A man carrying a long ladder walked between me and my students midway through the very first aerobics class I ever taught at age 18. It was awkward to say the least! Since then, so many unplanned, quirky things have occurred during my classes, from power outages to chipmunks scurrying over people’s bodies while they were lying in shavasana. When I was working for Club Med in the nineties, someone sat down on their mat...
There are several health and fitness related questions I get asked repeatedly. Some of them, I’ve been asked about since day one of being a fit pro. Some of them, have popped up only recently. Here they are along with a quick answer: Is there an energy bar you recommend?I’m not a fan of 99.9percent of them. I try to avoid packaged food, and energy bars are packaged food. However, if I have to pick...
Did you know there’s a chain of gyms called Fitness For Life? (I think it’s the best name ever…says it all!) Well, fitness is for life, for a good, capable, high quality life. Mud doesn’t stop me from taking my two labrador retrievers on a hike. Sometimes I think it should, as the clean up required post-hike is urgent, physically demanding, a little gross, time consuming, and not fun! At any rate, here’s how it typically goes: I get the...
I’d like for you to do one of two things: 1. imagine balancing a book on your head, or 2. grab an actual book and place it on your head. If you can, do it right now and then walk around for a minute or two, or go from sitting to standing a couple of times, all while maintaining the position of the book. Notice anything? What you probably notice is your head is micro-aligning...
I just spent an afternoon with human resource directors from some of the biggest companies in the world. I listened in on parts of their conversation concerning their employees. The primary conundrum that each of these HR directors faced was how can they keep employees healthy and strong, and thus productive? Many of their employees work long hours and when their workday ends, family responsibilities begin. Basically, everyone’s busy and exhausted, so how does anyone...
It was a big “aha” moment when I realized movement is actual medicine. When we twist and bend our spines during exercise, we energize our core organs. Yes, our kidneys, liver, and spleen, to name a few, get space to circulate and a fresh batch of blood flow, helping them function more optionally. We’re trained to see medicine as some sort of substance that comes from a doctor’s order, a pill or sophisticated medical treatment we need our insurance...
Empowerment Is InevitableBecause it is so easy to feel disempowered today, I am obsessed with helping you stay empowered. I actually obsess over it! I’ve complied the five big ways we can use exercise to boost our sense of empowerment. These five things help us look, feel and function great, and the best part? We’re in charge. Yes, you and I can work on them ourselves, nothing standing in our way. Here they are: Almost all kinds...
Way back in 2000, I was living in Los Angeles and driving all over the city for work. Needless to say, I spent a lot of time in my car. My car was littered with coffee cups, takeout containers and granola bar wrappers. I think I consumed 80percent of my meals in that Jeep Cherokee! For my resolution that year, I averred: I’m not going to eat in the car. I was disgusted with myself and I thought this...
Featuring a dumbbell-less sculpt class on Let’s Move! has got me thinking about Robinson Crusoe. Yes, I’m talking about the novel published in 1719, which centers on the survival of a shipwrecked European man, who spent 28 years living on a desert island off the coast of Venezuela. The main character, Robinson Crusoe, is depicted in the fictional book, as well as in the subsequent movies based on the book, as being very strong, fit and able. He fights off exotic...
While getting my car serviced last week, I saw a “startling” set of tires that were just taken off a vehicle. These tires were unevenly worn out – obviously so, even to my untrained eye – they skewed so much to one side, they no longer had a cleanly circular shape. The service mechanic referred to their state as dangerous asymmetry. I thought, aha, that’s a great term…and it doesn’t just apply to tires. When it comes...
