Good Morning!
It is Tuesday and rainy. I woke up this morning after a great night's rest and man....what a difference that can make. I need to be able to sleep so that I can recover well from these work outs and honestly it can be a week or even two before I get one night of good rest. Last night hopefully will be one of many to come.
This is going to be a short post as I don't have a review to post but I did want to direct my attention to the weather this morning. One of the first things that I thought to myself "I don't want to work out today instead I want to lay here in bed."
Well of course, I didn't. I got up, dressed, put on my make-up, threw my hair up and ran out the door. I thought about what I would be posting this morning as I was driving and though that this would be excellent!
How to keep moving even when the skies aren't sunny:
On a perfect sunny day, it’s easy to get motivated for a brisk walk in the park or even a challenging jog around the neighborhood. But when spring showers make the outdoors a less-enticing place, it’s much harder to find the will to work out.
Don’t give up on getting fit by waiting until there’s a more favorable forecast. Instead, get creative indoors with your rainy day exercise.
One of the most important requirements for a successful at-home indoor workout is some good music. It doesn’t have to make you run up and down the halls at level 10. Just so you want to start toe-tapping and shaking your body and move.
Once you get the rhythm right, just start moving. Try walking around the hallways, climbing up and down the steps (I always take the stairs at work) if it’s not too hard on your joints, or just letting loose and dancing around the house. Swing your arms and add upper body movements to increase your energy output.
Work out to exercise videos with their sound turned down and your music turned up. You’ll be much more likely to stick with the routine if you like the tunes.
If you want a little more structure, try setting up a little bit of a boot camp in your living room with several different exercise stations (this is what I do sometimes). Do jumping jacks in one spot, then do bicep curls with hand weights at another station, step up and down on your bottom stair, then do squats, etc. The more variety you have, the less likely you are to get bored. I can do a complete interval training session in my bedroom and only need about 4 feet to do it in. So basically you can do this type of exercise anywhere! One site that I LOVE to use is http://www.bodyrocktv.com/. She Zuzana has been my motivation and inspiration now for almost a year and a half. I get so many ideas from her youtube videos and website. She is also the hottest person I think that I have ever seen so working out with her really makes me want to kick butt!
Convincing a pal to come over and exercise with you. Call a friend who is also sitting at home and it can be very effective. You can feed off of each other’s energy and then you’re accountable to that person, so you won’t stop. This is what I do almost everyday after work. Karen and I use each other to get in a good workout and keep the pace fast!
It is Tuesday and rainy. I woke up this morning after a great night's rest and man....what a difference that can make. I need to be able to sleep so that I can recover well from these work outs and honestly it can be a week or even two before I get one night of good rest. Last night hopefully will be one of many to come.
This is going to be a short post as I don't have a review to post but I did want to direct my attention to the weather this morning. One of the first things that I thought to myself "I don't want to work out today instead I want to lay here in bed."
Well of course, I didn't. I got up, dressed, put on my make-up, threw my hair up and ran out the door. I thought about what I would be posting this morning as I was driving and though that this would be excellent!
How to keep moving even when the skies aren't sunny:
On a perfect sunny day, it’s easy to get motivated for a brisk walk in the park or even a challenging jog around the neighborhood. But when spring showers make the outdoors a less-enticing place, it’s much harder to find the will to work out.
Don’t give up on getting fit by waiting until there’s a more favorable forecast. Instead, get creative indoors with your rainy day exercise.
One of the most important requirements for a successful at-home indoor workout is some good music. It doesn’t have to make you run up and down the halls at level 10. Just so you want to start toe-tapping and shaking your body and move.
Once you get the rhythm right, just start moving. Try walking around the hallways, climbing up and down the steps (I always take the stairs at work) if it’s not too hard on your joints, or just letting loose and dancing around the house. Swing your arms and add upper body movements to increase your energy output.
Work out to exercise videos with their sound turned down and your music turned up. You’ll be much more likely to stick with the routine if you like the tunes.
