch where I usually do not have one.  I have become very good friends with my “footsie roller” that was given to me when I was in high school when I was dancing a lot of ballet.  It gives me a great massage on the plantar side (bottom) of my feet and is easy enough to toss in my purse and carry around every where.  After a long day on my feet dancing, running or just standing around I need to be sure to put my feet and ankles in an ice bath.  Remember, plantar fasciitis is an inflammation of the plantar fascia and cold therapy is used to reduce inflammation.

Interestingly enough, once I warm up my feet and ankles and are running, dancing or standing consistently the pain goes away.  It does however, come back after a prolonged period of sitting or laying down with no weight bearing on my feet.  Sometimes I try to determine what it is that i have been doing that is causing this problem.  Is it my running?  Is it my dancing?  Is it just my body aging and the result of years of unnatural movement when I jump, run and dance?  It’s probably a combination of everything and has taught me an oh so valuable lesson.  Warm up properly, watch your movements when you move and be sure to take care of yourself when all of the movement is over.  You only have one body and that body is priceless.  Nothing can replace a healthy body that performs at it’s optimal level over the years and I want to watch mine grow gracefully and maintain as much performance as it can.

Old MacDonald Had the Right Idea...Blue Hill at Stone Barns.

I have a confession to make, I am a closet “foodie”.  For those of you who don’t know, a “foodie” would be described as an individual who goes out to eat to discover different cuisine, different types of dining from fine to casual to street fare, someone who likes to cook and learn new methods and someone who just enjoys good food.  I love to eat, I love to cook and mix good food in the equation and I’m pretty damn happy.  How is this relevant to a personal trainer’s blog?  Allow me to share my train of thought...

My husband and I came to an agreement about 2 years ago when we started reading and learning what was going in to our food.  We agreed to try to “clean up our act” and try to eat food that was clean and free of pesticides, chemicals and hormones and we would try to buy produce locally thus putting our money back in to the farms in the NY area which grow our food in a way we want it to be grown.  It’s nice to know your farmer, kind of like knowing your doctor or banker.  You can trust the product.  Let me tell you though, it’s not been easy.  “Easy” food is usually the food we are trying to avoid and we have had to take the time to cook for ourselves and ask questions about what we are eating, really take a look at the portions we are consuming and now, two years later, I think we are finally in the swing of things.  Two years!  That’s almost as long as we have been married and a huge commitment to our bodies and our life style.

Food is something we all need and cannot live without.  As a personal trainer we are constantly asked what to eat and how much we can consume.  Truth be told, I am not a nutritionist and I do not give out nutritional advice but it does peak my interest so I am trying to learn more about food, consumption and how we use it as energy to be able to give that kind of advice.  In the meantime I have been educating myself on the way food gets to our tables to get a better understanding of what we are putting in our bodies.  This type of information is easily found on the internet; in various documentaries, both political in nature and filled with propaganda; in books; at your local farmer’s market and numerous other resources such as cooking classes, chefs at restaurants etc.  I have read Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma, and I own his other two books In Defense of Food and Food Rules which I have yet to read.  I have watched Food Inc., Food Fight, and other documentaries centering around the industrialization of food and the energy it takes to get that food to our grocery stores and ultimately on our tables.  With all of this information one thing resonated to me that is the center of this blog post; we are living in a day and age where the process of getting the food to our tables and the process of growing it in such high quantities is doing two major thing that we need to avoid, we are using way too much energy to process and transport food, thus increasing our carbon footprint, and we are doctoring up so much of our food to make it bigger and better to the point where it’s not natural anymore!  Yuck!  The amount of chemicals that go in to some of the food we buy at the grocery store can’t be good for us, so why do we eat it?

