Lessons from the Saddle

February 12, 2013 by Leave a Comment

I’m back from my itch-induced hiatus. Still itchy, less bumpy. My doctor took a skin sample to biopsy and some blood samples to test for immune disorders, and in the meantime I’m on a steady diet of antihistamines and cortisone cream.

Basically, I’m like a stoner, minus the drugs. Well, illegal drugs.

If I start rocking dreadlocks and playing hacky sack it is your job, as people who read about my daily life, to come and rescue me from 1995. Interventions are a part of life. I’ll be mad at you at the time, but I’ll love you for it later.

In between naps I’ve done a wee bit of exercise.


Sorry for the picture quality. As it turns out, it’s really hard to take pictures while riding a bike…even a stationary one.

Last Thursday, right after my biopsy and against doctors’ orders, I went to a two-hour spin class hosted by Spinning ® Master Instructor Josh Taylor. The class was a part of the ECA conference being held in New York, and counted toward my recertification. Since I’d signed up for the class months in advance and knew I wouldn’t get my fee back, I took my chances with getting scar-in-the-making a bit sweaty, and I’m glad I did.

 

First of all, it’s really kind of cool to be in a class filled with 100 spin instructors. Talk about class participation and enthusiasm. There was a great energy in the room.

The class was video-based, meaning Josh guided us through a ride based around a story. This particular story was about Secretariat. Yeah, the race horse. I thought it might be super corny to pretend I was a horse for two hours, but I was an acting major so I’m used to animal-based public humiliation.

Turns out the ride wasn’t that corny, it was based on preparation, failure, experience, and going all out. You know, things that are a part of life—and a lot of the time, a part of instructing.

The video definitely kept the group engaged for two-hours—which is no small feat. Another thing I really appreciated about this class was the reminder that Spinning ® isn’t always about going all out. You can’t go at 100% all the time (a life lesson I’m only recently starting to accept). We spent a good 50% of the class going at a moderate recovery pace, maybe 40% doing hills and strength training measures, and only 10% going all out.

Now, I know this won’t really translate well to most gym-based spin classes. Most people don’t have the time to take 120 minutes out of their life a few times a week to do a gradual spin class. Gyms want their customers to feel like they’re getting their money’s worth from their membership, and since most of us measure that worth in sweat stains, high intensity interval based 45-minute classes are the norm. At the end, without fail, you will have a room full of sweaty exhausted people.

But feeling exhausted isn’t usually a feeling that keeps me coming back for more of something.

If I took anything from this experience it is that going all out usually wins the race, but not every day is race day. The rest of the time exercise is about training smart, not necessarily training hard. That’s a good reminder for the all-or-nothing voice inside my head.

Breakfast


Multi grain pancake with soygurt and sugar free syrup

Lunch


The Fella and I had company this weekend and I made a variety of Indian inspired dishes. We’ll be eating the leftovers for the next six or seven years.
Brown rice with Aloo Gobi, Lentils and Peas, and a side of spiced yogurt.

Dinner



I’m trying to cut down on my night time carbs, so we’ll be eating a lot of omelets and frittatas in the foreseeable future.
Tonight’s dinner was made with half whole eggs and half egg whites, tomatoes, carrot, spinach, and onion. I topped it off with a healthy dose of nutritional yeast for a cheesy flavor.

Exercise: 4-mile run focusing on hills.

Kim

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Guest Post: How to Choose a Good Personal Trainer

January 2, 2013 by Leave a Comment

A Few Tips to Help You Find That Special Someone….

By Roy the “Fitness Fella”Photo Credit: http://firthfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Personal-Training.jpg

Hello again, friends, fans and followers of Kim. It’s been a year now since I last blogged on The Kim Challenge, and the lady asked that I contribute again. To those who are new to the blog, just stopping by, or don’t remember me, I’m Roy, her “fella.”

My previous blog post was “Instead of a New Year’s Resolution—a New RESOLVE,” in which I explained the basic principles for efficient and sustainable weight loss, muscle addition, or body fat reduction. My professional background in health and fitness is detailed there, so I won’t bore you with it here. But I do encourage you to read (or re-read) it and leave comments, questions, or catcalls, if you have any.

