It’s almost Saturday night, and I’ve got a big run scheduled for Sunday morning. The dilemma begins. Not much on the drinking to begin with (I’d rather have chocolate cake any day), I’ve been known to turn down a tall glass of anything and shortly thereafter catch all hell for it.

After a year of long training runs on weekends, and little to no alcohol consumption, when I do opt in for a cold one…it kills me!

This has left me wanting to look back into my textbooks and get to the bottom of exactly what is happening in the body when we ingest alcohol? Why do clients who drink have such a hard time losing weight? Is exercising after a night of drinking a big no no?

We’ve established in previous blogs that there’s a vicious balance to calorie intake versus output. (It takes 10 mins for an average athlete to burn 100 calories, and 30 seconds or less to swallow a 100-calorie piece of bread.) So the first struggle us socialites run into with alcohol is that no matter how you pour it, alcohol is a lot of extra calories in your food journal. Every gram of alcohol consumed is equal to 7 calories. (Carbs/Proteins are 4 calories per gram, Fats are 9 calories per gram.) Despite recent attempts by certain beverage companies to pack nutrients into liquor (wish I was joking), alcohol provides empty calories with little to no minerals or vitamins. A regular beer runs between 100-150 calories and a glass of wine runs between 150-200 calories. In other words– 1 glass of wine= Running 2 miles at 6.0mph. Brutal!

Some resources go as far as to call alcohol the “anti-nutrient” because it actually stops or slows the absorption of other nutrients. Why? Proteins, carbs and fats can be stored in the body but alcohol cannot be stored. Therefore, it must be taken care of first by the body and all other metabolic processes will be interrupted to make way for its removal. The process of alcohol breakdown starts in the stomach and continues by the process of oxidation in the liver. Men are better able to metabolize alcohol than women because they have more enzymes dedicated to its breakdown in their bodies. For women, the alcohol is more quickly absorbed into the bloodstream because they are typically smaller in body size and carry more water in their bodies.

Alcohol absorption is affected by gender, body size, food consumed, the healthiness of the liver, race, and medications taken. Kinda unpredictable stuff, huh? Alcohol has also been shown in studies to stimulate appetite because it dims your sensitivity to hormones which indicate fullness of the stomach. Luckily, it’s hard to find a 24-hour IHOP in Los Angeles.

Ok, so why does drinking make me not want to move a muscle when I normally love to exercise? Turns out the removal of alcohol from the body after a night on the town can lead to hypoglycemia. Your body is so busy doing everything it can to get alcohol out of your system that it stops paying attention to the regulation of healthy blood sugar levels. On an acute basis, ingesting alcohol may cause you to release more insulin into the blood stream and remove blood sugar causing feelings of low energy and thereby lack of motivation to do much at all.

So.. awesome. Drinking alcohol stops the good nutrients from being digested, involves taking down empty calories that may pack on pounds over time, screws with my blood sugar levels, and leaves me not wanting to exercise the day after either. Sounds like a formula for fun!

What about all those studies that say a glass of wine is good for you? Ok, yes.. there’s a lot to be said for one glass of wine at the end of the day. Red wine is rich in anti-oxidants and has been associated with the reduction of heart disease and an increase in healthy cholesterol. A dietitian I often consult also recommended a glass of wine at the end of the day to reduce dessert cravings and tame the anxieties that come with the end of the workday which may lead to late night eating for some clients. But we’re talking one glass of wine.. once a day.

What’s the plan, then?

If you’re going to drink, (you can still invite me, haha) why not try to abide by the following guidelines:

1. Start the night out hydrated. Take down two glasses of water after you finish getting ready.
2. Don’t drink on an empty stomach.
3. Avoid sugary mixed drinks. Empty carbs on top of empty alcohol calories ain’t doing nothing for your waistline.
4. Alternate alcohol with water.
5. Plan your total intake and stick to it.

Moreover, if you’re going to exercise the day after try to make it later in the day so you can rehydrate your body and finish processing any alcohol out of it. Get a good meal in and digested before you workout as well to help level off blood sugar and prevent any feelings of faintness during your workout.

So be smart next time you’re throwing ‘em back, or at least don’t expect yourself to get up and bust out the workout of a lifetime!

