Author: Laurie Kelly

I'm an independent personal trainer and running/triathlon coach based in Lone Tree, Colorado.
Weight Loss

How to get your eating back on track – Part 2

Laurie Kelly

food sandwich eat fitness

In Part 1 of this two-part series, I introduced some of the simplest ways to fix a “broken diet” and start eating better, including identifying and removing nutritional deficiencies, adjusting food amount and food type, and the pitfalls of calorie counting. In this Part 2, we dive deeper into some more sophisticated strategies around food and macronutrient composition and eating for your body type; meal frequency, and calorie/carb cycling. Continue reading “How to get your eating back on track – Part 2” →

Weight Loss

It’s Not About the Scale

Laurie Kelly

blue tape measuring on clear glass square weighing scale

Many people believe that to improve their health and stick to their fitness goals, they should weight themselves every single day. While that may work for some as a motivator, scale weight can often be misleading and demoralizing as a measure of progress toward better health. Why? Because body weight alone doesn’t provide a complete picture of health, and can fluctuate dramatically based on what you ate the day before, how hard you exercised, monthly cycle status, and so much more. Instead of obsessing over the scale, try focusing on these factors instead. Continue reading “It’s Not About the Scale” →

Injury Prevention, Running, Strength Training

Prevent Knee Pain With These Simple Exercises

Laurie Kelly

Knee pain

Knee pain is often what sidelines many runners and keeps would-be runners from taking up the sport. But if you don’t have a serious degenerative disorder in the joint itself, you can help stave off a knee injury, improve running function, and make running easier and pain-free by strengthening the muscles that support the knee itself. Continue reading “Prevent Knee Pain With These Simple Exercises” →

Weight Loss

The Secret Weight Loss Weapon Everyone Has Access To, But Doesn’t Know About

Laurie Kelly

person holding gray steel fork with strawberry

Health challenges are usually all about what you can’t eat. But what if you could see real results from a self-experiment that doesn’t make any foods off-limits? Instead of focusing on what you eat, this 30-day experiment emphasizes how you eat. You may just find the results to be transformational, changing both your body and mind. Continue reading “The Secret Weight Loss Weapon Everyone Has Access To, But Doesn’t Know About” →

Strength Training

The Myth of Weight Machines

Laurie Kelly

Weight machines

At any big box commercial gym, you’ll see rows and rows of shiny, sometimes scary-looking weight machines. Whether cable-based or plate loaded, gyms invest thousands of dollars on this equipment. The newer ones will even count your reps and display your rest time between sets (I must admit, that’s pretty handy.) The truth is, many weight machines simply aren’t very effective for most people, and can even result in injury. In this article, I’ll explain why, and provide more effective alternatives to make the best use of your precious time. Continue reading “The Myth of Weight Machines” →

Wellness

Three Ways to Turn Back the Clock

Laurie Kelly
Julia Hawkins
Julia “Hurricane” Hawkins, 103-year-old record setting runner

Age is just a number, they say. I thought about this especially when I saw the inspirational video of record-setting runner Julia Hawkins, age 103. She took up running at the age of 100! Let that be me in another 46 years!

Aging is something that most of us would like to deny. But really, it’s not growing old that kills us. Instead, it’s usually one of many “lifestyle” diseases such as certain types of cancers, Type II diabetes, heart disease and stroke. Unfortunately, most of the research dollars go to finding ways to fix these diseases (with pharmaceuticals and increasingly, unregulated nutraceuticals) instead of preventing them from occurring in the first place. So what happens to our bodies as we age, and what can we do to turn back the clock? Continue reading “Three Ways to Turn Back the Clock” →

Health and Fitness

The Five Biggest Exercise Myths

Laurie Kelly

Woman doing crunches

In my work as a Personal Trainer, I find that many people have some deeply ingrained beliefs about the “right way” to exercise for best results. No doubt these come from the seemingly endless messages we’re bombarded with every day in the media, the latest fad workout or diet, or maybe from what we were taught back in elementary and high school PE class. In this article, I’ll debunk the five most common mistaken beliefs, or myths, about exercise and fitness that I encounter with my clients. Continue reading “The Five Biggest Exercise Myths” →

Health and Fitness

Are you sabotaging your workout?

Laurie Kelly

Sabotage workout

Are you spending hours in the gym every week and not seeing any results? It just might be that you’ve developed some habits that may be sabotaging your success, without even realizing it. Here are six of the most common workout habits to change now – and see improved weight loss and body composition while becoming more efficient in the process. Continue reading “Are you sabotaging your workout?” →