Summer’s not over yet

While Kristin is on a bit of computer-time sabbatical, some friends are helping out with guest blogging. Here's some suggestions on outdoor swimming ideas from Anne Laufe.

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I spend a significant part of my summers searching for good swimming holes. Despite the enormous amount of rain we receive each year in our emerald oasis, finding a perfect place to take a dip isn’t so easy. Over the years, however, I have discovered numerous spots that meet my admittedly high expectations. The days are getting shorter, and the nights a bit cooler, so take my advice and head out soon for one of the spots described below. You won’t be disappointed!

Dog Paddle

Our dog Alice, a golden retriever/German shepherd mix, loves going to Kelley Point Park, located in far North Portland where the Columbia and Willamette Rivers meet. Although she has webbed feet and looks like a black lab, Alice doesn’t like to swim. But she does love splashing in the water, fetching balls thrown close to shore, and rubbing her wet body in the sand.

Dogs are supposed to be kept on leash in the park, but once on the beach, nobody seems to care.

My kids (ages 11 and 13) and I also enjoy getting in the water here. We stay on the Columbia side of the park, sticking to the idea (maybe a fantasy) that the larger river is less polluted.

Kid stuff

After hearing about the Lewisville Regional Park for many years, I finally made it up there last weekend. It’s on the Lewis River in Washington, just north of Battle Ground, about a 40-minute drive from our house in northeast Portland. 

The river is beautiful and calm, especially at this time of year when the water is low. The main swimming spot is near the Hemlock parking area. Here you’ll find picnic tables, a sandy beach, bathrooms and a rope swing on the other side of the river.

A quieter place to spend a sunny afternoon is at the end of the road. Kids love jumping off the huge fallen tree and splashing about in the pool below it. If you have water shoes, bring them. The bottom of the river is rocky – and dotted with crayfish.

Strong swimming skills required

One of my favorite close-to-home swimming spots is the Sandy River. We drive south on Crown Point Highway, a mile or two past Tad’s Chicken and Dumplings (a local landmark I have yet to try) and park in one of the pull-outs on the side of the ride. A steep climb takes us down to a narrow sandy beach and the river.

We only swim here late in the summer, because the current is swift and the water cold. But on a hot August day, there’s nothing like the cooling river cascading off of Mt. Hood to cool us off. Lots of people float the Sandy in inner tubes and rafts; we often just lie back and let the water carry us – no water craft required.

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 Anne Laufe is a freelance writer, parent, and avid school volunteer. Working out with Kristin made her summer backpack trip to the Three Sisters Wilderness Area seem like a walk in the park!

A day in the life of a 66 year old retired nun

Kristin has some gracious guest bloggers while she's on the mend. We started with Gayle and her grill. Now Judith's up with musings about staying fit and part of our community. 

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Well first of all, people always say, “I didn't know nuns retired?”  Of course we don't retire from being “nuns” – we retire from an active career/ministry to what I prefer to call a holistic way of being in the world.  You see, we are not technically “nuns”, who are cloistered from the world, but rather sisters who are fully present and alive to all that life brings.

So, how am I fully present and alive today?  Over the last 6 months I have started most days with Kristin and her fitness classes.  This has been great, my body is stronger, mildly leaner – yes, I am overweight, but mind you I am NOT obese, and my soul is more open to receive what life brings each day.  I am fully present to the members of these classes.  Right now they are all women in the classes I attend.  Great women who are concerned about their health and well-being and the health and well-being of the world in which we live.  I find the classes much better than individual training and working out because of the sociability and accountability.  I believe I get more help in the classes both from Kristin and my exercise group than I would alone or just 1-on-1 sessions.  I think we are a great community of persons coming together – all ages, all sizes, all personalities finding fun (most days) in exercising our bodies, minds and spirits.

Recently I did the 24 hour wheel that Kristin wrote about on her blog – so besides exercise my day includes some meditation, spiritual reading and journaling.  I prefer to read and journal at a coffee shop – I feel like I am just hanging out with all the other people that keep Portland WEIRD!

The rest of my day is probably just like yours:  Clean house, take care of the yard, pay the bills, cook/eat, cook/eat, cook/eat and of course sleep.  I pay attention to the news, email, search the net, attend various appointments and spend time with family and friends.  Another + of exercise, I have made some new friends who like to exercise, even with an old lady, who is a sister!

