Palm Bay Planet Fitness
160 Malabar Rd. Palm Bay, FL 32907
Tel. 321-327-2970
Fax. 321-473-8938
Stress Management through Strength Training 101
Moving towards balance in one's personal and professional life is never easy, especially when you have multiple factors pulling you every which way but loose and/or your personal stress indicators are off the chart. Irony is, when you work at home [like I do] life sometimes automatically becomes a "stress at work" issue [silly grin].
Perfect example: Discovering every exterior stucco wall has hurricane wind/rain/crack damage requiring $8,100 worth of cleaning, patching, repairing, resurfacing and painting [sigh]. Will write a Texcote blog later because it was mad fun watching the contractor repair and paint the house while we all kind of freaked out. Our Florida home is a 2006 Adams [with one previous owner] that hubby purchased in 2010. Turns out being a Florida homeowner is a whole new gawking New Yorker experience for us because it is a daily battle to keep the wildlife from taking up residence in the strangest places in our house and the weather down here is mad fickle.
I've discovered Winter sometimes equals freeze in the morning - cook an egg off your forehead in the afternoon, but I digress...
For approximately two weeks we were plagued by exhaustion, restless sleep, irritability about the freaky weather delaying the repair project, yadda yadda yadda, blah blah blah... insert list of stress triggers here. Then, with spectacular displays of short temper [being the 3 year olds that we are] ultimately used the issue of fixing the house as a catalyst to gripe about how we really felt about all sorts of marital baggage, resulting in us separately storming off to the gym to take it out on the free weights [and really cool, stylish exercise equipment].
Why hit the gym? Because we stress eat. Comfort food is a beautiful thing, but not if you let it cause you to become overweight. Being an unrepentant junk food junkie I know what I'm talking about. Did you know that there is a small study that indicates a way to reduce stress-eating? It was conducted at the University of California, San Francisco. Obese women learned meditation for stress-reduction, were introduced to the practice of mindful eating and how to determine the body’s real need for food rather than from other cues to eat, such as stress. Researcher Jennifer Daubenmier compared those women with similar women who were not trained. She says the trained women benefited: “They stabilized their weight during the training, and the women who did not receive the training continued to gain weight. And they gained 3.8 pounds on average, or about a pound per month.” The study in the Journal of Obesity was supported by the National Institutes of Health.
Dr. Daubenmier’s program of research "examines the effects of meditation and yoga training on psychoneuroendocrine stress arousal, eating behavior, and chronic disease processes related to obesity." Did you know new research links stress arousal to cellular aging? You guys may want to keep up with her work because she has "extended her line of research to assess the impact of meditation and lifestyle changes on cellular aging processes and to explore their relation to obesity."
I refuse to give up chocolate so of course I expanded my gym rat proclivities to include Hatha Yoga. Pssst... goes great with Yang Tai Chi and Northern 7 Star Praying Mantis. I take Yoga on Fridays from 10:30 - 11:45 at the Franklin T DeGroodt Library of Palm Bay [across Minton adjacent to the Planet Fitness Palm Bay West parking lot] as a student of the fabulous Eileen Petrovich. The classes are $5. How cool is that? Very.
Know what else is cool? The Palm Bay Planet Fitness Personal Trainers. Their exercise science expertise and strength training classes are free with your Palm Bay Planet Fitness membership.
Um... Yeah... I just exposed the best kept neighborhood fitness secret...
Oh horror!
Was that the chorus of virtual jaws from rival gym owners and trainers clattering to their concrete floors? Ooops. My bad.
Rival Dude: Don't come player hatin' on my blog because the benefits of being a happy member of a stellar club are just too good not to share. I'm simply stating the facts. I also love hanging out here with my family, friends and neighbors. FYI: I've been in the martial arts since I was 19 years old, love going to educational seminars and will save up my pennies to gladly pay people for what they are worth. I enjoy several fitness venues and would never knock anyone's business model. You throw a strength seminar that I like and I'll come if its open to the public. Never thought I'd be wild about Yoga until I took Eileen's class and she is definitely a keeper. The price is exceptional for what you walk away with. How can I not share the good news?
Wanna come out and play with me? Cool! Here's the skinny on my PF Personal Trainers: On Mondays and Fridays at Planet Fitness I'm coached by Andrew. On Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays I'm coached by Brittany. These two are THE badass dynamic duel of fat burning, body sculpting, start where you are now and we'll design a program to build your fitness level together.
Planet Fitness has a Judgement Free Zone® philosophy, which means "members can relax, get in shape, and have fun without being subjected to the hard-core, look-at-me attitude that exists in too many gyms." So if I wanna wear scrubs with my sneakers, don over sized headphones and burn fat while listening to jazz on my iPod I can do that. If I want to grab a mat, put YouTube on my Android and practice Yoga or Qigong exercises in the stretching area I can do that. If I want to pick a body part that's problematic and ask for help I can sign up for an available training slot and take a 30 minute class. If I want to TapoutXT in the corner with a medicine ball and exercise bands no one bothers me. I can hop on a purple box and do Jillian Michaels moves [Planet Fitness sponsors The Biggest Loser people].
