What are you doing to ensure that you are getting in your exercise every day? Yes, I do mean every day. Some of you may have memberships at gyms or rec centers and go 2-3 times per week. And, that is great and congratulations to those of you who make every workout. But, what are you doing the other days? It is important to be getting some form of exercise every day. It doesn't have to be hour long workouts. It can be as little as 15 minutes.
Remember, as well that not all your workouts need to be in a gym. There are plenty of ways to get in extra exercise by just putting some thought into your day. Where can you make life just a little more work and to a point, less efficient. One of our clients, sent along this article from the web site Spark People. It is interesting to read how you can incorporate your daily chores into a mini workout each day. Keep in mind that exercise is cumulative – it all adds up at the end of the week. The link to read that article on Spark People is: http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/fitness_articles.asp?id=272
The article is entitled: The "Real-Life Woman's" Workout – Find Ways to be Inefficient" Some other ways to incorporate exercise into your daily life is:
1. Use stairs instead of elevator – such a little thing, but counts big time. In fact, do a couple of laps up and down the stairs before you get to your destination.
2. Finish lunch 10 minutes early and go for a walk – helps to stretch out the ole body and get a few calories burned. Get the heart rate up now…..
If you are not getting in your aerobic work, get up 15 minutes early and do a quick little workout: BW Squats, Push ups (against a counter if need be), Floor Bridges. Repeat 4 x and you are good to go! Earlier this year, I was interviewed by a reporter doing an article for an online magazine (Best Health) Link: http://www.besthealthmag.ca/ The article she is writing is called "7 Ways to Maximize your Gym Workout". This is what I provided her:
1) Monitor your rest periods. Use a stop watch or watch the clock at the gym. Most people will rest far too long as they head to the water cooler, chat with friends. Limit your rest periods to 30-45 seconds and be ready to start back onto your next exercise as soon as the watch denotes.
2) Consolidate and pack your workout time. In other words, group exercises together into mini circuits. Combine 3-4 exercises together alternating upper body, lower body, core and complete 3-4 times through and then move onto the other circuits.
3) When using mini circuits, use your core exercise as "active rest". In other words, most times you won't need much rest after the core exercise before you start back on the first exercise of that circuit.
4) Don't waste time on machines or isolation exercises. These burn very little calories resulting in little if any changes in weight loss or body composition. Least effective machines are leg extension/leg curl. Least effective exercise is standing bicep curls. Replace leg extensions with squats and lunges for quadriceps. Replace leg curl with Romanian deadlifts for hamstrings. And, any rowing movements will effectively work your biceps and burn more calories to boot!
5) Pick 3-5 complex exercises (total body exercises) combine with 2-3 core exercises and workout completed. Fast and quick. Big bang for your buck when it comes to weight loss and fat burning.
6) Monitor your reps and weights. Don't waste time doing 20-25 reps. This has little, if any effect on weight loss or fat burning. Pick a weight that you need to work hard at for 8-10 reps max.
7) Keep your intensity high. Intensity high; volume low. Work out hard, work out short. In a nutshell – increase your intensity; decrease your time. Combine exercises into circuits. Use complex exercises (total body). Stay off machine and away from isolation exercises.
Okay, there you have it. Some good hints to incorporate into both your gym workouts and time away from the gym.
Narina Prokosch
“Monitoring, Mentoring, Motivation”
www.victoriawellness.com
