Category Archives: Travel

practice unattachment

Practicing Aparigraha by Mixing up your Yoga Rouine

practice unattachmentYoga has a ton of advantages and if you don’t believe it, then read this source. One of the yogi principals I’ve had the most chances to practice the past 2 years I’ve been traveling is practicing Aparigraha or Non-Attachment.

Day to day routines are awesome and something I desperately miss, but when you are stripped of your home, forced to make a new home every 5 days or so you learn really quickly there isn’t anything you absolutely NEED.

You learn to like things you never thought you would try.  You may think you need 2 pillows to sleep, but as soon as you reach a hotel with a nasty looking pillow your small travel pillow becomes heaven sent.  You may ALWAYS eat bacon and eggs for breakfast, but when you are in Thailand sometimes a yogurt and fruit bowl is actually better!

When we are in our day to day lives we lose track of the attachments we have, because the things we want are readily available.  Now I’m not saying you can’t have a routine.  I know a routine can be healthy and help you keep to your diet or help hold you accountable to hit your daily workout.

What I am suggesting though is spice up your life more frequently by trying new things ie–a new yoga studio!

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As I’ve traveled around the world, not once but twice; I’ve taken yoga classes at 50+ different studios with even more various instructors.  When I can’t find the type of class I typically do I take something new and therefore my breadth of knowledge has now expanded beyond Bikram yoga.

Yin used to be a style I thought wasn’t for me, but my time in New Zealand taught me Yin is just the balance I need.  My power postures like Standing Bow Pulling Pose are much deeper now that my hips have opened up.

I used to think Bikram was the perfect daily check in for my body, but now I see the benefits of being just as familiar with the Ashtanga Primary series.  Both series when done regularly teach you much about your body and it’s progress.

Practicing Aparigraha

Yoga postures are just tools to check into, assess, and learn more about your body.  By limiting the tools you use, you limit the knowledge you open yourself to.  Sure delve deeper with the asanas that speak to you, but always remember;

The postures you hate are the ones you need the most.

Those who hate the Bikram series could probably use a bit more structure and routine in their life.  Those who hate the variety in a vinyasa flow may need to be a little less rigid and strict.

We all may have our favorite studio, but switching it up and trying something new is how you will learn.

One of the biggest frustrations I have as a teacher are students who are unwilling to try something new.  I have so many students ask me how I was able to learn to do Vrschikasana, handstand scorpion, yet when I give them advice they shoot it down saying

  1.   They aren’t there yet.
  2.   That isn’t part of the yoga they practice
  3.   Another teacher has told them not to do it.

I can tell you this,

  1. When I started trying Vrschikasana I wasn’t there yet either!  That’s why it’s called yoga practice not yoga perfect!
  2. I was practicing Bikram Yoga and trust me, Vrschikasana was no where near being part of that series, but sometimes I would see an advanced student doing it before or after class and that lit a spark in me to want to learn.
  3. I had plenty of instructors who told me I shouldn’t work on Vrschikasana until I could do a handstand and I shouldn’t work on handstand until I could do every posture of the Bikram series perfectly.  I still struggle with Standing Head To Knee, but I feel more and more stable in Vrschikasana each day.  In fact, it’s my dabbling in other styles of yoga which have opened up my hips and helped improve my Standing Head to Knee.

Practicing Aparigraha

I say all this to remind you, you are only limited by the boundaries you set for yourself.

It is so funny that more often than not yoga, a practice which is supposed to teach you Aparigraha attaches it’s practitioners to such strict rules.  This is the part where you have to come in and be your own best teacher since all this exercise really help strength the legs, hands and core muscles, although for people that struggle with this, they can use a vertical ostomy belt which really help supporting these muscles.  While everyone may have your best interest in heart, they are only able to provide you with the knowledge they have.  No one person is the end all be all expert, so give yourself a heads up and get the advice of others.

Some will work for you.  Some won’t.  But learning WHY something doesn’t work is the key to understanding what your body needs.

Go to a studio where the teachers have been inspired by someone other than the person you always practice with.  A yoga studio wants to keep you loyal to them.   It’s good business.  But think about how many voices you are missing if you never branch out.

Try a class you’ve never tried before.  Settling into the deep hip openers of yin, may be what you need to finally nail Eka Pada Rajakapotasana, King Pigeon.

