Exercise Isn’t Torture; Fitness Can Be Fun

By Tina Haupert

Growing up, it was easy for me to be active. I started ballet classes when I was 3 years old, and by the time I was 8, I was playing soccer. All through middle school and high school, I participated in team sports—soccer, tennis, basketball, and track and field. I loved being active, so fitting exercise into my life was easy. I never saw it as a way to burn calories or to maintain my weight; exercise was just plain fun!

Fast forward to my post-college days. I started working 40 hours a week, which meant sitting behind a desk, working late nights at the office, and spending too many overindulgent happy hours with co-workers (hello, beer and nachos!). In just a few months, I gained 20 pounds.

At first, I didn’t realize that I was putting on weight. But when I had to buy a whole new wardrobe (true story!), I knew that something needed to change. I cleaned up my diet and started going to the gym more regularly. Eventually though, that new get-in-shape motivation wore off, and spending hours at the gym each week began to feel like torture. It was nothing like playing soccer after school or taking a hip-hop dance class with my friends each week.

So instead of giving up on exercise altogether, I had to find ways to incorporate it into my life and even try to make it (gasp!) fun. Here’s what I did:

I make it a priority
I no longer “squeeze in” a workout. Exercise is one of the most important items on my to-do list. I try to make some sort of activity happen every single day, no matter what it is. If I have an especially busy day, I’ll incorporate fitness into my chores. For instance, walking my dog for 45 minutes or doing an hour or two of yard work kills two birds with one stone!

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I have a flexible definition of the word “exercise”
Taking a Body Pump class or going for a 5-mile run are a couple of my favorite ways to exercise, but not all of my workouts are this “traditional.” The word “exercise” is a loose term for me. It fits a lot of activities in my life, including hiking in the mountains, taking a bike ride, playing an impromptu game of tennis with my husband, walking to the grocery store and back, or even helping friends move into a new house!

I don’t focus on the number on the scale
When it comes to exercising, I don’t let the bathroom scale dictate my workouts. My goal isn’t to fit into size zero skinny jeans, but to maintain my weight and feel good about myself. To me, being in good shape means feeling healthy and being active. Plus, the extra activity lets me enjoy dessert without guilt every day!

I remind myself that exercise is fun
It’s not always easy to psyche myself up for a workout. Just like everyone else, I am not motivated on some days and don’t feel like doing anything except sit on the couch, catching up with my DVR. Even though I’ve committed myself to fitness, I still struggle with these feelings. But now I’ve found different ways to motivate myself to exercise. I remind myself of the simple pleasures I receive from fitness. A run on the treadmill might sound boring, but to me it’s a time to myself, a time to let my mind wander. Similarly, strength training with free weights may not sound like fun. However, the anticipation of listening to the great workout playlist that I made for lifting weights makes me look forward to my session. It all comes down to making exercise fun!

Read Tina’s daily food and fitness blog, Carrots ‘N’ Cake.

 

 

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Stick to Your Fitness Resolutions: How Do You Get Motivated to Exercise?

By Tina Haupert

At the beginning of a new year, my motivation to exercise is at its peak. I’m ready to shape up and tackle my fitness goals for the year. But as the weeks pass and the winter begins to wear on me, my desire to exercise lessens.

When my drive to break a sweat is at an all-time low, I use a simple trick to motivate myself: I remind myself how I feel after a workout. And to further motivate myself, I remind myself how I feel when I skip a workout. Sometimes it’s that second reminder that really lights a fire!

In a perfect world, I would exercise regularly simply because I like it. OK, I really do like to exercise—I mean, the “runner’s high” alone keeps me coming back for more—but there are days (even weeks) that the thought of exerting extra energy to exercise is totally unappealing.

Motivation is personal for everyone. Each of us has a different reason for exercising. For me, it’s maintaining a healthy body, which includes staying at my Feel Great Weight. Training for an event (like my first marathon) also helps me stick to a regular workout schedule. I like to think of myself as an athlete in training!

When it comes down to it, finding what I really enjoy is what keeps me motivated on the fitness front. Over the years I’ve tried many different forms of exercise, from spinning to kettlebells to Bikram yoga to power walking. If I spend my workout hours doing what I enjoy, I’m more likely to stick to my sweat session, no matter what.

I’ve found that Body Pump classes are easy to stick to because I really enjoy them. I wasn’t great about strength-training on my own (I found it really boring), so the camaraderie and support of a class setting helped me stick with my fitness goals. Taking regular classes has totally changed my outlook, and now I strength-train all the time! Actually liking my workouts makes it that much easier to stick to it.

