FITNESS GURU

The Master Cleanse- Day 1

Okay, I have talked about this thing for far too long. The Lemonade Diet, the Master Cleanse, call it what you want, it still amounts to consuming nothing but a concoction of lemons, maple syrup and cayenne pepper for...oh.....seven to ten days. Two of the staff at the Guru have done it recently and they have both raved about how wonderful they feel. So what the hell...I'll give it a try.

To be honest, I want some kind of cleanse, something to clean out the body so I can feel fresh and...well, clean. Might as well be this. And I am taking care of it during the kids President's Day week vacation so that if it is a crash-and-burn situation, I can always go back to sleep.

So far I am five hours in. I have had fantasies about peanut butter, shrimp and really anything else that you can chew. I am a little dizzy but other than that, five hours in and I am not dead.

Mon Feb 18 2008 08:29:05

Marathon-- pros and cons

So I wanted to wait a little bit before I chimed in on what I liked and what I didn't like about the race two weeks ago. I think I was worried that it was all so fresh that I might swing too far in one direction or another. But now with a fortnight under my belt, i feel I can give the pros and the cons. Here we go.

The cons: there were close to 40,000 people running. Couple that with the fact that the Verrazano Bridge was under construction and there are crowding problems. It took FOREVER to get to Staten Island for the start of the race. The NYRRC had requested that everyone take the ferry across the bay from Manhattan to Staten Island. The ferry was crowded enough, but once we got to the other side, it was an unbelievable mob scene: waiting for the buses, taking the buses to the starting point, wading through the starting area to try to get gear stowed and get set up in the starting corrals. When the canon went off, it took 45 minutes to cross the start line.

And the came the finish. As soon as you cross the finish line, you are led into a long (1 mile) chute to try to gather your belongings. You are given a mylar blanket to stay warm. My problem was that I was sweat soaked and the mylar was doing no good warming me. And the chute was incredibly slow moving. It took an hour after I crossed the finish line to final emerge from Central Park. At that point I was shaking uncontrolably and very afraid of what would happen to me. Fortunately, Lawson showed up at just the right time and I was able to jump into the fron seat of our car and warm myself. But it was honestly scary. There was one point when some of the runners began to climb through the small fence on one side of the chute. Immediately a park ranger insisted that the runners get back into the slow moving chute. Can you imagine? These people have just run 26 miles and just want to get home and the park ranger is telling them that, re3gardless of whether orr not they have to pick up their belongings, they need to wait an hour in the cold wet park because....well, that was the part that I could not understand. Fortunately the runners had the good sense to ignore the ranger and they marched past her. And the ranger had the good sense to not try to Tazer or baton the rebels.

The pros? Folks, its the NYC Marathon. Running in such a spectacularly diverse pack is an experience that I wish everyone could have at least once in his or her life. The city comes to together in such a wonderful way that it makes me proud to be a New Yorker and celebrate the diversity and the comradery of our city.

Will I do it again? Last time I said no way and I proved myself wrong. I probably will, but I want to try a different city first and see what that feels like.

Mon Feb 18 2008 05:21:06

Photos from the marathon

Here are some photos of the big day! copy and paste!

