Home > Fit City > Archives > 2010 > January
January 2010
Win diet books!
Who’s on a diet? Who needs to be on a diet?
I’ve got some diet books to give away. Post on this blog why you need a book, and tell me which one you want. Best answers win. I’ll pick winners next week.
Here are the titles:
- ”The Clothesline Diet: The Incredible Story of How One Woman Went from Flab to Fab and How You Can, Too!,” by Karen Gatt with Sue Smethurst.
- ”The 5 Factor World Diet: Weight-Loss Secrets from the Healthiest Nations on the Planet - Unlocked!” by Harley Pasternak with Laura Moser.
- The Glycemic Index Diet,” by Rick Gallop.
Permalink | Comments (6) | Post your comment Categories: nutrition
Title Nine offers February fitness camp
The Title Nine store in Austin is organizing another six-week fitness camp.
The classes, led by awesome personal trainer Sarah Stewart, will focus on building core strength, improving agility and some cardio. Workouts will be modified to accommodate all abilities and injuries. All levels are welcome.
For those who are interested, Stewart will conduct optional fitness tests and body fat analysis at the start and end of the six weeks. Weekly prize giveaways are also planned.
The sessions start Monday, Feb. 1 and end Thursday, March 11.
The group meets Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. Each class begins with a 15-minute Q&A with Sarah at 6:15 p.m., followed by an hour-long class starting at 6:30 p.m. at Title Nine-Austin, 500 N. Lamar Blvd.
Cost is $250 cash or check made payable to Kinetic Movement Systems.
To RSVP, email Paige at ppape@titlenine.com or call the store at 512-322-9902. Space is limited so register early.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: exercise
Run-in with a trash can
I had a little run-in with a trash can during a training run the other day.
As my friend Marcy and I zoomed up a gigantic hill in her neighborhood off of City Park Road, deep in conversation, I ran smack into a huge green trash bin.
Boom!
My reward? A lovely greenish-purple bruise on my wrist from the encounter.
I’m not running a full marathon this year, but I am signed up for the Zooma Austin Half Marathon.
I have to say I’ve enjoyed running 7 and 10 miles at a time instead of 15 and 20. The distances I’ve been putting in the last few months would have seemed like nothing last year, but it’s nice to take a break.
The advantage, though? When I’m done with a 10-mile run I still have energy to do stuff on Saturday afternoon. I’m not wiped out.
Another bonus? Other than the trash can bruise, no injuries!
Last year I spent so much time nursing a strained IT band and a torn calf muscle that it seemed like half of my training miles were done with at Big Stacy Pool, with an Aqua Jogger strapped around my waist.
Lest you think I’m completely slacking, take note. I’m still swimming with my swim team and riding my bike. I’ve already got some events on my upcoming calendar, including the Capitol 10,000 on April 11 and the Pedal Power Wildflower Ride in Johnson City on April 10.
How’s your training coming? What’s on your calendar?
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: running
Cap 10K training class registration ends Sunday
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: running
What’s your locker room pet peeve?
A reader reminded me recently that it’s time for a reminder on proper gym etiquette.
Yep, January — the time of year of New Year’s resolutions and new folks at the gym.
“As I pack my bag this morning to head to the gym I am reminded that I better not forget my post-shower cover-up,” reader Judy Natividad wrote.
“Why? Because when I went to the gym this past week, another member had her young son accompany her into the ladies’ locker room, where he got an eyeful of female anatomy. The boy was not a toddler; he must have been at least 4 or 5 years old — hence old enough to have a curious mind. In my opinion, the mom should have used the family locker room. I think that had it been a father taking his young daughter into the men’s locker room, he’d be in handcuffs.”
What do you think? Should kids be allowed in opposite sex locker rooms?
Judy had a few other complaints. One is a pet peeve of mine: Locker room noise.
“On another day this week after my workout I went to the steam room to relax and to quietly unwind, but my peaceful moment of was cut short as two other women were in there gossiping as another played her iPod at a volume loud enough for all to hear.”
I agree, Judy! Often, when I walk into the locker room at my gym, the TV is blaring and no one is listening. Please! I get enough blaring noise in my day. If no one’s watching, please turn it down.
