My Short-Short Health & Fitness Book Report!
Thanks to Turbo Jennie (who got it from Leah? Or Sara?) for the vid! Totally safe for work. In fact, this video should become the theme for your next office party. Awesome. Click through to see the video if you get this via e-mail or RSS.
Relaxation is such a personal thing. Some people get pedicures, others watch a show, still others crawl into the butt-end of a Dope Zebra and get all Party Rocker up in their backyard. Me? I read stuff. Not even fun stuff but non-fiction science-y stuff. I love it. But not everyone has the time or interest to read it all so here’s my book report. And in the interest of efficiency – I have a tendency to write reallly looong pooosts – I’m doing each report in three sentences. Enjoy! Or just enjoy the dope zebra. Whatever boot scoots your boogie.
* **Gist: Processed food is bad for you – you may have heard? – but these evolutionary scientists have figured out that it’s because of the over abundance of Omega-6 fatty acids from corn, soybean, safflower and other processed oils. In addition they make a very compelling case for why women a) need to be fatter than men and b) need to be fatter than our current standard of beauty.
Best advice: Ditch the Omega-6′s in your diet by breaking up with processed foods and increase your intake of Omega-3 fats by adding fish, fish oil, walnuts and canola oil to your diet. Oh, and stop hating your thighs that touch – they’re why your kids are so smart.
Who should read it: Everyone! It’s awesome and the fact that the last 60 pages are nothing but dense citations make me trust it even more. Check out my post Women Are Supposed to be Fat for a more nuanced review.
Just 10 LBS: Easy Steps to Weighing What You Want (Finally)
Gist: I got to interview Brad Lamm for a Shape piece on Adderall abuse but his real expertise lies in helping people overcoming addictions of all kinds, especially to food. He presents a very thoughtful and loving way to lose weight.
Best advice: Don’t making loving yourself conditional upon losing weight. Love yourself first.
Who should read it: Anyone who is trying to lose weight in a healthy positive way and develop the life skills to keep it off. Also, be prepared to go slowly with this one – crash diet it’s not (and that’s a good thing!)
The Playful Brain: The Surprising Science of How Puzzles Improve Your Mind
Gist: Solving all kinds of puzzles helps your brain stay younger and healthier.
Best advice: Go beyond crosswords and Sudoku to challenge and strengthen different parts of your brain. I found myself skipping all the spatial puzzles (like those stupid matchstick puzzles they stick on every IQ test) and then I realized that’s because I’m super bad at them… which means I really need to do them to strengthen the spatial processing center in my brain. Gah.
Who should read it: Not for casual puzzle buffs just looking for a fun bathroom book but more for people really interested in the why and how – it really delves into the science.
The Mindful Way through Depression: Freeing Yourself from Chronic Unhappiness
Gist: Focusing on the Eastern philosophy of mindfulness, this book takes you step by step through how to change your thoughts, actions and lifestyle to rewire your brain and make it more resilient when it comes to depression and other mood disorders.
Best advice: We are not at the mercy of our moods, we can change the way we think and consequently the way we feel. As a girl who has struggled most of my life with depression and anxiety, I found the message of this book to be both helpful and hopeful and it also made a lot of sense to me – although I’m still working on implementing it.
Who should read it: For anyone who struggles with “chronic unhappiness” this book is a game changer.
Gist: Intermittent fasting guru Brad Pilon takes you through all the research supporting using fasting both as a diet and a healthy lifestyle tool. He advocates fasting (abstaining from all food and caloric beverages) for 1 – 2 days a week for 18-30 hour periods.
Best advice: Fasting gets a bad rap as being extreme but done properly (i.e. not in an eating disordered way) it is an immensely powerful tool for health. It’s also not as hard or scary as people think it will be.
Who should read it: Anyone who wants to know all the science behind IF and/or be convinced to try it. You don’t need the e-book to learn the technique, it’s simple: don’t eat or drink anything with calories for 24 hours.
Gist: The subtitle of this e-book is “weight loss without the rules” and it’s kind of like Intuitive Eating but a little more in depth.
Best advice: I’ll admit I was surprised as I assumed it would be just another diet book saying what to eat and what not to eat but it’s really a sane system of tapping into what your body wants and needs. It’s not a quick-fix diet.
Who should read it: People who have started Intuitive Eating but maybe need a little more structure.
The Physique 57(R) Solution: The Groundbreaking 2-Week Plan for a Lean, Beautiful Body
Gist: This book is the basis of this month’s Experiment but it basically details and expands upon the Lotte Berk method of using ballet techniques as a workout program.
