Fit Body:

Don’t ignore your warm up!

Warming up before your workout prepares all the systems of your body for movement.  You’ll be increasing circulation through range of motion, energizing your heart and lungs, actively stretching your muscles to reduce the risk of injury and getting your mind focused. Perform an 8-10 minute appropriate warm up consisting of moving your muscles consistently, at a low to moderate intensity level. Walking provides a great warm up for most activities. Or simply do your workout activity, like cycling, slower in the beginning. Gradually build up pace, speed and intensity to your main workout set over the 8-10 minutes. And if it’s cold outside, you may even need a longer warm up.

Do You Warm Up?

Get Fit Quick Tip:

Fitness opportunities are everywhere!

LOOK around you, there are fitness opportunities everywhere! Not all exercise has to be structured to count toward your fitness. With creativity and imagination, fitness opportunities can be found in a park, school yard, soccer field, housing complex, and so on. Here are a few to get started:

Wall: Wall Squat- Stand with your back against a wall and your feet about 12 inches from the wall. Keeping your torso on the wall, slide down the wall about 12 inches. Hold for ten to thirty seconds.

Stairs: Stair Intervals- Jog up 10-20 stairs. Turn around and immediately walk down the stairs. After ten seconds rest, repeat the stair interval.

Bench: Pushups- Place your hands on a bench about shoulder-width apart. Extend your legs out straight so only your toes are on the ground. Keeping your torso straight, lower your chest toward the bench, and then return to your starting position.

*Consult your physician before beginning exercise.

Fitness Opportunities are Everywhere!

Get Fit Quick Tip:

PushUps!

Do traditional exercises like pushups still have value in your exercise plan? The answer is a resounding yes! Here’s why. Pushups incorporate all muscles of the body. Pushups use the core muscles how they are required to work during your daily activities, in a stabilizing capacity. Pushups build upper body strength.

Find a form of pushups that works for you. For example:

Wall Pushups. Stand facing the wall. Place your hands flat on the wall in front of you, about chest-level high and shoulder-width apart. Bend both elbows and lean into the wall. Keep your feet flat on the floor and keep your torso straight. Extend both arms and return to your starting position.

Bench Pushups. Place your hands in the center of a stable bench, with your body straight and toes on the floor. Bending both elbows, lower your chest toward the bench. Extend your arms and return to your starting position.

Floor Full Pushups. Place both hands flat on the floor with your hands slightly wider than your shoulders. Tuck your toes under and lift your body up off the floor.  Bend both arms and lower your chest toward the floor. Extend both arms to return to your starting position.

Floor Modified Pushups. Kneel on the floor. Place both hands flat on the floor in front of you about shoulder-width apart. Move your knees back slightly until your body is straight, with only your knees and hands on the floor. Bend both arms and lower your chest to the floor. Extend both arms to return to your starting position.

*Always consult your physician before beginning exercise.

Perfect your PushUp

Get Fit Quick Tip:

Try new exercises on a regular basis!

Our body (and our mind) likes unaccustomed exercise! Expand your fitness horizons by trying new exercises every 4-6 weeks. Here are 3 ideas to get you started:

Ask your friends what physical activities they enjoy. Tag along!

Revisit your childhood activities. Did you love a particular sport or physical fitness activity growing up? Try it again.

Research. Google search sports and fitness for your home town and see what activities pop up.

Expand your Fitness Horizons

30 x 3 Workout

This workout is fast, effective and FUN!!!!
30 seconds WORK, 30 Seconds REST, 30 Minutes (thus the 30 x 3) and you’re done. Complete this circuit 6 times for a great, full body workout. Be sure to consult your physician before beginning this or any exercise program.

30 Seconds: Squat/Shoulder Press
30 seconds: Rest
30 Seconds: Renegade Row Pushup
30 seconds: Rest
30 Seconds: Alternating Reverse Lunge with Rotation and Bicep Curl
30 seconds: Rest
30 Seconds: Tricep Extension with Hip Bridge
30 seconds: Rest
30 Seconds: Plank with Walkout
30 seconds: Rest
Repeat for a total of 6 circuits

Squat with Shoulder Press: Holding weights in both hands at shoulder height, lower your body into a squat. As you stand back up, raise weights straight over head in one smooth motion. As you lower back into a squat, lower weights back to shoulder height.

