FINALLY! First mainstream newspaper to challenge the unsafe techniques of Soul Cycle

Click here for article written in the LA Times: http://www.latimes.com/health/la-he-fitness-soulcycle-20111128,0,3219505,full.story

Healthy Recipes for Holidays

You already know what happens during the holidays. Instead of preparing the same dish you've prepared year after year...try something new this year. Here are some healthy alternatives. Good luck!

http://health-full.blogspot.com/2008/10/recipe-of-week-halloween-banana-pumpkin.html

Why Seniors Should Exercise

One of the best anti-aging activities you can do for your body is exercise. For years, it has been widely accepted that we start getting slower, weaker, and more fragile with age. But more recently, this has been proven otherwise by studies on the cellular process of aging and the impressive performances of older athletes.

As a matter of fact, most research is now showing that when it comes to your fitness, if you use it, you lose it far less quickly. And you’ll also age more slowly and have a higher quality of life in your older years!

The Effect of Aging on Exercise Capacity
But it can certainly get a bit more difficult to jump, sprint, and move just as powerfully as you may have been able to do in your younger years. There are a few reasons why:

1. Your metabolism decreases with age, by about 10% from your 30’s to your 60’s, and a further 10% from your 60’s forward. This means you main gain fat more easily.
2. Your maximum oxygen consumption decreases by significantly each decade from 25 to 65 years of age, and then decelerates even more quickly – which means intense cardiovascular efforts can be very difficult.
3. You grow less responsive to energy stimulating hormones called catecholamines (like epinephrine), and as a result, you maximum heart rate decreases, which also can decrease the intensity of hard efforts.
4. The total amount of blood your heart pumps per beat and the ability of your muscles to extract oxygen from that blood decrease, which can affect your cardiovascular capacity.
5. Your muscle strength peaks around 25 years old, plateaus through 35 or 40 years old, and then begins to decline quickly, with 25% loss of peak strength by the time you’re 65. This is due to a loss in the number of muscle fibers.
6. Your tendon, ligament, and joint elasticity is decreased as “cross-linkages” form between soft tissue fibers in these areas. This can cause a loss of 2-4 inches of lower-back and hip flexibility.
7. Your bone density decreases as the calcium content of bones gets lower and the matrix inside the bone begins to deteriorate, which can lead to increased risk of osteoporosis or fractures, especially in women.

Good Exercises for Seniors
Most of the fitness loss just listed can be drastically decelerated by engaging in regular bouts of physical activity through adulthood and into your older years. Based on the list above, good exercises for seniors should include:

Muscle Strength
Weight lifting machines are perfect for introducing a senior to exercise, especially since there is significantly lower risk of falling or injury. Free weights and elastic bands can be included once comfortable with machines. A 68-year-old friend of mine recently became certified as a TRX instructor, and this is certainly more challenging, but completely do-able for senior exercisers.

Cardiovascular Endurance
Treadmills can easily be used by seniors, and can actually help with building both cardiovascular fitness and balance, since a rail is there to help. Elliptical trainers and bicycles are also good for cardiovascular endurance, and for beginners, a recumbent bicycle is a great option.

Metabolism
Rather than simply riding a bicycle at a set pace, seniors should attempt to include a few hard intervals that involve hard breathing and burning muscles. This will help to boost the slowing metabolism.

Bone Density
Bone grows stronger in response to loading and impact. While impact-sprinting on a treadmill may be difficult for seniors, loading of the bones and spinning along the long vertical axis is a very good idea, and can be achieved with exercises such as squats, overhead presses, chest presses, or lunges.

Flexibility
While many yoga classes require a degree of balance that can be difficult for seniors, a beginner yoga class is the perfect solution for improving flexibility. In addition, a full body stretch routine can be included after exercise, when the muscles and joints are more warm and pliable

A Workout Program for Seniors
For an aging individual who is just getting into exercise I’d recommend starting with the following routine, 3-4 times per week:

Warm-up for 10 minutes on a recumbent bicycle, alternating 2 minutes of easy pedaling with 2 minutes of hard pedaling.

Perform a full-body stretch, including flexibility moves for the upper and lower body such as arm circles, leg circles, toe touches, reaching for the sky, and torso twists.

Do a full body circuit on exercise machines that consists of 2-3 sets of 10-12 repetitions of chest press, seated row, shoulder press, pulldown, leg press and leg extension and leg curl.

Finish with abdominal bracing on the ground, which simply involves lying on the ground with the knees bent and feet flat on the floor, then pressing the low back down and tightening the abs, holding for 5-10 seconds, releasing, and then repeating for 10-12 repetitions. This does not involve low back bending and extending, and can build abdominal strength while being easier on the spine.

