Feature of the Week: Molly Hargreaves

Molly Hargreaves is a personal trainer at the Edgeworth Club Fitness Center and helps many clients each week with their fitness routines. Molly loves learning about fitness and nutrition, and was friendly enough to share some of her knowledge with us. Molly also recently started a blog and you can follow it here!

Molly’s three point policy goes as follows:
Nothing in Isolation
Go Natural
Respect your body

Nothing in Isolation:

Getting in shape is 98 percent about what you do in the kitchen. Molly like to say, “You make abs in the kitchen” because it is so important to get the strength and the nutrients from your cooking - and skip the foods that will work against your workout.

However, getting in shape requires cardio, weights, and a diet.

Molly recommends doing cardio four times per week and working every muscle in your body twice a week, but don’t work the same muscles on back to back days. Lifting is so important because it forms the muscles that help you burn more calories throughout the day. Molly says, if you’re lifting weights, “your body is a calorie burning machine”. I like the sound of that!

As you can probably guess from her job title, Molly tries a lot of different ways to stay fit. Recently she has been running races, but she is actually not a huge fan of running. For Molly, the best part of running a race is the camaraderie. The people watching cheering you on and the runners encourage each other, and it just feels great to run in that kind of an atmosphere.

However, when Molly has her choice of exercises, she loves to lift weights and do yoga. She started doing yoga, and worked really hard at it for a year to a year and a half and then got a certification to teach. She’s getting another one soon, so look out for more classes by Molly!

Go Natural:

As a rule of thumb, if it fell from a tree, was picked from the ground, or had a mother it’s good to eat. Things like Splenda and Equal and other unnatural substances are just not good for your body because your body was not made to process chemicals.

A good rule to follow is staying away from things that are white. This includes white potatoes, white pastas, and white rice. Whole wheat pasta is great for you, as is brown rice, but white foods are just not natural and do not work with your body the way natural ingredients do. Also eat an unlimited amount of veggies! Don’t be afraid to put a lot of vegetables on your plate.



Of course I had to ask Molly what her favorite vegetable was and her answers reinforced her “go natural” mantra:

As far as starchy vegetables go, Molly loves to eat yams. To Molly, the best part about a yam is that it doesn’t need anything on it - no butter, no cheese, just warmed up in the microwave and eaten as is.

Molly also loves to eat steamed asparagus, cauliflower, and broccoli. Preparation tip: use spices over a syrupy sauce. It is better for you and gives a bold flavor. Molly’s favorite is garlic!

Respect your body:

Don’t smoke, drink in moderation, think about what you’re putting in to it.

Molly also recommends having a protein, a carb, and a healthy fat in every meal and eating every 2 and a half to 4 fours. Don’t eat all the time, but don’t wait more than four hours because that is when your metabolism starts to slow down.

When you are working out, you are essentially draining the nutrients from your muscles as you use them so it is important to replenish those right after. It is important to have protein as an after-workout snack, but carbs are good too.

As far as eating before a workout goes, eat two hours before so you have the energy to complete the workout. Something with carbs and a low glycemic index is great. The only time you would not eat before a workout is if you wake up and go on a run or do some form of cardio. You still want to eat within an hour of waking, but cardio in the morning on an empty stomach is a great workout.



Hopefully, you all enjoy learning about Molly’s thoughts on nutrition and fitness. Thank you so much Molly! I'll miss you this semester!