Here are some tips from SparkPeople for getting those 8 a day…
As many of you know, drinking water is not my favorite thing to do. I recently saw this article from SparkPeople about tips for getting those eight glasses a day. I tweeked their 12 tips to make it nine (not just because I like the number nine…also because sometimes fewer is better). What are some of your strategies to get enough water…?
9 Tips to Drink 8 a Day [Read more…]
Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.
Serve the LORD with gladness:
come before his presence with singing.
Know ye that the LORD he is God:
it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter into his gates with thanksgiving,
and into his courts with praise:
be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
For the LORD is good;
his mercy is everlasting;
and his truth endureth to all generations
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
We can’t ignore the pelvic floor!
As I approach the second half of my forties, I realize that in order to stay fit and to continue to do the exercises, workouts, and other physical activities I like to do, I need to be proactive about strengthening my pelvic floor muscles. I have talked about this before at 9 Kid Fitness, and I will continue to look for up-to-date information about the pelvic floor because I know just how crucial it is for women to be well informed. The following is an interesting article from 9 Kid Fitness follower, Elizabeth Carrollton, who talks about some of the preventative measures women can take before having to do more invasive procedures such as surgery, etc. Elizabeth also writes about defective medical devices and dangerous drugs for Drugwatch.com.
Pelvic Organ Prolapse (POP) often can be prevented with proper exercises. In fact, many of the exercises d to prevent the condition can also be used to treat mild to moderate cases of POP. Surgical intervention has become a common treatment for moderate to severe symptoms of POP. This is unfortunate because surgery is an invasive procedure that has inherent risks. In fact, one of the most common types of surgery used to treat pelvic organ prolapse uses a high-risk medical device called transvaginal mesh, which has been linked to severe health complications in as many as 10 percent of surgeries. [Read more…]
Shannon working out at Pure Barre at 38 weeks!
A topic that many are interested in is how and when to get back to fitness after a pregnancy. Although getting back to fitness after each of my nine pregnancies was a priority for me, it changed as I had more children and as I got older. I talked to two women who both had a baby in the not-so-distant past and who are both already back to a full workout routine. I met Shannon at Pure Barre and was amazed as she continued to work out and look great throughout her pregnancy. Ashley is a friend who also exercised throughout her eighth pregnancy…doing mostly P90X at her house. I also weighed in on some of the questions…
1. How long ago did you give birth? Was it a C-section?
Ashley: My youngest is 4 months old. Not a C-section.
Shannon: I gave birth to my second son 14 weeks ago. I had a C-section due to complications from my first son’s delivery.
2. Did you exercise during your pregnancy? If so, did that help in terms of birth or recovery?
Ashley: Yes, 5-6 days a week up until the week she was born. It helped greatly in terms of energy during the pregnancy. My labors have started to slow down (she is my 8th). It’s hard to tell if it helped in terms of birth. It certainly helped in terms of my health. Her strip during labor was flawless … no way to know for sure if that is connected to a healthy mommy, but I have to think it factors in. My recovery was very easy. That is absolutely attributed to the exercise. I’ve had non-exercising pregnancies and the recovery period is much longer. [Read more…]
Yesterday’s Carolina blue sky was full of hope…
I stumbled onto a new run yesterday morning. Coming out of Levine Children’s Hospital, going down some cement stairs, crossing a creek bed, I found myself on the Sugar Creek Parkway (or the canal run) and took it for about half a mile into downtown Charlotte. I turned around at that point and ran for another two miles to Freedom Park, passing dozens of other runners, walkers, and bikers. Then, after running in the park for a few minutes, I turned around for the run back to the hospital.
I had been down at Levine’s Children’s Hospital for three days with our daughter (#6) Grace who at 7 am last Friday had a cyst removed from her face (next to her right ear). We will find out exactly what the cyst was this week although we are fairly certain it was just one of those benign masses that form for odd reasons. The surgery was more involved, however, than we had predicted. She has two incisions because they had to “borrow” some belly fat to replace the skin that was removed from her face. Grace has been a trooper and has literally not complained about anything (even pain) since we arrived at 4:45 am on Friday. [Read more…]
According to a recent study, some people are actually turned off by watching the “extreme”exercise on a show like The Biggest Loser.
