Many weightlifters go under the general guise of 8-12 reps is the best range of reps (myself included), but that’s not actually the case according to a Men’s Health Total Fitness Guide. While 8-12 is good for maintaining, the extremes give you more gains.
High weight enlarges your muscle fibers and give you more strength. High reps provides you more energy and endurance. In contrast, 8-12 is the medium range and a compromise between the two. While this may be good as a transitional workout, if you maintain 8-12 reps for most exercises on every day, you’re …read more

Yes, and in that order.  Thanksgiving is just a few days away, so I’m not going to fight it.  I’ll eat–too much–first, then this weekend, I’m going to turn my whole body upside down and do a cheap mini-detox.
What’s that going to involve, you ask?  Well, it’s going to be a simple regimen, really, as far as the steps go.  A little less easy when it comes to my ever-waning will power  :-).  I normally love the leftovers from Thanksgiving.  This year, though, I am going to love my body instead.
I’m going to get started this Friday by eating very light meals, …read more

Regardless of what level your practice is at–beginner, intermediate, exploratory or advanced–the eight limbs of yoga (ashtanga) are vitally important stops along the way to the ultimate goal of transformation.
My last post focused on sustainability, and living a simpler, more beautiful life.
To continue along that thread, I wanted to talk a little bit about purity, or saucha, one of the observances belonging to the second limb.
Saucha is purity that operates on many levels. And it’s this purity of thought and action that can lead us to a more sustainable, contented lifestyle.
On a daily basis, we aspire to cleanliness for our bodies by washing ourselves, …read more

Yes, yoga has taught me yet another lesson. You don’t need to spend a lot of money or be a conspicuous consumer to be happy or have nice, meaningful things or a beautiful existence.
One of the key lessons of yoga is that it teaches you to appreciate the simpler things in life. To be present. To be in the moment. This practice alone has not only helped to quiet my mind, in recent months it has also saved me a lot of money.
In fact, my shopping habits have changed significantly. I buy less processed, ready-to-serve foods and eat more healthfully …read more

I know I write a lot about yoga. But I also love running, and yoga actually is helping me increase my productivity on the road.  I used to run long distance before getting into my practice.  I loved it.  It was relaxing, gave me time to think, and reduced stress, too.  What it also did, I found, was make me a little less flexible. And, on occasion, I would even find myself hobbled and sidelined.
Now that I combine the two, I am finding it is a great fit.  Yoga keeps me limber and increases my flexibility, which helps me prevent …read more

That’s right.  Got the results from my physical last week, and they were awesome. I am never sure–at least not since my bout with breast cancer a few years back–how the test results are going to come out.  But I felt pretty good going in, and I have been working hard to change my diet, de-stress whenever possible, and just plain take care of myself.
After meeting with my doctor, one message came through loud and clear–my diet is doing amazing things for my health.  I grew up a die-hard, meat-eating carnivore.  In my late 20s I changed that up somewhat, my thirties, even more so.  …read more

Well, based on our past conversation, and watching this feat of amazingness last night, I’ve decided to give running another shot.
I decided that since I know for a fact now that it’s a mental block that keeps me from running, I can’t use it as an excuse anymore. So, since this is summer in Seattle, which means it was raining, I popped in Accepted, one of the most underrated and hilarious movies ever, cranked up the volume and hopped on the treadmill.

Rachel sent me this question:
Can someone just not be “good” at running? I have tried and tried and tried for the last couple months to work up my endurance and speed and it just isn’t happening. I am lucky to get a ten minute mile and even then I do intervals (2 minutes running & 1 minute speed walking and even then I only get up to 3 miles). It never seems to get any easier. Do you have any suggestions on ways to work on endurance? I do elliptical and the bike sometimes but don’t feel like I worked out …read more