For those of us who’ve been following Kim’s blog (or living with her, which is way cooler) the past few weeks have been a Rocky-like montage of light meals, protein shakes, gym workouts, runs, spin classes, and more runs (Kim has signed up for a half marathon through Team In Training, raising money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Please sponsor her by donating whatever you can here). As part of her serious commitment to get back in shape Kim wanted my opinion on hiring a personal trainer a couple of times a week. She thought my answer was worth sharing with you, her loyal readers, which (finally) brings us to the actual topic of my post; how to choose a good personal trainer.

WHY have a personal trainer?

Not everyone needs a personal fitness trainer, of course. It’s a safe bet that spending an exorbitant amount of money on someone to show you how to use the machines at your gym is mighty low on your disposable income list. But allow me to make the case for hiring a personal trainer nonetheless: first of all, if you’re not exercising with some regularity—at home, at the gym, in a class, at the beach, whatever and wherever—it’s a good time to start. Simple truth is that you can’t be healthy and look good without it. And if you do exercise regularly, chances are that you’re spending a decent amount of time and money on it already. A gym membership is a nice chunk of change, and investing a few hours a week working out comes at the expense of a million other things you could be doing. But here is exactly where a personal trainer comes in.

Firstly, with a standing appointment that costs you money you’ll actually show up. You’ll actually go to the gym, instead of just having a membership. You’ll actually use the equipment you have laying around the house.

Secondly, when you do show up you’ll have someone to make you work hard. None of the discounts you give yourself when you just don’t feel like it, no lip service going-through-the-motions workouts. A trainer will work you harder than you would (or could) work yourself.

But making sure you show up and work hard you can do with a training partner, or possibly a lot of discipline, neither of which cost you money. The best reason to hire a personal trainer is that they’ll not only work you harder, but also smarter. They’ll make sure you do the right exercises for your goals and limitations and that you perform each exercise properly. So your workouts will be more efficient and less hazardous—getting you better, quicker and safer results. It’s a lot more bang for relatively little more buck.

personal_trainer_megaphone

 

Mr. Personality over Mr. Universe

The thing to bear in mind when choosing a personal trainer is that your relationship with your trainer is no different than any other type of relationship; its success has mostly to do with subjective factors, not the least of which is chemistry, a compatibility of personalities. This is not someone who services your car; they service your body. And, as often as not, your mind, too. Half to two-thirds of your workout pass in rest, so not having anything to talk about makes for awkward sessions. And working out is about letting loose and pushing hard, not adding more pent-up stress to your day. You’re not hiring a new best friend, but if you’re not hitting it off with your trainer, as nice and professional as they may be, they may not be the right trainer for you.

einstein-muscle

 

Intellect

You’d be surprised, but even at the gym that’s important. Intelligent people tend to do things intelligently, whereas unintelligent people tend to do things, well…. If your prospective trainer seems to have a harder time constructing a sentence than squatting 500 lbs., that’s a red flag. Granted, you’re not necessarily looking for an exercise Einstein, but a fully evolved primate is a pretty good benchmark to start with.

 

Education

A trainer’s educational background is, in my opinion, the most important objective parameter to go by. You’ll find plenty of trainers who’ll boast about how long they’ve been training or how many people they’ve trained over the years, but experience without schooling is blind. Not that it’s not important, but things like physiology, anatomy, biomechanics or nutrition aren’t some esoteric, mystic disciplines; they’re sciences, researched by countless experts in innumerable studies and tests and distilled into knowledge taught at schools. A trainer who’s “schooled by experience” just isn’t enough. Think of it this way; a personal trainer is responsible for your health, not unlike a doctor (In truth, a bad trainer can cause damage that the best doctor can’t fix, and a good trainer can prevent damage that the best doctor couldn’t fix). Would you allow a doctor who never went to med school to treat you? Why not? But what if they had lots of experience? Same goes for your trainer.

A trainer can be an autodidact, of course, and no less knowledgeable than a schooled trainer, but a diploma or certification from an accredited institution is an objective yardstick. Sadly, there’s no law in any of the 50 states that governs fitness qualification, so the whole field is a bit laissez-fair. If not a degree, look for certification from a prominent institution and, ideally, in more than one field.