Even though I had about 50 items lined up on the hotel lounge chair (perfectly worn in Asics, Balega seamless socks, 7 vanilla Gu gels, liter of Fiji water, Garmin Forerunner, iPod shuffle, lucky Nike hat, tiny shorts, friction-less sports bra, body glide, sunblock, pre-race Lara bar and apple, throw away hoodie for the start) all lined up by 2pm the day before the race, I still woke up an hour before the 2:30am alarm with the anxiety that only a race day can bring.

I methodically put on each item, tied my shoes, and headed out to catch the bus to the start line. The Maui Marathon was upon me and the only way back to the hotel was to run. Boarding the school bus, I was pumped to see a Miami Dolphins decal above the windshield–a little message from my ailing grandma who took me to almost every home game before I left for college. She promised she’d be with me for this. My friend and I sat in the first bus bench as we drove the 26+ miles to the start line analyzing every hill and landmark. It was like a reverse rollercoaster ride…the more downhill we went the more anxious I got because that meant more hills on the run. My stomach started doing little back flips. I’d been skipping the hill training to save my knees and this looked to be no joke on the incline/decline action.

Our bus pulled up to the prep area. Everyone began their little pre-race rituals…my favorite of which were the large Asian tour groups stretching in unison with Michael Phelps style blue shoulder tape uniformly all over their calves. They meant business and they were matching to make it happen!! We took our first Gu gel and did relays in the port-o-potty line…nervous as hell for what would be our first full 26.2.

We lined up at the start line by time groups, amped to finally get this thing underway. The conch shell blew right on time at 5:30am and the 1200+ marathon runners trickled into the streets of Kapalui in the darkness. Gradual hills greeted us for a warm-up in the first 3 miles at the end of which my iPod decided to ditch out and die. So much time spent on that damn playlist and now the best I could do was to try and sing the songs I knew the words to in my head. (This is the second time I’ve lost my music in a race setting.) Maybe God is challenging me, I thought. It took the next 3 miles to quit being pissed off about that and then I found my groove. Not going to stop me.

A 60-something Ironman pro pulled up next to me on the downhill to Maaelea Bay and let me know “he could watch me run all day. You have a nice steady stride he said.” Man did I need that.

By this time the Maui style water stations started getting more and more entertaining. Ten to twenty Hawaiian children would man each water spot shouting “water” or “Gatorade” to us. They’d spray us with water from plastic spray bottles and later on would hand us soaking wet sponges to put on the back of our necks. I loved their chants, cowbells and encouragement, especially as we began to ascend up the hills. They were truly impressed by us.

Miles 9-12 featured curvy, hill-side highway running. I was so glad when I heard some one say we’d taken out the big hill and the rest would be easier. Mental relief. I could’ve hugged that guy.

Ticking past the halfway point, I was in gear and back around a 9-minute mile feeling the joy of the flats after that long climb. And then the sun came out in full blast. Maui’s UV rating is rarely under 10. With the heat around 80 degrees and 60% humidity, it was game on..woman against nature. Though the sun was at our backs the entire race, the coastline of Maui provides minimal to no shade. Every now and then an ocean breeze would roll up and push you from behind a little, but for the remainder of the race it was the gradual inclines and declines, me and the sun battling it out.

There is so much hoopla about how marathoners bonk the last 6 miles and can’t finish that once I crossed that 20th-mile sign I felt like I was waiting for the demise of my fellow runners, let alone potentially my own. I heard many conversations between running group members about how the race was harder than they imagined due to the heat. I heard three separate ambulances push through traffic to pick up a forlorn runner. I knew I’d be ok and was grateful for the hot runs I’d done and my Miami childhood that taught me to tolerate conditions like these. “Over-hydrate,” I thought. “Grab three cups and refill your fuel belt.”

I found a comfort zone running between some salt and pepper runners with “50 state marathoner” on their shirts. They held pace and moved smoothly over changes in terrain. I felt like with them, finishing was for certain.

We ran through the quaint town of Lahaina for the last stretch. I had my final Gu gel at 23.5 miles shortly after I saw the sign “Believe in yourself” held up by some spectators on the sidewalk. “Good sign,” I yelled. “It’s for you!,” they cheered back.

I pulled myself together. All this training for the past several months and this was my opportunity to finish right. I saw one of my 50th state friends break into a walk in the last stretch in Kaanapali and turned to him and said “c’mon we got this, half a mile.” And then I took off. I wanted nothing more than to cross the line and take a cold shower.

