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Molly is drawn by a Fit2B Studio member in New York, Lynn Andrews, and this one is about our mama needing rest more than exercise. I might be the strangest fitness CEO in the world because I’m quick to encourage resting, but my clients need every bit they can get!

I sure love Lynn’s art! And I’ve so been in Molly’s shoes. Finally get some time to myself, sit down to take care of some “me” things, and fall dead asleep! Can I just say that if this happens to you a lot, it’s your sign – a sign that you’re exhausted and to rest when you can. We all need movement, but keep it gentle if you are already tired. A tough, strenuous “psyche yourself out” routine will just elevate your cortisol (stress hormone) more!

I’m not sure I’ve ever been a fan of “working out” every day of the week if you think of exercise as being 30 minutes of keeping your heart rate up… I mean, isn’t my heart rate as a mom always up and aren’t I always moving? Ha! Well, no… but even sitting and nursing for 11 hours a day (low average for newborn mothers) can be exhausting and use tons of energy. So I applaud my members who listen to their bodies and take a day or even a week off when needed. Hey, and if your house gets hit with the stomach flu, you might need two weeks. At least you know {thank to THIS ARTICLE right here} how to include your core in daily life, right?

Thank you for reading the Fit2Blog today! What are your thoughts about what you read? Please leave a reply or a question, and be sure you’re taking advantage of our amazing TummySafe™ workouts!

This is a guest post written by Allison Morris, co-creator of an enlightening graphic that shows how children who exercise are smarter. Allison found this article on Fit2B Studio’s blog, and she wrote directly to me to see if I’d like to carry this educational piece on our site. Of course I said YES! Here’s the graphic, and you can see what she wrote about it below!

Attribution to OnlineCollegeCourses.com

Allison writes: With only 12% of students getting the recommended daily amount of exercise, it’s no wonder there’s a national push to keep our kids active. From early childhood through college, kids who exercise score better on intelligence tests, enjoy a higher quality of life, and are generally better students and happier young people. 

Video games, television, and computer time alike are doing our kids a disservice, as only one in four children gets at least 30 minutes of exercise per day. With the average elementary aged child watching 28 hours a week watching television, it’s obvious that sedentary activities are hurting our children. Half of all young people ages 12 to 21 don’t participate in any vigorous physical activity, and that takes a toll on both the body and the brain. 

40 minutes of daily exercise caused an average IQ increase of 3.8 points

Exercise stimulates brain cell growth, and the younger you start your child’s exercise routine, the better. In a study of elementary school children, 40 minutes of daily exercise caused an average IQ increase of 3.8 points, whereas their inactive counterparts enjoyed less IQ growth. And in a study of sixth graders, the students who were more fit scored 30% higher on tests, while less fit students scored 20% lower. Studies show similar correlations between school performance and fitness as students get older, as well. Staying fit is an important part of adult life, and children need to learn this as early as they can. 

An adult employee who exercises is 15% more efficient, which saves companies and workers both time and money. An average employee’s 50 hour week is the same as a fit employee’s 42.5 hour week, and — while this doesn’t affect children today, they will be the workers of tomorrow. Children must learn active habits to easily grow into active, happy adults. Limiting video games, television time, and computer hours, as well as family or group physical activity, is a great first step to a healthier, happier child. Children need to start out active, and stay that way. Your child’s brain is a part of her body, and it must develop along with other muscle groups and systems. 

When kids have an exercise routine from a young age, it makes it easier for them to continue this as young adults. And studies show that college students who work out before class improve their test scores an average of 17%. Encourage your child to exercise, for the sake of their brain and body, and check out this graphic provided by OnlineCollegeCourses.com to learn why a fitter body does in-fact lead to a fitter brain.

Bethany responds: Wow! Did you catch that fitter 18 year olds were more likely to go on to higher education? Did you see the pull-quote about higher IQ’s in more active kids? Due to working in corporate wellness, I’ve known this intuitively for a long time, but to see it visualized this way is so powerful! Please share on pinterest and facebook, and comment with your thoughts!

CLICK HERE to visit our special section of workouts just for Kids!

Thank you for reading the Fit2Blog today! What are your thoughts about what you read? Please leave a reply or a question, and be sure you’re taking advantage of our amazing TummySafe™ workouts!

