Irreverent Fitness

Don't relax!

Beautiful Readers,

Sometimes I think I'm a genius. Not about everything, but about certain things like men, women, popular trends, and what's good for you. Does this help me in my own life? Not a bit. But it sure does leave me feeling mighty smart sometimes.

So just try to guess what can be helpful to you that I predicted long ago was getting a bad rap it didn't always deserve! Stress! Yes that's right folks-- that fine chemical cocktail that courses through your body when you are being chased by a tiger or even just thinking about one.

Now don't get too excited, there are several common categories of stress that you should make every effort to avoid.

1. chronic stress
2. feeling that you are being forced to do things you hate (also known as hating things you have to do)
3. being stuck in a situation where you feel powerless or invisible

The above kinds of stress are bad. In fact they are so bad that they can literally affect your brain in a way leaving you less smart--the chemicals that are released in the above situations just go right ahead and shrink your neurons. These kinds of stress are also malevolent enough to increase your blood pressure and your risk of heart attack. You should work proactively to adjust your life so that you are not experiencing these kinds of stress.

But normal stress, that good old spike of adrenaline, and maybe a little follow up of cortisol now and again, can be just ducky! It can temporarily help you access information that you had previously forgotten, can build brain cells, and can make your muscles activate--as long as you have a reasonably good attitude about your stress.

What got me thinking about good stress versus bad stress recently, was the familiar sight of a woman about my age (that would be middle-aged for those of you who don't know) running through Prospect Park and looking absolutely miserable. Not the invigorating kind of "hurts so good" kind of miserable that you see on some runners, where you can tell they want to puke and that they are damn proud of it, but more of a "If I don't keep running, I will have failed." kind of thing. Depressing and with all my good fitness-y intuition, it felt wrong--with a capital W.

Now, some fitness types say that you HAVE to love your exercise to get through it and to get the most out of it, and, of course, that would be great, much like loving to floss would be great, but I have also seen people make huge improvements in their lives by starting to exercise regularly and just living with their hatred of it for awhile. 

In my experience, it doesn't seem to matter much what attitude you start out with, love, hate, whatever,--the people who ultimately get past the misery while they are exercising do seem to benefit more. Clients who take ownership of the experience and believe that exercise is something that they personally want to do, even when it seems hard, overall benefit far more than the folks who may be exercising to please someone else, or because they think they have to. Exercising to appease a coach, husband, doctor, boyfriend,or that little voice in their head telling them they're fat, never seems to work out for long, and often has a weirdly un-relaxing effect, which always seems strange because positive exercise is the most relaxing thing (besides meditation) that I know of.  

And now I know why. This weekend I ran into Newsweek's cover article Who Says Stress is Bad For
You  which, while careful to clarify the pitfalls to ongoing stress, also illuminates some of the thing that can mitigate it's negative effects, and also describes how we can use it to our advantage.

This quote in particular seemed to describe the plight of the runner in the park.

For all of the science's shortfalls, there's animal research that suggests why something that should lower stress can actually cause stress if it's done in the wrong spirit. In a classic study, scientists put two rats in a cage, each of them locked in a running wheel. The first rat could exercise whenever he liked. The second was yoked to the first, forced to run when his counterpart did. Exercise, like meditation, usually tamps down stress and encourages neuron growth, and indeed, the first rat's brain bloomed with new cells. The second rat, however, lost brain cells. He was doing something that should have been good for his brain, but he lacked one crucial factor: control. He could not determine his own "workout" schedule, so he didn't perceive it as exercise. Instead, he experienced it as a literal rat race.

Our runner probably felt like she "had to run" that morning. Maybe it was the only time she would be free to do it that day, maybe she was tired and didn't feel like doing it at all. My advice? If I were her, I guess I would have tried to adjust either my schedule or my attitude--and if I couldn't have gotten over the misery, I probably would have headed home. A fitness coach recommending bailing on your morning run? Certainly. Sometimes.  But not being able to work through what is sometimes known as "the suck" should be a lesson about the importance of making sure that you are feeling that your exercise is working for you and not vice versa, because with the right attitude and opportunity, fitness should make you feel great.

