Have you found it difficult to balance a healthy diet with increased exercise or training?
Midtown Chicago’s Registered Dietitian, Jenny Maloney, is back to tell you how.
Spring is training season for many members. If you have a marathon, triathlon, 5K, or other athletic competition on the calendar, you’re likely exercising more and getting hungrier as well.
There is a fine line between fueling for your exercise or sport and overeating, which can result in weight gain despite an increased caloric burn.
The tendency after a hard workout is to eat twice as much as you normally would, and this can get you into trouble, so ensure that you are eating an overall healthy and balanced diet. Are you consuming enough fruits and vegetables? Are you choosing whole grain versions of foods and lean protein?
Once you are eating a variety of healthy foods, then you can start to think about fueling for exercise. Instead of eating two desserts after a hard workout, add an extra serving of fruit, vegetables, or protein, or add an extra healthy snack. For example, if your dinner is a chicken stir fry, add another ½ cup of brown rice and an extra ounce of chicken. If you are still hungry after dinner, you can always have a snack.
Make sure to eat before and after exercise so you are not starving when you are done. During the off-season or taper periods, cut down your portions but continue to eat healthfully. When you are in training or exercising more, you can eat more but make sure the food is still healthy.
What race(s) are you training for this spring?
Do you experience muscle or joint stiffness, soreness, pain, and/or injury that prevent you from functioning at your best? Have you accepted pain as a “part of life,” and given up hope that it can improve? If you’ve tried Muscle Activation Techniques (MAT), you know that pain doesn’t have to be permanent!
We sat down with Midtown’s Certified MAT Specialist Ron Greenberg to discuss what MAT is and how it can help just about everybody. Here is what we learned:
Question: What is MAT?
Ron: MAT is a systematic approach designed to evaluate and treat muscular imbalances that cause restrictions in motion, joint instability, and muscular tightness and weakness. MAT jumpstarts the muscles to get them working the way they were intended to work.
Question: What led you to become a Certified MAT Specialist?
Ron: I began my career in personal training in 1993 and eventually became a Performance Enhancement Specialist to work with athletes. Over time, I observed my clients enduring more muscle and joint problems as the intensity of their training increased. The regular treatments, such as icing and stretching, weren’t working. It became clear that we were treating the symptoms (pain and muscle tightness) and not the actual problem of muscle inhibition. I decided to become certified in MAT, so that I could treat the underlying problems and get my clients back on track.
Question: Does everyone have muscle imbalances?
Ron: Just about everyone. Imbalances show up in the form of tightness and/or weakness, which are often caused by postural problems (e.g. hunching over a desk all day), or repetitive activities (e.g. running). Tightness is the muscle’s response to protect a positional weakness. In other words, muscles shut down and get tight because they are overworked to a point where they can no longer function properly. MAT restarts those muscles, which not only restores movement, but also addresses the weakness that caused the pain and decreased range of motion in the first place.
Question: Shouldn’t strength training help prevent or correct muscle imbalances?
Ron: Not necessarily. Unless your exercise history is flawless (no injuries, balanced and correct training protocol, etc.), strength training will most likely cause your strong muscles to get stronger and overcompensate, which leads to your weak muscles becoming weaker.
Question: How can someone get started with MAT?
Ron: I am available for appointments on Monday and Wednesday evenings. We would begin by discussing your health history, followed by an initial evaluation and determination of a treatment plan that fits your schedule and budget. Having a MAT evaluation can certainly benefit everyone. Even if you aren’t in pain now, your performance may be suffering in ways that will lead to injury in the future. Too many people spend their lives in and out of pain and physical limitation that can and should be prevented.
Thanks, Ron, for your insight on MAT!
For more information, or to schedule and appointment, contact ron.greenberg@midtown.com or tracey.enos@midtown.com.
Boot camps are a popular trend in the fitness world. Participants expect to be pushed to their physical limits to achieve results fast. This is certainly an enticing proposition, but may also be somewhat intimidating.
Is Boot Camp appropriate for all fitness levels? What does Boot Camp offer that other fitness classes and programs do not?
I sat down with Personal Trainer Kelly O’Brien to learn more about what Midtown’s Boot Camp is all about.
Kristen: What is Boot Camp?
Kelly: Boot Camp is a small group training class that allows participants to get semi-private training at an economical price. Each session is designed using the principles of interval training to burn more calories.
Kristen: What is the advantage of interval training?
