from 9/10/13 Post:

Knee Pain 

Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome (PFPS), Chondromalacia, and Infrapatellar Tendinitis are all knee pain culprits.  PFPS pain is primarily in the front of your knee.  Chondromalacia is primarily under the knee cap.  Infrapatellar Tendinitis is pain in the distal kneecap into the infrapatellar tendon (inflammation of the patellar tendon where it inserts in the tibia--distal part of the patella and proximal tibia).



Chondromalacia is caused by the posterior surface of the patella not properly tracking in the femoral groove and causes the cartilage under the patella to become damaged by softening or wearing it away.  Be sure to check out this video on YouTube for help with both Chondromalacia and Patellofemoral Pain:  http://youtu.be/xWC4fLSSV6E

from 6/25/12 Post on Runner's v Jumper's Knee
     

Runner's Knee or Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome (PFPS) is anterior (front) knee pain and is often confused with chondromalacia (which is a softening or wearing away of the cartilage behind the patella resulting in inflammation and pain).  PFPS can occur either with overuse, repetitive loading activities causing abnormal stress to the knee joint, or through biomechanical abnormalities altering the tracking of the patella and alignment, or muscle dysfunction and tightness.  If you have pain with running, ascending or descending stairs, squatting, or prolonged sitting, or if you have a gradual achy pain that occurs behind or underneath the patella, or knee stiffness for a prolonged period of time, then you might want to look into the possibility of PFPS and treatment.

Jumper's Knee or Infrapatellar Tendinitis is an overuse syndrome characterized by inflammation of the patellar tendon.  Typical in sports such as basketball, volleyball, jumping sports producing significant strain in the tendinous tissues.  Causes can be poor running style, overtraining, sudden changes in training surface, lower-extremity inflexibility, or muscle imbalance.  If you have pain in the distal kneecap into the infrapatellar tendon or pain when running, walking stairs, squatting, prolonged sitting and you do a lot jumping activities, you might want to look at your footwear, training techniques and frequency.

How our feet move directly impacts how the knee functions just as how tight or weak our thigh muscles and hip function directly impacts how the knee functions.  Be sure to check out the Workout Tidbits Page for help with good training/form.

Law of Facilitation  The body subscribes to the law of facilitation, meaning that the body will achieve the desired movement following the path of least resistance.  If your body has any mobility-stability compromises, you will end up with dysfunctional movement causing inevitable breakdowns at your weakest link.  This is corrected by focusing on moving correctly as opposed to just moving.  A great example is the squat and the push up.  If you just move through either of these movements regardless of incorrect movement just to say you got the move done, you are actually causing layers of damage to muscular and joint function which will impede your progress to moving correctly in those and other movements.  An excellent way to get in touch, stay in touch, as well as improve your mobility-stability issues is to STRETCH.  Yoga is an excellent way to accomplish this.  When you are stretching, regardless of what modality you use, pay attention to what is tight and what is overcompensating for your “weak links” and communicate those findings to me during our sessions.  We can work together to improve your movements so your body doesn’t have to “compromise” to move.

Do Your Best....

How Yoga Transforms Your Body

from 10/17/12 Post:

Muscle Cramps 

Great tip from Men's Health:

Make a Muscle Cramp Vanish by Bill Hartman, CSCS PT

Don't Stretch ... Cramps are caused by your muscles contracting uncontrollably, and your natural reaction when a cramp sets in is to try to stretch your way out of it.  Resist the urge to elongate the muscle.  Stretching only puts your muscle through more strain, which could lead to more pain.

Flex Instead ... Leverage the intelligent approach: reciprocal inhibition (RI).  This is a nervous-system phenomenon that you can activate yourself.  When you contract the muscle on one side of a joint hard enough, the opposing muscle--the one cramping, in this case--will stop firing, easing the cramp.  The following cramps are the most common.  The next time on strikes, put RI into action with these moves.

