Balance

Balance is an interesting concept in all senses of the word-literal, figurative and symbolic.

In exercise, balance is dynamic, not static. It's a thing constantly readjusting and resetting, not something that you achieve, you've got it and it's done.

Balance in exercise also means the amount of time spent doing cardio, weight training, core work and stretching. Clients often want to know how much time to spend on each facet of their fitness routine. That depends on their goals.

Clients with significant weight loss goals generally will do better focusing more time on cardio, particularly working on aerobic fitness. That means LSD (long, slow distance i.e. time) and Tempo (pushing up level of exertion after establishing a base of fitness). Weight training is still important as is core work and stretching, in that order.

Clients who want to maintain their current level of health and fitness
(not weight maintenance) can adjust the balance between cardio, weight training, core and stretching. The general rule of thumb is 5x a week, 30 minutes cardio (mix up between LSD, Tempo and Sprints-see previous post); weight training 2-3x a week (non-consecutive days only); core work (minimum 3x a week) and stretching (after exercising).

Group classes count as does yoga and pilates. Taking a yoga class after a cardio work-out is a great way to stretch; participating in a Pilates class takes care of core work. You can do a body sculpt or total body conditioning class in place of strength training.

Remember that balance is dynamic, ever changing, ever adjusting. What works for you as a balance of cardio, weight training, core and stretching needs to be evaluated every couple of months. Most likely your routine will benefit from new stimulus whether that be a new class, a new cardio machine, a new weight training program, different core work, etc.

In health,

Laura

Checking in

How are you doing with spicing up your exercise routine? What are you going to change by the end of August?

A brief recap: I challenged all of you to do something different exercise-wise by the end of the summer. I shared with you my challenge (to go swimming). I also shared with you that I didn't own a bathing suit (now I own 2). I asked you to let me know what you decided on.

Still waiting..........
:(

I posted some ideas on mixing up your cardio as one possibility of changing up your exercise routine. Using a new cardio machine, taking a new class, hiring a personal trainer (hint, hint) are all great options.

In the hopes of motivating you, I will share with you a few more ideas I have for myself.

I want to restart my yoga practice, my karate and kickboxing classes. Besides swimming, those are my goals for the rest of 2008.

For those of you who don't know me well, a little backstory: like swimming, I use to take yoga regularly in Boston. When I moved to California, I sporadically tried some classes. Eventually I found a teacher/class/style I loved in Marin, but I moved. I'm taking a class this morning at a local gym. We'll see how that goes. I am a yoga snob and very particular about the style and teacher. I've got to LOVE the situation or else it's a no-go for me. Hey, at least I know that about myself. Life's too short to invest my energy when I'm not completely passionate and positive about whatever I'm doing.

Once upon a time, I was a martial artist (still am technically, once a martial artist, always a martial artist. Even if I'm not currently training). I LOVED my classes, lost a ton of weight and had a whole new world open to me. I was well on my way to black belt. Then I got injured and stopped training. Both in Boston and again in California, I looked and looked for a martial arts home without any success. (yes, I'm a martial arts snob too-are you surprised?) I found a program close to my new place in the same gym where the yoga is offered. Although the type of karate is not my previous style, the classes fit in my schedule. The sensei (head instructor) is a woman! I'm checking it out tomorrow night.

Lastly, after stopping my martial arts in Boston due to injury, kickboxing classes became my "stand-in" for the real thing. I even got certified in kickboxing though never taught classes. I think my martial arts training spoiled me. Do you even have to ask the question? Yes, kickboxing snob. I can't stand when people punch and kick incorrectly. Ask my bootcampers! I understand that kickboxing is a cardio work-out and therefore you're not learning how to defend yourself. However, if you aren't taught proper form for punching and kicking, you can easily injure yourself. Fortunately I found classes in Marin where proper form was taught. I had several excellent teachers. Alas, I moved and am back looking.

The gym where I'm taking the yoga class this morning and martial arts tomorrow night also offers kickboxing classes so next week I'll try the kickboxing. Am I lucking out with this place or what?

I don't know yet how all of this will play out. Whether I'll love or hate the yoga, the karate, the kickboxing or the swimming. I don't know if I will incorporate everything in addition to the work-outs I do now or whether I'll rotate through the different classes. It's mostly unknown right now and that's ok. I have an intention and am in my exploration/experimentation stage.
Everything will become clear in time.

And speaking of time, time for yoga class.
Downward Dog anyone?