Remember, it’s never too late to start exercising So what are you waiting for? Go get fit!

Healthy Holiday Cooking

I love to eat, but I sure don't want super high calorie foods on my holiday table. One heavy meal won't hurt a person, but generally it is the left overs that hang around for days after calling at you to finish them off.

Stuffing is usually made with broth and butter. Nix the butter and use non-fat, low sodium broth. You won't even notice the butter missing. Add bits of Fuji apple, almonds or walnuts for healthy fat and some dried cranberries to the mix.

Yams and sweet potatoes just need to be baked or boiled and instead of coating them with butter and brown sugar, just dust them with cinnamon and butter buds.

Mashed potatoes can be made with non-fat milk and butter buds, or whipped butter since a serving is lower in fat due to the whipping process. Steam the veggies and add Olive oil or Flax oil just before serving with some nice sea salt, instead of cooking with bacon.

When making deserts, replace oil with the same amount of apple sauce and use canned non-fat milk when it calls for milk or cream. White sugar and corn syrup can be replaced with any number of sweetners made from fruit or brown rice. A pie crust can be made with 2/3 C soy milk replacing the butter and most of the oil, though you still need at least a couple TBL's for a pie crust. There are plenty of low-fat ice creams and non-fat or low-fat versions of whipped cream as toppings for deserts.

I hope this helps give you some ideas of how easy it is to replace some of the heavy ingredients that make holiday foods so calorie dense. This way even the leftovers won't weigh you down for days on end.

Update on my previous post: 7 deadly...

If you are new to this blog, make sure to read the Seven Deadly Sins of Spinning post.


So, let’s break this one down from the very beginning of the video. Forgive me if you’ve heard any of this from me before, but I do want to address the specifics of this particular video. And there are some “new” ones to address in this video.

I’m developing a new 1-10 scale, rating the following for each of the movements or techniques: effectiveness (how well it does what that movement purports to achieve); functional benefit (as in is it functionally helpful for anything you may do in any activity, on or off the bike); danger (injury proneness); silliness (lol). The first two you want to be as high as possible (9-10 would be highly effective, highly functional), and the second two you want to be as low as possible (like zero would be preferable).

1. Crunches with back extensions from the saddle. First the backbend part: I need to go to a chiropractor just from watching this. The danger she is presenting to her students is beyond belief. Taking such a high risk as this places this into the major liability category. I’m baffled – do club owners not care that their liability is being challenged? It’s their pocketbooks. I mean, instructors don’t make any money, so who would be the one the rider with the slipped disc goes after? Personal trainers (good ones) would never EVER consider having their clients lean back like this when the body is not stabilized (and most wouldn’t do it even if they are stabilized, because it serves no purpose and the risk is too high). But why is it acceptable on a Spin bike? This is where the fitness industry is whacked – there is no standardization, no accountability, no professional requirements for group fitness instructors. No reputable indoor cycling certification program, NONE OF THEM, would either teach or condone any of these moves.

Scale: see #2 since it’s combined with that movement.

2. The oblique crunch. Where in any exercise physiology book, or personal training certification, would they teach you to do a crunch of any kind while sitting upright? They wouldn’t. Why? Because that is not the way the abdominal muscles get strong. They must contract AGAINST a resistance, and usually, the resistance is moving away from gravity – as in doing a crunch while laying on the floor opposing gravity. Personal trainers know this, I guess some cycling instructors do not.

Effectiveness: zero. Functional benefit: zero. Danger: 10 (due to added back bend – the actual “crunch” is more ineffective and silly than dangerous, although many students end up pulling their neck down). Silliness: off the scale.

3. High cadence standing movement (at :20). Leg speed is way too fast with insufficient resistance. People are bobbing all over the place. I could prove it to them if I could put power meters on the bikes. Slower cadence with higher resistance would actually mean MORE power output which means MORE calories burned, while at the same time actually doing something to strengthen the legs. There are no strength benefits to spinning the legs as fast as in this video, because it’s the flywheel turning the pedals, not the legs. Also, by not having resistance, rider’s hips and spine are unsupported at such a high cadence, potentially injuring the low back. There’s a whole lot of spinal jiggling going on by people without the body strength or skill to be jiggled like that.

Effectiveness: 4/10. Functional benefit 1/10. Danger:7/10 Silliness: 5/10.

4. Hip thrusts while pedaling like a hamster on crack (at :24): Add this to the unsupported uncontrolled cadence, and you’ve got a recipe for disaster. One wrong move, one moment of distraction by a rider and they ain’t coming back. Ever.

