Arena Athletic Blog 
Run Camp - Race Day Training
Personal Trainer Cassie Winters, veteran of the Columbus and Boston Marathons will be hosting two six week training programs to prepare you for your next event. Whether you are preparing for your first 5K or an experienced runner this program will get you prepared for your next event and help you achieve your personal best.
You will learn:
- How to improve your form, pace and enduance
- Goal Setting
- Proper strength training
- Shoe Selection
- Nutrition
and more.
Session I: June 26 - July 31. Session II: August 7 - September 18
Time: Saturdays 8:15 - 9:30am
Session Cost: Members $75.00 / Non members $100
Two session discount: Members $125 / Non members $150
For program information contact Cassie at cassie@arenaathletic.com
To register contact Ryan at ryan@arenaathletic.com
Run Club a social running experience
Join every Monday at 7:15pm for our drop in style run club! Enjoy the support and commradery of fellow runners as you traverse downtown Columbus and the surrounding area. Post run social hour is offered at Cotter's Restaurant with healthy specialty drinks and appetizers for refueling and friendship. Members and non-members alike are welcome! For more information or questions contact Ryan at ryan@arenaathletic.com
Eat Your Local Produce
The less time produce spends from vine, tree or bush to table, the better! The quality of taste, texture and nutrient value is the best when we eat locally grown food.
It’s that time of year when the farmer’s market spring into action all over our city. The promise of better tasting fruits and vegetables is enough to motivate most of us to seek out the closest market. You can find many markets in the Central Ohio area at http://www.dispatchkitchen.com/live/content/features/stories/2010/farmers.html.
Some things to keep in mind:
- Ask Questions – this time of year the selection of locally grown items is small, ask if the produce was produced locally. Often times farmers supplement their own product with out-of-state produce.
Know what is in season! For June in Ohio look for locally grown strawberries and asparagus, blueberries, broccoli, cabbage, cherries, collard greens, cucumbers, peas. For a complete guide try this: http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/seasonalcooking/farmtotable/seasonalingredientmap
For nutrition support contact:
Jennifer C. Shrodes, RD, LD
On The Go Nutrition
Healthy Advice for Busy Lives
jshrodes@gmail.com
614.582.1290
7 Ways to Boost Your Results
Everyone starts a fitness program with a personal goal in mind, such as: losing weight, improving health or enhancing sport performance. All are excellent reason for exercising. What most people fail to realize is that fitness is not a short term commitment. It is so much more then working out for three weeks in hopes of dropping 5-10 pounds before going on a vacation.
Fitness is a lifelong obligation. It requires consistency and intensity to realize results. Here are few simple strategies you can implement to get the most out of your fitness program. You can read more about them in the Spring/Summer “Get Active” magazine available for free at the Arena District Athletic Club.
- Eat five to six time per day. You will feel full longer which can help keep you from over eating and you will keep your blood sugar levels more stable.
- Change your workout at least every eight weeks. Your body adapts quickly. Without new challenges you risk hitting a training plateau and your results with diminish.
- Cut back on liquid calories. Water is your best choice. It is easy to consume as many as a 1,000 calories a day.
- Hire a personal trainer. This is money well spent. If you are not familiar with effective training techniques this is a very valuable investment. An Arena District Athletic Club trainer can help get your training program going in the right direction. fitCAMP is also an excellent option for anyone looking to jump start a training program.
- Eat breakfast. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper. Never workout on an empty stomach, especially first thing in the morning. You need energy to perform physical activity, food give you energy.
- Get a workout buddy. You will be more accountable if you have a friend who is counting on you. If this is not an option take a group fitness class or join fitCAMP. Working out with other will help you feel more motivated.
- Don’t stop exercising. Exercise delivers a lifetime of benefits to both your physical and mental health. Make exercise part of your daily routine. It is never too late to start – if your breathing you should be exercising!
One Simple Reason Why You Can’t Lose Weight!
The fact is you did not gain that extra weight overnight. It happened gradually a little bit at a time, then before you knew it you look in the mirror and wonder what happened to that lean fit body? You faithfully visit the Arena District Athletic Club three to four times a week do your sixty minutes of cardio and strength training and can’t figure out way you still can’t lose weight? The answer may lie in what you are doing when you are not at the club that is keeping you from losing those extra pounds and that’s sitting!
As we age we become less active. Maybe you sit longer at work, maybe you commute a little longer in your car, and maybe you are sitting a little longer watching TV, whatever the reason, just sitting two hours longer each day can cause you to be overweight.
