Interested in trying one of the fabulous services MissFIT has to offer?  Why not try a group Pilates class?

I’m sure you’ve heard the word Pilates, but what does it mean?  Pilates was developed by Joseph Pilates of Germany in the early 20th century.  The idea of Pilates was to develop total body conditioning through specific movement and breathing that helps build flexibility, long, lean muscles, strength and endurance in the legs, abdominals, arms, hips and back.  Through continued practice you will develop a strong core, and improve balance and coordination.

Certified MissFIT trainer Lory Porter will show you how to get your body fit and fabulous.  Our 8-week class begins Wednesday February 29th at the Libertyville Civic Center – 135 W. Church Street.

Call or email MissFIT to register:  847-775-0076 or info@missfitcomplete.com

8 week class only $144

Class schedule: Wednesdays 2/29, 3/7, 3/14, 3/21, (no class 3/28), 4/4, 4/11, 4/18, 4/25

Class min. 6/max. 12

So you want to start up a new fitness program.  This time you’re going to be serious about it right?  What do you need to really get a good program started?  What is the hottest equipment and where can you find it?  Are these some questions going through your head?  If they are, the answer is simple.  You already have what you need.  YOUR BODY!  That’s right!  You don’t need to spend money of the fanciest, high tech equipment out at the sports store.  The trend is to use your body weight and get back to the basics!  So turn off the infomercial and think about this.

Benefits of using your body weight are:

• You will improve your functional fitness (your ability to move thru daily activities without injury)
• Increase strength and muscle tone
• Burn Calories
• Raise your heart rate for heart health
• Maintain bone density

So let’s get back to the basics.  Remember your PE Classes from grade school? Your PE Teacher was not so off the mark on how to get you in-shape (wink, wink).  Here are some ways to do aerobic exercise using your body weight that don’t involve purchasing expensive equipment.

• Jump rope
• Climb stairs
• Dance
• Jog
• Walk
• Skip
• Jumping Jacks

Here are some ideas for increasing strength and muscle tone.

• push-ups
• planks
• lunges
• squats
• triceps dips
• downward dog
• squat jumps
• inchworm crawl
• bear crawl
• crab walk
• Warrior pose

As  you can see, all these exercises can be done right in the comfort of your home or neighborhood. You don’t need to spend a monthly membership fee at a health club to get fit.  You may want to hire a personal trainer (wink, wink again) to help develop a plan and program for you.  A trainer will also make sure you are doing the exercises correctly and without injuring yourself. 

But more importantly, get yourself moving.  Stop making excuses about why you can’t lose weight or get fit.  You have everything you need.  YOUR BODY!

It’s easy for us to set aside the notion of how stress affects our hearts. We can’t see our heart. We cannot feel it most of the time. And in the midst of a stressful situation we don’t consider how our ‘feelings’ influence our heart. So, we ignore the issue all together.

Maybe just for today, you can stop to consider how stress puts pressure on your heart. You see, there is no argument amongst experts about whether or not psychological and emotional stress impacts our hearts health. It does. There is, though, a lack of clarity about exactly HOW stress influences the health of our heart. This recent Web MD article clarifies:

‘Medical researchers aren’t sure exactly how stress increases the risk of heart disease. Stress itself might be a risk factor, or it could be that high levels of stress make other risk factors (such as high cholesterol or high blood pressure) worse. For example, if you are under stress, your blood pressure goes up, you may overeat, you may exercise less, and you may be more likely to smoke.

If stress itself is a risk factor for heart disease, it could be because chronic stress exposes your body to unhealthy, persistently elevated levels of stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol. Studies also link stress to changes in the way blood clots, which increases the risk of heart attack.’

Clearly, research is still needed in this area. But isn’t the bottom line the same? That we know unequivocally that stress impacts our hearts in a negative way. Therefore, we need to consider how to handle the stress in our lives when we think about our heart and entire body’s health.

Some stress is okay… good, in fact. We all have general , every day stressors: work, home, relationships, kids, keeping schedules and simply functioning to keep up with our own lives. But maybe you’ve been hit by some of the big ones: the death of a loved one, a divorce, loss of a job, legal problems, etc. Maybe some of your stress resides in your personality characteristics. Perhaps you are a perfectionist. Maybe you worry too much about other peoples’ problems. No matter how you categorize your stress, I encourage you to give this area of your personal wellness some attention…TODAY.

