TAC Blog

Experts agree that group exercise can be beneficial.  Working out in a group provides support, accountability, and structure.  People don't want to let their buddy or group down, which is terrific in terms of adherence to an exercise outline.
     Patient information published in 2005 in the Journal of American Academy of Physician Assistants also recommends that people exercise with a partner or group because they are more likely to stay on track.
     Other benefits of group fitness: You're more likely to complete a well-rounded exercise routine and get a potentially tougher workout.  In a class, the instructor can say, 'let's pick up the pace,’ A class can help you move past a plateau — if you want to push yourself a little bit and improve.
     We encourage new exercisers to introduce themselves to the instructor when they join a group. Tell him or her that you're new and declare your goals, and say that you want to stick with the program. In response, an instructor can offer exercises for your skill level.
     If you are looking for that support system to keep you on track and motivated, TAC has more than 80 group exercise classes a week to choose from.  Come in and introduce yourself, instructors are always glad to see you.  If you are feeling overwhelmed, contact one of our friendly staff members they will help make the transition smoother.

Creating Healthy Habits combines the joy of movement with cognitive work and emotional support to help us make healthy lifestyle changes.  The class employs a simple three-step process I call DREAM IT – DANCE IT – DO IT!
Dream it!
Imagination: The first step in making a change is visualizing where you would like to be.  We all have ideas about changes we could make to enhance health and wellbeing.  Maybe it’s sticking to our commitment to exercise regularly or practicing daily meditation.  Perhaps it’s a dietary change, such as reducing sugar consumption.  Letting go of an old habit that no longer serves us could also be a healthy change.  The first step is to dream it.
Dance it!
Dance can help transition ideas about what we would like to see from the mental realm into the physical.  (Kind of like labor, only way more fun!) The physical act of the dance gets us out of our heads and into our bodies, while the tone or energy of the music shifts our emotional state. By moving us physically, mentally, and emotionally, dance facilitates the release of stuck energy.  Nia class leaves participants feeling relaxed and energized.  You do not need to ‘be a dancer’ to participate, the class is easy to follow and you will discover your own dance as you continue.  Moving toward our goals together with focus and intention brings ease to the process.
Do it!
Sometimes we need a little extra support to make changes.  The class helps provide accountability for living our dreams.  We delve deeper into our own motivation and inspiration through the use of visualization, journaling, and other cognitive exercises. We learn from each other about strategies that have worked, and we’re buoyed on the journey by our own private cheerleading section.

If you are interested in participating in Creating Healthy Habits, we will meet on Sunday mornings starting January 8th.  The Dance it! part of the group takes place in the Nia class at 11:30am.  Creating Healthy Habits follows at 12:40pm for one hour.  Please email Leela at leeladevidancing@gmail.com, or call (541) 752-1784 to reserve a space.  The Nia class is free to TAC members and the Creating Healthy Habits part is $40.00 for the eight week session.  Would you like to share this experience with a friend who is not a TAC member?  The first Nia class on January 8 is free to nonmembers, with a special price of $40.00 for the rest of the session (seven more classes).  Creating Healthy Habits class is $50.00 for nonmembers of TAC.

Remembering the good times, learning from the bad

Memory can be used for good or for evil. If you use your past as a source of learning, it's worth remembering. If, however, all you do is mull over your mistakes and punish yourself for your failures, it's a waste of time. Rehashing failure can paralyze you in mortal fear of making another mistake, which, of course, just makes the feeling worse and practically guarantees future letdowns. The key to making meaningful changes is to pay more attention to the future than to the past. Have you ever noticed that the best athletes also have the shortest and most selective memories? Instead of dwelling on a missed shot or a flawed dive, they concentrate on making corrections and getting the next one right. It's as if the failed attempt never happened. It's forgotten and they don't fear trying again. If you mess up, even in an epic, life-altering way, work hard to leave it behind and concentrate on the possibilities yet to come. Tomorrow is much brighter when it's not smeared with a fixation on yesterday.

