Mother and daughter rock the SheRox triathlon!

Forget lazy summer days, Performance Fitness Boot Campers were all about hard core fitness this summer. Here’s what some of the women of boot camp did on their summer vacations:

• Elizabeth (Marti) Keegan, Kathy and Sarah Saltz and Alicia Kopp participated in the Philly Sprint Triathlon in June. The 1st triathlon for all 3!
• Kathy and Sarah Saltz did the She Rox Triathlon last month and placed 14 and 7 respectively in their divisions.
• Alicia Kopp did several 5K races and took first place in her division in one of the South Ardmore Park Races.
• Instructor, Andrea Alfonsi, did her first Half Marathon in June at the San Diego Rock and Roll Marathon.
• Franzi Petermann, Pilates client, joined boot camp to ramp up her training for the Dragonboat World Championships, and is now in Hungary with her team.

Way to go, ladies! Our next challenge is the Main Line 5K on September 26th. Who else is in? Contact me to join our team. Guys, you’re invited too.

Karen Vento joined the Your Best Body Challenge to get in better shape. Not only did she accomplish that goal but she was our winner for Fitness Transformation.  Karen improved her overall fitness level, which was measured with max push-up and sit up tests as well as a a jump rope test, by 72%! She also lost 10 pounds to boot!

Karen has continued with classes and is truly on her way to achieving her best body ever.

Congratulations, Karen!

Boot Campers, Kathy Saltz and Alicia Kopp, at the Philly Triathlon

Our boot campers ROCKED the sprint version of the Philly Tri on Saturday, June 26th!

Marti Keegan, Sarah Saltz  and  Kerri Heppen formed “The Boot Camp Hotties” while Alicia Kopp rode and ran for “The Performance Fitness Bear Crawlers”. The teams finished with times of 2:11:34 and 1:45:56 respectively.

Kathy Saltz distinguished herself by doing all 3 events of the triathlon! Her overall time was 1:49:03, placing her at number 13 out of 45 in her division.

Back in May Kathy told me that boot camp gave her the endurance, strength and confidence to do the event. She said she never would have considered doing a triathlon in her pre-boot camp days.

Congratulations to ALL our boot camp hotties on their hard work and achievements!

Alicia Kopp (pictured above) was our winner for body transformation, she decreased her body fat by 13%. Karen Vento won for fitness, improving her overall fitness by 72%. Pam Handfield received honorable mention and Fionnuala McBrearty was our overall winner.

Over $500 in prizes were awarded to our winners and win donated $125 to charity.

Look for a new and improved, co-ed 12-Week Your Best Body Challenge in 2011.

Alicia decreased her body fat by 13% in 8 weeks!

2nd Annual Memorial Day Co-ed Boot Camp

Memorial Day Boot Camp was a huge success! Look for more co-ed boot camp classes in the near future.

May was always a celebration for me, for with the arrival of late spring came a plethora of  sweet, colorful, gorgeous, taste bud seducing fruit – blackberries, raspberries, cherries, peaches and STRAWBERRIES.

Over a decade later it’s a different world. Due to agreements like NAFTA, the World Trade Organization and other bilateral trade agreements Americans’ consumption of imported fruits and vegetables has more than doubled since 1993. Summer fruit is available in the year round due to imports from Latin American countries like Chile and Mexico.

There are a host of political, ethical and health debates surrounding these imports. I’m not going to get into those issues here, I’ll just say that there’s nothing like a fresh, locally grown strawberry.

The health benefits of strawberries are many. Strawberries are high in Vitamin C -with a 1 cup serving giving you  136% of the RDA for Vitamin C. Strawberries are also a good source of fiber and contain the powerful antioxidants anthocyanins type 2 and ellagitannins which give strawberries their rich red color. Several studies have shown that anthocyanins help prevent the development of cancer and cardiovascular disease. Anthocyanins also have anti-inflammatory properties. In addition to their antioxidant properties, strawberries help protect against age related macular degeneration.

Local strawberries are usually available from May through mid-July. Look for berries that are vibrant in color and have their leaves attached.  Berries spoil quickly, so be sure to purchase them no more than a fews days in advance. Store berries unwashed in your refrigerator.  After 2-3 days your best bet is to trim, wash and freeze the berries. Frozen berries will keep up to 1 year.

In you live in Delco or on the Main Line go to the Oakmont Farmers’ Market (Wednesdays), the Bryn Mawr Farmer’s Market (Saturdays) or Linvilla Orchards (they have a Strawberry Festival on June 5th), where you can pick your own.

Check out this great recipe for a Strawberry and Arugula Salad from EatingWell.com

So, how do you define a healthy food? To me healthy food is nutrient dense (high in vitamins and minerals and relatively low in calories), minimally processed and free from artificial ingredients. I could expand this definition to include – low in sodium and sugar, moderate in unsaturated fat, moderate to high in protein and high in fiber.

Now let’s look at my definition of healthy and compare it with the term all natural.

Does “all natural” equal healthy? In a word – no. Natural in terms of food labeling is a board term that is not regulated by the federal government. Foods that are free from artificial ingredients or free from synthetic processes are generally considered “natural” and can be labeled as such. Leaves a little too much room to the food labeling imagination for me.

What I take issue with is the fact that many people think word “natural” is synonymous with “healthy”. Using this criteria (natural=healthy) table sugar, which satisfies the definition of natural, would be considered healthy.

