About 100 Days Until June 1st…Six Ways to Get Ready!

February 20, 2012 By 1 Comment

Summer is closer than you think!

There are just over 100 days until June 1st! While we may feel like it’s still the dead of winter, spring is actually just around the corner (after all today’s the 20th of February and March 20th marks the first official day of spring), and summer follows shortly after that… Time to get motivated!

Pretty soon we will see magazines in the grocery store checkout aisles claiming swimsuit weather is coming…and while that may be true, there is more to it than that. Winter months can sometimes bring the blues and we can lack motivation. For many of us, winter is a time of comfort food and big clothes. Today I am wearing a long skirt and a sweater, for instance. It’s easy to hide ourselves in winter clothes, and oftentimes (although I hate to admit the magazines are right), spring and summer seem to sneak up and surprise us.

So with 100 days before the start of the summer months, it is a good time to check ourselves so as not to be taken by surprise when the warmer months suddenly show up! The following are six tips to make sure we are getting ready for the approaching summer months: [Read more...]

Filed Under: Getting Started, Motivation Tagged With: ,

Five Blogs I Have Recently Enjoyed

February 17, 2012 By 1 Comment

It's Friday!

It’s Friday and I am posting links to five websites I have recently read and enjoyed. Do you have any others you want to share?

1. Run Blogger. This site is about all things running and since the author has a degree in anatomy, it also has some great information about the benefits of running and a fitness lifestyle. He also writes a lot about gear, especially running shoes and most recently wrote a post about the minimalist shoe movement in running. Interesting stuff…check it out! [Read more...]

Filed Under: Balance, Family Life, Motivation, Running, Women's Health Tagged With: ,

Sometimes Life Trumps Fitness

February 15, 2012 By 3 Comments

It can be slow getting back to fitness after a break

When I think about my life of fitness, I don’t necessarily think about what I do each day, but the accumulated whole. If I thought about the daily doses of exercise, I think I would drive myself crazy trying to fit something in each day. It’s the big picture that is important. Sometimes life gets in the way of the daily stuff and we just can’t get it done. The last few days have been like that for me. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Balance, Family Life, Running Tagged With: ,

In Memoriam of One Who Lived to Serve (and a Quote of the Week)

February 9, 2012 By 8 Comments

Quote of the Week:
Lives of great men all remind us 
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW, “A Psalm of Life”

I am struggling with confusing emotions today, and so at 9 Kid Fitness I want to write about someone who inspired me by his life. I am sad because I mourn the death of my father-in-law, Charles Hetzel, who passed away this afternoon. Yet a life such as his can really only be celebrated.  When people die  it is easy to put them up on a pedestal, and I think that is a fine thing to do.  But today there is no need for a pedestal.  Charlie lived his life truly and unbelievably for other people.  I don’t think he knew any other way.  When so many of us are selfish and focused on our own lives, men like my father-in-law seem to be from another time and place when people lived to be of service.  That is how I remember him.   [Read more...]

Filed Under: Family Life Tagged With:

Calorie Counting Isn’t the Way to Go

February 8, 2012 By 5 Comments

All calories are not created equal

Every once in a while I hear someone ask, “How many calories does that have?”.  The answer should be the same, no matter what the food is that they are asking about…”It doesn’t matter, really.” Calories are not created equal and so will not have identical effects on our weight OR our health.  According to physical therapist Alan Tyson, we should try to remember this fact when making food choices.  Last year’s Report of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committeee on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans showed the following Top 10 sources of calories in the American diet:

1. Grain baked desserts (i.e. cakes, cookies, donuts, pastries etc.)….139 calories a day.

2. Yeast breads …..129 calories a day.

3. Chicken/chicken mixed dishes….121 calories a day.

4. Soda, energy drinks, sports drinks, etc. ……114 calories a day. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Nutrition Tagged With: , ,

My Fitness Evolution

February 6, 2012 By 5 Comments

When I first began exercising regularly (not counting my high school track days or even my college days with my walk-man plugged into my ears), the concept of rest, weight training, or core workouts were foreign. Now, about 20 years later, things have changed and I realize that the way I look at fitness has evolved. The biggest changes I have made are to rest more, to cross-train, to change things up, and to improve my nutrition. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Cardio, Running, Strength Tagged With: , , ,

A Healthy Super Bowl Snack!

February 3, 2012 By 2 Comments

I just made these deliciously healthy quesadillas for dinner, but I will also serve them on Super Bowl Sunday.  I used coconut oil, but a little real butter would work well too.  I also share some links to other healthy Super Bowl snacks below.  What are you making for the big game…is it healthy? [Read more...]

Filed Under: Nutrition Tagged With: ,

How many Kegels Should We do Everyday?

January 31, 2012 By Leave a Comment

I think there is a lot of confusion these days about how many Kegel exercises we should be doing.. I was told long ago that I should be doing at least 30 and as many as 60 Kegels everyday! In looking into this question, I recently came across an archive blog from physical therapist Tasha Mulligan’s Hab It blog. She describes a “quick flick” Kegel that is very efficient – you might be surprised at the number of exercises she suggests!

By Tasha Mulligan
I was asked a great question the other day regarding Kegel exercises and the confusion caused from some recommendations to complete 80+ repetitions per day vs. my recommendation to complete only 8-10 repetitions per day. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Pelvic Floor, Strength Tagged With: ,

Rule of 70 Part II (Nutrition trumps Exercise)

January 26, 2012 By 3 Comments

I have written about the Rule of 70 (70% of weight loss comes from what we eat, 30% comes from exercise)  on this website before, and so when I recently came across an article saying something similar, I was intrigued and decided to dig in a little more. I believe that cutting calories through dietary changes is a more efficient way to lose weight than exercise.  This is really only important if weight loss is your goal (it isn’t mine – although weight maintenance is). [Read more...]

Filed Under: Nutrition, Women's Health Tagged With: , ,

Nine Surprising Ways to Rev Up the Metabolism

January 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment

1. Sleep more. When our bodies are rested they work better, pure and simple. According to EHow Health, during sleep, the body releases hormones. Growth hormone and melatonin are hormones that regulate our biological clock, benefit our body tissues, and work as antioxidants to help us fight off illness. Deep sleep also allows the body’s cells to increase and reduce the breakdown of proteins needed for the body to function properly. When there is a lack of sleep, there is not enough growth hormone and melatonin released to rejuvenate the body and maintain normal functioning. We have difficulty thinking and are ineffective doing tasks. Our body also has less ability to perform basic metabolic functions such as processing and regulating carbohydrates. Most of us know about how much sleep we need to function well. When we consistently compromise this number, our metabolism can be negatively affected. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Cardio, Nutrition, Strength Tagged With: ,
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