Workout Wednesday

Today's workout is what I did a lot of while on vacation SWIMMING!! I think it is one of the best exercises because besides all the benefits it has it is a lot of fun. I mean don't you have more fun swimming than doing say 200 burpees? So onto the good stuff why is swimming so great other than being so fun?

Swimming offers something no other aerobic exercise does: the ability to work your body without harsh impact to your skeletal system. When the human body is submerged in water, it automatically becomes lighter. When immersed to the waist, your body bears just 50 percent of its weight; dunk yourself to the chest and that number reduces to around 25 to 35 percent; with water all the way to the neck, you only have to bear 10 percent of your own weight. The other 90 percent is handled by the pool.
This means that the pool provides an ideal place to work stiff muscles and sore joints, especially if you're overweight or suffer from arthritis.
In its recommendation for the right types of exercise for people with arthritis, the Arthritis Foundation suggests those that stretch muscles, those that strengthen muscles, and those that provide an aerobic workout. A few laps in the pool combine all three!
If the pool is heated, so much the better for arthritis sufferers, as the warm water can help loosen stiff joints. In fact, people with rheumatoid arthritis receive greater benefits to their health after participating in hydrotherapy than with other activities. It's also been proven that water-based exercise improves the use of affected joints and decreases pain from osteoarthritis [source: CDC].


Swimming is also a great way to increase muscle strength and tone. Have you ever seen a flabby competitive swimmer? Yea I didn't think so. For example when you are running you are only moving your body through air, but when swimming you are propelling yourself through water, which is about 12 times as dense as air. So every kick and arm stroke become a resistance exercise. Resistance exercises are the best way to build muscle strength and tone. Swimming has also been proven to help increase bone strength.

Unlike doing a machine exercise in a gym where you are only working one body part at a time, swimming is working your whole body at once. You are increasing your flexibility while swimming through water as you are stretching your whole body all at the same time.

In addition to helping tone the visible muscles you are also building up your cardiovascular health. Because swimming is an aerobic exercise you are increasing the strength of your heart. You are making it more efficient in pumping which leads to better blood flow throughout your body. The American Heart Association reports that just 30 minutes of exercising a day, such as swimming, can reduce coronary heart disease in women by 30 to 40 percent.

Swimming is one of the biggest calorie burners out there. So it is great in helping keep your weight under control. The exact number of calories you burn is based on your own physiology and the intensity in which you are swimming. A general rule is, however, for every 10 minutes a breast stroke burns 60 calories, backstroke 80 calories, freestyle 100 calories, and the butterfly 150 calories. That sounds fantastic right? To boost those calories try intervals. Work hard for short bursts then recover. Go all out for 50 yards then rest for 10-15 seconds, then repeat. You will be tired at the end, but will have burned a lot of calories. Make sure you refuel with healthy snacks and plenty of water afterwards.

There is also research that shows you can help lower your cholesterol, help control asthma symptoms, lower your risk of diabetes, and help lower stress. So it sounds like one of the perfect exercises right? So get out and swim swim swim!! Your body will thank you.

 

 

 

                                                                    

 

 

 

                       

                                

                                        

                                

                                

                                

                                

                                

                                

                                

                                

                                

                                

 

Workout Wednesday

Just the name of this sends shivers down some people's spines, I know I am one of them.

BURPEES!!

 

 

Doesn't it sound just awful. Well trust me it is. Your whole body will be sore after a few of these, but when you are done you will feel fantastic! This exercise is great to workout the whole body. So what exactly is a burpee? Do you remember in high school when we did squat thrust? That is a burpee. Typically for each burpee you do you burn about 1-1.5 calories depending on how much you weigh.

 

 

Looks easy right? Go try a few you won't think that anymore. You do not have to add the push up in. I sometimes do, and sometimes don't. Obviously if you want to make it more challenging you should add the push up, but trust me even without it you will still get your heart racing and break a sweat. There are a lot of different variations you can do. Of course with or without the push up is a variation. Here is a website with lots of different variations on them. Some are easier, and some are harder. I'm sure you will find one that you like. http://www.fitbodyhq.com/strength-training/17-awesome-burpee-variations/

 

 

 

So now that we know how awesome they are we are all ready to work them in our routine right? Try out this burpee challenge for the month.

 

 





Get MOTIVATED!!

