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This is a picture from an article in the latest issue of Runner’s World.  I kind of glossed over the page until I got to the words  “Plus Size Women”.

Am I missing something here?  Is she really a plus-size model and I just don’t see it?

It’s only day one, but I’ve already uttered the words “I don’t plan to ever run again!” (since this injury may have been related to excessive mileage). My foot is in excruciating pain, I feel nauseous, and the beautiful weather is just taunting me. I am couch-bound, which is like a prison sentence to me.

At the same time, this helps remind me how lucky I am to be healthy. My pain and discomfort is (hopefully) temporary. In a week or so I’ll be walking again and the bruises and needle marks will be healed. Others, however, are not so lucky.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and my heart goes out to these moms.

I met this spectacular mom at BlogHer and was so inspired by her courage. She has two boys the same age as mine and last year battled for her life and WON!

Please visit the Susan G. Komen website and find a way to support this very important cause. Reach out to any moms, (or really anyone) you know that has been affected by cancer. Even the smallest of gestures can make a huge difference in someone’s day.

On that note, thank you to all the wonderful people who have called, emailed, and offered to help me. Thank you Mom & Dad for watching my two loud and wild boys on Friday so my husband could be with me at the hospital.

Who can you thank today? Don’t wait until tomorrow.

Just like exercise and healthy eating, make “being thankful” one of your daily habits.

photo credit: Aglie

She did it!

Jennifer Lopez completed the Nautica Malibu Triathlon on Sunday, only seven months after the birth of her twins.

She said she was inspired to do the race when she was 8 months pregnant.

“I was watching TV, and I saw a triathlon and I said, ‘You know what? I think I could do that, that would be great for me to do. Maybe I’ll do it this year,’” she explained.

Her participation in the race raised $127,000 for the Children’s Hospital of L.A.

Below is the video clip of the segment she did with Good Morning America in August.

She talks about how it is such a challenge to find the time and motivation to train, (she says they do not have nannies) but the hard work has paid off. She now has much more energy and feels so much better overall.

Jennifer also jokes that she is going to finish the race, even if it means crawling across the finish line! Fortunately, she didn’t need to resort to crawling, she proudly finished with a great smile on her face.

I definitely have to give Jennifer Lopez credit here. She committed herself to this race just after giving birth and did not give up on her goal. I’m sure there were many mornings when she didn’t feel like getting up to train, but she took the time to make it happen.

Great job J. Lo! You are definitely “One Fit Mommy”!

picture source: Popbytes

A good friend of mine has a daughter that was recently diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. She sent me an email to let me know about the Walk Now for Autism event on November 8th, 2008.

As I read over all the stories on the official site, I wonder why can’t we figure out the cause behind autism? When will we get to a point where no more parents have to hear the words “your child is autistic“?

Think about everyone in your circle of friends. Chances are you know someone who is affected by this as the statistics are alarming:

“Autism spectrum disorders are diagnosed in 1 in 150 children in the United States, affecting four times as many boys as girls. The diagnosis of autism has increased tenfold in the last decade. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have called autism a national public health crisis whose cause and cure remain unknown.”

Please considering supporting this cause. Here is the link to my friend’s page. Her daughter is the same age as my son.

Visit the Walk for Autism site to find out when this event is coming to your town. It is your chance for fitness and a great cause all wrapped up in one.

We can do it gang.

FatFighter is the winner from my latest contest. She can now enjoy some cool water from her new Camelbak bottle instead of unpacking her suitcases.

Many thanks to all who entered!

Keep the movement going gang, ignore a few chores today and get some exercise instead. Your body and mind will appreciate it!

Image via Wikipedia

Attention kettlebell fans! Have you bought Lauren Brooks new DVD yet? This is one you definitely need to get for your home fitness library!

It offers 2 separate workouts, both of which are very challenging. Lauren and her training partner do all the exercises with you, and as you can see from the clip down below, they are getting great results!

