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Allison Salgado

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Lynjoy Watson

Yvonne Tanner

A few easy steps to ensure your back’s good health when you’re in the gym.

OW! My aching back!

You’re having an amazing workout, when suddenly everything stops. A stinging sensation moves from your leg all the way up your back, sending paralyzing pain through your body. Could the pain have been prevented? Probably. Here are two tips to help you do just that.

Stretch It Out

Before beginning an exercise routine, stretching your body out slowly is still one of the best ways to prevent injury. To stretch out your back, try the following:

• Lie on your back with your feet flat on the ground, knees bent, and both hands resting on your chest. Then allow both legs to fall gently to one side of your body, while keeping your body in its original position. Raise your legs back to the starting position and allow them to fall to the other side. Hold each stretch for 5 to 10 seconds.
• Lie on your back, feet flat on the ground, knees bent. Pull one knee to your chest at a time, holding for 15 seconds. Repeat for the other leg, and then pull both knees to your chest for one or two repetitions.
• Resting on your hands and knees, relax your back and let it sag toward the ground while keeping your arms and legs in their original position. Once your back is as far down as it is going to be, bring your back to its original position and slowly arch your back like a cat toward the ceiling. Repeat two or three times.

Strengthen Your Core

In addition to stretching out your back, you should also actively work to strengthen your back. To do this, you’ll need to strengthen the muscles that protect your back – the core muscles. However, if you’re suffering from back pain, you should avoid some of the most common exercises that focus on the abdominal muscles, such as sit-ups (both regular and partial sit-ups) and lifting both of your legs in the air while lying on your back. You should also avoid other exercises that result in back pain or demand a lot from your back, such as standing toe touches.

If you aren’t experiencing back pain, any exercise that helps your core grow stronger is going to help you avoid back pain in the future. At the same time, you can go a long way toward protecting your back by performing other exercises properly and not involving your back in exercises that aren’t meant to work the back.

When Prevention Isn’t Enough

Despite your greatest attempts, you won’t be able to avoid back pain every time. When you begin to hurt in your back, you can often help your back pain feel better at home. A good first step is to ice your back. After a couple of days, you can alternate ice with heat.

While you may think staying in bed will help your back recover, taking bed rest will actually prolong the time it takes for your back to feel better. Instead, stay moderately active, being careful not to further injure your back. In the event your back pain doesn’t go away after a couple of weeks, seek medical attention, as it may require more intensive care than you can provide on your own.

Welcome Anthony and Ashley McQuary!

Welcome our newest Athletes!

Elizabeth Marshall

Alison Cruz

Welcome Ish, AJ and Marcella Jimenez!

Welcome to our family!

Maggie Jimenez

Adriana Silva

Run faster, better, longer, safer.

Push Off!

Any time you start exercising without warming up, you put yourself in harm’s way. As you may guess, this is also true for running. Before going full force on the trail, sidewalk, or treadmill, take a little time to get your leg muscles warmed up nice and slow. A great way to do this is to walk for a minute or two, go into a light jog, and work your way up to the top speed you want to use most of your time running. Also, when you’re done running, don’t stop cold turkey. Walk it off for a few minutes to allow your body to cool down in the safest way possible.

Relax – It’s Just Running

When you’re trying to push your body to superhuman speeds, you may find yourself tensing every muscle in your body in an effort to muscle your way across the finish line. But you may want to change your tense-running ways. One of the tricks to running fast is learning to relax. Start out by sitting in front of a mirror and letting your entire face go loose. Pay attention to how your face looks and feels. The next time you go running, take a quick peek in the mirror before heading out the door and remember to keep loose while running, and you’ll feel better during and after your run, while keeping yourself from many bothersome injuries that are more common when you’re tense.

I always loved running. It was something you could do by yourself, and under your own power. You could go in any direction, fast or slow as you wanted, fighting the wind if you felt like it, seeking out new sights just on the strength of your feet and the courage of your lungs. – Jesse Owens

Listen to Your Body

Just like every other workout routine, you should pay close attention to what your body is saying when you’re out for a run. If you feel your body is about to collapse during a run, it’s time to stop. Instead of pushing yourself over the point of no return, stop running when your body tells you to, and increase your running distance gradually. If you do it right, you should be able to increase your total running distance by 50 percent every four weeks until you hit your maximum running distance.

