My Favorite Free Fitness Videos

I recommend the first two for anyone who is feeling tight. But of course, if you are injured, seek out proper medical care with a sports medicine specialist.

Band Tube Stretch with James Greenwood [15 mins]
http://www.mypypeline.com/store/video/stretching_with_a_band_tube/
You don’t need a band. You can do this one with a towel. Great pre- and post-game.

Prehab / General Stretching [12 mins]
http://www.mypypeline.com/store/video/prehab-stretching/
It's the opposite of re-hab... it's pre-hab, get it? Stretch and strengthen before and after your workout or sport, and reduce injuries.


If you want a really tough workout, it's listed below. Suck it up punk and just do it.

ADVANCED STX Strength Training Workout Video: Total Body Conditioning with Medicine Ball, Band and Exercise Mat, Vol. 1, Session 1 [45 mins]
http://www.mypypeline.com/store/video/stx-advanced-strength-training-vol-1-session-1/

Happy training.

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Fit, Fabulous and 40 is dedicated to anyone who is committed to staying fabulous by eating well, keeping active and maintaining a positive frame of mind. This takes work, so let's do it together. Drop me a comment any time, pass on tips and tricks or just follow along. You don't have to be 40, but you do have to be fabulous!

Your Binge Eating Habits - You can't afford the time or the calories

Last night, for the first time in my life, I ate a whole small container of ice cream. Ben & Jerry's Half Baked Chocolate and Vanilla Ice Creams Mixed with Fudge Brownies & Gobs of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. That's the full title, by the way. Took me about as long to type that as it took for me to eat the whole tub.

I was not PMSing. I was not unhappy. I was not suffering heart break or bored. I ate a whole container (500ml or roughly a pint) because I had never done it before and I wanted to know what it was like. Haven't we all just wanted to say, "F-it! I just don't care any more!" Well, here is the cost of throwing that proverbial caution to the wind.

It's likely no surprise that the cost of curling up with Ben & Jerry is 1,160 calories or about 58% of a 2,000 calorie diet and 56 grams of fat, about 88% of a recommended fat intake. Then, I wanted to see what it would take to burn it off. So this morning I did a pretty decent workout.

I did a zone 3 (medium intensity), 20 minute warm-up run and dynamic stretch. Ten short sprints in the sand to get my heart rate up. Then 30 minutes of hill intervals at zone 4 to 5 (high and very high intensity). And finally, I did an outdoor strength training session at a local playground with 3 sets of 10 reps of dips, pull-ups, push-ups and high knees. I added some more running for a total workout time of 1:20. And my caloric burn? A lousy 685 calories. Basically, I would have to do two-thirds of that workout again just to break even.

I know some of you out there are thinking about my fabulously revved-up metabolism and how I'm burning off those cookie dough chunks even though I'm not working out. It's true that since I've started strength training, my ability to passively burn more calories has improved. But it hasn't improved that much.

So I say, forget "a moment on the lips, forever on the hips." I think it's better to think about the time and incredible intensity required to make up for such an indulgence... 15 minutes of eating = 2.5 hours of working out. I can't afford this additional workout time. Can you?


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Fit, Fabulous and 40 is dedicated to anyone who is committed to staying fabulous by eating well, keeping active and maintaining a positive frame of mind. This takes work, so let's do it together. Drop me a comment any time, pass on tips and tricks or just follow along. You don't have to be 40, but you do have to be fabulous!

Falling off the Nutrition Plan, aka The Complete Pig-Out Day

A day or two ago, I completely pigged out. Chips, chocolate bars, soft gooey cinnamon rolls... you name it. I'm going to reveal all in a future post and explain the "Law of Large Numbers of Calories" with some help from my expert training coach, James Greenwood. It should be funny (with you laughing at me) and sad (because you KNOW you've done the same thing) all at the same time.

But in the mean time and while I collect all the nutrition data (it's taking a while and that should tell you how bad the damage was), tell me your pig out story and how you recovered from it. The best one (I decide so be nice to me) wins a free fitness consultation with Coach James. There are only two rules: the stories have to be short(ish) and they have to be true. Oh and you have to be available by phone, but it could be a Skype call. What can I say... James has a lot of serious fans in Holland.

