Get Fit Today, Why Weight For Tomorrow?

Fitness Junky. Exercise Physiologist. Masters of Exercise Science Graduate. Certified Personal Trainer. Tea Drinker. Candle Hoarder. Pun Lover. The Most Extroverted Introvert You'll Ever Meet.

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Dear Women: Stop being afraid to get “bulky” if you lift heavy weights

If I had a dollar for every time I heard a woman say that they don’t want to increase in the amount of weight they are lifting because they don’t want to get bulky, I’d have my college loans paid off in full. This is a completely irrational fear and I’m about to break it down for you as to why you should SQUASH this fear.

The female and male bodies obviously differ drastically anatomically AND physiologically. The driving force behind why many men pack on muscle, have biceps on their biceps, and can clean their clothes on their washboard abs, is because of the hormone testosterone. Believe it or not, women also have testosterone present in their bodies as well, just in much less amounts than their male counterparts. In women, testosterone is produced by the ovaries and adrenal glands, converting to the female sex hormone oestradiol in the ovaries.

If women begin supplementing with external sources of testosterone, of course they are going to “get bulky” and appear bigger. Those women who compete in body building competitions likely are using supplemental nutrition to sculpt their bodies to look the way they do. If you are fueling your body in an adequate way, are expending more calories than you are taking in, and lifting heavy weights, this will facilitate the fat loss process and make your muscles STRONGER. Having stronger muscles will help you with every day activities such as cleaning your house, playing with your kids, and carrying groceries. Having stronger muscles will help to prevent injuries associated with weakness, such as back pain.

Women are also more prone to certain injuries than men are; with that being said, how can we prevent this injuries? You guessed it – strength training! For example, the prevalence of ACL tears is much higher in women than it is in men. This is mainly due to the predisposition of a wider “Q-angle”, or hip angle, in women. The female pelvis is built to be wider than a male pelvis for child bearing purposes. This anatomical structure of the hip joint causes the knees to “knock” towards each other. The ACL prevents the tibia (the shin bone) from shifting anteriorly in relation to the femur. This inward angle of the knee joint in combination with quick deceleration or planting of the foot with twisting of the knee (as in changing direction), causes the ligament to tear. When considering the role of the surrounding muscles, people with ACL tears generally are “quad-dominant” and lack the hamstring strength to aid in deceleration. ACL tear prevention programs focus on balancing the hamstring/quad ratio and therefore put the knee at less risk for withstanding this injury. With all of this being said, since women are anatomically more prone to this injury, why wouldn’t you want to strengthen the surrounding musculature in order to prevent it?

TAKE HOME POINT: LIFT HEAVY WEIGHTS, EAT GOOD FOOD, BE A BADASS WOMAN AND GET STRONGER

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“I’m not a morning person at all” - says the morning person who has never tried to be a morning person

In high school, my friend used to pick me up from school every morning. More often than not, I would open my eyes in the morning and find her in my bedroom, towering over me telling me to get the F out of bed and get in her car. Apparently I had become exceptionally good at snoozing my 6 alarms and enjoying my last few minutes of beauty rest.

I never considered myself a morning person. I mean once I got up and moving I could turn into a morning person but the thought of leaving my warm, cozy bed any earlier than 7 AM made me want to gouge my eyeballs out. In graduate school, I became riddled with anxiety and hated even MORE to get out of bed in the morning. So, I did something about it. I read a book.

"The Miracle Morning" by Hal Elrod. Get it. Read it. Read it again. And do every little thing it tells you to do. I PROMISE you it will change your life and your inability to be a morning person. The main tips I've taken from this book that I continue to use everyday are as follows:

Charge your phone across your room. This way if you wake up in the middle of the night you aren't tempted to light up your excessively bright screen, which is likely to tempt you into scrolling through social media and answering text messages.

Set your alarm on said charged phone across the room (or alarm clock). This forces you to get up when it goes off and shut it off.

While you're up, turn your light on. Oh! The agony of the dreaded light switch! After your eyes have adjusted, drink a glass of water (recommended you leave one on your dresser before bed).

Immediately brush your teeth and wash your face. I swear, doing this will wake you up and now you'll actually realize you're awake and can do other tasks that require brainpower.

The book also recommends meditation, journaling, affirmations, vision board, and exercise as part of the morning routine. I personally follow the full "Miracle Morning" routine 3 days a week but I do the mindless acts I listed above daily. The exercise I incorporate in the morning is 10 minutes of yoga, and then I get my normal cardio and strength training in later on that day.

But seriously. Before you go to bed at night, say to yourself "tomorrow I will wake up energized". And then set your alarm earlier than you normally would. I usually set mine 30-60 min earlier. My mornings have drastically improved since then and now it's just a normal routine for me. Take your day by the horns and start your miracle morning journey tomorrow morning!

For more information, I highly recommend purchasing Hal Elrod's book. It will change your life.

