Why You Should be Lifting

Strength training gets a bad rap among females sometimes. The assumption is that if you lift weights, you become too bulky. This is not necessarily true. Strength training has a lot of benefits, from calorie burn to protecting your bones. So here are just a couple of reasons why you should be paying attention.

Do You Even Lift?

Women tend to like to do all the cardio because they want to see the maximum number of calories burned in one single session. But cardio is not everything. So let's talk about strength training a bit, shall we? Why is strength training so important? 

Ankle Weights: Yay or Nay?

Over the years, the consensus on additional weights when exercising has been that it is great. However, I am of the opinion that not every type of weight is great in every circumstance.

I'm pretty sure not everyone reading this uses ankle weights in their workouts. Maybe you've seen it used, heard of it, but don't quite get it yet. Or maybe you are trying to get comfortable with exercise without adding the additional complications. Maybe you are super familiar with dumbbells and barbells, but not really ankle and wrist weights.

What are ankle weights? They are simply add-on weights that you strap on to your ankles so you are lifting more than your body weight when you do regular exercises.

Why all the fuss then? What is the big problem? They are weights, right? So they should be great? It depends on how you use them. People use them for both cardiovascular and strength training.

Cardio: You may have seen folks running with straps on their ankles and wondered what those were. The positive benefit of running with ankle weights is that you are also working your legs and core by mixing both cardio and strength training. However, if your body is not strong enough to lift the weights, the negative impact is that you could be putting unnecessary pressure on your joints. Pressure that they are not used to. So my advice would be to stay away from ankle weights when doing cardio.

Strength training: if you are looking to tone your legs, do cardio regularly, but use the ankle weights to push your body more at strength training exercises. The same way you would lift dumbbells to tone your upper body, ankle weights would help exert more pressure on your muscles.

My advice? If you are a professional athlete or have worked out vigorously and are sure your body can take it, you can add ankle weights to your cardio workouts. But I would prefer if you were careful and used them just for strength training :)

My favorite brand is the Women's Health ankle weights. They come in various sizes. However, I also like the Bell Fit brand, if you are looking for options.

Cheers Eights and Weights!

Swing your Mood

First off, tomorrow is my birthday. Happy birthday to me!

Last week, I was reading a great article in SELF magazine about what makes people happy (This is the second time I’m promoting these people. Where’s my own cut?). I really want to share this because with the 9 to 5 and all the crazy things going on in our lives, sometimes we need to take a minute or two each day to do something that can improve our moods, and our mental/physical strength.

Here are a few of the takeaways from the article that can make us happier people:

• Charity work: When you help someone else, it can drastically change your view of the world, and make you a much happier person. And if you’re doing something physical, you can build your strength as well.
• Calling mum: This requires that you have a good relationship with your mother. But when you’re having a terrible day, a phone call to your mum can give your mood a 180 degree turn. Whether it’s because she gives great advice or because she is the one person that believes in you the most, I’ll never know.
• Take a walk: In the corporate environment, we are beginning to carry our work everywhere with us. It’s literally on our minds 24/7. But if you take a walk without the constant reminder of work around you i.e. the papers, computers, etc., you’ll clear your mind and be more refreshed (and burn some calories too!). Take the walk with your significant other, and you’ll even use the time to both clear your mind and recharge your relationship.
• Wash your hands: Okay, this was new to me too. But apparently washing your hands helps you feel more certain about a decision. Maybe because we feel like we’re wiping the slate clean. Certainty equals less anxiety.

So what are some of the things that make me happy?

• Prayer and meditation: There's nothing like that feeling when you've aired your mind out to God, and you're at peace. 
• Talking to my brothers: My brothers are like my best friends. So when I have had a bad day, I call one of my brothers because they are guaranteed to say something that would cheer me up.
• Dancing: Sometimes, I can just get home, take off my clothes, and start doing some ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ moves. Dancing always clears my head, and hey, it burns some calories too :-)
• Exercise: You didn’t think I’d skip this, right? How long have you known me? There’s nothing like that feeling after a run or a yoga class. It may hurt while I’m doing it, but the rewards are so worth it.
• A hot cuppa: Tea calms me. So if I’ve been running around, and I can’t find my bearing for some reason, I sit down and drink a cup of tea. Twinings Earl Grey with some honey is my favorite. And the aroma is fantastic too.
• My telly: I love TV shows because I can get invested in a character and watch him/her (mostly him) for years. By the way, this excludes reality TV (if I have to hear one more Big Brother tweet!). My favorite funny TV shows on right now are White Collar, How I Met your Mother, Royal Pains, Cougar Town, and since most of the others are on hiatus, I won’t blow up your screen with the list (but can I just say White Collar again?). 
• PBJ without the J: I love peanut butter. And on this lovely wheat bagel I’ve discovered? Yum. My colleague calls it a choke sandwich. It’s just too good.
• Good food: Funnily, I decided to mention this right after peanut butter. But bad food, although good for an instant, actually affects my mood later on. When I eat healthy, I have more energy, and feel more satisfied with myself, which equals a happier me.
• Music: I love music, anything from Eminem to Chrisette Michele to Ingrid Michaelson to Paramore. Someone told me a few days ago that if you hear me speak and then hear me rap along to Drake, you would never ever guess it was the same person. What can I say? I just love music.

What are some of the things that make you happy?

Sporty Spice: Sport as Exercise

With all the sport seasons that go on each year, the best thing we can possibly do is get into the sports ourselves (when we are not watching, that is). I know I love me some athletes, so I thought we’d look at some athletes and how sports have sculpted their bodies.

Basketball

Kobe Bryant

Basketball can be used to replace some of your cardio exercises. Because basketball involves a lot of repetitive motion, like running back and forth on the court, bouncing the ball, and scoring baskets, it serves as an excellent cardio exercise. Also, because basketball involves heavy contact, it increases your competitive spirit and the feeling of satisfaction that comes at the end of your workout. Do not underestimate the power of contact sports. However, do remember that you need to move to reap the benefits. That means running, jumping, shooting, and bouncing. Just being a member of the team standing on the court is not enough to make you break a sweat. Now if you’re in constant motion during the game, a 15 minute game could more than 150 calories. Additionally, the constant jumping could help to tone up those leg muscles, and the constant shots help to tone up the arm muscles. Try simply throwing a ball back and forth, and you’d definitely feel the contraction and relaxation of your biceps and shoulder muscles.