I am part of the sandwich generation in that I visit and assist some of our more elderly sisters and take care of my grandchildren.  

The grandchildren thing got you, didn’t it?  Another sister and I decided to become foster parents in 1986. Siblings ages 7 and 8 joined us for 2 weeks and stayed forever. They are now 32 and 33 with lives of their own and of course children.  So I am a Nana and I love it!

So, you see we sisters are just like you, exercising, living day by day, choosing to live more simply in this complicated world, using less of the limited resources, so there is enough for the next generations.

As for me it is also about what it means to move into a way of being where one has less of life to live than I have already lived. What is important?  Physically, like getting out of a chair without help as I age, and staying a healthy weight – which may be overweight but strong. Mentally, exercise really stretches the ability of the brain to think and follow directions. Emotionally exercise really helps with anxiety and depression, often an issue as we age. Spiritually, I find that Kristin’s “Take it Outside Fitness” provides an opportunity to experience the spirituality of nature in all kinds of weather – outside in the park is like being in a natural cathedral.  I notice the beauty of the tall trees and sky when we are on our backs on the picnic tables doing “dead bugs”.    Why Kristin calls this exercise dead bugs is beyond me since we are moving our arms and legs – I asked her and she said they are “dying bugs but dead is easier to say.”  Now that is a real spiritual response to think about!

Well that is it from the Guest Blogger!  I have enjoyed writing this although I procrastinated for days!

Peace and Good-Health to all.

Judith

Grillin' with Gayle: Beet Salad

Kristin has some gracious guest bloggers while she's on the mend. First up, Gayle with her grill addiction.

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I almost think I need to belong to grillers anonymous. . . "Hi.  I’m Gayle and I’m a grill-a-holic."  If it can be made in my oven, it can only be made better on my grill.   Kristin laughs at me about how much I read about cooking and how much I grill. Did I say how much I love my grill?!

But in all seriousness, grilling is an incredibly healthy way to cook.  If you are grilling meats you are keeping in the juices you want and if you do it right, the fat just melts off.  Aside from meat you can make some of the most amazing veggie dishes. 

My favorite salad this summer has been one I’ve been making on my grill.  I have a tiny garden and with our slow to start summer I finally I got to harvest my beets.   Otherwise I’ve gotten beautiful beets from the local farmers market.

Fresh from the garden.

This picture is just me bragging.  Aren’t they so friggin cute?!

Preheat your grill (give it about 5-10 minutes on high-assuming your using a gas grill).

I usually use a medium size bunch of beets.  Use a potato peeler and peel the beets and cut into cubes (1-2”).  Keep the greens, cut any big leaves to bite size.  Give these a good rinse and set aside.  Make a foil pouch, add your beets and drizzle with not more than a tablespoon of olive oil.  Throw your pouch on the grill, about medium heat.  Leave for about 15 minutes.   Remove the beet pouch from the heat and set aside.  Place a tin pie pan on the grill for 1 minute to warm then toss in your damp greens for 1-2 minutes to wilt. 

Put greens on your plate, top with the beets from your pouch and a couple of slices of goat cheese and drizzle with balsamic vinegar.  Yummmm

Grilled beet salad. Yum!

I hope I have inspired you to be a little more adventurous on your grill.  And if I haven’t bored you silly and Kristin lets me come back I may share my grilled pizza recipe with you. 

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Gayle Emmich is a foodie and crafty living in SE Portland, with roots in Mississippi. You can find her mixing drinks weekends at New Deal Distillery, helping friends with their local businesses, and compiling recipes for her community dinners. Wanna be on her email list to hear about up coming dinners? Sure you do! Just email her at lulaharp.pdx at gmail dot com.

What to do when you are in a bike/auto accident

As many of you already know, I was hit by a car while on my bike this week. And because of that, I have been extremely limiting with time on the computer due to some issues with my shoulder.

Even though I live in the cycling capital of the universe, I want to share a few quick tips if this ever happens to you.

1. DO NOT assume you are OK at the time of the accident. I thought I was fine. I'm tough. But as time wore on that day, I equate what happened to me as a major earthquake with lots of funky settling and aftershocks.

