Category: Health & Wellness Monday

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Pinnacle Peak

Remember how I’ve been working on my walking?  Not walking, but getting my steps in.  Well, it’s a good thing! I was just in Arizona to visit my beautiful and talented friend K who recently relocated there.  Among the many fun shenanigans that we got up to, she took me for a hike at Pinnacle Peak Park in Scottsdale.  Since I’m barely a walker, you can imagine that I’m not much of a hiker at all.

Of course, K happens to be an elite marathoner, so walking (even up and down hills on a rocky trail) is a piece of cake for her.  Let’s just say that it’s a good thing that she is so kind and sweet-hearted because I was certainly not anywhere near being able to keep up with her natural pace.  My accomplishment was that I didn’t hold her back too much for at least part of the trek.

It was an incredible experience.  Shortly after we began our hike, we saw a couple of Blue Angels fly overhead.  Since it was a cool day the beauty of the dessert landscape was easier for me to appreciate.  The trail had great signage identifying the different plants along it.  We took a break to admire this in-between things tree.  It was certainly thriving in the gaps.

There were also fantastic views of gigantic Scottsdale golf course homes.  This one has a bridge to the guest home!  A guest home that is probably at least twice, probably three times the size of my little bungalow.

Once I got home, I looked up Pinnacle Peak Park. I was guessing that we hiked around three miles.  The trail is 1 ¾ miles one way (so 3 ½ miles round trip) which is a do-able walk.  It was all of the up and down hills that got me, especially the last third of the trail (where the “strenuous past this point” sign was) which became a long, steep uphill coming back.  Turns out that the 1,300 feet of elevation change is something that I don’t get in my ambles around town.

It was such a fun excursion.  Even though it was strenuous and pretty challenging for me, I can’t wait to try it again.  We’re already planning my next visit and that will give me a training goal to make sure that at a minimum, I’m getting my steps in every day.

Are you a hiker?  Where do you like to go?

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100 Cycle Classes with Rachel in 2018

On Saturday, November 17, I completed my 100th cycle class with my instructor, Rachel.  Not only that, I was the first person to complete the challenge that she set out for us in January.  I don’t know how that happened, but I am basking in a sense of accomplishment over it.

I had only become a Rachel groupie a few months earlier.  There is just something about when she is yelling, “yes, you can!” at you that makes you believe it.

Rachel teaches twice a week, Wednesdays at 5:45am and Saturdays at 8am.  No one goes to spin class at those hours for just for kicks, those are serious, get the grrrr out people. But 100 classes is still a formidable challenge.  I love getting activity credit, checking things off, and discrete goals so I signed up right away.

At first blush, it seemed nearly impossible: Rachel teaches twice a week and there are 52 weeks in a year, so you can only miss four.  All year. Yikes. If she was subbing for another instructor, that would count; also, you could count up to ten classes with other instructors toward your 100 (so really you only need to take 90 Rachel classes). If someone was subbing for her, that counted toward your ten.  Ok, still challenging, but potentially moderately do-able.

I wound up using nine of my ten freebies, so I’ve decided to dedicate the rest of the year to making those up.  My new-improved goal is to have 100% Rachel classes before Christmas.  I’m not a perfectionist, but I do like to go back and fine-tune things when time allows.

Did I mention that there were prizes?  How fun is that?

At 25 classes, you got a certificate.  To me, this is a prized possession.  For so many years a big part of my job was creating and producing recognition certificates and awards but this was the first one that I had received since I was in school.  It makes me so happy to see it on my refrigerator every day.

Best certificate ever

At 50 classes, you got a granola bar.  I somehow neglected photographic evidence of this award, but let me tell you, it was delicious.

At 75 classes, you got a water bottle. A fancy, Lulu Lemon squeezy-style water bottle.  It says, “Your GOALS are showing.”  This treasure spent a few weeks on my desk (aka dinning table) as a trophy before I deigned to put it into action.

Anabel practicing her trophy pose

I had to show up to class number 101 to claim my final prize.  It is  starting to feel like winter in So Cal and as I walked out to my car at 5:30am that morning, I remember thinking that I really should spring for one of those cozy Lulu Lemon snappy scarf things.  Long story short, that was my prize!

Manifesting dreams

Sally and Anabel thought that my accomplishment was great and sure, that was a nice gift, but they really thought that the gift bag was the real prize.

Kitten priorities

I am very grateful to Rachel for all the time and energy and resources that she put into this challenge because she loves her spin tribe.  And I am so honored to have found and been granted membership into this group.

