What is a Detox Program and Do You Need One?

High-quality herbs and botanicals help the detoxification process

Evolutionarily speaking, we’re way behind. Technology and our living environment may have changed drastically over the last few million years but on the inside, the human organism and how it functions, hasn’t changed very much at all. But in the last 50 years in particular, the amount and types of toxins and chemicals in our environment have changed…they’ve multiplied-and this has become a real burden on our bodies. Mankind has created chemicals and toxins that have been released into our environment that our bodies don’t even recognize or know what to do with.  Our bodies haven’t adapted to these toxins and pollutants that we are ingesting every day-that’s just the way it is.
 
It may seem as though the human body

Cookie Dough Fudge

It’s tough to be a foodie, a chocoholic, and an athlete at the same time!  So yes, I need to stay fit, wanna stay healthy, and I have to indulge! (especially during the holidays.) So what’s a girl to do when faced with this kind of dilemma?  As I always say, it’s all about choices. So I’m always on the lookout for healthy options or, makeovers of my favorite not-so-healthy foods.  I stumbled upon this website recently (thank you John Romaniello), and I will be back!! It’s called www.tgipaleo.com (clever!) There are some fabulous recipes there-most of which you could make a case for being healthier versions of some of your favorites.  But this one….oh…this one stole my heart :) …. 

www.tgipaleo.com  rescued this fudge

The Virgin Diet: Drop 7 Foods, Lose7 Pounds, in Just 7 Days

Why food intolerance is the real cause of weight gain.

“It isn’t fat. It isn’t protein. It isn’t even carbs.  Sure, these things can be important.  But you can count them, cut them, skinny and swap them all you want, and you won’t lose weight if you’re eating foods your body can’t handle.  The key to weight loss is avoiding and overcoming food intolerance.” This is the premise of JJ Virgin’s new book 
The Virgin Diet: Drop 7 Foods, Lose7 Pounds, in Just 7 Days -and it is correct!

Years ago, I believed that a food allergy was a reaction to something like shrimp that closed up your esophagus, left you gasping for air-grabbing your red, welted, throat with one hand and dialing 911 with the other.  But once I was tested for food intolerances myself, I learned that the type of food allergy that could send you to the ER in anaphylactic shock from that shrimp was not the same type of food

One Arm, One Leg Cable Row

1 arm, 1 leg cable row-starting position

As often as possible, I like to include exercises in my programming that target multiple muscle groups at one time.  I like the one arm, one leg cable row because it incorporates the Latissimus Dorsi muscles, the biceps, rectus abdominus, glutes and several other back and core muscles that act as stabilizers-all in one exercise.  There's a lot going on here and as usual, good form is critical to getting the most out of it.

Begin by placing a small handle at about the height of your knee or slightly lower on a cable stack.  Choose a weight that is light to moderate (not too heavy.)

1 arm, 1 leg cable row-finishing position

Grab the handle with the arm closest to the weight stack and take a step or two backward

Using Multiple Modalities to Become a Better Athlete (and feel better)

                                                                          

          ”…Every day I made a point of doing something to aid my [workout] recovery.  Some days I’d visit a chiropractor who worked his bald head into a frothy sweat as he buried his hand under my shoulder blade. On other days I’d book a massage….”

This was in addition to daily sessions with the professional “stretchers” she hired to keep her muscles and connective tissue healthy and to maximize her mobility and range of motion.  Her trainers actually used their feet to knead her flesh because they could apply more force this way.

”…they’d do this for 45 minutes, kneading lactic acid and small bits of scar tissue out of my muscles and the fascia that surrounds them.  Muscle fibers, as we all know, loosen up fairly readily, but the fascia around muscles is denser and far more difficult to break down…” 

-Swimmer Dara Torres, then 41 years old, training for the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing on the importance of soft tissue work to her success as an athlete, specifically, an “older” athlete in her book Age is Just a Number.

                                                       ----------------------------------------

I have advocated cross-training and massage therapy for years and while I’ve known that engaging in difference forms of exercise and investing in soft tissue work were beneficial from many standpoints, it wasn’t until I started working with Kerry O’Brien that I understood just how deep the benefits of many of these modalities could go.

Popcorn: Yes,You Can Still Eat It

With all the fear (duly warranted) surrounding GMO foods, there is growing hesitation out there about eating that favorite of comfort foods: popcorn.  Well that’s just…anti-American.  But corn is the most common GMO food known to man-and it’s in everything.  So while many of us will eschew our old childhood friend, even at the movies-in order to avoid eating Frankenfood, others like me, will create their own brand of “Smartpop.” 

