Sunday, January 25, 2009

give us your recipes. Here is one recipe for lazy cooks.


Do you like soups?

if so- we want your healthy recipes. only quick ones for us lazy cooks. Please comment to this posting to add your recipe.

here's one for you so you know what i am looking for. it's what my son and i had for lunch today.

total cook time including prep time: about 10 minutes.

ingredients & how to cook:



  • box of butternut squash soup (i got mine at whole foods here in memphis) - about 1.5 cups should be enough food.

  • put the above ingredient in pan by itself and cook on low until your next ingredients are cooked.

  • chop up 1 leek including stem and 1/2 of purple onion (FYI: these are superfoods and detoxifying vegetables) and if you have a few cherry tomatoes then cut in half and throw them in with the veggies while cooking or add to the soup right before eating.

  • place chopped up onion and leek into skillet, add 1/3 cup water and 1 tablespoon of oil of your choice (i like to use almond oil).

  • cover skillet and cook on medium to high heat adding water as necessary. cook until a little soft. don't overcook (it will kill the nutrients).

  • mix your soup and your veggies together.

  • for protein add a chicken dog, turkey dog, tofu, tofu dog, chicken, or green peas, or have some scrambled or hard boiled eggs on the side, or even lean turkey bacon making to dry the grease with a paper towel.

Please click on the comment button below in order to share your recipe or recipes with other lazy cooks like myself. A few good ideas for adding healthier options to someones recipe box can help them take pounds off and they will have you to thank also. Thanks in advance for you great ideas!


Tonya Tittle

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

5 More Tips to Looking and Feeling Younger

Hey Everyone!

For those of you who read my article in Jewish Scene magazine, here are the other 5 tips to looking and feeling younger. For those of you who didn't see the article, there are 5 more tips out there! And check Jewish Scene each month for health and exercise tips from me, a certified personal trainer with over 14 years experience!

6. Set realistically attainable goals. Track your progress to keep you motivated when times are tough and you don’t feel like exercising. Keeping a journal of your cardio and resistance training workouts, as well as tracking what you eat is truly a fitness success “secret”.

7. Eat regularly throughout the day. When you restrict your diet, your body instinctively thinks it’s being starved and shifts into a protective mode by storing fat. Your body’s energy expenditures will be fueled by your lean muscles causing your body fat to remain essentially the same while you lose vital fluids and muscle. Here’s a good rule of thumb: make sure that you are consistently “grazing” on health foods about every three hours. This includes at least half a gallon of fresh water every day.

8. Don’t waste your time working small muscles with isolated movements. If you don’t enjoy doing resistance training, or are pressed for time, concentrate on working the largest muscle groups with compound resistance movements. Men should be concentrating on legs, chest and back. Women should concentrate more on their legs and back. Get a personal trainer to show you the best exercises including proper form, how many reps and sets to do.


9. Stretch or not stretch – this is debated and you must listen to your body to know how much is right for you. In general hold a stretch for 10-60 seconds and Never bounce, or aggressively push and pull a muscle beyond its natural range.


10. For a flatter mid-section of days gone by be sure to breathe properly while doing abdominal exercises. Pull your belly button in towards your spine during the exertion phase of executing an abdominal repetition.

Thanks, and good luck!

My "Hot Yoga" Bikram Experience - a trainer's perspective

Ok- after numerous inquires from clients over the years as to
my opinion of "Hot Yoga" (Bikram Yoga) I finally met Geri Lansky on Dec. 28th at the local studio by Whole Foods.



Here are my notes and thoughts of my experience.



As I was getting closer to the location I starting having the following feelings and thoughts which I rarely feel because I have been exercising for over 20 years and regualarly put myself out there to try new activities. Never the less, I thought it worthy enough to put down as notes in my phone so I can accurately describe my exeperience.



These are the words I wrote 20 minutes prior to class: fear, anxiety, what if I pass out from the 105 degree room temperature, embarrass myself, suck, do terrible, can't make the whole class, flash "my business", have to pee, run out of water, hurt myself, get called out by teacher, can't take the smell of body odor of all the participants, and the biggest FEAR OF UNKNOWN ENVIRONMENT.

I entered the front door and WOW the smell reminded me of the college football locker room I had to run through in college when it was raining outside and my cross country team had to run laps around the gym that included holding my breath as we ran through the locker room.

At the front desk of the yoga center, I did the whole sign waiver, pay, listen to directions from the teacher about the policies and procedures etc. then went to the locker room to leave my stuff that could not be taken into the room.

I went into the heated room about 20 minutes early to acclimate myself to the heat and wrap my mind around the fact that it will be a 90 minute class.

