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The many levels of strength
Years ago, when I was starting out in the fitness industry as a trainer, I considered working at a gym that required that all trainers complete a standardized fitness test every six months. There were many reasons I didn’t end up working there (none of which had to do with me being unable to meet those requirements) but I remember thinking that it was ridiculous that every trainer—both men and women in a wide age range—had to meet the same blanket fitness requirements to be considered qualified to train clients. A person who has achieved a certain level of strength and endurance does not magically become a good trainer. Experience,…
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Simple ways to move more
Obviously I am a huge proponent of setting aside time to work out. Whether its cardio or strength work, an hour a day combined would be ideal! However in this day and age, it’s not feasible for so many of us. Even if you can only squeeze in a workout a couple of days a week, there are plenty of other ways to stay active by doing a little bit at a time. Just as small changes add up nutritionally, doing brief snippets of exercise more consistently will keep you stronger and fitter, more balanced and flexible. I can’t stress consistency enough! You will get so much more out of…
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The Healing Table
It was a Friday morning and I woke up alone. My beloved husband had passed away the afternoon before at the University of Washington Medical Center and the friend who had spent Thursday night with me left for work before I awoke. My clients were canceled, and it was the first day of the rest of my new life that I didn’t ask for and certainly didn’t want. I didn’t know what to do. The house was so silent, empty and awfully lonely. I am not surprised that as I have always done in times of stress and turmoil, I turned to exercise. I left the house and started walking…
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Simple nutrition tricks for weight loss
If you’re like most people, you want to lose weight. It’s a pretty normal desire, and one that is simultaneously motivating and debilitating. We’re surrounded by endless sources of information that tell us to eat this not that, this study says this, this study says that, if you just do this you’ll lose that, if you don’t do this you won’t lose that. It’s confusing and wearying yet each time another study or article catches our eye, we hope that this will be the one that has that magic piece of information that will make the weight loss happen, or happen quicker, or happen easier. Weight loss is something you…
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Wearable devices connect community through exercise
The other day when I hit my step goal, my accomplishment was cheered by quite a few of my clients and friends. Yet no one was waiting at the end of a finish line for me to step across. It all occurred virtually, because we’re all owners of a Fitbit product, and consequently part of our own little connected fitness community. Some of us don’t tend to have any problems getting out and exercising. In my case, because of my work, I’ve made it an integral part of my daily routine. Yet most of us struggle to carve out time and energy to exercise regularly and for a long enough…
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This Too Shall Pass
Happy New Year to our Edmonds community and readers of this column! I’m glad to be back in the Edmonds Fitness Corner. It’s been about six months since my column has appeared for My Edmonds News. Some of you may remember that I lost my husband Coach Dan Potts last January, and I wrote last February about exercising through grief. Subsequently, last year went on to be the most difficult of my life, and although I religiously exercised my way through it, there were plenty of other parts of my life that fell by the wayside, including writing. It felt like I barely kept my head above water. They say…
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Get Strong, Stay Strong
Everyone needs to strength train. It’s the single most important component in physical conditioning. Even cardiovascular exercise is simply not as crucial in developing and maintaining long-term health and well-being. I’m not advocating giving up walking, running or any other form of cardio to lift weights instead. A balance is ideal. But even in this day and age, with endless knowledge available at our fingertips, the amount of people who don’t strength train is staggering! Not only does adding muscle equate to more strength for navigating daily life, muscle also burns more calories than fat, boosting your metabolism on a daily basis for weight loss. Being stronger supports your functionality…
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Injury Management
Last week I injured my heel. I have to yet to figure out how, but the pain manifested on my daily walk. Forced to cease walking for almost a week, I had plenty of time to contemplate injury management in general and how difficult it can be to accept an injury and support your body in recovering. As a trainer I am well-versed in how to advise clients on managing an injury. But it can be so frustrating to deal with that it’s difficult to remember that some (or all) aspects of the exercise program will have to shift until the injury is healed. I’m a trainer, but I am…
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Got Mindset?
There is only one thing that stands between getting fit and healthy and not getting fit and healthy: making up your mind. After fifteen years as a trainer and coach, I can assure you that I am not exaggerating the importance of your mindset. It’s the crucial foundation of every fitness-related accomplishment. Once you’ve decided—and I mean really decided—to make changes in your life, it will happen. The motivation comes from making that decision.
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A Guide To Exercising Through Grief
Recently I lost my husband and my entire life changed in an instant. I am struggling to make sense of how my life looks and feels on a daily basis, and I wonder every day about the future that stretches ahead of me like a desolate empty road. That’s what it feels like, anyway. They keep telling me only time will heal this heartache. In the meantime, I am supposed to go on living somehow. Besides the love and support of my family and friends, there are only two things keeping me grounded and functioning: working and exercising. In a crisis, the energy to exercise may disappear entirely. People have…
