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Lessons from My Fitness Journey at Life Time: Part 1

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I like to think I’m a reasonably fit person. I exercise most days of the week. I run with my dog at least twice a week for three or so miles. I do Pilates weekly and I often go spinning or swimming at least once a week too. But lately I have felt like I am in a bit of a fitness rut. As I enter my mid-40s, my knees feel creakier and I am acutely aware that these are what I call the “make it or break it” fitness years. If I don’t up my fitness game now, I feel like I’ll pay for it later.

I exercise to relieve stress and yes keeping svelte and burning calories is a definite goal of mine but I know I should do more strength training to keep osteoporosis which runs in my family at bay. But I am at a loss of where to start. And that’s part of the reason why I asked Life Time if I could try out membership for three months to see if I could make any significant changes in 90 days and thankfully they obliged. We’ve all read those articles in women’s magazines with titles such as “Get Buff in 100 Days: Here’s How.” Luckily these 90 days happened to coincide with the holiday season when I am more apt to indulge and have my fitness plans fall by the wayside. This was just the kick in the butt I needed.

Although I just began my membership as we went to press, I like what I see so far. No let me rephrase that, I love what I see so far. Back in the day when I lived in London, I belonged to a very upscale gym. When you walked into the lobby, it felt like a hotel and they had services galore from spa massages, beauty treatments and an on-site nursery so parents could work out while their kids played. This has all of the above but on a more luxurious level. Dare I say that I would consider just coming to Life Time to hang out and write articles? It’s quiet, pristine and not crowded. Serenity now.

So here’s what I’ve learned so far in my first two weeks at Life Time. Stay tuned for part two of this series in our next edition.

1. Choose a gym with good energy.

Amy Williams, the PR Manager of Life Time tells me how “energy” is really our sixth sense. “It’s unbelievably important to have the right energy at the club- something you feel right when you walk in,” she explains. I can personally attest that this is true, from the lush greenery at the entrance, ultramodern lighting and front check in staff that seems more like a concierge at a hip hotel. They personally welcome me by name and no, this is not an editor perk. I see this with other guests too. I feel welcome here and when I leave they actually ask me if I had a good workout and they seem to genuinely care.

2. The little things count.

Life Time has a private nursing room right by the salon. I  ask corporate headquarters if all Life Time clubs have this. They note that many moms would use the lounge space inside the women’s dressing room but they wanted to accommodate those who wanted more privacy so now all new Life Time clubs will have it. This shows me that they listen to member feedback and as a former nursing mom who brought my infants to the gym a lot, I love this. Also being under five feet, I am thrilled to see that their studio where barre classes are held has ballet barres at different heights. I’ve been to too many barre classes where I can’t even reach the barre and my short stature feels like a hindrance. I also love how their locker room features lockers that are big enough for me to store my bulky winter coat. I feel like I can easily get ready, shower and change into business attire after a workout without a wrinkle in my clothing. Too many times, I’ve felt like the lockers at other gyms aren’t roomy enough. Plus, they even have make-up remover in the bathrooms–say goodbye to runny mascara after a tough sweat session.

3. A personalized approach to fitness goals is key.

As I begin my fitness journey, I participate in an onboarding session with Liz Rodriguez, the Member Onboarding Manager. This is an important step that all members at the club must do and helps us both delineate what my fitness goals are. During this one-hour session, we go over some important statistics and discuss my weight (104) body fat percentage (29%) skeletal muscle mass (39.7 lbs) as well as my ECW/TBW which stands for Ratio of Extracellular Water to Total Body Water, an important indicator of body water balance which indicates how hydrated I am and any inflammation in my body which is .373 (ideal is under .370).

The number that surprises me most though is my body fat percentage. Although I am in the average range according to the American Council on Exercise, 32% is obese, so I know I need to up my strength training workouts. Rodriguez suggests I try to lower my body fat percentage and increase my skeletal muscle mass and the best way for me to achieve this is through strength training. She suggests my workouts consist of 50% cardio and 50% strength training and reviews a sample week of classes that fit my schedule. I also need to incorporate yoga for flexibility.

I also undergo an active metabolic assessment. This is a scientifically accurate method of determining my specific heart rate zones and how my body burns carbohydrates and fats as fuel. This is going to make my workouts more efficient so if I use a heart rate monitor, I will know exactly what zones I should be in and for how long to burn fat and build muscle.

