Laura P Fitness

Are you ready to uncover your Summer Body? Mother Nature has finally shifted gears and summer is fast approaching leaving many of us feeling unprepared for those little summer clothes. No need to panic, I got your back. And your legs, and arms and abs...

Are you tired of not knowing what exercises to do at the gym? Does it stress you out to not know what you can and can’t eat?  You don’t need to go it alone.  I provide fitness programs that are specifically designed for you to reach your summer body goals. My clients have gone from avoiding pool parties and beach visits to proudly facing beach season head on.

And no, you won’t have to flip a giant tire down the street or eat only kale smoothies to get you where you want to be.  

What you will do is get weekly personalized, productive exercise programs, a nutritional plan and an overall healthy life strategy.

Sheeesh, it’s hot! The temperatures are creeping up and making outdoor workouts more challenging, and a little miserable. Here are 5 easy ways to keep your exercise program on track when the weather gets hot. 

1. Go early or late. And I mean really early or late. If you live in areas like SoCal, you may enjoy the lower temperatures in the evenings and early mornings. But you have to get out there and back before it feels like you’re walking on the surface of the sun.  In other steamier places, when it’s hot, it’s hot so you may not have this option. 

2. It’s a great time to try something new. Check out indoor (and air conditioned) classes and personal training that you’ve been thinking about. Cross train by doing cycling instead of running, Zumba instead of hiking, or TRX training instead of bootcamp.

3. Drink lots of water, avoid direct sun, cool yourself regularly with water and pay attention to your body (including your sweat). When exercising in high heat, you are at risk for heat injuries, including the most serious, heatstroke. Heatstroke occurs when the body cannot cool itself anymore and is scary stuff. Please see attached information from the Mayo Clinic about the risks, symptoms and treatment for heatstroke.  http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/heat-stroke/basics/symptoms/con-20032814

4. Wear light and breathable fabric. Keep yourself as cool and breezy as possible and as a bonus you get to enjoy the summer colors. 

5. Think twice and then think again. When you go out for an early morning hike or run and the heat is oppressive, don’t suffer through it. Turn around and do something else. Stay safe and live to hike another day.

P.S.  Leave the doggies at home when it’s steamy outside. They don’t sweat and can’t cool down as easily as people so it’s dangerous for them. Be kind, leave them in the AC.

Use it or Lose It!

We all want to keep our brains active and healthy. Keeping our brains strong is not just about crossword and sudoko puzzles. Exercise offers huge benefits to our brain health. Hundreds of studies over the last decade have shown the many benefits of exercising on brain health (see below for a few examples). Personal training is a great way to learn how the best exercises for brain health.

One of my favorite workouts, kickboxing, is also great exercise for the brain. Staying in a good boxing stance is brain work on it’s own; hands up, elbows tight into body, chin down, abs tight, knees bent, feet apart and breathe.  Kickboxing uses the entire body with punches, kicks, blocks, knees, elbows, and evasion techniques, which requires a lot of thinking and utilizing the a bunch of body parts simultaneously. Contact me to schedule a kickboxing introduction lesson and see how amazing it is for your body and brain!

If kickboxing isn’t your thing (and you really don’t know until you try it-with me), pilates, hiking, dancing, and strength training are also a few good options. There are lots of ways to work your body and brain together and to enjoy it. I’m happy to help you find new and interesting ways to work your brain and your body with personal training.

Here are three reviews of research studies about brain health and exercise for your reference.

http://www.brainfacts.org/across-the-lifespan/diet-and-exercise/articles/2013/physical-exercise-beefs-up-the-brain/

http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/regular-exercise-changes-brain-improve-memory-thinking-skills-201404097110

Wildflowers are abloom, hummingbirds are flitting about, dolphins are surfing the waves and the orange blossoms are filling the air with super sweet fragrance. Summer must be coming! 

The change of seasons inspires changes in our lives including a hitting the refresh button on our exercise and nutrition programs. It’s a great time to try something new and have fun with your health and fitness plan. Add challenges and some zest to your fitness programs: try kickboxing, TRX, strength training, training for an event or race or whatever you can think of.  Laura P Fitness can help you keep it fresh and new and fun. Contact Laura P Fitness for refreshed Certified Personal Training in the Studio City area.