“Finally, there is the issue about respecting each other’s personal space in the locker room,” Judy wrote. “I realize that it is the one place where there is little room for privacy, but at least be respectful of each other’s space. And people need to keep gym bags on the floor so that others can sit at the benches, and they should not hog up the counter space as they do hair or makeup.”
Thanks for the reminders, Judy.
What gym behavior bugs you?
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment Categories: gyms
Website lists Central Texas foot races
Looking for a single website where you can plot your entire running season?
Steve Benesh, an Austin attorney and runner, spent a recent weekend putting together a website that features a comprehensive listing of upcoming races in Central Texas. (If you’ve got one to add, you can do that, too!)
Benesh, 48, never ran until two years ago, when the law firm he works for was a back-of-the-T-shirt sponsor for a 5K run. As a race sponsor, the company got two free race entries, so he signed up.
“I couldn’t run the whole 3.1 miles that time, but the running bug bit me hard … and it’s the last thing I would have foreseen,” he says.
Benesh was so hooked that he convinced his wife Jennifer (that’s them in the photo above) to start running, too. Now they run weekend races together, not for the medals, but for the camaraderie, new courses and good causes. Last year, he logged 56 races — 51 5Ks, two 10Ks, two 5-milers and a 4K.
Check out his website here.
He started the site because he was frustrated at how much time he spent surfing various websites to get information about runs within 100 miles of Austin. He’s not making any money on the project; he’s doing it as a service to local runners.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment Categories: running
Last-minute 3M Half Marathon notes
UPDATE FRIDAY 12:43 p.m.
For the first time in its 16-year history, the 3M Half Marathon & Relay has sold out. Registration for the race, scheduled for Sunday, Jan. 24, 2010 is no longer available.
Good luck to everyone running the 2010 3M Half Marathon on Sunday!
If you haven’t signed up but are still thinking about it, snap to it. Online register closes Thursday (or earlier, if there’s a sell-out). There is no race-day registration, but you can register at packet pickup Friday or Saturday.
Speaking of packet pickup, it’s taking place at the 3M Austin Innovation Center at 6801 Riverplace Blvd. this year. (At least one reader was annoyed by this far-from-downtown locale.) Hours are 7 a.m-7 p.m. Friday and 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 24. (Packet pickup will be available on race day, but there will be a $5 surcharge.)
Veteran 3Mers know to expect a goodie bag loaded with 3M products, including Scotch tape, Post-it pads, insect repellent, lint rollers and bandages. Woo hoo! I’m still using notepads and cool stuff I got in my packet two years ago!
You’ll need your photo ID for packet pickup, and bring cash or check for any purchases. Credit cards will not be accepted. If you plan to pick up a packet for another runner, you’ll need a signed letter from the participant (preferably typed), authorizing them to pick up the packet on your behalf.
When you get your packet, be sure to fill out the “Important Medical Information” on the back of your race-numbered tag.
A few things to remember on race day:
- The race starts earlier this year, to accommodate residents along the route and Sunday morning commuters. The start whistle blows at 6:45 a.m. Arrive early.
- Need help hitting your goal? RunTex and Twenty-Six Two Marathon Club of Austin will provide pace groups for the following finish times: 1:30‚ 1:40‚ 1:50‚ 2:00‚ 2:10 and 2:20. Look for pacers wearing brightly colored shirts and carrying pace signs in the starting corrals.
- The 13.1-mile race follows the same down-hill, point-to-point course used the past three years, starting in Austin’s Arboretum area on Stonelake Boulevard near the Baby Acapulco Restaurant & Cantina and ending at Waterloo Park.
- Event organizers anticipate nearly 5,500 runners this year.
- Pre-race carbo load dinners are planned at Cannoli Joe’s Gourmet Italian Restaurant, 4715 U.S. 290 on Friday and Saturday. Reservations can be made online.
- Any Baby Can of Austin, whose mission is to ensure that all children reach their potential through education, therapy, and family support services, is the event beneficiary.
- Street closures will affect many roads from 3 a.m. to noon Jan. 24. Check the schedule here or look at a map of street closures here.
For more information go here http://www.3MHalfMarathon.com.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: running
Shoes for Haiti
Need a new pair of running shoes?
