What's Happening

The Baby Boom Continues

Trainer Jen Boyce and her husband Ben gave birth to Noah on July 18. The 7 lb 5 oz bundle was 19 inches long. Congratulations, Jen and Ben, on the birth of your first child.

Another "New Addition"

Certainly not as cute as Noah ... a new treadmill is on the way for the cardio-room.

CoachMeFit Signs First Franchisee

The new studio, owned by Derek and Kerrie DiGiovanni, will be located in Birmingham, MI and is on-track for a December opening. For Derek, owning a CoachMeFit is an extension of a career in fitness. Derek is the head of the Physical Education Department for Birmingham Public Schools. An NSCA-certified personal trainer, he has been teaching PE for ten years and has been president of the Michigan Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance—a state-wide organization that promotes fitness education. Derek’s wife Kerrie, who worked as a mechanical engineer, is completing her certification and will also be an owner/trainer at the new studio.

Several other locations are in the planning stages. We’ll keep you posted.

Welcome, Amy!

We’re happy to add Amy Popielarz to our staff of trainers. Amy’s hobbies—running, biking, snowboarding, tennis, and basketball—say it all. She is passionate about fitness. Through coaching women’s sports and personal training, she is able to make people feel good about themselves. She graduated from Cornerstone College in Grand Rapids with a B.A. in exercise science.

Cardio-Football

No, it’s not new form of exercise. For you multi-taskers, be aware that you can watch the games while you get your workout in. CMF has Direct TV. Please check with your trainer or Tara at the reception desk to make sure someone will be at CMF at game time.

Also, those attending the game can park at CMF and get in a cardio workout by taking a brisk walk to the Big House.

Client of the Month

September’s client of the month is Lucy Stoops, a forty-five-year-old physical therapist.

"I used to come home worn out and with lower back pain after working all day as a physical therapist. I realized being out of shape was a major cause of that. I started training at CoachMeFit with Bill Murrell about ten months ago and it dramatically changed how I feel physically and mentally. It has made my work easier, eliminated my back pain, increased my strength and endurance, and reduced my stress.

One of my goals when I started at CoachMeFit was to run a 5K, and on July 4th I did ... in 41:20. My new goal is to run a 5K in less than 40 minutes. While I am aware this won't qualify me for the Olympic trials, the amount of satisfaction I got from crossing the finish line made every hour, every treadmill session, and every weight I've lifted worth it.

Training at CoachMeFit has given me a much better perspective on life. Occasionally, I look at other gyms and trainers but none of them even comes close to the great works outs I get at Bill’s fun, challenging, and creative sessions. Bravo, Bill!"

Thank you, Lucy, for sharing your story with us.

What to Eat After a Workout

Protein
Eating after weight training or intense cardio not only repairs damaged tissues and builds new muscle but also replenishes muscle glycogen. Your best bet is a protein shake containing whey, but also consider adding soy and casein to the mix since both have been shown to enhance muscle regeneration, while the antioxidant components of soy aid in muscle recovery.

You have about a one-hour window after training to promote muscle repair and growth, and the shake will get amino acids to your muscles fast. Aim for about 20-30 grams of protein from immediately post workout to no later than 30 minutes after.

Carbs
Exercise diminishes glycogen, the stored form of carbohydrate that provides the primary source of energy for hard working muscles. Your body is primed to replace glycogen right after exercise, so include about 40-60 grams of fast digesting carbs (Gatorade, watermelon, white bread, white potatoes, or sugar) from immediately after to no more than 30 minutes after your workout. The fast digesting carbs will spike insulin when you need it.

Fluids
Replacing the fluids you lost during a high-rep weight workout, aerobics class, or a 25-mile bike ride with water is a top priority. Remember more isn't always better. Over doing your fluid consumption can promote dangerously low blood levels of electrolytes such as potassium and sodium, so the rule is to follow your thirst. Pale yellow urine is a sign of proper hydration. Darker urine is a sign you're not getting enough.

