Fellas, you’re rounding the corner into the men’s locker room at the gym and BAM!

There’s Wilfred Brimley facing the mirror, bending down drying his toes, his backside facing you with his kiwi click-clacks jangling down his hamstrings.

Ladies, other than that one time I absent-mindedly walked in by accident (insert scream here), I can only imagine Aunt Edna reaching down to buff her corns, mammaries getting there before her fingertips.

These are good times. Good times.

I wish eyeballs had airbags to cushion these visually violent collisions.

I admire these people. They’re still alive, they’re at the gym, and they don’t care. Oh, to be so at peace with one’s body. How freeing that must be.

This must end. Now.

Guys, you need to put the towels ON...

Don’t get me wrong; I hope to be that free someday. I just pray I’ll always remember what it’s like for the younger generations.

How about a new Golden Rule for the golden years: grab a towel unto you.

That’s all. Just one, snuggly wrapped towel.

Because it’s worse for the younger generations. They’re not broken in like we older folks.

We really should get paid for this product placement

Sometime back in the 1980s, water conservation kicked in and schools eliminated compulsory showers. This not only saved the state a lot of money, but the inventors of AXE made a fortune.

“In my day,” after we walked uphill through seven miles of snow (and that was just to change the channel on the television), we had daily mandatory showers with 60 other like-gendered students from seventh grade all the way through high school.

That’s 60 students times 180 school days times six years equals just under 65,000 naked visuals by age 18.

65,000!

For students after 1985? Zilch.

Zero.

My sons would play varsity basketball games and immediately afterwards put on their street clothes. No showers. I couldn’t believe it.

The Gipper always wore a towel

America, we have raised at least two generations worth of junkaphobics, which makes these Wilfred Brimley moments all the more violent for them.

It’s up to all of us to stop the carnage.

Wrap the terry cloth. Snugly. And step away from the mirror.

Do it for the children. Do it for yourself. Do it… for America.

Cookie “Chainsaw” Randolph’s columns appear every Tuesday and Friday on 619Sports.Net.  Check out his complete column archive here!

Completely gratuitous Wilford Brimley photoshop:

San Diego sports broadcasting icon Cookie “Chainsaw” Randolph has agreed to join 619 Sports as a minority owner, columnist and contributor.  Randolph, the widely self-proclaimed “Dean of American Sportscasters”, will begin by writing a weekly column for 619Sports.Net.

“We couldn’t be happier to welcome Chainsaw to 619 Sports,” said company co-founder and president Craig Elsten, “Cookie’s wit and wisdom will be a tremendous addition to our website.  We look at the addition of Chainsaw to our team as another step toward 619 Sports becoming the premier online destination for San Diego sports talk and sports writing.”

Randolph spent 20 years as part of the “Dave, Shelley and Chainsaw” program on 101.5 KGB-FM, the top-rated and wildly popular morning radio show.  While the DSC is currently in between radio gigs, Randolph has been itching to continue to contribute to the San Diego sports scene.

“Thank you, President Obama!” said Chainsaw, “Thanks to an obscure clause in ‘Cash for Clunkers’, Craig and Chris get a tax credit for donating a portion of their website to the unemployed.  I’m happy to take advantage of this sports welfare.”

“Chainsaw is one of the funniest, most entertaining sports personalities I’ve ever listened to in San Diego,” said company co-founder and vice president Chris Ello,  “It’s going to be a lot of fun to work with him and I can’t wait!”

Cookie “Chainsaw” Randolph will be officially introduced as a member of the 619 Sports team on Tuesday night, April 13^th, at the Tilted Kilt downtown in San Diego.  619 Sports will be hosting a “tweetup” from 6:30-8:30pm, open to the public.

We will be announcing multiple ways to get free VIP tickets for this exciting tweetup, within hours on 619 Sports, so check back!

It came down to the final day.  In the final day, it came down to the last game.  But when the dust had settled and all ten results were in from the pro and college games we asked you to pick for our 619 Sports Holiday Bowl Pick’em Contest, there were two winners standing alone.

Congrats to Chuck D and TruAztec, the winners of our pick’em contest!  Chuck made the bold move to split away from the pack on Tuesday and pick UCLA and Wisconsin, taking a shot at solo glory over the chance to be pulled from a tiebreaker random drawing.  The gamble worked, and Chuck finished in a clear first place with a 7-3 record.

