Category Archives: Fitness

Workout Wednesday: Sore Wrist Is No Excuse

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I woke up on Sunday morning feeling like I had a helium balloon in my stomach and a woodpecker in my head. Haha. I don’t know. I just didn’t feel great. Also, as mentioned on Thursday’s post, I have a bum wrist and was making that excuses for the last couple days. No more! So before I climbed out of bed, I thought of my six exercises. As soon as I was out of bed, I put on my workout clothes and wandered up stairs to see who in the house would join me.

Mike’s mom, Bonnie, AND his sister, Kristen, did this workout with me. AND I have a brace on my wrist. Just goes to show that there are NO EXCUSES.

Structure:

– 6 exercises

– 20 seconds on/ 20 seconds off

– each exercise 3 times

– total 12 minutes!

– PUSH YOURSELF or it won’t work

Exercises:

^ 1. high knees

^ 2. calf raises

^ 3. crunches

^ 4. plank  < because of my wrist, I did these on elbows and stayed in position through the “20 seconds off” as well.

^ 5. jump lunges

^ 6. low jacks

Let me know how it goes!

And as always, have a happy day 🙂

 

Workout Wednesday: Whicooooosh!

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I picked it up with the workout last night. People were getting complacent and you know what that means, whicooosh!

So just like every Wednesday the workout is as follows:

– 20 seconds on, 20 seconds rest

-6 exercises, do each one 3 times (12 minutes total!)

 

1. low jacks

2. backward lunge (keep shoulders over hips)

3. burpees

4. crunches (feet on floor OR knees at right-angle OR legs straight in the air. lift SHOULDERS not head)

5. elbow-in push ups (on the wall OR on your knees OR on your toes in plank)

6. toe taps (tap each foot in front of you QUICKLY but stably, tap the ground, an elevated surface, or a fitness ball)

photo credit: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Ashley Life Update: It’s a weird feeling to be settling into such a hectic lifestyle. I guess routine can get you anything and everything. I’m finally figuring out how to work my 50 hours at job #1 and 5 hours at job#2 plus keeping the house clean, cooking healthy meals, and working out. This is what normal people do, plus kids!?! My respect for my parents and grandparents goes up with each year I’m alive. Anyway, regardless of the routine, I’m exhausted and SO excited for a real rest at Thanksgiving.

Also, yesterday I had 70 followers and today I have 69. Someone stopped following me! That’s kind of an odd feeling. Like someone found it worth the time and energy to stop reading my words. But I’ve done it to other blogs so I guess I can’t be sad. It just happens. Welp, that’s my life right now, learning all these weird, important lessons from all these normal, tiny things.

Anyway, I hope you’re all having wonderful days. I want to send some love out to my family right now. I’m missing you all exceptionally. Love and hugs (and weird texting pictures),

Question for YOU:

What have you been taking charge of in your life recently?

Basic Friday: Where’s your spine?

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What do you know about your spine? I follow a crap-ton (that’s the official measurement) of healthy blogs and so few of them talk about the importance of your nervous system to the functioning of your body. Why is that? I think people are either uninformed or scared to admit that you spine does it all and chances are, yours is misaligned.

Full disclosure: I work for a health center/chiropractor. First, we take care of our patients’ nervous systems, then we help them with nutrition, exercise, and mental health. But FIRST WE TAKE CARE OF THEIR NERVOUS SYSTEMS.

When I was growing up, my parents went to the chiropractor regularly and brought us in for adjustments whenever we were feeling out of whack. I loved getting adjusted. Walking out of a visit with a good (not all are good) chiropractor made me feel like I was stronger and functioning the way I was supposed to. Like my head was on straight or something. And while I have been struggling with loving my current company (see this post), there is not one moment that I have doubted the power of a healthy spine.

