I love doors! I have taken photos of doors in Idaho, Montana, Utah, Equador, and Panama to name a few places. I love the textures, designs shapes, colors and never-ending character of doors. I can set my imagination free creating stories and pictures of who comes in and out of these doors and the lives they must live. From the President of Equador to the poorest of villagers and everything in between. Doors are amazing!
However, there are some doors that I have pondered lately that I must say I am not so fond of. These doors seem to be meant more for hiding. Hiding clutter, games, clothing, coats, food and other such items from others view. You know what doors I'm talking about and I'm guessing we all have at least one. Closet doors!
You just pictured yours right now, I saw it in your eyes. Picturing mine actually drew a smile across my face, mostly because you can't see it. If you really wanted to see it I might let you, with the agreement of a warm batch of homemade chocolate chip cookies in your hands.
I love doors because they lead us in and out of comfortable places, fun places, places of entertainment and so much more. However, I am not so fond of closet doors because, just like things, instead of going in and out, they keep us, & our secrets...hidden. For a human soul, they become a place of shame, discouragement and leave people feeling less than those around them.
Closets hide many things: addictions, sickness, hardships, sexuality, weight, food, financial hardships & so much more. Closets keep so many amazing gifts from being shared with others. It doesn't matter the story or situation, closets are not healthy and not meant to be lived in.
In reality, closets are no more than hard conversations. Whatever that conversation is, be willing to be real and to have it and allow others to do the same. No Judgment! One person's closet is not harder than another's. They are All just hard! Allow yourself and others to come out of darkness and into the light and share the gift of Y-O-U, because Nobody can do it like you can. We want to participate in the gifts you have to offer.
If your closet is eating or food related, embarrassment of not exercising or thinking you
can't do hard (or easy) physical things, weight, emotional or physical ailments to name a few; let the amazing team of Personal trainers at Mountain View Hospital's Health & Fitness Academy help open the door for you and let you out once and for all. We wanna see your true colors and assist you in showing them off to the world. Ok, if the world is too big, we can start a little smaller for you, but you get the picture.
So enjoy doors and know, its time for all of us to come out of the closet...forever!
Until next time...
Go BE Great!!
Jennifer Saunders
208-557-2823
jsaunders@mvhospital.net
HFA Personal Trainer
ButtinGear
Life Untethered Intuitive Life Coaching
Reiki Energy Therapy
Monday, February 24, 2014
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Group Fitness!!! "Join the Crowd"
Join the Crowd
There are many ways to find motivation this spring. Summer is coming and we are not all looking forward to shorts, tanks, and sandals. You see the cardio equipment and weight floors fill up at your local gym. Endurance athletes start planning their event participation for the summer. Diet based franchises see a huge upswing in memberships. But what if none of that would motivate you to get your heart rate up? Maybe it is time to find a way to exercise that will have you lost in a crowd.
Group classes have been around for decades. Group classes include Step, Water, Cross Fit, Body Sculpting, Yoga, and Zumba to name a few of the many options. Group classes can be found at your local Gym, City Recreation center, school gymnasiums, and even local churches. Group classes keep the cost of exercise down so that more can participate.
Other benefits of Group classes include;
1. Saving Time: The energy level and fun factor make group fitness go by much faster than traditional weights
2. Make it Social: meet like-minded and like-motivated individuals. You’ll find you share common goals and interest which can be a great motivator to work hard in class and create accountability for coming back week after week.
3. Motivation: Having someone telling you to work harder and encouraging you to take your fitness to the next level will get you there.
4. Challenge: #5 benefit of motivation ties into the benefit of being challenged to work harder. You want to keep pace, meaning you will be challenged to work harder. Studies have proven that working out in a group results in a bigger calorie burn.
5. Keep it Fresh: Whatever your flavor or need, chances are you can find a class or encourages someone to start one.
6. Safety: When beginning a new or different fitness routine, feeling safe and being safe are key. Instructors will be able to help explain and model what you’re doing, how to do it and what you should be feeling.
This is your chance to get out and make a healthy change for your life. Through good nutrition and exercise you can improve your mental, emotional, and physical state. So get out a gather yourself a support group, make friends, and have some fun.
Monday, February 10, 2014
Consistency Continued...
Consistency…Continued…
Last month, we began looking at Consistency. Specifically the challenge we are currently hosting, why consistency is important, and 4 out of 8 areas we have asked our participants to be consistent with.
Today I’ll touch on the remaining 4 areas our participants are asked to be consistent with.
Why consistency you ask?
Studies have shown that the knowledge difference, between people who are very happy with their health, body composition and performance and those that are ambivalent or unhappy with their progress, is not very different. More often than not, it’s the difference in what these people do consistently that is far more important.
As a review, our first 4 areas of consistency were…
1. 50 minutes of activity
2. Eat every 2-4 hours
3. Eat lean protein at each eating opportunity
4. Eat a vegetable and/or fruit at each eating opportunity
And now, for the remaining 4.
