cup of jojo

Lift Weights? No, I Do Yoga.   

As a yoga teacher AND a personal trainer, I have to say I take issue with some points in this article from MindBodyGreen. Number one, good strength training should not “isolate each muscle”, that is old school weight lifting and you don’t see a lot of that anymore (unless someone is literally training to be a bodybuilder.) A good strength program consists of compound, multi-joint movements like variations of squats, lunges, push-ups, and pull-ups. The addition of basic equipment like weights and medicine balls is important for challenging the body in order to see improvements in strength, physique, and especially important for women, bone density. And you will NOT “build the bulk of a serious lifter” by adding in a couple days of strength training, this is a complete myth—if you are challenging yourself with heavy enough weights, I hope you would see some great muscle tone start to emerge, but unless you are lifting hard 4+ days/week, “bulky” is not going to happen. And the fact that this woman saw more “[muscular] definition and a chiseled, leaner, longer physique” from only doing yoga is great for her, but that is attributable to her having a genetic predisposition to that “lean” body type. 

I love me some yoga and wholeheartedly believe in its benefits, physical and mental. I also agree that your workout should be “something you look forward to”, but strength training does not equal brushing elbows with sweaty ogling men in the weight room—for me, there is nothing as fun and empowering as rocking out some tabata sets of burpees and maybe some pull-ups at the park. Followed of course by a nice long savasana on a beach towel in the sunshine.

Love to hear your thoughts on the matter!!

ok, new favorite racing distance…8k! Had a great run this morning. It’s far enough to feel like you accomplished something, but man is it over fast. St Paddy’s Day theme was entertaining, lots of leprechauns and kilts. Plus the weather was gorgeous, and it’s always fun to run down Pennsylvania avenue with the Capitol in your sights.

Considering I went out for all of 3 training runs (maybe 4…), I’m very happy with my time. Sidenote, there were 3,782 total runners, and 2,264 were women. That is awesome. Girl power all the way.

fun with picmonkey!

nirvana-venami:

“Yoga has a sly, clever way of short circuiting the mental patterns that cause anxiety.”

Baxter Bell

love that quote.

(via fuckyeahyoga)

#triathlete gif. love it.

NYTimes: School Yoga Class Draws a Religious Protest

“They’re not just teaching physical poses, they’re teaching children how to think and how to make decisions,” Ms. Eady said. “They’re teaching children how to meditate and how to look within for peace and for comfort. They’re using this as a tool for many things beyond just stretching.” 

OH MY GOSH HOW HORRIBLE. Teaching kids how to make decisions and how to be happy? In public school? no no no something must be done about this. (sarcasm over).

please. It disgusts me that parents would protest this.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/19/updating-the-message-to-get-americans-moving/

Read this article. This is a major public health crisis. It’s beyond an issue of “personal responsibility”, we now have generations that have grown up overweight and sedentary and surrounded by overweight/obese friends and family members—changing that when it’s all you have ever known is going to take more than just being motivated. We need societal change, we need the food industry to stop hawking processed food filled with fat, sugar, salt, and chemicals that induce food addiction. We need to get back to the kitchen and re-learn how to cook basic, good food. We need physicians to “walk the walk” and be able to spend more than 5 minutes with their patients to talk about nutrition and exercise.

That ought to be a start.

whatshouldwecallme:

HAHAHA. alternative caption: “trying to walk home after that killer workout”.

Thankful to live where a 4 mile run out my front door and back takes me here.

ha. colorblind jokes never get old. Hi ben!

(Source: scottpatrick, via fuckyeahyoga)