In health and ready to om,

Laura

Found it!

The perfect bathing suit-I found it! I thought the concept was an oxymoron, I mean really, perfect and bathing suit don't go together. The whole idea is, well, just WRONG.

In fact, it's so perfect I bought 2. And they were on-sale for 75% off, see, I told you, perfect!

Next step, get in the water.

In Health and inching nearer to swimming,

Laura

My Challenge

I thought it was only fair that since I challenged you to do something new regarding your work-out routine during the month of August, that I do something new too. I also thought I would share with you what I'm planning.

A little backstory:

I visited a friend recently in Portland, OR. She's very active, swims and bikes regularly and works out at the gym. Her swimming reminded me of the a period in my life when I used to swim all the time and how much I enjoyed it.

I have a new place with a gorgeous swimming pool (with a retractable roof!). Have I stuck my toe in it since I've moved here? Of course not.

I decided my challenge would be to go swimming and see if I enjoy it as much as I once did.

Not much of a challenge, you say, what with the pool being a 1 minute walk from my apartment? And with my history (ancient history really, but ok, history) of swimming?

Well, here's the kicker, ladies, I don't own a bathing suit!
And we all know how much fun it is to go BATHING SUIT SHOPPING!
Ranks right up there with root canals and doing taxes.

Anyway I did go, bathing suit shopping, that is. Yesterday.
I expected to be fully traumatized. But actually not so much.
I found something that was suitable (ha, ha) but not perfect.
Hmmm, do perfect and bathing suit go together?

I'm planning another expedition today to see if perhaps I can find something a little more suitable (ha, ha).

And then of course comes the next challenge:
putting the dang thing on and actually getting in the water.

I'll let you know how that goes.

How are you doing with your exercise challenge?

In health,

Laura

Because it's your Birthday. No, Tuesday. Ok, Just Because!

I have a gift for all of you:

A challenge!

Oh wipe that sour expression off your faces, it really is a lovely present. You have no idea what a great gift this is.

Here's the deal: I challenge each and every one of you to do something new with your current exercise routine during the month of August.

New could be taking a new class, working on a new cardio machine, hiring a trainer (hint, hint), doing more or different weight training, doing a different cardio routine (see previous post) whatever strikes your fancy.

If you haven't changed up most or all of your exercise routine in the last 3-5 months, you're in a rut. RUT is my new 4 letter word. (yes, I know how to count thank you very much). No ruts (ha, see that's 4!) for you.

Send me how you're going to change your exercise routine and respond to my challenge and I'll post your answers. Maybe your ideas will inspire others.

In health and you're welcome (for your gift),

Laura

Spice Up Your Cardio

Add ginger, cloves, cinnamon. Oh no-that's the recipe for gingersnaps! Yes, yes, variety is the spice of life and works extremely well for your exercising. Spicing up your cardio program is a good thing-keeps your body stimulated and on its toes and prevents you from falling into a cardio rut. You know, that rut where I find you doing the exact same cardio program as you were doing a YEAR AGO?????!!!!! Ye gods........

Here are 3 ways to mix up your cardio:

LSD (not the drug, silly), tempo and sprints (otherwise known as intervals).

The short version:
LSD is short for long, slow distance. Tempo is between LSD and sprints. Sprints/intervals are pretty self-descriptive. Rotate among the 3 programs over the course of a week or two. For maintenance of your current health and fitness, split your routines like this: 40% LSD, 40% Tempo and 20% Sprint. That might work out to 2 LSD, 2 Tempo and 1 Sprint for a 1 week rotation.

For improvement of your current health and fitness and/or particularly if you have a weight loss goal, try for 30% LSD (use LSD routines as active recovery from Tempo and Sprint programs), 60% Tempo and 1 Sprint. That might look like 1-2 LSD, 3 Tempo and 1 Sprint for your week.

Note these routines are derived from runners' programs. They adapt nicely to any cardio machine. And LSD means miles (distance) for runners. For us gym rats, this translates into time, an hour or more. And make sure you read the caution/caveat below.

The long version:
First of all, understand the concept of RPE-rate of perceived exertion. It's a subjective measure of how hard you are working. In the world of exercise science, RPE is also known as the Borg scale. My favorite Borg scale (yes, there's more than one scale although only one Borg) is a scale of 1-10 which describes your work-load when you exercise. I tell my clients 1 is laying on your couch existing and 10 is climbing Mt. Everest. Therefore 5'ish is moderate exercise, above 6 is vigorous exercise and above 8 is usually not sustainable for any lengthy period of time (unless you're Lance Armstrong).

