Sexy Andres Mercado

Boyish good-looks makes Andres Mercado one of my favourite hunks!

The Art of the Awkward Hug: Tips and Tricks For Hugging People in The Gym

As if being in a gym setting isn't opportunity enough for physical awkwardness - I have, actually, walked into the men's locker room by accident twice - but add being pregnant on top of everything and it can make life very... touchy. Fortunately I'm not overly sensitive to touch. You'd think with my history of inappropriate touch I'd be all weird about it but for whatever reason my issues lie in other areas (like getting overly offended at burger joints suggesting I must fellate my sandwich to properly enjoy it (I wanted to do a whole post on that stupid ad but couldn't bring myself to actually post that pic. (Hey, triple parentheses! I haven't had this much parenthetical fun since I taught math!))). At any rate, I don't mind at all when people pat my "bump" or throw their arm around my shoulders. In the right situation, I'm even a fan of the sweaty hug.

While there are as many Awkward Hugs as there are awkward occasions - hello Mr. Blind Date! - I think the Sweaty Hug is unique to a fitness environment. If you've ever crossed a finish line or completed a really difficult group fit class or even walked out of the bathroom onto the track (yes, the upstairs bathrooms at our Y actually open up right onto the track) at the wrong moment, then you know exactly what I'm talking about. It's the Awkward Hug where at least one party but possibly both are sweaty from head to toe and yet find themselves in an occasion that warrants hugging.

What To Do If You Are A Hugger
Yesterday a girl came up to me after Hip Hop Hustle to wish me a happy birthday and to congratulate me on my pregnancy. There was squeeeeeing all around. And then the moment came. "Oh, I'm so gross!" she said by way of apology as she flung her arms out. "I'm a sweaty mess!" I declared and threw my arms around her. It was Awkward. First, because you don't want to smell the other person or make the other person smell you and second because we were both so slippery that any aggressive hugging would have left us one kiddie pool away from a sorority Jell-O wrestling contest. And so we kind of gripped biceps and patted the damp spot in between the other's shoulders. It was a good sweaty hug.

The ante for embarrassment ups considerably if you are going to attempt a mixed-gender Sweaty Hug. These are less common although I will say I've been party to more than a few of these. I recommend the one-arm-swing-and-pat method. It's close enough to convey your goodwill and still sterile enough to prevent any accidental sharing of bodily fluids. A good loud laugh and a buddy-punch in the arm afterward go a long way in short circuiting the Gym Rumor Mill as well.

Man-on-man hugging is the most rare of all the consenting hugs. Fortunately basketball has taught us that if you are a man in a hugging situation with another man, the best thing to do is to smack him on the butt. Don't ask me why smacking someone's rear is more socially acceptable than hugging them; I don't make the rules.

What To Do If You Are Not A Hugger
When two people are not matched in their hugabilities, this is when the real Awkwardness sets in. Some huggers are aggressive - there is nothing short of kicking out one of their kneecaps that will thwart them in their attempt to sweaty hug you. I've found that unless the person is completely objectionable and/or scary (in which case by all means, take out their knee), the best thing to do is to let them hug you and then quickly move away, putting something like a weight bench between you and them to preclude any additional hugging.

If you absolutely cannot handle the thought of someone, especially if they are sweaty, touching you, then this is a great time for a little white lie. My favorite is, "Oh, sorry! Just got spray tanned!!" This is especially funny when you consider I'm Casper. Other acceptable get-out-of-hugs-free excuses include having a contagious illness (but then why are you at the gym?), having a phobia of germs, and having a killer martial arts instinct that you just can't control. It helps if you take a step back and wave your hands in front of you while apologizing. (Funny story: Gym Buddy Allison and I were at a TurboKick gathering one night at a restaurant that had dancing. A man came up to ask her to dance. She stepped back and waved her hands in front of her in classic "no" fashion. Which he thought was a cool new dance step and started doing it back to her! You should have seen them no-noing back and forth for the 30 seconds it took her to escape. I would have helped her except I was laughing too hard.)

Ambivalent Huggers
The most Awkward Hug of all is when you have two ambivalent huggers. They think they maybe should hug - after all, a finish line was just crossed! - and yet they're not really huggers. So they move back and forth, maybe one of them makes a small move, until they either meet weirdly in the middle and limply pat each other or they run away screaming because they can't handle the tension anymore.

Other Gym Hugging Rules
- Never hug someone while they are lifting weights. Not even if you call it "spotting."
- Never hug someone from behind. Fitness people are often very fast and strong and do not like to be startled.
- Never hug during a grapevine left or a hop-over-the-step or any other cardio move. You'll trip up the whole class.
- Don't hug someone in the locker room unless you are both fully clothed.
- Don't hug someone while they are stretching - just too much potential for misplaced limbs.

So, what did I miss? Are you a hugger, a non-hugger or an ambivalent hugger? Anyone just love a good sweaty hug?

