Ah, the spectacular time between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day: It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s six weeks that fly by so fast your head spins. It feels like weeks are shrunk into minutes. It feels like you’re being pulled in different directions every time you breathe. There are celebration plans with in-laws, parents, step-parents, step-grandparents, the pets, the office.

Between work, school, shopping, parties and engagements, family time, personal care appointments to make you look like you haven’t kept your hair in a bun for 18 months (are you getting stressed out yet?), it’s really easy to let the personal wellness and fitness fall by the wayside. It is simple to think, “Yeah, I’ll pick this back up in January.”*

Well. I’m a trainer. And my job is to tell you that you SHOULDN’T let the fitness drop off and I’m an expert, so there.

I hope you know I’m kidding. However… you really SHOULDN’T let your personal wellness and fitness drop off in the six weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year’s just because It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.

I even have five talking points to help convince you.

Exercise is a form of stress relief. We know this, especially after a workout. “Oh, wow, I feel so much better now!” Is what I often hear. It can sometimes *feel* stressful to try to get the exercise in but remember: It’s more beneficial to just move than to not move. Even if it’s a 5-minute dance party, a 15-minute Peloton ride, doing pushups every time someone on Succession backstabs a family member.

Exercise boosts your immune system. There was so much expletive-filled chatter among fitness professionals when gyms were shut down in 2020-2021 because we KNOW exercise can help make our immune systems more robust. How much exercise helps depends on the length of the workout and the intensity but, as I said above, it’s not going to help if it’s not done at all. If you want to know more, click here. 

Exercise is a way to get yourself some You Time. You’re busy taking care of things having to do with ALL the other people: Kids. Partner. Boss. Family. It’s easy to lose track of YOU during this time. If you’re able to, carve out whatever time you can to feed your body with movement. Not able to actually be alone? That’s OK. Even if you have a dance party with your kids, or attend a large group class, or work out with your partner: You’re still doing YOUR body a wonderful service and that can totally be YOU time!

Exercise boosts your energy**. When we’re tired, the last thing we want to do is move around and exert energy. But just like the smell of lavender calms our nerves, and Ted Lasso gives us hope in humanity, and eating lots of fiber keeps you regular, and I will say, “Strong glutes, long life!” at least once a day, exercise in the right dose boosts your energy! So get that class in, lift those weights, skip around your house, do two squats for every time Keith Morrison uses alliteration in Dateline, and tell me you’re not a little bit more bushy-tailed.

Exercise can help give you a sense of routine. Can I tell you how often I hear new clients saying they’re CRAVING for a regular routine in their lives? I haven’t done the actual math but it’s got to be over 75% of new potential clients. Our lives got turned upside down more than a few times in the last two years and a lot of us are grasping for something steady and constant. Making a point of working out x number of times per week, or to work out at y time of the day, or to see Your Favorite Trainer on Earth z times per month: That’s routine. That’s steady. That’s consistency and that can help you anchor yourself while everything else flies around your head.

*All of this being said: We’re all doing the best we can right now. If you made it this far into the post, and if you’re still feeling like you’ll be lucky to get 30 minutes of exercise in between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, guess what. That’s OK, too.
**In the right dosage. Remember: The harder you exercise, the harder you need to recover. If you’re running on empty, your exercise might need to be breathing on your back.

Ten years ago today, on June 23, 2011, my baby company was made an official LLC through the State of Washington. 

IzzyFit is 10 years old now! It's a 5th grader! Time... If flies. Companies grow up so fast.

And I *hope* I've grown up with it. As I look back at the last ten years, I'd love to share with you some of the biggest lessons I've learned.

1. If you're not reevaluating how you do things every few years, you're doing it wrong. Follow the science. Learn from people smarter than you. Let go of what you thought to be true that's been proven wrong. Be transparent with clients about why you now think one way today when you did it differently the day before. Oh, hey, did you know your knees CAN go past your toes in a squat? Yeah! Go figure!

