How active do you need to be?

How active is active enough?  Her's the good news, you can do a lot in 20-30 minutes, 2 or 3 times per week.  I would say that's the minimum you need for your cardio.  It should not be a walk in the park, lolly-gagging along smelling the flowers.  You need to move and work your heart.  As always, you need to see a doctor before starting any exercise program.  If you are taking any medications that regulate your blood pressure or heart rate then you need to ask your doctor what a good working heart rate is for you.

There is a formula that gives you a general idea what your working heart rate range is but I like to go by perceived exertion.  Please feel free to use a heart rate monitor along with perceived exertion.  There is actually a scale for trainers to use.  Here's my version of it:

Level 1:   No effort, lounging on the couch or resting.

Level 2:   Very comfortable - can maintain all day.

Level 3:   Still comfortable, breathing a little harder, can carry on a conversation easily, 

                can go for hours.

Level 4:   Sweating a little, feel good, can talk easily but breathing harder.

Level 5:   Just above comfortable, sweating, can still talk but have to breathe after each sentence.

Level 6:   Slightly breathless, can still talk but have to breathe every 5-6 words.

Level 7:   Just below max effort, sweating heavily, breathing hard, have to breathe 

                after 3-4 words

Level 8:   Very strong +1, have to breather after every other word, can maintain 5-15 minutes.

Level 9:   Hard - have to breathe every 1-2 words, can maintain 2-5 minutes.

Level 10:  Extreme Max - can't talk, can maintain for only 30 seconds to 1 minute.

Pay attention to how hard you are breathing and how you feel.  You can feel good and be breathing hard.  Make sure you warm up for 5 minutes.  Everyone is different, some people may have a much higher working heart rate than others.  I can go hard for 1 hour at a heart rate of 170-176.  My husband would explode at that heart rate, his working heart rate is in the 150's.  That's why the perceived exertion works for most people. 

Ok, with all that said - Don't Be A Baby!!!  What I mean by that is, unless told otherwise by your doctor, it is ok to breathe hard and even get out of breath.  You don't have to work so hard you are totally out of breath but you do need to work your heart.  You should be working in the 4-7 range most of the time.  Depending on your goals you don't necessarily have to get up to the 8-10 range.  When I teach spin class I tell everyone what they should be feeling as far as breathing goes.  After a hard climb or high intensity I tell them they should be breathing harder and can't say a full sentence without having to take a breath.  There is always a few that immediately start talking as though they were at lunch.  If they can talk that easily they are not working hard enough.  Again it depends on your goals but don't be afraid to breathe harder.  You will surprise yourself what you can do if you put your mind to it, it's usually more than you initially thought you could.  Sometimes I think I've given it my all and I've got no more to give.  I tell myself not to stop and see where it takes me.  It will take you to the next level and it's very empowering to realize that you could do more than you thought.

Don't get discouraged if you initially tired after starting your cardio program.  It's normal and will not last forever.  After 2-3 weeks you will feel energized and your initial workout will be so much easier for you.  You'll feel like you could go longer and harder and still feel strong.

Here is the best part, besides the weight loss that will come with it, the powerful, strong, energized feeling will flow over to other aspects of your life.  You will figure out that you are in control of many things you didn't think you could control.  I have one client that is 75 and have worked with her for over 5 years, twice a week for 30 minutes each session.  After 3 or 4 weeks she could not believe how strong she felt and how much more energy she had.  She told me that it changed her outlook and positively influenced all other aspects of it.  You realize not only how good you feel but that you can accomplish anything you put your mind to.

Many people don't realize how bad they feel on a day to day basis.  Sleep, stress, food all affect our energy levels.  Most people don't realize how good they can feel every day.  I can tell big time if I don't get enough sleep or I make bad food choices.  Specially eating bad choices.  I feel tired, sluggish and I don't have the energy, speed, endurance I usually do.  I know if I eat ice cream on Thursday, my workout on Friday is going to suffer some.  Depends on how much and how often.  Since I can tell the difference and don't like to feel sluggish on a regular basis it's one of the things hat motivates me to make better choices.  I still eat junk food some times but I keep it smaller quantities and not as often.  Trust me, if I want to eat something I do, i just realize what the consequences are.

