Make Running a Family Affair, Great Tips to a Family Shape up!

Well we’re almost closing in on the end of Month #1 and I’m happy to report that I have survived the first 30 days of my foray into the world of running. While the first few runs were challenging, comprised of an energetic start, soon followed by a slow jog, then down to a weary shuffle, I am proud to say I’ve already noticed a substantial improvement in my time, my cardiovascular stamina and my overall endurance.

I think I mentioned last time that my 7 year old son is running with me, but never in a million years did I envision my daughter, who’s almost 10, to really get into it too!  This is a kid who, up to this point, has prided herself on her love of the indoors and mastering the various online games she subscribes to.  When she said she’d run a mile with us one day two weeks ago, I thought it would be recipe for disaster; surely she’d run about a block and we’d see the tears start to flow as she got frustrated and couldn’t keep up, right?  Boy was I wrong!  I dare say she DUSTED US and maintained speed the whole mile.  I was instantly impressed, astounded & proud.

Since that first run as a threesome, both kids have stayed motivated to run with me three days a week and we’re now up to 2 miles a day, training for the 5k we registered for on September 19.  I can’t help but think that had I not found the motivation to start running myself, I may never have realized that this is a natural talent for my daughter and we may have really missed out on something great.  I have already witnessed the self-esteem boost that running has given her, which is invaluable for a ten year old girl.

While we still have roughly four more weeks to ‘train’ before our first road race, my son is thrilled to see that he is the youngest one registered for the race, to date, out of 300 participants.  Of course, he’s also giddy with excitement over the fact that he’ll get an official number pinned to him that morning, so it really doesn’t take much when you’re seven.  Our plan for the next few weeks is to add fractional mileage to our runs and work on our consistent pace.

One of the best things about running with my kids? They do quite a bit of talking during our runs and now that I’m not huffing and puffing my way through the workout, it’s really becoming a nice way to catch up on our day & spend time as a family.  So turn off the TV, step away from the computer, and get running!

The Miami Friday Night Fit Club Featuring P90X

I’m tired, I’m sometimes cranky and I don’t always eat correctly for someone that is trying to get back into shape, to be the finely tuned physical specimen that I once was. OK, that may be pushing a bit, but I’m sure you all know exactly what I mean. Most of us already know what it takes to live a healthy lifestyle and also how much work it will take to get us back on the right track.  Notice I said “get back on the right track” as healthy lifestyle for most of us this will require an ongoing process of many things working together. This is what my cardiologist lovingly refers to as a lifestyle change.

Most of us have the best of intentions when beginning a new diet or workout routine, and go at it like gangbusters for the first week or two and then something happens. It may be that one day that the kids are running late for school, or you had to work late at the office, or your legs are just a bit sore or something that will put you off your game just enough to say, I’ll just work twice as hard tomorrow. Three weeks and 10 pounds later you are wondering what happened yet keep delaying getting back into the flow. We’ve all been there, and have all tried to figure out how the other guy can keep it going while you are struggling.
Well, a group of P90X coaches and clients have figured out a great way to not only keep you on track but bring in others who either don’t know how, or are having trouble keeping it going. The Miami Beach Bodycoaches have created the Friday Night Fit Club.

For those of you who don’t know what P90X is, or have not seen late night TV with the amazing Tony Horton (51+ years old!) putting a varied group of P90X devotees through their paces, it is a set of DVD’s that is designed to work each and every muscle group in your body. It is a system that can be done in your home with relatively little or no equipment and uses a concept known as muscle confusion which by varying the workouts slightly your body will not get used the same routines working the same body parts over and over, thus eliminating what is know as the plateau effect. This combined with a nutritional routine can have some amazing results.

So how does this Friday night Fit club work into the equation? Many of us get bored doing our routines night after night. These routines are tough, and after a while we get weary of our friends calling to go out for the evening and we have not yet done our workouts, which ultimately leads to blowing off one or two routines or even the entire workout, thus pretty much negating all the previous hard work we have put in. The Friday night fit club is as much of a social experience as a workout. Being a P90X’er myself I was getting a bit bored and found myself on that slippery slope of making excuses to blow off a routine. My good friend Jack Hays a Beach Body Coach (the people who bring you P90x) asked me to come to a new program he and some other coaches have put together on Friday Nights, in which they invite those who are active in the Beach Body fitness programs, or just curious, to join in on a group workout at a local venue they rent for the evening. When I showed up there were about 20 people there from all stages of fitness, beginners to those who where ripped and lean. To make a long story short, It was a blast! Not only did I get an incredible cardio workout that night, I got to try some of the products that are available from the Beach Body Fitness team. At no point was I treated like a customer, but as a long lost friend. I made lots of other new friends that night and am looking forward to the next Friday Fit club meeting. Although to the coaches, this is a business as well as a lifestyle, in this great social atmosphere it feels like an event, with raffles and sharing of stories and lots of great information. To this group of coaches, it’s as much community service as it is a business.

If you find yourself in Miami one Friday night and need a great workout the Friday Night Fit club is free, fun and an incredible workout. It will also help keep you off that slippery slope of justifying missed work outs.