Gym closed New Years Day?...and you need workout ideas?

It's New Years Eve, and you're thinking "crap, my gym is closed tomorrow... ". Well, you can still workout (if you want). To help you with this, I'm writing down a couple things I like to do when the gym is not an option, or I'm just too lazy to get in the car and freeze for 10 minutes on the way there...and maybe a couple other ones too...

Option 1: Go cross country skiing, downhill skiing, snowshoeing, sledding, ice skating, etc with your family. You won't even know you got a workout in when you're done. If you live where it isn't freezing outside, go for a hike, walk, run, bike, anything else outside.

Option 2: If watching something on TV helps you pass the time during a workout, try doing 2 to 3 sets of the following list of moves (... but don't go into a TV coma and stop paying attention to your workout!) I sometimes do this one when I really want to watch something on TV... but want to get a workout too :). One set should take about 15 to 20 minutes... depending on if you rest between movements (suggested). Also, only do this if you have been working out and know that you won't have any medical issues completing it!!

• 15 jump squats (go into a squat, jump up and bring your hands up. When you land, let your legs give so you go back into a squat - kind of like a frog. This is something called a plyometrics move (explosive movement). If you need something less intense, keep it to just squats without the jumping).
• 60 seconds of jumping jacks
• 15 alternating jump lunges (similar to the squats, but done as a lunge. Go into a lunge position, jump up, switch your feet, and land in the opposite lunge. This is another plyometrics move, so if you need a less intense version, keep it to alternating lunges without the jump).
• 60 seconds of jumping rope (you can fake it if you don't have a rope)
• 60 seconds of high knees (kind of like running but pull your knees up to your chest)
• 15 side kicks per side (pull your knee up first, then kick out to the side)
• 60 seconds of mountain climbers (hands on floor, alternate pulling your legs up to your chest).
• 60 seconds of jumping jacks
• 60 seconds of running butt kicks (like running, but kick your butt)
• 15 burpees (start standing, put your hands on the ground, jump your legs back so your feet are on the floor and you're kind of in a plank position, jump your legs back to where your hands are, stand up... that's 1. If this is too much, try the mountain climbers again.)
• 15 push-ups (or as many as you can do. If you need to, you can do these on your knees)
• 60 seconds of jumping rope
• 60 seconds of bicycle crunches (on your back, hands supporting head, pull opposite elbow to knee, alternate)
• 60 seconds of jumping rope or jumping jacks
• 60 seconds of a plank (elbows on ground, feet behind on ground, body straight.

Option 3: Watch some Exercise TV on Demand workouts or Fit TV workouts. A lot of them are not very long, but you can do 2 or 3 of them if they aren't. My favorites for Exercise TV on Demand are Jillian Michael's Boost Metabolism (~1hr) and No More Trouble Zones (~1hr), and all of Jackie Warner's exercises (3x20 min, 1-45 min). Check out my forum for reviews on some of the Exercise TV on Demand workouts!

Option 4: Do an hour of Wii Fit or one of the other new fitness things for the Wii. I made a post about Wii workouts a while ago; you could check it out on the right hand side of the blog. I will do this in a pinch if at my parents house (because I'm not cool enough to have one). I try to alternate between the super hula hoop (is anyone else horrible at 1 direction with this??), advanced step, long run, and a bunch of the yoga and strength exercises. The balance games won't give you a great cardio or strength workout, but they will improve your balance (duh).

Have a great New Year and let me know how you stayed active over the holidays!

Moisture Wicking Performance Clothing - Still stinks after washing??

Ok, so strange blog title... I know. But if you own workout clothes that are made out of that performance moisture wicking material stuff, and you sweat, you know what I'm talking about...or not.

This blog was originally for my brother because he was wondering why his Nike Dry Fit clothes still smelled like a dirty sock after washing, but then I thought back to the numerous times that my boyfriend told me my performance clothing smelled like something died (after it had been washed), and wouldn't come near me until I took it off. So, it's for both my brother and I, and for everyone out there who wants to smell pretty for the people around them. Not to mention, you don't want to be that person at the gym that STINKS and no one will step on the cardio equipment within a 3 foot radius of them.

Anyway, like a good sister, girlfriend, whatever, I researched this topic online for over an hour and wrote down all of the ideas I found, and it seems that half of the United States stinks like sweat as well...haha. Now originally I was just searching about Nike Dry Fit, but it seems like people have issues with any moisture wicking performance material...which is probably the reason all of my free performance shirts from races I've run in stink too. Ok, so see below for solutions I found at about 20 different website forums on this topic, and don't yell at me if they don't work because I haven't tested any of them yet :)...

Pre-soak with detergent, antibacterial hand soap, dish detrgent, an ammonia-water mix, or a vinegar-water mix in sink for a couple hours, swish around, then wring out and throw in w/ rest of laundry.

Performance fabric detergents or phosphate free tech soap that can be found at sporting good stores such as Dicks or EMS (Win SportWash, Penguin SportWash,etc). Also brought up was Method brand laundry detergent which is found anywhere like your local grocery store or Target but is not specifically made for performance clothing.

Things to add into the wash (only 1 at a time):
1/4 cup baking soda
A scoop of Oxy Clean
Borax washing powder
1 cup of white vinegar

Put your clothing in the freezer for a while; it kills bacteria.
Spray with Febreeze.
Puckskins brand shirts apparently don't hold the smell but are hard to find in the US. They can be found in Canada.