Show your mom how much you care by telling her and with the gift of health and fitness. Showing you care all year is a good plan and a nice gift on Mother’s Day is a bonus!

Gift Certificates are available for In-Home Certified Personal Training in the Studio City, CA area. Share health and wellness with your mom, sister, friend or yourself!

Last week I was on a blissful vacation in Kauai, HI, where I got to spend many joyful moments on my birds-eye perch from my balcony over looking the beach. As a certified personal trainer in Studio City, CA, I always keep an eye on the exercising going on around me. One day I watched “easy stretching for seniors” being taught on the beach. The “easy” stretching was really advanced yoga moves that were easy for the instructor but obviously too challenging for the senior participant. She was a trooper and tried to follow the lead of the trainer but some moves were just not in her physical abilities.  It got me thinking of the needs of seniors to be addressed by an experienced and certified personal trainer and what is most important for senior health and fitness.

Having worked with many seniors at Laura P Fitness, I’ve learned to distinguish what issues and challenges are facing us as we age. Our bodies require a bit more care and grace when  we exercise, like a fine wine. While the focus strength and endurance remain important,  senior fitness should include work on balance and coordination as well. A skilled personal trainer can offer challenging exercises that improve those areas while ensuring  the senior is staying within their physical limits and safe from injury.

Spring is in the air and it’s a great time to get outside and BBQ!  Living in Los Angeles and being a certified personal trainer in Studio City, grilling is a great way to enjoy the weather, the social chit chat and to eat yummy, healthy food.

Last night, instead of going out to eat, we decided to stay in and grill for dinner. Grilling is the tastiest way to eat healthy foods. Marinating boring ole chicken breasts and throwing them on the grill makes them something to look forward to eating for a change. The same thing goes for vegetables. Add a bit of Italian dressing to sliced zucchini,plop that baby on the BBQ and voila!  You can grill anything into delicious treats; fish, seafood, tofu, endive, lettuces, asparagus, potatoes, pineapple, peaches, etc.  What a fabulous way to lose weight and enjoy it!

Along with the healthy foods that taste like guilty pleasures with grilling, the entire experience is a nice change from being in the kitchen. Grilling lets you go outside and leave your electronics in the house. That way, you can focus on the food, the outdoors and the company without distraction. Enjoying the conversation while you wait for the food to finish, breathing in the fresh air with the hint of delicious aromas, make the whole experience delightful.

Losing weight, eating healthy and enjoying your friends and family in the fresh air are excellent ways to stay healthy and happy. 

For more ways to stay healthy, sign up for my newsletter for health and fitness tips, ideas and discount coupons at 

Many of my clients ask me “How do I keep from gaining weight over the holiday season?” With so many temptations and invitations it is easy to gain extra pounds without feeling it.  And gaining weight in December is so much easier than losing weight in January.

Here are some easy ways to enjoy your holidays and say no to holiday weight gain.

1. Plan ahead

One of the best ways to stop the holiday weight gain is to plan your day.  When you know your schedule and plan for it, you can prepare healthy options and will be less likely to resort to the less healthy choice.  

On normal days, you will get hungry, tired and/or cold, and will be prone to grab easy, convenient and comfort foods.  Making a salad is probably not in the cards. Plan for snacks and comfort foods because you’ll want them (healthy and hearty soups and stews to make you feel cozy and still in control).

On party and socializing days planning is key. Eat normal, healthy meals during the day and eat a healthy snack before the party so you are not starving when you arrive. Sample the delicious treats in small portions.  

2. Move

Yes, it is a busy time of year but never too busy for exercise. I’ll repeat that, it is never too busy for exercise. Your body, mind and mood will rejoice in the activity.  Remember that you don’t need to take a full hour out of your hectic day, just 10 minutes bouts thrown in will do it.

3. Enjoy a “cheat” meal

Everyone has special holiday treats that make us feel warm and fuzzy.  Enjoy them and be warm and fuzzy.  They are treats and not daily staples. A cheat meal once a week is a great way to eat your favorite things and still stay on track. The difficulties come when your cheat meal becomes a cheat day or days. If pumpkin pie is calling you, have some on your cheat meal. Eat a single portion, not the entire pie.  Spread out the joy.

