To be Strong or Not to be Strong

February is about to close and March is soon upon us.  How are you doing with your plans to create newness in the coming year?  Still on track? Taken a few side roads?  Fallen off the wagon all together?  Wherever you are at in the journey, it is Never too late to review &  reboot if necessary. Heck, count it as a Win that you are aware enough to know where you are at in the process and willing to own it.

Speaking of reviewing and rebooting, I had a huge ah-ha moment about 3 weeks ago that made me stop and take pause and have some powerful soul searching moments.  I walked out of the gym after a challenging workout of heavier squats than I had ever done and an unprovoked thought/realization smacked me right in the head. The realization...I am afraid to be strong!  What?!  I like to be strong.  I pride myself on being strong. (Not the best idea to pride myself on this)  Yet...it was true...at least in the past 3 years.

The thought caused me to take a good look at some things, and I continue to do so, that are a bit uncomfortable to admit and look at. However, in doing so, I have been able to shed some light on the truth of this thought by way of some events that have taken place, which I attached a belief too as proof of  "it's not ok to be strong."

So, let me take a moment to Dare Greatly and be vulnerable and share what I have discovered...in part. As my life and identity were changing in what felt like drastic ways I was afraid to be strong for fear I might not receive the help I thought I would need to survive.  I was also afraid to be strong because in some instances it would make me stand out and go against the norm and I already felt different as it was.  I had friends leave my life because they said I was too strong and in charge...something I had worked hard to learn as I overcame deep codependency behaviors from my past.  I also realized that being strong physically made me stand out and I didn't always like the comments people made in those regards either, because they say things like, "I am weird or crazy or obsessed." Not what I want to hear when I have worked hard to achieve something.  These are just a few of my ah-ha's in my "I'm afraid to be strong" realization.

Where to go from here. First, I had to get honest with myself and own the thought so I could do something about it.  Second, I had to get it outside of myself and share it with someone(s) who I trust and could give me a different perspective. Three, I got to decide if I wanted to change that belief and how I would do it. Four, be willing to go to the dark place and do the hard thing!

The realization and inquiry that came along with it have breathed some new life into me that has given me an energy I haven't felt for a while and I Am loving it! Some of the ways I know I need to be strong are still scary and I feel myself want to fight against them and I am going to let that be ok and keep moving forward. Being strong physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually is sexy and attractive. I/we don't have be zealots with our "strong-ness" but rather own it and go about in quiet, confident ways and make a difference in our lives and others. In doing so...we can change the world...one person at a time, if we desire to do so.

 Reminder...being strong does not equate to a pant/dress size, number on the scale, body fat or weight lifted...although they may be a part of the whole.  This is YOUR life and you only get ONE
! Why Not walk through it being strong, no matter what anyone else says or thinks. Go out and grab it and live it to the fullest...whatever that is for Y-O-U.

So, where are you afraid to be strong?  What scary things do get to own and/or put out there? What darkness do you get to wander through on your journey? How may we assist you?  Today is the day to review and reboot and make a commitment to be strong...or at least...stronger!

Happy to be a weirdo because I Am Strong!

Until next time..
Go BE Great...& Strong!

Jennifer Saunders
BS, ACE Certified Personal Trainer
Reiki Energy Therapy
Buttingear
Intuitive Life Coach

Highs and Lows...the truth about cardio

Highs and Lows

            So many times during my workday I get asked about what types of cardiovascular exercise are the most effective. Truth is it is the same as anything else in fitness. Both types of cardio training have their value, their place, and should be incorporated in your workout schedule. Traditionally steady state cardiovascular training has been and always will be the cornerstone that all good programs are built upon. However Interval training or HITT workouts can give you benefits that cannot be ignored, especially as our lives get busy and the time we can give our fitness gets harder to come by.

No-frills, steady-state cardio benefits the vast majority of physical functions — from digestion to breathing to everyday movements like walking, standing, and sleeping — are powered by the aerobic system. “The aerobic energy pathways are the limiting factor to anything we do,” says strength coach and physical therapist Charlie Weingroff, DPT. In other words, build a better aerobic engine, and you’ll get better at everything else.