With proper advice or/and spotting try and believe you can do a new posture.  Don’t throw away your fear, as often it’s fear that keeps us safe, but challenge your fears in safe environments.  Often as you grow and become stronger something that you once feared you won’t.  Fear may have held you back when you weren’t ready, but often the body knows when it is and those fears vanish, and even if you feel pain or soreness, people use products as CDB edibles from sites as kushiebites.com to get help with this.

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Be open to entering a posture a new way.  It may not be what you do all the time, but changing your muscle pattern could lead you to successfully doing something you’ve never done before.

As far as I’m concerned when it comes to teaching an asana the only rule is Ahimsa, or non-violence.  Never push past pain, but if you aren’t feeling pain why limit yourself to what you always do? It’s not too much to recommend a chiropractic for constant pain, visit website here.

What’s your preferred Method of Practice?

What type of practice have you never tried?

Pick a new practice and try it this week!

No seriously answer that question below!  I’d love to get to know more about you!  Thank you for reading! 🙂

 

 

health and fitness while traveling

Health and Fitness While Traveling

One of the hardest things about personally training is countering my clients  excuses.

Now, it must be said some people just don’t have the intention to EVER get healthy and fit.  They find eating a pizza they saw on the way to the check out with their lean steak and veggies, after canceling their session with me because they are tired  a valid excuse.–It’s obviously not, but hey at least they are making an effort to change by hiring the personal trainer.

And in all fairness that’s fine.  They are in the contemplation/preparation stage.  I’m happy if I can push them into the action phase.

The ones that are harder to answer are the ones who actually have legitimate excuses:

  • Traveling 5 nights a week so all meals are eaten out.
  • Hosting clients and having to “entertain” 3-4 nights a week.
  • No access to a gym while traveling.
  • Getting 15,000 steps daily except for the days they are on planes for over 20+ hours up to 2x a week.

My job as a trainer is to counter all of your excuses giving you no reason to veer off your health and fitness plan.

I figured since I know every trick in the book, I should have no problem maintaining my health and fitness while Tom and I travel for a year.

I’m quickly finding, however, despite my best efforts staying health and fit on the go is turning out to be a little tougher than I originally thought.  Here are some challenges I’ve encountered during the past week and what I’ve doing to keep up with my health and fitness while traveling.

health and fitness while traveling

Use Your Jet Lag

When Tom and I flew to Hawaii we gained 3 hours. Getting up at 5am feels like 8am right now for us.   We could have chosen to sleep those extra hours, but rather we’ve decided as we travel west,  we’ll continue to keep our  internal “clocks” set to wake up early.  When we finally get to our resting point we hope that early bird clock stays set.

These hours have bought us time to get work in saving the afternoons for workouts and site seeing.

They have also bought us a couple sunrise morning runs! Get food crated delivered to your house before you even land. Think ahead and plan this out well If youre going to the uk for travel then itl be easy to find a Crate Hire UK.

If you are traveling east, hit the gym at night.  Don’t lay there trying to fall asleep, do something productive with those restless hours. And don’t forget to get a brazilian wax, you’re on vacation after all!

health and fitness while traveling

Make Your Workout Your Activity for the Day

One of those cool sites that we have gotten so see is the stairway to heaven hike.    We climbed up 3,922 metal steps to get a an amazing experience and a spectacular view!

Make sure when you travel that you take advantage of the natural sites there are to see where you go.  Not only are you burning calories, (aka adding to the beers you can consume later) but you are also saving money.

Remember, Outside is free!

health and fitness while travelingGet Creative with Your Lifting

Those that follow my blog probably know all ready how much I love my mini bands!  They are the perfect workout tool for anyone who travels frequently.

I created a body weight/mini band workout that you can do on the go in any hotel room.

The one exercise that I do miss, however, is squats.

I have always loved doing squats at the gym.  I pride myself in being good at them and I hate that I don’t have access to a gym to do them, so Tom and I got creative and have started doing partner squats a couple times a week as part of our workout!

health and fitness while travelingEat In Whenever Possible

Obviously when you travel eating in isn’t always possible, however, that is why it is very important to take every measure to eat in when you can.

Since we’ve been traveling Tom and I have tried to keep up with our normal breakfast of Bacon and Eggs.  We eat dinner in whenever possible, making stir frys, burgers sans bun over veggies, and steak dinners.  This has helped save us calories and carbs for when we inevitably end up at a bar.

Make it your goal to find hotels that have kitchenettes.  If you know there will be times you won’t able to stick to your diet, build in as many opportunities to stick to your diet plan as possible.

