February 08, 2020 at 08:00PM by CWC Every runner knows the dilemma of trying to figure out what to eat before a run. Sure, you definitely want something substantial enough to help you power through the miles, and portable so you can eat while you’re lacing up your shoes, but opt for a breakfast or snack that’s too heavy and you set yourself up for potential cramping mid-way. Something that will help nix this problem in the bud: An oatmeal bars recipe that has the perfect balance of protein, carbs, and fiber. It’s a solution runner, registered dietitian, and Cook, Eat, Run author Charlie Watson, RD, has come to not only rely on, but love eating. After experimenting in the kitchen with different fillings, she’s perfected an oatmeal bars recipe made with rolled oats, banana, raspberries, blueberries, and a few more key ingredients. “The bars’ staple ingredient is oats, a sometimes underrated superfood for runners,” Watson says. “These complex carbs break down gradually, releasing their energy slowly to help keep your blood glucose levels stable. This is particularly useful for endurance runners, as the carbs will break down to glucose and become available to the body to use throughout your run, rather than all in one burst. They also contain beta-glucan, a type of fiber that enhances the body’s immune system, helps stabilize appetite, and may reduce levels of LDL cholesterol.” The fruit Watson uses is purposeful both in terms of taste and function, too. Bananas are a good source
Category: Fashion
The sneakers that consistently get compared to “walking on clouds”
February 08, 2020 at 03:00AM by CWC Walking on sunshine, walking on clouds. This is the stuff dreams are made of. It’s the stuff songs are written about. And thanks to the sneaker brand On, it’s now a reality in the day-to-day lives of runners around the globe. The brand’s radically different approach to how shoes should fit, feel, and perform has won over runners who were long loyal to other brands. While many other running sneaker brands create either neutral, cushioned shoes, or stability shoes, On took a different approach. Using patented CloudTec soles, the brand aimed to rethink how it feels when the foot strikes the pavement. Founder David Alleman collaborated with two of his friends—co-founders Olivier Bernhard, an elite runner, and Caspar Coppetti—to create a streamlined sneaker that works with a runner’s natural gait as opposed to manipulating it like so many other running shoes do. “On has some of the only shoes that adapt to a runner’s stride instead of correcting the runner’s movement, while still providing ample support,” says Allemann. You can recognize On Cloud running sneakers by the distinct design: The sole of each shoe has small “clouds” or hollow bubbles that line it, which are partially responsible for why it feels like you’re actually running on clouds. “Our first prototypes were made from a chopped-up garden hose,” says Allemann of how the design came to be. On then added a force-transition plate—dubbed the “On Speedboard”—that supports how your foot naturally rolls off of
I’m Gabi Butler from ‘Cheer,’ and my workout isn’t over until I do this one thing
February 07, 2020 at 11:00PM by CWC You only need to watch a few minutes of Netflix’s docu-series Cheer to understand how the tough-as-nails squad at Navarro College wins national championships. Everyone’s new life coach Monica Aldama leads a team of cheerleaders that includes Jerry Harris, the motivational mat talk mastermind; the sensational La’Darius Marshall; and Gabi Butler, a longtime cheerlebrity who set off on a path to success at 8 years old. Now 22, Butler proves herself an all-star on and off the mat. She does it all as a flyer and a tumbler—or as her coach likes to say, an “all-rounder”—and she’s a seasoned pro when it comes to post-workout recovery. Butler’s workout isn’t technically over until she completes a cool-down routine that helps her body heal enough to give it 100 percent again the next day. It all starts with some stretching. “Usually when I’m done working out, I do a little cool-down stretch—I stretch my calves, my Achilles, my knees. It only takes five minutes,” she tells me. Doing a classic standing wall stretch is one of the most effective ways to stretch your calf muscles (especially if you’re jumping a lot!), and you can use a yoga band to safely stretch out your Achilles. Once she’s done with her stretches, the next part of her post-workout recovery routine involves heading home and running a bath. Depending on how she’s feeling, she has two options to choose from: something relaxing and warm or something refreshing and