My best friend works in the fine dining industry.  She has exposed me to a lot of amazing cuisine and some amazing experiences.  She and I were supposed to take a trip to Blue Hill at Stone Barns in Tarrytown back in 2005 or 2006 (I can’t remember) but something always came up for work and I never made it.  (Sorry Tobie!)  She has been and many people had told me it was an amazing experience but I hadn’t made the trek yet.  I didn’t realize it at the time but Blue Hill at Stone Barns prides itself as being a restaurant that uses only ingredients from the farm at Stone Barns and other neighboring farms.  The produce is alway fresh, seasonal and local as is the livestock.  Years later after making the huge change in our lifestyle to include more local produce my husband and I decided this would be our mecca for fine dining and booked a reservation for July 3, 2010 the day before going on vacation to visit my family in Hawaii.  Let me tell you, what a great way to start vacation!

Blue Hill is the resident restaurant at Stone Barns Farm where they have a agricultural center to teach visitors about the farm and it’s workings.  We decided to spend the day at the center touring the farm and absorbing as much as we could about the way food gets to the table in this clean and sustainable atmosphere.  We learned quite a bit while we were there.  We learned that the 80 acre farm used to be a dairy farm owned by Peggy Rockafeller which provided all of the dairy to the Rockafeller family and staff for both their upstate and NYC residences.  The dairy farm closed down and the land was donated to create the agricultural center where visitors could go and sign up for programs to see the workings of the farm.  They do all of their own composting and make their own charcoal for the grills they use.  They rotate their crops so they don’t deplete the soil of nutrients and have to use harsh chemical fertilizers to produce the best possible crops.  We saw the greenhouse where most of the salad greens are grown year round and got to taste 6 different types of garlic!  They have their own hives to produce their own honey.  They have recently started growing their own hops to brew their own beer.  They rotate the pastures that the sheep, chickens and turkeys graze on to be sure they are fed properly and naturally and not from chemical ridden corn feed that can be found on so many industrial farms that raise livestock.  They even use the pigs they raise to forage the land when they need something dug up.  Nothing goes to waste!  We started with the “Insider’s Tour” for a complete overview of the farm (vegetables and livestock) and the restaurant.  We even got to go in the kitchen!  After that, we signed up for a class that gave us the opportunity to harvest our own basil and garlic from the vegetable garden and make pesto (a great snack before our 5pm reservation).  We saw the produce brought to market right in the courtyard adjacent to the restaurant and the learning center and ended the day with dinner.

For those of you who have never had the Blue Hill experience this is something to do before you die!  First and foremost, the attentiveness of the staff was amazing from choreographing the pulling out of chairs to seat us to setting plates down in front of you so everyone eats at the same pace.  When ordering my pre-dinner cocktail I ordered a purple basil mojito that is usually on the summer menu.  It was mentioned to me by the staff in the pesto making class but had not yet hit the menu for the summer.  Our server overheard me talking about it to another server no sooner had she asked, the bar staff went outside, picked some fresh purple basil and made me the mojito I was so looking forward to.  Now that is something that I was not expecting!  On to the meal!  It is set up as different tasting menus based on what is in season at the time.  You have a choice of 5 or 8 courses, the option of a wine pairing with each course and an optional cheese course.  Katherine, our more than capable server, chatted with us and asked us a series of questions which spanned much further than our food likes, dislikes and dietary constraints to determine what the chef would be making for us tonight then asked us if the table was set on 5 or 8 courses.  We settled on 8 courses to have the full effect of the experience and I opted for the wine pairing to compliment each dish.  Before each course our server Katherine would bring over something from the large table in the middle of the room that was a showcase for all of the seasonal produce of the day to give us a little inside look at what we might be seeing on our plates for the evening.  5 pre-appetizers later our food started to arrive, 6 courses later dinner was over followed by 2 dessert courses.  Honestly, I cannot remember everything that we ate but I do know that I have never had such delicious food and the wines that the somolier Thomas picked out were so amazing I had to ask him to make a list of the 7 different wines I had tasted (one with each dinner course and one dessert wine for both desserts) so I could go in search of them for my own dinners.  (You see?  Closet “foodie”.)