Best advice: Ballerinas are tough, don’t discount a workout that pretty much only uses body weight as resistance until you’ve tried it. It’s a long workout but we sure are sore afterward!
Who should read it: Anyone who was a ballerina growing up or ever wanted to be a ballerina although expect mainly barre work. There are no dance moves, sadly.
Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption
Bonus: This isn’t a health or fitness book but ohmygoodness is it amazing! It’s a true story and proves the saying that truth is stranger than fiction. I absolutely could not put it down. You’ll be surprised, impressed and inspired.
What good books have you read lately? Anyone have a favorite Internet meme to make me giggle??
*The link is an Amazon affiliate link. I figure since I went to the trouble of reviewing them, I’d love it if you used my link if you decide to purchase it! And for my local friends – you’re always welcome to borrow my copy!!
**I received a copy for free for review purposes
What is the One Piece of Fitness Equipment You Can’t Live Without? [Reader Question]
I was kind of rolling my eyes until I got to #9. That question will haunt me until my dying day.
“So I have a post idea for you,” a friend at the gym recently said to me. (Incidentally this friend is the only person I have ever seen do the Wicked Wiper in person and he can do like 15 of them. It’s crazy. The first time we saw him do it we all burst into spontaneous applause on the weight floor which was even more awkward considering we hadn’t introduced ourselves yet and so pretty much looked like total creepers.) Anyhow, I love love love it when people start with this sentence. Mostly because it can be finished in so many awesome ways. “…what’s the deal with coconut water?” (Good q! Still need to write this one!) “…who invented push-ups?” (Don’t know but if I ever meet them I’m going to sit on their back for added resistance.) and “…why don’t you write Jillian Michaels fan fiction?” (Didn’t know that was an actual thing but I find it weird to write fiction about real living people.)
But this time my friend finished it with “I’m so sick of my earphones falling out every three seconds when I’m working out! I’ve tried every type out there and I’ve never found a pair that will stay put. And I cannot workout without my tunes!” As a sweaty Betty myself, he had my instant sympathy. I didn’t even realize that I sweated out my ears until one long run outside where my ear buds fell out so many times I looked like I had an ear-cleaning tic shoving them back every few steps forcing me to finally remove my headband and put it over the top of my ears to hold them in. (This was not nearly as awkward as when I realized why wearing gray cotton yoga pants to TurboKick is a huge mistake. It was like a Rorschach ink blot test… on my lady bits.) Anyhow, while I do like cleaning out my ears – heaven help me if I find a rogue Q-tip somewhere, it’s total eargasm time – I really don’t want to do it while I’m running.
The fitness industry has come up with myriad ways to solve this problem. First were the original headphones – you know, the kind that attached to your Sony Walkman strapped to your fanny pack? But the cheap plastic and foam never stayed put and covering your whole ear made the sweat even worse. Next were the “sport headphones” that had the plastic ear piece that wraps around the outside of your ear but, as my friend pointed out, they don’t work with his glasses. And I must have weirdly shaped ears because they never stayed put on mine either. Then came the tiny little ear buds that you stick in your ear – the better to permanently maim your hearing with! – and all the ways they can fall out, get tangled up and lose the leeeetle foam covering deep in your ear canal. I finally broke down and bought some hot pink Skullcandy ones with the interchangeable rubber tips. They were cuter but they still fell out of my ears when I got good and sweaty.
My Fave Piece of Fitness Equipment
I didn’t have a good answer for him at the time but I wanted one because, like the Gym Buddies will attest, I cannot run Tabata sprints without music. If I can hear myself sucking wind I slow down so my mp3 player is my must-have accessory. The universe heard my cries however and rained down earphones like manna. Actually: DB Logic mailed me a pair of their SPL2 earphones to try out for free. I adore them. ADORE. (And no they are not paying me for this post.) For two reasons:
1. The unique design has you place the earbuds “upside down” in your ears so that the thin cords run up over your ears. There is a little slider where they meet behind your head so you can tighten it up keeping the earphones tightly in place – seriously no slippage through a 3 mile run AND Tabatas – and keeping the wires out of your way.
2. The SLP2 technology automatically limits the sound pressure to 85 decibels in your ears thereby preserving your hearing and preventing you from being that girl 5 treadmills down who you know freaking loves Eminem because you can hear every syllable from her earphones 20 feet away. Not saying I don’t appreciate that girl when I’ve forgotten my own music – except for the day she played non-stop Katy Perry – but I just don’t want to be that girl. Picking the music for the entire gym to listen to is a big responsibility is all I’m saying.
Plus, at $34.95 they’re not much more expensive than my Skullcandy ones and they also come in lots of fun colors and with interchangeable rubber tips to get the right fit.