Finish every workout with this simple move to avoid lower back pain
February 05, 2020 at 07:30PM by CWC Every exercise you do helps to strengthen those beautiful muscles of yours. The only issue is that certain exercises, despite doing wonders, can cause aches and pains in your lower back if you’re not ending your workouts with some glute bridge pulses to combat it. Glute bridge pulses are great after glute, thigh, and core moves because they open up the hips and prevent any exercise-induced strain that results in lower back pain. If you commonly experience pain in the area after working out, giving your hips a boost could help put the issue to rest. “[Glute bridges] rehabilitate anything that’s going on in your lower back and even your hips, but it makes your ass look amazing. So it’s a double win,” says celebrity trainer Isaac Calpito in a recent Obé fitness class. “The posterior chain is all interconnected. From our hamstrings to our glutes to our lower back, they each work together to help keep us aligned,” says personal trainer Sam Tooley, founder of Alpha Fit Club in New Jersey. “Ending a workout with glute bridge pulses to strengthen your hips can help anyone who’s having lower back pain specifically. My recommendation would be to focus on the contraction at the top, pausing, and squeezing for a few seconds before releasing. You can also try mixing it up with some single leg efforts as well to isolate them unilaterally.” Before you finish up your next workout, be sure to add in
I teach a stretching class, and this is the stretch *everyone* should be doing on the reg
February 03, 2020 at 09:00PM by CWC When we’re stretching, we tend to target our own personal hotspots for muscle tightness. If you’re a runner, like I am, that’s likely your quads and hip flexors; if you frequent spin classes, it’ll be your glutes and your hammies. This is all fine, but according to a stretch coach, there’s one stretch that everyone should be doing, no matter how they sweat: the seated straight leg stretch. Of all the muscles you’re working on the reg, having tight hamstrings can lead to a domino effect of bodily woes, which is why it’s extra important to use this particular stretch keep them limber. “Tight hamstrings reduce the mobility of the pelvis, which can put pressure on the low back,” says Samira Mustafaeva, a gymnast and founder of SM Stretching. Besides going hand in hand with lower back pain, tight hamstrings throw off your body’s alignment and posture. Plus, they’re just plain uncomfortable. There are countless hamstring stretches you could fold your body into to help with the cause, but Mustafaeva’s go-to is the classic seated straight leg stretch because it’s “a simple stretch that’s good for people at all levels of flexibility,” she says. In addition to increasing flexibility, it also helps with range of motion, which makes your usual everyday activities easier to do. Her tip? Try the seated straight leg hamstring stretch three times a week, minimum. Or better yet, make it a part of your daily morning routine. Keep scrolling for
Prepare to be sore: This 7-move Pilates-inspired workout will light up your full body
February 03, 2020 at 03:30PM by CWC [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8A8zKXeHNo] Pilates-inspired workouts—one of Well+Good’s 2020 wellness trends—are known for their really, really slow, small movements that burn like hell. While you could hit up a studio in your ‘hood, you can get a Pilates in home workout in your very own living room—with that same level of muscle-quaking burn. This month, Solidcore trainer Triana Brown is bringing us at-home Pilates exercises that you can do anywhere, anytime, with just a couple of sliders (or a towel or some paper plates). In February, Brown will be our Trainer of the Month, and she’ll be bringing you four weeks of how-can-this-be-so-hard workouts. This week, target your core, upper and lower body, and glutes in a 15-minute, seven-move sweat sesh. PS: You might need a towel for yourself too, because it’s gonna get sweaty. Try this full-body slider workout 1. Plank to pike: Starting in plank position with your hands directly underneath your shoulders, put your toes right on top of your sliders. With your tailbone tucked under, contract your abdominals and lift your hips up to the ceiling into a pike. Keep your hips lifted throughout the entire range of motion as you slide back into a plank. Go as slow as you can—you should feel the burn right away. If you want to make it harder, you can hold at the top of the pike for a few seconds and even add a pulse so that your hips go up and down.