When You Do Eat Out, Pick the Right Options

Since we’ve been on the road there have been times I’ve just had to eat out.  I try to use these times not as an excuse to go off my diet plan, but rather search for new ways to prepare proteins and veggies. Being on the road is one of the best time to research on new supplements such as mk2866, as the more you’ll be able to research and study on additional supplements, the better food source you’ll be able to provide your body. (Get inspiration for your own cooking from what you eat out!  Soon you’ll start to realize you prefer to make it at home!) Magnesium is a BIG one I recommend for health on the road. Surprisingly there are actually many different forms of magnesium. I prefer to take magnesium blends to get the benefits of them all.

I’ve been very successful sticking to plan with Appetizer menus.

Even if you order protein on a menu, it is often served with carb and most often served with way too many carbs.  Even if you just eat the protein, you are left either full or still hungry but either way with temptation sitting on a plate right in front of you.  If it’s hard enough to say no when it’s an option on a menu, don’t let the option become a physical item in front of you.  It’s near impossible to not eat something that appeals to you when it’s sitting right in front of you.

The nice thing about Appetizer menus is you can often find proteins like steak bites, poke bowls, or Ahi Sashimi.  I recommend going at Happy Hours because then these items are discounted.  If you are still hungry, 2 orders of an all protein and veggie app Typically allow you to stick your diet plan better than 1 normal entree.

(Related: Consider the Clenbuterol cycle for fatloss if you are looking for quicker ways to shed those extra kilos)

Have Go To Options at Popular Chains

For Breakfast I like to hit up Starbucks.  Their Spinach and Feta Egg White Wrap only has 290 calories and 33g carbs and it also packs in 19g of protein.

If I’m eating lunch on the go.  I like to get burrito bowls from Chipotle or similar burrito joints or Salad bowls from Subway.  Often times in cities you can find similar options at alternatives to the popular chain, but when you are stuck these are great go to options.

Dinner time can be more difficult especially when traveling for work, because the location of dining can often be out of your control.  Where ever your dinner is scheduled, Google the menu of the restaurant before you go.  Have the healthiest meal option in mind before you sit down starving and get tempted by the Fettuccine Alfredo, which has 1200 calories, 99 carbs, and only 36g protein.  (36g seems like a lot, but that meals ratios are close to 3:1)  A better option at Olive Garden would be the Parmesan Crusted Tilapia with only 590 Calories, 40g Carbs, and 50g of Protein–still very much on plan.

Be creative or go with what you know, but don’t say you can’t stick to your ratios on the go.

health and fitness while traveling

 Whatever You Do Eat, Track Your Calories

Whatever nutrition choices you do end up making, make sure you track your calories.  My favorite app to use is Lose It, because it also keeps track of your overall macro nutrient ratios.

All my clients meal track.  I love meal tracking, because it is the best way to become educated about what you put in your mouth.

The number one mistake people make, however, is they don’t track when they know they’ve eaten poorly.  This is the worst thing you can do.  Without logging the poor choices, you allow yourself to be in denial about how your eating is affecting your weight.

I will never tell you, “You can’t eat something.”  Rather just track it.  See for yourself how the foods you choose to eat affect your health and fitness.  Over time you’ll start to realize better and better which decisions at restaurants keep you on plan and which decisions do not.

You number one goal should be to make healthy eating decisions, but when that fails at least track what you did eat.  Keep yourself honest.

health and fitness while travelingUse the Road as an Excuse to Try a Class You’ve Been Wanting to Take

By now you’ve probably had a friend tell you about how amazing crossfit, or Bikram Yoga, or Barre.  In fact, you’ve probably been meaning to check one of those classes out yourself.

Use the road as an excuse to do that.  Google the local studios in the area you are going.  Find a class that fits your schedule and try it out.

If you love it, you might have just found something new to try in your hometown.  If already are addicted, see what other studios are like.  Try new instructors.  Change is good.  You will pick up tips that you haven’t heard before making your practice or workout even better when you do return home.

Contact the gym ahead of time and see if they have any specials for new drop ins.  Most Bikram studios have $20-30 intro weeks.  If you make it a priority to go the entire time you are away that price is very affordable.

While we were in Oahu we found out that Cross Fit Oahu does a free drop in beach session!  We got our booties kick by Ian right on the beach for free!

To Wrap This Up

The point of this post is to remind you, we all face obstacles when it comes to living a fit and healthy life, especially when on the road.  You can choose to allow those obstacles to get in your way, or you can creatively find solutions to get around them.

