What makes you happy and gives you the feeling of being at ease?
Today for me it was on the spin bike with the right music. I was flooded with feelings that made my Monday morning more enjoyable than I could have thought. At minute two my thoughts gravitated towards the following.
Being present
Setting an intention
Positive affirmations
Gratitude
Motivation
Clearing my head
Your happy place and space can be anywhere doing anything. Try to find it more than once a week. You will feel recharged and do things you didn’t think possible.
There is a comfort in going to gym and doing the same routine. Same weights, same reps, same amount of time on the treadmill, same gains or lack there of.
Your body needs challenges and adjustments to your routine. This can be achieved in many ways from lifting heavier, increasing reps, adjusting the sets. One method of training that most people overlook is speed.
As we get older our speed slows down. We are less active in sports and we choose more leisure activities (drinking beer, sitting down…you get the idea). A key component of training is keeping those fast twitch muscle fibers active. Even if you only lift for speed once a week you will see the benefits.
Lifting with speed is easy and it’s hard. Easy because the weight is about 50% what you would consider “heavy”. It is hard because you have to control the weight while moving faster.
I would recommend starting these speed sessions on machines. They are easier to control and you can limit your chance of injury if you lose control or move too fast.
Take your weight you can normally lift for 6-8 reps and knock off about 55% of that. Then do 4 sets of 10 at fast but controlled pace. The weight should be moving less than one second in each direction. Remember it’s about speed!! Take a minute break and do it again. After you have completed 4 sets of once exercise move to the next.
Don’t overdo it off the bat. Try this with a push movement, a pull movement and an air squat (you can load the squat with dumbbells if you would like)
Remember, our bodies like change. Let’s feed the body new movements and feel great doing it!
Well, I am going to expose it all right here. The best exercise to do in a time crunch is…..
ANYTHING!!
What do you like to do? Run, walk, lift weights, play games, basketball?
The truth is anything you do is better than sitting on the couch. You need to move and get the blood flowing. If you have 20 minutes of free time, go for a walk. If have a bit of free time and gym membership get in and get that heart rate elevated.
Your best option is to get the heart rate elevated for 20 to 30 minutes. However, if a walk is the only thing you have time or space for try to make it 30 consecutive minutes. Alternatively you can also do two 15 minute session to equal the recommended 30 minutes.
You might be thinking. Well how am I supposed to set aside 20 minutes Kevin?! I have a job, kids, traffic, laundry and more things to do I can’t list them all.
Well first off, take control of your time. It’s the most important thing you have.
After dinner or before dinner set aside 20 minutes to walk around the block. Forget checking Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for the 35th time today. That can wait, trust me.
How about waking up 20 minutes earlier to get your day off to a better start? Walk with your coffee or tea!
Use your time to get out and move. Get off the couch and find the path to a healthy you!
Wake up. Make sure everything is packed, double-check your wallet, phone, keys. (Check, check..they were a here a minute..oh ok here they are, check)
You are all set for your trip. It may be for business, pleasure or both. Either way, chances are you have checked your bag multiple times and flight status.
There is one thing that most people neglect to do, which might be the most important part of traveling.
Pack snacks!!!
We have all been hungry at the airport and had to settle for an $8 bag of almonds or goodness help us….fast food. Which ultimately leads us to feeling crummy. Not only physically but mentally as we try to justify the expense for things that are just not good for us.
Make snacks a part of your planning routine. Your mind and your body will thank you when you’re traveling. Plus if there is a delay or your don’t even get an armrest to use. You can rest assured knowing your fueled up properly and won’t get grumpy.
Here are a few of my go to snacks to pack in my satchel.
Peanut butter and banana sandwich (All natural PB if you can please)
Healthy snack bars (Rise Bars Almond Honey Protein are the best or Quest Bars) Most others are glorified candy bars
Raw almonds (Roasted or plain)
Any type of fruit
Sliced vegetables (Pick your favorite and pack a dip, peanut butter or hummus)
A small package of chicken cut up for easy eating
This is a sample. Be creative and chose whole, healthy foods!
Yep, we have all said those before! I am willing to bet you made that statement before reading this blog. Or perhaps yesterday after you just worked for 12 hours and the copier broke after you spilled hot coffee on your lap, all while trying to nail down your next meeting.
I get it, fitting time to exercise can feel hard some days and some weeks. The key is staying on top of it and making a habit of at least two days a week. Why do I say two days? My belief is that if you start at something you can achieve those two days will turn into three or four. As your habit builds, so will the results and your investment in your health will be worth it.
The first few minutes are the hardest.
That is true, the first bit of getting your heart rate and body going are the most difficult. Depending on your choice of movement for the day after five or ten minutes you are going to start feeling better and want to finish what you started.
Once your heart rate picks up to compensate for your change in intensity, your blood flow will increase and so will your energy.
Researchers at the University of Georgia found that sedentary, otherwise healthy adults who engaged in as little as 20 minutes of low-to-moderate aerobic exercise, three days a week for six consecutive weeks, reported feeling less fatigued and more energized.
The more you can get into a routine with consistent exercise the more energy you will have on a daily basis. Not only will that exercise session give you energy for that day, it can carry over to the following day and help you get a head start on the next morning!
The next time you want to sit down on the couch and just ‘relax’ think about going for a short walk. Enjoy what this summer has to offer and feel better doing it!
Summer can be a tough time to get in a workout outside given the heat. It’s 95 degrees as this is being written! With that in mind here is a body weight Tabata workout you can do indoors if you can’t be outside and not succumb to machine monotony!
Tabata is a form of high intensity work. Regular Tabata is 20 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest repeated 8 times with one exercise (Squats or pushups). However, that can be very tough and boring as well. Below is a modified version of Tabata using more than one exercise and increasing the rest time to make it a little easier. If you are well conditioned you can stick with the 20 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest. Otherwise, I would suggest starting with 20 seconds of work and 20 seconds of rest. You will rest for 2 minutes after each full Tabata set, then repeat that whole set 4 total times with the full break after each set.
– Rest 2 minutes after going through this set. Repeat the above work and the 2 minute rest 3 more times for a total of 4 sets.
A nice feature of the above workout is you can take it outside early or late evening when it is cooler. You just need a small patch of grass and some motivating tunes!
Make it the best day!
-K
Functional Range Conditioning and joint mobility specialist
