Salient Dictates

7 minute abs.

Mark Blegen — Tue, 14 May 2013 11:15:14 +0000

I must admit to being somewhat skeptical anytime I hear people tout “Get fit fast” systems. Seems I am always reminded of Ben Stiller’s interaction with the hitchhiker in “There’s Something About Mary” when the topic comes up. How low can you go? Can’t get abs in 6 minutes, has to be 7 minutes. 7minute …

Two hours.

Mark Blegen — Wed, 01 May 2013 10:34:43 +0000

The best and most fascinating studies for me are the simple ones. I don’t want to know the genome of the brain, someone does, but not me. I want to know why I eat and why I exercise. More practical and applicable to my daily life than know the DNA of my left parietal lobe. …

Why we exercise

Mark Blegen — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 11:25:16 +0000

How would you respond if I asked, “Why do you exercise?” Would you pause and ponder? Would you say “because it feels good”? Or would it be something along the lines of “I exercise to extend my life”? Most of the responses I have been given over the years fall into two general categories, those …

Great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great…

Mark Blegen — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 11:41:23 +0000

Perhaps it’s my great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandparents fault that at times I am not motivated to exercise. Perhaps it is my ancestor’s gift that I battle that amotivation and continue to exercise. Why some people choose to be active and others choose not be is the never-ending question …

Kids and Calories

Mark Blegen — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 10:54:29 +0000

Earlier this week the Centers for Disease Control released a news brief detailing a surprising decline in calories consumed by our children. For boys calorie intake dropped 7% to an average of 2,100 calories per day and for girls, a 4% drop to 1,755 calories per day. I am not an expert in pediatric nutrition …

Why we run.

Mark Blegen — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 10:50:11 +0000

My thoughts are with Boston, the running community, and all those impacted by yesterday’s tragic events. As a friend shared yesterday, “Running is such an innocent sport.” Her words stick with me this morning. Why do we run? We run for health. We run for quiet. We run for the solitude and the social. We …

Saturday Special

Mark Blegen — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 14:07:07 +0000

Yesterday proved challenging indeed. The food stared, I ignored. The food screamed, I ignored. The food throw a tantrum, I ate. For the most part I was successful in meeting my challenge of not overeating during my meeting, however, there were moments. In laying out my challenge here yesterday I definitely felt the pressure of …

A challenge for today

Mark Blegen — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 12:17:04 +0000

Today I will set in a conference with room with seven or eight other fitness professionals. We will go over potential questions for a national certifying exam for personal trainers. We will ask each other to think about this and to consider that. We may even learn something ourselves. Today will be a challenge. Not …

Truthiness

Mark Blegen — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 10:54:15 +0000

I love this word, truthiness. Thank you, Mr. Colbert. The word has a certain playfulness to it, some ambiguity that allows for the bending of truth. Ever do that with food or with your weight? I bend it all the time. “Cookies? What cookies? Didn’t even know we had any in the house, couldn’t have …

The Real World

Mark Blegen — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 10:44:15 +0000

No, not the world of Puck and Pedro and those other wonderful characters of MTV yore, but rather the real world of eating. And overeating. Upon returning from a wonderful four days visiting my in-laws in Wisconsin, and facing the reality of the scale this morning, my eating environment has hit me square between the …