The moral of my story?  This is supposed to relate to fitness right?  How do you like this for a “moral”?  Fitness is only complimented by what you use to fuel your body and in the interest of lowering your carbon footprint and consuming fuel that is chemical and pesticide free for a healthier you, I think that this “clean food movement” is something we all need to embrace.

I really think that Old MacDonald had the right idea.  Go out and support your local farmers and learn how to cook with what is in season.  Not sure what is in season?  Check out different websites for a list of seasonal vegetables and look for recipes!  You might surprise yourself!  Ask if your local farmer if their meats are grass fed and how they were raised.  Most farmers love sharing their methods to show you the value in what you are eating.  You can learn so much just from a friendly conversation at the farmer’s market.  Keep the distance the food travels from the farm to the table at a minimum and taste the difference!

...And I Ran!!!

I was never a big fan of running.  I hated getting sweaty and dealing with the humidity in Honolulu during PE when I was in school.  I hated how it made me tired, how it made me hot, how it bored me to tears running around that quarter mile track or on the hot pavement along the streets by my high school.  But something in the past year, starting around the spring and summer of 2009 has changed and now, all of a sudden, I run.

It’s been about a year and in the course of this big running explosion in my life I have run and completed the ING NYC Marathon in 2009 entering just 10 days before the race, I have run my very first trail race at Bear Mountain, I signed up for the Niagra Falls Marathon in 2010, I have completed the Staten Island Half in 2009, the NYC half in 2010, the Brooklyn Half in 2010 along with a slew of other races and, since I didn’t make the lottery for the ING NYC Marathon in 2010, I am well on my way to complete my 9 races and volunteer for one through the NY Road Runners Club to be guaranteed a slot for 2011.  I even went home last summer and ran the last couple of miles of the Honolulu Marathon course to see what it was like and loved every minute of it humidity and all!

While I don’t know what really sparked my own running I started reading the national best seller “Born to Run, a Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen” by Christopher McDougall to see his take of the running phenomenon.  To be honest, I couldn’t really see how a book about running could be very interesting but everyone was raving about it and it seems to have sparked a surge in running here in the US so I thought it best to see what the hype was all about.  As of now I’m about half way through it and I’m completely fascinated.  He starts off with a simple question, “how come my foot hurts?” and takes off in every direction running could take and some you wouldn’t even think of.  He looks at the tribe of Indians that run faster and longer than most ultrarunners, the science of running and superathletes here in the US.  For example, he looked at female ultrarunners who finish 50 mile and 100 mile races and discovered that women tend to close the gap sooner against male runners the longer the race!  He looks at the philosophy of running and the history of surges in running as it directly relates to the goings on in the world.  Did you know that there have been three major events in US history where running has skyrocketed?  They were during The Great Depression when more than 200 runners gave birth to the Great American Footrace running 40 miles a day across the country, the early ‘70s when we were recovering from the Vietnam War, the Cold War, race riots, Nixon’s impeachment and the murder of JFK and the year post 9/11 when trail running became the fastest growing outdoor sport in the nation.  He links running with a trigger in the human psyche that fulfills 2 major senses we need during a crisis, stress relief and sensual pleasure.  We come pre-wired for it, we have all of the equipment for it and it is what we did to relive stress and achieve sensual pleasure before we understood sex.

The more I read this book the more I start to see reasons that could have been my own personal trigger for running and the more I am fascinated with the idea that we are designed to run.  I’ve only begun the section of the book that delves in to the running and shoe and how it could be the reason we are more injured now as runners than we ever were when we were running in simple, non-technical sneakers.  It’s the idea he touches on in the beginning of the book and seems to be carrying through as far as I can tell now that I am in the middle of it.  Having spent many years in soft, thin leather soled ballet slippers and barefoot on stage I can’t really find a reason to argue.  The less shoe there is the stronger the foot needs to be right?