If you’re old enough to remember the days of stove-top Jiffy Pop where your Dad (or Mom) would swirl that coiled foil package with the wire handle endlessly over the burner flame while you waited at their elbow to watch the foil puff up, slowly at first, listening for that first kernel to pop…and then another…and then a few more, and then all at once, in rapid succession, even more-giving way to a flurry of popping, then you’re about to relive your childhood over the stovetop.

Making stove-top popcorn is really easy, but first I want to assure you that this recipe uses only certified organic popping corn which by definition, means it is NON-GMO.  Pair it with a healthy fat like coconut oil (with a high flash point that is not prone to oxidation) and all you have to worry about is the ensuing carb orgy.

Here’s how to make perfect popcorn - crisp, tasty and light, every time. 


                                                Stove Top Popcorn

Certified organic-NON-GMO popcorn

The Key Muscles of Hatha Yoga, Volume I

A terrific tool that teaches anatomy and body awareness

With all the anatomy I’ve studied and the continuing education I participate in, you would think I’d have had about enough of anatomy and kinesiology or that I would already “know it all.” Wrong on both counts!  I am a firm believer in continuing education no matter what your field (I wrote a blog post about this) and there really is so much to learn in my field that I will never stop studying.  I spend at least one hour every day learning about new exercises, methodology, nutrition and psychology (as it pertains to behavior, motivation and compliance.)  Even though I think of myself as an “expert,” the more I know, as they say, the more I know I don’t know.

Renegade Rows

Renegade Rows

What constitutes a total body core exercise?  Sounds like something you should be doing, doesn’t it?  And you should.  Thousands of “bad backs” later, the days of 500 crunches per workout are over! The way to get a truly integrated, functional, workout that properly challenges the core musculature is to, whenever possible, involve several large muscle groups in combination with that core movement.

Large muscle group, multi-joint movements tax the central nervous system, create a large energy expenditure and raise your heart rate resulting in more calories burned than when muscles work separately. Thus, giving you the maximum bang for your buck.

Renegade rows are a perfect example of such an exercise. Here’s how you do it:

Jini’s Hot Chocolate

Nothing better than hot chocolate on a chilly fall night

1 Heaping tablespoon of Valrhona imported cocoa powder (available at most Whole Foods-do not substitute brand)

 ½ cup unsweetened almond milk

½ cup purified water

Pinch of powdered, unflavored Stevia (do not use liquid or flavored Stevia)*

Cinnamon or star anise to taste

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Place cocoa powder in a large mug.  In a small saucepan, heat almond milk and water until it is hot but not boiling.  Pour over cocoa powder until mug is half full.  Mix until cocoa powder is fully dissolved in the hot milk.  Add pinch of Stevia* and remaining hot milk/water, stir until blended.

*Note: Amount of Stevia may take some experimentation.  Add more or less to taste.

_________________________________________________________________________________

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Fitness expert and integrative performance coach Jini Cicero, CSCS, teaches intermediate exercisers how to blast through plateaus to create incredible transformations. Are you ready to take your fitness to a whole new level?  Find out now!  Take Jini's "Are you Ready?" Quiz at www.Jinifit.com. © 2011 Jinifit, Inc.

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Reevalutating the "F" Word

Regular readers of Throwing a Fit and/or The Jinifit Blog can tell you; I don't often re-post articles from other bloggers or writers.  The article below is an exception. I am a big fan of the work of Dr. Jonny Bowden, PhD, CNS (AKA "The Rogue Nutritionist") and felt this piece was an important one. I hope you get as much out of it as I did.

Prejudice against the obese: the last "acceptable" prejudice in America?

Have you ever seen a terribly overweight person walking down the street and thought to yourself, “How could she let herself get that way? How disgusting. She has no self-control. What a glutton!”

If so, you’re not alone.

I Can Make You Thin

How hypnosis can help with fat loss

“Remember, repetition is the key to success. When we repeat an action, a neural pathway is created in the brain and each repetition reinforces it.” So says Paul McKenna, PhD., in his short but mighty book, I Can Make You Thin. Reading this sentence, you might think he is talking about repetitions in a workout routine, and he could be.  I could, and have, repeated those sentences on many occasions.  But in this case he is not talking about fitness, but about the brain and how human behavior can be influenced through suggestions made to our subconscious mind. These suggestions do not discriminate and can have a positive or negative effect depending on their nature.