2. Strength training is for strength gaining, not weight losing. Weight loss is a fine goal if you and your doctor think it is necessary or you have (healthy) aesthetic goals. AND, at the same time, using strength training as a means to lose said weight is a study in using movement as punishment. Strength training should be EMPOWERING. It teaches you to take up space and OWN IT. It can help prevent injury and illness. So focus on the gains in the gym. Then, let's talk about lifestyle stuff that can get you to your weight loss goals outside of it.

3. Showing up matters. IzzyFit was born in June of 2011 and hit a crossroads in 2012. The relationship I was in at the time exploded into and I didn't know my next steps. Instead of staying in bed the morning after my Big Bad Breakup, I showed up to work and trained my clients. The new career that I'd both worked really hard for and given up a lot to change to was NOT going to be taken away by some stupid prick. 

4. Everyone needs a coach. Life's demanding. I had trouble brushing my teeth twice/day during the pandemic because I was so tired. AND I'm supposed to figure out a program for myself? No, thanks. Thanks to the past year, there are now more ways to find personal training at any budget. Want a connection? Please email me, text, or set up a call so I can help connect you to the best option.

5. You're. Not. BROKEN. We all have physical differences, some that can make life harder than for others. And if a fitness professional ever points out all of your physical "shortcomings" and says they can "fix" you with their system: Run. They're trying to make a sale. You're not broken. You are where you are and our job is to help you move better. Meeting with your fitness professional should help you move forward and onward, not make you cry. 

6. Before and after pictures are bogus. And I used to take them to help clients see progress. I even used a before and after sequence with a Client of the Month post and I still really regret it. Why? Because underneath the "look how far this person has come" congratulatory high five we give can lie the "OMG did you see that before? Ew." And that trend really needs to die. Why? Because that before picture was always worthy of love and acceptance and we spend too much time worshiping at the alter of thin.

7.  I like strong butts and I cannot lie. Want to lead a healthy life into old age? Lift heavy to strengthen your glutes. Period. Here's more on why.

8. Don't put off exercise. I have a new client. She is 86. She walks up and down the stairs better than some of our much younger clients. She has been training consistently with a trainer for 20 years. It's never too late to start. Just start and be consistent.

9. Tacos are the best meal. Always.

10. Consistency is key. As Tony Gentilcore likes to say, the ideal prescription for exercise is 3x52, meaning we should all be moving three days/week for 52 weeks out of the year. Sound daunting? It might and that's OK. So we start where we are, work to hit our initial goal consistently, and work up to 3x52. Show up consistently and it becomes a part of who we are. Conversely, if we consistently start and stop, that also becomes part of who we are. The choice is ours.

I'm sure I'll think of other IzzyFit lessons I've learned along the way but I'd like to leave you all with my deepest gratitude. Without all of my clients past and present, and friends like you to write and provide content for, IzzyFit wouldn't even BE 10 years old. So thank you, IzzyFit Nation. Much love to you.

Ten years after my first side butt post, I figured it was time for an update with some other exercises. 

I firmly believe the stronger your tush is, the longer your life can be. Here is why: The side butt (gluteus medius) is responsible for:

• Stabilizing your hips 
• Bringing your leg out to the side, away from your body
• Rotating your hip internally and externally

If your side butt is weak it can affect your:

• Hip complex
• Knees 
• Ankles
• Low back
• Shoulders

​
If you’ve sprained your ankles a lot, have knee pain when you run or do any activity, have low back pain after long walks, have uneven shoulders, etc: It could all stem from a weak side butt!

When it comes to the body, EVERYTHING is connected.

One place to start working on the almighty side butt is right here in one of my very first blog posts ever (hey, it still stands up!).

The second place: Right in this blog post! Here are three more of my favorite exercises that target the side butt (and other fabulous places).

I will start this post out my using the word "unprecedented" only once. Right there in that first sentence! You're welcome.

