Author Archives:

Guest Blog: Physical Activity and Cancer

Today’s guest blog is by Melanie Bowen, a Master’s student with a passion that stems from her grandmother’s cancer diagnosis. Her writing often highlights the great benefits of alternative nutritional, emotional, and physical treatments on those diagnosed with cancer or other serious illness. 

Surviving cancer and going through treatment is an
extraordinary accomplishment. While fitness doesn’t cure or cause cancer to
suddenly go into remission, it definitely plays an important role in overcoming the
disease. Even for those who have a particularly exhaustive treatment regimen,
there are a few safe exercises that can those during and after treatment.

Why Should You Exercise
Multiple studies have shown that eating right and exercising can prevent cancer
and help with weight control. It also increases your muscle strength, improves
body mass, uplifts mood, builds self-confidence and lessens fatigue. In addition,
staying healthy can reduce your risk for diabetes and heart disease. For cancer
patients, fitness activities are essential to keep yourself healthy and happy during
treatment, and build your body back up afterwards. Not to mention, exercise has
been linked to preventing many types of cancer. Keeping the body fit allows the
immune system to be in its prime to fight foreign bodies.

Types of Exercises for Cancer Survivors
While everyone has a different experience with cancer and some may feel
stronger than others, you can start with shorter and low impact exercises. It is important to consult your doctor before beginning any exercise
program; you want to ensure that your program fits your specific situation without
over exerting your body.

Resistance Training
Even at the beginner level, you can lift smaller weights to help build muscle.
Cancer treatment often leads to the loss of muscle and increase of fat. For those
who do have a higher fat ratio to muscle, resistance training is important because as
you build more muscles, you also burn fat and calories naturally. Resistance
training is also a low impact exercise perfect for those who can’t move too much
or take part in strenuous activities. Pilates is one type of resistance body
conditioning that helps flexibility, muscle strength and endurance. Furthermore,
Pilates can help spinal alignment and developing a strong core, which can in turn
improve coordination and balance; two things that can be especially beneficial
for cancer patients.

Yoga
Many cancer survivors start with yoga because patients can start out slow if they
have no experience, while other can try more advanced techniques. Whether
you are a beginner or expert, yoga is a low impact activity that also helps to
increase the  flexibility of your limbs. There are various work out
routines with yoga that involve breathing exercises and moving your body into
poses that can be done on the floor, standing or with a medicine ball
aid. Some patients also enjoy the fact that they can do it in the comfort of their
own home or go to a class and feed off of the energy and positivity of others.

Aerobics
Aerobic exercises include light jogging, swimming, walking and stretching
exercises. As long as you keep moving,
no matter how slow, you can continue to keep your heart rate up and reap the
benefits of releasing endorphins into the body, and toxins out.

Other Activities
It’s important to get back into a regular routine after cancer treatment. Fitness
should come naturally and not place too much stress on your body. Dancing,
bicycling, horseback riding, canoeing, martial arts and sports are other fun
options to get into during or after cancer treatment.

 

Check out Melanie’s blog here. 

Winter Time Running Blues

I can’t tell you how many of my Run Around Girl posts have started by saying, “I haven’t been running around too much lately” or “Running has definitely been on the back burner.” Well, I’m at risk for sounding like a broken record because, once again, running is not a priority for me. I’m proud to admit that I know it will never be a priority but rather a great skill I keep in my back pocket for those lovely days when you want a free workout in nice weather.

I’ve felt the effects of an NYC winter in my workouts. I only want to work out inside (duh! it’s been so cold), and since I don’t have a gym membership, running has gone away from my cardio routine. (By this point, I think it’s been 2 months since I’ve gone for a run.) In the super chilly bouts of winter I would contemplate going for a run if the sun started to peek out. Then I would have a vision of myself not-so-gracefully slipping on some left over ice, and I’d decide against it. It’s only recently that I’ve felt the sun getting a little bit warmer, felt the side walk getting a little less slick, seen more runners out and about and had my yearn for running return.

Now there’s some pressure. Since I haven’t run in about 2 months, I’m nervous! Will I be back to square one, struggling through a couple measly miles? And then there’s the route. Should it be an old favorite or something new to start me off on an explorative, adventurous track? I haven’t made a playlist for running since Fall, so those tunes are old news by now. There’s too much to think about. My gut tells me I should just go, but I want to love it.

Any advice? How are you picking yourself up out of that winter time cardio slump?

Posture: Defined

What is posture?
Posture is the position of your body in space. A simple definition, but one that means something different for every body. Our posture is a reflection of our daily lives and our pasts. Your job, lifestyle, how you sleep, traumatic experiences, mental or emotional stress and anatomical issues are all shown in how we stand. If you were to break it down, you could learn a lot about a person’s life and experiences from how they carry themselves.

