I love a good power nap.  There have been many long days at the studio where I wouldn’t have survived without one.  Research has shown that a daily nap can promote physical well-being, improve your mood and your memory, sharpen your senses and revitalize your energy. By deliberately putting time aside for a “power nap”, you will be much more productive the rest of the day.  A 15 to 20 minute nap is all you need–the key is not to fall into the deeper stages of sleep in the afternoon.  Even if you don’t fully fall asleep, you’ll still reap benefits from the relaxation time.

Here are some quick tips for that perfect siesta:

• Schedule your nap during the second half of your day, usually between 1pm and 5pm.
• Avoid caffeine 4 hours before a nap. Also avoid eating at least 2 hours before your nap.
• Nap regularly and keep your time consistent so you nap at the same time every day.
• Find a quiet space and turn off your phone. Let others know not to disturb you.
• Help your body relax by taking a few deep breaths. Clear your mind by focusing on your breaths.
• If light bothers you, wear a sleep mask or place a towel over your eyes. A dark room will work best.
• Have a glass of water when you wake up and walk around for 5 minutes to stimulate your nervous system.

As I stated, a good nap should last no more than 15-20 minutes. You may think this is nothing but, believe me, its all you need. You’ll feel your heart rate increase when you wake up and you may even start to sweat as your metabolism fires back. After a few minutes and big glass of water you’ll feel good as new!

Do you know what “home” feels like for your body?

I’m talking about the place where you feel structurally in alignment.  Where you move with poise and feel relaxed. Whether we’re feeling “at home” or not often comes down to what we have done, or what he haven’t done, prior to being aware that we are out of alignment.  Being able to feel our bodies, and having checks and balances so that we can catch small disruptions in our joints or tissue, can save us from creating further dysfunction.

Here is a simple assessment that I got from my friend Sue Hitzman, creator of the MELT method. I love it and have used it on myself during my marathon training and with almost every client I have ever worked with.  It’s called a body scan, and it’s also great for starting a lying meditation.

After you assess yourself, you can perform any movement you wish and now you have a way to simply assess how it affected your body. For example, if you are performing a power move but your technique is off, you may feel a hip positioned differently then before. Remember everything changes when under load, so you can use this technique to see how the quality of your movement changes while in motion. Re-assess often! You’re simply using it to have an easy way get in your body and feel how your workouts are affecting how your body presents itself to the floor when simply lying relaxed. (For more information, contact Daniel and the Nimble Fitness team at info@nimblefitness.com).

Namaste,
Daniel

by Daniel Lucas

Here is an overview of some keys to success when it comes to the art of recovery. At its core, recovery is part of the discipline, patience and commitment it takes to perform at your highest level.

Whether you’re training for the New York City marathon, as I am, or just want to get stronger, all the magic happens in adaptation. We stress our bodies to new levels of fatigue, and our bodies repay us by becoming stronger, faster and more powerful. Muscle fibers shift and grow from these stresses over time. An effective, progressive program will include disciplined recovery periods, with the ultimate goal of being prepared and healthy on race day.

Here’s some tips for effective recovery:

1. Study! A little research goes a long way! Run with this list of tips and use the information you find to make needed changes in your program. If you find some more information that gives you a big YES in your mind, you can probably use it to your advantage.

2. Awareness. All the study in the world will not take care of you better than you. Be aware of everything when it comes to your recovery. Here’s a quick list to get you started: overall energy, mood, joint range of motion, muscle symmetry, aches and pains, bowel movements, sleep quality, caffeine and alcohol consumption.

3. Hydration. Pre, during, and post. We have all heard this song and dance before, but why do so many people compete dehydrated? Habits, addiction, and lack of consistency are the biggest culprits. My quick take on it is this: know your body, pee clear for a couple days before big events, use sea-salt in your water before a race, drink water between meals, limit beverages that dehydrate you.  On the other hand, over hydrating can be a problem too.  Hydrating prior (several days before) an event and using salt tablets for long runs is also something to consider.  Maintaining proper electrolyte balance can make or break your performance.

4. Nutrition. All of the above are important keys to success, but the food you put in your body is what your cells use to regenerate. So, give every training session the fuel you need to perform, and the nutrition you need to recover. This equation will be different for all of us—so be very aware of how your nutrition is serving you.

5. Anti-Oxidants. The waste created in our bodies from intense prolonged exercise creates free radicals, so consuming some high quality anti-oxidants can help balance that equation. Examples would be fruits like pomegranates or berries, and other vegetables rich in anti-oxidants.

6. Sleep. Getting high quality sleep allows your body to heal most of all! The important work of repairing tissue happens when you’re in deep sleep. The basic secrets to great sleep are: a consistent early bedtime, knowing what time you need to eat to sleep well, cutting caffeine later in the day, making sure your bedroom is dark and quiet.

7. Symmetry and Tissue Hydration. Flexibility is a big key to performing at your best. It’s a big part of maintaining symmetry from limb to limb, and being able to re-set tight, tired muscles. Also, hydrating muscles and connective tissue with myo-fascial release tools or massage is important. So you have a choice: Force another tight, challenging run or take care of yourself on a higher level?