The common belief that steady state cardio can cause injury have also been proven untrue. Unless you log an excessive number of hours each week doing steady-state cardio, and do little else in the way of exercise, “it doesn’t slow you down, and it doesn’t make you weak,” says Mike Robertson, MS, CSCS And people who are concerned that high-repetition cardio will wreck their knees can rest easy. In people of normal weight with healthy joints, moderate jogging can actually strengthen knees, suggests a 2011 study of lifetime runners by Monash University in Australia.

Steady-state cardio, says Robertson, also causes unique adaptations in the heart. When you exercise at a high intensity (while interval training, for example), he says, your heart often beats so fast that the left ventricle — which stores oxygenated blood momentarily before pumping it out — can’t refill completely between contractions. At a slightly lower intensity (and, thus, a lower heart rate), the left ventricle fills completely before it contracts, which causes it to grow in capacity — and thus pump more blood with each contraction — over time. This triggers your heart rate to drop substantially, both at rest and during exercise.

That’s a good thing. A lower heart rate isn’t just an indication of a healthy and high-functioning cardiovascular system. It’s also indicative of high “parasympathetic tone” in the nervous system — an enhanced ability to relax, focus, and recover from stress, including intense exercise.

When we spend our days working in a high stress environment then hit the gym for high intensity workouts this can sometimes do more bad than good. What your body needs after a hard day is more steady state exercise that helps relieve stress and does not tax the body any further.

Critics of steady-state cardio exercise are right about a few things. It isn’t a cure-all. Beyond a low baseline level, you won’t build much strength, power, or muscle. And contrary to what many people believe, you won’t burn an appreciable amount of fat, either. Exercisers in a 2009 study conducted by researchers at Queensland University of Technology in Australia who did steady-state cardio five times a week for 12 weeks lost only 7 pounds on average — and nearly half of them lost less than 2 pounds. Steady-state cardio is also repetitive. Jog for 30 minutes and you may take as many as 5,000 steps. To some exercisers, that’s meditative; to others, it’s a bore.

It may also be risky, says sports medicine physician Jordan Metzl, coauthor of The Exercise Cure (Rodale, 2013). “The more you perform a single-movement pattern, the more you load up one area of the body, and the more likely you are to get injured.”

Still, for a low-key workout that reduces your stress level and improves recovery while delivering general health and an efficient aerobic engine, old-fashioned steady-state cardio is underrated and tough to beat.

Sprints, shuttle runs, and timed lap swimming — has been a staple among athletes for at least a century. More recently, however, casual exercisers have caught on to its benefits as well. “Back in 1992, it was understood that if you wanted to be lean and healthy, you had to do cardio — hours of it,” recalls fitness journalist Lou Schuler, coauthor ofThe New Rules of Lifting Supercharged (Avery, 2012). In the late 90’s HITT type training started to gain in popularity. “If you’re trying to lose fat, it’s pretty clear that HIIT is a more effective tool than long-distance cardio,” Robertson says. Physiologists have yet to develop a full explanation for why this is, but one reason may be the so-called after burn effect, in which the metabolism remains elevated for hours — and sometimes even days — after an intense workout. The how isn’t important for coaches like Robertson and Mike. They just know that when a client wants to lose fat fast, HIIT is one of the best tools. One 1994 study at Laval University in Quebec, Canada, found HIIT was nine times more effective for losing fat than steady-state cardio.