Football 

David Beckham

No, I didn't call it soccer. I called it Football. Deal with it. Football is a sport that involves constant motion so there is no doubt that you could be putting your body through two 45-minute chunks of serious cardio in one game. However, in addition to the cardio exercise, the constant kicking, turning, and tackling of the ball also develops those leg muscles. The beautifully defined muscles of most footballers’ legs prove that it tones up your leg muscles more than any other muscle in your body. A lot of trainers have actually developed football-based circuit training programs that include squats, skipping, running, dips, and a bunch of other exercises. This shows that football itself is simply a combination of many of the popular exercises put together. Pick up football today and tone up those legs! 

Tennis

Maria Sharapova

If you have ever watched a tennis match, you can tell from their grunts that it requires a lot of physical strain. The constant running back and forth serves as cardio and helps burn fat. The power required to serve properly certainly works on those arms and shoulders. The bouncing back and forth serves to work on the butt and thighs. And because it is mostly a one-on-one sport, the competitiveness and concentration put into a game improves mental focus.

American Football

Reggie Bush

Yes, American football also involves a lot of speed and so there is obvious fat burning benefit. But aside from the cardio benefit, a lot of the strength gained from this sport may be gained from the training as opposed to actually playing. American footballers require strength to hold down or resist their opponents, and most of this strength is not gotten from the actual game, but from the training for the game. However, consistently playing the sport builds a little on this strength as well. Other benefits of playing this sport are the brain power and speed you develop from the quick thinking that is required to play well. And of course, as I said about contact sport earlier, the feeling of satisfaction you get at the end relieves a lot of stress as well.

Boxing

Oscar De La Hoya

There is no need to tell you that boxing works on your arms. All that calculated jabbing is sure to give anybody well cut arms. But did you know that all that jumping works out your ENTIRE BODY? Yes, your entire body. And the good thing about boxing is that you don’t really need a second person to play the sport with. Just get a punching bag and jab away.

Ice Hockey

Jarome Iginla

If we focused only on the balance alone required to play this sport, we would already be covering a lot of positives. Ice hockey demands a lot of skills from its players: skating, puck handling, passing, shooting, and even absorbing body checks. If you’ve tried skating, you know that definitely builds aerobic fitness as well as stability and speed. But you’ll also notice a lot of leg development because ice skating at the speed that hockey requires (20 to 30 miles an hour) places significant stress on the upper leg muscles, the lower back muscles, the hamstrings and the groin muscles. And of course, we know they need all those muscles for the endless physical fights that take place on the ice.

Squash 

This is really the only sport I actually play so it has to be in here. Funnily, it is also the one on this list that I have never watched a professional game of. I do not know any famous squash players to use as an example of how squash can benefit your body. However, I can tell you that the pain I have felt the morning after each match when I first started showed me how much I was pushing my body. Not only does squash serve as great cardio the same way tennis does, but it also intensely works on those arm and shoulder muscles. Squash requires more power on the ball than tennis does because the ball has to bounce on the wall and back to the other side of the court, so your arms get an amazing workout.

Okay, so I guess it’s obvious what my favorite sports are. But there are definitely many other sports you can play. Frankly, almost any physical competitive sport serves as cardio and works on some part of your body, but I believe these are the most beneficial out there in terms of physical development.

Do you play any sports as exercise? Has it improved your fitness level?

Cheers 'Eights' and 'Weights'!

Let's Play Truth or Dare

When we have formed the habit of not considering our health above all else, it is very difficult to build our desire to do what is necessary to stay healthy, even after we have changed our mindset towards our bodies. Sometimes, we know what we do wrong, but we deny that we can change. But every day we go on without change makes it just a little bit harder to pick up our cross and get our bodies right. Conversely, every day we take one step towards better health and a better body image is one more step that makes the lifestyle changes a whole lot easier. You would be surprised to know the changes we can make in our day to day lives that could make a big difference in our health. Counter each realization you face about your limitations with something you could take on this month to push yourself. Let’s play truth or dare.

Truth: You are too busy to work out.
Dare: Incorporate fifteen minutes of exercise in the morning, and fifteen minutes at night. When you have so little free time, the best ways to exercise are to get an exercise DVD, subscribe to a fitness magazine, or just do short sprints. The exercise DVD allows you to feel like you are in a fitness class, but allows you the freedom to push play whenever you want. Fitness magazines usually have sections dedicated to new workout routines or new poses that you can do at home with little or no equipment required. However, sprinting does require that you have running shoes, and enough endurance to run at a fast pace.

Truth: You fall back into your regular routine because you get bored.
Dare: Switch it up! We are human, and so just like any relationship, our relationship with our health can also dwindle when the original excitement goes away. However, you can prevent the death of this relationship by keeping things interesting and exciting. Going to a new fitness class, running with a new running buddy, or riding a bicycle are just some ideas you can add to spice up your workout. But whatever you do, always try something new before you get bored with your old routine.

Truth: You cannot stand the pain that comes with working out.
Dare: Sometimes, pain is like a badge of honour. At the beginning of your workout program, you will feel pain. The intensity of the pain sometimes depends on the intensity of your workout. So if you do some low intensity workouts like walking or dancing for starters, gradually increase the vigour of your exercise, and always stretch after your warm-up and after you’re done working out, you may reduce the level of pain you feel. But I also say fight through the pain if you can, because the rewards later on are so worth it.

Truth: You looooove food too much.
Dare: Don’t we all? For lovers of food, make it a task to apply portion control. Change your relationship with food. Apply the “there is always tomorrow” principle to reduce bingeing on food today. If you like to eat at home, it would actually be easier for you to stay fit. Stock your fridge and cabinets with ingredients you know are healthier so that when you do reach for the pan, you only have the options in front of you.

Truth: You have no information about what food to eat.
Dare: For one month, Google every food you know. Yes, it will be difficult, but you can do it if you plan ahead. If you know the ingredients that go into any food, I guarantee you can find the nutritional content of that ingredient online. Are you thinking of garri? One cup of ground cassava contains about 330 calories. Are you thinking of chicken? One grilled chicken thigh with skin contains about 200 calories. Although these are just estimates, they go a long way to give you an awareness of everything you put into your body. If in doubt, you can always email me, and I’ll do my best to point you in the right direction.

