Far too often, my more senior clients arrive at the gym in open-toed or street shoes. I typically ask them, “Why aren’t you wearing the right shoes?” Often the response is “These shoes are really comfortable.” I empathize with them. Comfort matters. And these people grew up in an era when comfortable exercise shoes were hard to come by and the idea of wearing them might strike them as unpleasant (as does the idea of me listening to my teenagers’ hip-hop music in the car instead of my favorite and familiar 70s and 80s tunes). Believe it or not, “gym shoes” really can feel great on your feet if you select the right pair. Not to mention the fact that proper footwear protects you in more ways than one.

Wearing a closed-toe shoe in the gym is imperative because bare toes are very vulnerable to the drop of a dumbbell (by you or someone else) or the end of a piece of equipment (surely I’m not the only one who has broken a toe more than once at home in bare feet)? A shoe with proper cushioning and support minimizes trauma on muscles and joints and reduces post-exercise discomfort.

A shoe worn for lifting weights need not be as “high tech” as one worn for impact activities such as walking, jogging or step aerobics. A weight lifting shoe should cover the entire foot, enable comfortable movement in all directions, and offer enough cushioning and support so the floor doesn’t feel too hard beneath your feet (low back and lower extremity joint discomfort often indicate inadequate cushioning).

If you run or engage in other high-impact activities regularly, you should buy very high quality (expensive) exercise shoes. Also buy the best footwear if you wear your shoe soles unevenly. A reputable sporting goods or running store won’t recommend a shoe without first having someone observe you walking or jogging on a treadmill, measure your arch height, and study your posture. Try on the shoe to make sure you get the proper fit (sizes vary from brand to brand), wearing your normal socks and orthotics.

Shoes worn for activities that include lateral movements, such as step aerobics and tennis, should provide lateral support so they don’t “roll over” when you move side-to-side. Running shoes are a poor choice because they are designed exclusively for forward movement. I prefer owning two pairs of shoes—a pair for running and a separate one for aerobics—over buying a once-size-fits-all “cross-training” shoe which doesn’t work optimally for either activity.

Exercise shoes should be replaced regularly. Once the cushioning in a shoe is broken down, it fails to do its job of protecting you. Get in the habit of replacing shoes every six months or about every 350 to 400 running miles to avoid unnecessary injury and pain.

There is a comfortable shoe out there waiting to be found. So when the shoe fits…buy it (and then wear it)!

I once worked at a fitness facility with a women who smoked right before she taught her classes. That always really bothered me, someone who stood up as a role model in front of others walking into her class with the smell of smoke on her breath, practically advertising that the healthy lifestyle she preached about wasn’t the one she actually led. Although I consider myself an exemplary role model for health and fitness, I still find it beneficial to give myself a periodic evaluation to see if there is room for improvement.

To me, one of my responsibilities as a certified personal trainer and group exercise leader is to demonstrate to partipants and clients the benefits of a healthy lifestyle. That means following the ACSM guidelines for health aerobic and strength exercise to maximize my cardiovascular and musculoskeletal health and eating healthy so I stay within healthy weight limits.

I’ll be the first to admit that class participants have spotted me at the grocery with beer and ice cream in my shopping cart and that it made me feel a tad guilty. I will tell you that there were also healthy foods in there and that my diet philosophy is moderation, not obsession. At least one person a month usually asks me if I only eat raw vegetables, as if to look good you have to starve. Not! I eat whenever hungry and have maintained a weight 10-15 pounds less than when I was younger and trying all kinds of crazy diet plans. Experience and education have taught me that the best “diet” is one that includes a balance of the major food groups (with an emphasis on fruits and veggies) and minimizes processed foods high in fat and preservatives.

I most often go askew in good example setting with my athletic endeavors. As a nationally ranked competitive swimmer and occasional triathlete, I train numerous hours weekly in addition to teaching 7 or more fitness classes. I have to remind myself periodically that fitness is my career, whereas competitive athletics are only a hobby. When I keep my priorities in order, my competitive events and training don’t adversely affect my work. The only two injuries I’ve ever had (a rotator cuff tendinitis and a sacro-iliac tendinitis) both occurred, not because of a fitness class, but because of training or competing outside of class. Especially now that I’m in my late 40s, I have to be more prudent than ever training and spend more time warming up, cooling down and stretching.

