Shedding Some Light On Eating Disorders

Champion female boxer Mia St. John, German Olympic rower Bahne Rabe, and American gymnast champion Cathy Rigby. What do they all have in common besides being incredible athletes? All three of them suffered exercise and eating disorders during their careers.

Last week was National Eating Disorders Awareness Week and so I felt like it would be the ideal time to write about exercise and eating disorders. I know as members of the Urban Boxing Gym we may see exercise and eating disorders as not so prevalent. We assume the people who go to the gym are there to train, get stronger, faster, and live a healthier lifestyle. The thing is that eating disorders do not discriminate. About 8% of the U.S. population suffers from eating disorders and of that only 10% of them seek treatment.

There is a huge stigma surrounding eating disorders. To many people eating disorders are seen as a lifestyle choice, they view victims of eating disorders as self-absorbed and because eating disorders are often stigmatized it makes it more difficult for people to seek help. Instead they are struggling alone, isolated, and vulnerable. The reality of it all is that eating disorders are not easy to define and it is in fact a very real disease. Psychologists are realizing that eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia are far more complicated than they thought and they are not a “one size fits all” type of disease.

Often we think athletes and personal trainers could never possibly have an eating disorder, they are the fittest people we know, but they are not invincible. Athletes are competitive; they want to be the best and will go to extreme lengths to get there. The immense pressure they put on themselves to look a certain way combined with the pressure from coaches and teammates to win and excel in the sport can get to them. They will skip out on sleeping to train at the gym, they will skip meals and if they do eat something they regret they will purge it. They want to excel and they see these sacrifices as trivial if it means that they will look better, be faster, feel lighter, and perform better. Losing body fat with these extreme measures is dangerous and can actually decrease exercise performance as well as cause severe medical complications.

The repercussions of this disease very serious, they actually have a higher fatality rate than any other psychiatric disorder. So what can we as a gym do to help those who may be silently struggling with an eating disorder? Let’s make the subject of exercise and eating disorders not so taboo. Let’s be open to honest discussion; let’s refrain from making judgments and offer support instead.

Bad Habits: Late Night Muchies

Do you ever have those late nights when you can’t help but toss and turn in bed while your empty stomach growls ferociously at you? Yea I know, it sucks. So you get out of bed and eat. But what to eat? It can get complicated because there are foods that may sound great and healthy in theory, but they may cause restless sleep or affect your weight.

1. Sugary Cereal: Cereal may just be the love of my life. I eat it in the mornings, evenings, and even in the wee hours of snack time. While it may sound like the safest late night munchie, people often do not realize the amount of sugar that is packed into the colorful, cartoon covered boxes. So let’s replace it, instead of grabbing the box of our favorite little tiger’s frosted flakes at 2am, grab a box of whole grain cereal which emphasizes fiber and has less than 250 calories per cup.
2. Dark Chocolate: Yes, even dark chocolate, often seen as the most healthy option of all chocolates, can be bad for you if you are eating it right before falling asleep. The issue with chocolate (milk or dark) is that it contains caffeine which is a stimulant which wires up your central nervous system, making it difficult for you to get a good night’s rest.
3. Spicy Snacks: As you know, when we sleep we are slowing down all of our bodies’ processes, including digestion. So when you get up to eat some spicy food in the middle of the night your body is pushing extra hard to digest that food. Also spicy food makes it difficult to fall back asleep because it stimulates your other senses because of the rush of endorphins. So when you try to fall back asleep you may get some heartburn and some tummy troubles.
4. Fatty foods: Oh boy, I cannot even count the amount of times I have woken up in the middle of the night and grabbed a cold slice of leftover pizza from the night before, when I walked across the street to the local pub for some fries, or when I try to satisfy my ridiculous sweet tooth with one or four scoops of ice cream. I know those late night cravings, and I am guilty of it. But, I also know how sluggish I feel the morning after. What happens is that when you are sleeping your body is trying to relax and then you eat all this fatty foods and now your body has to work super hard to digest it all.