If you have a heartrate monitor (100 bonus points for you), let me know and I'll post the corresponding percentages for HR. If you don't have a HR monitor, consider buying one. It is an excellent tool and a wise investment in your health and fitness.

To help you determine your RPE (which will be different for each of you) here are some questions: are you sweating? If so, how much? Are you breathing more deeply? Huffing and puffing? Gasping? Can you carry on a conversation? Tell me your life story? Complete sentences? One word responses? Give me a dirty look when I ask you a question?

At an RPE of 5, the mythical average person (remember they don't exist, that's why they're MYTHICAL) will be lightly sweating (or glowing, for the ladies), deeply breathing and can talk to me in complete, grammatically correct sentences. (oh my mistake, that's the EDUCATED mythical average person).

At an RPE of above 6, the MAP will be moderately sweating, huffing and puffing and spitting out one word answers.

At an RPE of 8 and above, the MAP will be looking like something the cat dragged in, gasping and grunting or snarling wordlessly at me.

Let's go back to the 3 spices: LSD, Tempo and Sprints (gosh, I do like ginger, cloves and cinnamon more, makes a better gingersnap).

LSD corresponds to an RPE of 5. It's a work-load you can manage for a good amount of time. This is a maintenance, burn the calories from yesterday's pizza so it doesn't translate into 5lbs on the scale, pace. Definitely more work than laying on the couch where you probably ate said pizza while you watched Law and Order reruns. But not a big bang for your buck work-out.
Hint: that's why it's called MAINTENANCE.

Tempo corresponds to an RPE of 6-7. It's a work-load that's vigorous, tough to maintain but you can grit it out. Generally this is the kind of work-out they talk about in all those fitness magazines, you know, the 30 minute 5x a week dealio? Except that most people won't maintain the proper work-load. Most people do LSD (the exercise routine, not the drug!!!) and THINK they're doing a Tempo program. Silly folks. Sigh. An RPE of 6-7 is NOT a walk in the park. It's hard but doable. A real tempo program (as opposed to a fake one) is more but not most bang for your buck.

Sprints/Intervals correspond to an RPE of 8 and above. Well, that's a little misleading since the whole work-out isn't 8 and above. The sprint parts are. Here's the scoop: you start out at your LSD for 2-4 minutes, then you bump up your speed (treadmill) or start moving your feet faster (elliptical/precor) for 20-30 seconds. Basically go like a bat out of hell, as fast as possible for a very short spurt. Then recover back at a comfortable LSD for 2-4 minutes. Add water, repeat for 15-20 minutes. Huge bang for your buck if you don't collapse from shock at the intensity.

Caution: Sprints/intervals are an extremely vigorous work-out! You will probably feel like crap during the work-out but very victorious afterwards and then you'll crash. Don't schedule any important meetings or phone calls after this kind of work-out because you'll have no brain cells and you'll want to nap......for the next 3 days.

Caveat: Expect to be very, very hungry after sprints. Interval work-outs gobble up calories (and your available glucose) like nobody's business. We like this, however your body will start sending out the troops looking for food. And no, my arm does not resemble a juicy steak!

Plan to eat a balanced snack of about 200 calories (balanced: protein, complex carbs, a little good fat-not a snickers bar) within 30 minutes of completing an interval work-out. Otherwise you may inhale the entire contents of your fridge including that indescribable something that's been in the back of your fridge for the last 3 years. Ick. Consider yourself warned.

For heaven sakes' DO NOT do this work-out if you're new to exercising!!!!!!! Read my lips-you must have a good base of aerobic conditioning before you do sprints.

I do not want to be getting e-mails from you telling me that you keeled over in the middle of a sprint work-out. Do not write me and tell me that you did a 5 minute sprint or intervals for an hour!!! You are crazy people!!!! Either that or silly East Coasters (like me).

Sprints are huge bang for your buck, however, once you do one, you may wonder why anyone would ever put themselves through that experience willingly. Well, sprints separate the women from the girls, the men from the boys. Done correctly (see above and below) sprints will improve almost every facet of your health and fitness.

And do not, do not, do not entertain the idea that if sprints are so great, more must be better. I am the queen of Type A's and I can tell you: More sprints aren't better!!!!! If you are going to add sprints to your work-out, start with one sprint session per week, keep it to 15 minutes total (remember the ratio: 2-4 minute recovery for every 20-30-40 second sprint) for the first 6 weeks or so. Then you may increase the length of your sprint routine but NOT the frequency (keep it to once a week).