Fondly, Alix Florio, President; Beautiful Fitness

Like Skating on Ice

Beautiful Readers,

I have been afraid to ice skate for over a decade. A totally irrational fear of falling on the hard cold ice, and maybe getting run over by someone in ice skates, has made me resist every invitation for years. It would not be enough to say that I just didn't like it (though that is certainly what I said whenever I was asked) but I was really afraid. Of course, my resourceful eight year old daughter somehow managed to get to the ice without me, fell in love with ice skating before I could thoroughly frighten her, and so, I was faced with a problem. Several skeptical friends have asked why I love having kids. And I think this is why. They make you do all kinds of things you don't want to do. 

If you have seen this blog before, you may notice a difference in the title. For a long long time I was committed to starting each post with a collection of B words, like 'Beautiful Boys Bowling' hoping that it would amuse readers and help them remember that the name of our company was Beautiful Fitness (which, as you may notice, also starts with a 'B'. Gosh.)

But I've given that up  because I was finding it too limiting. And without thinking much about it, I believe I may have made a kind of internal New Year's resolution this year. I will give up more easily on restrictions, rules, people, fears, and things, that require more effort than they offer reward. I have kept too many clothes that don't fit right, and stuck with too many plans that just didn't work.

 A few things have conspired to put me in this state of mind. One, the recent move, while harrowing at first, has done the thing that any big move does--it shook things up. Bad in some ways, good in others, but we got through it and things are settling down differently both physically, and in my mind. And then, before our very eyes, the world became a slightly different place. The first African American president was sworn in, and on TV we all were able to watch a black man, who not 150 years ago would not have had the vote, give this inauguration speech. Don't ever again try to tell me that people can't change. Even if this ends in tragedy or failure, it happened at all, we know it is possible, and that is huge. 

I'd also like to give some props for my new lighter state of mind to Seth Godin

self proclaimed author, entrepreneur and agent of change, author of The Dip

The Dip, among other things, talks about companies making it through that phase of life that can feel like being a snowboarder discovering that the run you are on leads to a long, extra flat, stretch of catwalk where you sit on you butt for a bit thinking about whether or not to unstrap your board and take a walk to the bottom of your snowy hill. I think that's the kind of dip Mr. Godin was referring to.

But at that moment (or if you are very clever, perhaps before you hit the really big dip) you make a choice, you take action, and refuse to be paralyzed by a fear of failure. In fact, Seth Godin suggests that you could transcend a feeling that quitting, in a situation like the one I described, constitutes failure at all. In fact, sometimes quitting is just the right thing to do. It can lead to all kinds of nice things like, better runs next time, tasty hot chocolate at the bottom, not ending up tumbling down the hill instead of merely walking down the hill, or spending that precious time that would be spent in agony, doing something you benefit from more-like taking a lesson maybe, so that next time you can manage the cat walk better.

Anyway, my daughter had an ice skating party recently. I planned it and hosted it, and because there were so many unsteady eight year olds to shepherd around on the ice I gave up my fear of skating. Just like that. No bravado. No whining. Just did it, like they say in the advertisements. And then last weekend I went skating again, and then tonight I took my daughter to her school ice skating party. I'm actually a pretty good skater. But more importantly it reminded me again of what freedom from fear really feels like and how easily attained it can be-how sometimes it's just a question of letting go.

Beautiful Back in Business

Wow. It's been a long winter. The economy tanked. Beautiful Fitness moved. We regrouped. And now we are forging ahead in this brave new world as every good company should. We're healthier, more focused, more organized, and we pay more now too.

Our company has always done great. From the beginning. Better than our wildest expectations. We quickly became a sort of industry insider darling. A gem-like find among a sea of mediocre service providers. But I'll be staight with you. We just weren't charging enough.

See, I'm a perfectionist. And a perfectionist CEO is great to have around because if they care about you and the the service you are recieving, you can be sure that they are pulling all kinds of strings in the background to make sure that everything goes your way. However, perfectionists can also be kind of demanding.

They likely want to be working with the very best staff, who show the very best results consistently, and they expect optimal performance from those people. the perfectionist encourages clients' to have high expectations, both for their own progress, and for quality of the experience they will be recieving.They want each client to feel that they have gained something valuable from each session they pay for. This experience can only be provided by folks who are the best at what they do.

The best personal fitness coaches, massage therapists, boxing instructors, or meditation instructors, are similar in some ways. They totally love what they do for a living and are great at it, but are not zealots, they care profoundly about their client's experience every time, they treat themselves and others with total respect and dignity, they show up on time, all the time, give their full focus to their job, nurture their clients through all different challenges, and are sensitive and flexible to their clients changing needs and schedules. They rock. But there are only so many of them, and we want them all.

