Maui, HI. December 27, 2011 : Your New Year Approach to Health & Fitness Choices for 2012 on Suzie Cooney’s Radio Health & Fitness Segment with the Maui Breakfast Club, every Tuesday on Maui’s KNUI 900AM @ 7:30am.

Make a “lifestyle” choice for life not  for one month. Reward yourself with a new surfboard, new running shoes, and make a plan and stick to it and see yourself in that lifestyle. Like what you see in the mirror, but love yourself on the inside first. Tweet

Most News Year’s resolutions fail because it is not motivating enough. Forget them, get real and get real simple. Reflect back and see forward. Trainers like myself can help you plan and chart realistic, simple changes that before  you know it, it’s March and you’re still on track.

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Feel free to share your comments and tell us your tips to help our audience can make long lasting, lifestyle choices. Let this be your year to set the pace for yourself, your friends and family. Live the life you always dreamed of now, make it healthy and simple.

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Suzie Cooney of Suzie Trans Maui is a weekly guest on the Maui Breakfast Club with Tom Blackburn Rodriguez and Kellie Pali and shares every week, her healthy tip. From how to train for big surf, SUP stronger, train to be extra strong for windsurfing and kiting skills, or how to get off the roller coaster of yo-yo dieting and shed weight for good.  For over 12 years she has helped hundreds of people get in the shape of their lives and live the life Maui offers. People come from all over to train and learn from her.

Tune in every week, Tuesday on Maui’s KNUI 900AM at 7:30am or click here to catch the daily, live broadcast from anywhere in the world.

Happ New Year Everyone! See you on the water!  Check out my other website:  http://www.standuppaddlingfitness.com/  Here you can change your life and discover a new way to get healthy with the awesome sport of SUP or stand up paddling. This is YOUR year to try something new!

Suzie Cooney, CPT

 Suzie Cooney is available on the island of Maui for private, fitness training, stand up paddle ( SUP ) coaching, lifestyle coaching and for public speaking.

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Our minds and bodies are connected and without a healthy mind we cannot have a healthy body. See my article and listen to my radio show on: Mental Wellness: Why We Need to Have Hope For Our Body’s Health and Our Mind’s Health.

Gretchen writes:

     Prescribing Exercise to Treat Depression: August 31, 2011
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Can a stroll help ease depression? That question preoccupied Dr. Madhukar H. Trivedi, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, after several of his patients, all suffering from serious depression, mentioned that they felt happier if they went for a walk. The patients in question were taking the widely prescribed antidepressants known as S.S.R.I.’s, for selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, but not responding fully. They remained, by clinical standards, depressed. Dr. Trivedi and his colleagues began to wonder if adding a formal “dose” of exercise would increase their chances of getting better.

Certainly the possibility was worth investigating. Clinical depression, as anyone who has experienced or watched a loved one struggle with the condition knows, can be stubbornly intractable. Even if patients have been taking an antidepressant for months, recovery rates tend to hover below 50 percent.

In order to increase the odds of improvement, doctors frequently add a second treatment — often another drug, like lithium or an antipsychotic — to the S.S.R.I. regimen at some point, Dr. Trivedi said. Most patients ultimately require at least two concurrent treatments to achieve remission of their depression, he said. Studies have shown that these secondary drug treatments help an additional 20 to 30 percent of depressed patients to improve, but the medications can be expensive and have unpleasant side effects.

Which prompted Dr. Trivedi to look to exercise. His investigation joins a growing movement among some physiologists and doctors to consider and study exercise as a formal medicine, with patients given a prescription and their progress monitored, as it would be if they were prescribed a pill.

In this case, Dr. Trivedi and his collaborators, who included researchers at the Cooper Institute in Dallas, the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Louisiana and other institutions, recruited 126 people with depression who had been using S.S.R.I.’s for a minimum of two months, without achieving remission. None of the patients exercised.

Dr. Trivedi and his colleagues divided these volunteers into two groups. One began a gentle aerobic exercise routine, under the tutelage of Cooper Institute researchers, which required them to burn a certain amount of calories per session, depending on their weight. How the subjects expended the energy was up to them. Some walked for about 10 minutes a day, on a treadmill or by strolling around the block, at a pace of three miles an hour. Others chose an equivalent easy cycling workout.

