345/365 Thrills of Running Down Hills

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

Running hills are a great way to train to run faster. The motion of running on an incline is an exaggeration of how we run on flat ground. By training up hills, you can work on your knee drive upwards and your leg extension as you propel yourself forward. If you find a nice stretch of hill (like 400m/0.25mi), sprint up and jog down four to six times for a quick and exhilarating work out. Form is crucial for running up and down the hills to avoid injury and increase performance.

As you may know, my cousin and I are training for the Rock and Roll Half Marathon in March. Our neighborhood offers a nice variety of terrain for us to run including those dreadful hills. Too many hills on our runs seems to have caused my cousin's knee to bother her. She went to the local running store to purchase a sleeve for her knee. The sales associate however advised her to wait on the sleeve and to just try to take it easy and not run so many hills. Since we cannot just make perfectly flat routes out of thin air, he coached her on how to approach declines.

When running down a hill, I usually just let my body fly while still maintaining a toe strike; I feel my knees a little more when I do that. Instead, he suggested to run with a gentle heel to mid strike and to lean forward. Your lean doesn't start at your waist but at your ankles to keep your posture the same as if you were running on flat ground. This requires you to bend your knees more on your landing and be more aware of your posture. I tried doing this and in fact, I did go down a lot faster with more control and no knee pain. Speaking of knees, be sure to ice after a tough run especially if you have previous injuries. Icing will decrease inflammation and speed recovery; 15-20min is ideal.

As always, stand tall, tuck your pelvis underneath you, drive your knees straight up (to avoid twisting of any kind), keep your shoulders and head back, and have a great run.


In health,

Lauren

342/365 Back in the Saddle Again (plus a plug for TRX)

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

Remember that one time when I totally stopped writing in my blog back in June? I almost forgot too! Well, our lives are cyclical and I do believe I got slightly burnt out from my (nearly) daily blogging routine. Alas I have returned! As with our healthy lifestyles, sometimes we have to take a break and get back in the saddle again. I'm going to finish out these last 33 posts and perhaps beyond at my leisure. This way I don't get burnt out and your Facebook feed won't blow up with my postings.

On to the plug for the TRX Suspension Trainer...

This is a great system that I've only gotten to play around with recently. It's a super simple training tool that, with creativity (and the help of youtube videos) allows you to work nearly every muscle group in less than 15 minutes. The TRX Suspension Trainer is a rope with handles, foot holds, and clasps to adjust the length of the rope. You can clip it around a sturdy bar and off you go!

Some fun stuff you can do are:
Assisted pull ups
Push ups
Bicep curls
Rows
Tricep extensions
Shoulder (posterior and frontal) raises
Pikes, planks, and mountain climbers

Do that three times around and you will be drenched in sweat. I can say that because I've done it and was spent by the end.

In health,

Lauren

PS: I hope you didn't miss me too much  :)

333/365 Spin Routines Part 2

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

As promised, here is one more spin routine for you (of course you're gong to warm up first, right?). You'll be in a seated position the whole time. The percentages represent your percentage of effort that you're putting out. If you have a heart rate monitor, you could also base the percentages off of your max heart rate. Practice safety: if your legs start to spin too fast and without control, increase your resistance.

Sprint Pyramid - 8min
0:00 - 0:40 - 60%
0:40 - 1:00 - 70%
1:00 - 1:45 - 60%
1:45 - 2:00 - 80%
2:00 - 2:50 - 60%
2:50 - 3:00 - 90%
3:00 - 3:50 - 60%
3:50 - 4:00 - 110% BREAK YOUR BIKE!
4:00 - 4:50 - 60%
4:50 - 5:00 - 90%
5:00 - 5:45 - 60%
5:45 - 6:00 - 80%
6:00 - 6:40 - 60%
6:40 - 7:00 - 75%
7:00 - 8:00 - 60%

This is a pretty killer dog workout so get ready! You make it as hard as you push yourself. Put on some great long techno song and you'll be good to go. Rock it!!