My inner perfectionist has been set free. We're changing. And now you can come to Beautiful Fitness (just a one page right now-we're revamping the site too) and know that you will recieve the best at-home fitness and wellness services--anywhere. And given the value we provide in terms of helping you manage your daily stress, allowing you to improve your feelings about yourself, guiding you through the challenge of getting enough of the kind of exercise that will keep you looking and feeling great, and leading you towards a greater sense of wellness overall--we're an awesome value. Give us a call at 212-380-1277 and you'll get me personally on the phone, as we come back as the best.

Fondly,

Alix Florio      President;  Beautiful Fitness

Beautiful Bumble and Bumble

Beautiful Readers,

Sometimes a girl's just got to get a decent haircut.

And that is especially true when that girl went once again to her local salon and paid way too little money to get her hair highlighted, telling them to "do whatever they thought was best" suggesting that "darker" might be better and ignoring the hairstylist who prior to using the dye insisted that her hair looked perfectly fine already.

And moreso if that same girl went home, looked at herself in the mirror, and squinting, thought "damn, I look 20 years older than I did this morning" and couldn't get over that feeling until she decided to take matters into her own hands. Afterall, she thought, how bad could it be, at least it will be cheap.

Then perhaps that girl went straight to Right Aid, bought the highlighter dye with the most attractive model on the box and went home to do-it-herself; "after all, I am rather artistic" she thought. And maybe that girl left the bleach on too long. And maybe ended up with a lot of yellow-orange hair. And then perhaps went to the other local salon around the corner to get it fixed by the stylist named Angie who's own hair was long in tight ringlets and displayed a rainbow of mismatched colors and prominant dark roots. 

That's the kind of girl I'm talking about who might be in need of a particularly nice haircut.

Ok-- if you're finding yourself a bit annoyed by the repetitive use of "girl" by now instead of women, youre not alone--so let's move on.

So after the above debaucle--I headed straight to Bumble and Bumble on the East Side and plunked down the appropriate Bumble and Bumble money to have their star colorist Michelle look over my now straw-like and frizzy orangish-yellow do and give me her sage opinion before getting it cut by the coolist young man named Spencer. I literally almost cried as she waved her hands around my botched hair and told me all the things I had known in my heart. I should not be too blonde, kind of ashy brown, just a few bright highlights around the face, and any other combination would make me look older.

Michelle would not do anything to my hair until I had allowed it to "rest" for a month. Only then could I book an appointment. I was impressed and eagerly await my visit in September.

Spencer, with not a lot to work with, did a phenomenal job on my lackluster hair, making it look better perhaps than it had even before this nightmare with some incredible alchemy with scissors. He helped pick product and his manner was just perfect. Upbeat, professional, funny, nurturing.

This experience reminded me of  the reason I love being able to run Beautiful Fitness the way we do. Because awesome service provided with a tremendous amount of heart plus professionalism and expertise is a beautiful thing and can bring real joy to people's lives that goes well beyond the sum of the parts of the experience. I think pride in one's work and respect for the client is a terrific antidote for the factory like anonymity of the chain stores and big boxes that have taken over the New York scene.

Thanks for reading,

Alix-Beautiful Fitness

Bias in the Bra Shop

Beautiful Readers,

Hello everyone! I hope you are enjoying the warm weather (or succeeding at avoiding it if you don't like it) I'll be quick on this weeks post--very busy time around here...we are in the process of renovating the website (yes, again) so that it is easier to navigate, we are going to be talking to Fitness Magazine again about some kind of goal-related article (Lose 3 Inches in 2 Weeks, Learn to meditate in 24 hours...kind of thing), I'm considering awriting a book proposal, and though most of the folks who like to do business with us are still wearing their flip flops around in the Hamptons right around now, we are already gearing up for a very exciting Fall!

But I couldn't resist the chance to complain about a bit of social neglect that I recently encountered in my limited corner of the world--The Victoria's Secret in the Atlantic Center Mall (downtown Brooklyn) has abolutely no images of black women in it--whereas I would guess that something like 95% of their clientelle is African American. Now without being African American myself, I guess I can't be absolutely certain that this is as offensive (or just plain irritating and offputting) as I think it might be. But I have to say--once I noticed that all the provocative black and white photos of women in lingerie-clearly intended to provide a sense of fantasy and sexiness to the place,were of women who were white, whereas the women lining up at the counter were African American, I really couldn't get over the incongruity. Or the laziness of it all.

