Wednesday, May 27

Feelin' the Burn!

When you first start to workout, or try one that's different from what you're use to, you'll usually be tight and sore afterward and will feel like you did a great workout! Then, as you do the exercise more and more and your body becomes accustom to the abuse, you'll find it a lot harder to get to the point where you feel it the next day. Many people believe that when they don't feel sore the next day, they're not working out hard enough. I want to put that myth to rest.

Your body is an amazing machine. It remembers, adapts, adjusts and gets stronger very quickly because it likes to be, and needs to be, efficient. If you start a new exercise program, one that you haven't done before or haven't done in a long time, it gives your body a wake up call, and the process of getting stronger and healing faster begins.

Usually when you workout, depending on the workout, you are tearing your muscles. When you stop exercising, during recovery, the body repairs torn muscles and makes them even stronger than before. Your body wants to be able to handle the workload you demand of it but when it's not use to what you've put it through, it takes longer to heal the damage.

The reason you will stop being so sore after doing a program several times, is because your body remembers the recovery process it went through the first few times, and it repeats that process again and again. When you try something completely different it doesn't take the same measures to heal the damage, so again the body has to learn how to fix its weaknesses.

As long as during the workout you are feeling the burn, and at the end of your set you know you can't do anymore, then you're working hard enough. Increase the intensity of exercise when you start to feel that during the workout you can push harder. You need to do this in order to have the body make adjustments for the more intense workload and toughen up the muscles even more. Until that point, enjoy the fact that you're not feeling sore the next day, and that your body has learned how to heal itself faster so you can work it again sooner.

Monday, May 25

Sorry Guys!

I've been neglecting all of you and I'm sorry! I have no internet in my apartment, and life's been super busy with classes and training so to get to a computer for an entry is harder than it sounds.

I've been teaching indoor cycling classes for a few weeks now, and I absolutely love it. If you have never been to a biking class, I highly recommend that you try one. It's a tough class to teach because there's only so much you can do on a bike. Coming up with interesting drills and having the energy to get everyone motivated for an hour on a bike is testing me and making me a better instructor, for sure. And I've already noticed a big improvement in my cardiovascular system, which is hugely important because I have to talk almost the whole way through! It's fantastic exercise and really works if you do it right.

When you go to a cycling class, YOU are in charge of how hard you work. Of course, if you go to an instructor who doesn't take enough breaks between drills or takes too many, you may have a harder time getting the workout you're looking for, but generally it's up to you to make yourself sweat.

The resistance on the bike is increased and decreased by the turn of a knob. We usually work on a resistance scale of 1-10 and it's up to you to decide what each number on that scale feels like. This is why it's up to you to make the workout your own. When an instructor tells you to take it to a level 5 resistance, you need to decide what 5 will feel like to you for that day. Give it all you have! If you're working the way you should be in a cycling class, you should be walking out soaked in sweat!

When you participate in any class, you really need to push yourself; compete against your own body and mind to make your work out as intense as it can be while still being safe. Think of all the reasons why you're doing what you're doing, and what made you start in the first place. Think of the things that motivate you so that you're able to give it your all!

I teach cycling Tuesdays at 5, Fridays at 12, and Saturdays at 9am at Pilates Dynamic Fitness on Queen Street. Stop by and check out one of my classes! I promise it'll be a great workout and one that you'll definitely be happy to have made it to.