The Interval Training Champion Favorite Feature

MOTUS USA Treadmill OneTouch Feature



What is it? An advanced operative with intuitive and easy to understand functionality that enables users to instantly adjust their speed and incline along a touch responsive number series -- the interval training lover's champion fitness feature.

HOW TO OVERVIEW

Select either INCLINE or SPEED by pressing the appropriate figure (see image)



Select preferred number/level option to instantly increase or decrease speed or incline



REPEAT as preferred!!!

30 MINUTE WORKOUT utilizing Motus USA's OneTouch Feature.
Try this workout on one of our fabulous treads and see how easy and fun interval training can be when you have the OneTouch Feature!

TIME SPEED INCLINE
3 min 3.5mph 0.0%
3 min 3.5mph 5.0%
2 min 5.6mph 2.0%
1 min 7.0mph 2.0%
3 min 3.5mph 2.0%
3 min 3.5mph 5.0%
2 min 5.6mph 2.0%
1 min 7.0mph 2.0%
3 min 3.5mph 5.0%
2 min 5.6mph 2.0%
1 min 7.0mph 2.0%
3 min 3.5mph 0.0%

Tennis Officials Call Serena Williams Ugly, Send Her to Back Courts

Quick, name this profession: long, slim, toned bodies poured into tight fitting - but adorable! - clothing and jumping around in front of a bevy of overeager photographers, magazine editors, and camera crews. Oh yeah, and there's a lot of "grunting" involved (oh, the scandal!).

Did you say modeling? Actually, it's tennis.

With East European beauties such as Maria Sharapova, Anna Kournikova and Elena Dementieva ruling the press coverage of the sport, one would think they must also be ruling the courts. Not so, say many tennis insiders. Often the best courts and play slots (and hence the better media coverage) are given to the women who are better lookers rather than the ones who are better players. This is even true at the venerable Wimbeldon tournament where officials admitted last night to putting the prettiest female players on the famous center court even if that means relegating the uglier-but-higher-seeded women to the new auxiliary courts. Wimbeldon spokesman Johnny Perkins said unapologetically, "Good looks are a factor." Observe:

In center court we have seed No 59 Maria Kirilenko of Russia

The number 1 seed? You'll find Dinara Safina of Russia way over in court 2.

Back in the center court we have No 28 seed Sorana Cirstea of Romania

But where is the number 2 player? The U.S.'s own Serena Williams (edited from original text "Venus": I'm an idiot and can't tell my Williams sisters apart.) is back on court 2.

Never having played tennis outside some embarrassing weekend recreations that we won't discuss, I have no idea if being moved to another court or being told flat out by officials that you are homely would affect one's game. Venus and Serena Williams seem to be pretty indomitable despite being stuck out in the hinterlands (I know! They're gorgeous, right?) but if it were me, I think it would mess with my head and probably my game too.

On the flip side, it also makes me wonder if the "pretty" center court girls worry more about which custom Nike tennis dress they will be wearing than if their backhand is stellar. Or, even worse, that they might avoid lifting weights or training hard because they don't want to "bulk up" and look more like the muscular athletes they are than catwalk models.

Of course no similar trend has been noticed among the men. Apparently the tennis officials are just giving the people want they want - and they think we would rather see pretty-but-weaker-players rather than the strong athletes that would show the best athletic competitions.

The question is, are they right? Do you watch tennis for the cute miniskirts and pom-pom socks? (And if so, you've heard of competitive cheerleading, right?) Any of you out there tennis players? Is an overemphasis on looks, like found in ballet and gymnastics, a big part of tennis?

The Problem With Lying About Your Age

photo credit: Dina Goldstein

I'm 31 today. Not 29 for the third time. Not "a woman of a certain age." And I'm certainly not "the new 20." I'm 31 and I'm totally okay with that. I was not in a very good place when I was 20. You couldn't pay me to be 17 or 13 or even 8 again. 30, and so far 31, have been very good to me. I'm finally learning to measure my years not by my accomplishments but by the quality of relationships in my life. I'm very blessed to have a loving family and the best friends - and I hope you don't mind that I'm counting all of you in here - a girl could ask for.

I was not always this Yoda about my chronology. There was a time I lied about my age.

My 27th year, my birthday fell just days after moving to a new town. All new TV stations to memorize, three new phone numbers to rattle off, a baby due any minute and hundreds of new people to meet; you will forgive me for forgetting my birthday. Life was in upheaval that day and so when a new acquaintance asked my age, I said what came naturally: 26. That in and of itself would not have been a problem if once I had realized my mistake, I had corrected it.

It turned out that the girl I told I was 26 was in charge our neighborhood playgroup and as she relayed that information - along with my due date, my kids names and ages, and my shoe size (8 1/2 in case anyone needs gift suggestions) - to all my new mommy friends. Embarrassed, I just went along with it. Then, for consistency's sake, whenever anyone else asked my age, I told them 26. I did this for an entire year. You can imagine the web of lies that created.

