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Exercise Help
Today my legs where killing me from the workout I gave them 2 days ago. The workout is designed to take the muscle to near failure and was one of the toughest leg workouts I have done in a long while. So I have a lot of lactic acid burning up my muscle. I thought a slow walk was a good idea.
Now normally I would have my Nike+ shoes and my Ipod Nano to record my mileage. Gotta get those miles logged so people can see I live what I preach. I am kidding, well kinda, I have to admit I like seeing the miles add up. But, when you really take a look at it, it really only matters that I am working on my health to continue the journey I started. So off I went for a slow, maybe painful walk to get some circulation going in my legs. No music. No measurement of time (how fast or slow I was going). Just a walk to feel better was all I was after.
It is a sunny day in Boise today. My walk during the day is almost always on the greenbelt and today was no exception. It was a sunny 88 degrees and humid. Little did I know that more than my legs were about to get restored.
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I looked around, there where all kinds of things to see and hear. First was the kayaker floating and bobbing along down the river. A reminder of things still on my “bucket list”, one day to take either a white water rafting trip or lean to kayak and venture the wild waters in Idaho. Then there was the man and his dog walking along the banks. This one took me back to the recent lost of my dear pet and friend that recently passed away after being with us for 20+ years.
I walked on as my legs started to free up a bit and each step seemed a bit lighter. I started thinking about some of the recent events in my life that needed quiet contemplation to come to some sort of decision. No music, no concern about a pace, just walking along the river on a hot summer day. As I searched my soul, that still quiet voice (note to self, you still have to get quiet to hear it) led me into the next steps and an inner knowing what to do next.
Getting ready to go around the bend I noticed the bike rider coming around the turn and waited in case he would go left instead of right. He actually stopped for me to cross and we exchanged smiles that acknowledged we where both courteous to each other’s journey. On across the old steel bridge, the boards creaked and bounced as I looked up and down the river noticing for the first time all week that the water level had changed and enjoy the flying cottonwoods as they floated through the air like angels guarding us along the way.
Image via Wikipedia
On to the home stretch, sun beating down and body getting warmer now as the sweat started to form on my brow. Half way and my walk would be done. I was almost sad for it to be over till I hear all the birds signing and I became lost in the harmony of their song. Be still they sang and enjoy the day. Each step, took me closer to my destination.
Last bridge and only a few yard to the door. As the real world approached I realized that the walk had done more for my health than getting the blood moving in my aching legs. It had renewed my spirit. It had reminded me of the sights and sounds of life being enjoyed around me. As the sweat poured down my brow it also reminded me of the days when I would have never thought of walking off those aches and pains of life that I had just been released from. And often never took the time to enjoy the sweet moments being active has to offer.
I hope in some small way this reaches one person and makes a difference in their life. It reminds them to take a moment and enjoy their walk. It doesn’t have to be for exercise. It doesn’t have to be around a park. It can be just for a brief moment when you hear the birds sing out to you or smell the fresh scent of the lilac trees as they send their scent through the air. Oh and that still small voice, it is always in waiting for when you take the time to listen. Be blessed and enjoy the journey!
What do top athletes eat to stay in peak condition? England rugby player Jonny Wilkinson shares his daily dietary habits. Plus: he reveals how to bounce back from an injury
I am lucky: I get to play the game that I love every day. To sustain this level of activity, I need to drink and eat well. As my job requires my body to be at its best at all times, I have developed a dietary routine that I tend to stick to most days.
Breakfast
Water. Your body is at its most dehydrated in the morning. Considering that you have spent eight hours without any intake of fluids while you have been sleeping, it is a good idea to start the day with a drink of water to make sure you are hydrated from the outset.
Muesli with fruit. One of your five-a-day, and also thought to help lower blood cholesterol concentration.
Low-fat skimmed milk. I tend to steer clear of high-fat foods.
Eggs/egg-white omelettes. Egg whites are fat-free and rich in high-quality protein. I try to have high-protein foods at every meal.
Carbs. You need energy at all points during the day, so carbohydrates such as toast or porridge could be incorporated into your morning routine.
Lunch
Fruit, protein, salad. I tend to keep my lunch healthy and simple.
Healthy fats. I often eat avocado – it contains monounsaturated fat and is great for energy release throughout the day.
Carbs. Carbohydrates such as pasta and potatoes make sure your energy levels are at performance level for the rest of the day.
