Category Archives: Motivation

Abs, Core, Pelvic Floor Problems + How to Bounce Back (and stop peeing your pants) Post Pregnancy

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After growing, giving birth and nursing three babies, I came to appreciate my body in a whole new way extending far beyond what it had done for me physically in my running career.  I enjoyed (most) every minute of being pregnant and the sweet months of new motherhood following. With each pregnancy, I allowed myself to step away from my type-A training schedule and expectations of how quickly I should be bouncing back in both athletic ability and appearance. These physical and mental respites were a blessing that helped keep me healthy, happy and centered.

Abs Core Pelvic Floor thefitfork.com

What wasn’t a blessing were the progressively worsening issues I experienced as a result of these big babies, average weight over 9lb pounds! Embarrassing problems like incontinence and bladder prolapse related to pelvic floor weakness and dysfunction and, to a lesser degree, Diastasis Recti, a muscles separation in the abdomen that can contribute to mommy pooch. My doctors were pushing surgery, but I was scared and unsure, so I researched ways to self-correct with specific exercises and have been feeling great for years. I recently discovered the team up between Natalie Hodson and Dr. Monique Middlekauff, a specialist in pelvic floor dysfunction, to create a 30-day program called Abs, Core & Pelvic Floor. This easy-to-follow, at-home program includes many of the things I did and LOTS more, and I am excited to recommend it! Read on to get the details! Continue reading →

7 Ways to Keep Fitness Fun!

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Life Time Fitness has provided me membership and services in return for sharing my experience. All thoughts, opinions and enthusiasm are my own.

I’ve dabbled in gymnastics and playground sports as a child, but it wasn’t until my mid-twenties that I discovered running and began to consider myself a serious athlete. Now, 25 years later, I’m still running strong, able to compete at a fairly high level, and continually grow with new fitness challenges like yoga, weight-lifting, and obstacle course racing.Life Time Fitness Jennifer Fisher thefitfork.com

There are a few reasons why I think I’ve never burned out of sports and been self-drafted to the armchair. The first is consistency, I’ve just made being fit part of my lifestyle and engage in some sort of physical activity on a daily basis. The second, is how I’m wired; I have a personal drive to compete with myself and others without letting it affect my confidence, win or lose. The third, and what I’m talking about mostly today, is that even in serious training cycles, I enthusiastically believe in “keeping fit fun.” Read on to find out 7 Ways to Keep Fit Fun and how I’ve been #KeepingFitFun lately at Life Time Fitness. Continue reading →

12 Ways Get Your Running Groove Back During a Marathon

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Running a race is just as much mental as it is physical. You can be in the best shape of your life, but show up on the start line with a fatalistic, “I can’t do this” attitude, it’s my experienced guess that you won’t. On the flip side, while you can’t give up solid training for attitude alone, developing mental toughness and maintaining a positive outlook can help you get through some bad patches in a marathon, triathlon, obstacle course, or any other type of race.  12 Ways to Get your Running Groove Back in a Marathon

Read on to find out a dozen ways you can get your groove back and focus on the light at the end of the tunnel once you’ve flirted with the dark side.  Continue reading →

How to Age Proof Your Abs – Diet, Workouts, Wellness for 40+

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The plain truth is, as we get a little older, it’s harder to make muscles and convince them to stick around, especially in the abdominal area. The potential for maximum muscle mass lasts until the 30s, after that it’s a small gradual decline in mass month by month, year by year. Gasp, experts say a sedentary lifestyle can result in a 3 to 5 percent decline per decade! This loss of muscle is often replaced by a little extra padding around the middle or “muffin top,” even if you are in good or reasonable shape overall. Plus, the hormonal changes brought on by peri-menopause or full-on menopause don’t help matters much.How to Age Proof Your Abs in 40s 50s and beyond

The quest for a flat mid-section or six-pack abs in middle age or older shouldn’t be about rocking a bikini or turning heads at the gym, although I guess these are nice side benefits – but, haven’t we moved past this ego feed?!  Instead, appreciate what a strong core through functional fitness can do for your daily living. Strong abs help improve balance, stability, back strength and posture, and, in my opinion, can make you feel and look 10 years younger.  A strong core also lessens the chance for injury from actual exercise or random stupid stuff, like twisting the wrong way while holding a bag of groceries, keeping up with your kids, or even playing with grand kids.  Read on to get the tips on How To Age Proof Your Abs Continue reading →

Join Me for “If Girls Ran The World” Virtual Running Event

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if girls ran the world runner 2Today I am sharing a couple passions that are near and dear to my heart – 1) furthering the sport of women’s running for athletes of all abilities and 2) helping to give girls and women around the world the tools, skills and opportunities they need to live a safe, happy, healthy and abundant life. I’ve partnered with If Girls Ran the World, a non-profit running fundraising event to help put some wind (and hopefully a windfall of support) under the wings of these causes I so deeply care about.  It was truly an honor to be chosen as a Role Model for this program and work alongside so many talented and amazing women!

If Girls Ran the World Role Models

huger project girl eatingAs a fit foodie, the charity I’ve chosen to support is The Hunger Project, a strategic non-profit dedicated to the sustainable end of world hunger. Their vision is a world where every woman, man and child leads a healthy, fulfilling life of self-reliance and dignity. I love how this organization has used native WOMEN as key change agents in the more than 24,000 communities and rural villages they’ve worked in – women rock and they know how to get the job done!  I say, “Don’t stand in the way of a Mama Bear”!

During the entire month of October, members of my team (you can join) will commit to running as many miles as our hearts and legs lead us to. Please Register! You run on your time, at your pace, wherever and whenever it works for you. Whether you choose to walk 1 mile or run 10 miles or 1,000 miles, you set your own goal and pace. It’s easy and fun, you can use fitness tracking apps like Strava or MapMyFitness to track your miles or enter manually. Challenge yourself. Run often. Run happy. Run to feel good. Run to do good. This isn’t a competition, it’s a beautiful cause! This is important, EMPOWERING WOMEN AND GIRLS IS IMPORTANT. And, it’s also a nice side effect that we’re all out there exercising!

if girls ran the world jenniferlI hesitate “hit” y’all up for a donation, but you can still register (use BFF for 50% of the $25 fee) and join my team. Once you read through mission of If Girls Ran The World and The Hunger Project, I’m pretty sure you’ll want to chip in a bit. It doesn’t have to be a lot – even $5 or $10 would help me get to my goal.

Register for the Virtual Running Event (you don’t even have to run) and then head over to align yourself with Team Jennifer – TheFitFork.Com . Don’t forget to use code BFF to save 50% — which makes the event only $12.50 – in addition to doing good, you get the opportunity to take part in weekly fitness and fundraising challenges with prizes such as an Oiselle prize pack, a Fitbit Blaze, a year supply of Kind Snacks, Hoka One One shoes, a $500 donation to your cause of choice, and more. Plus if you personally commit to raising $250, you get some cute swag!  Drop a comment or email me at jennifer@thefitfork.com if you have any questions (the sign up process is a little confusing since there are a couple steps).

Thank you so much for reading all the way through and for your consideration of this important cause!  If you have troubles signing up or joining my team, please send me a message. Love ya! XOXO – Jennifer