Fitness and Exercise
Can Exercise Boost Your Self-Control?
You can never have too many reasons to exercise, and those reasons are quite plentiful right now. Yes, it can reduce your risk of developing chronic diseases or illnesses, yes it can make you feel younger and yes it can make you look good. But what if I told you that exe...
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Too Busy To Exercise?
One of the biggest reasons people dont exercise is because they believe theyre too busy. Finding the time to exercise can be a real scheduling challenge for a lot of people, especially when it comes to career demands and balancing that with your life at home. Fortunately,...
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Exercise Recovery And Muscle Growth
We all know about the importance of physical exercise and sticking to a scheduled workout regimen. Its kind of been driven into our heads that physical exercise is very, very good for us. Regular physical exercise has been proven to provide a variety of benefits bot...
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Get A Little Closer This Valentine's Day
With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, consider a creative way to get a little closer—and healthier—through the gift of partner stretching. Health-wise, stretching can be incredibly valuable in improving flexibility and reducing your risk of injury, and stretching...
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10 Best Fitness Apps
It’s the New Year, which means many of you have made the commitment to getting fit and healthy in 2013! We’re always here to help at Naturally Savvy, so here’s a peek at some of the best fitness apps out there. 1. My Fitness Pal The ability to post healthy meals an...
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Olympic Athlete Training
The summer Olympics are right around the corner and excitement is growing to watch the festivities. But, there’s also something else on my mind: how do those gladiator-like athletes transform from normal humans to modern day super heroes?You don’t have to be super sporty ...
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Amazing Fitness Vacations
For many people, a vacation can be a time of indulgence, leaving the calorie counter and Stairmaster far behind for a week or two. The problem is, when you get home, you bring 5 unwanted pounds with you, and a need for a “vacation from your vacation” due to feeling sluggish. ...
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How To Create More Luck
Now that March is upon us, there is no doubt that runners and non-runners alike are lacing on their shoes because it’s the time of year for chasing leprechauns! If you’re lucky enough to catch one, you might find his pot of gold or he may just grant you 3 wishes to set him fr...
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Pilates for back pain
The most essential thing that those who suffer from back pain can learn is awareness of the neutral alignment of the spine and the strengthening of the postural muscles to support the alignment. For those people with back pain caused by the degeneration of di...
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Three Yoga Poses You Can Do at Work
Remaining in the same sedentary position for an extended period of time is one of the worst things an individual can do to their body. Ironically, however, many of us do exactly that from 9 to 5 every single weekday. Working a full time job in an office environment ...
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Simmer Down
Is it hot enough for you? If so, cool yourself down with some simple yogic breathing techniques. Here’s a good one: Use your right thumb to close off your right nostril. Close your eyes and breathe deeply through the left nostril, with a long, slow inhale and exhale...
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Exercise Choice
In the 1950s, we moved our hips with hula hoops, in the 80’s we pulled on leg warmers and bounced to an aerobic beat. We’ve jogged, salsa-danced and kickboxed to keep in shape. Today, we stretch and sweat with hot yoga or cool grooves—and the beat goes on. You’ve pr...
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Strength Stretch: 2 Moves for Killer Thighs
Want sexy thighs that work for you? Heres a couple must-do moves to add to your current workout program that not only serve a functional purpose, but will help you tone up to get sleek, jiggle-free thighs! Muscle balance and flexibility are key components for...
Read more...Yoga Happenings
As a yoga blogger, I like to keep up on the yoga news swirling around out there on the Internet. This past week had me doing my favorite say what-eyebrow-quirk: Ana Forrest and the Yoga Guardians Hmmmm...is this like Hells Angels except instead of fighting crime, t...
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Flex Ability
Yogis teach that a flexible spine is the key to youth and health. One great yoga posture for women (and men) to do every day is Cat Cow Pose. Your spine takes abuse on a daily level from sitting, lifting, bending and poor posture, plus the forces of gravity. Cat Cow...
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Salute Your (Butt) Shorts!
Well hey there! How’s your Monday? I woke up this morning hating the world, but the world got a lot nicer throughout the day. After work, I met Ashley for a short and slow run. Yesterday morning before church, we did a long run. Well… her and her husba...
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I am strong.
Hey, hey...its Monday. I taught, I trained, I hit the grocery store, I did the laundry and the dishes, Im currently blogging and will soon head back to the gym for one last client. A manic Monday, indeed. But, who am I kidding. Arent they all? And why is that? Is it...
Read more...Maintaining the Unplugged State of Mind
Back when I was participating in a yoga training, my fellow students and I would often talk about what re-entry (this was we termed going back to ones life after spending over a week in our happy yoga training cocoon) into life post residential training week was like. I ca...
Read more...Build the Health and Strength of Your Feet
Going barefoot is healthy for your feet, but if youve been wearing shoes all your life, your feet may not be ready for shoelessness. Mark Sisson provides five exercises and other strategies to prepare for barefooting. “Just go barefoot.” How many tim...
Read more...Back Row + Leg Abduction = Good Exercise
I tend to keep an eye on my fellow trainers. Not because I dont trust them, and not because I wish to compete with them. Rather, because I like to learn from them. You never know when someone is going to debut an awesome exercise with one of their clients. Like a back row and...
