I am thrilled to announce that as of Monday April 25, I am relocating my personal training practice to Northampton Athletic Club.  (I will still see Smith-affiliated clients at the Olin Fitness Center.)

Northampton Athletic Club is a state-of-the-art facility featuring over 50 cardio machines, a gymnasium, aerobics studio, free-weights and resistance circuit.  When a quieter, more private venue is appropriate, we will have access to the new Wellness Center at 30 Carlon Drive.  NAC offers childcare, a rock-climbing wall, and an on-site café with free wifi.   Affiliated massage therapists, physical therapists and nutritionists are located onsite.  Membership at NAC also entitles you to access to the Hampshire Athletic Club.  

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Make 2011 the year you achieve your wellness goals

Among those of us who work in the health-fitness industry it is no secret that January brings new members out of the woodwork.  Here in New England the ranks are swelled by outdoor enthusiasts finally forced indoors as the ice and cold take hold.  We also see members who had a good routine going up until Thanksgiving when the crush of the holiday season and the short, dark days wreaked havoc on their discipline.  And then there are the true January Joiners—those hopeful souls who have, once again, resolved to become more fit in the new year.

If you are a January Joiner—welcome!  As the Taoist proverb says, “The longest journey begins with a single step.”  Congratulations on taking the first step towards improving your health and fitness.  If you’ve tried to get fit before you may be haunted by the ghost of January past.  Don’t let his rattling chains undermine your resolve.  Just place one foot after the other and soon you will find yourself walking the wellness path.  Here are some tips to guide you on your journey:       

Take baby steps. A psychotherapist recently told me that when she recommends an exercise program to her clients, the first step she gives them is to drive to the gym.  They don’t even need to go in the door!  After a few trips she encourages them to pack a gym bag and have it in the car, just in case they feel like going in.   Tiny steps are the building blocks of enormous change.  What baby step will you take today?

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Recently the New York Times covered the new military fitness protocols for incoming recruits.  The program innovations bring modern exercise science to the challenge of recruiting from a generation notoriously inactive and less fit than their predecessors.  Gone is the “one size fits all” mentality, replaced by slower progressions and a focus on building soldiers’ functional capacity for the actual demands of their jobs. 

Among this generation of recruits the military is observing low bone density (leading to bone fractures), overweight, and inability to meet basic fitness standards.  The Times writes,

“The new fitness regime tries to deal with all these problems by incorporating more stretching, more exercises for the abdomen and lower back, instead of the traditional situps, and more agility and balance training. It increases in difficulty more gradually. And it sets up a multiweek course of linked exercises, rather than offering discrete drills.”

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Here are a couple of really interesting articles I've been meaning to share for a while:

To Tone Without Bulk: Lift Heavier Weights, Fewer Times
The New York Times confirms that folks who wish to build strength without bulk should lift more weight for fewer reps.  They conclude that: "For people who lift weights to tone up and slim down...a regimen that includes a combination of challenging weights and fewer repetitions can help significantly."

Something I've been telling clients for years!  You can read the article here.

Pelvic Floor Fix for the Post-Partum Mama More recently, my bloggy-friend Kara of mamasweat wrote a stunning expose on kegels as the enemy of pelvic floor health.  She interviewed "biomechanical scientist" Katy Bowman on the post-partum pee problem.  According to Katy, it's your weak, flat butt that's the problem and holding that million-dollar bill with your "kegel muscles" just exacerbates things.  With the tagline "You now have permission to pee in the shower," this is an article not to miss.  Find it here.

"The moral of the story is: I must not be inactive."

"It is easier to be out of shape."

Easier if you mean you don't have to do this exercise I'm just now describing...but harder if you think of how much harder it is to do everything else (work, play, sleep) when your body is deconditioned.