Aside from the fabulous workouts this DVD offers, here are some other reasons why I love it:

• The exercise demonstration portion is excellent. I was having a hard time with proper form and ended up with very bruised forearms. (the kettlebell was banging against my arm during the exercises) Lauren addresses this common mistake and guides you through the correction. Thank you Lauren!
• Lauren goes through each move in detail, including the ones that don’t even use a kettlebell. I learned a better way to do mountain climbers that makes them slightly more bearable! She also gives options and encourages you to choose your own level.
• The DVD includes a joint mobility warm-up and 2 separate workouts. The fat-blaster workout is just 12 minutes long and Lauren emphasizes that everyone can make 12 minutes in their day for fitness.
  Awesome advice! Too many of us are tied to the thought that we need an hour or else we cannot workout at all. This is not true! I can tell you that I was sweating and struggling during that 12 minute fat-blaster workout, wondering why the twelve minutes was taking so long!
• My favorite aspect of the DVD is the personal touch. Lauren addresses how concerned she was about getting her body back after pregnancy and a c-section. The personal comments, clips, and suggestions that Lauren adds throughout this video makes me feel as if she “gets it”. She struggles too, but she has found a great way to stay in shape and she is sharing it with me. With you. With us.
  Lauren reaches out to us and encourages questions and comments. She provides her contact information and says she would love to hear from you and I believe she really means it!

Lauren is definitely the kind of personal trainer that I would hire. She is tough, but she genuinely cares about your fitness and success. Please visit Lauren’s website, On the Edge Fitness, to learn more about the services she offers and to get yourself a copy of her DVD. You will not be disappointed!

If you do not have a kettlebell yet, you can get one at Target and Amazon.

So, have you swung your ‘bell yet today?

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• How To Squeeze Fitness Into Your Busy Life

This is a guest post from Alice, a busy mom with 2 kids and one on the way. She describes herself as a “Frenchie trying not to lose her mind while raising two children, working full time, being pregnant, having a relationship, maintaining a figure and an education.” She can be found blogging over at I am not from your country.

I had my guest blog topic all picked out and I had even started writing the post. Then yesterday morning, I went to the spa in order to get a much needed massage. In the middle of my “prenatal massage”, I decided “What the heck! What mom doesn’t need to relax like this? I’m going to write about massage!”

I am a Licensed Massage Therapist, so I fully know all the benefits of massage, and yet, I haven’t been able to find any time for a massage thus far into my pregnancy. Shame on me! In my defense, I can partly blame the fact that I have been spending so much time doing Physical Therapy for my broken 5th metacarpal… but that is another topic.

So, let’s talk about massage: first off, I thought it would be useful to reiterate all the benefits of massage (aside from the fact that they make you feel so darn god). I would also like to cover the different types of massage you are likely to encounter at your local spa and I also want to talk about a few self massage techniques for time impaired individuals such as myself.

So here you are on the massage table, having your back worked on by your therapist. He/she is your most favorite person right now and you feel so relaxed, you wish this moment would never, ever end.

But why do you feel so good? Well, as I am sure you know, you can credit beloved endorphins. Massage has been shown to help release endorphins which reduce stress and anxiety, help enhance relaxation and bring a sense well being. Your breathing will become less shallow and slower, your blood pressure is likely to go down. Regular massages can actually help with mental and emotional health. I don’t know about you, but being a mom, I can absolutely use all those things.

Massage will also help stimulate your blood circulation and the movement of the lymph fluids. Both those things are very far reaching for your health. The texture and health of your skin will also be improved by a regular rub down. Headaches respond well to massage and tensions in any muscle will be greatly reduced by a good massage.

Massage is extremely popular with athletes as pre and post performance tool. It can help enhance performance, lessen the recovery time due to an injury, it helps increase Range Of Motion (ROM), it is also an excellent post operative tool that will lessen the appearance of scar tissue and adherence.

There are many more benefits to massage, but I feel the ones cited are enough for you to want to get regular massage. If you have any sense of stress in your life, if you workout regularly, if you need a break from the daily routine to take time for yourself, in short, if you are a human being, than you will benefit from massage.

Now that you have decided to make time for a nice hour long massage, you call your local spa to make an appointment and you are presented with a number of options to choose from… some of them you’ve never even heard of… shiatsu what?

Let’s review a few of the different modalities most spas are likely to offer.