Frankly, I'm amazed it lasted as long as it did. The moment of truth - literally - finally came on my birthday the next year. I was turning 28 but all my friends thought I was 27, just like I'd been telling them for the past, oh, twelve months. Surprise! They showed up at my house on my birthday to kidnap me for a wild night of dessert we didn't have to cook and girl talk that revolved around anything except due dates, kids and shoe sizes. "Happy 27th Birthday!" they all cried. And then my husband busted out laughing. I think he might have actually fallen on the floor.

"Charlotte's 28!" he guffawed.

My friends, confused, looked at me. Who was wrong - me or my husband? Me. Sigh.

I 'fessed up. Thankfully all my friends remained my friends afterward although to this day when I tell someone how old I am, Gym Buddy Allison always laughs and asks me, "Are you sure?"

The year of lying about my age was not without precedent. I have a history of wanting to be someone I am not. When I was younger and wanting to get in to the clubs or date certain boys, I'd lie and say I was older. Being a basically good kid, that was rare. More often I'd say I was younger. As an overachieving child, one of the most frequent comments I'd get was, "Wow, you've sure done a lot for your age!" or "It's amazing to see someone so young already have accomplished so much." I loved praise. I ate it up. I'd do anything to get it again.

The problem with all child prodigies however is that we grow up. What was remarkable at 12 is normal at 20 and old hat by 30. For a while, in my 20's, I lied about my age simply to buy myself more time to fulfill everyone's expectations of me. I was afraid to grow older and not be able to keep pace with the impossible standard I'd already set for myself. Never in my life did I get any grade less than an A. A bachelor's degree at 19, a Master's degree at 21, an Associate Professorship upon graduation - what was next? (Spoiler alert: an ulcer.) If I didn't get a Nobel Prize by 45 would my expiration date be up and I'd self destruct? And so, despite everything I had "accomplished," my 20s were a turmoil of insecurity, despair and self-flagellation (enter stage right: eating disorder). Nothing I did was ever good enough.

It took me until I was 30 to realize that nothing anyone does is ever enough. Not me, not you, not even Dakota Fanning. That's the problem with measuring your worth by your accomplishments. And, overage boyfriends aside, that was the problem with lying about my age. Until I decided I that I could be worthwhile just because I'm me, I could never be comfortable with my age.

I'm not totally there yet - I still wish I were thinner, smarter, funnier and a better dancer - but when the waiter at the restaurant last night incorrectly guessed my age to be younger (tip, much?) I quickly corrected him. I'm 31. And yes Allison, I'm sure.

So, have you ever lied about your age? Why? Anyone else get caught in the lie? What has helped you to be proud of who you are now?

The Winner of the $60 Gift Card Is...

aboyn3girls!

Not only did they answer my questions, but I also got a free parenting tip (that I don't know if I'm brave enough to use): "We try to always eat on nice stoneware/china, yep, even the kids. It causes them to behave better and all of us to feel a little more proper at the dinner table. When I break out the paper plates, messes and poor dinner behavior ensue. Oh, and FYI, buy an extra set or 2 of your dinnerware when it's on sale, then there's no problem when a dish is broke hear and there."

E-mail me and I'll put you in touch with the nice folks from Accent Furniture Direct.

PS> Thanks to everyone who actually went out and hugged a random person. Your comments and e-mails had me grinning for days!

HOT SIX PACK ABS MODLE TODD SANFIELD

Tips for preventing Hepatitis A

Hepatitis A is a liver disease caused by the Hepatitis A virus. The virus attacks the liver and causes it to swell. The liver is the organ responsible for helping digestion and filtering impurities from the blood. It keeps our system clean. So if the liver is infected, it isn’t able to do its job properly. This can cause a lot of other health problems, as a result of poor liver function.



Hepatitis A is a common disease in the US. The Hepatitis A virus is found in the stools of people infected with the virus. This can be spread to another person by putting anything in the mouth that has been contaminated with the fecal matter of an infected person. This can include touching a toilet handle that someone else has used, and not washing the hands immediately afterward. Not washing your hands before cooking and eating can also spread contamination.

Hand washing is one of the best ways to prevent getting Hepatitis A. Think about how many things you touch in a single day. And do you remember to wash your hands often, or just after using the restroom?

Hepatitis A can also be spread to sexual partners as well. So if you are in a relationship or are married, you both should be vaccinated. This would also apply to a roommate situation. You would be exposed to those same risks. Taking precautions and getting vaccinated are the best ways to protect you from getting this infection.

Who is at risk of getting Hepatitis A:

* The sexual partner of an infected person
* Prostitutes or anyone who exchanges sex for money
* Travelers to countries without proper sanitation and good water filtering

Tips for preventing Hepatitis A:

* Get a Hepatitis A Vaccination. The vaccine is given in a series of two injections. You will need to get both to be fully protected. Once you have had the vaccine or if you had previously been infected, you cannot get it again. You will have immunity to the disease.
* Good Hygiene. Wash your hands several times a day with soap and water. You should always wash your hands after using the bathroom, changing a diaper, or before preparing or eating food.
* Use bottled water for drinking and cooking when traveling in areas with poor sanitation practices.
* Wash all fruits and vegetables.
* Cook foods thoroughly, and follow safe food handling procedures. Keep meats from touching vegetables while cutting and preparing. Use a separate knife and cutting board if necessary.