Come on people... I know you have a pig out story to tell.



Fit, Fabulous and 40 is dedicated to anyone who is committed to staying fabulous by eating well, keeping active and maintaining a positive frame of mind. This takes work, so let's do it together. Drop me a comment any time, pass on tips and tricks or just follow along. You don't have to be 40, but you do have to be fabulous!

From Yoda to yoga - Confessions of a runner who forgot to stretch

In April of this year, I ran the Vancouver Sun Run, a 10K race that bills itself as the "the third largest timed run of any distance in the world." I ran with nearly 60,000 other runners of all ages and abilities. It was a wonderful spectacle with perfect conditions, cool and slightly overcast. My goal to run a sub-50 minute 10K race seemed well within reach.

Fast-forward 54 minutes and 54 seconds and there I am, hobbling around in agony, my right knee locked up tight, my back sore and words coming out of my mouth in a garbled mess. I looked (and sounded) like Yoda, the character from Star Wars, except without any of his wisdom. A wise runner would have done her yoga. I was not wise. "That runner, I am. Stretch I did not."

In retrospect, it was bound to happen. You see, like many of you, I'm a desk jockey. I sit at a computer all day long, one of the worst things you can do from a mobility and stability stand point. And being a 40-something, I caught the wave of desktop computing from its infancy, sitting on my backside for up to 10 hours a day for the last 20 years. So while I knew about my lack of core strength, and my lousy glute strength, it never occurred to me that my hip flexors would be my downfall.

MyPypeline training coach and triathlete James Greenwood say, "Your hip flexors are the muscle that actually moves you when you walk or run. If it's tight to begin with, it will get tighter still when it fatigues through your race." Oh... bah!

There I was, cruising along at a comfortable 4:45 / km, sub-50 minutes in sight, when at the 5.5 km mark, I could feel my right hip flexor snap tight as a drum. The tightness wound its way around my hip girdle, back to my tailbone and straight down to my right knee. By the time I hit the 6 km mark I was limping along at about 9:15 / km frustrated and angry.

Now I have preached the gospel of doing yoga before but maybe I wasn't doing enough. "Road races are run on hard, uneven surfaces, often stressing one side of the body more because of the camber in the road. If you don't train on those surfaces, you're body won't be prepared for those stresses," say James. "Plus, most racers run far beyond what they trained at. It feels great to 'hammer it' from the gun, but it does catch up with you before the finish line."

If that isn't enough, James goes on to say that as we age the composition of our muscles change. "Our 'fast twitch' fibers, the ones responsible for our speed and power, alter their function over time to become more 'slow twitch' in nature, the one responsible for endurance. We will get slower with age but with correct and regular training we can hold on to more of our speed. However, 'hammering it' is just one more stressor that fatiques our muscles and ultimately causes undertrained muscles to seize up." The 75-year-old who passed me at the 8 km mark obviously knew all of this.

Upon reflection, I can say I did warm up and I did some yoga during my strength and condition training. But this was not enough to prevent injury. Age, race conditions and two decades of a sedentary work style means I have to do yoga regularly. My days of running a race 'cold' are over. A lack of deep flexibility cost me my goal and rewarded with me with three weeks of recovery time.

Don't be that runner -- do yoga.



Fit, Fabulous and 40 is dedicated to anyone who is committed to staying fabulous by eating well, keeping active and maintaining a positive frame of mind. This takes work, so let's do it together. Drop me a comment any time, pass on tips and tricks or just follow along. You don't have to be 40, but you do have to be fabulous!

"Drop 2 or More Sizes Just by Going Shopping!"

Yesterday I wore a pair of capris that I bought last summer. They are a size 12. They were literally falling off. I had the teenage-boy-droopy-bum-jean look. I should have been overjoyed at the validation of losing weight and needing a smaller size. But, as much as I love fashion and the ability to wear more styles because of my smaller size, I don't love spending money. Then, there's the existential crisis of "Do I keep these size 12 pants just in case?"