When I work with my wellness coaching clients, things can be going along just fine as we discuss lifestyle changes, nutrition, fitness, and how to manage it all. But, when I start to drive right into the root of their barriers, often involving their real, elephant-in-the-room stressors, my poor Ladies seem to crumble. Are we really walking around so tightly wound, avoiding dealing with our life challenges to such an extent that we just fall apart when we are faced head on with it? Sure, maybe we are aware that we feel stressed but most of the time don’t we just push through and keep going at the same rate?

Maybe that’s what we need; we need to fess up and face our real life stressors. Not just the obvious ones that get us frazzled by the end of the day. But those deeply rooted ones that have built up pounds of stress and result in pressure on our poor, sweet hearts!

Remember, stress is OKAY! We all experience it. It is when we don’t deal with it, we fail to  find coping skills and mechanisms or when we bury it that our bodies pay the price.

So, get started!

Step 1: Define your stressors. What are they anyways!? What in your life needs some relief? I suggest writing them down. Why not? They will change over time. But, I always find that writing brings more reality and awareness to a topic.

Step 2: Reflect on what you can do or already do to lessen the impact of your stress on your body. We cannot make stress go away. Well, let me rephrase, there are some things we can do to choose what we expose ourselves to but for the unavoidable, we need to think about what we can do to COUNTER the effects of stress. If your bad, built up stress can build a case against your heart’s health than YOU can protect it!

Step 3: Execute an action plan. What do you commit to doing to help reduce the effects of your stress on your heart? There are multitudes of coping skills and stress relieving activities to choose from. Some conventional, some proven by research (exercise, deep breathing, yoga, meditation, prayer are some examples) and some that are your very own. Again, write down the possibilities and start DOING even just one.

I have my bag of stress relieving tricks: yoga, exercise, fresh air, journaling, devotions, getting out for a couple of hours of non-work or toddler related activity. It takes lots of practice to pull the tricks out because sometimes when we really need them is when our humanity refuses to cope! But, with consistency and more awareness you can gradually improve the actual health of your heart.

Amazing , isn’t it!? So start doing what feels good emotionally and your heart will reap with rewards!

From my Heart to Yours,

Katie

LAST CHANCE!
Get your tickets now and enjoy a Ladies’ Night Out!

Want to beat the winter blahs?  Then join us for a Ladies’ Night Out!  MissFIT Complete is sponsoring this wonderful event for United Way of Lake County’s Women’s Leadership Council (WLC) and their Success by 6 early education initiative. The event takes place tomorrow Thursday, February 16th from 6:00 to 8:30 pm.

Nearly twenty local vendors will be present to help women beat the “winter blahs”, including: fitness demonstrations, chair massages, healthy snack makeovers and raffle prizes, including a MissFIT pampering package.

The Ladies’ Night event is open to women who want to beat the winter blahs with a Ladies’ Night Out!  To register for the event, please visit www.liveunitedlakecounty.org/missfit. The cost is $15 per person and includes admission, a door prize raffle ticket and a wine ticket. (Additional tickets will be available for purchase at the event.)  The event benefits United Way of Lake County’s Success By 6 Program for early education.

Hurry! Get your tickets now…bring your friends and coworkers, too!

Ladies’ Night Out Event Details:
Thursday, February 16th
6:00 to 8:30pm
Libertyville Civic Center, 135 W. Church Street, Libertyville, IL 60048
Cost: $15/person (includes admission,door prize raffle ticket and one wine ticket)

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

Last week I explained to you why Aerobic Exercise is good for your heart.  We had that little science lesson on what actually happens to your body when you perform aerobic exercise.  Today we are going to talk about a alternative form of aerobic exercise.  If I told you that there was a way to burn more calories, lose more fat, and improve your cardiovascular fitness level while spending less time doing cardio, you’d probably reach for your phone to report me to the consumer fraud hotline, right?

Well, this is one of those rare times when your natural it’s-too-good-to-be-true reaction could be mistaken. If you want to take your fitness and fat loss to the next level—without spending more time in the gym—then high intensity interval training (also known as HIIT) could be exactly what you’re looking for.

Before getting into the details, notice that I didn’t say HIIT would be easier, just that it would take less of your time. In fact, the HIIT approach to cardio exercise is very physically demanding and isn’t for everyone. If you have any cardiovascular problems or other health concerns that limit your ability to exercise at very intense levels, or if you are relatively new to aerobic exercise or not already in good shape, HIIT is not for you—at least for now. If you have any doubts or concerns about whether it might be safe for you, check in with your medical professional  before trying HIIT.