What’s your motivation to exercise?

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How to Work Out at Lunch

With my early-morning workouts getting depressingly darker as the year draws to a close, I’m starting to wonder if I should try to squeeze in some of my sweat sessions at lunch. The “sweat” part is what gets me, though: How do I do my exercise, stop sweating, clean up, make my hair presentable again, and fix my makeup—all in just one measly hour? In need of some woman-to-woman advice (because, let’s face it, guys have it way easier in the cleanup department), I turned to my four favorite trainers (and great gals to boot)—Ramona Braganza, Amy Dixon, Kristin McGee, and Michele Olson. They responded with a bunch of savvy tips that have left me thinking, Yes, I could do that! Allow me to share them with you.

Choose strength
You’ll sweat a lot less while doing resistance training than you will during cardio, says Braganza, a Los Angeles-based celebrity trainer who counts Jessica Alba and Halle Berry among her clients. If you can, save the cardio sessions for when you have more time to clean up and shower.

 
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Stay cool
If you do choose cardio, keep sweat to a minimum by drying off with a cold towel, suggests Amy Dixon, a trainer and exercise physiologist based in Santa Monica, Calif. Freeze it overnight at home and pop it in the fridge at work (or keep it in an insulated bag with a cold block) until you need it. So refreshing! To halt sweat faster post-workout, drink very cold water (keep that in the fridge too) to reduce your core body temperature faster, says Michele Olson, PhD, a trainer and professor of exercise science at Auburn University, in Auburn, Ala.

Skip the shower
Clean off with body wipes instead. Or, if you don’t have an issue with dry skin, try ordinary sanitized wipes—the  alcohol in them will help cool your skin more quickly, Olson says.

Rescue your hair
New York City–based trainer Kristin McGee (Health magazine’s own yoga columnist) solves the limp post-workout hair conundrum with dry shampoo (her favorite: Klorane Gentle Dry Shampoo with Oat Milk)—you just spray it on and brush it through. Got long tresses? Both McGee and Dixon suggest putting your hair up in a bun or ponytail to keep it as sweat-free as possible.

Prep your face
Think ahead and go light on the makeup in the morning—and definitely choose waterproof mascara, Dixon says. Then, just before your workout, spread a thin layer of petroleum jelly under each eye, McGee says. That way, if your mascara smudges while you sweat, you can just rub it off with a cotton swab or tissue. Touch up makeup as needed and voilà, you’re good to go!

 

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5 Best Exercise Swaps To Help You Burn More Calories

Isolating muscles is so last year. Unless youâ€re rehabbing from an injury or working to strengthen a weaker part of your body, the rule of thumb should be to work as many muscles as possible with each exercise (while of course maintaining good form). The more muscles you can incorporate into each set, the more effective and efficient your workout will be.

You donâ€t need more time to work out; you just need more intensity. By swapping these five simple exercises you can maximize your effort and calorie burn while minimizing your time spent at the gym.

Squats instead of leg press machine

While a leg press is good for isolating your quads, it leaves something to be desired as a total-body exercise. The truth is you have to add so much more weight on a leg press machine to get the same effect that squatting vertically would have. And whereas the leg press includes little to no stabilizer muscle involvement (because the machine gives you total upper body support), squatting forces you to recruit those stabilizer muscles groups in order to complete each rep. That is, your hip adductors (inner thighs) to keep your knees spaced shoulder width apart, as well as your ab muscles to hold your torso in place as the knees bend. Talk about a full body exercise. Donâ€t forget to keep the knees right on top of the heels as you squat down—less pressure on the joints and youâ€ll really feel those hamstrings and glutes fire.

RELATED: 18 Moves to Tone Your Butt, Thighs, and Legs

 

Plank on a BOSU ball instead of crunches

In terms of overall total body effectiveness, we all know that the plank is superior to the crunch. By holding your entire body in an isometric contraction youâ€re strengthening everything from your abs and glutes, to your legs, back, and chest. But weâ€re cranking it up a little further. Adding some sort of balancing factor to your plank—in this case a BOSU ball—will have your whole body, especially your core, feeling the burn in no time. Simply place your forearms on the rounded side while you do your plank. You can also try them with your arms on the flat side. Once you master holding your BOSU ball plank for at least 30 seconds, start adding in some variations—slow mountain climbers and then adding a twist to the opposite side as you bring the knee into the chest are just a few to get your mind working. Any variation after that is fair game. Get creative!