Did you know that EVERY NERVE in your body leads through your spine? Imagine what happens if there is a misalignment in your vertebra. Can’t imagine? Well it pinches all the nerves in that area and sends out garbled messages to those organs. The organs affected by your spine include but are not limited to: brain (yep it’s true), thyroid, heart, lungs, digestive tract, stomach…I could go on and on. But those seem like some pretty important organs right? RIGHT.

In the three months that I’ve been working at our clinic I have seen people come off their depression medication, ADHD medication, and start digesting again after being backed up for way too long. I’ve seen people start sleeping through the night, get rid of their restless leg syndrome, and throw away their asthma inhaler (they don’t need it anymore!). Of course they end their miserable back pain but they also come off their sleep apnea machines, drop tens of pounds of fat, and regain the function of numb limbs. This is a pretty cool one: we have a toddler with severe downs syndrome. When she came into our office, she didn’t have muscle function in her legs and couldn’t move her left arm. 30 minutes after her first adjustment, her mom took a photo of her holding her arms (yep both of them) out for a hug. Now, three months later, she’s very close to walking on her own.

^ This is our victory trash can: all medications that our patients don’t need anymore.

I don’t make this stuff up. I’m not trying to stand on my soap box and look down on all you sadly uninformed. I’m just really excited about it! There are absolutely things that chiropractic can’t help, but people don’t realize all that it really can do.

Now there are A LOT of chiropractors around. It’s difficult to figure out who to trust. Just like normal doctors, some chiropractors really shouldn’t be practicing. However! For every bad doctor there is a great one that can help the bejeesus out of you. Here’s how to tell the difference. Fixing and maintaining your spine should never be a “oh hey, let’s pop your back now and then you come back every time you’re in pain!” That is called pain management and it ensures that you are always on the brink of fall back out of alignment. You want to look for what is called STRUCTURAL CORRECTION. Structural correction combines periodic Xrays with adjustments and exercises to take care of your spine FOR LIFE. No more pain, no more symptoms. And yes, I did say FOR LIFE. After this job, I will be seeing a chiropractor for the rest of my life. But it will not be because I’m in pain, it will be my own personal health insurance. Preventative care, if you may.

I am not the only person shouting this message and this will not be the only time I talk about chiropractic. But I figured an introduction was necessary. I’m not going to dance around this subject anymore because I’m starting to realize that everyone needs to open their eyes to this stuff. It’s pretty freaking awesome.

If you’re interested in more information, I stumbled across this fantastic article:

http://www.joanngentle.com/different-types-of-chiropractic-care-and-treatment-techniques.html

Also, if you’ve already decided you want to get checked out, google “Structural Correction in [your town]” Make sure you check out the doctor’s credentials and talk to current patients about their results. Also try to search online for any reviews of the clinic or specific doctor.

If you’re having trouble finding a doctor, comment this page and I’ll direct you to one of ours. My company has 400 doctors all over the US and Canada.

Like I said, chiropractic can’t fix everything, but it can sure give you a head start on any of the issues you’re tackling. On that note, smile and be happy to be alive 🙂

 

Thirsty Thursday: Drink More Water.

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You don’t drink enough water. Yes, I am accusing you. But have you ever questioned yourself? Most people aim for the 8 x 8 ounces glasses of water a day. THAT IS NOT ENOUGH. It’s enough to stave off dehydration and keep your body functioning but water can do so much more!

– Drinking water flushes your body of excess toxins, encourages digestion, and keeps you awake and energized.

– Sometimes people think they’re hungry when they’re actually just thirsty; so before you reach for the cookies, drink a tall glass of water.

– When you’re sick, water helps your system flush the bacteria and viruses from your body.

– If you’re trying to lose weight, water will help rinse out your digestive tract and other overloaded organs.

– You can drink it with tea, with mint leaves, with lemon or even cucumber!

– Carry a reusable bottle (BPA free) everywhere with you so that it becomes habit to drink whenever you have a free 30 seconds.

