Miami Women-Only Fitness Bootcamp

Ladies,

You may have noticed that we’re no longer implementing the static stretch (holding a stretch in place)  routine we used to do after the warm up.  WHY?  It’s not as effective for warming up the muscles  and preventing injury.  Of course, it still has its place in a fitness enthusiasts schedule and that’s what I want to share with you.  Now what works best to get our muscles ready for working out and helps decrease the risk of muscle tear is known as dynamic stretching (stretching with movement).   I’ll elaborate more on that tomorrow.

Today’s goal is to provide you with some static stretching you can do at home.  This type of stretching requires time and focus.  It helps keep your muscles supple and elongated.  It also helps prevents joint pain from tight muscles.  When static stretching, you want to hold each stretch for 45-90 seconds, depending on what is necessary, and repeat several times.  I like to stretch during commercial breaks =))  Never stretch through pain!

Let’s start with the lower extremities.  Here are some basic stretches for the main muscles groups in our legs:

1.  The quadriceps (front of thigh)

2.  Hamstrings (back of thigh)

3.  Inner thighs

4.  Outer thigh/Buttocks

5.   Calf (to get both calf muscles, do this stretch first and then bend the knee while keeping this same position, with the heel down).

HAPPY STRETCHING!

SOLE SISTERS, we have speed work this Saturday at Tropical Park hill!  Be there at 7:30am to get your butts kicked!!

Your Bootcamp Coaches!

Ladies,

As I mentioned previously, every year around this time we have a formal celebration to highlight the past year’s most memorable moments and recognize those who worked their butts off!  Just think of it as the Golden Globes or the MTV Awards…
It’s a ton of fun, and you’ll be very surprised just how nicely some of us clean up!
You can bring a spouse, relative, friend or even your entire family.

WHERE ?  Jungle Island (formerly Parrot Jungle near South Beach), 111 Parrot Jungle Trail, Miami, FL 33132

WHEN ?  Sunday, Feb 17 @ 6pm

HOW MUCH ?  $29/person until Feb 5 (includes wine, dinner & a fabulous night); after Feb 5, $34/person

PLEASE BUY YOUR TICKETS ASAP… we have limited seating & ticket prices go up by $5 after this weekend!  You can buy your tickets in person at the front desk or you can reserve your seat(s) by telephone, at 305-225-4610.

YOUR BOOTCAMP COACHES!

Hey ladies!!

So as the calendar challenge approaches, my quest to find healthy and satisfying recipes is on!  Check this out… a DELICIOUS,  PROTEIN PACKED, YOGURT PARFAIT!

I think you’ll like!

INGREDIENTS:
-6 oz. non fat Greek plain yogurt (100 calories, 7g carbs, 18g protein)
-1/4 cup low fat granola (Bear Naked has a protein one – 140 calories, 7g fat, 15g carbs, 6g protein)
-1/2 cup fresh, sliced strawberries (50 calories, 13g carbs, 1g protein)
-1 tbsp unsweetened coconut flakes (110 calories, 10g fat, 4g carbs, 1g protein)
-Optional: substitute coconut for 1 tbsp organic dark chocolate bits/chips

 

ENJOY!

YOUR BOOTCAMP FAMILY

Hey ladies,

There is a meet this Sunday, Jan 27 @ 7:30am.  We will meet at the the intersection of 97th and Flagler.  You can park in front of the school located close by.  BE ON TIME!

For the next few weeks, the SOLE SISTERS running schedule will be the following:

Alternating between Saturdays and Sundays every weekend, the location will vary and will be announced at the beginning of the week.

Sunday, Jan 27
Saturday, Feb 2
Sunday, Feb 10
Saturday, Feb 16
Sunday, Feb 24 (day before start of the 2014 calendar challenge!)

Also, this weekend some of our bootcampers will be doing the ING HALF MARATHON & FULL MARATHON, running 13.1 & a whopping 26.2 miles, respectively!!
Good luck to you girls and I have no doubt, the hard work you’ve been investing these past few months will pay off.