Put simply, the more behaviors are ritualized and routinized — in the form of a deliberate practice — the less energy they require to launch, and the more they recur automatically

More than 30 million Americans participate in running as a form of general exercise for fitness and health.  It has been estimated that up to 70% of this population will incur a running related injury at some point.  Running has been described as a series of collisions with the ground.  The impact forces can be up to 3 times the runner’s body weight.  Linked to other problems like excessive mileage, training errors, and increasing volume of mileage too rapidly, runners fall into a ‘high risk’ category for injuries.  We have all seen runners using the water to rehab an injury, but now we want to attract these runners to use the water regularly for prevention of injuries. 

Shallow water can provide a reduced impact environment.  Deep water can provide a non-impact environment.  So the deciding factor is which depth will best facilitate a workout that a runner will find valuable?  The key is to find the environment that will best mimic land running style… this would be best done in deep water – it allows for proper running alignment, reduced load of the musculoskeletal system, and full range of movement within the joints.

Deep Water Running is offered Monday – Friday at 10am in our Big Pool.  Join a class anytime or contact an Aquatics Team Member to get started on an individual program.

Write it down.  Keep a journal or log with your goals and affirmations written down.  Take notes on activities that will help you through your day to achieve your goals.  Notice if there are certain situations that hinder your ability to be successful with your desired goals.  Write these down too.

When changing our routine it is easy to feel overwhelmed.  By keeping a journal or notes on these feelings it is more likely you will create the change you are looking for and remain more committed to your goals. 

Contact our staff today if you would like help with a fitness program (Steve Sackmann), have questions about our group exercise classes (Jen Humphreys), or are interested in swimming or aqua fitness classes (Shannon Brown). 

I read an interesting statistic the other day: people who cheat themselves of one to two hours of sleep a night actually become pathologically sleepy. This may be due to the late nights with the kids after work, late school nights, parties and game nights that last until the wee hours of the morning; and the early morning workouts, classes, and work schedule. It is recommended that we get 8.5-9.5 hours of sleep a night for our bodies to run its complete cycle and give our body time to repair its self; to consolidate and store all the things you learned that day. It is so difficult to get enough sleep these days with everything being open 24 hours a day, the TV’s in every room, computer laptops right by the bed side, and cell phones going off at all hours of the night. Sometimes it is just tough to relax at night because of all the things running through my head that have to get done. This makes it hard for me to sleep. 
But why is sleep important you ask? My college friends think that they can just sleep when they are dead but don’t get why they are always sick. Their bodies become physically ill because they don’t give their bodies enough time to efficiently restore and be rejuvenated. They are grouchy and impatient. Some even have really high blood pressure. These are all symptoms of sleep deficiency. I told them there is hope! I gave them these ideas- a lot of you probably already do this, but if you can relate maybe you can try these too!
Get in a rhythm- try to make a point to get to bed every night at the same time roughly, and wake up at the same time- that way your body can get on a cycle. Try reading a book or health magazine from the club before you go to bed. Stretch and relax your body in a Yoga and/or Pilates classes. Relax in the hot tub or therapy pool. Get a good hard workout with some of the trainers, so your body is more likely to fall right asleep. Eat some high protein snacks that are available at the front desk.

Have you hit a point where you want to mix up your exercise routine? Or maybe you’re no longer seeing the numbers on the scale change? One great way to change things up is to add strength, or resistance, training to your workout. Strength training has benefits for people of all ages and fitness abilities. In fact, it’s so important that the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and the American Heart Association (AHA) issued a joint recommendation for healthy adults under age 65. They recommend 8-10 strength training exercises of 8-12 repetitions each¹.

So why is strength training so good for you? By training our muscles to bear progressively heavier loads, we improve our physical capacity. Some studies have shown that untrained men and women gain 40-60% more strength after two months of regular strength training². Strength gains depend on two primary factors—increases in muscle fiber size and increases in the contractile strength of muscle fibers. And it’s not just your muscles bearing a heavy load when doing strength exercises; your bones are also responding to the load. Therefore, another benefit to strength training is improved bone density.

Other physiological benefits of strength training include .... goto website to finish this article

TAC offers great variety of free weight, machines, and group strength training classes like Group Power.  Contact a member of our fitness staff to learn more today!

Two apparently healthy young women took a cardio class from me recently. Ten minutes into the basic beginner warm-up routine, both were overwhelmed with trying to keep up. They were out of breath; their muscles were complaining; their faces were red and sweaty. They were working way too hard. I slowed the workout down, engaged them in conversation, kept the focus on simplicity of movement….and in a short while both of them regained a sense of composure and were exercising at a safer level.

