Okay, so you’ve planned for a 3pm workout. It’s 45minutes long. You’ve got your exercise clothing on and your water bottle nearby. You’re ready to workout, but there’s one more thing to do – put your phone on airplane mode. It’s 2023, and from what I see in my classes, with clients, and with myself, the cellphone is the #1 workout sabotager. It has a tendency to intrude, interrupt, and disrupt. I know there are...
The idea that “gentle” is for babies or for the injured, but aside from those specific demographics, you should be embracing intensity, is still alive and well in the world today, but not in my world. In my world, gentle is sustainable, nurturing and a winning aspect of longevity. What is a gentle workout? First, gentle might just be slower. It might just be shorter. It might just be avoiding certain ranges of motion that cause pain. Gentle doesn’t mean less effective. Secondly,...
One of the best things about exercising is that there are instant results. Maybe it’s standing taller. Maybe it’s feeling stronger. Maybe it’s being more embodied. Whatever the instant results are, we usually don’t pay much attention to them. We move on with our day, and often don’t take a single moment to acknowledge the positive shifts that might have occurred. Yoga classes do have that moment, and it’s usually immediately following Shavasana, right before class ends....
Way back, as a teenager in the late eighties, I was so spiritually pumped up by, and physically invigorated by, aerobics class. Aerobics was sort of like my lower middle class, upstate New York, suburban version of a southern baptist church service, energizing to body and soul. Movement has become more sophisticated now, but at its root, it’s still about energy. Never forget – energy is at the root. It’s important to remember this about exercise – especially these days, where there are so many “fancy” options....
Yes, movement is movement, and we certainly have signature moves here at LET’S MOVE!, but there are three underlying signature components that are woven into every workout. They make a huge difference to our overall well-being, and I think they are worth highlighting: There’s no knit picking. Nothing ever has to be perfect. The only thing I want to see is a mind/body connection. I don’t care if you can’t point your toes much, and no worries if...
If you ask a little kid to imitate an old person, they stereotypically do two things: 1. they hunch forward, contracting their front body, and 2. they make their movements smaller and tighter. If you ask a little kid to imitate someone really cold, as if enduring a winter storm, they stereotypically do two things: 1. they hunch forward, contracting their front body, and 2. they make their movements smaller and tighter. The only difference...
Greetings from Narraganset, Rhode Island, the quintessential New England beach town I’ve been coming to pretty much every summer since I married Steve in 2004. Sometimes, our time here is just a day trip, but this year we’re doing a whole week. We have extended family here and it was time to get the kids together and really do it up. Like most people on vacation, my workout routine is thrown off. I’m in a...
When I was 18, I had started to teach aerobics classes at my local gym, and I remember telling my parents that I wanted to be a “career” aerobics instructor, and that I wasn’t too keen on going to college. My mom said, “That’s ridiculous,” and immediately denounced the notion. My Dad gave it a bit more thought but ultimately said, “That’d be like digging ditches all day, Ellen.” He was worried about the toll...
“Fit people like themselves better.” – Diana Vreeland I came across the aforementioned quote and I found it startling, but true. It reminded me of something I’ve heard Dr. Gabriel Cousens say again and again, “Love yourself enough to heal yourself.” Self-love is a major component to wellness. I’d say it’s the foundation – it’s where all of the goodness springs from down the road. Fitness gets abused when there is a lack of self-love. The...
Abs in, chest up, shoulders down…three simple cues that I pretty much say in every class. I also think them to myself periodically throughout the day. Getting the abs, chest and shoulders in their rightful places is the “big kahuna” of good posture. (And BTW, the abs, chest and shoulders are the biggest alignment scofflaws…very quick to get out of line.) Why should we care? Well, for one, it looks better. “Get good posture” is my #1 beauty...
