Getting older, Not fatter

Getting older gracefully is something many aspire to do.  Some people, however, want more than that.  Flying into our 90s is the dream... right? Look at Olga up there -- she's flying!!  She wants to age with speed, agility, and athletic achievements in age-group competitions.  But getting to the top of "masters" divisions or the "senior games" isn't as easy as it used to be for the Olgas of the world.

Nowdays instead of ever-shrinking 65-70 and 75-80 year old competition brackets, they're growing...  more about that in a future article  But first, the bad news remains:  we lose 10% of our lean muscle every decade.  Only strength training and regular exercise can prevent muscle loss.  Left unchecked, the lost muscle is replaced with fat.  

So for a woman who starts out in her 20s or 30s with a relatively healthy 80% lean, 20% fat body she'll enter her 40s with a 70% lean, 30% fat even IF her weight stays the same.  Her sizes will go up ever so slightly and it may "not matter much" at first, but there are consequences:   

Everything feels pudgy.  Energy levels drop.  Life gets harder.  

People already in their 40s and 50s folks know that losing weight gets harder as we age, and why is that?  It's because the metabolic engine that is our lean muscle mass is getting eaten away.  Like termites gnawing away at wood, fat creeps in to replace our muscle as our own bodies only naturally conserve and build strength in youth but atrophy with age.  

Hormones have a role in this process, no doubt, but rather than hitting the needles and popping pills... why not use the muscle you have to conserve the metabolism you need to age gracefully and healthfully.  

As reported by the NY Times, there is inspiration to be found in the 80-year olds who stay fit with good, old-fashioned work.  Consistency is the key.  And researchers learning more about aging every year:  

Some researchers now see aging itself as a kind of mitochondrial disease. Defective mitochondria appear as we get older, and these researchers say that they rob us of endurance, strength and function. There’s evidence that for young patients with mitochondrial disease, exercise is a potent tool, slowing the symptoms. If that’s true, then exercise could also potentially be a kind of elixir of youth, combating the ravages of aging far more than we thought.

Sunny and SunnyDayFitness training sessions can help you, Olga, or anyone interested in aging gracefully.  Why don't you e-mail Sunny for a complimentary session today?  

Revisiting the Bootcamp Venue - Danehy Track

I missed my running buddies and bootcampers today.  So I decided to run over to the Danehy Park and Track to "run a few loops" for them.  

I used to ride on bootcamp mornings, but today I ran in an extra long-sleeve shirt since it was a little chilly.  Of course, running there warmed me up enough that I left my extra shirt where I normally left my bike.  I started on the hilly green, then made my way to the track itself.  

Just today I saw it was named the "City of Cambridge Track of Champions".  Wow, such a grand name -- and here I thought it was just a regular track for hacks and athletes, young and old alike.  

I took a few loops at a comfortable RPE 7 of 10 pace and then did some warmup moves like leg swings and hip circles, a few hops, some skips, plus a little grapevine shuffle.  The soccer players in all green at mid-field probably found it funny to see a lone runner doing all this.

I realized I should've included half track speed changes and some 1/4 track accelerations.  I start at a 4 and then up it to a 6, and build to an 8 and finally 10.  Those are really fun and make the soccer players think, "Maybe she can sprint after all..."  I really enjoyed the run and miss the bootcamp days already!

Cookie-eating vs. Walking it off

Sunny asked a few friends recently, "Are you Trading Your health for a “Treat”?  The resounding answer was "I don't think so. I can eat dark chocolate every day because it's good for me and I'm so active.

While walking to burn a few extra calories is good, it's even better to limit the incoming cakes, cookies, etc.  Did you know that even a tiny Tootsie Roll has 25 calories?  And who eats only one...usually it's 3-4, so you'd need to do 10 minutes of power walking just to burn off that trip to the candy bowl.

What about a single dark chocolate cookie -- how much damage can that do?  Well, the Nantucket cookie seen here has enough calories to sustain a 20 minute jog to and from the park!  Can you really take that jog every time you hit the bag at the office meeting?

Pepperidge Farm® These cookies are American Classics

Nantucket™ Dark Chocolate Cookies

Nutrition Facts*
Amount per Serving (serving size) = 1 cookie

Calories 130	Sugars 8g
Total Fat 6g	Protein 1g

“It’s not the one cookie; it’s the one cookie you eat everyday” said my training client, Jess Grass.  When I see that she's gaining back the weight she worked so hard to lose, then I know she's giving in to the sweet treats too often.   You don't have to go sugar-free everyday, but she and many others should try it for just a single day or two and see how many calories we save.

