Well hello there, readers, I have been MIA! October was a busy, exciting month for me, and I’m excited to share what’s been going on with you guys.
First up, I taught a small group training program I have been working on for a while now, which is very much tied to my area of passion in the fitness industry – getting women to feel comfortable working out with weights, and strength training. I marketed it as an introduction to strength training for women and I was thinking it would be more for complete novices to strength training, but I ended up having an even split of participants. Half were total beginners, and half had done some strength training before, but not for years. It was an 8 session program over 4 weeks, with handouts, workouts, and homework workouts as well.
I can’t tell you how much I love seeing women who feel intimidated by strength training, or those who just have no idea where to start, gain confidence and strength as they learn the basics of how to lift, and program their own workouts. The benefits of adding strength training to your working out routine are huge – these are just a few I shared in my introductory handout:
BENEFITS OF STRENGTH TRAINING FOR WOMEN
- Building strong, lean muscle is the best way to burn more fat. Muscle is more metabolically active than fat, so even at rest, your lean muscle is keeping your metabolism stoked. There’s no better way to reduce your body fat percentage than by strength training.
- Resistance training is essential for staving off osteoporosis. This bone-thinning disease affects women more than men, since our bone density is lower and we lose bone density more quickly than men as we age. But the disease can be prevented by regular strength training, since lifting weights maintains and increases bone density.
- Lifting weights increases your self esteem and body image. Given that so many women report being dissatisfied with their body, it’s an important effect of strength training.
- Your flexibility improves when you strength train through your full range of motion. You’re strengthening your muscles and joints to work the way they ideally should, meaning your range of motion will be at its peak when you’re stronger and more trained.
- Balance is improved with regular strength training, which in turn lessens the possibility of falls.
- There are several medical benefits to lifting weights: With regular resistance training, you decrease your risk of arthritis, depression, back pain, and you increase your body’s blood sugar control and increase your HDL (good) cholesterol levels.
- From a mental standpoint, strength training not only increases cognitive ability, it reduces stress, and it can also lessen the symptoms of anxiety, and depression.
- And don’t forget, getting stronger and leaner can make all your daily activities easier – you’ll find walking up stairs, carrying groceries, picking up your child, doing cardio, or taking the trash out that much easier.
A lot of work went into planning this program, and I’m excited to share that very soon I will be offering it as an online program you will be able to sign up for via Fine Fit Day. If this kind of program is something you would be interested in, I encourage you to sign up for email updates for the blog here, because I will be communicating the launch and sign-up process via blog post, as well as a separate email to my subscribers.
Also in October, I was involved in a wellness initiative at my work. Our company has a Wellness Committee and every month they have a new focus for employee health and wellness. One month it was de-stressing, one month was a fitness challenge, and October was all about stretching. After a month of lectures, stretching tips, and stretch classes, it dawned on me that while I may have thought information on stretching was well-known, some of the questions I answered, and techniques that I taught, made me realize that stretching is definitely one of those areas that people are often unsure about. So this month look forward to me sharing some more information on stretching as a resource for you all!
If you haven’t checked out the great information on nutrition for athletes that my guest contributor Beth Roessner, The Rungry Health Coach, has been sharing, you can check out her posts here. I have some more informative articles from Beth lined up for the next few weeks, too, including on Monday, when she’ll be giving us tips on how to incorporate more veggies in our diets!
And finally, on the fun side, Halloween was such a good time this year! The village where I live hosts an amazing trick or treating evening. There are a few streets closed off to traffic and designated a safe zone on the night of, and all through October you can contribute bags of Halloween candy so the people who live in the zone get a break on the treats (this year they had more than 1000 trick or treaters!). The decorations were amazing, and my two little Batman boys had a ball. Until about an hour into it, when Tanner announced, “I’m cold. I’m done.” At that point, we headed to the Woodstock Inn, which opens up for the whole community to come and enjoy hot cider, and candy bars for the kids (Roman was so impressed they had full-size candy bars at the Inn).
So that was my October, and I’m sad to see the leaves falling and the temperatures dropping. I like the start of fall every year, but I never like what’s coming quite so much. I have big plans this winter to try snow-shoeing, so maybe I’ll become a winter lover yet!
How was your Halloween?
Are you a winter or a summer person?