HAPPY TRAINING!

Your Bootcamp Coaches!

Hey ladies!!

1.  GET THOSE GOALS IN ORDER!

HAPPY HUMP DAY!  We’re mid-way through the week – hope you’re that much closer to the goals you’ve set out for yourself.  I’m still waiting for those goals to be written down on paper and given to me, sealed in an envelope!  Tic, toc, tic, toc….  get to it!!  If you don’t know what I’m referring to, do yourself a favor and check out the previous post from January 1st!

2.  COOL FEATURE

For those who don’t know, there is a feature on this website that will notify you by email when a blog is posted.  All you have to do is check off the box below related to it….(I can’t see it from my end but I know it’s there.).  Stay ahead of the game 😉

3.  MORE ON WANNABE SUGARS

Yesterday, I posted about artificial sweeteners and my skepticism towards them…

I can’t say with confidence that they are “BAD” for you – I’m not in the lab testing them, but as one bootcamper said, always err on the side of caution, and I’m on that team!  Although, I guess I can be somewhat of a hypocrite at times, because occasionally I turn to sugar-free gum when I have a food craving, but that’s not often, and that’s the extent of my use of the fake stuff.  I mean aspartame has been around for years, and thankfully we haven’t heard any real tragic stories other than the ones related to the poor mice injected with exaggerated doses.  In that vein, even water will be toxic if consumed in extreme amounts.

Now what about the new guy in town…STEVIA?

We’re such a sugar-obsessed society, that we’re always on the hunt for the next sweetener alternative that will allow us to enjoy food without the guilt or side-effects… hmmm, maybe we just need more fruit??

I’ll be honest, I’ve never tried Stevia, nor do I care to….at least not the processed kind.

I do support using Stevia in the natural plant form; meaning I would pick a leaf off the bush if I were ever in Brazil or Paraguay, and throw it in my tea.  The problem happens with most sugars, once refined, the chemical action completely changes its make-up and something benign or beneficial can become dangerous to the body.  The powder form of Stevia is highly altered, processed and devoid of nutrition.

The bottom line is that there is not enough evidence to really back up either school of thought where sugar alternatives are concerned.  The Japanese have been using Stevia to sweeten their foods since the 1970’s and nothing ill has been reported as a result of this.  More so, I can list a handful of reasons why real sugar is bad for you and should be avoided.  As your health and fitness coach, my best guiding advice would be to avoid them all together whenever possible, and turn to fruit when in need of a sugar fix.  If that doesn’t do it, maybe some dark chocolate or honey, but in small quantities.

HAPPY WEDNESDAY,

BE SAFE & TRAIN HARD,

YOUR BOOTCAMP COACHES!

Yup!  As of December 2012, Diet Pepsi has added acesulfame potassium to the existing artificial sweetener, aspartame, in several states throughout the US.

What does this mean?   In well documented independent studies, aspartame and caffeine have proved to be a toxic combination.  The new addition, acesulfame potassium, has been clinically proven to stimulate insulin secretion in a dose dependent fashion thereby possibly aggravating reactive hypoglycemia (“low blood sugar attacks”) – not to mention that it apparently produced lung tumors, breast tumors, rare types of tumors of other organs, several forms of leukemia and chronic respiratory disease in several rodent studies, even when less than maximum doses were given.

Just in case you needed another reason to ditch the diet soft drinks!

READ MORE:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/17/diet-pepsi-recipe-artificial-sweetener_n_2315436.html

Some of you know how I feel about artificial sweeteners…I don’t recommend them.  If you want something sweet, why not just use the real stuff…but use small amounts of it!

SOMETHING TO LOOK OUT FOR:  Lately, I’ve been more meticulous about reading the ingredients labels on everything I consume.  To my surprise, these artificial sweeteners are appearing more often than not, in products that are not even labeled as “diet” or “reduced…”.  Manufacturers are turning to artificial sweeteners to “improve” the taste of some foods, without the added calories…

If you want my opinion….I’ll take the calories!

