Winter Skin Care

Winter Skin Care

For many people, winter is a difficult time for skin. It becomes dry, flaky, itchy, maybe even blistered because of cold, wet weather.  It is important to take care of the largest organ of the body—the skin—not just during the summer months, but winter as well.
As soon as the heat gets turned on in homes and offices, skin begins to dry out.  The source of the heat doesn't matter; whether its oil, wood, gas or electric heat.  The blast of hot hair into the environment removes moisture in air leaving your skin parched and needing extra moisture and protection.
If you do suffer from winter skin conditions, the best thing to do is seek help from a specialist such as a dermatologist or an esthetician.  He/she can analyze your skin type, evaluate your current skin care routine and give advice on any products you may need to use.  Many inexpensive products work just as well as expensive ones!  What is important is how your skin responds to the product and whether or not you like it.
There are many ways to combat dry, winter skin.  Here are just a few to keep your skin hydrated and healthy in the weeks/months to come.


Moisturize, moisturize, moisturize!  This may be common sense, but the reality is, many people don’t put lotion on their skin daily.  It is also possible that if you do moisturize daily, the product you use in the spring/summer may not be as effective in the winter.  Try a moisturizer that is oil rather than water-based.  This will create a protective layer on the skin, aiding moisture retention.  When choosing oil-based moisturizers for the face, the oils should be “non-clogging”, such as avocado, mineral, primrose or almond. 


Still use sunscreen.  Hard to believe, right?  Make sure to apply sunscreen before going outside to both the hands and the face about 30 minutes beforehand.  Winter sunshine and snow glare are very hard on the skin, so stay protected!


Take extra care of your hands.  Since the skin on the hands is thinner than other parts of the body, there are fewer oil glands.  This makes keeping the skin hydrated on the hands even more difficult.  With cold and flu season, we all wash our hands more often, so keeping then moisturized between washing is important.  Make sure to fully dry hands after each washing, or use an alcohol-free based sanitizer.  Hand sanitizers containing alcohol are very drying, and can lead to severe cracking in cold weather.  A heavier oil-based hand cream followed by gloves before going outside can prevent cold-weather damage.  You can also do a “night-time treatment” and slather hands in heavy moisturizer, then cover in light gloves overnight.  Even an hour of enclosure can help rough, dry hands rejuvenate!
 Pamper your feet.   During the winter months, your feet will need double-duty for moisture.  Wool socks and boots will keep feet warm and dry, but extra moisture is still important.  Petroleum jelly or glycerine products are great---and don’t forget to exfoliate to remove dead, dry skin!


Ease off harsh cleansers.  Everyone wants clean skin, but in the winter months, try to use a more mild facial cleanser that is less drying to the skin.  Limit use of toners, astringents, and harsh peels.  Use hydrating cleansers and moisturizing masks or peels to stimulate the skin.


Shorter, warmer baths please.  Even though a long, hot shower or bath sounds lovely on a cold day, it is very hard on your skin.  The hot water breaks down the moisture barrier that you’you'you've created with a lipid-based moisturizer, so a shorter, warmer shower is best.  If you've got cracked, dry, itchy skin, a warm bath with milk, baking soda or oatmeal followed by a heavy moisturizer can be very soothing.


Remove wet socks and gloves.  Staying in wet clothing—particularly socks and gloves—can irritate skin and cause cracking, itching, blistering, and eczema.  Keep dry!


Humidifiers help.  Put back some of that moisture that central heating systems remove by hooking up a humidifier.  Place several throughout your home to more evenly distribute moisture.

 Hydrate for the health of it.  True or false?  Drinking water helps keep skin looking younger.
The answer:  FALSE.  Surprisingly, “the average person’s skin does not reflect the amount of water being drunk,” says Kenneth Bielinski, MD.  “I have clients that drink 10-12 glasses of water per day and still have super dry skin.  It just doesn’t do that much”. Drink water to keep your body hydrated and functioning well.  Your skin will benefit along with the rest of your body!
   Pick your PJs wisely.  The softer your sheets and sleepwear, the better, but you don’t need to invest in silk. Tightly woven natural fabrics like cotton or cotton flannel are best for those with sensitive skin or eczema.  Avoid blends of cotton and synthetic fibers, which might be irritating.

Newly Resurfaced Tennis Courts-What do I need to know?

What is resurfacing?  About every 6-8 years for an outdoor court and 8-12 years for an indoor court you need to resurface as a way to properly maintain your tennis courts.  The tennis court surface, the “paint”, that is on top of the asphalt or concrete breaks down over time due to natural wear and tear that comes with tennis courts.  The grit that you feel on a newly resurfaced court is the sand that is mixed in with the paint and over time this wears off and the surface gets faster and faster.  If the court gets too fast it really rewards the player with the big serve and big groundstroke’s as the ball won’t bounce as high and points will end quicker, but the courts will also start to look bad.  How does the resurfacing slow the court down and how can I adapt my game to be more successful on it?