If you want a little more structure, try setting up a little bit of a boot camp in your living room with several different exercise stations (this is what I do sometimes). Do jumping jacks in one spot, then do bicep curls with hand weights at another station, step up and down on your bottom stair, then do squats, etc. The more variety you have, the less likely you are to get bored. I can do a complete interval training session in my bedroom and only need about 4 feet to do it in. So basically you can do this type of exercise anywhere! One site that I LOVE to use is http://www.bodyrocktv.com/. She Zuzana has been my motivation and inspiration now for almost a year and a half. I get so many ideas from her youtube videos and website. She is also the hottest person I think that I have ever seen so working out with her really makes me want to kick butt!
Convincing a pal to come over and exercise with you. Call a friend who is also sitting at home and it can be very effective. You can feed off of each other’s energy and then you’re accountable to that person, so you won’t stop. This is what I do almost everyday after work. Karen and I use each other to get in a good workout and keep the pace fast!
Monitor Your Motion
To stay motivated, it helps to have a tool to keep track of your workout accomplishments. Either take your pulse on a regular basis or consider investing in a heart rate monitor, which will give you feedback so you know you’re working efficiently.
A monitor tracks your heart rate as you’re exercising, allowing you to either increase or decrease the level of your exertion in order to keep your heart working in its ideal range. The monitors, which start at around $50, are available in sporting goods stores. You’ll need to calculate your target heart rate before using a monitor so you know where to start. (Not sure how to do it? Here’s how.)
Even easier and much less costly, invest in a simple pedometer or make a chart for your refrigerator.
Keep track of the distance like how many times you go up and down the stairs without getting tired or put a pedometer on your shoe and count how many steps you take. Find inexpensive ways to kind of make it a game and also involve your mind.
Gadgets and Gizmos
If you need a little more inspiration than music or monitors to get your feet off the ottoman, try playing cards or video games. Seriously.
Some of the latest Nintendo DS games are geared toward adults needing a little push to get physical. Offerings such as “My Weight Loss Coach” ($29.99) and “Quick Yoga Training” ($19.99) require users to actually move more than their thumbs. The yoga game lets players choose poses that focus on stress-relief or balance while the weight-loss game tracks progress toward a target weight, using fitness and nutrition challenges as well as a pedometer. Another site that I use on a regular basis is http://www.yogatoday.com/ and they offer a FREE one hour yoga class a week that is amazing. The package deal is SUPER affordable too if you are wanting to do any level of yoga from your home. I love this site!
The Nintendo Wii Fit also lets you do a nontraditional indoor workout using a balance board and a Wii gaming system hooked up to your TV. You can choose yoga poses (led by a virtual trainer), balance games such as dodging soccer balls or ski jumping, and cardio exercises like boxing, jogging and twirling hula hoops. (The Wii retails for $249.99 and the Wii Fit game is $89.99.)
If you don’t want to get so high-tech, start shuffling. Pick up some FitDeck cards ($9.95-$14.95, http://www.fitdeck.com/), a series of playing cards targeted toward various fitness levels, types and lifestyles. Each deck offers a stack of individual moves you can do geared, for example, toward seniors or focused on stretching, yoga or stair exercises. You can pull out these decks and deal yourself a rainy day workout.
Other Options
Of course, you’re not stuck in your house if you want to move when the great outdoors isn’t so great. Head to a mall and walk. Swim laps at an indoor pool. Take fitness classes (like the or use the elliptical machine at the gym. If your joints and balance are up to it, try skating at the roller or ice rink.
The key, is to make your motivation internal rather than external. Don’t let stormy skies keep you from getting the exercise you need.
Too many people let the weather or outside circumstances become the motivator to get them to move. If you find yourself hemming and hawing because of the weather, catch yourself midstream, catch yourself being negative and make yourself move.
And smile when you do it! My aerobic teacher use to yell out "smile, it burns more calories!!!" She always made me laugh when she said that and it did put a smile on my face.
Hope these ideas help you next time the skies aren't as clear as you would like. Being prepared for not so great weather is where the key lies. If you already have a plan for when it is raining, sleeting, snowing or just too cold or hot out you are more likely to stick to the plan.
Good luck and see you tomorrow!
-Heather