Structural vs. Lifestyle Postural Deviations
Structural problems stem from how your musculoskeletal system is formed at birth and beyond. If you were born with loose ligaments that create hyper extended limbs, your posture will reflect where your body is compensating for that weakness. If you develop a skeletal problem that doesn’t necessarily affect how you stand or sit but instead causes pain, it may affect your posture by causing tension in certain muscles.
Lifestyle problems are caused by repetition of daily tasks and the “positions” that we assume every day. If you sit at a computer for work, you probably have an overstretched and slightly hunched back, a weak core and tight hip flexors. If you’re a hair stylist you probably have tight shoulders, neck, chest and upper arms. Even holding your kids, favoring your weight to one leg when you stand or lowering your head to look at your iPhone are all lifestyle activities that can, unfortunately, affect our posture to a detriment.
These two postural deviations can work in tandem to make your muscles and bones stressed and in pain. Lucky you, Pilates could be an amazing solution…

How Pilates helps your posture. 
Since Pilates works the body in a way that’s low stress on the joints and anatomically correct, your muscles can gain strength in a way that encourages anatomically ideal posture.  You can erase and gently correct much of what your anatomy and lifestyle have ingrained in how you stand, move and feel everyday.
So, drop down, give us The Hundred, and you’ll be standing straighter in no time!

Time Out! What Happens When You Take a Break from Exercise

A guest blog post from Plank client and science writer Jamie Sanders.

I made it a point to go to Pilates on January 2nd, just to make sure 2013 started off on the right side plank  foot. But on January 3rd I was sore. We’re talking may-need-to-move-out-of-my-walkup sore. But how could that be? I’m a pretty faithful Pilates participant, frequenting Plank’s morning classes and occasionally popping in on the weekends, so the level of my muscle fatigue didn’t match my regular exercise habits.

Of course over the holidays I’d been slacking. The only exercise I did consisted of wandering the aisles of the grocery store looking for the perfect holiday cookie ingredients. Even though I was extremely sore, I’m glad to admit that two weeks wasn’t enough time to unravel my exercise discipline, but what would happen if I were to take a longer break from working out?

couch-exercise

 

While there are differences for every body (and every level of fitness), the scientific community seems to agree that cardio fitness is the first thing to go. In fact, aerobic endurance begins to deteriorate in just a few weeks!

While your body generally operates under a “use it or lose it” approach, muscle loss isn’t likely to happen when you take a few weeks off. Some experts actually recommend occasional breaks in working out in order to give your body a chance to recover. If you’re a fitness fiend, taking a few days (or even a week) off may increase energy and reinvigorate your regular fitness routine.

Additionally, a decrease in bone density and metabolic speed may be seen in long-term fitness breaks, but skipping two weeks of gym time doesn’t seem to have a significant effect on these. Both are products of overall muscles loss and lack of aerobic fitness and seem to follow after prolonged periods of inactivity.

The good news? The holidays didn’t completely derail your fitness goals; it may have even provided the rest that your muscles needed. Just don’t neglect January too…

Agonist vs Antagonist

Your body, like most things in nature, strives for balance. Your muscles are arranged in pairs so this can happen naturally. Each muscle in a pair, when they’re in action, is named either the agonist or antagonist.
The agonist is the prime muscle working in a particular exercise or movement. It’s this muscle that creates an action.
The antagonist is the muscle that’s directly opposing the agonist muscle. As the agonist contracts, the antagonist relaxes.
A really good example of this is a bicep curl. You know ‘em.  You love (or maybe dread?) ‘em. When the bicep (front of the arm) engages, the tricep (back of the arm) relaxes. These two muscles are considered a muscle pair, but their roles are not always the same. When you do a tricep extension to contract the back of the arm, the bicep relaxes. In this situation the tricep is now the agonist and the bicep has become the antagonist. This may be confusing in theory, but if you try either one of these exercises, you’ll fully understand the concept just by feeling where the muscles are engaging and relaxing, respectively.
Image

Since muscles work in pairs, it’s important that each muscle’s strength and flexibility is balanced. Let’s think about the upper leg. If you have tight hamstrings and weak thighs, there is an imbalance going on. Many people believe that stretching, stretching, stretching, is one of the only things you can do to get a muscle to open, but strengthening the antagonist of the muscle that is tight will further release the tight muscle. In the case of the upper leg, strengthening the quad will allow for the hamstring to release tension. The burden of muscle action is more equally distributed between the muscle pair. The tight muscle can work less with the help of the newly strong antagonist.
Next time you’re in class think about this concept. Feel which muscle you’re working, and then think about which muscle is being released in opposition of the working muscle. You’ll be able to think about opening antagonist muscles instead of just powering through the agonist muscle burn.

