Author: Jill McCauslin (Page 3 of 23)

Fall: My Favorite Fitness Season

September 14, 2023 / Jill McCauslin / 0 Comments

I didn’t realize that fall is my favorite fitness season until I sat down to write a blog post. I thought, I’ll write about how the fall season is a great time to change up my fitness plans. When I did a search for other blog posts I might have written, I found these posts:

2018 Ten Tips for Fall Fitness

2019 End of Summer

2020 The Fun of Fall Biking

2021 Running in the Fall with My Dog

Apparently last year (2022) I was more focused on food than on fitness because I wrote about roasting pumpkin seeds in the air fryer. This is a good reminder that I should get a pumpkin to carve this year.

In 2017, which I believe was the year Chris and I started the Becoming Elli website, I wrote a couple of articles about running in the Akron Marathon. That year we ran the half marathon and had a fantastic time. I guess it makes sense that I was focused on the race and not on the season.

Here it is, 2023 and I guess it’s time to write another blog post about fall, my favorite fitness season.

Here in Ohio, September and October tends to be great months, weather wise. The temperatures are warm during the days and cool at night. We often have clear blue skies and of course the flowers are in their end of summer glory.

It’s a great time to go hiking. I’m lucky to have some wonderful park systems in the area. There are parks run by the local communities, the country metro-park system, and the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. All of them have fantastic hiking trails. I also live by a bike and hike trail so I’m usually on that every morning for Penny’s daily walk.

I explored some of the trails a bit further from my home. It’s rewarding to get out and see a new area while hiking.

I also started back to my gym. I took a couple of months off because I was traveling and decided to save some money. Returning to the gym has been so enjoyable. I’m trying a fresh approach to it this time. I’ve tried some new classes and thinking about what I want to resume and what I want to change.

I did not do much bike riding this summer so perhaps I’ll try to get in some rides before the weather changes. Once it gets cold and dark, I’ll have to resume my indoor bike riding.

Right now, I’m feeling energized and it’s showing in my activities.

It also occurs to me that I should visit a local orchard. Ohio produces fantastic apples and it’s prime apple season right now.

Lots of excitement in this time of year and fortunately it’s not nearly as food oriented as the holidays in winter.

Let me know how you handle the change in seasons. I know many of you live in warmer (or colder!) climates so perhaps fall isn’t as exciting a time.

Checking Out New Gyms

July 17, 2023 / Jill McCauslin / 2 Comments

I’ve decided to check out new gyms around me and possibly make a change. I’m not sure if this is a good decision or not but wanted to see what’s out there. Maybe this is a “grass is always greener” scenario, I’m not sure.

I put my regular membership at my gym on hold for a couple of months to give me time to check out other places. I’ve gone a cost-cutting phase and thought perhaps I could spend less on my gym. Plus, it seemed like a good idea to check out new places. I’ve belonged to this current gym for a long time so I’ve become very comfortable there.

I’ve been to a couple of gyms so far. Here’s what I’ve discovered.

The first gym I went to has lots of classes and plenty of machines. I’m finding it a bit intimidating to go to new classes but I suppose that I just need to do it. I think it would be a good way to figure out if I like this gym or not.

I wandered in to use the strength equipment. The benches were all taken and there weren’t any dumbbells between 5 and 30 pounds available. Since that’s what I needed, it crossed off any free weights for the day. So I wandered over to the machines and checked them out. I was a bit overwhelmed by trying to figure out which machines I wanted to use and what the settings should be. It really shouldn’t have been that difficult but I think I was just being a bit anxious about the whole thing.

I should remember what I wrote about a few years ago about starting at a gym. One thing I said was be sure to check out the classes.

I then went to a small chain gym near me. It was very small. It had some cardio equipment and some strength equipment but there were two people working out in there and it did not seem to have room for a third. Also, the manager met with me and was really pushing me to sign up for a weight loss program which isn’t why I wanted to be there. Everything “extra” that they offered was going to cost more. I’ve taken that gym off the list.

