Swallowing My Pride In the Gym: Going Back to Basics (And Poking Random People in the Back)

See this is why my squat form sucked! I forgot my lucite heels! Upon meeting me, the first thing my scary smart Lifetime Fitness trainer, Steve, did was have me stand in front of him facing a gigantic mirror. As he put his hands gently on my shoulders he said, “I want you to see what I …

Does Exercise Order Matter? [P90X Phase III and Final Review]

Chest, back, legs, shoulders, biceps, triceps. (Oh and calves. Stupid calves. Always skipped those.) For years whenever I lifted weights my exercises were done in this order. The actual exercises would vary – dumbbell flys one day and flying dumbbells the next (Kidding! Sorta!) – but the workout stayed the same. Why? Well because I …

How To Prevent A Weight-Lifting Injury (And how to recover your pride when you do)

Um. Ow. Be afraid, be very afraid: There is a silent killer lurking in your gym. Oh you may think your daily sweat fests are protecting you from injury and disease but in reality those free weights are a ticking time bomb with your number on it. And not just because the last person to …

Are Push-Ups Better Than a Push-Up For Your Chest? (And what are square boobs?)

courtesy of lipglossjunkie  “I must! I must! I must increase my bust! The bigger the better, the tighter the sweater, the boys depend on…” Not me, that’s for darn sure. (And for any of you that are going to point out how busty I look in that green-skirt pic in the rotating images at the …

“You Sure Are Strong… For a Girl.”

Tonight after a marvelously brutal interval class that involved jumping lunges, crouching push-ups and so many skaters that my I’d get an Apollo Ohno tattoo on my butt if it didn’t already hurt so much, a male friend gave me a grin and commented, “You sure are strong. For a girl.” Well, what do you …

When Exercise and Health are Not Synonymous: Are boot camp classes bad for you?

Our “boot camp” class on Saturday! Yes, my interpretation of boot camp was to wear a frilly pink tennis skirt with a top that made Gym Buddy Jeni ask, “Are those feathers?!” Also, Lindsey (to my right) pointed out that she and I look more like jolly pirates than soldiers. I love us. Boot camps, …

From Sex to Sanity: The huge benefits (and one surprising negative) of being active

“I like weights. You know where you stand with them. Well, sometimes you’re lying under them, trying not to let them crush you, but you see, you know they’d crush you if they could. There’s honesty.” – One of my all-time favorite quotes about fitness (truly, nothing is more honest than weight lifting!) from my …

The #1 Downside to Weight Lifting, Badly Illustrated (All I want for Christmas is laser hair removal)

This will be my next option. As I get older I’ll just call it Bride of Frankenstein. Weight lifting builds bone density. Weight lifting increases strength and power. Weight lifting burns fat all day long. Weight lifting makes you look tougher than Chuck Norris at Comic Con. Oh sure, everyone always talks about the benefits …

Muscle Soreness: Busting the “No Pain No Gain” Myth

Pretty sure this is about to be “bad sore.” Great news: After about a year of stagnation I broke my deadlift personal record! By a lot! While this was awesome and made me strut around like Ashton Kutcher in a sorority house, two problems became immediately apparent: 1. I did a whole set at my …

Do You Like to Multitask or Focus During Your Workout? [The housework workout]

Almost all the pics for this shoot were done in my house! So if you’ve ever wanted to see my bathroom when it’s clean this may be your only chance. Dusting, laundry, sitting on the toilet – it’s all stuff you have to do anyhow so why not work in a little incidental exercise as …