Can a gal just get her mud run on in peace?

I wrote this post for another blog that I've been working on for school, but wanted to share it on this blog too. As always, please feel free to comment.

Peace, love, sweat xoxo SR

Does this picture look familiar? If you’re a member of Facebook, then you’ve probably seen it floating around your newsfeed the past few days. It’s the latest promotional photo from the SPARTAN RACE and boy oh boy, it sure has been popular. An ad like this raises some interesting questions. Mainly, is it wrong to oversexualize women when promoting a race? By sexualizing a female racer, does this picture suggest that instead of being strong, tough, and badass, women just look sexy when they roll around in the mud? By using this picture to promote their event, the SPARTAN RACE seems to be suggesting that watching hot girls play in the mud is just one more racing incentive for their male targets. Maybe there’s nothing wrong with that; after all, a race needs to sell entry slots right? However, by portraying women in this way, the race may also be losing another target audience that has been showing up in masses at mud runs- women. Other runs like the Warrior Dash and Tough Mudder have done a good job at showing both genders looking tough, athletic, and, of course, goofy as hell. There’s nothing wrong with posting pictures of a muscular bod kicking butt on an obstacle. However, when the focus of the picture isn’t how tough the subject is, but how attractive they are, the result is, ironically, a turn off.

SoMe #6- this one has a fitness spin :)

Hi Everyone!

I know it's been a hot minute since I last posted. Just busy being overwhelmed and slightly irresponsible..anywho expect a fitness update soon. T, J, and I are running the half this upcoming Sunday ( yikes!) so I'm sure I'll have lots to say about that..if I can even move my fingers on the keyboard once it's over.
This week, we were asked to blog about social media buzzwords. I had a list and a post all written out when I realized that there had to be a better way to tie in my fitness blog to buzzwords. So Heidi, if you're reading this, I did my homework on the business buzzwords :)! However, I think this post should focus on the fitness buzzwords of 2013. For readers who are interested, feel free to message me and I'd be happy to talk shop on the SoMe buzzwords too! I just want to rein this blog in and focus on its original intent- to explore the wild world of health and fitness.

I've separated the buzzwords into two lists, focusing my favorite and least favorite words. If you can think of more key phrases of 2013, please share! Also, last minute half marathon tips would be deeply appreciated, a duh.

Peace, love, sweat xoxo SR

Dig

• Functional Fitness: You'll be hearing about this one a lot this year, and with good reason! Picture the scene, you've just run six miles and scored a PR. As you head out to the bars for a victory brew,you can't help but notice that you're hobbling like a deer with a broken ankle. Not so fit after all. Functional Fitness focuses on exercises that renew and restore your body so that you can kick ass in and out of the gym. Exercise should compliment your life, not turn it into a world of pain. 
• Boredom Blasters: Okay, I made this word up, but not the definition! All kinds of kooky activities were thrown our way in 2012 and continue to flourish in the New Year. Fun Runs no longer mean that there might just be a tee shirt and a beer at the finish line. Make way for a plethora of muddy dashes, tire hopping, colored powder, and more next time you sign up for a race. We've also got a series of yoga festivals to look forward to. Wanderlust Festival is a wonderful four day event that takes place in cities all over the world. It brings together like minded yogis, instructors, musicians and more for a giant yoga celebration. Namaste! SUPing is also on the rise. The stand up board paddling sport now offers new ways to paddle. Personally, I've been dying to try a vinyasa flow class on the board. 
• Strong is the new skinny: 

This new buzz phrase should successfully demolish Kate Moss's legendary pro-ana comment. If only this mentality had been mainstream when I was growing up. 

• Stacking: Twenty minutes cardio, twenty minutes weights, twenty minutes core; sound familiar? Breaking your workout up into sections doesn't benefit you as much as stacking intervals. Expect to see more classes and work with more trainers who tout the idea of interlacing these three areas together. By working in intervals, you'll get better results. 
• Social Training: I had to include a social media angle! In 2013, fitness and social media go hand in hand. We can't always workout with our friends in person, but that doesn't mean you have to sweat out your long run on your own! Fitocracy, MapMyRun, and Strava all let you compete and share updates with your social network. Another app I have my eye on is GymPact. This is great for groups of friends who are having trouble getting to the gym. GymPact encourages users to thrown down money each week then logs how many times the user goes to the gym( based on your attendance goal). Every time you skip a day, you forfeit some of your money. At the end of the week, the forfeited money is divided up among those who stuck to their goal and didn't miss any gym days. Social and motivating! 

