March 09, 2019 at 06:00AM by CWC Don’t let the delicate tutus and graceful movements fool you: Ballet is hard work. After all, there’s a reason that so many athletes, from football players to figure skaters, rely on its methods as a way to stay in shape. For professional dancers, all those hours perfecting plies and perfectly-turned-out first positions at the barre can take a serious toll on their bodies. So what’s a ballerina to do? After an injury sidelined Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet prima ballerina Olga Smirnova from dance for several months, she turned to Pilates to stay in shape throughout her recovery. “Thanks to my daily Pilates exercises, my body was so well-prepared for resuming the heavy physical workloads that I practically did not notice how I managed to slide right back into the theater’s rehearsals and repertoire,” she says. “It was the first time I tried out the Pilates system, and to tell you the truth, the process and the results were nothing short of miraculous, that is how effective they were.” “I also noticed that you recover more effectively not by resting and doing nothing, but by doing Pilates.” —Olga Smirnova Even after Smirnova returned to dance, though, she continued to supplement her ballet workouts with Pilates for a number of reasons. “First and foremost, Pilates is about a healthy body. There are exercise programs that can literally cure or remove fatigue from one’s muscles, or from the spine which takes on a huge load during a full rehearsal day,” she says,
Category: 2019 Health
Drybar Founder Alli Webb reveals the common mistake you’re probably making with your blowout
March 09, 2019 at 05:00AM by CWC As the founder of Drybar, it’s safe to assume that Alli Webb knows a thing or two (or, ya know, two million) about how to give the perfect blowout. Not only is she basically the fairy godmother of the blow dry world, but she somehow always manages to make her own hair, which is naturally curly, look seamlessly smooth and straight. As a proud curly girl, I have always been dying-with-a-capital-D to know: How the heck does she do it? Or, okay, how the heck can I do it for myself? “You definitely want to section your hair,” she tells me at an event celebrating her partnership with T.J. Maxx on Thursday morning, where we chatted about some of her favorite ways to maximize her (very, very limited) free time. “I think that’s the biggest mistake that women make is that they rush through their blowout so that they don’t get every section. And then when you’re flat ironing it, you don’t get every single section because you’re working in too big of sections so you don’t get all the hair.” When it comes to creating these style-saving sections, Webb suggests starting with the pieces closest to your face. “I always tell people to start in the front because it’s the first thing that people see, but also don’t forget the back,” she says. “Get a mirror and look at the back of your hair so you can get the back and make sure it looks
Here’s exactly how to make Jennifer Garner’s favorite breakfast
March 09, 2019 at 04:00AM by CWC If you haven’t noticed, Jennifer Garner has become quite the star chef lately. She’s always trying out new recipes on her #PretendCookingShow on Instagram, whether it’s something from her cooking idol (a certain Barefoot badass) or her own collection. And most recently, she shared one of her go-to breakfast recipes: a warm and cozy bowl of apple oatmeal. In her video, Garner showed just how easy it is to whip up the meal. And there’s a reason she’s such a pro. Thanks to a helpful tip she got, she’s completely mastered the recipe. “Ina Garten says the trick to learning how to cook is finding something you eat and making it over and over again—maybe this time try half water/half almond milk? Or instead of brown sugar, drizzle some maple syrup? That’s how you gain a little confidence. And that’s me and my favorite winter oatmeal,” she writes. “Ina Garten says the trick to learning how to cook is finding something you eat and making it over and over again…That’s me and my favorite winter oatmeal.” —Jennifer Garner So, what exactly makes this oatmeal such a winner? Along with the old-fashioned rolled oats, it also contains tart apples, brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, and chopped almonds. Basically everything that makes for a comforting—and filling—breakfast. If you want to try it for yourself, you’re in luck: she shared the full recipe. Bon appétit! View this post on Instagram A post shared by Jennifer Garner (@jennifer.garner) on Mar
5 ways to increase HDL cholesterol (you know, the “good” kind)