The Furor Over Frankenfoods - Hype or Legitimate Horror?

Do you like scary movies? Chalk it up to a bad experience with The Changeling (not the Angelina Jolie version but the really old 80's one) or just an overactive imagination but I normally stay as far away from the scary stuff as possible. The other night however, I found myself parked in front of my computer glued to the scariest movie I've seen in the past decade. It had all the makings of a horror flick: wickedly powerful bad guys, gruesome deaths, a citizenry unaware of the disaster just around the corner and just a handful of helpless good guys standing between us and them. The movie that's been haunting my dreams? The Future of Food.

I know, it sounds like one of those 1950's film reels that they used to punish us in elementary school on rainy days and yet I'm telling you this was seriously frightening stuff. It was all about what "GM" - genetically modified - foods are doing to humanity and our critical food supply. If this subject interests you, I certainly recommend watching the whole documentary - you can even see it for free on Hulu - but I'm warning you: you will never look at your food the same way again.

Which Worry is the Most Worrisome?
Anyone who knows me knows that few things cause me more consistent grief than food. I'm worried about when to eat and when to not eat and how to eat and what to eat and what to not eat and so on until I became full-on look-at-the-crazy-lady-on-TV-ma sick. Strangely, in all of my worrying about food it had never before occurred to me to spend much energy worrying about the genetics of my food.

As a neurotic pregnant woman, my current obsession has been with organic vs. local food. Everyone from Jillian Michaels on down says that pesticides and food additives wreck your metabolism and harm your general health. The other thing everyone tells you to do is to eat locally - it saves the environment and supports local farmers. The problem, of course, is that it's hard to do both exclusively as one generally precludes the other.

The organic-local debate was wiped clean from mind though after hearing what scientists are saying about all of our genetically modified foods. Who cares if there is pesticides on the outside of your peach if the very genes that make it up are dooming you personally and society as a whole?

But is all the furor over frankenfoods legitimate or just hysteria? Basically what we're talking about are plants that have been altered at the genetic level to provide some benefit, i.e. drought tolerance, higher crop yeilds, resistance to pests and so forth. The potential benefits are immense - you may have heard of the "miracle" rice that is touted as Africa's salvation or the GM wheat that sparked the green revolution in the 1950's and saved millions from starvation. The problem however, is that nature didn't create the plants that way and even though we think we are making them better, humans are notoriously short-sighted when it comes to "better" food. For example, the negative effects of the Green Revolution are just beginning to emerge in hard-hit areas like India. GM foods also introduce other signficant economic problems such as patent rights for seeds and all the attendant problems that come with single-source farming.

The Research
Unsurprisingly most of the research into GM foods has been conducted by the massive food conglomerates, such as Monsanto and Cargill, that are most heavily invested in them. The FDA and the WHO (World Health Organization) have also done some studies. The report states: "Foodstuffs made of genetically modified crops that are currently available (mainly maize, soybean, and oilseed rape) have been judged safe to eat, and the methods used to test them have been deemed appropriate." One author cautions, "However, the lack of evidence of negative effects does not mean that new genetically modified foods are without risk."

On the other side, there is a lot of anecdotal evidence and cautions from scientists about the potential risks of these foods. The movie summarizes these quite well.

Conclusion
The problem with worrying about GM food is that right now it is so prevalent in our food supply, mostly in the form of GM corn and soy, that it would be nearly impossible to avoid it completely. Also, while a few places such as the European Union have introduced legislation requiring labeling of GM foods, most places including America do not. Buying organic doesn't mean it wasn't genetically modified or engineered. Even going so far as to buy your own seeds, plant them and grow your own food won't necessarily help because most conventional seeds come from the same few seed banks which use GM seeds. And even if you were to splurge on heirloom seeds, chances are yours would get cross-contaminated with the GM seeds that your neighbors are using.

You'd think that the inevitability of it all would give me a free pass to stop worrying about it but somehow it makes it weigh heavier on my mind. Which is where you guys come in: I'm known for being neurotic. Talk me down off the ledge people - does it matter to you if your food is genetically modified? Do you take any steps to avoid it? Anyone else watch The Changeling as a kid and get totally freaked out??

Tribute to the King of Pop - Michael Jackon dies at 50 June 25th

Motus USA expresses their grief to passing of legendary pop artist Michael Jackson. As reported in the LA TIMES he died at the early age of 50 of a tragic heart attack. Our hearts go out to his close family and friends. He truly was a legend and will always be.


June 25th, 2009.

Relax exercise your eyes

Tension is one of the chief causes of eye strain, so taking time to relax as well as to exercise your eyes will make an amazing difference. Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths. When you breathe, take the time to fill the lungs as completely as you can without strain. Try to let each exhalation last nearly as long as the inhalation that preceded it. Think of letting the energy of the breath act as an internal massage throughout the body, particularly in the region of the muscles surrounding the eyes.