A recent study showed interesting results after participants watched The Biggest Loser. Although we might believe that The Biggest Loser would motivate those who need to lose a lot of weight, the study revealed that the opposite might be true. Watching “extreme exercise” seemed to create a negative feeling about working out for those who need to lose weight… possibly because of the extreme fitness required of those profiled in the show.
In the study, 138 undergraduate students from the University of Alberta (Canada) were split into two groups. One group watched a seven-minute clip – chosen for its extreme depiction of exercise – from early in The Biggest Loser’s ninth season, when competitors were struggling with obesity. A control group watched a segment from the reality show American Idol. [Read more…]
The sugar monster comes in late October and lurks around corners through December…BEWARE!
You have heard me on many occasions at 9 Kid Fitness talk about sugar. I guess it is a sort of love-hate relationship that I have developed over a long period of years. I love sugar because it tastes good and often satisfies in ways other foods just don’t. I hate it because no matter how temporarily satisfying it is, it is usually regretted later. I’m not talking about the occasional sugary treat. I am talking about the sugar monster lurking around the corner…only so happy to be indulged in and to “satisfy” an unsuspecting victim.
I realize that the word victim is not entirely appropriate. A victim usually doesn’t have any culpability. In the case of sugar, most of us have enough knowledge and experience to know better than to be a true victim. However, as with many other vices, we can be caught off guard and we can experience a type of amnesia about past consequences. Although I am not a nutritionist, I believe that I have a vast resume of experience on this topic and therefore feel that I can speak with a sort of authority on the subject. So consider this your fair warning. Don’t be caught off-guard! [Read more…]
Eric’s cool dog, Cadence.
When I told my son (#4, Peter) the title for this post, he looked at me and said, “Mom…you’re not really going to say that.” I realize that the word “dude” has no business in this middle-aged mom’s vocabulary, but when you read about Eric Lane I think you will understand that it is a word that fits. I’ll put up with the rolling eyes of my teenagers and say it anyway…Eric is one cool dude and he has one amazingly cool dog. [Read more…]
Can exercising after finishing chemotherapy treatments help with efficacy? Last weekend an important meeting in Colorado discussed this among other important topics…
Last weekend there was an important meeting of the minds in Westminster, Colorado. The Integrative Biology of Exercise VI meeting was a collaborative effort between the American Physiological Society, the American College of Sports Medicine and the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology. The following article describes a recent study which looked at the effects of exercise on cancer patients (who exercised for several weeks) after chemotherapy treatment, and was certainly discussed at the meeting in Colorado.
We are all affected by cancer. It is exciting to see the effort on the part of various specialties in the medical community coming together to study how exercise can have a positive impact on those recently treated with chemotherapy. I have seen the positive effect first hand as my husband, James has gone through his treatments for cancer. Even though extremely tired and lacking energy, James continued to exercise (mostly walking and a little running) throughout his chemotherapy and radiation treatments. He continued to exercise after the treatments as much as he was able, and it seems obvious to me that this has been a real benefit to him.
I copied the article in its entirety here: [Read more…]
As a cross country coach who practices with my team everyday during the school week, I have no choice except to bring my young children along on our runs. Consequently what people see on the trails where we do most of our running is about 10-15 middle and high school runners, me pushing a double baby jogger with #9 (Sam) inside, #8 (6 year-old C.C.) in and out of the jogger, and #7 (8 year-old John) running alongside. Needless to say, we turn a few heads. As is often the case with our busy life, by the time I get to practice, pull the jogger out of the van and take a real inventory of what has come along, I realize a few key things are missing…things like shoes, for instance. When I first started coaching, this would have been cause for more kids to be in my jogger than running alongside it. However, now what usually happens is that my young kids run without shoes…and most of the time still keep up with the rest of us. [Read more…]
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