Exercise Makes Me Happy

Benefits of a Regular Exercise Routine:

1.  Allows you to feel more confident with your body
2.  Improves your sex life
3.  Improves circulation
4.  Boosts your mood
5.  Prevents bone loss
6.  Helps you sleep better by falling asleep faster and sleeping more soundly
7.  Prevents and manages high blood pressure and cholesterol levels
8.  Helps manage stress by boosting good endorphins and regulating hormones
9.  Helps with pain management
10.  Increases muscle strength
11.  Helps in the battle to quit smoking
12.  Reduces risk of stroke and coronary artery disease
13.  Delays the aging process and maintains quality of life
14.  Allows seniors to maintain their independence longer
15.  Provides a way to share activities with family and friends
16.  Counters anxiety and depression
17.  Releases tension
18.  Improves memory and brain function
19.  Stabilizes blood sugar levels
20.  Burns fat and calories
21.  Improves learning
22.  Keeps Alzheimer's at bay
23.  Improves the complexion of your skin
24.  Lowers your resting heart rate
25.  Aids in weight loss
26.  Boosts the immune system
27.  Enhanced sport performance
28.  Reduce risk of some cancers
29.  Improves self esteem
30.  Allows you to meet new people
31.  Brings you to new places and locations
32.  Provides you with opportunity to explore
33.  You are able to try new activities
34.  It allows you to push your body to the limit
35.  Exercise makes you happy :)

Exercise gives you endorphins, endorphins make you happy... happy people just don't shoot their husbands.  -Elle Woods, Legally Blonde

Do You Walk Enough?

If you have a job that allows you to move and use your body for physical labor, consider yourself lucky!  Numerous studies are starting to raise awareness of the amount of sitting and how it has a huge impact on your health.  These studies will go so far to say that sitting too long actually raises your death risk.  

Most of us have a desk job where we sit for about 8 hours a day.  Maybe in the morning or after work you spend about an hour at the gym and another 2 hours running errands and making dinner, but combined with the amount of time Americans spend in the car or on the couch, it adds up to way too much sitting throughout the day.  

A study that followed 222,497 adults during their daily life over several years discovered that, over the course of the study, participants who sat for more than 11 hours a day had the highest risk for all-cause mortality, followed by those who sat between 8-11 hours a day and those who sat for less than 4 hours daily had the lowest risk for all-cause mortality.

The scariest thing about these studies are the fact that the effects of sitting this long can NOT be exercised away.  Although you burn more calories, you do not increase the overall muscle activity in the body.  A different study proved that the muscles of people who are desk workers are inactive for about 70% of the day, regardless if they do planned exercise or not.

The take away point?  We need to move more! On average, people currently walk 3,000-4,000 steps per day.  According to the World Health Organization's daily activity requirement, we should walk about 10,000 steps daily for general health.    And if you are trying to lose weight... increase that number to 20,000 steps per day.  A good goal for individuals who are trying to become more active, is to increase average daily steps each week by 500 per day until you can easily average your final goal of 10,000-20,000.

The easiest way to track your number of steps is with a pedometer.  Start by wearing one every day for a week from sunrise to when your feet hit the bed.  At the end of each day, log how many steps you took in a notebook and find your average daily steps at the end of the week.  My guess is you'll be surprised at how many (or should I say how few) steps you took!

You can purchase a basic pedometer at a local sporting goods store for a relatively good price.  I like the Omron Pedometer HJ 320 because it uses a pendulum design so that it doesn't miscount steps.  With this design you can wear the device wherever it feels best (on your body or even in a purse!).  This device also has 7 day memory so you can see how you are progressing over the week.

If you are not ready to spend any money on something like this yet and you have a smart phone, you could always try an app.  I use the "Pacer" app from an Iphone.  Just be careful to pause the pedometer if you are picking your phone up and down a lot as it may read as a step.

Finally, I love Fit devices such as the FitBit Flex, The Nike Fuelband or the Up by Jawbone.  Check those out on a recent blog I did here.

Need some great tips to help you get started?
1. Park in the back of the lot when you get to work or go to the store
2. Take the stairs over the elevator or escalator when possible
3. Go to a different floor/building when you need to use the restroom
4. Set an alarm at your desk to get up and do a lap around the office every hour
5. Fidget while you work at your desk
6. Incorporate walking lunges into your workout routine to burn extra calories while doing bicep curls or an overhead press
7. Schedule a walking work meeting or walk during a conference call
8. Skip the drive through and walk in to get your coffee or lunch
9. Instead of meeting a friend for lunch, meet up for a hike or walk in the city
10. Walk the dog everyday (good chance that if your dog is overweight... you aren't getting enough exercise!)