1. With your eyes closed, lift your fingers to your eyelids and softly, with butterfly-light touch, massage the area of the eye socket up to the eyebrow.
2. When the eyes feel relaxed, open them.
3. Now slowly slide eyes from left to right back and forth as if reading words on a page or following a tennis match.
4. Then change the eye movement to up and down as if watching a ball bounce from floor to ceiling and back. Keep the movement slow.
5. Finally roll your eyes around, first several slow counterclockwise circles, then several in a clockwise direction. Keep the head still throughout these exercises, moving only the eyes.

After you have done the above exercises with both eyes simultaneously, rest one eye at a time and let the open eye follow the same routine outlined above. Now lift your fingers again to lightly massage along the eyebrow from the bridge of the nose outward. Let your fingers travel past the eyebrow and gently upward. Repeat this movement several times. If you have time, you may wish to follow the exercises with 5 minutes of covering the eyes either with an eye pillow or with cooled teabags.

These exercises are a marvelous way to relax the eyes, especially if you have eye fatigue from a long stretch of driving or staring at the computer. There are also wonderful herbal teas that support visual health such as eyebright tea. You may wish to purchase one of these at your local health food store, as well as an eye pillow if eye strain is a frequent factor in your life. Foods rich in beta-carotene feed the eyes, so you may also want to increase your intake of carrots and sweet potatoes to keep your eyes healthy. Vitamins A, C, and E are also a great way to keep your eyes looking out for you longer.

Punch-Proof Abdominals How I Train Professional Boxers And What You Can Learn From It!

Ripped, six pack abs may get admiring looks at the beach or by the pool, but in my world as an athlete & fitness consultant to both the average joe and athletes, what comes first and counts the most is not looks, but function. Stated differently, I’m talking about athleticism. Function is the ability to use those abdominal muscles for a reason, such as excelling in sports.

The interesting thing is, when you train for function and athleticism, the form almost always follows the function. Train like an athlete and you will look like an athlete. Perhaps you won’t build the muscle bulk of a bodybuilder, but take a good look at wrestlers, gymnasts or boxers. There you have some of the most athletic people in the world, and it is no coincidence that in these sports you also see some of the finest physiques in the world as well.

Spadafora scores sixth-round TKO in comeback bout

Hot Abs and Underwear Gusy

Calvin Klein M

Rugby Player Daniel Conn

What's In Your Water Bottle?

I got an interesting e-mail about a week ago from "Tammy". She started off good, telling me how funny I am and how much she loves my blog (flattery will get you everywhere with me) but then took a sharp turn off into Marketing LaLa land. You might recognize this place - land of fabled 6' 120 lb supermodels who eat cheeseburgers instead of salads & drink vodka at 9 am in the pool while the rest of us are working & then walk their dogs if they get to feeling a little puffy. If there are any children present, and there rarely are which is in itself odd considering how much simulated sex is going on, they are motionless mannequins wearing coordinating stainless outfits (top H&M $16.99, skirt Prada Jr. $1,345.99) ignored by a person who looks too young to actually be their parent. Sound familiar? Yeah. We'd all like to live there.

And according to Tammy, Propel Fitness Water might just be your one-way ticket to Shangri-La. To be fair to Tammy, whom I have never met and for all I know is a perfectly lovely gal that shares my taste in too-bright purses and obscenely high-heeled shoes, she was not that heavy handed. Her segue was actually quite good: "With me, I try not to deprive myself of the occasional treat - it's all about portion control and reading the nutrition labels carefully. That said, I wanted to share with you and your community some interesting information regarding the range of calories found in many vitamin enhanced waters." See? Straight from my "You're An Idiot" Diet post to Propel. Bravo.

I totally agree with her thus far. I read nutrition labels like they're The Da Vinci code of nutrition. And I also know some interesting information about calories in water: I don't like them. Water should not have calories. If it has calories then it is officially not water.

Tammy continues on to extol the virtues of low-cal Propel and to "shock" me with how many calories Vitamin Water has. Here's my shocker Tammy - I take my water straight up, on the rocks. Occasionally, if I'm feeling Carmen Miranda-ish, I'll whip a lime out of my hat and magically slice it before it drops into my glass.

Which isn't to say that I don't enjoy an occasional sugared-up beverage. I adore a virgin margarita (it's a lime thing) or an Italian soda. But the difference is that a) these drinks are an indulgence and b) they all contain actual sugar rather than some artificial sweetener or the granddaddy evil of fat-kids-with-no-heads-in-cnn-pictures - high fructose corn syrup.

Rad! Oh, wait. What?!?

Sweeteners
I love sweet stuff. A good hit of jelly beans or Ben & Jerry's can make a warm breeze blow even when there's two feet of snow. But I do not like man-made sweet stuff. I think that they play with our minds and mess with our innards until we don't properly know when we're sated and we're about to become the next headless-fat-person-in-a-picture. (Seriously, why CNN? It's dehumanizing. Stop it.)

