It can be hard to fit in everything you have to do each day. Work, family, errands, cooking, cleaning, time for fun…and, oh yeah, exercise. And exercise is usually the first thing to go when you are busy and stressed. But exercise can help reduce stress and give you more energy to get through busy times, so it is important to find ways to fit it in.
Research is showing that you don’t have to always fit in a single 60 minute workout at the gym. Would six 10-minute sessions during the day be more manageable?
And when could you do these sessions? Try getting up 10 minutes earlier in the morning for one session. Easier to do than getting up an hour earlier for a long workout, and it gets your day off to a good start. Take 10 minutes of your lunch break and fit in some exercise. And try another 10 minute session when you get home from work and change your clothes. How about a 10 minute walk after dinner for one session? And after you get home from your evening walk and sit in front of the TV? Why not fit in some microbursts of exercise? Pick from the lists below and do one or two things during each commercial break.
For a 10 minute cardio session you could do one minute each of:
jumping jacks
running/walking briskly in place (put on favorite music that is at a tempo fast enough for a good cardio workout, or go to You Tube, search for “cadence” and use some of the military cadence videos to help you keep the pace)
jumping rope either with a real jump rope, or a “pretend” one
shadow boxing
walking lunges
Repeat the circuit twice and you have a 10 minute workout completed.
For a strength building circuit you could do:
one-legged squats
bicep curls
tricep dips
crunches
push-ups
Again, do each for a minute, and repeat circuit twice for a 10 minute workout.
These are just some ideas to get you started. Think about your day and when you could fit the exercise in. Make sure you do both cardio and strength training over the course of the week, and always remember to include some regular gym workouts and personal training sessions to make sure your fitness plan stays on track.
I talk about weight loss often because most of our clients want to lose weight, most of our potential clients need to lose weight, losing weight is difficult, and keeping it off is even harder. The SUCCESS formula has been derived from the habits of people who have lost a significant amount of weight and kept it off for over a year.
Selections
Choices are critical. Choose carefully which diet to try, which foods to eat daily, how much to eat, what portion size is appropriate, which liquids to drink.
Unplug yourself from the TV
We’ve already devoted a post to this piece of the formula. Successful weight managers watch TV for an average of less than 10 hours a week. If TV is not your problem, what other sedentary activity is? Gaming? Web surfing? Reading?
Commitment
Managing weight is a lifetime commitment. Relapses will happen. Commit to the long term.
Calories
Limiting calories is the bottom line, so be sure the calories you eat are high-quality – lean protein, healthy fats, complex carbohydrates, nutritious low calorie liquids.
Exercise
Successful weight managers exercise for 1 hour a day.
Schedule
Make appointments with yourself to exercise, eat 5-6 small meals a day (preferably earlier in the day), watch your high priority TV shows only, and do the other things needed to support your new lifestyle.
Self-Monitoring
Weigh in weekly in the same circumstances. Keep a record of eating, exercising, TV time, and any other activity that supports your new lifestyle. Have someone else (trainer, coach) reveiw those logs regularly and keep you accountable. Yes, it is a pain but it works!
These are the factors that have been PROVEN to work. So lets get going!
This article originally appeared in the Healthy Habituator, our monthly e-newsletter. Sign up box is in the left column – add your email address so you don’t miss out!
How much water does your body actually need each day? This article gives you the information. Important to know when dealing with the heat we’re having in Memphis.
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In the January 2010 issue of our e-newsletter, the Healthy Habituator*, I listed the top 10 tips to improve your fitness in 2010. Now that we are mid-way through the year (and how did that happen so quickly??), I want to look at these tips again, as a reminder and a check-in to see how we are doing. The tips are:
1. Vary the Variables – Changing up (challenging) your routine, whether it is eating, exercising, spiritual, mental, or financial, is key to keeping things fresh, making progress, and reaching your goals.
2. Plan the Work and Work the Plan – If you don’t know where you are going, you won’t be able to get there! Figure out what you need to do, how you’re going to do it, and when. You have to make it work for you. Success is in the details – and be sure to plan for changes in the work (see #1).
3. Go Old School – Push ups, chin ups, and jumping rope were hard when you were younger, and they still are! Body weight training is challenging, but it is also productive, worthwhile and fun!
4. Suspend Your Disbelief – Suspension training is hot in the fitness world. Try out the TRX or other such systems. Don’t be intimidated that the Navy Seals use them – they can be customized for all fitness levels.
5. Curb the Carbs – We all like simple carbs but they are a very unhealthy habit and need to be reduced whenever possible. You get much of the pleasure and more nutritional benefit from whole grains and complex carbs.