Fit Pros’ Fave Piece of Fitness Equipment
While I may be manic about my music during a workout, everyone seems to have their one favorite fitness tool they can’t live without and who better to ask than people who make their living in the biz? Check out my slideshow on Shape.com to see what personal trainers and fitness instructors picked as their must-have tool. You need to read it just to see what Kirez Reynolds – CrossFit trainer extraordinaire – picked. When he first posted it on Facebook I thought he was just being a smart aleck but it turns out he was serious and has the photographic evidence to prove it. Seriously, he’s amazing.
What is YOUR Fave Piece of Exercise Equipment?
Do you have to turn around and go home if you forget the chest strap to your heart rate monitor? Do you love your interval timer so much that you refuse to wear it in your cleavage Zuzana-style so that your sweat won’t ruin it? Do you pack your TRX in your travel bag first even though the TSA will flag it just to ask you if you’re into bondage? Also, what’s your solution to the earphones-falling-out issue??
Soft Porn Fitness: Has using sex to sell exercise gone too far?
Warning: pics in this post probably NSFW and definitely NSFK (not safe to look at with kids around). And that is a warning I hardly ever have to use on this site.
Confession: I love Bodyrock.tv. When I first came across them a few years ago (see below), I had mixed feelings about the sexified-to-the point-of-exploitation videos and pictures used to demonstrate the workouts. But then I got hooked on their unique and hardcore workouts – bonus: they use minimal equipment and can all be done at home – and the Gym Buddies and I have done a “Zuzana workout” (named after the eponymous Polish girl who modeled all of them) at least a few times a month for the past two years. While her trademark heavy breathing and heaving bosoms became punchlines (there was one workout that she did in a sports bra with the straps purposely removed, something we all found hilarious because what exactly is the point of a “high support” bra with no straps??), I kinda came to feel like Zuzana was a friend in a way. And when she came out about her traumatic erotic modeling past as a vulnerable teen in Eastern Europe, I loved her the more for it. And only suffered slight cognitive dissonance wondering why she still chose to use such provocative poses.
Fast forward to a month or so ago and suddenly everything changed. Zuzana, the star, left the site without much of an explanation and Freddy, previously mostly a shady background figure as her boyfriend and videographer, took center stage. In addition to Freddy they now have a rotating cast of young women who are similarly ripped and even more willing – if that’s possible – to pose with their butts up and their legs spread. And while the workouts have always had unique names – “cherry cherry boom boom” was my personal fave – they have now taken on a certain theme with titles like “I like how it feels” “Turn me on” “Wish you would” and “Don’t stop till I’m hot.” Written out like that, it’s practically a script. While the workouts are still tight, I find myself going to the site less and less. It may just be in my head, but the sex innuendo is even raunchier and the girls seem harder and I don’t just mean in their abs. Maybe it’s not worse. Maybe I just miss Zuzana. Change is hard.
Bodyrock, while one of the more flagrant, is certainly not the first fitness company to use a hot body to sell their product. ”If you’ve got it, flaunt it!” so the saying goes and fitness people certainly subscribe to this mantra. Seen a health or fitness mag lately? Unless it is Experience Life, I’d bet you a trailer of tuna steaks with whole wheat couscous and arugula that the cover model is in some state of undress. The bikini-clad-standing-thigh-deep-in-generic-water pose is so popular that I don’t think Shape has done a cover in the last 5 years without it.
Fitness TV shows, DVDs and podcasts are flush with female trainers sporting tiny booty shorts and sports bras. Heck, even CrossFit’s been porni-fied. And if you’ve ever tried CrossFit you will understand how very weird that is.
But is there a difference between showing flat abs in a bikini and, well, this?
Reader Katie sent me the following e-mail a few years ago, referring to Zuzana, but I think the points she makes still apply:
This website has really started to transform the way I approach workouts. They are short, intense workouts–from as little as 9 minutes to 45 minutes-tops. It’s all bodyweight based and just requires a floor mat and the ability to do pull-ups someplace. The woman on the site is very fit and is not shy about sharing that these workouts are ALL she does and that a lot of her battle is also in the kitchen.It all sounds great. Until you look at the site. I’m embarrassed to look at the site around other people because of the way her videos are shot, and the photos taken to show the individual movements. I feel like I’m looking at a soft-porn fitness site! When I’ve showed people where I’ve been getting several of my workouts from, they react with this same mixture of raised eyebrows, but then respect for her solid routines (and body). On the one hand, she sends such a positive message about being physically fit, nourishing your body with healthy food, and to a degree to not be ashamed to show off your hard work. On the other hand, she totally exploits her body and this razzes my feminist sensibilities. Therefore, the message gets a little muddled between the obvious display of silicone and play toward sex appeal and lack of modesty. This site combines so many of my vices—fitness, sex appeal, my love/hate relationship with this site’s goals, and finding the real reason I work out–how much is for my own fitness and how much for outward appearance?
