Posted by Tula Karras on Wed, Aug 18, 2010
If you're like me, you're not exactly fluent in fitness-speak. I just recently learned what interval training is (alternating intense bouts of exercise, like sprinting, with a less strenuous activity, like walking). The latest phrase being bandied about in the fitness world is "CrossFit" training. To find out what all the buzz was about, I consulted Larysa DiDio, a celebrity trainer (her clients include the amazing Nastia Luikin!) and personal fitness coach in New York City. She gave me a tutorial and then put me through the paces of a beginner's CrossFit routine. Below, a basic FAQ and the routine Larysa developed for me (based on her NITRO workout, which is a more streamlined version of CrossFit but with maximum results), which you can try on your own at the gym or in your living room.
What is CrossFit?
"It's a type of training that gives you cardio, strength, flexibility and stamina benefits, all in 10 to 20 minutes," says Larysa. "You do a series of exercises back-to-back, with the goal of performing them as quickly as you can within a fixed amount of time. Another element of CrossFit is that it changes every day, so you never get bored. Your trainer gives you a new routine daily—known in CrossFit speak as WOD, or "workout of the day," or you can sign up for emails at a CrossFit Web site, such as Crossfit.com, and have your workouts sent to you daily."
What are the benefits of doing CrossFit as opposed to other types of exercise programs?
"If you're strapped for time, it's the way to go," Larysa says. "It's also ideal if you get bored easily, because you get a new routine each day. Plus, mixing it up is great for your muscles, because they never have the chance to adapt—they're always learning to do something new, so you'll never plateau and stop seeing results. And CrossFit training works your core, which is important for preventing injury."
"Unlike interval training, CrossFit doesn't build in downtime or recovery periods, which accounts for the brevity of the routine. But you can modify some of moves to be less strenuous to give your body a chance to recover if need be. Or you can take a break at any time, really. You're basically in competition with yourself, so listen to your body," she says.
Not to mention, the three circuits I did burned about 200 calories—not bad considering I made a time investment of only 15 minutes!
Who can do CrossFit?
"Anyone, although you should definitely visit a gym that offers CrossFit training and get professional instruction at least once before trying it on your own. Most of the exercises are basic—like squats, pushups or bicycles. And even though the goal is to go quickly and increase your speed, you can go at your own pace," she says. "Many CrossFit programs do require gym equipment, however, which is why I developed the NITRO program—it's a simpler, pared-down CrossFit anyone can do, anywhere."
Larysa's Basic CrossFit Workout
I did the below circuit three times and I can tell you two things: 1) It's definitely a workout (I was sore—in a good way—the next day) and 2) It's the speediest workout I've ever completed. In less than 15 minutes, I'd completed three circuits and worked my core, arms, legs and back and my heart rate was pumping. Check out the video below to watch Larysa demo the circuit so you can practice safe form.
She recommends you do it three days a week (every other day) in place of your regular strength training routine (but in addition to your normal cardio workouts), and do as many circuits as you can within 15 minutes. Drink water as needed to stay hydrated. Ready, set … begin!
• 20 jumping jacks
• 10 squat thrusts with jumps (I didn't know what these were; now I do, and I hate them! For a detailed description of squat thrusts with jumps, also called burpees, check out Best Life fitness expert Michelle Kennedy's blog.
• 10 pushups (I did this girl-style, with my knees on the floor)
• 10 supermen
• 10 sumo squats
• 10 reverse dips (Keep your bum as close to the bench or chair as possible to work your triceps.)
• 10 mountain climbers (This move was also featured by Best Life fitness expert Michelle Kennedy on the Best Life blog; click here to check it out.)
• 10 bicycles
Posted by Willow Jarosh on Mon, Aug 16, 2010
The compass on my keychain might seem like more of a necessity for someone living in the wilderness as opposed to Manhattan, but I actually find myself using it quite often. Sure, most streets in Manhattan abide by a numerical system that runs east-west and north-south. But I've been known to get completely lost downtown, where the grid system no longer exists, or in Central Park, where lush trees don't serve as clear a landmark as the Empire State building does. I can always depend on MY compass to let me know which way is north, no matter where I am—and from there, I know the direction I need to go to get back on track.