2020 was a whole lot of a whole lot for all of us and, as I like to do at the end of each year, I sat down to reflect on these last 12 months of IzzyFit. The highs. The lows. What we can leave behind. What we can look forward to. And, like I do with clients (talk about life stuff), I'm going to share what came to the surface. Here are my Top Six lessons from 2020:

In VERY basic terms, the law states that if you want to lose weight you need to expend more calories than you're taking in and if you want to gain weight, you need to take in more calories than you expend. And sometimes "want" is a funny word and the weight loss, gain, or stall "just happen" (but not really, because: Science).

I most definitely gained the COVID 19. I mean, I actually HAD COVID-19 all the way back in the first week of March but then I made it official by gaining the weight, too. Why? Because all of a sudden I was working from home, hardly moving, and drinking 2 glasses of wine every night. The. Law. Is. Real.

I've come out on the other side now. I'm doing the work to choose things other than becoming one with the couch while clutching my pretty wine glass. I'm training three times/week and choosing a tasty light beer after work. (And I talk about this and exhaustion here; if might resonate with you or someone you love.)
 
In any case: If this sounds familiar, you are not alone. In fact, your favorite personal trainer might also be very, very human, too ;) (I'm going ahead and declaring myself your favorite personal trainer, BTW, hope that's OK.)

I would have scoffed at the idea of doing virtual training on March 1st. And then, by March 20, I had a training schedule that ONLY consisted of Zoom training. And you know what: I love it! I mean, nothing takes the place of being in person with people I care about, but being able to continue to coach my IzzyFit crew from the comfort of their homes has been a blessing, honor, and a blast.

The real point here is:  Is there anything nutrition or fitness-related that you've sworn up and down you'd never do? Or thought was "good for them but not for me"? If you tried that thing out, what would you guess the best outcome might be? The worst? Now, what might the value be in trying it, knowing you can bail if it really isn't for you? 

My personal training teacher taught us this: When it comes to programming, creativity is our only limiting factor. Clients went from pushing sleds around, deadlifting 100+ lbs and throwing medicine balls against the wall to having very minimal equipment at home. Did that stop us from sweating and being sore! Heck NO! We made it work!

Some of my favorite at-home equipment: Wine bottles, towels, pets, children, suitcases, pillows, beds, coffee tables, ladders. Heck, my brother-in-law created dumbbells by pouring concrete into milk gallon bottles. Again I say: Creativity is our only limiting factor. Here are some of my favorite examples:

Strength coach Tony Gentilcore likes to say that lifting weights isn't supposed to tickle. If that's the case, I'd like to point out that if you're OK squatting and lunging and doing pushups because they make you stronger and healthier (movements, I might add, that don't feel anything like floating on an inflated unicorn in a pool while sipping a mai tai), then adding a mask to the workout won't make that much of a difference*. So. Just do it. Wear that mask. 

*Wear that mask while working out UNLESS your health dictates otherwise. Obvi.

It's funny how this year felt like we lived 10. Looking back and trying to differentiate March from April to May is hard. A lot of weird shit has been normalized (sometimes I forget I'm even wearing a mask and I don't think I'll be able to break the habit of talking to myself in a grocery store any time soon). And, while stuffing this year down the loo and giving it a good flush sounds like a good idea, I think we all deserve to mine from it the gold.

Take out some paper, a pen, and a timer. Give yourself 90 seconds for every prompt. Write your answers down to some or all of the following:
1. My favorite memory from this year was:
2. I'm proud of myself for:
3. What was the nicest thing someone did for me this year? 
4.  What was the nicest thing I did for someone else this year?
5. Who had the biggest impact on my life this year?
6. What could I have done, if anything, to make this year better? 
7. My support system consists of:
8. What do I want to do differently next year?
9. If I can go into January of 2021 with one word in mind, what would it be?

A special thanks to Kaia, Scout, Sophie, Denali, Captain, Tillie, Walter, Oreo, Sweetie, Pumpkin, Ouch, and Bama. If the pet mom or dad are home, the animals WILL join in. This is also scientific law. 