March 08, 2019 at 05:46PM by CWC Cholesterol is the OG bad word in the nutrition world. For decades, people were terrified of any foods that could potentially affect their body’s amount of the substance (like eggs and red meat). But now, it seems like people are obsessed with three little letters pertaining to cholesterol: HDL. For context: There are actually two types of cholesterol: LDLs (low-density lipoproteins) and HDL (high-density lipoprotein). LDL cholesterol is often called the “bad” kind, and having too much of it can build up in the lining of your blood vessels, which can block blood flow and increase a person’s risk of heart attack and stroke. HDL cholesterol, on the other hand, clears out of the body and high levels of it are associated with a reduced risk of heart attack and stroke. (That’s why it’s…well, the “good” kind.) Generally, you should be focusing on lowering your LDLs and raising your HDLs, says Robert Rosenson, MD, director of cardiometabolic disorders at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. But that’s where things get a little more complicated. While there’s lots of evidence linking higher HDL levels to a decreased risk of heart attack and stroke, recent clinical trials of medications developed to increase HDL didn’t actually reduce the likelihood that participants would have heart problems. Dr. Rosenson says that’s because high HDL levels are a marker for healthy living that you can’t directly manipulate. “People with the highest HDL cholesterol levels were ones that were more
A trainer explains when you should be using intervals versus reps to clock your workouts
March 08, 2019 at 12:30PM by CWC Despite the fact that the rise of digital fitness has given everyone access to some of the world’s top trainers at the push of a button (sometimes for $0!), every once and a while you’re bound to find yourself attempting to structure a strength-training workout of your own. Whenever I find myself in this situation, there’s one question that constantly haunts my brain, and one that I’ve never quite been able to figure out the answer to: When am I supposed to monitor my moves by reps, and when should I be using timed intervals? Over the last few years, you’ve definitely seen interval-based training become more and more popular. Think: the four-move, seven-minute circuits in Kayla Itsine’s Sweat app, or the AMRAP (which, as I recently discovered, stands for “as many reps as possible”) that often serve as “closers” in HIIT classes. While these types of workouts can help get your heart pumping and muscles pounding all at once, there’s still a time and a place for good, old fashioned repetition work. Here, Aaptiv trainer Kenta Seki answers the question once and for all of when you should be using reps versus timed intervals to calculate your workouts. When to use reps: If you’re hitting the heavy weights, reps are the way to go. “Rep-based training is ideal for strength training and muscle building,” says Seki. “It generally doesn’t raise your heart rate as high as timed sets, and focuses on isolating the muscles you’re working.”
Why we need to celebrate women authors with our wallets
March 08, 2019 at 11:46AM by CWC More than a century has passed since the celebration of the first International Women’s Day in 1911. Since then, women in the United States have gained the right to vote, fought for basic healthcare on multiple fronts, and bravely declared #MeToo. However, I think we can all agree that the equality we seek is still out of reach 365 days of the year. Let’s not sugarcoat it: The task of remedying a gender imbalance as old as time is daunting. It’s natural to forget that every time we open our wallets, we have the power to move the needle every-so-slowly in the right direction with a mighty force called purchasing power. Since women contribute $29 trillion to global consumer spending, using the disposable part of your paycheck to support women-owned businesses is basically the equivalent of saying “I want more of that.” If you ask me, one of the easiest places to spend cash is at the bookstore. Recently, the Women’s Prize for Fiction announced its long list nominees, including Anna Burns for The Milkman, Pat Barker for The Silence of the Girls, and Tayari Jones for An American Marriage, among other wordsmiths. These nominees are all female, but it’s important to remember that’s simply not the norm for this kind of award. Women represent fewer than 13 percent of the Nobel Prize laureates in literature (and that’s the category with the highest representation!) since 1901. Only 16 percent of Pulitzer Prize winners in the past 100
Why a box jump isn’t as simple as it looks, and how to do it right
March 08, 2019 at 11:00AM by CWC Learning how to do a box jump seem pretty self-explanatory. As in, you jump…onto the box. But it’s a more advanced movement than you might think. While static squats are great for building strength, Emily Samuel, a trainer at New York City’s Dogpound gym, says box jumps help build and develop explosive power. “The power you develop from plyometric moves like box jumps will increase your vertical jump, improve your athletic performance, and enhance your overall functionality,” she says. “The dynamic movement also helps increase your heart rate, which adds a cardiovascular component.” The only problem? If you don’t perform them correctly, you could wind up really hurting yourself. “A lot of people, rather than jumping high, they jump and then tuck their knees up really fast,” says Julia Avery, an instructor at The Fhitting Room. “They land in this low-squat, hunched-over position. They’re not jumping high enough to shift their mass.” Many people also let their knees collapse in when they land, which can put them at risk for injury. Since you’re likely to come across the move in a class at some point, there’s no better time than now to master the technique. And don’t forget: If you can’t nail the proper form from the get-go, switch to a lower box or start with easier exercises—like a single-leg step-up—to build strength in the lower body first. Here’s how to properly perform a box jump. Photo: The Fhitting Room 1. Prepare to jump Stand in an