There are a few more places I want to check out. There are a few Planet Fitness locations in the area but none of them are convenient to get there. There’s a YMCA and a couple of community rec centers but again, none are particularly close to me. I may also check out a women’s only gym that offers personal training as part of the price.

I like the idea of having my gym close to me. It makes it more likely that I’ll go.

We’ll see how these new gyms work out. I may be glad I froze my gym membership because I may end up just going back to the place.

A Few (More) Ways to Avoid Falling

February 16, 2023 / Jill McCauslin / 0 Comments

I thought I’d add a few more ways to avoid falling after I read the post that Chris recently wrote. It was a great article that listed 10 ways to avoid falling. I read it and was going to comment on the website but then thought I’d share my comments here instead.

Stairs

Be careful on stairs that aren’t carpeted. I stayed in a house recently that has hard wood floors and stairs. I went down one flight wearing just my socks and thought oh, this is dangerous. The combination of socks and slippery stairs is not a good one. I made sure to wear shoes with a sole after that.

Pets

Pay attention when walking a dog. I’ve been knocked over a couple of times by a dog suddenly lunging on the leash after something. Fortunately, I fell into a snow drift both times.
Train your dog better. This is advice for me because Penny loves to walk but doesn’t always have good leash manners.
If you tie your dog to something, make sure the leash is visible and flat to the ground. I tripped over a line that was several inches off the ground, fell and hurt my wrist. It took many weeks to recover from that injury.

House Repairs/Cleaning

Be careful when trying to change a light bulb or do something towards the ceiling. Do not stand on an unsteady chair and certainly not a swivel or rocker chair when trying to reach high spots in the house. Use a footstool or a step ladder instead. It can be a bother to get the step ladder out but take the time to be careful.
Do not leave the vacuum plugged in or with the cord draped across the room. Put it away after you’ve used it.

Running or Walking

Keep your eyes open for uneven sidewalks. It’s easy to catch your foot on one and go sailing.
Do not walk and play with your phone at the same time. I’m embarrassed to admit it but I did this once and tripped on a very uneven sidewalk (see point immediately above!) and fell. I was ok but I broke my two-week old phone and had to spend a lot of money to get it repaired.
Be sure to pick your feet up. People shuffle along and often trip over their own feet.
Keep your shoes tied even if it means having to stop your walk to retie your laces. I have a friend who recently hurt her wrist because she tripped on her laces while walking and fell.

Shopping

Believe those Wet Floor signs when you’re out in public. I’ve seen people fall on wet floors while out shopping.

Well, I came up with a few more ways to avoid falling. Can you think of any?

Instant Pot Lentil Soup with Potatoes and Spinach

February 9, 2023 / Jill McCauslin / 0 Comments

I thought I’d share my recipe for lentil soup with potatoes and spinach made in the instant pot.

Chris shared with you a picture of her soup that she had when we went out for lunch. She always gets the v9 soup. I always get their lentil soup. I rarely make lentil soup but I really enjoy it.

So since it’s a cold wintry day today and I had the lentils in my pantry, I thought I need to make some soup.

This recipe is fast to make and is easy.

Ingredients

1 Tbsp olive oil
One onion diced
Two cloves garlic minced
1 carrot, diced
1 celery stalk diced
2 White potatoes, diced
1 16-oz package of green lentils
One bay leaf
Four cups of chicken stock
Two cups of water
2 to 3 large handfuls of fresh spinach
Salt and pepper to taste
1/8 tsp red pepper ( optional )
1/2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

Directions

Turn on the saute function on the instant Pot.
Add olive oil and heat.
Saute the diced onions for about 5 minutes, until translucent and tender
Add minced garlic and saute for another 30 seconds.
Stir in celery and carrots. Saute for a few more minutes.
Add potatoes lentils, bay leaf, broth and water.
Stir.
Put the lid on the instant pot.
Using the manual option pressure cook on high for 7 minutes
Let the pressure release naturally.
Once the pressure has released, remove the lid, and stir in the spinach. Stir until the spinach has wilted.
Add the salt and pepper to taste. Add the cayenne pepper if you want.
Stir in apple cider vinegar.