To recap: LSD is maintenance and may be the bulk of your work-outs depending on your goals. Tempo is 1-2 x a week or more particularly if you have weight loss goals. Sprints/Intervals, the biggest bang for your buck, is 1x a week maybe Saturday or Sunday when you can refuel and rest appropriately. Sprints/Intervals are for conditioned, experienced exercises, not novices or newbies or folks with significant cardiovascular issues. Check with your MD if you have any doubt as to the wisdom of adding sprint work to your exercising.

Over time (weeks-months) watch for your RPE to change. You'll be able to handle a higher work-load for your LSD and may be able to do faster sprints for your interval work-outs. Remember using a HR monitor will give you great feedback in pinning down what your HR is during moderate, vigorous and extremely intense exercising.

Good luck!

In health and loving a spicy work-out,

Laura

Willingness

I'm willing to change.

Now that's a bold statement.

Are you? Willing? To change that is.

Your willingness is the first and most important step. Being willing sets off a chain reaction.

Because if you're not. Willing. That is, to change.
It's ok.

Just be clear with yourself one way or the other.
Are you willing or are you not?
You must be clear, this is vital!

If you have a wish, a hope, a dream, a goal for yourself, you must be willing to change. If you have a desire, that means the desire you hope for isn't present in your life. If your desire was already in your life, your feeling would be one of satisfaction not one of wanting.

Since the desire doesn't currently exist in your life, something has to change for the desire to come through (or as the New Agers say "manifest"). That something is pure willingess for things to be different.

And if you have a desire but you're not willing to change (whatever the change is), you're in for a tough time of it.

Remember Einstein's definition of insanity:

doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

Don't be insane.

Be willing.

In Health,

Laura

Chick Lit

I just finished reading "Such a Pretty Fat" by Jen Lancaster. It's a funny and biting look at one woman's journey from obesity to health. I loved the entries about her trainer. Her trainer's name is Barbie (really!) and yes, I'm sure you could have predicted this, she's blond, fit and tiny. Suffice to say that the author was none of these when she started her sessions with Barbie.

So dear, sweet, lovable clients (and class members), things could be worse. Instead of calling me Laura (at least that's what you call me to my face), you could be calling me Muffy or Barbie or JILLIAN!

In health and check out the book,

Laura AKA your evil trainer who doesn't take no for an answer, pffftss at your "I'm tired" and wants your muscles to "burn, baby, burn". Another 50 push-ups? Another 500 crunches?
Let's go!

Never say die, say damn

Has anyone heard this saying?

It was the motto of Texas Governor Jim Ferguson, the only US governor successfully impeached. I grew up hearing my father frequently quoting the opening sentence and sometimes the whole poem. I like the concept. What it means to me is that you don't quit (another 4 letter word and almost as evil as the word can't), you say damn and move forward as best you can.

For me quitting doesn't mean you never leave a particular circumstance. Sometimes the wisest course of action is to remove yourself from a situation either physically or emotionally. That's not quitting. Neither is "failing" (oh dear, another 4 letter word and evil, evil, evil). Failing is a concept I particularly detest. In our culture, failing is a bad thing. For me, how our society views failure ranks right up there with "I can't" and "I should". The feeling that you've somehow failed generally provokes extremely negative self-talk.

No, what I mean by quitting is quitting on yourself, thinking that you are not capable or not up to the task at hand or not believing in yourself.

Being a "can-do" girl, the poem appeals to me. In my world, obstacles are challenges and as my father would say "help put hair on your chest!". I know, what daughter wants to hear her father say that? He meant challenges help build character and show you what you're made of. Hey, he was a Maine Yankee and had lots of colorful sayings.

While I'm not interesting in putting hair on my chest, I'm certainly interested in knowing what I'm made of. Because there'll always be obstacles and challenges. Since I'm the only one who will accompany myself through this whole journey called life, I'm very interested in knowing myself. When I find myself in a challenging situation, I still sometimes quote the poem. It helps.

Here's the whole thing:

Never say "die", say "damn".
It isn't classic,
It may be profane.
But we mortals have need of it time and again;
And you'll find you'll recover from fate's hardest slam,
if you never say "die", say "damn".