4. Nutrition is responsible for 90% of your overall fitness.

While Rodriguez says I have a balanced diet overall, if I really want to change my body fat percentage, I need to watch my diet more closely. She wants me to have protein with every meal and increase my fiber intake to 30-35g /daily. I guess I better start eating oatmeal every day. They also have nutrition coaching if your diet needs an overhaul or just tweaks to maximize athletic performance.

5. Use technology to your advantage.

Life Time has an amazing fitness app where I can access the schedule, preview videos of classes, check out different workouts if I am unsure of what to do at the gym, sign up for small group classes, book much needed massages and even order food from their café so I can grab it on my way out of the building. They are constantly adding new features to the app and it is very user-friendly even for a Luddite like me.

6. Knowledgeable and friendly staff members are a huge motivator.

As mentioned, it starts with the check-in staff but also the instructors for the classes are top notch and have many fitness certifications. They watch my form in group classes and gently correct it when need be. They also play great music which for me is key. If I don’t like the music during a class, I know I will slack off.

7. Don’t ignore the core.

As someone who has been doing Pilates ever since my youngest one was born, I love that this club offers everyone a 30-minute Pilates session. There’s a reason why elite athletes even football stars incorporate this into their fitness regimen. Their Pilates studio is beautiful and guaranteed to make you stronger.

8. Break out of your comfort zone.

I’ve tried yoga a lot. It hasn’t been a success but Rodriguez urges me to give it another try so I do with a flow class. The gym has yoga classes at various levels of difficulty so there’s something for everyone. Plus, they even offer heated yoga for those bitter cold days ahead.

9. Personal trainers are sometimes necessary.

Since I hadn’t had any real strength training in years, I know I needed guidance and I also wanted to be sure that my form was correct. Enter Nick Cerone, my guardian angel. He’s developed a plan doing full body exercises to help me burn fat and build skeletal muscle mass. Plus, he also does nutritional consulting so I feel like I’ve hit the jackpot with him as my personal trainer.

10. Don’t feel guilty about your workout.

As a mom of three young kids, I often feel bad when I’ve had to tote them with me to the gym. But at this location, they have a play maze, a kids movement studio, classes ranging from toddler yoga to STEAM enrichment. They take children ages 3 months and up. With fun offerings like this, I may even get a facial or blow out at the onsite LifeSpa while my kids happily play in the Kids Academy.

I can’t wait to see what the next few months will be like at Life Time. Stay tuned for part two in the spring edition to see if I am able to achieve my goals and what the staff hopes all members are able to–a healthy way of life.

A Transformational Journey

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Jodi Baretz, author of the new ‘Mindful is the New Skinny,’ shared her personal growth experiences at the Chappaqua Library

By Amanda Kraus

Earlier this summer, I sat among an excited, eager crowd in the Chappaqua Library’s auditorium to listen to Jodi Baretz, psychotherapist, health coach, and author, speak about her new book, Mindful is the New Skinny: 10 Transformational Steps to a Lighter You Inside and Out. Baretz discussed the book itself as well as her personal experiences that compelled her to write it, in which she transformed “Junkfood Jodi” to “Baretz for carrots.”

Baretz began her talk with silence; she had the audience try a short meditation so that we could understand how she started her own transformational journey with mindfulness, except the first time she meditated at the Omega Institute five years ago, it was for forty-five minutes.

For Baretz, this was a torturous experience, and she wasn’t afraid to vocalize this–in fact, about half of the group felt the same way. However, over the following five days, the meditations became easier the more she practiced. Baretz explained that meditation isn’t effortless and that it requires focus. Meditation is a brain exercise by which one must acknowledge the thoughts that clutter one’s mind, and let them drift away, focusing purely on the breath.

Much like meditation, mindfulness is being able to feel and process one’s emotions in order to let them go, rather than immediately pushing them away. Baretz explained that we need to be able to deal with being uncomfortable rather than avoiding it altogether.

As a child, Baretz was a terrible eater, leading her to acquire the nickname “Junkfood Jodi.” Her diagnosis of celiac disease in 2003 triggered her transformational journey with food and nutrition, as well as mindfulness and well-being. In 2003, Baretz explained, people didn’t really know what celiac disease was, and gluten-free diets weren’t very common.

As a social worker, Baretz tried to help others with their own gluten-free eating, but soon realized that she knew nothing about nutrition. In 2010 she attended the Institute for Integrative Nutrition where she learned about the mind-body connection, and was exposed to spirituality. For Baretz, being spiritual is a holistic approach to healthy living and being while keeping up with our fast-paced lifestyles and society.

