Love Your Heart
Cardio is Hardio But Here’s Why it’s Important to Not Skip
This morning I delivered a VFitFest #7 special event class, 6AM PST, called Love Your Heart Cardio Blast.
The idea with Love Your Heart was to serve double duty during our live session, by delivering an epic 30 minute cardio workout, and also educate everyone on the importance of cardio and the different training zones.
(YOU can do the full workout replay here)
The Four Cardio Training Zones Broken Down
| Training Zone | Metabolic Marker | RPE Rate of Perceived Effort (1-10) | Description | Myzone Range |
| 1 | Below VT1 | 3-4 | Light to moderate movement Can easily carry on a conversation | Light Grey/Medium Grey |
| 2 | VT1 to Midpoint | 5-6 | Challenging to hard movement Difficult to carry on conversation | Blue/Low Greens |
| 3 | Midpoint to VT2 | 7-8 | Vigorous to really hard movement Can only get out short phrases | High Greens/Yellow |
| 4 | Above VT2 | 9-10 | Super hard to maximal effort Basically just grunts or single words | Red |
Your Ventilatory Threshold
This biomarker, VT for short, is your ventilatory threshold. This helps measure is your intensity in terms of your breathing during a workout, and denotes when lactate starts building up in your bloodstream.
VT1 is when your body is burning equal parts fats and carbs as fuel. This is also when your aerobic system is working for you.
VT2 is that point in your workout when glucose becomes the main source of energy for your body. This also is the phase where you enter anaerobic training.
Workout like your life depends on it, because it does.
Maria Sogard
Benefits of Getting Your Cardio On
While prepping for the Love Your Heart edition of my Cardio Blast class, I went through several studies, course documents from my NASM personal training course, and blogs on the myriad benefits of cardiovascular training.
Some of the TOP benefits of Cardio:
- ❤️ Increase blood flow and lowers blood pressure by helping increase good cholesterol and lowering bad cholesterol
- ❤️ Helps regular blood sugar and reduce risk of diabetes
- ❤️ Improve circadium rhythm, sleep patterns, lung capacity, energy levels
- ❤️ Boost brain health by slowing tissue loss, improving memory, and increasing executive function which helps us organize, interpret, and take action
- ❤️ Aid in lowering RHR (resting heart rate) which in turn improves efficiency of the heart in pumping blood through the body
- ❤️ Decrease the following: risk of stroke and heart disease, depression symptoms, and stress
While this list is not exhaustive, it likely may shed some light on some areas you may be surprised to see.
What I hope is that this post and workout helps you rethink wanting to skip on your cardio each week.
First Friday’s Wellness Cafe: You are strong than you think & an overview of the macro fat
This month for the First Friday’s Wellness cafe Maria covered the topic of strength training and exploring your current home inventory of dumbells and Lauren covered the macronutrient fat.
Maria’s talk was geared towards helping our community members understand that different exercises can benefit from having different sets of weights such as: light, medium, and heavy. Modifcation options were also talked about during this discussion.
Next up, Lauren continued from last month’s session on the macronutrient of protein and covered fat. She provided resources and ideas of how to better understand fat and how it is used by your body.
Next month for the Wellness Cafe we’ll have the live session open to all that are joining us for VFit’s 7th birthday celebration week. Lauren will close out her macro talk and cover carbohydrates and Maria is set go over heart rate training zones and cardio tips and tricks as part of the FUNctional Fitness Plan and a well balanced routine.
If you have any questions on either topic, you can learn more about Maria and Lauren’s Signature Series coaching options here.
First Friday’s Wellness Cafe
Mood Boosting Foods, Exercising in Cooler Weather, and the Eating Arch
The First Friday’s Wellness Cafe is alive and well here at VFit, with VFit trainers and coaches Lauren and Maria each take a stab at sharing some self care and wellness tips each month.
In November, the themes covered by this duo was mood boosting foods, presented by Lauren and exercising in cooler weather, presented by Maria.
