Lisa Corsello, owner of Burn, an innovative San Francisco workout studio that offers group fitness classes that merge pilates, weight training and cardio, offered up her before, during and after workout tips on beating the summer heat.

Before your work out:

• Corsello says, “Check out you local 5-day forecast and modify your workout schedule accordingly. Plan to exercise during the coolest hours of the day.”

• It’s important to first speak with your physician to make sure that you are OK to workout in your current local conditions.

• “Fatigue is a real problem on hot days,” she adds. So be sure that you have gotten a good night sleep the night before your planned exercise activity. Also, allow at least one day of rest and recovery before your next workout.

• As a rule, if you’re heading outdoors, arm yourself with sunblock, lip balm, visor and make sure to wear clothes that wick away moisture.

Invest in electrolyte replacement options such as an electrolyte pill that can be purchased in any local health store or pharmacy, sports drinks or Pedialyte.

• Visit your local sporting goods store for hydration belts that come equipped with small plastic containers for water or sports drinks. These are great if you plan on hiking or running outdoors.

Lisa’s Tip: Sports drinks and Pedialyte tend to be very high in sugar which can lead to a spike in energy levels that can ultimately lead to early fatigue, especially on hot days. Try to keep your energy level in check by mixing 2 parts of water for every 1 part of the sports drink.

During your workout:

• Be more conscious of your body. Hot weather can lead to low energy levels. So modify your workout by decreasing the heaviness of your weights and/or decreasing reps and taking breaks when you need them.

• Be on the lookout for headaches, dizziness, blurred vision and nausea. These are signs of heat exhaustion. If this happens, Corsello says, “Stop your workout immediately, rest and hydrate.”

• Continue drinking H2O or your chosen electrolyte replacement throughout your workout.

After your workout:

• Add an additional 3-5 minutes to your cool down.

• Lisa warns, “Don’t overstretch. Your body’s muscles are more malleable in the warm weather and overstretching can lead to an injury.”

• Continue to hydrate even after your workout is completed.

Alternatively, on days when the heat is just oppressive, Corsello offers up these tips:

 • Don’t expand on your regular workout routine during hot days.

• Swimming is also a great workout alternative.

• On really hot days, working out in climate controlled environments, such as a gym or dance studio are always the best options.

Source:  http://singlemindedwomen.com/womens-health/workout-tips/

Getting away from reality is good for the soul, and getting away from the usual workout routine is good for the body. However, a vacation can be the perfect time to exercise. By freeing yourself from your routine, you open your mind to new ways to move your body, have fun and keep your body fit while you’re on vacation.

Cardio

If you want to maintain your cardio endurance while having fun, there are a variety of vacation that will give you a great workout without feeling like exercise. Some of the best workouts include:

• Walking on the beach. Walking in soft sand is a killer workout and burns more calories than walking on flat ground. Some experts suggest that you can burn twice as many calories walking in soft sand. Keep it safe by wearing shoes (you may get shinsplints if you go barefoot for too long) and going for a few minutes at a time to get used to it. You’ll be surprised how hard it is.
• Beach volleyball. You can burn more than 150 calories an hour, depending on how hard you work and it’s a great way to meet other people at the beach while having fun.
• Surfing, swimming and snorkeling. Surfing is a total body workout that will challenge every muscle in your body. Even if you just paddle out to the waves and fall off (like I do), you’ll get a great workout. Snorkeling is a bit more leisurely, but you can add intensity by swimming a little harder. If you’re at a beach that doesn’t have big waves, put on your snorkel gear and swim out and back for a few laps to get your blood moving.
• Leisurely bike rides. Long bike rides are a great way to see the area while getting in some low-intensity exercise. If you take your time and go all day, you’ll burn calories without even thinking about it.
• Hiking. Anytime you add elevation to your walks, you’ll burn more calories. If you carry a backpack, you’ll challenge yourself even more, all while enjoying a little nature. Check with your hotel concierge to see about hiking adventures nearby or visit Local Hikes to find trails near major metropolitan areas.
• Golf. Golf can be a dud of a workout if you ride around in a cart and drink beer at every hole. If you want to burn more calories, though, carry your clubs and walk the course. You’ll burn around 200-300 calories per hour, even more if you hit every ball into a bunker and add 19 strokes to each hole, like I do.
• Tennis. Like golf, a game of tennis can be as easy or hard as you want it to be. Chasing the ball and hitting it like you’re Serena Williams or Roger Federer will give you a great workout, burning up to 400 calories for a 150-lb person.
• Shopping. Okay, maybe shopping isn’t the highest intensity activity, but it can be very aerobic under the right circumstances. If shopping is your activity of choice, make it count by walking fast, taking the stairs and avoiding fatty foods at the food court.