Beetroot. Beet greens are a very good source of calcium, iron, and vitamins A and C. Beetroots are an excellent source of folic acid, which helps you rebuild your body after training.
During training
Water. I take on water whenever possible, especially since moving to France, to make sure my body is fully hydrated and in tip-top condition. I keep a Volvic bottle with me and take sips little and often. This technique has made the challenge of drinking 1.5 litres a day really easy.
Dinner
Few carbs. In the evening it is best to avoid a high intake of carbohydrates, as they will release energy during the night that could affect your sleep.
Oily fish and chicken. I love eating out and normally order chicken or oily fish, as they are an essential source of Omega 3, protein, vitamins and minerals.
Recovering from injury
Unfortunately, injuries are something that I have had a little bit of experience with. Immediate physical treatment is necessary to reduce the swelling and avoid further injury, such as elevating the injury above the heart and applying ice to the affected area. Your immediate mental response to injury, however, can often be more important than your physical response, because it sets you up for your long-term attitude towards recovery.
Something I have learned is that remaining positive is one of the best things that you can do to aid recovery. You can often tell how bad an injury is the second that it happens, and remaining positive is extremely important. Even when I am in pain and shock I try to block out any negative thoughts. Combating the initial stress can be really hard, but staying open-minded and focusing on recovery, rather than worrying, is the best way to avoid “locking in” any negative feelings that can linger throughout your recovery period.
Modern medicine can work wonders if you are in the right frame of mind and do everything possible to help out the doctors. When I sustained an ankle injury before the 2007 World Cup, many people wrote me off for the entire tournament. Thanks to the great work by the medical staff and physiotherapy team, and by doing everything I possibly could to aid my own recovery, I ended up missing just two games of the championships. I was back playing weeks before most people thought I would be.
I put this down to the positive approach that I took to my recovery, which helped me heal at the fastest possible rate.
This morning looked like yet another rainy day in Boise, Idaho. I decided if I was going to get in my exercise today I had to either take the bike or walk. It looked like rain so I decided to walk while I could and get my exercise done on the way to work. Little did I know how enjoyable it would be.
Image via Wikipedia
When you don’t walk around your neighborhood much you miss things. These are things you might drive by every day but you just don’t really notice them. Sure you see the neighbor’s yard with the flowers and the gardens being started. But you miss something. You miss the smell of the flowers and the sound of the earth waking up in the early morning.
Image via Wikipedia
So on my 2.5 miles into work I enjoyed several flowers, animals and even some funny human behavior. Imagine watching a bike rider who with all the gear and gadgets it was obvious that they were riding for their health and the environment, however when you look at the see-thru pouch of their backpack you see a load of soda and junk food. I find it amusing that they would work so hard to keep in shape and fuel their body with junk. But everyone makes choices I just observe.
Another added benefit was how clear my mind was when I got to work. I enjoy the mornings as that is my most productive time of the day, but this morning was even better. My energy was ramped up as was my metabolism. It made for a great start to my day. I even made it to work 10 mins early even though the boss wasn’t here today to see it.
It wasn’t all roses but it was all interesting. There is a segment of the walk that goes through where many of our city’s homeless hang out for early morning coffee and donuts (yeah don’t get me started on food programs) but even this has it’s own sights, sounds and things to learn. I just keep walking and looking around to stay on task to get to work because there but by the grace would I be.
Lesson for the day everyone is I burned off over 300 calories on the way in. I felt great. I improved my body and my health. Better yet, I was reminded of how great the earth is during a time where all I hear is bad news and how we are destroying our planet. I got to enjoy the peace and solitude of walking and seeing all that has been created around me. I got more familiar with my neighborhood at a pace slow enough to enjoy an observe the beauty of life around me.
Peace of mind, exercise, and some lessons along the way. Not a bad way to start a day. What can you do for all of that? Share your ideas with us!
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Ultramarathons are increasingly popular. But do they also pose a health risk?
This Sunday in New York, a small knot of runners will start running around the block. They will resemble any other running club although they might look a little slow. They will run one lap of the 0.5488-mile block. Then they will do it another 5,649 times.
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The 3100 Transcendental Race is the longest certified foot race in the world. Every day for the next six to eight weeks, the entrants will race from 6am until midnight – averaging 75 miles a day. For no payment or prize.
