Thinking on Thursdays is my way of quickly jotting down some things that have been on my mind over the past week. 1. I love the website www.greatist.com. It really is a breath of fresh air in a world of fitness crap. I love their non-intimidating approach to all...

After 12 years of personal training, I have seen many successes.  In  fact, I witness successes every week.  Whether it’s a a client telling me she is getting better at her weekly tai chi classes or a client eager to tell me how he stretched every day this week or a lower number on the scale, I see it all.  I LOVE hearing about how my clients did their “homework” and they see it actually helping their situation.  You would think because these success happen every week I would be used to it by now.   In someways, I am.  But this week marks a success I have seen few, if any, people achieve.  Mary (not her real name) has lost 77 pounds in 1 years time AND tracked EVERY. SINGLE. morsel of food she ate for 365 day.

If you have paid any attention to the news and social media over the last few weeks, I'm sure you have seen and read the frenzy over the latest season finale of The Biggest Loser.   The season 15 winner dropped 155 pounds which equals an astonishing 59.62% of her body...

  Temptation #2 is Peanut Butter.   I hear you saying:   "Peanut butter is your temptation??"   Yes, yes it is.   I would have to say that I eat at least a little peanut butter EVERY.SINGLE.DAY.  It's become an obsession really.    ...

    Most of you who know me, know that I am an empathetic trainer.  I know what it's like to want beer and pizza on the weekends.  I know what it's like to not want to exercise even though you know you should.  I know that holidays bring not only joy but...

  Temptation is the desire to perform an action that one may enjoy immediately or in the short term but will probably later regret for various reasons: legal, social, psychological (including feeling guilt), health-related, economic, etc. (Wikipedia)   I...

  This blog post is a request from one of my clients.  She asked me about "pool/locker room/shower/towel" etiquette after she started a swim class at the local YMCA.  My instant thought is to this cartoon:   I pray to God that I never see that in real life!...

Do you look like any of those people in the cartoon? Straining to see your computer? Hunched over typing away? If so, you are doing a great disservice to your overall health and well being.  A lot of people think poor posture just looks bad.  While that is true, it...

Over the past 11 years I have been inside many gyms, many times.  Probably upwards of a 1000 times.  I’ve come to love and hate all aspects of gym life.  Since lately I’ve been visiting Planet Non Fitness I have a lot more hating experiences than ones I love.  Here are a few ways (thanks to the many members of gyms in Amherst, Hadley and Belchertown) that you SHOULD behave in a gym.

I’m starting Wordless Wednesdays to help me post more and not agonize about my grammar! It will be a mostly wordless Wednesday aside from a quick explanation of the picture. Enjoy!

I worked out last night. It was one of those times that I really didn’t want to be at the gym. I think most people think as a personal trainer I ALWAYS want to be covered in sweat while lifting heavy objects and jumping around. I wish it were true but alas, it isn’t. I had NO desire to even walk on the treadmill let alone do burpees. I seriously sat in my car for 10 minutes playing Candy Crush until I was able to talk myself into at least stopping that ridiculously addicting game and walking inside. I stalled by going to the bathroom, filling up my water bottle, chatting with the front desk person and checking email on my phone… it was pathetic.

I weighed my options

a. Stay and do the planned workout

b. Go home

c. Go to Stop and Shop

So I have been failing to post as often as I should/need to. I started a plank challenge on Facebook that needs some stability so here is my answer to both of these things! A lot of you were frustrated that I wasn’t posting the Challenge first thing in the morning. I understand. I got busy and they dropped to later in the day and then I missed a bunch. I don’t want to let anyone down so here is the first of 4 posts that will outline challenges for each day for a week. The following is a schedule for the next 7 days. Complete each day and be proud of what you have done. You don’t have to tell me how you did but keep yourself accountable in your own way. Some ideas on accountability include setting an alarm on your phone, print this blog post and put it on your fridge, find a “plank buddy” to check in with or pick a set time to complete the challenge. Also, I’m labeling each challenge as Week X Days 1-7. I know things come up. I’m giving you the liberty of taking the one day of rest and putting it where you need it. Good Luck!

I finished Massage Therapy school last Thursday. You would think I would be super excited but I actually feel a little lost. I went to school 4 days each week since September and now it’s time to get back into the “real world”. I’m feeling a little intimidated and unmotivated. I have TONS of things to do but no starting point. So instead of continuing on this downward spiral I’ve decided to find a solution. You see, I am the master of THINKING of good ideas but terrible at DOING them. So this blog post is the first step in DOING something.

I think a lot of people feel the same way about fitness. You have big plans about going to exercise but actually doing the workout is another story. I think about what I would tell a client who had this problem. I’d tell them to:

I think we all have “had a case of the Mondays” at some point regarding our fitness. You might have had a fantastic weekend but there was too much eaten and drinking or your inbox is overflowing with emails and your boss is constantly wanting you to be in meetings that last for hours or you woke up late or… the list goes on. Mondays can be rough.

Here is a quick workout that you can do anywhere and will lift your mood in no time (maybe not lift your mood but I can guarantee you won’t be thinking about Monday)!

Burpee Ladder
Complete the following reps. If you are a beginner stop at 10. If you are more advanced, come back down the ladder. If you are a beast, complete it twice! Record your time so you can compare next time!

1 Burpee

2 Burpees

3 Burpees
4 Burpees
5 Burpees
6 Burpees
7 Burpees
8 Burpees
9 Burpees
10 Burpees

I have a new client who is doing really fantastic with her eating and actually listening and doing the “homework” I give her. She is using MyFitnessPal to track her calories and had a question about the calories it added to her daily allowance after she logged the exercise we completed. She thought eating the 500 calories she burned during exercise seemed wrong. After giving her my answer, I poked around on the internet to see what others thought about this topic. Apparently, this is a heated debate for many fitness professionals! After reading a bunch of articles this article, Calories Burned During Exercise are “Meaningless”, is the one I agreed with the most. In a nutshell, the article states that compared to the rest of the day, the calories you burn during exercise are meaningless. We burn anywhere between 1500-3000 per day doing “nothing”. The 200 -500 calories burned during exercise really are negligible What does this mean for the normal client trying to lose 20 lbs? In my opinion, I do not believe we should make it our goal to eat back those 500 calories. That being said, I do know that exercising makes us hungry and eating a little more chicken, brown rice or oatmeal is not going to be a problem with weight loss. Focusing on building muscle is the way to go. The more muscle you have the more you have a little buffer zone for eating a treat or two. 🙂

In Glamour Magazine there is a section called “Hey, It’s OK…”. It is basically an article they run every month about feeling ok about things that you don’t usually share with anyone else.

It’s OK…

To not have to be perfect at everything.

To LOVE the electric blanket my kids got me for Christmas.

To think there is a heat wave when the temperature in our house gets above 68 degrees.