Fitness Notes

I may be a mere humble novice when it comes to running, but one thing I learned fairly quickly: shoes matter. A lot.

Even I can tell the difference. A new pair of quality running shoes makes me run better and helps me avoid my typical running injury: runner’s knee.

Here are my running shoes tips – hope you find them helpful:

1. Read up. Running shoes is hi-tech science these days, with custom-made solutions for various issues. Read shoe reviews and runner’s reviews before you make up your mind. Remember: what works for your best friend won’t necessarily work for you. I highly recommend the six articles in Runner’s World Foot Diagnostics section.
2. Invest in a visit to a proper running store where they analyse your gait and let you know what kind of shoe works for you. Once you have that, shopping elsewhere and even online becomes much easier. I’ve done the gait analysis routine twice already and in my case, my gait actually changed a little bit in the space of a year (probably due to my weight loss).
3. New shoes literally have more bounce in them. I can feel the quality deteriorating over time, and being overweight, I prefer to err on the side of caution and change to a new pair of shoes earlier than recommended by the manufacturer. For me, that means a new pair of shoes every six months or so.
4. This is a personal choice, but since going vegan this year, I’ve decided to opt for vegan shoes too. No, I don’t eat my shoes… I just prefer for them to be made without the involvement of livestock corporates. I’m going to dedicate a post to the vegan shoes issue soon and recommend a brand for you too.

That’s it, basically. Not a running shoes shopping guide, just my own personal take on the topic. What’s your take on shopping for running shoes? Leave me comments or tweet me @israelimom!

I just love the acronym – C25K. It sounds so professional and almost military-like. And the best part most people don’t know it, so it has a mysterious note as well

So what is C25K?

C25K stands for - Couch to 5 Kilometers.

Get it? Couch potato to/2 5K of running.

From this:

To this:

(Dogs are optional)

The idea is to gradually get yourself from zero running to running three miles or five kilometers. Gradually being the key word here.

It may sound strange to real couch potatoes (I know I was one for many years!) but running can actually be addictive. It’s too easy to have a good run and then, high on adrenalin, keep going, running for longer than you had planned. It may feel good while your high on the endorphines, but it’s a recipe for a sports injury.

You see, it’s not all about your mind. Your body has to adjust to running. Muscles, joints, ligaments, they all go through physiological changes that enable long runs. Push it, and you risk an injury that will put a stop to your running, at least for several weeks.

The famous C25K program was developed by the experts of CoolRunning.com as a way to ensure a smooth transition from total couch potato to a runner. It’s made of week-long units, each consisting of three workouts. The workouts are combined of walking and running intervals, measured either by time or by distance. The idea is to run slow, so as not to hurt your body, gradually increasing run times and decreasing the walking/rest periods.

So I’m following the C25K program. Here are my own personal adjustments:

• I’ve decided to take it even more gradually, and repeat each week twice. It’s my fourth week but I’m still on week 2 of the program. My goal is to keep running for the long term and avoid injuries, so why rush it?
• Each session includes five minutes of brisk walking as your warmup. Warm body tissue is less prone to injury, so I’ve decided to have a 12 minutes long warmup instead. I have read this is recommended for runners over 35 years old, and figured better be safe than sorry. Besides, that’s seven more minutes of burning calories!
• I use Robert’s Ullrey’s podcasts for my training. Robert made these awesome MP3 tracks you can use where he guides you through the C25K session, letting you when to run and when to walk. With some nice upbeat music in the background, and his relaxed voice encouraging me, these podcasts are invaluable to me.  You can download the MP3 podcasts right here.

If you’re a couch potato and consider going for it, I highly recommend this program. It’s available, free of charge, right here. And if you’re new to running, make sure you go over their section for beginners. Leave me a comment here if you do – I’d love to hear about other new runners!

Third week into my new running regime, I can answer this with a “yes!”.

Why run? basically, because I want (need) to work out. Walking just gets too boring after a while. Running is harder but much more fun.

If you saw me, you’d probably raise an eyebrow. I am a 37 years old overweight mother and I don’t look like an athlete. I was never the athletic type in my life. I was the kid that avoided running in school. I even avoided running in the army, strolling along the path during officers course, while the other cadettes were running along.

I guess the Internet made me start running. Reading about fitness, running came up again and again. People seemed addicted. I really wanted to give it a try, but wasn’t sure where to start. Then I found the Couch to 5K running program. Well, couch potato I was, so I had a good starting point! I decided to give it a try, skeptic as I was.

It was like a miracle. Gradually, week by week, I managed to complete the plan. Two and a half months later, I did it – I ran my first 5K (actually, a bit longer). For real runners, it may sound funny – it’s only five kilometers (or three miles). For a couch potato like me it was nothing short of a miracle.

It did come at a cost though – during the last month of the program, I had to end each run with elevated feet and ice packs on my knees. I gave myself some recovery time afterwards. It lasted a bit longer than anticipated… Then we traveled, and then I just got lazy, and here I am less than a year later, having to start the C25K all over again…

I’ve decided to go at it at a slower pace this time around, to try and minimize the risk of injury. Instead of taking 9 weeks to finish this, I am taking 18, repeating each week’s program for another week. Hopefully, this will let my body adjust more gradually and protect my knees.

Wish me luck!