-Swedish massage: this is the most popular type of massage and probably the one you have been picturing when thinking about massage.
It is done with oil or lotion and the therapist will use gliding strokes. You will be expected to wear only little clothing (or nothing at all) since your body will be draped, leaving only the body part your therapist is working on uncovered. Keep a couple of things in mind: you get to choose how much or how little you are comfortable wearing during your massage but the therapist might not be able to use his/her full arsenal of strokes if you are wearing a pair of shorts and a sports bra. Pressure wise, you can request anything from gentle to firm to deep tissue. Don’t be mistaken though, deep tissue is not always the most effective. If you end up tensing every other muscle in response to a deep tissue stroke on your calf, you might be voiding any benefits.

-Sports/Russian Massage: this type of massage might not include your entire body but will focus on whichever area of you need specific attention due to your sport or injury. A real sports massage will not be particularly relaxing, it might even err on the side of discomfort, maybe even *gasp* pain. Your therapist will use sports specific massage strokes along with ROM work and some stretches. It is very effective if you are trying to recover from an injury or need to enhance your athletic performance. Note: a lot of spas will list sports massage as one of their options, but will merely give provide you with a more vigorous swedish massage. Real, competent sports massage therapists can actually be hard to come about.

-Reflexology: if you are uncomfortable with the idea of undressing and having a stranger massage you, you might like reflexology. Reflexology is a massage of the feet and/or hands (sometimes face) alone. Your extremities have reflexes points corresponding to all of your organs. Note that most often, Reflexology refers to feet. It can be very relaxing and unintrusive. It is personally one of my most favorite modalities, both to give and receive. If your feet are not very well cared for, the first few sessions might include some discomfort, but the healthier your feet are, the more enjoyable Reflexology will be.

-Reiki/CranioSacral: both of those modalities, while different, are based on energy work. That means that unless you are open and receptive to energy (trust me, I wasn’t for a long long time), you might feel like nothing is happening. Don’t misjudge though, the fact that you might not be consciously aware of what is taking place does not mean it is not taking place at all. Those two modalities are perfect for people who are in a fragile state of health because they are so very gentle. You are likely to walk out of your session feeling re-energized and more balanced.

-Shiatsu: the word means “finger pressure”, it is a Japanese modality. It follows the idea of the meridians and pressure points found in Acupuncture. You will not need to disrobe for your session, which can be a plus for some people. You can expect some gentle finger/hand pressure following your meridians and some energy work to be performed. Personally, I love it. It can be practiced on the floor or on a regular massage table.

I hope you now have a clearer of what you are getting yourself into when you request a deep pressure massage, or decide to be adventurous and pick Shiatsu. Unfortunately, finding time (and money) for a massage is not always easy. While ideally, we would all get massaged twice a month, this might be simply out of reach for a lot of us.

Therefore, I wanted to touch on the topic of self massage. There are a lot of books out there that teach self massage and you might want to pick one up. I really believe that good illustrations will go a long way in teaching people massage strokes, as opposed to lengthy, wordy descriptions.
With this in mind, here are a few links where you will find help to get started right away.

First, check out those videos from Expert Village. They go through a few different techniques and routines and are helpful.
Also, there is a great site called Self Massage for Athletes. I find it very well made. It will explain the The 7 Basic Massage Strokes and also give you Routines for several sports.

Personally, I love regularly giving myself a little Reflexology treatment. I don’t have to contort in order to try to reach my feet, it helps make me feel much more relaxed and my feet look very happy once I am done. If you don’t believe me, give yourself a good foot massage on your right foot and then compare it to your left. See what I am saying?

I am attaching a Foot Reflexology Map of the foot so you know the specific reflex points.
When doing Reflexology, you will be using more pressure strokes than gliding strokes. This will help you pinpoint which area is tender. Make sure not to limit yourself to just the plantar area of your foot, as you can see on the chart, there are plenty of reflex points on the ankle, the heel and the top of your feet.

*Start your session without any oil or lotion.
*Just apply pressure with your thumb, progressing in line (press, move forward, press, move forward etc…) starting from the toes and working your way down to your heel.
*Do not forget any area: the web of your toe, or the shelf formed by the ball of your foot should not be neglected.
*Once your have spent a good 15 minutes working your foot that way, apply some hydrating lotion using gliding strokes and move on to foot number 2.
*If you find any tender spot, and I am willing to bet you will, spend a little more time on it.
There are also a lot of good publications on Reflexology at your local bookstore. If you find that you like the modality and want to know more, pick one up.