Relieving stress should be something one schedules a wee bit of time for. Studies indicate it will help you live longer.
Before starting any exercise program you should talk with your doctor, get a check up, ask for a referral to a registered dietitian regarding your diet and read the government studies to get an idea of what you can do to improve the quality of your health. If you can get your hands on a personal trainer of quality then do so. I'm lucky. I have two excellent trainers I enjoy working with. So do my fellow club members.
As of this writing there are 12 classes on Mondays, 8 classes on Tuesdays, 9 classes on Wednesdays, 11 classes on Thursdays and 8 classes on Fridays. That's 48 strength training opportunities per week for 5 members per class to be assisted in obtaining their wellness goals. Best part about taking a training class? You get to meet some really nice members and make new gym buddies. Turns out I have MMA classmates that go here. We now sync our schedules so we can work out at multiple gyms. How cool is that? Very. Note to gym owners: you really should do seminars and classes. Fitness enthusiasts share their training schedules with each other. Nothing beats word of mouth.
The Palm Bay Planet Fitness is a community treasure because it is so much more than just another gym franchise. It's a safe, unique space that is a comfortable place to exercise while hanging out with some of the nicest people I've ever had the pleasure to meet. The staff assigned here are wonderful people who are knowledgeable, kind and friendly. They keep the facility clean and are very helpful and attentive to members' needs. If being pampered and feeling like you belong doesn't make you feel good then this isn't the place for you. Seriously. Stop reading and click to another page because we actually have fun here [LOL].
Last stress tips of the day [and a few facetious updates to my e-mail] then I gotta jet to class. Brittany is very prompt so I can't be late or I'll miss something really cool. I hate missing cool stuff. Seriously. My program is geared to improving daily function, fat burning and compliments my martial arts track. Am I getting better, faster, stronger? Yeah. You can too if you start where you are and simply take it one day at a time. ;-)
MedlinePlus, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicince, National Institutes of Health (NIH), has some useful advice in regards to managing stress. My favorite government quotes are these four points of order regarding an individual stress management program:
1. AN INDIVIDUAL STRESS MANAGEMENT PROGRAM
- Find the positive in situations, and don't dwell on the negative. [Positive: I'm blogging again - gonna write a bunch of fun reviews. P.S. been mad busy cranking out new music and art you know guys nothing about but will very shortly - evil grin]
- Plan fun activities. [ Kinda sorta learning CrossFit (Yeah... I'm hoarding my garage training digital video - silly grin); Graphic novel illustrations are going well; 3 novel manuscripts and 2 novellas are in re-write (eyes twitching, head thunks on table - main source of major stress with deadlines that never ever end - melodramatic sigh); Gallery show art in progress (very cool portraits); Going to the Dan Inosanto seminar at the end of the month; Just finished the Pekiti Tersia Kali seminar with Apolo Ladra and Chris Notte so I have the whole "fun" thing down pat. Yeah... it's true. I really am a gym rat - happy sigh ]
- Take regular breaks. [ Um... Rriiiiight... The cartoons in my head are having a field day with this one. ;-) ]
2. Physical activity:
- Start a physical activity program. [Yes. It's true. Sex counts people. But it has to be really, really good and mad fun. Seriously. Hint: Men, there is a reason women love Yoga but I'll save that for another blog post because teasing readers is what I do - evil grin ] Most experts recommend 150 minutes of aerobic activity per week. [Ref: http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/physical/pdf/PA_Fact_Sheet_Adults.pdf Ref: https://www.presidentschallenge.org/informed/digest/docs/december2008digest.pdf ]
- Decide on a specific type, amount, and level of physical activity. Fit this into your schedule so it can be part of your routine. [ Yeah. You really do need a routine... Don't worry. It can be 15 minutes if that's all the time you have. ]
- Find a buddy to exercise with -- it is more fun and it will encourage you to stick with your routine.
- You do not have to join a gym -- 20 minutes of brisk walking outdoors is enough.
3. Nutrition: [ Pssst... Two words: Registered Dietician ]
- Eat foods that improve your health and well-being. For example, increase the amount of fruits and vegetables you eat.
- Use the food guide plate to help you make healthy food choices. [Ref: http://www.choosemyplate.gov ]
- Eat normal-sized portions on a regular schedule.
4. Social support:
- Make an effort to socialize. Even though you may feel tempted to avoid people when you feel stressed, meeting friends usually helps people feel less stressed.
- Be good to yourself and others.
So... what are you waiting for? Come socialize and check out my fave gym. I pop in and out all the time. Catch me if you can. Dare ya. ;-)
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