I mean Victoria's Secret knows who's shopping in that store--in fact I bet they know a great deal about them-income, lifestyle preferrences, favorite bra colors and styles, so you would think that spending a bit of time adjusting the look of the store to accomodate the clientelle who spends money there would seem obvious, and frankly, not to do so seems disrespectful.

Now fortunately, Victoria's Secret is not a place that I spend a great deal of time, but I do not believe that I will ever be shopping there again. I will also contact the manager of the store to discuss their oversight. Good grief. There were women on that line that very day who resembled the photos displayed in all but skin color.

On the lighter side of lingerie shopping though-here's an exercise that is great for reducing what is affectionately knows as 'back flab'. The fat that accumulates around your Scapula (shoulder blade).

Scapular Row:

Holding a fairly heavy weight (anywhere from 7 lbs-15 lbs) in your right hand,  place your left knee and left hand onto a low bench, or sofa, or chair, (knee height) so that you are like a tabletop, face down with legs and arms at 90degree angles. The right hand holding the weight hangs straight down towards the floor, and the right leg is in a standing position on the floor (the positioning is far simpler than it sounds-basically you are a table, with the left half of your body on a platform), then bend your right elbow and lift the right arm so that your elbow comes above your back and the weight is pulled along your right leg. And release. That's one rep. Repeat 3 x 10 times on each side for a total of 30 reps per side. Be sure to remember to feel as if you are pulling the weight using your back muscles in instead of lifting it with your arm. Keep your abs engaged, and your back straight throughout the exercise. And bye bye back flab! (and have a stronger upper back too!). Just give us a call if you have any questions. 212-380-1277

All the best,   Alix - President; Beautiful Fitness

Beautiful Bike for The Best Readers Ever!

Beautiful Readers,

After much debate and deliberation the staff of Beautiful Fitness (and a handful of other friends who just couldn't keep their opinions to themselves) have chosen a winner for our Lipton/Fuji Sponsored 'Boy That's a Beautiful Bike' Contest! We don't want to keep you in suspense so I will let you know right now...the winner of the awesome dark green Lipton branded Fuji Crosstown 2.0 Bike is...

Morgan who posted:

" I used to feel the most beautiful when I’d wake up super early in the morning and go down to the lake by my parents’ house and take off all my clothes and go for a naked swim at sunrise. It was a great – and liberating – way to start the day.

I don’t live by the lake any more so I have substituted naked cleaning (when my roommates aren’t around) for naked swimming. It’s great to move around and not feel self-conscious about my body and the feeling carries over even when I put my clothes back on. Try it!"

We loved Morgan's honesty and the simplicity of her answer. She made us all want to scrub the tub in the nude (though look out for getting detergent on some places that don't generally come in contact with cleaning agents).

But that's not all folks, we're also giving away some great personal fitness sessions  in our complete 2 session Beautiful Beginnings-- bf Intro to Personal Fitness personal coaching package with at-home fitness assessment, plus follow-up, session FREE! (retails $120, details at Beautiful Fitness)  to...

hanamerri

who commented that:

"Knowing that I know how to live richly, regardless of money, makes me feel more powerful than anything in the world! And when I feel powerful, I feel beautiful."

We thought that the whole idea of 'living richly' was just great! And kudos to anyone who can separate cash from the richness of life!

Thanks to Morgan and hanamerri, we'll be contacting you by email or if you read this post--please give us a call at 212-380-1277 to claim your prizes. And for all of you who took the time to comment, thanks for sharing your voice and adding your inspiration to us and to our readers!

Look out for more contests coming up!

Thanks again everybody, and keep reading the blog!

All the best,

Alix - Beautiful Fitness

Backyard Burn

Beautiful Readers,

Our Fuji/Lipton 'Boy that's a Beautiful Bike Contest' is nearly at a close--and we'll be announcing the winner on Monday!  Thanks to all of our readers who posted comments about what makes them feel beautiful. The range of answers was awe inspiring, and the uniqueness of each I think showed their authenticity. Hopefully taking a moment to think about some of the large and small things that make you feel truly beautiful- a reflection of your priorities- put your daily concerns into perspective for a moment. It was small, tender, or exciting moments, not grand gestures or huge successes that made most of you feel great. Good to know.