Effectiveness: zero. Functional Benefit: zero. Danger: 9/10. Silliness 10/10.


5. Boxing (at :29). Um, no.
Just so you know, standing up and trying to balance while you are pedaling does not teach you balance, and it does not work the core. Have you ever heard of functional training?

Effectiveness: 1/10. Functional Benefit: zero. Danger: 6/10 (not from the “boxing” but from losing balance or slipping off the bike). Silliness: 10/10.

6. Pushups. One word: why? Do a pushup at your desk while sitting upright and you’ll have the answer to that question. They.Do.Not.Do.Anything. Except of course, get in the way of proper pedaling, proper mechanics, and effective breathing. The back is at risk, especially when done that fast, but you’re more likely to smack your teeth into the handlebars. It’s actually more silly than dangerous.

Effectiveness: 0/10. Functional benefit: 0/10. Danger: 5/10. Silliness: 9/10.


7. Hand behind the back (at :32). Again, I have to ask why? It doesn’t teach balance, it doesn’t work the core, and it detracts from proper anything on the bike.

Effectiveness: 0/10. Functional benefit: 0/10. Danger 2/10. Silliness: 9/10

8. Arms swings to a standing position (at :36). Imagine doing that on a real bike? OK, these people haven’t ridden a bike since their tricycles. So imagine throwing your hands a little too hard, and losing control of where your hips go (easy to do when the legs are whirring around like a weedwacker at 120X a minute). The feet can so easily come out of the pedals (so few students wear shoes that clip in and most do not tighten the toe clips).
And please tell me how is this going to improve your fitness? Anyone? Buehler?

Effectiveness: 1/10. Functional benefit: 1/10. Danger 8/10. Silliness: 10/10.


9. Humping movement at :40. Huh? I had to go back and watch that several times because I was so incredulous. I wish I could hear what she is cueing because I can only imagine her say “hump the bike”! See her spine? With an unsupported movement like this while the legs are spinning that fast, the spine curling fore and aft like a cat, she should be charged with attempted bodily harm of her students.

Scale – everything off the charts.

I find a class like this to be such a travesty, because she is a very cute and obviously charismatic instructor. And I bet her students love her. Can you imagine what she (and her students) could achieve if she trained them properly? She’d be off the charts (in a good way).
 

EDIT Oct 31: This woman, doing all these dangerous contraindicated moves, apparently has a kinesiology degree from Cal State Northridge! Now that’s a stunning endorsement of their kinesiology department…. that or she has completely eschewed all the knowledge she learned of how the body works and moves. Or, she barely passed her exams.

Every time I post anything regarding CI moves I get some comments from people defending those moves (and of course telling me I'm crazy or jealous or elitist) - but those are GOOD. I want more of those, it means I am hitting a nerve. The only way to make a change in the industry is to strike a nerve.

That is my commitment and mark my words, it's getting stronger and bolder. The tsunami is just beginning. Get it or be left behind.

There are 7 Deadly Sins of Spinning in classes.

1.  Thou Shalt Not Hover-it doth not work thy glutes, it doth not mimic mountain biking but you shall be cursed with an aching back!

2.  Thou Shalt Not Performeth Isolations!-this move offends thy knees and helps not in strengthening. The burn you feeleth is from the Devil himself and makes you no faster, no stronger, no cooler and no wiser!

3.  Thou Shalt Not Spin Like a Hamster who Smoketh Crack!-super high cadence with little or no resistance will surely causeth thy Lady Parts (or thy Boy Bits) to feel as if they are being scourged by demons! Lo, though some sinners think they lookth cool with feet that fly, they surely will burn from the fires below (if thou knowest what I mean).

4.  Thou Shalt Not Overload thy Resistance and Grind Slowly!-do not burden my peoples with an overload of Resistance that would surely cause them to have to strain and clutcheth the handlebars. They will surely suffer from multitudes of joint problems.

5.  Thou Shalt Not Performeth Push Ups on thy Handle Bars!-this doth not work thy Pects and doth surely decrease the number of teeth in thy head if thou slippest.

6.  Thou Shalt Not Dip Thy Shoulders Down- cornering or contrived upper body movement doth nothing to improveth thy upper body and doth taketh away from the true aerobic training of Spinning.

7.  Thou Shalt Not Sucketh in Thy Core-thy core shall remain supple and thy people shall be commanded to do deep diaphramatic breathing. Thou shalt work thy core in Pilates Classes.


