Jul

Fit Your Feet

The correct shoe can mean the greatest training and competitive season you’ve ever had and a poorly fit shoe can derail your progress and sideline you. As we age, without the correct anatomical support, the bones in your foot can collapse under the weight of gravity from all the added high impact exercise we sustain to stay healthy. Fortunately for all us runners, there’s a simple way to analyze your gait and you don’t even have to rely on the “experts” at Fleet Feet. Personally, every time I purchase a pair of shoes at Fleet Feet, I get a different diagnosis. One of my all time favorite running shoe companies, Mizuno, provides a precision online fit assessment and then recommends a specific model to try out. You can opt to buy their brand or search elsewhere with the info you attain from the fit assessment. I personally love Mizuno. The lightweight feel of their shoes coupled with the quality and ability to keep up with my training is why I go back to them again and again.

Here are the different elements of the test:

: Female Flexibility Test

: Finger Test

: Foot Rotation

: Foot Strike Test

: Foot Type

: Knee Test

: Leg Axis Test

Jul

Your Daily Detox

If you wake up feeling tired, sore and generally puffy, you may want to try adding a Liver Support supplement to your daily routine. The liver plays a major role in metabolism and has a number of functions in the body, including glycogen storage, decomposition of red blood cells, plasma protein synthesis, hormone production, and detoxification. In a nutshell, this organ controls how you produce, store or burn fat and calories.

Beyond eating healthy and staying physically fit, supplements can aid your body in detoxification, so your organs don’t have to work so hard to get rid of the fat and toxins in your blood. My favorite supplement in this category is the NOW foods brand Liver Detoxifier and Regenerator.

Jul

‘Caution’ Warranted if Consuming Artificial Sweeteners

Artificial sweeteners may seem like a god send, but they cause havoc within your body if you’re not careful. In fact, the evidence is adding up that consumption of noncaloric, artificially sweetened beverages (ASBs) is associated with an increased risk for a variety of chronic diseases including obesity, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes.

In an article

Jun

Statins Linked to Muscle Pain, But Evidence Is Minimal

My favorite thing about living in America is the choices we get to make everyday. We can choose to get Starbucks or Dunkin. We can choose to ride our bike or take the car. We can choose what type of job we want to work at everyday. These choices also come with responsibility to educate yourself about potential side effects in making the choices we do everyday.

Here’s a great example: “STATINS LINKED TO MUSCLE PAIN, SPRAINS” (read the headline of Reuters Health this morning)

The BREAKDOWN:

I read the article which cites the Journal of American Medical Association–a hefty and well established journal. It represents diagnosis and studies done in the past as well as peer reviews and editorials of today’s medical research.

Today Reuter’s reports that JAMA claims in a recent study that statins are linked to MUSCLE PAIN and SPRAINS/STRAINS.

Unfortunately the evidence is shaky:

For all of us not on Statins (drugs used for high cholesterol levels), 85% reported problems with muscles or joints.

For those of us on Statins, 87% reported problems.

That pretty much sums up this study: nearly everyone has muscular and/or joint pain.

This girl is now Laughing out loud. Cheers.

Jun

Apps Are So Out

I know, I know… Apps are the next “It” thing if you are in business. But I am proposing that you NOT carry your cell phone everywhere you go. And hey, especially when you are exercising. Because, if anything, exercise is your hour to yourself everyday. And it should be peaceful and quiet and you shouldn’t have emails buzzing and text messages being sent and you shouldn’t be looking at yet another florescent screen just to follow an exercise routine. No, I’m thinking all you need is your eyes, your ears, your heart, your arms and legs to carry out the most physical part of your day. Forget technology, get in touch with something even more intelligent and complex–your body.

So I’m developing a CoreFit Deck that you can take with you. Get the first of these workouts here and print out so you can just grab them and go to the gym. In fact, why not just take a few in your gym back so all you have to do is follow the pictures and do the routine. Simple. And it won’t even show up on your data usage.

May

Plastics Chemical Tied to Increased Blood Pressure

By Shayna Robinson, MSPT, PhD

There’s a new blood pressure trigger in town, folks.

Thought if you exercised and ate right you could prevent heart disease? Turns out research is piling up against more chemicals found in plastics. The latest study adds further credence to a growing concern that plastic chemicals not only throw off hormones and cause obesity but also cause oxidative stress internally on major organs within the body.

Researchers from New York University’s Langone Medical Center, the University of Washington, and the Penn State School of Medicine recently made a first-of-its kind connection between phthalates, a common chemical used to soften plastic, and higher blood pressure in children and teens. The study appeared in The Journal of Pediatrics.

Similarly, BPA has been shown to trigger abnormal heart rhythms.

9 Ways to Dodge Phthalates (DEHP):

Apr

Core Values

You probably already know that a strong core is key to riding better. And with the weather warming up, this is the best time to prep for your long rides. You may be surprised, but there’s more to your core than just abs and doing crunches won’t do the trick. Too many cyclists forget muscles that riding neglects–glutes, back, hips and obliques.

The workout below, targets those muscles to create a stable platform for your legs to generate real power.

Feb

The Power Poses

We know our minds change our bodies. But do our bodies change our minds?

Powerful people typically are assertive, confidant, optimistic, risk takers, tend to think more abstractly. Physiologically they have more testosterone (dominance hormone) and less cortisol (stress hormone). High power alpha males in nature have high testosterone and low cortisol and powerful and effective leaders also have high testosterone and low cortisol.

Amy Cuddy describes her 2 min experiment;

“this is what we did; we decided to bring people into a blast and ronaldo experiment and these people adopted for two minutes either high-power opposes or low-power poses.”

The results

High Power Poses produced a 20% increase in testosterone (dominance hormone) and a 25% decrease in cortisol (stress hormone).

Low Power Poses produced a 10% decrease in testosterone (dominance hormone) and a 15% decrease in cortisol (stress hormone).

Simply expanding your body for two minutes produces very significant increases in your hormonal levels. These hormones are the same hormones that drive our confidence and our success in many cases. Amy Cuddy makes a strong case for the body’s ability to influence the way we think. Simply faking a motion for two minutes can convince you that you do belong, you can be successful and that you are powerful.

Feb

Forks Over Knives; Plant Based Diets

Looking for a non-diet nutritional plan? Focusing solely on fat or calories often leads to yo-yo dieting–which as we all know, is not healthy. Aim to maintain your weight by reducing your meat intake and sticking to a healthy (TASTY!) vegetarian routine. I follow the 3 day dinner rule: meat every 3rd day for dinner. Repeat till the week is over and you’ll shed pounds fast.

Day 1: 6-80zSalmon with 12oz veggies

Day 2: All vegetarian meal

Day 3: 6-8oz Chicken breast with 12oz veggies

Reach for a fork over a knife and increase your health benefits by going veg for a week. I like this recipe from Wendy Solganik over at Forks Over Knives. It’s a website dedicated to healthy vegetarian eating.

Italian White Bean, Kale and Potato Stew
Serves 6

Ingredients

Feb

Triangle Pose Break Down

Ever wonder how I get such great abs?

This break down of the Triangle Pose illustrates the usage of the inner thigh and the full abdominal wall. It’s one of my favorite poses to do for an overall toned appearance and it also stretches out my hamstrings really well. A great pose to counter the affects of the forward motion of running.

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Ever wonder how I get such great abs?