If crunches and crunch-like motions screw up your connective tissue by bulging that area, not flattening it, then what’s a person to do? How can you un-muddle your middle without buying into some weird gimmick, pill or lotion? Here are my top five suggestions for simple, safe movements that will strengthen and flatten your midsection while allowing your connective tissue to heal and come back together! My top five non-crunch, no sit ups involved, abdominal exercises are ranked by what came to my mommy-brain mind first, and they are as follows… 1. HULA HOOPING

  I could have put anything here at the top, like my own workouts for example, but anyone can hula hoop – or at least burn some calories trying – right? Using a basic or lightly weighted hula hoop can be a fun workout, and this upright exercise forces “kids” of any age to draw their navels in to create a place for the hula hoop to rotate about their midsection. The gentle motion is awesome for your legs, hips and glutes. PLUS it’s impossible to HH with your arms relaxed, so you’ve got some good upper body movement going on, too! 2. BELLY BREATHS - You are wondering when breathing became exercise. Well, proper breathing requires a major amount of movement and work in your core. I wrote a clear-cut article about belly breathing for great abs for Pretty Hard Work, but they have other articles that show a lot of skin and advocate for crunches. Boo! Still, I’m grateful they took my article. Yay! So go read THIS ARTICLE and learn how to turn your core into your natural belly binder! 3. GATE POSE The Gate Pose has got to be my all time fave Yoga pose, and I love adding side leg Pilates motions to it. This move gets a lot of use in my workout videos here at Fit2B Studio because it works your obliques without twisting them, and it flexes your whole core without stressing your linea alba (seam in your abs… like the seam in your pants IT CAN RIP under pressure!) 4. POSTURE BREAKS - Again, you might be wondering when sitting up straight became a workout. Well, sitting up straight got a lot harder when we started sitting in terrible chairs and car seats that are either totally non-supportive or so supportive that our core is dying all day. When we slump, our bellies pooch out. When we rest our elbows on the table or knees, our bellies hang down and protrude if our core is weak. Form follows function. If you want a strong, flat core then sit up straight. Take posture breaksall throughout your day:

• Stand up or at least shift to the edge of your seat.
• Lift your hips up off your hips.
• Put an imaginary pillow between each vertebrae of your spine.
• Square your shoulders, retracting and depressing your scapulae (shoulder blades).
• Lengthen your neck and let your head float like a helium balloon.
• See? Your belly is already flatter!

5. WALKING – Really, not running? No, not if you already have a belly bumping around. Have you heard of gravity? Do you know what happens to a wet paper bag full of groceries when you shake it REALLY hard? So… walk. Walk. Walk. (that link takes you to an awesome article about walking) We are made for walking. It’s low impact. It works the entire core: glutes, pelvic floor, abs, hips, EVERYTHING! If you can’t walk, crawl. If you can’t crawl, wiggle. Go back to baby basics and work your way up. It’s how we all started. Why no crunches? Crunches do more harm than good because… 1. Crunches imitate slumped posture:  when the head and shoulders lift off the ground, that’s the same position as when you slouch in a chair, only from a different angle. Do you want bad posture or good posture? If you want good posture and a functional core, do exercises that operate around good posture. 2. Crunches bulge the belly: Do a crunch. Does you belly go in or out? One of the most basic principles of fitness is that “form follows function.” Didn’t your mother ever tell you that if you made a certain face long enough, it would stay that way? Same concept. Train how you want to look. If you want a flat stomach, do exercises that allow you to keep your navel drawn inward to your spine WITHOUT flaring your ribs.   3. Crunches work one muscle: The human body has hundreds of muscles. They all need a workout. Crunches were created to ISOLATE the rectus abdominus. Okay, great. Do you have time to work every muscle one at a time? I don’t. Crunches are a “waist” of time! You should spend your time doing multi-joint motions that are functional and work more than one muscle at a time. 4. Crunches must be done perfectly or they will compress your intervertebral discs: Do you know how to execute a perfect crunch? I can hear your wheels turning… But why waste brain power trying to figure out how to do a perfect crunch so you can work one muscle while possibly putting your whole spine at risk of rupture! By the way, situps are even worse for your spine. 5. I believe that crunches contribute to diastasis recti: Having a split in the abdominal wall is pretty common, and it is often misdiagnosed as a hernia when people see that lump sticking out of their tummies. Men, women and children can all get this injury, and my personal research is showing a direct link between crunches and diastasis. My site is full of crunch-free workouts for just $9.95/month. Give it a try!

Thank you for reading the Fit2Blog today! What are your thoughts about what you read? Please leave a reply or a question, and be sure you’re taking advantage of our amazing TummySafe™ workouts!

Our April, 2012 trip to Montana

Montana is a place of rugged beauty and stark contrasts: Immaculate Escalades with cattle-grill-guards parked next to beat-up Subarus still displaying blood stains from last year’s hunting season; the sharp cut of the Mission Mountains against the rolling plains; the dirt on the faces of beautiful children out playing in the fields; the poverty of shanty houses with luxury homes in the hills above; waking up to cows in our front yard… Not something that happens in our home town! My son claimed that red truck as his own…

On several mornings I was able to make oatmeal with rehydrated fruit on the woodstove. We used local honey as a sweetener.