In health,

Lauren

332/365 Spin Routines Part 1

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

Spin has been my saving grace for exercise these days. It is kicking my tail but I feel great and man do I break a sweat. I genuinely love feeling like I'm going to die when I work out. Certainly I'm not exhausting myself to the point of no return but I like pushing myself to the point where my body is saying, "Hey...I didn't think we had that extra gear, way to go!"

Anyway, here is a sample routine that you can do on a spin bike at your gym. Of course, ask your gym attendants for help if you've never been on a spin bike before.

Ramp Work, 4:30 min:
0:00 - 1:00 - Spin sitting on the seat
1:00 - 1:25 - Climb!
1:25 - 1:30 - Climb and sprint
1:30 - 2:30 - Spin sitting on the seat
2:30 - 2:55 - Climb! Increase resistance
2:55 - 3:00 - Climb and sprint
3:00 - 4:00 - Spin sitting on the seat. Back off resistance
4:00 - 4:25 - Climb! Increase resistance
4:25 - 4:30 - Climb and Sprint

One more routine to come. I don't want to give too many away because you should totally try a spin class at your gym if you've never done one before. They are killer...if you want it to be. It's as tough as you make it, how hard are you going to push yourself?

In health,

Lauren

305/365 Cardio Bout: XC to Lunge Pulse

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

You know that I like inserting bouts of cardio moves during my strength training to boost my heart rate and burn a few more calories. Here's another one for you:

Part 1 - Cross Country in Place
- Start out with your right foot about a 1.5 feet in front of your left
- Keep your legs straight while hopping from right foot in front to left foot in front; pump the arms!
- It should look like the running man dance move with straight legs

Part 2 - Lunge Pulses
- Do 4 reps of part one on each side starting with your right foot in front
- With your right foot in front, perform 2 lunges by bending the left knee
- Repeat on the other side

Repeat Parts 1 and 2 one right after the other for a minute

In health,

Lauren

301/365 Turbo Fire: Kickboxing + Dancing = Cardio Fun

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

Poor Kelby has heard me talk about Turbo Fire for the last couple months. It's a DVD set by Beach Body that I've been wanting to try and considering to purchase. Finally I was actually able to try one of the DVDs thanks to a gym member. Today's 10K Training assignment was to do 60 min of cross training; hello Turbo Fire!

The gym member Erin advised me to take the Fire 30 class because it had the "New to Class" tutorial. Needless to say, I was a little lost when I did Fire 45 (I wanted to get closer to the target 60 min), a 45 min class you do later in the schedule when you already know Chalene's routine. Still, after a few repetitions of her combos I did get the hang of it and really had a fun time. The music is hot and makes you want to move. Chalene is super pumped, smiling, and able to motivate you throughout the whole thing. It is a fun mix of kickboxing and dancing. I didn't realize how much I was sweating, how red my face was getting, and how hard my heart was pumping until it was over.

After my 10K, I've decided to switch gears and get Turbo Fire for my next exercise regiment.

In health,

Lauren

300/365 300 Workout in Honor of 300th Post

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

Wow! This is the 300th post! Can you believe we've come this far? Just 65 more beloved posts. This is quite possibly as exciting as Oprah's last episode. I jest!

In honor of the 300th post, here is the work out that the guys from the movie 300 used to get ripped and ready:
Pullups - 25 reps

Deadlifts with 135 lbs - 50 reps
Pushups - 50 reps
24-inch box jumps - 50 reps
Floor wipers - 50 reps
Single-arm Clean-and-Press with 36 lbs Kettlebell - 50 reps
Pullups - 25 reps

The following video shows the order and a brief demonstration of the 300 work out.

Certainly this is a bit ambitious. Feel free to turn it down a notch. You could cut all the reps in half or modify the exercises to ones you are more comfortable with. The article in Men's Health Magazine that I got this from offer solutions. Have fun!