What It Is and How It Works
HIIT is a specialized form of interval training that involves short intervals of maximum intensity exercise separated by longer intervals of low to moderate intensity exercise. Because it involves briefly pushing yourself beyond the upper end of your aerobic exercise zone, it offers you several advantages that traditional steady-state exercise (where you keep your heart rate within your aerobic zone) can’t provide:

• HIIT trains and conditions both your anaerobic and aerobic energy systems. You train your anaerobic system with brief, all-out efforts, like when you have to push to make it up a hill, sprint the last few hundred yards of a distance race, or run and hide from your spouse after saying the wrong thing.
• HIIT increases the amount of calories you burn during your exercise session and afterward because it increases the length of time it takes your body to recover from each exercise session.
• HIIT causes metabolic adaptations that enable you to use more fat as fuel under a variety of conditions. This will improve your athletic endurance as well as your fat-burning potential.
• HIIT appears to limit muscle loss that can occur with weight loss, in comparison to traditional steady-state cardio exercise of longer duration.
• To get the benefits HIIT, you need to push yourself past the upper end of your aerobic zone and allow your body to replenish your anaerobic energy system during the recovery intervals.

The key element of HIIT that makes it different from other forms of interval training is that the high intensity intervals involve maximum effort, not simply a higher heart rate. There are many different approaches to HIIT, each involving different numbers of high and low intensity intervals, different levels of intensity during the low intensity intervals, different lengths of time for each interval, and different numbers of training sessions per week. If you want to use HIIT to improve performance for a particular sport or activity, you’ll need to tailor your training program to the specific needs and demands of your activity.

HIIT Guidelines

• HIIT is designed for people whose primary concerns are boosting overall cardiovascular fitness, endurance, and fat loss, without losing the muscle mass they already have.
• Before starting any HIIT program, you should be able to exercise for at least 20-30 minutes at 70-85% of your estimated maximum heart rate, without exhausting yourself or having problems.
• Because HIIT is physically demanding, it’s important to gradually build up your training program so that you don’t overdo it. (The sample training schedule below will safely introduce you to HIIT over a period of eight weeks.)
• Always warm up and cool down for at least five minutes before and after each HIIT session.
• Work as hard as you can during the high intensity intervals, until you feel the burning sensation in your muscles indicating that you have entered your anaerobic zone. Elite athletes can usually sustain maximum intensity exercise for three to five minutes before they have to slow down and recover, so don’t expect to work longer than that.
• Full recovery takes about four minutes for everyone, but you can shorten the recovery intervals if your high intensity intervals are also shorter and don’t completely exhaust your anaerobic energy system.
• If you experience any chest pain or breathing difficulties during your HIIT workout, cool down immediately. (Don’t just stop or else blood can pool in your extremities and lightheadedness or faintness can occur.)
• If your heart rate does not drop back down to about 70% of your max during recovery intervals, you may need to shorten your work intervals and/or lengthen your recovery intervals.
• HIIT (including the sample program below) is not for beginner exercisers or people with cardiovascular problems or risk factors. If you have cardiovascular problems or risk factors should NOT attempt HIIT unless your doctor has specifically cleared you for this kind of exercise

A Sample Progressive HIIT Program
Please adhere to the general HIIT guidelines above for this program. To maximize fat loss, maintain an intensity level of 60-70% of your maximum heart rate (RPE of 5-6 on the 10-point scale) during warm up, cool down and recovery intervals.

After completing this four-week program, you can continue working to increase the number of work intervals per session, the duration of work intervals, or both.
You can adjust this training plan to accommodate your particular needs and goals. If you find that this schedule is either too difficult or too easy for your current fitness level, you can make adjustments to the duration and/or number of high intensity intervals as necessary. For example, if you want to train yourself for very short, frequent bursts of maximum intensity activity, your program could involve sprinting for 20 seconds and jogging/walking for 60 seconds, and repeating that 15-20 times per session.

You don’t need to swap all of your aerobic exercise for HIIT to gain the benefits. A good balance, for example, might be two sessions of HIIT per week, along with 1-2 sessions of steady-state aerobic exercise. As usual, moderation is the key to long-term success, so challenge yourself—but don’t drive yourself into the ground. Get ready to see major changes in your body and your fitness level!

Remember to follow all the guidelines above before starting this program.  If you think this is a good program for you, you may want to consult a MissFIT Certified Personal Trainer to continue on with a HIIT form of training.