Existential crisis aside, I marched off at lunch time to find pants that fit. I found a very cute pair of replacement capris that were quite snug but the sales staff assured me that's the way I should buy them as they will "stretch quite a bit". They were a size 4.

Now, I know I'm NOT a size 4. I think I'm a real size 8, or more likely, a 10 and I'm very happy with this. But over the last several years I've notice a trend in retail clothing that has been labeled vanity or flattery sizing. It made me think of the complicity of various industries in the current obesity crisis.

The many designer names in the fashion industry seem to be sized to sell. They don't want us to feel bad about being a double-digit size lest we lose our desire to buy. And companies in the food and entertainment industries want to Super Size it to give us "better value." But what are we really gaining by purchasing a "Jumbo popcorn for just 50 cents more" when we go to see a movie - except a heck of a lot of extra fat and calories. We're getting bigger and no business in its right mind wants us to "feel bad" about it.

This industrial subterfuge should be tackled by grassroots organizations, watchdog groups and government regulation. But we must never forget that we are responsible for our own health and well-being. And we should never confuse positive self esteem and an acceptance of our bodies with bad health and self destructive lifestyle habits. Accepting my pear-shaped body is a good thing, and aspiring to be a very fit pear (or apple for that matter) is even better.

But I'm not activist rabble-rouser or a purist. I believe vanity -- to a point -- can definitely play a positive roll in our health and wellness. Enter - The Skinny Jean. Last year I tried a 4-week fitness program called Skinny Jeans. Oh. My. Gosh. What a tough program! Tons of cardio, yoga and strength training, often two sessions a day. I did manage to complete the program and yes, I fit into my skinniest jeans at the end of 4 weeks - real size 8s!

I felt amazingly fit and strong after completing the program and I learned a lot about how I have to train smart and train hard to really make a difference in my fitness. But no real person (celebs aren't real people are they?) can sustain 2 workouts 5 days a week unless they are an elite athlete like my buddy and triathlete James Greenwood. The dude is super human. So I've returned to 4 workouts a week and a nice normal diet sans the jumbo popcorn. I feel great.

After my retail and fitness adventures, I can safely say I'm happier being a real, fit size 8/10 than a fake size 4.

FITFABFORTY



Fit, Fabulous and 40 is dedicated to anyone who is committed to staying fabulous by eating well, keeping active and maintaining a positive frame of mind. This takes work, so let's do it together. Drop me a comment any time, pass on tips and tricks or just follow along. You don't have to be 40, but you do have to be fabulous!

The Cheese Cake Diet - Lose 10lbs in Two Weeks!

We have a giggle around the office every time we see an ad promising significant (read: ridiculous) weight loss. And there are lots of those promises to go around... Lose 10lbs in 4 days! Drop 30lbs in 12 days! I often wonder why there are so many of these ads, and why people are so easily persuaded that such dramatic weight loss is 1) possible, 2) safe and 3) sustainable.

Then I remember my own rather infamous "Cheese Cake Diet".

When I was 14, I went to live with my older sister for a summer. I was really excited to be living in the big city with a "proper job" at the restaurant my sister managed. I was a hostess. For 5 hours a day in the heart of Toronto's financial district, I seated lunch guests, served meals and cleared tables. I loved it.

But surrounded by all of those slim, tall adults, I felt like a plump country bumpkin. In fact, I was the height I am now, 5 foot 5 inches tall, and a very healthy 120lbs. There was no Google way back then, and I had never heard of Body Mass Index (BMI). So I couldn't possibly know that I had a healthy teen BMI of 20. I suppose even back then, I wanted to be fabulous!

So I started my own diet plan. It consisted of one cup of black coffee and a slice of cheese cake. That's it. That's all. Every day for two weeks, I arrived at work, guzzled the coffee then slowly savored my slice of salvation over the course of my shift. Then I made increasingly suspicious excuses why I didn't want dinner. And low and behold - it worked! I lost 10lbs in just 14 days!!!! On day 15, I fainted and fell down two flights of stairs. That was the end of that "diet".

