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.

Have Fun Gluten Free

I’ve been experimenting with new recipes in the kitchen. When I have the time I actually really enjoy it. And I’ve had a lot of success. I bought Elisabeth Hasselbeck’s gluten-free cook book and only had one bad meal from it. The rest have been delicious. My favorite is a cherry and cocoa smoothie with avocado. It’s wonderful.

When I’ve gone out to eat I need to be very careful and I’ve ordered items I would never have gotten in the past. I’d never go out and order plain chicken and vegetables, but I did last week and it was really good. So far being without gluten is adding a little more variety into my diet.

And it’s fun. I’ve tried gluten-free pizza, gluten-free blueberry muffins, gluten-free dumplings. I’ll admit the pizza and the blueberry muffins are not as good as the ones I normally make, but it’s […]

Have Fun Gluten FreeMaggie Downie2017-09-12T19:31:35-04:00

Life: The Constant Curve Ball

In my year of getting into the best shape of my life, I’ve noticed something. There is always an excuse—a birthday party, Thanksgiving, a super bowl game as to why I should have the day off from being healthy. I could come up with constant excuses. But the truth is that’s life. Life will always throw me a curve ball that will make it harder to be healthy.

Instead of taking the day off, I really need to find a way to make healthier decisions on days that are tough because those tough days are never going away. I need to learn to live with them. Since I was blessed with a large family I could probably have an excuse a week if you count birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays. Heck I celebrate my own birthday five different times each year. That’s five excuses in one month. […]

Life: The Constant Curve BallMaggie Downie2017-09-12T19:31:36-04:00

Tight Hamstrings?

Most of us think we have tight hamstrings.

But here is a little something about a hamstring stretch. We sort of have a tendency to accidentally cheat and stretch our back in addition to our hamstrings. And sometimes we are even stretching the back and barely getting to the hamstrings. If you have long arms or a long torso it’s a little easier to get to your toes. If you have long legs and shorter arms it’s going to be harder. So the reach to the toes, while an easy standard, can be a bit deceptive. If I only stretch my hamstrings as far as they can go without curling forward in my back, I can’t touch my toes.

Tight Hamstrings?Maggie Downie2017-10-25T15:49:54-04:00

The Final Challenge: Letting Go

Okay—I don’t have one. I think I’m going to have to let it go. At this point I literally have one month to come up with something.

The best laid plans, I guess. What do they say? Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans?

On the one hand, it seems ridiculous that I couldn’t come up with four challenges throughout the year. And it’s not that I didn’t. I ran the Ragnar, two half-marathons, hiked the Grand Canyon. There are four right there, but I wanted them spaced out seasonally and I didn’t want them all to involve running.

Still, I learned a few things. Having physical challenges that have activities with set dates really helps keep me stay motivated to stick to a workout routine. Having other people working to the same goal really helps me too. But I also learned that after three seasons of having a challenge planned, my body and mind were both tired and in need of a break.

So for next year, I’m already planning on doing a different Ragnar race and another half marathon. We’ll see what other challenge come about as […]

The Final Challenge: Letting GoMaggie Downie2017-09-12T19:31:36-04:00

To Squat Or Not to Squat

This is probably not a question you give a lot of thought to on a regular basis. Most people with knee problems steer away from the squat, and it’s certainly good to be cautious. But if you don’t have knee problems, the squat can be a really important exercise. The squat is basically the muscles we use to stand up and sit down. Most of us stand and sit at work, when we eat, when we go to the bathroom, and when we get in the car. It’s a pretty important exercise for daily use.
As people age it’s one of the more important exercises they can probably do to keep themselves independent.

Recently I read two articles that argued for the importance of a really deep squat. One where you start standing and lower your glutes until they almost touch the floor between your heals. This isn’t for everyone and some people need to build up to this, but the articles made an interesting case

They claimed that we are very sensitive about knees in […]

To Squat Or Not to SquatMaggie Downie2017-09-12T19:31:37-04:00

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