TruAztec finished 6-4, and nobody else who participated managed to fashion a better-than-.500 record.  I guess I chose some tough games to predict!  In particular, UCLA dumping Temple was a major shift in the game.

Guys, the tickets are waiting for you tonight at will call…enjoy the Holiday Bowl, courtesy of your prognosticating ability, the good people in the Holiday Bowl front office, and 619Sports.Net!

When circumstances change, contests change.

Last week’s Poinsettia Bowl Pick’em contest was a great success with 50 tickets overall distributed to 619 Sports readers & listeners.  We were all set to roll the contest forward…then we found out that we have just FOUR tickets to give away to the SOLD OUT Pacific Life Holiday Bowl on December 30th.

Hey, that’s still two pairs of tickets to see the AP College Football Player of the Year Ndamukong Suh and the 22nd ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers against the 20th ranked Arizona Wildcats at Qualcomm Stadium on Wednesday night!

Want to get in on the action?  You’re going to need to visit 619Sports.Net each of the next four days, and you’re going to need to show some prognosticating savvy picking college and pro football games!

Starting with two of today’s three college football bowl games, and continuing through Tuesday night, 619 Sports will present you with 10 different opportunities to pick games.  The two people who come up with the highest number of correct picks will be going to the Holiday Bowl!  In case of a tie I will randomly select the winners from the available pool of contestants with the same number of correct picks.

After the jump, take a look at the 10 games you’ll be picking!

TODAY

• Meineke Car Care Bowl: #17 Pittsburgh (9-3) vs. North Carolina (8-4)
• Emerald Bowl: USC (8-4) vs. Boston College (8-4)

SUNDAY

• Music City Bowl: Clemson (8-5) vs. Kentucky (7-5)
• NFL: Houston (7-7) at Miami (7-7)
• NFL: Baltimore (8-6) at Pittsburgh (7-7)
• NFL: Denver (8-6) at Philadelphia (10-4)

MONDAY

• Independence Bowl: Georgia (7-5) vs. Texas A&M (6-6)
• NFL: Minnesota (11-3) at Chicago (5-9)

TUESDAY

• Eagle Bank Bowl: UCLA (6-6) vs. Temple (9-3)
• Champs Sports Bowl: #15 Miami (9-3) vs. #25 Wisconsin (9-3)

IMPORTANT!  IMPORTANT! Each day, you must submit your picks in the comments section of that day’s contest post, which will always be on the front page of 619Sports.Net.  If you put all 10 picks in this comments section below, ONLY TODAY’S WILL COUNT! Got it?  Yes, we are trying to train you to visit the site every day!

Any pick submitted after the kickoff of a given game will be invalid.

MAKE SURE when you sign up for our comments section that you use a VALID e-mail address, as that is the way we will contact our winners.  On the day of the Holiday Bowl, winners will need to arrange to physically pick up the tickets from Craig Elsten.

OK, that’s it for rules.  Today’s games are just hours away from kicking off as I publish, so get to it and GOOD LUCK from 619Sports.Net!

Polly Kanavel is a fitness coach located in La Mesa, CA and has an engineering degree with a focus in ergonomics.

Food—many of us have a love/hate relationship with food because we need it to survive but often go overboard and then hate ourselves for it (or at least feel a tiny, fleeting twinge of guilt).  It’s interesting, even a little scary, to learn the amount of food our body needs can be vastly different from what we actually eat every day.

Recommended Dietary Allowances were established during World War II and are what is used to establish the Percent Daily Values of nutrients.  This is the information that is on almost all food labels, and contrary to your most fervent hopes, even if it doesn’t have a nutrition label it’s not calorie free.  (I’m talking to you single slice of sheet cake from Vons!)

For general weight maintenance, daily caloric intake is around 100 calories per 10 lbs of body weight, meaning if you want to just maintain your weight of 160 lbs, you need to eat around 1600 calories a day; and this assuming at least 30 minutes of medium to vigorous exercise on most days of the week.  Nutrition labels, though, base their percent daily values on a 2000 calorie per day diet.  To make your life easier I’ve prepared two tables, one based on 1400 calories per day the other on 2000 calories/day, to give you an idea of some basic nutrition guidelines.* The recommended daily amount of fiber for adults is 20-35 grams.

+Athletes require more protein for muscle repair and body maintenance.