Oh, and a couple other little tid bits for keeping your moisture wicking performance clothing new as long as possible (what I have been scewing up on apparently): DON'T use fabric softners because they clog the wicking pores in the fabric, and you can put in dryer on low heat, but DON'T use dryer sheets.

Hopefully after reading this, less of the country will smell like sweat (especially my brother...and I) :)...let me know what works out!

The Truth About Counting Calories

For as long as I can remember, there has been talk about low fat diets, low carb diets, high protein diets, liquid diets, a million other diets, and of course, counting calories. I have done the whole calorie counting thing many of times, with Excel spreadsheets and everything, and I always end up thinking it's the biggest pain in the ass ever, but it's definitely a great way to be honest with yourself with exactly how much you're eating. It's amazing how some things add up. Anyway, I did some Googling about this today and also have some info from my personal training books, so I'll go ahead and try to have an un-biased opinion...TRY.

First of all, I read a whole bunch of stuff on how a calorie IS a calorie, so if your body needs 1800 calories a day to stay at the same weight, you can use those calories how you want (1 meal at a fast food restaurant vs. 5 small healthy meals a day).... but seriously, who's going to stop at 1 meal (and no snacks that is...)? And don't you think you'd feel a little hungry, or tired, or something, and end up eating a whole lot more? Probably. So really, it's to your advantage to make those calories worth it, space them out throughout the day, and make mostly healthy decisions. The food choices you make will also help with not over-eating. Like if you have foods high in fiber, you're going to feel fuller for longer and that will stop you from making bad choices.

Second of all, calorie counting is super hard, especially when you're not eating at home all the time. SOME restaurants have nutritional information right on the table that you can look at, or posted on the wall somewhere very small, or even on the internet, but how many people actually do that every time they're going out to eat (of course I have before...haha). It's amazing the proportion size they give you at restaurants, which may make it VERY hard for you to estimate the amount of calories you're having. I've also heard that since Americans eat food out so much, they start thinking that what they get served at restaurants are normal, and start making food at home with much larger portions; which obviously leads to you have way more calories than you probably need. So, when people count calories, they generally tend to underestimate the actual amount of calories they are intaking. Of course it's even more inaccurate if you forget to add in that soda you had for lunch, or that chocolate bar you had for dessert. You really should get a food scale if you want to know you're getting the exact portion size...

Third of all, even though a calorie is a calorie like I said before, eating healthy and getting all your veggies, fruit, lean proteins, and whole grains will help beat off diseases like heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. Eating lots of fat, sugar, and things like that will add to your risk of these diseases and a whole bunch of other ones.

So pretty much what I'm trying to say here, is that calorie counting is probably a good initial thing to do for yourself in the beginning of trying to be healthier because it will really help you see what you're putting into your body and where you can make some positive changes. Just be aware that your ideas of portions may not be correct and weighing your food will really help with that. Also be aware that when you go out, you may be underestimating your calorie intake by A LOT. Even some nutritionists that took part in a study underestimated calories and fat in meals at restaurants by half!

After you have a good idea of how many calories are in different foods, and you know what a real portion is, it really works best (and is less time consuming) to just make healthy choices when you eat and to take smaller portions. When you're at a restaurant, ask for the sauce or salad dressing on the side, or get grilled chicken instead of fried, and be aware that your creamy dressing may add so many calories to your "healthy" salad, that you'd actually be better off getting the bacon cheeseburger. When you're at the grocery store, try to keep to the outer edges as much as possible because that's where the most healthy food is. Eat all your veggies, fruits, lean meats, and whole grains, and treat yourself to a "whatever I want" meal of the week. This way, you're mostly eating healthy, but you still get to have that cheat meal so you don't freak out and start eating everything in sight :).

Don't know how many calories you should have a day? WebMD has a bunch of calculators at this site that will really help you get on your way!

VNUS Closure Procedure - My Experience

So this Friday, I got a procedure done called VNUS closure. If you haven't heard of it, it's a way to go into the veins in your leg where the valves have stopped working and suck them closed with a lot of heat (you can get a medical description online :)). For the past couple years, my legs have been hurting more and more and standing in one place for more than 20 minutes pretty much sucked... plus I had some ugly veins that made me uncomfortable wearing skirts, dresses, bathing suits, which isn't cool when you're still in your 20s. Anyway, this year I finally paid the extra money to get the better insurance from my company (which still isn't good), just so I could get this procedure done. I started on this vein journey in January and thought it'd be done and over and I'd have pretty, pain free legs by the summer, but no, this stuff takes FOREVER!

I went in for my first appointment to the vein people in February and they gave me an ultrasound and confirmed that veins in both legs were acting like a 70 or 80 year old woman and that something needed to be done. This was when she told me that for insurance to pay for the VNUS procedure, I would have to wear compression stockings for 3 months, and then at that point, if I wasn't satisfied with the results, I could get the procedure done. I'm like, awesome... sounds very sexy. At this point I'm like, I don't care IF the stockings help me... I'm not wearing those for the rest of my life. I'm sure they'd look really cool with a bikini. I actually purchased them probably 2 months later. I figured I should give them a chance, and that I should be able to tell the doctor at least how they felt. This helped with some of the pain or "heavy" feeling of the legs, but not completely, and totally not for me. I went back in for my second appointment probably around May. The doctor asked if the stockings worked for me, I said no, and she said ok we'll make an appointment for the VNUS closure procedure. That was really worth the second $30 copay... haha. She told me that the receptionist would call me when she started scheduling appointments for the month I could come in. I'm like damnit... I wanted pretty legs for the 6 weddings I had during the summer :(. The receptionist finally called and scheduled my appointment for August (after all the weddings... sigh). In August, I was training for an off-road triathlon, and realized the procedure was scheduled a week before it. I called the office and they told me I wouldn't be able to train for a week... I had to re-schedule. Which brings me to October... the next opening they had. Little did I know this whole process would go for 9 months.

