New York Nanny Center » fitness

Mommy Fitness

Lindsay Bell — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 19:04:38 +0000

Before I had my daughter, I worked out everyday…sometimes several times a day! Yes, I was working as a fitness professional and working out was my job; but it was also something I just loved. If there was a new class, I wanted to try it; if I had a favorite, I scheduled around it. Weekends were for running so I could have some solo time and restorative yoga so I could start all over again the following week.

Now I belong to a different kind of gym…the kind with brightly colored soft steps and ramps and scarves and shakers. That’s right, the only regularly scheduled class I attend is my daughter’s and the running I do is after her!

That doesn’t mean I don’t work out, but when I do, it looks a WHOLE lot different these days…

Most of the time I used to spend working out, is now spent rocking out to toddler tunes, attending story times and play dates, making messes and cleaning up. I no longer have the luxury of multiple workouts in one day, so I have to be more strategic.

Now Parker and I workout together, we go to mommy & me exercise classes or take advantage of the rolling hills where we live and the invention of jogging strollers! If the weather’s bad (seemed like every day this winter) we use the stairs in our home for cardio and I use her (plus some free weights) for strength training. Lifting 20 pounds of baby weight is a nice challenge…add the wriggly instability of that weight and I’ve got a fantastic workout. I hold her for squats, I chest press her little body and give her kisses with each rep, and bicep curls with a baby are a real challenge! Why do I do all this? Because it’s important to me to set an example of active living and it’s always been important to me to move. I get cranky when I don’t get to exercise! YES, I’ve had to adjust what exercise looks like for me these days, but I have a toddler. I’ve had to adjust what a lot of things look like for me these days. That’s part of motherhood. The important thing to me is that I don’t abandon exercise entirely because that’s abandoning a part of who I am and what kind of example does that set for my daughter?

-Jolynn Baca Jaekel has been a fitness professional for more than a decade. Her first child, Parker, just turned a year old this January. Jolynn, her husband Rob, and Parker recently relocated from NYC to Washington D.C.

Healthier Fall Favorites

Lindsay Bell — Fri, 25 Oct 2013 18:58:53 +0000

This time of year officially starts splurge season with potlucks packing the calendar and sweet treats filling the counters. Like most people, you probably don’t have time or energy to fret over whether you’re eating perfect these next three months. How do you honor long-cherished traditions while keeping your commitment to run a healthy home?

Luckily people like me love to navigate all the food terminology that gets thrown around these days and share simple, healthy tricks. And this time of year is no exception! Whether you’re a parent or sitter, check out these tips about food labels, cooking and baking for a happy, healthy fall.

Halloween Candy Labels:
With trick-or-treating around the corner, it’s good to watch out for what’s in your child’s candy sack. The number one rule is to avoid high fructose corn syrup and corn syrup. Yup, this excludes most of the traditional brands. If you’d like to give out a healthier option, consider the brand UNREAL candy; it’s gluten-free with no GMO’s, artificial flavors or preservatives http://getunreal.com

Healthy and cute snacks

Cozy Snack Recipes:
Classic munching favorites are potato chips and fries. Two fantastic alternatives are kale and sweet potatoes; they taste great and are more nutrient dense than your plain old spud. Use sea salt rather than table salt to get more trace minerals and less blood pressure stress. Tip: leave the skin on to save time.

Crispy Kale Chips
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/melissa-darabian/crispy-kale-chips-recipe/index.html

Sweet Potato Fries
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/baked-sweet-potato-fries-recipe/index.html

Seasonal Gluten-Free Squash Sides:
Try these recipes instead of processed mac’n’cheese or spaghetti noodles. The delicata squash skin can be left on and eaten. With spaghetti squash: scoop, pour on sauce and serve.

Parmesan-crusted Delicata Squash
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/recipes/2011/12/21/parmesan-crusted-delicata-squash/

Spaghetti Squash
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/cheese-and-pepper-cacio-e-pepe-spaghetti-squash-recipe/index.html

Baking Substitutes:
I recommend cutting out refined, processed sugars (white or brown) and unhealthy fats (shortening and canola oil). Fruit, like bananas, applesauce and avocado, can be used for all of the above, as well as for egg and dairy allergies. The finished product will usually be softer and sweeter. Try just one substitute per recipe until you get comfortable!

Brown Sugar: natural applesauce (no sugar added) in 1:1 ratio

Canola Oil: coconut oil in 1:1 ratio

Shortening: ¾ cup coconut oil for 1 cup shortening

Butter: coconut oil or avocado in 1:1 ratio (avo will tint green, but the flavor cooks out)

Egg: ¼ cup mashed avocado or banana for 1 egg

-Rebecca Kittle recently graduated from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition as a certified health coach. She is interested in educating people about clean eating, recognizing chemicals in processed and packaged foods, special dietary restrictions, and increasing your digestive health.