I went sugar-free for 5 days in September and it was eye-opening.  There's sugar hidden in so many foods!  Ketchup, salad dressing, and simple breads, not even "sweet" breads.  My boyfriend asked what I was doing and if I was somehow anti-sugar.  “I’m in favor of sugar” he said, and three of his friends quickly agreed.

But if I can do without sugary treats, I will save a lot of the fall and winter excess from ever piling on.  And that will keep me in summer-weight range and happier, longer than any Nantucket cookie can make me.

Inside the September 2010 Bootcamp series

We met on Fridays and Mondays at Danehy Park in Cambridge, pre-dawn and before our "work days" began.  Participants signed up via Facebook on the SunnyDayFitness.com page and got updates by personal e-mails also through Facebook.  

Dave and Sierra were the first two on-board, and then Lisa joined us for the final 3 sessions.  Their dedication and consistent turn-out, even after racing triathlon sprint distance races the day before always impressed me.  Funny notes about wine and wishing for rain would come out the night before, but they always came through to bootcamp in the morning.  Dedication.  

Bootcampers -- Dave, Sierra, and Lisa -- ya'll are awesome.  

Together we decided to brave the early, dark hour of 6am (remember, daylight fade and sunrise is delayed) for most weeks.  However,  by the last session of the month we had to push back to 6:30am to be able to see.  Good thing we did, too, because some (silly, strange) male runners were out running the track *backwards*, clockwise in the pre-dawn hours.  Collision before sunrise would not have been fun!      

So, without further ado, here's what we did during our 

Last Outdoor SDF.com Danehy Park Track Bootcamp 2010

Warmup: 

Easy run (3-4 mins)

Monster Walk, Knee Circles, Hip Swings

Inchworms, Lunge Reaches and Twists

Agility:  Timed Triangle Cone sprints and U-turns

Running:

Form review then 3 laps building speed, 2 laps slowing speed

Easy-Med-Hard-Med-Easy

Strength:  

Pushups, Lunge Switches, Bicycle Crunches – no equip

Plank Marches, Squat Hops, High Reaches to Toes – timed, no equip

All of this in under an hour!  The most fun was our giggle fest during the U-turn drills as we tried our morning "coordination" in quick direction shifts, similar to a hop-step dance move around a soccer cone.  No one was laughing after the hard running laps that followed, or during the Strength portion that ended our session.  But a good time was had by all, start to finish.  What do you think?  Could you enjoy it?  Try it!

6 Tips for Clean Eating

Getting cleaner foods into your body will help you get leaner and healthier.  

Where to begin?  Start with these tips:

Red Fire Farm carrots really do taste amazing!

1. Shop the perimeter of the store – skip the aisles of packaged, canned, and processed foods.  Whole nuts, oats, and brown rice are a few exceptions.  You can only eat what you buy, and if you shop for clean foods from the start, you'll make clean eating possible and easier then saying "no" to other junk.
2. Freezer friendly finds – try new vegetarian burgers, fish/shrimp, steamer bagged veggies, and ripe frozen berries.  Skip the freezer entrees, Haagen-Dazs and fast-food knock-offs like freezer fries.  And try my favorite freezer veggie:  soybeans in the shell, or edamame.
3. Join a CSA or shop the farmers markets – prepare to spend a little more on local organic foods to eat truly clean.  Cook and appreciate kale, spinach, and raw gems like real, earthy-sweet carrots.  A great Boston based CSA is Red Fire Farm and www.localharvest.org will help you find other CSAs.  
4. Clean those fruits and veggies – take 10 minutes after shopping to rinse, chop, and make-ready your veggies.  Drop them into plastic boxes or baggies and leave them on the top shelves of your fridge.  Then in a hurry you can just pop them into your bag for easy snacks.  Or just streamline the evening meal prep by having it all ready to cook or eat raw.
5. Focus on whole grains and short ingredient lists – foods that are best for you will have fewer than 10 ingredients and all they won’t read like a chemistry book.  Even CLIF bars have 20+ ingredients.  Why not try to make your own?  If you can’t pronounce an ingredient, or your grandmother had never heard of it, then you probably shouldn’t be eating it. 
6. Alcohol and sweets really should be treats – and not every day is a “special day”.  Think of your diet as the building block of your healthy life, and ask “what would an athlete eat before competing?” and if they wouldn’t eat it or drink it, then why should you.  After all, you are planning to workout hard tomorrow, right?  Another great post-race meal may be waiting for you...