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Stretching Helps

Here’s the thing, flexibility is relative.  People are just put together differently, and some people are just more flexible than others.  And some of it has nothing to do with muscles.  Tendons and ligaments impact joints’ range of motion.  And some joints, like hips, have a lesser or greater range of motion because of the actual skeletal structure of the joint.

But everyone can benefit from stretching.  Think about it like stretching allows the muscles to support a joint’s optimal range of motion rather than restricting it.  Think about it like everyone can stretch to their optimal capacity but your optimal capacity and mine are not necessarily the same.

For better AND worse, I am naturally very flexible (worse because hypermobility can strain joints).  Being flexible does help make stretching more enjoyable for me.  It’s something that I can feel like I’m “good” at even though it has nothing to do with my goodness.  That being said, I am no where near as flexible as I once was, and some stretches that used to be pleasant are uncomfortable these days.

Back in the day, stretching was an integral part of my day.  Not just the stretching before/during/after dance class, but something that happened during hanging around the house time (while watching TV and especially before going to sleep).  I remember one time either during or just after college when I was visiting my family.  My brother and I were hanging out having a conversation about something and I decided that it was a good time to stretch my back.  Apparently, it is unusual to carry on a conversation with someone while contorted in that way and J was a little surprised.  Well I tell you, if you don’t use it you lose it!  The last time I tried to do that stretch, I couldn’t get close.

While I would love to think that I’ll get back to being able to fold myself in half again, I don’t know that I am up for putting the kind of time in to get there.  And I feel like that is ok for where I am in my life right now.  But I am going to try to start making a point of getting up and getting a quick stretch in here and there throughout my day.  I’ll start with some easy forward folds and see if I can’t work back up to something more interesting.

Remember when instead of saying “forward fold” we would say “touch your toes”?  I’m a fan of this evolution of the nomenclature.  Because “forward fold” allows for so much more variation in the position.

I tend to like to move through a few different styles when I’m doing this stretch.  My favorite variation these days is with bent legs and resting your chest on your thighs.  Then it’s not about hamstrings, but more about your back, neck, and shoulders.  I’ve even gotten Mr. Man to do this sometimes when his back is bothering him.  Because it helps!

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Good Morning Habits

I sure hate this whole changing the clocks thing.  I really, really wish that we didn’t do it at all.  But if we’re going to have to “fall back,” I’m going to encourage you to take advantage of this week to put that time to work for you.  If you don’t have an early morning habit and want to start one, this is the week.  Now’s your chance!

Caveat: you will probably wind up wanting to go to bed an hour earlier (aka, your usual bed time before the time change) too.

If you want to try to get up an hour earlier to work out, here is my advice: KEEP IT SIMPLE.  Trust me, you can get out of bed, but you don’t want to have to do a lot of thinking after you do.

First tip: set out your gym clothes before you go to sleep.  Just make a little pile (don’t forget your socks and sneakers) somewhere near your bed.  If you put on your gym clothes as soon as you get out of bed, it’s a deterrent to climbing back into bed.  Also, have your gym bag ready to go – water bottle, headphones, cycling shoes, yoga mat, grippy socks, whatever – you don’t want to be looking for/collecting these things when you’re just waking up.

Next: get out quick.  Brush your teeth, grab your gym bag and get out the door.

Last tip (or actually, this probably should have been the first tip): know what you’re going to do when you get to the gym.  You already know that I’m a fan of group fitness classes.  More reasons why: 1) they happen at set times, so you know when you need to be there; and 2) someone is going to tell you what to do when you get there, so you only have to be awake enough to listen.  Also, you usually have to sign up ahead of time and there is usually some sort of penalty for no-showing, which can be motivating on those days when turning the alarm off and rolling over seems like the better option.

If you aren’t interested in starting an early morning work-out habit but you do want to start meditating or journaling or eating a healthy breakfast or one of the million other things “first thing in the morning” options that you haven’t tried to start doing yet, this is your week.  Pick one.  Try it.  Starting your day by doing something for yourself is a wonderful gift.  Maybe you decide that the best gift you can give yourself is that time in bed,  that’s ok too.

For me, I feel like my “first thing in the morning” list is long enough.  Sure, there are more things that I would like to do like meditate, or drink hot lemon water, or read the news (ok, well maybe this is a good one to keep not doing). But, going back to my main point, it’s better to: KEEP IT SIMPLE.  When something becomes important enough to me, I’ll find time in my day to make it happen.  In the meantime, I’m going to protect the small habit that I’ve established.

Do you already have an early morning routine?  What gets you out of bed?

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Step It Up

Ok, let’s face it, walking really is that good for you.  It’s easy, you don’t need any special equipment, and it is super effective.