I know we have all been there it is late at night, and we think tomorrow I am going to start, I am going to get up and workout. Then we wake up and the motivation is completely gone. What happened in those 8 or so hours that we slept? Why is it gone now? How do you get yourself remotivated and stop saying tomorrow I will do it? Obviously just get up and do it is the first thing that comes to mind. Stop saying tomorrow and do it now. I know from experience, and I still have days where I do not feel motivated, that it is not that simple.

 

 

I think the first thing to get yourself motivated, or remotivated is to look at your goals. Yes look at your big goals and what you want to achieve in the big picture, but I think it is more important to look at the smaller goals. If you look at too many goals at one time you may get yourself overwhelmed and just get up, I know it has happened to me a lot. I like to list my goals out, and pick a small one and focus on that one until I achieve it. Run a 10 min mile, fit in a certain size, get xx oz of water in everyday, get xx min of activity in everyday, etc...Focusing on that one goal. Write that goal down, and look at it everyday. Write it where you will see it, in the kitchen, in the bathroom, in your car etc...Once you reach that goal check it off, and move onto the next goal. Focus on just htat goal do not worry about the other ones on your list. You will get very excited and motivated about being able to check goals off your list.

 

 

Find inspiration. Look for what inspires you, reading peoples blogs, starting your own blog, read books, find a goal outfit, research your goals, talk to others about it whatever inspires you. When you feel inspired you are more likely to want to achieve your goal. If you let other people know what your goals are you also will feel more motivated to want to achieve it because you want to be able to say yes I achieved it!

 

Talk about your goals daily. Trust me I know that people will get sick of hearing about them, but it helps keep you motivated to always have them on your mind. I am not saying you should be obsessed with them, but make them important in your life.

 

Find the time of the day that you have the most energy. Start working out at that time. I actually like to do it the opposite way. I know the times that I am the least energetic I try to workout then. Those are the times that I want to just sit there, and do nothing. I find that is the time that I need to get up the most. Find what works for you. Try to always work out at the same time everyday in the beginning. That way you know, "oh it is 12 o'clock time to workout". Schedule it. That way you will be more likely to follow it.

 

I think the one of the most important things is to find something you like. If you do not like strength training you are not going to be motivated to go do it, same thing if you do not like running you will not be motivated to go do it. Find what kinds of activities you like, and stick to those. You can slowly add other activities in when your motivation goes up. Trust me when you start reaching your goals you will want to start doing more and more.

 

Find a buddy. You guys can help keep yourself accountable. It is so much easier to get up and go if you know that someone else is going to be depending on you as well. It also feels great to achieve your goals together. You can talk about your goals with one another to keep yourselves inspired and motivated.

 

Stop making excuses. This is probably one of the hardest things to overcome. We always have excuses for not doing something. I'm too old, I don't have the time, I don't have the equipment, I don't have the money etc...Absolutely none of these excuses are valid reasons to not get in some physical exercise. I have seen men and women in their 80's lifting weights at the gym, get in a quick workout on your lunch break, before work, after work, as soon as you wake up, in the evening instead of watching tv, turn on some music and dance around the house, you do not have to have money or equipment to workout. Running is free, use some cans as weights, look on you tube for different exercise routines. So stop making the excuses. Take responsibility and get up and do it. If it is important to you then you will find a way to do it.

 

Some other things that can help keep motivation up are changing up your routine. If you do the same thing all the time then you probably will not be too excited to go do it again. Change it up. Also music is very motivational for me. Find a playlist that works for you. I do not get that motivated by the music they play at the gym so I listen to my own music.

 

So as soon as you finish reading this get up and do something active. If you feel unmotivated again come back and read this again and get up and move.  

 

 

 

What are some tips that you have to keep yourself motivated?

 

 



Strength Sunday

Want to get a good workout for your triceps? Try some skull crushers. Trust me you will feel it the next day. They will help you achieve that coveted horseshoe muscle.                  
"There's never been an exercise with a cooler name than the skull crusher. This movement is also known as the "lying triceps extension," but why call it that when you can bellow like a Viking and proclaim that it's your right to crush skulls? You should probably perform them just for that reason alone, but by coincidence they are one of the best exercises for building massive triceps" (bodybuilding.com)

A skull crusher, tricep extension, is a very easy strength training workout. Basically lie flat on a bench and use either a barbell or dumbbells. Bring your feet up on the bench with your knees bent. Hold the weight above your head and bring it down towards the tip of your head keeping your elbows bent the whole time. Easy right? Go do some, and the word easy probably won't come to mind.


