I don’t know about you, but spring is crazy around here. By crazy I mean busy, busy, busy. This spring we have two graduations and a First Holy Communion within one month and that’s not to mention all the other things that come along during this time of year…senior prom, exams, and finishing up homeschooling for the little guys. Needless to say, exercise will have to be short and sweet during April, May, and June. Did I say sweet? The right word is more like powerful/mean/efficient – you pick! My nutty upcoming schedule has got me thinking again…what is the most efficient workout schedule for our busiest times? [Read more...]
My Full Spring Calendar Forces me to Make Workouts More Efficient
April 2, 2012 By 2 Comments
Looking Back on 9 Kid Fitness in 2011
December 31, 2011 By 2 Comments
Finishing up our first year at 9 Kid Fitness, I want to thank all of you who have visited our site, contributed with comments, and just checked in with us via Facebook and Twitter. Launching last March, my hope was to engage with others who are trying to make fitness a priority in their very busy lives. Thank you for being a part of the 9 Kid Fitness community, and I hope that we will continue to find support and encouragement from each other in 2012! Today I would like to look back over the last year and highlight nine of the most visited posts at 9 Kid Fitness:
1. Me vs. Victoria’s Secret I take on the image of women that Vicoria’s Secret portrays in their holiday commercials (among other things).
2. When I Run I Feel His Pleasure Many of us Feel God’s presence when we run, and in this post I talk about how it felt for me. [Read more...]
Post Thanksgiving Blitz
November 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment
So we ate a little too much turkey and stuffing? Still snacking on the leftover pumpkin pie (I am)? Feeling a little snug in those jeans? That’s okay! Don’t throw in the towel now and say you will wait to start over in the New year… start now! I know I wrote about how to have a healthy Thanksgiving, but I also know that sometimes the day just gets the best of us! The following is a quick and dirty fitness/diet blitz to get you over the Thanksgiving weight gain and even a few pounds lighter before Christmas. It really isn’t that hard. Just follow a few dietary suggestions and do the following fitness routine over the next week or two and you can be well on your way to starting the Advent/Christmas season off on the right foot! [Read more...]
Nine Ways to Recover Well After a Workout
September 14, 2011 By 1 Comment
1. Cool down. Cooling down (not stopping completely) is crucial after exercise. Continuing to move around at a very low intensity for 5 to 10 minutes after a workout helps remove lactic acid from our muscles and may reduce muscle stiffness. If you have been running, slow it down, then walk for 5 minutes. Don’t do what I did the other day and run to your car immediately after your long run without appropriately cooling down (I was late to getting #6 to a practice and couldn’t stay for a cool down – I really felt the stiffness almost immediately and was sore for a good 24 hours). [Read more...]
20 Minutes to a Great Full-Body Workout
August 9, 2011 By 2 Comments
Its really amazing how tough a 20 minute workout done at home or at the gym can be. And more importantly, how effective it can be! So many of us have a mindset of a long workout being the only kind that truly brings results. But the fact is that even 20 minutes of strength training can bring about change not only in how we look, but how we feel as well. Weight training needs to be an essential part of everybody’s fitness regime in order to boost our metabolism and improve aging (many people say fight aging, but I think that’s a misnomer). However, many of us feel we just don’t have time. The following is one example of a 20 minute whole body strength routine that can be done at home. [Read more...]
After a Week of No Exercise it’s “Easy Does It”!
August 8, 2011 By 5 Comments
I ran 6.2 miles this morning after seven days of not working out. I had to ease into my run and it took a few miles to do that. I just returned from a week in the ghettos of Kingston, Jamaica, where I took my two oldest boys to work with the Missionaries of the Poor. Needless to say we didn’t get out for a run (although they did some push ups every night). Whenever I take more than a few days off I am always struck by how quickly my fitness level seems to fade. It’s as if all the work of months takes only a few days to undo. This is actually not the case, however. [Read more...]
The Rule of 70
July 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment
A lot of people ask two questions: 1. How much of weight loss comes from diet? and; 2. How much of weight loss comes from exercise? These are very good questions. While important, they ignore another component – genetics. Our DNA certainly plays a key role in the size and build of a person. In our family, I have really seen how this is manifested in our children. Even with the same parents, not all of our children are built the same. So, after considering the genetic aspect, then it comes down to diet and exercise, which are the two components we can control. While it might be easy to assume that it would be about 50/50 (diet/exercise), I think it is really more like 70/30, which is why I call this the “Rule of 70″. [Read more...]
A Little Nine Kid Romance and Some Old-fashioned Vitamin D!
May 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment
James and I have been married for 22 years and we are on our first true vacation alone in all those years! We came down to Florida to stay at my mother’s house near Jupiter. A lot of logistics are necessary to accomplish this, and I am grateful to my sister Susan, and my mother who together have six of my children back home in Charlotte! James and I are relaxing, enjoying some romantic dinners alone, and soaking in some Vitamin D.
Speaking of Vitamin D, it appears to be making a comeback and is receiving some publicity lately, especially in it’s most natural form (sunlight). I am part of the generation that grew up hearing about the negative effects of too much sunlight. This is why most of us who are parents feel guilty if we don’t totally lather our children up when they go out in the sun. As a woman, I know how the sun causes my face to wrinkle and show creases prematurely (being a runner that started about ten years ago for me!). While most of these things are true, research is showing the importance of Vitamin D, especially as we age. [Read more...]
The Ill-Effects of Soda
April 14, 2011 By 14 Comments
Okay, first off, I am drinking a Coke Zero as I write this. With that off my chest, I read an article at a doctor’s office recently about small nutritional changes that can make big differences in the way we feel. One of the suggestions in the article was to stop drinking all soft drinks (diet or regular). This might seem like a small change to some people, but to others it is no small thing! [Read more...]
Running for Life!
March 31, 2011 By 9 Comments
Even before I became a runner, running was a part of my family’s life. I can remember early Sunday mornings when my dad would return home from his weekend 12-mile run. My sisters’ and I would greet him with a tall glass of iced tea. We would stand back and wait for him to finish the glass in one gulp, and then give us the “Lipton Iced Tea, ‘Ahhhhhh!’” To me, that “Ah” was the reward for hard work.
When I think about all the years of running I’ve logged, I realize there have been different seasons in my life that have allowed for various levels of effort. Through it all, though, there has been a certain satisfaction that is the natural result of hard work. After I got married and we had our first two children, I enjoyed racing and pushing myself. I had the benefit of youth on my side (although I know I didn’t truly appreciate it then), and could run a lot of miles pushing a baby jogger. Running mostly 10Ks, I was able to train hard and I even squeezed out a sub 40-minute 10K for a personal best. I would often meet a friend of mine, Greg, at a track near the hospital where he worked, to do interval training. I recall one workout he named “Zeus” after doing it with a man that was more like a Greek god than a human! Those days I could manage tough workouts without feeling totally zapped of my energy the rest of the day. [Read more...]
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