Jump Start Your Workout

 

CLICK ROPES TO BUY

CLOCKWISE TOP LEFT: WOD NATION ATTACK SPEED ROPE $15.99. Features wrapped grip handles, 2.2 mm cable for speed workouts, and 3.3 mm cable for muscle strength and endurance. CROSSROPE GET LEAN $129. Includes Slim Handles, 1/4 lb. rope, 1/2 lb. rope, and drawstring storage bag. ROGUE SR-2 SPEED ROPE 3.0 $49. Adjustable coated speed cable with high-precision, ball-bearing swivel design, and tapered handles constructed from aircraft grade aluminum. WASTOU SPEED JUMP ROPE $12.99. Adjustable polycoated steel rope, with ballbearing design and aluminum handles.

 
Jumping rope is long known to be one of the most efficient workouts with a myriad of health and fitness benefits. It provides a full body workout by engaging multiple muscle groups, improving cardiovascular conditioning while enhancing coordination and agility. In addition, a jump rope is the most inexpensive, space-saving, portable piece of fitness equipment money can buy.

One of the most effective calorie-torching activities, studies have shown that just 10 minutes of jumping rope offers the same cardiovascular benefits as a 30-minute run. A high-intensity aerobic exercise, jumping rope has the “afterburn effect”, also known as excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC), that keeps your body burning calories even after the workout is done.

The right equipment and proper technique are essential to keep jumping long enough to gain these fitness benefits. We turned to one of the most renowned boxing trainers, Micheal Olajide Jr., for some basic tips on both. Read More

 

W.O.W! Working Out With Beri Smither

 

PHOTOGRAPHS BY MICHAEL WILLIAMS
 

I first met Beri Smither in the summer of 1992 on the Italian island of Pantelleria, located in the Mediterranean sea between Sicily and Tunisia. I was there for the month of June working for photographer Fabrizio Ferri as his personal trainer. Beri was there as a model for Allure magazine, being photographed by Fabrizio on one of the shoots that happened during the month. Different crews for different magazines would come to Pantelleria every few days to shoot with Fabrizio in this breathtaking location. We all stayed together on the rustic but spectacular grounds of his compound known as Monastero. It was one of the most fun times of my life.

Beri was one of the biggest models in the 1990’s, and worked with the most influential fashion photographers in the business like Steven Meisel, Peter Lindbergh, Patrick Demarchelier, Arthur Elgort, and Steven Klein, just to name a few. She appeared on the pages of countless fashion magazines that included American Vogue, British Vogue, Italian Vogue, French Vogue, Elle, Glamour, and Cosmopolitan — on many of those covers too – and was also the face of iconic fashion and fragrance campaigns. And Beri is still working today.

Beri and I ran into each other on the street a few months ago having not seen each other in over 30 years. We got together for lunch and started talking about STYLE of SPORT. Would she want to do a W.O.W! Working Out With feature I asked. As a model still going strong at age 53, I wanted to know how she has stayed looking so great, and what has been the key to her longevity in the very fickle fashion business. Read More

 

Why Fake Sugar is Fat Sugar

 

 

A few months ago, we featured a nutritional reset program created by Robin Barrie Kaiden. More than a quick fix, it was about establishing lifelong healthy habits to lose weight and keep it off. Taking part in the program myself, Kaiden pointed out the number of seemingly healthy shakes, protein bars, and powdered latte mixes I was consuming daily, made with monk fruit sweetener. She said they were sabotaging my fat burning efforts.

As the editor of STYLE of SPORT, I’m quite knowledgeable about nutrition, or so I thought. How could this zero calorie, natural sweetener made from plants possibly be making me fat? I didn’t want to believe her until I finally got rid of all the monk fruit sweetened products in the kitchen and saw my lean body start to return.

The percentage of the population who are obese and the incidence of diabetes has increased over the past few years, primarily due to eating habits and physical inactivity. The irony is this has also coincided with an increase in the use of artificial sweeteners. The belief has been it is better to use these non-caloric alternatives than sugar, especially the new “natural” sweeteners like stevia and monk fruit, for weight loss. Read More

 

Soul Survivor

 

 

Trammell Logan is a SoulCycle instructor. He’s one of the most popular SoulCycle instructors. He’s one of my favorite SoulCycle instructors. Young, fit, and healthy, Trammell almost died in the back seat of an Uber 6 years ago. He suffered a pulmonary embolism that should have killed him. Rushed to the hospital and taken into surgery, they discovered massive blood clots in his lungs and heart. When he woke up the next morning, the doctors said it was a miracle he survived. Trammell’s life was in fact saved that day thanks to one of his dedicated riders.

A few weeks ago on a Saturday morning I went to ride Trammell’s class. He was celebrating his 10th anniversary as a SoulCycle instructor. But it was a celebration of his life as well. Sitting in the front row was Dr. Roopa Kohli-Seth, MD, Director of the Institute For Critical Care Medicine at Mount Sinai. He acknowledged and thanked her for putting together the team that saved his life that day. Trammell joked that he didn’t really know her that well at the time, other than the fact she took his class regularly, and was always asking him to turn on the fans.

