Female Fitness Blog

Submitted by Fit and Female Blog

OMG!!!  I saw daffodils today!!!  There they were popping their optimistic little yellow heads out of the muck and it made me so happy!! Whooo Hooo spring is really here!!!

I’m always in awe of the first flowers of spring.  I’m always astounded how in a matter of weeks the landscape shifts from bleak to glorious.  Part of me wants to scream, “Hey, Everyone, check it out — the miracle is happening again!“.  And don’t get me started on cherry blossoms…

So there is NO better time to get outside and start a fitness program.  Whether it’s biking, walking, jogging or roller blading outside fitness makes getting in shape for summer fun and easy. 

Make it simple to start out, just 15 minutes out and 15 minutes back and before you know it you’re done with your workout.  Plus being away from stale inside air, computer screens, ringing telephones and florescent lights will improve your mood and reduce stress.  Another added plus: sunlight is important for adequate Vitamin D levels. 

So lace up your sneaks, grease up the bike chain, dust off your rollerblades and go check out the show!

Geralyn Coopersmith, MA, CSCS is an exercise physiologist, certified personal trainer and the creator of The Best Me Ever, a comprehensive weight loss and wellness system just for women

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Submitted by Louis Moore’s Build a Better Body Blog

1.  GO TO THE FOLLOWING SITE : http://www.tatuagemdaboa.com.br/

2. TYPE YOUR FIRST NAME ON THE 1st LINE.

3. TYPE YOUR SWEETHEART’S FIRST NAME ON THE 2nd LINE.

(Skip your e-mail address.)

4. Click on VISUALIZER and watch what happens.

You will laugh when you see this, even if it’s in portuguese.  Have fun!

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Submitted by Fit and Female Blog

My friend, Marjorie sent this to a bunch of us today…I thought it was great!!!

Life is short!  Break the rules!  Forgive quickly!  Kiss slowly!
Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably…
And never regret anything that made you smile.

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Submitted by Fit and Female Blog

I was recently quoted for a Wed MD story about how women can fit fitness into a busy lifestyle.  Click here to check it out.

Geralyn Coopersmith, MA, CSCS is an exercise physiologist, certified personal trainer and the creator of The Best Me Ever, a comprehensive weight loss and wellness system just for women

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Submitted by Fit and Female Blog

Spend time in any crowded gym locker room in America and you will hear someone dispensing health and fitness advice.  All it takes is someone who has had any short-term success with weight loss or improved fitness and suddenly everyone is looking to her (or him, I suppose) as an authority.  I think the reason for this is that people are always looking for the “magic bullet”.  The one simple thing that this individual did that made it all happen.

Of course the unsexy truth of it all is that getting in shape and staying that way is never (and can never be) the result of one single thing.  It has ALWAYS been (and will always be) the result of some combination of eating healthfully, working out properly — and being CONSISTENT about it.

And yet, folks still give out fitness advice regardless of their qualifications to do so — and people keep following it.  Some of this advice is actually pretty good and some of it is really off-base at best, potentially very dangerous at worse.

That’s why I thought I would share some of the worst fitness advice that I’ve ever heard:

Don’t Eat Carbs!  Wrong!!  Thank you, Dr. Atkins (who, by the way, was an obese man with a heart condition - hmmm…kawinky dink?  I think not.)  Carbs are not the enemy.  Carbs portions big enough for a family of 8 — and carbs with poor nutritional value are. 

The fact is, your body fuels your muscles and your brain with glucose, which comes from the breakdown of carbs.  In fact, glucose is so essential to human survival that the body will actually breakdown muscle tissue to make glucose if you don’t take in enough carbohydrates.  The important thing is NOT to eat highly-processed, refined carbohydrates such as white breads and pastas, processed cereals (Hello, Fruity Pebbles!) and baked goods (donuts, pastry, cakes, cookies). 

Whole grains on the other hand are key for good health.  The purer and closer to Mother Nature the better.  Whole grain breads, cereals (the fewer ingredients the better), brown rice, whole grain pasta (Barilla Plus, for example).   These important cards don’t have the nutrition stripped out of them.  Not only do you get more nutrition and they are also high in fiber which helps regulate your blood sugar, makes you feel fuller longer and (of course) acts as “nature’s broom”.

Continue reading “The Worst Fitness Advice Ever!”