 

Experience

Now that I’ve made a big to-do out of a trainer’s education, I’d like to give proper credence to the importance of training experience. All the education in the world, without practice, is just theory. Would you want an inexperienced doctor, fresh out of med school, to operate on you? What if they graduated first in their class? The same rationale extends to your trainer—you want someone who knows what they’re doing but has also done it successfully many times before. Don’t be shy about asking for references; a good trainer will have plenty of gratitude letters and before & after pics of their clients.

What also helps is your trainer’s personal experience as a practitioner of what they preach. A background in competitive sports or military service is a big plus. And while they don’t necessarily have to look like Greek statuary, being in good shape certainly helps.

normal-curve-middle-80-percent

The best trainer

Looking for the best personal trainer is like looking for a unicorn or an NYC taxi driver willing to drive to Brooklyn; they don’t exist. Don’t get me wrong—it’s important that you distinguish between a bad trainer and a good trainer. It’s just that there’s no point comparing two good trainers. Like any other profession—including yours, I’d wager—professionalism goes along a bell curve; in the middle are the 80% who are average at what they do. On one end of the curve are the 10% who are dilettantes and on the opposite end are the 10% who are brilliant (that would be you, naturally). Personal trainers are no different. If they’re bad or mediocre they’re all pretty much the same, but if they’re good they each bring something else to the table. Each qualified, competent trainer usually has a field of specialty or two, and their own style and method of training. You’d be hard-pressed to find a trainer who’s good at both rehabilitation, bodybuilding, and dance. Comparing trainers to doctors again—you have your general practitioners, but by definition they don’t specialize in anything. Find a good trainer who’s also a good fit for your goals.

 

I Hope you found this interesting and helpful. Looking forward to your thoughts, and wishing you a happy and healthy New Year!

“The Doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest her or his patients in the care of the human frame, in a proper diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease.”

–Thomas Edison

 Roy

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This is what 30 Looks Like

December 24, 2012 by 5 Comments

If how I spent my 30th birthday is in any way indicative of how the next decade of my life will go, bring it on.

Clad in spandex and sneakers, The Fella and I made our way to Chelsea Piers early yesterday morning. Our location wasn’t enough of a hint to help me figure out what we were doing, Chelsea Piers is home to boat tours, a bowling alley, golf, indoor soccer fields, among other things. We ended up at the Field House Gymnasium. The Fella had arranged for a 2-hour private gymnastics class for the two of us.

My initial thought was that I was going to break something (we’ll get to that later), but also that I have a pretty great, silly, special guy in my life.

Our instructor for the day, Randy, was fantastic and basically gave us the lil kid special—all fun, not too much challenging work. Let’s just say I haven’t been on a balance beam in about 24 years and I wanted to keep it that way.

There was…

Trampoline jumping

A lot of time spent in the foam pit

This was supposed to be a flip, it turned out be a belly flop.

Then there was blood shed. This was the “super bouncy” trampoline. It was made from pretty course metal mesh.

So, when I landed wrong, I skinned my big toe—and ruined my pedicure.

I’m relatively sure, I sprained or created a hairline fracture, which certainly put a damper on shoe wearing for the rest of the day. I am, without fail, the klutziest person on the whole planet.

No matter, my boyfriend paid for fun, and fun I would have!

FUN!!!

Tarzan swings. Roy makes it all look so good. I make it all look like I’m going to pass out and die.

Randy is a show off.

My handstands were more like swinging myself over the big foam log thingy

Winter Olympics 2016!

I ended my birthday adventure on the rock wall.

Roy ended on the rings

Afterward we went to my favorite diner in NYC for a free birthday lunch.

Banana Foster Milk Shake (calories don’t count on your birthday—it’s in the Constitution)

Grilled cheese! Another thing I never-ever eat!

After all that excitement (and sugar) we went home for a bit and took a nap. Yes, I’m aware that makes me the lamest.

When we woke up I realized that my foot had swelled to the size of a shoebox and my toe was still really hurting and probably injured so I told Roy to cancel our reservations at the super fancy-shmancy vegan restaurant he had picked out. We opted for a place closer to home that would only be a $5 cab ride. Boy, am I glad we did. The food was delicious and the sangria was complimentary.

I wasn’t looking that seductively at Roy, I was looking at the giant glass of sangria coming my way.