I am by no means saying that you are never allowed to eat a snack or two in the middle of the night! Live your life, have fun, and eat when you are hungry! But also remember moderation. It is important to not turn a one or two nights of waking up and eating a bowl full of sugary and fatty food into a week ordeal.

How to Keep Your New Year Resolutions

Okay, so 2016 is here and the month of holiday parties, cookie exchanges, peppermint bark, and champagne is officially behind you and what lies ahead are the inevitable New Year Resolutions. It happens every year, millions of people make the decision to be healthier, exercise more, and lose some weight. The intentions are genuine, but the goals usually are lofty and unattainable. You begin to rationalize the goal; start collecting delicious looking healthy recipes on instagram and pinterest, start a gym membership, and even get one of those green detox smoothie makers everyone seems to have. You are gaining momentum, you can see your summer body now, all you have to do is jump right on to the fitness bandwagon of clean eating and sweaty workouts for all of 2016- sound simple enough, right?

Research has shown that out of all the adults that make resolutions only about 8% actually go through with them. Why is that? Is it that we all are really bad at practicing good self control? The common theme seems to be that these resolutions like saying you will lose a hundred pounds or cut out all sugar from your diet are somewhat unrealistic and difficult to achieve. The reality is incredibly high expectations combined with low margins for error calls for a very high chance of the resolution failing.

So how about for this year your resolution is to not be a statistic. Yea, I know it is so much easier said than done, but maybe I can help you out a bit!

1. First things first, why are you pursuing this goal? Whether it is fitness related or not, it is so incredibly important to zero in on why you are making this change. So ask yourself, why do I want to lose weight? Why do I want to quit smoking? Why do I want to learn to cook? It may sound silly because the answers seem obvious, but the more passionate and dedicated you are to the goal in your head the more possible it will be to stick to it all year round.
2. Make ONE goal! The New Year is all about fresh starts and that is what makes it so appealing to make a bunch of scattered goals for yourself, but the more you make the more disappointed you will be if you drop the ball on them. People generally are overly ambitious when it comes to resolutions regarding lifestyle changes. What may help is making one major goal and work hard on that! Think of a goal that will have the greatest impact on your life for the better and work on that, all the little changes you may want will be sure to follow. For example, if your goal is to live a healthier lifestyle you may start by creating workout plans, cooking more home cooked meals, and finding a workout buddy. These little baby goals will help make the overall goal less taunting.
3. Plan Plan Plan! Planning is your savior when it comes to staying on track with goals! Whether you need to write it down or type it out having it down on paper is gong to make a huge difference. The more specific you are the better it will work out. Also writing out goals and having them in front of you makes it much harder for you to avoid. Make a to-do list of tasks or a schedule filled with specific tasks will make it easier to measure how well you are sticking to your resolution and if you need to make any modifications.
4. Tell people! Shout it from the rooftops! The more people that know about your goal, the more you are accountable to it. Let’s say you are trying to quit smoking and you have told all of your closest friends and family about your plan. As the days, weeks, and months go by you are naturally less inclined to cheat or quit if you have shared your goal with other people. The great thing about sharing your goals with the people you are close to is that they will regularly check in to see if you have been following your plan and they will motivate you to keep going.

Pre-Workouts and What They are All About

With fitness always evolving nutrition trends are surely to follow close behind. The most recent changes have included the use of performance enhancing supplements. In the past decade supplements have grown into a $25 billion dollar industry making it one of the fastest growing industries in the world. I started doing some more research on pre-workout powders, pills, and all those dietary supplements. I wondered what makes them so attractive and why people are so willing to pay so much attention and money for these dietary supplements that we really do not know all that much about? The supplements make outlandish claims and promises like “insane vascularity and a STUPID PUMP that will blow your mind!”, “get steroid-like gains”, and “explosive energy”.  