Go crush some skulls and build those horseshoes.


http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/crush-it-heavy-skull-crushers-for-titanic-triceps.html

Strength Sunday

Leg days are my favorite days at the gym, but we cannot just work on the lower body and ignore the upper body. So one exercise that I enjoy doing for the chest is the incline bench press.

Now I know a lot of people say that they find the incline much harder than decline and regular bench press. I actually find that I like the incline the best. I feel like I do not struggle with it quite as much. Maybe I'm just weird :) Now of course it is definitely a good idea to have someone spot you when you are bench pressing. I try to spot my husband, but he says I seem scared when I do because he is lifting much more weight than I do.


Now this exercise is not complicated at all. First set your weight up. Typically the bar used weighs 45 lbs. If you want more weight than that add the same amount to each side of the bar to keep it level. Lie on the bench and take the bar off the rack and lower the barbell to your chest then press it up. Repeat this for 10-15 reps and replace on the rack. I typically try to do 3 sets of 15. Of course that last set I am struggling with more than the first set. The person spotting you should be standing behind the rack ready to grab the barbell if you need help. You also want to make sure that your grip is not too wide on the bar so you don't compromise your range of motion.


There is a lot of good information about the incline press on bodybuilding.com
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/schultz51.htm

Workout Wednesday

So this is another one of my love hate exercises. TRICEP DIPS!!

 

 

 

It seems so simple, but once you start doing a few you realize why I love to hate them, especially the next day :)  The triceps are the large muscles on the back of your arm. It is sometimes called a three-headed muscle because there are three bundles of muscles, each of different origins, joining together at the elbow.

So how can you achieve the horseshoe look for your triceps? There are lots of different exercises you can do to help build this muscle. One that was very scary for me was tricep dips. I did not want to do them for a long time, but now I try to do them along with my other tricep workouts if I can. To do this exercise you can do it in a gym or the comfort of your own home or while running at a track you can do them on a bench in between intervals. When I first did these I used my legs to lift myself up and down and thought wow this is not bad on my arms, but my legs are really sore. WRONG!! You want to push your body up and down using your arms not your legs. That way you are working the muscle you want. You will definitely feel them the next day in your arms if you do them right. Watch the video that is linked to see the right way to perform these.


http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/bench-dips



There are lots of variations you can do with this exercise. Like I said you can really do it from anywhere. You can also use two benches put your arms on one and your legs on the other and add weights to your mid section to add a little more difficulty. Have fun and go do your dips.


If you are interested here is a challenge for you to try with your dips. Just break them into sets.

 

Workout Wednesday

We should all strive to get at least 30 minutes of activity in everyday. I know some days are harder than others. There are some days when I get up that I do not want to do anything at all. I have found that the best thing for me is to do my workouts first thing in the morning. This way I get it done, and I am not worrying all day about getting something done. My husband and I go to the gym in the evenings 3 days a week. I try to get something done in the morning at home so that way I always have some sort of activity in. I like to do a lot of different exercises. Also what makes it fun is that my children will try to do the workouts with me. One of my favorites and theirs as well are wall sits.

Wall sits are exactly what they sound like. You are sitting against the wall. Sounds easy right? Well go do some I bet you will think differently. Make sure your legs are at a 90-degree angle, press your back against the wall, and hold it until you absolutely can't hold it any longer.Tip: Place your hands on top of your head or hold them out in front to add a little work for your shoulders. But whatever you do, don't cheat and rest them on your thighs! In a wall sit you are working the entire muscular system in your lower body.

The quadriceps and buttocks work to hold the body in place. Since this is an isometric exercise, the endurance in the lower body muscles improves the longer you hold the position. The wall sit-down exercise improves performance in running, skiing and any sport involving jumping. Practicing this exercise makes it easier to get up and down off the floor and to use the leg muscles to lift heavy objects.

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/437325-proper-wall-sit-down-exercise/#ixzz2bLMUpIeq

 

 

 

You can vary this exercise by using a stability ball behind you, between your knees or adding weights. So go do some wall sits now. You quadriceps will thank you!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Strength Sunday

I know I have stated quite a few times how much I love strength training. Well my favorite day is legs day!! I can lift the most weight with my legs, I love all the leg exercises, I love feeling the new muscles in my legs after a good workout. One of my favorite leg exercises is the leg press machine.

