Fitness
How to Train for Your Fastest Half Marathon
You’ve run a half marathon and now you’ve got the bug and want to improve your finish time. Excellent, you’re in the right place. The Faster Half Marathon Training Schedule is designed to those that have run at least one half marathon, and want to build on their fitness and improve their time. It’s also […]
Fitness
How to Train for Your First Half Marathon
You’re all signed up for your first half marathon! Now it’s time to prepare your body and mind for the challenge ahead. This half marathon program is geared to those who want to train for their first half marathon, and who have been running at least 3-4 miles three times per week. If you’re running […]
Fitness
The Ultimate Showdown: Strength vs. Cardio Training
Strength training or cardio: what’s better for fat loss? Or overall health? You might be surprised to find the answer. Learn how to optimize your workout routine for your goals.
Fitness
Exercises You Should Be Doing, But Probably Aren’t: Windmill Stretch
Now that you’ve mastered Squats and Pushups, let’s focus on the Windmill Stretch. While this is more of a stretching-type exercise, it also goes a long way in improving overall mobility and is a great way to self-assess your own movement on a daily basis. Most people cringe when they think of stretching and, I’m the […]
Wellness
Yoga Poses to Prevent Low Back Pain
To avoid low back pain, the demands of running require a strong core, good spinal mobility, and open hips and sacral joints. Adding these yoga postures into your running cool-down or including them in your active recovery workouts will build the strength and flexibility that is needed to maintain and efficient running form and avoid […]
Fitness
Training Plan: Run a Faster 10K
You’ve run your first 10K (or more), and now that you know you can tackle the distance, you want to improve your finish time. Nice, you’re in the right place because this post and program will help you reach your goals. First things first, Rome wasn’t built in a day, so think of your journey […]
Wellness
How to Practice Gratitude
From improving your health to your mood, consciously practicing gratitude may be one of the most effective actions you can take to increase your happiness. Part I of this article described the benefits and reasons for practicing gratitude. If you’re ready to get started, try one of the simple practices below and make 2015 your […]
Fitness
Join the 2015 Holiday Challenge
Need a little motivation to exercise during the busy holiday season? We’ve partnered with Coach Jenny on the 2015 Holiday Challenge, and we’d love for you to join! It’s a totally free, six-week program and is a proven way to stay fit during the holiday season. If you want to avoid gaining the “Holiday 5” and be entered […]
Fitness
Three Incline Treadmill Workouts to Do This Week (3 Downloads)
Want to get more bang for your buck when it comes to the time you spend working out? To bust boredom and inject more power into your workouts, look to the incline feature on your treadmill. You can can multiply your calorie burn during and after your workout by cranking up the incline even just a few points. Look for treadmills […]
Fitness
How To Train For Your First 10K
Training Plan For Your First 10K The 10K distance is the perfect race for those who want to run a little farther than their usual 2-3 miler, build their running endurance and push their limits beyond a 5K. Start from where you are. In this post you’ll find a training plan that is geared to […]
Fitness
How To Do Push-ups
While the exercise for this week’s “Exercises You Should Be Doing, But Probably Aren’t” may be one of the most common exercises on the planet, it’s also one of the most butchered. So I thought it would be appropriate to go a little more in-depth as to what constitutes a proper push-up. Most people have […]
Wellness
7 Yoga Poses To Help You Recover From Low Back Pain
The first portion of this blog series focused on rehabilitative postures to lengthen and open places that cause pain in the low back. When your muscles and fascia have open and aligned sufficiently to release compression, the phase of recovery is directed at maintaining that healthy position while introducing movement. This trains your body to […]
Fitness
How to Use Incline on a Treadmill to Boost Your Calorie Burn (3 Workouts + Infographics)
The slap in the face of 37 chilly degrees during my morning run has me contemplating switching to treadmills for a few days each week. Running on treadmills has it perks, beyond the obvious benefit of being indoors during colder months. They’re a helpful tool if you want to improve your natural running pace or burn more calories […]