Well, now that you are ready, go ahead and schedule a massage with yourself or a therapist.
We all need time to regroup, time to take care of ourselves. Massage can be a fantastic tool when one is seeking to achieve greater overall well being, use it as much as you can.

photo credit: goldberg

photo credit: vastfield

This is a guest post by Kerry McLeod, chief Brand Doctor at www.ebrandaid.com. If smart food shopping appeals to you, you’ll want to click here and subscribe to eBrandAid.com’s free newsletters; plus receive a FREE e-Report - eBrandaid’s Grocery Store Survival Guide.

You probably know that you can’t always rely on food manufacturers to have your best interest at heart. More often than not they go out of their way to emphasize “healthy” ingredients when sadly, they’ve added miniscule amounts.

Too often the unhealthy ingredients (think high fructose corn syrup) outweigh any of the nutritional stuff. Trusting shoppers may think they’re making a wise food choice when, in reality, they’re being bamboozled into buying a Healthy Food Imposter.

Case in point: Capri Sun Juice Drinks

Take a look at the front label – it boldly states ANTIOXIDANTS, No Artificial Colors, Flavors or Preservatives!

To a time-pressed shopper this might be all the nudging needed to get this product in the grocery cart. After all, the word ANTIOXIDANTS implies it’s a great choice. Right?

Not so fast. When you take the time to read the fine print, you’ll quickly see this is nothing more than a sneaky labeling trick. Manufacturers do it for one simple reason – to entice unsuspecting shoppers to impulse buy their product. We hate when they do that!

(100 calories, 0g fat, 15mg sodium, 26g sugar, 20% vitamin C)

INGREDIENTS: Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Pear, Apple, And Strawberry Juice Concentrates, Citric Acid, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Vitamin E Acetate, Natural Flavor.

Decoding the Fine Print

Okay, so we already know that the front label implies this is a nutritional juice drink. However, take a look at the ingredients list and the Nutrition Facts label and here’s what you’ll find:

Water and high fructose corn syrup are the first two ingredients listed. Remember, manufacturers list ingredients in order of most to least, meaning the first few ingredients usually make up the bulk of the food item.

Next, they list several fruit concentrates. Maybe now we’re getting somewhere with the healthy stuff, right? Wrong. When you look at the NFL you see that the “healthy stuff” is really only 10% juice. Ouch!

Last on the list are the so-called antioxidants ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and vitamin E acetate. However, when you look at the NFL you also see this only translates into 20% of the Recommended Daily Allowance for Vitamin C!

To sum up: The juice drink with the big bold word “Antioxidants” splashed on the front label is nothing more than sugar water with a splash of juice and an insignificant amount of added vitamins.

Here’s the real clincher. Capri Sun charges the same amount for this imposter as they do for their 100% Juice variety that sits on the same shelf. Now that’s some moxie!

Reality Check

This brings us back to the point of today’s newsletter – how to avoid being tricked by food labels.
Follow our BrandAid 3-Step System and never be tricked again!

Step One: Speed read the front label! Remember, manufacturers use this prime real estate to entice shoppers to buy their products. Translation: Much of the wording is pure advertising jargon.

Step Two: Go to the ingredients list! This is where they tell you what’s in the food. They list ingredients in order from most to least. NOTE: For a refresher course see our guidelines on Decoding the Ingredients List.

Step Three: Quick-scan the Nutrition Facts label! The NFL is where you’ll find the amounts of nutrients you’re getting based on the ingredients list.

Taken together, this information will help you make the healthiest food choices. More importantly, it will help you avoid those pesky imposters. Leave them on the shelf right where they belong!

Knowledge is power. Read the labels.

This is a guest post from Curt Pedersen. Curt has a degree in exercise science and has published exercise and nutrition articles on many leading publications including eDiets.com, Askmen.com and Physicallyelite.com. To read more articles by Curt, go to www.physicallyelite.com.

Attention women: Do you not lift weights because you think it will make you become muscle-bound? Do you only do a couple sets of 15 reps on exercise machines because you only want to “tone”?