RELATED: 20 Ways to Do a Plank

 

 

Pull ups instead of bicep curls

Despite popular opinion, a pull up is a much more effective way of targeting those guns than a typical curl would be. Plus, with a pull up, youâ€re working your entire upper body and engaging your core muscles too. The key is intensity. You canâ€t cheat a pull up; you either got it or you donâ€t. And donâ€t get discouraged if you can only muster one or two to start, know that youâ€re still exhausting your muscles and therefore building strength. If the thought of even one seems daunting, try wrapping a resistance band around the bar and hook your feet (or bent knees) into it for some assistance getting up. Then, once you become more proficient you can take the band away and start to add more repetitions.

RELATED: 10-Minute Workout for Defined Arms

 

 

VersaClimber instead of the bike

If youâ€re one of those people who loves to sit on the bike and occupy your upper body with a book or magazine while your lower body does all the work, listen up. Cardio success is not about the number of calories burned during your 45-minute session. Itâ€s about elevating your heart rate enough for a prolonged period of time (about 20 minutes at 80% or higher) to achieve the “afterburn” effect, boosting your metabolism so you continue to burn additional calories throughout that day and the next. The VersaClimber is a great option because it incorporates upper and lower body movements at the same time, which not only keeps you engaged in the workout but also means you can cut your time spent on the machine in half. So, give it a try. In addition to preventing boredom, switching up your cardio routine will keep your body guessing and you on track to achieving your fitness goals. (Try this VersaClimber workout.)

 

 

Dumbbell bench instead of traditional bench press

Contrary to popular belief, the bench press is not the best move for the upper body. While it may do a good job of isolating a few specific muscles, using two dumbbells instead of the traditional bar will increase your range of motion and recruit more muscles in the shoulders and back as well. Not only that, but you can add some core work into the equation by alternating arms one at a time to challenge your balance and force those abs to join the party. If you really want to kick it up a notch, try switching out the bench for a Swiss Ball and get some more stabilizers involved!

Looking for more ways to enhance your workout? Try 5 Upgrades to Your Favorite Body Weight Moves and 7 Workout Habits You Should Drop Now.

Jennifer Cohen is a leading fitness authority, TV personality, entrepreneur and best-selling author of the new book, Strong is the New Skinny. With her signature, straight-talking approach to wellness, Jennifer was the featured trainer on The CWâ€s Shedding for the Wedding, mentoring the contestants†to lose hundreds of pounds before their big day, and she appears regularly on NBCâ€s Today Show, Extra, The Doctors and Good Morning America. Connect with Jennifer on Facebook, Twitter, G+ and on Pinterest.

 

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5 Yoga Moves to Relieve Holiday Stress

5 Yoga Moves to Relieve Holiday Stress



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How Plus-Size Dancer Jessie Diaz Learned to Love her Body

This story is part of Health’s #RealLifeStrong series, where we are celebrating women who represent strength, resilience, and grace.

Jessie Diaz has always loved dancing. But she never knew how much she would love inspiring other women to dance until she founded her Curves with Moves dance company. Diaz’s goal for every class she teaches: to get women to see the power in dance and their own bodies through affirmations and good, old-fashioned endorphins. Here, she opens up about her journey to self-acceptance.

How did your dance career start?

I’ve always been a dancer, but when I was 12, I learned that I didn’t have the typical dancer’s body type. I was auditioning for the next level in my ballet academy, and I got accepted. I was so happy, but my head dance teacher advised me to lose weight.

How did you react to that?

At the time, I wasn’t even a big girl. I was just going through puberty, growing things like boobs and a butt. But I thought if my teacher was suggesting it, she must have my best interests at heart. I started skipping meals, and one day I fainted. When I told my mom what was going on, she was so pissed she drove me to the studio and cursed everyone out, yelling, “Nobody tells my daughter to lose weight! My daughter is beautiful!” She pulled me out of dance—I thought she was ruining my life.

Did you give up dancing completely?

Until college, yes. It sort of had a stigma attached to it after that for me. Then during freshman week of college, I was at a party where the dance crew was performing. I was dancing around, and they asked me to join the crew.

RELATED: People Are Shocked I’m a Dancer Because I Was Born Missing This Body Part

Did it feel different that time around?

