A Week at the Gym - Dedicated to OBG ; ) source unknown
|
Sorry OBG. SInce all the blog posts this week seem to be along a humorous vein, well, who am I to buck the trend?!
Dear Diary,
For my birthday this year, my daughter (the dear) purchased a week of personal training at the local health club for me.
Although I am still in great shape since being a high school football cheerleader 43 years ago, I decided it would be a good idea to go ahead and give it a try.
I called the club and made my reservations with a personal trainer named Belinda, who identified herself as a 26-year-old aerobics instructor and model for athletic clothing and swim wear.
My daughter seemed pleased with my enthusiasm to get started! The club encouraged me to keep a diary to chart my progress and this is it.
________________________________
MONDAY: Started my day at 6:00 a.m. Tough to get out of bed, but found it was well worth it when I arrived at the health club to find Belinda waiting for me. She is something of a Greek goddess - with blond hair, dancing eyes and a dazzling white smile. Woo Hoo!!
Belinda gave me a tour and showed me the machines. I enjoyed watching the skillful way in which she conducted her aerobics class after my workout today. Very inspiring!
Belinda was encouraging as I did my sit-ups, although my gut was already aching from holding it in the whole time she was around. This is going to be a FANTASTIC week-!!
________________________________
TUESDAY: I drank a whole pot of coffee, but I finally made it out the door. Belinda made me lie on my back and push a heavy iron bar into the air then she put weights on it! My legs were a little wobbly on the treadmill, but I made the full mile. Belinda's rewarding smile made it all worthwhile. I feel GREAT!! It's a whole new life for me.
_______________________________
WEDNESDAY: The only way I can brush my teeth is by laying the toothbrush ... read entire entry
|
|
|
on 10/30/2008
|
|
0 |
5.2
|
|
Why You Should Taper Before a Big Race (This is for you Robin!)
running, tapering, training schedule
|
Like many runners, you probably run a number of races throughout the year, but of those races, only a few are really "big". Those are the races on which you focus your training for months in advance, and where you hope to run a PR (Personal Record).
When you're down to a week to go before a "big" race, what sort of running do you do? Let's assume it's a 10-mile race and that you are serious about your finishing time, in which case you have probably considered tapering in some form. Perhaps you know you should cut back a bit, but feel you need a few more long, fairly hard runs just to make sure you can complete the distance within your hoped-for time. Or perhaps you will cut way back on the total number of miles you ran, either running them all very slowly or maybe including some fast interval or fartlek work.
Or perhaps you won't run at all. But how many of you will plan to limit yourselves to just small amounts of fast running covering a total of only a few miles? Probably none. However, according to some researchers, this latter form of tapering will produce the most dramatic and beneficial results.
WHY TAPER?
As runners, most of us fear losing our edge and adding to our waistlines if we cut back on our running, even for just a week. However, scientific evidence suggests that temporary training reductions bolster leg muscle power, reduce lactic acid production, and can cut minutes off 10K race times. In contrast, hard workouts just before a race can produce nagging injuries and deplete leg muscles of their key fuel for running--glycogen.
Although coaches and exercise physiologists agree that tapering enhances performance, disagreement exists on the most beneficial method used. This usually boils down to the questions of by how much training should be reduced during the tapering period; and if selected amounts of speedwork should be included ... read entire entry
|
|
|
on 10/23/2008
|
|
0 |
9.8
|
|
Nike Women's Marathon - UPDATE
|
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/22/BACI13MAIT.DTL
Nike concedes it was wrong. Sort of. Nike contacted the woman with the fastest time, Arien O' Connell, to tell her she would in fact be given a trophy and be declared "a winner" though not THE WINNER. Come on Nike. You screwed up. Admit it. Don't feign concern for the true winner or try to placate her. Declare her the true winner. Just do it!!!
|
|
|
on 10/22/2008
|
|
0 |
3.3
|
|
Shame on You, Nike!
nike, race, fixed
|
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/20/BAUC13L3GQ.DTL
This past weekend Nike held its annual women's marathon and half marathon. What should serve as an event that encourages all women to do their best instead penalizes the skilled but inexperienced runner. The woman who, though starting 20 minutes behind the elite pack, breezed past the favorites and recorded the fastest time to achieve what should have been a celebrated victory, was instead snubbed because she wasn't one of the "elite." Nike would not declare her the winner.