And here’s a shot of one of the new models demonstrating a workout… or something.
:
Celebrities on magazine covers and mad-hot women on the Internet are one thing but what about real life? I remember the last time a girl showed up at my gym with night-club makeup, teased hair and sporting cleavage on both ends. People, both men and women, made negative comments about her look and the attitude they assumed she had. Jealousy rearing its ugly head? Or indignation about the breach of the implied moral code? Both? (Or just the fact that I live in suburban Minnesota and not Miami Beach?) When I wrote about this three years ago, I was inundated with comments from people who are not regulars here telling me that I’m uptight, prudish, just jealous and the like. And maybe I am. I’ll own it. But. There is a part of me that genuinely thinks this is not right and porn-ifying fitness hurts women.
On one hand, sex sells. Duh. Who wouldn’t want to look like Zuzana? I do! And – I can’t emphasize this enough – the workouts are fantastic! But on the other hand, is it necessary to go all Jenna Jameson to pimp your fitness routine? Fitness is often a weird place where, like acting and modeling, your body is your product.
What do you think – is soft porn fitness a problem for you? Is there a line between showing off what you worked so hard to create and selling yourself out? Is there a point where overt sexiness in fitness ads actually turns you off the product? Any other Bodyrockers out there totally thrown by the recent changes?
Happy Holidays From The Great Fitness Experiment!
I like to think we patented the “pee-pee pose”. And with 20 (!!) kids between us, it gets used A LOT.
Happy Holidays from all of us at the Great Fitness Experiment! We’ve already got some great Experiments lined up for 2012 (hint: it rhymes with “wee mighty next” 2!!). Thank you so much to all of you – this wouldn’t be nearly as awesome as it is without all of you reading, commenting, chastising, hugging and, yes, even lurking. I wish I had tutus for all of you! Dudes included!
I’m taking this week off of blogging to be with my family so I’ll see you in the new year!
In the meantime, other articles I wrote this week:
Are you falling for these 10 Food Label Lies? (Dun, dun, dun!!!)
Health Concerns? The best online support systems. (After you guys, of course!)
Kids’ bad reactions to gifts: Hilarious or Heinous? (The video is awesome!)
Top 15 “Mommy Warning” Sayings. (The comments are even better than my article!)
Latest volley in the mom-wars: Is buying food for a bake sale cheating? (Um, no. Duh.)
Krista just does this to people. It’s more than a little unnerving.
Sideways is very slimming!
Personally, I think I look better upside down. Which explains a lot, frankly.
Daria is verrry excited to go back to her cheerleading days.
I finally figured out why I have so many problems shaving my pits!!
Krista has me by the tail. It comes in handier than you’d think.
You have NO IDEA how many tries it took to get this picture.
What Was Your Best Halloween Costume Ever? [Plus: 20 Fitness Inspired Halloween Costumes]
I wish this were me but unfortunately I couldn’t find any pics of my gold statue costume, despite looking through every single picture I took in college. (It didn’t take long. I lived in the days before digital cameras and when you’re using film that takes a week to get developed, well, I have about 50 pictures total. Which is what most people take in one night and post on Facebook now. Wow I feel old.)
Being a gold statue for Halloween was awesome for several reasons: 1) I got to borrow my roommate’s real-feeling fake boobies and nothing bonds friends faster than a C cup that looks like an obscene Jell-O mold in your hand; 2) I had the cutest gold vintage dress ever; and 3) nobody knew who I was. It was reason #3 that makes that costume epic in my mind. See at that point in my college career I was majoring in crazy hair dye colors (cheetah orange was probably the worst), a whole lot of black emo-ish clothing and a crap ton of black eyeliner, so putting on a gold blond wig, fake boobs, and gold leopard print heels – and literally painting my skin gold (I don’t recommend it, it did not come off well) – was as out of my box as I could get. I remember passing my cute coworker with whom I worked every single day and having him not recognize me even after I said “hi.” So what if I looked like a woman impersonating a man impersonating a woman (is that a drag-drag queen?) and I was forced to hold perfectly still for inordinate amounts of time for people to “get” my costume? I wasn’t me for a night and that’s all I wanted.
These days I have not the time nor the money (how is it I was so much richer in college when I got paid $3.33 an hour plus tips?) to be that creative. At yet despite all my Halloween-hating, I will take any reason to dress up and run with it. I’m still working on this year’s costume though (and I promise I’ll get pics!). So when Shape.com asked me to do a slideshow on the best fitness inspired Halloween costumes I was all over it like body glitter on fake cleavage.