My procedure was scheduled for the day before my birthday on October 16 (fun). Before I got to the office, I had to take 2 Valium, 3 ibuprofen, and 1 benedryl. I also had to buy a NEW pair of compression stockings because the first time they told me to buy them, they just said knee high, and now I needed thigh high. I searched forever and finally found them for like $25. A lot of the ones they listed out were around $50-$70 and insurance doesn't pay for them. I got to the office and they let me in the room. I had to get nekked from the waist down and put a towel over the rest. I don't know the purpose of the towel because after the nurse did an ultrasound on both legs, they took the towel off and put a little blue towel on my area that was like 3"x5"... I don't even know why they bothered... The doctor then put about a gallon of iodine on my legs / groin / no point of the towel again. At this point I wasn't very happy that the Valium hadn't kicked in yet... I was hoping to not feel much or at least be kind of loopy.

For the next 45 minutes or so, the nurse used an ultrasound from my groin down and the doctor would shove a big vile of local anesthetic with a needle about 4 inches long every few inches... and I felt every single one. The dentist was looking soooo good at this point; that tiny needle they use on your gums feels like nothing. Ok, it wasn't horrible but it was definitely worse than getting the 2 tattoos I have and most of my piercings, or maybe it was because I wasn't used to being jabbed 24 times on my inner legs. In the process of the anesthetic, the doctor shoved a plastic tube thing in my mid calf where he was going to use the long, hot radiofrequency thing to suck my veins closed. At least for this part I didn't feel anything, and they shoved the long thing up to my groin (I think) and they would wait for it to heat up, then pull it out a little, wait for it to heat up, pull it out a little more. This part only took a couple minutes for each leg and then it was over in about an hour total. They put a couple bandages on the 2 hole things but all the injection areas from the anesthesia were still leaking some... really hot. The nurse gave me 2 warm, wet towels and said I could clean up all the iodine stuff. I'm glad they didn't let me wear underwear because that stuff was ALL OVER. Definitely took those 2 towels to get it all off. I put my sexy compression stockings on, and my boy took me home.

This is when I realized the Valium kicked in because I don't remember much of the drive home but I do remember bitching about wanting things to eat, then not wanting things to eat, I'm sure he was happy about that. I spent most of the rest of the day sleeping on and off in bed and then went to an AFI concert for my birthday that we had gotten tickets for. I looked like a complete idiot because to not be in a lot of pain, I had to keep walking around... probably a bad idea to go to a concert right after getting that done. O well. Anyway, 2 days later, they're not too painful unless I stand still. It pretty much just feels like the legs are bruised (which they are a little). I can't do aerobic activity or weight lifting for 3 days so I'm freaking out a bit but I'll get over it. I'm going to shut up now... long post. If you're getting this procedure done soon, at least you know what to expect. Maybe I made it sound worse than it was but it really wasn't bad at all... it was much easier to deal with than 4 cracked ribs. I'm sure the results will be awesome and it has totally been worth it so far.

What's your Yoga Style?

I don't know about you, but when I look at the schedule at my gym for yoga classes, I have no idea what the difference is between the types. I end up going and it's hit or miss on whether or not I'll truly enjoy it. So below I've described some of the most popular yoga styles so you can figure out BEFORE you go to the gym whether or not you'll be happy when you're done.

Hatha - This is probably the most popular when talking about yoga in this country, but it's really very generalized. The class will most likely be gentle, slow moving, and be a pretty good introduction into the basics of yoga moves if you're a newbie.

Ashtanga / Power Yoga (more my type of thing)- This type of yoga is more intense, fast paced, and is more physically demanding than other types of yoga because there is constant movement from pose to pose. In Ashtanga yoga, all poses are done in the same order, but if the class says Power Yoga, it'll include Ashtanga moves but not necessarily in the same order. This type requires strength and balance and will add some fat burning into your yoga, along with all the other benefits of flexibility and stress relief.

Vinyasa- Vinyasa is similar to Hatha in that it's a more generalized term and includes many types of classes, but the difference is that all of the movements are matched to the breath. Vinyasa is also more vigorous than Hatha and includes more intense stretching done near the end of class.

Bikram / Hot Yoga- This type of yoga is done in a room with the heat cranked up to around 100 with a humidity of 40%. Bikram is focused around loosening tight muscles, preventing injury, relieving stress and tension, and is thought to be a cleansing process from all the sweating you'll be doing. Apparently many beginners may experience dizziness and nausea.

Iyengar- This type is mainly based on proper body alignment to avoid injury and to get maximum benefits. The poses are held for a long period of time, there is a great attention to detail with the poses, and props such as blocks and straps are often used to help with alignment. Standing poses are emphasized in this type of yoga.

Forrest- Forrest yoga includes a vigorous sequences of poses, helps you connect to your core to gain strength and purify the body to release toxins. This style will give you an intense workout with an emphasis on ab strengthening.