College is really where I re-found my love of dance in a completely different light. It wasn’t about what your body looked like, it was about what it could do. But I didn’t embrace being a plus-size dancer. I actually hid from it. Even though I was loving dance, I wasn’t 100% comfortable in my body.

When did that change?

Body positivity is a journey. It isn’t something where any negativity just ends, and suddenly you feel completely confident. But when I was pregnant, I had a really great pregnancy, I really didn’t gain a lot of weight, and my doctor was super proud of me. But my delivery was so painful and so complicated that I spent a week in the hospital after with my child. And the next month was super hard on my body and I just felt really defeated. I was just really hating my body. I felt like it quit on me.

How did you work through that?

I had blogged a bit after college, all focused on fashion, dance, and a little bit about being plus size. My husband encouraged me to go back to blogging again while I had some time in my maternity leave. So I started posting old dance pictures and videos of me, and got feedback from people being like “It’s so great to see a plus-size dancer, you’re rocking it.”

RELATED: Ballerina Ingrid Silva on Unraveling Stereotypes: ‘I Can Still Look Classical and Elegant With My Natural Hair’ 

Did that change the way you felt about yourself?

At first, I felt defensive, like people thought I couldn’t do that stuff because of my size. And then I started to see the reactions of people saying “I wish I could dance like you!” From straight-size women as well as plus-size women. I realized my body is letting me dance in a way that feels great, so I should thank my body for allowing me to have rhythm and for allowing me to move the way I do.

You’ve grown a large Instagram following since then. Was that a conscious priority?

There was a point where I decided to get back into dancing. My body felt a little bit better and I thought I could physically handle it, so I just started posting and the more I was being involved in the community on Instagram, the more I became confident. So I just started becoming an advocate and I found that there weren’t a lot of women and men who were dancing in the plus-size community.

Where has that lead you now?

I’ve always been teaching dance classes, but I never labeled my classes as plus-size or as body-positive until last year when I felt like there was a need for it. I realized there were a lot of people who wanted to dance but were scared of being the plus-size girl in the room. So I created a safe space where women can dance and not feel judged. It turned into such a phenomenon and I have such loyal, loyal class members that come to every class and bring friends. My classes are one-third body-positive expression, and two-thirds dance. We start with conversation and a little exercise, and then we dance it out, and then we end staring at ourselves in the mirror and saying affirmations and things that make us feel really great. And someone ends up tearing up at the end….sometimes me.

RELATED: Why This Ballerina With Panic Disorder and Depression Refuses to Apologize for Her Mental Illness

Where does your strength come from?

I was always a mature kid. I had to grow up a little faster than normal kids. My mom basically almost committed suicide, so I had to learn to take care of my mom and my little sister when I was 13. It taught me a sense of responsibility. But having that kind of experience allowed me to hone in on my emotions and learn to be strong for my mom and strong for my sister. But I also come from a line of strong women on my mom’s side and my dad’s side. My dad has always told me that I could be whatever I wanted and never to stop dreaming.

How do you hone that strength now?

Affirmations are a big thing for me. I write them on my mirror. I just turned 31 last week, so my quote was like “31 is going to be your year!” You know, instead of thinking, like “Oh my God, I’m getting older.” I’d rather think “This is going to be an amazing, phenomenal year for you.” Turning around some of those things that we put in a negative light, and using it as a turning point for positivity.

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Rowan University Banned Running in Sports Bras

Rowan University is making headlines this week for policies that have been criticized as sexist and outdated: The school’s cross-country team was recently told to move its practices to another location, after female runners on the college’s track were reportedly deemed “distracting” to football players also practicing nearby.

Oh, and they were also told they couldn’t run in sports bras, thanks to a school policy that athletes must wear shirts at all times.

The controversy at the South Jersey school has gone viral, prompting discussions about double standards placed on women—including women athletes—and their bodies. The college has since revamped its “no shirt, no practice” policy and clarified that sports bras get the thumbs up. But questions still remain about why the issue was brought up in the first place, and whether the cross-country team is really being treated fairly.

RELATED: These Are the Top-Rated Sports Bras on Amazon

Here’s how it all went down: Last month, the men’s and women’s cross-country teams at Rowan met for practice on the school’s only track, which happens to surround a football practice field. As their workout intensified, some members—of both sexes—removed their shirts, the New York Times reported.

