New schedules begin, a slew of commitments I've been talking about all summer suddenly materialize. I have a slew of new students, clients, and artistic projects. There are less daylight hours. Staying grounded and sticking to an exercise schedule can be very difficult.
So, today's post is a little reminder.
All studies show that even a little bit of exercise will improve your health. That walking 10 or 20 minutes a day actually is VERY beneficial compared to not being active at all.
For most of us, this is a difficult way to think. We want to get back into the best shape of our lives. We feel like the choices are either work out like a fiend or not work out at all. The truth is, not exercising at all is terrible for your health.
So, your mini goal is to remind yourself to get little bits of exercise during the day. Take the stairs. Take a walk during your lunch break. Move your body in some way.
Jumping up and down on the beach looks fun. Good idea!
I recently read this article on the 99U, reinforcing that most people don't stick to healthy eating habits or an exercise routine if the only thing they are focused on the long term benefits of those things.
If you want to stick to your exercise and healthy-eating habits, one of the best things that you can do is focus on the immediate positive experiences while you do them. Notice how great it feels to take that fantastic yoga class with the teacher that you love, or how sumptuous it is to eat a healthy brownie or homemade granola.
In fact, the reason that most people eat junk food, and why obesity is such an issue in this country, is really due to the fact that we like the immediate pleasure of consumption. The more you focus on the immediate pleasure of making healthy choices instead, the more you're likely to stick to them. This shift in focus will both help you be present in the world and will also help you feel the short term benefits of making healthy choices. It can also lessen the overwhelming, unattainable, feeling that we often have when we think of long term goals for ourselves, and generally just makes us happier. (And who doesn't want that?)
Here are some of my own ideas for enjoyable healthy activities to enjoy this summer.
Taking a long bike ride at sunset.
Biting into the summer's ripest fruit
Sweating during a nice workout at the gym
Resting your mind and body during a yoga class
Hiking to the top of a mountain
Enjoying an active and fun sex life
Eating a delicious homemade treat
Picking berries with a friend
Now, you. Name one pleasurable, healthy activity that you are going to do this week and happily enjoy!
Following up on last week's post, Stop Being Mean to Yourself, I wanted to share a few concrete ideas on how you can get out of your head about your body image. The more you can integrate your mind and your body, the better you will feel. In the spirit of being healthy physically AND mentally in this image-obsessed culture, here are a few ways that you can feel good about your bod.
1) Stop using the mirror
Go a month without using a mirror, and notice how it makes you feel. (If you're paranoid, Ask a housemate or a co worker that you trust to be on duty to tell you if you've got green stuff in your teeth.) There's a great article about this here at whole living magazine.
2) Stop counting calories and weighing yourself
Instead focus on exercise, eating healthy, and taking good care of yourself. Pay particular attention to how good those things make you feel.
3) Wear clothes that make you feel good
They need not be expensive. (I get most of mine at thrift stores and at clothing swaps.) Ladies, I'd like to recommend this fantastic blog, Already Pretty, which focuses on dressing for your body type and feeling good in your own skin.
4) Have more sex
Enjoying your sexuality is a GREAT way to feel good in your body. I recommend listening to theSavage Love Podcast for tips on how to enjoy your sexuality. Get playful with your partner or get a new toy for yourself. You'll feel better, really.
5) Go outside
If you live in a city, go to the park. If you live in the country, go for a walk in the woods. Being a part of the world will help you get out of your head.
6) Cancel your magazine subscriptions
Celebrity Magazines, fashion magazines, fitness magazines, and even yoga magazines are usually photoshopped to make the models look skinnier. Even if you enjoy the articles, the images can worm themselves into your mind, making you think that you need to look like that. I recommend finding bloggers you like instead. I love this post at fit and feminist, where the author recommends that we stop paying attention to celebrity culture because it only encourages us to objectify our own bodies.
7) Spend time with the people you love
People who feel connected to their community lead happier, longer lives. If you're feeling crappy about yourself, call someone who you really like and make a date with them.
Have you had success in reducing your judgement of your own body? I'd love to hear about it! Please share either here or by email.
One of the best ways you can improve your regular workout is to add core strengthening exercises. When done properly, core work can help prevent injuries, improve your posture, and even reduce back pain. Contrary to popular belief, however, core work is NOT just about using your abs. There are multiple muscle groups involved in order to do the exercises properly.
When doing core work, it's important to remember the following principles:
1) Use your pelvic floor. The deep muscles of your pelvis support your organs and connect to your abdomen and your back. When you are doing a core exercise, engage these muscles. You'll know that it's working if you feel like you are doing a kegel exercise, or as though you are trying to not go to the bathroom.
2) Use all of your abdominal muscles by pulling them in. There are several different kinds of ab muscles. In order to use them in a way that strengthens your back and prevents injury, you want to feel your belly button pulling in toward your spine and feel the sides of your waist cinching toward each other. It should feel like you are wearing a corset.
