Hiking Basics - How do I prepare for a hike?

Getting started with Hiking could be as easy as slipping into a good pair of boots (or sturdy running shoes) and heading out to the nearest green space. If you spend a little time up front to learn about hiking basics and prepare your body for the trials ahead – it could lead you to a great experience that may change your life.

Hiking is a safe, aerobic activity that allows you to challenge yourself, be in the outdoors, and share that time with other wonderful people. It can be a great addition to any regular training program applicable to walkers, runners, swimmers, gym trainers and more.

I recommend that you have a plan before heading out. Know your own hiking abilities and limitations and change your Hiking plans accordingly. First things first, get into shape for Hiking. One of the best and easiest ways to begin is to start walking. Start easy with low elevation and time as your criteria: walk for one hour on the seawall or in your neighborhood to start (or run). Build that walk by adding 10 minutes every week until you are able to go for 2 hours without stopping. This is your endurance training; you are building your base.

To be continued

Let's connect at info@gaiaadventures.com. I would love to hear your stories and experiences in the outdoors.

Catherine D'Aoust at GAIA Adventures
http://www.gaiaadventures.com
Personal Training, Adventures for Women, Stability Ball Training, Aging Better
Follow me on twitter at @stabilityball
An invitation to love your life

What is Good Posture? Part 4

Let’s focus now on adjusting the hips. According to Paul Chek, the amount of pelvic tilt and lumbar curve are the most important factors. Typically we need to strengthen the abdominals and stretch the hamstrings and gluts, in order to restore good posture.

Here are some great exercises for your hips and back:

Hip flexor stretch 
 While standing, lunge right leg forward onto a step; bend that knee until you feel a stretch in left hip. Be careful not to lunge too far. Hold 30 seconds. Switch legs and repeat. Do 2 to 4 sets.

Glute bridge 
Lie on your back, or on a stability ball, with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor, squeeze your butt muscles and push hips towards the ceiling, keeping shoulders on the floor (or on the ball). Hold 5 to 10 seconds. Do 2 to 4 times.

Ankles can collapse inward (pronate) or roll out, which can lead to knee pain and hip or back misalignment. Try these two exercises.

Calf stretch Stand with arms stretched forward and palms against a wall. Keep left knee slightly bent and step right leg back. Keep right foot flat on the floor. Hold 15 seconds. Then, point toes of right foot inward and hold 15 seconds. Switch legs and repeat. Do 2 to 4 sets.

Proprioreceptive exercise Stand on a balance device, wobble board, bosu ball or half roll and balance. Try walking your feet out, then in to a narrow stance. Hold for 30 seconds.

To find any of my past blogs, visit http://catherinedaoust.blogspot.com/ or visit my web site at www.gaiaadventures.com. Follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/stabilityball.
Let’s connect at info@gaiaadventures.com. Let me know what your challenges are?

Catherine D’Aoust at GAIA Adventures
http://www.gaiaadventures.com

What is good posture? Part 3

Fabio Comana, exercise physiologist at the American Council on Exercise, says the philosophy in the fitness industry today is “straighten before strengthen” because starting a workout regimen with faulty posture will only perpetuate any problems that already exist.

According to Comana, there are three areas that are commonly misaligned: the shoulders, hips and ankles. Stretching and strengthening exercises help to fine-tune the muscles around these joints and restore ideal posture. He says everyone would benefit from some simple “maintenance” exercises that target the flexor and extensor muscles at the ankles, hips and shoulders.

I have found that the stability ball does an amazing job to restore posture; you can do these stretches without any special equipment also. Here are some great exercises for chest, shoulders and back:

Chest and shoulder stretch 
Lie on your back. Stretch arms out to the side and turn palms so they face upward. Inhale deeply, then exhale. Hold 30 seconds. Do two to four times – or use a stability ball and sit on the ball, walk your feet forward and roll onto the ball until your head, shoulders and back are fully supported. Relax your hips and head and let your arms fall out to the sides for a relaxing chest stretch. Hold for 3-5 breaths.