If so, this article will show you that these and other myths aren’t true and also explain why lifting weights using barbells and dumbbells is the best workout possible. As an added bonus, this article also has a workout to help you begin building the body you desire.

# Lifting Weights Makes You Muscle-Bound

While strength training will help you build muscle, women simply don’t have enough testosterone, a key hormone for building muscle, to become muscle-bound and appear masculine. The muscle you are able to build lifting weights will only improve your appearance and femininity.

# If You Lift Weights, Do High Reps to “Tone” Your Muscles

Most strength training workouts for women prescribe 2-3 sets of 12 or more repetitions. While higher repetitions have their place in your workout, they do little to improve your appearance. If looking and feeling your best is your goal, most of your workouts should utilize sets of low to moderate repetitions (5-8) for multiple sets. Performing 3-5 sets of 5-8 reps is especially beneficial when dieting, as it is the best rep range to use to ensure you hold onto your muscle. The more muscle you can hold onto when dieting helps you burn fat faster and keep it off once you achieve your weight loss goals. Sets of 12-15 reps will only make you look and feel worse during your diet.

# You Should Use Machines Instead of Dumbbells and Barbells

While training with machines has its place, such as helping you learn the basics of strength training, workouts using free weights (barbells and dumbbell) are the way to go. Free weight training produces greater benefits than machine only workouts for many reasons with the most important being the fact that it enables you to perform exercises that train many large muscle groups at once. This means you burn more calories for every set you perform and will get better results faster. The following example illustrates this, doing a set of barbell or dumbbell squats trains your calves, quads, hamstrings, glutes, lower back, and abs. Compare this to a popular machine exercise for legs such as leg extensions which targets only your quadriceps. Other benefits of barbell and dumbbell based workouts is that they are superior to machines for improving your strength, balance, and bone density. These benefits become especially important as you get older, since being stronger and maintaining balance will help you better perform daily tasks and decrease the risk of injury from falls. Increasing bone density will help decrease your risk of osteoporosis and its related complications.

# You Must Lose Weight First Before You Lift Weights

Last but not least is the myth that you should lose weight before you start lifting weights. This myth exists because women often become discouraged when they diet and lift weights since the weight loss that occurs isn’t reflected on the scale. This is because the weight lost is body fat, not the muscle you need to stay healthy. Lifting weights while dieting will help you keep the muscle you have ensuring the weight you lose is body fat. Studies confirm this showing that combining aerobic exercise, dieting, and strength training leads to greater losses of body fat and weight than when you only diet or diet and do aerobic exercise.

Getting Started

Below is a workout that will help you build the body you desire. It’s a 3-day a week workout that should be performed on alternating days, Monday, Wednesday, Friday for example. Each workout includes exercises for the entire body, and uses sets of 8 reps to help you burn as many calories as possible at each workout while building, or at a minimum, holding onto your hard earned muscle when dieting. Combine this workout with 2-3 days of aerobic exercise and a proper diet and you will get the best results of your life.

Guidelines

# Always use correct technique. If you need any of the exercises explained to you, consult with a qualified personal trainer. If one isn’t available there are many web sites that give animated demonstrations of correct exercise technique. One good source is http://www.exrx.net.

# Use a weight that you can perform for 2-3 more reps than what is prescribed. There is no need use a weight that causes you to ‘fail’ at the end of each set. You should leave the gym feeling energized, not exhausted.

# Increase the weight used when you can do 2-3 more repetitions than the 8 prescribed on the last set of a given exercise. Only increase the weight used if you can do so without sacrificing proper technique.

# Start a new routine after doing this one for 4-6 weeks. This will help keep your progress on track and keep your workouts enjoyable.

# Lift weights before aerobics. If you want to do an aerobic workout on the same day you lift weights, that’s fine. Just make sure to do it after you lift. This ensures you have ample energy to perform all of your exercises with correct form.

# The exercises in the workout below are divided into groups (A1/A2, B1/B2, etc.). Each group is to be performed one after the other with about a minutes rest between sets for the total number of sets given. Once you have completed all of the prescribed sets for each exercise in a group, move on to the next group of exercises after 1-2 minutes rest. Doing the workout this way burns more calories, and you’ll accomplish more in less time. Also, if you are just getting into shape you may need more than a minutes rest between sets and groups of exercise. If this is the case, rest for as long as you need in order to perform the exercises with proper form, decreasing the amount of rest as your conditioning improves until you reach 1 minute.

