Witness the Fitness: Tips from DC’s Fittest Ladies

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January 13, 2010 by Sarah Clise | Comments (1)

Admit it. After months of Egg Nog lattes, shortbread, and tummy-hiding sweaters, it’s not easy to get back in the swing of working out. Lucky for us, there are some local wonder women whose lives are devoted to physical fitness. Below find some tips from the fittest ladies in town to starting off the new year on the right, well-toned foot.

Sarah Stanley, Endurance Athlete, Blogger & Inspirational Speaker

Sarah blogs about her amazing fitness feats like 100 mile races to inspire others to lead healthy lives. She particiaptes in and speaks at events to encourage people of all ages to be fit, starting today. Sarah says:

1. Set realistic goals
2. Start small, build your way up (don’t bite off more than you can chew).
3. Only drink water. Sugary drinks do nothing for you, only add weight and headaches.
4. Make fitness and a healthy life style a part of your life. It can be done.
5. Be patient. Results happen over a period of time

Stephanie Dignan, Founder of The Boot Camp Girl

A personal trainer, Stephanie is a fitness guru who started her own company after teaching boot camp classes at a local gym for just four months. She puts the responsibility on the individual (aka YOU!) to develop healthy habits and attitudes when it comes to physical fitness. Stephanie says:

1. Make your first priority for 2010 to take full and complete responsibility for your 2009 health and fitness results. Study and learn from your results…the good and the bad.  The good news is that if you want to be different in 2010, you have the choice to do things differently, and thus get different results. Don’t try to ignore, forget or bury 2009 until you learn all of the profitable lessons you can from some deeper examination.  Face reality and decide to make some changes. Be honest with yourself about what’s working and what’s not working.  Better results require better actions!
2. Write down your short term and long term goals for 2010 .  Have a monthly and a yearly goal. Also write down longer term goals. Don’t forget goals unrelated to fitness.  Post this in a place that you can see it and tell other people about it.
3. Write down your action plan to achieve your goals.  Determine what it is that you need to do in order to achieve your goals.  Make a very specific plan with a time schedule.
4. Be held accountable.  Find someone else to be accountable to.  This may be a friend, personal trainer, group, etc.  If it’s a friend, make sure this person is serious about holding you accountable. Maybe you can hold each other accountable.  In this way you can also be helping someone else achieve their goals.

Karla Adams, Owner of MindbodyFitness

Karla is a former professional classical dancer who advocated the need for work outs to engage the body AND the mind. Her studio offers a number of services, including Pilates classes and Perinatal Fitness. Karla says:

1. Complete your workout first thing in the morning, before going to work. It’s not only going to give you more energy to get through the day, but you also will have it over with, so you won’t need to worry about trying to squeeze it in at the end of the day. Not a morning person ? Trick yourself into getting up by setting your alarm far away from your bed(that way you can’t keep hitting snooze !) Another trick, lay out your workout clothes the night before. I even have some clients who sleep in their workout attire!
2. Never skip breakfast ! Breakfast literally means “breaking the fast”. You have been asleep for 6 to hopefully 8 or 9 hours, (side note,never underestimate the power of sleep, especially when it come to weight loss and weight management) During your period of rest, you haven’t taken  in any calories. We need good clean calories for our bodies systems to work efficiently. Think of food as gas for your car. You car won’t run if the tank is on empty. Don’t think breakfast has to be “breakfast food”. A deli sliced turkey sandwich on whole grain bread with mustard is a great way to start the day, and it’s portable (yes, in DC it’s always about eating in the car or en route to somewhere)!
3. Find an activity you truly enjoy and make that activity part of your lifestyle. Think about something you can do for an hour, and you have no idea where the time went because you were having so much fun. Research has shown that those who lose weight and keep it off combine good clean calories with activities they CONSISTENTLY engage in that make them feel good.

There you have it. Craving a better body and a new lease on life? Follow the advice of these strong and savvy ladies and make 2010 your best year ever!

One Response to “Witness the Fitness: Tips from DC’s Fittest Ladies”

• Q. Says:
  
  January 26th, 2010 at 11:08 am

  Good tips.

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