healthy habits - 13/15 -

Get Walking!

May 13, 2016 By hywo Leave a Comment

Get Fit Quick Tip:

Walk Together!

Walking is great exercise to do with a group. Walking allows you to interact with others, get fresh air and sunshine, take in the sights and requires no additional equipment. Walking doesn’t require learning a new skill or competency maintaining a high intensity workout. Walking is a by-design workout, you can make it whatever you want it to be! You’ll strengthen your heart, lungs and muscles, and improve balance, agility and coordination, all at the same time. Simply put your shoes, grab your keys and phone, and GO! Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Exercise and socialize. Schedule a walk and talk with friends to catch up.

Take in the view. Walk to a vista or landmark location.

Walk to a destination. Walk to the store, library or movie theater.

Be a tourist. Take a scenic walk through your town.

Go off-road. Head to the local trail and and add an agility component to your walk.

Filed Under: Your Fitness Tagged With: exercise outdoors, exercise with friends, fitness goals, goal setting for health wellness and fitness results, healthy habits, healthy lifestyle, how to start fitness, making fitness fun, older adult fitness options, overall fitness, walking article, walking exercise, walking for cardio, walking for fitness, walking for health, walking workout

Isometric Ab Challenge

May 10, 2016 By hywo Leave a Comment

Get Fit Quick Tip:

Isometric Abs!

Isometrics hold muscles under tension for a set period of time. Try this V-Sit for an isometric abdominal challenge. Here’s how:

Sit on the floor in proper spinal alignment. Pull your belly button in and keep your shoulders back and down. Extend both legs straight out on the floor in front of you. With a straight back, lean back slightly and lift both legs up off the floor about 6 inches to start. Extend both arms straight out in front of you. Hold this position for 10 seconds, breathing in your natural rhythm. Lower your legs and rest. Repeat 2-5 times.

*Consult your physician before performing exercise. This exercise is for intermediate/advanced exercises, and is not for those with injury concerns.

Filed Under: Your Fitness Tagged With: abdominal strength, abdominal strength exercises, Beginning an exercise program, change up your fitness plan, core exercises, core fitness, core strengthening, healthy habits, healthy lifestyle, home fitness, how to strengthen your core, overall fitness, strong core, the best exercise for body shaping, toning up our core

Breathing-Break!

May 4, 2016 By hywo Leave a Comment

Get Fit Quick Tip:

Deep Breathing!

Practice mindful deep breathing regularly during your day to decrease physical and mental stress. Inhale for a count of 3-4 seconds. Hold for 1 second. Exhale for a count of 4-6 seconds. Slowly extend the duration of your exhale. Repeat for 2-3 breaths. Make breathing-breaks a priority during your day and you’ll feel better, think more clearly and have more energy!

Filed Under: Your Fitness Tagged With: breathing for relaxation, creative stress release, decrease stress, deep breathing article, eliminate stress, healthy habits, healthy lifestyle, how to ease stress, how to reduce stress, managing daily stress, reduce stress, reducing stress at work, stress article, stress reduction, taking breaks at work, work fitness

Posture Stretch

May 3, 2016 By hywo Leave a Comment

Get Fit Quick Tip:

Front Shoulder and Chest Posture Stretch!

Stretch Break: Stand up. Place both hands behind your head. Pull your shoulders down and back. Next, pull your elbows wide. Hold for 10-30 seconds. Now set your phone alarm to signal in 2 hours for your next Stretch Break!

*Consult your physician before beginning exercise.

Filed Under: Your Fitness Tagged With: desk stretch, easy muscle tension with stretching, end of day stretches, everyday stretch, fitness at the office, healthy habits, how to stretch, how to stretch at work, improving posture, office exercise, office stretching, posture stretch, posture stretches, stretch break, stretching at the office, stretching exercises, stretching information

ENERGIZE your workout!

May 1, 2016 By hywo Leave a Comment

ENERGIZE your workout every Monday at 5pm(Pacific)/8pm(Eastern) with #HealthyWayMag Fitness Chat on Twitter! Pick up fitness tips, workout ideas and exercise support.

The benefit of having training partners is when you don’t feel up to working out, they do! Workout partners also offer accountability to log each workout with full effort and attention. Rely on training partners to offer a motivation pick-up on those days when you’re stressed or distracted. Often you’ll even gain energy from workout partners! Consider #HealthyWayMag Fitness Chat your virtual training partner. We’ve got your motivation and accountability covered!

Here’s how to join:

Log into Twitter.

Enter #HealthyWayMag to follow the chat feed.

Questions for discussion will be posed as Question 1 noted as “Q1″, Question 2 as “Q2″, and so on. Offer your answer as Answer to Question 1, “A1″, and so on.

Interact with others, chat, and have fun!

Filed Under: Your Fitness Tagged With: adding fun to your workout, exercise motivation, exercise results, fitness accountability, fitness goals, fitness motivation, getting workout results, healthy habits, healthy lifestyle, how to get motivated, how to get results in your workout, how to overcome obstacles to fitness, how to start fitness, how to stick with fitness, overall fitness, workout motivation

Better Balance

April 27, 2016 By hywo Leave a Comment

Get Fit Quick Tip:

One Leg Hold

Practice standing on one leg to improve balance and proprioception. Safety is most important when working on balance. All exercisers should begin holding on to a stable object for the entire set until confidence increases. Slowly decrease contact with stable object to build balance load. Once you’ve achieved a 10 second hold on each leg without holding on, you may be ready for progressions. Maintain proper posture, with your chin up and chest lifted. Here are a few progressions to get started:

Stand on one leg for 10 seconds. Increase time to 30 seconds.