Move of the Month

Kneel facing a stability ball and drape torso over ball, hands on floor. Tighten abs and walk hands out until shins rest on ball, body in a plank position, forming a straight line from head to toe.

Contract abs and round spine, also bending knees and allowing ball to roll down shins as you tuck knees in toward chest. Hold for a moment, then reverse the movement, returning to plank position.

Do 3 sets of 10-12 reps and you will be on your way to great looking abs.

What's Behind Runner's High?

Why do people feel good after they exercise? Thirty years ago, scientists thought they'd come up with the answer: endorphins, hormones that the body produces during exercise that have opiate, or morphine-like, properties. This explanation for what's known as "runner's high"--the euphoric feeling some people get from exercise--soon became the stuff of sports legend. But just how these natural chemicals affect us, and what other body systems might be at play, is an ongoing debate. Here, we sort through the latest theories.

The Big Breakthrough

Endorphins were discovered when researchers looked into a well-known phenomenon--our ability to get intoxicated from morphine and heroin. They reasoned that we evolved this capacity not to get high from these synthetic drugs, but to benefit from endogenous compounds--that is, substances our bodies produce naturally. In the mid-1970s, scientists identified several such opiate-like chemicals that act as messengers throughout the body. Combining the words endogenous and morphine, they coined a new word, endorphin.

Some 25,000 studies later, researchers have yet to figure out whether the increases in endorphin levels in the bloodstream produced by exercise have any impact on endorphin levels in the brain, which would be necessary to improve mood. Because of their particular chemical makeup, synthetic opiates like morphine and heroin can enter the bloodstream and pass through the blood-brain barrier, the semi-permeable tissue that protects the brain from potential toxins. By contrast, endorphins in the bloodstream cannot penetrate this barrier, which throws their role in any true runner's high into question.

Defining Runner's High

The notion of runner's high itself has its critics, in part because what any one person means by "high" is impossible to quantify. Although some people feel euphoric after their daily workout, others find the experience gratifying but hardly exhilarating. People who feel especially good may simply be releasing more endorphins; on the other hand, their state of bliss could also be related to improved body image, a sense of accomplishment and a host of other factors ranging from an enhanced immune system to oxygen deprivation.

Most likely, credit for the feel-good effect--reportedly prompted not just by running, but by cycling, tennis and nearly any other intense cardio exercise--has to do with a number of body chemicals and systems that constantly interact. For example, feeling a rush points to the involvement of the hormone adrenaline. Adrenaline evolved as part of our fight-or-flight response to stress, and it's what gives us that geared-up feeling.

The satisfaction associated with exercise probably also involves dopamine. This chemical messenger turns on the brain's reward system and makes people want to repeat enjoyable experiences, everything from munching chocolate or having sex to running, drinking or using illicit drugs.

Exercise and Addiction

Regardless of exactly which neurotransmitters are involved in runner's high, perhaps the more important question is whether the need for a buzz can cause dependency. Traditionally the measure of addiction to any substance has been whether withdrawal from it makes you physically sick, but some researchers now think that the true test is how it affects you mentally and emotionally.

You might not actually be physically ill if you don't run, but if you feel miserable when you're not running even though you're damaging your body and wrecking your work and personal life [by doing so], you've crossed the line into addiction.

If your level of exercise is wreaking havoc on your life, clearly it's time to cut back and perhaps seek counseling. But it seems unlikely that most of us need to worry about such a fate, because for most people exercise simply doesn't produce enough opiate-like substances to be dangerous or, apparently, to make us feel stoned. For this large majority, the high of exercise doesn't come from doing it, but from the feelings generated by the health and fitness benefits that occur afterward.

Twelve-Minute Cardio Blast

* Mountain Climbers
1. Hands on floor with shoulders over hands.
2. One leg tucked, one leg extended.
3. Weight should be placed on balls of feet.
4. As quickly as possible "climb" alternating legs back and forth.