Final 400 meters. I practiced this so many times. Lengthened my stride and got ready to put my arms up in victory. They announced me as #853 from LA finishing at 4:44. About 30 mins behind what I was hoping but in the top 30th percentile of everyone who participated and women in my division. Not bad for a first. I slowed myself to a stop and finally felt the ache of my quads in full. Kinda felt like I had a couple of 2X4s implanted on the top of my leg. Awesome.

Hands down, I’d rather a dead iPod and a couple uniformly sore quads over all the other things that could’ve happened on my race day.

I headed back to my hotel, only to find that when I took out the last Gu gel in Lahaina I never zipped my fuel belt compartment back up, leaving my driver’s license, debit card and hotel key somewhere along the roadside. Wonderful. I started to worry about how I’d get home to LA without identification. I hustled back to the finish line. Lucky me, some one had picked up my license and ran it down to the race finish. Runner’s are truly some of the coolest people you’ll meet…especially the joggers! They always have your back.

The neatest part of a marathon to me is that every person participating has their own story from the course, their own reason for being there, and their own personal victory for crossing the finish line. You can feel the energy of that in the efforts they put forth under heat, humidity and pain. These are people who will not admit defeat even in the most adverse conditions.

It’ll probably take a week for me to get my legs back in full function, and I will be waiting for my new debit card in the mail, but the Maui Marathon was worth every mile that went into it today and every training day before it. On to the next one!

All out of beats for your cardio? A new playlist can sometimes be the best motivation. What works best for hours of cardio on end? What songs accelerate you for anaerobic sprints? And how about hill days? Here’s the breakdown of my favorites. (Also, hit up the iMix version of this list at the iTunes store by searching for the sportMix named “Marathon. Run Hard. Run Far.”)

CONTINUOUS RUN PLAYLIST SONGS: Fast, even tempos. Steady beats.

Ain’t I (feat. Young Dro & T.I.) - Yung L.A. (4:12)
All the Above (feat. T-Pain)- Maino (5:20)
Amazing (feat. Young Jeezy)- Kanye West (3:58)
Ayo Technology- 50 Cent (4:09)
Boom Boom Pow- Black Eyed Peas (4:12)
The City Is At War- Cobra Starship (2:50)
Crazy Bitch- Buckcherry (3:23)
Cumbersome- Seven Mary Three (3:58)
Dammit- Blink-182 (2:45)
Day ‘N’ Nite (Crookers Remix)- Kid Cudi (4:42)
Don’t Trust Me - 3OH!3 (3:13)
Fame < Infamy- Fall Out Boy (3:06)
Fiddy Fiddy Fiddy Fiddy- 50 Cent (3:23)
Freakum Dress - Beyoncé (3:21)
Get Up- 50 Cent (3:16)
Goin’ Down (2nd Transmix)-Yung Joc (2:56)
Hit That-The Offspring (2:49)
I’m Not Okay (I Promise)- My Chemical Romance (3:09)
Josie- Blink-182 (3:20)
Live Your Life (feat. Rihanna)- T.I. (5:39)
Love Lockdown- Kanye West (4:31)
A Milli- Lil Wayne (3:42)
My Life Would Suck Without You- Kelly Clarkson (3:32)
Oh Timbaland- Timbaland (3:32)
One and Only (feat. Fall Out Boy)- Timbaland (4:17)
Paper Planes (DFA Remix)- M.I.A. (5:49)
The River- Good Charlotte featuring M. Shadows & Synyster Gates (3:16)
Salute Your Solution-The Raconteurs (3:00)
Scream (feat. Keri Hilson & Nicole Scherzinger)- Timbaland (5:41)
Sex On Fire- Kings of Leon (3:23)
Silence (DJ Tiësto & in Search of Sunrise Remix)- Sarah McLachlan (11:33)
Spiderwebs- No Doubt (4:28)
Starstrukk- 3OH!3 (3:05)
Stronger- Kanye West (5:12)
Sweet Home Alabama- Lynyrd Skynyrd (4:45)
Swing (feat. Soulja Boy Tell`em)- Savage & Soulja Boy Tell (3:40)
This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race- Fall Out Boy (3:33)
What’s My Age Again?- Blink-182 (2:28)
Whatever You Like- T.I. (4:12)
12-51- The Strokes (2:27)

SPRINTS PLAYLIST: Everyone loves a good tempo change. Each of these songs guarantees 3-6 rounds of 10-30 second fast tempo stretches to provide a push to sprint to.

