By Pallavi Sharma
Found this article quite interesting. It is however an ongoing research to prove if a shot of caffeine before a workout increases efficiency. Read on.
http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/3-2009/a-cup-of-coffee-before-your-morning-workout.html
By Pallavi Sharma
Early to bed, Early to Rise,
AM workouts will always keep you in your desired shape and size!
Trrriinnggg! The alarm goes off. It’s five in the morning. You look at the clock with a sense of disgust and irritation, blaming it for it’s inhumane action of waking you up from your most beautiful sleep. And it glares back at you saying, “Dude, you have such double standards! Last night while you were setting me up, you loved me for waking you up for a noble cause, and look at you now!” Deep inside you know, it’s right. You try hard to open your eyes by rubbing them vigorously, while taking wobbly steps to the restroom. And with the first splash of cold water on your face, your mental alarm (if there is any in the real term) gets triggered. You are charged and all set to sweat it out!
A.M. workouts can be quite a challenge in the beginning and require sincere dedication and intense motivation to keep them going. But once you in the groove, there is no stopping. For the two years during my college life, I worked out every morning regardless of the time of the year, the weather, the classes, assignments, tests and what have you. It had become an integral part of my day to an extent where I would plan other events around my workout schedule. To be honest, it worked tremendously for me as they used to be my best workouts. After a good night’s sleep, my body would be well-rested, rejuvenated and completely ready to push harder compared to other times of the day. In a way I would get most out of my AM workouts with the same time spent, high powered workout and way more calories burned. Throughout the rest of my day I would have an extra oomph in my body, be super attentive in classes and highly productive at work. Morning workouts had the potential of creating such high amount of positive energy that it would flow through different aspects of my life. The other great advantage was that after a hard day at school and work and being completely exhausted, coming back home knowing that I don’t have to hit the gym later would be a massive relief. I could simply relax the rest of the evening and get to have some “me” time.
Now let’s get into the scientific reason behind the efficiency of a morning workout. When you up bright and early, the glycogen and glucose which provide energy for your workouts, are somewhat depleted. So, the fat stores in your body are mobilized and forced to burn. After a great aerobic workout, your metabolism is cranked up and stays like that for a while post workout. So one can make the best use of the “after burn” only with a morning workout and burn way more calories throughout the day, compared to an evening one, after which one plans to go into the slumber mode.
Here’s a great article which talks about the effects of a morning workout and the kinds of workout one could engage in to jump-start the metabolism.
http://stanford.wellsphere.com/healthy-living-article/the-simple-joys-of-a-morning-workout/729228
By Pallavi Sharma
I will not make the grave mistake of considering myself an “athlete”. Running 3 to 4 miles everyday does not put me under the category of a “runner” but I LOVE running! I love the waves of emotions that are created when the cool early morning wind brushes against my skin, when the first whiff of the fresh air travels through my veins and purifies me from within and when I am beyond judgement and have not a care in the world about who I am or what I do. It’s just me and the road, naked in front of each other, there are no games and I am myself!
I cannot trade that feeling for anything in the world, which is why I expect my body to stay in good shape to assist me in being able to keep up my passion. But alas! Considering my intense “three times a day” workout regime does result in some serious overuse of those poor muscles. Just a month back, I attended one of the intense aerobics classes and boy was it good! I must say I got a wonderful workout, but the side-effect of those jumpy movements was severe pain in the shin bone of my left leg, and the muscles surrounding it. The area was inflamed and would hurt acutely if I indulged in any kind of a physical activity. However, my addiction for working out daily would pull me back to the mat/treadmill/the road and I would keep going regardless of the discomfort.
Alright, so we all know what comes next! Oh wait, my bones did not break 
Two mornings later as I woke up from my bed and took the first step, in seconds I spiraled down, back to my bed. I could not even take a step ahead due to the excruciating pain. So I sat there thinking of a solution. I somehow made it to the refridgerator by limping my way through and applied some ice to the affected area. I also made it a point to massage the muscles with a chinese balm. In matter of minutes, the pain gradually subsided and I found myself in a much better place. For the next one week, I decided to focus on yoga only which helped me tremendously in stretching out the muscles of my legs and reducing inflammation and pain. In a week, my legs felt healthy and strong again and I was back on track with my running shoes on! Yay!