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Submitted by Louis Moore’s Build a Better Body Blog

Updated and on the cutting edge, the fourth edition includes the latest sports nutrition research on hydration and fluid intake, vitamins, supplements, energy drinks, organic foods, and the role of carbohydrate and protein during exercise. You’ll also learn about the new food pyramid and the American Heart Association’s latest dietary guidelines.

If you’re seeking advice on losing weight, getting energized to exercise, or improving your health and performance, Nancy Clark’s Sports Nutrition Guidebook has the answers you can trust.

I’ve been following Clark’s books for years and have been highly recommending her work to clients.  Nancy Clark, MS, RD, CSSD, is a renowned author and board-certified specialist in sports diatetics.  Some of her clients include the Boston Red Sox, Boston Celtics, and many collegiate, elite, and Olympic athletes from a variety of sports.  Get a copy when you have a chance.

Also, be sure to watch ABC’s news program 20/20 starting at 10:00 ET this Friday (3/21/08) to see Nancy Clark featured in a segment about food vs. supplements.  Should be interesting . . .Watch

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Submitted by Fit and Female Blog

A friend forwarded this to me today.  It is a news report about Inflammatory Breast Cancer, a deadly type of breast cancer that does not present with a lump in the breast, but rather looks like a series of bug bites, a rash — or may present with an inverted nipple.   Some women are given antibiotics for what doctors think is a skin infection only to find out too late that it is cancer.  Please take a look and let all the women in your life know about this frequently misdiagnosed form of breast cancer.

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Submitted by Fit and Female Blog

I’m quoted in the April issue of Fitness Magazine.  It’s a story by writer Mindy Berry called, Ten Ways To Lose Ten Pounds.

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Submitted by Fit and Female Blog

was quoted today on ABCNews.com (ironically, in the same article with my new friend, Pete McCall whom I just met last week for the first time at Meeting of the Minds, small world). 

Anyway..the topic of the story was exercise as a cure for the blues.  In reviewing some of the literature for the story I found a few things that surprised me.  Specifically:

• That although most of the research on exercise and mood focuses on aerobic exercise — studies have shown that resistance training provides similar effects. 
• That changes in neurotransmitters (the brain’s chemical messengers like serotonin and dopamine) probably play at least as large, if not a larger role in elevating mood than do endorphins.  There appears to be some important interaction between endorphins and neurotransmitters that are responsible for improved mood
• That exercise can be as effective as light therapy to improve Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and exercise in bright light is highly effective
• Exercise was shown to be as effective as cognitive therapy in mildly depressed individuals

Geralyn Coopersmith, MA, CSCS is an exercise physiologist, certified personal trainer and the creator of The Best Me Ever, a comprehensive weight loss and wellness system just for women

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Submitted by Fit and Female Blog

Fraser Quelch, BPE, CSCS, Fellow of Applied Functional Science (Gray Institute) Fraser is the Director of Programming and Education for Fitness Anywhere and is the creator of the revolutionary TRX Suspension Training Program. He has presented at conferences and events all over the world in the fields of functional training and endurance athletics, and is also a featured fitness author, with over 20 published articles to his name. He thrives on bringing new ideas to the forefront of the industry, stretching the minds of his audiences and providing relevant and effective training solutions in a practical setting.

Last week at Meeting Of The Minds my friend, Fraser Quelch, eloquently posed the following question to all of his fellow professionals, “Why as an industry are we STILL training muscles not movement?”. 

Those who aren’t fitness professionals may not have thought of this before (heck, many fitness professionals don’t think of it), but if you look at most of the machines in gyms you will see movements that don’t look like things that people do in real life. 

How often do you sit down in a machine and move just one or two limbs in a limited fashion in the real world?   That isn’t the way the body moves in sport, in dance or in life — and yet, we as an industry as still largely training our clients in this manner. 

The human body moves in three planes of motion:

• Sagittal - forward and backward as if on a train track
• Frontal (aka Coronal) - as in bending side to side
• Transverse - as in rotational and/or diagonal movements

Fraser argued for a new model of training that organizes programs around moving the entire body through all three planes, rather than isolating individual muscles or muscle groups in a single plane.  This concept was not new to most of the people in attendance, but 15 to 20 years after it’s introduction — it is still not representative of most of the personal training done today.  In fact, true functional training is still more the exception than the rule.

Fraser also reminded us that two key concepts in training muscles for optimal function are still largely ignored in training programs, namely the effect of gravity (specifically the effect of ground reaction forces on the body) and momentum (the effect of velocity and mass on movement) .