Kelly: Interval training consists of periods of higher intensity exercise, which increase the heart rate, followed by periods of lower intensity exercise to allow for recovery and the ability to accomplish more high-intensity work overall. Interval training has been shown to increase cardio-respiratory fitness and burn more calories in shorter periods of time.
Question: What happens in a typical class?
Kelly: It’s hard to talk about what is “typical” because we mix it up all the time! Weather permitting, we usually go to the track and field area at Concordia University (about a 5 minute walk from Midtown). We run, do squats, lunges, pushups, sprints, jump rope, run bleachers, and sometimes finish up back inside the club with TRX. The variety in the class is a big benefit because it constantly pushes the body to adapt to new challenges.
Kristen: That sounds pretty intense. Can anyone take this class?
Kelly: Anyone can do Boot Camp. We modify or change exercises to obtain the most appropriate challenge for all fitness levels. Safety is our number one priority, followed by effectiveness and fun! That said, all members are welcome to check it out. Better yet, bring a friend, so you don’t have to “feel the burn” alone!
Kristen: How big is the class, and when do you meet?
Kelly: We currently have 3-5 participants per class, which allows me to give participants more personal attention. The class meets Monday evenings at 7PM and Saturday mornings at 8:30AM for fifty minutes to an hour.
Kristen: What is the cost of the class, and how can I sign up?
Kelly: A four-week session costs $136 or $34 per class. The next session will begin the week of October 10th. Participants can register for one or two classes per week. Registration forms are at the front desk.
Kristen: So, does it really work?
Kelly: Participants have told me they feel stronger and that exercise is getting easier. Here’s one I remember, “After starting my boot camp workouts with Kelly, I feel more in shape than I have felt in a long time. In fact, I think it has made my other cardio workouts much easier.”– Vicki Custardo-Koch.
Kristen: Why do you enjoy leading Boot Camp?
Kelly: I love teaching the class mostly because I enjoy the people. I love challenging them and showing them that they can do more than they thought they could. I am so passionate about exercise, and I really like to share my knowledge with others.
Don’t miss your chance to take your workouts to a whole new level! What fitness goal are you working to accomplish this fall? Do you think Boot Camp can help you get there?
I wasn’t always a runner. 
My earliest experiences with running were unremarkable at best, and emotionally and physically painful at worst. I was the kid who finished dead last in the mile race in 5th grade gym class. After being cut from the volleyball team in middle school, I tried cross country and hated every minute of it until I quit.
As far as I was concerned, the sport of “running” could eat my dust.
I stayed active through high school and college, playing other sports and trying a variety of fitness workouts. They were okay, but none of them really got my blood pumping the way I wanted them too. Was working out really just about being fit, looking good, or doing what you are “supposed to do?” Or, was it possible to enjoy the journey along with the destination? If I was going to continue working out for the rest of my life, I was hoping the answer to the latter question was yes.
On the morning of my most dreaded college final in my junior year, I gave running another chance. Actually, it was more of a last ditch effort to overcome the effects of all-nighters and a stomach full of vicious butterflies. If there was anything that could take my mind off of the exam, it was the pain that would come from running.
So at 5AM, I walked to the recreation center, up the stairs to the indoor track, and I ran. For about 9 minutes. My calves and lungs burned, and I felt utterly exhausted. But somehow, I was calmer too. It was the first time I felt like running could offer release instead of tension, and it was that realization that led me to go back out again and again. Granted, it also helped when I learned about and corrected the running form errors that were causing my calves to feel like they had knives sticking in them. But the point is, running got easier and became a lot of fun.
Later that spring, I registered for my first 5K race. I never thought I could finish 3.1 miles running the whole way, and I almost didn’t. It was hot, humid, and I still ended up with a cramp in my side, but when I crossed that finish line, I was hooked. Running had become my “thing.” It was what I wanted to do when I was stressed, tired, bored, happy, or peaceful.
Running was something I could do, just me, for me, anytime, anywhere.
Running isn’t about how fast, far, or where you go, or how cool or crazy you look getting there. For me, running is about crossing the first finish line and looking immediately toward your next one. I call myself a runner because I’m going somewhere. Away from a stressful situation, towards a goal, or just down the street to enjoy some fresh air. This is one journey that I hope lasts a long time.
Are you ready to lace up your shoes and run? This fall, Midtown is offering an 8-week “Run Your First 5K” program to help beginning runners train for the Frank Lloyd Wright Races 5K/10K in Oak Park on October 23, 2011.
Contact me, Kristen Schumacher (kristen.schumacher@midtown.com) for more details, or stop by the front desk to register.
What’s your running story? Love it or hate it, we want to hear about it!