Let’s see what the book has to say...

What's Your Carbon Footprint?

Happy Earth Week!  Let’s take a minute to step away from our personal exercise plans and talk about the week that is coming to a close that celebrates the world we live in, good old Mother Earth!  We all know that we are responsible for the upkeep of the Earth for ourselves, our children and our children’s children and so forth so I started thinking about what my personal carbon footprint is and what I can do to better the health of the world I live in while continuing my goal to help people better their own lives as well as my own.

For those of you who are not familiar with the term “carbon footprint” here is a simple definition I found on Wikipedia.com.

Carbon Footprint - the total set of greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions caused by an organization, event or product.

...and for those of you, who like me wanted clearer definitions (also courtesy of Wikipedia.com)...

Greenhouse Gas - gases in an atmosphere that absorb and emit radiation within the thermal infrared range. This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect.  The main greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere are water vapor,  carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone.  Greenhouse gases greatly affect the temperature of the Earth; without them, Earth's surface would be on average about 33 °C (59 °F) colder than at present.  The burning of fossil fuels since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution has substantially increased the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Greenhouse Effect - caused by an atmosphere containing gases that absorb and emit infrared radiation and trap heat within the surface-troposphere system, causing heating at the surface of the planet.  This mechanism is fundamentally different from that of an actual greenhouse, which works by isolating warm air inside the structure so that heat is not lost.

Global warming, a recent warming of the Earth's surface and lower atmosphere, is believed to be the result of a strengthening of the greenhouse effect mostly due to human-produced increases in atmospheric greenhouse gasses.

...and just so you know (courtesy of Wikipedia.com)...

Earth Day (Earth Week) - is a day designed to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's environment. It was founded by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in held on April 22, 1970 and is celebrated in more than 175 countries every year.  Many communities celebrate Earth Week, an entire week of activities focused on environmental issues.  Earth Day is now observed each year on April 22 in virtually every country on Earth.  Earth Day is now coordinated globally by the Earth Day Network.

Ok, enough of the definitions and the lecture.  Why am I telling you all this?  I wanted to know how much my household contributes to those greenhouse gasses that are responsible for global warming and the general unhealthy nature of the Earth we live in and need to preserve.  There are numerous websites that can help you calculate your carbon footprint and I found one www.nature.org/initiatives/climatechange/calculator/ that was able to give me my own footprint, my household footprint and also show me how I measure up to the US average as well as the World average.

The results?  As an individual my estimated emissions is 10 tons of CO2 equivalent per year compared to the US average of 27 tons of CO2 equivalent per year and compared to the World average of 5.5 tons of CO2 equivalent per year.  Good news compared to the US average but not so hot compared to the World.  (Remember, we are looking for the lowest possible emissions.)  As a household of 2 (myself and my husband) our estimated emissions if 21 tons of CO2 equivalent per year compared to the US average of 53 tons of CO2 equivalent per year and compared to the World average of 11 tons of CO2 equivalent per year.  Again, not bad as an American but not so hot as a member of the World.

After discovering this, I have dedicated my summer to not only keeping my body and the bodies I interact with as a health and fitness professional healthy, but to making the Earth healthier.  Think about it.  The Earth is like the Mother who gave birth to you and while I am helping my own Mom keep to an exercise plan, we can all help our “other” Mother who gives us a place to live.  (Hmmm...maybe I can re-visit this blog around Mother’s Day too.)

I am a citizen of the US but I live on the Earth.  It is my responsibility to find ways to bring my footprint down as low as I can to keep her healthy.  What are you going to do about yours?

Nothing to Sneeze At...

‘Tis the season for itchy eyes, runny noses and general irritation from seasonal allergies.  Yep, spring is upon us and allergy season is here!  If you are anything like me you realize that as the weather gets warmer all you want to do is get outside and enjoy the sunshine and once you get there you find yourself sneezing, coughing, itching and wishing the cold weather was back.