A football coach approached the women’s cross-country coach and told him “that the runners were distracting the football players,” according to Outside Online. This isn’t the first time comments like this were made to the female runners, team members told Think Progress this week, but it is the first time there were lasting repercussions.  

A few days later, the cross-country team was told that—per university guidelines—only one team could use that specific practice facility at a time, and that the football team had dibs. Also, per another guideline, they were informed that all athletes must wear shirts during practice.

The team’s choices were limited: They could change their practice time or move to the high-school track across the street. The athletes were frustrated that they were the ones asked to move—and with the message they felt the school was sending to women about their bodies.

RELATED: 10 Trendy Sports Bras You’ll Want to Wear as a Top

Former cross-country runner Gina Capone heard from her friends on the team and wrote about the experience on the self-publishing platform Odyssey. “If you’re running in a sports bra, then you must be asking for it, right?” she wrote. “Well, according to a football player at Rowan University, this is true.”

Capone’s powerful essay is resonating with women around the country—many who have also been told that tight or skin-showing workout wear is somehow inappropriate. (Who can forget the scandal that ensued when Brandi Chastain whipped off her shirt after the U.S. World Cup victory in 1999?)

“I’ll have you know the real reason women run in sports bras, and it’s not to show off our hard-earned abs,” she wrote. “Women, whether they have a six-pack or not, run in sports bras because, quite frankly, it’s hot outside. We run in sports bras because our workouts are demanding, challenging, and vigorous. We run in sports bras because we are confident, hardworking student-athletes.”

Women do not run in sports bras, she continued, “as a way to show off our bodies in attempts to distract men.”

Capone wrote that all 15 members of the Rowan University women’s cross-country team believe that running in sports bras should be allowed at practice, even those who choose to cover up. She also pointed out that the women’s cross-country team is one of the only teams at Rowan that’s not provided a daily uniform for practices. “How is it expected for the women on this team to partake in a non-existing dress code?” she asked.

“The fact that the Athletic Department supports the claim of this being distracting, or the women ‘asking for it,’ is disgusting,” Capone wrote, calling out rape culture as the real issue at play. She also quotes an anonymous source—presumably a woman on the team—who points out that female runners aren’t the only ones who wear revealing workout clothing.

“As girls, we could look at the football team and say that their tight pants showing off everything is asking for it, but we don’t,” the unnamed woman said. “When we are on the track, we are doing a hard workout that requires all our focus, so we aren’t looking at them and what they are doing. If they are distracted by us, then their practices clearly don’t require their full attention, or they just aren’t as committed to the sport.”

RELATED: 3 Sports Bras for Big Boobs that Actually Work

The women on Rowan’s cross-country team don’t just represent their school, Capone wrote, but also a growing community of female runners. “It’s time women are allowed to embrace their bodies and not live in constant fear of being degraded by men,” she wrote.

The running community, of course, took notice. The controversy was tweeted about by Runner’s World columnist Peter Sagal and former U.S. track and field athlete Lauren Fleshman.

“Well isn’t that just the perfect micro example of how normalized it is in our country to control women’s bodies because men don’t want to take responsibility for their own,” Fleshman wrote. “From sports bra legality, to dress codes, to responsibility for sexual assault, to reproductive rights.”

Former Olympic Marathoner Kara Goucher chimed in, as well. “No lie—I had to bring a note signed by my mom that said, ‘my daughter has permission to run around in her underwear’ after a group of us ran in sports bras at practice,” she tweeted. “That was 1995, I thought things had changed.”

Rowan listened—at least in part. Less than 24 hours after Capone’s piece was published, the school issued a statement addressing the controversy and blaming a “longstanding verbal protocol that all athletes must wear shirts, even during practice.” The administration promises to immediately develop a written policy “that allows women athletes to wear sports-bra tops without shirts during practices,” the statement read.

Some good has certainly come of this incident: Team members interviewed by The New York Times and Outside Online say they appreciate the university’s statement and their reversal of the old policy. Capone has also started an empowering discussion on Instagram, posting a photo of herself sans shirt and asking others why they work out in sports bras. “Let’s use our voices,” she wrote. “Let’s raise some hell.”

But the cross-country team is still unable to use the school’s only track, which is disappointing to Capone and her classmates. Advocates outside of Rowan’s community aren’t letting the school off that easily, either.

Kelly Roberts, creator of the #SportsBraSquad movement, told Outside Online that she wishes the school had stood up for female students from the start. “Until we stop telling women to cover up, we’re never going to solve the larger problem,” she said.

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