So all you runner’s out there, take some time off to nurse your injuries. Here’s a great article by a Mayo Clinic staff which I would like to share with all of you. It explains in great detail the symptoms and cure for shin splints.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/shin-splints/DS00271
Your dedication towards your daily workout rituals maybe exemplary, but listen to your body!
By Pallavi Sharma
Seems like the most intoxicating, relaxing and healthy experience ever known to mankind. No wonder it’s addictive and I cant wait to get one done soon!
So what are you waiting for!!
By Pallavi Sharma
You may have a desk job, or a job which demands walking on high heels. You maybe a sports person or a plain and simple “fitnessoholic” like me. Just like any machine which runs on oil and grease and requires frequent maintenance, your body is not a whole lot different. It is your vehicle, your car, and to keep it up and running, you need to give it rejuvenation and maintenance time.
How many of us in a day feel like or even get a chance to sit down and do absolutely nothing and simply immerse ourselves into the deepest levels of relaxation? How many of us feel the need to say “stop” to the constant state of frenzy around us and listen to what our body has to say? It might seem queer to a lot of us, but our body has a voice too, and when you suffer from muscle reuse or injury of any kind, it craves to be massaged and relaxed. So cater to your body’s needs and it will serve you back!
How does massage help in revitalizing your system? Being a student during college, affording a full body massage was a far fetched dream. So it’s importance never occurred to me. As I went on with my vigorous workout regime, there were days I would experience extreme muscular pain and my body at that time would crave for a massage. However with the aid of our anytime friend, Advil, I would fix myself. Not until I received a 50 dollar coupon at my health club spa, that I even thought of trying the much talked about thing out. And guess what? I realized what I had missed all these years. It was a one hour full body massage by the Senior Massage Therapist and I must say it was one of the best times in my life. That hour seemed like a blur and I was never more relaxed ever before.
Massage not only plays a key role in reducing the hypothalmic area of the brain but also decreases the stress hormones and increases endorphins in the body. And as I have mentioned in my previous articles that endorphins are the “feel good” hormones, it makes it clear why the body experiences an invariable feeling of goodness and positivity.
If you are looking for a great way to do frequent mini-massages on your own, here’s a great video which illustrates the tension points of the back and how to massage them.
http://mcr.coreconcepts.com.sg/self-massage-for-your-neck-shoulders/
Please feel free to post your own findings and suggest ways and means to do your own massage.
By Pallavi Sharma
So this morning when I tried the Stash’s Peppermint Caffeine Free Herbal Tea, my life got a zillion times better from that moment. It’s minty aroma got me kicking for the day and I felt thoroughly refreshed.
In fact I was so impressed with it that I distributed a tea bag each among my workmates and guess wat? They loved it too!
Rush to your nearest grocery store and grab a pack today. Jump start your day with this great tea!
By Pallavi Sharma
As I am a strong believer of “The Secret” (the movie as well as the book) and the Law of Attraction, I personally feel that anything is possible in your life if you thought, felt and believed in the positive and right things. This is true for even weight loss.
This morning as I was browsing youtube I happened to come across a great video of Dr. Jonny Bowden, a nationally known expert on weight loss, nutrition and health and a best-selling author, in which he talks about how adopting and believing in the secret law of attraction can have physiological effects on your body which in turn can lead to weight loss. Check it out!