In health,

Lauren

287/365 Training for a Race to Stay Motivated

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

As I mentioned in a previous post, registering for a race is a great example of setting goals for yourself. My measurement day is tomorrow which has already made me slack off this weekend. The end was near and I was hungry. I knew that I needed to ask myself, "Where do you go from here?" Do I try to maintain this by keeping up my exercise regiment? Do I maintain by going back to what I did before? How am I going to keep myself from gaining it all back? The answer for me was registering for a race.

A 10K is coming up on June 15 in my area. This will be the third 10K I've ever run and I'm super excited. My April training revealed that I am a better, faster runner than I thought. I think my knees are ready to train more so that I can beat my time from last year, 56:04. To get me going, I have started a 10K for Intermediate Runners routine by Hal Higdon. Am I really an Intermediate runner? Maybe...maybe not. All I know is that I am a better athlete than I was before and that I have the time and passion to train for this 10K. Let's do this! Who's in?

In health,

Lauren

275/365 On the Elliptical: HIIT and Burning Fat

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

So part of my month long challenge for April includes increasing my cardio. I decided to run at least 3 mi on MWF and get on the elliptical for at least 30 min on TR. Since the elliptical is somehow boring to me compared to running, I decided to alternate between HIIT and high resistance, slow paced cardio. So here's the physiology behind both of those strategies.

HIIT (high-intensity interval training) - Choose 2 resistances, one that is intense and one for rest; I use Level 21 for my intense and 6 for my rest. You can choose to do 1:1 time ratios or 2:1 (you could do that intense:rest or rest:intense). The reason for HIIT's success is that according to ACSM you consume more oxygen (burn more calories) than slower, distance-training and therefore burn more calories throughout the day. This gets me sweating like mad. I have yet to wear my HR monitor when doing this but, when I figure out what my heart rate is at each intensity, I'll let you know.

High Resistance, Slow Paced Cardio - Though HIIT makes the 30 minutes go by quickly, I was getting bored with it and wanted to do something else. I decided to up my resistance level even if it meant me going slower; this isn't a bad thing, I just feel like people think I look silly because I'm going so slow (like other people's opinion matters to me, pshaw!). So, here I am on Level 8, trudging through what feels like mud and my heart rate is averaging at about 135BPM. Between 130-150BPM is about where 20-somethings like myself need to be for ideal fat burn. Fat is used as a fuel for lower intensity exercise because it takes longer for your cells to process. Since you don't need energy as quickly, your body says, "Okay fat, time to go...at your slow pace of course but we're going!"

So there you have it, the benefits of HIIT and high resistance, slow paced cardio. Hopefully these will find their way into your cardio routines.

In health,

Lauren

272/365 Boston Marathon: Are You Next?

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

Today was the 115th Boston Marathon. The elite winner for the men Geoffrey Mutai finished in 2:03:02 and the elite winning woman, Caroline Kilel, finished in 2:22:36. How can us mere humans reach that level of athleticism? Hard work, dedication, and a lot of time.

Before you start training for any long distances, Runner's World recommends that you have run at least 3 miles 3 times a week for a year and that you currently average about 15-20 miles a week. This will make sure that your muscoskeletal system has the durability to take the 26.2 miles of the race day and the hundreds of miles in between to train for it. Not only does your body need to be ready, so does your mind. Is this something you really want? Do you have the time to dedicate to training? These and other questions on this quiz/article will help you decide if training for a marathon is right for you.

Since I am new to the whole endurance running scene, I recommend checking out Hal Higdon's site. He was a contributor to Runner's World and wrote Marathon: The Ultimate Training Guide. He has training programs for all levels of racers for every distance.

So here's to you and your running endeavors!

In health,

Lauren

PS: My dear friend Adam told me a few years ago that you only run 1/3 of what you're capable of. After that, I ran my first ever 3 miles with him. You can do it too!

261/365 Workout Example: Legs, Abs, and Shoulders

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

Here is my legs, abs, and shoulders work out that I'm doing once a week; I go through it all the way down then repeat in reverse.

