Best Fitness Blog

... by Karli Taylor

Shin Splints, or pain in the front of your lower leg, can creep up on you when you start building mileage. First things first- if you are running on a treadmill, make sure that you have the incline set to at least 1.0. For some reason, all treadmills are set up so that 0.0 incline is actually downhill! This will put undue stress on your shins and knees when mileage starts to get up past 2 miles.

If you are an outside runner, shin splints will occur if you have weakness in the front of your lower leg (tibialis) or tightness in the back of your lower leg(calves). To prevent this annoyance, make sure that you stretch your calves after every run, and on off days try the following exercises to strengthen your shins:

1. Sit on the edge of a chair and tap your toes on the floor with your heels planted- tap hard to create stress. Sounds simple, but it will prepare your shins for the stress of running.
2. If you have a resistance band of some kind, sit on the floor with your legs out in front of you, loop the band around your feet and point your toes while pulling back on the band. Point and flex 20-25 times then rest.

Another thing that may be contributing to your shin pain is your foot strike while you run. Focus on striking the ground with the balls of your feet instead of your toes. Toe-running will tighten your calves right up, and tight calves lead to weak shins!

Ladies- if you wear high heels all day long, do NOT come home and run right away. Give yourself some transition time to get used to your sneakers. Going straight from high heels to pavement pounding will put those shins at risk.

Any other pains creeping up on you as? Let me know and I'll try to help you fix it!

Interval Training 101  ... by Karli Taylor

Do you get on the same cardio machine every day at the same time and watch Friends to pass the time? Or maybe you walk the same route from your office every lunch hour? I hate to break it to you, but if your brain is bored with your cardiovascular routine, your body has been bored for quite some time.  

So lets talk about how to use that TV in front of you to help get you out of your rut, shall we? I play this game with myself on the treadmill all of the time. Pick a 30 minute TV show that you want to watch. Set your elliptical (or treadmill, bike etc) to a speed and resistance that is comfortable for you. Not super easy, but comfortable enough for you to hold a full conversation. Keep up that pace during the actual show- so you can enjoy it- BUT- during the commercials, increase the intensity to a level at which you can barely speak. Sneaky interval training 101.

What if you don't have a TV in front of you and you are listening to your ipod? Set it to shuffle and adjust your speed according to the tempo of the song. Some days may be a little easier, but some may feel impossible! It will keep your mind and your muscles guessing and help keep you out of a rut.

Lastly, if you are walking, cycling or running outside, pick a landmark that you can see in the distance and increase your speed until you reach it. Before you know it, you will have gone 3x as far as you normally do before getting bored.
So now that you know HOW to interval train, let's talk about WHY you would do it...

Put simply, more calories are typically burned during interval training than in lower-intensity exercise because it allows your body to work harder for a longer period of time than if you were training continuously. Therefore, noticeable fitness results may be seen sooner for someone doing interval training than in someone who continuously exercises.
Ready to try it??