Ditch

• Detox: Ugh, what does this even mean? I must admit that when I see shiny, happy juice pictures on Pinterest, I too am momentarily drawn to the idea of a cleansing juice detox diet. Then I close my computer and abruptly remember that humans, especially humans who exercise frequently, are probably not supposed to live off of juice for extended periods of time. The idea of a cleanse or detox is so appealing, however, it's not exactly possible. After a week of snarfing junk food or binge drinking, it's tempting to imagine that you can just "cleanse" the bad stuff out of you. Our bodies are actually quite smart and are constantly "detoxing" so to speak. Remember all those times that you like, pee? Though you'll lose weight on a detox diet, it's because you're drastically cutting calories and as soon as you start eating again you'll obviously go back to your normal weight. Instead of feeling guilty and succumbing to a crazy "detox",alter the way that you eat and exercise. If drinking beer every night makes you feel like your only solution is to survive on carrot juice for a week, then just stop drinking so much beer! It's probably easier to cut back on an indulgence than comfortably survive on a 500 calorie daily intake. Don't trade out exercise and food for a juice diet. Alter your lifestyle in simple ways now and I promise that a wacky detox will never seem logical to you again. 
• Shredding: Shred fat, shred muscle, shred tough- I don't think I need to go into detail about why this word sounds douchey- IT JUST DOES. 
• Target Fat: The lure of targeting belly fat is pretty strong, however, it's not really possible to just successfully target one area. Your best bet is to create a full body workout plan. Include push ups, cardio, and bench presses into your workouts and you'll see results. Just doing core work does not necessarily guarantee a flat belly- despite what your fancy Gold Coast gym class may suggest.
• Get Certified!: If you belong to a yoga studio or a gym, then you've probably been bombarded with newsletters making call outs for future trainers and teachers. That's all well and good, but an important detail seems to have been left out-not every Flexible Fanny ( or Freddy!) is meant to teach a fitness class. I belong to a studio that is constantly certifying yoga instructors and frankly, not every instructor I've worked with there has been very good. Let's bring the focus back to quality not quantity. Sometimes, it seems like becoming a teacher is the only way to push your practice to the next level- that's not a good enough reason. Become a teacher to pass on the good word to students. If you're trying to reach your next fitness level, sign up for a marathon instead. 
• Core Training: We have an obsession with our cores, I get it. I'd love to magically erase my beer belly. However, it takes more than a core training class to do that. A well rounded exercise routine will get you to where you want to be. If you take classes that only focus on the core, try weight lifting or other exercises that target other parts of your body. When it comes to fitness, balance will always be the key to success.  

This was a good weekend.

Palm Beach, Florida

SoMe Class Post #4

Hi Everyone,

Just posting for class! This week we were asked to reflect upon a customer service nightmare that has happened to us in the past. We were supposed to look at it from the perspective of the customer, which is a little tricky! Frankly, it's easy to think of memories when a customer treated me poorly, but not so easy to think about a time when a clerk rattled my feathers.

More often than not, when I'm faced with a clerk who's got an ugly case of BADitude, I tend to zone out and walk away. I'm not one for engaging with crabby strangers. How can I blame the wacky woman working behind the DMV counter for her gnarly behavior? Her job sucks! Her job before this probably sucks! She has probably had years of sucktastic full time work and I feel more sorry than angry about that.

In general, I think empathy is good when working with difficult people. Of course, I take lessons away from bad customer experiences. I learn how not to act when I am working with a customer. There have definitely been times when I want to snap at someone, but that is pretty unacceptable. I'd much rather be calm and collected, than a part of the problem.

I think, in general, all that yoga makes a peaceful attitude possible...maybe pass that bit of advice on to the DMV.

Peace, love, sweat xoxo SR

Stuck in a Rut womp womp

Hey Everybody,

Less than a month to go until the half!! I'm getting a little nervous. I've had a few upsets the past two weeks that hopefully won't affect me come race day. For starters, my ITBS just won't give me a back. I've been foam rolling, icing, and Advil-ing like crazy, but so far no dice. It merely becomes less awful, but never stops nagging me. I'm seeing the doctor on Thursday so hopefully he'll give me some good suggestions. Yesterday, my friend C suggested I try massage therapy. He said it's possible that stretching alone can't break down all the scar tissue that's by my knee. I hope that's what the doctor says too. Part of me just wants the damn cortisone shot that I can forget about this pain for at least six months, but those have some pretty gnarly side effects, from my understanding. This is totally disgusting, but sometimes I wish I could magically remove my IT band from my knee and wring it out then put it back in. So weird, I know... Anyway, being in constant pain has been a little depressing and I've had a hard time shaking my funk.

I don't know if I'm distracted or what, but my runs have been suffering this week. Jogs that should be easy-peasy are suddenly making me feel like I've got a pound of bricks strapped to each thigh. I'm not sure if I'm just burning out or what. I'm dedicating the next three days to yoga. Since I picked up the half training, my yoga practice has taken the back burner and I've only been going twice a week. I think I need to be stretched out ( mentally and physically) before I can kick ass on the road again.

I hope everyone is enjoying the sunny weather! Perfect for running and yoga on the beach :).

Peace, love, sweat xoxo SR

SomE class #3

Hey Everyone,

Just updating my blog for class on something interesting, though entirely unrelated to fitness!

This week, we were asked our opinion on gay friendly ads and if we thought it was smart that companies like JC Penny and Gap were getting involved in this issue. To that question, I can respond wholeheartedly with a big, ol' YES. YES OF COURSE companies should be including gay people in their advertisements. Before I climb up onto my soap box, here's my favorite ad from this year so far:

This ad is so lovely and cute and gives me the warm fuzzies every time I watch it. This is what ads today SHOULD look like. It's not playing on stereotypes, it's not using gay rights to sell the product, it's just a sincere ad that depicts gay and straight people interacting in a totally normal way- you know, like in real life?! 

I think that gay rights is a black and white issue. It's totally a matter of right and wrong. I've noticed that people frequently make excuses for others who are a little homophobic- as if that was an illness or something. To me, homophobia is just a sign of complete ignorance and I'm guessing that these "mildly homophobic" people would have also been "mildly racist" slave owners or "mildly anti Semitic" Nazi Youth in another time and place. There is nothing wrong with being gay! Or straight! Or asexual! Who cares! If you're a human walking around this good, green planet then you deserve to be included- and that means advertisements should be speaking to you. 

Companies should understand that someday, in the near future, it will seem absolutely backwards that gay people weren't represented in commercials. So if some nutty right wing group refuses to buy their khakis at your store, who cares? Those idiots will be irrelevant soon enough. More often than not, I think it's far more important for companies to focus on their cultural capitol than on their financial gain. There is nothing wrong with a brand showing compassion and someday when gay rights are no longer tangled in a nasty debate, companies like Kindle and Gap will be remembered and respected for their open minded attitude. 

One love yall! 

Peace, love, sweat xoxo SR