While few subject themselves to the lunacy of the 3,100 mile race, ultramarathons (anything longer than a marathon) are becoming increasingly popular, with races popping up all over the world. Keith Godden, editor of ultramarathonrunning.com, says there are already more than 100 such established races every year in the UK; with, he estimates, “a couple of thousand” British ultramarathon runners. “The sport now offers a great variety of very different challenges,” he says, “whether it’s 32 miles on the roads across Dartmoor, 24 continuous hours going around in circles on a running track in London, 145 miles non-stop alongside the Grand Union Canal in less than two days, or a marathon per day for three days along the Jurassic coast.”
Just finishing one of these punishing events is an achievement – but may come at a price. Personal trainer Rob Blakeman, who has trained boxers Ricky Hatton and Mike Tyson, explains: “We’re very specific organisms, with very specific requirements and very specific limitations. More training is not necessarily better training. If you do a really tough workout, the next day you often feel as though you have the flu. It’s a systemic stress. If you don’t allow that systemic stress to subside before you go back to the gym, you break the cycle of improvement.”
These flu-like symptoms, says Geraint Florida-James, senior lecturer in sport and exercise sciences at Edinburgh Napier University, are explained by the “open-window theory” which suggests that a prolonged bout of running weakens the immune system, leaving the window open for infections to attack the body. “Any stress that you come across, whether physical or psychological, will cause a response in the immune system. If you saw any of the interviews before the London marathon, everybody’s carrying a bit of a niggle, or they’ve got an illness. People trying to do ultra endurance events are taking it to a further extreme level.” If you keep on pushing yourself, disaster can strike. “If they go into overtraining syndrome, it can take years to recover from. We’re not sure, long-term, with an ultramarathon runner, how much damage they may be doing.”
Worryingly, ultramarathons could affect athletes’ hearts, says Florida-James. “Research has looked at cardiac damage within ultramarathon runners, and has shown that there are some temporary changes in terms of the functionality of the heart.”
One of Britain’s most celebrated ultramarathon runners, Geoff Oliver, president of the 100km Association, seems to bear this out when he says of the days following a long race: “I feel very weak. My heart rate is normally 48-52, and it goes down to 40-42 for a few days – I certainly feel more tired. The body is not functioning properly. It also affects my liver and my kidney sometimes. There may be blood either in my urine or out of the other end. Usually within four days I’m back to normal.”
He confesses that this has caused him to question whether he’s pushing himself too hard, but says “I’ve spoken to other runners and it’s quite common. It never lasts long.” And it’s clear that Oliver is in remarkably good shape – he recently ran the London marathon in “a disappointing 3:45.” He’s 76.
Florida-James is quick to point out that, with the proper preparation, ultramarathon running need not be unhealthy. Many people can run 100 miles without damaging themselves. That means adequate training, but also sufficient recovery time. “Everybody is different, and it will affect some people more than others.”
So why do some thrive under these harshest of regimes, while others simply crumble under the physiological stress? This, it seems, is the area that fascinates scientists and athletes alike. “I do it out of sheer interest. What can the human body cope with?” says Oliver. “I’ve always had this nice little mantra, an Alexander Pope couplet: “Know then thyself, presume not God to scan; The proper study of mankind is man.”
Five tips for ultramarathon runners
1. Go for long runs, on consecutive days, bookended by two days of total rest.
2. Splice running with periods of walking. That’s how you’re likely to complete the event.
3. If you’re finding the going tougher, the instinct is to push harder, when you should ease off.
4. Eat and drink on your runs. You should take on 400-500 calories per hour.
5. Taper off training three weeks before the race. In the last week, do almost none.
When working with clients for weight loss I often hear: I can’t drink that much water!
Image via Wikipedia
My advice to them is do drink half their body weight in ounces. So a 200 lb man would or should drink 100 ounces a day of water. Often they will argue with me and many won’t do it. However those that do often see faster and more consistent weight loss. take that for what is is worth, many experts agree that proper hydration not only helps in weight loss but also maintaining that weight loss.
Today I ran across this information on water and exercise that I thought might help a few of you as well:
Drinking plenty of water is important, particularly among people who exercise vigorously.
The American Council on Fitness offers these recommendations for how much to drink:
- Two or three hours before you start to exercise, drink 17-to-20 ounces of water.
- Twenty to 30 minutes prior to exercise, or while you’re warming up, drink another eight ounces.