Roy was less interested in his sangria…silly boy.

We split a vegetarian appetizer plate (that’s big enough to feed 27 people)

Plantains

And mushroom paella

I was too full for birthday cake, so we just went home and cuddled. Injury and all it was a perfect 30th birthday ;)

 

Kim

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Class Review: IntenSati

October 27, 2012 by 2 Comments


Photo: SatiLife

I will admit to being a bit set in my ways when it comes to aerobics classes. I like spin class, I like Zumba class, every once and awhile I convince myself I like yoga. I hate step aerobics (okay, I don’t really hate step aerobics, but I’m super uncoordinated and have a habit of falling over the step, my own feet, or the unfortunate soul standing next to me) and loath bootcamps (no exceptions here, loath-loathy-loath-loath-loath). There, I said it. But, it has been quite a long time since I tried something new in the group fitness room.

This week a friend of mine invited me to join her at Equinox for an IntenSati class. I’ve heard rumbles about this positive affirmation fitness trend from a few sources and was already curious. I’m a sucker for just about anything that includes positive self-talk. I like “love yourself” style anything. Love yourself aerobics. Love yourself sushi. Love yourself rollercoasters. If there’s a suggestion to think happy thoughts I’m there. But, I like to love myself quietly, in my own head…not aloud to a room full of sweaty strangers. I’m a private Pollyanna—I do, after all, have a jaded New Yorker image to keep up.

After being moderately intimidated by the ridiculously attractive naked folks in the locker room (my friend joked that you must be already in amazing shape to join this gym) I headed to class prepared to talk myself back up.

IntenSati is the brain child of Patricia Moreno, who was named the best instructor in New York City by New York Magazine, and is the author of The IntenSati Method: The Seven Secret Principles to Thinner Peace.

Patricia wasn’t my instructor the other night though. My instructor’s name was Natalia, I know this because she took the time to come over, shake my hand and introduce herself to me before class. I’m always impressed when instructors know who is new to their classes without the awkward show of hands during the warm up. The first thing I noticed about Natalia was that she was seriously toned. When I whispered this to my friend she said, “Yeah, and she just had two kids!”

Later my friend also mentioned that Natalia was a college professor with a PhD. Let’s just say I can see a girl crush forming on Natalia.

My favorite part of the class was the speech Natalia gave before class which was about choosing our reactions. To paraphrase her, “I don’t believe that we necessarily attract the things that come our way. There are a lot of great people with some terrible circumstances to deal with, but while we can’t always choose our circumstances, we can choose our reactions.”

I mixed and jumbled the idea of the lecture in my head and came out with the resolution to stop feeling so overwhelmed and start feeling like I have bountiful opportunities in front of me.

The rest of the class consisted of standard issue high-energy aerobic fare. There are no special moves in the choreography that you haven’t seen; it’s all jumping around and punching in some variation or another. The difference comes that you mark your routine with various sentences of whatever the current affirmation is. Each move in the choreography had another sentence associated with it and I started thinking of moves as their lines, “I am LOVE” sideways lunge, “I am FREE” shimmy, “I am headed for VICTORY” running in place.

Hearing an entire room of people repeat these affirmations over and over again was kind of fun, and you can’t help but internalize them. But, there were moments when I was totally pooped from the workout that I had to choose between breathing and affirming-aloud.

All-in-all I left feeling better and more confident in my life, and had a 600 calorie burn to top it off. Not a bad way to spend an hour.

 

Kim

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Here Gymmy, Gymmy, Gymmy: Choosing a New Gym

September 14, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Hello United States of America, so nice to see you again; you, and your medical professionals.

The first thing I did when my plane landed was make an appointment with my doctor. Then I got in a cab and left the airport. I have to admit I’m a wee bit bummed that I didn’t get to blog more of my trip, but I doubt ya’ll were all that interested in watching me sleep for 20-hour stretches at a time. If nothing else, this vacation left me well rested.

Now that I’m back in the land of my health insurance I have all sorts of magical pills, and creams, and salves that should bring me back to human in the next few days.

I haven’t been completely useless since getting home. Besides visiting my most favorite general care practitioner I signed up for a gym in my new neighborhood. The Fella and I made the rounds of all of our neighborhood dumbbell bearing options, getting guest passes, and talking down sales people from the dreaded initiation fee.