Notes

Because there’s a lot of liquid in this, it will take the Instant Pot a while to build up pressure and then to release pressure.

If you want to make this vegan, substitute vegetable broth for the chicken broth. I just used what I had on hand.

This recipe is easy to adjust. Increase or decrease the vegetables as you want.

Potatoes can be whatever you have. I used white because they were in my pantry. Golden potatoes or red potatoes would be great too. Sweet potatoes might be an interesting variation.

I did not add much spice to this but you certainly could. This is a pretty mild soup so some herbs or spices might work well in it. I think some cumin and chili powder would work. Some curry powder would probably be tasty too.

Let me know if you try making this recipe and what you think.

Drinking More Water

February 2, 2023 / Jill McCauslin / 0 Comments

I decided that I should be drinking more water and so I started logging my water consumption on my Fitbit app.

Last summer, I posted about hydration guidelines so I went back and reread what I wrote. I really should listen to myself more because I had good advice there.

When I first started, I realized that I wasn’t drinking nearly as much water as I thought. Drinking more water was going to take some planning.

One thing I realized is that I dislike drinking water in the morning. I don’t know why but I’ve always felt that way. If I don’t start early in the day, though, I end up either being short on my goals or of drinking a lot of water right before bed. You know what that leads to…trips to the bathroom during the night.

In fact, just sitting here writing this made me realize that I’m way behind on my water consumption today. If I don’t get some water quickly, I’m going to be chugging lots of water this evening.

You can find all kinds of recommendations for how much water to drink but I decided to just go with the standard recommendation of 8 servings of 8 ounces of water. In other words, 64 ounces or one half gallon each day.

Logging my water consumption makes it easier for me to see what I’m doing. I’m using my Fitbit app for tracking. I like seeing how many ounces I still need to get and how many days in a row I’ve met my goal. As you can see, I don’t make it every day but I’m doing better than when I first started to track.

I guess there’s not much these days that can’t be quantified.

Drinking water is supposed to be good for you though I haven’t noticed any real changes yet. I’ve only been working at this for a couple of weeks so perhaps the improvements are not really visible yet. I do notice that drinking water reduces my hunger during the day.

How about you? Are you tracking anything new? Do you drink lots of water? Maybe more than 64 ounces? Let me know in the comments.

Return to Yoga

January 27, 2023 / Jill McCauslin / 0 Comments

FI’ve been talking about my need to return to yoga for quite a while. I practiced yoga off and on for but due to the combination of not really liking the yoga classes offered at my gym and then the whole social distancing thing made it difficult.

Finally, I tried a new yoga studio this week. I received a gift certificate for Christmas with five passes for classes at a nearby studio. Figuring it was time, I took my first class this week. I signed up for a gentle yoga because I find starting back into anything is easier if you just take it easy at first. Signing up for the flow class seemed a bit much for starting over.

I loved it! The class was enjoyable, and the studio was lovely. The room where we practiced had large windows overlooking the Cuyahoga River so there was lots of natural light.

Sometimes it’s difficult to go to a new gym or a yoga studio or any fitness place because the people there are used to themselves and aren’t welcoming to others. This class had a number of people attending but nobody seemed to be in a clique.

The class was indeed a gentle yoga but it was clear to me that I’m not as flexible as I was a while ago. I have the strength to do things but boy do I have tight hamstrings. And once again I’m back to the beginning with the balance poses.

The advantage of starting over repeatedly is that I knew I was back to where I started and didn’t feel compelled to try to do more than I could. I felt at ease knowing that if I keep going, I’ll get better.