By Pallavi Sharma
On Friday morning, as I was doing my rituals i.e. working the treadmill and the elliptical, I saw a middle aged man walking towards me in a black attire. Turns out, he is one of the Certified Personal Trainers who try to lure the LifeTime Fitness clients into getting a Fitness Assessment Test. Considering my invisible cloak of conceit that I constantly wear, I have never cared enough for one of those tests. So I gladly greeted the gentleman with a sweet smile and shook hands with him. He had been watching me sweating it out for the last one hour and ended up asking if I had filled myself with enough nourishment for a crazy sweat like that. Hmmm, it had never occurred to me that its highly recommended to get a little bit of food inside that belly of ours before a workout, to avoid light-headedness and a growling noise! Now, by “food” I obviously don’t mean an old country buffet or a three course meal right before a workout! What I mean is a little bit of energy snack like an energy bar or a protien shake which will help in providing you more energy for your workouts and get the most out of them. Let me elaborate.
Our body’s main source of energy is the carbohydrates stored in the form of glycogen in the liver and the muscles. So when your glycogen content is depleted, your body will definitely try to burn the stored fat in you body (which you have been desperately trying to get rid of), but it will cause fatigue and you may not have enough energy to keep your stamina up and going. So on the other hand if you were to say eat a hearty meal several hours before a workout or even a little snack few minutes before, the carbohydrate that you would have consumed would get into the bloodstream in the form of glucose which is another readily available source of energy for the body which gives you the extra oomph for your workout. That way you have two sources of energy (the glucose in the bloodstream and the glycogen in the muscles and liver) which causes you to last longer and stay stronger during your workouts.
Now you must be wondering: What to eat before and after a workout?
Here’s a great article I came across which talks about fluid intakes and the kind of food products to eat before a workout. Check it out!
http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/nutrition_articles.asp?id=1074
Starving yourself and thinking that the body would burn stored fat will have the reverse effect on your body. So if you want to enjoy and love your workout sessions, well nourish your body and see yourself turn into a live energizer bunny! YOU ARE WORTH IT!!!
By Pallavi Sharma
Found it on youtube. Seemed super effective! They might seem challenging initially, but you soon find yourself becoming a “pro” at it. Just need one of those exercise balls and you wont be far away from getting those sexy abs like the fitness model in there 
…cant wait to try them out tomorrow morning. Hope you guys like it!
However for now, I am all set to hit the sack to get my muscles well rested for a brand new beautiful, fresh and fit day tomorrow!
By Pallavi Sharma
“Binging”, a word which I am sure most of my readers are quite familiar with. Hmmm, do thoughts of all those yummy, cheesy and greasy snacks come to mind? They come to me too Let’s be honest to ourselves. We all love food and especially the deep fried one’s just taste so much better! But the sad side to that tasty fact is, it’s doing no good to us. Sigh!
I remember my insane ability of consuming one of those Lay’s wafer “family pack” in one sitting and be ready for another one just minutes later. If there was an award especially designed for “bingers”, I atleast would’ve showed up on it’s nomination list! I remember it being a cycle. Depression or anxiety or any kind of an extreme emotion would hit me. There would always be a bag of those munchers sitting in that corner cabinet of the kitchen. I would reach out to it, eat to my heart’s content (which usually would end up being the entire bag) and then send myself on a guilt trip. Tell myself that this was the last time I ever did it in my “life” (knowing very well it wasn’t). Few days later would be back square one! I was in this loop and was unable to get out of it.
Yoga was like an angel in disguise at the time. It’s strong and calming effect on my mind, drew away all the negative emotions of depression, sadness and anxiety and filled me up with love, admiration and self-confidence for myself and my body. Weeks later I saw myself buying all the healthy food compared to the times when I would stack up my grocery cart at the store with loads n loads of munching items.
Here’s a great article which suggests how regular yoga practice instills mindful eating in us.
Check it out: http://blogs.yogajournal.com/yogabuzz/2009/08/
Most of us feel that eating healthy means eating boring and bland food. Not necessarily, only if you know the way to make your food interesting and fun to eat. Here’s an article which suggests five ways in which you could make your daily meals and choice of food taste bud friendly!
Check it out:
http://www.themedguru.com/articles/five_ways_to_make_health_food_interesting-86120594.html
Let me know your experience with binging and how you were successful in overcoming it.
Yoga Journal