The Calorie Torcher | Circuit Workout

Do you love a good circuit workout?  Me too!  Circuit training combines cardio and strength into one workout for maximum results and minimal time at the gym.  If possible, gather everything you need and do the workout in a studio where you can spread out and don't need to share the equipment with people who may be on it for longer intervals.  This will help you minimize the time between exercises.  Strength training is becoming a very popular style of trainning for individuals who are trying to burn fat.  (Remember that a muscle will burn 30% more calories than fat will).  If you are not quite ready to give up your cardio, this is a perfect way to get started.  This workout is for the intermediate to advanced athlete.  Leave a comment if you have a question on any of the exercises, need a demo, or would like a modification to any of these.  I'd also love to hear your thoughts if you give it a try!

Windmill Exercise
From Fitbie.msn.com

Workout -

Round 1: 
1.  Windmills with Dumbbell   
2.  Squat-Row on Cable Machine  
3.  Alternating Lunge & Curl  
4.  Speedskaters
5.  Pull-ups

Do 3 sets of this round of exercises without rest.  45 seconds/station.

When finished rest for 3-5 minutes and begin round 2.  

Round 2:

Spiderman Pushup
From Womenshealthmag.com

1.  Burpees
2.  Spiderman Push-ups
3.  Swiss Ball Knee Tucks
4.  Single arm dumbbell snatch
5.  Tricep Dips (do on a bench with feet on the floor if necessary)


Complete 3 sets of this round of exercises without rest.  45 seconds/station.

When finished, cool down for a minimum of 5 minutes and do light stretching.

Good Luck!
oxox, Em

Intervals | Time to Sprint

Is your goal to burn fat?  Then you better make intervals a key part of your program.  I discussed the benefits of Tabatas earlier this week, but what if you are a runner?  Can any runner make intervals a part of their routine?  You bet!  Speed work and sprints are not only going to help you burn more fat, but they will also make you stronger in certain points of a race, especially when trying to cross the finish line with nothing left!

There is a certain magic to doing intervals that they have an ability to continue burning fat and calories event after you leave the gym.  Here's the real science, your body is not able to bring in enough Oxygen during periods of hard work and you start to accumulate a "debt" of oxygen that must be repaid post workout.  Your body must help you recover and bring you back to your normal.  This leaves your metabolism revved for hours after you leave the gym.  This is what we like to call excess post-exercise oxygen consumption or EPOC.  

Intervals should be made into a regular part of your routine for the best results.  You can always start with slower intervals with more rest to work.  As you improve, shorten the amount of rest you take or make the interval faster.  Ideally, interval training is best when you complete it a couple times a week.  Make sure to have at least one rest day in between.

On to the next point, how do they make you stronger/faster?  Intense intervals stimulate muscle building hormones, which help you to build lean mass.  You will also be developing your cardiovascular system at the same time.  This will increase your cardio ability and strengthen the heart.  Not only will you be able to push harder and harder the more you improve, but you will be able to recover faster and faster!

Here is a treadmill sprint workout for an intermediate to advanced athlete:

1 minute Sprint

90 second Recovery

1 minute Sprint at 3% incline

90 second Recovery

1 minute Sprint at 6% incline

90 second Recovery

1 minute Sprint at 9% incline

90 second Recovery

1 minute Sprint at 12% incline

2-3 minutes Complete Rest

Repeat three to six times depending on level of conditioning.  Recovery should be light walking while complete rest means to stop.  Do this by jumping your feet to the sideboards of the treadmill.

Be sure to include at least 5 minutes of warm-up and a good walking cool down with light stretching.  Post number of sets to comments.

Good Luck! Em

FITNESS & FASHION | Nike Fuelband, Fitbit Flex, & Up by Jawbone

I love a good fitness gadget and these 3 are at the top of my list.  What an awesome constant motivator to move and exercise.  If you always have a competitive nature like myself, you will constantly be pushing yourself to do more.  Other than being competitive, I am super analytic.  I love numbers, charts, graphs and visuals, and these devices will give me just that.  I personally love Nike gadgets, but the other 2 can do a few things that the Nike Fuelband can't, such as track your sleep/quality of sleep and food intake.  The Up will even go so far as to help you take the perfect power nap.  It has a silent vibration wake alarm that if you set for 25 minutes, will wake you 25 minutes after you actually fall asleep!  Overall, these cool gadgets will get you set on the right page when you need to be.  What do you think?  The next hot thing, or completely overrated?