Shoulder squeeze 
Lie on your back, or on a half-roll, arms stretched out to the side. Bend elbows 90 degrees so arms are in a bench-press position (hands up). Squeeze shoulder blades together without arching your back. Hold five to 10 seconds. Do two to four times.


Whole body stretch with ball With your legs wide, place hands on ball (or chair, or floor) and roll it out (or walk/lean away, pressing your chest towards the floor to stretch the back and hamstrings. This is also called "downward facing dog" from yoga. Hold for 5 breaths.

Back stretch Stand in front of ball and place the side of the right hand on the ball (thumb pointing up). Roll the ball towards the left while keeping the hips square. Hold for 3-5 breaths and switch to the other side.

In my next blog I will feature more exercises to stretch hips and ankles. There are many great exercises out there and the important thing is, to do them, and do them regularly. Let’s connect at info@gaiaadventures.com. Let me know what your challenges are and what you would like to learn about. Let's keep it rolling!


Catherine D’Aoust at GAIA Adventures
http://www.gaiaadventures.com

What is good posture? Part 2

Bad posture can make you look tired, or even older than you actually are. By understanding what causes bad posture, you can begin to find ways to correct the problem and stand tall once again.



Foot Abnormalities
Once foot arches collapse and ankles turn inward, they stop supporting your body effectively. Because of this, knees often rotate inward, stomach and buttocks protrude and shoulders curve forward, bringing your head forward with them. These changes throw your body off-balance and can affect your muscles and joints. 



Slouching
Whether slouching results from laziness, or bad habit, it often leads to bad posture. Slouching shifts the body's center of balance by allowing muscles to relax to the point where they become incapable of supporting the body properly as they once did. Shifting out of the slouching position becomes painful because muscles are already fatigued. 



Work
People who work at a desk all day put themselves at risk of developing bad posture, especially those who sit in front of a computer for hours. These people tend to push their necks forward and round their shoulders, resulting in habitually bad posture that can be difficult to correct. To help your posture, use an ergonomically correct desk chair and set aside periods of time for short walks or stretching.



Carrying Weight
School-age children carry heavy backpacks that impose weight and stress to the spine. Some children try to ease the strain of heavy backpacks by dropping their heads forward into an irregular posture. Others hang their overloaded backpacks on one shoulder, developing the muscles on one shoulder only. This is also true of men and women who carry heavy bags and purses.



In my next blog I will present exercise ideas to attain good posture. In the meantime, sit on a body ball; it's a good start.

Let's connect at info@gaiaadventures.com. What are your challenges and what would you like to learn about?

Catherine D'Aoust at GAIA Adventures
http://www.gaiaadventures.com
An invitation to love your life.

What is "good posture"?

Posture is defined as the typical position of the body – the relative arrangement of one body part to another. The implication being that good posture is something to aspire to and that it can affect our overall health. Yet interestingly, many of us are examples of poor posture. Watch a tournament on TV and it will only take a few seconds to find a top player with forward head posture, increased thoracic kyphosis (middle back curvature) and either flattened or excessive lumbar curvatures.

Why then do you suppose everyone is so mentally conscious of posture, yet fails to demonstrate good alignment physically? The personal trainer or therapist is all too often just like the parent reprimanding the child, "Stand up straight boy!" He or she has just as bad posture as the clients who are being corrected.

We should not take posture lightly. Few realize that posture is directly related to:

1. Low back or knee pain can arise from pelvic joint disorders
2. Headaches, eyestrain, and neck and upper back pain can be caused by the head being too far forward or rearward.
3. The effects of posture can be far reaching, involving respiratory, digestive, and circulatory systems as well as the musculoskeletal system.

But how is poor or faulty posture developed? to be continued

Let's connect at info@gaiaadventures.com. Let me know how your posture is and what you do to maintain good posture.

Catherine D'Aoust at GAIA Adventures
http://www.gaiaadventures.com
An invitation to love your life.

