Raise your hand if you’ve ever had a bad day and “treated yourself” to sugary or high-fat processed food.
 
Pizza … ice cream … chips … or whatever other food falls into your “self-soothing” category.
 
Stress eating is REAL.
 
BUT … too much stress eating will derail your results. And even more importantly, it’s not good for your health.
 
It's definitely a pattern I see quite a bit. 
 
They'll be feeling GREAT and amazing making progress, but then BOOM!
 
They’ll get hammered by a busy time at work, a sleepless night, or a super hectic week.
 
And if they aren’t prepared ahead of time, the stress flood gates open – and it’s stress-eating central!
 
I’ve got a quick rundown of why this matters – and what to do about it.
 
You will probably recognize this stress eating cycle:
 
You get stressed … your cortisol levels rise ... your metabolism...

A little over a year ago, something happened that stalled a LOT of people’s results.
 
Yes, it had to do with the lockdown …. but I’m not talking about all the stress-related eating/cooking/baking that happened.
 
The “something” is a LACK OF DAILY MOVEMENT.
 
Most of us moved a lot less (and maybe still are). We walked less, stood less, and sometimes even showered less (lol).
 
All of this regular daily movement is a surprising factor in 1) getting results, 2) keeping those results coming, and 3) maintaining your results. It is responsible for burning a significant amount of fuel each day!
 
I’ve got some solutions in this email.
 
First, some background: When it comes to your calorie burn, it can be broken down into three major categories.
 

• BMR (basal metabolic rate) – the calories your body burns at rest, to keep you alive. This makes up about 60%-70% of your total daily burn.
• TEF (thermic effect of food)...

If you are a regular to my classes and/or read my blog articles you know I stress the importance of building balance in the body. But what does that mean?

There is a constant play of stability and mobility within our bodies. Certain areas in our body function best when strong and stable (stability) and other areas of the body function best with more range of motion (mobility).

Pilates on the apparatus (reformer, stability chair, tower, barrel, plus TRX) lays the foundation to build a highly functional body by uniquely building that balance of stability and mobility. A functional body has even strength in the muscles combined with proper flexibility of the joints.

Pilates apparatus exercises develop healthy balanced force-couple muscle relationships. Force-couple refers to the dynamic play of two opposing muscle groups, especially around a joint.

For an example: say your quadriceps (front of thigh muscles) are super tight and strong, and yet your hamstrings (back of thigh muscles)...

When it comes to your core muscles, one group often gets overlooked … until it gets to be a problem!
 
That’s because when we think of our core, we usually only think of the muscles that wrap around our body’s midsection.
 
But did you know that your pelvic floor muscles are the FOUNDATION for your core?
 
They work very hard to support you – as well as all the organs that are inside your pelvic region.
 
Keeping those muscles strong and fit can make a big difference in your body’s overall stability, as well as your digestive and reproductive organs. 
 
This doesn’t just apply to women, BTW – men also benefit from having strong pelvic floor muscles. Strong pelvic floor muscles help with urinary and bowel control as well as sexual function.
 
Many things can affect your pelvic floor muscles, including pregnancy, obesity, constipation, surgery and/or radiation, and just getting older.
 
3 Exercises For Your Pelvic...

An out-of-balance core can make it a LOT harder for you to reach your fitness and strength goals.
 
Before I get into the hows & whys, picture this:
 
Imagine your core is like a flexible piece of tubing made of dozens of intertwining muscles. One of its many jobs is to support your torso and protect your spine as it powers your arms and legs, keeping everything stable, balanced, and strong.
 
Now imagine you bend that tube and leave it for a few hours on a chair. Eventually, some parts of the tube get tighter and others get stretched out – resulting in weakness and imbalance.
 
Keep that scenario in mind! Because we’re going to talk about…
 
SQUATS
 
Imagine putting a barbell on the upper back of the tube that’s been sitting all day.
 
