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10 reasons to practice yoga

February 5, 2011 By Leave a Comment

 

Okay,  it’s a given that I’m going to promote yoga on a fitness blog.  And full disclosure:  I’m the “bendy type.”  But no matter how hard it gets to watch human pretzels “Ooooommm” and “Ahhhhh,” there’s lots of reasons to add yoga to your fitness program.  And I’ve got ten perfectly good reasons for you to start today.

Madonna has moved on. Good news: you’ll no longer be derided as just another sheep. She’s like twenty trends ahead of you. Now you can keep doing it and really mean it when you say you’re doing it for the health benefits.

You don’t have to buy shoes. I once had a coworker who told me “I only do Pilates and Yoga, so I don’t have to spend money on expensive shoes.” While I totally disagree with her criteria for choosing a workout method, I can’t fault her for being thrifty.

It’s a great way to ease into weight training. Downward Facing Dog, Plank Pose and Side Plank Pose work the upper body. Tree, Triangle and Warrior I and II work the legs. For strong abs, go with Cat-Cow, Plank or Boat Pose.

You won’t hear the “no pain no gain” mantra during class. In fact, no matter how you do a pose, the instructor will give you lots of encouragement. It’s kind of like kindergarten with sitar music.

You can do it at your desk. If you don’t have time to change and get down to a class, there are plenty of stretches that you can do at your desk.  In fact, one of the healthiest ways to deal with a stressful working environment is to close the door, take a seat and stretch out your body.

It’s cleansing. Yoga helps cleanse the lymphatic system and remove waste from our cells.  The empasis on deep full breathing also means that you’ll improve the amount of oxygen to your lungs and the expulsion of carbon monoxide.

The body benefits. Yoga stretches and loosens all of the soft tissue of the body, including tendons, muscles and ligaments.  Most new practicitioners see the most improvement in flexibility in the trunk and sholders.

The mind benefits as well. there is a decrease in catecholamines, the hormones produced by the adrenal glands in response to stress. Lowering levels of hormone neurotransmitters — dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine — creates a feeling of calm. Some research points to a boost in the hormone oxytocin. This is the so-called “trust” and “bonding” hormone that’s associated with feeling relaxed and connected to others

It will help your posture. The standing and sitting poses put a demand on your abdominal muscles, which in turn aids in your posture. The increased awareness of the body also causes you to think about your body during the day. A slouched or collapsed spine obstructs deep breathing, so while you’re working on the breath, you’re helping your spine to sit straighter.

It will aid with other medical conditions. Research is ongoing on the link between an ongoing yoga practice and a lessening of depression symptoms. Yoga is also credited for helping with the symptoms of asthma, back pain and arthritis. The NIH has recently funded studies on the effect yoga has on insomnia and multiple sclerosis.


Filed Under: exercise, fitness, Health Tagged With: ,

Running my first marathon

February 3, 2011 By 1 Comment

This week, I committed myself to training for the Houston Marathon. Since it won’t come back around until the end of next January, I’ve got about twelve months to prepare.

I took up running for the meditative and cardio benefits it offers, not to be a competitive runner. So I’ve purposefully kept out of entering anything other than a fun run the entire time that I’ve been running.

But given the fact that it’s my home town, I’ll get to run downtown, and it’s so blessedly flat (despite a 127% relative humidity rate), I figured where better to start a marathon career?

Whether or not I’ll actually make it in is pretty much up in the air, since the popularity of the race led the organizers to go to a lottery system. Last year, both the half and full sold out in just 60 hours, so in the interest of fairness everybody throws in the entrance fee, and only the credit cards of those who are chosen will be charged. I managed to get out of taking statistics in grad school so I have no idea what my chances will be of getting chosen to run, but I’m going in with the full expectation that I’ll win a slot.

The organizers notify all of the lottery winners by mid August, so even if I don’t make it in, I’ve got a backup half marathon the week of Labor Day to run. Actually, it’s more like a 14 mile run but that’s plenty good enough for me.