Some of the benefits of walking (according to me):

  • Slimming for your thighs
  • Toning for your calves
  • Strengthening for your back/core
  • Good for your posture
  • Easy on your joints
  • Fat-burning cardio – moderately elevated heartrate
  • Fresh air is good for your mood
  • If you can find a walking buddy, it’s a great time to catch up

It’s a no brainer, right? But somehow, I manage to not get enough steps in anyway.  What is enough step and how do I know?  Well, I use an app on my phone of course!  My app tells me that my target should be 6,000 steps or 60 minutes per day.  That is way less than that 10k number that everyone tries to hit so it shouldn’t be that hard, right?  And yet, I still manage to not make my target most days.

Caveat: I don’t count my gym workouts as part of my step goal.

Plus-or-minus a few minutes depending on how fast/slow I’m going 6,000 steps is right around one hour of walking.  How hard would it be for me to just get up and go for a one-hour walk?  Just bang it all out at once and not have to worry about trying to count trips out back to the laundry room or whatever other puttering around the house I’m doing.  The answer is not very hard.  But somehow it can turn into a mental hurdle really easily.

I’ve tried breaking my walking up into quick 10-minute laps around the block.  I don’t bother with sneakers, I just head out in my flip flops. It becomes a little treat – finish one hour of writing and then I get a break. I can sometimes swing two or three mini walks.  This tactic is not going to get me to 6,000 steps on its own.

Some days I walk to the gym which is right around 20 minutes each way.  It’s a good warm-up for Mondays with Adam and the walk home helps everything from tightening up.  Even on those days I still can manage to not hit my target if I don’t pay attention.

Sure, I could invest in a Fitbit (the new Versa is pretty cute) or some other wearable that would track ALL my steps without my having to worry about carrying my phone around everywhere.  If I did that, I feel like I would have no excuse not to set a 10k target. Since I know that I’m not getting enough steps as it is, counting all the little bits of walking (back and forth from the couch to the refrigerator) doesn’t seem like a real solution.  I need to create some sort of gimmick for myself to make my step target a natural part of my day.  I’m not sure what that is…

Last week I managed to hit my step goal on four days (I missed one day by under 100 steps!).  This week I will shoot for five days and see if I can’t work my way up to seven days and maintain it until the end of the year.  Its probably do-able, don’t you think?

So, my questions for you are:

  • What is your daily step goal?
  • What tricks or tips do you use to help you get your steps in every day?
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Eucalyptus Oil is Magic

So, I’ve been a bit more sniffly than usual these past few months.  No!  I am NOT allergic to my kittens no matter what Mr. Man says.  Anyway, I’m a little out of practice with my allergy abatement protocol and was suffering more than I needed to be.  One night when I was determined to do better about my bed-time routine, I noticed a forgotten bottle on my nightstand – Eucalyptus Essential Oil.  Oh yeah!  That will help.  So, I grab a cotton ball, place it on that pretty seashell that Mr. Man brought home from one of his Baja trips, and hit it with three drops of eucalyptus oil.  Ah, that smells nice.

When I wake up the next morning, my sinuses are clear!  Like I could breath through my nose!  First thing in the morning!  Eucalyptus oil, I love you.  I’m so sorry that I forgot about your magical properties.

According to Wikipedia, Eucalyptus oil contains a chemical called cineole which among other things may have antibacterial effects on the respiratory tract.  So it may have more than just a placebo effect on my sinuses.  Another chemical component, eucalyptol, gives the oil its cooling properties.

Eucalyptus oil can applied topically, but I would recommend diluting in a carrier oil if you want to use it on your skin just to be extra safe.  If you wanted to play with blending your own essential oils, you could make a sore muscle soothing blend with four drops of eucalyptus oil, two drops of ginger essential oil, and four drops of rosemary essential oil in a base of four teaspoons of a carrier oil like almond or grapeseed oil.

Eucalyptus oil is used in as a flavoring component in things like gum or cough drops.  However, it can be toxic and I would suggest that you DO NOT want to ingest it.  It can be dangerous for children.  It can also be dangerous for cats (I think that most essential oils are not good for cats) so be careful about how you use it around your furry friends.  My kittens haven’t had a bad reaction to my nighttime routine, but I am careful to keep essential oils away from anything that they could get on them and/or ingest.

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Indoor Cycling, part 1

I love to watch the Tour de France on TV every July.  The drama!  The metaphor for the human condition! The scenery!  I totally get why folks like to spandex up and ride bicycles for miles and miles outside in the fresh air, but cycling as a sport is something that I prefer to participate in as a spectator.