Truth: You don’t enjoy exercise.
Dare: Find something you enjoy and stick to that. Take a dance class or just set aside time to dance at home. Gather your friends together and have competitive exercise sessions. The key is to keep your body active, and so I am certain that there is some physical activity that you will have fun doing.

Truth: You have already made bad decisions, and so you believe it is too late to make a positive change.
Dare: Never is it too late. Did you know a smoker can reduce his/her risk of lung cancer by simply giving up smoking and taking up exercise? So you can do the same as well. Eat a healthy breakfast and start your day right. Talk a brisk walk around your neighborhood. Do some sort of physical activity and stick to it. When you start to notice the difference in your body, you would be excited to do more.

Truth: You are on a budget, and so you cannot afford the gym, and fast food is all you can afford.
Dare: If you have access to the internet, try to view some exercise poses you can do at home. I even have some in my summer series blog posts from June (Abs Like Whoa, See My Muscles, Tone Your Behind). There are so many varieties of push-ups, crunches, and aerobic exercises you can do at home. But the cheapest option by far is running. The good thing about running is that the road is free, so as long as you can find a quiet place, you are good to go. As for fast food, if you are on a budget, cooking at home might be the best way to stay healthy. This helps you know exactly what is going into your food, and you can make healthy substitutions wherever possible.

I believe that every limitation we have set on our bodies can be countered with something we can do to take a step in the healthy direction. Take on a dare today.

Cheers ‘Eights’ and ‘Weights’!

        

Thanks Hollywood! Diet Trends you Should Never Try – Part One

In an attempt to lose weight or simply to get flat abs, we tend to try the craziest things. Although some diet programs work and are safe, there are tons of new and trendy diet programs out there that may work in the short term, but are either impractical or could have dangerous effects on our bodies in the long term. There are so many that we will talk about some today, and break out the rest for future posts. 

 Atkins diet: The Atkins diet consists of few carbs, and a lot of protein, especially through meat. This diet program has been one of the most controversial in our time by research and health authorities. Today, the theory is supported, and tomorrow, it is not. Here is my take on the Atkins diet. If you intend to work out regularly, you need carbs to survive. And although I always talk about limiting your calories, your body does need those calories to function. A diet around minimizing calories and boosting protein does not seem practical to me. Yes, you need tons of protein to build and repair muscles, but continuously trying to exercise on low energy could hurt you because you won’t be using your body to its full potential.  If you always eat tons of meat and fish, but have to skip the rice, potatoes, bread, yams (should I keep going?), it just does not seem like a realistic diet to me. My advice is to stick to carbs from whole grain as much as you can.

The Baby Food Diet: When we were babies, we ate baby food because we had to. Our teeth weren’t yet fully developed, and the food contained nutrients to promote the development of a BABY. People going back to baby meals in their adult age is pretty silly to me. Because the food isn’t solid and heavy does not mean it is the best for you. That’s why it’s called baby food. You need a complex combination of nutrients to stay active, maintain your heart function, and prevent a host of diseases. Baby food is created for an entirely different purpose like building strong bones and teeth, and brain development, not the amount of physical activity an adult needs.

Ear stapling: When I first read about this, I thought nobody could actually possibly believe this, but it seems there are groups of people that strongly do. Ear stapling is based on a theory that there are arrears of your ear that affect your appetite. So you can control your appetite by stapling the portion of your ear, and applying pressure to it can make you eat less. Please don’t try this. It is simply a ploy on our desperation to lose weight. No health authorities or research backs up this theory.

Raw food diet: The raw food diet is based on the notion that cooking food destroys a lot of the nutrients. While that may be true in some cases, the heat from cooking also helps to destroy a lot of the bacteria that could be attached to raw food. Granted, you’ll definitely be eating fewer calories this way, but if you are eating only raw food, you may be limiting yourself to certain nutrients, and skip on the ones your body actually needs. For example, to get the amount of protein and carbs that your body needs, you probably have to eat the same food every day. No meat and no beans really limits your protein options, making this diet choice very impractical.

Master Cleanses:  Cleansing diets usually require a few days of very low calorie diets to “cleanse” the body of toxins. These low calorie diets usually consist of things like cayenne pepper and lemons. As I always say, if you starve yourself, your body goes into starvation mode. You potentially lose weight and muscle mass in the short term, but your body compensates by slowing down your metabolism, and when you go back to your regular diet, you’d probably put on more weight than you had before. So forget about the master cleanses. The key is to make a lifestyle change you can stick with long term.

Single-food-diets: An example is the cabbage soup diet. Your body needs several nutrients to survive and be active. So it should definitely be a no-no when a diet program asks you to each only one type of food for a period of time. If the meal you decide to go with has a lot of protein but little carbs, or vice-versa, you’re in trouble. In essence, one meal usually cannot contain all the body needs, so restricting yourself to one meal can cause several potential malnutrition disasters to your body. Some variations of the single-food-diets are like the master cleanses where you eat one type of food for a few days, and then revert back to your regular diet. In that case, the same comment I made in the master cleanse applies here.

Diet pills: Most drugs have potential side effects. When you are sick, you take drugs to make you better, and so it is worth the risk because they are meant to improve your health, and there is usually no other way. Diet pills expose our bodies to so many risks, and for what? To lose weight that could be lost another way? Diet pills have been linked to vitamin deficiencies, heart problems, and digestive problems. And most diet pills are not even approved by health authorities, leaving the consumer to carry the risk on their own. Rather than seek a quick fix with a pill, please stick to the traditional routine of a healthy diet and exercise to reduce the risk of harmful effects on your body.What's the purpose of losing weight if you are opening yourself up to a host of other health conditions? The same goes for those who use laxatives to lose weight.

If you have a different opinion about any one of these diet fads, please share. I would especially love to hear from someone who may have tried one of these.

Cheers ‘Eights’ and ‘Weights’!

Look Better Naked

Yes, you read right; that’s exactly what the title is. I was reading bits of this book ‘Look Better Naked’ by Michele Promaulayko, and I thought it would be fun to share some excerpts. To lay it all out there, I know a few men and women who after a few years of marriage, still feel self-conscious naked around their spouse. One lady actually confessed to me that she sucks her stomach in at all times while she’s naked with her husband. And this includes during sex. If I’ve learned anything about the human mind, it’s that loving your body truly is a process.