B.Y.O.B.- System of a Down (4:17)
Beat It (Ft. John Mayer)- Fall Out Boy (3:53)
Believe- The Bravery (3:46)
Best of You- Foo Fighters (4:17)
Breaking the Habit- Linkin Park (3:16)
Chop Suey!- System of a Down (3:31)
Cosmopolitan- Nine Black Alps (2:36)
Dance, Dance- Fall Out Boy (3:00)
Dani California - Red Hot Chili Peppers (4:43)
Give It All- Rise Against (2:51)
Handlebars- Flobots (3:27)
Helena- My Chemical Romance (3:23)
Major Tom- Shiny Toy Guns (4:22)
MakeDamnSure- Taking Back Sunday (3:32)
Misery Business- Paramore (3:32)
Monkey Wrench- Foo Fighters (3:51)
The Perfect Drug- Nine Inch Nails (5:15)
Prayer of the Refugee- Rise Against (3:19)
The Pretender- Foo Fighters (4:31)
Prom Queen- Lil Wayne (3:40)
Ready to Fall- Rise Against (3:48)
Welcome to the Black Parade- My Chemical Romance (5:11)

HILL RUN PLAYLIST: Push hard at a steady pace. These songs will not let you drop back on your mph despite gravity’s effects.

Bring Em Out-T.I. (3:39)
Closer-Nine Inch Nails (6:13)
Easier To Run- Linkin Park (3:26)
Empty Walls- Serj Tankian (3:50)
Epic- Faith No More (4:54)
Everlong- Foo Fighters (4:11)
The Hand That Feeds- Nine Inch Nails (3:32)
An Honest Mistake- The Bravery (3:42)
Hypnotize- System of a Down (3:09)
I Don’t Care- Fall Out Boy (3:39)
Livin’ On The Edge- Aerosmith (6:07)
Lose Myself- Lauryn Hill (4:33)
Move (If You Wanna)- Mims (3:12)
My Hero- Foo Fighters (4:20)
November Rain (full version)- Guns N Roses (8:56)
Oh! Gravity- Switchfoot (2:30)
Pour Some Sugar On Me- Def Leppard (4:27)
This Is Why I Rock- MIMS (4:37)
Tyler- The Toadies (4:13)
Would?- Alice In Chains (3:27)

Any fitness enthusiast can fall prey to it. You’re training your heart out, working towards a cardiovascular or strength goal and all of a sudden the passion to accomplish it wanes. You can’t sleep right. Your muscles feel tired and sore all the time. And you’re making no progress in terms of your performance…

As much as we want to get to the finish line on a set schedule, sometimes the laws of rest and nutrition keep us at bay. We can overload and increase the stress on the body as much as we want, but if we don’t take care of it inbetween and provide it with recovery weeks, at some point it’s going to go into protest.

Common signs of overtraining include:
-Increased susceptibility to injury
-Loss of enthusiasm for activities you usually enjoy
-Pain in joints or constant muscle soreness
-Drop in performance on normal exercise
-Inability to sleep
-Moodiness or feelings of depression
-Reduced appetite

How to prevent hitting your end limit:

1. Get 8 hours sleep and try to be in bed by 10 p.m. as much as possible. Keep a consistent sleep cycle of resting and waking hours.
2. Take a minimum of 1 day off a week from exercise.
3. Try to cross train 2 out of any 6 training days (or 1 out of every 5) to limit overuse injuries and muscle fatigue.
4. Include a recovery week once a month in your program where you cut your activity to 50% of the norm and focus on rebooting through healthy eating and relaxation. Exercising less may actually allow you to exercise more intensely at key times in your program.
5. Eat an adequate diet given the training of each day. Match higher activity days with slightly higher caloric intake if you are working on a performance goal.
6. Stretch your body out for at least 25% of the time you spend exercising it to prevent soreness and stiffness.
7. Get a massage once a month at a minimum if you are exercising 5 days of the week and more often if you can swing it. Have a sports massage or deep tissue massage the evening before a rest day and two days prior to your hardest training day of the week to see enhanced performance.
8. Try to alternate high intensity with moderate intensity days. Avoid back to back all-out efforts unless they are followed by a full day of recovery.
9. Plan your workouts around your energy. Are you more energetic in the morning? Do you tend to have more energy at the beginning of the week? On Sunday or Saturday? Exercise when exhausted is never advisable. Set your higher intensity days on your peak energy days/times.
10. Watch your water intake. Aim for 8 glasses a day on a zero activity day and 2 glasses more per hour of exercise on any other day.
11. Drop your alcohol intake. Alcohol slows performance, recovery and metabolism. Keep it as far away from your intense training days as possible.
12. Keep on schedule on recovery days. If you schedule rest, enjoy it and leave cross training for training days.