Read more...How to Get a Faster 100-Meter Dash Time
To get a faster 100-meter dash time, come out of the blocks with power, pushing out with both feet and both arms. Maintain your drive phase to improve your 100-meter dash time with help from a track coach in this free video on track running tips. There is a common ...
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Official Book Review: Run Like a Girl
A very long time ago (like, before I was pregnant or even a homeowner), Mina Samuels sent me a copy of Run Like a Girl to review. Even though life got the best of me over the past few months, I did what I could to stick with it because I truly began to enjoy it from pa...
Read more...Usain Bolt's Stunningly Average Running Skill
For readers whove gotten started in sprinting from reading my post Dont Just Run: Sprint, heres a short article about the science of sprinting. Usain Bolt, the worlds fastest man, doesn’t move his legs quicker than anyone else during a race. So why is he so fast? ...
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lululemon
In the past 9 months or so, I’ve become fully obsessed with lululemon. Please tell me you are familiar with Lululemon! They only have the cutest, most functional, highly flattering workout clothes (and much more) out there. They are definitely on the...
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What is a Zercher squat?
Jason and I went to the gym this morning for some cardio. Of course, I took the July issue of Oxygen with me—because when its too hot outside and Im forced to walk indoors on a stationary piece of equipment, a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do to get through it. ...
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Lululemon Knock Off
This weekend I stumbled into Costco to find this workout shirt eerily similar to the Lululemon Cool Racerback tank. The colors, fit and fabrics seem extremely similar except that it was only $13! I tried out the tank earlier this week and I love love love it! It’s s...
Read more...The Complete Guide to Interval Training
I subbed the Wednesday 6:00AM class today. The typical teacher goes the step route, which I know nothing about, so I taught it like every other Circuit Sculpt class Ive taught. Cardio and strength training in one fell swoop. And today, I realized that this whole keep-HR-below-...
Read more...The Yin-side of Soul
In the dance of yoga , we can feel inspired and we can feel grounded. Inspiration and connection are manifestations of spirit and soul. For most of us in the West, soul and spirit seem like synonyms: when someone we love dies, we may say his soul has departed, or we may say hi...
Read more...The Expert Trap
Welcome to the lay-myself-bare portion of this blog. In this world of social media, there are a lot of folks talking about privacy or lackthereof these days. It seems like everyone feels entitled to know all about the lives of others (paparazzi, Im talking to you). People ...
Read more...I want to quit the gym! Update
As you remember, I quit my gym of almost 3 years back in April. You can read all about my woes in this post . I thought I would write a bit about what I have been doing since then. To put it succinctly; running. Here’s what I have realized over the past 2 month...
Read more...Wellness: Catchy Phrase or Key to Joy
Wellness has become a buzzword these days, ranging in application from medical diagnoses to spa services. Anyone you ask will have a list of things that make them ‘feel’ well. Mostly we base our happiness and contentment on circumstances and relationships going in our favo...
Read more...The Exercise Myth That’s Keeping You Fat
By Rob Poulos, Author ‘Fat Burning Furnace’ Don’t let the “more is better” exercise myth keep you from losing weight In order to reap the benefits from the intense exercise I recommend to my Fat Burning Furnace students, you must get adequate rest. I can’t stress...
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for the love EXERCISE!
I honestly cant believe I have been able to lose so much weight without exercising and while it has been nice I think it is time to start getting my workout on. I dont plan on doing much as far as exercise goes because 1) I am just starting out 2) I am going t...
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My FAVORITE Workout Buddy
For a few months now Ive been working out with my new friend, and I have literally blasted my workouts to a new level! He helps me focus 100% on my workouts, train harder to outdo my last performance, and maximize my results. He can be your friend too. Im tal...
Read more...Fill Their Plates 10k
I ran my first 10k on Saturday at the Fill Their Plates Run at Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis. It was a smaller race that included a 5k and kids races. The event is held to raise money for the Kids Against Hunger foundation which raises money to create, pack, and send meals t...
Read more...Injecting a Little Zing into Your Yoga Practice
-- I recently looked at the date of my last post and had one of those oh-my-goodness-I-cant-believe-its-been-that-long-since-I-last-blogged moments. Yes, we yoga practitioners arent immune to things like procrastination, shying away from the things that are good for us (y...
Read more...Nerd Running
Its time for another installment of blog search terms! Heres how it works: Someone out there on the internetz types something into Google or some other search engine I suppose. (Who actually is using Bing though?) Somehow my blog comes up in their search results, and the...
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Hot Yoga Finale + A New Packable Lunch
Remember awhile ago when I wrote about hot yoga vs. regular yoga and how I was trying to get into bikram yoga since I had a Living Social deal for 10 hot yoga classes for $20? Well, we had 2 months to use the classes, and tomorrow marks my 2 month poi...
Read more...“You should quit taekwondo, you’re a girl "
I would love some feedback on this topic! Update: 3rd doctor, different diagnosis, Dislocated finger, torn ligament. No break!!! MRI next week. I did not have a positive experience at the doctors today. $150 Co-pay for the ER on Sunday $30 co-pay Hand Sur...
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Bikini Body Challenge!
Summer is just around the corner, so if youre behind (really behind!) on getting to work on that bikini body, dont fret! Always better late than never! Join Natural Edges Bikini Body Challenge! Ive put together an 8-week challenge to jumpstart you right into that b...
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