In order to start getting ready for the marathon, I’ve got to start changing how I’m training. For starters, I’ve got to get serious about methodically adding the amount of time I run each week. Up till now, I’ve been just going at a nice leisurely pace for three miles at a time or an hour at a time. Now I have to start getting vigilant about the 10% Rule. I know that I’ll be able to go from 3 miles to 13.1 within a year, but my main concern is my pace. You may have read that my running style is more akin to a perturbed gestating fowl than a graceful athlete, so when I heard that the Houston Marathon is timed and HPD will start clearing the streets behind the stragglers, I realized I needed to get serious about moving my short little legs and my flat tooshie.

So this year is going to break down into goals, some of them directly related to running, some of them general health and nutrition. For the running goals, here’s what I’ve got.

  1. Register for a 5K as soon as possible to keep me on track. Done. I’ve got one coming up in March which will give me an idea of what kind of shape I’m in.
  2. Get one of those GPS thingies that measure my distance. I have no sense of time or distance, and I’m afraid I’m going to be one of those suckers who buys a watch to figure out my pace.
  3. Stock up on shoes and sports bras. So far everything is in good shape, but I’ll have to keep an eye on when I need to replace them. (I love new clothes!!!!!!)
  4. Plan out a more structured running schedule. Right now the weather’s dictating when I run. Now I’ll have to run in all kinds of weather.
  5. Get used to running in humidity. Now, given the weather in Houston in January is usually not that hot or humid, but you never know when a freak heat wave might crop up. If last Summer is any guide, I’ll have plenty of opportunities to sweat myself to death between May and September.

 

General fitness goals:

  1. Dedicate a day for stretching/ yoga. Okay, this one is pretty easy to do since I love both, it’s just finding the time to do them.
  2. Dedicate two days a week to strength training. Again, easy to do, just hard to find the time to have two days a week every week. But I want my core and lower body nice and strong.
  3. Cut out the sugar and salt. Well, Dr Oz and the government will be very happy to hear about that. I’ve cut both of them way down in the past year, so cutting them out will be much easier than a year ago when I was sucking down coffee and salt and sugar as much as possible just to get through the day.

Oh, man- that’s a lot of work to do. But I have an entire year to get this done, so I have plenty of time to get this done. And I’ll look and feel even better than I do now (if that’s even possible), so that’s a great payoff.

So, do any of you have some advice or pieces of wisdom for running my first marathon?

Filed Under: fitness, running Tagged With: , , ,

Old school exercise- they’re cheap and still your best bet

January 24, 2011 By 3 Comments

Women’s Health has a no equipment, no frills cardio workout that I’m going to switch to next week during my cardio rotation. I’m doing that in order to take a break from running while Snowmageddon piles on my driveway.

I love the no equipment routines because so many routines published in magazines require you to use at least one piece that I either hate or cant’ afford. Usually in the hate column are resistance bands. And as much as I’d love to get a BOSU, I just can’t afford one.

But what I love about this routine is that you don’t even need hand weights, which means that it’s pure cardio and if you want to knock yourself out, you could conceivably do it every day. But for most people that would be totally overdoing it.

Somethings just have staying power.  Usually, that’s because they simply work, or they’re just so simple that it’s hard to muddle them up.  Or they’re dirt cheap (or free, which is great for us poor people).  The same thing goes for old school exercises that you’ve probably been doing since elementary school.

And if for some reason your school cut the PE program before you got there, they’re so easy to learn that it takes very little know how to do them.

Push ups

Whether you’re on your knees or all the way on your toes, push ups are amazing for upper body strength training.  And they’re a great indicator of overall health for women.  No matter if you do them on your knees or one your toes, you’re getting a great workout for your core as well as your rear end.  If you’re a total glutton for punishment, 100 Pushups will give you a plan for working up to doing 100 of them in one sitting.  And they make you feel all nice and pumped when you finish slinking away.