Mon Feb 18 2008 05:20:33

The Morning After

So I went for run yesterday. And 26.2 miles later crossed the finish line of the ING NYC Marathon. There were lots of high points and several low points, both of which I will get into in later entries. Today itï¿½s about what I learned. I was grossly under prepared for this race. Lifeï¿½s little responsibilities kept getting in the way of my training, and, to be honest, I let them. Bad call on my part. As of Saturday evening, the night before, I questioned whether or not I could complete the race. But with the help of a group of people I was able to get it done. Three of the people provided invaluable support: Chris Bergland, Danny Dreyer and Lee Silverman. As I was coming home from the race last night, I started thinking of myself as Dorothy and these three as my Lion, Tinman and Scarecrow (HEY you run 26.2 miles and letï¿½s see where your brain goes!) Christopher is a tremendous triathlete who has accomplished mind-boggling feats of endurance and I used his words for courage, helping me through the tough areas when I didnï¿½t think I could finish. Danny is tremendously spiritual and I used his work to help calm myself and focus entirely on my race. And Leeï¿½s understanding of the science of endurance work was absolutely invaluable. Chris and Danny both have books that are available. Chris' book is The Athlete's Way and we also have a great interview we did with him a few months ago . Danny's book is ChiRunning. Buy the books. Read them. Read them again. And use the information. Lee doesnï¿½t have book, but he should. He is the owner of Jackrabbit sports in NYC (http://www.jackrabbitsports.com/). Next time you are in the area of one of his stores, stop in. He has an incredibly well educated staff and buying a pair of sneakers is a learning experience. Major thanks to these three gentlemen. I would still be crawling to the subway in the Bronx if not for them

Mon Feb 18 2008 05:19:46

Teacher vs. Taker

Nurture vs. Nature, Teacher vs. Taker… Memorial Day weekend and I’ve got my choice of bikes; this should be my first clue. There are only 5 people in the Spinning class, this should be my second clue. I’m enjoying a few glorious days with my family at a very lovely 5 star hotel in Miami Beach (yes, I know…poor me). This wonderful hotel happens to have a well-appointed fitness center, complete with a “movement studio” offering several types of group fitness classes. A busman’s holiday for the fitness Guress, I’m elated to be the student instead of the teacher. With great glee and anticipation I enter my first class, which happens to be a Spinning class. The instructor is a very nice woman; she seems to be in good shape, wearing biking shoes and an appropriately supportive top, all signs of a true professional. I adjust my bike, get my water bottles ready and position my towel. Suddenly, I get a sneaking suspicion, perhaps this particular “teacher” is what we call in the business a “taker”.

As soon as the wildly pumping albeit non- descript techno/club mess pours frantically out of the speakers our fearless “leader” begins to scream at us, completely unintelligibly of course. Now, Spinning is the type of class that can be a spiritually transporting sweat-fest in the hands of a seasoned professional. This was basically the complete opposite. The music was a personality-free mish-mosh of loud, empty club music that had absolutely no variation whatsoever. The choreography of the class consisted of a flat to warm us up, followed by 45 minutes of standing hills with no variation in hand position, tempo or intensity. By the 30-minute mark I was ready to take my own life. To add insult to injury (quite literally for the less educated in the class) our instructor only got off her bike to adjust the songs on her i pod, leaving us completely music free for minutes at a time while she shopped around her music library for whatever song sounded exactly like the one before. This sudden lack of ‘music’ (and I use the term loosely) felt like hitting a brick wall at full speed while still, miraculously attached to your bike. As for the screaming, it continued for the entire class and I couldn’t for the life of me tell you a single word she said. Mind you not once did she address anyone in the class directly, make a correction or offer any comprehensible encouragement.

Form and continuity, should be familiar concepts in any group fitness class. By definition a teacher is supposed to teach, not perform and certainly not use class time for their personal workout. Granted I’m an insane form fanatic and as I looked around the room I could’ve easily spent several hours with each student giving them pointers on proper form. There is a myriad of things to correct in a Spinning class. The proper use of the back muscles to stabilize the shoulders, the proper activation of the abdominals to protect the spine, the even circular motion of the push and pull of the legs to insure a well rounded training of the thighs, proper tracking of the knees over the toes to avoid knee injury and improper training. The list is endless. Not a word of enlightenment came from this woman’s lips. I wanted to jump off my bike, gently take her aside and ask her how it felt to be paid to enjoy her own personal workout while those of us who were paying her salary floundered around in a uneducated haze of anonymous techno beats? Why did she become an instructor and more alarmingly how? She certainly wasn’t helping to change anyone’s life through fitness, which in my opinion should be every instructor’s personal goal. I would’ve settled for a tiny bit of encouragement and maybe just one correction. I don’t think that’s asking too much considering I was being charged extra for the class.

You may be asking yourself why on earth I stayed in that awful excuse for a class. I stayed because I believe I can learn something in any situation, sometimes I learn more from the negative moments than from the positive ones. I have been teaching Spinning for the past decade and this was an excellent example of what can become of a beautiful form of exercise in the hands of an ambivalent instructor. As difficult as it is to give constructive criticism in a way that truly is constructive I have written a letter to the fitness director of the hotel urging him to take some of the classes offered at his facility as it may be time for some fresh blood or at least some continuing education. I can only hope I’ve spared someone the same fate that has befallen me, the dreaded boring-as-hell-and-dangerous-to-boot Spinning class. The question for our dear readers is “what do I do if, God forbid, I’m caught in the same disaster”? I urge anyone who runs into a similar situation to discreetly leave the class. Don’t get into it with the teacher, it won’t make a difference and may put you in a very uncomfortable situation. Make any excuse if you have to, a cramp, nausea, “I forgot to eat” is always a good one, anything to get you out of there in one piece without embarrassment. Then, let the fitness director know that the instructor is a “taker” not a “teacher”.

Tue Jun 12 2007 02:03:04

Fat Flush Part 2 (what have you learned, Dorothy?)

So, after Saturday's crash-and-burn with the Fat Flush plan, when Lawson was reduced to main lining a cheese burger to avoid the onset of insanity and I felt like someone had unscrewed the top of my skull and tap danced on my brain, I wanted to take a few moments to reflect.....

Here is what we did wrong.....

1. We rushed into it and didn't prepare ourselves. That was like deciding on Monday you are going to run a marathon on Saturday and you haven't put on sneakers in ten or twelve years. Consequently, going cold turkey on many items made us cranky and uncomfortable (the headached that I had--- oy!). We knew that it would begin on Saturday and, rather than prepare our bodies for what was about to happen, we behaved like third graders-- we went out the night before and enjoyed ribs and pizza and a couple of margaritas. We were lucky to still have our livers come Saturday morning.

2. We chose Easter weekend to begin. Yeah, that's genius at work. Pick the weekend that the kids have more chocolate than you can imagine, and the mother-in-law is coming by to bake a ham. What do you say, "Sorry, Eileen. I'm grilling myself four ounces of chicken. But, hey, you enjoy the ham?" And then watch her tear up? No thank you. Not a happy holiday.

So what do we do now?

We are spending this week easing into it. We are slowly removing wheat and sugar and dairy from our diets so that by the time we are ready to go full throttle, our systems will be far more appreciative. Same is true of exercise. If you want to get the ball rolling, you start simple, with a few nice walks. I know someone who hadn't exercised in years and wanted to get started. She hired a personal trainer who immediately fired her out of a cannon. She couldn't walk for a few days and it killed her desire to exercise. The trainer is good idea, the trainer has to ease you into it, or, more cost effective, take a few weeks to ease yourself into it with mild exercise before you seek the experts opinion.

Tue Apr 10 2007 21:35:30

Set the bar high

If you have any interest in getting involved in endurance sports (marathons, half marathons, triathlons, centuries, etc.), check out www.teamintraining.org from the Leukemia and Lymphoma society. They will help you prepare for these events with the help of trained coaches. You return the favor by competing in your event for monies raised for the charity. Everybody wins!! Jason Rice and Wanda Napolitano came on the show today to discuss the world's largest endurance sports training program which has raised over $700 million in the last 20 years for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Come on....if you were thinking about doing anyway, now you have no excuse....

Tue Apr 10 2007 12:02:03

The Fat Flush Plan

So Fitness Fans, we have our first call to action. After interviewing Dr. Ann Louise Gittleman on today's show, we have decided to take the plunge in detoxing with a two week fat flush starting this Saturday. Check out the good Doctor's web site, www.annlouise.com, and consider it for yourself. Who's in?

Mon Apr 02 2007 08:47:16

First Week of Live Shows

First week of live broadcasts on Sirius Satellite Radio Lime 114 was a great success. All our thanks to Meaghan Buchan of Self Magazine; Kevin Kennedy, ever the voice of reason; Dr. Marie Savard for her wealth of information and honesty about HPV and its vaccine; Michael O'Shea from Parade Magazine; Leanne Ely, author of Body Clutter; and Lizzy Trindade, founder of Strollercize and all around goddess of empowerment. We have great guests coming up this week. Check us out daily at 5 pm Eastern.

Sun Mar 18 2007 00:40:09

V-Day

Here it is! The Big Day! Today is the day that is hated by fitness professionals and adored by gym owners. Valentine’s day is that last wrecking ball in the world of New Year’s Resolution. Those people who have struggled for six weeks and are still holding onto their resolutions, even just in theory, find their resolve tested under the weight of chocolates. Wow! Look at those chocolates! Read those fantastic descriptions of the sweet nougat and velvety milk chocolate! Hey! Drop the resolution! New Year’s is only 320 days away! You can try again next year!

Gym owners love this day because so many of you bought memberships to their gyms, usually at reduced prices, so that you could go eight times a week like you promised yourself on December 31st. And they know that if all of you showed up regularly, they would not have anywhere near enough room to handle the business. When that box of chocolate shows up on SVD, you can almost hear the collective sigh of relief from the gym owners, because they know you won’t be back for a while, and, in the meantime, they can just keep billing your credit card monthly. Ka-ching!

So what do you do? Ignore Valentine’s Day? No, there is no need to be irrational. Chocolate is chocolate and it should be enjoyed. No, here’s what you do: enjoy the day. Eat the chocolate, have a nice relaxing dinner, drink some champagne with someone special. And tomorrow morning, get up and get back to it. A New Year’s Resolution is a lifestyle choice, not a day-to-day choice. You are deciding to be healthier. And part of being healthier is cutting yourself some slack every so often. So enjoy the day and tomorrow morning, drive the gym owners crazy by showing up and working out.

Wed Feb 14 2007 02:00:48

To Train or Maybe Not

Most people would rather go to the dentist than go to the gym and do their cardio work. One problem is that the dentist is once every six months and cardio exercise should be two to four times per week. At the dentist’s office you have a villain: you can curse and hate the dentist to your heart’s content. Dentists charge the rates they do because they have to deal with that sort of loathing on a daily basis. And more power to them and the service that they perform. Unfortunately, when it comes time to get on the treadmill there is only one person to blame: YOU. So when you are starting your new exercise regime, and you are working the rust off of your moving parts, the main source of motivation to come back and try again has to be you.

And that is what drives many people to personal trainers: the hope that the trainer will be able to make the catharsis far less painful that it might be otherwise. Or, if not, at least provide a target for the anger and resentment. “My trainer is such an evil prick! I love him!” It is comparable to the Stockholm Syndrome, where kidnapped individuals start to form a loyalty toward their abductors, despite the dangers. The inherent problem with this relationship, without delving into the psychological ramifications, is that the individual trusts that the trainer actually knows what they are doing and that their new relationship will lead to whatever results the individual (heretofore known as The Client) is looking seeking.

Most trainers go into the field of personal training with a desire to help others. Very few go into the field seeing it as an opportunity to wreak havoc on human bodies. There are many other professions that are better suited for sociopaths on the hunt for willing victims. That said, personal training is a horribly unregulated field. As of this writing, there is no national accreditation process. There are numerous organizations that will certify trainers-to-be, but there is no umbrella organization, like the American Medical Association, or the American Bar Association, that creates a benchmark for trainers’ educations. So it boils down to this: you can hand your taxes to an individual who you know has passed a national standard of excellence in his or her field, but you have to trust your heart to someone who may have learned their craft over the course of a weekend on the internet.

So what are you going to do? Start with asking questions. You walk into the gym with goals, so ask a potential trainer how they would address those goals. If you sense that you are a receiving a knee-jerk response, or some rote answer to the question, then it is time to find another trainer. If the response takes into account your situation, your goals and any personal obstacles, then you know that this person has passed Round One. Round Two is to ask for referrals. Any trainer worth their salt should be willing to refer you to clients who can sing his or her praises. When you speak to these other clients, notice little comments that they might make like “I have lost 5 lb but I can never seem to walk the next day.” Not a good referral. Round Three is to research the trainer’s certifications. Go online and find out what the criteria is for the certification that they hold. If the certification is an educational process with lots of oversight, training and testing, then that’s fantastic. If it a 2-hour experience that is conducted over the Internet, move on!

Great trainers are worth the investment. They are knowledgeable, communicative and ready, willing and able to build a program around your needs. And they will make the process of achieving your goals significantly less painful than root canal.

Sat Jan 20 2007 00:41:00

NEW YEAR POST

January is named after the Roman god, Janus. Janus had two faces (don’t we all know someone like that): one that looked forward and one that looked back. So some believe that the resolution tradition emerged from a desire to look back into the previous year, note the problems, and then look forward into the coming year and figure out how to solve them.

Lose weight; get in shape; find a better job; watch less TV; be nicer to the cat; see all the movies that are nominated for Oscars; take more vacations; don’t spend ever last cent on shoes again this year. There are many resolutions that will be or already have been made for ’07. More power to ya for making them. Now try to keep them.

The problem with resolutions is that most people have spent December in a state of disrepair, promising themselves that as soon as January 1st rolls around, they are going to get it together and become fit and thin and happy. That is a great deal of pressure. Consequently, most people fire themselves out of a fitness cannon at the beginning of the year and then, by Valentine’s Day and the arrival of the chocolates, they are more than happy to put the resolution away until next January.

Here are some quick points to help you avoid the pitfalls:

• Start slowly: if you haven’t exercised in a while, start with brisk walks for twenty to thirty minutes. If you start with too much exercise, your body will start to break down. You will feel tired and sore and will not want to continue down this path.

• Do something that really interests you: rock climbing, trapeze work, bicycling. Don’t feel that you have to join a gym to go work on a treadmill for half an hour. You will become bored very quickly. I know someone who bought himself Dance Dance Revolution and used that every evening after work. He had a great time and, yes, that qualifies as exercise.

• Commit yourself to attainable goals. “I am going to lose 30 pounds in the next two weeks” seems like a good resolution, but it not quite attainable. You can plan on losing two pounds a week, staying healthy and keeping the weight off. But remember: that comes from a combination of exercise and diet.

The most important thing to remember is that bad days happen. Sometimes they happen two in a row. That doesn’t mean that you have failed. It is a simple set back. Get up, dust yourself off, and get back on the horse.

Sat Jan 20 2007 00:34:49

Whole Body Vibration Therapy

I found this ad in the New York Times (so it must be true) for a new machine created by our friends at Soloflex. It looks like an aerobic step, though the base is not as wide as a step. The machine sends "soothing mechanical vibrations" through the user's body 28 to 60 per minute. The good folks at Soloflex claim that all you need to do is stand on this platform for 10 minutes a day and the machine's vibrations will "trigger physical improvements much like you get from training with weights."

Huh? I can just stand on this vibrating machine and it will all be done for me? For some reason, every time I imagine myself on this machine, I picture one of those machines from the 1920's with the giant strap that goes around the abdomen and then shakes you, jiggling all that fat off. They state, in the small print, that various studies have found that these vibrations increase circulation and improve balance and strength and flexibility. My problem is the big print saying that it offers the same benefits as lifting weights.

Remember that machine a few years ago: you would strap it to your abdomen and it would send electric pulses into your ab muscles, causing contractions. And those good folks said that all you needed to do was wear their little machine around the house for a few minutes every day and the work would be done for you.

Sun Dec 17 2006 11:09:47