The second group was more energetic, walking briskly for about 30 minutes a day at a pace of four miles an hour, or the cycling equivalent, a regimen that meets the current exercise recommendations from the American College of Sports Medicine.

Each volunteer exercised for four months, while continuing to take an antidepressant. At the end of that time, according to the study published recently in The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 29.5 percent had achieved remission, “which is a very robust result,” Dr. Trivedi said, equal to or better than the remission rates achieved using drugs as a back-up treatment. “I think that our results indicate that exercise is a very valid treatment option” for people whose depression hasn’t yielded to S.S.R.I.’s, he said.

As with most scientific findings, though, there are caveats.

One is practical. More patients improved in the group that completed the longer, brisker workouts than in the group assigned the easier exercise, but more of them also dropped out of the study. “We need to find ways to support people’s efforts to exercise,” Dr. Trivedi said. “It’s not going to be enough to casually say, ‘Go for a walk.’” Exercise, if it’s to be medicinal in depression treatments, will have to be monitored, he said, so it can’t be shrugged off.

Even then, many people will not respond. Almost 70 percent of the volunteers in this study did not achieve full remission. Failure rates were particularly high for women with a family history of depression, perhaps as a result of some as yet unknown genetic quirk. And women in that group who did recover were more likely to succeed using the lighter exercise program than the more strenuous routine.

Then there is the issue of a control group, whose members would have continued with their S.S.R.I.’s but not exercised. This study did not have one, making interpreting the results tricky, said James A. Blumenthal, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University who was not involved with this study but who has written extensively about exercise and depression. Perhaps four additional months of S.S.R.I. treatment raised people’s moods, and the exercise was incidental. “Evidence is accumulating that exercise may be an effective treatment for depressed patients who are receptive to exercise as a possible treatment and who are able to safely engage in exercise,” he said. But the evidence is by no means definitive.

Still, Dr. Trivedi said, although additional studies certainly are needed, there’s no reason for people with unyielding depression not to talk now with their doctors about exercise as a treatment option. “Side effects are almost nonexistent,” he said, “while you get additional benefits, in terms of improvements in cardiovascular health and reductions in other disease risks,” things antidepressant drugs do not provide. “Plus,” he pointed out, “the cost profile is very favorable.” Exercise, as medicines go, is cheap.

To read the article from the New York Times, Click here

Thank you Gretchen for this fantastic insight to what many know and now it’s time the rest of the medical community put away their prescription pads, get the drug companies out of their pockets and teach their patients how to exercise for the mental health.

Suzie Cooney, CPT of Suzie Trains Maui

  @SuzieTrainsMaui

by Suzie Cooney, CPT

Core training is absolutely necessary for all ages and all levels of fitness. The core is simply everything excluding your extremities, however in the following exercise the legs and arms do assist the core to execute this advanced plank move.

Start Position Plank

Here, my client Juliet Bundschuh, has recently advanced to the INDO Board Stabilizing Plank. With her feet together behind her, arms locked at shoulder width part, and chest over the INDO Board, she is using all of the finer and deep pelvic floor muscles to keep her centered and steady. In addition, she requires upper body strength to keep her body supported on the board.

While keeping her head in a neutral position, she will start here and then move the board to the left and right, while engaging the core muscles to bring her back to the center, start position and repeat.  The trick is to take away any stress you may feel in your wrists, arms or shoulders and bring it back to the center. Also be careful not to let the board slide out.

Advanced Position

The advanced progression is then to left one leg behind you about 6-12 inches off the floor and continue the same. Here, she will notice her glutes to fire more actively on the supporting leg that is still on the ground.  Very impressive Jules!

Jules’ training always includes core training. Core training prepares the body for the workout or heavier demands in exercising.

To advance this move even further to the next left, I may put the Gigante INDO Board Disc underneath her feet! Crazy action occurs throughout the entire body.

I hope you enjoyed this quick, advanced training tip.

To learn more about my training techniques you can follow me on Face Book to: http://www.facebook.com/suzietraninsmaui or http://www.suzietrainsmaui.com

Suzie Cooney, CPT  of Suzie Trains Maui    See you on the water!

To get your INDO Board, click here! Jules’ awesome, new training shoes are the OluKai Kia’i Trainer.

Although the Thanksgiving Holiday is a time of family and friends, giving thanks and maybe a football game or two, it’s also a time, for some, a food free for all that can quickly add unwanted inches to your waistline.