Sivananda- If you're looking for a yoga style that focuses on overall wellness, this type would be for you. Sivananda focuses on five main principles: proper exercise, proper breathing, proper relaxation, proper diet (vegetarian), and positive thinking and meditation. This style is less vigorous than some of the other styles listed above and focuses more on relaxation and breathing.

Getting Rid of Stubborn Belly Fat

Ok, this is blog request #1, and I'm hoping to get some more to help people learn a little :). I knew mainly what I was going to talk about here, but thought I'd type into Google "How to get rid of stubborn belly fat". Some of the articles I found were filled with a bunch of BS and then tried to sell you some magic drug, others were filled with some more BS and tried to sell some ab machine thing, and some were actually written by people who knew what they're talking about were based on studies, and were helpful.

I guess I'll start off by depressing everyone when I say that there's really not a good way to just target belly fat and make it magically disappear (or other localized fat like those nice deposits on my upper thighs...); that's what liposuction is for. Didn't you ever notice all of those 5'8" 20 something year olds that weigh 120 on Dr. 90210 that have 1 area on their bodies that still has fat? That's proof you can't really spot train well by yourself. Anyway, I degress.

So those expensive ab things on TV, regular ab crunches, crazy amounts of cardio a day, etc are not going to help you. The only thing that the ab machines and crunches are going to do is tone / strengthen your underlying ab muscles which in some cases may even make your abs stick out more. Also, lots of cardio at the same intensity may even burn some of your muscle off, which obviously isn't good since the more muscle you have, the more fat you burn during the day.

The secret to losing "belly fat" or other areas of fat is to reduce the overall fat in your body. By reducing your overall fat, you'll lose it in the problem areas as well. The best way to reduce fat is to get on a healthy diet (i.e. no simple carbs, minimal sugar, none of those pre-packaged food things, and an increase in protein), full body strength training, and interval training. Make yourself get on a plan that you can stick to (no one is going to stick to a super strict diet forever) and just slowly try to take a few things out like sugars and starches and try to replace it with something healthier with some more protein. For example, instead of eating that donut, try a couple lightly salted rice cakes with a couple teaspoons of peanut butter, or even try the protein pudding recipe in my forum (I've found the brand / flavor is really the key here... I've had luck with Designer Whey - Chocolate Peanut Caramel, and Pure Protein - Chocolate). It's good for a post-workout snack. Also, remember to add more lean protein / vegetables instead of that Wendy's cheeseburger.

For your workout, instead of doing so much cardio, try to add some more strength training and try to hit every muscle group at least 2x/week. To really work on your mid-section, do some core training instead of just ab exercises. It will really target all the muscles around the middle of your body including the deeper ones that will help improve your posture, hold your belly in, and make you look slimmer. One trick to make your mid-section look smaller is to work on your shoulders to get them bigger. This will have a visual slimming effect. When you do your cardio, instead of spending 60 minutes at the same intensity, try intervals where you do moderate intensity for 2-3 minutes, then high intensity for 1 minute and repeat. This will keep your body guessing and will help get you in better shape, and you can even cut down your overall cardio time as well to work in that strength training. Good luck!... It's a tough one.

Working Out Green

Going green has become a huge thing in the past couple of years, and most likely it will gain even more interest in the coming years. There are sooo many websites that have tips on going green and are dedicated to this purpose. I thought I'd research about some things to consider as you plan your workouts.

First of all, GET OUTSIDE! This is the best way to make your workouts more green. When you run, bike, play sports, etc outside, you're not using up precious energy. What makes this more fun is getting a friend to workout with you outside, or joining a group. If you need to go to a gym because the weather in your area is not always great, try to find one with eco-friendly qualities. This eco-friendly gym will most likely be easier to find in a large city... I'm pretty sure gyms where I live don't think about these things yet, but to do your own eco-friendly thing at the gym, only use 1 towel (or none), bring a reusable water bottle, and set the treadmill to a higher incline to use less energy.

You can also stay at home and workout. There are great workouts you can do in your house including yoga, pilates, and weight training. Write down or memorize a great workout and do it while you're watching your favorite TV program at night, or better yet, do it in your backyard and enjoy the surroundings. If you need workout equipment, try to buy used and if you need workout clothing or accessories, buy from places like Patagonia, REI, and Gaim that have eco-friendly products.

Ok, I saved the coolest thing for last. There is this thing called Pedal-a-Watt that is an indoor bike stand that's hooked up to a generator so you can help give power to things in your house or even re-charge a battery. Talk about multi-tasking :). There are also some green gyms popping up around the country where a lot of the energy they use comes from people using the cardio equipment. At the one I linked to, members get $1 for every hour they're on the bikes that they can use at the gym... great idea. I can definitely see these types of things becoming more and more popular in the coming years, so you should get on board and see how you can make your workout more green :).

Get ready to be Inspired! Join Earth Cinema Circle and learn ways you can protect the environment and reduce your carbon footprint.

Music Makes Life Better... and Working Out

So I just read that the Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology has reported that music enhances endurance by 15%, which wasn't originally the reason for me wanting to write this blog but hey, sounds good :).

Seriously though, I love music. I love it on my way to work in the morning, while I'm working at my desk for 8 hours, on my way home from work, in the evening, and especially when I'm working out.