If you’re still questioning whether you drink enough, check out this awesome calculator I found:

http://nutrition.about.com/library/blwatercalculator.htm *

*At the very end the site mentions that soft drinks are a source of water. They are, but the amount of bad stuff they put in your body overrides the amount of good.

Disclaimer: The situation is different for infants and people with kidney or adrenal problems. If you are one of those people, please consult your doctor before taking my advice. Also, you CAN drink too much water. It’s very tough but doable so please don’t do it. Also, DO NOT drink your entire daily water intake at one time.

Wednesday Workouts: What Does Your Week Look Like?

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How much do you work out? I was prepping for the fitness class I teach on Tuesday nights and I realized that, for some of my “students”, it may be the only time they workout that week. While I applaud their effort to make it a weekly habit, that amount of exercise really WON’T DO ANYTHING. So seriously, how much do you workout?

I was raised by a mom that had intense dedication to her mental and physical health. She manages to make time to workout for an hour 6 days a week. What?! That’s a lot of working out. When I lived at home, I used to get super stressed about making enough time for that. Since I’ve moved away, I’ve discovered my own rhythm and it’s working awesomely.

Some basic rules for getting results and staying healthy:

1. SET UP A ROUTINE – determine what is manageable for your schedule and energy levels and slowly work that into your daily life. I know a lot of people who write down their weekly or monthly routine, put it on the fridge so everyone can see, and then cross off the days. Then everyone knows when you’re not sticking to it.

2. INCLUDE VARIATION – I know people who can do the same workout everyday but most people need some variation. So pick a few activities like walking/running, riding your bike, swimming, weight training, etc, and give yourself options for which workout you will do.

3. HOLD YOURSELF ACCOUNTABLE – find a way to punish yourself if you don’t stick to you routine. My punishment is no dessert the night that I fail to stick to my guns. Works for me and my sweet tooth!

4. MAKE IT MANAGEABLE – don’t push your limits so hard that you burn out, make sure your routine is relatively easy to stick to and that you don’t feel like you’re spending your whole life working out.

5. did I say MAKE IT MANAGEABLE? – working out hard and often is really difficult. Ease your way into it and make sure you can sustain it.

For the past 3 months my workouts have looked like this:

3x a week – 12 to 20 minutes of the bodyweight/circuit workouts that I post here

2x a week – 20 to 40 minutes strength yoga to calm my mind, strengthen my muscles, and detox my organs.

I was resting after bike season. Now the pre-season winter training begins and I will be trading 1 yoga and 1 strength training for an hour of intervals on my bike trainer. Combine this with a healthy diet and I’m in the best shape of my life.

The Wednesday Workout for this week:

– 20 seconds on/20 seconds rest

– each exercise 3 times

– total of 12 minutes

– this workout requires you to push yourself. hard.

1. ^ butt kicks (standing in place or running)

2. ^ hip raise (if you can, lift one leg up to the sky or put your legs straight out on a fitness ball)

3. ^ pike pushup (if you can, do it with your legs elevated on a step or fitness ball)

4. ^ 45° Lunge – one direction then the other (just adding some variation to tone those small twitch muscles)

5. ^ plank (if you can, do it on hands and/or with little kicks)

SQUAT AND HOLD YOUR HAND OUT IN FRONT. quads parallel to the ground.

6. ^ sit & pray

Back to the subject: How much do you workout?

 

 

Friday Fun Times: Ice Skating!

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Our lives were becoming stale. Wake up groggy and still tired, go to work, come home and eat dinner, watch tv, go to bed, repeat. It’s even boring writing it! So Mike and I decided to institute date night. For those of you that know us, you know that we didn’t go on our first date until we were 4 months into our relationship and living together. The whole graduation/moving to Illinois thing meant that we did things kind of backwards. SO, we have no idea how to date each other!

Of course, we are very short on money, so we have been exploring Peoria in a frugal way. Last Friday we went out to dinner (ordered only appetizers because they’re cheaper) then went ice skating! I told Mike that he had to arrange this one and, considering that he’s the romantically challenged of the two of us, he did a fantastic job.

