In her latest issue of O magazine, Oprah talks about, almost apologetically, her weight gain.

While she sites her thyroid as an issue, she also admits that she hasn’t been watching what she is eating and isn’t exercising as much as she should.

She says:

“I’m embarrassed. I can’t believe that after all these years, all the things I know how to do, I’m still talking about my weight. I look at my thinner self and think, `How did I let this happen again?’”

I remember watching an episode of Oprah a while back where she showed her favorite favorite healthy snack, which was 3 transparently-thin slices of cheese and half a green apple.  She showed her workout room, and her trainer, Bob Green, who worked her out 2 hours a day. She was not permitted any alcohol. Ever.  I also remember thinking, no freaking wonder she can’t control her weight, she’s the poster child for deprivation.

No one can keep up  regimine like that, let alone OPRAH, who has to be the busiest woman in the world.

I also find it so courageous that she spoke up about it, openly and honestly, with her readers, to try and help them, instead of sweeping it under the rug and pretending it wasn’t an issue to protect her image.  I don’t find it hypocritcial that she devotes so many shows to healthy eating and weightloss yet she can;t keep her weight off, I think she’s just showing she’s human.

Oprah, I still love you. Even though you shout and shake your fists and ask really insensitive questions to people that are going through traumatic times.

I take this as proof that even someone with personal chefs, personal trainers, nutritionists and the entire world watching her every move can still have issues with their weight. It further shows, to me, that it has to come from inside: you can go through the motions, but if you aren;t enjoying your healthy lifestyle (even though her workout schedule/menu didn’t seem very healthy to me) you won’t keep it up.

What are you thoughts?

grounded fitness, fitness, health, yoga, pilates, strength training, personal trainer, cardiovascular, cardio, exercise, wellness, weight loss, blog, blogging, fitness blog, weightloss blog, Oprah, weight gain, O magazine

Post from: EveryJoe

Oprah “Embarrassed” About Weight Gain

Today I give to you The Jet and Jet Stream mp3 players from RCA. Perfect for the gym, or for those cold, winter runs. They even double as a pedometer- how cool is that?!

The Jet

The Jet and Jet Stream: Ready for the Gym

Rugged and sweat-resistant for the gym, The RCA Jet (model S2204) and Jet Stream (model S2501) are perfect for those looking to take off a few pounds after New Years.  In addition to playing music, these portable media players feature video playback, a built-in FM radio, display JPEG photos and include features like a stop-watch with voice prompts, fitness functions and voice recorder. Each unit includes RCA’s EasyRip Software on the player, which is simple to install – just plug in the player and it’s done in minutes (with no CDs to load or lose). MSRP: $79.99 – $129.99

The trendsetting Jet Stream player, which is similar to the Jet except for the addition of wireless headphones based on Kleer technology, remains in the line with an estimated retail price of $139.99.

grounded fitness, fitness, health, yoga, pilates, strength training, personal trainer, cardiovascular, cardio, exercise, wellness, weight loss, blog, blogging, fitness blog, weightloss blog, music, mp3, mp3 player, RCA, Audiovox, holiday, Christmas , gifts

Post from: EveryJoe

Holiday Fitness Finds: The Jet and Jet Stream mp3 Player

The main difference? Its going to be all Kelly, all the time.

Try and keep the tears to a minimum.

I’m still post the same way I have been, and I will also be going a little more personal with my day to day stuff, and most exciting for me, and hopefully you, too, I am going to make a big jump to video.  But I’ll need your help. The focus of the blog is going to shift more towards ME being YOUR personal trainer.  A huge part of training is visual- so when you come to me with questions about form or pain or anything else, its hard for me to make help without seeing what you are actually doing.

So! I call for your videos: your questions, your exercises asking for form critiques,  videos of your favorite exercises you would like to share, or just anything you think other Grounded Fitness readers would enjoy.