Do you also have lots of specific playlists or artists you listen to when you're in different moods? For me, when I'm pissed off at work, I'll listen to Korn or Nine Inch Nails, or something like that... when I'm getting all psyched to go out, I'll listen to some Hip-Hop or Techno to get me pumped... when I'm sad I'll listen to some Death Cab for Cutie or something super mellow, I have others too... too much to get into.

For working out, I have this random mix of a bunch of stuff from up beat late 80s/early 90s (ah the good 'ole days), to Techno, to Hip-Hop, to Alternative, to Punk, yeah.... very random. I've found that whether I'm at the gym or working out outside alone, listening to music makes it go by soooo much faster. I pretty much won't workout anymore unless I have my iPod or a friend running with me to bitch about guys with. I love my iPod more than anything and can't really imagine holding my old portable Sony CD player in my hand while running :). Oh, so 1 thing not to do is to get a piercing on your tragus and try to shove an iPod headphone in there the day after... very disturbing.

What does everyone's motivational workout playlist consist of???

Great Reasons to Weight Train

Maybe you think weight training is only for people want to gain muscle mass, get stronger, and get cut. While weight training DOES do those things, there are many more reasons for why it's good for your health too. Here's a few:

• Increases your metabolism (each pound of lean muscle mass burns 35-50 calories/day)
• Improved balance and restoring bone density (which are 2 reasons why weight training actually becomes more important as you get older and falling / osteoporosis is of more of a concern)
• Decreased risk of Cardiovascular Disease by reducing blood pressure and cholesterol (Did you know that for every 10mm hg increase in blood pressure, your CVD risk DOUBLES? That's of course in my ACSM book).
• Better performance in sports, exercise, and life. Weight training makes climbing stairs and carrying heavy objects around easier.
• Helps you look and feel better since weight training reduces overall body fat.
  

There are obviously many more reasons but those are some good ones. I also just read an article off the MSNBC website about a study where they linked decreased blood flow in elderly to loss of strength (which can be reversed with strength training). Here it is. There's also another interesting article on the same site about how weight training may help breast cancer survivors which is really interesting. Here it is.

And on that note, I'm going to cut this off and go do some weight training in my living room before I get in the car and drive the 7 hours to visit my brother in New Hampshire :). Have a great weekend!

Biggest Loser Season Premier Tonight!

Ok, so technically the Biggest Loser Season Premier started 15 minutes ago here, but still, you should tune in because it's 2 hours long :). Anyway, I felt the need to blog about this because I was going to talk about motivation today, and every time I watch that show, all I want to do is workout and stop eating chocolate.

The contestants on there really work their asses off and it makes my hour to an hour and a half workout 6 days a week look like the easiest / laziest thing in the world. It's also so touching when they get up there and lose weight that I feel like watching this show will be enough motivation to make anyone start working out. So if you've been playing with the idea of starting a program recently, you should definitely tune into NBC, now!

I'm also completely inspired by the trainers Jillian and Bob and am really going to strive to be as good as they are once I get my ACSM certification. They are super tough when they need to be, but also obviously have hearts and truly care about the people on the show. Jillian and Bob's workouts on Exercise TV On Demand are also superb (but of course you should buy them :)). Go test 'em out if you have Digital Cable... you can find it in the On Demand channels. I also have reviewed a few of them in my forum, so check that out too. Ok.... go watch!

I Heart Pure Protein Bars!

If you're like most people (including me not too long ago), you see the word "diet", "nutrition", or "high protein" slapped onto a bar and assume it's healthy and that you should eat it all the time, right? Not really... The majority of "bars" include just as much sugar as a chocolate bar (which is why they taste good), or they really don't have that much protein at all.

And most likely at 1 point in your life, you've tried out a Powerbar or some other very high protein bar and almost gagged on it because it was this strange chewy consistency and tasted slightly like chalk...right, anyone? :)

So I assumed there was no good compromise between the two (yummy, high sugar, low protein and nasty with high protein), until my boyfriend introduced me to Pure Protein bars. I'd have to admit that since I was addicted to Luna bars and Odwalla bars, the first one wasn't that great, but a week or so later I was hungry again and tried a better flavor (S'mores) and didn't stop eating them after that.

For a protein bar, the nutritional information is quite impressive for the taste. The S'mores flavor has 180 calories, 5g fat, 20g carbs, 2g sugar, and 19g protein. For comparison, I'll give you some information from other bars:

Odwalla Bar (Chocolate Chip PB): 250 calories, 7g fat, 38g carbs, 14g sugar, 8g protein
Luna Bar (Pecan Pie): 180 calories, 5g fat, 25g carbs, 8g sugar, 10g protein
Powerbar Protein Plus (chocolate chip): 290 calories, 6g fat, 37g carbs, 18g sugar, 23g protein

All those carbs and sugar are going to go directly where you DON'T want them...

I have a huge sweet tooth so if you're like me and looking for a flavor to try, my #1 is the Peanut Butter one, #2 is the Chocolate Chip one, and #3 goes between the S'mores and the Double Chocolate. They also have fruity ones and I'm not a huge fan of fruit inside of things, but try one if YOU are!

Anyway, next time you think about eating "diet" or "nutrition" bars on a regular basis, try to re-think it a little and check out the label. Staying under 10g sugar per bar would be a great way to start. As always, the best way to get your protein is with lean meats (chicken, turkey, tuna, seafood, etc), but if you need something for on the go, try my new obsession :). They have them at this place at the bottom of my blog, and also at most grocery stores, just maybe not all of the flavors.