What's ahead? Well, I speculate that winter and spring will look much the same as it has which means clients will keep getting new programs every month, we'll keep using things around the house to work out with and training with the windows and doors open at the gym (good thing we Evanstonians are good at layering!).

And we'll continue making our health a priority.

​There's not a lot we can control in life but we CAN take some stuff -- exercise, nutrition, and rest -- into our hands. And I'm here to help. 

Ready to join me? Reach out by scheduling a call here, or email me at izzy@izzyfit.com, or call/text 312-497-8999. 

Cheers to 2021, friends!

​I took the above photo after an 8-hour day on Zoom. I can't NOT take pictures of my animals and I also stayed in this position for a good half hour. And I might have also been counting down the hours until bedtime. (Yes, I have a bed time. It's 8:30PM. Which is earlier than my bed time when I was 8 years old.)

My therapist pointed out last month that the running theme in our sessions was me feeling super exhausted all the time. From May through the end of September I did not work out. At all. And I felt so guilty about it. But I also felt a tremendous amount of dread about the act of it. The truth is that after 4-5 hours of Zoom in the morning and then after lunch I would just fall asleep. For, like, two hours. And still be tired enough to get myself to bed before or on time.

Lack of sleep was obviously not my problem here. 2020 was. And, let's face it, the past few years as well.

You know how some people, after a really stressful event get the flu or a cold or a cold sore or have other weird physical stuff happen? Well, I'd never considered that for me, sleep has been the way I've helped manage my stress. My body needs to just shut down and turn off. Does this resonate with anyone?

So let's get back to the not exercising part. I've already said my/our bodies react to stressful events by feeling things like exhaustion but sometimes we experience other negative physical sensations (like dread) to things we think we "have" to do. That negative physical sensation? It's a gift our body is giving us to tell us we need to recover from something. Trauma. Non-stop pivoting. The political climate. Schitt's Creek being over.

For me the thing I felt I "had" to do was work out. It seemed WAY too hard a task to accomplish this summer, though. At least, the way I'd been working out pre-Covid. So I wallowed in this cycle for quite a while until my motivation meter crept back to a place where I felt I was ready to do something. And over the last 10 weeks, I have been slowly working my way back to what I was doing in the "old days". And it feels GOOD. 

Exercise IS medicine. Even when we feel in our bones that we just can't do it. The key is finding the *right kind* of exercise at the *right intensity*. Can you do a 20-minute walk outside? Awesome! Can you stretch for 5 minutes? Your body will thank you. Can you only lay there at the top of your stairs with your animals at your side? Practice being kind to yourself and be OK with it. You'll feel different eventually.

If you've fallen out of your regular routine lately and can't seem to get your groove back: Be kind to yourself. Your groove might just need to look a little bit different right now.

I like to compare the newness of mask-wearing to learning the Turkish Getup for the first time: At first it makes no sense, we do it all wrong and it feels pointless but as we practice it time and again we realize that, actually, it is not as uncomfortable an endeavor as it seems to be, we notice we incorporate some of the movements into our everyday lives and it just becomes something we do because it makes us stronger.

Masks are going to be here for a while which is why today I'm showing you a few tricks to make you feel more confident in your balance. Masks aside, the truth is that if you've had changes to your vision in any way -- cataracts, macular degeneration, any other not-fun condition -- you've likely noticed a huge difference in the way you move through your world, specifically with balance. While with a mask we lose some of our peripheral vision, some of you might also have lost some vision in the center of your field of vision or you may see floaties in one eye... I could keep going. 

The loss of balance can be incredibly scary and that's why I'm here to bring you exercises you can do to help it get stronger! Balance is skill that needs practice. It is not something you have or don't have! So let's get to work! 