burning fatRegular HIIT workouts also improve your ability to withstand the rigors of other types of interval training, adds Mike. The aching sensation in your muscles that accompanies a hard sprint (which results from burning carbohydrates for fuel) becomes less intense and subsides more quickly over time, allowing you to work at a higher intensity with less rest. Your capacity to transition smoothly from  (before your workout and during rest periods) to burning carbohydrates (during your work intervals) and back again — known as your “metabolic flexibility” — improves with HIIT, as well. Together, these metabolic benefits bolster health and athletic performance, particularly in sports requiring short bursts of all-out effort interspersed with periods of reduced effort, such as basketball or martial arts. “One of the biggest misconceptions about HIIT is that it develops the aerobic system and the anaerobic system equally,” says Robertson. “But aerobic and anaerobic exercise actually place very different demands on your heart and your muscles.” Since the advent of HIIT, Robertson says he’s seen more athletes who are anaerobically fit but aerobically weak. “We’re talking Division I athletes with resting heart rates in the high 70s or low 80s” — the equivalent of a couch potatoes. “They’re fast and strong, but they gas out after just a few minutes on the field.”

Improved aerobic production can also be short term. After four to six weeks of a HITT program beginners stop seeing improvements. A steady diet of HIIT can also stimulate a near-constant flight-or-fight response from your autonomic nervous system, says Robertson, resulting in a host of anxiety-like symptoms: racing heart, sweaty palms, difficulty sleeping, and an inability to sit still or focus. Over time, this hyper vigilant state can impair recovery. “With HIIT, you have a higher probability for overreaching and , especially if you’re doing strength training as well,” Mike says. This could be a recipe for disaster in the long run and land you with some very serious injuries.

So mix it up, and choose wisely. Listen to your body and adjust your workouts to fit your day, don’t just push through an exhausting workout when the benefits you are looking for are best found in something less flashy and more peaceful. The most important tool you have in your fitness quest is your body. Learn to take care of it.

What have you achieved?

It is common, especially in a weight loss challenge, to measure success in terms of weight lost. But I encourage you to take a step back and recognize the other improvements and accomplishments you have made. Have you improved your endurance, or become more efficient at a particular exercise? Have you gotten better about going to the gym consistently? Are you bringing healthier snacks to work, or eating a good breakfast before you leave?

These victories are important to recognize because as you progress into your new lifestyle changes, the going will inevitably get tough. Recognizing what you have already accomplished can be a powerful motivator, and will help you get through those difficult days. Oftentimes, it may even be more beneficial to redirect your focus from losing weight to continuing these little feats throughout the day (some people may refer to this as Breaking It Down). And you may be pleasantly surprised the next time you step on the scale.

I have two challenges for you this week:

1)      Send us an email describing what accomplishments you have made (besides weight loss) thus far in the challenge. (worth one entry)

2)      In light of using this opportunity to improve overall fitness, let’s take this week to focus on consistency on some fundamental movements. Every day this week, complete:

a.       30 Squats (weight in heels, knees behind toes, thighs reaching parallel to the ground)

b.      10 Push-ups (May go from knees, BUT must go all the way to chest touching ground; core tight, body straight)

c.       2 Plank holds to failure (On elbows, core tight, don’t forget to breathe!)

These are very basic movements that build a foundation for more complex exercises. They are also all fantastic for improving your day-to-day functional movement. So make sure you have good form, and if you would like some help making sure you are doing them correctly PLEASE come ask! There’s nothing worse than doing 210 squats and then realizing you did them wrong. Well, maybe….. but it’s definitely on the list!

Let us know if you have any questions.

How about a "quickie"?

How about a quickie?

            If you are among the world of busy people, and looking for quick, fast, and healthy nutrition options, then you are not alone.

            During my busiest of days, when I am scheduled for hours without a break, my go-to “quickie” is a Super Shake. My current recipe is pretty basic, but I like the way it tastes and it works great to keep me fueled through a busy day when I don’t have the option to sit down and eat.

                Current go-to Super Shake recipe:

                        -10 ounces water

                        -2 large handfuls of spinach

                        -1 cup of frozen mixed berries (strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries)

                        -1 scoop vanilla whey protein powder

                        -1 TBSP Barlean’s Fish Oil

            *Check out Precision Nutrition’s “Super Shake Guide” for direction into how to create your own Super Shake.

http://www.precisionnutrition.com/super-shake-creation-infographic?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=PromotedPost&utm_campaign=SuperShake

Break it Down!