Other changes:

• I will be posting multiple times a day so keep checking back often
• I will be holding more contests in addition to the weekly giveaways
• Expect a lot more guest posts. If you want to guest post or would like me to guest post on your blog, email me

Most importantly, I want to include you guys a lot more. I want this to be a community, so anything you want to send my way and have me post (recipes, exercises, workouts schedules, questions, etc) please do so. No need to be shy.  You all can email me anytime at kelly.turner@b5media.com.

If there is anything you guys would like from me, feel free to ask.  If there is something you feel the blog is missing, you want more of, or would like to see, drop me a line.

I also want to thank everyone for all your support and faithful reading. I’ve been sort of MIA the past few days, with work being nuts, me being sick and the holidays, but I really appreciate all the comments everytime I check in. I will get back to my regular commenting soon, so don’t feel like I forgot about ya :)

grounded fitness, fitness, health, yoga, pilates, strength training, personal trainer, cardiovascular, cardio, exercise, wellness, weight loss, blog, blogging, fitness blog, weightloss blog, video, changes,

Post from: EveryJoe

A New Beginning for Grounded Fitness

I was curious on your opinion on that article that was on Kaths website yesterday. you being a personal trainer and all

http://healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=620471    Daisy Melo

For those of you too lazy busy to click, its an article that states having a snack after a workout is only necessary for athletes, and may hinder any weightloss efferts for the average exerciser.

And I completely agree.

It is so much easier to eat 300 calories than it is to burn 300 calories (and more yummy.) If you bust your butt in the gym and eat those calories right back, you negated the whole calorie deficit portion of your workout (the health benefits remain so don’t use me as a rationalization to skip your workout!) and in terms of weightloss, you are right back to where you started.

I can hear it now……”But what about protein!!?”

Chances are, you aren’t shredding your muscles to the point you need extra protein. In fact, I’d be willing to bet money that most of you are eating more protein than you need.

“But my metabolism is revved!!?”

It’s revved, it’s not freakin’ David Copperfield.  Those calories don’t just magically disappear.  While its true you burn a bit more calories than normal after a tough workout, its not anything that’s going to make a massive difference.  And wouldn’t you want to take advantage of your body burning more calories at rest anyway? Let it eat a little bit more fat that usual.

Athletes need to refuel after a workout- they need to reload all those carb stores they depleted (not to be confused with the shoe stores I usually wipe out) and make sure their muscle rebuilds properly.  Totals are what matter. If that snack just happens to fall after your workout, then fine, go ahead and eat it, but if that post workout snack is an extra one you feel you earned because you worked out- I’d think twice.

Don’t forget to enter the giveaway! It ends tomorrow!

grounded fitness, fitness, health, yoga, pilates, strength training, personal trainer, cardiovascular, cardio, exercise, wellness, weight loss, blog, blogging, fitness blog, weightloss blog, protein, snack, food, metabolism

Post from: EveryJoe

Q and A: Snacks After a Workout?

This might be a totally dumb question, but I always kind of thought you did “opposite” exercises on the same day (like I would do biceps and triceps/quads and hams), but Jillian Michael’s book said not to…..can I still do them on the same day? I think it’s kinda fun. :-)

Here’s my caveat: I have never read Jillian Michael’s book, so I’m sure some of this may be out of context. Maybe just for her plan, thats the way she prefers to have people work out, maybe she said it as a rule- that something bad will happen if you work out antagonist muscles on the same day. Whichever she meant, I stand by what I am about to say.

UGH. Give me a break.

I am a firm believer that you cannot know something you have never been taught.  Up until 6th grade, I said “hippoMApotomus” because my parents never corrected me since they thought it was cute. It wasn’t so cute when, by some twist of fate, I had to do a report on them in front of the class.

I am also a firm believer that you can’t blame someone who has been taught wrong. If they have no frame of reference- how will they know?

So, no Holly, no dumb questions- just opportunities to learn and for me to start fights. So thank you.