Interesting footnote: After his impeachment, Governor Ferguson successfully ran the political campaigns of his wife Miriam who served two terms of Governor of Texas. And while the saying may have been his motto, the poem itself was published in 1922 and not attributed to Ferguson.

In health and never, never quitting on me,

Laura

Fitness resources

One of my clients asked me to post some of my favorite resources. Here's a partial list:

Health/Fitness magazines I read regularly:

Shape, Yoga Journal, Women's Health, Men's Health (check it out, it's good)

Websites:

PTonthenet.com

this is a resource my company pays for (thanks WAC), however you can join as an individual too. There are great articles and a wonderful library of exercises (most with videos of the exercise).
If you need some new ideas, this is a great web-site. Sometimes I'll google a particular exercise or toy like medicine ball or lunges and explore the websites that come up.

Books:

I love to read so I read a lot on health, fitness, well-being, food, psychology, motivation, way too numerous to include here. If you're interested in a specific category, I'll post my suggestions.

Blogs:

I haven't investigated blogs yet so no recommendations here.

In Health,

Laura

I should

I feel like Snow White and the 7 Dwarves except it's Laura and the 3 Pet Peeves. Here's another terrible phrase: "I should", a dreadful two words in my book. This phrase implies obligation, responsibility and directly conflicts with reality. Remember reality? Reality is your life, right now, in this instant. Having a desire or obligation or agenda in your brain, not currently present in your life and which you are not actively creating (more on this later) is a sure-fire way to shoot you yourself in the foot. And cause you umpteen times more stress and unhappiness. Great.

My point is that if you say "I should lose 20 lbs" and you're not active in your process of losing 20lbs, if you're just sitting there, munching Fritos and saying "I should lose 20lbs", I will say to you "who says you should lose 20lbs?" And I'll want an answer too missy. I'll then say "do you WANT to lose 20lbs? Why do you want to lose 20lbs?". What do I know, maybe you're happier eating Fritos. But your "I should" is directly contradicting your reality which is you're not losing 20 lbs. You're sitting on the damn couch eating Fritos and wishing for a magic wand. Or something.

What I do want to know (inquiring personal trainers need to know) is where this statement is coming from. Remember the post on forensic psychological archaeology? Consider me the Indiana Jones of the field. Except I don't crack a bull-whip or look as good in a fedora as Indy. Although he and I share a fear of snakes.....

If you look at this subject more deeply, I think you'll find that "I should" is the voice of one or both of your parents talking in your head. We think we should do something, be something or say something because your mom or dad (it doesn't have to be your parents, it could just as easily be your teachers, your grandparents, other authority figures) said so. Oh my gosh, then "I should" means letting someone else's beliefs run your life! Great.

How often is your self-talk littered with "I should"? If you can get past the sense of guilt and possibly shame with the "I should" thought, does thinking "I should" really help you to do, say, or to be whatever you're thinking you should? Put another way, is thinking "I should" an effective way to change?

Based on my personal experience with myself as well as my professional experience with clients and students, I say no "I should" is NOT an effective change agent.

I say it's very negative self-talk, designed to create a lot of suffering and keep you stuck in whatever situation you find yourself. Ick. Oh I suppose there'll be some person out in the world with some situation where thinking "I should" gets them going. OK, we'll allow for the edges of the bell curve. However for the vast majority of us, "I should" is almost paralyzing.

Remember Newton's law: a body at rest stays at rest i.e. it's easier to say in the situation you're in rather than change to a new situation.

If you want positive change in your life, I strongly suggest that you first observe your self-talk. How often do you think or say "I can't" "I should" "I'll try"? Before you decide to eliminate these phrases (a worthy goal by the way), just observe yourself and what comes out of your mouth. Noticing is a good first step.

Let me know how you do.

In Health and vigilant about rooting out my "I shoulds",

Laura

I'll try

And while we're on the subject of dreadful words, "I'll try" comes in a close second to "I can't". When my flute students (who generally are awfully cute and very talented) say "I'll try", I quote Yoda: "do or not do, there is no try". I love that quote! If you say you'll try, you're allowing for the possibility of failure. Failure is a judgement on the outcome of an action. Either the action produced the desired outcome or it didn't. In my mind, human beings decide if something is a failure-that's a value statement. Do we really need to delve into what defines failure? Do we really need to remind ourselves of the tens of thousands of situations where it looked as if failure had occurred when success was imminent? By the way, success is another judgement. We don't look at positive judgements the same way as we look at negative judgements.

