50th post and Hooray, it's May!

"How's it going with your trainings?"  Business has been good and steady.  I'm proud of what I started here, and I want to make my clients proud of themselves for participating.  Spring started at a good tempo and I'm finally making room for more clients again.  I'm training 25-30 clients each week, mostly in hourly sessions at the gym.  Several new clients are taking it outside, especially now that the weather has improved (finally!).

See that complimentary session gift on my business card?  Well, now you can use it outside in a Bootcamp!  

The SunnyDayFitness Bootcamp series starts June 1 for Wednesdays at 6:30am on June 1, June 15, and June 29.  Meeting at Danehy Park and Champions Track in North Cambridge (map link), we will dust off the old cobwebs and shine with my outdoor *rain or shine* group fitness Bootcamp.  Sign-up by e-mailing me at sunny@sunnydayfitness.com or just show-up with $20 per workout.  

A high quality nutritional choice

Low quality nutrition

Speaking of Champions... Bootcampers will be given a few nutritional challenges.  Real champions need to eat better foods than cereal, pizza, and peanuts.  We will endeavor together to clean up our diets and fuel our bodies with what we *know* we should be eating.  Each Bootcamp participant will take a weekly diet challenge during the 2 weeks between sessions and will report back.  Are you ready to get fitter and eat healthier?  You'd better be on board!  Wednesdays at Danehy, 6:30am in June.

Healthworks Happenings

It's March already.  How did this happen?  I can honestly say that my busy-ness at the gym has hit new highs.  While still serving my SunnyDayFitness clients on their territory, I worked many long days and nights with new gym joiners in this new year 2011 at Healthworks Fitness for Women.  So many people are now training with me for weight loss and in small groups, it's wonderful!  

Although January was epic and February was full,  I still gave time away to do what I love:  teaching folks how to do new things like

Indoor Rowing

This lady loves taking a break from rowing

Kettlebell Swinging  

She needs a bigger bell to swing, for serious, really. 

and Making Better Nutritional Choices.

Me at Tulsa's QT trying "boston baked beans" and a slushy drink.
Not really your best choices for convenience store eating...sorry!

 Here in March I am actively seeking other venues to teach.  Do you have a community center, a church, or a tennis club where I could share a class like "Restore the Core" to post-natal moms?  Or a senior center with people who'd want to know about "Building Bones with Weight Bearing exercise" to prevent osteoporosis?  

Please think of me and SunnyDayFitness for your fitness teaching and athletic coaching needs.  I offer a complimentary in-home training or consultation to all new clients and a free training session to you if you refer me to someone who does become a client. It's nearly time to run and play outside again, but will your body (or your mom's or your sister's or your grandma's) be ready for that next sunny day...?

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.

October...now December, and 60F?

Welcome to weirdly warm winter weather. For those not following on Facebook, I wanted to let you know what SunnyDayFitness has been doing this fall. I have been trying a new workout location and training venue every other Saturday this fall -- Stadium Stairs at Harvard U. Banners in red along the top edge cite all of Harvard's Ivy League and National titles in football. The field is radiant green field turf with "CRIMSON" blazing in the end zones. It feels like the place should be protected and locked when not in use on game days, but it's always open.

It's quite a simple meet-up and workout, really. Just start walking (or running) up the stairs in each section 1-37. The stadium is rather old and the stairs are tall. Without too many breaks the stadium can be completed in about 40 minutes. But most first-timers are happy to get only half way around the horseshoe of sections before the trembling calves and quads start firing.

We went on Oct 10, 24, and Nov 7, 21. and now it's time for December 5th, Saturday, 11am. Join us if you can stomach the shift to colder weather! See the facebook page for more info

Falmouth, Cape Cod Weekend

Getting outdoors is great fun, especially with fit, fun friends. When friends Pauline and Ulandt asked if we -- my boyfriend Matthew and best friend Terry and I -- wanted to join them on Cape Cod, I asked "what should we bring?". Bikes, running shoes, googles and wetsuit, or all of the above!

Weekend activities on land and sea:

• 1 mile ocean swim, sans wetsuit -- yes the water was cool but warm enough!
• 1 hour paddle on a duet kayak into the bay near Green Pond
• Coastal area bicycling with Matthew and even Terry too (yes!)
• 7-mile run along inlets and bays with Ulandt and Matthew
• another 1+mile ocean swim, this time with a wetsuit and with another triathlete guy
• a final long ride 35+ miles bicycling back to Plymouth for the Commuter Rail

More about the weekend in a personal blog posting here.

Connect to SunnyDayFitness via Facebook Fans

SunnyDayFitness.com is now on Facebook, and you can follow us there as a Fan of the SunnyDayFitness page.

Joining the Fan Page will provide: updates in your Facebook Inbox about upcoming special events, bootcamp trainings, and much more from your favorite social networking tool, Facebook.

SunnyDayFitness - July Bootcamp

Exciting news! I am proud to announce that Bootcamp at Fresh Pond starts tomorrow with a few friends from my website and Facebook Page for SunnyDayFitness.com website fan page.

Here's a preview of the location where we'll be running

After a Warmup featuring dynamic, fun drills like "Monster Walks" and "Crazy Feet" we'll progress to what I call "The half-pond run". Participants will choose which direction to run -- Right (Red 1.6 miles) or Left (Blue 1.0 miles) for a longer or shorter warm-up jog/walk/run. Hopefully everyone will be up for the running, but we'll see!

Then we'll move into Drills and Games, like "soccer runs" and "capture the flag". Next comes P & P's -- code word for drill combos that people love to hate: Planks and Plyometrics. Then comes the triple threat for the arms - Pushups, Jumping Jacks, and Dips. Finally, we'll end with Stretches and a walk back to the cars or bikes where we start the rest of our day. All this in just one hour, once a week, and for only $10-12 per session. Sounds fun, doesn't it?

SunnyDayFitness can Revitalize your Life -- click here to see Sunny's card and contact her today with your questions.

Metabolic Mayhem a.k.a. BURN

Are you interested in personal training but don't have the time or the money? the lilac-colored flyer asked.

After a recent workout at Harvard's Malkin Center, "A class of advanced circuits geared towards people that have just a small amount of time to be in the gym and want the most bang for their buck." They call it "Metabolic Mayhem"; at Healthworks, we call it BURN. I was surprised to see how, like BURN, they use:

* timed sets and intervals of rest
* mostly body weight exercises using some dumbbells
* dynamic warmup followed by interval circuits followed by static stretching

The kicker was that their group met at the same time each week (mid-day on a single weekday) and that participants pay in advance for all 6 classes, no refunds for missed classes. This is how bootcamps work at my gym, but not how BURN works.

The one advantage for clients is that having the same group time/day week after week means that progressions can be made for the group to build on past weeks' moves. By contrast, BURN sessions run at 14+ different time/day combinations each week, so there is almost never the same group twice. Trainers leading BURN sessions have to give the beginner to advanced adjustments on-the-fly based on participant skill. We also accommodate varying speeds of walkers/joggers/runners in each treadmill BURN session.

Seeing weekly group training schedules does make me appreciate just how consistent vs. chaotic scheduling can really influence a workout progression. How consistent are my client's workout routines? How can I make them more progressive while keeping them fresh with new or tweaked moves week after week? That is every trainer's challenge, and every group training instructor's challenge, too.