So why are we so self conscious? Well, according to the book, it’s because we feel we are not the best version of ourselves. We look around and see people who we believe are a version of what we can be, and we beat ourselves up because we think we’re not society’s definition of 'hot'. I do like how the book emphasized nakedness because when you’re confident at that level, when all your flaws are evident, you’ll definitely be more confident with clothes on.

Here are a few thoughts from the book that I thought were spot on:

To get more comfortable with your nakedness, do more stuff naked (apart from showering and sex). e.g.
•    Take a full on bath
•    Eat dinner naked
•    Sleep naked
•    Get a massage completely naked
•    Ladies, get fitted for lingerie
•    Take a nude photo – well, this one is kind of scandalous so be sure to keep the picture locked tight

Aside from exercise, you can make small changes to improve how you look. e.g.
•    Improve your posture
•    Reduce your salt and soda intake to minimize bloating

There’s a lot more in the book that I think everyone should take time out to read. But the essence of it is that how we look is really about how we feel. Below are a few of my own tips on how to look and feel better naked.

Groom: Whether it is your face or down there, a little grooming can go a long way to make you look and feel better au naturel.
Exercise: I don’t really have to stress this point too much. Generally, people who exercise regularly look and feel better about their bodies.
Timing: Don’t just eat a boat load of food and then look at your body in the mirror. Note when you feel the sexiest, and then you can check yourself out. Gentlemen, it may help if you do some push-ups before you look at yourself in the mirror. Pumped up arms and shoulders, and a pumped up back are sure to give you the boost you need ;)
Treat your skin right: Exfoliate. Put some cocoa butter on. Wash your face regularly. Get tuned into the beauty secrets that keep your skin looking great. It’s no secret that great skin makes you look and feel hotter.
Dance around your house in your underwear: Need I say more? Just make sure the curtains are shut.
Relax: Your body needs physical activity, but it also needs alone time. Regularly set aside time to relax and notice the difference in your skin and even your health.
Role models: Are you envying the wrong people? Celebrities spend hundreds of thousands on their bodies, and yet they still need make-up and airbrushing to look the way you see them in the media. Change your ‘body’ role model, and you’d probably realize that your body actually kicks ass.

Do you have a different technique that makes you look and feel better naked? Please share.

Cheers!

What I Want to Know is… 'What Size is a Healthy Size?'

 

Welcome to the new Eights & Weights segment called ‘What I Want to Know is…’ where readers send in their questions, and based on the area of focus of reader’s questions, answers are provided. This time, a major area of focus is on what is determined to be a healthy size.

Now, because we are human, and humans are very visual creatures, we create impressions based on what we see. We all have markers in our heads for what size we think is healthy or not, and if a person goes below or above that, then we believe they are unhealthy. But is our dress size really a good marker for health?

As long as you are comfortable with your body, size is really not that important. Size helps us approximate weight, but it is not an absolute. The factors that are actually medically important are a person’s BMI (an approximation for the body fat ratio) and waist circumference.

BMI: The BMI (or Body Mass Index) is a number generated using the following formula:

So what really is the BMI? It is really just the weight to height ratio of an individual; that is how a person’s weight is distributed around their body. Right now, BMI is one of the reliable indicators of the body fat ratio of an individual. There are other methods that require machines (such as underwater weighing), but a person’s BMI can be calculated using the information at hand: Height and Weight. An unhealthy BMI can put a person at a higher risk for either obesity-related or underweight-related diseases.

Now, what’s a healthy BMI? This is dependent on factors such as gender, age, and race (yep, as I recently learned, even race). But in general, the following standards apply:

To calculate your BMI, use the widget at the bottom of this post.

Waist Size:  I can almost hear you go “What does waist size have to do with anything?” But studies have shown that men who have a waist size of more than 40 inches, and women who have a waist size of more than 35 inches, have a higher risk for diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and other heart diseases that may be tied to obesity.

These are some of the medically relevant factors in determining a healthy size. What do you consider a healthy size?

Two final points:

• I couldn’t end this without bringing up the world cup. Ghana, you tried hard, and took us far. But I guess we’re still out. Africa weeps, man.
• Again, thanks to those who nominated Eights and Weights for 11 categories in the Nigerian Blog Awards group B. My readers are the absolute bestest! Before I get all sentimental, I’ll just say that voting starts tomorrow July 5th. Be sure to click here to vote! Let’s bring those awards home :) 

Cheers!

Falling off the Bandwagon

It is a shame that most of the African teams in this World cup always seem to start a match out well, and then let the other team carry the match halfway through. Unlike the African football teams we’ve seen, we don’t have to give up all hope when we fall out of our exercise and nutrition routine and back into our old habits. There’s always the option to dust yourself off and try again.

Most people that are on a strict diet program tend to demonize food, and so when they backslide for a moment and eat that slice of birthday cake, it’s like they’ve sold their soul to the enemy. They get affected psychologically and start to think “I’ve already made a mistake, so I can go ahead and eat the whole cake and it won’t matter.” And then that one mistake leads to binge eating.

My opinion is that in order to stay healthy and fit, we need to change our relationship with food. If we treat cake as a complete no-no when we know we do love cake, do you know what happens? Our minds would constantly remain on cake. Thinking about cake 24/7 will inevitably lead to stuffing our faces with cake at some point because we feel so starved of something we enjoy. I was reading an article in SELF magazine the other day, where the True Blood actress Anna Paquin was interviewed. My love for her immediately grew when she said (and this is paraphrased), “I won’t feed you the lie most actresses do. I have to watch what I eat to stay fit. But I also believe that one dessert a week won’t kill me.” If we can have this type of relationship with food, we’d avoid the yo-yo effect caused by demonizing food and then bingeing on it.

This relationship is not only true of food. We also do the same thing with our exercise program. If we can’t make it to the gym one day, we think “I’ll make up for it tomorrow.” When we are too tired to go the next day, and the next day, we start to feel really guilty. Knowing we cannot make up for a few lost days, we turn our guilt into nonchalance and just stop going. Or as one of my readers felt this week, we may feel intense pain when we start working out, and that could drive us to wait a few days or weeks before going back to the gym. Our exercise routine could get so spaced out that our bodies don’t get used to exercising and we feel pain every time we work out. What happens then? We say “To hell with it!” and just quit.

