Attend our Back Care Workshop to learn beneficial ways to garden, lift objects, set up your computer work station, stretch and exercise to prevent injury. The best 2 hours you’ll spend to avoid injury!!

Date: May 28, 2013
Time: 4-6pm
Instructor: Agnes F. Schrider, PT
Fee: $25

Educational handouts provided. Call 434. 361. 2650 to reserve your seat.

Download and Listen to a Recording of Last Year’s Workshop.

There are several fun gadgets on the market to measure fitness performance and progress. There is the regular heart rate monitor to keep you exercising in the appropriate zone to the watch with GPS that measures the distance you have run/walked, average pace, distance per week, heart rate and other features which you can download to your computer to have a record of your workouts. There are food journal tools online to record your calories. You could spend a lot more time on the computer than you already do recording everything you eat and do. Prices vary from affordable to unbelievable. The question is do these tools benefit us.

Recording your workouts is a helpful measure to show progress. It also helps you to make adjustments in your workout routine if you are not making progress. It is helpful to record resting heart rate, exercise heart rate, endurance time, repetitions and sets during weight training and days per week that you exercise. Recording how you felt during and after each exercise session is beneficial. Did you feel energized, sluggish or fatiqued? These tools can become exercise “buddies” if you work out alone to keep you from slacking on your program.

When working with a personal trainer or physical therapist, it is important to communicate and check in periodically so adjustments can be made in your routine. Share your exercise flow sheet. Discuss what is working and what is not working. Variety is a wonderful way to increase endurance, balance and strength.

Measuring progress keeps you motivated, accountable and responsible for your health. No sweat if you are not a technology geek; paper, pencil and a watch still work just fine.

At the end of the year, in the news and in newspapers, there is usually a segment or article that pertains to what’s old and out of fashion and what is new and hip for the New Year. It usually relates to clothes, movie stars, restaurants, gadgets and other categories. So what’s old and out of style in fitness and what is new and going to make us stronger with more energy? This is a really good question and this is a great time to assess your personal fitness program. Because each of us in unique, the answers are different for everyone.

Where to start? First, examine the aspects of your program that you enjoy. Keep those and seek to adjust that portion to challenge yourself. For example, if you enjoy walking 30 minutes daily. Think about walking faster, monitoring your heart rate to ensure that you are exercising at the appropriate pace for maximum benefit. Try interval training. Secondly, write down what you don’t enjoy about your program or aspects that have been successful. Consult with a professional to obtain input about to change your program, add a class, or overcome barriers to exercise. We all need a coach to guide every now and then when we get sidetracked.

These fitness assessments are vital to become knowledgeable about your physical capabilities in every stage of life just as you would assess your finances, perform car maintenance or home maintenance. You are ensuring that this one time gift of a body runs as well as you take care of it. It is always helpful to evaluate your exercise program whether you are starting to exercise or a lifelong exerciser. The body changes over time and it is important to fit the program with each individual and his/her needs and modify the exercises periodically so the body is challenged appropriately.

By January, we have had enough. From Thanksgiving through New Year’s, we revel in the holidays: eating, shopping, eating, drinking, celebrating, eating and staying up too late. Then we repeat it the next day. It is an annual ritual that we tell ourselves won’t happen next year but it does. It is challenging to break patterns as we are creatures of habit and the food and festivities are so delicious. It is possible to celebrate without the weight gain. I offer some gentle reminders for you to post on the refrigerator this holiday season.

1. Sleep. Notice your sleep patterns and learn how much sleep your body needs in order to function well without a lot of stimulants. Lack of sleep lessens the body’s ability to fight colds and germs.

2. Stay in the habit of exercise. Regular exercise boosts your immune system. Bring family with you to exercise.

3. Exercise with a friend and make a commitment to each other for support. It keeps you accountable so you don’t fall off the exercise wagon. It is too easy to get out of the habit of exercise so avoid more than two days between exercise sessions.

4. Eat five servings of fruits and vegetables per day.

5. Eat slowly savoring the flavor. It reduces the desire to go for seconds if you slow down.

6. Limit the number and portion size of desserts.

7. Know that the sun will still rise tomorrow if you don’t get everything completed on your “to do” list today.

8. Don’t beat yourself up over anything that you think you “should have done”. Each new day, you are given a whole new 24 hours to celebrate. (words by Thich Nhat Hanh).

9. Laugh a lot – it is the best medicine.

10. Treasure the moments with family, friends and community.

We’ve all done it. Walking along and unexpectedly, the toe of our shoe catches on something and we trip, possibly catching ourselves and regaining our balance or worse, falling on our face. Then we quickly look around to see if anyone saw us. We might catch the toe on a curb, a step, the carpet or just the ground. Usually, it is not a graceful loss of balance and can lead to a serious injury.

There are a few scenarios that could be occurring. You may not be lifting up your foot high enough to clear the ground when taking a step. The knee may not be bending enough when you swing your leg forward. Perhaps, you are shuffling your feet and taking small steps when you walk. Or your ankle joint is not bending upward fast enough for the foot to clear the ground from the point you lift the foot off the ground to the moment you place it in front of you.

The research reveals that if you walk with a shuffling pattern, you tend to fall more frequently than others. If you walk at a very slow pace, you may also be at risk for falls. These are signs of weakness and loss of flexibility in the legs. They are also signs of a decrease in confidence in your walking ability; when you lose your confidence in walking, there is a good likelihood that you will become more sedentary, thus becoming weaker, which leads to loss of function and a decline in the quality of life.

There are easy tips that you can try. Pay attention to your walking as you walk. If you simply pay attention to lifting each foot up and taking a step, research shows there will be a decreased risk for falls. It also means you shouldn’t walk and talk at the same time because talking can be a distraction and you may not see that curb. Be aware of your surroundings.

Inside the home, ensure that there is adequate lighting especially on stairs. Use a cane if you are a little wobbly walking. There are many factors that lead to good balance which I’ll discuss in future articles; this is a good place to begin.

Agnes Contributes to Nelson County Life Every Month. For All of Agnes’ Articles, Visit her Archive.

July 2012 has been designated as National HIV Awareness Month. The goal of National HIV Awareness Month is to re-ignite our national discourse on the domestic HIV/AIDS epidemic in order to create broad-scale public awareness of HIV/AIDS, end HIV stigma and discrimination and engage new stakeholders in the fight against the disease, with the ultimate goal of ending the epidemic.

For more information visit www.nationalhivawarenessmonth.org

Tuesdays: Iyengar Yoga –Sandra Pleasants
9am- 10:30am

First Tuesday of each month: Mindfulness Meditation (free)
6-7pm

Thursdays: Anusara Yoga – Agnes Schrider
9am – 10:30am

Saturdays: NIA – Betty Kerr
9:30-10 :30am

Private yoga sessions, personal training, golf fitness training, massage are also available by appointment.

MINDFULNESS SKILLS FOR CHANGING YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH FOOD

This retreat offers a range of methods for changing unhelpful thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors regarding food.  From the ground of mindfulness, attentional training, and self-kindness, we will focus on gaining insight into unhealthy habitual patterns and on building the psychological resources needed for change.

Sasha Loring, M.Ed., LCSW is a leader in the field of mindful eating, and is the author of Eating with Fierce Kindness:  A Mindful and Compassionate Guide for Losing Weight. She has taught meditation workshops and retreats nationwide for over 30 years.

When : Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Time: 4-6pm,

Sign up for an annual fitness membership by June 30, 2011 and receive a 20% discount on five personal training sessions.