There’s a rink right around the corner from us and it cost $6 each for ice time AND rentals. WOOHOO!

 

^ As far as I’m concerned, humans were not meant to have blades on their feet so I stumbled across the ice like a dancing baboon. Mike, however, is one of those people who is good at everything and he jumped on the ice and started skating backwards and doing turns and hockey stops and blah blah blah. I was slightly envious but also very proud of my man 🙂

‘Twas a great way to spend a Friday night. Cheap, cheerful, and sweat-inducing.

What do you do for a cheap date night?

Wednesday Workout: Let’s Walk Down This Path

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I led another awesome workout session last night. We’ve been running them for 3 weeks and I’ve seen people come once and not again, but I’ve also seen people come back, and that’s what I love. Mike comes to the workouts and I grill him for criticism and advice every Tuesday night. This week I realized how nervous I am that not everyone is getting sucked into the atmosphere of exercise. He grabbed me by the shoulders and injected this little wisdom nugget into my head:

I can’t force people to change, I can only give them the knowledge and lead them down the right path. In the end, they have to move their own two legs to walk that path.

Isn’t he smart 🙂 It’s so true. There is a certain switch that has to trigger for someone to truly educate themselves and make the gargantuan effort to stay healthy. Because it is NOT EASY. Compared to unhealthy living, it’s expensive, time-consuming, and takes some major will-power but it’s so worth it.

So here I am, leading you to the path. Keep following me and I’ll try to make it less expensive, less time-consuming, and maybe a little more fun.

Today I challenge you to actually do this workout! I have a feeling that you just scroll through these Wednesday posts without a second glance. JUST TRY IT. It’s 12 minutes. What do you have to lose?

– 20 seconds on/20 seconds rest

– each exercise 3 times

– total of 12 minutes

– if you don’t push yourself, this doesn’t work. if you do, holy cow it’s amazing!

1) high knees

2) russian twist – use weight and/or lift your legs off the ground.

3) calf raises – use weight or not! hold on to a chair if you need to.

4) plié squat – if it’s easy, do it faster and/or use weight.

5) tri dip – if it’s easy, lift one leg up or stretch both out in front.

6) mountain climber – fast or slow

photo credit: 1 2 3 4 5 6

So how did it go??

 

 

Wednesday Workout: Two Things to Remember

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Well hidey ho there blogosphere neighbors! Yesterday I led another great workout class. It was a 12-minute workout, just like last week but I remembered to tell the class about my Two Basic Rules.

Rule #1- BREATH. I learned this from lots of weight training and lots of yoga. Make sure you establish a breathing rhythm right along with your perfect form. If an exercise is a huge challenge for you, focus on (imagining) that you’re breathing into that part of you body. Better breathing means more oxygenated blood and muscles=better workout.

Rule #2-BRACE. Ok, put your hand on your lower belly, now flex it. Flex it so that you feel like it’s reaching back to your lower back. It should sorta feel like you’re (excuse my language) pooping. If you can hold this position throughout your exercises, especially when they get really difficult, then it will support and strengthen your back, belly, and the entire rest of your core.

Now that we have those out of the way. Here was the workout we did yesterday.

– 20 seconds on/20 seconds rest

– each exercise 3 times

– total of 12 minutes

– if you don’t push yourself, this doesn’t work. if you do, holy cow it’s amazing!

1) Side Hop – jump over something, or just step side to side as fast as you can.

2) Good Mornings – do it without a barbell, just with your hand on your head

3) Push Ups – plank position or on your knees or even on the wall if you have shoulder problems

4) Crunches – don’t bend your neck! Just lift your head and shoulders towards the ceiling

5) Plank – with speed kicks if you’re extra awesome

6) Frog Squat

‘Twas another great workout with so many people! I beginning to love teaching this class.