 

 

 

When I first saw this machine I thought what kind of torture device is this? Well it is actually wonderful. While doing the leg press yes I do think to myself I hate this machine so much, but as soon as I am done I think wow I love this machine. You can put as much or as little weight on there that you like. I am trying to up my weight on it. Today I did the most weight I have done on it yet, and it felt fantastic. To do this machine you do exactly what it says. You are pressing  with your legs. You lie on the seat put your feet on the foot plate. Brace the abdominal muscles and push the platform away with heels and forefoot by extending the knees and hips and pushing the back into the seat pad. The heels should remain flat on the foot plate and the front of the foot or toes should not be used exclusively to move the pad forward. Do keep the head steady and back against the seat. Don’t lock out the knees in an explosive fashion but do express a full range of motion. Return the foot plate to the starting position by allowing the knees to bend under control while maintaining the feet flat on the surface. Repeat the exercise. As the (diagonal) leg press involves pushing a weight along an inclined track, rather than lifting it vertically, it is possible for strength trainers to press very heavy weights, compared to the weight they might use for other exercises.

 

 

The leg press works your hamstring, quadriceps, gluteus maximus and your calves (partially) Varying the angle between the sled and the backrest and/or the position of the feet on the plate puts more emphasis on one or the other muscle group. So go do some leg presses you will love it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



I love strength training!!

I  have always heard that to lose weight you should increase your cardio. I joined the gym in February, however, I did not actually start going until March. My intentions were to go in and do cardio. I was going to use the elliptical and stationary bike. I have never really done strength training before, and I was very intimidated by it. Seeing all these men and women in shape who look like they know what they are doing is very intimidating. I actually did not want to do it at all. We signed up to work with a personal trainer, which was very scary and exciting for me. The philosophy of the program absolutely no cardio just strength training. I was happy that I would have someone there telling me what to do. I was nervous about my first session. I found out how much I really like strength training, and I actually HATE cardio. I try to get some cardio in because it does help to burn a lot of calories quickly, but the majority of my fitness routine is my strength training. The thing about cardio is yes it does burn a lot of calories really quickly, but as soon as you step off the cardio machine or stop running etc...you stop burning calories. With strength training you do not burn as many calories while doing it, but your body will continue to burn calories for up to 36 hours after your workout. That is much more appealing to me for sure. Strength training builds lean muscle which increases our metabolism, and you will continue to burn more calories each day. By speeding up metabolism you will burn more fat. The goal should be to burn fat and gain lean muscle, which you will not get from cardio alone.

I hear all the time "oh you do strength training you are going to get bulky". That is false. Most average women will not get bulky from strength training. That usually happens when women start taking supplements. Compared to men, women have 10 to 30 times less of the hormones that cause muscle hypertrophy. You will, however, develop muscle tone and definition. This is a bonus. So do not worry about getting big and bulky!

Unlike cardio, strength training is a great way to set positive, motivating goals that will keep you going to the gym week after week, month after month, and year after year. And, not to mention, allow you to achieve the body transforming results you’re after. Don’t focus on going to the gym just to burn fat and calories. Set performance goals and adjust your strength training program accordingly. I have set several goals for myself. I have never been able to do a pull up. This is a big goal for me. I want to be able to increase my weights on all the machines I do. It is a great feeling going in and doing an exercise with ease that was hard for me the week before. I was intimidated by the other people in the gym, but now all I am not worrying about them. The only person I need to be better than is me from yesterday. Strength training is also a good stress relief. There have been several times where I said I don't want to go to the gym today it is just a bad day. After getting my workout in though I always feel much better.

I loved working out with my trainer. He was awesome. He helped give me confidence, and helped me kick start my new fit lifestyle. We are no longer working with him because it was no longer cost effective. He helped set me up for success. Last week was the first week of not working with him. The problem is I started to feel unconfident and intimidated again. I have been doing these workouts for 4 months with him, but I felt like I did not know anything. Thankfully my wonderful husband is working out with me. He helps me with my workouts, and is helping me gain my confidence again. I feel like I do not know what to do, and as soon as he tells me I think yes I know this. I really enjoy working out with my husband, and hope we continue to workout together. I do, however, want to stop relying on him. I know the exercises I just need to get my confidence back up. I need to stay out of my head and focus on my strength training again.

 

 

I do some cardio to help burn quick calories, but I think that my main focus will stay on strength training. I have been building muscles in my body that I did not even know that I had. So try to incorporate strength training in your routine. Trust me you will not regret it. It has changed my life for the better.