6. Try Tubing – Not just tubing, but also cable systems. They engage your core on every move so you burn more calories and improve your functional capacity. Perfect for chopping exercises.
7. Bolster Your Balance – Dyna Discs, wobble boards, foam rollers, stability balls, Bosus and other balance tools provide a great challenge for your body in different ways. Add them to make your workout exciting and productive.
8. Lose Some Liquids – About 20% of the average person’s daily calories come from liquids, but they are overlooked as a place where you can cut back and help yourself lose weight. Don’t forget to include them when looking at your daily calorie consumption.
9. Change Up Your Cardio – Make your body adapt! Change the exercise you do, the intensity you work at, the time you spend at it, the equipment you use. Get out of your comfort zone – and see how your body responds.
10. Combine Moves – Adding weight is not the only way to increase the challenge. What about combining a squat with a shoulder press? Lunge with cable high row? Crunch with chest press? Be creative! And talk to your trainer for ideas and to make sure you are doing them right.
So where are you in 2010? Have you added in some of these already? Let us know what you’ve done and how it has helped. Need a boost for the rest of the year? See how many of these you can incorporate in your workout.
*Healthy Habituator is emailed the middle of each month. Want to get “All The Fit News To Email”? Sign up is on the left side of the page.
Here are more links to articles we think are interesting. Do you agree? Leave a comment and let us know what you like…
If we are what we eat, what are we if our produce has less nutrients than in years past? Take a look at this article and see what you think -
Are you putting on sunscreen each time you go out this summer? If so, are you doing it correctly? Take a look at this article for what you should be doing and how often -
Take advantage of all the fresh fruit available this time of year – here’s a list of 100 Calorie fruit desserts – if you try one, give us a review!
Here are some links to articles found around the internet. Which ones do you like? What stories have you found that you can share? Please leave a comment and let us know.
Pull out your slow cooker and put it to good use this summer withthese recipes. Helps keep the heat out of the kitchen on hot days.
It is recommended you eat more fish – but watch where it comes from. This story tells how the mercury threat is greater in ocean fish than freshwater –
According to this story, the old heart rate formula doesn’t work for women over 35. Read on for the new formula to use.
The SUCCESS we are talking about is a formula mainly based on the habits of successful weight controllers from the National Weight Control Registry. This post features the letter U for UNPLUG.
Unplug yourself does not mean literally. But, Registry participants report watching less than 10 hours a week of television – that’s less than an hour and a half a day. How do you compare to that? No mention is made of computer time or going to the movies or other such sedentary pursuits. How much time do you spend surfing the net or on Facebook?
Here’s what I think: if you were to keep your total sedentary TV, internet, movie, Facebook, reading, etc. time to 2 hours a day or less (other than while at work) and you are active for much of the rest of the time, you would probably be making a positive contribution to controlling your weight. If you exercise or do housework or engage in some other activity, while the TV happens to be on, then I would not count it as part of the 2 hours – as long as you are truly active, moving, more engaged in the activity than in the TV.
So, going back to our last discussion about the letter S for SCHEDULING, schedule your workout or some housework during a TV program you want to watch. You’d be surprised how easy and enjoyable it is to watch and move at the same time, without missing anything from the show. Plus, you tend to intensify your movement during the commercials. This has the additional benefit of helping you avoid those annoying ads, especially the ones that try to make you hungry or thirsty for calories you don’t really want or need.
Go ahead, try unplugging yourself more often. You’ll be glad you did.
This article originally appeared in the June 2010 issue of the Healthy Habituator, our monthly newsletter. Sign up for the newsletter in the box on the left side of the page, and be among the first to get the latest information from Healthy Habits Fitness!
The 4th of July weekend is coming, and many people are making plans to be outside. Good for them! Getting out of the house and office can be a great mental and physical break. However, make sure you don’t forget food and activity safety. Here are some links with great information:
Many people will spend a lot of time outside this weekend. Here’s some tips to help avoid harm from the heat.
There is a lot of information on the internet claiming to help you live a healthier life, but who has time to look through everything they come across? Here are some links to recent articles that we think are interesting. Take a look and see if you agree:
Healthy Habits offers 1 to 1 personal training, partner and group fitness programs, BioMetrics nutrition and exercise plans, golf fitness and weight loss programs, post-rehab clinical exercise, and beginner and intermediate yoga classes in Memphis, TN.
It can be hard to fit in everything you have to do each day. Work, family, errands, cooking, cleaning, time for fun…and, oh yeah, exercise. And exercise is usually the first thing to go when you are busy and stressed. But exercise can help reduce stress and give you more energy to get through busy times, so it is important to find ways to fit it in.