I do like ride my beach cruiser around the neighborhood.  Sometimes I’m going somewhere that is just a little too far to walk, or the parking situation is too much trouble.  But serious outdoor bike riding is not for me.  The two big reasons why are: 1) the ground is hard; and 2) cars.

I do like to ride bicycles inside.

I first tried indoor cycling about 16 years ago.  I have never been a cardio person and cycling is super challenging for me. The great part back in those days was that there really wasn’t anyway for anyone to know if you weren’t keeping up.  I could just dial the resistance down or slow my pace or both when I started to feel like my lungs were on fire and my heart was going to explode.  I still got stronger as time went along and could maintain an increasingly greater levels of effort but I certainly wasn’t ever keeping up with the class.

I credit indoor cycling classes for helping me discover the beauty of morning workouts.  I think that it’s a great way to start a morning workout habit because you don’t necessarily need to be fully awake to do it.  I mean, there’s not a lot of coordination or balance involved.  And usually the room is pretty dark.  You can get half-way through your workout before you realize what’s happening.

My current cycling routine is Wednesday mornings at 5:45am and Saturday mornings at 8am with Rachel.  There is a great camaraderie in her class and once I had started showing up regularly, I was warmly welcomed into the tribe.  Which is great and all except it’s not like the old days when no one really knew what you were doing.  These bikes light up!  Blue = easy, green = moderate, yellow = hard and red = breathless.  So everyone can tell who is keeping up.   Fortunately, everyone is very supportive and we really just judge each other on whether or not you show up.

Rachel’s class is very different from other instructors.  She has us  grind it out at various moderate-to-hard (green and yellow) intensities for long stretches with occasional bursts of red sprinkled in (last Saturday was 28 minutes straight through before any recovery, then repeat).  It’s a different kind of mind game to hold pace for those long stretches.  I’ll tell you, I still remember the first time I kept up on a six minute hard hill.  Something clicked over somewhere around the four minute mark. I don’t know how to describe it, but all of a sudden I wasn’t just surviving anymore.  I’ve been a Rachel groupie ever since.

I will tell you all about Rachel’s Great Cycle Challenge of 2018 in a future post.

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Back to the Bar (Method)

Last week, I headed back to the bar (method) for the first time in a few months. I love the Bar Method. It was the only workout that I did for five years and I enjoyed every moment of it.

I call Bar Method my “middle-aged lady workout” because everything about it is very civilized, elegant, and no-nonsense.  Bar Method studios are known for their spa-like atmosphere.  Every one that I’ve ever been to is calming feeling and nicely lit but my local Bar Method in Long Beach is for sure my favorite.

The workout is not easy but the classes themselves are also very civilized and elegant.  The exercises are designed to be very safe and very toning.  There is an focus on posture throughout the entire class that gives regulars a very elegant carriage. And there is stretching integrated all throughout class, which is something that tends to be given short shrift in a lot of other group exercise classes.

I credit Bar Method for ending the war that had been going on between my thighs and my bum for years.  You might know what I’m talking about: it seemed like my thighs were trying to grow their own bum at the top of my legs and my bum was doing everything that it could to hang down low enough to hide it.  One significant result that I noticed after doing Bar Method for just a short while was that my thighs and my bum went back to minding their own business (which was greatly appreciated).

I had been feeling like I needed a bit of a re-set.  What I was craving was a good stretch and to give my posture a tune-up. I found some time in my schedule that coincided with one of my favorite instructor’s class time and decided to pop in.

When I walked in to the studio, I was so warmly welcomed by the owner, Jo, Geanna, the instructor that I thought I was going to have class with, and SURPRISE! by Bar Method Master Instructor Heidi Revay (I don’t know if that is an official title, but that is what she is to me).  She was in town visiting and was going to teach class.  Wow! That was a fun surprise.

Pretty much every Bar Method instructor is toned and poised, but Heidi is more like a goddess. She is not only beautiful and elegant but she has this amazing energy that is loving and nurturing and demanding all at the same time. I feel like I work harder than I would naturally want to in Heidi’s class because she can see what I’m capable of and expects me live up to my potential.  Making the effort is my tribute to her goddess energy.

Part of what makes Bar Method so civilized is that you can have a really great workout without sweating your brains out. You’re not generally going to ruin your blow-out or your make-up. I tend to sweat pretty easily when I exercise, but I have never gotten as drenched in a Bar Method class before as I did in Heidi’s class that day.  It was not cute. Fortunately, I didn’t have a blow-out or any make-up to worry about.