Mini Exercise Bands

The first time I saw these mini exercise bands was in a boot camp class I started taking at the Xerox gym. I have a gym I go to other than my work one, but I went to this class once and got addicted so decided I needed to take it once a week. Anyway, one of my favorite pieces of "equipment" we use are these mini exercise bands.

I love how you can really target those awesome areas of extra fat in the inner and outer thigh. It also ads a good amount of resistance for doing other exercises such as push-ups where you continuously move to the side as you do more. Sometimes our instructor even has us put 1 around our knees and 1 around our ankles for more resistance.

If you want to test them out, you can click on the picture in the top of my post and it'll take you directly do them. Also they're on sale right now for $2, so I'm going to grab a few. They'd be a great investment if you're looking for something very compact for workout out on the go. I would advise you to start with yellow or green (I use green all the time). There are a couple guys in the class that use blue and no one that uses black, so you'd have to work up to that probably :).

They also have an exercise sheet specifically for these mini bands right on their site and a demonstration video that really helps show what you can do with these. Have fun :).

Wii Fit for Random Workouts?

It's Labor Day, and most gyms are closed (at least mine is). You don't really feel like going outside and running but still want to do SOMETHING... turn on that Wii Fit :). My parents of all people were the first ones I knew to own Wii Fit when it came out. So what did I do? I checked out every single exercise on it for like 2 hours... it was pretty cool.

When they got it it was around Christmas time and I was spending a few days there minus weights, a gym, or being able to go outside (it was probably about 10 outside...). I put a couple sweet workout routines together where I would do some lower body strength exercises, then some upper body ones, some running, hula hooping, stepping, back to running, hula hooping, etc. I would finish up with some balance games and yoga... and at least 60 minutes would've gone by. Awesome, at least I did something.

Anyway, I was looking online today and found this website that you can join for free and you can create your own Wii Fit routine. You can choose between strength, balance, weight loss, easy, medium, hard, time of workout, etc. There is a lot of other stuff on there too that I haven't gotten a chance to check out...

So do I suggest to ONLY workout with the Wii Fit? No, but it's a way to do something active if your gym is closed :). It's also a good way for someone to get more interested in exercise if they're not currently involved in a program. One issue I kind of have with it is that is bases your fitness level mainly on balance, which isn't the best indicator. Also, with the running, you're only on the balls of your feet and after doing it for about 30 minutes, my calves really started tightening up (make sure you stretch them out after).

Oh, and if you get on the Wii Fit and you're very muscular, it will most likely tell you that you're overweight even if you have 18% body fat. This is because it only measures your BMI (body mass index) which relies only on weight and height. If you have an average amount of muscle, it's a fairly good indication of whether or not you are within the right weight range.

I like that it yells at you if you haven't been on it in a long time... it's a good way to get you up there more :). It's also fun to watch your relatives passing you as you're running with the Mii's. Have fun with it!

Saving 100s of Calories at the Bar

It's Friday, and all you can think about is leaving work and getting drinks at happy hour. I totally understand this, but thought I'd talk about low calorie cocktails, and ways you can save up to about 100 calories (and sugar!) per drink simply by adjusting one of the ingredients.

Lets first list some popular drinks that have under 150 calories (and by this I mean a single, not a double...):
*Green Apple Martini (1oz ea/ vodka, sour apple, apple juice, 148)
*Bloody Mary (5oz, 118)
*Red Wine (5oz, 120)
*White Wine (5oz, 120)
*Light Beer (12oz, 95-136)
*Champagne (5oz, 106-120)
*Spiced Cider w/ Rum (8oz, 150)
*Mimosa (4oz, 75)
*Rum and Diet Coke (8oz, 100)
*Mike's Hard Lemonade (11oz, 98)
*Whiskey Sour (125)

Ok, there obviously aren't many listed above and the problem with most cocktails is the mixers. A shot of alcohol is generally around 80-100 calories, but you can add hundreds of calories on top of that, especially with the more complex ones. To save a lot of calories on your favorite drinks what you can do is use diet, lite, or sugar free mixers such as diet soft drinks, lite cranberry juice, lite orange juice, diet tonic water, crystal lite, splenda, etc.

Another alternative is obviously just to have shots, but that doesn't work so well when you're going out for social time with friends... you might be really messed up by 8pm...haha. A couple favorites of mine are Black Cherry vodka with Sprite 0 (or any fruity vodka) and Captain Morgan's with Diet Coke. My boyfriend drinks a lot of Three Olives flavored vodka with sugar- free Red Bull (good if you have a sweet tooth or are tired!).

Some of the worst alcoholic drinks you can have (and this might depress some people), are Long Island Iced Teas, Margaritas, Pina Coladas, White Russians, and Mai Tais. All of these have between 400 and 800 calories EACH! So much for dinner... I won't even bother getting into the crazy concoctions they offer at restaurants, because those can be well over 1000 calories each. It's sad, because that TGI Friday's Mudslide is soooo good.

So I'm obviously not going to say never have a Margarita, but just keep these things in mind when you're wondering why you're feeling a little bloated the next day. I saw somewhere online that a lot of Americans DRINK 20% of their calories... not good.

p.s. You can also switch out every other drink with a non-alcoholic one, which is what I do sometimes... partially because of calorie watching, and partially because I'm a light weight :).

