Nov

Movember: Sex, Food, Exercise

Sex. When I write about sex, I get 25k hits. So you can imagine that I’m all for Movember–the month we focus on Men’s Health–mostly because we get to talk about sex and your prostate.But I’m also here to share the top 3 ways you can reduce your risk. Yes, we’ll talk about sex first…..

1) Ejaculation. Research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests ejaculation, through sexual intercourse or masturbation, can reduce your risk of prostate cancer and can keep your prostate in check. But not just any kind of sex or masturbation;

Nov

Trending: CycloCross

It’s not just the rush of full threshold, no holds barred racing that makes CycloCross the hottest trend this season. CycloCross is a sport–part racing, part mountain biking, dismounting, carrying your bike over obstacles–that proves to be tough on even the most serious athlete.

Because you push yourself to 80-90% of your max, it gives you a tough workout in minimal time. And more and more athletes are moving towards sprint workouts; that is, sprinting through multiple types of exercises to get the full body workout you need. This preps your body to do pretty much anything.

CycloCross bikes, or Cross bikes are made like a racing bike--light weight with the ability to maintain high speeds--but with an off terrain tire, made for mud, climbing and high intensity maneuvers.

Enter your own personal CoreFitCross workout plan:

Get on your bike and push yourself to your lactate threshold–the threshold where your muscles start to burn. Hold it there for 30 seconds and then push to your max for 15sec. Drop it back down to your threshold for 30sec and drop down to 30% of your max for 3 minutes. Repeat this 6 times. You can try it going up a hill–it perfectly replicates what CycloCross is all about.

Sep

Avoid Nerve Damage: Goal Line Balance

NFL trainers use sport specific exercises to strengthen stabilizers for goal line success

Ever wonder how NFL pro-athletes avoid injury? They practice sport specific training. But even those highly paid professionals have physical issues and anyone who typically practices some form of cardiovascular exercise has experienced it. One of the most prevalent issues that affect regular exercisers is the nagging numb tingly that occurs sometime in the middle of your workout. You try to shake it off and assume it’s a circulation issue, but there is another culprit at play here; nerve damage.

Nerve damage is a common sports injury that sometimes gets overlooked because it can be sporadic or only prevalent during the actual exercise and then may subside after.

Sep

The Physics of a Mindful Meditator

This weekend I was over at my friend John’s condo and he was showing me The Man Who Can Fly–Dean Potter. Dean potter is a phenomenal athlete, mostly known for his free ascents, base jumps and slack lining all over Yosemite National Park and Patagonia. In the video Potter base jumps in a bird like suit off a plank suspended probably thousands of feet into the air without knowing whether or not the flight suit will allow him to descend into a clearing far below. He does not hesitate at the end of the plank, he simply jumps.

What I loved about this video is that Dean Potter is so capable physically of allowing his mind to clearly focus on shutting his intuitive muscles down and allowing for the natural process of movement to occur. He is able to quiet his mind of what he should or should not be doing.

Fast forward today and I am reading an article in the NYTimes called Rethinking Sleep. The author talks about the importance of shutting down our mind in order to get a restful nights sleep. It’s not the hours you get, but the quality. Most people do not get the 8hrs their body requires in order to allow the body to recuperate physically and mentally.

“It seemed that, given a chance to be free of modern life, the body would naturally settle into a split sleep schedule. Subjects grew to like experiencing nighttime in a new way. Once they broke their conception of what form sleep should come in, they looked forward to the time in the middle of the night as a chance for deep thinking of all kinds, whether in the form of self-reflection, getting a jump on the next day or amorous activity.”

Dean Potter has the ability to shut down his intuitive active mind. We should all take this as a cue as to why exercise and conscious physical challenges are important to our sleep cycle which allows our brain to do more deep thinking, self reflection and the important rest it needs to recuperate our body for tomorrow.

Sep

Exercise Less, Lose Weight

Chatarunga dude. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles get it done.

For a long time now, I’ve been touting the benefits of the weight loss trick “slow and steady wins the race.” Most of the time, in fact, I recommend doing no more than 20-30min of physical activity daily as a way to win the weight loss game. In short bursts of exercise–20-30min–you expend just enough to offset your daily intake by on average 300 calories. The odds are that you won’t increase the calories in your diet. You won’t even notice they are missing. If you expend more calories in one session of exercise, you may notice and feel fatigued and are therefore more prone to eating more calories to compensate from feeling tired.

The NYTimes this morning has a write up about a recent study published by the University of Copenhagen.

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Sep

Holiday Prep

There are three optimum times of year to start getting fit: January–the start of the new year, April–start of the summer season, September–prep for holidays. This time of year is my favorite; the leaves are turning, the air is cool and crisp, there’s a new sense of starting fresh (think going-back-to-school) and we’re all getting prepped to see friends and family for holidays. I love to do comprehensive routines that tone and re-shape your body from all the fun eating and drinking you’ve been doing all summer long. I’m not one to fore-go a good party, so I have to get back to the core exercises my body knows and loves. Here are three great exercises to do every day to shape and tone your body in prep for the holidays. Combine it with cardio 5x per week and you body will stay stunning–even after the pumpkin pie.

Spiderman Pushup: x10 each leg

Split Lunges: x10 each leg

Lean-To Twists: x10 each direction

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Jun

Want this body? Eat This Food.

As I was thinking about the weekend, the first thing that pops to mind is the bachelorette party and that little dress I have to wear this weekend. To make my body look great I always follow this diet secret:

Watermelon. This week I ate an entire watermelon (which made up for 2-3 midweek meals from tues-thurs). I simply followed a clean diet (protein, veggies and light whole carbs) and then substitute 2-3 of my meals with watermelon. Usually my lunch and afternoon snack. It slims you down quickly because it’s mostly water and simple carbs packed into the fiber of the fruit. This means it regulates your blood sugar and metabolism really efficiently and the water and antioxidants protect against free radicals, aiding in reducing inflammation and making your skin look luminous.

Sweet, juicy watermelon is actually packed with some of the most important antioxidants in nature. Watermelon is an excellent source of vitamin C and a very good source of vitamin A, notably through its concentration of beta-carotene. Pink watermelon is also a source of the potent carotenoid antioxidant, lycopene. These powerful antioxidants travel through the body neutralizing free radicals. Free radicals are substances in the body that can cause a great deal of damage. They are able to oxidize cholesterol, making it stick to blood vessel walls, where it can lead to heart attack or stroke. They can add to the severity of asthma attacks by causing airways to clamp down and close. They can increase the inflammation that occurs in osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis and cause most of the joint damage that occurs in these conditions, and they can damage cells lining the colon, turning them into cancer cells. Fortunately, vitamin C and beta-carotene are very good at getting rid of these harmful molecules and can therefore prevent the damage they would otherwise cause. As a matter of fact, high intakes of vitamin C and beta-carotene have been shown in a number of scientific studies to reduce the risk of heart disease, reduce the airway spasm that occurs in asthma, reduce the risk of colon cancer, and alleviate some of the symptoms of osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.A cup of watermelon provides 21% of the daily value for vitamin C, and, through its carotenoids, 17% of the DV for vitamin A.

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Jun

Runners Yoga

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Apr

Yogi

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Apr

Challenge #18: Stretch

Sunday is a perfect day for a stretch challenge. You’ve worked hard all week–now it’s time to reap the benefits of exercise with some STRETCH recovery.

Do your light workout today–whatever that may be. Then go through this yoga stretch routine and see if it helps you refocus your mind and body (to recovery), so it’s primed and ready for Monday.