So ban "I can't" and "I'll try" from your repertoire of responses. Or else I'll have "to try" to beat some sense into you. 500 hundred push-ups anyone??

In health with no trying,

Laura

I can't

Holy cow! My client said "I can't" this morning. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. That's the polite version of my response. In fact, she was doing fine with what I asked her to do. Yet at the precise moment she was finished with the exercise, her mind gave out (or gave up on her) and she uttered those dreadful words. Why are they dreadful? Because "I can't" easily morphs to "I won't". And "I won't" is another way of saying "I don't want to". At least that's a more honest response then "I can't". If you say "I won't/I don't want to" to me, than we can discuss why you don't want to or you won't. Potentially from this conversation, I can understand you more. Unfortunately for you, if you say "I can't" in front of me, I will spend eternity showing you that in fact you can. Yup, that's a funny little quirk of mine. Do you want to spend eternity with me? Not too enticing? Well, not to me either with that attitude of yours. Oh kidding, c'mon.

Gosh darn it, of course you can! And you will! Do you want to? Your motivation is all that matters. You hired me to help you and I will, trust me on that. I believe in my clients, my students, my friends, my colleagues and myself. There's always a way. Maybe the way is a baby step, a change of attitude, a physical strengthening. Who knows what the how is? What I know is that if you say you can't, you're right and if you say you can, you're right too.
Which right do you want to be? Which path do you choose?

And for your own personal safety, I suggest you not use those words in front of me.
:)
I'm joking.
not.

In health and yes you can!,

Laura

Laura's playlist

Here's a partial playlist for upbeat, uptempo songs. You can find all the selections at the I-Tunes store. You'll see that I like a wide range of styles. I picked the version of the song very deliberately. For instance, there are many classical renditions of Sabre Dance. But there's only one Dave Edmunds version.

PS: Music matters! I love listening to my music. It really helps energize me. I won't go into the research here but suffice to say it's important to pick music which jazzes you up (ha, ha). Having music you like will enable you to exercise longer and with more intensity.

Have fun!

Main Theme to "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"
Backwards-Rascal Flatts
Tiene Swing-K.Libre
Cotton Eyed Joe-Starsound Orchestra
Dejame En Paz-Ozomatli
What I like about You-The Romantics
American Idiot-Green Day
Wipe Out-Balboas
Flight of the Bumblebee-At Vance
Clarinet Polka-True North Brass

and my all-time favorite sprint song (it's 5 MINUTES!!!!)
Sabre Dance-Dave Edmunds

If you want more, let me know. And if you like this playlist (I know some of them are very silly), I have more off-beat, quirky selections.

In Health,

Laura

Motivation-part 4 Dara Torres

Dara Torres was successful in her bid to be a 5 time Olympian. She qualified for the US Olympic team by WINNING the ladies' 50 and 100 meter Freestyle. Dara is 41 years old with a toddler. Prior to her daughter's birth, she had been out of elite competitive swimming for almost 7 years. Her story is truly inspirational, motivational, incredible, what other superlative words can you use to describe it?

Check out the NY times article and see if you agree:

www.nytimes.com/2008/06/29/magazine/29torres-t.html

In health and in awe,

Laura

Motivation-part 3

I thought I'd share my answers to the question "why do I exercise?" so you can see what my motivations are. Perhaps my story will give you some new ideas on motivation and possibly save you from mistakes I have made.

I love to exercise. Exercise is my date with my body. It's my time to be with myself physically. I love to see what I'm capable of physically and I push myself. I play games with myself too. If I can do my cardio at a certain level or for a certain speed, can I do it at a higher level or faster the next time? I enjoy this me-time. I like being with myself watching my mind and body work together.

I also challenge myself to come up with new ways of exercising both cardio and weight training. My clients and class members are well aware of this personality trait of mine.

I think I do this because I get bored easily. Cardio in particular is pretty repetitive and mindless. I've made playlists on my iPod which are extremely fast, up tempo songs. When I'm feeling fatigued or think I can't do one more sprint or another 20 minutes, I'll play these songs to help keep me moving. Generally it works. I look for new songs every month or so to keep the list fresh. I'll share some of my favorite songs in another posting if anyone is interested.

If I'm watching TV while I'm doing cardio, which I often do, I'll play my music during the commercials and sprint. That's excellent interval work for the length of the commercials generally 2 minutes or so.