I liken gym sales people to used car salesmen. You can’t help but think you’re being taken for a ride.

The gyms ran the gamut of gross and crowded to elitist with eucalyptus steam rooms and scented towels with exorbitant monthly fees. At the end of the day I opted for a city-wide Crunch membership—trusty Crunch with its theme classes, normal steam room, and reasonable prices. I have a soft spot for Crunch, the now closed Boston branch was the place where I first learned to love working out, back in my college days.

As far as deciding factors, besides whether or not I can actually afford to go, these are my main criteria for choosing a gym:

  1. Proximity: The Fella calls this the 90-minute rule, can you get to the gym, workout, shower, and be back home in 90-minutes. I call it, the “will I walk there in the winter” rule. A gym needs to be close enough for me to actually go to it.
  2. Equipment: Newer isn’t always better, there are a lot of great old machines out there, what’s important is that the machines that are there are ones I use and that they are well maintained. Having a plethora of cardio equipment doesn’t hurt either.
  3. Setup/Clientele: I’m not a huge fan of gyms that separate the weight room and cardio equipment in such a way that the weight room seems like an exclusive club that you need to be able to bench press your own body weight to get into. Having an inviting setup is extremely important to me. And, no offense to Gym Goombas, but if the weight room is overrun with gigantic men in tiny shorts who spend their time dropping large weights and chest bumping each other, chances are I’m going to feel really unwelcome by the weight rack.

     

I feel a lot better knowing I have a gym membership waiting for me as soon as I cycle out the Israeli Plague from my system. Bring on the spin classes!

Breakfast


At 4am, when I woke up, I was ravenous.
Oatmeal with light sour cream (a weird but lovable combo), hard-boiled eggs, and orange juice

Lunch


Low carb tortillas with tofurkey, Trader Joe’s Wasabi Seaweed Snacks, and baby carrots

Snack


Frozen pineapple and mango
Earl Grey Tea with milk

Dinner


Stir fry with brown rice and soy beef

Kim

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Dare to be Un-Pretty: What working out REALLY looks like

July 3, 2012 by 4 Comments

I’m about to go where no woman has gone before.

I’m putting a whole bunch of unflattering pictures of myself in spandex on the Internet.

Crazy, I know, but I’m doing it for a good reason.  Someone, and it may as well be me, has to look un-gorgeous when they exercise.  I read just about every fitness magazine, and I have a whole Pinterest board dedicated to inspiring fitness pictures.  In every single one of these pictures nary a droplet of sweat has broken through the skin.  Hair is still perfectly coifed, and no one, NO ONE ever makes silly grunty faces.  There are no rolls of fat, or weird bra line chub that gets pushed up from tight sports bras.

And don’t even get me started on exercise videos.  How do they not sweat?  No one ever sweats in exercise videos– I know, I’m watching them exercise.

I’m here to say it’s okay to look like a growly sweaty monster when you work out.  Hell, I think the worse you look while working out, the better you look when you’re not.

I had my trainer (otherwise known as The Fella) snap photos of me today as I made my way through my current routine.  Here’s what it looks like:

Weighted Alternating Lunges

FYI: My foot is a little too far in, my ankle should be under my knee.
These pictures come in handy for me, too.

High Bench Step Up

 

 Push-Ups

Dumbbell Bench Press

May I Please Be Excused to Go Die Now?

Pull-Ups

Machine Rows

Straight Rows


Tricep Press Downs/Extensions

Bicep Curls

Double Crunch

Roman Bench

Finale


I burned more calories in my strength training workout than I did while doing cardio earlier in the day.  I don’t think I could have had that kind of burn if I was worried about what I looked like.

Go ahead and get sweaty.  Get grunty.  Do that weird contraction deep breathing face thing.  It’s all in a day’s workout.

If you’re proud to look like you’re working out, feel free to send me pictures of your sweaty fit self, I’d love to post them and a bit about your favorite workout.  You can email me at kim@thekimchallenge.com.