Whether these claims are valid or not, I am not sure because I have not used any of these dietary supplements. However, they do sound a bit far-fetched and since the FDA does not regulate the $25 billion dollar industry it allows companies to put whatever they want in the supplements. Okay, that may sound a little scary, so let me just say that not everything in pre-workout is terrible, but some things can be. So as pre-workout supplements become increasingly popular with athletes in high schools, college, and event with the typical working man or woman, it could be causing some serious issues with their bodies.

Most pre-workout supplements that I have looked into have the same four ingredients in them; Creatine, Caffeine, Beta Alanine (BA), and LCLT.

Creatine: So this seems to be the most common ingredient with most, if not all, pre-workout substances. Creatine is naturally produced in our body and can also be found in a lot of meat. Creatine functions as a driving force in burst muscle contractions by constantly refueling the ATP which is the source of energy. Long chemical story short: Creatine will give you more energy and make you feel less tired.

Caffeine: Good ol’ caffeine. It’s the most commonly used stimulant among people and the popularity stems from its seemingly magical ability to wake us up from the dead. Caffeine in pre-workout powders can vary depending on the brand and the number of grams in each scoop. There is a fine line between just the right amount and having the most amazing workout ever and having too much causing you to shake uncontrollably and make the difference of having the best workout of your life or shaking uncontrollably and dropping a dumbbell on your foot.

Beta Alanine: Yea, i did not really know what it was till I started doing my research. From what I understand it is a nonessential amino acid usually found in poultry and other types of meat. Its main purpose is to reduce fatigue which as you can imagine sounds amazing to anyone, especially trainers and extreme athletes since most of them are working out and doing intense exercise for several hours a day.

L-Carnitine/L-Tartrate: Out of all the ingredients, I think I like this the best. Not only does it help your body use your excess fat as an energy source, but it also prevents the breakdown of muscles, and lessens the amount of tissue damage and soreness after a workout. So yes, this does improve performance, but again it is not essential in the grand scheme of things.

It is not necessary to use preworkout to get in an effective workout. With that said I can understand the appeal of an elixir that provides extra energy, focus, and work capacity. Each supplement can be beneficial as long as you stick to the proper dosage, but the more you use and depend on preworkout for each intensive workout session, the more your body will build up a tolerance to it and eventually just a scoop will not be enough.

Morning vs. Evening Workouts

If you could burn more calories, gain an edge on your workout, and get several more health benefits simply from working out at the perfect time, would you do it? Of course you would! But everyone seems to be unsure as to what time is best. Long story short, it all comes down to each individual- their level of energy and motivations, and their schedules.

Morning Workout Pros:

1. Consistency: What makes morning workouts great is that it keeps you consistent. Most of the excuses you hear from people is that they don’t have the time to workout because of their busy schedules. However, when get your workout done first thing in the morning it helps avoid the hurdles that may come up later on in the day which may make working out difficult. Also since the workout is done and over with earlier in the day there is no need to worry about squeezing in a workout later on in the day.
2. Well Rested: It may not seem like it, but your body is doing so much while you sleep. It is repairing muscles and helping your body recover and rest so that when you wake up you are good to go. Of course this is not always true, some people have difficulty sleeping. Try to make sure you go to bed early enough so your body has plenty of time to recuperate. Also when you wake up for your early morning workout, make sure you take some time to warm up and stretch to help your muscles wake up.
3. Domino Effect of Healthy Choices: Generally those who start the day with a killer workout will have more energy, eat more healthy snacks and meals, and will consistently keep themselves hydrated throughout the day. You basically cause a domino effect of healthy choices. Also working out in the morning kick starts your metabolism; in short, you are burning more calories simply by working out in the morning.

Morning Workout Cons:

1. Less Fuel/crash: Let’s be real, the early bird may get the worm but some of us no matter how hard we try will just never be morning people. Life does get in the way sometimes and you may plan to sleep early, but things come up, you cannot sleep, or you have a million things you have to get done by the morning so yea the last thing you would want to worry about is waking up early to workout. If you are generally  person who is consistently tired, morning workouts may not be your thing because well let’s face it, crashing before you even start makes it ten times harder to put your all into a workout.