*Bottom of your foot cramp = Lift your toes toward your shin.
*Calf cramp = Bend your ankle, bringing your foot toward your shin.
*Hamstring cramp = Sitting or standing, fully extend your lower leg.

Why Good Posture Matters

We live in a fast paced world today with little focus on mind-body connection unless we take the time to unplug and pay attention....for real.  By the end of a day you are most likely hurting in your upper back, neck, shoulders, low back, hips, etc., and more than likely your posture throughout your day plays a big, big role in this ongoing pain cycle.

Posture is key, but it can't just be a stretch and then right back to slumped over business as usual.  A solid stretching or yoga practice helps with awareness and alignment; but in addition to stretching and awareness, you need to be sure and apply good posture practices throughout your day and including tv viewing hours.  You'll know it's become habit once it no longer "feels weird" to sit or stand with good alignment.

Why is it important?  You mean besides eliminating unnecessary aches and pains?  Poor posture not only causes grief to your muscles from either being overly contracted or overly flexed, but it pulls your skeletal alignment out of place and causes dysfunctional movement patterns and joint issues over time.  Good posture doesn't just look good, but it feels good once you put it into practice.  Added benefit is you will actually look up to 10 pounds slimmer just by standing with good form!

Stages of Understanding

from 12/29/11 Post:

Stages of Understanding 

Is life perfect?  No, and nor will your fitness (and/or weight loss) journey be perfect.  Nothing in life is about reaching perfection but about doing your perfect best every opportunity you have to do it and understanding what that means.  Your perfect best changes from moment to moment as your circumstances change....but mostly as your understanding of your journey changes.  I was reading an article some months back that said "before you can know something, you first have to learn it; that understanding is necessarily a process of steps; and that this process takes time...everyone has to progress through certain stages of understanding."  It went on to draw the analogy of learning to play the piano or knit....one starts out very crudely but with practice and ongoing understanding improves and evolves.  In other words, with each stage of understanding of any craft, profession, or journey the start is always crude and then the destination is always further the closer we get to it because not only does our ability improve and evolve and become less and less crude but also we understand that one's learning, development....journey is never at an end (as the saying goes, the more you know, the more you realize you need to learn).  So, know that however clumsily any week/effort/workout goes you can learn something from it and move on to the next, better equipped to succeed further.  As this is not about the destination but the journey itself....The destination helps us set goals, but the journey is what makes us who we are and appreciate what we have.

"Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.  I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.  I can do all things through Christ Which strengtheneth me."  ~Philippians 4:11-13

from 5/23/13 Post:

Go INTERVALS Go 

from Men's Health June 2013 issue:

THREE ... the Number of weekly interval workouts that match the effectiveness of five long cardio sessions when it comes to boosting cardiovascular health.

from my 6/19/12 Post:

How Effective is HIIT?

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is anaerobic training that allows you to cut cardio duration without sacrificing the cardiovascular benefits. HIIT primarily focuses on anaerobic pathways with numerous HIIT ratios that can be utilized such as a 1:1 (e.g., 30 sec of work to 30 sec of active recovery beginner Interval), a 2:1 (e.g., 20 sec of work to 10 sec of active recovery Tabata or 60 sec of work to 30 sec of active recovery intermediate Interval), or a 3:1 (e.g., 45 sec of work to 15 sec of active recovery advance Interval). The beauty of HIIT is that it not only cuts your workout duration, but in a lot of ways is way more effective than longer duration endurance cardio, especially when it comes to fat burning. But, to be effectively performing HIIT you have to be intensely working out in the "work" phase.
During exercise, higher levels of intensity cause an increase in respiration to allow larger volumes of air to move into and out of the lungs to facilitate increased delivery of oxygen and the removal of carbon dioxide. Simple, basic, you work harder resulting in you breathing harder. And as with everything, this simple process has a name...minute ventilation or Ve. There are two deflection points in the otherwise linear increase in Ve and that is VT1 and VT2. When you are exercising below VT1 you are able to carry on a conversation fairly normally. This is not very intense exercise and below VT1 is where a lot of long duration, steady state, endurance running/exercising is. At or just above VT1 is where carrying on a conversation is a little more difficult and speaking is slightly uncomfortable. Exercise just below VT2 represents the highest intensity an individual can sustain for approximately 20-30 minutes. Speaking is very broken and choppy just below VT2 and not at all at or above VT2. Intensely working at VT2 and above is where HIIT should be on the "work" phase. Active rest should be between VT1 and VT2 allowing your body to recover from the work phase without lowering your heart rate too much.