Therefore, we also need to change our relationship with exercise. Exercise comes with pain, no doubt. But let’s not rest in the ‘now’, but the future. It will hurt for a few days or weeks, but as our bodies strengthen, we’ll see an increase in our endurance for pain, and a decrease in the pain itself. With these compounded, and as we see the effects of exercise on our bodies, we’ll be driven to do even more.

Now, let’s back up a little. We’ve talked about changing our relationship with food and exercise. But we also need to be a little softer on ourselves sometimes. Recognize that we may backslide just because that’s the way the human mind is wired. If we do backslide, how should we deal with it? We deal with it by realizing that a small mistake does not change our whole lives. So you missed one workout session? Jump back on the horse tomorrow and don’t dwell on today. You ate 5,000 calories in one meal? Oops! There’s always tomorrow. Continue controlling your portions then.

If you have a ‘falling off the bandwagon’ story, or have any questions, please leave a comment.

I’d also like to point out two things:

• The Nigerian Blog Awards group B nominations end today (May 27th). Please go and nominate Eights & Weights today before it’s over! Click on this link to nominate: Group B nominations.
• Starting next month, the Eights and Weights page will have a segment called ‘What I Want to Know Is…’ Please click here to send me a message about a question you have or a topic you’re concerned about, and it may make it to next month’s pool of questions!

Again, thanks for your support! Cheers!

                                 

Summer Series: Abs Like Whoa!

It’s still summer! Yes, we can’t all have packs that you can literally count, but we can work to get some abs to show off our bellies on the beach this summer. Mostly, when we speak about abdominal exercises, we envision the regular crunches or sit-ups. But in my experience, these can get boring pretty fast, and can also put a lot of strain on your lower back and neck. So I thought it would be fun to talk about some of the non-traditional crunches that don’t necessarily involve our fingers entwined at the back of our heads or our elbows taped to the sides of our ears. There are so many abs exercises, so it was pretty hard to narrow it down to a few of the best ones.


Abdominal hip lifts or raises: This exercise is great because it works both the front and sides of your abdominal when done right. It’s pretty easy just as the name implies, but it’s also easy to make some mistakes with the posture here. So how does it go?

• Lie flat with your back on the floor and your eyes looking up to the ceiling. I specify the part about the eyes because when you have your eyes to the ceiling, you probably won’t unconsciously lift your head off the floor.
• Lift your legs up while keeping your butt on the floor. Your legs should be straight up to the ceiling so the bottom of your foot is facing the ceiling.
• Put your palms on the floor on either side of your body for balance.
• While keeping your knees and ankles together, lift your hips off the floor (only your hips; not your head, and not your palms). Make sure you are using your stomach muscles here so don’t bend your legs towards your body because that works your lower back more than your abs. Again, try to lift only your hips off the floor while keeping your legs in their original position.
• Bring your hips back down to the floor and repeat. I found this great picture of how it looks at the Alaska Stars website.

Plank: The plank is also as simple an exercise as any, but here, posture also matters very much. So pay special attention to holding your butt and stomach muscles tight. It does not involve motion so it can be pretty hard to focus and maintain this position for an extended period. Here’s how it works:

• Assume the upper push-up position, with only your palms and toes on the floor.
• Transitioning one arm at a time, move your body to rest on your forearms (part of the arm from your elbows to your wrist). Most people prefer to clench their fists in this position.
• Try to keep your body as parallel to the ground as possible. This is where you need to tighten your stomach and butt muscles to prevent your butt sticking out or an extra curve in your lower back.
• Look down to the ground. This helps to maintain the position because if you look up, you could wreck your posture.
• Just hold this position for as long as you can. I like to do about 20 second holds. Hold for a while, break, and then repeat. Another good picture showing this exercise can be found at the Abs Like Stone website.

Belly Blaster: This is a variation of the plank. Here, rather than maintain the plank position, we turn it into a motion exercise.

• Assume plank position.
• Tighten your stomach muscles, and lift your butt up. As you lift up your butt, don’t let your stomach sag forward.
• Come back down to the plank.
• Repeat as many times as you can. Here is a picture showing a great belly blaster from Fit Yummy Mummy. I know, the name of the website was what got me too.

Side plank: This one is best done in front of a mirror because it’s a little difficult to feel if your body is straight or not.

• Assume the plank position above.
• Using only one of your arms, lift your other arm and your body off the floor, and let your body face the opposite side of the room resting only on one of your forearms, and the side of one of your feet. For example, if you are resting on your right forearm, your body should be facing the left side of the room. Only your right forearm and the right side of your right foot should be on the floor.
• Make sure your body is in a straight line from your head to your feet.
• You can put your other palm on your waist so it doesn’t get in the way.
• Release the fist of the forearm on the ground so the palms are facing the floor. Turn the forearm on the ground so that the fingertips are facing the same direction as your body (which would be the left side in our example).
• Repeat on the other arm.
• Make sure your body does not sag in this exercise so that you get the most out of it. Your hips should not be heading towards the ground, and your stomach and butt muscles should be tight. Looking forward also helps to maintain this position. Click the website name below for a picture showing a good side plank from the Abs Like Stone website.

V sit: This position is also relatively easy to describe, but it is something you have to build on because most people don’t have the necessary core strength to hold this position for long periods when just beginning an exercise program. However, it is a great strength exercise for the stomach muscles.

• Lie flat on the floor on your back with your arms at your sides.
• Lift up your legs so they are around a 45 degree angle to the floor.
• Slowly lift your shoulders and extend your arms so your body is in a ‘V’ shape with your arms extended forward parallel to the floor.
• If you cannot keep your legs straight in this position, you can bend your knees, but make sure your feet stay off the ground.
• Hold the position and repeat like we did with the plank.
• Here’s an example of the position from Vibra Body, and here’s a variation with bent knees from Hamilton Spectator.

Well, there you go. If you didn’t know you could get abs without crunches, I hope that has helped to provide you with some useful information. But as I always say, remember that you cannot lose fat in your stomach with strength training alone. You need the three steps: cardio, weight training, and stretching. And you also need to maintain a healthy diet.

Disclaimer: I have to mention though that any exercise advice given here is just that: Advice. I am not a personal trainer or trained fitness instructor, and so I simply give suggestions from my experience. If you are uncomfortable with any advice given here, please seek a second opinion.