HAPPY TRAINING BOOTCAMPERS….STAY HEALTHY AND POSITIVE!

Your coaches.

Hey ladies!

I’m looking ahead to February and it’s shaping up to be a really exciting month!

1.  ANNUAL AWARDS & CEREMONY BANQUET
For one, our Annual Awards & Ceremony Banquet has been confirmed.  For those who aren’t familiar with this celebration, every year around this time, we organize a formal soiree to highlight the past year’s achievements and honor those who made 2012 a success, both for us and for themselves.  Dinner, drinks and many laughs are on the menu!

The event will take place in the evening at Jungle Island (formerly Parrot Jungle), 1111 Parrot Jungle Trail, Miami, FL  33132, Sunday, Feb 17, 2013.  Will keep you posted with more info.  FOR NOW, SAVE THE DATE AND PREPARE TO HAVE A GREAT EVENING!

2.  NEXT CHALLENGE – 4TH ANNUAL “GET YOUR BODY CALENDAR-READY” 12-WEEK TRANSFORMATION
…is being launched earlier than usual.  This year, the official DAY 1 of your 12-week health & fitness journey will be Sunday, Feb 24, 2013.  Stay tuned for more info!

3.  SOLE SISTERS

Are you an avid runner?  Are you a mediocre runner looking to improve your pace?  Are you a newbie looking to incorporate more running into your fitness regime?  Whatever your fitness level, speed, experience, etc., SOLE SISTERS welcomes you!  For those who are just tuning in, we have a running group that is exclusive to bootcamp members, and we’re called the SOLE SISTERS!  Sole Sisters is lead by our running coach Jackie Gee.  We meet once a week to run in different, scenic areas of Miami.  All you have to do to join is show up….this Saturday, Jan 19 (tomorrow) we are meeting at the Tropical Park track at 7:30am.

Also, join us on FACEBOOK, @ https://www.facebook.com/pages/SOLE-Sisters/187327887982235?fref=ts

HAPPY FRIDAY!

YOUR BOOTCAMP COACHES

HEY LADIES!!

Does the image above look familiar?  It seems that too many of us are suffering from shoulder pain and it’s tragically limiting our ability to give 100% during our bootcamp workouts.

I have been suffering from shoulder pain for what seems like a lifetime now.    Part of my problem, aside from the wear and tear and years of sports, is my poor posture.  Good news is that poor posture can be fixed, so there’s some hope for symptom-relief.

Many people aren’t aware of this, but certain bad habits leave the shoulder very vulnerable to injury.  The shoulder joint is one of the most unstable joints in the human body so it’s no surprise that shoulder tendinitis is such a common ailment in most athletes and avid exercisers.

Here are 3 bad habits that can lead to pain and injury in the shoulder:

1.  Sleeping with your arm over your head
GUILTY!  The average American gets about 8 1/2 hours of sleep per night so, roughly 510 minutes of having your trapezius and levator scapulae muscles (between your neck and shoulder blade) shortened.  A short muscle easily becomes an overactive and overstressed muscle.  During the day, it will cause your nervous system to more readily use the ‘trap’ muscle to begin to raise your arm, which it is not supposed to do.  Your deltoid muscle has that job.  When you raise your arm up using your trap, it sets off a chain of biomechanical events between your shoulder blade and upper arm bone (humerus) that restricts motion and tends to pinch the tendons.  This is known as impingement syndrome.