There are more sins that are Venal in nature like aero position, stomping on the pedals, bouncing, and chatting in class but the big sins will send you straight to hell. The very best resource is Jennifer Sage's Ebook "Keeping It Real" It has the very best specific information on the whats and whys of all the contraindicated moves you come across. The best rule of thumb that I still carry with me is "if you wouldn't do it on the road, don't do it in class"

- Eric

Feeding Overweight Kids

If your child is overweight, what can you do? Diets are not recommended for growing kids and teens. Instead of weight loss, emphasize positive eating and physical activity changes. 

Try these suggestions:

• Eat dinner together as a family so you can monitor what your kids are eating daily.
• Sit down at the table, where you can teach kids how to eat more slowly, pay attention to their hunger and avoid the mindless eating that may occur when watching television.
• Involve kids in planning menus, shopping for food and preparing meals.
• Make high-fiber fruits and vegetables a part of every meal.
• Focus on offering lower-calorie, nutrient-rich meals and snacks without severely restricting food intake.
• Buy healthier foods and keep them easily accessible in the fridge and cupboards and on the counter. Keep sweets, chips and soda out of sight or out of the house.
• Limit sweetened beverages, including soda and fruit drinks, to an occasional treat.
• Reduce television watching and computer/video time to less than 2 hours a day.
• Promote physical activity as a family by taking walks, playing outdoor games and riding bikes together.

Quick & healthy after-school snacks

Nutritious snacking is an important part of every kid’s diet. Here are some winning combos to try:

• peanut butter and jelly sandwich topped with sliced bananas or apples
• carrot and cucumber sticks drizzled with low-fat dressing
• apple slices dipped in peanut butter
• grapes and pear slices with cheese cubes
• fruit skewers dipped in yogurt
• whole-grain crackers with low-fat cheese slices
• pita bread with hummus
• air-popped popcorn
• yogurt with granola and banana slices
• homemade trail mix (raisins, peanuts, whole-grain cereal)
• bean burrito

Need Motivation?

Getting results is the best motivation for going to the gym. You’ll like what you see happening. Results will inspire you to go back for more. To get results, you must get serious about your workouts.

For women, getting serious usually means heavier weights. Many women fear heavier weights will transform them overnight into female bodybuilder versions of Lou Ferrigno. Nonsense! Female bodybuilders must dedicate and sacrifice years of their lives before achieving that muscle-bound look. The more casual female gym member will NOT transform overnight into the Incredible Hulk.

For women, heavier weights will produce that “toned” look most crave.

Heavier weights mean poundages where strict form is impossible after 10 to 12 repetitions. For most women, heavier weights means curling 20 pound dumbbells instead of 10 pound dumbbells— and not stopping at the first pangs of discomfort during the set either, but working through the pangs until maintaining strict form becomes impossible. Ditto with other exercises. Women must lift heavier and work harder in the gym.

Men have the opposite problem. For many men, getting results usually means going lighter with the weights. Men have a propensity to train their ego, as opposed to their body. They grunt through 2-3 reps in bad form with weights far too heavy. After a period of time, men become demoralized when they don’t see results. Or they get injured.

Men need to drop the weight and concentrate on proper form. Poundages must allow strict repetitions. Also, men need to work the legs. Come on guys! The muscles in the legs aren’t as flashy as the ones in the arms and chest, but they need to be worked all the same. Otherwise you’ll end up looking like a light bulb.

Finally, set goals. Best is stepping on the scale.

Set small, achievable goals on the scale— like gaining or losing 5 pounds. You will have a quantifiable number to target with a reasonable opportunity to succeed


Getting results will have you going back to the gym. You can do it.

Peace!
E

How Can You Start Exercising

Whether you’ve let yourself slide out of shape, or you’ve never worked on getting fit, it can be frustrating to get through the uncomfortable process of starting an exercise program. But look on the bright side –- when you’re first getting started, it’s very difficult to plateau, and nearly everything you do will get results!

Here are 2 tips to help you get started:

1) Get Professional Help While you don’t need to hire a full time fitness coach, just a single session with a personal trainer can help you design a roadmap and make sure you’re not wasting your time with guesswork!

2) Make A Plan Don’t blindly jump into a week of workouts. Instead, at the beginning of the week, write out which days you lift weights, which days you do cardio, which days you try a new class, and which days you rest and recover.

By enlisting professional help and writing down your weekly plan, you’ll get motivated to start (and maintain) an exercise regimen –- without hurting yourself or wasting time

Coach Cassie's Blog

Cassie is a personal trainer and fitness instructor at Xcelerate Fitness, Dinuba. Check out her blog and feel free to add to your favorites for future reference.

Coach Cassie