When I left the studio, I felt that I had gotten the re-set that I was looking for and a little bit more.  I’m looking forward to going again this week. It’s nice to be back at the Bar (Method).

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Jade Roller

I have a confession to make, I love a good skincare gizmo (even though I have a hard time rationalizing spending money on them).  I am completely devoted to my Clarsonic. When my mom sent me a T3 hair drier, I couldn’t imagine why anyone would ever spend that much money on a hair drier – until I tried it and my hair was suddenly smooth and shiny and bouncy and amazing.  I’ve been close to springing for the NuFace a couple of times but have managed to talk myself out of it so far.

When I heard about the jade face roller, I had to learn more.  Here is what caught my attention about this gadget: 1) it is very low tech, so no need to worry that it’s going to crap out before I feel like I got my money’s worth out of it; 2) two words: facial massage. I found one on Nordstrom but wasn’t feeling the $60 price tag and didn’t buy it.  Then it occurred to me to look on Amazon and tada!  You can get one for around $10!  That is a no brainer, buy! *caveat – a $10 jade roller may not actually be jade.

My gadget came with a bonus nifty scraper wedge thing but no instructions.

I’ve never searched for beauty videos online, but this seemed like the time.  I watched a few and found one that was reasonably instructive on youtube (here’s the link).

Basically, you apply a serum or oil of your choice to help the roller glide better and it’s supposed to firm and provide lymphatic drainage (ok, sounds good). Conversely the jade roller allegedly helps the product penetrate the skin so that’s a win.

I think that when I use it, my skin is softer and it really is a nice little massage. I found that there is a lot of tension just above and along my eyebrows and I like to get after that (I’m sure that it will lift and firm my eyelids and help smooth out my elevens…or not, it still feels nice).  The little roller side is for use under your eyes. It’s nice and cool and I can see an immediate reduction in puffiness when I use it there (don’t press hard).

It hasn’t rolled away all my wrinkles, but it does feel firming. I think that if I bothered to use it every day for a week or a month or something that I might notice a difference. For the time being, I’m just using it for a little treat a few times a week.

Have you tried the jade roller?  What do you think? Do you know what the scraper thingy is for?

What is your favorite skincare gadget?

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Wisdom, Kindness, and Love

My journey with yoga began twenty years ago.  Yoga is ubiquitous these days, but in 1998, it was just starting to become widely accessible.

I haven’t maintained a regular yoga practice but every so often, I find my way back to my mat for a period of time. I’m sure I would be much closer to inner peace and never having back pain if I could maintain a regular, daily practice indefinitely. That’s ok though, yoga welcomes me back every time and seems to give me what I need at that time.

I started taking yoga at the Bally Total Fitness in Huntington Beach.  The Sunday morning step instructor started offering yoga immediately after step class (yes, I was a step aficionado and I had the cankles to prove it). Gosh, I wish I could remember his name!  He was a very sunny and bright spirit who was in the process of yoga training and wanted to share his journey with us.

I loved the opportunity to stretch and move in different ways.  I studied Pilates in college as part of my dance studies so for me, my first exposure to yoga was evocative of that discipline (the intent and breathing is different but I’m sure that old Joe was influenced by ancient India somehow). For me, it was a non-threatening way to work on strength while retaining the flexibility and balance that I had developed through dance.

A few years later, my friend at work invited me to join her for a yoga class after work.  We headed WAY into downtown Los Angeles (this was in the days that no one lived downtown).  The class was a revelation, it was fast moving and energetic and transformational.  I felt like I was attacking my practice with a sense of fearlessness.  There wasn’t time for fear, you just kept moving and when you were finished, you realized that you had done things that you never would have thought you could.  The owner/instructor always closes her lessons with, “wisdom, kindness, and love. Namaste.” Wherever I find myself, I still like to always close my practice with, “wisdom, kindness, and love.”

About two years ago, I was procrastinating with making a decision, nothing life-changing, just a little thing that was important to me.  One day I decided to go to a random yoga class.  Somewhere in the middle of class, that anxious feeling in my chest that had been hanging around for months went away and I knew that it was time and that I was making the right decision.  How does yoga do that?

Currently, I do yoga at my gym. Usually but not always twice a week.  The class is billed  as “ yoga for athletes,” which is not a how I would describe myself these days and I was nervous to try it. But it was on the right day at the right time, and turns out is just right for me right now. The instructor is very straightforward and the class is only 50 minutes, which is long enough for me anymore. We don’t do inversions or crazy back bends or arm balances and I don’t need those things right now.  It is challenging and strenuous, but energizing.