Lifting Weights

Finding fun cardio activities is easy when you’re on vacation. Lifting weights, however, presents more of a challenge. You usually don’t have much equipment and the thought of going to the hotel fitness room isn’t that appealing when you’re trying to have fun.

You don’t have to do much, however, to maintain your strength and muscle while you’re out of town. A quick workout with body weight exercises, resistance bands or full water bottles will keep you strong and fit until you get back home to your usual routine.

These resources will help you work your body with short, efficient workouts:

• No Weight Travel Workout
• Body Weight Exercises
• Resistance Band Vacation Workout
• Power and Strength Travel Circuit

If I Don’t Exercise, How Fast Will I Lose Muscle and Endurance?

If you decide to use your vacation to rest from exercise entirely, you may wonder what happens to your body. How long can you go before you lose fitness? How fast you lose endurance and/or muscle depends mostly on your genetics, but below are some general guidelines:

• Aerobic power can decline 5-10% in three weeks.
• All your gains could be gone after about 2 months of inactivity
• The fitter you are, the faster you lose your fitness, which doesn’t seem fair, does it?
• You tend to lose aerobic capacity faster than muscular strength. Muscles are resilient and retain a memory of all those exercises you did.

Taking a week off probably won’t make much of a difference but, any more than that, and it may be harder to get back to your previous levels. Finding ways to stay as active as you can will keep you fit, help you avoid weight gain and make the transition back to real life a little easier.

This ultra-quick workout targets the major muscles of the body for a quick, efficient workout.  This won’t take the place of a complete total body program, but it’s great for maintaining fitness without spending a lot of time exercising.  For this workout you’ll need a light-medium weight resistance band and a chair.

• Do each exercise for about 1 minute (add more sets if you have time)
• Go slowly to really work your muscles
• If you don’t have a resistance band, use full water bottles as dumbbells or nothing at all

Source:  http://exercise.about.com/cs/exerciseworkouts/l/blvacworkout.htm

By Paige Waehner, About.com Guide

Updated June 22, 2009

]]> http://www.rufit.org/2010/07/26/mediterranean-salmon-wrap/feed/ http://www.rufit.org/2010/06/25/any-tips-for-exercising-in-the-summertime-outdoors/ http://www.rufit.org/2010/06/25/any-tips-for-exercising-in-the-summertime-outdoors/#comments Fri, 25 Jun 2010 16:28:53 +0000 Diana Painter http://www.rufit.org/?p=828

Tired. Drained. Pooped. No matter how you put it, you’re beat and need to drum up some energy. You are not alone. Many people have trouble getting in gear in the morning, experience the afternoon slump, or just want to crash on the couch in the evening.

The exhaustion can be a constant problem for some folks. Fatigue is a common complaint associated with many factors. It is found in all populations and generally reported by more women than men.

Sluggishness can be caused by many factors, but experts say poor nutrition is a big culprit. A well-balanced diet, on the other hand, can boost energy.

“Food is truly our body’s fuel,” says Cindy Moore, MSRD, director of nutrition therapy for The Cleveland Clinic. “What we choose as our fuel is going to absolutely impact the performance of our bodies.”

How do we fill up our personal tanks, and how well do they make our engine run? The experts weigh in on how major food and drink sources and habits affect energy levels.

The Forgotten Meal

At the beginning of the day, most people dash off to work or school without a thought to their body’s dietary needs. Who has time to eat in the morning anyway?

“Breakfast is an easy meal to forget,” says Mary Ellen Camire, PhD, professor of food science and human nutrition at the University of Maine. “But if people are skipping breakfast and find they’re tired by midmorning, then it’s time to re-evaluate that eating habit.”