The point is, our body needs fuel. Good quality, well portioned fuel - especially in our 40s when things really start to change. But one thing doesn't change: the need for good information, not misleading and misguided promises. A wise person would start by calculating their Basal Metabolic Rate - the base rate of calories you burn just living. I wasn't wise. I was a teenager.

Without exercise, my BMR at 14 was about 1,975 calories. Add all the summer activities like swimming and bike riding and my overall calorie burn per day was probably close to 2,500 calories a day. A cup of black coffee has about 10 calories. A single, medium-sized slice of cheese cake has about 550 calories for a total of 560 calories a day IN and 2,500 calories a day OUT. No wonder I lost weight quickly. And no wonder I fell down a couple flights of stairs.

It should come as a relief that I've learned a thing or two about nutrition and the symbiotic relationship between diet and exercise. I now eat very well and come to think of it, I haven't had a slice of cheese cake since.

But... I KNOW I'm not the only one with a crazy diet story. So fess up and share the wealth... shoot me a quick comment and tell me your dumbest, funniest diet story. Did you know how many calories in and out? Did you pick a food and just eat one thing? (Lord have mercy on the friends of Cabbage Diet practitioners.) The weirder the better. And, as a bonus, I'll give a wee prize (a mypypeline.com workout video) to some of the best / silliest "promise headlines" Eg. I lost 30lbs just eating pimentos, and you can too!!!!!!!

Tell me everything. I promise... you have nothing to lose. FITFABFORTY

Yoga for people who don't like yoga classes

I don't like yoga classes. There I said it.

I have done "hot classes" (nearly passed out), done large regular classes (too pungent for my incredibly sensitive olfactory system) and done regular small classes (often carpeted rooms, making the air quality dodgy). In addition to this, I detest scented candles and scented body oils which are often de rigueur in the yoga world.

But the reality is yoga will keep us forty-somethings fabulous. Here's why. As we age, everything about us slows down, from our ability to recover from an injury to our ability to burn fat. And as we spend more and more time at a desk, all of our postural stability and balance goes to hell in a Pottery Barn hand basket. All that hunching over is bad for us. (Go figure.)

Yoga helps build lean muscle mass in the large muscle groups that power our everyday activities and strengthens small muscles groups, many of which are stabilizer muscles. Improved muscle mass gives us better posture and stability and this helps us maintain an injury-free body. Better posture helps us look better (younger) in our clothes. And the increased oxygen that is supplied to our bodies through yoga's breathing practices, helps boost our metabolism and generates a healthy glow.

Lots of good reasons to do yoga. Just no yoga classes for moi.

So I sought out alternatives to yoga classes like a yoga DVD or an online yoga video that I can play in the privacy of my own home. And a yoga instructor who isn't all airy-fairy. I don't do "free-your-mind-at-the-top-of-the-mountain" stuff. Jana Webb's Intermediate Yoga did the trick.

Jana Webb gets limber in her online yoga video, Intermediate Yoga.















Doing yoga at home is very different from being in a class. I was able to control my environment and mitigate any offensive smells or allergens. As a result, I was actually able to perform the focused breathing required for each movement. This was quite a coup for me. I'm a shallow breather as a result of life long respiratory problems and just opening my lungs with deep breathing is a very intense experience for me.

Jana is a great guide. She gives you very clear instruction and gently takes you through what I would consider a fairly challenging routine. To do this yoga video, you need some prior experience and you should be somewhat fit. Jana performs some movements with a block or a strap but you don't have to have any equipment other than a yoga mat. If you are interested in Beginner Yoga, Jana has that covered too.

Jana's intermediate yoga video is a challenging workout that leaves you feeling taller, stronger and more stable. I downloaded it to my laptop, hooked my laptop to my TV, and then did the routine in my living room. I did this because I travel, and instead of having to lug around a DVD or hunt around a hotel for a yoga class, I can just watch it on my laptop or upload it to my video iPod. I'm so darn hip.

And, yes, Jana is FABulous! Luminous and lithe, I give Jana Webb a 5-star rating and her Intermediate Yoga a 4 our of 5 stars.

*****