Read all about it!
"OK newsroom," read the message. "This is our chance to let our community know just what a bunch of fitness freaks we are. Really. I'm not joking."
"I am requesting that each person offer up their best one or two tips for health. This could be your diet, your exercise, your mind games - anything that helps you become the best person you can be."
The responses, I must admit, did not pour in. My request did not ignite excited chatter in the newsroom. Weeks later, I'm still asking some colleagues to share an idea or two. But many did type out a few lines and hit reply.
We are not a newsroom of sluggards. We are folks who run, swim and bike. We are folks who walk their dogs religiously, who hit the golf links frequently, who are members of health clubs. We are people who like to watch sports on TV and complain about how much professional athletes are paid.
So, because I like to read tidbits of advice, like "how to get six-pack abs while still drinking beer," and because I believe my friends in journalism have something worthwhile to say, we present our very best words of wisdom to help you become the best you.
Or at least you might find it mildly amusing.
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Here's a good idea if you're starting a new form of exercise: Workout videos.
I know it sounds really '80s, but you can plan it to your own schedule, and you don't have to worry about a roomful of people seeing you in spandex.
For instance, I have a yoga video I do at least a couple times a week. I just don't wobble as much when I'm alone.
I've also seen infomercials for a stripper pole aerobics DVD - stripper pole set provided - but I haven't tried it. Or at least I'm not admitting I have.
Also, any individual exercise, whether running, biking, or lifting weights, is much easier set to music. Slipping on your iPod - or Discman, if you're over 50 - offers a distraction, helps set your pace and will just make you feel like moving.
My iPod, for example, is packed with Abba, Miley Cyrus, Usher, Ke$ha.
Sure, some of that might not meet your friends' esoteric music standards.
The good news: No one has to know. It's just between you and the treadmill.
- Alecia Warren, reporter
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One, take several mini-meditations a day. When cranky people with unreasonable demands threaten to get you down, close your eyes, breathe deeply and think pleasant thoughts. Even if it doesn't make you feel better and more energetic, it'll certainly give everyone else in the office something to gossip about.
Two, make time for a brisk walk every day, even if it's 15 minutes at lunchtime or shortly after work. Now you're two-thirds of the way to better health. Which leads us to:
Three, drink only good wine, and do so in moderation. You'll go to bed with a smile on your face, ready to deal with cranky people tomorrow.
- Mike Patrick, managing editor
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I am no fitness freak, but I did just discover rice cakes, reborn. Had no idea what used to taste like cardboard now comes in flavors (e.g. zesty ranch or cinnamon) and itty bitty sizes, in the chip aisle no less. Fills me up when I'm tempted to reach for the cookies. Only down side to them is sodium, but otherwise they're healthy.
- Sholeh Patrick, columnist
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Aside from eating healthy, I think it's important to look forward to an exercise you enjoy in order to get in better shape.
I had been trying for years to lose weight (half-heartedly), and finally came to the realization that I really wanted to get back into cycling. I had always loved taking long rides when I was younger, and found that getting on the bike every day was something I couldn't wait to do.
As with any other exercise, the key is to work your way into it. You won't be riding 40 miles a day anytime soon, and it may seem like a daunting amount, but after a few weeks five or six miles will seem like a warmup.
I also run when it gets too cold/snowy for the bike. The same rules apply: Work your way up to at least a couple miles a day, and enjoy it!
- Jerry Hitchcock, copy editor
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It took me a while to figure this out, but finally, at age 40, I've admitted the truth: Fat floats. It doesn't run.
There's a reason all those long-distance runners have tall, slim physiques: It takes them fewer strides to cover the same distance, and there's less weight pounding down on each step.
I'm 6-foot-2, but with relatively short legs and a long, barrel-shaped torso that is not well suited to miles and miles of jogging. So by and large, I'm leaving road races behind for swimming.
The water provides a great leg workout that's easier on the knees and ankles, while also toning your chest, shoulder and arm muscles. And I've learned that just like jogging, finding a proper pace and breathing pattern is the secret to cranking off laps in the pool.
See you in the water ... once I can figure out how to keep my goggles from fogging up.
- Joel Donofrio, copy editor
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Many years ago I had a continual problem with lower back pain. I was taught a stretching exercise that has worked great for me ever since. I do it every morning right after I use the bathroom and before I put on clothes. I've passed it on to friends who have acclaimed it also.
Lay on your back. Use your left arm to bring your left knee up to your chest and back down; then the other knee with the other arm. Then use both arms to bring both knees as high to your neck as you can and back down flat. Still on your back on the floor put your arms over your head to the floor behind your head and back down. Repeat 10 times. It just takes minutes.
- Nils Rosdahl, columnist
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Living a more active lifestyle was prompted several years ago after being smacked upside the head with my own mortality ... as in having not one, but two coronary events which resulted in placement of four arterial stents and a lovely stay in the coronary care unit at Kootenai Health.
My ongoing battle with weight loss has been waged largely in my head, changing habits and my responses to stress, emotion and the like. I make an effort to be more active and to prioritize exercise disguised as fun and enjoying the great outdoors, like a walk around Tubbs Hill or at Q'emiln Park. Most importantly for me is to look at food as fuel, not as recreation or reward or a response to stress and emotions.
I have so much more energy to be active if I eat multiple times throughout the day, starting with a breakfast that's not just empty carbs. Thank goodness I like oatmeal and Egg Beaters. My little mantra when tempted to skip out on breakfast is "hungry Kerri makes very bad choices."
- Kerri Thoreson, columnist
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Motivation is key. If I'm not motivated, I'll happily sit downstairs night after night, watch the first season of "The OC" and plow through a stack of newspapers (which I actually did. Fortunately, I don't own the second season).
So, when I find myself being lazy and packing on pounds, when I discovered my old dogs jog ahead and I can't keep up, here's what I do for motivation:
• Remember Bloomsday. This is the Holy Grail for all northwest runners. The next one will be my 20th straight. I want to run fast over the 7.46-mile course in Spokane in May. I want people to be impressed at my time and place and think, "Geez, Buley can still run fast."
• Register for a race: Whether it be a marathon or a triathlon or a 10K, once I've paid an entry fee, I'm inspired to put down the chips (not all of them) and run to the top of Tubbs Hill. Without a goal, without an investment, without a plan, it's too easy to do nothing. And as my wife will testify, I excel at doing nothing.
• Visualize outrunning my kids: I still believe, with the right training, the right conditions, the right course, I can beat my oldest son Nick again in a race. It would help if he suffered a badly twisted ankle, or even two.
• How badly do I want it? To do anything well, you have to work at it, you must make sacrifices, you must be, as my friend Rob Schultz often says, mentally tough! So when I would rather sleep in than run to Higgens Point, when I would rather lounge in my Lazy Boy and watch the runners pass by outside our home then start doing pushups, I mutter this phrase, "How badly do I want it?"
Then I shrug and go back to sleep.
- Bill Buley, city editor