If you have anymore ideas of low calorie cocktails, feel free to post them in my Fit Chicks forum because I'm always looking for new options as I'm sure others are too.

Have a great holiday weekend!! :)

Seriously... do I have to drink THAT much water??

Yes!! Haha. So I know there's always all this hype about making sure you get 8, 10, or 100 glasses of water a day...and maybe you think it's complete BS, or something we are told so we will go out and buy more bottled water or whatever, but here are some reasons why you actually do want to drink this yummy clear beverage all day:

1. We all know our bodies are mostly made up of water, so when you don't put adequate amounts of water into your body, it leaves your muscle tissue unprotected from getting burned off. Yea, not good.

2. Water helps control your appetite. If you're feeling a little hungry, most likely you're slightly dehydrated. So if you drink a glass of water, it will help take away your craving of a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup (sorry, daydream).

3. Water flushes out impurities in your skin and drinking lots of water will help with your complexion and also makes your skin look younger. Water also cleanses your body from toxins and pollutants that may make you sick.

4. Studies have shown that within 10 minutes of drinking a bunch of water, your metabolism increases. Cold water increases your metabolism more.

5. An adequate amount of water is needed for all the chemical reactions to take place in your body and perform at its maximum level. Body functions that require water: energy production, muscle building, and fat burning...you don't want to interrupt THOSE processes, do you?

I could ad more numbers about water being beneficial, but I'll just leave you with those top 5 for now...

Want to find out how much water you should be drinking? Go here and take a 9 question quiz... it's sort of fun... Am I drinking Enough Water?

If you think it's going to be hard to drink this much water, think about bringing a Nalgene bottle to work and keeping it at your desk... I get through 2 large Nalgene bottles worth just when I'm at work.

Question you may ask: Won't drinking a lot more water make me bloated? No, it has been shown that drinking more water actually helps your body stop holding onto its extra water, so you should actually lose some of that extra water weight.

Another question you may ask: Won't I start having to pee a lot more? Yes, of course, but it's a good way to get a 3 minute break at work :).

Good luck!

Nike+ 10k Human Race 2009

Thanks to my brother, I learned that Nike is having it's second worldwide 10k race on October 24th. I didn't hear about the one from last year somehow, but 780,000 people ran in it. The race is hosted in 24 cities worldwide. US locations include NYC - Prospect Park, University of Southern California, and Ohio State University Campus.

HOWEVER... if you don't happen to live near any of the 3 cities (which I don't), you can still participate. You can register for the "run where you are" option and use your Nike+ sport kit, log a 10k run that day, and be included in the results of nearly a million people worldwide.

If you don't currently have a Nike+ sport kit, which is either a Nike+ SportBand, iPod nano and Nike+ iPod Sport Kit, iPod touch 2G and Nike+ sensor, or iPhone 3GS and Nike+ sensor, you can buy them online at Nike's website. Obviously cost will depend on how many products you already have, but if you just need the sensor it's $29. When my friend Nicole and I were training for our half marathon, she used the iPod nano and Nike+ iPod Sport Kit to measure our time and distance and it was really nice to have, especially when you're not training on a road where you can easily calculate distance. You can also track your runs and progress with their tools online.

Oh, I should mention that along with the equipment listed above, Nike also tells you that you need their special Nike+ shoes which range from under $100 to about $130 (not bad for a high quality running shoe...but only if you are in need). You can get the shoes at Dick's Sporting Goods as well. I'm including a link at the bottom of this post for free shipping.

What Nike doesn't tell you is that you don't actually need their sneakers, and what you can do is buy a sensor pouch at Amazon for $2 - $3 (black or multi-colored) and attach it to your shoelaces. I know people that use these and they work fine. So if you don't have Nike+ shoes and want to save some money, get a pouch :).

I hope everyone will join me virtually for this 10k run! Assuming my ribs are healed enough...
Let me know how you did and post it in the Fit Chicks forum :).

Free Shipping on Eligible Orders over $125 at DicksSportingGoods.com!

Fleet Feet Sports - A Rochester Best

Fleet Feet Sports is a full service fitness store that sells clothing, accessories, all things running related, and of course sneakers! By full service I mean that instead of you going in there and picking out the prettiest running shoe, they will put you into a pair, put you on a treadmill, and watch a video of your feet when you're running to see what type of shoe is going to fit you best. Once they know this, they bring out several pairs of sneakers, you put them on, run around the store outside if you wish, and pick the best fitting ones. This was pretty crazy to me since I grew up picking out the coolest looking sneakers and not caring how they fit, but let me tell you, my feet are super happy now.

Other than selling things, they host several races a year, have group workouts a few times a week, have workshops and speakers come in about training for triathlons, sports injuries, nutrition, girl nights, pretty much anything you could desire. Fleet Feet Sports is located around the country: Fleet Feet Locations, but when I go on and on about how cool they are, I'm talking about my local one: Fleet Feet Rochester ...so I have no idea if all the other ones have as much going on or not but you should check it out.

Every race they host is so much fun and they have loud music cranking for you when you cross the finish line. The owners Boots and Ellen also seem very laid back and that they care about making people happy by adding new things. In the past couple of years they have added some really fun races during the week for cheap. They are called the Dirt Cheap Trail Series and consist of a trail run once a month for 6 months at different parks around Rochester... they're my favorite. I mean how else are you going to get a 4-7 mile trail run done in the middle of the week with 100 other crazy people? They also have a new series this year called the Beach Cheap Aquathalon which is a combination of swimming and running which I haven't gotten a chance to check out.