Shame on you Nike! What message are you sending to women, to a;; athletes, who train and strive to do their best?! That you have to be deemed among the best before the race even begins, that only those you consider the best of the best should be eligible? Why if the race was all but predetermined, should anyone else even be allowed to enter?! In my opinion, the race was all but "fixed" and unless the rules change, I personally will boycott future Nike sanctioned athletic events.
If any of you out there feel as strongly about this as I do, please send Nike a message.
1-800-344-6453
Nike USA, Inc.
Consumer Services
P.O. Box 4027
Beaverton, OR 97076-4027
|
|
|
on 10/22/2008
|
|
0 |
17.3
|
|
Eating Clean
|
There is no fitness goal which you can achieve without first cleaning up your diet. Changing your diet is one of the biggest challenges when faced with improving ones health. A majority of people are used to eating highly processed foods on a regular basis and breaking away from that can be difficult. The good news is, it isn’t impossible and once you make it a habit to eat clean, it becomes a part of your life.
In a nutshell, eating clean is the practice of eating whole, natural foods such as fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and complex carbohydrates. It also means staying away from the junk that typically makes up the Standard American Diet (S.A.D) These types of food include man-made sugar, bad fats (hydrogenated, trans-fat), preservatives, white bread, and any other ingredients that are unnecessary. An easy way to remember if a food is clean is: “if man made it, don’t eat it.”
A person that eats clean generally practices the following:
Eliminates refined sugar
Cooks healthy meals
Packs healthy meals
Makes healthy choices when dining out
Drinks a lot of water
Eats 5-6 small meals per day
Eliminates alcoholic beverages (or significantly limits it)
Always eats breakfast
Eating clean can be a major transition for a majority of people due to addictions to sugar, white bread, and fast food. It takes discipline in order to make eating clean a habit but it is possible and has so many long-term health benefits.
|
|
|
on 10/22/2008
|
|
0 |
35.1
|
|
Run For Your Life! Runners Live Longer - YES (fist pump!)
|
It may, in fact, be possible to outrun death -- and even the creeping ravages of time -- at least for a while.
Research spanning two decades has found that older runners live longer and suffer fewer disabilities than healthy non-runners.
And the findings probably apply to a variety of aerobic exercises, including walking.
"This is telling you that being a runner, being active is going to reduce your disability, and it's going to increase your survival," said Marcia Ory, professor of social and behavioral health at the Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Rural Public Health in College Station. "Late in life, you still see the benefit of vigorous activity."
In 1980, the study's lead author, Dr. James Fries, emeritus professor of medicine at Stanford, wrote a landmark paper outlining his "compression of morbidity" hypothesis. The theory held that regular exercise would compress, or reduce, the amount of time near the end of life when a person was disabled or unable to carry out the activities of daily living, such as walking, dressing and getting out of a chair.
"Illness would be compressed between later age of onset and age of death, and that paradigm was controversial, because it went against conventional wisdom and had no proof," Fries explained.
At the time, many experts believed that vigorous exercise would actually harm older individuals. And running, in particular, would result in an epidemic of joint and bone injuries.
But this new study proves otherwise.
Two hundred and eighty-four runners and 156 healthy "controls," or non-runners, in California completed annual questionnaires over a 21-year period. The participants were 50 years old or over at the beginning of the study and ran an average of about four hours a week. By the end of the study period, the participants were in their 70s or 80s or older and ran about 76 minutes a week.