I think I'm making it sound easier than it is.  It's all a process and it evolves as you do.  Once step at a time.  Rome wasn't built in a day.  Perfect topic for my next post.  How to make changes you can live with and not overwhelm yourself.  It can be done.

Enjoy your life, it's the only one you have.

Finally! The secret to weight loss!!!

It's been right under our nose the entire time.  I wish it were a pill or something you could take to make it easier for everyone to lose weight.  What is the secret to weight loss?  It's simple math/physics:  How much you eat (yes, calories no matter what kind) - How much you burn off (activity) = How big you are.  Of course some people have metabolic issues which changes this equation but that's not true for most people.  I know you've heard that what type of calorie makes a different and you should cut out fats blah blah blah.  Well there is some truth to it but a calorie is a calorie is a calorie and it takes the same amount of energy to burn one calorie no matter what type of food you got it from.  Now, you will feel fuller with certain types of food than others, some foods are more nutritious, and if you choose your food wisely you can eat a lot throughout the day and not exceed your calorie goal.

Weight Watchers does a very good job of teaching you portion size along with their points system you can really eat what you want.  It helps you to realize that some foods come with a trade off.  You spend all your points on one serving of ice cream (or whatever is your weakness) then you have little if any points left throughout the day for other food.  You get hungry and you probably get a sugar crash from the ice cream as well.

Now anyone who knows me knows I am not one to deprive myself of what I want to eat.  I believe you should eat the foods you want, you just have to figure out how to do it in moderation and realize that if you do splurge it's going to cost you.  I do eat fairly healthy, I like the way I feel when I do and I have the energy to exercise or do the activities I enjoy throughout the week.  I do eat ice cream, desserts and other not so great things every now and then.  I enjoy them when I do, don't beat yourself up over it.  My husband loves to read me the calories and nutrition info on some things when I do eat badly.  I tell him to stop reading because I'm  going to eat it and I'm going to enjoy it.  I'm healthy, not overweight and have no cholesterol or blood pressure issues.  I do try not to over do, if you can manage it, everything is find in moderation.

I know I can't have sweets, ice cream and other similar foods in the house.  It calls to me and I will snack on it without even thinking.  By not having it in the house I don't feel like I'm denying myself because most of the time I'm not craving it but if I see it I'll munch on it.  It's there, it's easy and usually no preparation is needed.  You have to figure out what works for you.  I have friends that can keep all the junk food in the world in their house and they never touch it.  Everyone is different.

I will tell you the minute someone or some diet tells me I can't have something, I want it.  I know, I sound like a kid, but it's true.  I find if I deny myself something then it builds until I eventually just gorge on it.  So if I want something I'll have a small amount of it and not every day.

The other main thing for me is to eat all day long.  If I don't snack I get hungry and if I get hungry I eat everything in site in large quantities.  So I eat a fairly big breakfast and then three hours later I have a snack, 2-3 hours later lunch, about 3 hours later another snack and then dinner.  Breakfast is probably my biggest meal.  I love breakfast.  Occasionally dinner will be big too, depends if we go out or what we are doing.

I eat out a lot too, you just have to make smart choices and I often take home half my meal.  Don't be afraid to ask for spray instead of butter, dry toast, whatever you want to make it healthier.  A little goes a long way in cutting calories in restaurant food.

Ok, how active are you?  I'll address this in my next entry.  It all goes together. 

Enjoy your life!

Don't Give It Away!

As we get older there are two things that are a given (besides death and taxes).  We lose muscle and balance, UNLESS you do something to prevent it.  That's the good news.  You don't have to lose your muscle or your balance.  It's simple, incorporate some type of weight training which should include balance training as well into your weekly routine.  A little goes a long way.  You can balance on 1 leg while alternating bicep curls with dumbbells.  Balancing on 1 leg is a heck of a leg workout while you are doing another upper body exercise.  If you are not comfortable balancing on 1 leg you can progress.  Most stable is a parallel stance shoulder width apart.  Then staggered stance but wide, about shoulder width.  Then a narrower staggered stance until you feel comfortable balance on 1 leg.  Here's a few tips to help you balance.  Slight break in the knees, neck relaxed, shoulders back and down, abs engaged and pelvis tilted up or slightly back.  This is a position of power, you would be hard to push over in this position.  Get your balance on 1 leg before your start the upper body exercise.  Pick a spot to look at that is fixed and block everything else out, this will help you balance as well.  As you improve you won't need to focus on a fixed spot, it does help a lot in the beginning.  One of my motivations to be active as far back in my 20's, was because I wanted to keep whatever mobility and independence I could for as long as I could.  Life throws curve balls at you all the time.  Who do you know that doesn't have some time of orthopedic or metabolic issue.  I am a firm believer in dealing with whatever issues life gives you and making the best of it.  Another great tip is to make your workouts fun.  That will be my next post, there are a lot of ways to make your workout something you look forward to or to get you to at least show up.