I hope this post has given you a couple of solutions to some of the obstacles I’ve encountered. If you want more great health and fitness articles just follow me! 🙂

Is There Something I missed?

What’s your biggest obstacle that you face when you travel?

Do you have the same challenges I’ve  hit?

If I didn’t touch on your challenge this week, I’d love to help you come up with a solution.  Make sure you leave a comment and let me know! 🙂

 

 

fitness lessons

Fitness Lessons You Can Learn from a Traveling Bikram Yoga Instructor/Personal Trainer

I’ve officially been in the road now for over a week now.  So far my quest to maintain a healthy fit lifestyle is working out pretty well.

I’ve gone on some awesome runs.

I’ve run around the Marina with views of the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco.

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I’ve run along rolling hills of vineyards in Napa.

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I ran the famous Dipsea trail among giant Redwoods in Muir woods.

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I’ve also made time to practice at some awesome Bikram Yoga studios.

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I sweated along side the colorful Frankenstein cartons at the funky door studio on Polk Street in San Francisco

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I sweat out my “pour” decisions in my college town studio in Davis.

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I received some excellent, disciplined instruction on a beautiful cork floor in Napa.

 

 

From the sweat and steps I’ve also learned a few fitness lessons and those are what I want to share with you today.

 

Fitness Lessons Learned:

Lesson #1: The more you workout the more you can enjoy your travels.

As most of my clients always report, with travel comes the temptation to eat out frequently, try local foods and treats, (which unfortunately never seem to be on the diet plan!) and to drink an abundance of alcohol.

Now if I was on vacation, I would gladly rationalize that I deserve a break from my normally fit and healthy life, however, since travel has now become a lifestyle I have to make sure I earn the luxury of gluttony.

The same goes for anyone else who travels a lot for work or pleasure. If you keep yourself disciplined to get your exercise in first thing, you buy yourself budge room to enjoy a treat our two in the evening. Make sure to consume supplements such as lgd 4033 daily cause even if you manage to skip food after your exercise the supplements protein and other minerals will still help develop your body while also providing your energy to perform other tasks.

daily Lesson #2: Drink water.

My favorite type of water bottle is my hydro flask. It will keep water cold for days even in a hot Bikram Torture Chamber!

My favorite type of water bottle is my hydro flask. It will keep water cold for days even in a hot Bikram Torture Chamber!

Making sure you stay hydrated is very important to maintaining fit lifestyle on the road.

Travel in general makes you dehydrated.  The first step to making sure you stay ahead on the hydration curve is to bring an empty water bottle through security and then fill it up before you get on the plane, it would be great if you could also bring h2 tablets along with it.

Most people mistake thirst for hunger making it very likely to binge eat at meals if you aren’t drinking enough water.  Before ordering food or an alcoholic drink order a glass of water and down it every time before you eat.  A glass or two of water will make you feel full sooner.

Finally make sure your alcohol:water ratio stays in favor of water. (See above where I mention being a sweaty out “pour” decisions on my mat in Davis. Aka lying in the fetal position counting down postures until class is over.)

Not only does being dehydrated make your workout less effective, but it also makes it harder to stick to lesson number one: get your exercise in!  If you are hung over there is a much larger chance you will skip your workout the next day.

Lesson #3 When in doubt eat at a Mexican restaurant.

20130828_113146When eating out, it can become very hard to stick to your diet ratios. The good news is you can find a Mexican restaurant almost anywhere you go.

Obviously there are plenty of restaurants where you can eat lean, but every menu is different.  Mexican restaurants are nice because every single one should have a burrito on the menu.  As long as you unwrap the burrito and eat around the tortilla you should be able to find a good meal full of protein, veggies, and beans.   (Just be careful of the tortilla chips before the meal!)

Lesson #4: Carry Deodorant

The bad news about squeezing workouts into your travel is often times you really do have to squeeze it in.  Make sure you that bring some deodorant to avoid the post workout sweat that tends to come no matter how cold of a shower you take!

Lesson #5:  Don’t Underestimate the Calorie Burning Potential of Walking

Product DetailsThe final lesson I would like to touch on is the caloric burn potential of just walking.  If you are in a foreign city, the chances are you probably don’t have a car.  Rather than spending money on a taxi see if you can walk somewhere.  Not only will you see more traveling by foot, but you will also burn calories without even trying.  Every mile traveled by foot is an extra beer you can enjoy at dinner or a cookie you can eat guilt free.

