Justeatsmart.com » running

6 Things That Make Me Feel Good Right Now

Sherika — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 08:00:00 +0000

1. Photographing my cats. Yes, I know — weird.

2. Flannel. Wear with clear heels and you will suddenly feel much sexier. Just don’t tell anyone.

3. Don’t diet. Ever. I hate “no”. I get rebellious, and I really don’t like challenging myself to stay away from Buttercup Bakery. I think the cookies must get lonely, begging for a belly to love them. The best part? Learning to love the badass exercise session the day after—a different kind of high that burns off the frosting and keeps me and my body in check. Plus, cupcakes makes me much nicer and easier for others to love me.

4. Getting up today, feeling achy, too tired to move. By evening, total running euphoria, muscles nice and pliable, thanks to exercise.

5. More Running. I covet being a gazelle, so running for speed and beating previous times/miles is important to my training. I continue to challenge myself by perfecting my stride, but my darn lower back can keep up. I still practice…being sweaty makes me feel good.

6. Walking around NYC with the confidence in your stride knowing that you strong enough to resist a push or pull.

What are your 6 things?

Shut Your Pie Hole With the Weight Loss

Sherika — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 08:00:41 +0000

Jillian Michaels wants you to write down your weight loss goals. She needs to shut it.

For some reason, I’ve always been resistant to things like writing down goals because it feels so motivational speaker affirm-y to me, like I’m some 80’s go-getter in a power suit trying to scramble my way up the corporate ladder, or a New-Age-y lady in flowing pants determined to find my myself via the spirit of a monkey.

But I am open minded enough to see how writing down goals might be a very sensible thing to do, as it makes what you want more concrete in your mind and gives you some direction and all that. I just don’t get it when it comes to weight loss goals. And I don’t understand how it’s any different than say, your everyday to-do list.

Do you want to know what I never hear when I talk to fat person, a skinny person, a man or woman?

I want to be stronger

I want to be really fit, to be able to run up and down stairs without dying

I want to be able to do 100 push ups

My goal is to pull myself up, or get to 10 pull ups

When I started exercising, back when I gained 20 pounds boozing my ass off, my list would have said this: Lose 20 pounds

When I lost the 20 pounds, I would make a new list and it would say: Lose 5 pounds

When I talk to someone that’s super thin about their exercise goals, I get this answer:
Lose weight

Like them, I didn’t give a sh*t about healthier or stronger. Those words were never in my vocabulary. I just wanted to wear my skinny-pants again. I wanted to lose weight.

So here we are, 7 years later. I got so much more out of exercise that “just weight loss”. The jiggles disappeared, I could run much faster, I was three times stronger, my muscles were defined, and I gained the baseline fitness level and confidence to try anything physical.

Listen, I love Julian, she is amazing at what she does. However, there is now a responsibility to our fatter-than-ever society: it’s not just about being thin, the other factors are way more important. Weight-loss should be a side product of exercise, not quite a goal.

From this day on, instead of starving yourself thin or getting your colon washed out with that crap they stick up there, try getting on the treadmill for half-hour. If you don’t feel better, email me and we can talk through it.

Can You Get Fit in Six Minutes a Week?

Sherika — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 15:58:42 +0000

I just ate a loaf of bread. Yes, the whole thing. I am rushing to my computer to type and tell you that incase you were considering doing it…don’t.

OK, on a more important note, let’s talk NY Times articles again. Did you catch this one on intervals? Rats get thrown in water, some swim for six hours a day, some are weighted (meaning extra intensity to the workouts) and thrown in for 20 second bursts with 10 seconds of rest for a total of four-and-a-half minutes of exercise. Both groups show the same molecular changes in increased muscle endurance. Moral: Short bursts (intervals!) of oh-god-I-wanna-die exercise may be as effective as long, sustained stretches of steady cardio. I keep saying it, intervals, intervals, intervals.

Here it is for you all to enjoy!

Can You Get Fit in Six Minutes a Week?

