Making time

"Something better than nothing" White Stripes, Blue Orchid

With the onset of school I have GOT to find a way to get a quality workout in during the week. The way I figuire it, the only way THAT'S gonig to happen is by exercising in the morning. Early in the morning, at that.

And while my dreams won't last as long, I can take comfort in the fact there there are many benefits of working out in the morning:

• Knocking out your workout early leaves you more flexible to the challenges life throws at you later in the day.
• You can take advantage of the early metabolism boost to sustain you throughout the day.
• Stay focused! Research has shown that you can have a sharper mind 4 to 10 hours after exercise.
• A structured a.m. routine can help keep your appetite in check.
• And damnit, you'll just feel GREAT when you're done.

I'm cool with that.

Om.... ahhh

I had high hopes this morning for getting out to the gym to make a 0930 Yoga class. But fate interceded and kept me home. What's a girl to do who needs to get her Yoga on? Rely on her own bits and pieces to get the job done, that's what!

Unfortunately for me, I haven't practiced Yoga in what seems like ages. So to ensure that I didn't overreach I decided to ease back into the practice gently. Even though my downward facing dogs weren't perfect (in truth I'm jealous of my own dog's perfect pose... but I think she's just showing off!) and my triangles a bit wobbly, I feel all the better for it. My muscles are excited, remembering the wonderful calm that Yoga brings to my mind and body.

Warrior, anyone?

In the news

This is a scary trend: young girls with diabetes purposely skipping out on their insulin in order to lose weight. Parents, keep an eye on your kids and COMMUNICATE healthy living!

Going to the dogs

"Those who run seem to have all the fun" Madonna, Hung Up

Thank goodness we have warmer weather on the way. And that means that it's an excellent time to get out and get in an early morning run with...your dog! Don't have a dog? Make a friend for life and BORROW ONE!

My boxer, Harley, is an animal. Ok, so yes, she's really an animal but I mean an animal, like wild and crazy. This dog wants nothing more than to play with you and run everywhere (she's even better at soccer than me!). Recently I've been taking her on morning runs and she's fallen in love and I'm getting time with my beautiful girl.

Some tips on running with your dog:

Be sure that your breed is a good runner. Labs, boxers...good. Dachsund, terriers...not so good.
Start out with a brisk walk to warm up.
Keep your runs relatively short unless there's plenty of water readily available--and then build up distances slowly.
Be sure to have a good leash and collar...there's nothing worse than seeing your dog slip out of it's collar and run away from you...toward traffic.
Speaking of traffic...if it can be helped, avoid busy roads. And you won't inhale all that exhaust.
Stay on a good surface. Avoid areas which may hurt your dog's paws...or that are littered with broken glass (big no no!). Keep an eye on them for injury.

Don't be surprised if YOU run and your dog walks briskly.
More tips can be found here, here and here.

Burn, Baby Burn

"Gonna hang around, wanna get a reaction" Jet, Cold Hard Bitch

One of the benefits of me getting smarter by going back to school is that I get to pass on what I've learned to you. Granted, I'm by no means an expert, but I've got my textbook with me so damnit, I've got some credibility.

If you want to burn fat through exercise then you will primarily do that aerobically. Your best bets are endurance exercises at low to moderate intensities. The reason for this is both simple and complex. Your body needs energy to do everything. Go ahead, blink you eyes. Bam! You just burned energy. But where that energy comes from is key.

When we perform endurance type exercises (long distance running, walking, swimming) our body taps fats, carbs and protein as energy sources to keep us moving. Initially, when we start exercising, our body taps our anaerobic system to rapidly produce energy for power (think weightlifting, sprinting, basketball). The drawback here is that our anaerobic system is designed to only hold out for very short periods of time (20-30 seconds to 2-3 minutes, tops).

Consider for a moment these two photographs:

The women on the top are distance runners. Marion Jones, Olympic Sprinter (let's ignore her recent steroid problem for a moment), is competing in the picture on the bottom. Notice the two very different body types of the runners. The distance runners have very lean bodies because they are burning energy from fat, proteins and carbs. Not so for the sprinters. They are pulling their energy anaerobically from ATP-PC (adenosine triphosphate-phosphocreatine...which is probably WAY more than you wanted to know) and glycogen.

So what does all this mean for you? If you want to get leaner, quicker, it's best to aim for endurance training. Get on the treadmill for 30 minutes to an hour, go take a walk around your neighborhood, or swim laps for 45 minutes. Keep that up and you'll be a fat burning machine. (Never forget the weights, though! Weight training is still very important.)

If you want to bulk up, warm up on the treadmill with a slow walk for 5 minutes and then jump off and then hit the weights. Or knock out some sprint training.

Of course, I would be doing you a huge disservice if I didn't mention that we are all fundamentally designed differently. There are certain people who, try as they might, will never be huge bodybuilders or super lean runners. But you can still get healthy with some dedication.

In the news

I love it when technology pairs itself up in such a manner that we find ourselves benefiting from it in spades. So imagine my reaction when I saw this story about Nike & Apple teaming up with gym equipment manufacturers to include that technology in their treadmills, ellipticals, etc.
Plug in, baby!

Should I workout when I'm sick?

Well, that all depends on how crappy you feel. If you are feeling like I do right now (nasty headache, sore throat from streptococcal bacteria) then probably not. It's best at that point to climb into bed and resurface only when you feel like you aren't going to die anymore.

But.

If you have a few sniffles, then you probably can continue with your workout if you are that die hard. For more information you can check out this article at WebMD.