Unless you first change your mind, don’t expect your health goals to materialize. As the saying goes, it’s not the horse that draws the cart, it’s the oats. It’s not the gym, Pilates class or diet that will change you – it’s your mind. That brilliant statement comes from an article in U.S. News &…
I’m currently training for some road and trail races. Part of that training process is running at different paces to elicit various training effects. Those paces are built around such factors as the aerobic threshold and the lactate or anaerobic threshold. (The definition of those terms are beyond the scope of this blog post. To…
I’m currently navigating the deep waters of Strength Training and Coordination: An Integrative Approach by sprint coach Frans Bosch. This is some thick reading. Among many things, he discusses two concepts that have grabbed my attention. Move with intent I’ve read and written in the past about the idea of internal vs. external movement cues. Anyone…
Call it whatever you want: “Exercise,” working-out,” “lifting weights,” “pumping iron” (Does anyone actually use that term without laughing?), “training” — use whatever term you want. It’s difficult and uncomfortable. It takes time and money. You get sweaty, maybe dirty, maybe even injured. Your hands grow callouses and you’re sore the next day. You must do it over and…
A NY Times story from May popped up on my Facebook feed and it got me thinking. (I’m not sure why a story from May would come up now but I’m glad it did.) Why You Can’t Lose Weight on a Diet is a worthwhile discussion of the biological and neurological mechanisms of weight-loss, weight-gain and what…
Here we are again! The early weeks of the year are a time for high aspirations and lofty plans to reinvent ourselves by way of time in the gym. Everywhere we look we see exciting ads on social media, print media and TV for all sorts of diets and workout plans. These products are pitched…
I’ve had recent discussions with two clients about lingering injuries. The talks brought to mind how my approach to my Achilles tendon pain. I think this new mindset will prove essential to my staying healthy and avoiding future Achilles problems. Maybe it’ll be useful to you. To be clear, I don’t currently have any Achilles pain.…
Here are several articles with some interesting information that you may find helpful. Dean Ornish is wrong Scientific American offers a critique of the ideas of Dr. Dean Ornish in Why Almost Everything Dean Ornish Says about Nutrition Is Wrong. Dean Ornish, MD is a very bright guy. He is the founder and president of the nonprofit Preventive…
I just found a fascinating video that speaks very much to some of the things I’ve been reading lately (and have read about in the past.) It’s an interview with a man named Stephen Jepson. In his former life he was a very accomplished ceramics maker and teacher (Is that what they’re called? Or potter?) He…
I’m about to finish Matt Fitzgerald’s Diet Cults and I’m enjoying it a lot. He discusses the extent to which we identify ourselves by how we eat. Many of us proudly and loudly claim the label of Paleo, Vegan, Raw Food, High-Protein, Low-carb and similar type things. Food gurus try to convince us that there is as Fitzgerald calls it…