Rest and Recovery: The missing link

The importance of rest and recovery has been overlooked in the fast paced world of exercises, fitness, body image, and performance. It's what you do outside the gym that really matters!

The body heals when one is sleeping. Therefore, a lack of sleep (rest) leads to more of a breakdown in muscle tissue causing injuries (micro- tears) that creep up as we get older. For example, sitting at a desk 8+ hours a day, for 30+ years can lead to a chronic shortening of important muscles. By that time, the typical person has experience neck/shoulder/back/hip and/or knee pain of some sort. They decide on starting an exercising program because they've been told by their doctor to do so.

Without the knowledge of when to rest, one would try to do as many reps and sets as possible, or walk numerous miles, or try intense fitness classes to accomplish unrealistic goals. This isn't ideal because it leads to major injuries in the body down to the

bone. 

Here is an ideal schedule to use when starting an exercising program:

Weight training:
2-3x weekly with moderate size weights
Choose exercises that strengthen your hips and back
10-12 reps / 3-4 sets / rest: 1-2 mins between sets

Endurance Training:
Run/walk 1-4 miles within the first 4 weeks, only increasing 20% each week.
Run/walk between 2-4x a week.
Swimming is a great alternative if you have back or knee pain
Biking is great, but not if you have back pain
Don't forget to include weight training to strengthen muscles.

Fitness Classes:
Choose low impact classes at first (yoga, Pilates, water aerobics, etc).
Cardio classes are great for burning calories (kickboxing, boxing, zumba).
High impact classes come with high risk- high reward factors (crossfit), be careful.
Take 2-3 classes a week.
Mix them up monthly to see which instructors and classes you like.


As you see the most any beginner should start with is 3-4x a week if they are strength training or doing endurance training. That leaves at least 72 hours of rest! Please use that time wisely to focus on sleep and nutrition, the other building blocks in recovery.

New Mommies and Fitness

Hello Everyone! We will like to introduce you to our guest blogger, Kelli Atangan, who is a client in our bootcamp program. Here is what she has to say about staying fit as a new mommy, and her fitness program that she runs:

Like most moms, I was very active before I had kids.  I competed in gymnastics through college and then took up triathlons in graduate school.  I kept myself active throughout my pregnancy, walking and taking prenatal yoga.  Then I had my first son, and my whole exercise routine came to a halt.  There were always excuses that kept me from going to the gym or going on a run.  The baby is sleeping, the baby is up, the baby is hungry or fussy, I didn’t sleep last night, I don’t have the right stroller, nothing fits, who will watch him, and he doesn’t like the gym daycare, and so on.  When your life turns upside down it is easy to fall out of a routine.  So I went about my day, trying to do a million things for my son and nothing for myself.  Exercise became a thing of the past and something I would get back into “one day”. 

     When my oldest son was nearing three I realized that “one day” might never come if I didn’t schedule it into my life.  I had to figure out how to make it work and I had to schedule every single workout or it would never happen.  I started taking Mommy Bootcamp class with Natalie of Embody Pure Fitness once a week; where I and three friends sweat it out over a grueling (but awesome) 45 minute workout.  My muscles began to remember what working out felt like again and I was hooked.  So I enlisted help of more friends to get back in shape with me. I reached out to my local mommy friends and asked if they would join me twice a week for a workout.  I knew if someone was counting on me, I’d have to actually get out of bed and go!  Modeled after popular mom and baby stroller workouts, we put our little ones in strollers and does a 1.2 mile loop in our neighborhood.  I lead most of our workouts right now but the other moms are starting to jump in and take turns.  Our workouts include a cardio warm-up, walking, lunges, and squats, lifting light weights, abdominals and core.  Any mom is welcome.  Since we don’t run, we’ve had moms with umbrella strollers, moms regularly wearing their babies on their backs and pushing one in the stroller, a mom 8 weeks postpartum, and another mom due the next day!  Basically, we’ve removed all the excuses (except for being exhausted, that one I can’t fix!).  I’ve been amazed at how many moms were looking for something like this and keep coming back each week.  I only wish I’d begun these three years ago! 

     If there’s one thing that a new mom needs it is support.  We need support for mothering our children but we also need support for ourselves.  Having a group of moms to workout with helps you to take care of yourself, so that you can take care of your kids.  Getting those endorphins flowing can be the key to getting you through a long day with the kids or the next mega meltdown!  On the days that I exercise, I feel more organized and have more energy.  My kids are still the world’s worst sleepers and I might barely have my eyes open but I’m done using it as an excuse.

Kelli Atangan can be found leading Kingstowne Mommy Strides every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 8am in the Kingstowne area of Alexandria,VA.  For more information find us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/KingstowneMommyStrides

5 tips to protect your knees

Have you had an achy feeling in your knees? Do you find it difficult to walk long distances, go down stairs, or sit for long periods of time without having pain in your knees? You may be suffering from Patella Femoral Syndrome. This is an umbrella term, that describes a dysfunction between the patella, cartilage, tibia, femur, ligaments, and muscles around the knee. Since there is so much involve, it is hard to pinpoint what is really wrong. Here are my 5 top tips to "protect your knees":

1. Stretch-  flexibility is a key role in improving general range of motion of the knee and other body parts.

2. Improve your balance- wobbly ankles can cause poor mechanics of the knee.

3. Decrease compression- doing activites that cause you to do alot of jumping (volleyball), or hitting a hard surface (running on concrete vs. treadmill),
                                            may cause wear and tear on on the cartilage in your knees.

4. Wear proper shoes- even though 9" heels look nice, they are touture on your knees. They may put the joint in hyperextension and causes excessive
                                       wear and tear of the knee joint.

5. Exercise- doing bodyweight exercises improve your strength, and biomechanics of your joints. If you are in pain, get clearance from your physician
                    before engaging in any execises.