Summer Series: See My Muscles

Ever notice how some people’s arms never seem to sag no matter how old they get? Those are arms that boys pray for, and women only dream of. We're still in our summer series and we're talking about killer arms today. You can get one step closer to your ideal arms by incorporating some of these exercises into your routine. Here goes!

Arm circles: Well, I like to call it swimmers’ circles. It involves circling your arms like a swimmer does in water. This exercise looks and sounds pretty easy, but when you get into it, you’ll feel that your arms are getting a pretty good workout. Stand up straight, and stretch your arms out on both sides of you, so you form a ‘T’. Make sure you stretch your arms, not have your elbows sagging down. Slowly circle your arms forward repeatedly. Note that you need small circles, not large ones, so a circle as big as your head is perfect. Do as many repetitions as you can, and then reverse the direction of the circles, so you can hit all muscles in your upper arms and shoulders. Do the same number of repetitions as you did for the forward motions. Here’s a picture that shows the position: Fitness Magazine.

Basic push-up: Presumably, we all know how to do a basic push-up/press-up. But again, it’s not so simple. Females tend to do it different from males because females tend to have less upper body strength. Here’s how it goes. Lie flat on your stomach. For the starting position, prop yourself up on your palms and raise your body off the floor. Your palms should be about shoulder-width apart. Keep your body as straight as possible (so your butt should not be sticking out or in) and tuck your stomach in. Your hands should be straight as well. Look to the ground because looking up can put unnecessary pressure on your neck. Slowly drop to the floor with control. Note that that weight of your body is still in your palms even in the down position. So you’re not dropping so far to the floor that your body touches the floor. Ladies, you can perform this exercise with your knees on the floor, but I encourage you to at least attempt some full push-ups. For a picture of the right starting and ending positions, visit appstate.edu.

Bench dip: This works out your triceps. Although they are called bench dips, you can use a low chair or even your couch. Here’s how it goes. Sit on a bench with your palms on either side of you on the bench, fingers facing forward gripping the bench. Plant your feet on the floor. Slide your bum forward until it is off the seat. Keep your arms straight in the starting position. Slowly (with control) lower yourself down and bend your elbows. Lower yourself down until your elbows are level with your shoulders, and then raise yourself up again. Try to keep your body straight during this exercise as we have a tendency to slouch or raise our shoulders to our ears. Do as many repetitions as you can. Here is the starting position: Trainers Aid1 and the down position: Trainers Aid2.

As always, don't forget the three steps: cardio, weight training, and stretching. The fun thing about our bodies is that we serve as weight too. So we just need to find ways to utilize our body weight.

Disclaimer: I have to mention though that any exercise advice given here is just that: Advice. I am not a personal trainer or trained fitness instructor, and so I simply give suggestions from my experience. If you are uncomfortable with any advice given here, please seek a second opinion.

Till next week readers. Cheers!

Summer Series: Tone Your Behind

Summer is here. Yay! Well, when the rain ends. And it’s about time to start working on those beach bodies. Over the next month, we will be talking about toning up for the sun.

Do you plan to rock those short shorts this summer? I know you bought them in the winter and thought “I’ll tone up. I have six months.” And then, here you are six months later. That’s okay. We’ll talk about a few of the best exercises you can do to tone up your bum.

The Squat: This is the quintessential butt exercise because you can really do it anywhere. If done properly, the squat really works out your body, especially your butt area. So how do you do a proper squat? There are so many different kinds of squats, but the most common is the chair squat. Here is the basis of the exercise:

• Push your bum back like your aiming for a seat
• Keep your feet planted on the floor either about hip width apart or slightly wider
• Keep your knees right above your feet, while making sure they don’t go forward beyond your feet. In other words, don’t over-squat where you can’t see your toes when you look down. Your knees should be right above your toes so that if you look down, you see your knees, then your toes.
• Keep your head straight
• Squat and then come up, squat and then come up. The repetitions expand and contract your muscles.

Lifting dumbbells on both sides of your body can help to intensify the squat a little bit. Here's a great picture that shows proper squat technique at girlwithnoname.com. Do several repetitions until you feel it in your butt. The amount you do depends on your body.

The Lunge: I love lunges because they work your bum and your inner thighs. You may need some space to do lunges to get the most out of the exercise. Again, there are many ways to do this, but the basis is:

• Step one of your feet back, and stay on the ball of that foot.
• Make sure your front foot is planted on the ground.
• Just like the squat, you should be able to look down and see your knee, then your toes. So don’t over-extend your knee.
• Keep your body straight.

The lunge is really about switching from one foot to the other, so you need balance to be able to get the most out of this exercise. Check out teamsugar.com for the basic lunge. Again, holding weights on either side of your body intensifies the lunge to get even more out of the workout.

Glute Kickbacks: This is one exercise that focuses entirely on the butt area.

• Go on your knees with your elbows on the floor. Your knees should be at around a 90 degree angle
• Make sure your spine is straight. We tend to curve our lower backs in this position.
• Extend one of your knees back and up so your foot is towards the ceiling, Make sure you extend with your knee so your leg retains its 90 degree position. Don’t move your leg or foot around.
• Bring your knee back down to the floor

This exercise is also about switching from one side to the other, but it is very important to keep your leg position as you raise and drop your knee. A good example of the kickback in the upward position is here: bp.blogspot.com. The downward position just has both knees on the floor.

There are so many other butt exercises, but I thought I’d stick to the most popular ones today. Please remember my three steps as you work out: cardio, strength training, and stretching. These exercises serve as strength training, but you should still incorporate cardio and stretching to get the most out of your workout, and to prevent injury.

Disclaimer: I have to mention though that any exercise advice given here is just that: Advice. I am not a personal trainer or trained fitness instructor, and so I simply give suggestions from my experience. If you are uncomfortable with any advice given here, please seek a second opinion.

Cheers!

The World Cup Obsession

Some of us may actually need to get fit for this World Cup. Yelling at that TV screen is not going to be easy. I was simply watching friendly matches last week on the treadmill talking to the TV screen and sweating like I was playing the match myself. Trust me, others at that gym did not find it cute. That’s when it hit me. Oh boy, this is going to be an interesting ride.

If you’re like me and all the madness around the World Cup has actually gotten to you, you need to build up your stamina and keep up your energy just to survive this season. And since football nights always involve beer, chips, popcorn, wings, and whatever else we can lay our hands on, it’s also time to build our knowledge of substitute finger food so we can stay healthy, and keep our arteries unclogged.

