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.

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!

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

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.

Harvard gym workout, pool closed

A really busy, good day although I didn't get the swim as I'd hoped and planned. Oh well. Lots of other good activity though and two training clients with some exercise demos as well. Also met some physician/psychologists who I may be receiving training referrals from very soon. Yay, more training business and for a very high-need, high-resources population!

Fresh Pond run and mini-bootcamp

So as you can see, I've gone back to logging workouts. It's a simple act, but a powerful discipline. I have logged triathlon training workouts for years. Seeing the build-up of hours and miles gives me confidence for most any race.

Fri, Feb 27 Run ~3.5 miles in 35 minutes. Also gave a Mini-boot camp in 10 minutes for two friends, immediately post-run. Drills included 2x10 pushups, 2x15 squats, 2x20 walking lunges, 2x20 side squats, 1x10 tricep dips. My running pal told me she was sore for days afterwards. Yay!