Variation 1: Just the Eyes

Variation 2: Kneeling

• ​Get down on the ground and sit back into your heels. Your toes can be pointed or tucked under
• Place your hands slightly in front of your knees and place a little bit of weight into them
• Place your tongue on the roof of your mouth and breathe in and out through your nose
• Look up toward the ceiling and let your head follow
• Then look down toward your belly button and let your head follow
• For look arounds, look UP and over your shoulder and let your head follow. You can totally allow your spine and arms to move with you, too
• Then, look the other way!

Do about 10 of each to make up one set.

Variation 3: Standing

• Stand with your feet about hip-width apart, knees soft (not locked out)
• Place your tongue on the roof of your mouth and breathe in and out through your nose
• Look up toward the ceiling and let your head follow
• Then look down toward your belly button and let your ad follow
• For look arounds, look over your shoulder and let your head follow. You can totally allow your spine, arms, and hips to move with you, too
• Then, look the other way!

Do about 10 of each to make up one set.

Coupling single-leg balance with some good-for-the-brain cross-body action is SO JUICY!

Of course you can do standing cross crawls in a variety of different ways but if we're talking about becoming more confident with our balance and walking while wearing a mask, I really like this variation:

• Root your standing foot into the ground as you pick up your other leg
• Feel that standing leg grow tall and strong as you slowly bring your elbow to the rising knee
• If you cannot physically reach your elbow to your opposite knee, that's OK! The physical tap IS important so use your hand or forearm
• Imagine you're moving through honey: Slowly and steadily

Do this for 1-2 minutes

We spend a whole lot less time on the ground as we age, don't we? This means we stop practicing getting up from the ground and if we fall (especially at a later age), we might not know how to get back up. 

This is why I am a big proponent of practicing "falling" down and getting up  in a safe space so we get used to it! You can do this exercise using all of your hands and feet but to make it more fun, I like to practice getting to and from the ground with the use of either one hand or none! 

The only wrong way to do this exercise is if you get up or go down in a painful way. Have fun with this.

​Put a timer on for 1 minute or 3 or 5! Whatever you do, just practice.

My friends: Masks are here to stay for a while and winter is coming. Let's all stay as upright as we can.

(Like these? Please share this post and let me know what comments or questions you might have in the area below!)

NOTE: THIS BLOG POST WAS WRITTEN BY MY GOOD FRIEND AND LA-BASED MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPIST ELISABETH ABBOTT. PLEASE ENJOY!

As a psychotherapist specializing in trauma and anxiety, I’m seeing an uptick in depressed, anxious, and panicked feelings in my clients — and to be honest, in myself. Here are a few of my best mind-body practices for surviving this … let’s just say challenging period. ​

Do you hate when someone tells you to “just breathe” as much as I do? This is a little bit different, and it’s backed by neuroscience. Place one hand on your chest and one hand on your belly. Now breathe so that your lower hand moves in and out, but your upper hand stays put. You don’t need to count, or even to breathe particularly deeply — just make sure you’re breathing into your belly. Do this for a while, and notice how you feel. Here’s why it works: when our nervous systems go into emergency mode, or fight-flight-freeze, we breathe rapidly and into our chests. When we breathe into our bellies, our nervous system signals to our brain that it can shut down the fight-flight-freeze response and move back into resilience. If you’re breathing into your belly, it can’t be an emergency. ​

Another way to ground is by changing your sensory input. Have you been drinking hot tea? Drink a glass of cold water. Notice how it tastes, and how it feels in your mouth. Smooth some fresh-smelling hand cream on your hands; notice the texture and scent.  Adjust the lighting (open your blinds, or close them), and notice what happens for you on the inside. One methodical way to use your senses to ground is a short five-senses meditation, which goes like this: Describe one thing you can see right now. I can see the trees through my window. They’re bright green, tall, and gently waving in the breeze. (It’s important to do this slowly and describe what you’re sensing with lots of adjectives.) Now repeat this process with your other four senses: touch, smell, taste, and hearing. Using each one of your senses and then describing it with lots of adjectives takes us from our brain’s limbic system (our fear-response system) into our prefrontal cortex (where logic and executive functioning lie), and helps to bring our nervous system back into resilience. ​

