Sunday, February 5, 2012 @ 10am

Join us the morning of Superbowl Sunday and come sweat for a good cause!

Nimble Fitness TRX Instructor Barb Ehlers is racing to the top of the Empire State Building to raise awareness and funding for Multiple Myeloma research.   This special TRX class is a fundraiser for that event.  Come get a fantastic total-body workout before the big game (go GIANTS!).  All proceeds go to the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.

$15 is the minimum-asking donation.
Please bring cash or a check payable to Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.

Space is limited! Register for this class HERE or contact us.

If you would like to make a donation and show your support please click HERE

Introducing Barb Ehlers, our newest Nimble team member. Barb is not only TRX certified, she has also been a personal trainer for nearly 10 years and Pilates mat instructor for over 5 years! She fully embraces Joseph H. Pilates’ principles of body awareness and thorough physical development. Barb incorporates these principles as well as her own techniques into her TRX classes. She teaches her students to connect to their bodies in class, and to apply the feeling of strength and length into their daily lives.

Barb teaches our new TRX Plus CORE class on Tuesdays at 7:00pm as well as our 11:00am Saturday class. SIGN UP NOW

Barb also has an AMAZING food blog you absolutely must check out. SEE IT HERE

If you have one goal in 2012, one resolution that you make to help you get in the best shape of your life, start with this: “I want to be happy.”  Forget everything else for a moment. Forget going to the gym five days a week; forget about the foods you plan to give up or your plan to quit drinking for six months. Simply tell yourself, “My resolution this year is to be happy.”

Being happy is the key to better health and wellbeing.  Don’t get me wrong–getting into great shape requires some sweat and sacrifice–but before we think about exercise routines or food plans, we have to ask, “Are all the aspects of my life in alignment with my happiness?”  Physical, emotional and mental health are all deeply connected.   For instance, how can someone achieve true physical health if they work in an extremely stressful environment?   The same is true of personal relationships. You simply can’t ignore these other aspects of life if you want to be truly fit.

I ask you to take a moment to reflect on the following areas, which can make a positive difference in your happiness and health:

• Relationships. Be honest and sincere when you communicate with the people close to you–your spouse, friends, co-workers and family members.  You’ll be much happier if you address and overcome your fears, frustrations and anger rather than bottling those emotions up inside.  If you have trouble communicating with someone close to you, then maybe counseling or some professional help would have a positive influence.

• Work. Your work environment can be a huge influence on your happiness.  If you spend a large part of the day at your job, examine whether there is satisfaction and balance in what you do.  It doesn’t have to be the perfect job, but if your work environment is so stressful that you dread going, it is going to adversely affect your health and how you treat those around you.

• Friends. Are you surrounded by problems, or people that make you happy?  A happy emotional state can be infectious. Just being near happy people can put you in a better mood. Children, for example, can be especially carefree and happy.  Limit your time with needy friends and create more time with your kids, nieces or nephews.  Try and ensure the people around you share your goals of health and happiness.

• Exercise! Besides the fact that exercise has been shown to release endorphins and other body chemicals that give you a feeling of happiness, exercise helps you to feel more satisfied with the way you look and will boost your morale.  This in turn will help you stay more present, and more determined in your pursuit for a happy and fulfilling life.

Take each day as it comes and start to make decisions that you know will benefit your happiness.  This new approach to achieving life-long health will positively change the way you become fit and allow you reach your fitness goals for 2012 and many more years to come.

Cultivating energy starts with our relationship to the food and fluids we consume. What, how and when we eat affects our digestion, which in turn affects how much nutrition we receive from our food and how well we metabolize it. Every cell in our body regenerates from what we consume–there is no substitute for quality nutrition and a positive relationship with food. Examine how you feel after you eat. Do you have a nice sense of well-being and satisfaction? Do you feel solid energy for the next 4 or 5 hours? Conversely, does the food you’re eating make you sleepy, leave you craving sugar or disrupt your digestion? If it does, than it’s clear that your eating habits need to change. Releasing body fat and eating well is not as challenging as people make it–what is truly challenging for people is creating the habits to support positive, conscious, healthy food choices. Take action now and use food to get a leaner, younger body.

Take the start of this year to become more aware of what you are eating, how you are eating and when you are eating and then assess the effect your food is having on you. Remember, food is our medicine!

Namaste,
Daniel

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

In addition to running the race, The Nimble Fitness Team is now selling awesome t-shirts with all proceeds going to WITNESS. Grab yours before they’re all gone!  Stop by or give us a call at 212 633-9030 to reserve your shirt today.

WITNESS uses video to open the eyes of the world to human rights violations. WITNESS empowers people to transform personal stories of abuse into powerful tools for justice, promoting public engagement and policy change. www.witness.org

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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

Expert trainer and extreme fitness enthusiast Al Kavadlo is a frequent contributor to Sherdog.com.  Sherdog is the #1 site for Mixed Martial Arts news, training and information.  If you haven’t seen it already, check out Al’s Turkish Getup video on sherdog.com.

It seems easy to trick our brains into thinking we are “trying” to do something healthy. Take for, example, joining a gym. We convince ourselves that this is how we’ll try to get in shape. We feel good about the initial step, but what usually happens next?  We go sporadically, or end up not going at all.  Simply making the attempt, or “trying”, doesn’t produce results.

How do we break out of the “try” trap? Take action-and start with the language you use! Instead of saying “I’ll try to accomplish my goals,” say “I will accomplish what I set out to do.” It is also empowering to take time to evaluate your health and fitness goals-do they align with your lifestyle?

Draw up a plan and set tasks for yourself.  They can be simple, like drinking more water, but stay consistent and follow through.  Each task is a step that helps bring you closer to your goal.  As long as you keep working toward that goal then you are not trying but actually doing something.  Take your time, enjoy the process, but wait until you reach your ultimate goal to give yourself a pat on the back.  Only then can you say, “I didn’t just try.  I made it happen.”

-Antonio