5 foot posture exercises that feel a lot like a foot massage
February 02, 2020 at 04:00PM by CWC There are a lot of variables that go into having good posture. Keeping your shoulders back, your spine in its proper curve, and your pelvis straight (and not tilted) are key to keeping yourself upright, rather than hunched over. Lesser known, however, is that a foundational element of having good posture is all about your feet. “Imagine that your feet are the trunk of your tree,” says Carey Macaleer, founder of A-line Pilates. “If you’re not working equally throughout your feet, it will offset the alignment for the rest of your body, which could cause issues,” she says. Think: knees knocking inward or hips splaying outward. And that’s exactly why adjustments to foot posture when working out are so important. The key is to make sure that your weight is being evenly distributed between your toes, and that as much as is possible barring pronation, your ankles are getting even distribution on the inner and outer edges of your feet. “If you’re not working equally throughout your feet, it will offset the alignment for the rest of your body.” —Carey Macaleer According to Macaleer, this can allow you to activate other muscles throughout the body that might not be getting properly worked. “If you can push down into your pinky toe, that could help you connect with your pelvic floor,” says Macaleer. “If you have a hard time connecting to that, that affects the back chain of your body, into the lower glutes.” It’s
Criss-cross crunches will work the hardest-to-target muscles in your core
February 01, 2020 at 04:00PM by CWC If your harder-to-hit core muscles had a campaign slogan, it would be “stronger together.” Allow me to explain. Instead of working each of the 12-ish muscles that make up your trunk on their own, you’ll get better results when you work them together, particularly when it comes to strengthening those harder-to-target muscles (like the lower abs and the obliques). “When we use the body as a system instead of through isolation movements, we are able to really maximize the potential of our strength,” says Obé fitness trainer Emily Diers. This is particularly applicable to your core workouts, since incorporating numerous muscles at once makes your moves more effective. Sweating through combo ab moves is helpful in getting to spots like your adductors, lower abs, and obliques, which are hard to hit on their own in isolated exercises to begin with. “When we use our adductors and obliques together, they form a really powerful team to streamline our strength at the midline of the body,” she says. “Our adductor muscles help to draw the legs closer to the midline and flex at the hip, and our obliques help with rotation of the trunk.” When you do combo movements targeting all of them, it’ll stabilize your pelvis, improve your core rotation, and of course, strengthen your muscles. Below, Diers shares three go-to combo moves that’ll have your entire core quaking… and feeling stronger together, for sure. Lower ab and oblique workout 1. Elbow to knee: Start
Asking for a friend: Do some white sneakers stay whiter longer?
February 01, 2020 at 01:00AM by CWC When you buy a pair of white sneakers, it’s because you love what a bright white shoe can do to an outfit. But, you know what you’re signing up for. Soon, and sometimes much sooner than you’d like, those sneakers will be a shell of what they once were. Less effortlessly sporty and polished, more like what you wear en route to an event with proper shoes in your bag. Is it just me, or, do some shoes get dingier faster? Vincent Rao Jr. of Vince’s Village Cobbler, a shoe-repair shop in Soho, says it’s true. “I noticed that my leather sneakers stay a lot cleaner than my fabric sneakers,” Rao says. “Once fabrics get stained, they’re very hard to paint, hard to clean. Leather is a lot more durable, and if it does get scuffed or if it gets damaged it’s very easy to correct.” When searching for a white leather sneaker, Rao says to avoid patent leather and suede, because those two are the most vulnerable. “They’re extremely hard to clean, and they’re prone to getting damaged,” he says. Opt for genuine calf skin leather, which he says is the most durable. If you’re into the chunky sneaker trend, you’re in luck, because Rao says thicker soles make a huge difference. “The higher the upper of the shoe is from the ground, the safer you’re going to be,” he says. Snow, salt, and water are enemies of white sneakers, so keep
5 agility exercises that’ll boost your speed (and strength) in workouts
January 31, 2020 at 06:00PM by CWC A formula for a good fitness routine includes cardio, strength, endurance, and power. We tend to think a lot about the first two, but if you add agility into the mix, you’ll be even stronger (and faster) in the given workout you’re trying to perform. “When you think of agility, you may conjure images of top athletes with cat-like reflexes,” says Corey Phelps, a Washington, D.C.-based fitness trainer. But you don’t have to be a pro athlete to benefit from agility exercises, because having these skills will improve your coordination, which is key in any training regimen. “The benefits range from better balance and flexibility to the ability to control and maintain good posture and alignment,” says Steve Stonehouse, trainer and director of education for Stride. Agility is your body’s ability to be “quick and nimble while maintaining control,” says Phelps. Agility training can have everyday benefits too: “Think of how important it is to be able to pivot and change directions quickly, like if you go to cross the street and have to dodge a big pothole without falling, or moving swiftly to catch your brand-new iPhone before it hits the floor,” says Phelps. Those quick reflexes come in handy IRL, which is all the more reason to add some agility drills to your sweat sesh. Keep scrolling for trainers’ go-to agility exercises to try for yourself. Agility exercises 1. Plyometric box jumps: This is a fave of both Phelps and Stonehouse. Find