2. Get the driver's insurance info, name and number. Its the law. If it's a hit and run, see if you can catch the license plate number. Easier said than done. Look around for witnesses and get their contact info too.

3. Go the doctor pronto. Get an assessment. You may be fine and that's great. If not, best to get a treatment program started ASAP.

4. File a police report.

5. Talk to your auto insurance company even if you don't have the driver's info. They might be able to help you with your expenses.

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OK, keeping this short. I  have wonderful friends volunteering to guest blog so stay tuned. I'm so very lucky and grateful for all of you!

xo,
Kristin

For better grades, take your kids outside!

I've talked before about how exercise positively impacts the brain and can make you smarter and happier, but here's an article with new info about what type of exercise effects the students in the classroom. Studies showed that just basic running around, skipping, walking--being a typical kid--raised kids test scores more than activities that required them to think and move at the same time.

Being the fitness geek that I am, just wanted to share that with you. On a personal level, do you think there is a connection between your activity level and your brain activity? Do you feel like your head is full of cotton on most days? Or are you clear headed?

a picture is worth a 1000 words

No, this isn't one of those ads for the latest weight loss program. (But you should consider this the next time you see a set of "before and after" pictures.) No this is just a little wake up call for all of us in regards to our--wait for it--posture!

See, last Friday some folks took advantage of my free postural assessments at the studio. Nothing too painful. I just had them each stand between a grid on the wall and a plumb line in front of them. From there I evaluated the position of certain landmarks on their bodies from toe to head. Things like, do their feet roll in? Do the knees turn out? What about the pelvis? Is it level? Hiked on one side? Rotated? And so on up the body, from the front, back and sides. Then I photographed them from each angle and we blew up the images on the computer so we could talk about what we saw. Lastly I gave them basic cues to tweak their posture and photographed them again.

Pretty amazing, eh?! They now have a better awareness of what their bodies habitually do, and what it feels like to be in a better alignment. And no, they don't just walk out of the studio all pretty-perfect. They'll have to remain aware, do the exercises I suggested, and try being a little bit more ambidextrous.

Gayle and Heather gladly volunteered to have their pictures included in this post. They thought it was so cool they wanted you to see it too! Thanks, you two and everyone else who participated.

If you're interested in learning more about your posture, just shoot me an email kristin [at} Take It Outside Fitness {DOT) com. I'm a fitness geek and would love sharing this knowledge with you!

Weekly Prize for August 8th-15th

If you haven't already heard, I'm awarding folks with prizes for sharing their thoughts and inspirations here on the blog and Facebook.

This week's prize--winner announced Monday, August 15th--is a FREE month of the class of your choice. Here's where to go for more details on how it works. Good luck!

go with the flow

A little boy wants a pony for his birthday. That's all he wants. The day arrives and he walks into a room and it's filled with horse crap. Floor to ceiling. He grabs a shovel and giddily says, "There must be a pony in here somewhere!"

Happiness is all based on your perspective. The day can be filled with crap, or with serendipity moments. Look beyond the immediate moment and you might just see better alternatives to what we think we want or expect.

My bike was stolen the other day. First I was bummed. Then I thought, I'm gonna get a new bike! One that fits better. More efficient. One that inspires me to ride a further than my previous just-get-from-point-A-to-B rides. Maybe I'll even do Cycle Oregon someday! Now I have my new bike and I'm so friggin' happy with it! On my weekend ride--that's new to my vocabulary--I picked up a Clackamas County Bike Map which includes routes that I can't wait to take in, share with others and make new discoveries.

So you see?  The silver lining to my bike being stolen is I've just found a whole new passion that will lead to even more new adventures. Which makes me very happy!

You just never know what you'll see, experience, taste, when you go with the flow. What about you? Have you had an event "go all wrong" only to find yourself with something wonderful?

Working out while at work?

Walk, walk, walk. I walk to work, with clients, with my husband, with my 15 year old dog. It helps clear my head, sort my thoughts, boost my creativity. Plus there's all those health benefits from exercise I keep hearing about.

Call me a traditionalist, but I have some issues with the treadmill workstations. I used to have a 9-to-5 job, but I switch careers because I felt trapped like a rat, sitting in a cube all day. Who knows, maybe I would have felt upgraded to a gerbil on the rodent caste system if my cube included a treadmill workstation.