According to a study done by the Endocrine Research Unit from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester MN., found that if overweight individuals adopted the non-exercise level of activity to that of lean individuals they would expend an additional 350 calories per day.
It’s amazing to think that just 2 hours of sitting a day can add up to so much. And really, 2 hours isn’t much if you break it down throughout the entire day. That’s like an extra 15 minutes of sitting to and from work, which is an additional 30 minutes. Add to that, an additional 1 hour of work…and maybe an additional 30 minutes of sitting in front of the TV winding down after a long day at work. And that’s all it takes to be seated for an extra 2 hours or 350 calories less that you expend.
If you’re expending 350 calories less per day, it’s equivalent to gaining 1 pound of fat every 10 days. And if you keep it up, that’s 126000 less calories you burn per year or 36 pounds of fat you gain in one year!
These statistics go beyond just gaining weight as well. Other studies have indicated that the more you sit the higher your chances are of getting serious diseases like diabetes, metabolic syndrome and heart disease.
So here’s a summary of what you can do, to effectively help increase your calorie burn, lose weight and achieve better health.
- Minimize sitting. The less you sit the better off you’ll be, to keep weight off, prevent low back pain and maintain optimum health.
- Replace sitting by standing. Even light muscle contractions like standing can activate fat burning enzymes and help burn more fat. If you can stand at work, even better.
- Walk as often as possible. If there’s an opportunity to walk during the day…do it. The more you can walk the higher your NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis) and the faster you’ll lose weight, as well as helping prevent serious diseases like diabetes and heart disease.
Just simple things that take a little extra effort on your part, can add up to a lot, especially if you keep doing them on a regular basis.
Flexibility and the aging process
It is all too obvious to most of us that with each passing year our muscles and joints seem to become stiffer and tighter. This is a natural part of the aging process, caused by physical degeneration and inactivity. Although we cannot keep from getting older this does not mean that can’t improve our flexibility.
Age should not be an excuse that prevents us from living a fit and active lifestyle; instead it should be our motivation! As we age we just need to take more precautions in how we proceed, such taking more time to prepare for activity, be patient and careful.
Poor flexibility limits your range of motion and can be a major contributing factor to muscle and joint pain. In extreme cases making it difficult to bend down or look over your shoulder.
Flexibility is the range of movement, or motion around your joints. Stretching is the process of lengthening the muscles and their associated soft tissues.
Stretching is a simple and effective way to enhance athletic performance, decrease the likelihood of injury and minimize muscle soreness. By increasing our range of motion we can increase the distance our limbs can move before damage occurs.
There are many different ways to stretch; but there are basically two types; static or dynamic. Static stretches are performed without movement. Dynamic refers to stretching exercise performed with movement.
It is important to stretch safely, if performed incorrectly stretching can be extremely dangerous and harmful. Always warm up prior to stretching. Trying to stretch muscles that have not been warmed, is like trying to stretch old, rubber bands, they may snap. Warming up the body prepares the body for more strenuous movement. A good warm-up should consist of light activity such as walking or jogging.
It is also important to stretch both before and after exercises. Stretching before exercise helps prevent injury and prepares the body for more strenuous activity. Stretching after exercise aids in muscle recovery and repair.
The Arena District Athletic Club offers the convenience of the “Stretch Mate”. This stretching assist sits by the treadmills and provides detail instructions on a full body stretching routine. For more information on how to stretch properly contact one ADAC’s certified personal trainers or visit www.thestretchinginstitute.com
Bill Brown
The truth about carbs
Do you stay away from eating carbs because you fear they will make you fat? Well get over it, carbs are not the cause of weight gain. It is the type of carbs you eat that cause the problem. Refined carbohydrates like white bread, sugar, alcohol and highly processed baked foods that lack nutritional value and are basically empty calories that are the wrong choices. Restricting carbs from your diet will leave you feeling tired and sluggish and prevent you from getting the most out of your workouts. Consuming carbohydrates is essential for maintaining a healthy diet. The key is eating the right kind of carbs. Choose complex carbohydrates such as whole grains, fruits and vegetables. Beans are also an excellent source of complex carbohydrates. Combine carbs with healthy fats and lean proteins to slow absorption. So there is no need to fear carbs. To maintain a healthy weight, eat a well balanced diet consisting of fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean protein and healthy fats.