3) Use your Lat muscles. These are the big muscles of your back. You'll know that your engaging them if you can feel the muscles under your armpits engage and your shoulder blades feel wide and as though they are spreading apart. Your whole back should feel wide and strong, and your shoulders should be sliding down your back.
4) Avoid using your shoulders and your neck. These muscles should feel soft and relaxed while you are doing core work. ( And most other exercises, for that matter.)
Here are Five Core Exercises that you can add to any workout.
Forearm Plank
Notice the excellent placement of his shoulders over his elbows, the widening of his back and shoulders to engage his lat muscles and the stomach pulling up away from the mat.
Shoulders should be aligned right over elbows and legs should be straight and active. Most beginners make the mistake of piking the pelvis up the ceiling. Make sure the butt is dropped so that the spine is in one long line. Hold this position as long as you can, andrepeat 3 times.
Froggy Crunches
step 1: prep
Feet are together and knees are apart. Hands behind head. Start by engaging the back and sliding the shoulders away from the ears. Keep elbows wide. Pull your stomach muscles in and kegel as you curl the back up and away from the mat. Head should be heavy in your hands. You should feel the work
step 2: curl up
in your torso and in your back, not in your neck. Repeat 25-30 times.
Position 1: Long spine with abdomen active
Side Plank Hip Raises
Position 2: Use the sides of the waist to lift hips into the air
Come on to your forearm and cross the top leg in front of the bottom leg. Lift your hips until your body is in one long line. You should feel the sides of your waist active.
Press the hips up to the ceiling, and then lower them back to the straight body position. Repeat 10-15 times on each side.
Single Leg Stretch
Alternate from one side to the other, coming back into table top each time.
An excellent pilates exercise for the obliques. Lie on your back. Use your pelvic floor and your abdominal muscles to lift one leg and then the other up into tabletop position. Reach your arms up to the sky and then down toward your hips, using your lats to curl your upper body up. Extend one leg long as you keep the opposite leg in tabletop. Do not let your belly pooch as you extend. Bring the leg back into table top and then repeat on the other side. Repeat 10 times on each side. (If this exercise hurts your lower back, extend the legs up to the ceiling instead down toward the floor.)
Core Twist
Step 1: Scoop and Round the Spine back
Sit up, and press your feet firmly into the mat. Clasp your hands out in front of your chest. Tuck your tailbone, scoop your belly, and round half way back. Keep your pelvis square and drill your sitting bones into the mat as you twist your torso (torso only!) from one side to the other. This can be done with a 5lb or 8lb weight if you'd like more resistance. This exercise can be done for speed. Repeat 30-50 times, adding speed as you get stronger. The most common mistake here is to move the hips as you twist the torso. Don't let that happen.
Step 2: Twist from side to side
A very special thanks to my amazing husband, Jack Rizutko, for modeling!
As you're working toward being a healthier you, it's time to take another scrutinizing look at your exercise habits. I've written before about setting a goal of between 3 and 7 hours per week. Now's the time to take your regular routine and step it up.
How many hours a week do you really exercise? If it is less than 7, now is the time to look at your schedule and figure out how you can ADD one more hour of exercise to your regular weekly routine.
Remember, there are lots of options. Just because you go to the gym twice per week now doesn't mean that your third hour of exercise needs to be at the gym. In fact, this is a great opportunity to try something new.
Reading this post may seem simple. "Yes, Josie," I can hear you saying as you roll your eyes, "I know that if I exercise more I will be healthier." I know you know that. What I'm interested in is for you to DO IT.
Look at your schedule.
Make a plan.
Follow through.
As for me, I've started being experimental and taking some new fitness classes at the gym. What about you? How are you going to add an hour of exercise to your schedule each week?
Nope, watching him won't improve your workout.
Won't improve a lot of things, actually.
Are you getting tired of your regular routine at the gym? Bringing yourself several times each week only to find yourself on the elliptical, AGAIN, watching Geraldo, AGAIN? Do you feel like you aren't getting the results you want from your workouts?
It's time to try interval training. Interval training does two really great things to help maximize the effectiveness of your workout. First of all, it helps to keep your heart rate in the fat burning zone by changing exercises frequently and mixing cardiovascular work with strength training. Second, it helps to keep your mind engaged in what you're doing so that you aren't just phoning in your workout.
Here is a very simple interval format, which should take you about an hour. If you're feeling really geeky, get yourself a heart rate monitor so that you can follow your results.