I’m going to pick a different class for next week. I like the idea of trying out different things since this is a new place. I think checking out the different instructors and classes will be a good reentry into the world of yoga.

How about you? Have you tried something new recently or gotten back to something that you used to love to do? Let me know in the comments.

What Do You Call an Active Elderly Woman?

January 13, 2023 / Jill McCauslin / 5 Comments

I was talking to a 78 year old woman in the gym the other day about what to call an active elderly woman. She’s at the gym almost every weekday for several hours at a time. She works out in the gym and spends time in the pool. She does a lot of treading of water. If there was an Olympic competition in water treading, I think she could win it. She has unbelievable biceps for any woman.

I told her that I am taking a class at the local university and called myself old. She said that I was not allowed to call myself old in front of her. I explained that I meant it in reference to the college-aged students in my class.

She told me that there is a woman who goes to the pool at our gym everyday. This woman is around 82. The 82-year-old woman told Patty that she really dislikes being called elderly because it implies frailty.

Patty said she also dislikes the term but that it’s what we’re automatically called called when we hit 65.

I said I had been thinking about those terms recently. At some point you can no longer call yourself middle-aged for obvious reasons but elderly seems extreme. I said some people just say senior citizen. I don’t know how I feel about that.

Patty said she preferred senior citizen to elderly.

The problem of course is that people age differently so some people at 70 are indeed frail and others are very athletic.

Is This What You Call an Active Elderly Woman?

We can complain that nobody should have age labels put on them but we do it all the time whether we’re talking about teenagers, young adults, middle-aged people, the elderly.

To really make myself feel bad, I just looked up the word elderly in my new favorite thesaurus, word hippo

Want to read some of the synonyms for elderly?

geriatric
doddering
senile
mature
venerable
unyoung
doddery
grizzled
hoary
superannuated
olden
longevous (This means long lived! I kind of like this one.)
declining
retired
tired
long-lived
past it
long in the tooth
grey-hairedpast your prime
of advanced years
been around
full of years
long in tooth
lot of mileage
on last leg
not as young as one used to be
feeble

Here’s what the MacMillan dictionary https://www.macmillandictionary.com/us has to say:

the elderly: old people. Many people now think that this expression is offensive. It is better to use a term such as older person, older people or older adult.

I’m not really objecting to the word elderly but I would like to find a term for an older adult who is physically and mentally active.

Do you have any suggestions? I’d love to hear them.

Christmas Fitness Gifts

December 29, 2022 / Jill McCauslin / 0 Comments

It’s a few days after Christmas and I’m enjoying my fitness gifts. This year I received personal training sessions and some passes to a new (to me) yoga studio in the area. Isn’t that a great way to go into the new year? Chris and I discussed what we want to accomplish in 2023 in our recent podcast so perhaps these Christmas fitness gifts will help out.

Yoga

I’m excited about the yoga classes because the studio appears to have a wide range of classes. I used to only want advanced yoga but these days I’m happy to indulge in some gentle yoga or restorative yoga. I can’t wait to sample a bit of both types. A bit more strenuous and a bit less. Sounds ideal.

I also saw that the woman who owns this studio used to run a yoga program at a local gym. When I went there many years ago, she had a class that I loved. It was a strength training yoga class, though it was called a Mind-Body class. It was yoga with some Pilates mixed in and some dumb bell work. I see that she teaches a Strength Training class at this new studio so I’m eager to try it out.

I’ll keep you posted on my adventures at a new yoga studio.

Personal Training

The personal training sessions are with my usual personal trainer at my gym. I was feeling a bit uncomfortable with how much I spend on personal training so getting some sessions as a gift is wonderful. I’m really grateful for such a thoughtful gift.

Some years I’ve received gear for my various activities and that’s been great. This year, though, I don’t really need anything like gear so receiving gifts that allow me to do things is excellent.