Pick up the Pace

Plan on getting in on the next big race in your community? You’ve got to pick up the pace in your own workout. After all, if you don’t make yourself run fast during your workouts, you’re not going to be able to run fast in a race. A great way to determine if you’re increasing your speed is to count how many times your right foot hits the ground each minute and work to increase that number. A good goal is 80 touches a minute, though it may take a while to get there.

Toes and Hands

To get the most effective push forward when running, use the big toe on each foot to catapult your weight. Doing this will move you faster and help your heels avoid some of the abuse that is often the result of frequent running. At the same time you’re pushing ahead with your toes, make sure your arms are moving in the right direction: directly in front of you. Though you may naturally swing your arms left to right, doing this causes your entire body to turn with each step, resulting in extra energy being used and less energy being saved up to help you in the final leg of the race.

I got this in an email from Coach Lorene today…

This is the recipe I was telling you about when my shiny earrings distracted you. I added carrot, celery, and avocado.

Makes enough for 2-4 good lunches, depending on how much you eat.

3 large chicken breasts, already grilled/baked and cut into bite size pieces
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 large pinch of coarse salt (Kosher or sea)
1 small pinch of cumin seeds
3 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 2/3 pounds very ripe but firm tomatoes, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
2 small Kirby (pickling) cucumbers, cored, seeded and diced
1/2 cup finely chopped white onion
1/2 cup seedless green grapes, cut in half
About 1/2 cup slivered fresh mint or basil (optional)

1. Place the garlic, salt, and cumin in a mortar (or cuisinart) and, using a pestle, mash them into a paste. Dump the paste into a medium bowl, add the vinegar and olive oil and whiskit all together well.

4. Place the chicken, cucumbers, onion, grapes, and mint, if using, in a large bowl and toss to mix. Add the dressing to the salad and toss to combine well.

So easy, refreshing, and cooking-free for these 100 degree days!

Just a reminder: The gym will be closed Friday, July 2nd and reopen Monday, July 5th.

Have a great 4th of July Holiday!



In America, the fastest route to good flavor is rarely the healthiest option. When someone suggests a healthier alternative, the idea is often shunned as being time-consuming or more expensive than other, fatty options. But these days, healthy doesn’t always mean expensive and it doesn’t have to take a lot of extra time.

Ready to make the changes that will turn your fat-filled recipes into healthy, light dishes? Grab your apron and get started!

Cook with Care

One way you can keep your dishes bursting with flavor without added fats is by cooking food properly. If you find yourself adding unhealthy flavoring because a food is dry or bland, you may have cooked it the wrong way. This problem happens easily with meats, so avoid overcooking your poultry, beef, and pork.

Remove Fried Foods from Your Repertoire

Grandma made great fried chicken and there’s nothing better than fried okra, but scientists have yet to find a healthy fried food. With so little hope for nutritional value in fried foods, do your body a favor and cut fried foods out of your recipe books. Instead, learn how to cook using boiling, broiling, or another healthy technique.

Use the Grill

Though you may consider grilling against good health sense, giving the grill a chance may be just what the doctor ordered. When cooking on a grill, excess fat simply drips off the meat, never to be seen again. You’re then left with a nice piece of meat that hasn’t been cooking in its own fat and has a wonderful flavor that can only be achieved on a grill.

Get Steamy

To create delicious vegetables without adding butter and excess salt, get steaming. If you don’t have a fancy steamer, toss your vegetables in a perforated basket, and place the basket above a pot of simmering water. On top of securing the vegetables’ great flavor, steaming also keeps the natural vitamins and nutrients intact, so you get the healthiest vegetables possible.

Head for Herbs

Herbs are a healthy, natural alternative to the saturated and trans fats present in butter and margarine. If you choose to use fresh herbs right out of the garden, add them toward the end of cooking and use them liberally. Dried herbs, on the other hand, should be added at the beginning of cooking and should be used sparingly to avoid an overpowering flavor.

Switch It Up

In addition to changing how you cook, adding flavor healthily requires some substitutions. You may not have to say goodbye to certain flavors altogether, but you will need to go with the healthier alternatives. To keep foods full of flavor without too much bad stuff, use the chart below the next time you go to the grocery store.

By implementing these easy tactics, your food should be as flavorful as it is healthy, so you should have no hesitations when it’s time to dig in!

Welcome Marcellus and Latrice Amaker!