We have the full Google Slides presentation here:
Or, if you prefer to hear the full talk which concludes with a Q + A session with Lauren and Maria, we have the full YouTube Video below:
For the December edition of First Friday’s Wellness Cafe, Lauren and Maria presented the Eating Arch concept which encompasses the full cycle of eating and nutrition which they developed in partnership with Trainer and health coach Christine earlier this year.
To view the full slide slides and full YouTube replay below slides:
And to view the full YouTube video of the presentation and Q + A:
We hope you enjoy takingin some of these concepts and topics. If you have ideas for future Wellness Cafe series themes, do not hesitate to reach out to Maria maria [at] thevfitstudio.com or message me on Facebook.
Also, if you’d like to dive deeper into any of these topics and work one on one, or in a small group, or in tandem with Lauren and Maria as part of the VFit Signature Series, reach out and we can help create a space and package that meets your unique needs.
Thank you again for supporting the First Friday’s Wellness Cafe series team!
xoxo
Lauren + Maria
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Welcome to a BRAND new series to empower and level up your health and well being. “Fit Plan Foundations”- 10 building blocks for longevity. Building Block #1 – Stability When your have a shaky foundation, anything can derail you or send you crashing and burning. You wouldn’t invest a ton of time, money, and resources […]
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Welcome to a BRAND new series to empower and level up your health and well being. “Fit Plan Foundations”- 10 building blocks for longevity. Building Block #1 – Stability When your have a shaky foundation, anything can derail you or send you crashing and burning. You wouldn’t invest a ton of time, money, and resources […] - Black Bean, Roasted Corn & Avocado Salad on a Bed of Red Quinoa
A colorful, nutritious recipe shared by VFitter Kathleen, this salad is sure to deliver on flavor! Packed with protein, fiber, and plenty of vitamins you’ll feel great afterwards too. Thank you Kathleen for sharing this amazing recipe for our Rolodex. - Passion and Purpose Project: Episode 3
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Rachele has put together a special series of tips on personal development called 7 Steps Up to share and we’re putting all the lessons here in this blog post for you to easily take in. Step 1: CHANGE Step 2: FAITH Step 3: FOUNDATIONS STEP 4: FELLOWSHIP STEP 5: PLAY OFFENSE LEVEL 6: THE PROCESS […] - Passion and Purpose Project: Episode 2Welcome to The Purpose & Passion Project. Enjoy Episode 2 in this series as we embrace this new chapter of spreading light and inspiration with this special heartfelt interview with trainer Lindsay M. Everyone has a story. No story is insignificant, or without lessons and inspiration. When we share our journeys, we can help each […]
October First Friday’s Wellness Cafe – Wellness Resources & What Kind of Eater Are You?
VFit Trainers Maria and Lauren hosted the Wellness Cafe and each brought their own unique perspective to the conversation on wellness.
First, Maria shared more on VFit Studio resources for members:
Weekly Dashboard and Wellness Wheel
Next, Lauren shared about the different eating personas. Do you know what kind of eater you are?
Careful clean eater? Professional Dieter? Chaotic Unconscious eater? Possibly a refuse-not, waste-not, or an emotional uncouncious eater?
Tune in to the full replay above to watch Maria guide through the VFit Studio resources and for Lauren to dive in to the different kinds of eating personas.
We are here for you and enjoy sharing the Wellness Cafe Series with you each month! Any questions on our topics covered, you can email Maria maria [at] thevitstudio.com or email Lauren laurenferrara85 [at] gmail.com.
Linda’s Love Muffins
This delicious muffin recipe comes from VFitter Linda A of California. Chock full of nutritious ingredients, these moist muffins are perfect as a grab and go healthy snack, a quick bite for breakfast, or good enough to serve as dessert too! Time tested for family of all ages, toddlers to grandparents, this recipe is a surefire hit for you to make today.