Below is an example of how this workout is to be performed.

* A1 Lunges: Set 1

* Rest 60 seconds

* A2 Dumbbell Bench Press: Set 1

* A1 Lunges: Set 2

* Rest 60 seconds

* A2 Dumbbell Bench Press: Set 2

* Rest 60 seconds

* A1 Lunges: Set 3

* Rest 60 seconds

* A2 Dumbbell Bench Press: Set 3

* Rest 60 seconds and move onto the next group of exercises.

The Workout

Monday

Exercise Sets Reps Rest Between Sets

A1 Lunges 3 8 60 sec

A2 Dumbbell Bench Press 2 8 60 sec

B1 Leg Curl 3 8 60 sec

B2 Dumbbell Row 2 8 60 sec

C1 Swiss Ball Crunch 3 8 60 sec

Wednesday

Exercise Sets Reps Rest Between Sets

Seated Row 3 8 60 sec

Dumbbell Stiff Leg Deadlift 2 8 60 sec

Incline Dumbbell Fly 3 8 60 sec

Dumbbell Squat 2 8 60 sec

Back Extension 3 8 60 sec

Friday

Exercise Sets Reps Rest Between Sets

Dumbbell Shoulder Press 2 8 60 sec

Dumbbell Step-Ups 3 8 60 sec

Reverse Fly 2 8 60 sec

Calf Raise 3 8 60 sec

Reverse Crunch 3 8 60 sec

Now that we have dispelled the myths surrounding weight training and women and a great workout all that is left for you to get started. Once you do we guarantee you will find that weight training is an irreplaceable part of your workout routine.

I normally don’t buy fitness magazines at the grocery store, but Fitness RX caught my attention. Not only is Jackie Warner on the cover but inside she details a boot camp workout that involves a kettlebell! Her 20 minute workout is going to “transform my body into a fat burning machine” , so I figured that has got to be worth the $4.99, right?

The circuit was very tough and included many of my favorites such as jump lunges, mountain climbers, push ups and planks. Add in the planks with tricep kickbacks and abs using a kettlebell and I was definitely burning. I could not do the donkey kicks with my kettlebell hooked onto my foot and would love to see someone actually do that. (since I almost put a hole in my floor when the kettlebell dropped off my foot!)

Jackie recommends that you do this workout in deep sand, which definitely would make it very difficult. Since I do not live near any sand, I did the workout in my family room and it was still very intense.

Jackie also has released a new DVD, Workout: One-On-One Training with Jackie, has anyone tried it out? I wonder if any of these moves are on there?

The accompanying article includes Jackie’s top fitness tips for 2008.

Some of them make a lot of sense such as:

#1: Be a smart consumer and read food labels carefully.
#2: No over complicated routines/no over complicated diets.
#3: Never skip meals
#5: Sugar is the devil
#11: Eat natural foods
#12: Don’t be afraid to lift weights

Yet some of them seem to contradict each other:

#6: Clean house: remove all junk from your kitchen
#7: Deprivation does not work.
#9: Eat the good, the bad, then the ugly. Good=veggies/fruit/lean meat. Bad=starches/bread, Ugly=dessert/alcohol. Fill up on the good first.

and then some I just don’t agree with:

#10 Water helps you lose weight. Three liters per day can burn 50-75 calories and double your energy.

I want to drink some of Jackie’s water if it is doubling her energy!

#13 ONLY do intensity cardio.

No, I can’t agree with that. Not every cardio day needs or should be intense. Jackie says in the article that if you don’t have time for an intense workout, then you should skip it altogether. I definitely believe that some movement/cardio is better than nothing! It’s all about balance.

#8: Crunches are a waste of time.

They may not build a six pack, but when done properly, they do play a role in building a strong core.

Overall, I think it was $5 well spent. I got a great workout and enjoyed many of the articles.

Meanwhile I am waiting for Jackie to give me a call and offer to train me in person. Is that the phone I hear ringing?