For distance-learning students and working-from-home adults, Zoom fatigue is real. My son’s second-grade teacher has instituted mandatory “brain breaks,” during which the kids get out of their heads and into their bodies. In our house, we use this time to play Just Dance on the Nintendo Switch, a game where we work up a joyful sweat to songs from Lizzo, Bruno Mars, and a host of 80s/90s hits — and he thinks he’s getting away with something because it’s a video game! Connecting with my kid and with my body, plus those euphoria-inducing endorphins, make this the best part of each day. If you don’t have Just Dance … just dance! I highly recommend the 80s dance party Spotify playlist. ​

I hesitate to say “lower your expectations,” but lower your expectations. We are going through an unprecedented global crisis. The world is having a collective trauma response and processing untold amounts of grief. Even if you haven’t become ill or lost someone you love due to COVID-19, you have likely been affected by job or financial instability, putting off important life milestones, stressors regarding role changes or family conflict, difficulty obtaining food or supplies, missing friends and family, a lack of (or too much!) human touch, or even just missing your routine. All of these things impact our ability to concentrate while working from home, to be a present parent/spouse/coworker, or even to take care of ourselves. These aren’t normal circumstances, so why are you holding yourself to your normal levels of productivity, or even to your normal mood? Help yourself to remember that survival is more than enough right now. That loaf of sourdough, or literally any completed project — is extra credit. ​

I just checked in with my friend from high school and Northwestern University who now resides in Italy to see how she and her family were holding up (at the time fo this post, Italy is on lockdown due to Covid-19). She jokingly said, "Send workout tips for people trapped at home," and I thought, "YES! I've got just the thing!"

I made this video a few years ago (back when there was no pandemic and I had ugly curtains) and it still holds strong today as it did then! There's SO MUCH STUFF around the house that can easily be used to help you get your sweat on. Let's face it: Exercise is KEY to keeping us healthy and we shouldn't let the Coronavirus scare us away from that.

Please watch the video below with a breakdown of what the workout will look like below that. Enjoy!

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:
A suitcase (to travel with! You know, up and down the hallway...)
Hand towels
A heavy book
A gallon of water/milk/detergent/etc
Two wine bottles
A very sturdy chair
Something to balance on your hand (like a slipper)
A reusable grocery bag with something in it (that has some weight to it)
Dog and/or cat*

*Do not use for exercise unless they're super relaxed. See bottom of post for example.

Do the following exercises in order with little to no rest between them. Take 2 minutes after the last exercise before doing the circuit again.

1. Suitcase carry: Do this for about 45 seconds in each hand. If you feel this in your low back despite bracing your core, make the suitcase lighter or use something else.
2. Towel mountain climbers: Perform 10-15 on each side. The leg that slides in should feel pretty weightless so you can stabilize using the extended leg. Your torso should be still enough to balance something on it.
3. Goblet Squat: Perform 10. Keep your knees behind your toes and aim to bring your thighs parallel to the floor. 
4. Renegade Row: Perform 10 on each side. This is where the very sturdy chair comes in; keep your shoulder right on top of your wrist here and keep your hips quiet.
5. Step Up: Perform 10-15 on each side. Again: STURDY CHAIR. If that's not an option, perform this instead.
6. Pec Flies: Perform 15. Keep a slight bend in your elbows throughout.
7. Turkish Getup: Perform 1 on each side. Now, if you don't know this move it can seem pretty daunting. Here is an awesome post breaking it down piece by piece. If you'd rather not learn this new exercise, though, do this instead (10 on each side).
8. "Kettlebell" Swing: Do 15 of these. Keep in mind that at the top of the swing, your body is in a vertical plank position which means your glutes, abs, thighs and armpit muscles need to be tight! If this seems too complicated, try 15 of these instead!

So how was that? I'd love to know.  Leave me a comment below!

Oh, and that example of only using your pet for exercise if they're super relaxed? See below.