Working out to Music
You’ve probably experienced it already and you don’t even know it. You are doing your cardio, running outside at your usual pace when it happens. Your song. You love it. You can’t help but run to it. The beat just has a way of hypnotizing you and you are mesmerized by it. And when the song finishes, you notice that you are a little more out of breath, a little more intense than before your song played. Researchers have now shown that an easy way to pick up the intensity in your workouts is to increase the tempo of the music you listen to. People who listened to the same songs at different tempos worked harder and enjoyed their workouts more than people listening to the music at the normal tempo or a slowed tempo. So if you are looking for a little jolt to your normal cardio routine, just speed the music up. You might find yourself running faster, farther, and even enjoying it a little more. So rock out. Literally.
Weight Loss
I recently had a member of my family lose 15 pounds in the past 4 months by cutting back his carbonated beverage intake. Since congratulations were in order, I asked my father if he had started exercising more than his once a week basketball league. He responded that he had thought about it. Which is a big step for my dad. But since he and I had that conversation, I thought I would highlight something very important. Exercise is beneficial on many more levels than simply aiding weight loss. The most important benefits are that your cardiovascular system becomes far more healthy. Your total cholesterol is lowered, your high density (the good kind) cholesterol increases, your triglycerides decrease, and many other markers are changed in a positive way. Remember to encourage those loved ones in your lives to not be concerned only with weight loss, but to exercise so they will be around and healthy for a longer time.
Sand Volleyball
Sand volleyball is a great way to get in a quick, fun workout. You get a great workout on your legs with all the jumping, side to side movement, and running after the ball. But you also get some good core work in as well as some great calorie burn. The unexpected benefit comes in playing barefoot and working those smaller muscles in the foot. I’ve just gotten back into playing and I can definitely feel it this morning, but it’s about as enjoyable an activity as I can imagine.
Fabulous 400
I get asked quite a bit what the best exercise is to work the abs. There is no one best exercise, but I did put together a little routine for you to do when you are sitting in front of the TV. I call this the fabulous 400 because you get an all-around ab workout in 400 repetitions. Just complete each exercise twice for twenty repetitions, but I recommend moving from one to the next and progressing through the list twice.
Toe touches – lying on your back, put your feet straight up into the air and reach toward the toes with both hands. The shoulders should leave the ground and return to count as 1 rep.
Knee Touches – lying on the back with the feet flat on the ground and knees bent. Reach and touch your kneecaps with both hands. Touch the knees 20 times.
Leg Raises – lying flat on your back with your hands underneath your buttocks, raise the legs from flat on the ground to straight up in the air. Returning the legs to the ground completes 1 repetition.
Front Plank – lying on your stomach, raise yourself up onto your forearms and toes and hold with a flat back, as though there were a board that ran from your head to your feet. Hold for 20 seconds.
V-sits – lying on your back with your hands over your head, raise your feet straight up and touch your toes at the same time. This requires some coordination and practice. 20 repetitions.
Opposite foot-hand touches – same starting position as v-sits but raise your left leg to the straight up position and touch it with your right hand. After 20 repetitions, repeat with the right leg and left hand for 20 repetitions.
90 degree crunches – lying flat on your back bend your knees to 90 degrees and raise your feet off the ground. Crunch and lift the shoulders off the ground for 1 repetition.
Heels to ceiling – legs straight up, hands under the buttocks, try to raise your hips off the ground and thrust the feet high into the air! Repeat 20 times.
Russian Twists – Sitting on the ground with the feet on the ground and knees bent, touch the ground on the right side of the hip, then touch the ground on the left side of the hip. This is one repetition and repeat this 20 times.
That’s the fabulous 400 folks. Do it with as little rest as possible for some awesome abs.
Vacation Workout
With all the summer vacations coming around here at the HIT Center, I thought I’d put together a vacation challenge workout for you to try while you are out relaxing. The goal is to finish the workout as quickly as possible, and yes, you should be timing yourself. You need no equipment, you just need to be able to push yourself. Here goes:
10 Pushups
20 Crunches
20 Leg Raises
Run Half mile
50 Squats
20 Lunges Each Leg
5 Pullups
Run half mile
Repeat.
We’ll see who has the best time. I’m going to try this and ask me how it went.
Warming Up
We make you do it, and we hear about it. ‘Do I really have to warm up?’. There has always been the thought that warming up reduces injury and enhances performance, but there has not been a lot of high-quality research done on the topic. If you go to a 5k, you will see all sorts of warm up strategies, from the stand around approach to the run 5 miles at an easy pace approach. The important thing is to find what works best for you. Some people are best when starting the workout with no warm up. Others of you like to stretch, and still others run around like a chicken with it’s head cut off. Just be ready to work when it’s time to go.
Summer Running Season
The summer running season is upon us. Some of us may be training for 5ks, 10ks, half-marathons, or even a marathon. Things to keep in mind while training for one of these races: 1) Make sure you are consuming enough calories to maintain your training plan. The diet of a 5k runner looks much different than someone training for a marathon. If you aren’t sure what to eat, there are lots of books and running forums to help you out. 2) Make sure you pay attention to your mileage. If you just run without knowing what you have done, you won’t be able to note improvements. 3) PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR BODY! Some days you may need to take a day off. Listen to your body, it will give you the right advice on how to train. Enjoy your training and good luck with your PRs.
Lighter weights+More reps = less tone?
A recent article in the New York times shed some light on the toning controversy that currently exists. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/06/health/06real.html?src=me&ref=general The author cites several academic studies that show that litfting higher weight for lower reps actually helped women increase muscle tone, while not adding bulk. The people who lifted the heavier weights for fewer reps also had a greater metabolism boost than those who did the lighter weights. In a different study, the heavier weight and lower rep group also lost more body fat than the lighter weight, higher rep group. So consider this a busted myth! While it is good to have some variety in weights and sets, if you want to see better results, be ready to incorporate different lifting styles.
60 minutes to watch your weight?
A recent aritcle published in the Journal of the American Medical Association has been promoted by writers as saying that women need to exercise 60 minutes a day in order to maintain their body weight. However, upon closer reading, this article will actually tell you that you need to do 21 MET minutes of exercise per week. The 60 minutes of exercise per day, as reported by news outlets, is medium-paced walking. Strength training can also be factored in, along with running, biking, and other activities that are more intense than walking. You don’t need to suddenly change to spending 60 minutes a day working out as hard as you can. Don’t forget, an injury will mean that you can spend 0 minutes a day exercising. Follow a prescribed plan from an exercise professional if you have any doubts about what you should be doing to meet your goals.
Functional Foods
Functional foods are an exciting new take on foods that you might already be eating. A functional food is a food that is eaten for benefits to cardiovascual health. You might already be eating things such as fruits and vegetables, but did you know that eating dark chocolate will actually lessen your likelihood for cardiovascular disease? And now you know that grabbing a handful of nuts is good not only for protein, but also for preventing heart attacks. These are foods that you might have around as a healthy snack option, but you also are keeping that heart as healthy as the day you were born. So enjoy that Hershey’s Dark Chocolate Kiss and let your loved ones know that you are doing it for your heart.