The Run Around Girl Does Cali

Though running has been on the back burner since I’ve been dancing so much, I was proud that I “ran around” in a new location. I spent the holidays in Napa and San Francisco, both beautiful places where the weather isn’t always on your side. I told myself I would run a lot more than I did, but a couple days of rain and unfamiliar locations didn’t make the best recipe for success.

Even though I didn’t run in Napa, I fell in love with the Napa Running Company’s Christmas tree.

I'd like a pair of those golden sneaks, please!

I’d like a pair of those golden sneaks, please!

I finally ran on my third day in San Francisco, but before I even ventured outside I grappled with the usually minor details of run route and mileage. I knew that I wanted to run in the 3-5 mile range, but with the notorious San Fran hills and little knowledge of the area I really didn’t know what I was getting myself into.

I settled on going west from the apartment and decided to figure it out along the way. “Figuring it out along the way” turned into 3 miles, some of which were the most grueling hills I’ve ever encountered. I’ve never scaled hills like that walking before, let alone running.

I ran through Haight-Ashbury (known as the hippie neighborhood) to the edge of Golden Gate Park and back on another street in the same neighborhood that led me to Buena Vista Park. I heard while I was in San Fran that Buena Vista Park was where many sought refuge during the 1989 earthquake because of the park’s natural height.

There was some serious grunting and panting going on when I
conquered this puppy.

This was my view from the top of the park (and by park I mean monstrous hill that they turned into a park.)

A buena vista from Buena Vista.

A buena vista from Buena Vista.

On my way down from Buena Vista Park I descended Alpine Street. You can only imagine the angle of this road for it to earn a name like that in San Fran. Needless to say I walked that block.

This run was one of the hardest workouts I’ve ever done, but I certainly felt accomplished. I was bothered by shin splints a couple hours later, but I’m confident that even if I hadn’t run I would have shin splints just from walking around. The citizens of San Francisco all must have well developed lower legs and super cardio endurance.

It was a great final run of 2012. Can’t wait to see where I run around in 2013!

Happy New Year, everyone!

The Run Around Girl

Using the Pilates Principles To Make and Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions

I often turn to the Pilates principles in other instances of my life besides my Pilates practice. They adapt well to almost any situation. In the instance of New Year’s Resolutions, the Principles can help you create and accomplish your goals.

Precision
Be specific with the goals/resolutions you create. When you do, you  isolate what’s important to you and what you really want to accomplish.
Flow
Make the resolution something that will fit easily into your daily life. Of course sticking to a resolution and accomplishing it is no small task, but trying to reach this goal shouldn’t be so drastic that you change your entire life. You’ll find that what you aim for is more attainable if you make little tweaks rather than an overhaul.
Concentrate
This means focus! Once your resolutions are in place, make them something you give your attention to. There will be many distractions that throw you and your resolution plans off course, but concentrating on the small tasks that will ultimately help you reach your larger goal is a great way to see the big picture and then find yourself standing there.
Control
Because these distractions are bound to head your way, use control to push them away. In a time where we all say “yes” too much and spread ourselves too thin, try controlling your time, schedule, limits, etc.
Centering
While you may not be the center of THE universe, you are certainly the center of your own. So make sure this rings true with your New Year’s resolutions. When you tend to go astray (from your resolutions or taking time for yourself) always try to find your center by making you your center again. Do this any number of ways: revisiting your resolution goals, a fitness class that frees your mind, a social venting time with a good friend, a relaxing night in. Whatever you need to connect with your sense of self.
Breath
When the going gets tough while trying to accomplish your resolutions, take a deep breath and reevaluate. If you go go go all the time you will likely get burned out or lose sight of what you’re working towards.
We at Plank hope your New Year is fruitful and healthful! Let us know how we can help you reach your goals.

Holiday Workout Playlist

Why not bring the holidays into your next work out?
 
I will admit that this playlist is full of pop-y, borderline obnoxious songs, but they all have a nice beat that would work well for any kind of fitness activity. I thought about running or using the elliptical while making it. If I’m forgetting any upbeat holiday songs that you think would have a place here, please let me know!
 
1. Winter Wonderland by Rod Stewart (A nice beat for a warm up or to get your stride.)
 
2. My Only Wish (This Year) by Britney Spears (She’s been making a comeback, so why not include her?)
 
3. Jingle Bell Rock by Bobby Helms (Remember the scene from Mean Girls?)
 
4. Drummer Boy by Justin Beiber (He and Busta take this usually mello song up a few notches.)
 
5. Rocking Around the Christmas Tree by Brenda Lee (Classic, and always reminds me of Home Alone.)
 
6. Let It Snow by Glee Cast (Jazzy, but really upbeat.)
 
7. All I Want For Christmas Is You by Mariah Carey (If you go with the beat, you’ll move like a maniac.)
 
8. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays by *Nsync (Reminds me of Christmas as a middle schooler.)
 