Research shows breakfast improves alertness and concentration, helps shed pounds by preventing overeating during the day, and prevents obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.

To get these benefits and to prepare the body for the day, the American Dietetic Association recommends carbohydrates for energy and protein for endurance. Some quick options include:

 Whole grain bagel with cheese

• Cereal with fruit and yogurt
• Whole-grain toast with peanut butter and fruit
• Hard-boiled egg sliced into a whole-wheat pita
• Scrambled eggs, toast, and fruit
• Oatmeal with raisins

 For the really busy bee, Camire says choices include breakfast bars, frozen omelets and breakfast sandwiches, oatmeal packets to go, and whole-grain cereals in prepackaged plastic bowls. Be mindful, though, of the sugar and fat content of your morning meal. A study in Pediatrics found that children who ate sugary breakfasts were hungrier and ate more at lunch.

Complex Carbohydrate Charge

Healthy eating doesn’t stop in the morning. A well-balanced diet throughout the day is an essential source of sustained energy. 

Although carbohydrates have gotten a bad reputation, the nutrient is still the body’s preferred source of energy, says Dave Grotto, RD, director of nutrition at the Block Center for Integrative Cancer Care in Evanston, Ill. Low-carb diets, he says, initially boost energy, but deplete it in the long run.

The best way to maximize the body’s potential for energy is to eat a combination of complex and simple carbohydrates. Complex carbohydrates, which are slow burning, should represent the bulk of the carbohydrates we eat, says Grotto. Foods such as whole grains and starchy vegetables such as potatoes, squash, pumpkin, and carrots fall into this category.

This does not mean ignoring simple carbohydrates with a faster burn, such as the sugar fructose, found in fruits, vegetables, and honey. They can provide an immediate source of energy.

Simple sugars found in candy bars, soft drinks, and cookies can also provide a quick boost, but then a big letdown afterward.

“You are going to get a rise in energy from the original hit of the sugar, but then, particularly for diabetics, sugar can drop below the baseline where it started,” says John W. Finley, associate editor of the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry, a publication of the American Chemical Society. He says the peak effect of sugar normally lasts 30 minutes to an hour, depending on the dose. Anything beyond that is reportedly psychological.

Without the complex carbohydrates to sustain the blood sugars, the body loses steam. “A diet that is based in complex carbohydrates seems to have less of that peak and valley of blood sugar effect,” says Grotto.

It is also important to make sure your complex carbohydrates have fiber, says Dee Sandquist, MSRD, a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association. “Fiber helps the carbohydrates that we eat to be more slowly absorbed by the body,” she says. “So, therefore, the body gets a more balanced release of energy, as opposed to the quick burst of energy.”

Many processed carbohydrates such as white rice, white bread, and pasta contain little or no fiber, thus expending energy at a rapid rate. To ensure you have a food rich in fiber, check the label. A slice of bread should contain 2 to 3 grams of fiber.

Fat Force

Fat has also gotten a bad reputation, and for good reason. Too much of the “bad” fats is associated with heart disease, some types of cancer, and some chronic illnesses. The right types of fat and the amount, however, can make food taste good, and is a concentrated source of energy. Saturated fat (found in foods like meat, butter, lard, and cream) and trans fat (found in baked goods, snack foods, fried foods, and margarines) have been shown to increase the risk for heart disease. Replacing saturated and trans fat in your diet with unsaturated fat (found in foods like olive oil, avocados, nuts, and canola oil) has been shown to decrease the risk of developing heart disease.

In order to strike the right balance, choose polyunsaturated fats such as vegetable oils and seafood, and monounsaturated fats such as olive oil, nuts, and seeds. The unsaturated variety can help lower “bad” LDL cholesterol.

Protein Power

Fats and carbohydrates may supply the body with energy, but protein helps regulate the release of that power. Protein maintains cells, assists in growth , transports hormones and vitamins, and preserves lean muscle mass. Muscles and many hormones are, in fact, made up of protein. We need proteins for our immune system. So replenishing the body’s source of the nutrient is very important.