Fitness
How to Run on a Treadmill
There’s no doubt that running on a treadmill is a bit different than running outside but, if done properly, treadmill running can have just as many benefits (if not more) than running outside. One of the great positives to treadmill running is that it is safe! No uneven terrain, no need to be worried about […]
Wellness
Stop Low Back Pain with These Yoga Moves Especially for Runners
If your low back is aching, you’re not alone. Approximately 80% of the population experiences low back pain at some point. Runners can be especially challenged by low back issues for many reasons, including the core stabilization required to hold the spine in a healthy position during running, as well as the tightness that running […]
Wellness
Mental Health Series: Why Self-Care is Important
The classic struggle It’s the classic struggle of finding balance between work and life. While we know that we need to recharge, it’s easy to feel like a hero when we spend all of our time working and caring for others. Our American ideals of hard work and emphasis on achievement make it easy to […]
Fitness
Active Vacation Series: What’s Happening in the Race Scene
It’s never been a better time to be a runner. Whether you’re thinking of getting started on a running program, or have been running for years, there is a plethora of fun races to strike the match of motivation. Here are some of my favorite running race trends. Themed Races These races tend to hover […]
Fitness
Use Yoga to Improve Your Run: Part II
In part I of this series we talked about how to strengthen the hamstrings with yoga to improve your running. Read on for Part II as we discuss hamstring stretches. As a complex muscle group comprised of three separate muscle segments, the hamstrings are particularly prone to imbalances that are impacted by our repetitive daily […]
Fitness
Climb Every Mountain, and Everything Else in Your Life Too
This article is the first in the Active Vacation Series. One person’s finish line is another’s mountain summit. Mountain climbing and hiking is one of the fastest growing sports and it’s easy to understand why. It combines the motivation of a challenge with the scenery of the great outdoors and requires travel to beautiful destinations […]
Wellness
Barre Workouts You Can Do At Home: Part II
In Part I of this series, Joli explained the benefits and history of Barre workouts. Here she gives us a basic workout you can start doing at home today. The “fold-over” series Adding barre exercises to your home workouts is a powerful way to specifically target the glutes and core. Barre instructor and international instructor, […]
Wellness
Barre Workouts You Can Do At Home: Part I
One of the hottest trends in fitness right now is a fresh take on an old classic … barre workouts. Offered by boutique studios around the country, these workouts emphasize precision and the development of long, lean muscle by building on the techniques of yoga, pilates, and dance. Using a few simple props and the […]
Fitness
Three Treadmill Workouts to Improve Speed
I’m transitioning my running to the treadmill this season and wondered how I can work on my speed. Do you have any tips or a workout you would recommend? Thanks, Amy Kudos to you. The treadmill is an effective and safe way to continue your running workouts as the weather shifts to the winter. It […]
Fitness
An Easy Way to Assess Your Fitness on the Treadmill
Assessing your fitness is a great way to start a fitness program as well as evaluate your progress to stay on track. Here is an easy to follow running fitness assessment you can perform on a treadmill. The goal of this assessment is to find your redline, or your lactate threshold, the point at which […]
Fitness
Harness Psychology To Beat Motivational Struggles
Do you find that you’re super motivated to exercise and eat well for a few days, only to have your motivation fizzle out once reality sets in? That’s because willpower is a limited resource. The key to staying motivated for the long-term is to build healthy habits and systems that force you to stay on […]
Fitness
How to Improve Your Running with Elliptical Training
She couldn’t believe her eyes when she crossed the finish line nearly five and a half minutes faster than she’d ever run a 10K race. Her season started like it always did with a challenge from her running buddies to race in her town’s fall 10K. This year she wanted to focus on two goals, […]
Fitness
What is Runner’s High and How Do I Experience It?