RunTex is collecting shoes today to help with Haiti relief programs taking place in Central Texas.
Trade in your old pair of usable shoes and get a 10 percent discount on a new pair. RunTex, 422 W. Riverside Drive, will make sure the old shoes go to Haiti, where hundreds of thousands of people are homeless after a devastating earthquake.
Gently worn race T-shirts can be put to use, too.
Please act today; the shipment to Haiti leaves Thursday.
For more information, call RunTex at 472-3254.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: running
Free fitness books (with racy titles!)
Running Press sent over a two-book gift set of Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin’s hilarious smack-talking odes to healthy living, “Skinny Bitch, A No-Nonsense, Tough-Love Guide for Savvy Girls Who Want to Stop Eating Crap and Start Looking Fabulous” and “Skinny Bastard, A Kick-in-the-Ass for Real Men Who Want to Stop Being Fat and Start Getting Buff.”
Yes, the books are spiced up with a smattering of four-letter words. They are brazen, sassy and straight-up. It’s like getting a talking-to from your best friend.
One reviewer says by the time she laughed her way through Chapter 4 of “Skinny Bitch,” “The Dead, Rotting Decomposing Flesh Diet,” she called home to change dinner plans because she’d gone vegan on the spot.
Take what you will from it, but it’s a refreshing look at what we eat and what it does to our bodies. And it’s hilarious!
You’ll learn why sugar is the devil, what’s really in meat and seafood, and the importance of questioning what you put in your body.
As the authors say, “Use your head, lose your ass.”
The set sells for $29.95. Tell me why you need this pair of books. Best answer (come on folks, get creative!) wins the boxed set.
Permalink | Comments (12) | Post your comment Categories: fitness books
Does weight of surgeon general matter?
Health and fitness blogs are on fire lately, with the announcement of Dr. Regina Benjamin as the nation’s new surgeon general.
No, it’s not that she’s unqualified, at least not in the traditional way.
She founded a medical clinic in rural Alabama. She’s won heaps of awards, makes house calls, does charity work.
The problem is her size.
Benjamin, 52, like more than half of all adult Americans, struggles with her weight.
The question is, should it matter?
Obesity is at epidemic rates in America, where Taco Bell promotes a “Drive-Thru Diet” and people slurp 32-ounce Big Gulp sodas. According to The Trust for America’s Health, adult obesity rates have doubled since 1980, from 15 to 30 percent. Some 146 million American adults are overweight or obese.
Shouldn’t the nation’s surgeon general stand as an example of fitness?
Benjamin says being healthy is not about a dress size. “It’s about how fit you are at that moment in time,” Benjamin says.
Some think it does matter. Health advice coming from someone with an obvious health issue carries less (forgive me) weight, they say.
“I think it is an issue, but then the president is said to still smoke cigarettes,” Dr. Marcia Angell, former editor of The New England Journal of Medicine and a senior lecturer at Harvard University Medical School, said in a story reported by ABC News. “It tends to undermine her credibility.”
Read the entire article here.
Others, including a blogger on Frisky.com, disagree.
“The job of surgeon general is to make health care and policy decisions for the country — not to look hot in a pair of skinny jeans,” said one blogger on Frisky.com.
Some have even suggested that an overweight surgeon general might be a good thing because regular folks will be better able to relate to her. The whole country can team up with Benjamin to lose weight.
That’s the viewpoint of a columnist on Salon. Read the article here.
What do you think?
(The Associated Press photo above shows Benjamin getting sworn in.)
Permalink | Comments (6) | Post your comment Categories: nutrition
Sign a get well card for Road Rash blogger
Our friends over at Bicycle Sport Shop miss Austin American-Statesman employee and Road Rash blogger Jason Whaley almost as much as we do, it appears.
They’re creating a get well card for Jason from the community, and you can include a personal message by going to their Web site.
Jason was driving home Dec. 29 when he was struck by another car. He’s still hospitalized with broken bones and a head injury.
Jason, your bikes miss you! And so does the cycling community!
