Get Fit Quick Tip:
Socialize AND Exercise!
Get social! Including friends into your fitness makes living fit FUN! With a quick email or group text, you’ll coordinate a meet up time and activity. Here are just a few ideas to get you started:
Race! Sign up for a team event or race together. (Costumes optional!)
Softball game.
Ping Pong Tournament.
Soccer game.
Volleyball game.
Scavenger hunt.
Group bike ride to a fun destination.
Basketball game.
Walk or hike.
Get Fit Quick Tip:
Circuit Train!
What’s one workout mode that can be done indoors or outdoors, with or without equipment, whether you’re a beginning or advanced exerciser? Circuit training! Circuit training means moving from one exercise to the next without rest.
Set up a circuit of exercises. Choose from 3 exercises to repeat, on up to 10 or 12 exercises to perform consecutively.
Choose your format. Circuit strength exercises only, or alternate strength exercises with cardiovascular exercise in a circuit format.
Circuits are limited only by your creativity. Use whatever is around you, with safety as primary concern. Tables, chairs, benches, trees, steps, wall can all be used to assist your exercises. For example, Wall Squats, Bench Pushups, Chair Tricep Dips.
*Always consult your physician before beginning exercise.
Are you feeling bored in your current exercise plan? Are you doing the same thing day after day? Unless you are training for a specific event, adding variety to your workouts is the best way to keep your body from hitting a plateau. Adding in different movements, intensity levels and new exercises is just what your body and mind needs to be challenged to keep making progress. Many gyms offer some great classes that can spice up your routine and may also be covered in the cost of your gym membership. Here are a few classes that you may want to check out.
Suspension Training Class
Have you ever seen those straps that are hanging from the ceiling? That is the Suspension Training System. Suspension training uses your own bodyweight to develops strength, balance, flexibility and core stability simultaneously. By using different angles during movements, suspension training can challenge all fitness levels . You chose your intensity and make the workout work for you.
Interval Class
Want a fast workout that continues to burn calories LONG after you finish the class? Give an interval class a try. Interval classes alternate between bouts of high intensity exercises with periods of low intensity exercises or complete rest. These classes will challenge you to push your limits so the classes are shorter in duration, but HIGH in intensity.
Cycling Class
Cycling is a great way to get away from the high impact exercises but still get a great workout. This type of class is a welcome change if you are used to workouts that are centered around running or jumping. During this class your “ride” will simulate pedaling along the flats and up and down hills by varying the wheel resistance and the position of your body.
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
Should group exercise be part of your fitness plan:
Accountability can be one of the biggest motivators to keeping your exercise routine. Having someone hold us accountable means another person is expecting us: to show up, to work hard and to not let them down.
You can hold yourself accountable – by making a promise to exercise every weekday morning,or by weighing yourself daily – OR another effective way to stay accountable is to work out with someone else!
Here are just a few ways group fitness classes will hold YOU accountable for your fitness:
Establishes a regular schedule. Group exercise classes and small group training are a great way to establish a regular and safe exercise routine. With an instructor to monitor your form, you can be sure you’re doing each exercise correctly. Don’t be afraid to ask if you’re not sure you’re performing the movement correctly – the instructor is there to help!
Adds the fun into your workout. Do you like choreography? Dance-based classes are very popular right now. Not a lot of time? Time will fly in a High Intensity Interval Training class!
Become a class-regular. Once you’ve found a class you enjoy, try to attend regularly. Introduce yourself to others in the class and the instructor, make new fitness friends – we love learning our members’ names! Before long, you’ll find that if you have to miss a class, the class will miss you!
That’s accountability – you now have an exercise program to look forward to that’s safe, effective and fun!
Follow Sarah on Twitter @SarahJChicago
Most gyms offer group exercise classes such as yoga, Pilates, indoor cycling, Body Pump, Boxercise, and CrossFit. Most group classes will be included in your membership fee and are offered at all times of the day.
Why should you give group exercise a try?
Group exercise adds variety to your workout. If you hit the treadmill every day after work for 30 minutes, a group exercise class can help you get over a plateau by challenging your body in a new way. Muscles can be accustomed to always working in the same way. So if you always go for a run, try a yoga class to switch it up a bit. If you regularly lift weights, try Zumba for a fun heart pumping workout.
Having a class at a set time automatically fits it into your schedule. It is easy to say, “I will go to the gym after work” and somehow never make it there because you prepared dinner for the family, helped the kids with homework, and then needed to run errands. But when you know your favorite class is at 6:30pm you can’t put it off until later. You also know when you will be done which helps you plan the rest of your day.
Someone knowledgeable will guide you. You might not always feel confident doing exercises on your own in the weight room. A group exercise instructor will know how to maximize your time in the studio and give your body a fantastic workout. Every class is designed to work muscle groups in a certain way and order after an appropriate warm up. Cooling down and stretching out at the end of a workout is important too and you might overlook that on your own.
Fun! Finally, group fitness classes can be fun. You can try different types until you find one that you love (and doesn’t seem like work.) You can make new friend who enjoy the same things you do too.
If you haven’t yet, give group exercise classes a try. Men are joining in too as they realize cross-training is an effective way to develop fitness faster. Just be sure to arrive early and let your instructor know if it is your first time trying out the class.
Mollie Millington is a London-based personal trainer who offers in-person and virtual training. You can find her on Twitter (@PTMollie) and online at www.ptmollie.com. She posts free workouts, product reviews and recipes every week.
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