I'm always looking for new ways to make things harder. What's the next logical progression for my body? I do a lot of reading, watch exercise videos and search the Web for new exercises and interesting variations to exercises I'm already doing. I do this for me, although my clients and class members benefit too. I'm my own guinea pig. I try all new exercises on myself first then I'll ask a couple of clients if they want to be guinea pigs.

I'm a numbers girl too-very competitive with myself. Since I wear a heart rate monitor, I know what my heart rate is during my cardio. I'll play games with the intensity of my work-outs. The Step Mill (climbing fixed stairs at an adjustable rate) works me the hardest. It took me several months to establish a baseline, now I'm challenging myself with different levels and the amount of stairs I climb in any one session.

Once I reach my goal, I'll set a new one. Keep mixing things up. I'll watch my recovery rate too. Generally the faster your heart rate drops after exercise, the better. A quick recovery is one sign of good cardiovascular health. Occasionally I'll monitor my morning heart rate. I read somewhere that Lance Armstrong's resting heartrate in the morning (before getting out of bed) was in the 30's. That means his heart is beating less than half the time an average man's heart beats with twice the efficiency. That's health to an extremely high level.

If I need a break from the Step Mill, I might do sprints on the elliptical. I set up a random program and play with both the resistance level and the speed during the work-out, that's intervals on top of intervals. Lots of bang for your buck.

I use to think that my body was all about endurance. I loved to see how long I could last on a machine and then keep building on. However I wasn't getting the results I wanted. I hired a trainer and the first thing she did was cut my resistance in half, tripled my speed and asked me to do 10 minutes. Wow, that was very tough! Being the competitive Type A personality that I am, I continued to work at my speed. I lost a considerable amount of weight and improved my cardiovascular system substantially. Now I mix up speed and resistance but use my heartrate as the overall guide to my exercising.

Many people think that the best part of exercising is the shower. I think every part is the best part. I don't know why I feel this way. I was never an athlete. Title 9 was passed in 1972; I was 12 and the sports craze for adolescent females was still several years away. Noone knew how Title 9 would be applied or what opportunities would exist for girls. I spent my high school and college years in intellectual pursuits, not physical ones. I didn't get into extensive and intensive physical activity until I started studying martial arts in my early 30's.

I never thought of myself as someone who would like exercise. But once I started martial arts, I thought exercise was nothing short of nirvana. Except of course when I overtrained, got severely injured, couldn't walk for 4 months and gained over 50lbs. Are you surprised? Being a Type A has its drawbacks. I guess I needed to learn the hard way.

I tell my clients that I've made every mistake as a client myself before I was a personal trainer.
Generally I can see my clients' mistakes coming before they do. I can tell by how they work with themselves, how they treat themselves and how they talk to themselves. I try to steer them towards more healthy choices although how they live their lives is up to them. My clients are all intelligent folks. At the end of the day, I trust their judgement although I will offer my professional opinions.

I've been a client of 3 different (all equally fabulous) personal trainers over a span of 10 years both here and in Boston. I've had a private martial arts instructor/coach as well. I've been on both sides of the exercise fence as a client and as a trainer/instructor. It's a neat place to be, I'm very blessed.

Long story short, I still think exercise is nirvana AND I am much more in tune with my body and pay attention to its feedback from my exercising. I think that's key. Having gone through that terrible 2-3 years of being injured, gaining weight, not being able to exercise, I'm much more aware now.

Maybe that's one of the points I want to make: I am present during my exercising. Maybe the games I play with myself help keep me present, I don't know. What I do know is that my mind stays aware of what I'm doing, I'm connected in to my body and what's happening. I don't zone out or daydream while I'm working out. In fact I've had friends in the gym say to me that I look scary when I work out. Oh c'mon, scary? I think that's just me being focused. Usually I'm very quick, moving from one exercise to another and I don't like my tempo interrupted. But don't worry, if you see me working out, please say hi, I won't bite your head off!

My clients know that I'm very insistent that they stay present during weight training. Many of the exercises I do myself and my clients do are difficult. If they aren't using proper form and execution, they could easily injure themselves. So it's imperative during weight training that they pay attention to what they're doing. It's also fun too and I tell them to admire themselves, marvel at how well their bodies move and how good they look.

Frankly that's what the body does best-move. That's what it's made for-to move. Sitting in a chair for 8-10 hours a day, hunched over a computer monitor, attending numerous meetings, talking on the phone (for god sakes, use a headset or earpiece!) not so much.