4. Drink water

It is a good idea anytime of year but especially helpful at cocktail parties. Drink water between each cocktail and you’ll drink fewer calories, will eat fewer calories and as a bonus, you’ll feel great in the morning.

5. Bring healthy stuff to potlucks

Be that person. Be the “healthy” one who brings fresh, good for you stuff to potlucks. You’ll have a go-to dish to eat without worry and your friends will appreciate having something good too.  It’s much easier to bring a cheesy, lard-wrapped in bacon dip but everyone will feel bad about it the next day.

6. Celebrate THE day

On the day of the holiday celebration (usually one day), enjoy it and celebrate. The day before, the day after and all of December are really not holidays and should be treated like regular days. One day does not equal dessert and drinks every day.

7. Reward yourself

At the end of the year when you have said NO to holiday weight gain, treat yourself to something nice. Anything that fits your taste and budget will work. It can be buying a new outfit in your current size for New Year’s Eve, booking a massage or taking a day off at a museum. It takes work and effort to stay on track with all the goodies around at this time of year so congratulate yourself on your success!

                                       Happy Holidays!

I hated gym class and never played team sports. So, of course, I became a gym rat.

My competitive spirit lies solely in competing against myself. So it came as as much of a surprise to myself as it did to others that I graduated from college with a degree in Health and Physical Education: Corporate Fitness. I was intrigued by the body and it’s abilities and how it worked wanted to share that knowledge and help people learn to enjoy exercise without the pressure of phys.ed.

I soon became a certified personal trainer and dove head first into the lifestyle of a gym rat. Unfortunately, the gym lifestyle, at the time, was more focused on looks rather than health. It was in the early 90’s and skinny at all costs was the goal for many. I took this turn as an cue to find another route to health and went to graduate school to find the cure for cancer. Although I did not cure cancer, I did get a great education in Microbiology and Immunology and I did work in cancer research, all of which help me in my training today.

Then one day I got sick. Good and sick. So sick that nobody was sure if I would get well again. I “got the Lyme”. That’s what my sister and I call contracting Lyme’s disease. During my illness, I was so weak that I couldn’t get up to nuke myself a can of soup. My daily workout was to get my body out of bed to use the restroom. And that took a toll. After a few months of different antibiotics, I started to feel a bit better. My parents would come to take me to the park as I progressed. At first, they would park as close to a bench as they could and we would walk from the car just to the bench and sit. It was so nice to be outside in the fresh air and to move a little bit. We measured my healing by the distance we could walk from bench to bench. I knew I was going to get better when I was able to walk all the way around the park without a rest. Woohoo! Luckily for me, I had a good doctor who helped me get the right combo of antibiotics to kill the Lyme, and a great family who helped me to get around the park!

I was also lucky to have had such a debilitating illness and to be able to come back from it and get stronger and healthier than ever. Many people never get that opportunity. And most young people never really appreciate their bodies and their health. We all take it for granted, until it is gone. I was given a unique opportunity to appreciate my body and it’s abilities when I still have the chance to make it better.

I was watching NCIS on TV the other day. It was depicting an event where one team member was dealing with a bomb and the others had to go breach a house where the bad guys with guns and explosives were hiding out. It made me think about how a life threatening situation would cause their bodies to react with the innate fight or flight response. Then I realized how many people are going through their normal days with similar stress responses to situations that are much more ordinary and of no real danger.

Our bodies really just want us to survive and can only react to what we do. If we freak out like a dinosaur is about to eat us when someone takes our parking space at Trader Joe’s, our bodies react to the dinosaur threat.  The stress hormones secreted for both of those situations are the exact same! If you are tied onto the railroad tracks by a sinister rogue, by all means, let your fight or flight response kick in.  If your coffee cup drops to the floor in the morning, slowing your regularly scheduled day, try to take it in stride.

A Harvard Medical School study of stress stated  “many people are unable to find a way to put the brakes on stress. Chronic low-level stress keeps the HPA axis activated, much like a motor that is idling too high for too long. After a while, this has an effect on the body that contributes to the health problems associated with chronic stress.

