Tag Archives: training

Workout Wednesday: Total Body #5

Wednesday Workouts: What Does Your Week Look Like?

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?

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.

Workout Wednesday: Passive Exercise

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So this morning I was awake by 6:15am and have to be out the door by 6:45. Usually I budget at least an hour and half to wake up, workout out, shower, write this lovely little blog, then eat. This morning, no way! So I will be coming home at lunch for a quick workout and shower, but for those of you who have had the workout time squeezed out of your schedule on any given day, here are a few passive workout tips.

These should never be substituted for a real workout but should be daily rules to live by so that you don’t feel so bad when you just literally don’t have the time.

1) Always take the stairs. Always. When you get off the train and see that massive, daunting set of 12,000 stairs, look at it as your mini goal for the next 5 minutes and go for it!

2) Park far from the store entrance. If you’re in a hurry, even better, that mean’s you’ll power walk to and from your car.

3) Carry your groceries rather than bringing the cart out. There have been days when I have so many groceries in my arms that people think I’m insane, BUT I also have very sore arm muscles by the time I get to my car.

4) Do calf raises while standing in line. Again, you may look kind of weird bouncing up and down but after a few reps, people stop looking and after a few minutes, your calves are workin’ hard.

5) And this is less workout and more just something to live by, stand up straight! Always! This not only tightens your core and makes you more stable in your real workouts but it’s so good for your current and future spine health to have great posture.

Ok time to brush my teeth and head out! I hope you’re all having fantastic days.

Smile 🙂

Riddle Me This

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As I’ve mentioned before, I work for a health center; our health center is based on chiropractic and we build from there. We help strengthen your nerve system (the spine/center of all that goes on in your body) and then help our patients with nutrition, exercise, and a healthy mind. We have helped so many people in just the few months that I’ve been there and it just gets me more and more excited about my job. A huge part of my day-to-day is getting out in the community and finding people that want help getting healthy but don’t know step one. Easy right? WRONG.

^ (Sweet T-shirt huh? Thank you Martha Stewart Pintrest.)

Riddle me this: why do people who know they need help resist it in every way possible? Granted, there are people who come along, tell us they have one or two annoying symptoms and then conclude that they don’t have the time or money to get them fixed, fair enough. But there are others, so many others, who come into our little booth with daily headaches, crippling back pain, and joint pain so bad that they can’t work. We talk to them, prove that there’s something going wrong by giving them an inflammation scan, and then offer them care at a very low cost, very. They look at me with pain in their face and say, “can I take a business card, maybe I’ll call you later,” then they never do. WTF mate?? I just don’t get it.

Why do some people not get help when an obvious solution is shown right to their face? I understand, some people are looking for “the catch.” But what would it hurt to just come and see what we can do? If you don’t give anything a chance then you’ll never get fixed! This applies not only to our little booth but to every person out there who reads this blog or another blog multiple times and thinks, “hmmm, nope that’s still too hard.” Or the people that make the step to get gym memberships but then never hire a trainer or establish a routine for themselves. Or the people that know fast food is terribly terribly terrible for you and they continue to stop at McDonald’s instead of swinging by the grocery store. It’s intimidating and maybe a little expensive at first but so are heart attacks and kidney transplants. Stop living in pain and discomfort and do something about it!! Your body is designed to heal itself as long as you take care.

Ok, that is my Friday rant. To all those that read this and nod their head and then put on their gym clothes and get in that workout that they SO don’t want to do this morning, NICE WORK. Go get ’em! Keep that body and mind fit so that you can do all those other wonderful things in your life.

So today, I will head to Morton Pumpkinfest and smile my warmest smile. I will try to help people that are scared and clueless to start the first step. I will smile my warmest smile.

Workout Wednesday: I Dare You

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Oh Boy. I did NOT want to workout this morning. Rolling out of bed lately has been extra difficult. Again, who wants to wake up at 6:30 instead of 9 just to workout?!?! No one. But then I remember that awesome post workout feeling when I could go about my day standing a little straighter and feeling a little more awesome.

So I worked out with the lovely Ms. Zuzka Light. I’ve been following her workouts for about 5 years now and she’s never let me down. But today’s was a doozy. It was like she knew I’d be lagging. So here it is:

I dare you to try it. Seriously. I ended up doing four rounds for time instead of the 15 minute limit. 4 rounds took me 20 minutes and 25 seconds.

Note: If you don’t have weights, use full water bottles or cans of food. If you don’t workout regularly, do the workout with her so that you can keep the right form.

I can’t believe I pushed my body that hard! And so early in the morning. Yay for me! This day will be that much better.

Enjoy yours too. Don’t forget to smile!

Workout Wednesday

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The chiropractor I work for also runs really great exercise and nutrition programs. I get to participate in both of them and, on Wednesdays, I lead an exercise group for some of our patients. I combine the technique and overall structure of our company’s workout routine along with some exercises from my own vault.

