Social Workout

Elixirs

Blended Tea Nirvana

Blending teas is the new black. My go-to tea hybrid is a mix of green tea and fresh mint leaves,  and/or a peppermint tea bag. This melange produces an invigorating, tummy-soothing lift. The Chinese have been drinking green tea for 4,000 years, and for just as long they have extolled its effectiveness as a remedy for various health problems. (There are claims that green tea will stabilize your cholesterol levels, help with weight loss, and generally remove nasty toxins from your body.) Meanwhile, peppermint soothes the digestive tract, alleviates nausea, and it smells and tastes great. So, that's the strategy, but what are the tactics?

Elixirs

Mood Enhancing, Brain Focusing, Green Tea Elixir

This week has been filled with late nights and early mornings. Whenever I fall into this less than ideal sleep pattern, I end up getting pretty kranky and I can end up making less then perfect food and drink choices, especially when I reach for quick energizing fixes like coffee. A quality cup can be a treat, but I don't feel great when I drink it more than every once in awhile, especially when it's on an "I need it" basis. But green tea is another story. Especially when I whip it into a superfood tonic elixir with goji berries and vanilla beans. 

Snapshot

Sarah Gave Up Rockstars And Shocks Herself With Her Own Good Decisions

Every day, we give you a snapshot of one fellow striver in fitness. We ask personal questions, he or she boldly answers. Today's snapshot: Sarah, aka scratchinpizzle.

• What's your go-to workout? Anything that makes me focus on the fact that I'm having fun rather than the fact that I'm actually working out. Right now, it's Zumba. I love it, even when I feel silly with the booty shakin'- on the inside I envision that I'm like Shakira. Leaving the place drenched in sweat is awesome, I always feel happy and accomplished afterwards.
• What's your secret (fitness-related) sin? I hate cardio. I hate running. I really can't do anything unless it's in a class or some kind of competitive format. The SW challenges are truly a blessing cause they give me a sense of obligation, and I manage to get things done for the small victory of seeing the numbers add up.

Scientific

Fat Canadians, Green Tea, Happy Weekends, and Fructose

• Canadians are way less healthy than they used to be. In the early 80s, only around 5% of Canadians between 20 and 39 were at risk for health problems because of their weight, but a new three-year study shows that 21% of Canadian men and 31% of women in that age range are now too fat. This means Canadians may actually be fatter than Americans. 
• Don't smoke, but if you do, at least drink some green tea with your cigarettes. New research shows green tea reduces smokers' risk of developing lung cancer.
• You really are happier on the weekend, says new research, even if you love your job. Sort of obvious, but in mood data gathered by the study, everything from digestive problems to depression was better on the weekend, regardless of work satisfaction.
• A new study shoes that fructose (as in high fructose corn syrup) can cause dangerous growth of fat cells near vital organs. Similar amounts of glucose didn't lead to the same effect in study participants. Either way, maybe it's time to go sugar-free for a while.   

Green Tea, check. Adductor, check.

Green tea, every morning! Adductors got a workout at last night's class!
Inner thigh soreness....not so fun.

New York

SW-e-AT

Food-Ex Pairing Day Six: Green Tea Adductor

As if you needed a reason to get on the old thigh machine! Welcome to Day Six of our daily pairing of body part and ingredient. You may ask yourself: Is there science behind these pairings? And the answer is: No, there's poetry!

Right, so the food half of today can be accomplished in a matter of minutes with a pot of boiling water, but it doesn't have to be. Should you care to surf over to our partners-in-crime at thekitchn.com, you will discover that green tea can be muddled, or pickled, made into a smoothie, or served frozen in ice cream. However you do it, know that you are participating in a ritual that dates back to the 2nd Century in China. Know also that lot's of smart people think green tea will do good things for your body. It's got antioxidants, dude. "Green tea's antioxidants, called catechins, scavenge for free radicals that can damage DNA and contribute to cancer, blood clots, and atherosclerosis," writes WebMD. Look, nothing is exactly proven, but it's clearly way better for you than a Diet Coke.

Now let's talk about your inner thighs! Yes, the adductors are the muscles responsible for pulling your legs together. The same ones that made the scissor lock hold so effective when used on you by your siblings or annoying friends. Why plural? There are, in fact, four adductor muscles: Brevis, Longus, Magnus, and Sartorius. Think of them as the Four Musketeers of your upper leg, constantly in tension with your abductors, a.k.a. your butt muscles. Unlike the glutes, however, the addies aren't so obvious to exercise. Hence, the whole vaguely inappropriate thigh machine routine. There are other ways, though. An excellent Pilates technique involves lying on one side, crossing your top leg over the bottom so the foot is planted by the knee of your lower leg, and then pulsing your lower leg up and down. For that matter, you could simply hit any Lotte Berke method class and work those inner thights for an hour at the ballet barre. Or go crazy with this You Tube video featuring Swiss exercise ball and crazy robotic voice. All of these techniques will do, but, if you have something better, please share!

Link Love

Infrared Underwear, Supplements, Green Tea

• Workout Wear: New "Brazilian wonder knickers" claim to reduce cellulite with infrared heat. Infrared anything in the general pelvic zone sounds terrifying, but if it gets rid of dimples, perhaps I'll risk cancer? Hard call. 
• Pills: More trouble in supplement land. Yesterday Feds raided Florida-based IDS Sport, which sells supplements online. No word yet on what they took from the business, but hopefully they seized whatever this guy was on.  
• Health Club Felons: If the massage therapist at your health club tells you he's a doctor and he needs to do "internal work" to get the massage to "hold" then starts massaging your vagina, you really shouldn't go back for more. This lesson brought to you by women at Lifetime Fitness in Salt Lake City, Utah.  
• Civic Matters: It's official. Manhattan Beach has banned personal fitness equipment in city parks. Boot-campers everywhere, beware. Your dumbells and cones could be next.
• Tabloid: Gossip Girl star Chace Crawford goes to the gym with his family. So wholesome.
• Science: Green tea reduces your risk for heart disease and fatty liver disease, but a new study shows it might also weaken your bones. WTF? I've been guzzling the stuff like it's a health panacea. Now what?

Links

Girls Who Live Long and Prosper

Women's Health, taking its mission literally, has conveniently ranked women all over the world in terms of their health. We'll summarize (to the tune of California Girls, on this rainy day in NYC): Well, the Japanese babes live longer thanks to soy, miso soup, and green tea. And the Frenchies, with the wine they drink, they have less heart attacks over there. The South Koreans grandmas eat garlicky kimchi and that makes them feel alright. While Italian girls take siestas, and it keeps them strong at night. The Swissies like to walk, and it really shows up in their bods. And for some strange reason, Senegalese women don't get colon cancer.... Right, check it out: We wish we all could live like those foreign girls.