By Gretchen Reynolds

A few years ago, researchers at the National Institute of Health and Nutrition in Japan put rats through a series of swim tests with surprising results. They had one group of rodents paddle in a small pool for six hours, this long workout broken into two sessions of three hours each. A second group of rats were made to stroke furiously through short, intense bouts of swimming, while carrying ballast to increase their workload. After 20 seconds, the weighted rats were scooped out of the water and allowed to rest for 10 seconds, before being placed back in the pool for another 20 seconds of exertion. The scientists had the rats repeat these brief, strenuous swims 14 times, for a total of about four-and-a-half minutes of swimming. Afterward, the researchers tested each rat’s muscle fibers and found that, as expected, the rats that had gone for the six-hour swim showed preliminary molecular changes that would increase endurance. But the second rodent group, which exercised for less than five minutes also showed the same molecular changes.

The potency of interval training is nothing new. Many athletes have been straining through interval sessions once or twice a week along with their regular workout for years. But what researchers have been looking at recently is whether humans, like that second group of rats, can increase endurance with only a few minutes of strenuous exercise, instead of hours? Could it be that most of us are spending more time than we need to trying to get fit?

The answer, a growing number of these sports scientists believe, may be yes.

“There was a time when the scientific literature suggested that the only way to achieve endurance was through endurance-type activities,” such as long runs or bike rides or, perhaps, six-hour swims, says Martin Gibala, PhD, chairman of the Department of Kinesiology at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada. But ongoing research from Gibala’s lab is turning that idea on its head. In one of the group’s recent studies, Gibala and his colleagues had a group of college students, who were healthy but not athletes, ride a stationary bike at a sustainable pace for between 90 and 120 minutes. Another set of students grunted through a series of short, strenuous intervals: 20 to 30 seconds of cycling at the highest intensity the riders could stand. After resting for four minutes, the students pedaled hard again for another 20 to 30 seconds, repeating the cycle four to six times (depending on how much each person could stand), “for a total of two to three minutes of very intense exercise per training session,” Gibala says.

Each of the two groups exercised three times a week. After two weeks, both groups showed almost identical increases in their endurance (as measured in a stationary bicycle time trial), even though the one group had exercised for six to nine minutes per week, and the other about five hours. Additionally, molecular changes that signal increased fitness were evident equally in both groups. “The number and size of the mitochondria within the muscles” of the students had increased significantly, Gibala says, a change that, before this work, had been associated almost exclusively with prolonged endurance training. Since mitochondria enable muscle cells to use oxygen to create energy, “changes in the volume of the mitochondria can have a big impact on endurance performance.” In other words, six minutes or so a week of hard exercise (plus the time spent warming up, cooling down, and resting between the bouts of intense work) had proven to be as good as multiple hours of working out for achieving fitness. The short, intense workouts aided in weight loss, too, although Gibala hadn’t been studying that effect. “The rate of energy expenditure remains higher longer into recovery” after brief, high-intensity exercise than after longer, easier workouts, Gibala says. Other researchers have found that similar, intense, brief sessions of exercise improve cardiac health, even among people with heart disease.

There’s a catch, though. Those six minutes, if they’re to be effective, must hurt. “We describe it as an ‘all-out’ effort,” Gibala says. You’ll be straying “well out of your comfort zone.” That level of discomfort makes some activities better-suited to intense training than others. “We haven’t studied runners,” Gibala says. The pounding involved in repeated sprinting could lead to injuries, depending on a runner’s experience and stride mechanics. But cycling and swimming work well. “I’m a terrible swimmer,” Gibala says, “so every session for me is intense, just because my technique is so awful.”
Meanwhile, his lab is studying whether people could telescope their workouts into even less time. Could a single, two- to three-minute bout of intense exercise confer the same endurance and health benefits as those six minutes of multiple intervals? Gibala is hopeful. “I’m 41, with two young children,” he says. “I don’t have time to go out and exercise for hours.” The results should be available this fall.

She’s Such a Lemon Face

Sherika — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 12:00:42 +0000

I decided – out of the clear blue sky – to do this segment in which I feature a celebrity caught in the act of running. The problem here is that, unlike other folks, I’m too lazy to actually find a photo of the featured celebrity actually engaging in the act of running. Now, this particular celebrity might not be as glamorous as, say, Angelina Jolie, the most powerful celebrity in the world, but it will do. And maybe this photo isn’t the best example but here is Renee Zellwegger not running:
“Why did you feed me a lemon?”

However, here is a post from fitsugar.com talking about her running addiction. Unfortunately, her addiction seems to be confined to treadmill running and, apparently, Advil (which explains Me, Myself and Irene.)