Most importantly…If you feel your performance dropping or sense overtraining symptoms… take a day off!! Listen to your instrincts. Exercise science research supports that you will come back way stronger and higher performing on the other end of your recovery. Have faith in that and enjoy the down time.

Barring injuries, illness and overtraining…there comes a point when you look yourself in the gym mirror and say.. “hey, not much is changing here.” When it starts warming up outside, and we start showing more skin, the desire to change heats to an all-year high.

Use this motivation to make your biggest gains in cardio and muscle fitness by upping the intensity of your current exercise program. These little intensity tweaks over time add up to make a leaner, faster, and better performing you. Now that’s hot.

The good news…If you’ve worked with a pro trainer, they will gradually amp the difficulty over time and the results just seem to roll on out. This makes change possible even when your appointments are the same length of time. Increasing intensity does not require extra workouts… instead we’re going to basically help you find ways to trick yourself into exerting a little more energy here and there. Push hard enough and you may even be able to workout for less time.

When you’re on your own and ready to bust up to the next level, here are simple ways to rev up your intensity just in time to sizzle for Summer: (Remember your 5-10 min cardio warm-up before you make any drastic intensity changes.)

1. Use the 2-for-2 Rule: As you’re going through your strength work out, see if you can bump out an additional 2 repetitions at the end of your last set. If you’re able to do this for two workouts in a row on a given exercise, it’s time to increase the weight.

2. 400 m Challenge:After you’ve warmed up, push yourself on any cardio piece for a quarter of a mile (or 2-3 mins of work) and then recover for the next 400 m. Repeat back and forth 4x and build up to 10x. This will train you to increase your speed and will help to truly condition your VO2max (or the efficiency of your cardiovascular system) by pushing intensity.

3. Drop the Reps: Have you been doing 12-20 rep workouts for a while?? Try dropping down to 6-10 reps and giving yourself more rest to help climb the strength ladder. Ladies.. this will not make you get huge, I promise (unless you’re eating way too much protein). Email me if it does.

4. Push your body weight: Head outside and hill climb, run stadium stairs, find a park with bars you can do hang downs, pushups and body weight rows, jog, run sand dunes, grapevine across fields. Break out of the gym and play. Moving your own weight is often the greatest fitness challenge you can provide yourself.

5. Sprint with your Strength: Superset (pair up) an upper body and lower body exercise. Go through 3 rounds of each at 8-10 reps and hop on a cardio piece for an all out 45 second sprint. Walk or recover on that cardio piece for a minute. Pick your next pair.

5. Finishing Kick: This rule can be applied to strength or cardio. When you are at the tail end of your sets or the last 5 mins of your cardio, take a moment to think about how much gas is left in the tank and try to use almost every drop of it. You can do this in your resistance workouts by dropping the weight down a little bit and repping out (doing as many reps as possible in a given movement.) With cardio, imagine yourself nearing the finish line and wanting to put out your best effort for the last 5 minutes of the race. Gun it. Cool down properly. And watch your speed and strength climb over time.

Get ready, because I’m not sure there are many things I could get more fired up about than this. The answer to “Do I Need to Train My Legs?” from me is a serious, and definite, look-you-in-the-eye…HELL YES! You need to train your legs. Your legs are half your body!!

Leg training is probably the toughest and most exhausting type of resistance work you can do, and for this reason every excuse in the book is made to skip it. Here are some of the more classic excuses and their resolutions..

Excuse #1: I do my legs when I’m doing my cardio. Cardiovascular training, in general, is not going to provide the maximal training effect necessary to have your legs be in optimal shape. Cardiovascular training is rhythmic and repetitive in nature, and therefore provides minimal loads over long periods of time on the legs. Though this may help leg definition when you are just starting to exercise, it will not provide the best muscle shape and strength that resistance training your legs can provide.