8. Functional Exercises. Exercises that target postural muscles that are prone to weakness are an important part of any successful program.  Study up on corrective strategies, and include compound exercises that really improve your balance and integrated power.

Namaste,

Daniel

“The MELT Hand and Foot Treatment is an innovative self-treatment technique that can make your whole body feel better in just minutes. By stimulating the hands and feet, this easy-to-learn treatment can help reduce these common painful symptoms in just minutes a day:

• hand, foot, back, and neck pain
• plantar fasciitis, bunions, neuromas
• arthritis, carpal tunnel syndrome, trigger finger
• even headaches, gut issues, and insomnia!

The MELT Hand & Foot Treatment Kit includes everything you need to start feeling better now: 6 MELT Treatment balls (2 of each size), 1 Bunion Reducer Band, a 60-minute DVD featuring MELT Method creator Sue Hitzmann, and an illustrated instruction guide, all in a convenient travel case.

These quick self-treatments can be done anywhere – home, work, or travel.”

www.meltmethod.com …………………………………………………………………………….

We sell the M.E.L.T. Hand and Foot Treatment kit at Nimble Fitness. If you are unfamiliar with how to use it, schedule a session with one of our M.E.L.T. certified trainers – contact us

A: To scientists, the answer to this question is a bit of a paradox. Radiation from the sun is both the leading cause of skin cancer and our major source of Vitamin D. We’ve all heard of the dangers of too much sun exposure, yet Vitamin D derived from the sun actually reduces the risk of many cancers, as well as being an essential strengthener of your immune system, skin, bones and teeth. Not to mention that Vitamin D increases
levels of serotonin, which means getting us in a better mood. Those of us who live in the Northern Hemisphere, not surprisingly, are more in need of sunlight then our southern-hemisphere neighbors.

Here are some keys for getting some safe sunshine :

*Avoid direct, unprotected exposure to the sun when it is most intense, from the hours of 10am to 3pm in the summer.

*10-15 minutes of exposure to direct sunlight without sunscreen, as long as it’s not at the hottest time of day, is generally accepted as being enough exposure to get the  benefits of sun without endangering your skin.

*Use sunscreen otherwise, and re-apply often, even with the products that claim they are water- and sweat-proof. Any product with an SPF of 30 or above is generally offers the same amount of protection.

If you want to read more, please visit the links below.

Why the sun is good for you?
More Sun Exposure May Be Good For Some People.

While on vacation in Turkey, a client’s question kept popping into my head when I would sit down to eat in the morning: What can I eat for a healthy breakfast?  It’s a simple question, but I feel like the answer is sometimes tough to grasp.  In America, we often end up in a “breakfast box” and find ourselves eating the same foods over and over, day after day.  Since we should really rotate the foods we eat every 3 or 4 days, all of us could use some healthy breakfast options.

During this vacation to Turkey, my eyes and stomach rejoiced in the lovely breakfast they laid out at several of the hotels we stayed in.  They were simple and yummy, but nutritious.  Below is a list of new options that I found for breakfast.

Boiled Eggs (easy to take to work with you)
Olives
Figs
Walnuts
Almonds
Apples
Oranges (an all season fruit)
Sausages
Cheese (goat and feta for me)
Hummus
Potatoes
Yogurt
Tomatoes
Raw veggies
Greens
Spices
Spinach
Salmon
Beans
Snap Peas

These are all foods we are familiar with, so if you have a collection in your fridge, you can mix and match to create a healthy breakfast.  Shop at the farmer’s market whenever you get a chance to get fresh produce.  I purchased one of the multi-section containers to hold my food and it works really well.  Good luck with mixing up your breakfast options.  I’m sure I left out plenty of great choices that can be added to this list.  Feel free to get creative and enjoy the most important meal of the day!

Namaste
Daniel

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I have parents often ask me to suggest ways they can get their kids to eat healthier. The first question I ask them is: How do they eat themselves? The answer is telling, as many parents confess to not eating as well as they should.

As a parent, I know only too well that children will instinctively learn from you, both the good and bad. If you know a lot about food and eat a variety of natural and healthy foods, your children will pick up on those habits. If you don’t set the right example, by eating a healthy diet yourself, then you are setting the stage for your children to eat poorly. To ensure that your child develops a healthy mindset towards eating, it is up to you to lead by example. Good eating starts at home!

Here are 3 tips to help you incorporate more vegetables into your family’s diet. It is well documented that families who consume plenty of vegetables tend to have a healthier lifestyle in general. Share these healthy eating tips with your children. When preparing meals let them help pick ingredients and participate whenever possible.

1. Set the tone. If you hold your nose while you eat a broccoli stalk, do you think your kids will want to eat it? What if you make comments like, “yuck” or “How could something that tastes so bad be good for you?” Act as if you are enjoying the experience. This will obviously work better with vegetables you actually do enjoy, but remember that words and thoughts are powerful. You can learn to like new things if you try them a few times. Emphasizing the positives about vegetables, and expressing that at the dinner table, will resonate positively with you and your entire family.