- Side Jumps on Box: 1min
- Lateral Flys: 12 reps
- Pikes: 15 reps
- Leap Frog: 1min
- Anterior Deltoid Raise: 12 reps
- Figure 4 Abs: 10 reps on each side
- Jump Roping: 1min
- Overhead Press: 12 reps
- Shrimping (see video below, only do if you have a slick floor; carpet is not kind...ouch!): 6 each side
- Jump Squats/Tuck Jumps: 20 reps
- Plank: 1min forward (Round 1), 30sec each  (Round 2)

This was challenging but I think I need to make the abdominals part a little more difficult by using a medicine ball. I will probably also have to step up the legs portion in a couple weeks. Anyway, give it a try and tell me what you think!

In health,

Lauren

259/365 Plyos with a Twist

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

Plyometrics are a great way to increase intensity and work on your explosive, anaerobic system. Instead of the usual forward plyo box jump, try this one with a twist. Safety is key. Start out on a low box before you go higher just to be sure. This exercise will challenge your heart, lungs, legs, core, balance, and focus.


1. Face the box. Get ready for your jump by swinging your arms back.
2. Leap up onto the box while turning 90 degrees. You should now be perpendicular to where you were jumping.
*For an added challenge, do this with one foot after you've mastered both feet.



In health,

Lauren

252/365 Hardcore Parkour

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

The following video is not parkour.


According to American Parkour, "parkour is the physical discipline of training to overcome any obstacle within one's path by adapting one's movements to the environment." Safety is one of the most important things about training for parkour. It's not meant to be a way for people to show off or try something stupid. It's about practice, discipline, and knowing your limits.

I'm writing this blog because a friend Brian has been doing parkour for about a year and loves it. It's a great work out that requires you to have immense control over your body for jumping, running, hanging, etc. If you've seen Casino Royale, remember the guy at the beginning that James Bond is chasing; I believe you could call that parkour.

The American Parkour website should be able to direct you to a parkour facility near you. If there was one near me, I would definitely give it a shot. When I get the chance, I'm going to visit my friend's gym where he started parkour training and now works.

In health,

Lauren

239/365 Stop and Stair

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

I so enjoy using one's environment to build a workout. It allows you to get creative, be resourceful, and do exercises you wouldn't be able to do in a gym. Enter staircase. Your heart will race while your legs burn. Be sure to go inside afterward to exercise your upper body.

Here's a 15 minute workout that you can do using a staircase, the longer the better y'all! If it becomes too intense, you can walk down after each exercise coming up.
- Sprint up
- Side step up: left leg leads, walk down, right leg leads; for more of a challenge, keep two steps in between your feet
- Bunny hop up on both legs
- Two steps at a time
- 15 push ups on the stairs
- Sprint up
- Side squats up: left leg is up two steps, squat, shift weight to left leg, rotate up so that right leg is now two steps up, squat, repeat
- 15 dips on the stairs
- Repeat!

If you have questions or want further details on how to do these, don't hesitate to ask.

In health,

Lauren

227/365 Racing Season

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

Though there are races every weekend all over the place, spring, summer and fall are the major road racing seasons. You've got your charity 5ks, community 10Ks, sprint triathalons, half, and full marathons.

The only race I've done is the Monument 10K, a tour of Richmond's lovely Monument Ave with over 30,000 people. I did it twice and had a blast. A race that I'd love to do is the Tough Mudder , run 3 miles of hell; don't worry, there's beer at the end! If you do well, you could don the champion Viking helmet. My next endeavor will be the sprint triathalon which means that I should probably work on my cycling and swimming. Oh boy...anyway, find races near you with Runner's World's handy dandy tool.

In health,

Lauren

221/365 Step it Up

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

The other day, I had the privilege to cover my co-worker Libby's step class. Though I didn't think the caliber of the class was anywhere near to when she teaches it, the people who came had fun and sweat on their brow.

Step Training was created by Gin Miller in the late 80s. We have her to thank for making a step do more than take you from one level to the next geographically. Now you can do it with turns, L-steps, walk-overs, and more. The fun choreographed moves of a step class can make you forget that you're actually burning calories and sweating. Not only is it a workout for your cardiovascular system, it's a workout for your mind.