Nike Fuel band ($149)

Fitbit Flex ($99.95)

Up by Jawbone ($129.99)

Tabatas

There are many different types of exercise and there is not always a right answer to which one is going to work best for you.  One particular workout program that many people do not know a lot about is the Tabata.  It provides similar health benefits to that of cardio workouts but has a bit more pizzazz.  Not only can they be completed in just 4 minutes, but they are a lot more fun!  They fall under the category of HIIT or high intensity interval training.

The Tabata was founded by a scientist, Izumi Tabata and fellow colleagues at the department of physiology in Japan when they conducted a study to compare moderate intensity training to HIIT.  He conducted tests on 2 groups of athletes, Group 1 used moderate intensity interval training (1 hour sessions at 70% intensity, 5 days/week, 6 weeks) and Group 2 used HIIT (4 minute sessions, at 20 second intervals of 100% intensity and 10 seconds of rest, 4 days/week, 6 weeks).

Here are the direct results of the test:

• Group 1 had a significant increase in the aerobic system (cardiovascular system) with little or no gains in the anaerobic system (muscles)
• Group 2 showed much improvement in all their athletes.  Their aerobic systems increased much more than Group 1 and their anaerobic systems increased by 28%.
• HIIT had a bigger impact on the aerobic systems and the anaerobic system as well.

Although you can incorporate any exercise into Tabata training, here is the basic outline of the Tabata training method:

• 4 minutes long (whole session)
• 20 seconds of intense training
• 10 seconds of rest
• total of 8 sessions or rounds
• You may do more than one tabata in a workout to make it a total body routine

Check out this online Tabata Timer if you don't have a stopwatch handy.

You can use almost any exercise in a Tabata so choose ones that will help you reach your specific goals.  Tabatas should not replace all of your workouts, but could be done 2-3 times per week.  Try starting out slow and working up to more.  Also, make sure to warm up your muscles before and complete a cool-down after.  

If you find your workout is still too easy, you may not be working at full intensity... so push yourself harder!

Here is an example of a Tabata Workout:

Tabata 1:

Push-ups - 20 seconds hard/10 seconds rest

Squats - 20 seconds hard/10 seconds rest

*Repeat for 4 minutes

Tabata 2:

Speedskaters - 20 seconds hard/10 seconds rest

Reverse Lunges 20 seconds hard/10 seconds rest

*Repeat for 4 minutes

Tabata 3:

Kettlebell Thrusters - 20 seconds hard/10 seconds rest

Mountain Climbers - 20 seconds hard/10 seconds rest

*Repeat for 4 minutes

Good luck!

oxox, Em

Results, Results, Results

We live in a world driven by seeing numbers and getting results.  It is obvious that exercise and a healthy diet is going to make you a better person and will increase your quality of life, but what happens when you are putting in the work at the gym and you are not physically seeing the changes.  You  may feel discouraged, disappointed, and are usually ready to throw in the towel.  If you are really putting in the work, you will get the results you want.  If you are not currently seeing the results you want, you may be guilty of a few of these common mistakes.  Don't worry, they are all easy fixes; take a step back and read on to see what could potentially be dragging you down.


1.  You are not working hard enough - 
If you have been exercising consistently for several weeks, months, or even longer, it's time to increase the intensity and start pushing yourself.  As you work out, your body starts to adapt to the physical stress it endures and becomes more efficient at what activity it is doing.  This means that over time, the 30 minute workout that used to challenge you, may start to feel easy and will not get you to the same results.  If you continue doing the same old thing, you are going to see the same old results.

What to do?  
To get the results you want from exercise, you must regularly push yourself beyond your comfort zone.  This is called the "Principle of Overload" where a greater than normal stress or load on the body is required for training adaption to take place.  You must either increase your frequency, intensity, or duration of your workouts... but just switch it up!

2.  You are working too hard - 
If you always go all out in every workout, or rarely ever take that day off, you may be hindering your progress more than anything.  During exercise, tiny tears are created in the muscle, if you do not give yourself time to recover, you will never start to build those muscle tears back up.  Watch for common signs of over training such as: always feeling tired or sore, unexplained headaches, insomnia, or lack of motivation.