A heavy day of walking around a city can burn just as many calories if not more than a short morning workout and if you do both then you have even more room to give into culinary temptation.  If you are going to be traveling a lot, I highly suggest investing in a fitbit.

Today rather than driving to yoga, I walked the 2.4 miles.  It only took me 35 min each way, my fitbit showed me I accumulated 13,000 steps, and bought myself an extra 400 calorie deficit.  (That’s 3 beers!)

The point of these lessons is it isn’t too hard to maintain a fit and healthy lifestyle on the go.  If you stick to a workout plan and are conscious about balancing out your physical activity with what you put in your mouth being healthy doesn’t have to be a sacrifice.

What are your favorite activities to do on the go?

What are your go to meal options when you travel?

Getting Back On Track: What You Can Expect From Mastering Health and Fitness in the Upcoming Year

Missing my Nashville studio and Yogis!

Missing my Nashville studio and Yogis!

Hi Fitness Friends!

I apologize for my hiatus from posting.  It has been a crazy couple months.

My then fiancee Tom Morkes and I packed up all our belongings at the end of June and road tripped back to Washington State where we just got married 2 weeks ago on August 3rd.

I’ve spent the past couple months since I posted planning our wedding, keeping up with my own training to stay in shape for the wedding, and teaching classes at Bikram Yoga at The Yoga Element in Bellevue, WA and Bikram Yoga Redmond in Redmond, WA.

Wedding workout plan was successful!

Wedding workout plan was successful!

Now that all the wedding craziness is over, it’s time to get back to work and one of my number one priorities is getting my blog back on track.  I’m looking to really revamp it within the next couple months and would love some feedback on what type of information my readers find helpful!

Working as a personal trainer I’ve realized many people are very capable of establishing a routine.  The problem is many of us don’t have lives that are the same every day.  We have obligations at all hours with work, kids schedules to build our own routines around, and business or personal travel that throw even the best intentions out the window sti testing since its always good to be on the safe side and have that done every once in a while for you health.

Starting August 21st, my husband Tom and I will be setting out on an adventure to travel the world!  We just purchased tickets to visit San Francisco, Hawaii, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, and Belize in the next 11 months.

My goal for our travel along with seeing and experiencing as much as possible is to research and share with you how to stay fit on the road.  This includes:

  • Eating out in restaurants
  • Finding cheap gyms
  • Workouts you can do in hotel rooms
  • Eating local fare while sticking to your ratios

This is a short list of the challenges I expect to encounter, but I will be blogging, vlogging, and facebooking on the obstacles that come up and how you can tackle them.

Fitness can happen anywhere!

Fitness can happen anywhere!

What I’m planning to do:

  • I still plan to write about a blog per week on a fitness topic I find interesting.  However that being said, I love having topics to research.  If you have an inquiry about fitness please send it my way!
  • I’m looking to revamp my youtube channel!  (Subscribe!  You’ll get notifications when I post new videos!)  So far it’s mostly been a medium where I posted the exercise of the day.  I plan to start posting those again by next week, but I also have some other cool ideas to make the channel a resource for anyone looking to stay fit, especially those who spend a lot of time on the road.
  • I’ll be posting full length workouts!  I miss teaching group fitness so I’m going to start posting workouts!  You can stay in shape with me from all the places I travel!
  • I’m going to start the exercise of the day back up!  Many of us have an all or nothing mentality when it comes to fitness.  We either do our full workout or nothing at all.  This attitude can quickly lead to weight gain.  Even on the days when you are traveling you have a couple minutes before you shower to whip out 100 squats, or 15 toes touches, or  15 frog jumps.  Check out the exercise of the day to mix things up and get in some activity even on your busiest days!

These are just a few of the ideas that I’m starting to work on.  My goal is to create a resource for you.  So feel free to give me feedback!  Ask questions.  No question is dumb.  If you struggle with a certain aspect of your fitness I’m sure others do too.  Send me your fitness questions to cjdought@gmail.com!

Last but not least Tom and I also plan to keep a travel blog.  I don’t want to clog this site with my personal travel accounts (especially the ones non fitness related.)  Our new site Far Away Reasons will showcase what life is like on the road.  Topics will include, but aren’t limited to:

  • How we travel between locations
  • How we continue to do our work despite location
  • Really cool pictures of sites around the world
  • Adventures and Stories of the cool things we encounter.

Hopefully some of my upcoming work interests you!  Remember reach out to me!  I’m here to answer your fitness questions!  🙂