The FIRM Total Body TransFIRMation Kit is a ten-piece, Low Impact workout set designed for rigorous exercise of an aerobic style with a duration and intensity set by an accomopanying video CD set, complete with 210 minutes of very informed and excellent workout programming. Perfect for toning and for general fitness, it contains secrets to weight loss training as well as full body aerobic training regimens.

Accomanying parts include this set of CardioWeights which are the Firm’s most effective fitness tool yet, with a pair of 1-pound handles and 8 pounds of additional weight, letting you customize your workout depending on your strength or fitness goals. The packaged information on the CD’s is priceless and it includes four different impact exercise regimes, from fat-burning focus to a focus on cardio vascular workouts and pure strength training.

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Stamina Rowing Machine works an incredibly wide array of muscle groups in a truly compact and moveable package which is easy to put up and store without taking up the room of machines twice its size. The machine’s ball-bearing roller system and the adjustable cylinder reistance arms mimic the feel of rowing on water near perfectly. It’s tough steel frame and aluminum center beam are engineered to last for long years.

Rowing is one of the very best and most effective low impact aerobic exercises around. It utilizes all the major muscle groups from back to arms, legs, abdominals and buttocks. Stregnthen your back while getting an ample aerobic workout which will increase endurance and heart strength at the same time. At the same time, you can lose body fat by working out without the pain or risk of impacting joints. The fat-burning quality of aerobic exercise involving rowing not only discards fat and develops tone, but it also supplies a heart rate workout of almost any duration.

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Horizon Evolve SG Compact Treadmill is a compact, durable treadmill that solves one of the primary problems reflected in all treadmill locations – space. This 100 pound unit folds up and can be stored vertically or horizontally. When finished, just fold it up and put it back under the bed. Two sturdy wheels allow movement to any location at all. Perfect for offices and apartments, even for home offices where kids take up the rest of the place, this handy and smart training aid is a total winner.

The technology in this product also matches that of spa-level units. An easy-to-read LCD display is lit up in large lettering and makes taking the data from the workout a real breeze. Categories listed are thumb pulse heart rate monitor, calories, time, speed and distance. Two audio speakers come at the handle above making plugging in to audio as easy as pie as well. An adjustable speed from 1-6 MPH gives a completely aerobic possibility and a leg trainer’s delight. The emclosed motor comes with a 5 year warrranty and the unit itself with a ten year warranty.

Stuedy, compactible, simple in design but worthwhile in concept, this is a major breakthrough in space-saving technology for the ever-popular and growing field of treadmill training.

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Ab Rocket Abdominal Trainer is labeled as an Ab-specific training apparatus but it is actually far more. Naturally, it was initially developed for ab training and development but recent innovations in the design now allow for a far more total full body workout. It comes with a training regimen and suggestions for implementing a program at your own speed, and the instructions are perfectly conceived.

While the nature of the abdominal muscles seem any more to revolve around appearance and a fixation on tummy issues, the fact is that a strong set of abs is the most enabling and helpful part of the anatomy in its very central role in lifting, squatting and even climbing. What this system offers is even more than this fundamental focus. It is possible with this most interesting workout system to develop strength and muscle tone thoughout the entire body. Legs, tummy, arms, neck – even the sides get enormous focus from a most useful and interesting training tool.

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Ripcords Exercise Bands are stark in their simplicity but amazingly effective when the rubber meets the road – when the workoput commences. Coupled with some great instructions on how to go about this toning operation, these bands act in ones or even twos to require as diligent and as thorough a workout as one could possibly want.

As opposed to working with weights and machines, these bands actually engage to work the whole muscles, including stabilizers, giving a far more thorough result. Resistence training with bands and tubes have long been a staple workout mechanism of all physiotherapists for long years, in dealing with torn rotator cuffs, bad knees and general rehabilitations. Ripchords use the same tension training principles but takes them to another level by supplying a fast and effective total body workout. Obviously, these otems are as portable as they can be and can extend the gym to just about any location – a true plus. Add that the 7 Minute Workout instructions incouded in the set are one of the best and even aerobic workouts there are.

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Iron Gym Total Upper Body Workout Bar proves the adage that the best things often come in small packages. Versatile in an unimaginable sense, this little unit provides pretty much every muscle group in th human body a platform from which to tone and strengthen itself. It truly is a gym on a stick, in many ways. Work your chest, arms, shoulders, abs, back, legs and more doing chin ups, sit ups, pull ups and countless exercises in new and not so new ways.

The metal bar fits between any doors 24″ – 32″ wide without damaging the doorway, and is releasable immediately. Pull ups and chin ups become the order of the day before dismantling and applying the bar and its straps to other exercises. It supports up to 300 pounds as well.

This is a terrificly-engineered American product. Versatile to the max and a definite training aid of the first order, it proves one does not need a $100 a month spa membership nor does he need some humongous and expensive workout exercise machine to achieve the goals of tone and strength.

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Stamina Manual Treadmill is a very quiet, self-powered treadmill that lets you set your own workout pace by virtue of your own hard work. It is a 42-inch-long walking/running deck which easily accommodates both long and short strides. A multi-function, battery-operated monitor tracks the distance, time, speed, and calories burned while operationing. This unit has a heavy-duty steel frame; 2 incline positions (8 and 10 degrees); folds for storage, and measures 46.5 x 43.5 x 26 inches.