I want to start this out by saying, that in no way is exercise ever pointless or a waste of time. Something is always better than nothing and any amount of exercise should be celebrated.
That being said, there are a lot of “classic” exercises people stick to that really aren’t doing much for your fitness- either because there is a more effective way to work the same muscles, or the exercise you think is hitting certain areas really isn’t hitting anything at all.
People get a little prickly when you tell them their tried and true favorite anything isn’t working for them- but especially when it comes to messing with someone’s health routine. In fact, in the American Council on Exercise personal training certification manual it flat out tells you if someone isn’t going to hurt themselves, either with exercise or nutritionally, like in the case of supplements and vitamins, let ‘em be. It’s better to not turn anyone off of diet and exercise than try to be right if it really isn’t life and death.
So,
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2011 is rapidly approaching and it’s time to ask yourself, is your bottom half where you what it to be?
This 2011 New Year’s Butt Blast is a workout designed to target every muscle of the lower body and push it to the max. Every muscle is challenged, both strength- and endurance-wise. The front squats and squat jumps are designed to target the glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps, hip flexors, and calves, all while increasing your heart rate to burn calories and build endurance. The lunges, backward lunges, and side lunges are designed to target the glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps, and hip flexors. The step-ups are designed to target the quadriceps, calves, glutes, and hip flexors all while increasing your heart rate and, lastly, the bend over kickbacks are designed to target the glutes and hip flexors.
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Body weight exercises are an effective and inexpensive way of working out. By using only the resistance of your own body, you can gain strength, endurance and inner peace. Body weight exercises are great because you can get an effective workout anytime, any place, with no equipment. Walking, swimming, dancing and yoga are all considered body weight exercises. While I encourage you to explore those, here are a couple specific body weight exercises to try out:
The Superman Lie on your stomach with your arms and legs outstretched, with a neutral spine so your elbows are by ears. Contracting your lower back, gently lift your arms and legs off the ground, hold for a few breaths, and slowly release them back to the floor. Repeat. This exercise works your lower back and core.
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There are many October activities that are fun and incidentally, great exercise. Corn mazes, haunted houses, harvest festivals, pumpkin patches, scavenger hunts and colored-leaf-scouting all provide great reasons to get outside the house and get moving. Let’s be real though, for many kids Halloween is still all about the trick-or-treating. A lot of parents dread the night of walking up and down the block, endlessly taking step after step. The attitude there is all wrong. Trick-or-treating is the perfect family outing! This year, maximize the time you spend taking your kids door to door. Make it fun and make it active. Here are a few ways to do just that:
- Trick-or-treat in an area where the homes are farther apart. More walking equals more calories burned.
CrossFit is a brand or style of strength and endurance training that combines almost every aspect of sports training available. From gymnastics and weight training to sprinting and pushing the body to max, this style of training improves your endurance, stamina, over-all strength, speed, power, agility, flexibility, balance, coordination, and mental toughness. Phew.
I recently took a CrossFit class and was sore for a week. I normally do traditional cardiovascular training (jog 30 to 60 minutes) and standard weight training (45 of strength training) and consider myself a workout veteran, but CrossFit challenged me to almost failure (which is good because the gym is the only place where failure is encouraged). The class I took consisted of a jump rope warm up, jumping from balance beam to balance beam, squats, shoulder presses, and pull-ups. It was an amazing workout! Every workout is different, though, and you are encouraged to compete against yourself to finish the workout as fast as you can.
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