- While you’re exercising, drink seven-to-10 ounces every 10 minutes to 20 minutes.
- Within 30 minutes of completing your workout, make sure you drink another eight ounces
So for a 60 minute workout you would drink somewhere around 66 ounces of water when combined with before and after workout. Now that 100 ounces doesn’t look like so much water when planed throughout the day.
Combining proper hydration with diet and exercise your body will be more ready to eliminate the toxins and wastes released into your system. It will also make it easier to break down the fat tissues and process them for energy. If you have difficulty drinking plain water then add some lemon juice or some sugar free water flavoring. I believe as you develop the habit of drinking water periodically every day you will find it gets easier. It will also help to relieve soreness after training and cut down on inflammation.
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Image by Getty Images via Daylife
It doesn’t matter if you are thinking of being a coach or a client of a coach it is helpful to understand the reason for the need of a coach. I hear it all the time. I can do weight loss and achieve health on my own. I have one honest answer to that. If you can then why aren’t you? When you look in the mirror are you happy with what you see? Why aren’t you at your optimal health then?
You see in today’s faced paced world many of us don’t have time to focus on all the education we need to optimize our health. I know personally I have worked on this journey for 20 years before I made the decision to focus all my spare time in that direction. Sure I had to give some things up. What I have gotten back was well worth the journey. Now it is a focus and one of my biggest purposes in life. Many of my clients simply can’t devote the time. Coaches are primarily self-made, self-developed. They work on themselves continually, learning, growing, and becoming more capable and competent over the years.
- Image by Getty Images via Daylife
People want results. They want the most effective use of their time and commitment to their health. A good coach can make all the difference if they are wasting their time or getting the most out of it. Why do you think when people yo-yo diet they often fail their attempts to lose weight and keep it off? It is because they don’t understand what is going on within their body when they diet.
Many give up even before they lose any amount of weight because they can’t figure out how to create a plan for themselves. They simply don’t have the time for it. But do they have time for the illness that will follow if they don’t do it? No, this is where you come in as a coach. You spend the time to sort through the noise of why they are where they are now and how to get to where they want to be. You help to create an individual plan for their success. You bring the panel of experts with you to make it all work.
After you get them going then your role shifts a bit. You still measure and adjust the plan, however your main role is to believe in them and inspire them to be accountable to their plan. Your goal is to get them to believe in themselves. It is important to work towards always raising that level of belief in themselves. This by the way is another area where many dieters have given up.
Look for the next in our Why Be a Health Coach – Part 3 Who to Coach.
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No this is not an article on how to raise pot and lose weight, it is about growing your own food and getting some exercise while doing. An added benefit has been some quality time with both my wife and son as we work together to completely redo our backyard.
For the last 4 nights (with many more to follow) we have been working on moving what would be a dump truck load of dirt around the yard. Because our back yard was part of the Boise river many, many years ago, it is full of rock of various sizes. We have to shift the rocks out as we prepare it to go into some raised beds we are doing square-foot gardening with this year. There is also the digging out of spots to put the new sifted dirt into the raised bed area.
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Come to find out the approximate calories per hour for a 150 pound person (not me) is 350 calories per hour. For me it is closer to 460 but we will use the 350 number to illustrate a point. One hour of digging would then equate to the following food intake to put things into perspective: The numbers on the right under the Cals column are the calories per serving.
These numbers from Calorie Count at About.com
| Quantity | Description | Cals |
| 1.3 | Grande Starbucks Caffe Latte – Made with whole milk | 272 |
| 0.5 | McDonald’s Big Mac – With cheese | 704 |
| 4.3 | Glasses of wine (3.5 fl oz) | 79 |
| 1.2 | Snickers Bar | 273 |
| 1.6 | Cans of Coca-Cola | 207 |
| 11.3 | Carrots | 30 |
Translated, it means that it would take a 150 person two hours of shoveling to burn off a Big Mac or 1.3 cups of a Grande from Starbucks. We wonder why 15 mins on a treadmill and a few other exercises don’t cut it for weight loss. It all depends on energy in versus energy out. I tease my wife that each night I have earned the right for a donut. Truth is donuts are once in a while treats these days and figured into the total for that day. Unlike in the past where it was nothing for me to eat 6 or more in one sitting and eat the rest of my meals that day.
Lesson for the day, it takes a whole lot more effort to burn off calorie dense food than it does the few minutes that it takes to eat it.
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