On Monday, January 10^th, I will be a guest on Joshua Margolis' radio show, "Mind Over Matter" on TalkingAternatives.com  We'll be chatting about – what else – Strength Training!  I'll share a bit of my history, like how Jackie Kennedy hired me for personal training and how my British-based publisher reached out to me to write the book, Strength Training for Women.  To listen to the interview live, tune in to www.talkingalternative.com from 12:20 – 12:40 pm ET.  And please feel free to call in with your questions to 877-480-4120.

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I'm excited to announce my new bi-monthly column onFitandFabLiving.com, a fun, upbeat website dedicated to women's fitness and weight loss. My first column, "Strength Training:  The Anti-Aging Workout" is live now.  Click below to read up on how strength training promotes good health and defends against the aging process every decade of your life. www.fitandfabliving.com

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On Monday, January 3, I participated in Bonnie Graham's Happy New Year Special on Read My Lips radio, where she invited a variety of guests to call in with their "2011 Predictions and Opinions, Resolutions and Anti-Resolutions".  It turned into a lively round-table discussion of will power, motivation, mental muscle and inertia.  To hear the whole show tune into www.blogtalkradio.com

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At the end of last year, I started writing a blog, "Get Fit, Stay Strong with Joan Pagano" for SHARE Cancer Support.com.  Every month I contribute a fitness tip that is geared to help survivors of breast and/or ovarian cancer.  Read the most recent post on stretching.

More radio interviews are scheduled in the near future.  Stay tuned!

I'll be spending the next two weeks in Cleveland with my mother, and I have great plans for both of us in terms of exercise.  My mother is 92 and I'm eager to work with her on upper body strength and flexibility.  As for me, I look forward to getting into a regular running routine.

We share breakfast at a table by a window with a panoramic view of the Cleveland Museum of Art and Lake Erie in the distance.  Sitting opposite each other, I'm able to take her through exercises for her arms and shoulders using light weights.  Upper body strength is so important in getting through the day with ease, and we've all had moments when we realize we could be doing better.  My mother mentioned recently that she wasn't able to organize her closet because she was having difficulty lifting some of the boxes in it.  She hasn't been doing her weights lately, so it's definitely time to get back on the program. 

Stretching is also important for my mother because she has become a little stooped with age and from relying on a walker for stability.  So after the weight training, we do a series of stretches that she loves.  It feels so good to sit up tall, stretch the sides of the torso and lift the chest, arching the upper back gently.  Then we do some specific stretches for the muscles of the arms and shoulders that we worked with weights.  By the time we're done, Mom is absolutely beaming.

For myself, I put on my running shoes and in less than five minutes I'm jogging around the lagoon in front of the art museum.  I do four laps, incorporating some stairs along the way.  Afterwards I do a full body stretch in the park outside my mother's building and in less than a half hour I'm done.  It's a great way to fit in a daily run, which is difficult in my normal work schedule. 

We both start the day feeling virtuous and smiling!

Enjoy the last of summer and I'll be back on the blog after Labor Day.

Yes, it's hot and humid, a time to slow down and move at a leisurely pace.  But please don't let your body lapse into an activity coma during the lazy days of summer.  Remember Newton's first Law of Motion:  an object in motion will stay in motion; while an object at rest will stay at rest as long as nothing pushes or pulls on it.  Overcoming inertia is difficult!

Your normal exercise routine keeps you at a certain level of conditioning throughout the year.  Summer presents a welcome change of pace and scenery, as well as the opportunity to do some cross training with outdoor activities like tennis and swimming.  But falling off the wagon completely presents the challenge of major damage control in the fall. 

Here are a few of my own "Laws of Motion":

1)         Establish a Minimum Daily Requirement:  It takes a lot of effort to get into shape, but it doesn't take as much to stay in shape.  Brief doses of exercise done consistently over time have a dramatic effect on your health and fitness levels.  You can maintain the benefits of your hard work with a modicum of training and resume full speed in the fall.

2)         Develop a Maintenance Strategy:  For cardio maintenance, squeeze in the recommended minimum of 30 minutes of moderate aerobic activity at least five days of the week.

For muscle maintenance, do the "4 for Life" bodyweight exercises every other day:  2 sets of 15 each of push ups, squats, back extensions and crunches.  And remember to stretch a little every day.

3)         Be an Opportunist:  Find opportunities to move in the course of your day.  One of my clients just finished a summer writing course. Her classes were on several floors of the building and she realized after the fact that she had missed her activity mark by taking the elevator.  She could have offset the hours of sitting in a classroom by using the stairs.

Think of each dose of exercise as a building block of fitness.  See how many 10 or 15-minute doses you can accumulate during the course of the day.  Enjoy your lazy days, but be sure to incorporate some activity to keep your body tuned and toned.

For most of my young life, I felt I was too tall – too tall for boys, too tall for heels, too tall to ever be called cute.  I was always in the back row of class photos and could never be inconspicuous. My posture suffered as I tried in vain to shrink down and blend in, which of course only made me more conspicuous.  A pronounced slump is clearly not attractive!

When my self-image finally "grew" into my height, I straightened up to claim my full 5'10 ½ inches.  Now at the age when loss of height can be an issue, I am conscious of maintaining my height and look forward to being measured at my annual physical.  While there is nothing we can do to stop the aging process, there are a number of things we can do to stay tall, including working on posture and alignment, ensuring the health of our skeleton, and of course, stretching out our muscles.

Stretching is one third of a well-rounded workout (the other two being aerobic exercise and strength training).  After you've been contracting the muscles repeatedly in your aerobic workout – walking, running, cycling, swimming, etc. – it's important to lengthen them out by stretching.  The same principle applies to strength training:  after the muscles have been contracting against resistance, they need to be stretched out to their full length.  Short, bunchy muscles will never give you a long, lean line.

Your workout is not over until after you've finished stretching!  I always allow five or ten minutes after my run to do a full-body stretch.  Although running primarily involves the legs, the upper body and core are also integral to the movement.  I perform the stretches as part of my cool-down in the park or outside my building, knowing that if I come back inside I may get distracted and skip them.

It's advisable to stretch every day, even on days you don't exercise.  Take a lesson from your pet dog or cat and notice that they stretch periodically throughout the day.  You can move your joints to help wake up in the morning and get your circulation going.  Or take a few minutes in the evening in order to counteract the demands of your daily activities and discharge tension from the muscles. 

And definitely make it a point to conclude every workout with appropriate stretches for the muscles you used.  Lengthening the muscles will help keep you tall and straight.  Being flexible makes you agile and keeps your movements fluid and youthful.