This year seems to be more severe for me mostly because the weather started warming up prematurely, returned to the chill that we know from the winter, then flipped right back to the premature warmth all the while staying dry to allow the pollen to just get whipped around by the wind.  With the warmth and the sunshine we get the beautiful flowers that produce the pollen spores that bombard our faces, skin, nasal passages and eyes.  While they look great and encourage us to get outside all I want to do is hide inside to avoid the sneezing and watery eyes that come with the pretty colors of spring.  I don’t know about you, but when I am sneezing, my eyes are watery and my nose is running it makes me exhausted, cranky and lethargic.  I know I need to workout and I WANT to but I’m tired and I FEEL like I don’t.  If I do get up the energy to do it, I want to get outside and get some sun but the more time I spend outside the worse I feel especially when I’m done!  There’s no worse catch 22!

Do I have the answer to this problem?  Not really.  I can tell you that in my search for information on how to combat this problem I have learned a few things that make me think there has got to be a way to enjoy the weather without being miserable.

 Know when the pollen counts are at their highest.  In general, between the hours of 5am and 10am the pollen counts will be at their highest and you will suffer then most.

When pollen counts are at their highest try to not engage in activities that involve a high rate of movement and raise your respiratory rate significantly.  When you move faster through space and breathe harder you are more likely to inhale pollen and mold spores and have a more severe reaction.

Just because you are on a concrete tennis court, or running on the beach with no trees or flowers around, doesn’t mean you will be able to avoid pollen.  Any particles that are airborne can affect you but the further you are away from the source the better chance you have of not having as severe a reaction.

Interestingly, the extra adrenaline that your body produces while exercising can dampen the allergic reaction that you have DURING exercise but will almost guarantee that your reaction post exercise will be worse and it’s important to know what you can do post exercising too.

After exercising outdoors during allergy season be sure to shower and change in to clean clothes to avoid being exposed to any more pollen that may have deposited itself on your clothes and in your hair.

Also after exercising outdoors, or when symptoms flare up, come inside, close the windows and turn on an air conditioner to clean the air around you until symptoms subside.

If your immune system is down (jet lag, exhaustion, stress, etc.) and you have seasonal allergies your body may react more severely to allergens in the air.  If this is the case try to modify your exercise regime or take it inside to avoid a flare up.

Women with seasonal allergies who are menstruating may also react more severely to allergens than women who are not.  In this case you may want to modify your exercise regime or take it inside for a day as well.

For those of you who take medications for your allergies don’t forget to take them!  When you take your medication on a regular basis your body is fully prepared for what the wind has riding on it and if you are the type of person who only takes something when you know you will be exposed to allergens, be sure take it an hour before heading outside for your workout.  Nasal steroid sprays need to be started 24 hours in advance before planned exposure.

The moral of this story?  Keep your glass half full and know that there are ways to combat your seasonal allergies and spend more time outside!  Know the pollen count in your area and know your own tolerance and someday we will look forward to Spring 100%...

...rather than seeing it as just something to sneeze at.

What Time Is It?

Ok, time to come clean.  I haven’t blogged in over a month and, truth be told, I was waiting for a time that I could sit alone with my computer and ramble in to the night about whatever came to mind.

It’s not for lack of ideas that I have been silent for over a month.  After subbing for a trainer at my chiropractor’s office (www.wellbalancedchiropractic.com ) for their 8 Weeks to Wellness program I wanted to blog about communication and how important that is to my work, the drive it can give a person and the results a client can achieve with the proper communication.  I’ve been re-reading my Facts and Fallacies of Fitness book by Mel C. Siff to find common questions that you as a reader might want to have my humble opinion on and was looking to do an entire entry about the value of planning out your workouts (programming) rather than flying by the seat of your pants.  My usual blogging time is an evening that I don’t get caught up watching something on TV and I don’t have to get up particularly early for an early client.  Well guess what, I had a whole week off with no early morning clients and did I blog?  Nope!  I got caught up in everything else that I thought was “more important” and now here I am, home at 7:30 am after a 5:45 am training session, desperately wanting to take a nap before I have to continue my day.  Interestingly enough, it was my client early this morning made me realize something, what better time than now to get things done?