2. Disguise your vegetables. This is a good one for anyone with especially picky kids at home. One idea that works well is to blend vegetables into fruit smoothies. Tossing some fresh veggies in a morning smoothie along with fruits (strawberries, oranges and blueberries work well) and whatever smoothie base you like (almond milk, yogurt, fruit juice, etc) is a great way to get vegetables in at breakfast. Spinach works especially well, as does kale, avocado, wheat grass, carrots and cucumbers. Experiment and blend up a few different combinations of fruits and vegetables until you find a concoction you really like. Let your kids pick the ingredients and help in the experiment. If they absolutely refuse to eat vegetables, you don’t have to tell the kids what’s in the “fruit” smoothie. Keep the fruit-to-vegetables ratio on the sweeter side (more fruit) at first. Gradually work in more veggies as everyone gets used to the taste.

You could also chop up vegetables and add them to omelets, cassaroles, meat loaf, etc. You could mix carrots and peas in mashed potatoes. There are many ways to add vegetables to different kinds of food. Check out this website for more great tips and recipes – www.doitdelicious.com.

3. Make it easy. Eating fresh vegetables bought that morning from the local farmer’s market is the healthiest option, but can be hard to fit in to a busy working schedule. I’m a big believer in organic frozen vegetables, which are available now in most grocery stores. They’re convenient, easy to prepare, come in many varieties and can taste pretty good. Stick with the flash-frozen kind that are just veggies and contain no added sauces. You can add your own spices and a touch of butter to make them extra yummy. Corn on the cob (who doesn’t like corn on the cob?) and baked sweet potatoes are two other easy ways to prepare vegetables. For corn, fill your pot with water, add 1/4 cup of brown sugar, drop in your corn, bring everything to a boil, let it boil for 6-8 minutes then remove from the water and let it cool enough to eat. For sweet potatoes, rub olive oil on the skin then pierce the potato once or twice with a fork. Wrap it in foil, place on an oven tray and bake in a preheated oven at 400F for 40-60 minutes. After 40 minutes, give it a poke once in while with a fork. When it feels nice and soft it’s ready. Let it cool then enjoy!

I’ve trained when I’m under the weather, exhausted, even with a broken arm before, but it wasn’t as challenging as my recent week of training was. The reason it was so challenging was because there were a multitude of stresses on my system. They added up over a week’s time:
1) My spine was incorrectly adjusted while on vacation in Turkey, and I ended up feeling like slow moving reptile.
2) The Nimble studio had a massive flood the day after I got back from vacation
3) I felt ill from the fumes of our studio demolition.

No, I’m not trying to complain (although if you trained with me during this week, you probably noticed my struggle) or looking for pity, just articulating some circumstances that eventually affect all of us in life.  Getting to the point–when stresses rise in your life, that is the time to be even more diligent with your healthy habits. Getting more rest, drinking more quality water, eating a healthy organic diet, limiting your alcohol/caffiene intake, and staying in touch with friends and loved ones. Many of us have been programmed to do the opposite; when stress goes up its a green light to drink more, use coffee to stay with the pace, eat less healthy or not at all. All of these habits add to your stress, which can become a kind of “comfort zone” to deal with life’s challenges. We now understand that feeling uncomfortable–getting out of old habits–is often associated with what I see as shifts in growth. Life happens, and you have to be prepared to handle stress at a high level, so it doesn’t take you out of your health zone. Staying healthy under stress also allows you to keep a clear head so that you can make accurate decisions on how to navigate.

If you don’t back yourself up with healthy habits, stressors can grow into much bigger problems, like disease. Make it your intention to live healthier, even as stress at home, work or life goes up, understanding that sometimes these stresses we face are there to facilitate a deeper shift of consciousness and self-awareness. This shift in intention will keep you lighter, healthier, happier and more energetic in the long run. Often life’s challenges are tests of your will and ability to be present and loving during such challenging times. Let right now be the moment you handle stress with love of self.
START TODAY!

First, it’s important to know whether the injury is acute or chronic. An acute injury is one that results in sharp pain and is usually caused by a traumatic event. A chronic injury is one that is recurring and usually a duller pain.

Here are some ground rules for using ice and heat in treatment of injuries:

*Always use ice after an acute injury has occurred. Ice will help reduce swelling and pain.
*You can also use ice for a chronic condition, but only after activity to reduce swelling.
*Heat should be used before physical activity, to warm muscle and connective tissue and stimulate blood flow.
*Never use heat after an injury has occurred—and never use heat after physical activity.
*Never use ice before physical activity.

Here are some other good tips for using ice/heat from an online medical blog:

*Before icing, put a small amount of oil on the area you’re going to ice, then cover with cloth before you put the ice pack on.
*Ice for a maximum of 20-30 minutes.
*For heating, warm is better than hot. Your skin should be checked at regular intervals to make sure it’s not burning.

-Keith Paine