Now, before you navigate away from this page, because you think I’m about to get all preachy about table sugar – wait. I’m not saying that table sugar is “dangerous” or that you’ll lose all your hair and die if you eat a candy bar. Table sugar, candy bars and alcohol can all be a part of a healthy diet if minimally consumed (noticed I stayed away from the popular “in moderation” which has become a very flexible concept). Indulge more than three times a week and you’re not likely to reach you fitness and/or weight loss goals. Indulge to excess and you’ll be a candidate for a 12 Step program (Sugarholics Anonymous, anyone?).

So then this brings us to the dilemma of healthier vs healthy. Is the all natural cookie made with honey, whole wheat flour, canola oil and dried fruit “better” for you than the cookie made with High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) or Crisco? Sort of – the first cookie would at least have some fiber and lack the saturated fat or trans fat of the second, but the first cookie would still be high in sugar and fat. Does the fact that the first cookie is better make it healthier or better yet, “healthy”?

Let’s use this analogy. You go to the doctor with severe shoulder pain. She asks you to rate your pain on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being searing debilitating pain. The pain is intense and you can’t move your shoulder, so you rate your pain a 10. Your doctor prescribes some medication and advises you to come back in a week.

A week later you can raise your arm to shoulder level but not over your head, and you rate your pain a level 6. Is your shoulder “better”? Of course. Is it a healthy/functional shoulder? No, not unless you consider nagging pain and the inability to use your shoulder to reach for an object on a  high shelf or bring your hands to your head in order to wash your hair healthy and functional.

My point is healthier or better doesn’t equal healthy.

Why am I dwelling on this? Because too often people will look at an all natural food, without regard to nutrient density and caloric density (i.e. – high calorie food), and consider it healthy because it’s “healthier” or “better” or less processed than a junk food. Said healthier food then becomes their daily snack, breakfast, etc. This starts the cycle of “I eat healthy” or “I know how/what to eat and I exercise but I just can’t seem to lose weight”. Maybe it’s your All Natural triple chocolate fudge brownie carob chip cookies. Natural or “healthier” foods can be laden with calories, sugar and fat just like any processed food. Indulge and enjoy but don’t fool yourself into thinking you’re doing something healthy.

Nutrient density and calories count. The next time you want a treat grab an All Natural cookie or two. The next time you want something sweet on a weeknight grab some berries. Now that’s (nature’s) candy!

“I know I’m gonna feel this tomorrow” or “My (fill in your muscle group of choice) hurt for 3 days after that last workout!”

DOMS is an addictive state. A badge of honor sought by some exercisers as a sign of virtue, inner and outer strength and overall bad assi-ness. For others it’s a dreaded state – an indication that the workout was “too hard“.

But is DOMS really the sign of a “good” workout?

In a word “no”; muscle soreness is not indicative of an effective workout.

So, why do you get sore after some workouts and not others (some ab workouts leave me unable to laugh without having abdominal pain for days, while others barely leave a mark)? Why were you sore for a day (or a week) after your first training session or boot camp class? Is a lack of soreness a sign of an ineffective workout?

Muscle soreness occurs when you make the muscles do something they’re not used to doing. The unfamiliar can be a change in exercise order, a new 5K route or a routine that’s higher in reps, sets or duration than your used to. Change up some variables and you will most likely be sore for a day or two or three.

Your results are a more reliable indicator of the effectiveness of your program. Are you leaner, smaller, stronger or faster? These should be the metrics by which you judge your program.

But what about the cause of DOMS? Maybe it’s caused by lactic acid build-up?

I’ll sometimes hear from a client: “Wow you really killed my (fill in muscle group of choice). We must of gotten a good lactic acid build-up going.”

Lactic acid (or L-lactate) has had it’s turn as friend and foe. Jane Fonda’s mantra “Feel the burn!” was a reminder for her leg warmer clad followers (who wears leg warmers to workout?) to push themselves to their limits.

Then lactic acid became foe because of the belief that it damaged muscle tissue and cause excess muscle soreness.

These days we know that lactic acid is more friend than foe. Lactic acid has a role in energy production that allows us to keep exercising. Lactic acidosis (”the burn”) occurs when lactic acid builds up in the blood stream faster than it can be removed. Scientist also belief “the burn” is a result of a change in pH as the body switches from aerobic (think jogging) to anaerobic (think sprinting) metabolism. Since lactic acid is cleared from the body within 30-90 minutes after intense exercise ends it has no role in DOMS which occurs 24-72 hours post exercise.

The real cause of DOMS? In addition to the muscle stress factor (making the muscles do more than they’re used to) DOMS is thought to be the result of microscopic tears in the muscles and connective tissue which occur during eccentric contractions (when the force of resistance is greater the the force created by the muscle it “succumbs” and lengthens).  Running downhill, lowering your body on the down phase of a pull and landing a jump are all examples of eccentric contractions. This small tears are not dangerous, in fact it is during the process of repair and recovery that we build stronger and/or bigger muscles.

Muscle tenderness, soreness, stiffness or some lose in range of motion (flexibility) are all symptoms of DOMS and simply require that you back off your workout intensity for a day or two. Sharp or throbbing pain, extreme lose in range or motion or pain that lasts more than a week warrant a trip to the doctor.

Side note – In my previous life as an opera singer, I did several tours in the town that the writer mentions at the beginning of the article. His friend was right; the Super Walmart is definitely “one of the sights” in Natchez, MS.

Our March 20th Push-ups for Charity event was a huge success. We exceeded our goal by 20% and raised $6,000 for the Wounded Warrior Project. It was a great event for a worthy organization, and we’re looking forward to doing bigger and better things next year. Thanks to all our participants, sponsors and supporters. Check out our photos on Flickr.