5. Eat a heart healthy fat at each eating opportunity
a. Fat type is more important that total fat amount or fat percentage.
b. By balancing saturated fats (1/3), monounsaturated fats (1/3), and polyunsaturated fats (1/3), this will optimize health, body composition, and performance.
c. Just focus on adding the healthy fats (mono & poly) like extra virgin olive oil and avocados into your diet of fruits, veggies, proteins, and “smart carbs”, and your fat intake should balance itself right out.
6. Choose your carbs to reflect your goals at each eating opportunity
a. If you want to lose fat, have most of your carbs come from veggies and fruit, plus a small amount of additional carbs from sugary sources during exercise and a small amount of starchy carbs post-exercise.
b. If you want to gain muscle, you can incorporate grains more often throughout the day as long as your goals remain on track.
c. Both areas can be individualized even greater, but it’s a good place to start!
7. Drink 8 cups of water
a. Since your body is made up of 60% water and water is absolutely essential for a variety of physiological functions, your health, performance, and body composition will suffer if you don’t drink enough water.
b. Our body actually needs about 12 cups per day (non-exercising days) to function correctly. We typically get about 4 cups of water through our food (fruits and veggies are the best!); therefore we need to ingest the other 8 cups.
c. Although we only chose to focus on water for our challenge participants, focusing zero calorie beverages like green tea and water are ideal for those looking to lose weight. Kick those fruit juices, sodas, and other sugary/calorie loaded beverages to the curb!
8. Perform a 5 minute Mind-Body Scan
a. Ask yourself, “What am I feeling physically”, “What am I feeling emotionally”, and “What am I thinking”?
b. Our thoughts and emotions can drive a lot of how we feel and then even do because of how we feel. Take a minute to check in on yourself. Help keep yourself accountable!
So, with an additional 4 different areas to look at, ask yourself, “How consistent am I with these”?
A great quote I have come to love looks at consistency like this, “My name is consistency, I am related to Success. We should hang out more than…every once in a while.”
An awesome way to keep you accountable is journaling! There are many ways to journal what you are doing to determine your consistency. You can simply paper and pen it! You can hop on your various electronic devices and download a tracking app like “MyFitnessPal”. Or you could simply use Precision Nutrition’s “Biweekly adherence chart”. Feel free to email me for a copy of that chart!
Remember!
Healthy Habits, a class teaching a habit based approach to a healthy lifestyle, is beginning again soon! Tentative class will be Tuesday/Thursday 530p-630p. Please email me for more details!
Until next time!
Hayley Jones, BS, CSCS, PN1
Friday, February 7, 2014
Focusing on Posture in your Workout and in Daily Life
Do you ever come home from a long day sitting at work and you are particularly sore in your back or neck? As you probably know, this can most often be attributed to poor posture, something that many are aware of but not entirely sure how to fix. At the gym, poor posture often translates into exercises and reinforces the bad habits.
The key to fixing posture is organization and stabilization of the spine. Simply, this means putting your spine in a neutral position (so not hunched forward or extended back), and maintaining this position through your exercises as well as throughout the day. Doing this not only prevents injury to you back (and shoulders, hips and knees!), but also ensures you are mechanically effective in how you use your muscles. This means more power, force, and stability in your exercises.
While most people are aware of their bad posture habits, they don’t have a systematic approach to fixing the problem. Below is a modified version of Dr. Kelly Starrett’s step-by-step guide on how to organize your spine to help maintain proper form during your exercises as well as good posture throughout the day.
Start in a standing position with your feet directly under your hips
1) Squeeze your butt.
Notice when you do this it pushes your hips forward slightly, aligning them underneath your shoulders
2) Tuck your ribcage down.
In doing this you are aligning your ribcage with your hips, like you are stacking one right on top of the other.
3) Get your belly tight.
When you flex your abs, you are essentially “locking” your hips and ribcage into the positions you just put them. You are not flexing your abs, but rather pulling your bellybutton into your spine. Keeping this position requires about 20% tension in your core muscles, so just enough to maintain the position.
4) Tuck chin back slightly.
Not tilting your head down, but staying in a neutral position looking straight forward. Think about aligning your ears over your shoulders, hips, and ankles.
5) Rotate your shoulders back.
This doesn’t mean squeezing your shoulder blades together, but rather turning your hand out until they face forward, and then maintain the position that puts your shoulders in, even when your hands return to their normal position.
At first this may be a little fatiguing. If you are at your desk, stand up and go through the steps every time your feel your posture slipping. At the gym, go through the steps before every exercise. The key is to program the steps into a movement pattern so eventually you are organizing your spine without realizing it. Hopefully this is good start for those who are looking to improve their posture, or those who are looking to get that little extra power in their lifts.
Let me know if you want to know more!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)