April Wellness Cafe – Recipe Rolodex + How We Talk About Food and Our Bodies
For the April session of First Friday’s Wellness Cafe we went over recipes from VFit Studio’s Recipe Rolodex with Maria and then Lauren broke down different ways you talk about about food and your body.
Maria first showed the free resource of VFit’s Recipe Rolodex in a live demo and then shared recipe lists. The Recipe Rolodex has over 250 real food recipes made with clean ingredients to help fuel you and your family. The recipes are simple and time tested with our own families. You can also access the Recipe Rolodex via the main menu on VFit Studio’s branded app from iTunes or Google Play.
During the upcoming Wellness Reset held April 12th – 25th, we will go over all 7 pillars of wellness with the food pillar being highlighted. During the 14 days, there will be information and group activities centered on each pillar: food, exercise, water, me time, outdoor time, gratitude, and sleep. You can learn more about the Wellness Reset here. Maria will share 3 more Rolodex Fav Lists during the reset which is intended to help spur new ideas and invite you to try new recipes.
Recipe Rolodex Fav Lists
Presented in First Fridays Wellness Cafe 4/2/21
Breakfast Revisited
- No Bake Trail Mix Breakfast Cookies
- Banana French Toast
- Cinnamon Carrot Breakfast Muffins
- Greek Yogurt Papaya Bowl
- Huevos Rancheros
- Kefir Buckwheat Pancakes
- Loaded Veggie Egg Bake
- Oatmeal Protein Bars
- Poached Eggs Delight
- Pumpcakes
- Slow Cooker Carrot Oatmeal
- Sweet Potato and Brussels Sprouts Hash
- Triple Berry Smoothie
Top 10 Biohacking Recipes
- Zucchini Soft Shell Tacos
- Bulletproof Coffee
- Cauliflower Crust Pizza with Kale Pesto
- Superfood Bomb Smoothie
- Maria’s 5 C’s Power Balls
- Rachele’s Staple Zoodles and Meat Sauce
- Green Goddess Bowl
- Mexi-Cauli Rice
- Ginger Molasses Cookies with Dark Chocolate
- Collard Green Enchiladas
Once the Recipe Rolodex session ended, Lauren took over. Here are Lauren’s notes about her session on how we talk about food and our bodies.
Diet talk is all around us. Just think of the diet ads you see, fad diets galore, and friends or family members complaining about their bodies and their looks. The happy people you see in ads are thin, selling you the idea that thinness equals health and happiness. Although this is getting slightly better with more body diversity, it’s nowhere near where it should be. Think about the articles and headlines that get you confused about nutrition and create food phobia. We want to create an environment for ourselves and our children where all bodies are accepted and food is just food.
Think back to growing up… did your family talk about being healthy vs unhealthy, and what did that mean? Did you discuss what it mean to be fat vs thin? Did they discuss dieting and put a big emphasis on looks? Did you feel like your diet was restricted or controlled? Does that affect you now, and how you see food, fitness and your body?
Those ideas growing up STICK WITH US for a lifetime. You may have found that your relationship with your food and body stems from how your parents felt about themselves, or how they treated you. What messages would you like to send to your children?
This may make you want to shy away from talking to your kids about food, but don’t let it. It’s HOW you say things and what you do that have a bigger impact. The message we want to display is that all foods can fit and all bodies can fit, while avoiding negative connotation relating to eating and body size. It’s OK to say that different bodies respond in different ways to different foods. The only time it becomes risky is when we talk about weight loss diets with kids. When we do that, our kids may be less happy with their own weight and are more likely diet to lose weight. And when kids go on diets, they are at a much higher risk of developing an eating disorder or disordered eating. I don’t recommend talking about weight loss or diets with kids.
Weight is not a medical condition. If you have a medical condition such as high cholesterol, then you can talk about cholesterol and adding in fiber to your diet for it’s beneficial effects. You can discuss the way you eat while also taking weight out of the picture. Kids do not need to be scared to eat certain foods, or concern themselves with fat grams, calories or other potentially harmful information. Food talk and self-talk will be positive and non-critical.
