Archive for December, 2008
December 30th, 2008
When it comes to New Year’s resolutions, I’ve whittled mine down to one that works – the same one every year.
I vow to be just as bad, but no worse, in the new year as I was in the old one.
This resolution works for me because the idea instead of resolving to lose a bunch of weight, improve my exercise routine or watch my spending more closely – all of which I would probably break just as fast as most anyone else — is to try to emphasize positives, the things that I think I already do well and do them more often in the new year.
It doesn’t matter if other people think I do them well, Â just that I think so.
I think the same approach can work for anyone. Figure out two or maybe three things that you do well — politeness, generosity, leadership, or whatever — and practice them more often. You may find that that person who now emphasizes those positives is more motivated to drop those five pounds that have been hanging around for too long or has the willpower to finally put out that last cigarette.
You get a better, healthier, happier you and no resolution to make yourself over was needed.
December 17th, 2008
Among the things we ran across Tuesday while covering Windsor Elementary School teacher Amy Conklin’s success in a Weight Watchers’ contest were her tips on sticking with a weight-loss plan.
You wouldn’t have seen them unless you went to www.weightwatchers.com/inspiringstories to follow everything about the story, and I wanted to make sure they got repeated here since weight loss is likely to be high on a lot of New Year’s resolution lists.
Her tips are:
“You need to eat to lose weight. It may sound counter-intuitive, but when you deny your body nutrition by not eating, your metabolism slows down, making it harder to lose weight.”
“Don’t set a time frame for your weight loss. It can be a recipe for disaster. If you set a goal date and you are off track on achieving it, you are more likely to give up.”
“Lose weight and get healthy for yourself. Trying to lose weight for someone else or for an event means you aren’t ready to make a lifestyle change. Weight Watchers isn’t a diet, it’s a lifestyle (yes, I’m letting her get away with an endorsement, but to not do so would be to change her quote). This is one instance in life when it is OK to be completely selfish. Everyone who loves you will reap the benefits of this commitment to your health.”
“Be realistic about your goals. Rapid weight loss is not healthy and in most cases not sustainable.”
Her last tip is another endorsement, and one is enough. You can visit the Weight Watchers’ Web site if you want to read it.
In any event, I hope this may help you if weight loss is your goal for 2009.
December 9th, 2008
Lucky us. We’ve gotten our third — or is it fourth, already — blast of snow, and enough cold weather to make sure there is plenty of ice to go along with it.
This can put a real chill on outdoor workouts unless you don’t mind adapting to the conditions. And outdoor activities in winter can burn some serious calories while doing wonders for shaping and strengthening legs and glutes.
Here are some examples of calorie expenditures per hour for winter activities using a calculator found at www.fitday.com/webfit/exerciseinfopage.html and my information of 5-foot-9, 185 pounds and 60 years of age:
Ice skating (general) 423
Cross-country skiing (moderate speed 4-4.9 MPH and effort) 494
Downhill skiing (moderate effort) 353
Sledding, tobogganing, bobsledding or luging 423
Snowshoeing 494
Moving an ice house (including setup and drilling) 353
Snowmobiling 176
Of course, running and maybe even bicycling aren’t impossible in the snow. You could think of winter activities as seasonal cross-training.
December 3rd, 2008
It looks like we’re back into last winter’s pattern of snow every couple of days, which means we’re going to be getting extra lifting workouts with the old snow shovel.
The usual advice when shoveling is to not lift big, heavy loads of snow at one time and to make sure when you are lifting that you bend at the knees and not from your lower back. Still, it’s pretty hard to avoid stiffness in the lower back after the first round of shoveling, so here are a couple of exercises to help loosen things up again:
The first is a long-time favorite of mine and I remember, when I first read about it way back when, that a doctor quoted in the article said something to the effect that if everyone did this exercise for one minute a day, he would lose half of his lower back pain patients.
Start the exercise by lying face up with the right leg straight while holding the left toward your chest with one hand on top of the knee and the other under the hamstring. Pull the left leg gently until you feel a slight stretch in the hamstring. Then place your left hand on the floor at shoulder height and, keeping both shoulders on the floor as much as possible, use your right hand to gently pull the left knee to the right. Look back at your left hand while you do this. Hold for 20 to 30 seconds, release and return to starting position. Repeat with the left leg straight and switch direction to pull the right leg to the left while you look back at your right hand.
The second exercise is simply called a “pretzel” and I like it because you are using one set of your own muscles to stretch another set. It’s mostly a stretch for the iliotibial band on the side of the upper leg, but I always include it when my back is feeling a bit sore.
Again, start by lying on your back. Place one foot flat on the floor and cross the ankle of the other leg over the knee. Pull both legs gently toward your chest by lifting the foot off the floor.
Try not to overdo the shoveling and think spring.
