So I’m back from visiting my sister in California, Berkeley to be more specific, the land of forgetting about your troubles, sipping on lattes and smoothies and eating organic foods as well as awesome cuisine at the many different restaurants in town.  I also got to do yoga and try something I had never tried before called Capoeira, which is a Brazilian art form of dance and marital arts.

That one was a real eye opener to the different ways your body needs to be in shape in order to be balanced, agile and able to defend yourself, since part of the art is self defense.  Although most of it that I observed is showmanship and fun self expression.

Another thing that my sister had me doing a lot was walking. I’m not used to walking so much here at home in Ohio, since I have a car and a full time job that I take my car to, but my sister is definitely in shape from all the walking she does. She bikes or walks to work, and the grocery store, and anywhere else she incidentally needs to go, and it definitely shows on her  body, since her body fat has dramatically decreased and she definitely has better lung capacity than I do right now!

I forgot what great exercise walking and biking can be, especially when it is your only mode of transportation, and you live in a town where it’s possible to bike or walk everywhere, but things can still be stretched out a bit, like in Berkeley.

I was definitely exhausted and ready to hit the hey every night after our long excursions to do various things, and the other physical things we did. We also visited a gym called 24 Hour Fitness that I had never been to before. Not a bad place, very basic, but got the job done. Did I mention my sister is a fitness buff, more so than me?

We had a great time, and I also got to enjoy a lot of the more fattening foods I enjoy and the carbs without feeling totally guilty about it since I was burning off calories pretty much every hour of the day by doing some sort of physical activity that burned a lot off.  I could definitely see the advantage of this way of life. I feel more in shape now than I did when I went out there, and I don’t think it’s just from the quote un quote workouts, but more from all the walking we did in between.

There has been a lot of buzz lately in the world of fitness and working out, about the fact that working out on an empty stomach actually forces your body to burn more calories, and also importantly, more fat, than if you go into your workout with a full belly or enough nutrition to burn off.

The idea is that you go into the workout with a “calorie deficit” and that way, your body isn’t burning off excess calories that you have just taken in, but it is burning off what it already there, the fat and the excess storage of weight that was there before you ate that breakfast or lunch. It’s a great idea, and makes sense in theory, but it doesn’t necessarily feel like the greatest idea when you’re trying to work out on a totally empty stomach.

After all, you need this fuel to get through your workout. Calories are what fuels the body and gives you energy, so working out without any fuel can prove pretty hard, and you may find yourself even feeling a bit faint if you really are hungry.

Therein lies the problem with working out on an empty stomach. If you cannot get in a really good, hard workout, then I wonder if the benefits of forcing these excess stores of fat to burn rather than the calories you just took in is really a good idea. I know that when I feel nourished and I’m not wanting for food, I can get in a much tougher workout, and I feel like I can really give it my all.

If I’m hungry, I tend to feel weak and can’t get through a really rigorous, physical workout, so my workout quality would probably suffer.

In a surprising turn, at least for me, there have been reports that kids in the UK are actually more obese than kids here in the US.  This is surprising because it has been the US that has been in the spotlight for so long with increasing childhood obesity, and of course the skyrocketing cases of adult obesity as well. This is all in the wake of numerous government and privately sponsored programs that are meant to decrease the incidence of childhood obesity and increase their exercise and dieting awareness.

Gym classes in elementary schools are even being revamped to include more actual activity time for the kids, so that they get their exercise in every day at school, rather than sit like lumps on logs all day. If you ask me, this one is long overdue. I remember sitting in class all day and not being able to focus just because I had SO much energy to burn off as a kid and sitting their all day made me nervous and anxious, not to mention tired!

Kids need to run around, and with the advent of video games, I think we really started to see a drastic decrease in kids physical activity and a subsequent increase in obesity. Kids need to move around – period. Not only for their physical health, but also for their mental health.  We need to have kids on structure fitness programs when they are in school, as this should be part of the learning process and helping them to develop good habits, and how to actually enjoy physical fitness. If you ask me, it’s more important than half the classes they have kids taking now!

If we start with kids when they’re young teaching them things that they will love to do that gets them plenty of cardio exercise and getting their heart rate up, chances are that the rest of the healthy lifestyle like eating well and being mindful of other things will follow. If we make this part of their school regimen, then we are not just strictly putting it in the hands of parents who may or may not know how to teach their children the healthiest habits they can be teaching them.

This is the job of the schools, not just to teach the kids about math, but also to teach them how to live longer, happier and healthier lives. In the end, it would benefit kids in the UK and here in the US, and they would pass these same habits on to their kids, and so on and so forth.

I just got done doing a pre-dinner workout, and something struck me about how good my skin looked. It’s funny, because I had just gotten home from work, and my skin looked lifeless and dull, with an almost gray pallor to it.  I work in an office with a lot of florescent lighting and poor ventilation, and of course I’m also usually under stress at work, and I don’t get to get up and walk around too much, so all of these factors combined don’t exactly make for glowing, healthy looking skin if you know what I mean!