The Plate Plank

Core core core core core.  It seems like the focus of every exercise you try these days is a core exercise.  It’s not your imagination. In response to a near epidemic of lower back, hip and knee injuries (even upper body muscle groups are effected), researchers are finding that the best defense against these injuries is good flexibility, mobility, and a healthy core.
 
For all the focus that core exercise has gotten in recent years, few people understand what is truly meant when an exercise is referred to as a “core” exercise.  If you’re visualizing your abdominal area right now, you hit the target….sort of.  Abdominals are only a part of what is considered core musculature. The term “core” really applies to every muscle from your arm pits to your knees.  If you think about it; that’s a lot of muscle groups. The important thing to remember is that because muscles and fascia are interconnected, it is almost impossible to completely isolate only one muscle to the extent that no other muscle is involved in a given movement.  Take the plate plank (below) for instance. While you can easily see the muscular recruitment of the abdominal area, take a look at what is happening with the shoulders, the pecs, the triceps, glutes and quadriceps. It is deceiving but this is really a total body exercise.

 Here’s how to do it:

"A"

1)  Take a 25 pound weight plate and balance it on its rim or, side.  Then kneel in front of it.

2)  While balancing the plate on its rim, grab the weight by placing hands on the top of the plate’s rim with hands at the 11:00 and 1:00 positions-keeping arms perfectly straight. Try to keep the wrists as straight as possible also; without losing your balance-do not flex your wrists excessively.

Spiced Pumpkin Soup

This recipe is taken from the very excellent cookbook Nourishing Meals by Tom Malterre and wife Alissa Segersten (see my review of Nourishing Bites in a recent post.) What a pleasure it is to have 300 delicious new gluten/dairy/soy recipes to try-including one of my all-time favorites.  Let me know how you like it!

Spiced Pumpkin Soup

2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Fall favorite: Serve w/quinoa & cabbage slaw for a complete meal

1 large onion, chopped

1-2 tablespoons of finely chopped ginger

4-5 large carrots, peeled and chopped

4-5 celery stalks, chopped

2 Granny Smith apples, cored and chopped

10 cups of water, vegetable stock, or chicken stock

8 cups of sugar pie pumpkin puree (made from the small but not mini pumpkins)

2-3 cups of cooked white beans

2-3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

3-4 teaspoons Herbamare or sea salt

1/2 to 1 teaspoon ground black pepper

The Conflict Between Pleasure and Happiness

Does "easy" make you happy?

How would you like to lose weight and get in fantastic shape with little to no effort at all?!  Right!  Seems ridiculous doesn’t it?  Yet we see and hear ads like this every day.  We are correct in thinking that “with little to no effort” doesn’t exist. So why would an advertiser want to appeal to you on that level?

Let me draw your attention to this (it might make your fat loss efforts more successful): 

Gluten Free Recipes

Delicious gluten/dairy/soy free recipes

You’ve probably heard it before; gluten-free, dairy-free diets are the healthiest way to eat; for a variety of reasons.  Rather than go into a long, explanation of the benefits of going gluten/dairy free, I’ll let Alissa Segersten and Tom Malterre do it.  In this wonderful cookbook, they give a general explanation of the foundations of health, the threats to those foundations, and the solution to the problem-all in one book and then they follow it up with over 300 delicious recipes. 

As the authors of Nourishing Meals, they do an excellent job of explaining why a big part of the solution to better health is removing gluten and dairy from your diet.  In addition to educating you on the why

Chipotle Smashed Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes are no longer just for Thanksgiving and as the weather starts cooling down  and fall approaches, we naturally start moving away from lighter summer meals and into more...satisfying fare.

Sweet potatoes are a great way to get your small portion of starchy carbs and this recipe will really kick up the flavor a notch or two without piling on all the fat and sugary stuff that jacks up the calories and destroys the natural flavors.

The recipe appears just as I found it.  It's borrowed from The Food Network's chef Alton Brown.  I've made it many times and it is good!  The smoky chipotle flavor lends an exotic taste to the traditional autumn tuber but don't go crazy with the peppers-things can get real spicy, real fast.

My suggestion?  To make it healthier, use only 1 tablespoon of butter and keep the portion small. 

Yams go yummy with the smoky flavor of chipotle 

What are Menstrual Cramps?

Cramps; they can be debilitating

Last week, I reviewed a book about men making healthier choices (while still having fun.)  Guys, if you haven’t figured it out, this one’s for the ladies; though most of you have a wife, girlfriend, roommate, mother, sister, client or close friend who is a female dealing with this and it might behoove you to know a little bit more about it.

