Last night, at our workout class, we started the Spring Shape Up. Loads of patients are trying to get in shape for summer so to encourage them we issued a challenge: lose (at least) 5 pounds in 4 weeks and do it together. We have 30+ people doing it and it makes such a difference! Continue reading
My life is turned a little bit upside down right now. The future is very uncertain and, as an anxious person with a planning mind, that does not bode well for me. Because I don’t have any idea what the future holds, I find myself kind of just floating around. I’ve stopped trying in everything because I don’t know which aspect of my life will send me in the direction I’m trying to go.
I have goals, big one and little ones. I’m doing pretty well with the little ones, just taking things day by day. But man, those big goals are eating away at me. How the heck do I find my path??
Anyway, I know this relates to quite a few of you when it comes to getting healthy, for life. Where do you start? You start right here. With something manageable. Something that doesn’t consume several hours of your day and makes you feel worlds better. So join me for the workout, take the baby step towards your bigger goal 🙂 I’ll let you know when I find my first baby step to my bigger goals.
And let me know if you have any questions!
Beginner through intermediate (12 minutes)
– 20 seconds on/ 20 seconds off
– each exercise 3 times in a row
Advanced (16 minutes)
– 30 seconds on/ 10 seconds off
– each exercise 4 times in a row
Exercises:
1. low jacks (beginner-side step with a your torso isolated at the same height)
2. pike pushup (looks funny but it works!)
3. lunges (quickly, without or without weight)
4. mountain climbers
5. russian twist
6. frog squats
This workout capped off an 8-week weight loss challenge for a lot of my patients. At 4 weeks they were doing really well. The goal is to lose 10 pounds and most of them had done it. Then, as the weeks rolled along, they forgot about the changes they had made and a lot of them returned to their previous weight.
There were two people who kept weight off, but I know they slacked towards the end too. The interesting thing is that they all come to me with tips to get back on the healthy track but they already know how! If you’ve done it once before, you can do it again. Humans don’t really learn permanent lessons from doing something for a month. So if and when you fall off the wagon, jump back on! You know how to get back to health. And maybe this time you can make it stick. It’s all up to you.
Anyway, I love my health and the body it has given me. I’m right where I want to be, which I why I love helping people get to that state of mind as well. But I figured I’d participate just to see if there was any change. I measured the largest width from my arm, leg, and belly. My measurements 8 weeks ago and today are:
HA! So pretty much exactly the same. I’m happy with that 🙂 And finally the workout you’ve been looking for.
Beginner through intermediate (12 minutes)
– 20 seconds on/ 20 seconds off
– each exercise 3 times in a row
Advanced (16 minutes)
– 30 seconds on/ 10 seconds off
– each exercise 4 times in a row
Exercises:
1) low jacks (keep your upper body level)
2) push ups (beginner- on your knees OR on your feet standing and pushing against a wall)
3) speed squats (lower ab brace is very important here)
4) sit ups (lift your shoulders first, DO NOT wrench your neck)
5) lunges (shoulders over hips, knee over ankle)
6) 1/2 burpee (without the push up, step 4)
I hope you’re all having awesome days! Love and a big fat smile. – Ash
Happy Wednesday Ya’ll! I had a smoothie way too close to the beginning of this workout and it threatened to come up for 20 minutes after I was done. Whoops! So just make sure you have a relatively clear belly and are ready to work those muscles until they fatigue!
Beginner through intermediate (12 minutes)
– 20 seconds on/ 20 seconds off
– each exercise 3 times in a row
Advanced (16 minutes)
– 30 seconds on/ 10 seconds off
– each exercise 4 times in a row
Exercises:
1. low jacks
2. tri dips (beginner-bent legs, advanced-straight legs)
3. plie squat
4. crunches (feet on the ground, legs 90°, or legs straight in the air)
5. mountain climbers
6. pushups
+ Fit Minute. Choose one of the following exercises. Do it for a full minute at 100% effort. Count how many you do and record it. We’ll be doing these after every workout from now on:
I hope you all have wonderful Wednesdays! 🙂
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 🙂
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?
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?
A Happy Lass 