Here’s my personal fave from my slideshow:
Chuck Norris …is so tough that every October he makes the rest of the world dress up in silly costumes, just for his entertainment! (Sorry, I had to try!) Denim, denim, and more denim is your ticket to being the toughest guy in the universe (for one night). Rip the sleeves off a denim shirt, tuck the shirt into your jeans, and top it with a jean jacket. Add a double holster and boots and no one will ever mess with you again.
To see all 20 “hot and hilarious” Halloween costumes inspired by fitness icons, check out my slideshow on Shape!
While you’re there, check out my (funny!) slideshow for Shape’s 30th anniversary: Popular Fitness Equipment, Then and Now
Also for their 30th anniversary issue is my article on how “Fitness” has changed over the past 3 decades. (Shout-outs to Suzane Somers’ thigh master, Tamilee Webb’s be-thonged buns of steel and my own childhood pogo ball!)
In case I made you laugh too much, you can read my essay for Redbook on how my Internet mommy friends got me through my miscarriages.
And please, help me figure out what to do with the information that a registered sex offender has moved into my neighborhood!
What is your favorite Halloween costume of all time?? Why did you love it?
SHAPE Magazine’s Best Fitness Blogger List is Out [I'm Voting for MizFit!]
I bet this little guy pees when he’s excited too! Like when he sees his Precious…
SHAPE magazine just came out with their list of Top 20 Blogs for Fitness Junkies! That alone is fabulous news for both me and my Google Reader. (Did you know Jamie from Cranky Fitness is back and crabbier (i.e. funnier) than ever? Or that Tricia from Every Gym’s Nightmare is blogging again?) The Fit Bottomed Girls,Lisa of Workout Mommy, Tricia of Endurance Isn’t Only Physical, and Jess of Fit Chick in the City also represent!
With so many fantastic bloggers out there (both on the list and not), I am so so honored to be nominated (and that’s where the pageant queen-y part ends because when I heard the news I squeeeee’d and while you may see a pageant girl squeal – although I think technically they’re not supposed to make animal noises – I doubt one’s ever peed herself a little in joy. Maybe if it’s a Donald Trump pageant?)
But I’m not voting for me. I’m voting for this lady:
If you’ve never met Carla/MizFit online (and I find that hard to believe because girlfriend is everywhere in the fit-o-sphere!) then let me tell you why she deserves your votes:
1. She is unfailingly kind.
2. She is a true professional, both in the fitness and the business sense.
3. She cares about people before she cares about anything else.
4. She’s the friend who not only remembers your birthday but remembers that book you mentioned you wanted like 6 months ago and that your kid has a tonsillectomy in a week and that you’re afraid of those gigantic bumblebees because they do not look aerodynamic enough to fly and anything that literally bumbles through the air cannot be up to any good. (Seriously, they’re creepy right??)
5. But my favorite thing about Carla: she is unapologetically herself. She lives everything she preaches and she teaches it every day to her equally amazing daughter. She is a rare voice of sanity in what can sometimes be a very insane industry.
So, voting starts now! I believe you can vote every day. There are so many fantastic bloggers on this list, I couldn’t presume to tell you who to vote for but if you want a suggestion: I’m voting for MizFit:) Every day.
Thank you so much to SHAPE for the honor of including me and congratulations to all the other nominees – you are an amazing group and I’m proud to know (most of) you!
Hope all of you are having a great weekend!
Bodily Fluids and Fitness 101: Deodorant [$100 Visa Card Giveaway!]
You remember how bad I sweat? My poor kids have inherited my overactive pits.
Sweat is a hot topic (hee!) around my house. Usually it revolves around how much I sweat (buckets), how quickly I can pit out my workout top (5 seconds), how to get the sweat smell out of my workout clothes (vinegar) and how to get Gym Hubby to quit putting his sweat-soaked Ultimate Frisbee duds in the same pile as the baby’s rainbow-scented pink clothing. Needless to say there has been many a Gym Buddy conversation about which kind of deodorant is best and what it makes us smell like and how best to apply it. Is all over my body an option? No?
Gym Buddy Allison has a very complicated routine involving two separate deodorants applied at different times of day which she swears keeps her totally pit-stain free. Krista despises roll-ons and recently spent an entire workout complaining about her shirt being “super glued” to her pits. I buy whatever’s on clearance which is why my armpits currently sparkle (I use it to psych people out on the weight floor – I just flash ‘em my pit and then grab the kettlebell while they’re distracted! Ooh shiny!). Megan…I actually don’t know what she does for deodorant which seems odd because we’re all so weirdly tight that we know each other’s feminine hygeine preference, bra size and poop timing among other invasive things. Meg – call me!