By the way here are some following rules you have to abide by when doing the Bikram (Hot Yoga).

  • You must bring or rent a bath size towel, a bottle of water (no sugary drinks), and a mat.
  • No talking while in the class
  • You may only take a drink after she says "party" (which is after about 3 poses done twice each) and then ONLY in between postures not to disturb others.
  • You are told to look at yourself in the mirror for all poses facing the mirror
  • When feeling faint or unwell you are asked to "sit out" a pose on your own and not wait for the teacher to tell you to sit and rest.
  • You may not leave to go to the bathroom and then re-enter the room.
  • If you need to leave the room you are to ask the teacher to help you exit and you may be able to enter the room again depending on circumstances and if it's in between postures.
  • Limit showers after the class to 2 minutes.
  • If you are a beginner or haven't practiced in a while then you should stay in the back of the room (the back row).
  • There are three rows and the front row are the advanced participants that you should watch if you need to see the correct form.
  • You will get demoted if you stick yourself in the 1st row and clearly don't need to be there.

Are you getting a feeling of what my conclusion is for Bikram yoga.

  • I feel like it is Militant Yoga.
  • Not a bad thing, just different
  • If your looking for a fluff class where you can make friends then Bikram yoga is not for you because unless you speak before the class or after the class there is not time. It's 90 minutes of actual class and you want to get there early to get a good spot. That leaves time to chat after class and frankly you are too exhausted, sweaty, and tired from the class that who wants to make small talk.
  • There is also very minimal hands on correction of form from the teacher during poses.
  • There is a script that the teacher follows and speaks loudly and the whole time.
  • There were some kind words about don't be mean to yourself mentally if you can't do a pose, just get better by doing yoga everyday.
  • I have never sweat that much in my 20 plus years of exercising and I personally didn't like the sweat constantly dripping and getting in my eyes. (p.s. i don't usually sweat a lot)
  • It's the same 26 poses twice each every time, that's protocol, which is fine but I would get bored after a while.
  • It's a huge time investment at 90 minutes class time, 15 minutes being early to pay, get spot, etc. not to mention travel time to and from class. If you did it 2 times per week that's 180 minutes or 3 hours a week. If someone has 5 other days of not doing jack squat then I feel they are really missing out on a balanced workout (pun intended).

A few days after my experience I can see why people like it. And I also see why our clients hire us as their trainers. Because like most fitness related activities you think you can do it on your own. Well, you might do a version of the exercise on your own but who is going to call you out when you aren't working hard enough or doing it correctly. I stretch but could always do more and hold it a little longer when it's really tight and I just want to quit.

Think about this: You can buy a book about how to work on your car but who wants to learn a new skill and have extra parts laying around. That's why people hire specialists to do things, that's what they do and when you hire someone they are going to teach you and make you do it right and get you the results you want. Sound like a sales pitch, it should because I believe everyone can benefit from hiring a qualified personal trainer like myself and my trainers.

Some words of wisdom: Most people workout to look good, feeling good comes a close second but still second. In order the look good you need muscle tone from doing more than the body is accustomed to doing and constantly changing the intensity and tempo of exercise (it's called the Overload Principle).

I reccommend weight training 2 x per week at minimum 20 minutes a session (and that's if you are efficient and have great form) and doing a variety of sprint cardio training (ask us about our Cardio Express medthod) along with stretching most days. One day a week of yoga will give compliment your regular training program.


Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Downtown Running Group!

Starting tomorrow, a running group led by Nancy Mincey will meet in front of Energy Fitness for 3, 6, and 9 mile routes. The group will meet every Wednesday morning at 5 a.m. and Thursday evenings at 6 p.m.

Nancy has some impressive credentials, which I will get to in a moment, but I want to assure anyone interested, this is not a group just for advanced athletes. No one is going to take off and leave you in their dust.

Nancy Mincey, 42, is the General Manager for a full-service nuclear fuel cycle company. She has been a competitive runner since grade school and in 2007 - 2008, she made the transition from running distance events to triathlons, which incorporates the running with swimming and biking. She is a member of the Memphis Terrapin Racing Team and completed her first Ironman in 2008 and is currently training for the Ironman Louisville in August 2009. Recent racing accomplishments:
2008 Ironman Florida finisher
2008 DeGray CATS half ironman, 40-44, 1st place
2008 Memphis in May Triathlon Amateur Challenge, 9th place overall
2008 Gulf Coast Triathlon, 40 – 44, 8th place
2008 Rebel Man Sprint Triathlon, 40-44, 2nd place
2006, 2007 Chicago Marathon finisher
Annual - Volunteer race pacer for the St. Jude Memphis Marathon




Here are a couple of pictures of Nancy in action: