Exercise

     You can find recommendations on exercise from 20 minutes 3 times a week to an hour a day 6 times a week ... So I'm guessing the truth lies hidden somewhere in between! I'm somewhat of an exercise enthusiast, so I'm at the far end of the spectrum. I like to do an hour of cardio 6 days a week, with 2-3 yoga classes, and lifting weights 3 times a week.  Weight lifting pays countless dividends and should be incorporated into your workout regime ... And don't forget to stretch ( no one likes it, but we all need it more than anything else).  I feel strongly about cross training and not doing the same workout 2 days in a row.  I love long walks with friends, as well as long runs with my headphones! I've been known to Hula Hoop,Stand Up Paddle Board, Snowshoe, Zipline (upside down), Bowl, Segway, Mountain Climb (14 ers), Kayake, White Water Raft, climb Stadium Bleachers, Trail Runs, Box, climbing old Rail Road ties at a 45 degree angle, Sail, Ping Pong and Bike!  There is something for everyone, so find what you love and just get a "move on"!!!  For more help and encouragement feel free to contact me for Online Support at foodfitnessbypaige@gmail.com~In good health, paige ☺️

"Get your Bleacher ON"

 You would have to live under a rock to not know that the Shockers have had an undefeated BasketBall Season with only 2 games left to play, and ranked #2 in the nation as of 2/25/14 !!!  EEEEKKKK   But, there is a lot more that can be done in Koch Arena that just Basketball !!!  Bleacher workouts are a FANTASTIC way to tone your glutes and the back of your legs, it takes a tremendous amount of muscle work to climb those stairs over and over.  Koch Arena is open Monday thru Friday 8-5, for those in the Wichita area during the Winter time.  Once it warms up then Cessna Stadium will be the place to be to get your "Bleacher ON" !!!  When you start any exercise program make sure to get a physical from your Doctor, then strap on your "Tennies" and lets get after it !!!  Each outdoor Bleacher Season, I start with only doing 3-5 sets and each week I add one or two more times up the seats of the bleachers. During the Winter, it is a good time to stay in shape by walking up the stairs of Koch Arena.  Your sore muscles will thank you come Spring  ;)  PS  Because of the difficulty of this particular work out, I only do bleachers once a week to save my knees and legs!  When doing indoor bleacher, I usually work up to an hour each session.  If you don't live in Wichita, then look for a stadium in your city and adapt your work out to the height of your stadium.  If the stadium is short then I do sprints on the way up.  In Koch Arena, I do Sprints on the bottom half and take the stairs by Two's on the top half.

Update~ as of 2/25/15 the Shockers are making history at 30 and 0 !!!  Even more reason to hit the Bleachers !!!  ;)

 Interval Training on the Step Mill

     During the Winter months its more of a challenge to keep my cardio interesting since I'm confined to the indoors ( yes, I'm an outdoor fair weather exerciser).  And since I like to cross train, its fun to look for new ideas to mix it up !!!  So, I turned to my friend and trainer, Kelli Warren at Genesis Health Clubs on Rock Road for some inspiration. Kelli suggested I try using the Step Mill for a session of High Intensity Interval Training ( HIIT) to add to my weekly regime. Kelli says " Doing HIIT just one or two times per week is plenty to boost your cardiovascular fitness". I wasn't that familiar with the Step Mill so I was game for a new adventure.  When I asked her what to do, she told me to do a warm up followed by 30 seconds at High Intensity followed by a minute and a half of recovery, and repeat 10 times, cool down and finish up for the day.  At first I was offended by such a meager challenge,... I mean, didn't she know me at all !!!??? ... did she forget I was the CARDIO QUEEN !!!???...  didn't she remember I have done 3 Half Marathons, climbed a 14,000 ft mountain twice, and done hour long Bleacher work outs til I'm blue in the face !!!???  I internally scoffed at her suggestion, but smiled politely as I walked away from her and sauntered over to the Step Mill area in a disgusted fashion.  I remember picking up a towel to start my workout from sheer habit, and thinking I wont even need this towel because I wont be sweating.  I'm only going to be doing 30 SECONDS 10 times and that wont add up to ANYTHING, especially when I'm used to doing at least an hour a day of cardio 6 times a week!!!  So my bad attitude climbed up on the steps and started my easy warm up at level 5 for the next 5 minutes.  Then as directed I cranked her up to level 16 for the next 30 seconds, and realized that was a little harder than I expected but totally doable ( especially for me)... I recovered at level 5 again for the next minute and a half then started my next 30 second burst, ... and then I started to sweat, I mean REALLY sweat, as in pouring off me and onto the ground sweat.... I was happy for my minute and half recovery because I noticed my legs were starting to feel a little funny... then the third interval started with my burst of 30 seconds and that's when my world got ROCKED !!!  ...I was in full vomit mode and it was comin' fast !!!! ... I didn't even think I could make my last 10 seconds!!! I had to get off that @#$%&* machine and prayed that my Bambi on Ice legs would not fail me in front of the other ladies going full force while their pony tails kept the beat !!! Slumping over the water fountain, I hoped no one else needed a drink anytime soon, because I was depending on this cool to the touch apparatus to hold my body weight til I felt I could stand on my own. My uppity attitude was long gone ... I had just been whooped by the Stair Mill, and I vowed to never disrespect the Mill again but honor it and come back next week with a better plan.  So, new improved attitude and new improved plan for week two~ I developed a strategy to add one set of intervals each week TIL I could work up to 10 sets and not make a fool out of my self, and it worked like a charm !!!  Big lessons my friends, big lessons !!!  HIIT is a wonderful addition to any weekly routine, and SHOULD be incorporated, but only once or twice a week. Your muscles definitely need time to recover and 3 days is really recommended before doing another HIIT session.

8 Benefits to HIIT:
1)  Efficient!  IF you are short on time, this is the way to get your work out in fast with all the benefits. According to a 2011 study presented at the American College of Sports Medicine Annual Meeting, just 2 weeks of HIIT improves your aerobic capacity as much as 6-8 weeks of endurance training.
2)  Burn more fat!  Not only do you burn more calories during a HIIT workout, but the effect of all that intense exertion kicks your body's repair cycle into hyperdrive.  That means you burn more fat and calories in the 24 hours after a HIIT workout than you do after a steady pace run.
3)  Healthier Heart!  Most people aren't used to pushing themselves into the anaerobic zone, but studies have shown that after 8 weeks of HIIT workouts, subject could bicycle twice as long as they could before the study, while maintaining the same pace.
4)  No Equipment Necessary!  All you need is high knees and fast feet and any activity will work for HIIT.
5)  Lose weight, not muscle!  We all know its hard not to lose muscle when losing fat.  Studies show that weight training and HIIT workouts allow dieters to preserve their hard earned muscles while ensuring most of the weight lost comes from fat stores. WINNING
6)  Increased Metabolism!  In addition to increased fat burning and more muscle preserved, HIIT stimulates production of your human growth hormone ( HGH) by up to 450% during the 24 hours after you finish your workout.  This is great news since HGH is not only responsible for increased caloric burn but also slows down the aging process, making you younger both inside and out!
7)  Do it Anywhere!  Since its such a simple concept- go at maximum effort for a short period of time followed by a recovery period and repeat-you can adapt it to whatever time and space constraints you have.
8)  Challenging!  This is not a workout you can do while reading a magazine or chatting with your friend!!!  Because its so short, you will be working hard the whole time.  The trade off is this format offers seasoned exercisers a new challenge and new exercisers a quick way to see results.  You may be in pain, you may be sucking wind, but you definitely wont be bored !!!

   Hope this inspires you to give Interval Training a try !!!  In good health~paige  :)


From Couch to running a Mile, then a 5K!!! :0

With Spring quickly approaching, there is no better time to get outside and enjoy all the benefits of the great out doors !!! When the weather is nice, it literally calls my name and I bet it does yours as well !!! I started running about age 22 and ran solidly 6 days a week til age 40. We were on a 10 day trip in Italy, and every morning I would get up and run 5 miles before we went touring for the day. The problem started on the Cobblestone streets I was pounding each morning thru the Villages and then spending the next 12 hours on my legs eating Gelato! By the time our plane landed back in America I could barely hobble down the runway, my knees were "SHOT" !!! It didn't help I had my 40th birthday that year and had heard all the horror stories of how everything spirals rapidly downward after this milestone!!! All the Glucosamine Chondrotin in the universe was not able to allow a stroll down the stairs with out a whence spreading across my mug! Sadly, I had to leave running in my dust for a few years mourning the loss of what I thought was forever!!! .... UNTIL, I had a friend and personal trainer, Kim Bessac, encourage me to try again with a plan she knew would work! I hesitantly took her advice and knew I had nothing to loose, .. well, maybe my pride, ... but that was a risk I was willing to take! So here's how I got my first mile back at age 45~ ( first of all it must be understood that you need to seek a doctors approval before starting any exercise program and invest in a decent pair of running shoes)~ start out with a good 5-10 walking warm up ( I actually walk a mile for a warm up to this day out of paranoia), from this point you simply run a minute and walk a minute til you have covered a mile. And when I say run, I'm not encouraging a full dead heat sprint, a mild jog will suffice followed by a very brisk paced walk. Now, I only want you running THREE times a week !!! This is where I differ a little than most runners dolling out advice. After having knee stopping injuries, I think 3 times a week of running is plenty! Even when I'm training for my Half Marathons, I only run 3 times a week. While I would love to run everyday, I know its not the best for my body and cross training on the other days is the only way to go and stay healthy and injury free. I'm also a strong proponent of stretching and weight lifting to keep injury at bay. Cross training could be an elliptical training session, bike, swimming, tennis, stair mill, bleachers, or just walking ( preferably at an incline). Your cross training days should be anywhere from 20-45 minutes depending on where you are in your fitness level. After week one, I suggest you up your running to a minute and a half and cut your walk back to 30 seconds if you can. If that's too much, then try to do that at least once or twice, but try to work up to that by your third session of the week. Week three, run two minutes, walk 30 seconds til you complete your mile. Week Four, run three minutes walk a minute. Week Five, run four minutes, walk thirty seconds. Week Six, run five minutes, walk a minute. Week Seven, run six minutes, walk thirty seconds. Week Eight, run a light jog for 10 minutes, have your headphones on to the latest Hip Hop Station and get lost in the beat while you get your groove on !!! MUSIC HELPS TREMENDOUSLY At this point you should be pretty close to your mile if you haven't gotten there yet. If you aren't there, then run 11 minutes the next week, and 12 the following week and you should be to your mile by then !!! This is not the fastest way to train for a mile, but slow and steady wins the race in my book! This mild training program will get you where you need to be injury free. After you feel the pride of running a mile, you will have the fever to go on to bigger and better things !!! Make running a 5K your next goal, and join the crowd at the next fund raiser and see how much joy running can bring to your life!!! If you are ready to start training for a 5K, then add a minute or two each week to you distance. Never work on speed and distance in the same session, you will likely pull something you don't want pulled, ... and I don't mean your ponytail !!! :0 Running is a great way to lose weight, improve cardiovascular health, and gain muscular endurance. Though a 5K may seem impossible now, once you begin running, your body will quickly adapt and progress. Virtually no one starts running as a distance runner, it takes years of dedication and discipline. But, with some fortitude and a good foundation, you can safely lose weight and gain more confidence as a distance runner. Everyone has to start at the beginning, and simply learning to run one mile will give you the fundamentals you will need to move on to greater distances. Don't worry about speed, that will come later, just enjoy the ride of movement and feeling your body swaying with the wind !!! Please feel free to contact me with any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you!!! And, I hope to see you at the next running event !!! Nothing is more fun than being in a group of runners, you can travel the country doing races and feeling the empowerment that comes from the crowds! Its a rush that can't be explained, you have to experience it for yourself and I hope you do just that !!! In good health, paige :)