Recent research shows that the cardiovascular adaptations that occur with HIIT are similar, and in some cases superior, to those that occur with continuous endurance training (Helgerud et al. 2007; Wisloff, Ellingsen & Kemi 2009).

A Few DOs 'n' DON'Ts .....

Here are a few DOs 'n' DON'Ts to get you to where you want to go......Yes the pic is horizontal, yes I tried everything to flip it....as it appears vertical in every other medium but here and Facebook, I'm at a loss. Stretch your necks and read the DOs 'n' DON'Ts to get you to where you want to get to with your fitness and weight loss goals Come to the VEF Studio for the "vertical" version www.veryeffectivefitness.com/

Healthy & Yummy Recipes 

Breakfast
~Be sure to scroll to bottom of PAGE for LINKS to other Recipe Posts~

Kashi Cereal Breakfast:

1 cup of Kashi GoLean Cereal

1 cup of Kashi Go Lean Crunch

1 large Banana

¾ cup 1% or Skim Milk

w/whole Grapefruit (or other Fruit of choice)

Rolled Oats with added Protein:

½ cup Rolled Oats

¾ cup Water

1 Scoop Whey Protein Shake

¼ cup of Walnuts

1 tsp of Cinnamon

w/whole Peach (or other Fruit of choice)

Breakfast Burrito

2 large Eggs scrambled w/a ¼ tablespoon of Olive Oil

2 Jimmy Dean Turkey Sausage Links cut up & scrambled w/eggs

1 ounce Colby Jack Cheese

1 FlatOut Light Flatbread

w/1 serving of Seapoint Farms Edamame Shelled on the side &/or 1 serving of Fruit

Fried Egg Sandwich

2 large Fried Eggs

1 tablespoon of Flaxseed (sprinkled on top of cooking eggs)

1 teaspoon of Cayenne Pepper

1 Arnold Select Sandwich Whole Wheat Thin

w/1 serving of Seapoint Farms Edamame Shelled on the side

w/1 serving of Fruit

Spicy Fried Egg Scramble

¼ tablespoon of Olive Oil

½ whole Bell Pepper (red, yellow, or orange) sautéed just before cracking eggs in skillet

½ Jalapeno Pepper cut up & mixed w/Bell Pepper before cracking eggs in skillet

2-3 large Eggs cracked on top of sauté (as if to fry but once eggs start to fry, cut up to almost a scrambled state w/sauté; season with ½ teaspoon of Cayenne Pepper

Top served mix with a ¼ cup of Athenos Feta Cheese Crumbled &

½ cup of Seapoint Farms Edamame Shelled

w/1 serving of Fruit

Spicy Flaxseed Scramble

2 large Eggs scrambled w/a ¼ tablespoon of Olive Oil

½ Jalapeno Pepper cut up & scrambled w/eggs

2 tablespoons of Flaxseed scrambled w/eggs

½ cup Bell Pepper (red, yellow, or orange) sautéed just before pouring egg mix in skillet

1 cup of wilted Spinach (served under eggs)

½ cup of diced Tomatoes (served on top of eggs)