Good sources of protein include meat, poultry, fish, eggs, beans, nuts, and low-fat dairy products.When we eat these types of foods, our body breaks down the protein that they contain into amino acids (the building blocks of proteins). Some amino acids are essential, which means that we need to get them from our diet, and others are nonessential, which means that our body can make them. Protein that comes from animal sources contains all of the essential amino acids that we need. Plant sources of protein, on the other hand, do not contain all of the essential amino acids.

In diets where the body does not get its usual fuel of carbohydrates and fat, protein provides the body energy.

The Weight of Water

Two-thirds of the human body is made up of water. Without it, we could only live a few days. The fluid helps control body temperature through sweat, moves food through the intestines, and greases the joints. It is also an essential ingredient in the production of energy molecules.

“Dehydration is one of the leading causes of a lack of energy,” says Grotto. If you’re not well hydrated, your body puts its resources into maintaining your water balance instead of into giving you energy.

Everyone’s water needs vary. In February 2004, the Institute of Medicine released a report indicating most people meet their daily hydration needs by using thirst as their guide. In general, the Institute’s expert panel recommended that women get about 11 cups of water from food and drink each day, and men get about 16 cups daily. This may seem like a lot of liquid, but 80% of it usually comes from drinking water and other beverages. The other 20% comes from food.

To adequately get your hydration needs, particularly on a hot and humid day, the American Dietetic Association suggests carrying around a bottle of water, or replacing your afternoon soft drink with water. Frozen juice bars or icy treats are also a good idea.

Water is especially important after exercise, with certain medicines, and with a high-fiber diet. Your fluid intake should be adjusted to how much water you’re losing, says Finley. “Simple things like stopping at a drinking fountain when you walk by one is a good idea.”

Caffeine Fix

More than half of Americans reach for a coffee cup every day, and 25% drink it occasionally, reports the National Coffee Association. This should come as no surprise, as there are those who swear they cannot function without the caffeine.

The compound can be found not only in coffee, but in tea, soft drinks, chocolate, and herbs as well.

John Allred, PhD, a food science communicator for the Institute of Food Technologists, says stimulants like caffeine exaggerate the effect of natural hormones like adrenaline. “They get your heart pumping faster, you respire faster, and that gives you a stimulated feeling,” he says, noting the results usually last no more than two hours.

Psychology tests have shown a combination of caffeine and sugar can improve alertness and performance. “But then it wears off, and then you get a little bit of a slump afterward,” says Camire. The high-low effect of caffeine, she says, is not as pronounced as it is in sugar, but is significant enough in that frequent users often experience headaches without the substance.

The chemical is, indeed, so potent a stimulant that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) lists caffeine as one of its banned drugs, as long as the concentration in a urine sample exceeds 15 micrograms per milliliter. (Two cups of black coffee will produce urine levels of approximately 3 to 6 micrograms per milliliter, according to the National Center for Drug Free Sport.)

The effect of caffeine varies from person to person. Some people need a few cups before experiencing stimulation, while others feel shaky or jittery with one serving.

Caffeine can also interfere with sleep, particularly if it is consumed in the late afternoon. The lack of shuteye could obviously affect one’s energy level. To resolve this issue, Camire recommends switching to decaffeinated beverages by about 3 p.m. She also suggests gradually cutting back on caffeinated drinks, especially since they may have a dehydrating effect.

Beating the Doldrums

Food can, indeed, raise or diminish the body’s energy levels. If you are eating healthy and are still tired, try changing the frequency of your meals. Some people find they get more of a boost with several small meals throughout the day, while others prefer the dining concept of three square meals daily. There’s no right or wrong way, says Sandquist, noting that everyone’s energy needs differ.

The amount of food you eat can also make a difference. If someone overeats constantly, they tend to gain more weight and become lethargic, says Finley. “It’s like the snowball rolling down the hill,” he explains. “As [overeaters] get more overweight, they have less energy, and then they exercise less and don’t burn the calories.”

Other dietary reasons for fatigue include too much alcohol (which is a depressant) and lack of certain vitamins and minerals. Low iron is a common problem for women.

If you still find yourself sluggish with a well-balanced diet, then a visit to the doctor may be in order. Certain diseases, medications, stress, and inadequate sleep and exercise can contribute to fatigue.

Add this recipe to your list of grilling favorites. Serve a taste of summer with mojito-infused chicken and tasty grilled pineapple.