What workout will you do today? 

🙂

 

Workout Wednesday: 12 minutes and done! I swear.

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Last night I led my first workout in front of more than 5 people! It was so flipping fun. We had very fit people as well as people who haven’t worked out in a while. We had kids there (seriously, 3 year olds) as well as ladies in their fifties. And every single person was sweating. Again, it was so fun!

Here’s the workout:

– SIX exercises

– do each exercise THREE times

– do it for TWENTY seconds, then rest for TWENTY, then do it for another 20, and on…

– it’s VERY important to do as many of each exercise in 20 seconds

Exercises:

1) low jacks

2) toe taps – tap on the ground or find a stair

3) burpees – follow the image and put a push up in the middle

4) speed squats – squats, as fast as you can while keeping form

5) tricep dips

6) high knees

Best part is, the workout only takes TWELVE MINUTES!!

Who’s gonna try this? Tell me if you do!

Whatever your workout today, I hope it is wonderful! 🙂

No Workout Wednesday: How to Fight the Flu

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I’m taking a rest week as of Sunday. I could feel my body fighting something and my workouts were just getting more and more painful.

 

Take Time Off: As important as it is to develop a routine, it’s equally important that, once you’re into the routine, you listen to your body’s warning signs. Unless you’re on a strict training plan, everyone should take one week off from working out every month and a half (5 or 6 weeks). Make sure that you continue to eat healthy and that you lower your caloric intake so that getting back in the groove isn’t so difficult.

 

No Flu Shot: Second, and I know more people are choosing this route, don’t get the flu shot! This is a personal decision for most people but make sure that you are informed before you get any kind of injection. The government backs the flu shot so there are advertisements for it EVERYWHERE. But did you know that it contains thimerasol (mercury, in every shot unless you formally request a shot without preservatives), aluminum, and formaldehyde? Also, there is a very good chance, every year, that the vaccine won’t actually work. To develop the shot, scientists from FluZone went to Asia last year to try to capture the most prevalent virus. They literally guess which one it will be, bring it back here and start mixing and mass producing to distribute to the American public (people from other countries, do they push the vaccine there too?). Rather than relying on a guess full of terrible chemicals, wouldn’t it be better to arm your body with the best nutrients and minerals instead?

 

Production of influenza vaccine

Production of influenza vaccine (Photo credit: Sanofi Pasteur)

 

When you feel it coming: We’ve all felt that familiar tinge in the back of our throat or the extra struggle to get out of bed in the morning. If you start to feel symptoms of the flu, start fighting it IMMEDIATELY. Some things that your body needs to fight any kind of illness are…

 

1. Lots of water. People always say this but never really do it. Every time you think of it, drink an entire 8 oz. I’ve at least doubled my water intake over the past few days.

 

2. No dairy. Dairy makes your body produce extra mucus making it that much harder to clear the chest cough, swollen throat, and runny nose.

 

3. No sugar. Cut out processed sugar completely. Period.

 

4. Take Vitamin D. Yes D not C. Visit your local holistic/alternative medicine pharmacy and ask for Vitamin D pills. Make sure that they know the source farm and that there are no additives or alterations. Also talk to the pharmacist about how many IU’s to take.

 

5. Sleep. Don’t do anything in the evenings or early morning. Relax after work and go straight to sleep. I have to take a melatonin pill (also at your local alternative medicine pharmacy) to make sure I sleep through the night but it’s so worth it when I wake up 9 hours later.

6. Lots and lots of vegetables. Go to the store and stock up on all kinds of veggies but mainly dark, leafy greens. These should be the bulk of your diet until you’re feeling completely better. Eat them raw, lightly steamed, or lightly roasted. Just eat them.

 

English: veggies

Eat your veggies! (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

On that note, how is everyone feeling today? I’ve noticed a lot of our patients coming in with one illness or another. But fight through it! Cut out any unnecessary activities and get to work healing your body.