But first, a little background
 
Working with women as a trainer for as long as I have, you can imagine the excuses I’ve heard from people who want to get out of their workout. To say that I’ve heard it all is an understatement.  Let’s just say, I could write a book (and most of the time the excuses are for sessions they have already paid for!)  The texts come through with just one word…“cramps.” The rest is understood.

So what are cramps exactly? 

I Married a Nutritionist

Helps guys make healthier choices

My friends wrote a book. 

Now, when your friends write a book, you’re obligated to like it; are you not?  Well, you’re obligated to at least read it.  Then, you know that you’ll have to be honest and tell the world what you really think of it-if you are a true professional, or at least someone who wishes to remain in integrity.  This can obviously, be risky.

But, being one who takes pride in taking the high road whenever possible, (and suffering the consequences if necessary), I have to say…that I love this book!  I Married a Nutritionist: Things I've Learned that Every Guy Should Know  is a delight.  My friends Karen and Steve Roth did a wonderful job and created something really special with this book.  

Jini's Double Chocolate Shake

Dbl. Choc. Protein Shake made with Thorne's Whey Protein

Anyone who knows me or has read anything I’ve ever written knows that I’m all about the chocolate; (if you have any doubts, check out the chocolate page on my website.)  I have to admit I do a pretty good job of sticking to the prescribed one square of dark chocolate a day despite the lavish praise I dole out to the vendors on my chocolate page.  But a girl can dream; can’t she?

I long ago came up with a whey (pun intended) to marry my love of chocolate to my morning protein shake.  By itself, this shake is packed with nutrients, healthy fat, fiber, quality protein and

The Search for the Perfect Vitamin

Professional supplements can be as powerful as some medications

A couple of months ago, I wrote a post on whether or not you should take nutritional supplements. Personally, I am a big believer in them. In the past, when I’d find myself in a bit of a financial crunch, the one thing I refused to give up would be my supplements. Shoes? Gone. Cosmetics? Gone. Organic chicken… (hmm…even I have my limits.) 

I still take quite a few supplements with each meal. But are all those supplements actually doing anything? Until you run some lab tests on yourself, you could be popping pills for years that you don’t need (and then you really would have expensive pee.) I’ve been there…you read something interesting about a supplement, the outcome from taking it sounds like something you’d really like to experience like shinier hair, long, strong finger nails or best of all: the promise of abundant energy. You might also take supplements be-

The Happiness Project

Great book! -Can "teach" you how to be happy.

By-Gretchen Rubin -Jinifit review

Gretchen Rubin had an epiphany one day while simply riding on a NYC bus.  “The days are long, but the years are short,” she decided. I couldn’t agree more.  When I read this on the back cover of her book, The Happiness Project, I was immediately interested.  From there, I found that the best description of her book could be found in her Note to the Reader…

A “happiness project” is an approach to changing your life.  First is the preparation stage, when you

Holy Guacamole!

I am a foodie, that is for sure.  I grew up in a family of foodies, I worked in upscale restaurants for a number of years and  I consider myself to be a confirmed culinary snob, a gourmand if you will. So what does a foodie do when following a healthy lifestyle, eating to stay lean and mean and on top of her game?

First, I indulge every now and then-that's a given-and there is nothing wrong with that!  IF, every now and then does not turn into...every day.  Then, I am always looking for new and interesting recipes to satisfy my craving for undeniably good food that fits in with my healthy lifestyle goals.

How to Break a Fitness Plateau -Part II

Last week’s post on overcoming fitness plateaus focused on dietary and lifestyle aspects of training that could be preventing you from reaching your goals. This week, we take a look at some more strategies, this time targeting the way you spend your time in the gym…

•    Change up your workout-Fitness experts are always talking about how important it is to change up your workout and keep your body guessing; that’s good advice. But what is meant by “changing things up?  Can you be more specific?  Well, sure...

Get honest with yourself –There’s no need to bring yourself to the brink of death to experience a training effect.  But let’s be honest…are you hot and sweaty when you finish working out?  Or do you chit chat your way from one side of the gym to the other, with no

How to Break a Fitness Plateau-Part I

You’ve been working out for…not months, years!  You read all the magazines, talk about workout trends with your friends and you're always trying a new diet.  You’re well-educated in this area and you feel like you’re doing everything right.  But your body isn’t changing and/or you’re not getting stronger and you don’t know why.  You know there’s nothing medically wrong with you yet, you’ve reached a plateau.  It happens to every “gym athlete” at some point.  So what can you do to get “unstuck” and move forward with your training program, to start seeing results again?  Here are five suggestions that will help; and they will work-IF you do them!  

• Eat more protein -Most people have no idea

Organic Chicken...Really?

I eat a lot of chicken. At first, I bought organic chicken because “everyone” told me it was better for me and I just assumed “they knew.” Then, as I studied to become a nutrition consultant, I learned why it was better.  Recently, I found an even more compelling reason to eat only organic chicken:

Contaminated Chicken

The New York Times recently reported that two new studies suggest farmers may be feeding chickens with feed laced with drugs like Tylenol, Prozac, Benadryl and antibiotics.  Are the groups making these claims, attempting to create hysteria surrounding commercially raised chickens to further an agenda on behalf of organic poultry growers or is there something to this?  Is it true? If so, why is this happening?
 
Two new studies by Johns Hopkins' Bloomberg School of

Concrete Gymnastics

Gymnastics performed on concrete in urban jungles. No, you did not misread that.  What you just read was a description of a non-competitive French extreme sport called parkour, also known as “free running” and it is beginning to take hold here in the U.S. as well.

Originating in the suburbs of Paris, the word parkour has its roots in the word “route” and its practitioners are known as "traceurs" who trace the route…of Parkour founder David Belle.

Asked for their definition of parkour, American Parkour participants felt a need to ask the entire national community for their personal definition of the sport. The final version, by a committee of American Parkour employees and also by people outside of American Parkour, was truly a community effort (this sport really takes things seriously!):

“Parkour is the physical discipline of training to overcome any obstacle within one's path by adapting one's movements to the environment.” Below you’ll find an even more detailed description of what Parkour is-and is not.

Father’s Day Fitness

Since you won’t be getting your Dad a tie for Father’s Day, what will you get him? Dads are tough to buy for.  Beer-of-the-month club is also out of the question (too many carbs.)  Argyle sweater?  Go ahead; I dare you!

So what are some good Father’s Day gift ideas for a Dad that works out?  Here are 5 ideas that might help.  But you better hurry, you don’t have much shopping time left!

Demonbells- I wrote about these in a recent blog post.  They are the coolest thing ever!  If your dad is serious about training,

I Wish I Were...

Remember The Serenity Prayer?... “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to…”  AA or at least Al-Anon adopted this abbreviated (the entire prayer is actually about 14 lines long) version as their creed and I think it’s very powerful. I recently stumbled upon something that struck me as similar but it resonated with me more; probably, because it spoke so wisely of so many human strengths-and I’m all about strength:

 

I wish I were big enough honestly, to admit all my shortcomings;

brilliant enough to

Why Aren’t You Training with Kettlebells?

These are "demonbells" -aren't they cool!? www.demonbells.com

As you may already know, one of the keys to breaking through a fitness plateau often means approaching your workout from a fresh perspective.  What can you do differently to elicit a training response once again?  Over time, our bodies will attenuate (adapt) to any reasonable stress placed upon them-this is how we get stronger and fitter (if it doesn’t kill you…)  Thankfully, there are many strategies you can employ that will kick-start your metabolism, your muscle growth and the fire in your belly! 

 

Adjusting variables such as adhering to a stricter diet, manipulating training volume/ intensity and cross-training are all great ways to experiment with plateau busting.  Quite often, plateaus can come about simply through

The One True Secret of Success

Many of us have a favorite columnist or writer that we really enjoy reading; someone who’s words leave an impression on us, inspire us, and with whom our ideas, values and/or philosophy resonate-we look forward to “hearing” from them.  For me, Alexander Green is one of those writers.  Frequent readers of Throwing a Fit will recognize the name as I’ve featured Mr. Green’s work before.  This particular piece hit home for obvious reasons (you’ll see.)  I hope you enjoy it as much I did.  If so, leave me a message in the comments section and let me know!

The One True Secret of Success -by Alexander Green

Each year for the past 14 years, I made a weight goal as a New Year's resolution. The same one, in fact. With each passing year, however, I only drifted a little farther from it.

Yet something happened over the last 90 days. I went on a plant-based diet, ran and lifted weights nearly every day, lost 20 pounds, and got in the best shape I've been in in decades. According to Professor Roberta Anding, a registered dietician and Director of Sports Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, I am now at my ideal weight.

The next challenge, of course, is maintaining it. But I really don't think I'll relapse. I've discovered that fit feels better than anything tastes. 