One Month Down

Alison Gore — Fri, 16 Aug 2013 18:44:41 +0000

If you had told me a year ago how happy appliances would make me, I would have laughed in your face. Now, my favorite phrase is “I’m going downstairs to throw a load of laundry in the wash.” MY downstairs and MY washing machine; not the coin operated machine around the corner that the entire neighborhood uses that I have to strap my daughter on in a carrier to get to even if it’s pouring rain! Don’t even get me started on the dishwasher and how easy bottles, pumping accessories and now baby food containers have become. I am in heaven!!!!

Parker & I are loving the new house

One month ago we moved from New York City to Washington, D.C. and it was the right move for us. I am sure about this. Having spent the last 15 years at least four hours away from my nearest relative, I am now three MINUTES away from my baby sister, her husband and their three pugs. The majority of those 15 years were spent living in a basement apartment and now I have a basement in a town home with a deck big enough to fit patio furniture and a grill (the grill is my husband’s slice of heaven). Just steps away from our front door, our community has a tennis court and a pool where I have taken our daughter nearly every day this summer. Most fitness centers have child care available, there are movie theaters with “cry baby” matinees, wine bars with stroller happy hours, and there are so many strollers coming down the sidewalk that we take turns passing, just about every day Parker and I have a mommy & me activity with one of the many local mom groups or a play date with one of the lovely mom/dot duos we’ve met. I have become a SAHM, (that’s meet up lingo for Stay At Home Mom) and I’m loving it!! Yes, I will eventually have to return to work in some capacity, but for now I have been given the lovely gift of spending each day with my brand new baby girl in our brand new city and I am cherishing every one of them! Granted, I am the oldest mom around since they start young here and we wait a while in NY, but I’m ok with that. I’m a happy AMA (advanced maternal age) mom!

Sightseeing!

Moving here happened fast and meant leaving friends and my job and giving up the unique energy that can only be found in New York City; but it also meant being closer to family, seizing a fantastic career opportunity for my husband and achieving a quality of life for Parker that can only be found outside of the Big Apple. Yes, I’m sure it was the right move for us.

-Jolynn Baca Jaekel has been a fitness professional for more than a decade and just had her first child with husband Rob in January. She and her family just relocated from NYC to Washington D.C. She returns to NYC next week to teach a FREE fitness class outside on the Hudson Pier (suitable for all fitness levels)…read more & register here.

Can I Exercise While I’m Pregnant?

Alison Gore — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 16:27:40 +0000

A lot of new moms wonder if they should exercise while pregnant and what kind of exercises and stretches are best for the health of both mom and baby. We asked Kendra Fitzgerald, founder of Barefoot Tiger for some prenatal exercise tips and here’s what she suggested!

You want the very best for your new baby, and exercise during pregnancy is one of the best ways you can contribute to your baby’s health, and your own! Knowing what exercises to do, and what to avoid, can be challenging. We’re here to help! There are a few modifications to make, and with a little guidance, you can stay active throughout your entire pregnancy – and actually improve your recovery after giving birth.

Exercise is important for new moms for so many reasons. It can help you build the strength you will need for the last few months of pregnancy, for labor, and the demands of taking care of a newborn. Maintaining strength during your pregnancy can also help you ‘get your body back’ more quickly after pregnancy. And most importantly, exercising during pregnancy can help your baby have a normal birthweight, enhance placental growth and function, and lower the risk for gestational diabetes and pre-eclampsia.

As you reach the 3rd trimester of your pregnancy, there are a few key items to keep in mind:

- Focus on low resistance, high repetition exercises for the major muscle groups (i.e. chest, upper back, and legs), decreasing external weight used as you progress each week.
Strengthening your upper back muscles is key to keeping good posture and counteracting the ‘forward’ weight of your growing belly and breasts. It will also help calm your achy upper back!
It’s important not to hold your breath, as this can spike your blood pressure quickly. Keep your breaths long and smooth.
Alignment and balance are key when exercising because of the change in your center of gravity. Move slowly and deliberately.
Avoid laying flat on your back for any exercise for longer than 60 to 90 seconds. How do you adjust for this? Incline chest presses on a stability ball with your hips slightly lifted or on the floor are perfect!
Keep your body temperature in a normal level, avoiding hot and humid workout conditions. Drink plenty of water.
If you experience any bleeding, headache, chest pain, severe fatigue or severe calf pain, you should stop the exercise and refer to you medical professional.