Eating snacks can help you be leaner part 2

I always carry with me snacks (of the good variety) wherever I go that are ready to eat. Good snacks that give you "nutrition punch" and take care of that hungry feeling are:

. Fresh or frozen fruits with fat free yogurt or low fat cottage cheese
. Vegetables with hummus or low fat cheese such as “Laughing Cow”
. Edamame
. Fruit yogurt with sliced almonds
. Handful of almonds, hazelnuts, soy nuts or macadamias
. High fiber dry cereal with almonds and dried cranberries
. Sunflower seeds

The Biggest Loser Club eating options include: morning snack (strawberries and pecans), mid-afternoon snack (carrots and an oatmeal cookie), evening snack (fat-free pudding and raisins) - visit http://www.thedietchannel.com/biggest-loser-club-diet.

You can also make your own snacks in bulk every couple of weeks and freeze them: try homemade protein bars* (see recipe below).

PORTION SIZE YOUR SNACK
Don’t just reach into a large container for your snack; pack them into small zip-top bags or containers so that you are in control of how much you eat.

PLAN YOUR SNACKS
It’s hard to choose a healthy snack at the last moment. Remember to always plan your snacks and eat them BEFORE you feel hungry (mid-morning and mid-afternoon).


*Berry bars
Makes 16 bars
- 3 cups of fresh or frozen and thawed raspberries, blueberries or a mix of both.
- 1 cup large flake oats
- 1 cup of high-fiber cereal
- ½ cup ground flax seed
- ¼ cup wheat germ
- ¼ cup whole wheat flour
- ¼ cup sesame seeds
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 2 egg whites
- ¼ cup concentrate apple juice
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. preheat the oven to 350f. Grease an 8 inch square baking pan and set aside
2. combine the berries, oats, cereal, flaxseeds, wheat germ, flour, sesame seeds, and cinnamon in a large bowl.
3. whisk together the egg whites, apple juice concentrate and vanilla in a medium bowl. Add to the dry mixture, stirring thoroughly moisten.
4. Press the mixture into the baking pan and bake for 35-40 minutes or until lightly golden and firm. Let it cool in the pan completely and then cut into bars.


If you are struggling with a few extra pounds or more - you can get back on tract with healthy eating and exercise. Here is a picture of the biggest looser contestants showing how they look today. Email me at info@gaiaadventures.com. I would love to hear your story.

Catherine D'Aoust at GAIA Adventures
http://www.gaiaadventures.com
Kinesiologist, Personal Trainer and Adventure Guide
An invitation to love your life

Eating Snacks can help you be leaner

It’s a fact: eating snacking can help you lose those extra pounds or maintain your ideal weight; but busy people find themselves with little or no time to eat. When our stomachs sit empty, without food, for long periods of time, our blood sugar levels drop.

. You feel tired and lethargic
. Sugar cravings increase
. Hunger levels go through the roof
. Your metabolism actually slows down.

As a result, our bodies look for the next sugar fix. We reach for the vending machine and that chocolate bar or bag of chips (it’s hard to choose healthy when you’re hungry). And we tend to overeat at our next meal.

It makes more sense to keep your stomach busy digesting all through the day and burning calories.

SNACKS ACT AS MINI APPETITE SUPPRESSANTS:

Having midmorning and midafternoon snack allows us to eat less and also sneak in extra fruit, vegetables and healthy fats to our diet. The key is to choose filling snacks that contain fiber and protein in order to slow digestion and stabilize blood sugar levels.

SNACKS TO AVOID

Stay away from high sugar/starch/fat kind of snacks. Reaching for candy bars, chips, cookies and soft drinks starts a vicious cycle in which hunger creates even more hunger; and sorry, you have to avoid those 100-calorie snack packs: they are fattening and very deceptive since they promote even more cravings.


To be continued.

Check out http://twitter.com/#!/Snack_Girl_ for healthy snack ideas.
I will also be giving you more good snack ideas this week in my next blog. Let me know how you are doing - what kind of snacks do you eat? Do you eat a balanced, healthy diet every day? Let's connect at info@gaiaadventures.com.

Catherine D'Aoust at GAIA Adventures
http://www.gaiaadventures.com
An invitation to love your life