Stand on one leg and place both arms across your chest.

Stand on one leg and swing both arms forward and back.

Stand on one leg and look side to side.

*Consult your physician before performing exercise.

Filed Under: Your Fitness Tagged With: ankle stability, ankle strength, balance exercise, balance exercise. core fitness, fall prevention, healthy habits, healthy lifestyle, home exercise, how to start fitness, improve balance, leg strength, older adult exercise, overall fitness, reduce risk of falling, senior fitness

For Core and Cardio- Meet Mountain Climbers!

April 26, 2016 By hywo Leave a Comment

Get Fit Quick Tip:

Mountain Climbers!

If you’re looking for a multi-beneficial exercise to add into your routine, meet Mountain Climbers! With core and cardio benefits, mountain climbers challenge the stabilizing muscles of your abdominals as well as require many muscles to work together at the same time resulting in elevated heart rate. Begin with 10-20 repetitions, adjusting the technique to your desired intensity. Mountain climbers are for intermediate exercisers, without injury.

Here’s how to get started:

Begin in a plank position on the floor. Place your hands flat on the floor, directly below your shoulders. Place your toes on the floor, with your body straight and parallel to the floor. Maintaining proper spinal alignment, hop your right foot up toward your right hand, briefly touch your right foot (toes only) to the floor. Next at the same time, return your right foot to starting position and hop your left foot up toward your left hand, briefly touch your left foot to the floor, then return to your starting position. Repeat alternating until all reps are completed.

*Consult your physician before performing exercise.

Filed Under: Your Fitness Tagged With: ab exercise, ab strength, ab workout, abdominal exericses, body weight cardio, cardio at home, cardio options, cardio workout, core exercise, healthy habits, home exercise, how to strengthen your core, lower body workout

Desk Posture Stretch

April 19, 2016 By hywo Leave a Comment

Get Fit Quick Tip:

At your desk posture stretch!

Sit forward in your chair with both feet flat. Inhale and reach both arms straight up overhead. Lace your fingers with your palms facing down. Exhale, lean to your right. Inhale, return to the center. Exhale, lean to your left. Inhale, return to the center. Exhale, lower your arms. Repeat 2-3 times.

Stretching reduces muscle tension, and the deep breathing reduces stress. Perform this stretch a few times each day for physical and mental benefits!

*Consult your physician before beginning exercise.

Filed Under: Your Fitness Tagged With: at your desk stretching, decrease anxiety and stress, decrease muscle tension stretch, desk stretches, end of day stretches, goal setting for health wellness and fitness results, healthy habits, healthy lifestyle, how to decrease stress, how to start fitness, how to stretch at work, office exercise, overall fitness, reduce stress, reducing stress at work, seated stretch, stress and wellness, stretch break, stretching at the office, stretching information, work fitness

Racing? Here are your race prep basics.

April 15, 2016 By hywo Leave a Comment

Get Fit Quick Tip:

4 Racing Basics

There are a few racing basics important to keep in mind heading into your race day. Here are 4 to commit to memory:

Embrace your nerves. Many athletes experience pre-race nerves. Nerves mean the event is important to you and you want to do your best. Nerves happen with uncertainty or with the unknown. Accept your anxiety simply as part of the process. Instead of allowing nerves to paralyze you, enable them to empower you.

Master the art of letting-it-go. You’re distracted by someone along the race course? Let it go. Your pre-race ritual was interrupted? Let it go. Another athlete cut you off at the hydration station? Let it go. Focus on your race, your miles.

Stick to your race plan. Never try anything new on race day. Only do what you’ve practiced in training. Stick to your pre-race meal plan. Your clothing. Your hydration schedule. Your pace.

Visualize your finish daily. Every night before going to sleep, visualize in full detail finishing your race strong. During your race when miles become tough, play back the well rehearsed mental picture of your strong finish. You’ll be able to change your emotional/mental state mid-race and reset your resolve to keep moving forward.

Filed Under: Your Fitness Tagged With: competition events, exercise goals, goal setting for health wellness and fitness results, healthy habits, healthy lifestyle, how to start fitness, inspirational running, jogging tips, marathon running, outdoor fitness, outdoor workouts, overall fitness, racing tips, running a marathon, running a race, running competition, running for fitness, running race tips, running tips, running workout, sport competition, training for 5K running race

FUN Fitness!

April 8, 2016 By hywo Leave a Comment

Get Fit Quick Tip:

Find the FUN!

Having fun with your fitness, means you’ll want to workout! A consistent workout is where results happen. Let loose, explore and experiment, be open to not exactly knowing what comes next. Here’s how to have fun with your fitness:

Be vulnerable. Take a chance on a workout, where you don’t know exactly how it will go. Do something different!

Be a beginner. Not all workouts need to be about 100% mastery the first time. Try something new!

Abandon structure. Play, run, jump, skip, dance!

Filed Under: Your Fitness Tagged With: adding fun to your workout, change up your fitness plan, fun workout, healthy habits, healthy lifestyle, home fitness, how to get results in your workout, how to workout, making fitness fun, new exercisers, overall fitness, setting fitness goals, workout motivation, workout play

Get Walking!

Isometric Ab Challenge

Breathing-Break!

Posture Stretch

ENERGIZE your workout!

Better Balance

For Core and Cardio- Meet Mountain Climbers!

Desk Posture Stretch

Racing? Here are your race prep basics.

FUN Fitness!

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