Question: I’m training for my first half marathon and I’m surprised at this point that I haven’t felt “runner’s high.” What does it take to get to that point where you can run forever? Answer: All good things in fitness are earned, but just because you haven’t felt your runner’s high, doesn’t mean you can’t […]
Fitness
How to Recover from an Injury and Maintain Fitness Using the Elliptical
When aches and pains cross our path, it’s easy to think our fitness will be lost as we heal, but in many cases, we can maintain and recover efficiently by employing a new paradigm of training called active recovery. Healing from knee pain. Take Emily, for example. She was training for her first half marathon […]
Fitness
8 Hot Fitness Trends That Are New This Fall
Let’s face it, the summer months can be brutal when it comes to your fitness routine! Not only do you have the constant temptations of picnics, vacations, festivals, etc., but throw in some good, hot steamy weather and you have a recipe for disaster when it comes to added weight and lack of motivation. But […]
Nutrition
Big Time Recovery Boosters
For the best workout foods outside of your workout fueling and immediate recovery window, you need to maximize micro-nutrients for overall health and long term muscle recovery, as well as include plenty of protein and produce to support muscle building and your immune system around the clock. Start working these powerhouses into your meal prep […]
Nutrition
5 Super Foods to Eat Before Your Next Workout
For the best pre- and post-workout foods, you’re looking for maximum efficiency and absorption to give your muscles the fuel they need to perform hard and maximize recovery. Pre-workout fueling can start as early as three hours prior to your workout and post workout takes place up to two hours after your workout (don’t wait […]
Fitness
Start Doing Functional Fitness: What You Need to Know (Part I)
Whether you’re in love with functional fitness or admit it’s the sport you love to hate, you can’t deny its impact on today’s approach to physical training. Functional fitness provides constantly varied movements at a high intensity (this can be scaled for all levels) to ensure that by not specializing in one specific movement or […]
Fitness
Start Doing Functional Fitness: What You Need to Know (Part II)
Whether you’ve decided to participate in a local gym or make use of the extensive on-line Community, functional fitness provides powerful workouts to take your training to the next level. The style of workout is designed to push you to your limits, while remaining scalable for all levels of fitness. Assuming you’ve done your preparation through […]
Fitness
Use these Four Tricks to Power Through Tough Workouts
The mind is an effective tool when you know how unleash its power. This is especially important when you’re challenging yourself in a hard workout, or pushing in a race. Managing your mind is just as important as training your body, because the minute your thoughts go south, it affects everything from your how your […]
Fitness
What To Do After You've Run Your Race
You did it! You committed to run a race. You got up early and trained tenaciously. And you finished your race! Now what? It’s common to feel a little down after a race. I call it Post Race Syndrome, or an emotional condition that sets in after you finish reaching a goal. You spend weeks […]
Fitness
5 Reasons to Run Socially
Although running is an independent sport, when done in a social environment, whether with your buddy or a group, it can be highly beneficial. Here are five reasons to grab a buddy or join a group on your next run. Accountability Have you ever set your alarm for 5am with the best intentions of getting […]
Wellness
How To Stay Fit Into Your Seventh Decade And Beyond
More than any other age group, one size does not fit all when it comes to creating a training plan for older adults. While we can all give examples of phenomenal athletes who continue to compete into their seventh decade (and beyond), many of us are more concerned with continuing our daily activities and avoiding […]
Wellness
The Answer To A Mom's Question: How To Do Yoga With A Three-Year Old?
Question: I recently started taking a yoga class for active recovery and love how it makes me feel. I’d like to share yoga with my three year old daughter, but I don’t know where to start. Do you have any tips on practicing yoga with small children? Answer: I’m so glad to hear that you’re […]
Fitness
Stay On Track With ViaFit
Do you love the idea of working out at home, but struggle to stay motivated? Ever wish your food journal, training log, and pedometer could work together to provide you with a clear picture of your progress? ViaFit may be the solution you’ve been looking for. ViaFit keeps track of your workouts and integrates with […]
Fitness
How Passport Player Transformed My Home Workouts
Product Review: Passport Player with Virtual Active Technology The interactive workouts of the future are today’s reality. Virtual Active technology provides the experience of exercising in a beautiful setting with a changing terrain that mimics selected workouts. The Passport Media Player by Horizon Fitness offers a convenient and responsive way to experience Virtual Active Technology […]
Fitness
4 Fun Elliptical Workouts to Give Your Joints a Break
The elliptical machine is one of my favorite modes for both my personal training and as well as my training clients. It’s like the little black dress – it goes with everything and it’s multi-functional. I’ve been using my Horizon Elite Elliptical this summer to train to climb Mt. Rainier. I use the Peak Interval […]