            Whenever you resurface a tennis court you will slow it down, there is no way around this.  Think of a clay court, which is the slowest surface that the professionals play on; it’s typically a type of sand/dirt (har-tru/green) or crushed brick (red).  When a ball hits on this surface, it slows down.  The ball bites the surface more and causes it to bounce higher therefore slowing it down.  This is why you can see some really long rallies at the French Open.  When the court surface slows the ball down significantly it makes it hard to put the ball away because you know your opponent will be able to run down the ball and get it back into play.  On the opposite end of the spectrum is the grass courts at Wimbledon, which are very fast courts and the ball doesn’t bounce that high and it’s much easier to end points.  The grit that you feel in our newly resurfaced courts is the sand in the paint, it’s not quite as extreme as the clay courts but you will notice a difference to the old surface that has worn away. 

            How can I gain an advantage from this?  Wouldn’t it be great if all our Silver Lake players knew how to adjust to our slower courts, it potentially could help us win league titles and tournament matches.  What do I need to know?

            First and foremost, gear up for longer points, improve your fitness/stamina level.  The baseline groundstroke’s become more important as service aces and outright groundstroke winners will be fewer and farther between.  Playing on slow or gritty courts takes patience, endurance and some thought.  If you try to force things and go to the net too soon, it will be easier to pass you because the court slows down your approach shot or serve.  If you want to avoid the longer side to side rallies that are likely to occur change the rhythm up by mixing up your spins and depth, move your opponent in and out, it can get your opponent to miss or make the error.  Your new goal is to be more consistent than your opponent.   A pusher or retriever loves this slow surface.  It will take some thought on how to beat this player if you typically struggle playing against the pusher style.  The drop shot is really effective at the French Open because the surface almost stops the ball from going any further than the bounce.  On the hard-court, the drop shot after setting it up with a very deep shot can be very effective.

            To summarize, in order to use the newly resurfaced courts to your advantage work on your stamina for longer rallies and your groundstroke’s and drop shots to move your opponent in and out and overall being patient and willing to construct the point.  Understand that the new surface will slow your power ball down and make the ball bounce higher, therefore giving the player more time to get the ball.  Now would be a great time to work on your Semi-western grip for your forehand and your backhand slice in order to deal with balls out of your strike zone.  While we’re at it, a kick serve will kick up a little bit more on newly resurfaced courts and provide you a nice alternative to your power serve which will suffer a little in terms of speed.  Enjoy the new courts; let’s use it to our advantage.

By: Mark Bergman, Silver Lake Tennis Director

Grab a Partner and Get Fit This Summer!

Whether you goal is to get fit or to maintain your active lifestyle this summer, you need to keep up a regular exercise program.  Grab a friend or loved one to workout with you!  It's a great way to catch up, and it will make your workouts more enjoyable and worthwhile. You can actually boost more endorphins (aka happy hormones) when working out with someone else.  It's true!  You may even push your intensity harder than you would if you were on your own.  Working out with a partner will keep you accountable, and you'll be less likely to skip out on your fitness routine.

*Here's a fun, calorie-blasting, partner workout to get you fitter, stronger, and healthier today!

Prep: Both partners have abdominals contracted, chest open, and shoulders retracted and depressed throughout the entire workout.

Warm up: Treadmill, elliptical, rower, or stairclimber machine for 5-10 minutes at a moderate intensity level.

1.  Partner Run: Targets heart rate, hips, thighs, and core

•   Partner 1 stands tall (knees slightly bent), with hands out and palms facing down.

•   Partner 2 marches or runs in place, lightly touching knees to their partner's palms.

•   Stay light on feet, with chest lifted.

•   Perform exercise for one minute; switch partners and repeat 2-5 times.

2.  Medicine Ball Chest Pass: Targets chest, hips, thighs, and core

•   Partner 1 stands with knees soft and arms in a "ready" position.

•   Partner 2 holds medicine ball with elbows out and shoulders pressed down; squat down, then stand up passing the medicine ball to partner 1.

•   Partner 1 repeats the squat to chest pass back to partner 2.   Repeat sequence for up to one minute.

3.  Medicine Ball Oblique Toss: Targets core

•   Facing sideways to your partner, partner 1 stands ready to catch the medicine ball.

•   Partner 2 rotates ball away from partner 1 with abdominals pulled in; gain momentum and toss the ball to partner 1, aiming for their hands.

•   As partner 1 catches ball, they go right into the twist.  Toss back and forth for up to one minute.

4.  Military Press: Targets shoulders

•   Partner 1 sits on a bench or stability ball with arms up and elbows bent; hands in a fist position to keep wrists neutral, press hands up until arms are straight. Lower arms to starting position.

•   Partner 2 stands behind and applies constant resistance for partner 1.