But, if you have a game plan you can enjoy the day without adding the extra wobble!  Here are a few tips to keep your weight loss and fitness goals on track:

1. Don’t exercise as an excuse to indulge. You might say to yourself, “oh I’ll have a second serving of mash potatoes.” Well, that extra 300 calories you can eat in under 15 seconds, will take you at least 40 minutes or more of moderate cardio to burn that off.
2. Slow down. Allow your body to register the food you are putting in your mouth. For those fast gobblers, your body and brain can’t keep up with your mouth to know when it’s full.  So 20 minutes is a good target amount of time to eat. Also include a sip of water before each bite.
3. Cook with low-fat ingredients. There are many healthy substitutes for cooking a delicious meal. For example, try low fat, sodium free chicken broth, or low fat or fat free sour cream for the mash potatoes.  Also, sugar substitutes can save you hundreds of extra calories. And remember to cook the stuffing outside of the bird vs. inside. Reach for white meat vs. brown meat.
4. Holidays can be stressful times for many and is one of the main factors why people over eat during the holidays.  If there are too many relatives, kids or barking dogs all sitting around in one room, instead of reaching for 2 extra bread muffins, or another beer, take a break, get up and walk outside for some nice fresh air. If you’re the one who is so kindly cooking, plan ahead and have everyone bring a dish.
5. Watch out for pre dinner grazing. Sure, if you’re the cook, you can taste a little here and there. If you’re simply passing by the kitchen to “test” a few things before they are served, before you know it that could be an extra 500 calories.
6. Lastly, wear tighter fitting clothes! Leave the elastic pants in the drawer or use them to wash the car.

Here is a helpful link to help you prepare healthy, low-fat dishes this Thanksgiving. Brought you to by the Mayo Clinic: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/thanksgiving-recipes/NU00643

I give thanks to all my friends and ohana on Maui.

Happy Thanksgiving

Suzie Cooney is a certified personal trainer on Maui. Learn more about her and her services at www.suzietrainsmaui.com/blog

She can also be reached e: Suzie@SuzieTrainsMaui.com

Having a Healthy Body Image  

The media, our families, our friends’ can sometimes bombard us with unhealthy messages that can “shape” our thoughts of how we feel about ourselves when we look in the mirror.  The diet and cosmetic industries assure us that if we have size 2 waists, our lives will be more fulfilling and everything will be wonderful! 

How ridiculous to think that skinnier people are more happy.  This is so off the mark! Would you agree?

We all want to feel and look our best. What you see on the outside in not always true on the inside.  A healthy body is not always linked to how we look. Thank goodness we come in all shapes and sizes, otherwise, it would be so boring. 

Body image can be described as:

       How you see or picture yourself

            How you feel others perceive you

                        What you believe about your body

                                    How you feel inside your body

A person with a positive body image has a real perception of their shape, size and is okay and comfortable with themselves.  Now, a person with a negative body image, this person experiences a distorted view of their body.  They are always comparing themselves to others and feel shame and maybe anxiety. In addition, these feelings can lead to emotional issues, such as extreme obsessive behaviors, low self-esteem, depression, and other eating disorders.

Here are a few tips to learn to love what you see in the mirror and help change your own perception of your body:

1. Take a deep breath, look in the mirror and smile really big.  Sounds silly, but that’s my point. I want to you loosen up and not be so serious.  Surely you can find something you like about yourself. 
2. Don’t hide or walk away from mirrors in your home.  Walk by and say, “hey I look good!”  Remind yourself that true beauty is not skin deep.  Walk in confidence and self-acceptance.
3. Wear what makes you feel good!  Don’t hide behind a dress that’s 4 sizes too big, or surf shorts that are too big. But, wear something that you’ve been complimented in before. I love that feeling, especially if I feel a little on the awkward side that day. 
4. Exercise because it makes you feel good, not because you just ate huge Big Mac and you feel guilty!  Just don’t’ eat the Big Mac next time.
5. Be with people, family, or friends that make you feel good just the way you are. Shift away from people who take your energy or who are critical. They are than likely not happy with themselves either.  How draining!

We are who we are.  Genetics, change of life, our natural aging process should be embraced in our society.  I do believe that some parts of the media get it, but surely not enough! 

Call me, and I’ll remind you just how beautiful you are!

Warm aloha,

Suzie Cooney, Suzie Trains Maui