Lobsterman Triathlon post-race healthy feast

Tuesday's ritual -- Mystic Marauders

5:20am and my phone chimes to wake me.  I strip down and dress into the clothes I'd laid out last night:  swimsuit first, then cycling shorts and top.  I use the bathroom and quickly brush teeth before heading down to bike over to the Wheelworks shop near Davis Sq.  

5:45am and six of my teammates greet me.  All carry their backpack or string-sacks stuff to the brim:  wetsuit, towel, and cap with goggles folded in and secured for the ride.  We head out for a 13-mile ride out of the city and into hills around the golf course at the Winchester Country Club.  

The workout seems to run like clock-work and we arrive at Sandy Beach for our swim.  Yes, it's early still, but the weather is already warming up.  (One friend Beren noted on FB:  I prefer cold - you can always put on another sweater to get warm, but if you're nekkid and still too hot yer outta options. =) ).  That's so true!  And that's why I like to workout early in the summers -- Beat the heat, take a swim.   

I look and see that the swim ropes are up and the beach has been combed by park staff, removing most of the leaves and debris from last fall and recent gully washers.  It's lovely and yet dotted with pollen and living 'stuff' -- green and gooey, alive and kicking (or rather, swimming).  I spot some goose poop (yes, the Canadians are back) and decide to place my flip-flops a few feet farther away at the water's edge.

Then we swim.  Two by two we buddy up and head out for the first buoy.  We get back to the beach about 25 minutes later and start to peel off the wetsuits.  Unlike the photo below, which was taken on a much colder day after a swim in much colder water, today's weather was perfect:  65-70F and bright.  More smiles than shivers!

Following the swim, we gab about summer racing plans and don our gear for the ride home, stuffing the wet wetsuits back into our packs.  It's wonderful to hear how everyone enjoyed the water, felt good on the hills, and keeps learning from the others.  (My friend Dave said that Sierra was giving him training tips on timing his breathing while swimming, and that's exactly why we train together.  We keep each other safe and help each other out, each striving to improve a little each time.  This is why and how training groups work!)  We also keep each other safe through numerous stop lights as we make our way back to Davis Sq, now in the heavy morning traffic.

7:30am and I arrive by bike over to a client's house -- I've been training her for a little over a year.  She knows I'll arrive a little water logged, but she's ready to train hard in her bi-weekly Tues AM session.  So I take her through new back/ab strengthening moves on her Swiss ball, have her try out a few balancing and hip lifting moves on the ball (Knee Tucks and Diver's Pikes) and then get out the resistance bands.  Imagine this move in someone's living room... we did that!  

We did a lot more, too.  From the easy crunches and plank holds to the complex Turkish get-up's, we got through her whole body routine in 55 minutes.  And my work is done for now, it's 9am and I'm back home for breakfast.  Whew!

Here's a tip:  Get your workout done early.  Beat the heat, break a sweat, and then get food.  

Most bodies love to run a little on empty before topping off the tank.  Enjoy the clean burn of an early workout! 

That's my typical Tuesday morning...and it just gets better from there.

Spring Smoothies

Few food options rival the smoothie for simplicity (no cooking, no chewing), deliciousness (fruit, ice cream), and versatility (it's a meal, snack, or dessert). Indeed, it’s as close to a perfect meal as you can get. The only problem: Duplicating juice-bar results at home.  Try some of these nutrient-packed smoothie ingredients that will juice your brain, build muscle, burn fat, and strengthen your heart in less than a minute. Just throw them in a blender, hit liquefy, and start slurping. It’s that simple. 


And for even more great ideas, check out TheMen’s Health Smoothie Selector online, 

Raspberries

High in antioxidants, and bursting with fiber, manganese, and vitamin C, these berries will keep your heart and brain in top shape.

Mango 

With abundant Vitamins A and C, mangoes also add a healthy dose of beta-carotene, which helps prevent cancer and promotes healthy skin. 

Orange and Citrus fruits

OJ has vitamin C, and pineapples contain bromelain, a cancer-inhibiting, inflammation-reducing enzyme.  These all make citrus fruits golden and great ingredients for your smoothie!

Dairy delights and Protein punches -- Milk or Whey

Then add, either Milk, Water, or that devilish combo of the latter two, Whey protein!  1% Milk has calcium, protein, added vitamins and almost none of the fat.  Whey protein has essential amino acids help pack on the muscle—making whey the best friend of athletes and gym rats alike.


For more smoothie ideas and nutritional info, search for your favorite smoothie ingredients or see the smoothie selector tool (with over 30 recipes!) brought to you by Rodale/Men's Health Magazine:   http://www.menshealth.com/smoothies/ 

on a short holiday at Cape Cod, which is quiet and serene in the wintertime.