But we aren't rodents. We're people. People who sit too much. So I will give you that the treadmill workstations are good for combating that. But isn't there a better way? Beyond the  strategic hassles of multitasking on a treadmill, well documented by Catherine Pearson with HuffingtonPost.com, I just plain like the idea saving $2000-6000 spent on said workstation and buying a good pair of sneakers--or 75 for that price-- and just taking it outside. You could have walking meetings with co-workers. You could just say bugger off and get away from work all together for a walk alone, outside, and come back recharged, mentally and physically.

I know plenty of friends who stand at their desks, move around and shift from foot to foot all day, or sit on fitness balls as their desk chairs. I know of people who actually walk to co-workers' desks instead of sending an email (which ultimately saves time wasted on ping pong emails).

I remind clients to take those lawfully allowed 15-minutes every 4 hours and break away from the desk. I guess that's why I worry, that with people fearing for their jobs these days, they'd rather opt for something like this, instead of protecting their boundaries and making sure they get the daily dose of outdoors-among-the-living-green-things. All work and no play not only makes you dull, but unproductive, depressed and kind of worthless at work.

I know, I know. I rant a lot about what I consider silly gadgets. (Can you call a $2000+ machine a gadget?)  It's just my opinion, and my blog. ;-) But what do you think? Are these a good thing, bad, or somewhere in between? Like I said, I happily broke out of the cube years ago, which you can too, but that's another post for another day. . .

I'm a fitness geek

For those of you who don't know me, I'm a fitness geek. Articles like this one about the shoulder girdle gets my attention. All those fitness magazines at the grocery store just make me laugh. They package the same vaguely-researched info month after month, preying on our insecurities. Seriously, who buys this!? Kiss Cellulite Good Bye, The Baby food Diet.

Personally, I like to learn how cool the body is, how to works, what it's capable of. I'm such a fitness geek that want to order one of these. It would be great for Halloween parties and explaining what's going on with your posture.

But of course I can't get too geeky with clients. They'll glaze over if I start talking about the hypertonic muscles around glenohumeral joint. Hell, I glaze over when I hear my continuing ed teachers blathering on and on.  But I"m good at getting nitty gritty about form and function with clients in ways that makes sense to them without being all science-speak. Sometimes it takes telling, showing, and doing to get my point across. But when I explain a movement/exercise to a client and she gets that a-ha look on her face, I'm thrilled. And she's happy too.

Of course, I'm not the trainer for everyone. I'm the trainer for the thinking person. Not being snarky here. Unlike some people who just want to be put through the moves and not have to put much thought into it, my clients like to learn what, why, and how to do things for themselves. I'm mean, if an anvil fell on me tomorrow, my peeps could forge on without me. And to me, that's what makes a trainer a good one. Being an educator and giving people the tools they need to sustain their healthy lifestyle.

So I think I'll be posting more fitness geek topics and links. Got any particular topics we should discuss? Let me know and stay tuned.

Who buys this stuff?!

The world of fitness products never ceases to amaze me. Everyone is trying to get the non-exerciser to buy into the latest gadget. You know, the one that'll really work for you. Not like the ones you've already purchased and stuffed under your bed or hang clothes on.

I just got a flyer in the mail for the Orbit. Concept wise, I like that some of the exercises done on the Orbit mimic those done on the reformer. And it's definitely more affordable than a reformer! But $229 for a padded platform with four casters? You know me. Avid DIYer that I am, I figure I can make something similar to this--with better casters-- for probably $20. Then with my savings I could pick up the intro DVD and get started there. Oh wait, they don't sell the DVD alone. They're on to me, and any other DIYer with WTF running through their heads.

Want your own pony but can't afford one? Check out this contraption. I can't find a price online anywhere, but I'm sure it's cheaper than an actual horse or a trip to set of Urban Cowboy.  Other than that though, I can't see the point of getting one of these. You could mimic the movement--I'd say movements but there's just one!--on a exercise ball.

These two gadgets make up just a fraction of the multi-billion dollar weight loss and fitness industry. I encourage you to think before you purchase the latest "as-seen-on-TV" item. More than likely you can simulate the moves with something around the house, in your local park or make your own. Which saves you money, repurposes already purchased items, and is easier on the planet since you'll use less resources.