Multiple studies have shown the effects of caregivers trying to control their children’s intake. The result? High levels of critical and restrictive eating messages from caregivers are associated with low IE scores and higher BMI. When parents attempt to restrict children’s eating, it backfires by disconnecting them from their natural hunger and satiety cues, ultimately creating the problem they were trying to circumvent. (Intuitive Eating, 4th Ed.)
What can you do to help create a more positive body image?
Don’t body bash yourself or others. Quit the body check game. Don’t discuss size or compare yourself or your children to others.
Instead of focusing on what you don’t like about your body, focus on your relationship with your body and how you can speak kindly to yourself.
– I love that my arms hold my loved ones
– I’m grateful that feet allow me to walk
– I love that my smile connects me to people
What if friends question you?
Lauren, registered dietician
When others start diet talk, remove yourself or have some good go-to phrases:
– Dieting leads to deprivation, deprivation leads to craving, and craving can lead to out of control behavior.
– I give myself permission to eat whatever I want when I’m hungry and find that I’m more easily able to stop when I’m full.
– When I feel satisfied with what I eat, I eat just what my body needs.
– I’m learning to cope with my emotions with kindness, instead of relying on food.
– I realized that my life is so much better when I don’t worry about food or my body.
– I have so much time to enjoy other things when I’m not preoccupied with food.
What to say instead of “This is Healthy” or “This is good for you.”
– “Purple and blue foods give you a strong brain. Orange food helps you see better.”
– Keep it simple – call foods by their names. “This is a carrot. This is a cookie. This is a potato.” Food is just food. It’s not a special treat, bad for you, special, or a guilty pleasure.
– Tips for dessert: Don’t make kids earn dessert by eating a certain amount of other food, downplay it by serving with a meal, use non-food rewards and bribes, use neutral language, give kids opportunities to eat as much dessert as they want occasionally. – You can discuss what’s in a food, what it does for your body, and how it makes you feel, but without judgment.
When The Going Gets Tough, Modify – Don’t Quit! And Here is Why!
This is the time that New Year’s resolutions start to fade as real life roadblocks start to happen. Do not underestimate the power that reading motivational material can have in your life. Your brain is a muscle, and like any other muscle in the body, should be trained in a positive manner.
As we said last week in our inspo email: You are never stuck at the bottom unless you choose for that to be the case. There’s always another option to get up, and our team is like none other, in that we will help you do so again and again and again if needed.
Thank you to those who reached out on this heartfelt message and took us stick, because as humans we are not programmed to go at things alone.
This week’s theme falls (pun intended) in line with last week’s, as it’s such an important topic: Modify – Don’t Quit
In life, you have to be realistic and understand that things are never going to be 100% as you planned or envisioned. That the magic really comes in sticking to your goal, long after the mood you set it in fades.
It’s easy to set goals and have all the dreams in the world.
It’s showing up, especially on the toughest days, that builds your character and will get you to your goals.
It’s moving past road blocks, mental and sometimes physical.
You only have so much control with what happens, and sometimes you fall down – sometimes there’s a challenge greater than you, that you are not able to meet, and it’s at these moments that you need to dig deep and DO NOT QUIT.
// You hurt your ankle tripping over a toy that was left on the stairs. What do you do next with your exercise routine? Do you let it fall by the wayside for the next 3 weeks as it heals, or do you keep going with modifications?
There’s SO much you could still do! You can still work on upper body strength with weights. You can still work on core strength with several floor exercises in a class like Pilates or Core & Caboose. You can still from a knee position continue to build total body strength with plank holds and several versions of push ups. All without standing on your hurt ankle. All still moving. All still having support and being safe. All without quitting.
// A long series of events in life has you sedentary and it’s been more than 3 years since you last intentionally broke a sweat. You finally decide it’s time to focus on self care and hop into a class. <<< YAY!