Excuse #2: I don’t want to train my legs because it makes me sore and makes my cardio harder. Resistance training your legs has been proven to strengthen cardiovascular performance over time. Ok, I will give you that a hard legs day can make you more sore prior to a cardio day and decrease the performance on that one day. This is an indication that you need to re-arrange your program, not that you should skip legs entirely. Plan leg workouts to land before rest/recovery days. Or better yet, try doing your short cardio workouts before strengthen training on the same day as your leg routine once you’ve built up the stamina.

Excuse #3: I don’t want my legs to bulk up because my pants won’t fit any more. If your pants don’t fit because you’re in better shape, more power to you. You should be proud. It is common for there to be some inflammation or building out of the muscle for a day or two after a workout. Don’t plan skinny jeans days to coincide with these days. Over time strength training should decrease fat on the leg and make a more dense compact and shapely leg. You can anticipate that proper strength training of the lower body will increase the thickness and concavity of the glute muscles. The glutes are the powerhouse for all hip extension work, especially as you get into heavier faster movements. A strong, firm, outwardly rounding butt, is a healthy butt. Own it and love it.

On the whole, there are huge benefits towards developing full body strength and tone from including leg workouts. Lifting legs can strongly increase your metabolism and help with weight loss. It will help to substantially improve your cardiovascular fitness and your calorie burn per workout session. Lifting legs will also enable you to be more strong throughout your musculature as more strength hormones will circulate throughout the body from training these large muscles. This may even improve your performance on upper body exercises.

Here are 8 leg movements that you should work towards including for 3 sets of 10 to start in every week of training at least once, and twice if you can find a way:

Front Squat- Racking the weights on the front of the body increases the involvement of the gluteal muscles which power so many leg exercises and help to correct for the often dominant hip flexors most of us have from sitting and driving 10-12 hours of the day.
Back Squat- Squats are a great way to develop standing core strength and stability. Be sure to engage your abdominals by drawing in as you enter the working (or up phase) of your squat. Squats also will help maintain bone density.
Romanian Deadlift- This large movement involving hip extension is often missed by the gym-goer because they are not sure how to keep their low back from becoming overly involved. (The low back is a secondary mover, here. Not the dominant muscle of the exercise.) The key is to start with very light weight, keep your eyes towards the ground a couple feet in front of you, move with a flat back and begin the movement from your gluteals. Imagine squeezing a quarter between your cheeks, engage the abdominals and then stand up into the movement.
Reverse Lunge- This quad dominant lunge is a great starter lunge for working on strength in deceleration. Start with just your body weight if you’re not used to moving backward.
Forward Lunge- Forward lunges have awesome crossover effects to cardiovascular exercise, by working on your gait, push-off, full range of leg motion, and increasing your heart rate.
Step Up- Start with step ups where you repeat on one leg, leaving that leg on the step surface as you step on and off with the other. Focus on open-chest posture, and pressing through the heel of the leg on the step.
Lateral Lunge- Moving sideways is something we do less often that is a great neuromuscular challenge for the body. As you lunge to your side, make sure knees and feet stay facing forward and that knees stay aligned with second toes. Most sports includes a large amount of lateral motion, so get ready to see some benefits on your tennis or basketball game.
Leg Press- The leg press is a fantastic place to develop sheer leg strength. Be careful to read your machines directions and keep your knees tracking safely towards your shoulders as you move through the motion.

Add one or even two leg days into your week and get ready to really lose some body fat. Expect to be tired and plan your rest accordingly. The best of your fitness level is yet to come!

Hibernation is over. Bathing suit season looms just a couple months away and it’s time to get your butt in gear. (This blog marks two months to Memorial Day Weekend…eight weeks is just enough time to see significant change!) If you’re still feeling under the weather when it comes to turning your intentions into actions, try these five ways to refresh your fitness routine.

1. Move it outside– When opportunity strikes, get outside to workout. Do the normal sun protection number, but seriously.. you’ve been awaiting the Vitamin D recharge, and the time is here to finally take advantage of it. Capitalize on sunshine by hitting up a park trail for a hike, running around your neighborhood, going for walks with friends before/after work.

2. Invest in Spring gear– It’s probably time for a new pair of shoes as your outdoor activity levels are sure to increase this time of year. Hit up a specialty sports store and get the best recommendation for your sneakers based on your foot patterns. Then enjoy the obligation you’ll have to use them!

3. Switch exercise modes– Spring brings change and growth. In addition to the outside workouts, try a new type of class.. Karate, yoga, swimming, dancing.. venture out of your comfort zone and benefit in high calorie burn from something you are not yet efficient at. Try it five times before you decide if you love or hate it.

4. Spring clean your fridge/pantry– Remove as many preserved products from your cupboards as possible and start hitting the farmer’s markets. Raspberries, strawberries, asparagus, artichokes and pineapples will all come into season. Grab yourself some!

5. Go on an MP3 binge– Let yourself buy all the upbeat stuff on iTunes Top 100 songs on under the condition that everything you purchase motivates you to workout harder. Here are 10 springy songs to try:
-Maino- All The Above
-Madcon- Beggin (Original Version)
-Kid Cudi (Crooker’s Remix)- Day ‘N’ Nite
-The Ting Tings- That’s Not My Name
-John Legend- Green Light
-Mims- Move (If You Wanna)
-Flo Rida- Right Round
-Jadakiss- By My Side
-Fall Out Boy- I Don’t Care
-Linkin Park- Easier To Run

Feel free to share your spring fitness tips and songs with the rest of the crew in the discussion area below!

Not sure I could find two more scary words to put together.. calories and algebra. Yikes. Like it or not, there is a mathematical component to changing the shape and size of your body. It’s a hard set of facts to be conscious of, but better to know than have no idea what your habits are doing to yourself.

Fact #1: To lose one pound of weight the average person needs to create a calorie deficit of 3500 calories. (The general recommendation is to try and create a 250 calorie to 500 calorie deficit per day in order to lose a half pound to one pound a week.)

Fact #2: Running one mile, for most people equates to a 100 calorie burn. Calorie burn varies by the height, weight and efficiency of an individual. (Walking for 30 minutes= approx 200 calories, One hour yoga class= approx 300 calories, Circuit training for 30 minutes= approx 300 calories.)

Fact #3: Eating one slice of bread typically equates to 100 plus calories.

Fact#4: Running one mile is usually anywhere from a 5-15 minute process. Eating one slice of bread takes.. well less than a minute.

Ok, so this is a bleak picture. If you’ve spent an hour with me, you know I’m a realist. Cutting it straight for you. The overall reminder here is that consuming calories is ultimately going to affect your weight and body fat mass quite a bit more than the amount of exercise you can squeeze into a normal day. (Oh I wish I were an ultra-marathoner.)

Trainers will tell you time and again that clients who do not pay attention to their caloric intake generally see minimal results in terms of actual weight, and sometimes even in terms of body fat change depending on the breakdown of the calories they are eating. It’s a tough reality, but know that if you are committing to improve yourself, committing to eat right should be as much or more of your focus in order to achieve success.

My friend in NYC sent me an email noting that though he’s not exercising as much as usual, a shift in his diet has kept him losing weight. Does this mean he should skip out on the gym and just count his calories? Research shows that a combination of exercise and eating healthy is the best long term strategy for sustained weight loss. Healthy fuel makes for better exercise. Exercise makes for a stronger sustained metabolism, if you should happen to slip up here and there over the long haul.

Beyond that I’m going to stick with the ongoing recommendation here to do both cardiovascular training and resistance training. It’s important to train both your heart muscle and the muscle throughout your body. Skinny mush is not sexy. Don’t you agree?

If you are having a hard time estimating how much you’re eating and how much you’re burning, the greatest tools you can invest in are heart rate monitors ($65-250) and online food journals ($0!). I know, I’m no fun. If you want to grasp the reality of your fitness and food habits this is your best bet. Research also shows that those who record what they eat while trying to lose weight, lose two times the weight of those who do not. Might be worth your time.

There will be more to come on Calorie Algebra.. but for now, take this blog as a reminder that what you eat does matter. A lot.

To the left and right of you in every cardio area are people who seemingly run forever. They can run through a whole episode of Oprah, sometimes even an entire TBS airing of Days of Thunder. They’re just chilling…like it’s no big deal. And for some reason, on our own island that is the treadmill many of us experience running for longer than one minute as an alternative to corporal punishment.

Were these energizer runner bunnies born this way? Don’t they get bored? Are they doing something different than everyone else? How do we get to run as far and fast as them??

No need to be jealous my friend, though some of these runner bunnies may have been genetically predestined for endurance exercise, most of them started off in your shoes, struggling to figure out how to survive the next minute of cardio. Since you’re most likely too afraid to ask them how to get there, and it might be a little tough not to take their advice personally, I’m here to break it down for you and everyone else who wants to run a little bit further.

The Pros Top Secrets on Building Your Base Running Routine:

1. You’re Running Too Fast– You heard me. TOO FAST!! Most ambitious new runners skip right to 6 miles an hour (a 10 minute mile) when they try to begin their running routine. Try starting at 4.8-5.3mph for your whole run the first month to help build your running endurance. Yes, this is going to be a tight, fast stride and may even feel awkwardly slow the first couple times, but just go with it. Running at this pace allows you to truly tap into your aerobic metabolism, burn tons of fat calories, and will make it easier to run longer, make you less sore, and leave you with a better psychological running experience. Not sure I can come up with any more selling points than that!

2. Your shoes are old– Are you having pain in your ankles, knees or hips from even small running bouts? Ok, you probably should check with your doctor to make sure nothing orthopedic is going on, but I’m also willing to bet your tennies are more than 5 months old or have more than 400 miles of wear on them. It’s important to only wear running shoes for running. Sounds crazy, I know. For the record also, the most respected true running shoe brands are: Asics, Sauconies, New Balance and Brooks. Go to a running store and have a fitting with a professional. Running is one of the cheapest sports to partake in equipment-wise, so invest in your sneakers and save your joints over the long term. (To put this into perspective: If you run 20 miles a week you need new shoes every 5 months.)

3. You’re trying to do too much too soon– The theme of progression runs through all of these blogs. But I really really mean it right here. Start with running literally 1 minute intervals at that 4.8-5.3mph pace with minute of walking rest between. And no more than 1-2 miles on your first day. Seriously!! Every week your total mileage for the week should progress no more than 10%. In other words, if you ran a total of 3 miles your first week, the next week you should run no more than 3.3 miles, the week after 3.63 miles, etc. Breaking this rule only increases your chances of injury and therefore decreases your chances of loving running very much and succeeding in your ultimate runner bunny goal.

4. Map it out for the long term–The same rule of increasing 10% a week at a time applies for building up to 5k, 10k and half marathon and marathon distances. If you’ve got a fitness friend daring you to enter a half-marathon next month, kindly tell them.. “I don’t think so.” If you’re starting from scratch, training for a 5k takes 2 months, a 10k-3 to 4 months, a half-marathon-5 to 6 months, and a full marathon-6 to 9 months.

5. DO NOT Run everyday– Shocking, yes. Running everyday is not advisable. Start out running 2 days a week, build up to 3 days a week by the end of your first month. Try to spread these running days out so you can recover inbetween. Ideally try not to run more than 5 days a week. Save longer runs for the weekends, and faster runs for shorter distances following rest days. For solid running programs pick up an issue of Runner’s World (http://www.runnersworld.com).

6. Lift Weights– Strength training can improve your cardiovascular endurance. Of course, do not resistance train your legs on the same day prior to your run, or make yourself so sore that you dread running at all the next day. But DO fit weightlifting into your fitness program a minimum of two times a week and DO incorporate leg exercises. This will only help you.

Got more specific questions? Email me: liz.marmesh@gmail.com. In the meantime, get out there and start running right!

An ode to January, the only time of the year when we can ask every single person on the gym floor what they want to change in their health and they have a definitive answer. Having a vision of what we want to achieve is half the battle, but the other half is the execution…and this is where we often fail. Here are three ways to guarantee your health is what you want it to be by the conclusion of 2009:

1. Be S.M.A.R.T.
Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Reasonable and Time Framed goals. In other words, “I want to look like I did when i was 18,” although specific is hard to measure, attain, reason out, and unless you get a time machine the time frame is indeterminable. Test your resolution against this acronym and where it fails, try to add detail to your plan.

2. Time Stamp It
Buy a planner or a calendar and mark the date you’d like to attain your goal by. Draw or paste a picture on the date of exactly what you want to do be doing, looking or feeling like. Hang the calendar somewhere in your home or office and keep track of your daily efforts towards that goal. Draw X’s on each day you complete and enjoy your progress.

3. Break Your Goal Into Phases
Once you’ve set an end date, think about the general time frame of your goal and break it into phases. Some typical phases for training would be: base building aerobic phase, skill building phases, maximal performance phase. Weight loss phases could be determined by dividing the pounds, dress sizes or body fat you want to lose in months or weeks and setting those benchmarks into writing.

And if you feel yourself drowning in your fitness dreams, please, please look at the inspiration picture and then consult a professional!