¼ cup of Athenos Feta Cheese Crumbled (served on top of tomatoes)

w/1 serving of Fruit

Cheesy Scrambled Eggs w/Quinoa

2 large Eggs scrambled w/a ¼ tablespoon of Olive Oil

2 Jimmy Dean Turkey Sausage Links cut up & scrambled w/eggs

1 ounce of Colby Jack Cheese

1 serving of Seapoint Farms Edamame Shelled or 1 cup of fresh, chopped Asparagus

1 cup cooked Quinoa

w/1 serving of Fruit

Healthy Pancakes

1½ cups Rolled Oats

1 cup Low Fat Cottage Cheese

7 Egg Whites

1½ tablespoons Cinnamon

3 pkts SweetLeaf Stevia Sweetener

Dairy Free/Gluten Free Pancakes

2 cups Garbanzo Bean Flour

4 teaspoons Baking Powder

3 Large Eggs

2 tablespoons Olive Oil

2 tablespoons Sugar (or SweetLeaf Stevia Sweetener)

½ teaspoons Salt

2 cups Water

2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract

2 tablespoons Cinnamon

Greek Yogurt Parfait

1 cup of Fage 0% Greek Yogurt

1 cup of Blueberries

½ cup of Strawberries

2 tablespoons Flaxseed (sprinkled on top of mix)

½ cup of Kashi Go Lean Crunch (sprinkled on top of mix)

Simple Fruit Smoothie

1 cup of Blueberries

1 cup of Strawberries

1 large Banana

1 cup of Fage 0% Greek Yogurt

 Simple Green Smoothie

1 cup of Blueberries

1 cup of Strawberries

3 cups of Spinach (or 2 cups of Spinach & 1 cup of Kale)

1 med-large Apple (or 1 med-large Banana)

1 serving Protein Shake mix (or 1 cup of Fage 0% Greek Yogurt)

Green Smoothie

1 med-large Apple

1 cup of frozen Blueberries (if fresh, 1 cup of ice)

1 cup of Strawberries (or Raspberries)

2 cups of Spinach

2 cup of Kale

1 Cucumber w/peel (or 1 cup of Water)

1 serving Protein Shake mix (or 1 cup of Fage 0% Greek Yogurt) in or on the side

Variations: you can also add Banana and/or carrots, beets puree w/ginger, wheat grass, etc.

Breakfast Sides:

Blueberry Syrup:  1 cup of Blueberries microwaved until a little soupy (part berry, part soupy), mixed w/1-3 tablespoons Flaxseed (optional) and/or (1 tablespoon of Sugar-Free Maple Syrup) (optional) 

Protein Shake Coffee Latte:  1 Protein Shake mixed with 2½ + cups of Coffee

Raspberry Chocolate Protein Coffee:  Brew coffee as normal but add one tea bag to the actual pot the coffee drips into so it steeps while your coffee is brewing.  The magic tea bag to add is:  Lipton Superfruit (red goji and raspberry) Green Tea.  Leave the tea bag in until you have drunk all the coffee just gets better with age.  This alone makes an excellent flavored coffee.  If you either let the coffee cool to room temperature or chill it then add 1 scoop of your chocolate protein shake mix to your desired amount of the coffee/tea (I use about 2 ½ cups) & mix (in blender bottle or whatever you usually mix your protein shake in)…do not add extra water, just the coffee/tea/shake mix.  Such as super yummy treat!!!

Lunch/Dinner

Feta Olive Salad

3 cups Romaine Mix

2 cups Spinach

½ large Cucumber w/peel

½ Bell Pepper (red, yellow, or orange)

1 cup diced Tomatoes

¼ cup of Athenos Feta Cheese Crumbled

1 serving Mezzetta Calamata Olives

1 serving Spanish Olives

2-3 ounces of Chicken diced or strips

2 tablespoons Kraft Light Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing

(you can add Radishes, carrots, etc.)