Because it’s out of balance, with the muscles in the front tighter than the back, all those intertwining muscles can’t provide as much assistance and stabilization as they normally would.
...

Why I love Pilates mat:

Practicing Pilates mat helps build a strong, balanced body inside and out, while increasing flexibility through dynamic stretching movements.

• Inside: deep core muscles and stabilizers help keep the body optimally supported.
• Outside: our large, powerful prime movers are challenged making us stronger and more capable to function in our day to day activities and athletic pursuits. 

As you progress in your practice you will notice improvements in breathing, focus, stress management, and body awareness.

Pilates mat is perfect for beginners because you only need your own body, a mat, and some floor space to start. And perhaps investing in a light set of hand weights down the road.

My Pilates Fit classes take all that is good with classical Pilates and put a functional fitness training twist to the class. Adding light hand weights and/or a long resistance band to some of the exercises challenge our entire musculoskeletal system to improve...

Given that we are seeing rising numbers of those affected with COVID, it often feels like this whole situation is beyond our control. I don't know about you, but lately I have felt overwhelmed with the amount of unknowns. I thought to write an article about the tiny bit we can control. 

We can try to boost our immune system by eating healthy foods, especially a diet rich with a colourful variety of fruits and vegetables.

Another great way to boost our immune system is through exercising with moderate intensity. This is one of the main reasons I am so passionate about teaching healthy movements for our bodies and minds (mental health).

Studies show exercise:

• Increases blood flow which allows the cells and substances of the immune system to move through the body freely and do their job efficiently
• Strengthens antibodies that help fight infection by causing change in our white blood cells. WBCs are the body's immune system cells that fight...

Exactly what is strength training? Strength training is any planned exercise that challenges your muscles by adding load (weight) to your movements.

By challenging your muscular system you slowly and gradually built your lean muscle mass. As an added bonus you also strengthen your ligaments and tendons that surround your joints. 

Why is this important? Strength training lays the foundation to building a highly functional body. In the end this helps your body perform optimally so that it eases the demands on the body when you go about your daily activities. 

One of the cool side effects of exercising consistently is your body functions better even at the cellular level. That is why after a couple of weeks of exercising, you gain more energy. Amazing that when you exercise you are even making your cells stronger and more efficient! 

Other Benefits of Strength Training:

• Increases in muscle mass increase metabolism, meaning our bodies are able to...

1) Running is Good for Your Heart

Running doesn’t just strengthen your heart muscle, but also improves your entire circulatory system by making the lining of your blood vessels more flexible. When your blood vessels are more flexible the heart doesn’t have to work so hard to pump blood throughout your body. Another bonus is blood vessels of a fit person tend to accumulate less plaque than those of an unfit person, leading to a much lower risk of a heart attack or stroke.

2) Running Boosts Your Mood

When you run, your brain pumps out a feel-good hormone called endorphins. Endorphins are natural pain killers. The cool thing is these endorphins don’t just last during your run, but they also stay in your body for hours after, helping to boost your mood throughout the day.

3) Running Strengthens Your Bones and Joints

A recent study showed that runners were half as likely to suffer from knee osteoarthritis compared with walkers. The reason for this is every time your...

I taught this strength circuit three times this week: to the Wednesday evening crew, Thursday morning Older Adult 55+ crew, and the Friday morning crew. All thought it was pretty intense...however my Older Adults crew didn't complain too much. I promised my clients I would also be tortured by it Friday afternoon. I had so much fun I decided to film myself to share :)

Being my first time filming myself performing a workout, I realize after the fact that horizontal filming is the way to go (not vertical as most of this footage is) and definitely some of my camera angles need improvement, a bit too much of the bright ceiling light. Oops!

I did not make all my clients work as hard as the video shows...well except for my client Agnes! All exercises can be modified. The wonderful thing about small group personal training is I tailor the exercise to suit each client to be successful and safe in their joints. 

The workout:

Warm-up

5min dynamic stretches and...