To be fair, Renee looks much better when wearing make-up and worked over by a team of celebrity fashionistas. However, I still think she always seems to have this odd look on her face as if she just sucked on a lemon, no? To me, she defines “Hollywood beauty.” As in, “if she weren’t in Hollywood and just some regular person working at a grocery store, she wouldn’t be a beauty.”

She does look okay decked out in red and vogueing for the cameras. I find it odd that she’d choose a red carpet event to flex her lats though:

You are under arrest for treadmill abuse.

Keep on runnin’ Renee Zellwegger!

I Overpronate

Sherika — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 12:00:14 +0000

And because of that, I am not a very effective as a shock absorber. I used to think I had a neutral step, but now, I know for sure. My feet, my feet are retarded.

This actually makes me a bit sad because the last thing I wanted for myself was to be an overpronator.

Over-pronation is more common in people with flat feet, but I happen to have a high arch. With “normal pronation”, the outside of the heel makes the initial ground contact. However, if the foot rolls inward more than the ideal fifteen percent, then it’s overpronating. This means the foot and ankle have problems stabilizing the body, and shock isn’t absorbed as efficiently. Overpronating happens at the end of the gait cycle when the front of the foot pushes off the ground using mainly the big toe and second toe, which then must do all the work. In other words, retarded feet, something that I probably should have acknowledged a long time ago since the wearing on both my shoes clearly shows over-pronation.

I thought the excruciating after-run pains in my shins (and all over actually) were a telltale sign that either I was wearing incorrect running shoes, or, overtraining, but no. I was “exhibiting a classic over-pronation in my running gait.”

I couldn’t have guessed that?!?

This of course, contributed to a prolonged recovery time and a painful struggle to finish my 40 minute run to no-where (because I’m on a treadmill, get it?). But forget the pain—I want to fix my feet for one really, really good reason—to be more like a ninja. I want my numbers to be better, because, numbers show progress. Except when it comes to age. Aging, no matter how much people talk about it being great, is terrible—unless it’s wine or cheese.

So, if you have major foot issues, let me share what I’ve learned to help you and your pronation, be it, in, out or neutral.

Break bad habits—be conscious of the pronation roll and then correct it.

Pain means something, but don’t let it cripple you. Listen to it, get it fixed, then get back in the game.

Being that I am cheap, ahem, frugal, I have to learn to spend money on GOOD shoes.

Go to a running store and talk to someone there. Sometimes, keyword: sometimes, they know what they are talking about.

If you are a man, woman or even in between, still get shoes that are good looking. There’s is truly nothing dumber looking than ugly shoes.

Intense Interval Training

Sherika — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 04:39:50 +0000

Interval training is basically exercise which consists of an activity at high intensity for a period of time, followed by low intensity exercise for a period of time. Then you repeat it and pray you don’t die the second time around.

The intensity of the sprint intervals is how hard you push yourself during the sprint. Let’s say the intensity is measured on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 would be no effort whatsoever while 10 represents the maximum effort possible. This scale obviously differs from person to person based on fitness levels. Here’s how I made a jackass out of myself thinking I was a 10, and the important lesson I learned.

BEGAN A CHALLENGE

Facts:

I get through 2.8 miles at a decent pace and I feel pretty proud of myself. I stop the treadmill and I am immediately sorry. Nausea and a sprained groin was just the beginning. I’m standing there, my back in spasm, thinking, I’m such an a-hole.

For me interval training is the only way. Doing bursts of hard exercise not only improves cardiovascular fitness but also the body’s ability to burn fat, even during low or moderate-intensity workouts.

Evidence suggests that a workout with steep peaks and valleys can dramatically improve cardiovascular fitness and raise the body’s potential to burn fat.

This technique is not just for running, it can be applied to swimming, walking or cycling. It worked for me, but I had to push myself hard, and I mean hard. To go hard, the body must use new muscle fibers. Once these recent recruits are trained, they are available to burn fuel even during easy-does-it workouts. Any form of exercise that recruits new muscle fibers is going to enhance the body’s ability to metabolize carbohydrates and fat. Interval training does amount to hard work, but the sessions can be short lasting only 20 minutes.

Best of all, a workout that combines tortoise and hare leaves little time for boredom. The point is to move and keep moving.

Cons: I can’t think of many; the main factor when training this intensely is to pay attention to your form. Don’t over do it.