Below are things I’ve seen instructors do or heard about from class participants (they just love to talk, talk, talk, about us in the locker room) that are worth aspiring NOT to do:

1 – Instructor comes to class carrying a Big Gulp of soda. A water bottle would be better…
2 – Instructor tells class about getting drunk in a bar the night before. Keep it to yourself…
3 – Overweight instructor tells class she gained 20 pounds on month-long vacation. Again, keep it to yourself…
4 – Instructor arrives to class obviously sick (coughing, sniffling, etc.) If at all possible get a sub, but I know from experience sometimes this is nearly impossible and someone has to teach the class, right? OK, so in a pinch, take some really good cold medicine first?
5 – Instructor arrives to class slightly limping (Yes, this has been me after a half marathon or a couple of weeks ago when I challenged my husband to a 3 mile race – I’m still working on my area of weakness ) But what I and you should do is follow that RICE formula we preach to others and get someone to cover until the injury’s better.
6 – Instructor wears baggy clothes and constantly talks about how fat she is when she’s practically wasting away. Silence! It will make your class participants feel bad about themselves when someone so obviously thin or underweight is so self-critical.
7 – Instructor wears clothing that is ripped, dirty or too revealing. Fitness attire should always look neat and professional (one time I arrived to class wearing a red-rimmed Nike Vomero on the right foot and a blue one on the other – Oops).

As fitness professionals, we have the opportunity to be living examples that exercise works – it makes you feel great, look great, and have a better quality of life. By “practicing what we preach,” we enhance our influence and our credibility.

Many people tell me they can’t stand to workout an hour a day because its “too boring.” Mindless exercise is boring. Bringing your brain into the picture is a quick way to make training engaging instead of dull.

If I’ve planned a 3000-yard swim, I can either get in the pool and plod out 120 mind-numbing lengths of the pool or I can pre-establish a workout with specific intervals and objectives to keep my mind engaged throughout.

Occasionally, I’ll do a long swim so I can contemplate something going on with my life and try to come up with a solution, but I woud be bored to death if I just got in and used my brain for nothing more than counting lengths of the pool (kind of like singing 101 bottles of beer on the wall).

Every time I get in the water, it is with some specific purpose. Maybe I want to achieve a certain time on a set of 100s. Or to negative split a set of 200s (swimming the second half faster than the first half). Or to step down a set of 3 500s (first one slow, second one a little faster, last one really hard). When I attend a Masters swimming workout, our coach sets up the workout for us and then I just mentally plan goal times for different parts of the workout.

I also often think about one specific element of my swimming while swimming a set. Perhaps it might be getting a good pushoff on every turn, keeping my head lower when I do breaststroke or avoiding that crossover I sometimes get with my right arm on freestyle. The entire workout, my mind is engaged and there is a mind-body connection going on. When you just try to force the body do an activity in which the brain is in no way involved, you get boredom.

I bet you’re wondering what I think about watching T.V., listening to iPods, and reading or listening to books on tape while exercising. My answer? That depends. If you want to do some long steady state exercise and aren’t concerned with “correct form,” it won’t hurt anything to do it some of the time. But I think its worthwhile to spend at least some time each week tuning into what is happening with your body.

I advocate not “tuning out” while doing a sport such as swimming that requires a lot of skill. I also think its JUST PLAIN CRAZY to go out road biking with a headset on. While road biking, you should watch for objects and obstructions on the road in front of you and be alert to other drivers, cyclists and pedestrians. You can also track your speed, heart rate, and distance to make your ride more stimulating.

Below are a few before/after workout makeovers
1 – instead of that same old 3 mile run (treadmill or outside)…. Put on a heart rate monitor and run 5 minutes to warm up and then finish the run with 2 minute easy intervals and 2 minute hard intervals. Make sure your heart rate doesn’t go higher than is safe for your age and cardiovascular health.
2 – instead of that same old X distance run outside….Put on a heart rate monitor and do random intervals. Warm up five minutes and then sprint until you get to the fire hydrant, the next corner or some other land-mark determined distance and then do a recovery jog in between each hard interval. This way you will get more engaged with your surroundings.
3 – instead of that same old boring 45 minute walk (treadmill or outside)…Go ahead and put the iPod on, but put songs of different tempos in sequence so you can walk to the beat of the music. Some songs will have you walking faster, others at a slower interval.
4 – instead of that same old boring 45 minute walk…Recruit a friend (or family members) to join you, walk your dog (or someone else’s), or go to a state or national park for a change of scenery.
5 – instead of a mile swim….400 yards (8 lengths) warm-up, including different strokes and drills you like and some kicking with a kick board. 12 x 25s (1 distance per stroke, 1 fast turnover, 1 combine distance with speed x 4) 3 x 200s (negative split – second half faster than first) 6 x 50s (any stroke – step down 1-3, 4-6). 50-100 easy.
6 – instead of 45 minutes on a stationary bicycle….Buy or use a spin bike instead. Put songs on iPod that are good for hill climbs, sprints, and out-of-the seat jumps and jogs. Miix up the workout with a combination of these. Monitor heart rate and make sure to insert active recovery intervals.