Oh, right, I ate a whole bunch of stuff too…

Breakfast

Weetabix with banana and almond milk
Scrambled egg whites

Lunch

 Salad with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, carrot, hard boiled egg, and avocado
Dressed with olive oil and apple cider vinegar

Post Workout Snacks

AM Cardio:  Smoothie with almond milk, frozen strawberries and vanilla protein powder

PM Weight Lifting: Cliff Builder’s Bar

Dinner

Vegetable soup, salad and multi-grain bread

 

Kim

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It’s All in the Timing: Cardio and Strength Training

May 22, 2012 by 1 Comment

I am happy to report that project “6AM Workout” is going well.  I’ve even started to wake up before my alarm in the morning, which somehow makes the whole excruciating habit a bit less excruciating.  Could it be that my body craves movement first thing in the morning?

Could be, but more than likely I’m just trying to convince it that it does.

I took a detour from my regularly scheduled AM workout yesterday because I knew I would be training with The Fella later in the day.  I have managed to convince him to add me to his client list at a pretty steep discount (err, without paying).  By “convince” what I mean is nagged incessantly until he succumbed to my wiles.  

Honestly, I’m doing him a favor.  The better shape I’m in, the more likely I am to walk around naked (Hi Mom, what I meant was floor length flannel pajamas)!  I think I’m being downright altruistic ;)

I finished writing early yesterday and had a little over an hour until Roy met me at the gym, so I decided to pregame with cardio.

This was a mistake, one that I know better than.

First of all, I do a lot of cardio.  This is a personal preference, but the treadmill is my happy place and since I’m living in a relatively stressful world right now, I can go for an hour at a clip just to burn off steam–and usually do.

When my trainer/Fella walked through the doors of the gym and saw that my shirt was already soaked with sweat, he said “Did you eat yet?”

Translation: There is no way you’re going to be able to lift heavy objects for an hour if you have no glycogen reserves in your body.

My answer: No, followed by a bashful look and some fluttering eyelashes.

He was right, my weightlifting session was craptacular.  This was a totally rookie mistake on my part, but one worth blogging about in the off chance that other people may be doing the same thing.

If you tend to workout out on the fairly light end of the spectrum , the order in which you do cardio and strength doesn’t generally matter.  If you’re into intense sweat sessions that consist of intervals, sprints, long durations and perhaps a wee bit of grunting with barbells, the order in which you workout really does.

In an ideal world you would separate your workouts to be well fueled for both, but since most folks can only muster the motivation or time to get to the gym once a day, it’s best to do strength training first and cardio after.  The reason being that cardio depletes the glucose reserves that and raises cortisol levels.

Cortisol interferes with testosterone (you need that to build muscles, you will not become a giant ape man), and contributes to the deterioration of  muscle fiber–making your strength training session all but pointless.

In general I like to circumvent this problem by splitting my workouts.  I prefer to do cardio in the AM on an empty stomach (this has nothing to do with fat burning, I just tend to get nauseous if I do cardio within two hours of eating), eat a whole bunch of yummy things, and then do strength training later in the day.  That’s my ideal schedule, but life doesn’t always workout in the ideal, and when I can only hit the gym once in a day, I should do cardio post weight lifting.

If you do combine, it doesn’t hurt to keep a snack rich in carbs and protein in your gym bag.  Between workouts eat up and rest for 10-15 minutes to let your body replenish its stores.

This morning I got up and got to the gym for some bonding with the treadmill while The Fella was still wrapped up tightly in a blanket burrito, I’ll do my strength training workout later after I’ve eaten a few meals.

Here’s breakfast,

I stopped at a local deli for an egg white omelet with feta, broccoli, spinach,
and a side of watermelon, before I settled into a cafe work and wifi.

 

Kim

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SELF Workout in the Park Giveaway

May 2, 2012 by 18 Comments

 

It’s that time of year again!

What time of year? You may ask.

Oh right,  it’s the time of year to get simultaneously sweaty, pretty, and well-fed in a park.

I go to the Self Workout in the Park almost every year. It combines a few of my favorite things: exercise (instruction provided by my favorite chain of gyms: Crunch), beauty and fashion swag, and snacks.

This year the magic will by Dolvett Quince (the super-hot trainer from The Biggest Loser—Swoon!) and Louis Van Amstel (dance coach on Dancing with the Stars—I don’t watch Dancing with the Stars so I have no idea who this is). Tickets are on-sale right now for $20 at www.SELFWorkoutinthePark.com.

