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Zara Scribner had been a Pilates student for six years and loved everything about it: She felt taller and more focused than in the years before. The positive changes from Pilates made Zara wonder what would happen if she added strength work and  cardio to her regular Pilates workouts. The results, she says, are worth the extra work.

Zara had tried strength training once before and was a bit dismayed by the results. “I had worked with a trainer in high school and gotten really bulky,” Zara says. “I didn’t want that again.” This time, she asked for a recommendation from her APOGEE Pilates instructor and began personal training with Jane Nielsen at APOGEE Bedford Hills.

Jane started Zara with weight training and ab work based on Pilates moves. “I was kind of cocky going in,” Zara remembers. “But I could hardly lift the weights!” she says. Zara is now working out six days a week, mixing three or four different activities: Each week she sees Jane for personal training once, attends three Pilates classes, and Spins or runs once or twice. Zara works her abs daily.

The daily workouts are remodeling Zara’s physique. “Jane knows how to train women,” says Zara. “My muscles aren’t bulky and I’m getting the definition I wanted.” She also has more energy for daily tasks.

Zara needs mental and physical energy: She’s just starting her second year of law school. “I have long lectures, and even exams last four hours,” she says. Zara credits Pilates with helping her focus. “I need to be consistent and persistent and set tangible goals,” Zara says. “I’ve definitely learned that through Pilates.” Pilates even helps with the stress of sitting while studying—“I don’t cramp up from being in one position for so long,” says the Armonk resident.

Now, Pilates, cardio and strength training are part of Zara’s life—she’s even training to become a certified Pilates instructor. And while her newly defined muscles are nice, Zara says the benefits of her new exercise habit go deeper. “I’m healthier and happier because I’m working out,” she says.

Save up to 30 percent on private Pilates and personal training through August 31. Learn more about this special offer!

by APOGEE’s Nutrition Staff

Have you ever said, “I’m going eat well, starting today!” Of course that’s an admirable goal: Your health, energy and weight will benefit from a diet of whole, natural, unprocessed foods. But such a sweeping, all-or-nothing plan is hard to achieve.

Don’t get us wrong: It’s important to have a target to motivate you and provide a focus. But goals without practical steps may set you up for failure. At APOGEE, we make sure clients’ goals are are SMART –that is, Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely. And once you’ve reached your goal (and I promise you will), you can build on it.  Here’s how to make sure your plan is SMART.

Specific
Your goal is specific if you can ask yourself: what will happen, where and when. For example,  “I will eat a healthful breakfast of fruit and yogurt at home four days this week,” and  “I will bring a salad to work for lunch two days this week” are specific. A non-specific goal is, “I will start eating better lunches.”  The what is the food, the where is at home or at work and the when is four times this week.

Measureable
Your goal is measurable if you can ask yourself: How will I know I’ve reached this goal? The simplest way to quantify your goal is to include a number: Three lunch salads a week or four breakfasts. Then, choose a timeframe: “I will eat a healthful breakfast of fruit and yogurt at home four days this week.” If you achieve the goal, extend the timeframe—for two weeks or until the end of the month, for example.

Attainable
Make your goals small-scale and you’ll achieve success. For example, it’s tough to go from never eating breakfast at home to always eating breakfast at home. Instead, try the new behavior two days a week. Succeed at that, and within a month you’ll be more likely to be practicing the new behavior most days of the week.

Timely
A goal should have a time frame—so there is sense of urgency to complete it—and a beginning and an end. “This week, I’m going to eat a salad at lunch on Monday, Wednesday and Friday,” is timely and specific. Plus, success will come quickly when you have an end date in the not-too-distant future.

Realistic
Be certain that you are willing and able to make the changes you need to in order to achieve your goal. It’s not realistic to say you will never eat cake or chips again! Instead, look at your life: If you’re eating cake every night now, perhaps you can cut back to cake once a week and fruit on other nights. If you’re snacking on corn chips every day, perhaps you can switch to crunchy vegetables on weeknights and corn chips on the weekend. Being realistic sets you up for success.

Good luck being SMART! Let us know how this style of goal-setting works for you by posting a comment here or on our Facebook page.

If you’ve been to the APOGEE Café in White Plains or Bedford Hills, you’re familiar with our fresh, convenient food: You can pick up a nutritious natural meal or snack after class and be home, at work or running errands with no worries about your diet or energy level. You know you’re eating fresh, natural whole foods.

This month, we’re revamping our smoothie menu: These new, cool drinks are packed with nutrition, providing a balance of macro-nutrients (protein, carbohydrates, fats) with the micro-nutrients your body needs for optimum health. We can’t think of an easier way to provide you with fast, portable, tasty nutrition and energy. Our menu will feature gluten-free and vegan smoothies, too, so everyone can find a drink to suit them.

How do we pack so much nutrition into 16- or 24-ounce cup? The key is quality ingredients.

Protein: Our smoothies contain rice protein powder, almond butter, almond milk, or kefir made from low-fat milk. These are easy to digest, gluten-free sources of protein. Protein is especially useful to aid recovery after exercise. Our signature smoothie, “The APOGEE,” contains rice protein; our Nutty Monkey has almond milk and butter; the Super Green Machine is mixed with almond milk.