Persistent epinephrine surges can damage blood vessels and arteries, increasing blood pressure and raising risk of heart attacks or strokes. Elevated cortisol levels create physiological changes that help to replenish the body’s energy stores that are depleted during the stress response. But they inadvertently contribute to the buildup of fat tissue and to weight gain. For example, cortisol increases appetite, so that people will want to eat more to obtain extra energy. It also increases storage of unused nutrients as fat.” (http://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/understanding-the-stress-response)

Lucky for us, there are some easy ways to relieve the stress and stop the cycle. They include but are not limited to exercise, meditation, playing, breathing deeply when you feel stress approaching and mindfulness. In this area, mindfulness refers to stepping back and really looking at what is happening versus what we think about what is happening. Are you in mortal peril or did you take an extra five minutes to clean up your spilled coffee?  

Try this the next time you feel the pang of stress hitting; take a deep breath and look around to see if you are tied to a railroad track. I’m pretty sure you’ll feel better!

Be well!

Weight loss articles are posted daily saying resistance training (weight training) is better than cardio and dieting is better than exercise. These headlines are not telling us the whole story and end up steering us in the wrong direction altogether. Cardio isn’t a competitor to weights and diet isn’t a competitor to exercise. They are more like teammates that help you get healthy and lose weight!

Yes, resistance training can change your body faster than cardio alone,as does dieting over exercise alone. But the keyword there is “alone”. The good news is that you don’t have to choose one over the other. For overall good health and weight loss, they should all be incorporated. And when used together, you can lose more weight,faster. Plus you’ll look great!

Poor cardio is getting a bum rap because it’s out of vogue at the moment. Please don’t give up cardio because it’s less effective in weight loss. Cardio is cardiovascular exercise which strengthens your heart and lungs. I repeat, strengthens your heart and lungs-might be important. It doesn’t matter how your butt looks in your skinny jeans if your heart stops beating.

And of course, diet will be a major factor in weight loss. But exercise will accelerate weight loss and it’s good for your body. Additionally, it will keep your metabolism churning when the diet could slow it down. Bonus!

How can I stay motivated? Or get motivated?

We are all striving for balance; balance in our lives, our bodies and our emotions.  I think most of us already have it but what we’re longing for is perfection.  Perfection is overrated and probably very dull. If you sit on the see-saw in "perfect" balance you never get to see or saw. It's the up and down that makes it fun.  Let’s look at the up and down of balance.

I try to have balance in my life, in my body and in my emotions. Balance is easier when looking at the average.  Very rarely in one day will there be 8 hours of sleep, 8 hours of work and 8 hours of play, although that sounds great.  Some days will have no sleep, others no play and others no work.  Overall, there is a balance of some of each when available.

In my body, I try for balance. Actual balance, like not falling over.  Which is an entire extra blog post.  And eating in balance, a little of this and a little of that, some protein, some carbohydrates and some fat.

The rule books tell us to eat balanced meals, to exercise at least 30 minutes every day, to sleep exactly 8 hours and drink 8 glasses of water.  Aren't those books cute? These are guidelines.  Turns out, it is OK if you average out to those guidelines by the end of the week.  If you have a meal that is higher in fat than advised, cut back on the next meal's fat content (and throw in some extra veggies for good measure). If you can't get that 30 minute walk in on Tuesday, add it to Wednesday's hike, or settle for 10 minutes on Tuesday. Life can get in the way of perfection but it doesn't need to throw off your balance.

October 30 day Lion Challenge! 

It's everywhere. Coconut water, coconut oil, coconut milk, coconut cream, almond coconut milk at the coffee shop and so on and so on. While there are certainly benefits of some of the coconut selections, not all coconut goodies are made equally. For one, coconut water offers naturally occurring electrolytes helping us to stay hydrated. Personally, I find that plain coconut water tastes like pond water, and not in a good way. Some of the flavored ones are palatable mostly because of tons of added sugar and flavorings, making them a wash in terms of benefits. Coconut oil is touted with many benefits from skin care, hair conditioning and delicious fatty acids.

Where things get sticky is when sales and marketing take over and sales trends rule the market place. Because the consumer now equates "coconut" as "healthy", all sorts of products are having coconut added to it to appeal to the healthy minded. Unfortunately, most of these are made with chemicals and additives as well as sugar and fats. And some that are not highly processed still have the potential to be very high in calories and fat and should be used sparingly. (Take a peek at the calories in one can of coconut cream).