In conclusion, check out the location link I put above and make sure to see if you have a Fleet Feet Sports around you...you won't regret it :).

Fractured Ribs & Vicodin

So to follow up with my last blog, I ended up fracturing 4 ribs. I thought I'd talk about the top 10 things that work and don't work when trying to heal. Here it goes:

1. A nice nurse at an Urgent Care center near me gave me Tylenol with Codeine - didn't help.

2. The next day, I went to see my doctor, he gave me Vicoprofen which is Hydrocodone mixed with... yup, Ibuprofen - helped.

3. Placing bags of frozen vegetables on my bare skin - helped.

4. The process of laying down and sitting up... most painful thing - made it worse.

5. Attempting to go back to work Thursday morning carrying around a pillow - didn't help.

6. Laying in bed propped up with 2 pillows not doing anything - helped.

7. Attempting to drive my car that's a stick shift - made it worse.

8. Walking to a convenience store to get some comfort food and a fountain diet coke - made it worse.

9. Taking Excedrin Migrane once the Vicoprofen started giving me migranes 1 hour after taking it - helped.

10. Accidentally hugging my friend at a wake - made it worse.

So in conclusion, to recover from multiple rib fractures, you should make your Doctor give you Vicodin, not move, stay home from work for a week, and don't show your friends or family any love... ok? :)

I know this is a health and fitness site... but whatever, I was hurt and talked about comfort food :) Chocolate.com - The World's Largest Chocolate Marketplace

XTERRA M2Xtreme

So last Sunday I competed in my first full distance XTERRA triathlon; M2XTREME. If you've never heard of these races (as I hadn't 2 years ago), they are off-road triathlons consisting of a 1500m swim, 17 mile mountain bike, and 5 mile trail run.

Ok, some background now, a couple years ago I decided to run a half marathon with my friend Nicole. We trained for a couple months and got up every Saturday morning and ran around 10-14 miles. I felt very accomplished when the race was over, but knew I had to set my goal for next year. Since the idea of getting up at 7am every Saturday morning and running double what I just trained for didn't sound very fun to me, I decided to move on to triathlons. Given the fact that I don't own a road bike, and LOVE mountain biking, I turned to XTERRAs. That next year I half-assed my training and did the sprint version (750m swim, 12 mile mountain bike, 3 mile trail run). It was the most fun I've ever had at a race... I knew I would try for the full the next year.

This year I bought a training plan online for the full XTERRA at Holiday Valley Ski Resort in NY (the M2Xtreme). I followed it pretty closely and dragged myself out for a couple hours every day after work to train. This year I was determined to do well on the swim because it was my weakest part last year so I even took a few lessons at the YMCA.

I brought my parents with me to watch the race (they love that stuff). The swim went really well (although I don't know my exact time yet, I know it improved greatly since last year)...yay! I threw all my mountain biking gear on and started the course. They had to change it this year because of the ridiculous amounts of rain. I could tell why when I saw all the mud on the course. I'm going along and doing OK, but I've never ridden a mountain bike in the mud...I'm going kind of slow and getting a little frustrated. I wonder how I'm going to do 2 more laps of this, then next thing I know, I'm going down a hill, slide on a bunch of mud, and my bike throws me onto a log... yeah that hurt. I lay there not being able to breathe for 5 minutes with my bike still in the path (not safe). Some nice guy helped get my bike out of the way and asked if I was ok. Actually about 5 people asked if I was ok, and I didn't want to trouble anyone so the answer was always, "yeah I'm fine."

The entire right side of my body was aching in pain (ribs, hip, some blood and bruises). I walked my bike on the trail for a while thinking maybe I could finish, but then decided that wasn't going to happen and met one of the volunteers near the bottom of the mountain and he walked me back to my parents. He was awesome and had just done a half Ironman... I'm jealous. I felt like a huge tool walking in front of everyone and not being able to finish...especially after all that training... o well :(. My friend did well so I was happy for him. This is a ridiculously long blog so I'm going to continue on some injury details tomorrow...

Buy some mud tires from these people next time you go mountain biking after a downpour: BikeTiresDirect.com - they have lots of other biking stuff too...

Blogging Virgin

So yes, here I am... a blogging virgin. I tried to find an adequate picture online to go with the title of my post, but you can imagine the outcome (note to self: don't Google "virgin"). Anyway, I'm your normal (kind of) 27 year old who is also a fitness, exercise, and health nut (I was going to say closet but everyone I've ever come in contact with knows this...), so I decided to start blogging about these slight obsessions, and hopefully I will help a few people out; either with their fitness goals, nutrition goals, or just weekend boredom reading :).

I'm not going to pretend like I know everything, but feel like I know more about and am more passionate about fitness than I am my career as an engineer... oops. I'm in the process of studying for my personal training certification (ACSM) and really hope to utilize it online to help women using my Fit Chicks website; which is currently in the very early stages of development. I eventually want to include custom fitness programs, reviews of workouts, reviews of fitness and health related products, a forum where women can inspire each other, and anything else I can think of to help people.

I would like to find ways to differentiate myself from other fitness websites, so any ideas you can think of for what should be included on my site to help with your goals, I would really appreciate those as your ideas may help many other women succeed in their goals as well :). And now I'm no longer a blogging virgin!!