And now for the fun stuff! Here are some exercise and stretching tips to keep you in shape!

Cat Cow

A yoga move, it can help you keep the spine fluid and the upper and lower back muscles lengthened and toned.

Step 1

How to do it: On all fours, inhale and lift your gaze and chest toward the ceiling, dropping your belly toward the floor. As you exhale, tuck your toes, round your back and tuck your pelvis, drawing your navel slightly in. Repeat with fluid breath, for about 10 breaths.

Step 2

Stretches

- Figure 4 - One of the best stretches you can do! You know how your hips feel tight and achy? Maybe your lower back is sore too. This will work wonders for you!

How to do it: Sitting on your mat and leaning back, cross your right ankle over your left knee and bring the bottom foot flat to the floor so your right leg is in a figure-4. Sit up tall, moving your pelvis forward and lifting your chest. Move your knee from side to side to find that sweet stretching spot in your outer hip. It should feel like a pretty big stretch (and really good!) The pelvis muscles can become tight as your pelvis stretches and opens as you get closer to your due date. This stretch can relieve a lot of lower back and hip pain you may be experiencing.

As long as you have clearance from your OB-GYN to exercise, you are good to go! If you were already active before getting pregnant, it’s likely you can continue your program while you are pregnant, with slight modifications to the intensity as you progress through your pregnancy. No matter your exercise history, you should continue to discuss your exercise program with your physician.

Kendra Fitzgerald is the Founder of Barefoot Tiger, an in-home personal training, yoga, pilates, nutrition and massage therapy company in New York City. She and her staff of 15 trainers, teachers and therapists teach regularly around the city, and now you can join them for classes at their newly opened studio in Midtown Manhattan!

What’s your Spring Work-out Plan? Give Figure 4 a try!

Lindsay Bell — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 12:29:00 +0000

After our CPR Training taught by none another thenLieutenant Betty from FDNY, we love her spunk, LLD enjoyed a new kind of workout hosted by Pure Yoga West. Pure Yoga, which Access Hollywood calls the placewhere you can “be fit like Jennifer Aniston”, hosted LLD for our first Figure 4 experience!

Createdby professional ballet dancer Kate Albarelli, Figure 4 combines elements ofclassic dance training, Pilates, yoga, and free weights. This combination ispart of a high energy class that works the heart and the limbs in tandem forfaster, more effective results, helping to create a long, toned and flexiblebody.

Ourinstructor Kerry rocked. The full-time publishing executive, dancer for morethan 20 years and performing arts scholar at The George Washington Universityalso happens to be four months pregnant so she showed us how the movements caneasily be done for expecting mothers as well as for non-expecting beginners akaall of us!

Theclass was NOT easy! We moved muscles wedidn’t know we had. Kerry’s motivation, call-outs by name (which I personallylove) and high-powered energy made the class both informational, enjoyable andan awesome new work-out.

Andyou MUST check out Pure Yoga West’s digs. The place is paradise. Quietly placed on 77^th Street andAmsterdam conveniently next door to Equinox & Soul Cycle it’s a fitnessguru’s dream. Pure Yoga presents a homeand a playground for the modern yogi, and a source of inspiration for thespirit, the soul, and the body.

Kerry

”Figure4 is perfect for mothers. As I’m about to find out first-hand, moms don’tnecessarily have a ton of free time. In just one hour, Figure 4 tones andstrengthens the entire body without a second to waste, so you’re using the timeyou do have SMARTLY! We work the thighs, arms, abs and glutes usingaspects of ballet training, yoga, pilates and strength conditioning. Ittargets both the superficial and the smaller interior muscles, leaving you witha longer, leaner physique,” said Kerry.

Togive Figure 4 a try click here

-LB

Pure Yoga is the ticket to prolong your paradise vacation

Lindsay Bell — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 18:48:00 +0000

Happy New Year LLD!

I hope that you are off to a relaxing andoptimistic start to 2012!

I began my New Year in Mexico on the tropical island of Playa Mujeres. More to come on my experience in a bit. But I didn’t want my trip to end, so I decided to go to the one place that keeps tropical paradise alive. Pure Yoga. I took the Hot Power Yoga class, which is aperfect combination of stretching, meditationand flow. Eric Elven is the instructor on Tuesday’s at 8:30am, and he is sochill in directing us through every move. The hot powered yoga class is taught in a room heated to 100 degrees. The heat providesfor a detoxifying sweat while you flow through an athletic and dynamic sequenceof postures. What a great way to start your day. The friendly staff is there to answer any of yourquestions after the class.

Click here for a classschedule. If you interested in a trial offer click here http://www.pureyoga.com/en/newyork/purecontracts/enquiry.php formore info.