Jumping jacks

Doing 20 minutes of jumping jacks will produce the same results as 20 minutes of jogging.  It’s also a great way to increase lung capacity, in addition to being a exercise that takes up very little room.  If you absolutely can’t move your arms up and down, jumping your legs out while crossing your arms will give you a good cardio workout.  Other than shaking my ponytail holder out of my hair, I can’t think of a downside for jumping jacks.  For a larger breasted woman, a sports bra is a must, but that’s the only piece of “equipment ” you need.

Jump rope

Jumping rope can burn up to 1000 calories an hour, depending on your pace and the amount of time you jump.  Jumping utilizes several skills at once, inducing agility, speed, coordination and endurance.  Oh, and did I mention that you can get great calves while doing it?  Since I’m a klutz, I just pretend to have a rope to skip.  You can go all out with a nice fitness based model, but if you’re at home and don’t mind looking silly with a pretend rope this is a nice free exercise that is great cardio.

Running

Known as the King of Cardio, running can burn more calories for hour than any other form of cardio workout.  Running can even work to diminish your appetite.  Price wise, you need to invest in running shoes.  That can run you about $100, so I can’t really claim that running is “cheap.”  But in terms of a return on your investment in your health, it’s simple and intuitive so it’s a high return.

These are my all-time favorite old school exercises, and most of them are a pretty good value overall for the benefit they bring to your body.  But this isn’t an exhaustive list.  Swimming, basketball are just a couple of ways to get fit with very few pieces of equipment.  What about you? What are some of your favorite old school exercises?

Filed Under: exercise, fitness, running, weight training Tagged With: , , ,

In defense of Pilates

January 14, 2011 By 2 Comments

Just in time for New Year’s U. S. News came out with a list of top fitness trends and trends that are one the way “out.” One of the “outs” listed was Pilates.  One of the biggest reasons for Top Ten lists and the like to is to spark discussion and controversy, but the reasoning for including Pilates on the list was a head scratcher.

According to U. S News, Pilates is a victim of the recession due to the fact that technically in order to teach Pilates an instructor must be certified to teach the discipline.  Since fewer instructors have this certification, gym owners are seeing a lower return on their investment in targeting hiring those with the certification.

That may be so, but the “head scratching” part was the claim that the resulting Pilates classes in gyms were as a result more expensive. That is a little hard to believe, given that few gyms actually do charge more for Pilates classes.  Most YMCAs do not charge more for these classes, neither do private gyms. Most responded that the only classes that included a higher or additional fee were those like spinning, which require towel or water bottle rentals for participants.

The place where Pilates classes are out of reach is usually a dedicated Pilates studio.  These studios feature private classes, which are out of reach for most practitioners.  In a survey of my own home town, the highest prices for Pilates classes were at these studios, and interestingly enough, at the Austin Ballet.  As a historical note, Pilates caught on in the early years as a means or rehab for dancers including Martha Grahm, and dancers often praise Pilates for its ability to both keep the body in shape and get it back into form after an injury or pregnancy.

Pilates is an amazing, challenging workout for your core muscles. And the benefits of practicing include:

  • Stronger core
  • Better body awareness
  • Increased body control (due to stronger core muscles)
  • Improved posture
  • Improved flexibility and balance
  • Toned rear end
  • Stronger leg muscles
  • Longer, leaner body appearance

The truth is, Pilates is just as affordable as yoga or most group cardio classes.  And if you’re doing Pilates at home, the costs are pretty reasonable.  Sure, you can add to the costs by purchasing a Pilates ring or a stability ball.  But if you want to go for simplicity and economy, all you really need are a good sticky mat and a decent Pilates workout DVD.

Everyone has their favorite Pilates DVDs, if you’re an absolute beginner I would highly recommend Pilates for Dummies.  The instruction is easy and challenging enough that you can alternate the two workouts on the DVD for months.  Full disclosure:  this is my Pilates staple.  if it ever breaks, I’m going to Amazon and getting another one to replace it, stat.