Evening Workout:

Pros:

1. Awake and Ready to go: Yea, yea I know I said you are fueled in the morning, and while that is true for some of us it can not be said for everyone. Some people may be better equipped for workouts later on in the day. Later on in the day, you are more awake because you have completed daily tasks and activities, and you have also eaten a few meals so you will have a lot more energy to put into your workout. This may also be true because strength and endurance levels are supposedly highest around 4-6pm.
2. Unwind and De-stress: When you wake up, you have a fresh start, not much has happened and you are overall pretty relaxed. However, by evening time stress may start to creep in and overwhelm you whether it is because of a tough day at work, school work piling up, or something that just upset you. Research has shown that increased stress levels can cause weight gain because of a steroid hormone called cortisol which makes people more likely to eat and desire those guilty pleasure foods. So what are your options? You can channel that excess stress and release it through exercise. I am sure you have heard time and time again how wonderful exercise is and how effectively it relieves stress and allows people to blow off steam. The reason for this is because when exercising your body produces happy hormones (also known as endorphins).

Cons:

1. Lack of Consistency: Remember that workout you planned for after classes or your workday? And then you realized you have another obligation and will not be able to make your 6pm workout session, well it happens to everyone and it may not seem like a big deal but it can be. To get the best results you need to be consistent with your workouts. With a lack of consistency and a schedule, it becomes very easy to get off track and derail your progress. This is much more of a problem for those who workout in the evening because many people schedule events, meetings, dinners, and parties in the evening. So by the time you may be ready to workout you may be too exhausted or it is too late and the gym is closed.

Everyone is different and everyone performs differently at and so naturally everyone will have their own opinion regarding the best time to workout. The key to getting the most you can from your workout regimen is to stay consistent. Make a plan and stick to it the best you can and all of us at Urban Boxing will try to help you all the best we can!

Stretch Like an Athlete

So there are three types athletes…

Those who stretch, those who think they stretch, and those who simply don’t. So what happens if you don’t stretch, not much...right away. At first you will feel fine, you will be lifting, doing cardio, losing weight, eating less junk food, feeling like you are on top of the world. You think “I’m invincible” until you wake up one day and your hamstrings feel a bit tight, or maybe it's your lower back, you stretch it out a bit to ease the pain but it doesn’t budge. You continue training and working out and the pain lingers. Boy, do you wish that you properly stretched now. So as you may have guessed, this post is here to reintroduce stretching to your lives. If you’re like me, stretching is a tedious and fleeting afterthought. We are all so focused on getting our bodies in the best shape of our lives that we generally overlook the importance of stretching. It is too easy to do this, but stretching IS worth our time and I’m sure I don’t need to tell you all about the benefits of stretching and how it goes far beyond just preventing pulled muscles and injuries, but I’m going to do it anyways.

I want to emphasize how important it is to properly stretch. Some people say they stretch and more often than not they just end up moving a little to the right and then a little to the left and call that “stretching”.

So how does one properly stretch? 

So you first need to figure out which muscle groups commonly cause pain or tightness. This is not the same for everyone, for some people it is their shoulders, for others it’s their legs. A rule of thumb would be if it is not tight or causing any pain or tension, it does not necessarily need to be stretched. As you begin to familiarize yourself with the target muscle groups begin to balance out the flexibility training between the front and back of your body as well as the right and left side of your body. The goal is to have every part of your body feeling even and relaxed. People generally say to stretch after a cardio or strength training session as a way to keep your body limber. The thing people should consider when stretching is to keep it interesting, you don’t have to do the same exact stretches everyday nor should you. Adding variety will keep it from being monotonous and also will allow every muscle group increase flexibility.