At 19... read entire entry
|
|
|
on 10/21/2008
|
|
0 |
14.2
|
|
Secrets Restaurants Don't Want You To Know: the moral of the story is EAT AT HOME!!
|
Restaurants have one major purpose: to stuff you with as much food as they possibly can. If they do that, they achieve their primary business goal, which is to lighten your wallet.
But while they’re doing that, they’re also using their best marketing tricks, craftiest numerical switcheroos, and most dastardly dietary stratagems to swap unhealthy, cheap ingredients for more expensive, wholesome ones. The result: bloated bottom lines — for their budgets, and for their customers.
1. Baskin-Robbins doesn't want you to know that.....
Sometimes a drink can have fruit in the title, but not in the cup. For instance, the top four ingredients in its Blue Raspberry Fruit Blast were Sierra Mist soda, water, sugar, and corn syrup.
If you’re looking for a real fruit smoothie, visit Jamba Juice. Just remember to check those calorie counts, so you don’t over-indulge.
2. Papa John's doesn't want you to know that...
Unlike rival chains such as Domino's, it has made little effort to introduce healthier options. After we goaded them on their slow pace of innovation, Papa John's did introduce whole grain wheat crust pizzas last May. Now, if only Papa would toss a thin-crust version into the mix and alter the recipe for sides like cheesesticks, which are loaded down with more than 2,900 milligrams of sodium!
3. Fuddruckers doesn't want you to know...
The fat content of its 1-pound burgers. Not only isn't it on their menu, it's not even available on their website.
4. Panera Bread doesn't want you to know that...
The synthetic food colorings in its pastries have been linked to irritability, restlessness, and sleep disturbances in children. And British researchers found that artificial food colorings and preservatives in the diets of 3-year-olds caused an increase in hyperactive behavior. The same ingredients appear in fast-food items like mayonnaise, M&... read entire entry
|
|
|
on 10/15/2008
|
|
0 |
10.3
|
|
Want to Help Kids Improve Academically? GET THEM MOVING!!
kids, activity, cognitive developmen, fitness, free play
|
Want to help your kids do better in school ? Get them moving. That’s the message from a growing field of research linking physical activity with better academic performance.
At a time when many schools have reduced or eliminated gym classes and recess, experts say the worry goes beyond the childhood obesity epidemic.
The concern is no longer JUST that kids face obesity and health risks down the road.. Research indicates that inactive kids might not do as well in school as their fit peers
In one of the latest studies in this field, researchers found that middle-school students who performed best on fitness tests — which gauged aerobic capacity, strength, endurance, flexibility and body composition — performed better academically as well.
Experts speculate that exercise may boost academic performance in various ways, including: burning off pent-up energy and allowing kids to pay attention better and focus on their work; boosting self-esteem and mood; and increasing blood flow to the brain, helping with memory and concentration.
Studies in older people have found that cognitive function is significantly better among those who are active. Now we're seeing data that shows the benefit of activity in children's cognitive development too!
Some educators say they notice a difference, too. In a nonscientific poll, teachers noted that kids' alertness and attention span improve after short breaks that include physical activity.
Organized sports not always the best answer
So if your child’s school is lacking in PE and recess, should you hurry to sign your kid up for sports? Not necessarily. While sports certainly can help kids to shape up, regular free play — at the playground or your backyard — may work just as well or even better. Coaches in competitive sports obviously give the most play time to the most skilled players. Sitting on the bench for most of ... read entire entry
|
|
|
on 10/6/2008
|
|
0 |
28.6
|
|
Today I Reached a Running Milestone!
running, milestone
|
I use a Nike+ shoe chip to track my running progress, and today I passed the 500 mile mark! I got my chip about mid-April of this year. In the past 6 months I've logged 93 runs, 77 hours of running time, and 34,834 calories burned. I've actually surpassed this. I didn't take my chip on vacation to log my beach running, I don't use it with my treadmill, and I wear my old running shoes (with no chip) when it's wet outside. Theoretically I shouild be able to run 1,000 miles a year....THEORETICALLY ; )
My true goal is to complete a women's triathlon next year. But first I need to find a decent road bike and start a NEW training venture!