The Science:

– This workout is anaerobic, rather than low intensity for a long time it’s high intensity for a short time. This means it’s less about cardio and more about developing muscle. Both aerobic and anaerobic exercise is important but I tend to do much more anaerobic not only because of my time constraints but because of the great results it gives me.

– If you do this short, high intensity work on a regular basis your hormones will gradually start to change and your metabolism will increase.

– The muscle you build will continue to burn fat for up to 36 hours after you end the workout.

– All the exercises use only your bodyweight, no other tools, it’s free and easy to do anywhere in the world at any time! THE WHOLE ROUTINE TAKES 16 MINUTES.

– Because they are bodyweight exercises, they compound many different muscle groups in movements that help improve your every day function.

The Warm Up (2 min, 20 seconds) I will eventually record this and post it:

– Upward dog/cobra (5 seconds) into child’s pose (5 seconds), repeat: For upward dog lay on your stomach with your feet pointed, hands by your shoulders, then try to straighten your arms. For child’s pose, kneel then sit on your heels, let your body fall over your legs and, if you can, put your forehead to the ground. Stretch your arms out on the ground in front of you. For both exercises don’t push to the point of pain, just feel the stretch.

– Quad stretch (10 seconds each side): Stand on one foot and grab the other foot behind your bum. Push your foot against your hand. Switch sides.

– Calf/hamstring stretch (20 seconds): Plant both feet on the ground, hip distance apart, bend at the hips and try to touch the ground or hug your legs. Don’t lock your knees, keep a very slight bend in them.

– Quick twist (20 seconds): Spin at the waist and let your arms fall to either side of your body, then go the other direction.

– Arm circles (20 seconds): Small to big, switch directions after 10 seconds.

– Run in place (20 seconds): Jog to get your heart rate up. Do one leg at a time if it’s too high impact.

– Jumping Jacks (20 seconds): If jumping is too high impact, just step out one leg at a time.

The Workout (12 minutes): set a timer for 20 second intervals (find a timer here). Do the exercise for 20 seconds as fast as you can while keeping the right form, then rest for 20 seconds. Repeat each exercise 3 times.

Remember to breathe. Do it in rhythm with your exercises so you don’t forget. It helps take your mind off the pain too 🙂

1) speed lunges – Get in a lunge position, keep your feet there, and do a controlled bounce for 10 seconds, switch legs.

2) push ups – Keep your back, bum, and legs in one straight line.

3) crunches – Lift your head AND shoulders off the ground. Keep them in a straight line and look up at the ceiling the whole time.

4) side hop – Place a rolled up towel or other obstacle in the middle of the floor and jump over it side to side, do it fast! If it’s too high impact, just step one foot at a time, fast.

5) crab dip – Get on all fours with your belly facing the ceiling and your hands facing your feet (the crab). Keep your bum as high off the floor as possible. Bend your arms! This works your triceps.

6) speed knees – Run in place, bringing your knees up as high as you can without falling over. If this is too high impact, raise your legs one at a time. Do it fast!

Bonus) plank – Get in a push up position with arms straight and legs, bum, back, and head in a straight line. Hold it for as long as you can.

Cool Down (1 min 40 seconds):

– walk in a big circle to get your heart rate down (40 seconds)

– repeat the first 3 warm up stretches

Did anyone try this? Or try to read it? Is it very confusing? I may try to record our whole workout tonight and post it here next week.

Tip of the Day: Where Do I Run?

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First, shout out to my Gran. She is my most devout reader and I was thinking about her a lot during my run today. Love you Gran!

And now the actual post: After two days of lots of work and no working out, I climbed out of bed, quickly got dressed before I changed my mind, and went out on a run. Before I ran, however, I had to decide where to run to…

This can be a tough one, especially when you live in a city made for cars. Some people need a different route every day but for me its more about predictability, otherwise I would never run anywhere.

If you’re like me and need some predictability but also some room to progress, here are some tips:

– find a park or running/bike trail with boundaries like fences or walls to keep cars out

OR find a great block or two near your neighborhood to run/walk around.

– find a pleasant way to get from your house to this place

– map out your first run on mapmyrun.com to get your starting distance

Peoria has a great abandoned railroad that they are converting to a bike/jogging path called the Rock Island Trail. According to Map My Run, the head of the trail is 1.75 miles from my house. Today, Day One, I ran that distance and back totaling 3.5 miles. It was tough and full of hills but I did it! Also, sadly, there are areas where there’s no sidewalk which sucks but it’s only for a short distance.

^ No sidewalk?? WTF mate!

Hopefully soon I’ll get comfortable enough to run/walk some of the actual trail.

^ The trail head, hopefully I’ll run some of it next time.

Also, just for fun, we were eating breakfast on the deck and Mike decided it would be a great idea to feed the bunnies some celery stalks. Hahaha. This is why I love him.