In order to portray this philosophy to others, she decided to write her book, Mindful is the New Skinny: 10 Transformational Steps to a Lighter You Inside and Out. Although Baretz discusses healthy eating and nutrition in her book, she uses the word skinny as a metaphor for perfection — external, unsustainable, and never good enough. Instead of striving for skinny, Baretz encourages being mindful, which entails accepting imperfections and the present moment. Even though the manuscript only took three months for her to write, Baretz hit a mental roadblock, dwelling in the very anxiety, stress, and frustration that she was writing about. She took a short break, acknowledged this, and started writing again with a new mindset.

Much like her book-writing process, Baretz helps women on their nutritional journeys by redirecting their focus from losing weight by dieting to mindful eating and living, which is sustainable and effective. In today’s society, social medias omnipresent and overwhelming influence fosters perfection, stress, and anxiety, mindfulness is more important than ever. “Mindfulness,” said Baretz “is the antidote.” And she’s right. Meditation is being extensively studied medically, and has been proven to affect the brain. Meditation and mindfulness make us more productive, as they allow our minds to reboot and recover from our daily stresses and tribulations. In a sentence, Baretz’s book is all about “Nourishing the inside so you can change the outside.”

Jodi is also a psychotherapist at The Center for Health and Healing in Mt. Kisco. Her book is available on Amazon and at Scattered Books in Chapapqua. Visit http://www.jodibaretz.com for more information about her various programs and events, including her mindfulness bootcamp, her meditation sessions, and speaking engagements.

Inside Press summer intern Amanda Kraus is a rising senior at Tulane University.

Area Teens Head South Together for an Eye Opening Civil Rights Trip

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A view of the Edmund Pettus Bridge: site of the “Bloody Sunday” march
Last month high school juniors and seniors from Temple Beth El of Northern Westchester in Chappaqua and Antioch Baptist Church in Bedford Hills went on a three-day trip to the south to learn more about the civil rights movement and social justice. The leadership of both Antioch, a predominately African-American church, and Temple Beth El decided to make this trip together with the hope of sharing experiences and creating more conversations about this country’s history on civil rights and continued need for equality and justice. This trip was the first of its kind for both congregations, as teens joined hand-in-hand to visit, explore, and develop an even deeper understanding of civil rights.

Trip participants in Alabama

Upon arriving in Atlanta, the teens were introduced to Mr. Billy Planer, the head of Etgar 36, the organization responsible for planning the details of the trip. Etgar 36’s mission is to empower trip participants “to get involved politically and socially to create change in the world.”

The first stop on the itinerary was  Montgomery, Alabama. There the teens met an attorney from the Equal Justice initiative (EJI) and learned about the injustice that exists for those on death row. Students were then invited to view the result of the EJI’s “Community Remembrance Project,” an archive and display that contains samples of dirt from different lynching sites. As a trip participant, I found this deeply moving and a wake up call that racism was widespread, had inflicted so much pain and touched the lives of so many.

An Emotional Journey

The trip had so many different layers of history and emotion. For lunch that day, trip participants ate at a local restaurant named Martha’s Place and dined on classic southern fare. The group later met Martha, the inspirational owner of the restaurant, who talked about how she bounced back from depression, suicide attempts and poverty, overcoming tremendous adversity and making a positive life for herself.

The next stop on the trip was the Rosa Parks Museum where the group learned about the bus boycotts and the use of nonviolence against violence. The group then headed to a nearby synagogue to spend Friday night Sabbath services with the local Jewish community.

Following in the Footsteps of the Bloody Sunday Marchers

The next day the group drove to Selma, where they learned about the historic march in which police and state troopers beat and used tear gas against peaceful marchers who were advocating against racial discrimination at the voting booth. Ms. Joanne Bland, an activist who marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge on Bloody Sunday in 1965 met the group and talked about her experience. The group later walked towards the infamous bridge and suddenly, more than 30 students were following in the footsteps of the brave marchers who were attacked and beaten in their quest for freedom. The mood was somber and emotions were high at this pivotal moment of the trip.

Birmingham: A Hot Spot of the Civil Rights Movement

The journey continued to Birmingham, Alabama with a stop at the 16th Street Baptist Church, the site where four young girls were killed in a racially motivated bombing in 1963. After heading to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, the group had the opportunity to meet Rev. Calvin Woods, a civil rights leader who was a close colleague to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Rev. Woods led the group in song and in words of healing.

The final stop of the trip was Atlanta where the group saw the AIDS Quilt and learned about the struggles of the LGBTQ+ community and the struggle for quality healthcare and education. The group then ventured to Dr. King’s resting place to pay their respects and concluded the trip with Sunday services at Dr. King’s historic Ebenezer Baptist Church.