Roopa saved his life not just once but twice. Trammell suffered a stroke 2 years later.

I knew bits and pieces of all these events, but on that 10th anniversary I asked if he’d share the full story from start to finish, and how these life-altering, death-defying experiences have changed him as a man and as an instructor. Read More

 

The Karma of Dharma

 

SRI DHARMA MITTRA

Sri Dharma Mittra is 84 years young. He has been teaching yoga for over a half-century at his school in New York and around the world, sharing the pathway to radiant health and spiritual enlightenment from the wisdom accumulated from years of practice. He opened his first yoga studio in 1975, long before yoga was as ubiquitous as it is today.

Dharma Yoga is described as a modern interpretation of classical Eight-limbed Yoga. According to Yoga Sutras of Patañjali, the ancient doctrine of yoga philosophy, there is an eight step progression to an infinite state of bliss. The word Ashtanga, as in yoga, is derived from “ashta”, which means “eight”, and “anga” which means “limb”. Each limb prepares you for the next, and the “asanas” or physical poses are just one of the 8 limbs. In addition, the word Asana literally means seat, and refers to poses like Lotus you would take for the practice of meditation — very different from the “power yoga” workout we now associate with Ashtanga.

For those like myself, who thought yoga was only practiced on a mat, the outline below provides the basic foundation for my conversation with yoga master Sri Dharma Mittra. The Eight Limbs of Yoga are as follows: Read More

 

Sunshine and Eggs

 

 

As winter starts to thaw, we put away the puffers, and peel off the layers, many of us have a spring awakening by what’s left underneath. The body is not as toned as we’d like, and there is a spring realization that it’s time for a spring cleaning. The search begins for a quick fix: a restrictive diet, cutting out a food group, intermittent fasting, a juice cleanse – something radical to lose that winter weight fast. But what if the answer was a back-to-basics approach of 3 balanced meals a day, real food, and eating more, not less?

Robin Barrie Kaiden MS, RD, CDN, CSSD, one of the nation’s leading experts in wellness, nutrition, and fitness, and frequent contributor to CBS, NBC, ABC, Parenting, and Forbes.com, among other media outlets, says of her 2-week Reset program, “It’s not a strict diet where you lose a pound only to gain three the next week. I want to teach people lifelong healthy habits to take with them going forward. The only way to lose weight and keep it off is to change your habits.”

Kaiden is a graduate of Cornell University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Nutritional Sciences and an Exercise Science minor. She has a Master of Science Degree from Columbia University as well. Her post graduate work was at Mount Sinai Beth Israel, studying nutrition and dietetics at the hospital level. Read More

 

A Little R&R

 
 
FOUR OF THE TOP SPORT PERFORMANCE & RECOVERY THERAPIES:
CRYOTHERAPY, ACTIVE RELEASE TECHNIQUE, GRASTON, ACUPUNCTURE

 

There is nothing worse for an athlete than being sidelined with an injury – many of which are not a result of trauma, but chronic overuse (believe me, I know!). With a little R&R — Relax and Recover — many of these injuries can be prevented and treated through a wide range of different therapy techniques. Here is our guide to 9 of the most popular and effective sport performance and recovery therapies — some old and some new. And as an added benefit, many are equally popular as wellness treatments for relaxation and overall wellbeing too.

CRYOTHERAPY

We first wrote about cryotherapy in 2015, when your intrepid editor decided to venture into a -238 degree chamber – yes, you heard right — before it became as widely popular as it is today. Cryotherapy was on our radar as a cutting-edge sports recovery tool, popular among top professional athletes, many of whom had their own cryochambers at home. Now cryotherapy studios can be found in everywhere and booking a session as easy as signing up for your favorite workout.  Read More

 

Pumped Up Pilates

 

 

PILATES MEETS STRENGTH TRAINING AT VAURA PILATES, TOP; RE/GEN METHOD, BOTTOM

 
According to ClassPass, Pilates was the most popular workout of 2023, overtaking strength training as the number one choice of fitness enthusiasts. There are countless Pilates fitness studios across the country — many of which we have featured like SLT, SolidCore, Club Pilates, and Lagree Fitness – with classes on a Pilates reformer machine or a variation thereof. All are slightly different, but at their core is core – core strength that is.

A few new studios have popped up on the fitness landscape like Vaura Pilates and Re/Gen Method that combine the popularity and benefits of Pilates and strength training into one workout. It’s a new approach to Pilates and a new approach to strength training. Though there is an emphasis on core work, core strength alone is not the end goal. Maintaining your stability and form on the Reformer as you slide the platform and pull the straps against the resistance of the spring makes Pilates classes a total body workout. These new classes add weights into the mix for added difficulty and results.

Vaura Pilates is a new Australian import that just opened in NYC, and I took their first class opening day. Billed as an “athletic” Reformer class, Vaura mixes dumbbells, a weighted ball, and the traditional Pilates ring into moves on the Reformer. Every class is different and each teacher encorporates the equipment in their own way. My instructor, for example, integrated upper body dumbbell moves like bicep curls, triceps extensions, and shoulder presses into lower body moves like lunges and squats on the Reformer. Read More

 
 

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