Journalist, content writer, content marketer, and certified personal trainer with over ten years of healthcare experience. Specializing in health, wellness, fitness, medical, and higher education.
How to Prep for a Century Ride So You Kick off Training With a Solid Base
Completing your first century is exciting, rewarding, and undeniably challenging. While conquering a century ride is super doable for many (even those of us with full-time jobs, families, and other commitments), the more prepared you are to dive into training, the more you’ll get out of it—and the more confident you’ll feel when the going gets tough.
For exactly how to prep for your century ride, we turned to experts for all their tips on laying a foundation before you begin your formal centu...
I’m a Sub-3:45 Marathoner With Crohn’s—Here’s How I Keep Running When Symptoms Strike
Ali Feller, 38, was seven years old when she was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, a chronic, inflammatory digestive condition that can cause frequent diarrhea, abdominal pain and cramping, and heavy fatigue, among other symptoms.
For Feller, a flare-up means she has blood and mucus in her stool, deals with dozens of bathroom trips per day, physical pain, embarrassment, and frustration of not being able to plan her life. When things get that bad, it also obviously means rigorous exercise is out...
I Race Ultramarathons Up to 100 Miles, and I Have Lupus. Here’s How I Train
After years of living with unexplained symptoms, professional ultramarathoner Devon Yanko, 41, was finally diagnosed with lupus, an autoimmune condition that leads to chronic inflammation that can affect everything from your joints to your blood cells to your brain. On good days, she’s able to complete the intense training that’s allowed her to become one of the country’s best ultrarunners: She’s won the Leadville 100, set the course record at the Umstead 100, and even earned a first-place fi...
You Might Not Be Hungry After a Workout—But You Should Still Eat Something
Training for my first marathon, I convinced myself that my stomach just couldn’t handle breakfast before an early morning run. I’d head out on multi-hour-long runs on an empty stomach, consume a gel or two with a few swigs of watered-down Gatorade mid-run, then wait a couple of hours after I was done to eat my bagel and cream cheese.
During that training cycle, my legs were so sore that I often had to trade my runs for the elliptical. At the time, I wasn’t sure what was going on, but looking ...
3 Ways Mindy Kaling Went From Hating Exercise to Actually Enjoying It
For Mindy Kaling it took a major mindset shift to finally find joy in her workouts. Now at 42 she’s overhauled the way she thinks about exercise.
“I’m the healthiest I’ve ever been,” she tells SELF. “I love it.”
As an actor, writer, director, producer, comedian, and mom, Kaling knows all too well about the difficulty of setting aside time for herself. But carving out time for movement—and keeping it fun and interesting—makes her better at everything else she does, she says.
“I am funnier, mor...
All About Zone-Based Interval Training and How to Execute It
You probably already know interval training is an excellent way to spice up your cycling and improve your health. But besides keeping things interesting, inserting harder efforts into your rides provides the stress necessary to elicit an adaptive response. In other words, going harder leads to getting faster, more powerful, and ups your fitness level so those bigger rides feel easier.
Wondering exactly how to make your interval workouts work for you? We’ve got you covered.
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Thanksgiving means family, food — and plenty of harmful diet talk. Here’s how to deal with it.
The holiday season means holiday gatherings. Gatherings, of course, mean food, and food — especially the treats that make an appearance at only certain times of the year — often leads to talk about the effect on our waistlines. For people with a fraught relationship with food and their bodies, these conversations can be stressful, draining and sometimes toxic.
Marquisele Mercedes is no stranger to such talk. When she was accepted to her first-choice graduate program, a close family member off...
What gravel cycling is and why you should give it a try
Krystal Salvent was an avid road cyclist — until she found herself lying in a ditch after a driver ran her off the road. That experience prompted the Boulder, Colo., co-leader of Black Girls Do Bike Denver to buy her first gravel bike. “If I can remove that obstacle for myself and focus more on my bike handling, rocks and maybe rattlesnakes, I think I’m a little better off,” she said.
Salvent represents the growing community of gravel cyclists, who prefer pedaling alongside fields and forests...
Meant To Be Shared
Rosalinda Mendoza ’06 draws on her heritage and education in bringing mezcal to the U.S.
“I always knew I wanted to start a business,” says Rosalinda Mendoza ’06. Early on in her journey to entrepreneurship, she chose to study economics at Whitman College—with that future business dream in mind. What she didn’t know at the time was the company she’d eventually launch would tie her deeply to her family’s cultural heritage—and require flexibility and fortitude.
In late 2019, Mendoza left a stab...
Pro Triathlete Sika Henry Raced Her First Ultramarathon. Now Her Confidence Is Sky High
When pro triathlete Sika Henry signed up for her first ultramarathon, she had no expectations—which is exactly what drew her to the event. On November 20, Henry crossed the finish line at the JFK 50 Mile in 9:01:36, over two and a half hours behind the first woman.
“I thought I would be devastated,” Henry told Runner’s World, regarding her results.Instead, she was thrilled. “I was not competing against anybody for once. Place was just completely inconsequential to me.”
For years, the athlete ...
What Muscles Are You Actually Working on the Bike?
It’s more than a great cardio workout.
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In this article
What Muscles Does a Bike Work?
Indoor Cycling vs. Outdoor Riding
How Long Does it Take to Build Muscle by Cycling?
Caring for Muscles Used During Cycling
Building a Balanced Routine
Thinking about taking up cycling or just looking to take your cycling to the next level? Understanding the muscles used in a cycling workout can help you better prepare for your workout, recover more quickly after a session, and identify ways to make yo...
Think You Have to Move Your Muscles to Feel the Burn? Try Isometrics.
In this article
Isometrics exercise might sound fancy but the truth is, you probably do some form of isometric training every single day, whether you realize it or not. If you’ve ever carried a laundry basket up a couple of flights of stairs, hung onto a heavy suitcase while waiting for the airport shuttle, or held a baby on your hip while waiting in line at the grocery store, congratulations—you’ve done isometric exercises.
And if you’re looking for an easy, equipment-free way to build stren...
Don't Let Cycling Knee Pain Ruin Your Next Ride—Here's How to Prevent It
In this article
Whether you prefer steep climbs or fast sprints, there’s one thing every cyclist can agree on: There’s nothing like knee discomfort to ruin a ride. Read on to find out everything you need to know about what’s behind your cycling knee pain, how to deal with it, and how to prevent it from recurring so you can get back in the saddle as soon as possible.
What Causes Cycling Knee Pain?
Most of the time, cycling-related knee pain occurs at the patellofemoral joint, or the place wher...
The Best Pilates Rings
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Looking to level up your home Pilates practice without the financial commitment of purchasing a reformer? A Pilates ring, or magic circle, might be just what you’re looking for. While the low-cost accessory is known for making Pilates more...
Time Crunched? Your Workout Doesn’t Need To Be an Hour Long, Say Experts
In this article
When you’re busy, tired, and stressed (and who isn’t!?), the last thing you probably want to do is carve out the time—not to mention muster up the energy—for a workout. We get it.
It’s easy to shift exercise to the bottom of the priority list, especially if you’re stuck in a mindset that your workouts need to take up a lot of time. But there are plenty of reasons to move it back to the top of your agenda and shift your thinking around how long a workout should last.
As little ...