I’ve spoken to open water swimmers who say they rarely get bored while swimming for hours in the ocean. Why? Because there is too much to think about, they say. Keeping your mind engaged in every aspect of your activity can make workouts much more interesting. Have a fun and productive workout week. Now that I’ve shared my thoughts, I look forward to hearing about YOUR favorite ways to beat boredom in workouts!

People are always asking me about the latest 5 minute exercise plan and wondering if it will be the magic bullet to help them lose weight without time and effort. If you don’t believe the latest guidelines from the American College of Sports Medicine (which say 300-400 minutes of aerobic activity per week is necessary for most people to lose weight), an Associated Press release, published in today’s (Wednesday, March 24) Arizona Daily Star, should get your attention.

Research on more than 13,000 middle-aged American women over a 13 year period showed an average weight gain of 6 pounds over the 13 year period, including those who were on calorie-cutting diet plans. Participants who gained little or no weight during this time (only 13 percent) consistently exercised an average of an hour a day.

What this means for you? If you’re a female over 40, start blocking out 60 minutes a day to exercise (and then get out there and do it) or be prepared to fight a losing battle with the bulge. I’m over 40 by a long shot and I’m doing it. With a little discipline and determination, so can you!

Many people ask me “Why do you workout?” I work out primarily because being fit feels great. Swimming has always been my favorite mode of exercise. Whenever I stroke through the water, it flows along my body’s contours, reminding me of how wonderful it feels to live in a sleek and toned body. The natural resistance of the water tones, loosens connective tissue, and keeps my muscles feeling loose and flexible.

Whenever I go to the high school to watch my kids participate in sporting and other events, I look around at other parents and often find myself thinking “Why DON’T they workout?”

So many of them have bulging bellies and double chins and some of them even have mobility issues (I see limping, difficulty sitting and standing or hear groans and other verbal expressions of physical discomfort). I wonder why people in their 40s and 50s let themselves go when they have the potential to live more comfortable and active lives. I think of all the people I know at SaddleBrooke where I do personal training and teach group exercise classes, who run marathons, swim, play tennis, and even do triathlons in their 60s, 70s and beyond. They, like me, recognize the benefits of an active lifestyle and make exercise a part of every day. They also have found activities they most enjoy participating in, so that exercising is a pleasure rather than a chore.

If you haven’t had the opportunity to experience the joys of living in a fit body, why not start working toward that goal today? Try some new activities and discover where your exercise passions lie. And when you find them and start to reap the benefits, I hope you’ll post and let me know!

At 5:06 a.m., my alarm clock rings. I roll over on my side to silence it, then groan. Sometimes being female really sucks, I nearly mutter, but I stay silent as not to awaken my sleeping husband. It feels like a swamp creature is crawling up my throat. I feel like my ovaries, fallopian tubes and everything else around the middle part of my body is being squeezed (like a grapefruit in a juicer) and stretched (like a torture victim’s body) at the same time. It is “that time of the month.” I need ibuprofen and fast. Or maybe just to go back to sleep. I sure as hell don’t want to go to work. Or swimming practice.

As best as I can at this hour of the morning, I weigh my options. I can stay in bed and skip the workout, but if I do, I will be nauseous, tired, and uncomfortable all day. Everyone and everthing will annoy me. The day will end with a headache.

No, I tell myself as I throw off the covers. A swim is a much better alternative. The nausea will be gone after 4 lengths of the pool. The cramps will be forgotten after 8 (swimming relaxes my lower back and reduces that pressure which makes me so uncomfortable). By the end of practice, I will be in a great mood and will feel energetic and (with a little help from ibuprofen) pain free the rest of the day. Today’s workout won’t be about preparing for a race or getting in “X” number of yards. The focus of today’s workout will be to improve the quality of my day.

After forcing down my normal tea and English muffin, I drive to the pool. I toss my kickboard and fins on the side of the pool and plunge into the water. Within minutes, the rhythm of my strokes carries me back to that comfortable place where I feel strong, happy, youthfu. Alive. And even though it is “one of those days,” I know its going to be all right. By the end of the hour, the swimming workout has delivered all I had expected and more. It gave me the gift of a healthy and happy day instead of one I otherwise would have spent crampy and nauseous. And to me, that’s much more valuable than anything money can buy.