But then, once you log in you see a spitfire instructor jumping around with the first move of the class with jumping jacks. You can’t jump yet, your body is not ready for that – and that’s okay. What do you do next, though? Do you log off and say ‘I can’t’ or do you follow along with the 5 other modifications given by the instructor and work the low impact jumping jack and get that body moving?
Working moves with low impact, meaning one leg is on the ground at all times, no jumping, is a great way to build strength and get your heart rate up. Our instructor team shares low and higher impact options for each cardio moves so at all levels of our teammates can continue with movement in each class.
In EVERY SINGLE VFit class, you are given modifications and progressions for EVERY level. If your workout routine/trainer is not doing this, I would question who you are putting your health on the line with.
Even extreme athletes go through set backs and need to scale their movements and intensities back. Any good trainer out there should be skilled in making a class safe and comfortable for a beginner, yet challenging enough for an athlete. At VFit we hang our hat’s high on our ability to do just that!
// You’ve been sick as a dog the last 2 weeks with that cold that won’t go away and you are finally back to working out. You log in to your favorite class and are so out of breath during the warm up, that you want to give up, log out, and be bummed out with yourself for giving up.
Don’t give up! Modify.
Give yourself some grace when coming back into it after not feeling well, your body is still recovering. If you were able to push 100% the last class you took, but today it’s 10%, let that be the case. Stop and take those water breaks you need. Move those planks from the floor to the wall. Scrap the burpees and go with the modification option given by the instructor to stay standing and do lunge, squat, lunge. Work with the body you have today, and just know that any minute of exercise you get in greater than 0 is a win.
These scenarios above may hit a chord, or remind you of how it feels to be stuck and frustrated that you cannot do something. We’ve all been there. But success is all about how you handle these kinds of moments in your life.
If you’ve been totally throwing in the towel each tine a roadblock comes, we encourage you to work to find new ways to work THROUGH these challenges.
Modifications are alternative paths that will lead you to your goals.
Quitting will lead you to starting over for the rest of your life! You deserve better than that!
It may take slightly longer to get there, but the momentum is FORWARD, and that’s what you want!
If any of this feel familiar and you are ready to make a change and get back up, our team is ready to welcome you with open (strong) arms. There is another way, the VFit way.
In Health 365 days a year,
Rachele, VFit Owner and Maria, VFit Second in Command
P.S –
This monthly only we are running our best monthly membership deal to date: $59/month to lock in UNLIMITED CLASSES and get a $25 Amazon gift card! https://thevfitstudio.com/join-vfit-team
If you are looking to be surrounded by a positive and inspirational group of teammates and trainers that will change the way you approach life, the VFit team has a spot for you! Don’t go at your health and fitness alone.
Fitness is a superpower that transfers into every other area of life.
Our passionate team is here to cheer you on, make you proud and show you that fitness is not a punishment. In fact, let us be the best part of your day!
Join the team for less than $2/day at https://thevfitstudio.com/join-vfit-team/
And if you are looking for nutrition help, we have set up a nutritional supplement program, VFit Squad, with membership options, including nutrition coaching, that will help you dial in this important area of you health in the New Year.
In Health 365 days a year,
Rachele, VFit Owner and Maria, VFit Second in Command
P.S –
This monthly only we are running our best monthly membership deal to date: $59/month to lock in UNLIMITED CLASSES and get a $25 Amazon gift card! https://thevfitstudio.com/join-vfit-team
If you are looking to be surrounded by a positive and inspirational group of teammates and trainers that will change the way you approach life, the VFit team has a spot for you! Don’t go at your health and fitness alone.
Fitness is a superpower that transfers into every other area of life.
Our passionate team is here to cheer you on, make you proud and show you that fitness is not a punishment. In fact, let us be the best part of your day!
Join the team for less than $2/day at https://thevfitstudio.com/join-vfit-team/
And if you are looking for nutrition help, we have set up a nutritional supplement program, VFit Squad, with membership options, including nutrition coaching, that will help you dial in this important area of you health in the New Year.
In Health 365 days a year,
Rachele, VFit Owner and Maria, VFit Second in Command