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: cycling
Cap 10K Training Programs
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: running
Cyclist remains in ICU after hit-and-run
UPDATE JAN. 20:
From Mariel’s sister Christine Mentink:
“Mariel is going through a bit of a rough patch this week and last. Part of recovering from brain trauma is going through storming, and she is experiencing quite a bit of it. During this process, Mariel cannot have a many visitors or noise around her and cannot be moved much. Her physical therapy is also extremely limited because of storming, so she has been very immobile the last 20 days since the accident and hopefully that changes soon. Once storming subsides and some troublesome brain fluid subsides (another small setback), the family hopes to move her out of the ICU and to a Chicago rehabilitation facility. Our mom and many relatives live in the area, so it is a better location for her during recovery. So, at the moment, we’re in a waiting period and anxious to start seeing more dramatic progress. However, she is heading in the right direction and we are thankful for that.
Mariel’s friends have put together the following site to try to help her with the costs incurred during this process. It is www.supportmarielmentink.com.”
A 24-year-old woman remains in intensive care at Brackenridge Hospital after she was struck from behind while riding her bike home early New Year’s Day.
Mariel Mentink was pedaling west in the 4700 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard at about 2:30 a.m. when she was hit. She and another cyclist were riding home after a late-night group bike ride to celebrate New Year’s Eve.
The driver fled the scene.
Mentink, a recent graduate of Northern Illinois University who worked as a bike delivery person for Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches in Austin, was wearing a helmet and lights when she was hit.
“That helmet was the difference between life and death,” says her sister, Christine Mentink.
Mentink suffered multiple skull fractures, brain trauma and broken bones in her neck, back, hip and leg, according to her sister. She’s undergone three surgeries. She’s not in a coma, but is medically sedated to reduce the pain.
“She can open her eyes half way and we think she’s tracking people,” Christine Mentink says. “We don’t know how much she’s perceiving because she can’t speak or move.”
Mariel Mentink is the youngest of four siblings, “the baby and the favorite” in a family of urban cyclists, her sister says. She’s an avid seamstress who was trying to start a business selling hats for cyclists at local bike shops. She has a degree in graphic design.
“She had a car that didn’t work, so her primary mode of transportation was her bicycle,” Christine Mentink says.
Two benefits are being planned to help cover Mentink’s medical expenses.
Social Cycling ATX is planning an event Feb. 5 at Red 7, 611 East 7th St. (No details yet.) Another is planned for 5 p.m. Feb. 25 at Shangri-La, 1016 E. Sixth St. It one will include live music, raffles and donations.
The family is also setting up a fund to help cover medical expenses. I’ll post that information when I get it.
The cyclist who was with Mentink when the wreck happened thinks a gray SUV or pickup truck hit her. Anyone with information about the hit-and-run is asked to call the Austin/Travis County Crimestoppers at 472-TIPS.
Permalink | Comments (5) | Post your comment Categories: cycling
Time for a Snow Day!
I know we live in Texas, but sometimes we need a snow day, too.
Check out the helpful new service from Copper Mountain Ski Resort at www.yoursnowday.com.
Click on “I’m employed” and enter the phone number of your boss.
Just like that, Capt. Fred McGilicutty of the Copper Mountain Ski Patrol will call and ask him or her to give you a day off to ski.
Actually, it’s a recording made by McGillicutty. But who’s quibbling? In the recording, McGillicutty’s assistant comes on the line and says she is “connecting a call on behalf of your employee (insert name here).” Then McGillicutty’s voice comes on, saying that “all your employees deserve a Snow Day at Copper.”
I think I’m going to try it. Only I need more than one day, don’t I? I’ve got to get myself all the way to Colorado, and that takes time!
Your boss won’t cooperate? Maybe what you really need is a sick day or two.
Again, Copper is there to help.
The website features a “sound board” of disgusting noises to help convince your supervisor you’re in no shape to report to work. Just click on the different options (throat clear, hack, nose blow, sneeze, throw up, etc.), sit back and enjoy.
While you’re on the website, you can also get your own Ski Patrol name. (Mine is Pam “The Eagle Has Landed” LeBlanc.) You can print it out, too.
See you on the slopes!
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: snow ski
Help plan Austin’s first bike boulevard
I traveled to Portland a few years ago to find out why it gets such rave reviews from cyclists.