What Are You Having for Breakfast?

You’ve heard it time and time again, “breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” With the advent of intermittent fasting and other novel dietary approaches, the phrase is no longer a given.  But it’s hard to tell the gimmicks from the latest scientific research when it comes to fat loss, nutrition and optimal health.  The confusion, begins at breakfast. 

 

Breakfast is either loved or hated. It’s often hated because on busy mornings, before work or school, it takes time to prepare a healthy breakfast, time most of us just don’t have.  In addition, many people find it difficult to eat breakfast because we don’t have much of an appetite first thing in the morning. We’ll grab a coffee and a piece of toast perhaps, and rush out the door; carbs in hand…or, stomach. But it gets worse.

Lessons I Learned From Mom About Health

Eat your vegetables:  It doesn’t get more basic than that; I knew she was right; and Mom loved vegetables-but I hated them.  I learned to "adapt" to vegetables by disguising them.  When in doubt, you can always melt cheese over anything.  But beware, this could get you fat in a hurry. Replace the cheese with a little butter and added nuts, crispy onions, garlic, spices, dried fruit or sesame seeds.  Or, you can try pureeing (mostly spinach, carrots and cauliflower.)  You may eventually got brave enough to eat some steamed broccoli. Once I learned that one of my favorite foods, salad, is a vegetable, it was cause for celebration.  

These days, I make a delicious chocolate whey protein shake for breakfast every morning to which I add a big leaf of kale...and I can barely taste it (really!)

What Stress Can Do to You

There was once a quote (which I can’t seem to find in its exactitude) that said something to the effect of “If you're fighting an enemy that you just can't seem to hit, you may have to settle for the death of a thousand cuts." So you can die just as easily from a thousand little cuts as you can from one deep cut. 

So it is with stress.  Need I remind you of the phrase “stress kills?”  When this catch phrase first came out, it conjured up thoughts of some type of evil and pervasive force know as “stress” or an emotionally overwhelming event that not even the most hardened survivor could withstand. 

Now, when we think “stress kills” we associate it with more of a low-grade constant than an extreme event-like an irritating family member that is constantly at your side, needling you until you can’t take it another second and you want to rip their head off. 

The human fight or flight mechanism was meant to send a surge of energy in the form of sugar and hormone release to help us fend off serious danger.

Spring Cleaning-Yourself

They all say it.  All the gurus, the self-helpers, the personal developers-take charge of your life!  they cry.  It’s all up to you! Seize the day!  Its good advice; and I happen to agree with it.  But where to start?  If your idea of spring cleaning is to open the closet doors and take a quick leap backward to avoid the ensuing avalanche-then go back and dig in, you’ll have a cleaner house in short order.  But what about a cleaner you?  Shouldn’t your body be up for some spring cleaning of its own?  You change the oil filter and air filter on your car, what about the filtering system in your body-your liver and kidneys? They also need cleaning.  You can’t just take a few fiber supplements, wait until they kick in, then consider yourself “cleaned out,” like having just prepped for a colonoscopy-that won’t do it.  This is why you should consider “doing” a detox; to get clean-from the inside out.

5 Tips to Enjoy a Guilt-Free Easter or Passover

It’s April now and the food-related horror that was the holidays is but a distant memory.  Or is it?  My friend Lynn and I were talking about current fitness “hot topics” today and we decided that as there are so many relevant and important things to talk about, we should to narrow it down a bit. That’s when Lynn said “what about the holidays?”  “What about them? I asked, they’re nine months away.” “Not those holidays, the one this weekend!” she said.  “What can we do to minimize the damage so to speak?”  Here are five things that help:

·        Realize it’s just one day-or two, or three.  If you over-indulge, don’t throw in the towel and then say “aw, it doesn’t matter, I ruined everything

The Basics...2012 Style-Part II

As I mentioned in part I, a mountain of studies have been written in recent years to support burst training as a superior form of cardiovascular training but it has yet to become the mainstream form of cardiovascular exercise.  Why? One reason is that old habits die hard-very hard.

Speaking of hard…burst training is tough! Ah, but it’s so much shorter and that has one very important benefit:

 

The number one reason why people say they don’t exercise is that they don’t have time.  Burst training puts an end to that excuse. The recommended five to eight bursts will take about twenty minutes to complete and everyone can find twenty minutes especially if they don’t have to be consecutive minutes-and they don’t.  Another reason this hasn’t caught on as quickly as it should have is because of the large, commercial or big box gyms.  The typical big box Gym is