How old are your ears? This hearing test will help you find out
March 08, 2019 at 10:39AM by CWC I haven’t taken a formal hearing test since elementary school, but I like to think that I have pretty good hearing. I rarely wear headphones and I clean my ears regularly. And I only occasionally blast music from the stereo. (I’m sorry, Drake is just not the same at low volumes.) Unfortunately, as we get older, hearing ability fades. According to ASAP Science, your inner ear isn’t able to regenerate like your skin. As you age, continued exposure to loud noises damages and destroys the cells that enable you hear different frequencies. And the highest frequencies are usually the first to go. A thorough hearing test conducted by a trained audiologist is easy and painless. But this video is fun and might be an indicator as to whether you should get your hearing checked. It starts by playing frequencies that can be heard at any age and transitions into others you might only be able to hear if you’re under 20 years old (or have freakishly good hearing). [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxcbppCX6Rk] Pretty wild, huh? Under perfect conditions, the human audio spectrum ranges from 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz. You can listen to the full range of human hearing to find out what you can and cannot hear. In any case, it’s important to treat your ears gently. While your hearing abilities will diminish with time, there’s no upside to hastening the inevitable. Find out if your earbuds are permanently damaging your hearing. And here’s what you should do if
The way to achieve shiny, strong hair? Pay attention to the protective layer
March 08, 2019 at 10:00AM by CWC No matter how many luxury oils, creams, and sprays you’ve got in your arsenal to help up the shine factor of your strands, the true secret to gorgeous hair is protection. It’s why hairstylists are constantly singing the praises of pre-hot tools heat protectants, and urging you to rinse your hair with cold water at the end of every wash. And while these are important steps for keeping your hair healthy, what you may not realize is that your strands actually have a built-in protective layer of their own, and true defense against damage relies on keeping it in-tact. Think about it like this: You’ve likely heard the phrase “microbiome” as it applies to your skin, which is essentially an ecosystem made up of an invisible layer of microbes that acts as an extension of your immune system and helps ward off infection. Well, just as your skin has this shield of armor around it, your hair also has a sheet of protection. “The protective layer of our skin can be likened to the protective layer of our hair in terms of function,” explains dermatologist Whitney Bowe, MD, author of The Beauty of Dirty Skin. “Healthy human hair is coated by seven layers of cuticle cells. The outermost layer is called the epicuticle and it helps to protect the hair from damage.” This is the layer that all of those products are working to keep healthy, in order to ensure that the strand underneath keeps doing its
Just a friendly reminder that your “power suit” is whatever you want it to be
March 08, 2019 at 09:49AM by CWC For those of us still waiting for someone (anyone!) to invent the ensemble-generator Cher Horowitz fires up in Clueless, getting dressed in the morning is a real chore. What can I say? The blonde trendsetter would surely categorize me as a “fashion victim,” thanks to my lack of color coordination and steadfast belief that leggings and better than pants. But if there’s one thing the effortlessly chic Cher and I share, it’s and affinity for the power suit. Now, you won’t catch me in a yellow plaid suit, but I do reach for the same pieces each and every time I need an extra boost of confidence. And here’s the secret: a power suit doesn’t have to be a suit at all. My power outfit consists of an ’80s-style long sleeve T-shirt (which, bargain brag, I snagged for $5 at H&M) with a black wrap-around skirt lined with fringe. I select a pair of white sneakers from my embarrassingly large collection, throw on a leather jacket, and I feel ready to take on the world. It’s not the coordinated blazer and trouser combination you’ll find on Horowitz, Hillary Clinton, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and the runway models of Paris Fashion Week, but it makes me feel like like the mightiest iteration of me. A power suit makes me feel like like the mightiest iteration of me. To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before actress Lana Candor told People that her choice garments for gassing herself up look a lot more like mine