Isolating muscles may have its place in addressing imbalances or rehabilitation, but overall our clients would likely be better served to be moving more with more full body movements through more planes of motion.  In other words, to be trained in the way the body moves outside of the gym.

It was a respectful reminder to all in attendance that we haven’t done a great job of getting the word out about “functional training”.  For all the buzz that particular phrase gets in my field, most of the personal training in this country is still based on a body building model.  So as a profession — at best we may not be helping folks as much as we think we are  — and at worst we may be training them in a way that completely contradicts Mother Nature.

Geralyn Coopersmith, MA, CSCS is an exercise physiologist, certified personal trainer and the creator of The Best Me Ever, a comprehensive weight loss and wellness system just for women

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Submitted by Fit and Female Blog

Last week I had the incredible good fortune to be invited to Meeting of the Minds out in beautiful, Keystone, CO — a two-day fitness industry think tank sponsored by PTontheNet.com.  The presenters there represented many of the “rock stars” of my industry ….Craig Harper, Fraser Quelch, Chuck Wolf, Peter Twist, Mark Verstegen, John Blievernicht, Paul Taylor, Ken Kinakin, Charles Poliquin, Brian Bradley, Michol Dalcourt, Brain Grasso, Tom Purvis, Annette Lang, Scott Hopson, Greg Roskopf, Nic Jarvis, Thomas Myers, Douglas Heel, John Berardi, Paul Chek, Ian O’Dwyer and Bobby Cappuccio. 

Just being in a room with all that brain power was enough to give me goosebumps, but getting a chance to meet with many of them personally (and to watch them interact, support and respectfully challenge one another) — just put it over the top. 

My mind is still buzzing from all of the sensory overload, so over the next week or so I want to share some of the most powerful (and useful) take-aways that I got from my two days with these brilliant educators.

Craig Harper spoke on “Why Changing Your Body Is Not About Your Body”: Craig Harper is one of Australia’s leading presenters and motivators in the areas of health and fitness. Craig has worked in the fitness industry since 1982. He has worked as an instructor, coach, corporate consultant, motivational speaker, university lecturer and AFL conditioning coach. In September 1998, Craig opened the largest personal training facility in the Southern Hemisphere, which has evolved into the largest business of its kind in Australia, completing over 75,000 training sessions per year. He writes extensively for industry magazines and web sites, has published 4 books and appears regularly on Australian TV and radio programs.

There are 168 hours in a week. 

If people workout 4 times a week for 30 minutes that represents that represents only 2 hours — or just 1.19% of our week!!  And yet most people say they don’t have enough time to workout.  Meanwhile the average Aussie watches 10 hours of TV/week.

As a profession, fitness experts are not addressing the human behavior component of getting in shape.  It is a lack of commitment and follow-through, NOT a lack of motivation that truly keeps people from achieving their fitness goals. 

Most people do not define their goals, fully commit to them and finish what they start.

In order to have real change (in fitness or otherwise) there are 8 critical steps.

• Step 1: Identify what has held you back in the past 
• Step 2: Get clear on exactly what you want - if you can’t define it, you can’t have it
• Step 3: Make some decisions that are uncomfortable for you (take you out of your comfort zone)
• Step 4: Set some practical goals around those decisions
• Step 5: Create a strategic plan to achieve your goal
• Step 6: Be proactive — do something immediately that brings you closer to where you want to be
• Step 7: Improvise and adapt when things go wrong (ask yourself what you can learn from the experience and how you can turn it into a positive)
• Step 8: COMMIT TO FINISH WHAT YOU START!!!

Geralyn Coopersmith, MA, CSCS is an exercise physiologist, certified personal trainer and the creator of The Best Me Ever, a comprehensive weight loss and wellness system just for women

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Submitted by Louis Moore’s Build a Better Body Blog

Today I wanted to do something different for my cardio workout, so I played soccer.

I rounded up a group of friends of mine at the YMCA and organized a pick-up game of 4 on 4 soccer.  I kinda got the feeling they were itching for a change besides the treadmill too, so there was plenty of players anxious to play.

Even though we used a smaller size field (youth soccer), it involved a lot of running, and I mean anaerobic sprints.  I estimate I burned at least 1,200 calories in the hour that we played.  And now as I write this post at 9:30 p.m. drinking a Tecate, I really feel the DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness).

None of us are really good at soccer.  But it sure was a heck of a lot of FUN and a super great workout.  Try it on a smaller field 4 on 4! 

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