Why do I exercise? I love the way it feels, I love how creative I can be, how my mind keeps challenging my body, how my body responds to those challenges and I love the results from my exercising. And yes, I love the shower afterwards too.

In Health,

Laura

Motivation-part 2

When I want to know what motivates a client or a flute student (or myself), generally the first question I ask is: what are their goals? Stated another way, why do they exercise (or take flute lessons)? An agenda or desire is always behind an action. And the initial agenda isn't the only one. Behind the first agenda is another layer, behind that one yet another; there are many levels, flavors, shapes to peoples' desires. Nor are desires necessarily complementary; often they conflict with each other. Agendas can cause big trouble if they're hidden, especially the conflicting ones. Like competitive siblings, they all clamor for attention. For some people, negative attention is better than no attention at all. Some people will want any kind of attention even the negative kind because being ignored is the ultimate hurt.

Agendas can change. The reasons behind strong desires usually have to do with peoples' beliefs and attitudes. Those attitudes are often shaped by the family they grew up, the times, culture and environment and sometimes even the region where they lived.

Think about your own reasons for exercising. What was your original reason to start a work-out program? Is that reason still your primary motivation today? I would guess it's not. What drives you now? Once you've identified your reasons, you'll want to ask what does the reason stand for? What does it symbolize?

For instance, if your original reason for exercising is because you want to lose 20lbs for your up-coming college reunion, then I would ask you, what does being 20lbs lighter for your college reunion symbolozie to you? Does it mean that you're still attractive? Still young? Look the same as you did in college? And then I would ask you, well, how will you feel if you in fact lose the 20lbs and go to the college reunion? Will you feel sexy? Handsome? Attractive? Popular? Successful? Professional? Would you need people to notice your body and compliment you? Then I may ask you if you did lose the 20lbs, went to the college reunion, had a great time and got the psychological goodies you wanted, how will you feel after the college reunion is all finished? Will you continue to exercise? Keep the weight off or put the weight back on? Still feel the same as at the reunion?

You can use this progression for any desire you have in life. What's your initial reason for your identified desire. Keep digging-what does the reason symbolize? Keep digging-how will you feel if you achieve this desire? Keep digging-how will you feel after the desire has been met?
And this is the simplified version!

Yes, you have a new job. You've just become a psychological archaeologist. Or should we call that a forensic psychological archaeologist. Wow, that's a mouthful. Betcha you didn't know there was such a job.

Of course you don't have to ask yourself any of these questions. Most folks don't want to go digging around in their psyches. Most folks are plenty scared of what they'll find hidden in the crevices of their minds. If they do go poking around, they're not inclined to share what they've found. We have this funny idea that we're all so unique in our shadow sides-the parts of ourselves which we think aren't very nice or civilized. Some of us will hire professionals (i.e. therapists) to help us sort through the dark places. Great idea! That's well beyond the scope of this post. We've already gone down the rabbit hole. Let's get back to broad daylight.

Why do you exercise? Ask yourself the question and see what pops up. Good questions are like fine wine or fine tea or fine chocolate: they're to be savored and enjoyed to the end. And perhaps you'll uncover your motivations in the process.

In health and loving great questions,

Laura

PS......

.....check out the NY Times feature on Dara Torres who is competing to reach her 5th Olympics at age 41 !!!!!!

For me, her story is very motivational and inspiring.

www.nytimes.com/2008/06/29/magazine/29torres-t.html

Dara is competing this week at the US Olympic Swimming Trials in Omaha in the 50 meter and 100 meter freestyle. Her finals are Thursday and Saturday.

Wow-

Motivation

How do you motivate yourself to exercise?

Motivate: v. impel, inspire, hope, stimulate, incite, propel, spur, goad, move, induce, prompt, provoke, urge

Is exercise a chore or a play-date with your body? Do you force yourself to work-out? Do you look forward to moving your body and allowing it to do what it does best (i.e. move)?

Someone asked me today to write a posting on how to motivate yourself to keep exercising. I said this was a HUGE, H-U-G-E subject and an excellent topic. Motivation is critical to
achieving any goal in life. Understanding what drives you can be quite useful information on many levels and in many areas, not just exercise. For instance, if you exercise for your health and wellness, research shows that you will be more successful in adhering to your work-out routine and less likely to stop exercising over the long term than someone who is exercising to be able to wear a size 4 or drop 20lbs for a high school reunion.

Before I embark on a long dissertation about motivation, write me and give me some ideas about how you stay motivated to work out.

In health and happily motivated to exercise most days,

Laura