Donna’s Fitness A to Z

A – Attitude – A positive attitude makes it easier to work out so start each workout with the understanding that your commitment to this program is a benefit to women in the future – our daughters, grandchildren and female friends.

B – Breast Self Exam –  To keep your breasts healthy be diligent with breast self exam.

C- Control - Control your fitness and your body so it doesn’t control you.

D- Dream – dream about a world without breast cancer and how your commitment to this research study will make a difference in some small way to this future.

E – Evaluation – Look forward to you 3, 6, 9 month and final evaluations to help you understand your personal accomplishment and your current level of health.

F - Dr. Christine Friedenreich  is the Principal Investigators for the BETA Trial that has made this project possible.

G – Goals – Have you set goals for yourself for after the program?  This will help you keep up your level of fitness that you have worked so hard to achieve.

H- Help - Get by with a little help from your friends – most of us need encouragement at some time during the program and words of encouragement are appreciated from others in the program.  Give someone a smile and a few words of kindness.

I – Interest – to keep yourself interested and motivated in fitness you need variety during the program so try new equipment, join a fitness workout, try a class in the pool.  Do something new this week.

J – Jiggle – did you giggle when you wiggled before this program?  You will see things “tighten” and firm up.  Some of the jiggle is gone and our jeans probably fit better now!

K – KISS– keep it simple stupid  - meet with the trainers 3 days a week and do 2 on your own.

L – Listen to your body. If you need to take a rest day take it.  Our bodies are giving us messages but we need to listen and hear what they are telling us.

M – Mammogram – Once a year without fail get this done and encourage one friend to do it at the same time.

N – Neglect – some things will get neglected in order for you to fit in workouts.  It’s ok for this to happen but you can ask your family members to pitch in to get things done.  You’re not in this alone.

O – Organized – keeping organized in your life allows you the time to workout and juggle all of the other things you need to do.

P – Prioritize – put yourself first for once in your life so you have a life!

Q – Questions – ask questions about the equipment you are using, about your health and your fitness level.

R -  Rest, Reenergize, Relax – Your body needs rest 2 days a week free from workouts.  Workout 5 days and rest 2 days so your body can recover.

S – Stretch – End each workout with stretching.  Stretching can help to relax and balance tension on muscles that have just been exercised and can increase our range of motion and besides it feels good after a hard workout!

 

T – Time – Schedule your time for your workouts at the beginning of every week.  This way everyone will know that you are busy at this time and unable to take on other commitments.  It’s your time to accomplish things for yourself and your family by being healthy.

U – Understanding – understand your body and your ability to strive to improve.  Our bodies all react differently to the fitness so we have individual changes.  Don’t measure yourself against others in the program.

V – Vacation – everyone deserves a vacation during the program but remember you can still do your workouts if you plan to.  Take along your fitness equipment with you when go and you will get it done!

W – Work Life Balance – Take time from your work every day to go out for a walk or to enjoy a bit of personal time for yourself.  You will be more productive the rest of the day and have a smile on your face.

X –eXploration – Review the new things you can do now that you could not do prior to joining this program.  You will be surprised at what you have achieved!  Can you jog, cross-country ski, snowshoe, swim, run upstairs?

Y – You – life is not a test run and you are the CEO of your body.   Remember where your health goes in your life is up to you. 

Z – ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ – get plenty of sleep.  Sleep reduces stress, improves your judgment, mood, and ability to learn and retain information.

Fitness and vacation

For the past week I have been on a much needed vacation and had the opportunity to visit one of my “bucket list” places.  I had the extreme pleasure of visiting Oahu, Hawaii.

Before I left for Hawaii I was concerned that my fitness that I have worked so hard to achieve, would  go by the way side and I would also take a vacation from fitness.  So many people did comment and tell me that I deserved a break and had earned a vacation where I didn’t need to think about fitness.  At first I thought you bet – why not!  I’ve worked hard for the past 9 months and I am sure that 10 days is not going to do any harm to my level but in the back of my mind I heard that inner little voice saying “who are you trying to fool?”