The shriek of your alarm clock jolts your brain. You groan. You don’t want to get up. Not now, possibly not ever. You want to go back to sleep because not only are you exhausted and your muscles achy, but because you want to forget about everything that isn’t going right with your life. Then all at once you remember today’s triathlon. You shrug. It will be a disaster, you know, but so is everything else lately so you might as well go ahead and get up. You stagger out of bed and go through the motions…

Most of us have had these kinds of days at some point during our lives. I certainly have. One of the reasons it took so long for me to post on this topic is that I fell into a sinkhole of misery about a month ago when our dear dog Sammy died suddenly. The last thing I wanted to do then was post. For almost two weeks, I ran through the scenario in my head, repeatedly, telling myself that if only I had gotten him in the car more quickly or driven faster to the emergency clinic, he might have lived. Maybe he didn’t really have cancer. Maybe he got stung by a bee or a scorpion or someone poisoned him or…This chatter in my head never ceased. I cried for hours, had trouble sleeping, didn’t write well, missed workouts, and just generally didn’t want to get up in the morning.

When my father died of cancer in 2008, I didn’t feel depressed at first, just shocked. I didn’t live with him all the time like I did with my dog, so somehow his passing didn’t seem real. I cried myself to sleep at night and when I awoke, I buried myself in work and tried not to think about it. Depression moved in like a sudden fog when I kept calling home and never spoke to my dad. Snippets of my childhood streamed through my head. Then it really hit me that I’d never see him again. Although I drew closer to my family, I grew distanced from my desire to achieve goals set for myself and started making excuses for my lack of motivation. I trained less, slept much more, and started feeling sick often. My performance quickly went down the tubes.

I share my tales of woe so that you won’t imagine me to be some high-and-mighty person saying “don’t worry be happy” as if its so easy to run around every day with a big smile on my face. I’m not chronically depressed, either. I have a wonderful life. Like many people, I have highs and my lows and when I am overwhelmed by depression and pessimism, not only am I not happy, but I DO NOT PERFORM WELL. I think its safe to say most of us don’t. It is endeavor enough to swim a mile or run a half marathon well and if you have to try to do it carrying a burden of sadness along for the ride, the journey will be much harder than it would be if you dropped that load!

I have also found that if I work at it, I can change my negative outlook. It takes effort, time and patience. Start by forgiving yourself for less-than-stellar performances. It happens to everyone and better days lie ahead. Then, arm yourself with some tools that will lift you out of that trough and land you back on solid ground again. Below are some suggestions, many of which have helped me greatly on my darkest days:

1 – Get sufficient sleep (but not too much, which can leave you feeling sluggish).
2 – Improve the quality of your diet (avoid processed foods, skipping meals, excessive caffeine and alcohol). Try mood enhancing foods such as spinach and salmon.
3 – Increase or reduce exercise (if you stopped, start; if you are overtraining, back off for a few days)
4- Talk to an understanding friend or family member (if they don’t get it, end the call quickly, though)
5 – Shut down the negative chatter in your head that says “I’m so depressed, lazy, I suck, etc.(if it hits you when you are driving to work, put on relaxing music or an upbeat book on CD).
6 – Watch a really funny movie.
7 – Read a favorite book again.
8 – (Ladies) Take a long soaky bath and put in your favorite aromatherapy oil or bath crystals.
9 – Write down 5 things that you are really grateful for in your life.
10- Write your feelings down in a journal to get the weight off of your chest.
11 – Enjoy the great outdoors. A walk or picnic in the park where you hear birds and wind in the trees instead of horns honking and phones ringing can help you relax. Enjoy the company of nature…and yourself!
12 – Take mindful classes like meditation or yoga to help you relax and feel more in synch with yourself. Just breathe!
11 – Seek counseling or consult with your doctor about depression medication if your condition doesn’t improve.

If you are tired of following complicated diet plans and eating measured portions out of packages, maybe you should try the Mediterranean diet. These foods pack in the nutrients without all the calories, preservatives, and saturated fats.

What comprises the Mediterranean diet? Nuts and seeds, fish, lean meats, legumes, vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and low-fat dairy products. Not only is this diet anti-inflammatory, which means you’ll likely have more energy and feel less achy on this plan, you’ll also be able to control your weight and reduce your risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome.

Sometimes we let our goals and our bull-headedness keep us from using good judgement when it comes to training and exercise. A knee is swollen and hurting but we still go out for a morning run. Our rotator cuff muscles hurt long after we stop swimming, but we dive in the water and workout as if the shoulder pain didn’t exist. Before long, we end up in rehab. If only we had listened to our bodies sooner, we could have avoided weeks of physical therapy and rehabilitation later!

