Get Fit Quick Tip:

Strengthen your Shoulders!

Strong shoulders improves posture. Start with this Kneeling Reverse Fly exercise:

Begin on your hands and knees. Without weight, lift your right arm straight up to the side of your body. Keep your torso stable and don’t rotate your shoulders or hips. Do 10 reps, then release your right hand back to the floor. Next, lift and lower your left arm. Do 10 reps. When you have mastered correct form without weight, try lifting a small weight. This is an exercise where proper technique and form is paramount, not the amount of weight or even reps. Take your time, go slow and learn the proper movement pattern before progressing.

*Consult your physician before performing exercise.

Strong Shoulders =Better Posture!

Get Fit Quick Tip:

Walk!

Walking is effective cardiovascular exercise. Walking for fitness requires no additional equipment, and can be done right from your front door.

Ramp up your walking for fitness workout by adding in a few exercises at regular intervals:

Heel Raises: Stand keeping your torso straight. Lift and lower your heels.

Toe Raises: Stand keeping your torso straight. Lift and lower your toes.

Squats: Stand with your feet hip width apart. Bending from your knees and hips, sit back and lower your body toward the ground about six inches. Stand back up to return to your starting position.

*Always consult your physician before beginning exercise.

Walking for Fitness

Get Fit Quick Tip:

Drink Water!

It’s no secret that drinking water yields numerous health benefits. So why is staying adequately hydrated a challenge for so many? Here are a few ideas to staying properly hydrated for your fitness, and your day:

Set your phone alarm. Set your alarm on your smart phone for every three hours as a reminder.

Pre-fill your water bottles for the day. Set the bottles on the counter, your desk or wherever you spend a lot of time, as a visual reminder.

Pair drinking water with other daily activities. Get up, drink a glass of water. Drink a glass of water before each meal. Drink water every time upon arriving home, Drink water before, during and after your workout.

Choose water first. Whenever out or at a friends house, order and drink one glass of water first.

Drink Your Water!

Get Fit Quick Tip:

Jump Rope!

Jumping rope has total body fitness benefits all in one workout. You’ll strengthen your heart and your muscles. Jump ropes are economical and portable. Jumping rope is also useful for coordination and agility. Begin with ten to twenty seconds of jumping, followed by twenty seconds of rest, and build from there by adding ten seconds.

A few reminders:

Every workout should begin with an 8-10 minute warm up and conclude with a 10 minute cool down.

Wear proper athletic footwear.

Be mindful of jumping on a suitable surface.

Choose a jump rope length based on your height.

Proper postural alignment is important when performing high impact activity.

Adjust your jumping style and rhythm based on sustainable intensity. For higher intensity, jump the rope on every hop and turn of the rope. For lower intensity, jump the rope on every other hop and turn the rope slower.

Requires a base level of fitness. Jumping rope is high impact and high intensity and may not be suitable for beginning exercisers.

*Always consult your physician before beginning exercise.

High Intensity Jump Rope for Fitness

Get Fit Quick Tip:

Take a Can-Do Approach

Instead of focusing on what you can’t do, approach your wellness plan from what you CAN do. Focus on the positive, and that’s where your mind will lead you. For example:

One at a time. If you’re not convinced you can eliminate junk food all together, start by eliminating one junk food meal each week.

Focus on the present. It’s a wonderful accomplishment that you were a collegiate athlete, however where is your fitness now? Focus on your current fitness base and build from there.

Increase in small steps. Building fitness too fast, too soon is a common mistake of those new to exercise. Build your fitness in small steps to allow your body to adapt to your goal. Each small step mastered will increase confidence and therefore motivation.

Can-Do Fitness Approach

Get Fit Quick Tip:

Weekly Meal Prep

Save time and energy by completing weekly meal prep. Choose one day each week to shop, chop, wash, prepare and cook. Healthy meals for the whole family will be at your disposal every day of the week:

Chop all veggies. Place in baggies so they are ready to go.

Wash produce. Prepare and clean produce so everyone in the family can simply grab and go!

Wash herbs. Wrap in paper towel, place in baggies and store in the fridge.

Bulk cook meats for the week. Portion out meat and store in air tight containers. All that’s needed is to heat it up.

Bulk cook entree’s to create left-overs. Cook casseroles, chili, soups and stews with a plan for left-overs. Refreshing a meal with a creative side dish or combination is a great way to minimize cooking during the week.

Healthy Meals: Week at a Glance

Get Fit Quick Tip:

Get in the Moment!

Are you in the moment of your workout? Or are you preoccupied about what you have to accomplish later, worried about this and that, distracted by to-do lists? Stay present in the moment of your workout for better mental focus, and better physical results.

Here’s how to get in the moment of your workout:

Set workout mini-goals. Each workout should serve a purpose, and therefore have a goal. Every exercise you perform should be chosen for its desired outcome.

Stay present. Consider your workout as the time during your day where you don’t have to think about work, schedules or other commitments. Stay present in your workout by focusing only on the current rep, the current set.

Breathe through each rep. Every lift and every lowering phase of your rep, should include an inhale or an exhale. Focused and mindful breathing is an effective method to clear your mind of distractions.

Eliminate self-talk. Regardless of what your body is doing, often your mind is full of internal dialogue, conversations and opinions. Reduce the self-talk by counting out your pace for each rep.

Get in the Moment…of your Workout!

Get Fit Quick Tip:

Take a Break!

Taking regular fitness breaks during your day is healthy for your body and your mind. Commit to a goal of getting up, stretching or walking every 2 hours.

Here’s how to hold yourself accountable to fitness break-time:

Set your phone alarm to signal every 2 hours.

Perform at-your-desk stretches. For example:

Seated Hamstring Stretch: Sit forward in your chair. Extend your right leg straight out in front of you with your heel on the ground. Sit up tall and hold for 10-30 seconds, then release. Repeat with your left leg straight out in front of you.

Reach up and Over Stretch: Reach both arms straight up overhead. Lean to your right, then your left.

Walk the hallway. Get up and walk around your office, the hallway or around the building for ten minutes to increase circulation and decrease muscle tension.

Stand up and breathe. Simply stand up to ease lower body tension, and perform 3-5 deep breaths.

*Consult your physician before beginning exercise.

Do you need a fitness break?

Get Fit Quick Tip:

Respect your rest!

Rest days are essential to all fitness programs. In fact, rest/recovery days should be programmed IN to your workout schedule to allow for muscle recovery and mental rejuvenation.

Here’s why you should respect your rest day:

Makes workouts sustainable. Sufficient rest means you’ll have renewed energy to log the next hard workout.

Reduce risk of injury. Rest days allow your body time to rebuild and recover.

Refresh mental focus. Rest days give your mind time to process your workout and the mental focus required.

Maintains interest. Taking a day off from your key activity decreases risk of burnout.

Need a Rest Day?

Get Fit Quick Tip:

Consistency Matters!

Find a way to exercise consistently to see best overall results. Consistent exercise means you’ll feel better, look better and just plain function better because your body will have time to adapt to your exercise. Change your workout format or type of workout until you find a method complements and works with your schedule.

Here are a four ideas to get consistent with your fitness:

Monday mandatory exercise. Set a healthy tone to your week by always working out on Monday.

Week at a glance. Every Sunday sit down with your calendar and schedule your workouts for the week.

Tally up the week. Every Friday tally up your workouts. Miss your goal? Use the weekend to make up the missed workout(s).

Commit to a set schedule. Commit to a set workout schedule each month. Doing so leaves nothing up to guessing or trying to fit in fitness last minute.

Workout Consistency Matters!