So I kindly wrote back to Tammy and asked her if the magic to keeping Propel so light in calories and yet so "full of flavor" is an artificial sweetener. She e-mailed me the nutrition label. It would be Splenda. Splenda gives me headaches. According to some people, Splenda might also be the end of the free world. Your call.

At any rate, artificial sweeteners do not help you lose weight. If you just like the zingy aftertaste of aspartame then feel free to stick with your Diet Coke but if you drink it (or eat practically any "light" product) to help your waistline, you may be doing yourself more harm than good.

Fitness Water
Aside from the sweetener problem, I take issue with something being labeled a "fitness water." Fitness water is plain H20. I do understand that in some cases it is necessary and even performance enhancing to take in a simple carb drink/gu/gel/etc. during exercise. Long distance runners mainline the stuff. And it helps. But Splenda isn't a simple carb. It's not even found in nature. Marketers of these products (not just Propel but all the "fitness" drinks) lose me when they try to sell it as a need, rather than a want. With the exception of a long endurance workout or race, you never need anything other than water.

I get that people think water tastes plain. We like our fruity flavors. So just use fruit. Or if you must, use sugar. But don't tell me my body needs any of that stuff. Even for my post-workout snack, I'd rather eat whole foods than any specially formulated drink.

How You Lost Out on Free Stuff
(although you can still enter this giveaway until Sunday!)
Tammy then concluded by asking me to advertise her product on my site. She even dangled the possibility of freebies - powder packets all around! (No, don't snort it! Drink it!) But I can't endorse it. (Although I just did give them some free publicity - you're welcome Tammy! Call me if you want to go shoe shopping.)

I don't like it. I don't think it is good for me. I don't think it will help my fitness goals.

But that's my rant. I want to know what's in your sports bottle. Besides mold - really, you should wash that thing every once in a while. Do you guys swear by any sports drink? Do you flavor your water at all? Are you a bottled guy/gal or does tap water reign supreme? (Personally, my fave is the drugged out tap water. There's one way to cut down on medical costs!) Because I actually am deeply curious as to what you drink when you work out, I've provided you with a poll (feel free to use the comments to explain yourself):

poll by twiigs.com

28 Days, 1 Mission, 1 Ripped Physique...Advice You Don't Want to Hear !

Stop making lame excuses about your weight & start eating less, fatty.
Stop obsessing about over training, trust me your not!
Lose the ego and do more unilateral training. Cut out all that bench press and curling crap.
That's just some of the advice you didn't want to hear from Part I. Now, even more fitness guidelines you probably don't want to hear. Sorry it's tough love.

1)Weight training is not a fitness program. It's part of a program.

2) We spend hours inactive, with slouched posture and shortened muscles. We need to fix that, and just adding weight and loading the structure isn't the key. We need a complete program.

3)Core Stability: Despite what some personal trainers are saying, the evidence is clear: You need to train the core for stability, and direct training activates the core more than indirect work. Spend a couple of minutes per workout on core stability.

4)Power: Every AbFitt reader should be power training. It's the quality we lose the fastest as we age, yet it's easy to keep. Make sure you have some explosive movements in your program — not necessarily with bars and dumbbells — maybe just some body weight stuff.

5)Energy System Development: Do your cardio, but remember to mix it up. Cardio doesn't mean "aerobics on the treadmill." Use kettle bells, sprints, boxing and complexes as well as longer-duration cardio. Remember it's just part of a complete program.

6)"Saturated fat is evil!" As a result, we're now in the middle of an obesity epidemic. Just look around the next time your in an airport.

7)Get serious about your upper back. You'll be amazed at the full body results.

8)The biggest problem with most people who train is that they know exactly what their biggest problem is! However they are not willing to make the changes needed to correct those very problems.

9)It never comes as a shock when I tell an overweight man or woman the results of his/her full physical assessment: "You are too fat."

Don't laugh. You probably have some glaring issues too... and you know it!

Richard-

Can Changing Your Dishes Change How You Eat? (Giveaway Post!)

"Country Blue" melamine flatware is what I grew up eating off of. You will excuse my parents for their apparent lack of taste - it was the '80s so both melamine and country blue were omnipresent and with three little kids they were just being practical. Eventually they moved on and my mother purchased a set of beautiful white and red stonewear that looks much better in the family holiday dinner pics. The problem? I haven't moved on. That's right, I am eating off the same dishes today that I did as kid. Those little blue plates, now slightly chipped with some discoloration, have moved with me to college, off to my first job, when I got married and up to this very day. In fact, right now I have a blue salad plate sitting right next to my elbow with the remains of my muy delicioso lunch (thanks to Gym Buddy Krista!) on it.