So...you wanna lose weight, run a 5k, run a marathon, lift heavier weight, be a better friend, quit smoking, eat more veggies and the list goes on. As we sit back and review our lives and get brainy ideas of what we would like to have or accomplish, we see the end goal but are not always sure how to actually get there. This thought can become very heavy, weigh us down and keep us planted in our tracks. Which then adds "proof" to our already long standing belief of, "I'm a failure and this will never happen for me. I'm destined to remain like this the rest of my life." Sound familiar to anyone?

Today let's talk about breaking that big picture down into do-able chunks.  Start by listing what things  you are currently already doing to get you to your outcome.  Then, create a list of what habits will be necessary to add into your life in order for your outcome to happen.  Lastly, you can also create a list of things you may want to eliminate.  I am All about building on strengths and encourage the first list to come first!  I am also about adding in more "good" things rather than taking away things that will put us farther into "I have to Sacrifice" mode. My belief says that when we add more good we are automatically more motivated to start eliminating the "less good" things that keep us from our desired outcomes.

Now that you have your lists, or whatever you want to call them, let's take a look at one or two items where we can break it down. (every time I write break it down, I see MC Hammer and his hammer pants and the song pops into my head.  Yep, there it is is yours now too.  Sweet!) There!  We just added one thing into the plan of reaching your desired outcome...FUN!  Ok, enough dancing for now and back to business.

Take the item(s) you've chosen and let's get them really simple. You wanna eat more veggies...start by adding one baby carrot. Totally simple and easy to do.  Now create a trigger to assist you in getting that baby carrot eaten.  The trigger can be a meal.  For example, with dinner...eat one baby carrot.  Or...after each meal...eat a baby carrot. After you eat the baby carrot do a fist pump and say, "I Am Awesome!"  The cool part of this is...it may seem silly at first to say I Am Awesome, but before you know it...you actually believe You Are Awesome.   As you do this, you will build the habit and more than likely, find the motivation to eat a few baby carrots after each meal.  How cool is that?!  You can go from eating 3 baby carrots a day to eating 20 a day.  Shazam...carrot eating conquered!  Motivation to do more comes as you create the little successes and feel the power behind them. Oh how I Love to Celebrate Wins!!

Wanna do more push-ups, sit-ups, squats, etc? Here is a funny example I read from the creator of Tiny Habits. He wanted to do more push-ups, so...every time he went to the bathroom he would do 2 push-ups.  He went from doing approx 10/day to 60ish/day.  How would that change things for you?  Remember to wash your hands!  :)

The Break it Down into simple, do-able steps can be done with anything. How do you eat an elephant? You guessed it, one tiny bite at a time. The next question is, "why would you want too?" The "Why" is another good  question to ask yourself about your desired outcomes.  So...decide on your desired outcome, create your lists, choose one or two things and...Break it Down.  Insert dancing here!  Have fun with this!  I am aware this is the nutshell version, so...if you would like some assistance with this fun project, contact us at Mountain View Hospital's Health and Fitness Academy.

Until Next Time...
Go Be Great!

Jennifer Saunders
BS,  ButtinGear Trail Running
Ace Certified Personal Trainer
Reiki Energy Therapy
Intuitive Life Coach

NEW YEAR.....Resolutions???

What is your unresolution?

It is finally 2015 and I have been hearing a lot of negative talk this year about resolutions. It has been common to hear “I am not having resolutions this year,” when that age old question is asked. It got me to thinking why? Are we not interested in setting goals for ourselves anymore? Is the pressure of aiming for something bigger/harder/better than our current situation too much to handle? OR have we lost faith in the process that must happen to make the changes?

I do not believe this to be true. I do not know one contributing member of society that is without goals for themselves. If we were to create a driven scale, there would be a wide range of levels of motivation, but most have something they want or something they want to be better at.