An Eye Opening Experience

Max Brickman, a junior from Greeley and a member of Temple Beth El said, “The trip was a very eye-opening experience. I feel that the stories (that were told) really gave us a clear understanding of the severity and violence of segregation.” Josh Agee, a senior from Greeley who attends Antioch Baptist Church explained, “The reason I decided to go on this trip is because I felt that I needed to know more about my history. I felt that what we were learning at school did not really describe the struggles of African Americans during the civil rights era, and I thought that this trip would provide a greater insight into my history.

“The trip was far beyond my expectations. Traveling to the historic sites made me truly feel blessed. Experiencing the Edmund Pettus Bridge, Martin Luther King’s historic church and the Rosa Parks Museum were informational and eye opening experiences that I will never forget.”

Rabbi Jonathan Jaffe from Temple Beth El commented, “My expectations for this trip were easily surpassed. I was deeply impressed by the way in which our students integrated with their counterparts from Antioch Baptist Church and the seriousness and maturity they displayed throughout the trip. Our students posed thoughtful questions and took every opportunity to soak in the learning and meaning of each site and encounter. I was slightly worried that the trip would be overly scheduled and academic, but these fears were easily assuaged and I came away inspired by the students.”

A stop at the Equal Justice Initiative

Graceful Gratitude

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By Grace Bennett

I recently started a “Mindfulness Boot Camp” with Jodi Baretz, whose etcetera column in this edition is an excellent reflection on gratitude. I’m not sure I can add more value on the subject than Jodi, but interesting to note: Jodi explained to our group that feeling grateful may not come naturally at all.

In fact, she said that us humans harbor a “negativity bias,” meaning we’re more likely to focus on the one negative aspect of say, a vacation, than on the many positive aspects of the experience. Similarly, in relationships, one negative experience can cast a shadow on an overall positive pairing, or one annoying personality trait might be your obsessive focus on an otherwise wonderful person.

As my mom might have put it, people like to kvetch…a lot. Seems we have to practice being more mindful about feeling grateful!  So I’m going to share just a few things I’m feeling grateful for today:

  • To fresh starts, professionally speaking. Like the redesign of this magazine. Chappaqua’s Lisa Samkoff came on board to give our Inside pubs a more contemporary look. We hope you agree that it has been a successful effort. Grateful for other key support from Caroline Rosengarden and Andrew Vitelli, and for all our contributors and of course, sponsors, to each edition.
  • The exciting new theatre productions underway at the Horace Greeley Theater Company. Rehearsals are underway for ‘Into the Woods,” directed by Jonathan Gellert. Tickets are on sale for the Nov. 17-19 performances. For more information, visit
    Cast members of "Into the Woods"
    Cast members of “Into the Woods”

    http://www.greeleytheater.tix.com

  • To the power of the written word. I’m thrilled that seven courageous girls took time out this summer to express to the community at large their smart and passionate thoughts about the election while pondering their neighbor’s incredible journey. I’m grateful to Dr. Keri Walsh, who brought her writing program at the Greeley House this past summer to my attention.
  • My ‘get fit’ journey at the Saw Mill Club in Mount Kisco. I announced on Facebook recently that I’d gained too much weight over the last year. I’m grateful for the opportunity to train twice a week with a wonderfully engaging personal trainer, Sarah Eichorn. She’s making a huge difference in how I feel both physically and mentally in these empty nest years. The changes in how I look and feel are showing in little increments, and I’m embracing Sarah’s belief that a positive journey is as important to my well-being and long term success as any weight loss I experience. I’ll be writing more about this special experience in the next edition, too!

So, tell me. What are you grateful for? Maybe it too could be a story in a future edition of Inside Chappaqua. Write to editor@insidechappaqua.com.

My Get Fit Journey

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grace-bennettIn time for our ‘Gratitude’ edition, I’d like to mention a journey I’m on at the Saw Mill Club in Mount Kisco. I announced on Facebook recently that I’d gained a lot of weight over the last year. I’m grateful that I have the opportunity to work out twice a week with a wonderfully engaging and pro personal trainer, Sarah Eichorn. She’s making a huge difference in how I feel both physically and mentally in my still kind of new empty nest years.

The changes in how I look and feel are coming in little increments, and I’m embracing Sarah’s belief that a positive journey is as important to my well-being and long term success as any weight loss I experience. I’ll be writing more about this special journey in the next edition, too!

So, tell me. What are you grateful for? Maybe your experience could also be a story in a future edition of Inside Armonk! Please drop me a note any time: editor@insidearmonk.com