I walked across a downtown bridge and watched hundreds of cyclists zip past me in their own bike lanes. That city is geared toward cycling, from plenty of bike racks to the special lines and boxes painted on the pavement to alert motorists that cyclists frequent the area. Some streets — dubbed bike boulevards — even discourage cars and encourage bikes through the use of speed bumps, traffic circles and other traffic calming devices.
Now Austin is planning its first bike boulevard.
A meeting — the second so far — is scheduled for 6-8 p.m. Wednesday at Pease Elementary School, 1106 Rio Grande St.
The Austin Bicycle Plan and draft versions of the city’s Downtown Plan and Great Streets Master Plan all identify Nueces Street — from Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to Third Street — as a bicycle boulevard or bicycle/local access street.
At the first Bike Boulevard Open House in December, some participants suggested designating Rio Grande as the boulevard, instead of Nueces Street.
The League of Bicycling Voters, an advocacy group that promotes cycling in Austin, rejects the Rio Grande plan because it is hillier and doesn’t offer the same connectivity to key facilities — such as the Lance Armstrong Bikeway — as Nueces. See the League of Bicycling Voter’s suggested plan, including a map with proposed facilities, here.
The Jan. 13 meeting will cover pros and cons of each proposal.
The final meeting in the Bike Boulevard Open House series is scheduled for Feb. 24.
For more information go here.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: cycling
Austin mom, son featured in People Magazine
Have you seen People magazine lately?
An Austin mother and her son are featured in the Jan. 11 “Half Their Size” issue, which features stories about people who have shed massive amounts of weight. Diane Cantu, 51, and her son Michael collectively dropped more than 300 pounds.
Diana Cantu, 51, says she lost 195 pounds by walking and doing the Jenny Craig program. Her son Michael lost 108 pounds by eating Lean Cuisine meals and starting lifting weights.
The Cantus are making the media rounds. Besides the magazine article, they appeared on the Today show and Entertainment Tonight last week.
Go here to check out the Today show’s coverage.
Cantu, who works at AT&T Labs, says she didn’t cook and was completely sedentary when her weight peaked at 333 pounds. Today she walks regularly around her neighborhood, golfs and has even tried rock climbing. She weighs 142 pounds.
Congrats!
I know lots of Austin folks have fitness success stories to share. What’s yours? How did you do it?
Post your story here.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment Categories: weight loss
Win fitness books!
Once again, it’s getting hard to see my desk under the ever growing heap of fitness books that keeps landing here.
My pile of quicksand is your stroke of luck!
Post a comment here telling me which book (or DVD) you want and why you need it. Best answers win!
Here’s what’s up for grabs:
- ”The Women’s Health Big Book of Exercises,” By Adam Campbell.
- ”Thrive Fitness: The Vegan-Based Training Program for Maximum Strength, Health and Fitness,” by Brendan Brazier.
- ”Denise’s Daily Dozen: The Easy, Every Day Program to Lose up to 12 Pounds in 2 Weeks,” by Denise Austin.
- ”2-Week Total Body Turnaround: The 14-day Plan that Jumpstarts Weight Loss, Maximizes Fat Burn and Makes Over Your Fitness Mindset Forever,” by Chris Freytag.
- ”The Glycemic Index Diet, Revised and Updated,” by Rick Gallop.
- ”Give Me 10! 10 Minute Workouts for a Total Body Tune Up!” a DVD featuring Amy Dixon.
- ”101 High-Intensity Workouts for Fast Results,” by the editors of Muscle & Fitness.
- ”The Inten Sati Method: The Seven Secret Principles to Thinner Peace,” by Patricia Moreno.
- ”The Pritikin Edge: 10 Essential Ingredients for a Long and Delicious Life,” by Robert Vogel and Paul Tager Lehr.
- Indoor cycling: Get a free sample of indoor training and coaching (see photo above) from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Jan. 9 at Pedal Hard, located in the basement of Mellow Johnny’s, 400 Nueces St. Kevin Livingston, former pro and Tour de France veteran, leads a staff of coaches who customize training plans, do pro bike fits, and lead you through personal indoor cycling sessions. To reserve a space call 473-0222.
