Mad Cool Fitness

inspiration to be your best, healthiest, and happiest self

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Just in time for summer - here's a 10 minute upper body workout!

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Motivational Monday – Memorial Day, May 27th, 2013

Motivational Monday – Memorial Day, May 27th, 2013 Happy Memorial Day! This is a day of remembrance for those who have fallen in service of this country. And for this reason, we should all take a moment to remember the original purpose and intent of the holiday. In addition to crazy retail ...

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There have been many steps in my journey, one that I’m still on, but Team In Training (TNT) of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, has played a major role in that journey. The TNT program took me from a person who was stumbling around in my 1986 L.A. Gear cross-trainers from the 7th grade, and trained me to successfully complete my first marathon almost 13 years ago in Dublin, Ireland, and my first triathlon in Los Angeles the following year. I would go on to do 6 more marathons (including two Boston Marathons and two New York City Marathons) and 11 additional triathlons, including a half Ironman. In many ways my passion for running and endurance sports, ignited by TNT, is what started me on the road to founding MAD COOL FITNESS.

I decided this was the year to bring everything full circle. It was time for me to not only take up a new fitness challenge, but I also wanted that challenge to mean something important and not only be about satisfying my own ego. To this end, I have signed up to do my first Ironman Triathlon, Lake Placid, NY July 28th, 2013 – 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike course, and 26.2 mile run, and raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Even though the L.A. Gear cross-trainers are long gone, I am still amazed and excited by the prospect of even attempting this event…and more than a little terrified!

The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society has a mission to find cures and more effective treatments for blood cancers. In addition to training people like me and helping them to discover their sleeping athlete, the TNT endurance training programs fund research to help find cures for these devastating cancers.

This is my Team In Training home page. Teams are made up of individuals. Without them, there is no team. So here’s where you come in - I need you on my team.

I will be raising funds to help find cures and better treatments for leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma, a disease to which my maternal grandmother succumbed many years ago.

By supporting my efforts with Team In Training, you will be helping to advance the research for cures, improving the quality of life for patients and their families, and also be bringing my personal fitness story full circle.

Thank you for your support!

Jennifer

Click here for more information, or to donate.

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Motivational Monday – May 20th, 2013

Last week, I had the opportunity to teach a MAD COOL CARDIO class, representing Athleta at the Fitness Magazine FitBlogNYC Blogger Meet and Tweet event. The ladies in my class were awesome! Such great energy. Folk gettin’ it in and having a great time, the sisterhood we create each week in our classes.

I was fortunate to meet a lot of amazing women at the event who we will highlight over the next few weeks. This week I would like to highlight The Get Fit Diva, Aliah, wearing the “You’re Looking at It.” t-shirt on my right. SHE is MAD COOL. She started The Get Fit Diva to chronicle her own wellness journey and provide information and inspiration to others. She wanted to get healthy for herself and her children.

Check out her story and blog. (http://thegetfitdiva.com/)

As I say, we are all on this wellness journey together and we all need support. We need to share the ups and downs and information so we are supported as we try to do this healthy thing EVERY SINGLE DAY.

Aliah, you look great and your spirit, attitude, and generosity are even greater. Thank you for your wonderful wellness efforts! Keep up the great work. Mad cool, girl, MAD COOL!!!

Jennifer and the MAD COOL FITNESS CREW.

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This upper body video is all about toning up those problem areas and making the most out of ten minutes of your day. Dedicate yourself to a little bit every day and you'll see results faster than you think!

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STEP AWAY FROM THAT CHICKEN WING! – Grilled Buffalo Chicken Recipe

Grilled chicken can be overdone, and there are only so many ways that you can prepare vegetables and whole grains without adding those delicious creamy sauces that we all grew up adoring. I mean, when I was a kid, the only way I would eat carrots was if they were slathered in ranch dressing. Of ...

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MAD COOL APPROVED: “Don’t Make Stress a Way of Life”

Stress can definitely be a motivator. There's no denying that.  A tiny bit of fire that gets your adrenaline going can help you push through a difficult project or somehow get your kids out of the door before the school bus gets there. But stress, which triggers the fight-or-flight hormone in ...

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MAD COOL APPROVED: “10-minute legs, bums and tums home workout”

There's always ten minutes to workout. Whether you're trying one of our MAD COOL workouts, which are also ten minutes, or you want to create your own, it's always a good idea to give yourself a few minutes each day to really focus on your strength, balance and flexibility - not to mention your ...

