If Work Isn’t Exercise, How Do We Make Exercise Work?

When talking fitness with my dad he asks, “What about physical labor for exercise?” He relishes the demands of construction, farming, and operating a plant nursery. In the information age a job that supports physical vitality is a rare “privilege.” Although the human body is designed for rigorous work, we have engineered our way out of it. As a fitness trainer I’m paid to devise artificial labor for the desk-bound. One colleague joked that his clients should carry him around � Continue reading →

Finding the Reset Button

Ah, the holidaze. Torqued schedules, buffets of indulgence, and hunting for the ideal sparkly accessories. As a Leo lady, I relish the full social calendar but need my reset workout more than ever. Beyond the din of festivities, the superego insists on punishing cardiovascular atonement. Yet as I settle into practice, a calm emerges. I submerge into down dog and crawl through standing poses. Squat. Vinyasa. Lunge. Handstand for an upside down. Backbend for an inside out. Lay down. Breathe. � Continue reading →

Yogis: Let’s Get Loaded

After over a decade of yoga and traditional fitness training, the kettlebell rocked me. It literally threw me off balance. I immediately realized how this training could improve my core and endurance. If you have never heard of kettlebells, they look like a cannonball with a handle and range from 4 to over 100lbs. The rigorous Russian Kettlebell Challenge offered an experience as profound as my yoga trainings. The advanced techniques of the RKC have reshaped my practice, my teaching, and � Continue reading →

Why I Never Promise Weight Loss

In fitness advertising I constantly hear claims about weight loss and promises to change your flawed parts. As a personal trainer I will never sell the possibility of weight loss. Let me explain why… I’m unable to: Diagnose sleep, hormonal, or food sensitivities that can stagnate a metabolism. Control your genetic expression. Manage your behavior in our obesogenic environment. I’m unwilling to: Prescribe a one-size-fits-all diet. Having studied nutrition in graduate school, I don’t believe in them. Lead punishing, � Continue reading →

Winter Hottie

In the darkest and coldest time of the year I’m thinking about heat. These days students brave the cool, damp weather and show up more stiff and lethargic than usual. To warm everybody up I could easily crank the thermostat but I feel like that would be cheating. Instead, I relish the challenge of the warm up. We all store energy in the body, often in the form of adipose tissue (a.k.a fat cells.) Personally, I have an abundant supply � Continue reading →

Kettlebell: An Ancient Tool for Modern Dis-ease

The personal computer offers a profound evolution in how we work, communicate and entertain ourselves. As technology advances our minds, our bodies appear to devolve back into the hunched-over shape of neanderthals. The modern office worker often suffers from tight hamstrings, restricted hips, weak low backs, rounded shoulders and achey necks. Furthermore, the lack of large motor movement contributes to de-conditioned cardiovascular systems and a loss of conscious connection to our physicality. Given our sedentary, mentally-taxing lives we desperately need � Continue reading →

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