Water is a great source of hydration when you are doing exercise bouts of less than 90 minutes.  But when performing endurance type exercise like marathons, ultra-marathons, and ironman races you need a little more than just water.  Hyponatremia is a condition that develops in the body when sodium levels decrease below 135.  How do you get this? Well there are several reasons for the occurrence of hyponatriemia.  Some of those reasons include:  drinking too much water and /or sports drink in a short amount of time during your route, excessive sodium loss through bodily sweat, and taking NSAIDS (I will discuss the effects of NSAIDS in a later post).  Just a quick note as an endurance athlete or marathon runner you should not take NSAIDS unless instructed by your doctor, they can have server side effects on your body other than hyponatremia.

How can you keep this from happening to you?  First it is important to understand who is at risk for hyponatremia.  Everyone is a risk but there are few groups of people that should take special care.  Women, women tend to be at a greater risk than men.  Women are more prone to losing sodium than men are for the fact that women hold about 10% less body water then men do.  Those that sweat excessively are more prone to hyponatremia due to sodium lose, if they don’t replenish their sodium intake while replenishing their fluid intake.  Those that don’t sweat very much are also at risk usually due to over hydrating and sodium levels dropping.  These persons are replenishing there fluid intake but are not having optimal fluid lose.  Also smaller or really skinny runners are at more risk.  These runners have a harder time keeping their sodium levels up.  Lastly those that take more than 4-4.5 hours to complete a marathon are at a higher risk.  This is not to say that you shouldn’t be well-hydrated when you get to the starting line, but that you need to be aware of your body weight, projected finish time and individual needs.

Tip to make it thought…

• Don’t just rely on H2o , use sports drinks, juices , and other fluids that have sodium in them
• Add salt to your food in the days leading up to the event or a long run
• Make sure you practice with the drink that will be served on the day of the event and begin drinking the sports drink 3-4 days before and event or long run.  (when I train for a marathon I drink about 32-40oz of diluted Gatorade a day for several months)
• Salted pretzel and bagel are great for pre, during, and post workouts that are more than 8 miles. You can also try energy bars, gels, pop tarts, bananas, cookies, ect.
• If you sweat a lot or it is hot you should carry salt packs with you and 1-2 packs during your event or long run followed by 8oz of sports drinks.

In a town in which fitness centers are plentiful and everyone is hoping to drop that extra weight, Urban Fitness gives clients a way to break out of the typical workout routine. Having recently opened on Jan. 4, the studio classifies itself as being exclusively focused on personal training. Located on Eastwood Road in Lumina Commons, Urban Fitness prides itself on being remarkably different from standard gyms.

“We are not a gym,” said manager Linda Brown. “We are a functional training facility.” Unlike most gyms, the Urban Fitness studio is not crowded with elliptical machines and treadmills. Yoga balance and medicine balls are stacked neatly against the walls, while workout benches are strategically placed in different areas of the room.

The centerpiece that helps this fitness center stand out from the others hangs from the ceiling, down to the floor.

“It’s a TRX,” says trainer Maleia Tumolo. “It stands for total resistance exercise.” Featured in Men’s Health Magazine, the TRX is crucial to the studio’s functional training programs. It helps clients to perform exercises such as push-ups, squats and pull-ups, while working more than just one specific group of muscles. It can be used for more than 50 different exercises.

“It provides instability,” trainer Chad Erskine pointed out, showing how a push-up is performed on the TRX. “It keeps the body guessing.”

Five trainers are available to clients at Urban Fitness, and while they all conduct one-on-one and group training sessions, each also specializes in something unique. Tumolo specializes in marathon training, program design and Pilates. Erskine is a sports specific trainer. Rhonda Willett is a Pilates instructor, and also specializes in golf training. Canaan Dorian is a functional sports trainer and teaches a TRX class.

Robin Conroy is the boxing trainer. Having recently won her first boxing match, she’s been training on and off for three years with coach Andre Thompson and competes with USA boxing on the amateur level.

Conroy’s boxing classes involve bag and mitt work for beginners through advanced boxers. She uses her experience in boxing to keep the class fresh with different workouts and offers 15 different boxing combinations for her clients, who may also sign up for one-on-one boxing sessions.

Not only does the studio offer one-on-one and group training, in addition to boxing, Pilates and TRX, it offers boot camp. All are available for people of any age or experience level.

Urban Fitness is also equipped to bring the TRX to offices for group training, and it can be booked to help with stretching and preparing athletes for races and other sporting events. The studio is also involved with Wilmington Health Nuts and offers free sessions to the group to allow physical therapists and chiropractors to see what kind of services it offers.

The studio’s services are based heavily around the client’s comfort and goals, Brown pointed out. Sessions and fee structures are centered around a client’s long and short term goals, as well as how they might maintain a healthy lifestyle. Those interested in Urban Fitness are welcome to make an appointment for a free consultation.

Urban Fitness is a by-appointment-only studio, without regular hours and is closed on Sunday. Its clientele ranges from overweight individuals to those just wanting to stay healthy, as well as serious athletes.

Brown took a personal interest in the fitness center after it had such an impact on her life. By training at the previous Urban Studios, which was located downtown, Brown lost 45 pounds.

“It changed my life,” she said. Now, she retains a healthy and active lifestyle and hopes to help others do the same.

Take Care-
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When doing your research, which requires due diligence, look for nutritional guidance that offers you servings that are based on proportion and has a blended diet that offers variety. Moderation has been and will always be the best way to shed those unwanted pounds allowing you to reach your ideal weight.

When you start out trying to teach yourself about healthy eating get in the kitchen and cook. Avoid dinning out for a short period of time to gain knowledge on what a healthy meal is. Just recently, I took my on advice and started just eating at home again. This has been a great experience for everyone in our household. It has taught us to become extremely creative in the kitchen and has become something we look forward to doing as a family. Even my 3 year old daughter tries to get in on the action. Just this past Friday she made her very own wheat crust pizza, that had turkey sausage, low fat mozzarella cheese, and some delicious pizza sauce. We then fired up grill, cooking her pizza to her satisfaction. The experience is irreplaceable all the while teaching her a valuable lesson about healthy eating.

If you want a great publication to subscribe to offering you great ideas for healthy cooking then check out this website, www.cookinglight.com.