Some information about sodium, fiber and protein—

Sodium in food is salt.  Sodium is in almost all packaged and prepared foods, sometimes in exorbitant amounts.  Salt brings out the flavor in food and makes it taste better but too much isn’t good for you.  Sodium helps regulate water and electrolyte balance, is required for nerve and muscle activity, and helps with the absorption of water and some nutrients.  Excess sodium causes fluid retention, bloat, and over time can increase blood volume which makes your heart work harder and leads to high blood pressure which can cause cardiovascular and kidney disease.  A quarter teaspoon of regular table salt contains 25% RDA of sodium while kosher salt contains only 20% so try switching to kosher salt in your home cooking.  Taste your food before salting—sometimes we salt food out of habit or perceived need.  But really, the biggest salt culprit is pre-made foods so read the label.  Dinty Moore Microwavable Beef Stew Bowl contains 1300 mg of sodium—that’s over half of your RDA (based on 2000 calories) and that’s only a 10 oz, 250 calorie portion!  When and if you can, choose low sodium versions of food and ask yourself, is all that salt worth taking years and years of high blood pressure medication?  Probably not.

Edible fiber falls into two categories: soluble and insoluble.  Soluble fiber helps block cholesterol and fats from being absorbed in the bloodstream.  Insoluble fiber helps maintain your ‘daily constitutional’.  Soluble fiber is found in all plant foods including beans, oats, barley (no, beer doesn’t count), the flesh of fruits and root vegetables such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, and carrots.  Insoluble fiber is found in whole grain foods, wheat bran, nuts & seeds, and vegetable & fruit skins.  In general, Americans don’t eat enough fiber and unless you go crazy overboard, more is better.  Fiber helps you feel full faster, slows absorption of glucose which reduces blood sugar highs and lows, and lowers total and LDL (bad) cholesterol; plus don’t forget the bathroom-related advantages.

While more is better with fiber, the same is not true with protein.  Protein requirements are dependent upon body weight; a person with average activity levels should use following equation to determine protein needs:  your body weight in lbs ÷ 2.2 × 0.8 = grams of protein needed.  (Dividing by 2.2 changes your weight from lbs to kg.)  Athletes, in general, require more protein and in the previous equation the “0.8” can vary from 1.2 – 1.8.  Many gym rats like to drink protein shakes, thinking that their activity levels demand the extra protein, but too much protein can lead to calcium loss.   By using the previous equation, this tells us that a 175 lb adult requires 80 grams of protein; 8 ounces of chicken breast meat contains about 50 grams of protein, a Clif bar has about 10 grams of protein, a slice (1 oz) of Oscar Meyer Turkey lunch meat has 5 grams of protein, and a large bowl of Quaker Oatmeal provides 10 grams of protein.  You can reach your recommended amount of 80 grams of protein just by eating a few healthy, low fat foods instead of foods high saturated fat like beef and cheese.

I realize that the rules of dietary discretion can go out the window during the holidays, which for many covers every day from Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day, but taking it a little easier now will mean less work in January.  Go nuts on Thanksgiving!  Ask for seconds and thirds, smother your pumpkin pie in whipped cream, and succumb to that turkey coma.  It’s practically an American right.  But get back on the healthy wagon Friday, eat your leftovers in moderation, and take the dog for a walk.  Even if you’re not ready to make any changes right now, January 1^st is right around the corner so it’s the perfect time to be thinking ahead of how to create a healthier you in 2010.

Next time I’ll give you a jump start on some of your new year’s resolutions.  No, I can’t promise that’ll you’ll strike it rich or find that special someone but I can help you look and feel better.

A year ago, Meb Keflezighi was recovering from hip surgery and could barely even walk.  Now, the San Diego High graduate is on top of the running world after becoming the first American since 1982 to win the New York City Marathon.  Keflezighi returned home to a hero’s welcome at the Hall of Champions on Friday, then sat down to talk one-on-one with 619 Sports:

Download audio file (110609-Meb-interview.mp3)

Polly Kanavel is a fitness coach located in La Mesa, CA and has an engineering degree with a focus in ergonomics.

Stretching. It’s feels good and its good for us but most of us don’t do it enough. Sure, we think to stretch before going for a long walk or jog and flap our arms about before a swim but what about restorative stretching? You know, those nice, relaxing stretches that help your body let go at the end of the day. We could all use more of those.