Fitness-You don't have to kill yourself to be fit & healthy

Hello and welcome to my blog!  I've always been fairly active.  I didn't play competitive sports but I roller skated, roller bladed, played tennis and racquetball, took aerobic classes and whatever other activities looked like it might be fun.  I tried running when I was younger and quickly found I did not like it one bit.  Ironically I started running in my late 40's because I wanted to participate in a sprint triathlon.  I actually got to like parts of the running, such as running on the beach at sunrise (I live in Florida, which helps) and when I get to travel it was always fun to find places to run wherever I was.  I found a wonderful off-road path in France.  Plus it's pretty easy to strap on running shoes and head out the door.  No equipment needed.  It took me many years to figure out that you don't have to kill yourself and exercise for hours a day 7 days a week to be fit and healthy.  What a revelation!  But it was hard to change my mindset.  Things have changed physically for me as I've gotten older.  I need more recovery time and I'm not willing to spend the time or the effort I used to, I would be exhausted all the time.  I am no less fit than I used to be.  Many people feel if they are going to do something they may as well give it their all.  I've also seen the other side of the coin, people just going thru the motions, but I still give them credit, something is better than nothing.  It really comes down to what your goals are.  Do you want to be the next Arnold Schwarzenegger, competitively compete in a sport or just be healthy?  Some of my hardest workouts are 20-40 minutes long.  Your body adapts quickly.  So if you do the same thing all the time the same way your body adapts and your don't get as much benefit or bang for the buck.  It's not too tough to change it up, if you do the treadmill then change to the elliptical or rowing machine or do 10 minutes on each.  The key is to just do it different.  You can change it every time, weekly or monthly, whatever works for you.  The other thing you need to do is change up how you do your cardio.  Do you go at the same pace for the same period of time?  Here are the 3 things you should integrate into your cardio workouts.  1) Steady State - 2) Tempo - 3) Interval.  1) Steady State:  Probably what most people do, keep the same pace for the entire workout, usually not a full out effort.  On a scale of 1-10 of perceived exertion you should be at about a 6-7, you can talk but you are still breathing heavy and you can go for an hour or more.  2) Tempo:  You have set intervals of higher intensity and then a recovery period.  Such as 5 minutes at a Perceived Exertion of 7-8, you can't talk without taking a breath every 4 or 5 words and you could probably go 10-20 minutes at this level.  You follow the 5 minutes with a period of recovery.  You can do this at a 1-1 ratio, 5 min at a higher level and 5 minutes at say a level 6 Perceived Exertion.  3) Interval:  This is High Interval Training (HIT)  This is hard and should kick your behind.  You do short intervals at a Perceived Exertion level of 9-10, that's all out huffing and puffing, can't talk.  The interval can be 15 seconds to 1 minute.  Recovery depends on your fitness level, you need to get your breath back to where you feel you are back to a Perceived Exertion level of 6 or 7.  You can get a heart rate monitor and figure out what your training heart rate is at these Perceived Exertion levels and when you do your recovery as soon as you hit your recovery heart rate you immediately go back to the higher intensity effort.  I find the HIT training is a love/hate thing for me.  It's hard!  When I first started doing it I was so tired too, but that only lasted a few days then you see yourself getting better and stronger.  I've barely scratched the surface but to get the biggest bang for your buck in your workouts change it up.  Mostly I talked about changing things in your cardio but you need to change it up in your weight workouts as well.  Try doing your weight training exercises in a different order or just try a different exercise for that body part each week, month or session.  Most of all tell yourself it's ok not to spend hours working out.  A little bit can go a long way.