But lately sweat has been coming up in a way I had not anticipated. (Wow, that made it sound grosser than it is.) Anyhow, I’ve long appreciated the ability of my kids to make me sweat but until now I’d underestimated their ability to produce it. My oldest son is 9. He is officially a tween, complete with eye-rolling, sarcasm and, oh yes, body odor. But how does one talk to a tween about personal hygiene? Am I allowed to use eye-rolling and sarcasm too? Because if so, I’ve totally got this one covered.
He’s too cute to smell funny, right?? Also, I love that he chose to eat a carrot alongside his birthday cake and ice cream bar. Maybe they do listen to me? Sometimes??
Seriously though, I just hadn’t thought this one out. I’m totally prepared for the sex talk – in fact, we’ve been having it with them in stages ever since my then 3-year-old said “Daddy put a baby in your tummy? Can it be my turn next?” – but I hadn’t considered how I was going to teach my boys about proper showering, hair-gelling, cologne-wearing (one tiny spray is plenty), and deodorant applying. After all, it seems like just yesterday I was teaching them how to properly wipe their own butts. Oh wait, that’s because it was yesterday. And it involved the instruction, “No you cannot wipe and watch TV at the same time.”
In an effort to keep everyone “cool, calm and confident throughout the day – especially during life’s sweat-inducing moments” Unilever is offering one GFE reader a $100 Visa gift card plus a Don’t Fret The Sweat gift pack (yes I just called deodorant cool). Here’s how to enter:
No duplicate comments.
You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry
methods:
a) Leave a comment telling me about your deodorant routine OR your first experience with deodorant (how old you were, who told you, if you licked it to see if it tastes as good as it smells – just me? – or whatever).
b) Tweet about this promotion and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment
on this post
c) Blog about this promotion and leave the URL to that post in a comment on
this post
d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about
an alternate form of entry.
This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older
Contest runs from 10/4 to 11/4
Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail.
You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be
selected.
Visit the BlogHer Prizes & Promotions section for more chances to win!
Visit the Official Rules
Fitness Myths About Hydration [My water bottle has a secret!]
They make hydration look so easy! And so not fun!
Fitness Myth: You need 8-10 glasses of water a day.
Truth: There is no set amount each person needs. Rather it’s conditional on your age, gender, the status of your womb and especially your activity. If you are running outside on a hot day you will probably need more than that. If you are indoors doing macrame and eating grapes with your toes then you’ll need much less. According to experts, the best way to tell if you need more water is how yellow your urine is.
Fitness Myth: By the time you feel thirsty you’re already dehydrated.
Truth: “Thirst is, in fact, a very sensitive mechanism for regulating fluid intake, according to Barbara Rolls, PhD, a nutrition researcher at Pennsylvania State University. In a 1984 study in Physiology and Behavior, she and a group of colleagues at Oxford University followed a group of men as they went through their normal day. Left to their own devices, the volunteers became thirsty and drank long before their hydration levels showed any signs of dipping.”
Chances are you’ve heard these two axioms hundreds of times over the years and yet there isn’t any scientific evidence for either. This doesn’t mean that hydration isn’t important, however. Getting enough water is particularly important for us exercising types because dehydration can lead to everything from sluggishness, fatigue and underperforming to fainting, mental confusion and, you know, death. (But don’t drink too much – there is such a thing and hyponatremia can kill you too.)
I know you’re excited by all this death and mayhem talk but for most of us, it’s just a matter of making sure that we have access to clean water when we need it. As long as you don’t live in a 3rd world country you should be all set and yet so many of us are still peeing urine the color of carrot juice. I can’t speak for everyone but my two main roadblocks to properly hydrating are 1) I can never find my water bottle because my kids steal it and 2) I hate the taste of my tap water. If you love garlic then you should totally move to Minnesota because that’s what our tap water tastes like. They’re either really terrified of vampires or there’s something untoward in our water supply. (Of course, Minnesota is also the state that had garlic ice cream at our state fair this year. We even have our own garlic festival.)
So when my new Brita filter water bottle showed up, half my problems were solved. I don’t do product reviews for stuff I’m not really excited about (anymore) but I have to confess I was ecstatic when I got the offer from Brita*. Just ask the Gym Buddies how often I complain about the water at the gym. I’ve long used a large Brita water dispenser in my fridge for drinking water and having it in gym bottle form was pure genius. I took it to the gym with me to see if it would hold up to my extreme sweatiness.