Wheat Crackers: Let’s throw out the chips for some whole wheat crackers this season. Wheat Thins are my favorite, but there are several other options like Kashi and Special K.

Air-popped popcorn: Popcorn is a whole grain, so as long as we don’t smother it will butter, sugar or excess salt, we can substitute it for our chips.

Nuts: Contrary to popular belief, nuts are not all bad for you, especially if you’re trying to build muscles. So this is better mixed with other items (like popcorn) because it’s rich in protein. The nuts that are highest in protein and lowest in calories are pistachio nuts, chestnuts, and palm kernel seeds.

Fruits and vegetables: So this one will be hard to pull off, but it may be fun to have some fruits and vegetables with crackers. Maybe some celery, some carrots, even some berries might be fun. People love to pick at things so if you lay out some fruits and veggies, people will definitely eat them.

Baked chicken: Rather than have that deep fried chicken or buffalo wing galore, settle for some baked chicken. Even suya (non-fatty beef without the healthy dose of oil) is a better option than fried chicken. I was once at an event where they served liver cocktails in place of shrimp cocktails and I loved it. This is just an idea, so if you hate liver, don’t shoot me.

Light beer: Well, the best thing to do is stick to water or wine. But if you must drink beer, try to stick to the low calorie stuff. There are so many beers being sold right now that are low in calories like Miller Genuine Draft (MGD) 64 or Budweiser Select. For a listing of the amount of calories in various beer brands, click on this link: Beer100. You may want to stock up before your friends come over, or when people say BYOB, actually take your own beer.  

Heck, at the end of the season, we want to actually look and feel like the footballers, right?

Just as a side note, if you are thinking of going all out and supporting your team, there are some T-shirts you may like by Allen and Fifth (go to http://www.allenandfifth.com/ for how to order). The picture below is an image of one of the shirt patterns I stole from the designer. I thought I’d get you guys a little sneak preview to the T-shirts coming out soon. They’re not on the website yet, so I’m just hooking you up ;) Although they are not meant to be solely for the World Cup, they surely satisfy my craving for team spirit! So if you see someone running in the park with these, that’s probably me…

Do you have any other healthy tips you plan to apply this World Cup season? Leave a note and tell us what it is.

Have a lovely week!

Drop Dead Diva? I Want It and I Want It Now!

We live in a time where we can get almost anything we want in the drop of a hat. The fat can be sucked right out of you for the right price; you can have food delivered to your door if you don’t want to step outside; you can even access Facebook from your cell phone if you don’t want to wait till you get home. Because of this diva mentality, it frustrates us when we can’t control our health in the drop of a hat as well. Websites, sales people, and even pharmaceutical companies have preyed on this fact abundantly. To test people’s response to the quick health fix, I Googled the words ‘how to lose weight fast’ and came up with about 22 million responses. That’s how much we are being preyed upon. I found everything from diet pills to one-week boot camps.

Amidst the weight loss panic, people forget that too much of anything is not good for you. This includes dropping weight too quickly. Shedding pounds fast is a sudden change that can be too much for your body to handle. It can leave your heart and other organs too weak to handle the dramatic change, and as we talked about in a previous post, it can make you lose muscle as well. People with more toned muscles maintain a healthy weight more easily because muscles help burn fat.

But health is not all about weight, right? Even if you successfully shed those pounds quickly, and somehow manage to not damage your body in the process, your attitude towards food might change. For example, if you are on diet pills, you may think you’re invincible and eat whatever you want. I don’t need to tell you that eating everything every time is not good for you. There are so many foods out there that can harm your body when consumed on a regular basis. Another example is that if you cut everything out, you could begin to look at food as the enemy, and not get the nourishment that you need. And the arguably most important example is that if you work out stringently and cannot maintain the routine, you would probably fall back into your old lifestyle.

So what is the crux of the matter? Let’s set our diva attitudes aside when it comes to our bodies. If we consider our overall health, not just how we look, we will begin to understand that health is a process, not a target. Just as sudden changes in our situations and environments can have an effect on our blood pressure, sudden changes in our bodies can have a negative effect on our overall health. Plus, to be brutally honest, you can change the outside, but you can’t change your inside in the drop of a hat.

Please check out my other fitness articles on 360Nobs. Leave comments and suggestions.

Till next week!

Water - The Source of All Things Good?

Yep. All humans know that water is good for you. Water is one of the greatest creations because it’s everywhere, it’s cheap, and we all need it desperately. So why do we need it, and how much do we need to stay healthy?

Benefits

Water replenishes the body and makes you less tired. Most of us know that. But there are other positive benefits that may not be so obvious. One of them is the fact that drinking adequate amounts of water may help you eat less. The thirst and hunger sensations are usually triggered together, so thirst can be easily mistaken for hunger. If you keep your body well hydrated, it may reduce the frequency of your vending machine visits.

Water also helps to lubricate the joints, and regulate body temperature, thus contributing to a better athletic performance. So if you play sports or exercise a lot, it is essential to stay hydrated to reach your maximum potential. Plus, since water gives you more energy, that can’t hurt your performance either.

As you drink more water, you’ll also notice improvement with your skin. Water keeps the skin moisturized, more elastic, and radiant. Drink tons of water to keep your skin looking younger.

Quantity

How much water should we drink to stay healthy? A rule of thumb is to drink about 8 glasses of water a day. However, I would use this as a suggestion because there are so many other factors that affect the amount of water we should be drinking. Weather is one major factor. Because we lose water when we sweat, individuals usually need more water in the hottest months of the year. On the other hand, our bodies expel water simply by breathing. And when it is really cold, our bodies expel even more water when we breathe. So we also need more water in the coldest months of the year.

Because men tend to sweat more than women, and usually have larger muscles, males usually need more water than females for better physical performance. If you exercise though, you need more water than someone who does not because you sweat much more.

Other sources of water besides water

We also get a lot of the water we need from the food we eat. But because we have begun to rely on TV dinners and other packaged foods, we may need to make an effort to eat foods that keep us hydrated. Fresh fruits are a very good source of water because most fruits are made up of more than fifty percent water. Other liquids like milk, sports drinks, and juices contain a lot of water as well. But please be cognizant of the other contents of the liquids you drink. Sports drinks are good for people who work out because they not only replace the water, they also replace the sodium you lose in your workout sweat. As for juices, they may be hurting you more than helping you if they contain more sugar than fruit. As a side note, alcohol does not help with hydration. It actually dehydrates you. I just thought I'd mention that little fact :)

This week, try to drink more water to increase your energy and your workout performance. Don’t always wait till your really thirsty!