Fats: Many of our smoothies contain coconut milk or flax seed oil, which are natural, heart-healthy fats. Both of these fats also have disease-fighting properties and they contribute to a creamy, satisfying smoothie. Flax seed oil and coconut milk give our Apogee smoothie a nutritional punch; the Calypso Colada gets its rich flavor from coconut milk.

Fruits and vegetables: We use fresh berries, kiwi and wheat grass, providing antioxidants that help with every aspect of health, including detox and repair. Some smoothies also contain Metagenics organic greens and berries powder, which delivers the benefits of fresh fruits and greens in a concentrated, whole food form. Our Super Green Machine, Anti-Oxidant Cleanse and Apogee smoothies are packed with powerful fruits.

Probiotics: Probiotics are cultured foods that contain the beneficial bacteria essential for digestive and detox system function. Our smoothies that contain the probiotic kefir deliver multiple strains of bacteria. We’re offering both low-fat dairy kefir and coconut kefir, for vegans. Jennifer’s Kiwi Pick-Me-Up is a vegan option, with coconut kefir and wheat grass juice; low-fat dairy kefir gives the Orange Creamsicle and Calypso Colada their creamy texture.

Filtered fresh and iced water: Your body needs water to function at its best! Our smoothies will help keep you hydrated.

Read more about probiotics and kefir here.

Heart pounding, sweat producing, calorie burning, fat busting, exhausting, invigorating: Spinning is all these things and more. No wonder the Spinning® classes at APOGEE Bedford Hills are among the most popular.

If you’ve spent the winter on a Spin bike, though, cycling on a road bike can be a bit of a shock. Yes, your legs are pushing the pedals, but that’s about all that a Spin bike and a road bike have in common. APOGEE Spin instructor Jennnifer Cromie, an experienced bike racer and national class biathlete (run-bike-run) has advice for Spin class devotees who want to ride on the road.

Be aware! When you’re out of the studio and on the road, you have to be mindful of what’s going on around you. Keep your eyes on the road and not on your cycling computer or heart rate monitor. Gaze about 50 yards ahead of you and be mindful of traffic signs and lights, potholes, and other road hazards. No matter what the road is like, you should ride a predictable, straight line.

Use the proper gear. In the Spin studio you can ride a high gear with no repercussions. But on the road, you should select a gear you can spin at 80 to 100 revolutions per minute (rpm’s) on the flats and 60 to 80 rpms on the hills. Your Spinning instructor can help you learn what these spin rates feel like.

Practice handling your bike. Even if you’ve been Spinning with clip-in pedals, don’t be discouraged if you have a low-speed fall when you clip in and out of your pedals on the road. “It’s a rite of passage!” says Jennifer. “Understand that this is not a permanent problem.” After a few rides, you’ll be clipping in and out like a pro.

To learn more about road cycling in Bedford Hills and Westchester County, join Jennifer Cromie and other instructors at workshop “Cycling From Studio to Street,” on Monday, June 21 at APOGEE  Bedford Hills. Learn more.

If there’s one thing in a woman’s life that stays the same, it’s change: From adolescence to young adulthood, to motherhood and beyond, a woman’s body changes every month. Decade by decade, our roles evolve at work, in our communities, and in our relationships with parents and children.

With change being such a constant, it’s important to take a look at how you negotiate the cycles and evolutions of life. “If you’re self aware, you can use times of change as positive, transformative experiences,” says APOGEE life coach Persephone Zill. But the twists and turns of life can be stressful for many. “How you dealt with change in the past is a pretty good indicator of how you will deal with it in the future,” says Persephone.

How you cope now: Your most valuable asset is your attitude about change. “You need to be able to recognize how you cope with change so you can develop ways to help yourself that work best for you,” says Zill. “Look at something like the recent economic downturn—how did you react to that?” Perhaps you were able to make adjustments, dial back in certain areas, or find satisfaction from simpler things. But if you tend to run away and hide out—by watching TV, surfing the internet, overeating, drinking alcohol, or overworking—then you may be missing out on opportunities to embrace change and find satisfaction from new behaviors and new ways of being. Mind-body exercise, such as yoga, Pilates and meditation, can help you develop more of an observing self-awareness of yourself and your attitudes about life events.

Identify your resources: To be certain you have a full range of tools to negotiate change, Persephone recommends looking at six areas of your life: physical/nutritional, family, social, mental, work/ finance and spiritual. (You can draw a circle and make each area a section, like pieces of a pie.) If each area is vital and satisfying, it has the potential to be a resource for you to draw on during times of change, says Persephone. But if an area is dormant or even a source of friction, it can deplete your energy and throw the whole pie out of balance, limiting your ability to deal with life’s shifts.

Achieve balance: As a life coach, Persephone helps women identify goals for areas of their life that are currently lacking. Paying attention to one or two neglected areas can enrich and energize the rest of your life, she says. “Exercise can help you sleep better and be more aware of how you react to stress,” she says. “Pursuing a hobby or a creative interest can create additional energy and open-mindedness that you can then use at work or with your family.”

Develop your life balance, says Persephone, and you’ll have the resources to adjust to change—or at least recognize that difficult situations will pass in time.

To learn about exercise, nutrition and life-coaching tools that will help during mid-life, peri-menopause and menopause, attend our free workshop, Embracing Change, on June 22 at APOGEE Bedford Hills. Learn more.