In the past I have heard and listened to many of those little talking voices that whisper in your mind giving you excuses to ignore what you need to do to maintain a healthy body.  Just one day, just one week….you deserve it!  We’ve all heard these little messages and all too often have heeded their message to steer us down the path of weight gain, the middle tire, love handles and unhealthy lifestyles.  Not this time – I was determined that this time it would be different – I hoped!  One of the first things I asked my sister who I was going to be staying with was “Is there a gym where we will be staying?”  She said no but that there was 39 steps to the 3^rd floor of our condo and that might work.

Before I headed to Hawaii I made sure I got in two workouts.  One was on the Sunday and then the next day Monday morning before I caught my fight I went to the gym for my sweat out before sitting for over 5 hours on the plane.

On vacation there are MANY distractions to keep you from thinking about fitness and working out  -  soaking up the sun, relaxing in the pool, bubbling in the hot tub and not to mention go old retail therapy.  This was not to be I soon discovered on my first morning.  At 5 am my friendly little exercise monitor started calling me.  Yes at 5 am the my fine feathered local rooster would start my wakeup call reminding me of my commitment to keep it real.   I guess it was destiny for me that I received this “divine” assistance to get my workout  done early before the blazing sun had slipped over the horizon every morning and I had the excuses down firm and no time to get it done.

I felt that this was my own personal wake up call to remind me that I needed to get up and get my workout done for the day before I got distracted by all the vacation activities or heat.  I would ever sooooooo slowly pry open my eye lids to look out the window to see if it was light yet and to think in my mind “rooster stew” and slowly slip my feet into my flip flops to slid out of bed to have a bit of food to get ready to jog since where we stayed there was no gym in sight!  I knew that once the sun was well up that it would be way too hot to jog.  I think that the rooster had been given my Makha address by the fitness trainers from Westside to ensure that I got my workouts done while away.  It would have been all to easy to say – no gym around so I will forget it until back in Calgary.  I tired to close my eyes but that little rooster would have none of that – cock-a-doodle-do!  I am sure he could see my eyes.

Once out of bed, dressed and warmed up by jogging I noticed that there were quite a other joggers out there that had been roused by the “rooster alarm” as well as an ever vigilant group of peacocks scattering as I jogged by.    Jogging in Hawaii certainly has advantages.  The scenery is beautiful with the view of the serene blue ocean on the horizon, the golden beach sand beckoning at me for a post workout swim, palm trees gently waving in the morning trade winds breezes, the air filled with the sweet aroma of flowering plants and my ears treated to the chirping of what sounded like thousands of  birds cheering my every step and not to mention that ceaseless crowing of that silly little rooster!   It was an experience that   anyone who was not out jogging at 6:15 in the morning missed!  I felt truly blessed to be able to experience the undisturbed peace provided by the great Creator (except for that rooster.)

I soon learned that the jog from the condo to the ocean was only 15 minutes there downhill  and 15 minutes back uphill.  Didn’t see any women out jogging but there were senior men and some with friendly dogs.  Most people looked very healthy so I guess this was a good and inspiring sign.  Everyone had a smile on their face and always gave a friendly smile and a wave as they went by.  Most, if not all, were faster than I was but I was giving it a try.  That’s all I could ask of myself and at least I wasn’t laying in bed wishing I could find my ear plugs to drown the rooster call.

Once my jog was done for the day I was ready to go and get on with being a tourist on vacation.  One day was spent on a bus tour of the island.  I would highly recommend doing a bus tour your first day on the island if you haven’t been there before.  The bus ride gave me a real sense of the layout of the island and places I might want to go back and spend more time at as well as giving a historical background on the important parts.  Well worth the outlay of the cash and I got to visit the Dole pineapple plantation as well as the macadamia nut tasting store, numerous beaches, jungle and ancient volcanic structures.

What else does one do for exercise in Hawaii?  Well there is the pool…much colder than the ocean to say the least however you can get a good workout there by doing just your basic swim or you can do your own version of aerobics or water jog.  The ocean is another good place to get a bit of exercise and not having to work up a sweat.  The waves and current are enough to keep you having to constantly move your body to keep close to shore.  Walking on the sand is a chore in itself.  Not sure how one might be able to run in this almost quick sand sucking your feet at every move.  Seems like there is so much to see that you are constantly walking and of course there is always retail therapy (but can get costly) where you can walk for hours shopping – it’s all exercise.

Well I’m back in the land of ice and snow. Missing my workouts in Hawaii but like all good vacations they come to any end with a screech of reality with a wakeup this morning of -19 C.  Aloha!