I’ve outlined a few stretches that I really like to help gently twist your spine and relax your body. All of these stretches can easily be done at home in front of the TV. If you have low back pain please proceed with caution and skip #5.

1. Bottle Cap Twist—start cross-legged and sit up straight and tall. Plant your right hand on the floor behind you, with your right arm stiff against your body from ribcage to tush. Gently twist to the right, keeping your shoulders level and back straight. Place your left hand on your right knee and use it help you twist around to the right even more. As you twist, imagine you are twisting the cap off a long neck and lift your chest and crown of your head up. Hold for a count of 10 and repeat on the other side. You may cross your legs the opposite way for the other side. Pug is optional.

2. High 5 Twist—start with feet out straight and cross the right foot over your left leg at about knee. Again, place your right hand behind you tight against your ribs. Twist to the right, shoulders level, and tuck your left elbow on the outside of your right knee. Use the tension between your elbow and knee to twist your upper body to the right even more (again thinking of that long neck bottle cap coming up and off). Spread the fingers and palm of your left hand as if you’re giving someone a High 5—this is called ‘keeping the palm active’ and keeps your left arm engaged in the activity and helps keep your shoulders from rolling forward and down. Hold for a count of 10 and gently release and switch to the other side.

3. Bent Knees Twist—lay flat on your back with your arms out in a T with palms down and bend your knees. Adjust your shoulder blades so that they’re flat on the ground and take the arch out of your lumbar spine. Gently roll your knees to the left (keeping your knees together) and twist your head to the right, looking over your right shoulder—make sure your right shoulder remains on the ground. Hold for a count of 10. Return knees to center then roll to right side while looking over your left shoulder.

4. Crossed T Twist—begin the same as the ‘Bent Knees Twist’. Cross your right leg over your left and shift your hips to the right about 3 inches. Twist your legs to the left and look over your right shoulder. You may place your left hand on your right knee for a little extra tension. Twist only so far that your right shoulder stays on the ground. Hold for a count of 10. Return knees to center uncross and cross left over right. Shift hips to left and roll knees to right side while looking over left shoulder.

5. L Twist*—lay flat again, keeping shoulder blades on the ground. Raise legs up to 90◦ with feet flexed (imagine your feet are flat against the ceiling). Using your abs, slowly twist and lower your legs over to the left while looking over your right shoulder (again, keep that right shoulder on the ground). Hold for a count of 10 then use your abs again and press your arms into the floor to raise your legs back to vertical then twist legs to the right while looking over your left shoulder. *Skip if you have low back pain.

After these stretches, roll to your right side. Give yourself a few seconds before pushing yourself into a seated position with your left arm.

Recovery: Windshield Wiper—lay flat on your stomach, with your head to one side. You can place your hands under your cheek or by your sides. Bend your knees to raise your feet towards the ceiling. Slowly ‘swish’ your legs left and right like the wipers on a car. After about 3 sets twist your head to the other side and repeat. Again, Pug is optional.

Remember to perform all of these stretches gently and slowly. While you should feel the stretch they should never be painful so go to your limit but not beyond. If you run through these stretches even once a week you will see improvement. As I’ve said before, there’s nothing attractive about being inflexible in either mind or body.

Next time I will tell you in detail what I’ve eaten for the week. This may sound odd but every time I read an article about how these TV trainers stay fit and what they eat their diets seem so boring, and frankly, weird. So, as a reasonably fit person I thought you might want to know what I eat to understand that you don’t have to eat foods you don’t like or cut out your favorites to also have a healthy diet.

Polly Kanavel is a personal trainer located in La Mesa, Ca and has an engineering degree with a focus in ergonomics.

With summer here I wanted to take the time to address being safe in the heat. Be smart about where and when you workout. Unless you are training for an ultra marathon in Death Valley in July there’s no need to be out exercising during the hottest part of the day.

When possible, avoid exercising outside between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. If you enjoy walking or jogging consider an indoor treadmill. A 1% incline will simulate light wind resistance. In the gym find a piece of cardio equipment near a fan—your body creates a “heat bubble” as you exercise and circulating air not only dissipates the heat but helps sweat evaporate which is your body’s natural air conditioning.In humid environments sweat doesn’t evaporate as easily so be extra cautious. Always remember to drink plenty of water, wear clothing that allows sweat to evaporate (light colors if you’re outside) and allow yourself at least 10 minutes of rest for every 45-50 minutes of physical activity.