Specifically in this situation, not working antagonist muscles on the same day is crap. If anything, its a BETTER idea, because you can ensure you are working them the same amount and building muscle balance to cut risk of injury, and for asthetic reasons.  Either way- it doesn’t matter. I can’t even really argue with this point, because I can’t possibly imagine the rationale behind it (if anyone knows, please feel free to share.)

Professionals in the fitness field are trying to sell a product.  They make up rules to make consumers feel like they don’t know enough about fitness and NEED their product in order to succeed.  The audience for these products primarily does not know very much about fitness to begin with (otherwise they could do it on their own, right?) so taking that lack of basic knowledge and throwing do’s and don’ts on top of it confuses consumers into buying into it.

When my docotr tells me something- I believe him. He’s known me since I was little and has my best interests at heart. But, beyond that, he is the professional, he went to school for many years, so he’s proven himself.  I don’t need to know everything he knows. I couldn’t point to my pancrease if he asked- and as a responsible professional he knows that.  He’s not going to heap a ton of medical jargon and possible diseases and risks on top of me to confuse and scare the crap out of me: because I don’t need to know it. All I need to know is basically what is going on, and how to fix it.

Fitness is the same way. I know all of you are in different stages of your fitness goals, but, like I said, most fitness products are geared towards beginners because they are easily sold. All a beginner needs to know is eat less, eat better, move more.  They don’t need to know about glycemic index and fat burning heart rate zones and  aerbic and anaerobic thresholds. But that doesn’t make me money, and doesn’t get you to spend yours. A confused consumer is a consumer that spends money.

If something makes fitness sound confusing- its probably unneccessary information. You don’t even have to believe me (gasp!) if you don’t want to. I encourage you to disagree, or go find a second opinion, because I would rather you learn and become informed than blindly follow anything anyone has to say.

I can assure you, however, the only rules I can think of for fitness have been around for years and years: stretch after warming up, get atleast 30 mintues of cardio most days of the week, never strength train the same muscles on consective days (they need time to rest and rebuild) and when strength training make sure hit every major muscle group. It doesn’t matter how you mix these up, combine them, what order you do it. That’s the fun part: its up to you. Do whatever you want and don’t get sucked into the games.

grounded fitness, fitness, health, yoga, pilates, strength training, personal trainer, cardiovascular, cardio, exercise, wellness, weight loss, blog, blogging, fitness blog, weightloss blog, Jillian Michaels, antagonist muscles, guru

Post from: EveryJoe

Enough Already “Fitness Gurus”

This is Fitness Together in Newcastle, WA.

Fitness Together provides one on one, private personal training.  Sessions are by appointment only, so its not like a gym where anyone can just come in and workout whenever they want. This eliminates the intimidation factor of a gym, and enables we trainers to provide completely indivdualized attention to each and every client.

Click below for the full experience

In the front, we have three cardio machines: a treadmill, elliptical and recumbent bike.  This is where clients warm up before their session, do cardio intervals during their sessions, and perform their cardiovascular program after their sessions.  The music in the studio is client’s choice via Pandora, and they have complete control of the TV station they watch. 

There are two identical suites, fully stocked with all the equipment needed for each session:

• A functional trainer (the big cable machine in the center)
• Dumbbell rack
• Stability balls
• Bosu
• Resistance bands
• Kettlebells
• Blocks
• Barbell and weights
• Medicine balls
• Half cage
• Leg press machine

We don’t have a lot of machines, because our main focus is functional training, or training your body in the way it was designed to move to reduce injury and maximize results, as more muscle groups are engaged throughout the workout.

I wouldn’t work any other place.  I love it. Its one of the biggest franchises in the world, and for good reason.

If you are thinking of becoming a personal trainer, I would highly recommend looking for a job at Fitness Together.  At FT, your primary responsibility it to train. In box gyms, you’re selling, selling, selling. You can’t give your clients the attention they deserve because you have to move onto the next sell to make sure you get paid. At FT, your clients are handed to you, so your main concern is helping them reach their goals.  You form relationships with clients, learn the way their bodies react (or don’t react) to certain kinds of training and get a real feeling of satisfaction when they hit their goals.