Americans spend $60 billion dollars a year in search of fitness and/or weight loss. The industry has been growing at an astounding rate the last few decades. In spite of all of this, Americans continue to become less healthy and present with more health issues at earlier and earlier ages. Are we seeing an anti-fitness movement? Will it soon be stylish to buck the fitness system and refuse to be a member at the gym, or order green vegetables with your dinner? Are we tired of all of the media and warped Ideals of what we should look like? Maybe it is time to stop focusing on the “appearance” of fitness and start looking at what we can do when we are fit.

My challenge to you this month is to find something new. Something exciting, that you have never done before. Skiing, Snowshoes, or a mountain you haven’t climbed yet. Your mountain can be real or metaphorical it just needs to be a little scary and a little more than you think your capable of. Find your local climbing gym and take a starter class, or enroll in your local community colleges pottery class. Get yourself out of the house and into the world we live in. I guarantee if you do this you will not need resolutions, but you might find yourself brave enough to make some.

Lite'N Up Challenge: Week 2

Picky Portions

            It’s that time of year again. New Year’s Resolutions are in full swing. People are re-focused. People are striving for change.

            If you’re striving for nutritional changes, here are a few tips to get you jump started in the right direction…

**Be picky with your portions**

            2 common ways that can help you re-focus and become aware of your portion sizes…

1.      Precision Nutrition recommendations

a.       Need:        Ability to count to 2 and your own hand

b.      Here’s how it works:

                                                                          i.      Your palm determines your protein portions.

                                                                        ii.      Your fist determines your veggie portions.

                                                                      iii.      Your cupped hand determines your carb portions.

                                                                      iv.      Your thumb determines your heart healthy fat portions.
                                   v.    Males aim for 1-2 portions of each at each eating opportunity. Females aim for 1 portion of each at each eating opportunity.

                                                                    

2.      Calorie Counting App

a.       Objective:  Determine number of calories needed to maintain your current weight. Create a deficit through exercise and reduce and/or make better nutritional choices to facilitate weight loss. -250 calories per day is an estimated 0.5 pound weight loss per week. -500 calories per day is an estimated 1 pound weight loss per week.

b.      Need:        MyFitnessPal app or something similar

c.       Here’s how it works:

                                                                          i.      Log on and create your account by entering the information it asks for.

                                                                        ii.      Set your goals which will then give you the amount of calories that particular app recommends.

                                                                      iii.      Most apps will automatically set up the percentage of Carbs, Protein, and Fat it thinks you should have. Sometimes that may not be the best breakdown for your body type.

1.      Example:

a.       Ectomorphic: Naturally thin with skinny limbs. Wants to gain muscle and size, especially in limbs and maintain bodyweight during strength during high volume/endurance exercise.

                                                                                                                                                  i.      Protein: 25%

                                                                                                                                                ii.      Carbohydrate: 55%

                                                                                                                                              iii.      Fat: 20%

b.      Mesomorphic: Naturally muscular and athletic. Wants to continue to build muscle mass while maintaining low body fat percentage and support athletic performance.

                                                                                                                                                  i.      Protein: 30%

                                                                                                                                                ii.      Carbohydrate: 40%

                                                                                                                                              iii.      Fat: 30%

c.       Endomorphic: Naturally broad and thick. Wants to lose body fat especially in central region (abdominal, lower back).

                                                                                                                                                  i.      Protein: 35%

                                                                                                                                                ii.      Carbohydrate: 25%

                                                                                                                                              iii.      Fat: 40%

2.      You can modify the percentages manually if you’d like or based on your trainer’s recommendations.

                                                                      iv.      START TRACKING!

1.      The more honest and consistent you are with your tracking, the better you will be able to determine what is working and what is not.

The trainers at HFA are knowledgeable regarding both methods as well as possible others. If you have questions, we would love to help you! Just let us know how.

(208) 557-2823

Hayley (hjones@mvhospital.net)

Gretchen (ghouston@mvhospital.net)

Jennifer (jsaunders@mvhospital.net)

Greg (geinerson@mvhospital.net)