Nice Flatwear = A Flat Stomach?
One of the diet tips you will frequently read is to make everyday eating a special occassion. Buy nice dishes that you set on a clean table with real napkins and no distractions, so the logic goes, and you will automatically slow down and savor your food more. To further amp up your dining experience and minimize overeating, you can add flowers or eat outside or any other number of things to prettify your eating environment. And some studies - like the infamous blue plate study - support this reasoning. Although I daresay you don't need researchers to tell you that eating in a clean, beautiful setting is preferrable to sitting in front of a cramped, cluttered computer desk (ahem).

According to this, the only thing my dinnerware has going for it is that my plates are blue and small (weirdly, everyone in our house eats off of child-sized dishes - even my husband!). It might be time for me to grow up and buy some actual dishes. Enter Accent Furniture Direct. When they first e-mailed me, I was confused about what home decor had to do with health and fitness. That is until I saw their supercute and funky NotNeutral line (which is also very affordable, I might add). Seriously, how cool would you feel eating off that plate (above) with a city map of London on it?

Although this set was my personal favorite. Who could eat a Little Debbie craptastic brownie off of a Zentastic plate like one of these?

Another favorite item are these cloth napkins. I recently switched my family from paper to cloth napkins in an effort to be more green and save some cash. While we - I live in toddler central remember? - use cheap white washcloths, these would be so much more fun:

Who wouldn't eat more salad if you had these Tim Burton-eque salad bowls?

And drinking all your glasses of water just got easier with these babies. (Makes you want to add a slice of lemon and mint sprig, no?)

This one has nothing to do with anything except that I just love it:

The Giveaway
Convinced? You can win one $60 gift certificate to Accent Furniture Direct by leaving me a comment below. You have three chances to win:

1. Do you think your enivronment impacts what and how you eat? Tell me about it!
2. Go to Accent Furniture Direct's page and tell me the name of one item you'd like to buy if you won.
3. Go hug a random person (i.e. someone who does not live under the same roof as you) and give them a compliment then tell me who it was and how they reacted! (This last item is just for my own entertainment but hey a girl's gotta have fun, right?)

Details: The company only ships to the U.S. and Canada so if you are from another country and win, you can sob quietly in your pillow or you can give it to a friend or relative.

Feel great with AbFitt

Exercise can help prevent chronic health conditions like obesity and arthritis, boost confidence and self-esteem by adding a feeling of strength and attractiveness as well as the knowledge you are doing something good for your body. These are just a few of the benefits from exercise regardless of age, sex or physical ability.

1. Exercise improves your mood.
If you need to blow off some steam after a stressful day, a good workout at the gym or a brisk 30-minute walk can help you calm down.

Exercise stimulates various brain chemicals, which may leave you feeling happier and more relaxed than you were before you worked out. You'll also look better and feel better when you exercise regularly. This can boost your confidence and improve your self-esteem. Exercise even reduces feelings of depression and anxiety. If you tend to reach for a beer, try reaching for the treadmill it will help in a lot more ways.

2. Exercise combats chronic diseases.
Regular exercise can help you prevent, or manage, high blood pressure. Your cholesterol will benefit, too. Regular exercise boosts high-density lipoprotein (HDL), or "good," cholesterol while decreasing low-density lipoprotein (LDL), or "bad," cholesterol. This one-two punch keeps your blood flowing smoothly by lowering the buildup of plaques in your arteries.

Regular exercise can also help you prevent Type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis and certain types of cancer.

3. Exercise helps you manage your weight.
We all know that when you exercise, you burn calories. The more intensely you exercise, the more calories you burn - and the easier it is to keep your weight under control. You don't need to set aside major chunks of time for working out. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Walk during your lunch break. Turn off the TV and take a brisk walk. Dedicated workouts are great, but activity you accumulate throughout the day helps you burn calories, too. You'll keep the weight off, or take it off, and feel better.

4. Exercise strengthens your heart and lungs.
Exercise delivers oxygen and nutrients to your tissues and helps improve your entire cardiovascular system. The circulation of blood through your heart and blood vessels, work more efficiently. When your heart and lungs work more efficiently, you'll have more energy to do the things you enjoy. With more energy, you'll be able to accomplish more, spend more time with your family, etc. All this promotes the positive cycle of attitude, self-confidence and stress reduction.

5. Exercise promotes better sleep.
A good night's sleep can improve your concentration, productivity and mood. Regular exercise is sometimes the key to better sleep. Regular exercise can help you fall asleep faster and deepen your sleep.

6. Exercise can be fun!
Exercise doesn't have to feel like a chore. Take a fitness boxing class. Check out a local climbing wall or hiking trail. Push your kids on the swings or climb with them on the jungle gym. Plan a neighborhood kickball or touch football game. Find an activity you enjoy, and go for it. If you're moving, it counts!

Weight Gain in Pregnancy: What's Normal and What's Just Celebrities

It's official: I am half way done with my pregnancy! With 20 weeks under my metaphorical belt - like I could get an actual belt on these days - and perhaps less to go if the universe loves me, I feel pretty excited about this milestone. As I'm looking obviously pregnant now, there are many upsides - I'm starting to look cute in maternity clothes, hopefully we'll find out the gender soon (my ultrasound is on the 30th) and I get to park in the mother-to-be parking spots without feeling guilty. (Side note: pregnant women do not need special parking spots, really. You know who does? New moms. The baby is relatively easy to carry as long as it's tucked in your abdomen but add colic, a car seat, a diaper bag and older siblings and you need valet parking just to go to the grocery store. Seriously.)