2.  Sitting with slumped posture
GUILTY!  Another bad habit that leads to pain in the shoulders is sitting in a poor posture.  If you work in an office at a desk all day, behind a computer, you are likely guilty of this to!  What does back posture have to do with the shoulders?  Everything.  Try a little experiment.  Unless you’re reading this in the car (I know I’m interesting, but don’t do that while driving!), you’re probably at a computer.  Slump down really far.  Further.  There you go… Raise your shoulder up as high as you can.  Keep it up.  Now, sit tall and straighten your back and neck. Raise your shoulder higher. Probably got about 20 degrees higher, right?  Your mid back (AKA thoracic spine) MUST be able to straighten or extend to get your shoulder blade and upper arm to be able to raise to it’s full capacity.  Chronic poor posture leads to a stiff thoracic spine and limits shoulder range, ultimately causing early wear on the cartilage and tendons that support the shoulder.  The fix?  Straighten up!  Get your head back over your center of gravity by making sure your ears are inline with the middle of your shoulders.  Think of sitting tall like the kid who’s 1/2″ too short to get on a roller coaster. It may be uncomfortable at first, but you’ll thank me in the long run.  There are several back strengthening exercises you can do that will help since those muscles are weak from being overstretched.  Likewise, you need to stretch the pectoral (chest) and neck muscles, since they are likely too tight!

3.  Repetitive use
GUILTY!  This is a pretty broad topic here, but what I want you to realize is two things. First, you don’t need to be a super-athlete or assembly line worker to have repetitive use.  Second, it’s not necessarily the overuse, as much as it is overuse with poor form. If you are a chronic texter or cell phone user, take a quick glimpse at the elevation of your shoulders. Is your shoulder nudging up to your ear?  When you’re using a mouse, are you using just from your elbow down or are you using the whole arm?
Ladies, how much does that purse weigh?  Do you tend to lift things with your right arm primarily?  There are a lot of things you don’t think of as repetitive motion, but they are.  They tend to cause that wear and tear over time if you are not spreading the love to the opposite arm once in a while, or if you disregard the form.  Use both arms when you can.  Keep your elbows close to your body to minimize leverage placed on your shoulders by the things you lift up.  Take a peak in the mirror, and if you look like Frankenstein in the shoulders, go get a massage.  Stretch them out.  Most importantly, what can you do to reduce mental stress?  We tend to keep the shoulders tense when we are under too much stress.  Take frequent stretch breaks if you have to work at a computer too long.

HOPE THIS HELPED SHED SOME LIGHT ON SOME OF THE POTENTIAL FACTORS CAUSING US SO MUCH GRIEF!!

Hey girls,

Avocados are an amazingly healthy food, but if you’re trying to lean out, you may want to avoid eating too much of them since they are high in fats (good fats, but still).  Instead, I found this cool recipe for guacamole using broccoli instead of avocado. (http://domesticfits.com/2012/10/10/broccomole/)

It’s broccomole!  It’s creamy and very tasty.

One ounce is only 22 calories a serving.  And only about 250 calories if you eat the entire bowl.

I personally love avocados.  I eat them often.  They are chock full of healthy fats, vitamins, and protein…a great food that can not be improved upon.  This recipe isn’t about improving guacamole.  It’s a new food, a lower calorie creamy green dip that is about 1/3 the calories, twice the protein and much less fat.

And broccoli is a known cancer fighter, bone strengthener, cardiovascular health champion, bone-fide superfood and one of the most nutrient dense foods on the planet.  We could all use some of it, and what better to take it down…with a carrot stick or cucumber spear!

Ingredients:

• 3 cups chopped broccoli
• 1 jalapeno, chopped, seeds removed
• 2 tbs green onions
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 2 ounces fat free cream cheese (I use the low fat version)
• 1/4 tsp chili powder
• 1 tbs cilantro
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper

Instructions:

1. Cook the broccoli in lightly salted water until very soft. Overcook the broccoli in comparison to the al dente cooking that most recipes recommend.
2. Drain broccoli very well.
3. Transfer to a food processor. Add the remaining ingredients and process until smooth, add additional olive oil for a smoother texture.
4. Serve warm

ENJOY!

YOUR BOOTCAMP TEAM