Types of Stretches

There are two types of stretching: dynamic stretching which is great for warming up before a workout and the other is static and passive stretching which is utilized more during the cool down after a workout. When doing passive and static stretches, make sure to hold the stretch for longer than 10 seconds. You should hold each stretch for 30-60 seconds and repeat it two or three times to see or feel any real improvements regarding flexibility.

Why should you care?

It’s more than just being flexible, stretching keeps your body pain free, your muscles relaxed, and your mind at ease. I know I have been boring you with a bunch of facts and figures about stretching and it is just because I care. A 10-15 minute stretch session is all it really takes to reap all the benefits related to stretching.

5 Reasons Why You Should Fall in Love With Boxing

I have a confession, I love to punch. No, no I am not abusive or anything. But I am in love. In between jabbing and crossing and feeling the impact of my fists hitting the punching bag I came to the realization that well, I am in love with boxing.

Max Kellerman, an HBO boxing analyst, proposed that “Boxing is, in fact, everybody’s favorite sport,”  and he backs up the claim with a little social experiment, “If you come to an intersection and on four corners you see the following. On one corner, there’s a couple kids playing stickball. On the other corner, there are some guys that are shooting hoops. On a third corner, there’s a guy just standing there putting a golf ball. And on the fourth corner, there’s a fistfight. There are a hundred people at the intersection. How many people are watching anything but the fist fight?” Please do not try this experiment at home to prove Max Kellerman wrong. But the man has a point, people are drawn to excitement and sometimes that means two people hitting each other.

Lately I felt less motivated to work out, feeling like running and going to the gym were such monotonous activities. I needed a workout with a bit of a kick (literally) so one google fueled evening I was inspired to find something different, and the search led me to Urban Boxing. After my hour long session of high intensity cardio and throwing jabs, crosses, hooks, and roundhouse kicks at a punching bag, I was exhausted, sweaty, and hooked. It got me thinking, there are a million of sports out there, so why boxing?

1. Great Cardio: Firstly, boxing is a full-body exercise! Muscles all over your body from your abs, back, glutes, shoulders, biceps, deltoids, triceps, quads, hamstrings, you name it, are engaged in every movement. You dodge and throw punches, throw in kicks and knee strikes, and dance around the ring to evade your opponent. In a typical session you start off slow to cover the basics and as you go on you build up the combinations and drills making them more complex which keeps your heart rate high. Every move is  high in intensity and whether you are boxing for fitness sake or to fight you are bound to sweat. In a hour session of boxing it is estimated that people burn over 500 calories!

2. All That Confidence: In individual sports like boxing, you build a strong relationship between yourself and your body and you know your strengths and weaknesses extremely well. In the ring and in life you may be placed in difficult positions and you have two options, you can either have faith in your abilities or fear failure. Being able to carry on in the face of adversity requires a certain degree of confidence. Obviously everyone wants to win, at least that is the main objective, but also the point is also to focus on doing your best, a poor attitude in the ring or in life can set you up to lose before the first punch is even thrown.
   
   

3. 

   Stress Relief: We have heard it a thousand time, exercise reduces stress and blah blah blah. But with boxing it does more than just that. The thing I love about boxing is that it requires 100% of my focus, I never feel my mind wandering to what I am doing later that day or to the pile of work I have waiting for me at home. With boxing you need to be present or you will get punched, playfully of course.

4. Mental Strength: What I think is super cool about boxing is the link with the basic primal instincts “fight or flight”. It is the most basic and human interaction between people and it has been around forever. I have never been a violent person and I would still not describe myself as violent, but I know that before I started boxing the idea of being punched or kicked scared me. However, when you box you are forced to go against your basic instincts and face the punch straight on.

5. IT’S FUN! Everyone I have ever met and talked to after a session has told me how much fun they had! The sport never becomes boring or monotonous because there are so many skills, combinations, and techniques to master. Once the session ends people want to know more about the sport and want to grow as athletes, they are inspired to watch videos, shadowbox in their living rooms, and fantasize about the next time they get to put on the gloves and punch...or maybe that is just me.