http://nikeplus.nike.com/nikeplus/v1/html/milestones/print_certif.html?id=351849009®ion=us&language=en&locale=en_us&dateFormat=MM/DD/YY
|
|
|
on 10/5/2008
|
|
1 |
25.2
|
|
Why You Really SHOULD Eat An Apple A Day!
cancer, aging, hair loss prevention, reduce cholesterol, colon health
|
The beginning of autumn means that we're entering apple season. Apples have been a staple of healthy eating for many years, and the often-repeated line of an apple a day keeping the doctor away is far from a myth. Apples really do have a wonderful variety of nutritional benefits, and are a tasty addition to any diet of good health and longevity.
Of all of the fruits we eat, apples are the best source of pectin, a natural fiber that has several health benefits. Apples also contain phytochemicals, quercetin, tannins, and antioxidants, all of which have different healthy properties. Below is a list of the top five benefits of making apples a standard part of your daily diet.
1. Apples improve the bowels. Pectin is a source of dietary fiber and a very handy nutrient to have in one's diet. While it is also found in citrus fruits, plums, and other fruits, apples have the highest concentration of them all. Pectin works to increase the stool's volume and resistance of fluids and is therefore helpful in treating constipation, diarrhea, and generally improving the health of the bowels. Studies have also found that apple pectin reduces the incidence of colon tumors, and that has been demonstrated to reduce the risk of colon cancer.
2. Apples lower cholesterol. A study on nutrition and heart disease found that eating three apples a day for three months can help you to drop your cholesterol by at least 20 points. How does this happen? Apple pectin, that miraculous source of dietary fiber, helps to draw bad LDL cholesterol out of the system. Not only that, but the antioxidant quercetin that is found in apples inhibits the LDL cholesterol from even accumulating in the body's bloodstream. When it comes to lowering one's cholesterol, apples provide a cocktail of nutritional benefits that are hard to pass up.
3. Apples reduce the risk of cancer. Apples do not stop at merely preventing colon cancer. The high amounts of querceti... read entire entry
|
|
|
on 10/2/2008
|
|
0 |
28
|
|
Breakfast Candy
cereal, breakfast, sugar
|
We've heard it since we were kids, "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day." And studied do in fact support that no matter what we eat, having breakfast revs up our metabolism for the rest of the day. Kids who eat something, ANYTHING, outperform the kids who are sent to school with empty stomaches. Still, WHAT they eat IS important. Breakfast cereal manufacturers have led us to believe that their cerals are high in vitimins and minerals. What they DON'T want parents to know, is that they're also appallingly high in SUGAR!
Some breakfast cereals marketed to U.S. children are more than half sugar by weight and many get only fair scores on nutritional value, Consumer Reports said on Wednesday.
A serving of 11 popular cereals, including Kellogg's Honey Smacks, carries as much sugar as a glazed doughnut, the consumer group found.
And some brands have more sugar and sodium when formulated for the U.S. market than the same brands have when sold in other countries.
Post Golden Crisp made by Kraft Foods Inc and Kellogg's Honey Smacks are more than 50 percent sugar by weight, the group said, while nine brands are at least 40 percent sugar.
The most healthful brands are Cheerios with three grams of fiber per serving and one gram of sugar, Kix and Honey Nut Cheerios, all made by General Mills, and Life, made by Pepsico Inc's Quaker Oats unit.
"Be sure to read the product labels, and choose cereals that are high in fiber and low in sugar and sodium," Gayle Williams, deputy editor of Consumer Reports Health, said in a statement.
Honey Smacks has 15 grams of sugar and just one gram of fiber per serving while Kellogg's Corn Pops has 12 grams of sugar and no fiber.
Consumer Reports studied how 91 children aged 6 to 16 poured their cereal and found they served themselves about 50 to 65 percent more on average than the suggested serving size for three of the four test... read entire entry
|
|
|
on 10/2/2008
|
|
0 |
5.9
|
|