Fitness Archives - Page 18 of 23

Wunda Wednesdays – Go Ahead And Jump!

Welcome to Week 5 of Wunda Wednesdays! From May 1st through July 1st, I’ll be participating in a 60 Day Challenge with WundaBar Pilates. I’ll be taking 3-4 classes per week in exchange for documenting my progress weekly here on the blog.

In the past few weeks, I’ve learned a lot not only about Pilates but about my own potential. I’ve been working hard to reach the goals I set forth for phase 2 of this 60 Day Challenge – like taking more time to fuel and refuel my body properly. WundaBar classes three times a week are intense and I need to ensure that I’m taking in the proper amounts of protein and calories to prevent my body from catabolizing my own muscle! I’m also giving greater focus on exercise form. Utilizing the Jump Board properly has proven to one of my greatest challenges thus far so today we are going to learn a little more about what it’s like in a WundaBar class to JUMP!

If you’re an 80’s music freak like me, you hear David Lee Roth of Van Halen singing “Jump” right now, don’t you? WundaBar Pilates jumping is not the DLR “splits in the air” but it’s a type of pylometric exercise. Plyometric exercises are short, fast explosive movements that encourage muscle elasticity and allow the body to be more efficient when workout intensity increases. Jumping exercises help the body to adapt to harder workouts faster. […]

By Melissa Burton|June 5th, 2013|1 Comment

11 Reasons To Go To A Race Health & Fitness Expo

Even though I knew I wasn’t going to run the San Diego Rock ‘n’ Roll Half this past Sunday, I took a trip down to to San Diego on Friday anyway. It was not only a good excuse to see a friend who flew in from New York to run the race, it was a chance to go to the Health & Fitness Expo.

If you haven’t ever been to an Expo, they’re often free (even for non-racers), educational (I learned about the upcoming trends in the natural product and organic food industry from the Natural Products Expo West that I attended in March) and they’re tons of fun.

I’ve heard it said that many people think of the Health & Fitness Expo that precedes a race as little more than “trick-or-treating for runners” but believe it or not, there’s a lot more to an Expo than just picking up lots of product samples, your bib and a race tee. […]

By Melissa Burton|June 3rd, 2013|6 Comments

An Injured Runner's Apology To Her Running Shoes

Since my injury in December, I haven’t been really allowed to run and it’s been hard. This weekend is the San Diego Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon I originally planned to do earlier this year. Today, I’m going down to the Expo in San Diego to see friends and get […]

By Melissa Burton|May 31st, 2013|4 Comments

Wunda Wednesday – Halfway There

Welcome to Week 4 of Wunda Wednesdays! From May 1st through July 1st, I’ll be participating in a 60 Day Challenge with WundaBar Pilates. I’ll be taking 3-4 classes per week in exchange for documenting my progress weekly here on the blog.

Today is Day 28 but the half way post for my 60 Day WundaBar Challenge. In 4 weeks, I’ve learned a lot – not only about the concepts, machines and exercises of WundaBar Pilates but about my own fitness potential. 6 months ago, I would have been way too intimidated to even walk into a Pilates studio – now three times a week I willingly go to very demanding (but fun) group reformer classes and I love it!

Me with Helene of WundaBar – killer taskmistress!

While I’ll reveal the results of my second Fit-Fax body composition analysis at the end of the post, I know that I’m stronger for so many reasons – my physical therapy sessions have been reduced from twice per week to only once, I don’t feel aches in my neck like I did after I muscled through my first 2 WundaBar sessions, I can feel my core muscles engage when I sit, stand or bend and my back doesn’t hurt as often.

I’m still not running but I know that I’m building what Joseph Pilates called the “powerhouse” that I’ll need for the next time I’m able to run a race. The “powerhouse” includes not only the abdominal area but the muscles around the hip joints, pelvic floor and the lower back. Through the WundaBar instructors (like the lovely Helene to the right) and the WundaFormer elements – the Wunda Chair, the Reformer and the Jump Board, I’m really am putting the power into my powerhouse.

Despite how strong I’ve been feeling, my Fit-Fax body composition results shocked me – My weight remained stable but instead of showing a gain in lean body mass since the beginning of my challenge, my lean body mass showed a small decline from my baseline.

The lean body mass decline is NOT due to the exercises nor the frequency of classes per week at WundaBar Pilates. It is entirely my own fault. […]

By Melissa Burton|May 29th, 2013|6 Comments

Wunda Wednesday – Stronger Than Yesterday

Welcome to Week 3 of Wunda Wednesdays! From May 1st through July 1st, I’ll be participating in a 60 Day Challenge with WundaBar Pilates. I’ll be taking 3-4 classes per week […]

By Melissa Burton|May 22nd, 2013|1 Comment

It's Wunda Wednesday – Newbie Nerves Nullified

It’s Wunda Wednesday! Last week I announced that over the next 60 days that I’ll be taking 3-4 classes per week at WundaBar Pilates in exchange for documenting my progress weekly.

Welcome to Week 1 of Wunda Wednesdays (try to say that 3 times fast)!

I’ll admit that I was a little nervous about starting this 60 Day Challenge at WundaBar Pilates. I have doing Pilates PT 30 minutes twice a week since February and I did take one 50 minute WundaBar Pilates class (just to check it out) but the thought of graduating to nearly 1 hour classes 3-4 times a week scared me a little bit. […]

By Melissa Burton|May 8th, 2013|4 Comments