Cajun Chicken Salad

3 cups Romaine Mix

2 cups Spinach

½ large Cucumber w/peel

½ Bell Pepper (red, yellow, or orange)

1 cup diced Tomatoes

3 ounce of Chicken strips sautéed previously in Olive Oil & Cajun Seasoning

4 tablespoons Salsa

(you can add any veggie and/or a ¼ cup of Fage 0% Greek Yogurt)

Spicy Chicken and Avocado

3 ounces of Chicken cut into strips & sautéed w/Olive Oil & seasoned w/Cajun or Cayenne

½ Bell Pepper (red, yellow, or orange) sautéed w/Chicken when Chicken is almost cooked

3 cups of Spinach wilted in w/Chicken & Bell Pepper

½ diced Avocado mixed w/3-4 tablespoons Salsa & ¼ cup Fage 0% Greek Yogurt (served on top of cooked Chicken mix)

w/1 Serving Black Beans mixed w/1 Serving Kernel Corn

Sautéed Chicken and Veggies

3-4 ounce Chicken Breast sautéed w/previously sautéed to caramel (yellow) Onions & Olive Oil

(if cooking 3-5 Chicken Breasts=1 tablespoon Olive Oil & 1 med-large Onion)

w/any veggie mix (such as 1-2 cups steamed Broccoli & 1 cup steamed Carrots) and Brown Rice, or Quinoa, or Sweet Potato, etc.

Kale Pepper Chicken

½ TBL Olive Oil

1 Whole Red or Orange or Yellow Bell Pepper cut in chunks

1 Whole (or half depending on taste for the spicy and size of the pepper) Jalapeno Pepper diced

3 Cups chopped Kale

3 Ounces diced or shredded cooked Chicken

½ Cup cooked Quinoa

Dash of Cayenne Pepper

Heat up olive oil in skillet then add chopped peppers and sautee for a few minutes before adding all of the kale.  Cook added kale and peppers until the kale is just starting to get wilted as you want the kale to still have some crunch; so just long enough on the heat to absorb some oil and bring out the deeper flavor of the kale.  Add the cooked peppers and kale mix to the warmed chicken and quinoa.  Mix then sprinkle with a dash of cayenne pepper. 

Curry Kale Lentil Soup

4 cup Vegetable Broth (for lower sodium omit broth and just season with desired Herbs & Spices)
1 cup Lentils
2 tsp. Curry Powder
4 cup Fresh Kale  (Cook lentils in vegetable broth. When almost done add curry powder and fresh kale. When kale has wilted down serve.)

Italian Chicken

3-4 ounce Chicken Breast baked w/Light Italian Salad Dressing on 350º or Grilled (after marinating in dressing)

w/any veggie mix and grains or as a Sandwich w/Lettuce or Spinach & Tomato & Turkey Bacon and 1 tablespoon Honey Mustard Dressing

Barbecue Chicken

3-4 ounce Chicken Breast baked w/Barbecue Sauce on 375º til extra tender, then fork shred chicken

Served a top any Salad configuration or as a Sandwich w/Bush’s Grillin Beans Smokehouse Tradition & Kernel Corn

Chicken and Pasta

3-4 ounce Chicken Breast sautéed w/previously sautéed (red) Onions & Olive Oil

(if cooking 3-5 Chicken Breasts=1 tablespoon Olive Oil & ¾ of large Onion)

1 ½ cups of following previously sautéed mix:          1-2 Zucchini chopped

                                                                                    1 Red Bell Pepper

                                                                                    1 Orange Bell Pepper

                                                                                    ¾ large Red Onion

                                                                                    ¾ tablespoon Olive Oil

w/1 Serving of Whole Wheat Angel Hair or Linguini Pasta & 1 Serving Marinara Sauce

Tuna Salad

5 ounce can of Chunk Light Tuna in Water

1 hard boiled Egg

½ cup diced Cucumber w/peel

½ cup diced Tomato

1 tablespoon Kraft Light Mayo (or Kraft w/Olive Oil Mayo)

1 teaspoon Yellow Mustard

w/Arnold Select Sandwich Whole Wheat Thin as a Sandwich or as a Salad w/Greens, etc.

