What is the one “thing” that impacts your life the most???

I will give you a moment to ponder this…….okay you have your answer?

 

My answer is attitude.

Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do.
The incredible thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past… we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude… I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.

 

This all relates to health, wellness and fitness!

 

Day to day we live our lives and we have a choice to make ourselves unhappy or happy (fit or not fit) Life is either drag or its fun, I like the latter.

 

The “thing” that you want to happen will happen if you really believe it and see it; a belief in a “thing” makes it happen. (Fitness, health, weight loss happens)

 

You have to live in your body no mater what; you have choice that takes the same amount of time and energy, so why not choose what you really want? Just believe it, see it and do it!

 

Fitness is an attitude, get it!

 

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Cardiovascular Fitness

Cardiovascular fitness can be defined simply as your body’s ability to get oxygen and blood to the muscles.

• When you do physical activity and your pulse quickens and your breathing gets deeper, you are using your cardiovascular system.
• You can improve your cardiovascular system’s efficiency through regular training.
• The short term used when referring to cardiovascular exercise is Cardio.

Heart Rate

This is the number of beats per minute that your heart is beating.

 

Max Heart Rate

Your maximum heart rate (HR max) is the theoretical number of beats per minute that your heart is capable of producing. We can guess at this number or we can do a “max heart rate test” but that is a bit tricky and certainly not very fun. Your heart rate is your guide for cardiovascular exercise intensity.

 

Aerobic Vs Anaerobic

• Aerobic literally means with oxygen while anaerobic means without oxygen.
• The Aerobic training zone is the training intensity where you are burning fuel with oxygen.
• The Anaerobic training zone is the training intensity where you are burning fuel without oxygen.
• The Anaerobic Threshold is the point at which the aerobic, oxygen-burning system can no longer supply enough energy to meet the demands of the exercise and you begin to produce lactic acid. That’s the stuff that hurts! Once over 85% HR max, you will not last longer than a few minutes unless you decrease the intensity. High caliber endurance athletes can feel the point where they are about to cross their Anaerobic Threshold and can operate for long periods of time just below it.

The Low Intensity = Fat Loss Myth

It is a myth that low intensity is best for fat loss just because more fat is burned for fuel as a percentage of the total calories burned.

• Low Intensity (L.I. for short) burns about 50% fat for fuel while High Intensity (H.I.) burns about 40%. This is not a big difference.

Say, for example, you burn 100 calories in 20 minutes of L.I. work compared to 160 calories in 10 minutes of HI work, you’ve still burned more total fat doing HI.

• Low Intensity
  100 calories x 50% = 50 calories
• High Intensity
  160 calories x 40% = 64 calories

• High intensity training will also boost your metabolism long AFTER the workout is done. This does not happen with low intensity training. High Intensity training is a powerful fat loss tool, but should only be used by trainers who already have a good level of fitness.

The basic idea when you’re trying to lose fat is to create a caloric deficit. The type of training does not matter so much as creating that deficit. High Intensity training just creates the deficit more efficiently than Low Intensity training.

Training Intensity or Perceived Effort (PE)

This refers to how hard you feel you are working. We have a scale for this Rate of Perceived Effort RPE. For example, a rating of zero may be equivalent to sitting on the couch watching the game, while a 10 would be assigned to that feeling of being doubled over, winded and on the verge of wanting to throw up from exertion.

 

 

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So I had a young client in yesterday (38 years old I think that is young). She says to me something that I wish I had a $1 for every time I have heard these exact words:

“I never have had these problems before”

Yep, those the words that are the starting block words for the sport of MAINTENANCE.

Every heard of it?

I in my opinion think it should be an Olympic Event and everyone gets a gold medal just for participating.

 

This brings up another question that people ask me:

“What are you training for? The answer to that is easy and always the same; LIFE

It’s a long term commitment and goal. I guess I feel like if you’re going to be here any ways why not feel the best you can?

 

Fitness is a lifelong goal. So, you are not going to be looking for immediate and dramatic results, but rather long-term, life-changing benefits. If this is not thrilling to you, that’s ok because as soon as you start on the path (I would say in about a week or two) you will GET IT!

You will have to trust me on this one though – the small steps toward total (mind and body) fitness will bring magnificent benefits in the end.

Key Points:

1. Embrace small changes
2. Minor changes in diet
3. Accept good days (or weeks) with bad. You don’t start over – it is the journey!
4. Visualize success or as Mike likes to say “keep your eye on the prize”
5. Don’t wait because as I like to say “this ain’t a dress rehearsal”

 

Looks like a great weekend to run the beach, the tide will be great, no wind and sunshine, I promise!

Bring mom!

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I would like to address the topic of dressing for running. (And when I say running I mean walking too!)

While running shoes continue to be the most important piece of athletic equipment for a runner, some consideration must still be paid to what you put on the rest of your body. Dress yourself in proper running attire to have a more comfortable run or walk.

 

Shoes: are designed for a certain purpose, running shoes are for forward motion with momentum, stability and higher impact then walking shoes. Pick the right shoe for the activity! There are a number of really good stores that can help you. I love the folks at the Portland Running Company. (This includes wearing the right shoes for the gym too!)

 

Legs: So here are you working muscles and joints, let’s keep them warm, they work better that way and it helps to prevent injury when kept warm. Especially the knees! Temperature and comfort control comes from the waist up! Often times you will see a runner out there with a nice running jacket and shorts! Heck I say if you need a jacket to keep warm then you better have something over your knees! If you need to cool off, then take the jacket off not the leg covering. (a short story:, when I was riding on the US Cycling team and living at the Olympic Training Camp, we had a big thermostat on the outside of the coaches building and if you showed up with riding shorts on (or your helmet off), and the thermostat was below 60degrees, you got fined $25.00, no ifs end or butts. At first we all complained but after awhile I loved the way my knees and legs felt and go use to it).

 

Upper Body: Here is where you get to play with how you personally like it!

Your blood comes closest to the surface at your wrist/hands, neck and top of your head, thus you can control temperature and comfort level by covering or uncovering these areas. It’s easy to tuck a hat into the back of your shorts, pull your sleeves up or down, zip or unzip if you are wearing this type of shirt. I personally love gloves and I have quit an assortment of them!

 

Clothing material: wow this is the fun part! There are so many cool state of art apparel choices out there and believe me it really makes a difference on how you feel! When you are producing heat and moisture you absolutely need wicking material for temp control and comfort.

You don’t want something on that is going to absorb moisture and get balled up and rub and make you cold! Plus the weight factor, you want light weight breathable, wicking, comfortable athletic wear! Forget buying a new pair of jeans or a summer dress, get some new running clothes!

I personally love Nike’s selection of active wear. There is even a great outlet store up north at Seaside.

REI also has a number of great choices on apparel and they are having their big one year sale starting today!

 

Okay time for me to head out for some elevated heart rate stuff!

Smiles,

Janice

 

P.S. FYI: I am going to be doing a column for the North Coast Citizen starting the end of May; it’s going to be a Q and A type of column.

So I am offering it up right now to you guys if you would like me to research and answer any questions you have about fitness, sport, wellness and nutrition I would love to get a head start. I am quite nervous and excited about this! J

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