Now for the topic of this post. I have been thinking recently about why I am doing something as bizarre as suddenly taking up tennis and golf, and pushing my children to do the same--all at once. I mean, I'm really busy these days, making sweeping changes and big decisions in my personal life, and always pressed for time, but yet I am spending any free time I may have researching and buying tennis rackets, trying to score as many good private lessons as possible, taking weekends away in places I never would have gone before because they have driving ranges and tennis courts, channeling my kids into last minute tennis and golf summer camps, and my nightstand is filled with books about the components of a good serve and the rules and etiquette of golf.

After years of disinterest and unfamiliarity with all kinds of sports, why all of a sudden have I become a sort of amateur sports nut? It's simple really. I'm getting older. And dare I say, no matter what your age, so are you. And as you get older a few things seem to happen that effect your fitness life:

1 You generally have other priorities that take over your life and have less time to do things like go to the gym. Frankly, this is why we're in business.

2. This lack of time for fitness seems to happen at the same point in life  when you need more exercise than ever. True dat. Once you reach 30 years old you start to naturally lose muscle mass, and in signifigant amounts too. 1 to 2 percent a year may not sound like much but if you consider that that is potentially a cumulative 50% during the course of your lifetime-that's a lot of muscle you'll be missing. If you thnk of your muscle as the stuff that burns calories for you, supports your skeleton, and makes you generally more resistant to injury-you see it's worth trying to hold on to.

3. Bone density may go on the wane once you reach 35 years old. As with muscle mass loss--that's not good, and while the results of diminishing bone mass may be invisible-you may be at greater risk for fractures. As many as 50% of women and 30% of men will suffer from a hip, spine, or wrist fracture within their lifetimes. That seems like a lot of me. Common fixes for this include increased calcium intake (including also calcium from sources outside of dairy products), regular weight bearing exercises (or exercise that includes some impact, like running or jumping), and adequate vitamin D (can be had through supplements or from daily 15 minutes of sun exposure-though please be aware that if you are wearing sunscreen that will decrease your vitamin D absorbtion during that time-so go without for15 minutes or increase your exposure)

4 During middle age your stress level is likely at an all time high, and rates of depression are far higher than they are typically in youth or old age. Exercise strikes me as a perfect cure for this.

5. People who exercise regularly have lower rates of dementia, tend to look better as they age (sometimes much better (you'd be amazed by the way some of the trainers I work with look versus their biological age--it has been absolutely mind blowing) and exercisers tend to live longer without signifigant illness or injury.

No how can you beat that? And how can you manage to fit in all the exercise that you need just as your life is becoming increasingly complex? Well, ok, first there's Beautiful Fitness a total model of efficiency in exercise and self-care. Really. But since we can't come to visit you on every holiday and business trip, there's also a whole bunch of other stuff you can do to fit in the exercise that you will need in increasing amounts as you age.

My favorite suggestion is to follow my lead and learn how to do every single fitness activity invented on Gods green earth -at least adequately. This is my favorite plan because of the rich variety of benefits it can offer. If you know how to do everything, you are more likely to have facilities available to you wherever you are. No gym? No problem. There is likely a local dance studio, yoga class, tennis court, swimming pool, golf course, basketball net, space for running, ski slope.

The other advantage to learning to participate in all kinds of fitness activities is that, unless you are trying to compete at something, or seeing your own improvement at a single activity is the only thing that keeps you motivated (we have clients like that) cross training gets you better exercise overall. If you perform different activities all the time, that means you are working different muscle groups every day, and also giving other muscle groups a rest --a perfect combination for maximal fitness.

Kids seem to understand the essence of cross training perfectly.They naturally want to 'do fun stuff' especially when it's something physical--which is why, for kids who tend towards obesity ( I recommend this for adults too) buying them tons of props to encourage physical play, and just getting out of their way, is the most effective way I know to get them to want to exercise. Items like boxing gloves, hula hoops, wobble boards, Twister, the Wii and Dance Dance Revotution, skateboards, bicycles, pogo sticks, jump ropes, tennis racquets, badmitton sets, balls of all kinds, and any other physical toys you can find can pique a kids interest in a way that no amount of pushing or cajoling can.