Renegade Row Pushup: Place a pair of dumbbells on the floor and set yourself up in pushup position, grasping the handles with each hand. Lower your body to the floor, pause, then push yourself back up. Once you’re back in the starting position, row the dumbbell in your right hand to the side of your chest, keeping your elbow close to your ribs. Pause, then lower the dumbbell back down and repeat with your left arm. Try to keep your hips from rotating while performing this exercise.

Alternating Reverse Lunge with Rotation and Bicep Curl: Hold dumbbells at your sides and stand with your feet hip-width apart. Step back with your left foot, and bend both knees to lower your body until your right knee is bent at least 90 degrees. At the same time, rotate your upper body toward your right leg and curl the dumbbells to your chest. Reverse the movement by lowering the weights and rotating your chest to face front, then return to standing. Repeat on opposite side.

Tricep Extension with Hip Bridge: Lying on your back with arms extended straight above your shoulders, lift hips off of the ground. As you lower the hips back to the mat, bend arms from the elbows only and lower weights down towards the ears. (Imagine putting earmuffs on and then taking them back off.) Repeat the motion by lifting the hips back up as you raise the weights.

Plank with Walkout: Set yourself up in a plank position on the elbows. Pull the navel in tight and keep the back and hips flat, step out to the side a few inches with your right foot, step out to the side a few inches with your left foot, step back in with your right foot and step back in with your left foot. Repeat. Try not to rock the hips as you perform this exercise.

Are you an advanced exerciser and want to take the workout to the next level? Here is a calorie torching version:
30 Seconds: Squat/Shoulder Press
30 seconds: Mountain Climbers
30 Seconds: Renegade Row Pushup
30 seconds: Jumping Jacks
30 Seconds: Alternating Reverse Lunge with Rotation and Bicep Curl
30 seconds: Mountain Climbers
30 Seconds: Tricep Extension with Hip Bridge
30 seconds: Jumping Jacks
30 Seconds: Plank with Walkout
30 seconds: Rest
Repeat for a total of 6 circuits

Tera Busker is an ACE Certified Personal Trainer and owner of Fitness To Go, an exclusive In Home & Private Studio Personal Training Service based out of Roberts, WI. www.fitnesstogo.net

Total Body Workout! By Tera Busker

Adventure for Every Fitness Level by John Taylor

Mud runs offer adventure activities for every fitness level
 

In April of 2011, I asked my students to participate in an activity they had never been exposed to before…a mud run. I believed that they could all complete a military-style obstacle course where they had to climb over 12-foot high walls, propel their bodies across rope swings, crawl underneath razor sharp barbed wire, and dive into mud pits that were 3-feet deep.

Many of my students were scared about signing up for the event, and were even more apprehensive about going to the starting line once we actually got to the race. However, due to the encouragement from teachers and peers, every one of my learners completed the 3.1 mile obstacle course.

Imagine that…my students came to me at the beginning of the school year with obese BMI scores, and they have now conquered an event that many Americans would be too timid to even sign-up for.

The reason my students and I love mud run events is because teams can go at their own pace to complete the race, each member of the team can help one another overcome every obstacle, and in cases when a person is unable to complete a certain task, they can simply go around the impediment and continue their journey.

Of course every mud runner would benefit from physically preparing for the event through an ideal training regimen, but finishing in the top 3 in your age group is not what a mud run is about. Events like the Warrior Dash, Spartan Race, Rugged Maniac, and Primal Run are meant to help friends and colleagues work together to complete a common goal and have fun.

If you are looking to physically prepare for one of these events, here are a few tips to help you train for a mud run competition:

Work on your upper body strength. In many mud runs, you’ll have to go across monkey bars and crawl through some pretty thick mud. Strengthening your shoulders, triceps, and lats will really help your efforts

Build up your cardiovascular endurance. Most people only think of the obstacles when mud runs come to mind, but there is a lot of running in-between these obstacles. Make your training more realistic to the actual event by doing trail and hill sprints and jogs.

Bring sympathy, understanding, and encouragement when you compete in a mud run. Remember, you may be able to get through every obstacle with ease, but your teammate who has just begun working out may struggle. If you are demanding that they “try harder,” do you think they’ll want to compete in one of these events again? The goal is to provide support and encouragement for fellow athletes!

By John Taylor, MS. Star of Emmy-nominated reality television series, “Too Fat for 15: Fighting Back” Follow John on Twitter: @tvfitcoach. Find John on  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Coach-John-T/151964238255488?ref=tn_tnmn or reach him via email, jtaylor@wellbalance

Adventure for Every Fitness Level by John Taylor