Given all the fancy Shape photo shoots and cutesy tutu shots and Champion USA modeling going on up in here lately, I have a feeling some of you are wondering if a) we actually workout and b) we ever get really nasty sweaty. The truth is yes and turn-our-treadmills-into-slip-n-slides yes. It’s not that I’m afraid to look goofy and/or hideous on here. The problem is that we usually don’t remember to take pics in the middle of a good sweatfest because we’re in too much pain and also, it’s hard to hold our camera phones with slippery, shaky hands. But last Saturday Gym Buddy Allison and I took it upon ourselves to document our swoobs for you. (Swoobs = sweaty boobs) And while there was some swack and swotch going on as well that was not documented. You’re welcome.
First, you should know it was “crazy hat day” in TurboKick which I inexplicably interpreted as “Ballerina in a Hothouse.” Second, you see all that stuff on my stomach that kinda looks like my shirt has a fun print? It’s pretty much just sweat. Allison and I paused between “turbos” (the high-intensity intervals sprinkled throughout the class that give TurboKick half its name and all its barf) to snap us soaked in sweat.
All our friends got good and sweaty too – check out Jon’s hair! It’s like he showered! In sweat!
Except for Turbo Jennie. Here she is teaching her second class in a row (BodyPump) and she just has an artful sheen. (Although she has been known to tell people to stay out of her “splash zone” due to all the sweat flying off her hair.)
I, on the other hand, am rocking the sweaty bangs. And I LOVED my Brita water bottle. In fact I loved it so much that I thought I’d try and do that sexy pour-water-over-yourself model thing. Except me being me, I just got it in my eyes and almost lost a contact.
Sexy FAIL. But hey, at least I didn’t smell like garlic water!
What does your tap water taste like or do you use filtered water? How do you make sure you stay hydrated? Would you try garlic ice cream??
*Brita sent me the water bottle and a rockin’ purple pitcher free, for me to try out and there’s totally a giveaway coming for you! This post was sponsored by Brita.
The Problem With Ordering Fitness Gear Online [Someone At Finish Line Is Messing With Me]
12 boxes. 12 sheets of bubble wrap. 12 packing slips. 12 separate deliveries to my front door. All for the want of a pair of red and black shoes. Someone at Finish Line has a wicked sense of humor. Either that or they need to fire whoever wrote the code for the shipping part of their website. I’m kinda hoping it’s the former.
Let me back up. About two weeks ago I saw that Finish Line was having a super clearance online sale plus I had a coupon. I’ve long wanted to a pair of red and black athletic shoes to match all my, yes, red and black outfits (feel free to judge, I’m not proud) and so when I saw a gorgeous pair of shoes in just the right colors on clearance, I pounced. But if I spent ten more dollars I’d get free shipping so I did what any good bargainista would do and went to the accessories section. They had – prepare to be astounded – athletic socks on clearance for $1/pair. Who can’t always use more socks?! Plus they were super cute neon and zebra prints and whatnot. I added 12 pairs to my cart, checked out and went to bed to dream of red and black shoes.
A few days later, a package arrived at my front door. My shoes were here! I ripped open the box to find this:
Yes, they sent me exactly one pair of socks in a box big enough to hold three pairs of shoes. I rolled my eyes, chucked the box and waited. The next day, by the magic of brown-shirted sprites, a new box appeared. Yay, shoes! But no. Again it was one pair of socks. The following day two identical boxes arrived by Fed-Ex and a third via the US postal service. ALL SOCKS. In individual packages. My husband looked incredulous when I swore to him that all I’d bought were socks and by my accounting I still had seven pairs coming my way. It’s like the twelve days of Christmas! If Santa’s elves smoke pot!
Fast forward a week and a half and I’ve finally got all my socks, except one pair of neon pink cheetah print, but still no shoes. So today I checked my order online. They’d cancelled my order for the shoes. CANCELLED. Without so much as an e-mail to let me know. Heck I would have even appreciated a large package filled with nothing but bubble wrap and a note. The entire reason I’d made the purchase has vanished into the ether and in the meantime I’m slowly drowning in a pile of boxes.
And I’m pretty sure my UPS man now thinks I’m a drug mule.
Thank you Finish Line.
You see that huge bottom box there? ONE PAIR OF SOCKS INSIDE. Also, these jeans are supposed to be artfully distressed but now that I see them in this photo it kinda just looks like I peed my pants a little. Double fail.
Make me feel better – any of you have a bad internet ordering story? At what point do I need to start tipping the UPS guy?
The Truth About Fitness Models [Baby, I was born this way?]
I love this ad! I bet Death is a smoker.
