Wellness

What's the deal with Ozempic?

I want to start this post off by saying I have been reading and researching a lot about these new weight loss drugs and the jury is still out about the long term effects of using them. Having said that, they seem to be extremely powerful and helpful for many people, albeit cost prohibitive. Ozempic (semaglutide) is the most well known drug on the market currently so we will use it for the purposes of this post, but know there are other drugs in the same category and even more

Lisa Magnuson

Apr 26, 20243 min read

Losing Power as you Age

Last August, I sent out this blog post highlighting the importance of maintaining and even gaining strength as you age. Today, I plan to discuss another equally or possibly even greater measure of performance commonly referred to as power. What is power in this sense? "Experts define power as the ability to apply force rapidly — using fast-twitch muscle fibers in short, explosive bursts." Amanda Loudin, New York Times: How to test your strength in 30 seconds Power is what al

Lisa Magnuson

Feb 28, 20243 min read

Try Dry January??

It's that season again when we reflect on the year we are bringing to a close and look forward to a fresh start in a new year. Some of us have had major successes this past year, while others may have suffered a loss or slogged through the months, anticipating the new chapter a new year promises. It's well known that January is prime time for resolutions made (and often broken) but our original intentions are always solid. The part where the resolution making falls apart is

Lisa Magnuson

Dec 31, 20233 min read

What is HRV and why does it matter?

Many of us wear fitness tracking devices, whether we know it or not. Your smartwatch, be it an iWatch, Garmin, or Fitbit, are just a few I can name that can track all sorts of health and fitness data from heart rate, to step count, to calories burned; they do it all. One of these measurements you might not be as familiar with is Heart Rate Variability (HRV). It seems like everywhere you turn now, people are talking about HRV and why you should care about it. I'm going to do m

Lisa Magnuson

Sep 20, 20234 min read

Strength Decline as we Age

It's no secret, that as we age we lose strength. I want to shine a light on how much we lose and what we can do to prevent the decline. Here are the scary statistics: After the age of 40, people typically lose 1-2% of their muscle size per year, have a 3-5% reduction in strength and power per year, and a 8-10% decrease in speed and explosiveness per year. So by the time you are 60, you "could" have lost a decent amount of muscle size, had a substantial reduction in strength

Lisa Magnuson

Aug 21, 20233 min read

My Birthday "List"

It's June, and for our family that means several things. It's one of the busiest months of the year, with two birthdays (Anya and me), Father's day, and the end of the school year. It's transition time, yet again, from a busy scheduled school day routine to the more laid back, easy morning and lazy evening groove of summer. Despite its craziness, I actually love June, partially because I love birthdays (especially my own), and because of the slow slide into less structure a

Lisa Magnuson

Jun 9, 20236 min read

Processed foods and you

A new term started popping up in news articles- "ultraprocessed food". This caught my attention because I hadn't heard it before and I wondered what the "ultra" part meant. After reading a few of the articles, I quickly came to understand that ultraprocessed foods (UPF's) are just what we used to consider processed foods, however there is a new hierarchy of foods I was unaware of. There are four tiers to label foods- unprocessed, minimally processed, processed and ultraproces

Lisa Magnuson

May 22, 20232 min read

Forest Bathing 101

If you haven't heard this term yet, you will soon. Forest bathing stems from the Japanese practice called "shinrin-yoku", which roughly...

Lisa Magnuson

May 4, 20232 min read

Will Winter EVER end?

The days are getting longer, but the persistent cold and rainy weather in the PNW has been affecting everyone. No matter where I go...

Lisa Magnuson

Apr 21, 20232 min read

How Best to Aid Recovery

Recovery is as important, if not more so, than training itself. In order to create the adaptations (results) from your training sessions,...

Lisa Magnuson

Apr 5, 20235 min read

Getting Back into Training After a Break

Sometimes life gives you lemons..... It's what you do with those lemons that counts. Most, if not all of us, will take an extended break...

Lisa Magnuson

Feb 22, 20233 min read

A Year in Review- Our Top 10 List

Last year, around this same time, we asked our clients and friends to send us their "big wins" for the year. We heard from many of you...

Lisa Magnuson

Dec 27, 20223 min read

Burn the Bird- Aloha Style

This year we are travelling to the Big Island of Hawaii to spend the holiday with our good friends, the Pendanos, who moved there a...

Lisa Magnuson

Nov 15, 20222 min read

Fasted Training- Hype or Helpful?

In my last post, I wrote about the importance of focusing on either building muscle OR burning fat, and encouraged you to choose one,...

Lisa Magnuson

Oct 5, 20224 min read

Can you Burn Fat AND Build Muscle at the Same Time?

The short answer, if you're reading this blog post, is probably not. If you are new to training, like have under a year of experience,...

Lisa Magnuson

Sep 21, 20224 min read

Estrogen, bone health, and all things "heavy"

This post is obviously directed toward women, however if you aren't a woman but know a woman, it might also be good for you to read so you can share the knowledge and sound smart. Menopause- "the big change", mother nature sure has a fantastic sense of humor. As women, we get the opportunity to have a fluctuating hormone cycle for 30-40 years with some lovely hormones that are quite beneficial to our health and wellness. Then, during a very short period of time, those hormone

Lisa Magnuson

Sep 8, 20223 min read

Preparing for your "Marginal Decade" of Life

Common catch phrases like YOLO (you only live once) and carpe diem surround us and our culture is filled with uplifting, live in the moment type of hype. It's a fun way to help encourage you to experiment with new activities or push yourself out of your comfort zone on occasion. But what about the long game? The short game is pretty easy to manage and day to day or even year to year you will slowly see things change, but if you think way ahead into your future what do you see

Lisa Magnuson

Aug 23, 20224 min read