•   Let partner 1 go through a full range of motion with the movement;  repeat presses for 30 seconds, then switch partners.

5.  One Arm Row: Targets back

•   Both partners hold a towel in their right hand with the left leg forward.

•   Partner 1 pulls towel towards them;  keep pulling elbow in towards your spine.

•   Partner 2 repeats same motion; repeat exercise back and forth for up to one minute; repeat sequence with left hand.

•   Make it harder by balancing on one leg.

6.  Sit Up & High Five: Targets core

•   Partner 1 lies on back with knees bent, heels pressed down into the floor. Crunch up as high as possible without using momentum and high five partner twice before coming back down.

•   Repeat motion for 30 seconds up to one minute; switching partners and repeat sequence.

7.  Plank & Fist Bump: Targets total body

•   Both partners face each other in a plank (push up) position.

•   Partners must have perfect form with body in a straight line - no sagging hips.  To make this position easier, either perform modified from knees or elevate body with hands on a weight bench (facing partner).

•   Both partners lift right hand and lightly tap fists together and return right hand down; repeat on left side.

•   Repeat sequence for up to one minute keeping hips stable and abdominals contracted.\

Finish workout with a few stretches and a high five!

Contact the personal training department for fitness questions or for group training sessions.  Group fitness classes are also a great way to get lean and burn calories with friends.  Make this your summer to be fit and healthy!

*Consult with your physician before starting any new exercise program.

By Joy Konieczka Group Exercise Instructor CAC Pine Lake

6 Things You Don't Know About Your Muscles

1. Muscle is Like Scaffolding for Your Entire Body:  Without muscle, your bones, joints, and ligaments are considerably more vulnerable to age–related decline and injury, according to Dr. Kenneth Hansraj, an orthopedic and spinal surgeon based in New York City. Building core strength in particular protects your spine, which is key to a healthy musculoskeletal system. In fact, a healthy, straight spine is pretty much the definition of youth and anti-aging, Dr. Hansraj says.

2. Muscle Equals Fewer Marshmallows:  Did I lose you at marshmallows? Stay with me. Muscle is much denser than fat. So if, for example, one pound of muscle is about the size of an apple, one pound of fat is the equivalent size-wise of a pound of marshmallows, according to Dr. Hansraj.

Still confused? Imagine how many marshmallows you would have to pile on a food scale to have it progress to one pound. Probably a lot. at least one full-sized bag. Now imagine the space five of those bags would take up (five pounds of fat) as opposed the amount of space five apples would take up (five pounds of muscle). It’s a lot less space—and a lot less marshmallows. For an even easier and entirely fruit-focused analogy, a pound of fat is about the size of a grapefruit, and a pound of muscle is about the size of a tangerine.

3. Muscle Lets You Eat an Oreo Guilt-Free:  Muscle is metabolically active tissue, which means it demands more fuel for support. While protein is the primary source of fuel (hence the body builder obsession with the stuff), this also means that more of the total calories you eat are burned as fuel rather than stored as fat. How many more? About 50 for every pound of muscle you add, according to Hansraj. That’s about the calories in a single Oreo cookie, two Hershey kisses, or half a glass of Merlot. It's not a ton, but it does mean that if you watch your overall calorie intake, you can have little treats here and there totally and completely guilt-free.

4. Muscle Keeps You Sane:  While the jury is still out on whether it provides a bigger mood boost than cardio, if you weight train at a high enough intensity, you can experience an effect similar to the runner's high, when your body releases natural pain-relieving opioids, says Richard Hammer, associate clinical professor of pathology and anatomical sciences at the University of Missouri School of Medicine. And according to Dr. Hansraj, weight-training leads to an improved androgenic hormone profile (in essence, a better balance between male and female hormones, which leads to a more stable mood).

5.  Muscle Lowers Your Risk of Two Major Health Threats:  According to a study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, people who lift weights are 37 percent less likely to have metabolic syndrome—a cluster of risk factors linked to heart disease (the No. 1 killer of women in the U.S.) and diabetes (type 2 diabetes currently affects 26 million Americans and is the fastest growing disease in the country, according to the CDC).

How? Muscle helps your body process blood glucose more efficiently, according to Dr. Hammer, which helps lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes. It's also associated with a smaller waist circumference (less marshmallows!), which is an indicator of lower LDL (bad) cholesterol, which in turn equals a healthier heart.

6. Light Weights Get the Job Done:  Not comfortable slinging super heavy weights? You can still reap the many benefits of building muscle. A recent study published in The Journal of Applied Physiology found that participants still experienced strength gains when lifting lighter weights as long as they worked their muscles to fatigue.

This is good news, since the 20-plus pounders tend to reside in the serious weight training part of the gym, which can be intimidating, eye roll inducing, or just too grunt-filled to be a fun place for ladies who lift.