Thanks for your support! Check out my other columns at 360Nobs and Style House!

Cheers.

Spot Reduction

A major question asked by most people starting an exercise program is “Can I just work on my problem area?” Spot reduction is really the notion that we can focus on that one problem spot in our bodies, and reduce the fat in that region only. Well, I am afraid to burst your bubble, but spot reduction does not work. You can reduce fat all over and tone certain areas, but you cannot necessarily control where you lose fat (well, unless you visit a plastic surgeon).

So what should you do? Focus on burning fat all over your body by doing cardiovascular exercises and controlling your diet. To further concentrate on those problem areas, do some strength training that heavily involves those parts of your body. If your stomach is your problem area, there are so many toning exercises for the stomach that you can add to your workout, but it is also important to improve your posture while doing other exercises like push-ups. When we get our posture right, we also work our core muscles with most exercises.

Understanding spot reduction is simple. Muscles are separate from fat. Fat appears where it wants to on the body, and this cannot really be controlled. Women generally gain fat more easily around the thighs and butt, while men generally gain fat more easily around the stomach. However, though this is usual, it is not true for all people. Even where an area may be the first to gain fat in the body, it does not mean that it would be the first area where fat would be lost. Fat is burned throughout the body by physical activity. You can work on your muscles, but if there’s a layer of fat covering it, you need to burn off the fat. And weight training does not burn a lot of fat. To lose the fat, you need cardio exercises.

As you structure and follow your fitness program, I encourage you not to be convinced by late-night infomercials or commercials on websites where they claim they know the recipe to lose stomach fat or thigh fat or whatever specific area it is. Stick to your exercise plan of cardio and strength training to lose fat all over and tone specific areas.

If you recently started a diet or exercise program, I would love an update on your progress. Feel free to let us know how you’ve been doing!

Also, please check out my columns at 360nobs and Style House.

Cheers!

For the Runner in You...

When I hear people talk about running like it I the most restful and zen thing in the world, I get confused. I start asking myself all sorts of questions about whether I'm doing it wrong or paying too much attention. You need to concentrate, you’re breathless, and you have to keep moving. How is that zen? Running is hard, especially if you’re trying to get the most out of it. But you deal with it because it makes you feel good after.

I was fishing around for running tips, and I came across a few that I thought were pretty interesting so I thought I’d share. By now, you probably know that I love lists :)

Run on the treadmill sometimes: Running outside or “pavement pounding” as I like to call it, is great because you actually feel more worked out, but the cement is so hard it can actually hurt your ankles if you do it constantly. I suggest taking a break for a couple of days a week, and running on the treadmill or in the middle of the street (if you dare). The tar is better than the cement.
Get running shoes: This is coming from someone who has had to deal with some ankle bruises from exercise. When you run in bad trainers or sneakers, you risk hurting yourself, and you may not be getting the most out of your workout. Comfy running shoes have soles that are made for the surfaces you run on, so they actually help you perform better. They also last longer. Invest in some great shoes, and you’ll notice the difference.
Don't forget to breathe: Watch your breathing when you run because how you breathe can affect your performance and your concentration. Also, don’t hold your breath. It’s funny how many of us actually forget to breathe when we run. You would think that we have lived long enough to figure out that air is good for you by now. But sometimes, we are concentrating so hard on left-right-left-right that we forget the in-out part.
Hydrate: Drink water before and after you run to stay hydrated. It is also recommended to drink water while you run, but not everyone likes to drink water while they workout. For some individuals, drinking water during the workout actually slows down their motion because they feel fuller. So try before, after, and during, and see which works best for you. But whatever way you chose, make sure you stay hydrated.
Posture: Try to stand straight while you run or hinge forward slightly if you’re going up a hill. But posture is important during running because if you always bend too far forward, you could hurt your lower back or damage your normal posture. This is especially true for those who like to hold the rails when running on a treadmill.
Lift your feet off the floor: Raise your feet so your knee is somewhere around a 90 degree angle. This way, you’re working on your bum, your legs, and your thighs.Way to multitask!

Eat: Please don't starve yourself. Starving yourself and exercising don't go hand in hand. You need energy to run like you mean it. Where do we get energy? Duh! Food!

If you have any more questions about running, please leave a comment here or on the Facebook link on the right.

Cheers!

Alcohol and Your Abs

So I know either you are dying to hear about this, or you are really dreading it. A lot of people don't want to hear that alcohol may not be the best thing for you when you are trying to say fit. Alcohol, especially beer, generally contains empty calories with limited or no nutritional value. If you are drinking 2 to 3 beers a day, that is 300 to 600 extra empty calories. Putting your fitness in perspective, binge drinking is definitely counter-productive because when you binge drink, you mostly consume more calories than you have eaten throughout the day. And also, when you are drunk, there is the tendency to over-eat bad food. So the summary is: Cut down your alcohol consumption to special occasions, and if possible, stick to wine.

So what else can we do to get great six-pack abs? Here are three tips to consider:
Do your cardio: Because you can't really target a spot when it comes to exercise, you have to also lose weight all over. If you're in the corner doing some crunches and not doing some cardio, you may be wasting your time because your efforts may not show.
Don't just do crunches: There are several muscles in your stomach region, and doing traditional crunches may only target a certain area. The usual up-down crunches are only one type of stomach exercise, and since your body gets used to the exercises that you do, you need to switch it up. Vary the types of crunches you do, and try to do other stomach exercises that may not be so traditional. Some examples are the "bicycle", leg raises, or push-ups. Varying your stomach exercises helps to target all muscles in that region.
Suck it in: If you stand in an upright position, and hold your stomach muscles tight as you breathe in and out, you are actually working out your muscles! So take a brisk walk and control those muscles. This helps build a good posture as well so it's definitely worth trying.

Here are a few websites showing other stomach exercises apart from the traditional crunches. Check them out and apply them to your workout:

The Plank

Side plank

Corkscrew

Leg raises

Bicycle

Feel free to send me any questions you may have. Have a lovely week!
Motto for the week: Stay away from quick-fixes.