Let me know in the comments if you received any good Christmas fitness gifts. It’s great when people recognize the work you’re putting into being fit and strong.

Making Hard Boiled Eggs in the Instant Pot

December 1, 2022 / Jill McCauslin / 2 Comments

My new favorite thing is making hard boiled eggs in the Instant Pot. I like hard boiled eggs because they’re good for a snack and can be added to a salad. I also make deviled eggs once in a while.

Why do I keep posting things about using my Instant Pot? I like using it because I can walk away from it and not have to worry about something boiling over on the stove or basically paying attention to what’s cooking. If you do a search on this website for Instant Pot, you’ll find a number of different recipes. We also discussed this on the Fit Strong Women over 50 Podcast, Episode 112 FAQ – Ask Us Anything with Chris and Jill

It’s not hard to make hard boiled eggs on the stove but once again I think it’s just a bit easier using the Instant Pot. It’s not faster at all but still easier.

This is really easy. Put your eggs on the wire rack in the Instant Pot and then add a cup of water.

Put the lid on, being sure to move the knob to pressure. Using the Pressure Cook setting, set the Instant Pot for five minutes.

It will take about five minutes for the Instant Pot to come to full pressure and then five minutes to cook. You can then release the pressure after about five or ten minutes.

Put the eggs into a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking.

You then have perfectly cooked hard boiled eggs.

If you want soft boiled eggs or medium boiled eggs, just reduce the time. I would think 3 minutes for soft and 4 minutes for medium.

Let me know if you make hard boiled eggs in the Instant Pot or if you have any good ideas on things to do with the eggs no matter how you cook them. I’d love to hear your ideas.

Thanksgiving Thoughts

November 24, 2022 / Jill McCauslin / 0 Comments

It seems to be a tradition that I post my Thanksgiving thoughts here. I don’t think I’ve posted every year but I’ve caught a few.

As you know, this time of year is Thanksgiving here in the US. It’s a day we’re supposed to spend with family and friends, enjoy a large meal, and maybe watch football or play board games.

This year we are celebrating the holiday at my house. My son and daughter-in-law are spending the day and are bringing a friend who needs a place to go for the holiday. My brother will also be here as will my boyfriend.

It has sort of become a tradition now that we all provide the food that reminds us of our family traditions. I’m roasting the turkey and making the potatoes. My son and daughter-in-law are bringing pies, macaroni and cheese and green bean casserole, because that is Mary’s family tradition. My brother is bringing creamed onions and a squash casserole because that is his tradition. It’s a fun way to spend the day. We also usually play a game or two and enjoy some time together.

What am I thankful for this year? I’m pondering this.

This was a difficult year for me. I don’t know why but this year seemed more difficult than the earlier two years though that was when we were dealing with shutdowns and pandemics. Maybe it’s the aftermath that made me feel down.

I had a couple of moments that really made me feel broken. I don’t know why but they both involved friends. So usually I say I’m thankful for my friends. And that is true, I am thankful for friends but I’m also thankful that I can carry on with life regardless of others. I suppose that’s an important thing, being able to overcome hurt feelings and loss.

I’m thankful that Becoming Elli continues to thrive and that our podcast Fit Strong Women over 50 is going strong. I get so much enjoyment from all of this and I learn a lot too.

I hate to say it because it seems so cliché, but I’m thankful for my health. Again this year has been challenging and I’ve felt very frustrated that I really tried to be living a fit healthy life and still ended up with health issues. But I’m still able to do much of what I want and am trying to get back on track.

I’m happy that my family is close by. It makes life easier not having to travel to see everyone. I hope I can see my sister next year.

My Thanksgiving thoughts don’t seem to be as chipper as some years in the past but I’m trying to focus on the positive. I’m grateful that I can imagine better times coming my way.

I hope everyone who is celebrating Thanksgiving has a great day.

We’re heading into the holiday season when many of us spend time with family and friends and eat more than we intend. Let me know what your plans are for the next month or so.