When my husband and I got home, we were both wiped out from work, but I forced us to do a half hour workout, and lo and behold we both felt a hundred times better. Just from doing that efficient yet intense workout, our mood, our energy level, and our complexions looked and felt a hundred times better.

There are several reasons that exercise is excellent for your complexion. First of all, your skin is the largest organ on your body, covering every square inch of your body.  It needs to be revived and get a lot of oxygen, which helps it to repair any damage that has been done to it.  Working out boosts your feel good hormones, and lessens skin-ruining hormones and accelerate the aging process and even lend to skin problems like acne that are circulating in the body because of it’s therapeutic benefits.

Exercise really helps your skin get that revived, fresh, dewy look, and it also helps with the underlying color and tone of the skin as well. Plus, when you exercise, you are burning calories which helps with any sagging, extra facial or chine skin, so your face looks youthful, more “lifted” because this excess fat doesn’t have many places to store itself on your face or your neck.

In a move that I think will have a lot of unlicensed martial arts and yoga instructors relieved, NY has decided to allow unlicensed practitioners to keep practicing without threats of fines of closing down, something that hampered a lot of very talented people from continuing their business and helping people learn their trade, get healthy exercise and intense, or relaxing physical activity and empower themselves.

They are looking to treat martial arts and yoga as something like what it is, which is a self improvement measure. It’s not rocket science, and it doesn’t require a degree. Some people have been doing these trades their whole lives, and their experience and passion alone make up for any lack of a silly license of formal education in the matter.

I’ve been to good and bad instructors in the past, and let me tell you, either you have the God given talent to passionately teach people how to empower themselves through physical activity modalities, or you don’t. Some people just have that gift to teach others their passion and talent for some sort of practice. Martial arts has been around forever, and people take these sorts of classes for everything from self defense to physical exercise and learning how to empower themselves and feel strong.

Many times, yoga and martial arts can have the same effects of building one’s self esteem, and both are really seen as both a form of exercise, and a means for self improvement and learning self discipline and self respect. For whatever reason, being able to command our bodies in these ways is extremely fulfilling, and both of these practices really should be as openly available to everyone as they possibly can be.

The bill to take the restrictions away and allow for health freedom is being sent for passing this week and no one is expecting anyone to object to it, which is great news for those in the health and self improvement industry, setting the bar for further freedoms when it comes to your personal choices and health decisions.

I really can’t wait until the weather starts to be consistently warm and balmy. Not just because everyone seems to be in a generally more jolly mood, but because I can get outdoors more. Stretch my legs.  Sew my wild oats, if you will. I think we all have that instinct in us, to get out there and smell the fresh air, to be able to move about freely and to wander amongst the green grass, the trees, the blue sky, and to have less clothes on, which is so freeing. This fact in itself isn’t given enough credit, people don’t like to be all bundled up all day every day, it’s just so restrictive!

I’ve already noticed since we’ve had somewhat of an indian summer here in Northeaster Ohio lately, that I feel bouncier, more alive, more happy – just naturally. What is it about warm weather – and more importantly sunshine – that does that to people? I’m not really sure!  What I do know is that I feel like I could run a marathon, and running is what I do. I like to go on a few side roads by our house and jog.

I love to breathe in the fresh air, look at what people are doing with their yards and their gardens, to hear the bees buzzing, the birds singing, and the general orchestra of life around me as I indulge in a little “me time” for myself and my body. You just feel so at one with nature I suppose, and that is so opposite of what you feel like in the winter, when you are at odds with old man winter, fighting tooth and nail to stay warm.

Not to mention the fact that good, healthy food becomes more sparse in the winter, and it’s hard to find a good fresh fruit of veggie that doesn’t taste grainy and tasteless. Let’s face it. Winter is good for one thing, the holiday season and the snow covered landscapes. Other than that, it pretty much stinks!

I am a huge believer in the therapeutic benefits of massage. Not only massage, but touch in general. I believe that touch, particularly relaxing, premeditated, specific manipulation of the muscles type of touching, such as is done in professional massage, is extremely beneficial to the human body. Massage is especially good for working out muscles in people that exercise and may push them a little too hard one way or another.

I personally try to get one at least once a month, and I actually belong to a membership where I get one once a month for a fixed cost, and I love it In general, I get excellent massages and excellent service from this place of business, and have nothing but nice things to say about the establishment.

Of course, they can’t help all the massage therapists that you get, and of course, you may happen to get one once that just isn’t your style or generally does a really crappy job at manipulating your muscles and at relaxing you, which is the whole point of it. Their style may fit someone else’s taste, but it may not be for you at all. I had one such massage the other day. I booked double appointments, one for me and one for my sister, who was in from out of town.