Cottage Cheese & Red Beans

1 cup Small Curd Cottage Cheese

1 cup Red Beans (dark or light)

3 tablespoons Flaxseed

4-6 tablespoons Salsa

Greek Yogurt w/Grapes & Walnuts

1 cup Fage 0% Greek Yogurt

1 cup Red Seedless Grapes

¼ Diamond Shelled Walnuts

3 tablespoons Flaxseed

Greek Yogurt/Cottage Cheese

½ cup Cottage Cheese

½ cup Greek Yogurt

3 TBL Flaxseed

½ TBL Cinnamon

1 medium Peach

Variation: 1/4 cup Cottage Cheese with ½ cup to ¾ cup Greek Yogurt with the flaxseed/cinnamon and added ¼ cup Walnuts and fruit on the side

Peanut Butter Sandwich

2 tablespoons creamy Peanut Butter

3 tablespoons Flaxseed (mixed w/Peanut Butter)

1 Arnold Select Sandwich Whole Wheat Thin (spread Peanut Butter mixture on thins)

¾ tablespoon Honey (a top spread)

w/Fruit Serving

Lunch/Dinner Sides:

Sweet Potato: (cook in microwave til done then open up & mix in 1 tsp Cinnamon & ¼ tsp Ginger)

Sweet Potato Wedges:  Sliced Sweet Potatoes, lightly sprayed w/Olive Oil and seasoned w/Cinnamon & Ginger or Cajun Season & baked at 350º for about an hour

Kale Chips:  Wash & pat dry Kale, tear in pieces & spread out on baking sheet, lightly spray w/Olive Oil then season w/Cajun Season or Cayenne Pepper or Sea Salt/Ground Pepper or Red Wine Vinegar or Balsamic Vinegar & then bake at 350º for 10-15 min (until crisp)

Snacks

Protein Shake & Large Apple

Think Thin Brownie Crunch Bar w/Fruit Serving

Nuts & Fruit

1 Serving of Nuts (Almonds, Walnuts) & 1 Fruit Serving

Peanut Butter Banana

2 tablespoons creamy Peanut Butter

2 tablespoons Flaxseed (mixed w/Peanut Butter)

1 large Banana (spread Peanut Butter mixture on Banana)

Side Fruit Treat

½ cup sliced fresh Strawberries

½ cup fresh Blueberries

½ cup – 1 cup fresh sliced Banana

1 tsp Cinnamon (just sprinkle then mix in the Cinnamon on the fruit)

w/side of protein or as dessert following a meal with protein

Any Yogurt or Lighter Meal Options from Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner

Links to Posts with Recipes: 
Case of the Mondays? 
Aging Fruits & Veggies
Versatile Beans
What Was Your Dinner?
Additional Recipes
Yummy Sweet Lunch
Veggie Yumminess
Savory Eggs

Food Rewards

from 7/24/12 Post:

Food Rewards 

Are you guilty of rewarding your children (or yourself) with food?  I know I am.  Have you considered that you are setting them up for emotional eating issues later in life?  Think about it.  If  you reward your child with a "treat" for good behavior and/or revoke a "treat" for bad behavior, the association your child builds is one of comfort with food.  Not good!  Food is fuel and enjoyable, but should not be so closely associated with feelings of emotional comfort and reward.  As an adult, I'm sure you can see in your own behavior how this has been an ongoing issue, so as a parent you can certainly see how you can help them later in their life by not "rewarding" them now with food. Rewards

Instead, reward them and yourself with time (not things or food).  Play a game, read a book, snuggle, whatever it is, trust me when I say that your children will treasure the moments you spend with them both in the present as well in the future.  Then, you will have associated activity and time with emotion as opposed to food or material things.  

Also:  Your Children Are Watching!  &  Sad but True