The shape of things

I love sweating it up in my workouts; running hard, lifting heavier weights, breaking a sweat with every move. But the one thing I don't like to do during a workout, "wasting time." Unfortunately I have a skewed view of what wasting time means during a workout. For me, it means not sweating.

But, one of the most important parts of a workout includes a section at the end where you don't sweat, in fact, you cool down and stretch. I'm notorious for not stretching. By the time I've run for 30 minutes, and lifted weights for 30 minutes, I feel like I don't have the time to sit on a mat and pull at my muscles. Instead I pack up and hit the showers. I know I could cut my run and strength down ten minutes and have time to stretch at the end, but I just don't.

Note: research does show that stretching before a workout isn't the best idea since your pulling cold muscles and then adding the stress of exercise, actually causing you to be more prone to injury. Read this meta-analysis (compilation of research on one topic) to learn more about stretching.

So how can we convince ourselves to stretch? Let's look at the benefits:

• improved flexibility
• injury prevention
• improves range of motion
• improves your posture, helping you look slimmer
  (Shape magazine, June 2006)

Let's find a stretch routine that we can incorporate into our workout times. (I'm going to start using one in the June '06 Shape Magazine) Perhaps it might mean we need to get to the gym ten minutes earlier, either way, let's try to do it.

P.S. if I like this routine, I'll post it on here.

Coffee - once again, we find that it's good for you. This study found that drinking one to three cups of coffee a day reduced the risk of contracting cardio-vascular diseases by 20-25%. But it's harmful to consume more than five.

One to three cups of coffee a day also reduces risks for "inflammatories" which includes diabetes, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease and conditions of the lungs, liver and kidneys.

Drink up.

1.  Sticks and Stones: Holding ends of a light bar or broomstick (I usually use a 3-pund dumbbell), lie back with knees bent, shins parallel to ground. Lift head and shoulders and extend arms back at ears so they're in line with head. Pull in abs and crunch higher as you bring hands toward knees (as shown). Lower slightly, raising arms by ears again. Do 20 reps.
     
2. Teaser with Ball: Lie faceup with arms extended on ground behind head and legs straight, ankles on ball. Pull in abs, bring arms in front of you until parallel with legs and roll torso up in four counts until torso forms a V with legs (as shown). Lower to start. Do 20 reps.
   
3. Diagnol Can Can: Sit with legs together about a foot off ground, knees slightly bent. Keep palms on ground at sides for balance. Holding feet up, tip knees to left as you rotate torso to right (as shown). Return to start, then repeat in opposite direction to complete one rep. Do 12 reps.
    
4. Pretzel Curl: Lie faceup with knees bent, shins parallel to ground, arms at sides. Straighten left leg and bring right knee in as you curl shoulders up and reach forward to clasp hands, palms facing out, behind right thigh (as shown). Keeping shoulders off ground, pulse upper body forward for 12 reps, never allowing hands to touch thigh. Release hands and switch legs so you clasp behind left thigh. Do 12 reps.
   
5. Treadmill with Cross Extension: Start in push-up position. Bring left knee toward chest, then rotate left hip, crossing left leg over right (as shown) and straightening it. Keeping abs tight, bend left knee and rotate back to start. Do 12 reps, switch legs and repeat. This one hurts!! :)
   
6. Rest. Repeat exercises 1 through 5, doing 10 reps instead of 20 on 1 and 2 (unless you want a challenge)

**Disclaimer- these moves are from Self's Website, I've just taken out the exercises that I like the best and made my own routine. want the original workouts?

Quite honestly, about a year ago if you had asked me what I thought about yoga, chances are my response would have been pretty negative.

When I joined a gym that had free exercise classes, I decided to try out a "Beginners Yoga" class one night. I had taken one other yoga class about 5 years ago and i was so self-conscious about not being able to do the poses correctly that I hated it. About 4 months of yoga classes later here are my personal thoughts on yoga:

• Incredibly relaxing and relieving. After every class I find myself breathing slowly and my mind calm (which is very unusual).
• I've never been flexible, and touching my toes was something I could never do... now I can touch my toes (after I stretch out my back and hamstrings, but still)
• Yoga is definitely not a substitute for cardio or strength training (for me, at least) but it's a welcome addition, giving me something that none of my other workouts have (agility and flexibility).
• In my class I'm very aware of my own body, how my muscles react to certain poses and how to breathe in order to make them relax. I've never been that in tune with my muscles.
• I've learned that something as simple as breathing (something I've always done) has the power to completely relax my muscles and my mind when I'm in tune with it.

My advice: If you work out at a gym that offers yoga classes, first call and find out if the instructor is certified, (if not, you could get hurt) and then try it out if you never have. I'm not saying it's for everyone, but like I said before, it's a welcome addition to my exercise routines.

Scientifically, yoga has been studied and here are some of the benefits these studies have found:

1. Yoga is more effective in helping people with moderate, chronic lower-back pain than traditional exercises.
2. Yoga might help with body image issues. Yoga practitioners scored higher than aerobic practitioners and nonyoga/nonaerobic practitioners on measures of greater awareness of and responsiveness to bodily sensations, lower self-objectification, greater body satisfaction, and fewer disordered eating attitudes
3. Yoga-based interventions may prove to be an attractive option for the treatment of depression

I'm waiting for the research to finally say, Diet Sodas are all things evil and will kill you... But, alas, it has not come to that yet, and so I will continue to sip my Diet Sunkist.

But next time I go to sip a diet Sunkist with citrus vodka and triple sec, I'll be a little more careful.

Australian researchers released a report yesterday that found consuming alcohol mixed with artificial sweeteners gets you drunk faster (technical way of saying it: "lead to a high rate of alcohol absorption, resulting in a greater blood alcohol peak and concentration than from drinks made with sugar-based mixers.")

Although this may be great news for freshmen girls that LOVE to get drunk fast, for the rest of us it means we need to be vigilant when we consume these artificially sweetened mixed drinks. You think you can drive home after two or three rum and cokes? Well you might not be able to after two or three rum and diet cokes.

Drink responsibly, gals.

Recently I was scouring through the blogosphere trying to find up-to-date information on fitness/health news. Although I found plenty of Newspapers with "health and fitness" sections, the majority of the articles were about vaccinations, the bird flu, etc. And that's not what I wanted.

About a year ago, a friend of mine sent me an email and asked me to join her in the "Self Challenge." I had been working out with this friend for a couple of months, but we weren't too dedicated and usually ended the workout by pigging out on fast food.

Long story short, for the first time in my life I started counting calories, working out regularly, getting in intense cardio, and just being generally aware of my health. I had gained about 30 pounds since I started college. A year later, I've completely changed my eating habits and healthful eating has become a lifestyle and not hard work. I look forward to my workouts and the intensity has decreased some because I'm now at my ideal weight (25 pounds lighter than when I started).

The whole point of the story is to show readers that I've been through it, and I'm still working at maintaining a healthy and in-shape lifestyle. I want to share articles, fitness tips, work outs... anything that interests me about this lifestyle.

I hope you'll join me.