 Here's a clip of a kid jumping on a trampoline in their backyard- want to bet their parents never 'made' them jump on it. Want to bet this kid will be very unlikely to have issues with obesity as long as their interst in the trampoline lasts? Brilliant.

Click here to enjoy the Kid on Trampoline home video.

thanks again for reading,

Alix Florio - Beautiful Fitness

Beautiful Back to Bed

Beautiful Readers,

Brevity is the essence of this post. It is one in the morning--and what I should be doing is sleeping. What I am doing instead is trying to ingraciate myself to a certain faction of Ogilvy Mather that seems to be interested in this blog and has good corporate sponsors who might love us for a very very long time should I play my cards right and write about things that seem relevant that they send me email about.

Now readers, don't feel used just yet. This one could be fun, and I applaud the corporate world for working creatively on their marketing. Select Comfort is having a sort of contest that involves trying to get participants to get an additional hour of sleep each night. They say 'only an hour of sleep each night' but you and I know that hour can be mighty illusive when you are busy. But certainly a noble cause given how chronically sleep deprived most folks are, and what serious consequences that can have.

If anyone has a spare moment, I wrote an article a while back for a little sidewalk box publication called Healthy Living NYC about the importance of Sleep.Follow this link if you're interested in reading it. Essentially I feel that sleep is in roughly the same list of 'very important things to pay attention to if you want to prevent major diseases and live a long time' as exercise, good nutrition, and trying to keep stess low.

So here's the story with the contest in the words of my contact at the agency:

Everyone that takes the Challenge will be entered to win a free Sleep Number bed or a set of contour pillows. That’s not it! Contestants will also be sent valuable sleep and lifestyle tips to help them achieve deeper, restorative sleep in order to improve their physical and mental health and performance.

 

Visit www.beds.com on June 20^th to sign up for the Sleep-In Challenge.

 

That's all folks--and off to sleep for me.

 

Thanks for reading,

Alix

pres Beautiful Fitness

Beautiful Bogey

Beautiful Readers,

So there's no need to panic--you haven't missed the fantastic Lipton White Iced Tea, Fuji Crosstown 2.0 bike contest! Just click the link to the right to go to the post called Boy,That's a Beautiful Bike, and with just one comment on what makes you feel beautiful, the bike can be yours!

Now, there are a few good comments there already, but a couple are from guys I have slept with, so they're exempt from winning the bike (and you thought that just being a guy I had slept with was bad enough!) So please keep posting your comments! Winners will be selected at month's end.

Now for the title of the post. I'm learning to play golf and so are my kids. We're learning to play tennis too. But frankly, golf seems like a far more complicated game, in many ways.

The goal of golf is to try to get your ball into each of a series of holes with as few strokes as possible. Sounds simple right? Nope. Golf is crazy. Insane.

First, the way you have to use your body in order to get any useful distance on the little white guy is very unusual, and really doesn't play upon any kind of natural instinct or normal muscular reactions.

Good driving form, as I understand it, is an awkward combination of keeping your lower body totally static, as you lean forward towards the ground, and twist your upper body around way behind you (sounds comfy, non?) making yourself into a sort of human spring, and then with a quite quick release, you wail on the tiny ball, trying to hit it perfectly square so that it catches the angle on the face of the club you are using just the right way, and goes flying in an (ideally) straight line towards some distant goal. Somewhere between 50 to 250 yards. Bravo!

Then you pick up your jangling bag of clubs, and shlep it, usually in pouring rain, or blazing midday sun (midday certainly if you are a woman--who notoriously have trouble getting morning tee times at clubs), to somewhere near where your ball has gone to (presuming that you are able to find your ball, or it has not entered a lake or gone to hide itsself among the trees of the nearby woods).

And what's up with the incredibly tense golf atmosphere? Golf is the most formal game in the world as far as I can tell. There is lots to learn in the way of etiquette and an entire macho subtext with a deep culture of, restraint, and ,testing one's limits, built into it.

It's not all bad though, I have decided. There is something oddly invigorating about feeling excruciatingly self-conscious on the first tee (or sometimes even at the driving range) and having to apply all kinds of self-soothing, and positive affirmation techniques in order to hit the ball at all without really being wracked with insecurity. Sounds ridiculous right? Who cares whether you hit the silly ball or not, whether or not anyone is watching. But see, that's part of what is so funny about golf --it's not so unusual to feel that hitting the ball just right is some measure of one's soul.