If you are thinking about getting a personal trainer, again, I’d go with Fitness Together.  FT’s slogan is “1 Client, 1 Trainer, 1 Goal.” Our only responsibility is holding you accountable, and providing the most effective, individualized workouts to help you reach your goals.  Since trainers aren’t concerned with selling memberships, or packing their schedules, they spend the time to design the most effective routines, and go the extra mile to help you hit your goals. If you miss a trip to the gym, no one notices. If you miss a session at Fitness Together, you better believe you are getting a phone call, and that session is getting rescheduled for later in the week. No missing workouts unless your hair is on fire.  I have a list of clients I call to make sure they go to the gym on their off days, have made meal plans and shopping lists for clients, and send them emails all day long.  Personal private training is expensive, but the knowledge you gain lasts a life time. We aren’t trying to keep clients forever and suck them dry: we want to help you reach your goals, while teaching you everything you need to continue a fitness program on your own.  We decide with our clients when its time for them to leave, and honestly, there have been times we’ve sent people on their way because we knew they were ready, even if they didn’t feel 100% sure.

Fitness Together is all over the world. To find one near you, use the studio locator. I’ll be filming all the upcoming exercise videos from this very studio from now on.  And if you happen to live in Newcastle, or the surrounding Seattle area and are in need of some training, shoot me an email kelly.turner@b5media.com.

Don’t forget to enter this week’s giveaway!

grounded fitness, fitness, health, yoga, pilates, strength training, personal trainer, cardiovascular, cardio, exercise, wellness, weight loss, blog, blogging, fitness blog, weightloss blog, Fitness Together, functional training, Seattle, Newcastle, Washington, studio, resistance bands, Bosu, stability balls

Post from: EveryJoe

Welcome to Fitness Together-Newcastle, WA

I always go for nonfiction because I like to learn.  I’m not a big “reading for leisure” person.  There, I found Caroline Knapp’s Appetites: Why Women Want.  And what a find it was.

Caroline’s book examines women’s appetites, why we feel the need to supress them, and how we can embrace our appetites in a world that tells us “no”.

Appetite is not only used in regards to food.  Appetite refers to everything women want, but are told that we shouldn’t: food, sex, material possessions.  We are always told not to want too much and supress out appetites: don’t eat too much, you have to keep a slim figure, don’t talk about your sexual appetite, you’ll sound like slut, etc.

Its no wonder we abuse these things. 

So why do we have an appetite for what we do?  An appetite is a longing we are driven to fulfill.  We eat to become full. What is fullness? Gratification, satisfaction, pleasure. 

When you think about it this way, its obvious why people abuse food.

Anorexics, bulimics and EDNOS (eating disorder not otherwise specified) shun food, ie: gratification, satisfaction and pleasure, because they feel they don’t deserve it. Instead, they take pleasure in depriving themselves of these feelings, to take control of the fact they cannot achieve real happiness. If you feel you don’t deserve to eat, or feel pleasure, then atleast you can control your own misery.

The overweight, binge eaters, and the obese desperately search for those feelings of gratification, satisfaction and pleasure. If they don’t or can’t gain those feelings through their own self worth, relationships, or  self image, they can simulate those feelings of gratification, satisfaction and pleasure through food. Its short lived, however, and ends in feelings of guilt, which leads them right back to the fridge to rid themselves of those feelings once more.

And there are those in the more innocuous middle.  Those that feel that any indulgence, ie: gratification, satsifaction and pleasure must be earned and any weakness is grounds for punishment.  Those that will only allow themselves to have dessert if they run 5 miles, those that add another 30 minutes of cardio to make up for yesterday’s second helping, those that eat whatever they want one day, and then starve the next as punishment. Everything has to be this perfect balance of strength and weakness, calories in and calories out, restriction and overcompensation. 