What to do?  
Take 3-5 days off from training altogether.  Your body needs that time to rest and recover.  Get plenty of sleep each night, fill up on protein and nutritious foods and then slowly ease back into your routine.  Incorporate shorter and less intense workouts into your weekly routine and remember always have at least one day of rest a week!

3.  You are only doing cardio -
Cardio is an essential component in calorie burning but a proper exercise routine will integrate cardio, strength, and flexibility.  A proper strength training routine will allow you to change your body composition by building more muscle, decreasing body fat, and strengthening your bone density.  You're a women and are worried about getting big and bulky? Not going to happen; read my previous article here: Big & Bulky | Women Lifting Weights.

What to do?
Start with body weight exercises such as squats, lunges,  push-ups, planks, and tricep dips at least twice a week.  If you are still a hardcore cardio fan, try kettlebell traning or circuit training that incorporates strength and cardio in one workout.  If you are still stuck? Reach out to a personal training at your gym for ideas.

4.  You reward yourself with food - 
Do you often find yourself having that extra piece of pizza or order a dessert when dining out just because "you went to the gym"?  Guess what?  You are actually undoing your good calorie-burning with too many treats.

What to do?
Check out the calorie content of some of your favorite foods and treats and then do the math to find out how many calories you are actually burning through exercise.  Does it add up?  Try using an app or website that tracks calories for you such as Sparkpeople or Loseit!  Remember, food should be consumed to fuel your body, NOT for comfort and love.  We can find those emotions from other things.  Yes you should enjoy your food, but find healthy and clean ways to fuel your body.  You want the results? Then put in the effort.

5.  You sit all day - 
Even though you may workout regularly, if you spend the rest of the day on your butt, you are in trouble!  If you sit at a desk all day and lounge on the couch all night, that 1 hour of hard work at the gym can almost be erased.  Recent studies have actually shown that sitting too much is actually bad for our health and waistlines... despite what you are doing at the gym!

What to do?
Try to work more activity into all areas of your life.  Go for a walk after dinner, choose to stand when possible, take the stairs, park at the back of the lot, do crunches and abs in front of the TV, and actually play with the dog!  If you are forced to sit at a desk all day, try setting an alarm for every half to one hour as a reminder to get up, do a lap around the office, and stretch out.  All that computer time is also not good for our back or brains!

There may be  many more reasons you may not be seeing the results you want, but here are some simple rules to start with.  In fact, I think I could do another 5 at another time.  But for now, look at the obvious, and if you do fall into some of these traps, fix it!  I promise a little hard work is worth the results you will see in the end!

oxox, Em

Treadmill Workout

Equipment: Treadmill & You (maybe a sweat towel)
Level: Intermediate
Time: 40 minutes

Time (minutes)	Speed	Incline
0-3	3.5 - 4.0  (light walk)	0
3-6	3.5 - 4.0  (incline walk)	10
6-9	5.0 - 7.0 (incline jog)	8
9-12	7.5 + (sprint)	0
12-15	3.5 - 4.0	0
15-18	3.5 - 4.0	10
18-21	5.0 - 7.0	8
21-24	7.5 +	0
24-27	3.5 - 4.0	0
27-30	3.5 - 4.0	10
30-33	5.0 - 7.0	8
33-36	7.5 +	0

*Speed and Incline can be adjusted as needed to make the intensity harder or easier.  This treadmill workout is aimed to burn fat and push your boundaries, so work hard.  Cool down for 5 minutes after followed by some light stretching.

Good Luck! oxox, Em

Time to Bundle Up

Blizzard got you down? Too much snow to get outside?  Stuck inside all day and you are tempted to eat just one more cookie?  Well, bundle up... some quality snow time can really burn some calories!  Now that you have survived the blizzard, there is no reason to stay inside.  Remember calories burned varies on weight, height, gender, and muscle mass (the light end is based on a 130 lb female and the upper end is based on a 220 lb male).  Here's what you can expect:

             Activity                            Calories Burned/Hour

Shoveling ..................................... 320 - 400

Sledding ....................................... 340 - 500

Moderate XC Skiing ..................... 400 - 580

Moderate Downhill Skiing ........... 300 - 450

Skating ........................................ 340 - 520

So don't stay in just because of a little snow.  Be a kid again, build tunnels, make snow angels, go sledding.  You will burn off some of those calories that added up after days of staying in and you'll have fun while doing it!  Plus besides... someone has to dig up the car!