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I'm sure you've heard the saying, "a calorie is a calorie," and that when weight loss is the goal, you can probably loose weight on a 1,200 calorie/day diet whether it is 1,200 Twinkie calories or apple calories. At this point, you might be thinking, "Cool! I'll go on the Twinkie diet!"   Our bodies are smarter than that though, and I say, thank goodness. I know - I'm no fun at all :-). Last week at the grocery one of my kiddos held up a box of Twinkies and had the audacity to ask me to purchase them. I nearly burst a vessel in my forehead trying to restrain myself from smashing the box with......
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Being that it is summer, and there are vacations, kids home from school, camps, a lot of running around in circles...sometimes a workout is hard to knock out, even when intentions are high. When that happens, I have a 30-minute, total body workout that requires very little equipment, yet will leave you dripping in sweat. Wanna hear it? Here it is... You'll need:  a set of 10 or 12lb wts (lighter if you like), a resistance tube 5-10 minute warm up @ 40-50% max heart rate Set 1: 10-14 Burpees (also called pop squats) 3-way lunges w/ dumbbells: Start with weaker leg leading. Take one lunge forwa......
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Stumbled upon a few deals I'd like to pass along: 20% off planners! For all of you planners out there (you know who you are, planning each workout weeks in advance), get a head start on school year planning at MomAgenda. MomAgenda is offering 20% off small School Year books (use code: schoolyearsmom) Visit MomAgenda.com, offer expires 7.31.2011 *P.S. I LOVE MomAgenda planners. Seriously, love them - totally created by moms, for moms. Enough said. EatingWell magazine has a new book out: EatingWell 500-calorie Dinners for $22.45 (10% off the regular price). While you are planning workouts in you......
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Check out this video if you are unfamiliar with trigger point therapy... TPR Therapy, Ironman competitor Have you ever wished you could afford a personal masseuse? One who could come to your home, preferably daily, to help relieve you of the knots and muscle tightness that inevitably occur from daily workouts and, well, being a mom? In search of a solution to my IT band issues, I tried a chiropractor (not money well spent), stretching, massage therapy (therapist too gentle to release deep tissue), and my O.D. The O.D. provided the most valuable information: without proper biomechanics, the bod......
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The mysterious " fat burning zone " continues to confuse many gym-goers. The theory goes something like this: working out in a "zone" of intensity that is less intense for at least 20 minutes will burn more fat calories than calories from carbohydrate. Is this true? Yes and no, but mostly no. You actually burn more calories from fat right now, sitting still, reading this post, than you do on the treadmill. That is because in the resting state, the body burns a higher percentage of fat calories. As you crank up the exercise intensity, you burn a little less fat per calorie. However, it really c......
Apr

05

Dear Diane,

I’ve signed up for a 5k race in May and after 3 months of “training,” I still can’t go much further than a mile without stopping to walk. What am I doing wrong?

Colleen

This question is from last spring, but with racing season well under way, it seemed like a good time to post my answer on the blog, as I’m sure many of you have run into this dilemma, or know someone who has.

A typical fitness routine includes the same type of cardiovascular activity, performed for the same length of time, with little variation – and while there isn’t anything inherently wrong with this approach (it is exercise, after all), you probably won’t improve if you continue to do the same thing. To boost endurance (i.e, go longer, faster), something has to change. There are 3 easy ways to improve endurance:

1. Add time to at least one cardio session per week for several weeks, then taper for one week to allow the body to adapt to the increased load. Then start back up where you left off, again adding time to at least one session per week.

2. Make one session per week more intense (harder). Speed work (400×6 sprints, for example), hill-work, or interval training (combine speed and hills, alternating between the two).

3. Strength train. Even the best endurance plan will fall short of success if there are muscle weaknesses. To improve endurance, muscles must be strong, so include at least 2 days of strength training per week.


Mar

09

Though these races can be crowded, the experience is amazing. If you’ve ever participated in a Race for the Cure event, you know what I’m talking about.

Start training for your 5K event now, and you’ll be race-ready by mid-spring!

Find a race near you…Komen Race for the Cure 2010

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