Everything I learned about fitness models I learned from a stripper. Well, an ex-stripper. She was at the book-signing table next to me at local event a while back and because neither of us were selling any books (book signing = sitting and trying not to cry into the water you had to buy for $5), we ended up chatting most of the night. First, I learned a lot about the stripping business as she was selling a book about how to apply stripping principles to the business world (they have more in common than you’d think). My favorite story, included in her chapter on real estate: she used to tell her customers she had three kids and that that night she’d had to feed them “ketchup soup” because “mommy has no money.” She never had children. And she made a crap ton of money.
But as soon as she heard that I write for Shape and do workout slideshows for Shape.com, she was on a one-woman mission. Despite me telling her repeatedly that I have zero input on casting models for the magazine (ZERO), she kept trying to convince me to get her friend, an aspiring fitness model, in the magazine.
“She’s got the best body I’ve ever seen!” she gushed – an accolade I took seriously considering how many female bodies she’d likely seen over the years.
“What kind of workouts does she do?” I asked out of curiosity. (For the record, I also asked her what kind of workouts she did (answer: nothing) and if stripping was a good workout (answer: pole, yes. Lap dancing, not so much.))
“Oh she can do whatever you want her to! She’s amazing!”
I considered repeating for the tenth time that I couldn’t help her friend but instead asked, “No, I mean what kind of training does she do to stay in such great shape?”
“Oh, not much actually. She runs sometimes. I kind of hate her.” This, coming from a woman so gorgeous that when she said she was in her 40′s I demanded to see her ID as I would have guessed she was 25. I kind of hated the both of them. ”She was pretty much born that gorgeous.”
And there it was. The answer to one of the perennial fitness questions: Does your training determine your body shape or does your body shape determine your training? Also known as, “Will I get a ‘dancer’s body’ by dancing?”
This conversation was brought back to mind as I was reading The New Rules of Lifting for Women
He writes, “Let’s say you accept the impossibility of developing a celebrity’s proportions without being a clone of that celebrity. Chances are, you still believe you can achieve a ‘type’ of physique if you train like people who have that type.
“Magazines feed this notion, rarely stated in so many words, by showing tall, lean models doing workouts that promise readers a long, lean physique. Of course this makes perfect sense from the magazine’s point of view. They aren’t going to sell many copies if they show short, chunky women in their workout features. But you have to understand that the models doing the workouts are just that. They were cast by photo editors specifically because they already have what the feature promises. If the exercises in the feature are unique, you can bet the model is doing them for the first time. She had that body when she walked in the door of the studio, and she’ll still have it when she walks out. That’s why she’s a model.
“An obvious point? Okay. But raise your hand if you believe that running will make you look like a runner. If your hand isn’t in the air you’re probably not being honest.” (Emphasis mine.)
I was nodding in agreement the whole time I read it. And I still raised my hand at the end. It’s hard to look at those whippet-thin women who run marathons professionally and not think that it was the running that gave them that body rather than thinking it’s more likely they naturally excel at running because they are built like a whippet. I’m not saying they don’t work hard to be that good – I’m just saying they are attracted to the sport because they have some natural ability in it. When you look at the non-pros that run you will see every body type imaginable because lots of us enjoy it regardless of our shape. But when you look at elite levels there is very little deviation from the lithe mold. Kind of like professional models.
I think the other reason I’ve believed this for so long is because I want it to be true. I want to believe that Pilates will give me “long, lean muscles” even though I know that the length of my muscles was determined by my genes before I was even born. I want to believe that if I do Gwyneth Paltrow’s workout that I will look like her. Even though I know Madonna does the exact same one and she and Gwynnie look totally different. I want to believe it because the alternative is learning to accept and the love the body I’ve been given and that can be very hard work. But you, if you believe this myth too, and I pay for this belief. We pay in money when we buy the magazines or DVDs but even more we pay with our tears, body hate and punishing workouts in pursuit of a goal that was never attainable.
This is the best argument in my mind for exercising for health over exercising for looks. Of course workouts have the ability to help you look the best with the body you have – dropping fat and gaining muscle looks good on everyone! – and workouts do, to some extent, shape your body to the work you are performing (see boxers and their buff arms). But no workout has the ability to give you a new bone structure or more height or make your body suddenly decide to start storing extra fat in your boobs instead of your thighs. I don’t know why this is a lesson I have to keep re-learning. Thank goodness for (ex)strippers!
What do you think – do you agree with Lou Schuler that this is a myth or do you think you look like what you do? Were you as surprised as I was when he said that the photoshoot was likely the first time the model had ever tried that workout? Anyone else have Lady Gaga’s “Born this way” stuck in their head now too?? You’re welcome.