Now, I don’t plug just anything on my blog—but I LOVE the workout in the park, and highly recommend hitting it up if you live near one of the three locations hosting one this year:

San Francisco (Little Marina Green): May 5, 2012
New York (Rumsey Playfield, Central Park): May 12, 2012
Chicago (Butler Field, Grant Park): June 2, 2012

To make it even more awesome, SELF will be donating a portion of proceeds from the event to participating charities: Cancer and Careers and The Conservation Fund.

AND they’re donating a super awesome Fit Kit to one lucky Kim Challenge reader. The Fit Kit includes ear buds, an official WIP water bottle, fitness DVDs, month-long membership to CRUNCH and all sorts of freebees from event sponsors like: Garnier, Calvin Klein, La Roche-Posay, and lucy.

To win all you need to do is head to the comments section and tell me your favorite way to keep fit in the summer months. I’ll be choosing a winner by random number generator on Friday at noon (EST)!

Kim

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Guest Post: Instead of a New Year’s Resolution—a New RESOLVE

January 13, 2012 by 11 Comments

Get in Shape and Stay in Shape with Simple Principles and Hard Work

Hello. As you may have guessed by the little muscle man icon below, I’m not Kim. So first, introductions are in order. I’m the guy Kim has been referring to as her fella these past few months. And since she invited me to guest-write for The Kim Challenge, I figured the “Fitness Fella” had a nice ring to it. But you can call me Roy.

And why, exactly, did Kim ask me to write here? I’m glad you asked. My quick bio blurb: I’ve been a personal trainer and health & fitness journalist for 11 years now. I’m a vet (boom-boom, not mew-mew), have a B.Sc./B.Ed. in Exercise Physiology with a major in Kinesiology and minor in Performance Nutrition, grad coursework in Physical Therapy and Biomechanics & Ergonomics, and a bunch of eclectic certifications like Pilates, Pre & Post Natal Exercise, Silver & Golden Age Populations, Krav Maga, etc. I’m not a proponent of any one school of thought of exercise or diet; find what works for you, just keep at it.

That’s me (my grandma taught me a gentleman introduces himself first). You are, naturally, the adoring fans of the effervescent Ms. Miller. Aren’t we all. [editor's note: aww, blushing]

Now, on to business. If you’re a Kim reader, it’s a safe bet you know the basics; salad good, donut bad. Water good, Coke bad. Walking good, TV zombie bad. So I want to go a step further here, and focus less on the what and more on the how. It’s the difference between results and great results. Being result-oriented in your diet and exercise sounds obvious, right? But how many times have you hit the gym and spin classes for weeks on end, only to lose five meager pounds? Or watched what you ate, avoided temptations, and did lose some weight—but then gained it all back? Many times it’s because a lot of your energy is wasted in the wrong direction, and not enough is channeled in the right direction. So atten-hut, soldier! I’m going to debrief you on the winning strategy for strength training, cardio, diet, and their reciprocation.

 

First Things First: Correctly Defining Your Goals

[Read more...]

 Roy

Filed Under: Fitness, Guest Posts, Resolutions Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Win a Box O’Fitness

January 6, 2012 by 34 Comments


One of my personal resolutions this year, one that I didn’t post in my New Year’s Resolutions post, is to get back to reviewing DVDs regularly.  My life has been all sorts of hectic lately, but I really do have a passion for home fitness.  I think exercise DVDs are the bomb-diggity, and a great option for people who don’t have a gym at their disposal.

Having said that: I have hundreds of DVDs, and I need to weed down my collection a wee bit.  I want to give someone a whole box of exercise swag. Yay for free stuff!!!!

Be forewarned, some of these DVDs I can’t vouch for because I haven’t done them, and some I have done, but probably only a few times.  I’m also throwing in DD Fitness yoga wedges for a less painful practice (if you’re like me and always end up with bruised knees and hip bones after a yoga class), and some resistance bands.

I’ll pick a winner via random number generator next Tuesday (January 10th), so to enter all you have to do is leave a comment telling me what your 2012 fitness goals are.

Kim

Filed Under: Fitness Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
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