Just to give you some background, I wake up 3 days a week when it is still dark outside to go downtown to a client who has been the source of a great amount of inspiration for this blog post.  I see her 3 days a week at 5:45 am at the gym in the basement of her building.  Sometimes when she needs to, we will train as early as 5:15 am based on her schedule!  She is one of the hardest workers I have known and will do whatever she can to be sure her workouts are completed for the week to stay on track.  When asked how she has the motivation to get herself up that early she answers with simply, “I just want to get it done.  If I work out first thing in the morning I know it will get done and it will be over, plus I feel great after getting up and moving”.  I think she doesn’t give herself enough credit.  I think her answer is true but you also have to look at the amount of effort and dedication a person has to have to themselves to be as disciplined as she is.

I’m not saying that you all have to run out and change your schedules and start getting up at the earliest possible moment to get your workout in.  I’m saying that I believe that we need to look in the mirror and see what kind of value we put in ourselves.  After we successfully place value in ourselves we need to figure out a schedule and stick to it.  Part of that schedule is determining what time of day works best for us to find that motivation to “get it done and get it over with”.

Let’s look at the three times of day a person might choose to work out, MORNING, AFTERNOON and EVENING and list some pros and cons.  I love my pros and cons lists!  It’s the most sure fire way for me to make a decision when there are many factors up in the air.  Remember, there is no right or wrong answer to what time is the best time to workout.  It’s all a matter of what works for you and these lists are merely my opinion.

When I looked at the MORNINGS I realized this is my favorite time to get things done.  I can set the tone of my day by starting off the morning with a run or a workout.  I will rarely cancel on myself since I will have most likely scheduled my sleep the day before to accommodate to the early morning workout, and after I workout in the morning I feel like a million bucks!  The post workout shower is a great way to wake up and feel refreshed and I start the day with a sense of accomplishment.  I know that when I am done I have dedicated time to myself and can really feel the value I found when I looked in the mirror.  The only real drawback to the morning workout is how early it is, the scheduling problems with the evening before and the sheer motivation to get up and get out of bed rather than hit snooze over and over again until I know I have to get up to go to work but all of those things seem to be negated by the sheer amount of energy, the positive note, the sense of accomplishment and the value I feel in myself when I start my day.

AFTERNOONS came with a pretty even list of pros and cons for me.  Sometimes the afternoon workout is great to break up the monotony of the day and can give you a real energy boost in smack in the middle of the day when you might need a pick-me-up.  You get the sense of creating “me time” in the middle of what can be a very stressful day and you allow yourself the opportunity to remember that value you place in yourself when you first looked in the mirror and sometimes your energy will be higher based on the assumption that you have gotten enough sleep the night before since you didn’t have to wake up earlier than normal to work out.  On the cons side I find it very easy to cancel on myself when I don’t think I have enough time between my daily tasks to complete the work.  Sometimes I find myself short changing the workout time because something in the morning ran late or I wasn’t motivated enough to get started on time and now have to finish early so as to not miss my next task of the day.  I find it easy to think that I will make up the time missed in the evening or the next day which usually doesn’t happen.

