Exercising In The Park

Scheduling out time for my own workouts is often a challenge, but being creative has assured that I still get them in. In my book being a mom has not hindered my being active. My one year old son, Drake, loves to go to the park. This has been my saving grace the last few weeks. We run to the park using the jogging stroller and I utilize the park equipment to exercise and he has a great time. I place him in the swing and while he is swinging I do an exercise, push him again, and then onto another. He loves when I count my repetitions, when I tickle him and make funny faces while doing lunges or jump squats, and also when I grunt!

 Here is a workout that all you need is a swing and a bench. Your goal is to do 15 repetitions of the first two exercises in each circuit and then the third exercise for 45 seconds. Go through each circuit twice before moving onto the next.

 Note: I have added hyperlinks to similar exercises using the TRX for a visual.

Circuit #1
Push Up with swing- Place your feet in the swing so that you are doing a declined push-up.

Single Arm Row- Grab a hold of the swing with your right hand. It is best to hang onto the part closest to you with your knuckles up. Walk your feet forward so that your body is at an angle. The farther forward your feet are the more challenging the exercise. Use your back muscles and pull your body up as your bent elbow goes wide. Slowly lower yourself back down.

Mountain Climbers- :Place your hand on the ground so that your body is in a plank position with straight arms. Draw your right knee into the chest tapping the toe and quickly extend it back out. Repeat on the other side and continue quickly alternating legs while keeping shoulders over top of hands and body in plank position. These can be done with hands on a bench to reduce intensity.

Circuit #2

Lunges with back leg in Swing- Place your right leg into the swing. Step your left leg about three feet in front of the swing. Bent your left leg and slowly lower into a lunge position. Use the front leg to do all the work with the lunge. Be sure that the knee stays over top of the heel. Repeat other leg. (another option is to place your back leg on a bench for more stability)

Knee Tucks with Swing- Start with your hands on the ground and feet in swing as you would for the push ups using the swing. Keeping your upperbody stationary pull your knees into your chest and slowly extend them back out. (this can be done with a single leg for more core challenge)

Jumping Jacks- Start with feet together and arms down by sides. Jump while extending feet out and arms up over head like a star. Jump and bring everything back to the starting position. Jumping jacks can be performed really fast by shortening your levers (arms and legs bent) or by moving slower yet strong and powerful.

Circuit #3

Tricep Dips- Find a bench to sit on. Place your hands on the edge of the bench knuckles forward. Walk your feet forward so that they are underneath your knees and hip off the bench. Slowly lower your body towards the floor while bending your elbows. Keep elbows close the body and shoulder rolled back and down. Press yourself back up using your legs as much as you need.

Hamstring Curls In Swing- Lye on the ground on your back with your feet in the swing. Heels are best so they do not slip. Press your feet into the swing and elevate your hips. Extend your legs out straight while pressing into the swing and then slowly pulling your legs back in. Keep your hips elevated and repeat.

Ski Jumps: Stand with feet together. Jump to the right several feet, keeping knees bent and landing in a squat. Jump back to the left and continue jumping from side to side (place a book or waterbottle on the ground to jump over for added challenge)

Get outside and enjoy! No excuses.....

Adrenal Fatigue

I have a few of my clients that have been working their butt off and doing everything right yet still seem to be stuck with their weight. They also are experiencing additional symptoms including: abdominal weight gain, difficulty sleeping, lack of energy, mild depression, increased food cravings, mental fogginess. After doing some more research one of the culprits that I have found is adrenal fatigue. It is often caused by a wide range of physical and psychological stressors — a demanding job, raising a family, relationship dynamics, lack of sleep, financial pressures, suboptimal nutrition, dieting, unresolved emotional distress — signal the adrenal glands to produce stress hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol. When our adrenal glands are required to chronically sustain high cortisol levels, they eventually become impaired in their ability to respond appropriately.

 High intensity exercise is like throwing fuel on the fire. So if you are pushing and pushing yet not seeing any results it might be time to switch gears. Finding balance is the key with lower intensity workouts and yoga. If you are intrigued by this information and are interested in learning more. Let me know.

What is Your Motivation

In a past posting called Creating Your Wellness Vision, I encouraged you to lay out the reasons making change are important to you. If you are struggling with sticking with your program this is a time to go back and to revisit those reasons. Many times things change in our lives and then so does our motivation (people come in and out of our life, our family’s activities change, our trips come and go, our interests shift with the seasons).

Go back and make that list again or actually do it for the first time. Know that just by taking the ten minutes to sit down with this activity could be the difference between success and failure. After creating that list make sure that your reasons are in front of you each and everyday with pictures, notecards, clothes that you want to were, plane tickets, your children, etc.

Just like showering motivation does not last so be sure to incorporate it in every single day.

If you are one to need a little push maybe a monetary one will do the trick.

http://www.stickk.com/  is a website that allows you to bet on your success. Check it out!

My motivation is how I feel. I get into a downward spiral very quickly if I allow myself to slide. I get very fatigued, cranky, unfocused, bloated, and not fun to be around. I do not like myself when I am in this state so I am motivated to not allow myself to go there.

20 Minute Workout

For an effective workout you can burn calories in a couple different ways:

1)      During a workout you burn about 10 calories per minute depending on how hard you are working.

2)      After a workout you have the after burn effect. Certain workouts like interval training increases your metabolism for 24-48 hours afterwards. So even if you are burning less calories then a long endurance run you could equate or surpass the calories due to this component.

3)      When you put on lean muscle mass your metabolism speeds up. For every pound of lean muscle you burn about 25-30 calories per day. Every pound of fat only burns 2-3.

We often times do not always have an hour or more to workout. Here is a 20 minute workout that incorporates all the three above components in a nice little package. All you need is a stability ball and a heavier resistance band. Enjoy!

Workout Guidelines:

You will work for 45 seconds, rest for 30 seconds, then move on to the next exercise. Go through the following exercises 3 times.

Power Ski
Stability Ball Pushup to Tuck
Bent over Band Row
Shuffle and Slice
Stability Ball Plank (elbows on ball)

Descriptions:

Power Ski: Imagine you are on a Nordic track. Start with your right arm and left leg forward and the opposites back behind you. Keeping arms and legs fairly straight continually switch back and forth. Think of power and quickness as you push and pull your arms and legs forward and then backward.

Stability Ball Pushup to Tuck: Find positioning of the stability ball on your legs so that you can do a full ranged push-up. After completing a push-up pull the ball in towards your stomach by bending your knees and lifting your hips for a tuck. Your shoulders will remain over top of your hands. Lower your hips back down with control and repeat.

Bent Over Band Row: Place the band underneath both of your feet. Hinge at your hips so that your torso is flat. Hold onto the band itself with both hands. Start with your arms straight yet have tension on the band. Pull the hands up towards your chest keeping your elbows close to the body. Nothing else will move except the arms as you row. Imagine squeezing my fingers between your shoulder blades.

Shuffle and Slice: Start by standing with feet hip width apart and arms out and up by the shoulders like field goal posts. Take two steps over to the left while bringing your arms in towards the chest with each step. On the last step draw the right knee and elbow towards each other and then repeat over to the right. The movement should be quick and powerful.

Stability Ball Plank: Place your elbows on top and slightly forward on the stability ball (stability ball can be placed up against the wall for more stability) and extend your legs behind you in a full plank. Be sure that there is a straight line from your head all the way to your feet (no butt in the air). Hold the plank or for more challenge alternate lifting a leg with nothing else moving as you do so.