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MAD COOL APPROVED: “Foods that Cause Mucus Buildup”

The spring “plague” has been hitting everyone I know pretty hard. Every year, between allergies and weather-induced colds, it seems that everyone around me is blowing their nose and coughing up a lung all spring.

I am one of them. I get a little cold from being too run down, and then I keep the phlegm symptoms in my system for what seems like a lifetime, which can be a bit of a pain when I’m trying to lift weights or work. (Yesterday, for example, I almost dropped the bar on my chest while I tried to bench press, because  a cough came over me at the wrong time!  Talk about scary!) The first year it happened to me, the doctor put me on every type of antibiotic he could think of, assuming I had bronchitis.

Nothing helped.

At that point, I was living off of Ramen noodles, cereal and diet soda, with the occasional McDonald’s chicken nuggets or Subway sandwich. It was my freshman year of college, and I was living alone for the first time in my life, and failing terribly at my diet like you couldn’t believe. I slept a lot and took a lot of medicine during this time to fight the cough, but every morning I still woke up with a stuffy nose and a throat full of phlegm.

It’s funny to me now that during that whole time, no one even thought to point to my diet, which had no nutrients and a boatload of salt. Since I’ve been experiencing similar symptoms this year, I dug into the internet to research what could be making my body hold on. I found a great list describing which foods increase phlegm. I saw that I had been eating a lot of yogurt and meat, and that those as well as my coffee may have been  increasing phlegm production.

That’s not to say that you shouldn’t eat any of these foods, but if you’ve been plagued by spring phlegm, maybe it’s time to take a break from some of the items on this list:

Click here to see the list

MAD COOL FITNESS

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Here's this week's MAD COOL WORKOUT WEDNESDAY video! Give yourself ten minutes to try this cardio workout and start slimming down for the summer!

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Motivational Monday – May 6th, 2013

Spring is here (finally) and you are not alone if like most people you are trying to get ready for the summer. You are also not alone if you feel like you’re not getting anywhere in your weight loss journey. Before you throw your hands in the air and reach for a bucket of chicken wings, ...

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Getting a workout in during the week can seem like a big stress, because it requires putting on workout clothes, going to the gym and spending a whole hour doing cardio and strength-training exercises. Right? Well, not exactly. Being active and working out doesn’t have to be a huge commitment every single day – even just adding 10 minutes to your day can make a big difference in your health. If you dedicate those 10 minutes to walking up and down the stairs and doing push-ups and jumping jacks you will get in a great leg workout, and you’ll feel better for the rest of the day! (Plus, we have some MAD COOL WORKOUTS that are 10 minutes long, so you can always get some moving in with those)

Click here to see these 10 exercises that you can do at home, on your own time, to make sure that you’re getting the movement you need to stay healthy.

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If you haven't already, Like the Black Enterprise Facebook Page for a chance to win a MAD COOL FITNESS: Cardio Dance Party DVD! 

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Use this workout to get your arms in shape for the sunshine! Do a MAD COOL FITNESS workout every day to target every part of your body - all you need are a couple of weights and ten minutes!

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The MAD COOL FITNESS: CARDIO DANCE PARTY is an hour-long, dance-based routine that is designed for any fitness level. Starring real women from NYC!

Check it out on Amazon, or watch the trailer above for a sneak peak!

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The MAD COOL FITNESS GET IT GIRL GUIDE TO GETTING IT TOGETHER

  Do your work-out in the morning

  That means go to bed EARLY

  Pack your gym bag/workout stuff the night before- don’t find yourself stumbling around in the dark in the morning looking for your “good” Costco support bra only to discover it’s in the dirty laundry hamper

  If you miss a workout day – don’t stress.  Make it up later

  If you have a crappy workout – don’t stress.  Analyze what’s up…are you sleeping enough? Are you stressed? Was that workout too hard?

  Get some good beats on your ipod. Seriously, you’re gonna need Rihanna to get you through some of these workouts, because hey, sometimes YOU DON’T WANNA DO IT!

  Pack your lunch the night before

  This means going to the grocery store so you have FOOD

  Make sure to pack snacks – nuts, dried fruit, apples – so at 4pm when it’s time to celebrate so-and-so’s birthday at work with cupcakes you won’t be hungry, get distracted, and get off your program

  LAUGH –  You’re changing.  This is really cool, MAD COOL!!!!!