Staying hydrated is important–losing too much water can lead to heat cramps, heat exhaustion, or heat stroke. If you lose 3% or more of your body weight after intense exercise drink up and replace those fluids! Heat cramps occur in dominant active muscles like the calves or abs. If this happens stop activity and try to find a cool place and relax, stretch, and hydrate.

Heat exhaustion sufferers may look pale, have cool, clammy skin and a weak, rapid pulse. They might sweat profusely but have a normal body temperature. With heat stroke, the individual will usually have hot, red, dry skin but will no longer be sweating because the body is trying to conserve fluid. Core body temperature could be as high as 105°. Heat stroke can be very dangerous and is considered a medical emergency.

Now, as promised, I did an email interview with a Navy pilot about what he does to stay in shape on a ship and how the Navy keeps sailors safe in the heat.

Jason “Sherm” Sherman is a helicopter pilot in the U.S. Navy. He served his last deployment on the USS Shoup, an Arleigh Burke class Guided Missile Destroyer, as the Air Detachment Officer-in- Charge responsible for all air operations on board ship including 4 pilots, 2 enlisted aircrewmen, 20 enlisted maintainers, one SH-60B aircraft (Seahawk helicopter) and all necessary tools, etc. He has also deployed on the (now scrapped) Destroyer USS Moosebrugger, Frigate USS Taylor and USS Abraham Lincoln, a Nimitz class aircraft carrier (nuclear powered).

The Navy encourages sailors to stay fit and keeps tabs on their fitness with PRA’s (Physical Readiness Assessments) every 6 months.  A sailor who fails 3 PRA’s in a row risks being discharged.  As an aviator Jason must pass an annual flight physical in addition to PRA’s.  Non-aviators must also undergo physicals on varying timelines.

To keep sailors fit the Navy has gyms on every base that are free to military and dependents, plus ships have free weights, weight machines, and cardio equipment.  Aircraft carriers have large weight rooms with cardio machines tucked into all possible areas.  Smaller ships offer much less due to space restrictions—typically a cable machine, Smith machine, free weights and a few cardio machines.

Jason tries to stick to a ‘3 days on, 1 day off’ fitness routine with cardio on the elliptical machine and/or rowing machine every day and varying resistance exercises done in a cross fit style with 3-5 supersets.  [The Pyramid of Success chronicled in 5 Minute Fitness #2 is an example of a cross fit style routine—one set of one exercise followed by another set of another exercise working a different part of the body followed by another exercise, etc.  A superset is a collection of individual exercise sets, i.e. each step of the Pyramid of Success is a superset.]  Because of shin splints and knee problems, Jason does his cardio on elliptical and rowing machines, sticking to about 20 minutes or less per machine per workout day.

When out on deployments Jason has faced the challenges of safely working out in extreme conditions.  I admit that I seek cardio equipment in the gym that is near a fan and I will cross the street to walk in the shade.  Jason doesn’t have those luxuries and has used an elliptical machine in an unairconditioned aircraft hangar around Africa when it was 120° and humid.  He makes sure to stay well hydrated and the Navy does educate sailors about heat exhaustion, heat stress, and dehydration.  The Navy even posts urine color charts which basically show that the more hydrated you are the lighter in color your urine should be.  Remember, no amount of training or acclimatization can reduce your body’s requirement for water.

There’s no need to risk your health when you exercise.  Be safe and be smart.  Drink lots of fluids.  This is advice you’ve heard all your life but with good reason—it’s good advice.  If you’re like me and not a huge fan of plain water try Crystal Light drink mixes (or store brand equivalent), Gatorade G2, Powerade Zero, Propel, or other low calorie flavored water—no need to fill yourself up with sugar calories after you’ve just worked out.  So, whether you’re sweating out in the sun or sweating in front of the fan just think of the men and women of our armed forces squeezing their workouts in whenever and wherever they can.

Next time I’ll share some easy stretches that gently twist your back that you can do right on the floor in front of your TV.

Polly Kanavel is a fitness coach located in La Mesa, CA and has an engineering degree with a focus in ergonomics.