Since I was booking them fairly last minute, and booking for two people, I wasn’t able to get any of the girls that I normally use. I actually, for the first time there, was assigned to a male therapist. Now, nothing against guys, I’m sure there are tons of very talented male massage therapists out there, but this massage experience was not good. First of all, he started the massage late, and also let me out early, ripping me off of about ten total minutes, which I wasn’t happy about since I like to enjoy every last second of my experience.

Second, he used way too much lubricant to massage. I’ve never had someone pause so much to re-oil or cream their hands. This made it so there wasn’t enough grip, and it ended up being more like one of those generic swedish massages where you don’t even feel like you’re getting any therapeutic benefit from it because it doesn’t cause any sort of releasing of pressure, which can border on pain and pleasure, it’s just a constant, boring, light massage.

I was glad that my sister got a therapist that worked for her, but I had to admit, a little peeved that mine was a total waste of time. For once I actually tipped the minimum, and I’m usually a really generous tipper, I just felt like he didn’t really try and he also cut my experience short, so I felt that deserved less “recognition” in the form of a gratuity.

I have suffered from the bronchial restricting disease called asthma for years now. I am 35 years old, and I had had the disorder for about 27 years now. It started when I was about eight years old. I remember my first asthma attack very clearly actually. I was at the outdoor YMCA, which was a great family retreat by where I grew up. It was on acres of wooded land, and it had a variety of amenities, including tennis courts, trailing, bike trails, and even a great little event cabin where you could come in, drink some hot cocoa and thaw out after doing some cross country skiing.

Oh, and the best part of course since my little sister and I were waterbugs, was the awesome outdoor pool and lounge area. Man, we used to go there all the time and just swim for hours and come home with golden brown skin. It was great. Then, when I was about eight, my mom, dad, sister and I were taking a walk there, and I was coming up a hill. I remember there was a lot of Queen Anne’s Lace growing at the time, and who knows, that may have even been what set off my attack.

I remember becoming extremely out of breath, and wheezing for the first time from the exertion of physical activity. It was actually quite distressing. I think that my mom thought I might have been faking it a bit, she said I was always a bit of a “Camille” when I was sick when I was younger, but I really was distressed and having a hard time breathing. I was taken to the doctors office and diagnosed promptly with asthma.

I was given a prescription inhaler, and at the time, I was also given some sort of oral medication, which I cannot remember the name of. I was told to stay away from certain triggers, but I was also told to keep on exercising, which I am grateful for. In fact, even today as an adult, I notice that my asthma only gets aggravated most during periods of sendentary lifestyle changes for me.

When I’m exercising and healthy, that’s when my asthma is kept at bay. So, it may seem like a bit of a dichotomy, but exercising can actually set off an asthma attack, but if you never exercise, this is even more likely to happen. In short, exercising is GOOD for asthma in the long term, and you will find you are actually more resistant to asthma when you are active.

It seems like you could endlessly debate who in Hollywood has the “best” body. After all, it seems like everywhere you turn there is a bronzed, muscled, well toned babe or dude around every corner. Let’s face it, Hollywood types get paid to look great, and they don’t take that responsibility lightly in most cases. When they do, they also make headlines, but not the welcome kind.

Think of stars like poor Jennifer Love Hewitt, who really got chewed out just for looking normal in a bathing suit, or Jessica Simpson, who still looked smashing, but maybe put on a measly five pounds in an outfit on stage. These caused a virtual uproar because these poor girls weren’t ninety pounds soaking wet, talk about ridiculous! But there are some Hollywood stars that look great, no matter when they are photographed, and they are pretty consistently on top of their fitness.

Take for example, one of the most oft-cited toned Hollywood bods – Jennifer Aniston. She’s not too buff, but she’s always toned just right, and she’s thin, but she always looks really, really healthy, almost to a point of ridiculous, so she’s not setting a bad example by being anorexic looking. Then there is Jessica Alba, who has obviously been genetically blessed with long legs and torso, but also who is photographed frequently coming from the gym, and who toned up fabulously after having her first child. Bodies like that are enough to make you swear off chocolate forever.

Wait, no, I lied, I’d never swear off chocolate. But you get the drift, there are some people who just “get” fitness. They don’t seem to go too overboard with the weight thing, and yet they always look toned and fit, and thin of course, but never sickly or unhealthy. In the wake of the death of the beautiful Brittany Murphy, I think you’re going to see more focus on weight and weight issues in Hollywood.

I love that more realistic and healthy body types are being represented, and that actresses are getting great work that possess these types of bodies. It seems like they know the perfect balance between obsessing over one’s body and laying off of themselves and enjoying a slice of cake here and there. After all, how miserable do you think women like Victoria Beckham are, always counting calories and having to fit in a size zero? I don’t think that’s any way to live, I like food too much.

Hey all you Fitness Buffs, I just wanted to take some time out to say Happy New Year! Be safe, have fun, and take some time to reflect that things you are lucky and thankful for in 2009, and what your goals are for 2010. Yep, I mean your fitness goals folks! I know one of mine is to make sure I shake it up more and don’t get stuck in fitness ruts as much as I feel like I did in 2009.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!