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Why you should stop doing Russian Twists

Russian Twists. You see people performing them all the time - it’s likely you’ve even done them yourself. Maybe this exercise is part of your everyday routine, as it once was part of mine before I realized it was putting my spine at terrible risk of injury. The exercise is performed with the individual resting on their tailbone, hips flexed, with a medicine ball being held just outside one’s hips. While maintaining this position, the individual rotates the spine so the ball is now on the other side of the body. This continues for a certain number of repetitions, or time frame (i.e. 30 seconds). 

It is likely that you have heard of the term disc herniation - a common injury that occurs through repetitive flexion exercises where the intervertebral disc shifts anteriorly and compresses on the surrounding nerves. With this being said, any type of repetitive spinal flexion is going to put your discs in danger. This spinal flexion in combination of spinal rotation is a recipe for disaster. The lumbar (lower) spine is not meant to rotate, so putting this much stress on the lumbar spine while it is already in a flexed position increases the potential for injury to occur. 

All things considered, while Russian Twists are great for the abdominal musculature, I wouldn’t say the benefits outweigh the risks with this exercise. 

What you can do instead: Anti-movement exercises: Exercises such as planks and the Pallof Press all work the muscles that surround the spine. The purpose of these exercises is to avoid the forces of gravity or an external resistance by tightening up the torso stabilizers. This puts far less stress on the spine and activates the muscles that you’re trying to target with Russian Twists and other spinal flexion/rotation/extension exercises. 

Of course, Russian Twists CAN be part of your exercise program if done with proper form. A modification to the exercise can be to hold the V-formation and slowly bring the arms side to side with the medicine ball while avoiding lumbar rotation. This way, the thoracic spine is rotating (as it is made to do), and you’re obliques are still getting a workout without putting the lumbar spine in harm’s way. 

Bottom line: anti-movement exercises are a great addition to any exercise program and I highly highly highly recommend replacing some of your “ab exercises” with exercises such as plank variations and the Pallof press. 

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“Just as a healthy immune system and healthy constitution protects your body against hazardous viruses and bacteria, mental immunity creates a healthy disposition of the mind so that it will be less susceptible to negative thoughts and feelings... One must develop the mind over time and cultivate mental immunity.”

The Dalai Lama. From “The Book of Joy”.

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Join me!

I've toyed with the idea of creating a fitness blog for a while now. Here's a little rundown of what I'm all about: I have my Bachelors and Masters degrees in Exercise Science, my personal training certification through the National Strength & Conditioning Association, am currently employed as a part-time Exercise Physiologist and a Physical Therapy Aide, and am actively studying to sit for my Registered Clinical Exercise Physiologist exam (RCEP). I'm an avid personal growth/"self-help" book reader, am oddly obsessed with candles and all things that smell-good, and have an embarrassing addiction to loose leaf tea. Reading that last sentence, you'd think I'd be a single 40 year old cat lady, but I'm actually 23 years old and still live in my parent's ranch. Did I mention as I type this I'm wearing a bath robe and moccasins?

The main reason I wanted to start a blog is to inspire and motivate those who feel like they have no hope in starting an exercise program. I currently work with an obese population and the vast majority of them have never exercised in their life. The most exercise most of them get is walking around a grocery store or to their car from their house. It seems virtually impossible to get these people to believe in themselves and find the desire to get their bodies moving. After months and even weeks, most (if not all) of the patients begin to fall into a fitness routine and are incredibly grateful for our constant support, positivity, and education we provide them week to week.

I created this blog not only to light a fire under all of our butts (yes, I said OUR, not YOUR), but also to give educational tidbits and links to - I'm gonna say it, EVIDENCE-BASED - research that goes into the science of exercise. It's nauseating to hear women constantly stating that they are afraid to lift heavier because they don't want to get bulky. It is absolutely bananas to state that you don't have 7 minutes in your busy schedule to crank out a workout. Orthopedic limitations? Special populations? I am here to provide modifications to fit every individual's needs. I have heard every excuse under the sun as to why people think that they can't workout, and my goal is to give you every reason under the sun to prove that you CAN.

So my question to you is this; if you can start moving today, Why Weight For Tomorrow?

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Welcome!

Welcome to my fitness blog! To begin, let me start by saying if you are between the ages of 0 and 110 years old, you will benefit from exercise. “Exercise” doesn’t need to mean running on the treadmill, back squatting 200+ lbs, or flipping tires while yelling at the top of your lungs. Exercise, by definition is, “a type of physical activity consisting of planned, structured, and repetitive bodily movement done to improve and/or maintain one or more components of physical fitness” (American College of Sports Medicine). In laymen’s terms, that means purposely going out of your way to move more than you normally do. Go for a light walk. Take the stairs instead of the elevator, and when you get to the top, why not do it again? Waiting for the longest microwave minute to pass by? Do a couple squats, heel raises, or simply balance on one leg. If exercise is already a part of your every day life, OR you are a complete newbie to the fitness world, this blog will give you motivation, inspiration, and education on a topic that many times scares the living hell out of people. Tie up your laces, fix your pony tail (man-buns included), and get ready to settle in to a brand new lifestyle.