Hello again and thank you for reading 5 Minute Fitness.  As promised this time we’re going to have Phun with a Physioball.  Every gym has these colorful balls, and no, they’re not for Giants to play dodgeball.  You may even have one at home because they are relatively inexpensive, available practically everywhere from Sports Authority to Ross, and they people on the box seem to be having fun so you will too, right?

Whether you call them Physio Balls, Fitness Balls, Stability Balls or Swiss Balls (why the Swiss?  I don’t know) they are a great way to add variety to your exercise routine.  Because of their inherent instability even non-ab exercises work your abs by helping you tone all over and get done even faster, while letting you know the next day you really did some work.

I’ve put together a few Physio Ball exercises that can be done at home or the gym.  So, pull that ball out of the back room or find where they’re congregating at the gym and give them a try; you might even have some phun!

PB Push Ups These are traditional Push Ups done elevated with your hands on the ball.  Not only do you get the regular Push Up benefit of working your triceps, shoulders and chest but your body has to stabilize you as the ball tries to wiggle around.  You’ll feel your abs, back, legs and even toes working to keep you straight and steady.  Do these about half as fast as you’d do a regular Push Up, going slow but steady through each one.  Make sure you are stable before lowering and always keep a straight line between your shoulders and your heels.  Do 3-10 reps per set, no more than 5 or 6 sets.  Do each exercise in succession before coming back to the Push Ups if doing these exercises as a whole routine.

PB Lat Roll The Lat Roll is a lateral twist that works your latissimus dorsi, which are the muscle that wrap around your middle back, and your arms and traps (the trapezius muscle runs from the back of your hairline to the top of your lats).  Position your back on the Physio Ball so that your shoulder blades are flat on the ball.  You want your knees at 90° to your thighs and lower legs and your hips up so your tush isn’t sagging.   The best way to get in position is to sit on the ball and slowly walk your feet out while laying back on the ball.  I do this exercise using a plate weight but a compliant cat or sleeping newborn works too.  Begin by holding the weight straight up then twist from your waist, arms still straight, to your left (lifting your right shoulder blade up) while keeping your hips up and feet planted.  Return to center and twist to right.  Start with 5 to each side and work up to 10 per side.

PB Reach Ups If these don’t make your abs shake nothing will!  Start with your upper middle back on the Physio Ball and extend your arms up at 90° to your torso, hands close together.  Slowly reach up, contracting your abs to lift your upper body, keeping your arms perpendicular to the floor; this will involve some slight shoulder extension.  Return down and reach up again, but this time aiming to the left or right to add a slight twist and bringing your obliques into play.  Go slow enough to feel the abs contracting up and releasing back down.  The movement looks subtle but your body’s response will tell you otherwise; take your time to slowly raise and lower through each rep.  Do 2-6 reaches each direction (center, left, and right) per set.

PB V-Up This is an ab, upper leg, hip, arm, shoulder and upper back exercise all in one.  Start out laying flat with a Physio Ball between your feet and lower legs.  Contract your abs and bend in the middle bringing the Physio Ball up.  Transfer the Physio Ball to your hands and stretch horizontal again but try to keep the Ball and your feet off the ground.  Again contract your abs bring the Ball to meet your feet again and return to the starting position.  Keep your arms and legs straight.  That’s one rep.  Do 5-10 reps per set.

PB Leg Curl The trickiest part of this exercise is to keep the Physio Ball tucked in between your heels and hamstrings.  Lay on your back with your arms slightly away from your body.  Place your lower legs over the Ball, slightly spread and pigeon-toed so that the Ball is pressing into your hamstrings.  Contract your lower abs and rotate your hips to bring your knees to your chest.  Your tush should come slightly off the ground.  Return back down.  You may need to reposition your feet every few reps.  Do 10-25 reps per set.

Physio Balls come in 4 standard sizes so be sure to choose the appropriate size for your height.  Most are marked with their size in centimeters and range from 45 cm to 75 cm.  If you’re under 5 feet tall use the 45 cm ball, 5 ft to 5’ 7” use the 55 cm ball (pictured), 5’ 8” to 6’ 3” use a 65 cm ball and if you’re over 6’ 3” used the 75 cm ball.  A quick way to check if the Ball is the proper size for you is to sit forward on it and see if your thighs are parallel to the ground from hips to knees.

I hope these exercises add some variety to your workouts or at least give you ideas of how to use that Physio Ball that’s been relegated to the “it seemed like a good idea at a time” pile.