Gym Buddy Sunny & I at the most recent Hip Hop Hustle YouTube taping! Love my sparkly Cons? Yeah, me too.

But the baby bump has one serious downside: everyone feels they need to comment on it. Now, normally I don't mind an affectionate pat, even from a stranger, or a "look at you!" but this conversation was a bit much:

Lady #1: Oh, look at your tummy! It's HUGE! I can't believe how big you've gotten! And almost overnight too!

Lady #2: No, no, she's not huge - she's itty bitty. I can barely see her little bump!

Lady #1: Are you serious? Look at her! It sticks out like a mile!

Lady #2: What? She's tiny! I was twice as big as she was when I was pregnant.

Lady #1: Not me! I wore my regular jeans right up until delivery - just had to ride 'em low.

They had this conversation in front of me. The truth is that I'm exactly normal for 20 weeks along. My fundus - that's the supercool name for the top of your uterus (For a fun party trick, walk up to someone and say, "Wanna see my fundus?" You may get slapped or they may buy you drinks for the rest of the night - that's where the fun comes in!) - measures right on for the baby's gestation. So I'm actually not big nor am I small. I'm just a normal pregnant girl.


This conversation though is a perfect example of how skewed our society's perceptions have become when it comes to pregnancy. Normally I blame celebrities with their ridiculous 3-week post-partum slim downs and crazy fish diets but today I'm actually going to agree with them. It turns out that even celebrities with perfect bodies are not immune from this group madness.

Heidi Klum, the woman who makes pregnancy look downright chic, was recently quoted as saying - unapologetically! - “I’m bigger than I should be, but I always gain 40-45 pounds, so I still have a ways to go.” (For those of you who don't keep track of all things uterine, doctors recommend an average woman gain 5-25 pounds.) This made me want to run up and kiss Heidi right on her "big" bump - the bump which will magically disappear 4 weeks post-partum despite it being her fourth kid but I'll be depressed over that one later- and cheer, "Right on, sister! Me too!" Even supermodels gain weight!

Jenna Jameson, now more famous for birthing twins than for her extensive porn career, was recently targeted by TMZ for having "wide hips." This may be the first time in my life I've ever found myself in the same camp as Jenna Jameson - especially when it comes to feminist issues - but girlfriend's got a good point! And, for the record, tiny hips. Here's her surprisingly rational response:

"I was pretty heated about the thought of this random chick saying I looked WIDE… Seriously… this is the ultimate example of girl on girl HATING. I mean, I had twins 4 months ago!!!! Its crazy to me that a fellow woman would feel the need to bash my hips… when most women would relate to the fact that I spent the past year building two perfect little humans. Does the circumference of my hips really matter? Should that even be discussed? It truly makes me sick to my stomach that this woman felt the need to pick my body apart when just barely 18 months ago TMZ was BASHING me for being TOO skinny! This is why women have such massive body issues… I have worked very hard to be healthy… and that is all that matters, not the size of my booty!"

As Jenna demonstrates, the public judgement with pregnancy weight gain continues on with even more fervor to post-baby weight loss. I can't tell you how many times I've already been asked how fast I "plan" on losing the baby weight. (Any parent will tell you that babies laugh - and then spit up - in the face of any so-called plans.) All I can say is that in the past I have lost most of the weight within about six months but those last 10 or so pounds will not budge until I wean the little nipper. I know what they say about breast-feeding melting the pounds away but it just isn't true for me. My body seems to think it needs to store the extra milk in my thighs and hips. And so be it. I have very healthy kids so it would seem my body knows what it is doing.

While not as hot a topic as weight gain, pre- and post-natal exercise also garners a lot of attention. Thanks to the wonder of the second trimester, I am feeling pretty energetic and back to all my workouts full force - albeit with some modifications. No more bow pose or reclining ab work for me! This hiatus in the woes of pregnancy will be relatively brief though as I know from experience that the third trimester will knock me right back down on my ample butt.

A recent study addresses a common myth of pre- and especially post-natal exercise: that intense, vigorous exercise is the best thing to take off extra weight. It turns out that, "Exercise is important when people are overweight, but after pregnancy, a lot of exercise does not necessarily help a great deal. The Institute summarised the research evidence about the best ways to lose weight after childbirth. The evidence shows that a balanced diet helps – with or without extra exercise. Very strenuous exercise programmes soon after childbirth did not lead to extra weight loss. This means that women do not need to have a bad conscience if they take it easy in the busy weeks after giving birth."

So there you have it - from the mouths of celebrities and researchers - you have permission to take it easy, be kind to yourself and, most importantly, focus on growing and caring for a healthy, happy baby!

Wow, is my bathroom mirror ever dirty!