My favorite quote from the book says:

“One woman’s tub of cottage cheese is another’s maxed-out MasterCard; one woman’s soul-murdering love affair is another’s frenzied eating binge.  The methods may differ, but boil any of these behaviors down to their essential ingredients and you are likely to find a particularly female blend of anxiety, guilt, shame and sorrow, the psychic roux of profound- and often profoundly misunderstood-hungers.”

When I was younger, I went through a Bible-thumping phase. I sat up late and night and highlighted the heck out of my Teen Bible. But as I read, and prayed and reflected, I felt worse and worse about myself. Everyting I read about desires, and sexual thoughts, and envy and lust had me convinced I was going to hell. The more I supressed those feelings, the more I thought about them, and the more dpressed and ashamed I became.  No matter how hard I prayed I couldn’t stop thinking about boys and sex. I was 14 years old for Christ’s sake. I began to think, “how can  a god that gave me these feelings, these hormones, these thoughts, then punish me for them?  How can he design me in this way and then use it against me?” It was then I put my Bible away and never picked it up again.

Women have so many more opportunites than we did 100 years ago. We can vote, go to college, hold jobs- more doors are open to us than ever before. We are equal; we are entitled; we are human. Why do we continue to be ashamed of and supress our most human desires?

Don’t forget to enter this week’s giveaway!

grounded fitness, fitness, health, yoga, pilates, strength training, personal trainer, cardiovascular, cardio, exercise, wellness, weight loss, blog, blogging, fitness blog, weightloss blog, appetite, sex, hunger, credit, hormones, body image, Appetites: Why Women Want, book, Caroline Knapp,

Post from: EveryJoe

Appetites: Why We Supress Them and Why We Should Stop

We are seeing proof of it already: while many companies are filing for bankruptcy, McDonald’s sales rose 8.2% in October.

One can only guess that The Dollar Menu is becoming more of a meal staple in homes than ever before.

I understand people are becoming more apathetic towards healthy eating when they are just trying to keep their heads above water.  Just last night I has a Jack in the Box salad (which was over 600 calories, I’m sure- can you even still call it a salad?) because the boy offered to pick something up. My first thought USED to be how was my eating today? Does this fast food meal fit? Did I hit my other food groups today? but this time it was one less meal I have to buy, I should take advantage.

What about you guys? Have you been eating differently? More prepackaged? More processed? Or are you staying so basic, you are actually eating better? (brown rice, canned veggies, no extras?) Is good food not something you scrimp on?

Don’t forget to enter this week’s giveaway!!

grounded fitness, fitness, health, yoga, pilates, strength training, personal trainer, cardiovascular, cardio, exercise, wellness, weight loss, blog, blogging, fitness blog, weightloss blog, McDonalds, Dollar Menu, economy, bankruptcy

Post from: EveryJoe

Dollar Menus Take Over

I came across a yoga pose I have never seen before.

It’s called Pavana-mukta-asana, or Wind-releasing pose.

I’ll give you a sec to click the link and read up on it real fast.

Back? I missed you.

And now you want to try that pose, right? Well, I tried it, and guess what? It didn’t work.

If you can get it to work, let me know. And you earn bonus points if you did it in a class setting.

grounded fitness, fitness, health, yoga, pilates, strength training, personal trainer, cardiovascular, cardio, exercise, wellness, weight loss, blog, blogging, fitness blog, weightloss blog, pose,

Post from: EveryJoe

Relax. I Mean REALLY Relax.

Check out the new:

About Page

Companies and Affiliates We Love Page

Grounded Fitness Exercise Demo Videos Page

And don’t forget to enter the giveaway. It ends tomorrow!

grounded fitness, fitness, health, yoga, pilates, strength training, personal trainer, cardiovascular, cardio, exercise, wellness, weight loss, blog, blogging, fitness blog, weightloss blog,

Post from: EveryJoe

Some New Additions