In fact, increasingly I am coming to think that this aspect of the game has been cultivated on purpose--and I will go as far to say that I think men may really need this kind of thing. How else can otherwise, out of shape guys, with average desk jobs, really feel as if they are testing their mettle in just a few hours a week, while they hang out with some buddies, and get a little exercise?

Now, the trouble with the atmosphere is that that same "Let's just see if you can do it." vibe that is so exciting to men, can be seriously offputting for women. I know for myself, that the fewer people watching me perform at something I am not a hundred percent good at, the happier I am. If there are onlookers I pray for their supportiveness. In fact, sensing that someone may feel that I might fail can be like kryptonite for me.

 Not so for men, I think. First, they generally think they are good at everything (which from previous posts you know I actually admire a great deal--though it has certain drawbacks) and also, it is my feeling that guys like attention overall more than women do. Any attention. That whole little boy, "Look at me fall out of this tree." thing, never really seems to die.

It is clearer than ever to me now that I can play a little that golf is still massively exclusionary to women. That aspect makes it particularly challenging and yet exciting -- rebel that I am. The Pro Shop at Essex Golf in Roseland NJ didn't carry any golf clothes for women. Racks and racks of stuff for guys. When I asked the young man behind the counter about this, even trying to spare him any embarrasment by saying "I guess women don't really ask about clothes."  he answered honestly by saying "Oh no, they ask all the time. It's just always been like this. It's just easier not to stock it." Gotchya.

No huge hissy fit on my part though. My personal brand of feminism is based in just showing up in places that women aren't particularly warmly welcomed, and just hanging around, refusing to leave, acting relatively normal and relaxed like I belong there, and enjoying the benefits to be had there. It's not as excting as a  bra-burning kind of spectacle (why burn all those perfectly good bras?) but in it's own way quite effective I think.

When I go to a driving range I scan the stalls for women. When I see a few, I feel better and more at home. If I can provide that same benefit to some other woman just by being present (or for my daughter for that matter) then good for me. Speaking of my daughter, who is seven, she is focused like a laser at the driving range, very psyched to play, and mighty good, despite her small size, with her one pink ribboned club. We'll see.

Thanks for reading,

Alix

President-Beautiful Fitness www.beautifulfitness.com

'Boy, That's a Beautiful Bike' Contest

 

Beautiful Fitness and Lipton present-

 

'Boy, That's a Beautiful Bike!'

 

LIPTON/FUJI CROSSTOWN 2.0 BIKE GIVEAWAY 

  

Beautiful Fitness and Lipton are proud to be able to offer our readers a great Lipton branded, Fuji Crosstown 2.0, elegant dark green, hybrid, bike, (check out the oh-so-sweet details about the bike that could be yours here)  Retails for $399. Thank you Lipton! And kudos again to Lipton White Iced Tea for allowing free and open exchange of ideas about their antioxidant-filled product!

 

The winner of this terrific bike will also recieve:

• 5 coupons for free 1.5 Liter Bottles of Lipton White Iced Tea
• a $75 check for professional bike assembly

CONTEST DETAILS: Very simple really. Post a comment to this blog describing something you do that makes you feel absolutely beautiful. Not leggy supermodel kind of beautiful (unless you happen to be a leggy supermodel--in which case that's fine) but good inside, free of the daily grind, ready-to-conquer-the-world kind of beautiful. And this fabulous bike can be yours!

The most original and inspiring answer (as selected by our staff) will win the Fuji 2.0 Crosstown bike, and the lucky runner-up (NYC residents only, please) will recieve our complete 2 session Beautiful Beginnings-- bf Intro to Personal Fitness personal coaching package with at-home fitness assessment, plus follow-up, session FREE! (retails $120, details at Beautiful Fitness)

and no, Jim, we can't just give you the bike.

So good luck to you all! The race to inspire us, and other readers, with your comment is on!

And remember--we're a small company now, with only a select group of readers of this blog, so the odds of wining this terrific new bike are huge! Have fun! We'll announce the winners on June 30th!

The Pepsi/Lipton Partnership will provide a check for $75.00 to be used for professional assembly of all Lipton Fuji bicycles awarded.  Neither Pepsi Co. nor Unilever is liable for any injuries, damages or accidents that may result from the receipt, assembly or use of this bicycle.