I have had more nagging injuries than I’d care to mention, only one of which escalated to a point where it required physical therapy. In the case of my recent shoulder tendinosis, which took three months to rehabilitate, I knew I should back off, but I was in the middle of a 2 day swim meet and I just kept on going, despite what my better judgement was telling me to do. In the cases where the injury mended within days, I adjusted the way I taught my classes so I wouldn’t overly stress the tender area and adjusted my workouts so the muscles had time to recover. Often figuring out the root of the injury was beneficial.

In 2008, I pulled an adductor muscle on my left leg 3 weeks before the USMS Long Course swimming nationals. Despite the fact that breast stroke was my main event, I had to stop swimming that stroke altogether for nearly two weeks and also iced the muscles three times a day and took anti-inflammatories to reduce swelling. I determined that I was tighter in the glutes and piriformis on the left leg and, which resulted in too much strain on the adductors when swimming breaststroke. When I resumed swimming breast stroke again (a week before the championship), I always stretched the piriformis first. I have never had a problem with my adductors since.

My point? Listen to your body. If something is hurting, something about your training needs to change. Determine why the injury is happening, reduce your training and ice, and pursue training that is non-traumatic on the injured site. When my shoulder was at its worst, I increased my running and often got into the pool and did long kick sets with a board. I was able to stay in shape without hurting my shoulder. This morning, once I take my kids to school, I will swim rather than do my normal Tuesday run because my knees ache after wading nearly 8 miles up Sabino Canyon in my bare feet. Every day, I think about what kind of training will work best for my body given its current circumstances.

Here’s some more tips on how you can prevent injuries”
- always warm up before and cool down after high intensity exercise
- find different modes of exercise (crosstraining) to avoid putting the same stress on the body day after day
- stretch after every workout
- adjust training whenever something starts to hurt and ice inflammed areas regularly
- strength train appropriately for the activities you pursue
- assess the source of the injury and aim to remediate the problem. A common problem is too much strength or tightness on the dominant side of the body. Strength train and stretch to minimize these imbalances.

Follow these principles and you’re likely to enjoy many more enjoyable and injury-free workouts. Well, I gotta go – the pool is calling my name right now!

Maybe you’ve never run before or maybe it’s just been so long that you feel like you are a beginner all over again. Don’t fear the road; conquer it!

First remember not only the tangible matters when it comes to getting results. Yes, a leaner body and plenty of long distance training under your belt will help. However, what matters most comes from the inside. By overcoming your limitations and obstacles, you learn to feel more confident about yourself.

First, analyze your current lifestyle and find the time you need to commit to running. If you can’t fit it all in at once, take two short runs duing the day. In the beginning, establish a schedule you know can work. Don’t worry about how far you’ll run, just plan for a certain amount of time. Interval training is a great way to build up your mileage. Try running for thirty seconds, then walking for a minute. Power walking also improves aerobic conditioning. When you can’t run, you can use walking as an active recovery.

Remember; don’t forget about activity and rest. Running too much creates risks of burnout and injury. Running too little means you won’t improve much and could leave you shy of your your goals. As your goals change, so should your training schedule. If you are training for a race, adjust speed, time, and/or frequency of training to match what you’re working toward.

Often improper form or poorly fitting shoes can lead to unnecessary joint paint. Consult with someone at a highly recommended running shop, where an expert watches you run outside or on a treadmill. They will be able to analyze what type of shoe suits your stature and movement patterns and tell you whether a shoe insert may be of help. Remember to follow recommended mileage limits for shoes. Running on worn-out sneakers, which have most of the cushioning compacted and broken down, is asking for an injury.

If you get out of breath quickly when running, slow down and work on establishing a pace that you can maintain for 20 or more minutes. A lot of beginning runners make the common mistake of running too fast. Try to run so you can speak to another person and breathe comfortably. Using a heart rate monitor can help you get a feel for whether you are working at a good pace. Most fit individuals without cardiovascular risks and who are not taking medication which lowers blood pressure should do aerobic training at a heart rate between 60 and 80 percent of their maximum heart rate. As you get stronger, you can increase your pace without having your heart rate go up any higher and your heart rate will drop more quickly whenever you slow your pace or stop exercising.

If you get a side cramp, try slowing your pace. If this doesn’t help, then reach your arms up over your head to see if the gas bubble moves.

Post-exercise stretching is imperative for reducing post-exercise muscle soreness, preventing injuries and maintaining flexibility. Stretch all major muscle groups worked – quadriceps, hamstrings, piriformis/gluteals, inner thighs, and calves. Hold the following stretches for about 30 seconds while taking deep breaths to enhance the relaxation response.

Don’t let your fears or anxieties about running stop you from going out and giving it a try. Its a sport that can be done almost anywhere by almost anybody.