- Squash: Life Time Fitness, 7101 S. MoPac Boulevard, invites women to join club squash pro Don Murphy for free lessons and an introduction to the sport from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 9. If you have a squash racquet, bring it. If not, loaner racquets will be available. Wear non-marking shoes, preferably with light-colored soles. For more information, call 358-8171 or email Murphy at OZE@OZEsquash.com.
- Zumba: Northwest YMCA, 5807 McNeil Drive, is starting a new Aqua Zumba class on Jan. 5. Participants experience invigorating Zumba dance moves to Latin beats while in the water. For more information, contact Nicole Erdmann, aquatic director at Nicole.Erdmann@austinymca.org or call 335-1290.
- Hoop dancing: Starting Jan. 16, Hoopnotica Hoop Dance instructor Kim Patty will teach weekly hoop dance classes at Premier Lady’s north (7028 Wood Hollow) and south (6800 West Gate) locations. Brushy Creek Community Center, 16318 Great Oaks Dr. in Round Rock, will host an Intro to Hoop Dance Workshop from 10-11:30 a.m. Jan. 26. Patty also teaches Tuesday and Thursday evenings at Dr. Kwon’s Martial Arts, 2100 Cypress Creek Road in Cedar Park. For more information go to www.hoopdance.vpweb.com or call (512) 923-5247.
- Boot camp: Hutto personal trainers C.J. Woodruff and Donovan Owens have teamed up with other boot camp operators to try to set a Guinness World Record for the largest simultaneous fitness boot camp workout for charity. More than 50 boot camps around the world are participating in the event, which is open to anyone 18 years or older. A minimum donation of $20 is requested; proceeds benefit the American Heart Association. The hour-long workout starts at 10 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 9 in the gym of Cottonwood Creek Elementary School, 3160 Limmer Loop in Hutto. Please arrive 15 minutes early. For more information call (512) 759-5430. \
Permalink | Comments (17) | Post your comment Categories: fitness books
To boldly wear … a Star Trek wetsuit!
Attention fellow scuba divers. Who among you wants to boldly go where no man has gone before?
And no, I’m not talking about 400 meters.
Check out these Star Trek-inspired wetsuits.
No, they’re not Leonard Nimoy’s costume castoffs. They’re real wetsuits, made to be worn in the water.
They come in “Command Yellow,” “Science Blue” and “Engineering Red.” (Although we’d suggest avoiding the red one, if you know what I mean, Trekkies.)
I scuba dive at least once a year, and have been fantasizing all day about plunging into the great blue abyss alongside my three best diving buddies while wearing one of these outfits.
Imagine the reaction we’d get if we all suited out in one of these!
Sigh, such respect doesn’t come cheap. The 7 mm suit, complete with rank braids, costs about $470. The suits are also available in 3 and 5 mm varieties.
Money is no object? Buy ‘em here.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: scuba
UT cheerleader still tumbling away
In honor of tonight’s national championship game between the University of Texas and Alabama, a word about a former Texas Longhorn cheerleader …
Pam Merker cheered for the Longhorns for three years, starting in 1977. That’s her in the photo above, at age 20. And her wearing the same uniform at age 50.
Pretty amazing, no?
Merker wrote me earlier this week to tell me about her cheerleading days, when she’d tear across the field in a series of 10 back handsprings every time UT scored.
“That first year, (I) did hundreds of flips to fire up the Longhorn fans because Heisman Trophy winner Earl Campbell was scoring lots of touchdowns,” she wrote. The Longhorns went 10-0 in 1977, and Merker cheered in the national championship game between Texas and Notre Dame. (The Irish, led by Joe Montana, won the game 38-10.)
Merker, 51, will be watching the game tonight from her Fort Worth home. She wants you to know that she can still do 10 back handsprings across a football field. In fact, she’s got a mat-covered practice room set up next to her den, where she also teaches tumbling classes.
“I practice what I preach,” she says. “Being so strong, flexible and fit has been my lifestyle since I was a little girl. I have done basic exercises my entire life and I want to be a motivator for children, as well as adults, to get excited about being active and healthy.”
Merker was a competitive athlete most of her life. She was a tumbler and ran track growing up, earning a track scholarship to the University of Texas. She won the Collegiate State Pentathlon championship in 1977. After college, she competed in body building. At age 38, she was third runner up in the Ms. Fitness America Pageant.