It’s very exciting to have running water. You can see the 5-gallon tub we’ve been hauling water with. On this trip, my husband finished attaching the drain to the drain-field he dug on the last trip. The water is powered by batteries stored under the house which are in turn powered by our solar panel. He installed a switch under the sink, so can save energy when we don’t need water. No hot water yet…

The kids spent a lot of time on their grandparents organic farm just down the hill. My husbands parents raise much of their own food: gardening, raising cows and chickens and turkeys, and harvesting herbs that grow locally. They rarely go to town and get what they can’t grow from Azure Standard.

I guess you want to see a picture of The Shabin. It’s the lovely 12×20 2-level shabby blue shed that we’ve turned into a cabin. Here it is right before we left. We have to board it up to keep out the rats and … passers by. You can ready my other blog about Montana and The Shabin by CLICKING HERE

Here are more cows. It was calving season, and the field across from us was full of mamas and babies. Funny story: the cows would always gather at the fence and moo and beller at the farmer’s grey pickup truck as he loaded hay for them. Then they’d run along behind him as he drove the hay onto the field. Well, we also had a grey truck with us, and I made the mistake of coming by the field at feeding time. I thought they were going to stampede me! As soon as they realized I wasn’t driving the right truck, they went mooing and lumbering back to the other side of the field. Silly cows!

As I mentioned, my MIL raises chickens but not really for food. She adores them, especially silkies. This little puffball followed her everywhere. She made me sear I wouldn’t put a picture of her online, so I settled for my daughter holding “Angel” the chicken.

Here’s a close up shot… Like I said, she’s a fluffy little thing. You can barely see her beak!  

And here’s me, myself … Showing the sign my parents had made (I know you can’t really see it) … But it says welcome! And our friends certainly are!

I’d be honored to hear your comments or see this pinned. Thanks! Wait, here is one of my favorite pictures of the bluebird bus I can see from my kitchen window. Yes, it’s parked in the field, listing into a ditch. I’m not sure why someone in the family parked it there…

Thank you for reading the Fit2Blog today! What are your thoughts about what you read? Please leave a reply or a question, and be sure you’re taking advantage of our amazing TummySafe™ workouts!

In our social media driven society where hours and hours are spent online, who is responsible for taking inappropriate messages of thinness and fake beauty VIRAL??? We blame the media, but they aren’t the ones doing all the re-pinning on pinterest; they aren’t the ones “sharing” images of superfit women with sculpted abs and fake boobs on facebook! It’s often the moms! So I gotta ask why are we moms so desperate that we would hijack ourselves and our self-images like this? We are we so eager to point to the media’s standard of beauty, that WE are reposting this unhealthy message, causing our own daughters and friends to starve, chill, and overexercise themselves to death! Let’s open our eyes to this bone-chilling message from Fit2B Studio’s new partner, Nisha Riggs of Healthy Moms Kitchen.

If the shoe doesn’t fit, don’t wear it…If you’ve NEVER repinned a message containing images of some superhot model who doesn’t even want to have kids, then walk away from this blog. But if you have, take an honest look at yourself. Fitness is about leanness not thinness. We want to have lean, strong muscles. If you’re a mom, if you’ve ever had a baby, how you go about achieving that will be DIFFERENT – very, very different – than a woman who has never had children.

My sister in law has gorgeous fake boobs, and I think they’re great, so I’m not ripping on fake boobs here. She nourished FOUR babies for a total of several years from her own real breasts. When she was done nursing, she decided to “give the girls a little something back.” She has my complete support, and she’s also worked hard to get her body back! But she’s not out there telling everyone that if they don’t look like her, they’re nothing. Maybe the pro pushers of elite fitness aren’t really saying that either, but then why do we have that feeling? And why are we reposting them when they intimidate us???? Why are we MOMS repinning a standard of body fat percentage that would be unhealthy for us during our childbearing years and unhealthy for our daughters as they approach their own childbearing years???

We need to pin and post HELPFUL things that are full of UPLIFTING and REAL nutrition and fitness information, not just the most recent, hottest model to design a workout that no beginner could attain even after 6 months of training if they are being cautious and safe as they should be. Healthy body fat percentage for a NORMAL woman is between 18 and 24-percent. The images Nisha showed picture a woman down below 10 to 12-percent which puts her period at risk, and it’s why she has to have fake boobs: not enough body fat.

I’d love some comments on this!!! But if you haven’t watched Nisha’s video (her name is pronounced Nee-sha) you can also go watch it HERE on her site!

Thank you for reading the Fit2Blog today! What are your thoughts about what you read? Please leave a reply or a question, and be sure you’re taking advantage of our amazing TummySafe™ workouts!

Pinterest allows users to download a button for their browser. When they see an image or graphic or quote that they like on a blog, they “pin” it by clicking the button and selecting the image. It’s a fun way to build traffic as you inspire others. Here’s another one I made for a new facebook page that I’m working on: There’s an exercise for that!

This one could be really fun to use in many situations. Be creative!

Thank you for reading the Fit2Blog today! What are your thoughts about what you read? Please leave a reply or a question, and be sure you’re taking advantage of our amazing TummySafe™ workouts!