9. Run Rudolph Run by Cee Lo Green (Gotta love this guy’s voice.)
 
10. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas by Tyler Hilton (Cool down with this peaceful acoustic version.)
 
Enjoy! Have a festive workout!
 

Beat the Winter-Time Blues

Winter can be a cozy, snuggly season where you find warmth and comfort, or it can transform you into a seasonally affected, slightly depressive person who’s constantly down in the dumps. Here are some ways to stay cheery and bright all winter long.

Exercise
With the shortened daily hours, waking up early to exercise pre-work or staying energized post-work is a tough thing to do. Add in some colder temperatures at those times and you have a recipe for blowing off your workouts.
  • Wake up anyway. It’s hard to wake up in what feels like the dark of night, but try to make yourself do it anyway. You’ll feel more awake and energized for your whole day and will be productive in your personal life after work.
  • Warmth and shine. If you’re awake, but the cold and darkness still deter you, stock up on some warm and reflective winter workout gear. Think of the money spent as an investment to your health. Whether you stay warm walking to a class or are able to block the wind during a run, you’ll stay on your track to good health.
  • Penciled in. Make appointments to exercise. If you like going to classes, schedule them ahead of time and put them in your calendar. Stick to them like an appointment where your presence is expected. If you enjoy going to the gym or exercising outside on your own time, still schedule it into your calendar and commit to your activity.
Another plus of exercise in the wintertime: you’ll produce endorphins to keep you happy and burn calories to keep you slim.
Eat right
Just because it’s cold doesn’t mean you always have to eat comfort foods like potatoes or warm desserts for several months straight. Try to incorporate just as many veggies into your winter time meals as you would in the summer time. Here are some quick ideas:
  • Wilted winter green salad with squash. A salad but seasonal and filling.
  • Veggie soups. Warming and nutritious.
  • Canned pumpkin. Stir some (with spices!) into oatmeal or a blended juice. You can’t help but feel seasonal.
  • Use a grill pan to cook your veggies and proteins. You’ll feel like it’s summer time all year round.
Your body will feel better when you’re eating right, and you won’t be weighed down by heavy holiday foods.
Make plans.
When night time starts at 5pm or earlier, it’s easy to get sleepy and plant your butt on the couch ASAP.
  • Make plans with friends for after work so the night time hours don’t seem so depressing.
  • Make those plans super charged by exercising together or trying a new healthy restaurant.
Get into the light.
Even if it’s brisk outside, get in the sun. Feel it on your face and take some deep breaths of cold air.
The most important thing to remember in a time when the season and daylight can affect you is that you have control of your mood. Stay positive and create the positive mood you’d like to be in!
Stay warm!

Food Labels Decoded

Food labels consciously and subconsciously guide our food purchasing behaviors. But it turns out there’s much more to the food label lingo then one would think. Most consumers have an understanding of what “healthy” means, but did you know that this word (and other words that seem simple and inherent) must actually meet regulations that are determined by the FDA? Here are some of my favorites, as seen in Understanding Normal and Clinical Nutrition.

Free
(ex) “fat free” cookie
Free, in this sense, doesn’t necessarily mean the absence of something, but rather “nutritionally trivial.” For example, there may be a bit of fat in foods that are “fat free,” but in comparison to other foods and how your body processes it, it makes no difference. But in another regard, “trans-fat free” foods still may have a negligible about of trans-fat in the serving. So, if you eat many servings of a food that’s “trans-fat free” you may be getting more than a healthy amount of trans-fats in your diet.

Good Source Of
(ex) provides a “good source of” fiber
This food has between “10 and 19% of the daily value…per serving.”

Healthy
(ex) a “healthy” choice food
This food is low in fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium. It contains at least 10% of the daily value for vitamin A, vitamin C, iron, calcium, protein or fiber. Notice the “or” in this. A food doesn’t necessarily have to have all of these items to be healthy. That’s why varying the “healthy” foods you eat will help you create a well rounded diet that’s nutritionally adequate.

Light or Lite
(ex) light salad dressing
This food has one third fewer calories and 50% less fat and sodium than a comparison food.

Organic
(ex) “organic” bread
For a food to be deemed organic, atleast 95% of the ingredients within that food should be grown and processed in a way that fits USDA’s regulations. All I’m saying is, 95% isn’t 100%. See if you can eat organic, unprocessed food.

Your best bet? Read ingredients and nutrition facts to see what your food is really comprised of. If your food doesn’t have a nutrition label because it’s whole, natural, raw and organic, even better!