Whether you’re treading water in the pool, jogging on a treadmill, cranking out miles on a cycle, smashing the racquetball or just plain lifting weights, it’s important to know if you’re working hard enough – or even too hard. A measurement called Perceived Exertion (PE) is the best way for you to judge how you’re doing and is a quicker and more individualized indicator than taking a pulse rate.

A generic pulse rate count is based on an average person of your age in an average population on an average day. If you fall outside the average measurement, you can still rely on a pulse rate to some degree to determine your workout level, but you need to stop the exercise, find your pulse on your wrist, find a clock, and start counting.... Even if you have a techno-watch-GPS-iPod-phone-heart rate monitor gizmo strapped to your arm, it still may not be accurately representing how you feel at that moment. What if you’re just coming back after the flu?

A much easier and better assessment of your activity level is Perceived Exertion. It’s based on how YOU are feeling depending on your fitness level, your goals, your workout routine, and how you feel on a given day….not on some Average Joe.

How does it work? The number scale is between 1 and 10. “1” represents the low level of energy you expend sitting in the recliner, eating popcorn and watching television. “10” – at the opposite end of the spectrum – relates to how you feel when you’re working so hard that having 9-1-1 on speed dial sounds like a reasonable option.

Here’s a brief (and lighthearted) summary of each level, from 1 to 10, for Perceived Exertion:

Level 1: I'm watching TV and eating snacks

Level 2: I'm starting to move, am comfortable, and could maintain this pace all day long

Level 3: I'm still comfortable in movement, but am breathing a bit harder

Level 4: I'm sweating a little, but feel good and can carry on a conversation effortlessly

Level 5: I'm just above comfortable, am sweating more and can still talk easily

Level 6: I can still talk, but am slightly breathless

Level 7: I can still talk, but I don't really want to. I'm sweating like a pig

Level 8: I can grunt in response to your questions and can only keep this pace up for a short time period

Level 9: I am probably going to die

Level 10: Call 9-1-1

In general, for most workouts you want to be at around Level 5-6. Think: 30 – 45 minutes on an elliptical machine or in the pool for a Hydrofit class. If you want to push yourself that day, aim for Level 7.

If you're doing interval training, you want your intensity blasts to be at around 8 and your recovery to be around a 4-5. Think: Group Power, intense cycling class, Ski Fitness.

For longer, slower workouts, keep your PE at Level 5 or lower. Think: long-distance swimming, circuit training, or 60 minutes on a treadmill.

Start paying attention to your Perceived Exertion level when you’re exercising to get a real feel for just how hard you’re truly working out. Can you still chat with someone, break a sweat and continue your workout pace? That’s the sweet spot!

Some good news... Currently, the obesity rates seem to be leveling off at around one third of American adults. U.S.A. Today says that about 34% of U.S. adults — almost 73 million people — were obese (roughly 30 or more pounds over a healthy weight) in 2008, up from 31% in 1999. This seems to be just a number or stat to some people, but when the life span (living 3-12 years fewer), lack of worker productivity, and estimated health costs (about $344 billion in medical-related expenses by 2018) are considered there is a staggering burden being placed on society.

View this animated map by the Center of Disease Control and Prevention that shows the United States obesity prevalence from 1985 through 2009.

Motivation is one determinant in decreasing obesity rates. Sometimes the carrot works, sometimes the stick works... one thing is clear:  what motivates me is not the same as what motivates you. Each individual has their own biological, psychological, physiological, and social factors that all play a significant role in the way their body functions and what decisions are made.  Achieving a healthy weight and activity level isn’t just about being on 'the right diet’ or ‘the right program’.  Where can we find our motivation in this more sedentary lifestyle?  from within? from external forces like media?  from social networks?  Policy efforts to encourage healthy choices in nutrition and physical activity are readily available yet our waistlines are not getting any smaller.  Many people, myself included, have found that the shared experience of activities or programs have made all the difference.  Choosing something that is FUN and that you enjoy is key.  Working out with a group, cooking with a friend, signing up or committing to a class where there is a connection with an instructor, or coming to the club at the same time and getting to know TAC staff members are just a few good examples.  

What motivates you?  Comment on Facebook