Maggie Downie, Author at Personal Euphoria: Pilates & Fitness Classes in CT

About Maggie Downie

Thank you for giving your time to stop and read my blog. I hope it encourages you to keep moving. Move and the body will be happier. And when you're moving you can hike, run, swim in Jell-O, race over non-Newtonian fluids, travel the world or build igloos--if that's your thing. If not, you can watch me do it. This is just a spot to try and feel good about life.

Does Movement Feel Good?

When was the last time you went to a fitness class and it felt good? Hopefully, the answer is, “Yesterday, I love the way my (insert class name here) feels every week.” I hope you thought that. I’m with you. I love to move. Throw me in almost any type of class and I’m going to enjoy it. I’m happy in motion, probably to a fault. But even when it feels good to move, it’s not always fun.

There is a free, silliness to movement that we tend not to hold onto as we age. It’s been drilled out of us. I watch my friend’s kids giggling over summersaults. They will spin in circles until they collapse in a heap. I’m not advocating circle spinning. The thought of doing that now makes me nauseous. The last time a rolled down a hill (about a decade ago) I learned that it is more torture than fun in my body. Things change. But kids get so much joy out of motion, and half the moves are concocted, on a whim and beyond goofy looking. They don’t care.

I saw the video of this little girl, who was clearly enjoying herself dancing to a different beat […]

Does Movement Feel Good?Maggie Downie2017-10-25T15:49:42-04:00

Neck Hurts When I Do Ab Exercises

Where does the neck look the happiest to you?

Have you ever felt neck pain when you lift your head off the ground to do an abdominal exercise?

If yes, you’ve come to the right place.

If no, you may be the luckiest person on the planet.

If you have a neck injury (have had whip lash, have a disc-related issue, or slept on it funny, etc.) than you need to relax. That is not pain you want to work through. You may need to reign in the exercises you are doing and only do ab-work with the head down for the time being. You can get a really good abdominal challenge with your head on the floor.

If you don’t have any neck issues, but your neck often or always hurts when you do ab work, there is also no reason you should work through bad pain. But it is worth experimenting to find a place you don’t feel pain. What I’ll call bad pain puts your neck at risk and is a sign that you’re abs aren’t really doing the work. So, why work through […]

Neck Hurts When I Do Ab ExercisesMaggie Downie2017-09-12T19:31:13-04:00

Twenty Steps to Make A Rainbow Igloo

This project was so much fun. I’m so glad I did it. That being said, I doubt I’d ever do it again. But it’s totally worth it. Here is how we did it and what we learned along the way:

Collect over 500 half gallon, cardboard containers. If you get about 520 to 530 that should be more than enough with some room for error.

Notes: Fake stuff smells the worst. Year old soy products, coconut milk and lactaid milk smells even worse than year old egg nog. You’ve been warned. Also, most people don’t use half gallons, so get as many people collecting for you as possible. If you think that on trash night you can go recycling bin-to-recycling bin and find half gallons, don’t waste your time. People just don’t use them. Find your friends, family and local businesses that do and ask them to collect them for you.

2. Rinse them out and open the tops.

Notes: I didn’t rinse all of them, which I came to regret. And the ones I opened froze faster and were easier to fill and carry. It’s more work in the beginning, but will pay off in the end.

3. Fill with water and a little […]

Twenty Steps to Make A Rainbow IglooMaggie Downie2017-09-12T19:31:13-04:00

Six Reasons to Slow Down Your Workout

We tend to think bigger is better. We have to work harder and faster or we aren’t getting a good enough workout. Sometimes we even use this as an excuse not to exercise. But research is showing we can chill out. You don’t have to go hard or go home. You can just move. Here are some research points in favor of a gentler workout:

Run Slow (10-min mile)

Running ten-minute miles and under 15-miles a week is more beneficial to your heart health than running faster for longer, which actually diminishes the gain for your heart. So slow down and enjoy the run. And stop calling yourself a jogger at a 10-minute mile. It’s not 1970. You’re out there running with everyone else. You’re a runner.

Pilates Good For Your Mind

A small study showed that 10-weeks of Pilates increases memory, cognitive function and neural network activity. You won’t be surprised if you’ve done Pilates. It’s basically the exercise for multi-taskers. There’s a lot going on at the same time.

Aerobic Exercises Creates New Neurons

That’s right. Exercise is one of the few things, if not the only thing, in life that creates and builds new neurons in the brain. This should be reason enough […]

Six Reasons to Slow Down Your WorkoutMaggie Downie2017-10-25T15:49:49-04:00

Multi-Colored Igloo: A Little Winter Magic

It all started with a Facebook post. My friend Amy (who we once went dog sledding with) saw that a family in Canada had made an igloo out of ice blocks. She posted it on my page and suggested I do it.

500 Cartons Freezing Outside.

Sold. I started collecting half gallon, cardboard containers. My clients dragged bags of them to classes, Stew Leonard’s in Newington gave me a ton. Friends and family collected them. I even went dumpster diving in my neighborhood on trash night in hopes of collecting enough. And then Amy saved the day. She drove 150 cartons from Fairfield, but it all came too late. It was mid-March by the time we had over 500 cartons and it was too warm outside.

The cartons spent a year in my garage and a hallway upstairs. Luckily they didn’t smell that bad. I, perhaps, was the only person hoping 2015 would be another cold, snowy winter. Got my wish. So I started filling the cartons with water and food coloring and […]

Multi-Colored Igloo: A Little Winter MagicMaggie Downie2017-09-12T19:31:13-04:00

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