I've seen classes using two steps and classes doing more than working your lower body. Support your local step instructor and get stepping!

In health,

Lauren

212/365 Sprints for the Win

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

When I teach boot camp classes, I like mixing in sprinting drills to increase heart rate and really get the juices flowing. You can add them if you're going out for a run and want to do something a little different.

Here are a few drills to get you started (distance is about 20 yards):
- Sprint forward , back pedal
- Sprint forward, hop back both legs (going for height or distance)
- Low shuffle, lateral
- Bounding
- Low karaoke, lateral
- Hop forward both legs, back pedal
- Hop, lateral

There are tons more you could do, just think about what you did if you played sports in high school. Also, these drills are all in a straight line; tomorrow I'll put some up that you could do if you had cones. All of these are pretty easy to get but, not necessarily easy to do. If you want to add a drill to your circuit training, perhaps do it once between circuits, rest for 30sec-1min, do it again, then go back to your circuit.

Working on sprints and other explosive moves will train your anaerobic system, the one you use when you're racing to the finish line or pedaling up a hill with all your might. It will also produce a longer recovery time before you get back to your BMR which means you're burning more calories. For me, I love doing drills because I feel alive when I run fast; my heart is pounding, my lungs are flooding with air, and sweat is dripping from every pore; there's nothing better.

In health,

Lauren

185/365 Jump Roping

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

Remember when you were little and jump roping was so much fun? It took not effort at all. Heck, you could even sing songs while you did it! Well, play time isn't over because you can still jump rope and get huge benefits from it.

Jump roping is a high impact, cardio exercise that will leave your calves burning and face sweating. You'll also be working out your core as well as your eye-hand coordination (my elementary school PE teacher always said that if you could jump rope well, you can probably drive well, hooray!). The only downside to jumping rope is the punishment from the rope you get if you don't jump over it.

Your game plan is to jump rope for 30 seconds. I know that doesn't seem like a long time but, I think you'll be thanking me after you try it. The goal is to jump quick and short; your feet should barely leave the floor. You can jump rope in front of  a mirror to check your form. Once you get good (no mess ups), build it up to 1 minute then up to 5 minutes; you don't need to restart the clock if you mess up when the duration gets longer. If that starts to get easy, you can do the tricks the kids do like jumping rope backwards, crossing your arms in front, double jumping, triple jumping, etc.

Jump ropes are fun so go and have a great heart pumping, sweaty time!

In health,

Lauren

178/365 Stair Stepper

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

You've seen it at the gym. You've heard it grinding away, demanding it's user to take one step right after the other. What is it? The stair stepper!

I know this machine can be intimidating but, it is an incredible exercise that can be addicting. It of course an activity of daily living (ADL) that you will be doing throughout life. If you feel winded when you go up a flight of stairs, why not practice getting better at it? Plus you never know when you'll find yourself in an action movie like scenario where you'll have to race your way to safety on the top of a roof and the elevators are out of service. It's also a way to break up the monotony of treadmills and ellipticals that you can feel within minutes.

You can start out with your usual cardio for 20 min then finish it off with 10 minutes on the stair stepper or do the reverse. Later you can switch it up to 50/50 then maybe a day on your usual card then a day on the stair stepper. Interval work outs to come...

In health,

Lauren

170/365 Row Row Your Indoor Boat

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

Have you ever seen those rowing machines at the gym that the Crew kids used back in high school? Were you thinking, "There's no way I'm getting on there. I won't know what to do."? Me too!

To empower us all to use this machine, here's a video (that was approved by my rower friend Anthony) to help:


Though your buns may get numb from sitting, this is a great work out for your legs, back, core, shoulders, and biceps. You will burn lots of calories doing this low impact exercise that still moves your joints through a large range of motion. For a more comprehensive list check out Concept2, a respected indoor rowing machine company. When you get the gumption to row indoors, only put your resistance at 3 or 4; this is about the equivalent resistance you will find if you ever row on the water, anything more than that is unnecessary.

Happy rowing!

In health,

Lauren