She began suffering chronic back pain in her late 40s and was diagnosed with a degenerative disc. Today she does daily stretching exercises to keep back pain at bay.
“This daily 10 minutes has made such a difference in the way my body feels for the rest of the day,” she says. “ I have taught my students to do two basic exercises in their beds first thing in the morning and to also show their parents so the whole family can get into the habit, just like brushing your teeth.”
To do the first exercise, lie on your back and roll up, using your arms and reaching forward into a pike. Hold the pike a few seconds and roll slowly back down. Shoot for 10 roll-ups.
To do the second exercise, lie on your stomach with your hands by your chest and push your upper body up into an arch, straightening your arms like a half pushup. Your legs should be straight and hips should remain on the bed. Try to do 25.
Both of the exercises combine strength and flexibility.
“Doing them in your bed is more comfortable — like having your own big, padded exercise mat,” she says. “And just think — when you get out of bed in the morning, you have already knocked out a great mini-workout!”
Permalink | Comments (8) | Post your comment Categories: exercise
What’s up with the Drive-Thru Diet?
Are you kidding me? Taco Bell is suggesting that you can lose weight by eating fast food tacos and burritos?
Have you seen the new commercials for the “Drive-Thru Diet”? Honestly, I thought they were a joke.
Sadly, they’re not.
The TV commercials feature Christine Dougherty, a real-life customer who lost 54 pounds by choosing items from Taco Bell’s Fresco menu.
Some fine print at the bottom of the commercial alerts viewers that the “Drive-Thru Diet is not a weight-loss program.”
I’m baffled. Why, then, do they call it the “Drive-Thru Diet”?
Apparently, what they mean is if you’re going to eat a bunch of fast food, you’re better off choosing items that aren’t slathered in cheese and sour cream than those that are.
Guess what? You’re generally better off not eating fast food at all.
Introduce yourself to the produce department of your nearest grocery store instead. Hello tomatoes, pineapples and sweet potatoes!
So. Dougherty replaced her regular fast-food meals, which presumably featured a lot of fat and grease, with items topped with chopped tomatoes and salsa. Over a two-year period, she became slim and beautiful.
Yes, I know. It’s all relative, and compared to a big sloppy ground beef burrito with cheese and sour cream, one of these Fresco items could be deemed healthy.
There’s a bean burrito with 8 grams of fat, a burrito supreme chicken with 8 grams of fat, a crunchy taco with 7 grams of fat, and more on the Fresco menu.
Still.
It’s not like Dougherty dropped the extra poundage by eating fast food morning, noon and night.
Folks, the rules haven’t changed. You lose weight when you expend more calories than you take in.
Dougherty, the ads note, cut her daily intake from 1,750 to 1,250 calories.
No mystery there.
What worries me is that some folks will look at the commercials and make the assumption that it’s OK to eat fast food every day of the week.
Please. Read the fine print.
“Not a low calorie food,” the disclaimer on the ad says.
Thoughts, anyone?
Permalink | Comments (10) | Post your comment Categories: nutrition
Try a new sport in 2010
It’s a new year — the perfect time to try a new fitness class. Here are a few things to check out in 2010:
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: fitness events
What’s your resolution?
Happy New Year, everyone!
I just returned from Big Bend National Park, where, per tradition, my husband and I (and pals Mike and Marcy) hiked the 13-mile South Rim on New Year’s Day. What a great way to kick off a brand new year!
I resolve, in 2010, to have (even more) fun.
I will try new things. High on my list is trail running. I might even enter an off-road foot race, just to see what it’s like. (I hear the aid stations are stocked with food like baked potatoes and Fig Newtons!)
I will never call swimming a “workout,” because it’s the most fun part of my day.
I will aim to ride my bike to work at least once a week.I will eat a wide variety of foods (not much meat or processed stuff), but not obsess about every calorie.
I will do more camping and backpacking.
I will “run with scissors” now and then, doing things outside my comfort zone.
I will let my friends and family know how much I love them.
Voila. Those are my resolutions.
What are yours?
Permalink | Comments (4) | Post your comment Categories: general fitness
DJ spin class
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: fitness events