EVENINGS are the worst for me but can be the best for some based on the pros and cons I found.  Let’s look at the pros.  If you work out in the evening you can push yourself to your outside limits knowing that when you are finished you are done for the day and don’t need to exert any more energy than the energy it takes for you to chill out, eat dinner and get to bed.  As always, you have a sense of accomplishment when you work out and working out in the evening is no different.  You walk away from the workout knowing that you put value in yourself and ended you day with dedicated “me time” that reinforces that value.  The biggest con I found is the ability to “put it off until tomorrow” if you are too tired and “tomorrow” never arriving.  If I do get up the motivation to work out in the evening I feel that my energy level is never as high as it could be since the day is almost over and I never feel that I get the best possible workout.  Sometimes I have a hard time winding down after a workout because of the increased energy which ends up cutting in to my sleep time and sometimes my schedule just doesn’t allow me to work out in the evening.  These are all excuses I know, but they are all the things that I combat when I don’t get my workout in earlier in the day.

So here’s the answer to my long drawn out question, find the time that works best for you.  Hold yourself accountable to reinforcing the value you have in yourself.  Take a look in the mirror and claim your “me time”.  Tell yourself that you are dedicated to your self...

...and balance your value with your time.

Are You Motivated Enough?

If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to see it fall does it make a sound?

If you work out at home away from the judgmental eyes of your fellow gym grunters, class participants, your trainer, your hot best friend from high school that you need to show up at the reunion, did you really work out hard enough?

I’ve been in a little motivational slump these days.  I used to be able to put on my ING New York City Marathon “I’m Part of It” shirt and feel like a rock star who could do anything because, “I ran the marathon”!  But these days I’ve been in search of new motivation and trying to determine if I really do work out hard enough when no one is watching.  So what are the different ways I find that motivation and the feeling of satisfaction when it is all over?  Let’s take a look.

I took a kettlebell class today taught by a good friend of mine Stephen Bel Davies (www.stephenbeldavies.net) at Equinox in Brooklyn Heights.  I’m not really a fitness class person but thought, why not?  I LOVE kettlebells and I was not in any mood to think of what I should be doing today.  Classes are a great way to hand yourself over to the capable hands of a fitness professional who will motivate you for the 45 to 90 minutes you have with him/her.  Do your homework.  Find a good teacher who knows their stuff and a good workout will follow.  Another thing about classes that I like?  I can look around the room and see my fellow classmates struggling and working towards the common goal or movement and create little competitions with them in my own mind.  No one needs to know that I’m trying to hold that plank longer than you.  The parade happens for me in the privacy of my own mind as I saunter off to the locker room to shower.

On to working out at the gym.  Everyone seems to be looking at you right?  Why not use that to your advantage?  I’m an over achiever by nature and I tend to think that everyone is judging me when I am out in public.  I know it’s a little narcissistic to think that everyone is looking at me but why not use it to push myself?  Sometimes I’ll even  compete with my workout buddy if I happen to have one.  Similarly to the way siblings have rivalries I find that friendly competition with a friend, even a silent one makes me think I am working harder.

So what if I get snowed in and have only my living room, a few implements and maybe a workout video or two?  Here’s where I need to hold myself accountable and trust that I know what I am doing.  My judgmental gym goers, competitive workout buddies and fellow class goers are not there to push me mentally and I need something I can measure to be sure I am working out at the right intensity.  At this point I slap on my handy heart rate monitor, determine my target heart rate and let ‘er rip!  I know that I have the knowledge and the ability to push myself alone and my heart rate monitor shows me a measurable number to follow to achieve those results.

We all try to push ourselves to our limits to ensure we achieve the goals we set.  We all have different methods of motivation when it comes to exercise, be it staring at all of our flaws in the mirror, working out with a friend who we love to hate, taking a class and creating silent competitions with your fellow class takers, or just giving in to the narcissistic idea that everyone on the gym floor surrounding you is judging your every move, grunt, lift, squat and bend.  But what really works?  Can you get the same results alone, in the privacy of your own home with just your dogs staring at you while you squat, bend, grunt and lift?  I think you can.  Reach out to a fitness professional, learn a few new moves, master a few old ones and hold yourself accountable.

Because regardless of what external methods you use to motivate yourself there is nothing more rewarding than knowing you were able to do it all by yourself!