Next time we’ll talk to a Navy Pilot and learn how he stays fit at sea.

Polly Kanavel is a fitness coach located in La Mesa, CA and has an engineering degree with a focus in ergonomics.

Welcome again! In my last four posts we have gone around the physical fitness horn so now I’m starting back at the first corner: Nutrition.

In my last Nutrition post I built a better Ham & Cheese sandwich. I hope that caused at least one person to look at a few labels in the grocery store and make a better choice. I am never going to tell you not eat something because let’s face it, you’re an adult and can and will do whatever you want; but I do want to help you make better-for-you choices without making sacrifices to taste.

Today I’m talking smoothies. I don’t know anyone that wouldn’t accept a free smoothie from one of those chain places at the mall. I would and I have and I don’t blame you either. But after some at-home blending and a little investigating I will say that my homemade smoothies taste just as good as anything from a 12,000 watt mega blender and are better for you.I recently watched multiple smoothies being made at a place that rhymes with “Samba Sluice”. I focused on a smoothie called Razzmatazz because its ingredients seemed pretty tasty to me and similar to what I make at home. The Razzmatazz consists of mixed berry juice blend, strawberries, bananas and orange sherbet (according to their nutritional pamphlet). Sounds pretty good, right? What they don’t disclose is the quantities of said ingredients and by far the leading ingredient is ice! That’s right, good ol’ frozen water. About 1 ½ cups of it in a 16 oz smoothie. Why is this a big deal? Because, while water is good for you, in this case it is just used as filler to make the smoothie fluffier and appear larger.

A Razzmatazz smoothie starts with fruit juice and 2 smallish scoops of orange sherbet. (I don’t know exactly how big the scoops are but I’m guessing about 3 oz of sherbet total.) Then about 9 bitty strawberries and a few chunks of bananas are added. The fruit was frozen or at least semisolid. Finally two big heaping scoops of ice are ladled in and the whole thing is set to warp speed. I admit it, it looked tasty and if offered to me I would have sucked it down but I would not have paid $3.50 for it.

The three highest volume ingredients in a Razzmatazz are ice, fruit juice and sherbet. The ice is, well, water. The fruit juice is, well, water too with some sort of fruit flavoring and possibly sugar or high fructose corn syrup. And the sherbet is frozen skim milk with orange flavoring and sugar. Tasty but not very nutritious. I do not know what exactly is in Samba Sluice’s mixed berry juice blend but I can tell you what is in two different mixed berry juice blends from the grocery store:

What’s in orange sherbet (Deluxe Brand at Ralphs)?
120 Calories/4 oz serving, 28 g Carbs, 1 g Protein with 2% Vitamin C and 6% Calcium

Here’s my very simple recipe for a just-as-tasty but better-for-you smoothie that can be easily tweaked to your favorite tastes.

• 1 cup Frozen Mixed Berries (these can be bought already frozen or you can freeze your own)

• 1 cup Frozen Strawberries (sometimes cheaper when in season to freeze your own)
• Non Fat Yogurt, 4-8 oz
• Skim, 1% or 2% Milk to help blend, about 1 – 4 oz

*extras: honey, pure vanilla extract, Splenda, ice for increasing volume, 4 oz pure orange juice, other frozen fruits

Here’s the caloric run-down on the two smoothies:

As you can see, the 5 Minute Fitness Smoothie has fewer calories, less fat, and less total carbohydrates but more importantly there’s more fiber and more protein which helps keep you fuller longer. Plus, we all know that Americans as a whole don’t eat enough fiber and fruit is an easy way get eat more fiber without feeling like a rabbit.

I know making a smoothie at home can be a pain, especially cleaning the blender afterwards, but when you make it yourself you get to control what’s in it and make it better for you. I’m not saying that Samba Sluice’s smoothies are bad; I’m just saying that you can make it better. If you must order one consider one with yogurt and/or soymilk, but know that you could have about 5 pieces of See’s dark chocolate almonds, peanuts, or walnuts for the same calories. Nuts have fiber, protein, omega-3 fats (good fat), and have been shown to lower cholesterol. And, according to the Chocolate Manufacturers Association, dark chocolate contains about eight times the polyphenol antioxidants found in strawberries.

I’m not trying to rain on your smoothie parade, just make you aware of what you’re getting when you order one and that you can do better at home.

Next time we’ll revisit strength training and have some phun with a physio ball.