Simple Interval Training Workout
6-7 minutes: warm up on the elliptical or treadmill
1 set of 10-15 reps of an upper body exercise
1 set of 10-15 reps of a lower body exercise
1 set of 10-15 reps of a DIFFERENT upper body exercise
1 set of 25-35 reps of an abdominal/core exercise
6-7 minutes on a DIFFERENT cardio machine than you warmed up with (great examples are bike, elliptical, treadmill, stair-climber, UBE, trampoline, or slide)
Repeat the above set of exercises, in the same order
6-7 minutes on a DIFFERENT cardio machine than you've used so far
1 set of 10-15 reps of a DIFFERENT lower body exercise than you've done
1 set of 10-15 reps of a DIFFERENT upper body exercise
1 set of 10-15 reps of a DIFFERENT lower body exercise
1 set of 25-35 reps of a DIFFERENT abdominal/core exercise
6-7 minutes on a DIFFERENT cardio machine than you've used so far
Repeat the second set of exercises, in the same order
One of the best ways you can make a workout more effective is to engage your brain. If your mind is bored while you're exercising, you will see less results and experience less benefits than if your mind is curious and interested in the process of moving your body.
As you take a hard look at your exercise habits and make a commitment to getting 3-7 hours of moderate exercise a week, choosing exercise forms that are interesting to you are going to be vital to your success in creating and sustaining good exercise habits.
Not the most effective workout.
This week, make a plan to try a new exercise form. Even if you eventually decide it's not for you, the creative process of learning something new will engage your body in ways that your same old workout never will.
This week, I'm asking you to take a hard look at your exercise habits. You should be getting 3-7 hours of moderate exercise each week.
You might know that people who exercise regularly reduce their chances of emergency room visits and of overall medical intervention. People who exercise lead longer, happier, healthier lives.
If you aren't exercising regularly, it's time to look at your schedule and make some changes. A 3-hour-per-week goal is a great start.
It's time to add 3 hours a week.
Consider the following:
First: What kind of exercise do I really enjoy, can I do easily, and can fit into my budget?
Be realistic and choose an activity that is easily attainable to you.
Then: How can I fit 3-7 hours into my schedule each week?
Remember that unlike playing video games, watching movies, or hanging out with your friends or your kids, you aren't going exercise accidentally. YOU NEED TO PLAN IT.
Lastly: How will I hold myself accountable and be consistent?
It can help to share your exercise plan with a friend, a family member, or a coworker and ask them to help you stay on schedule.
You may have seen this video floating around the interwebs over the past several months. It's well-presented, throughly researched, and interesting to watch, but if you don't have 9 minutes and 19 seconds to watch it, skip it and I'll get to the point below.
Can you limit your sitting and sleeping to just 23 1/2 hours each day?
We're not talking hard-core workouts here, we're just talking about moving your body 30 minutes a day. There are ridiculous health benefits to simply walking 30 minutes each day. In the spirit of keeping yourself out of the hospital and being able to fully enjoy the time you have on this planet, you owe it to yourself to get moving.
Try a couple of these suggestions.
1) Increase the walking time in your commute
Most of us do not have the option to walk to work, but if you do, try it. If you drive to work, try parking further away from your workplace. If you take the subway or the bus, get off a few stops early so that you can walk the rest of the way.
2) Take the stairs
Skip the elevator or the escalator and take the stairs instead.
3) Get a walking buddy
Make a daily date with a friend to take a 20-30 minute walk together. It's a great way get your exercise in while you catch up on the gossip (or, for some of you, on the most recent info about the Diablo 3 release.)
4) Get a dog.
Dog owners are much more likely to get 30 minutes of walking in each day. If you have a dog and someone else walks it, try to find time to shoulder some of the responsibility.
5) Turn your social dates into walking dates
If you're already a pretty social person, and you spend a good amount of time meeting friends for coffee or other social events, turn those dates into a time to walk. Be up front and ask your friends if they would mind walking with you for 20 minutes before you meet for coffee.
6) Spend time around your friends who get more physical activity
Lifestyle choices are infectious, so if you want to get more exercise, spend time around your friends who are active. Tell them that you want to be active, too, and ask them to include you in their plans.
7) Join a gym and create a plan to go that works for your schedule.
Just because some sweaty guy is grunting in the corner doesn't mean that you have to. Again, what we're going for here is 30 minutes of any activity, and walking counts. So making a plan to walk on the treadmill for 20 minutes is still better than not walking at all. The key here is making sure that it is convenient, that it will fit into your schedule, and that you will go. Know thyself and thy habits.
8) Go back to an exercise you used to enjoy
As Joseph Campbell said, "Follow your bliss." If there's a physical activity that you know you like to do, GO DO IT. You can do it now, and you can find a way to do it that is non-threatening and easy. If you used to like it, you probably still do. Did you used to enjoy taking dance classes? Tai-Chi? Riding your bike? Soccer? Playing Frisbee? Fencing? Running? Try going back to it. Being happy in your choices is not a small thing. (Some would say that it is everything!)
9) Make a playlist that you love
Get geeky with your ipod and make a playlist for yourself that you adore. Use it as a walking soundtrack. Or, find a podcast that knocks your socks off. The 30 minutes will be over before you know it.
10) Have more sex
A personal favorite, and full of lots more (ahem) benefits than just the exercise. If you're currently without a partner, treat yourself to a new toy and let the calorie-burning commence!