If you’re in great shape and want a challenge, I’d highly recommend one of Jennifer Kries’ workouts.  The silly name is due to a copyright dispute over using the name “Pilates”, not an ill advised marketing ploy.  Also a warning to Pilates newbies:  Kries is a former dancer and she’s practically a human pretzel.  That can either be inspiring or intimidating depending on your perspective.

Your turn:  If your gym includes Pilates classes, do they charge more for them than regular classes?  Have you found yourself falling out of love with Pilates?

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5 things I wish I’d known before starting a fitness routine

January 11, 2011 By 8 Comments

I consider myself a consummate researcher, so about five years ago when I decided to take up an exercise program, I did as much research as I could possibly do. But no matter how thorough I was, there were still some nuggets of wisdom that managed to get past me.

It’s not necessary to buy lots of hand weights.

Maybe it was some form of OCD, but when I started buying free weights, I was convinced that I needed to buy a pair in every size combination available to man, 6 pounds, 7 pounds, 8 pounds, 9 pounds…you get the idea. In my defense, I have really small hands, and I was worried that using two five pounders to sub for a single ten pounder would mean I couldn’t keep a grip on both of them But I finally realized that I was throwing money away, and at the very least I could start adding reps to each move to make up for the muscle I was planning on adding. Which leads me to the next revelation.

I’m just not going to build muscle, ever.

I need to face facts—I was born with a lean body that simply won’t put on muscle. I’m an Ectomorph and I’m a woman. No matter how many reps, no matter how heavy the weight, my body will never bulk up and have those nice feminine muscles I secretly always wanted. If I’m lucky I’ll have a nice lean yoga body. Now don’t get me wrong—my shoulders and back look nice after I’ve been training for a while, they just will never look sculpted and prominent like those pictures of body builders you see online. The people that you think subconsciously you “should” look like after you get started.

Blowing up a stability ball is a pain in the rear.

I brought one home from the store a few months ago because when I moved I had to give it up for space in the truck. Apparently, this purchase came with the  cheapest air pump the company could possibly provide. So I had to just push that sucker with my foot like some overly enthusiastic organist on Easter Sunday.

Unfortunately for me, I had decided earlier to just blow it up and then start doing my weight training. I wound up so tired from the effort that I had to take a break on the couch after I got the stupid thing blown up. I was totally humiliated.

Resistance bands are not made for short people.

I’m going to have to stick up for my fellow vertically challenged Americans—some things just don’t come in petite sizes. And that includes most resistance bands made for the lower body. I tried to do some fancy shortening by looping the bands under my feet. But to my chagrin they always popped out and wound up too long for me to do any good. So I just went back to my hand weights. This is the same reason why I don’t use gym equipment—it takes too long to adjust the machines, and I’m not the “gym bunny” type who flirts with big strong men to get help with adjusting machines. I keep thinking that some enterprising fitness company should come up with products targeted towards petites, but I’m sure there just isn’t a market to sustain us.

My iPhone is just too cool for me

When I started running, I would do two minutes of running followed by three blessed ones of walking. To my annoyance, as soon as I started running, my carefully crafted and timed playlist would skip as soon as I started running. Turns out the iPod and iPhones are designed for apps that use shaking as a way to work, so you have do disable this to keep the machine from doing that while running.

Tight hamstrings mean restroom breaks are a pain

I’m cursed with tight hamstrings, which means in my case that when I start an exercise program—especially a weight training one—my hamstrings take the brunt of the work. And that makes sitting down, whether at an office chair or otherwise, a pretty painful proposition. And it means that it takes a lot longer to sit down and get up. You hear a lot of advice about how muscle soreness is a bad thing, but rarely does anyone go into detail about how it affects your daily activities.

So, what about you? What tidbits of wisdom did you wish you knew going in?

Filed Under: fitness, running, weight training Tagged With: , ,