The last time I used my compass I started thinking about the things in my life that act as my "health compass," the things that point me back to usual healthy routine when I find myself out of my comfort zone like when I'm traveling or off track due to stress and an over-packed scheduled. The more I thought about this, the more I liked the idea of having a health compass, or rather several health compasses. Here are a few of the things that I came up with that always guide me back to where I want to be. What are some of yours?
1. Standard grocery list. If you're having trouble maneuvering your way through meals and snacks because life is busy or you're simply not home as much because of work or events, stocking up on tried-and-true healthy basics can help you see your direction right away. I have a grocery list of basics that includes things like whole-grain bread, hummus, raw and frozen veggies, peanut butter, fresh and frozen fruit, veggie burgers, low-fat plain yogurt, and nonfat milk (or almond milk). This list, which consists of my dozen or so must-haves, serves as a powerful reminder of the direction I want to go with my eating habits.
2. Go-to recipes. I keep a binder of nutritious recipes in my kitchen. It includes hand-written recipes I've gotten from friends as well as pages torn from my favorite health magazines. I also dedicated a folder on my computer to my favorites recipes that I find online or friends email me. A quick look through my binder and electronic folder reminds me of the healthful cooking I like to do and the delicious flavors I love to eat when I start to feel bored or uninspired in the kitchen.
3. Health-related web sites and magazines. Reading about how other people met their health or weight goals, seeing pictures of nutritious meals or videos of workouts, and reading inspiring stories of people tackling mountain climbs or bike races all remind me of the direction I'd like to go. Pick up a magazine to read at the gym, or log onto a site like TheBestLife.com, which features a supportive community and loads of informative articles, when you might be tempted to snack.
4. An enjoyable exercise. Feeling my heart pumping and my leg muscles working on a brisk, long walk reminds me very quickly that I feel great when I'm moving on a regular basis. The instant mood-boost I get from a challenging walk points me firmly in the direction of my health goals and reminds me how nice it is to feel wonderful. This feeling is especially inspiring when I've been stressed and have put my healthy eating and exercise routine on hold.
Posted by Michelle Kennedy on Fri, Aug 06, 2010
Ready to scale Everest, the Himalayas or Machu Picchu? OK, so maybe climbing the highest peaks in the world isn't on your agenda, but you can still work out as though it were using the mountain climber.
This move, which works your heart and challenges your legs, core, shoulders, triceps and upper back, can easily fit into your regular routine whether you're at home or the gym. In fact, it's a great way to transition from floor moves (like a pushup, plank or superman) to standing moves (like a triceps extension, bicep curl or reverse fly) when you're doing a circuit or are just tight on time. Throwing in a mountain climber between each set takes only about 30 seconds, but will increase the intensity of your workout (and your fitness level) tremendously.
To perform a mountain climber see the directions below or check out the video.
• Begin in a pushup position, up on your toes with your hands shoulder width apart on the ground. Your body should be in a straight line from your head down to your toes.
• Jump the right foot as close to your hands as is comfortable, leaving your left leg extended out behind you.Try to perform an extended lunge but modify as your flexibility allows.
• Once your feet touch the ground, quickly jump again (keep your hands firmly planted on the ground) and switch feet so your left foot is between your hands and your right foot is out behind you.
• Continue to jump for 20 to 30 seconds without pause.
To modify the move to make it less challenging, you can:
• Slow the pace of your jumps.
• Step rather than jump. Start in an extended lunge position (hands on the ground) with your right foot forward. Instead of jumping, bring your left foot up beside the right foot, keeping your legs slightly bent. As soon as your left foot is planted, extend your right foot back into the extended lunge. Continue to step up and back as quickly as you can working on flexibitliy, balance and strength. Repeat as many times as you can in 30 seconds.
• Put your hands up on an aerobic step, the first step of your stairs or a BOSU.
Posted by Donna Fennessy on Thu, Aug 05, 2010
You've probably seen the Best Life seal on a number of different healthy foods—from pasta to buttery spreads to liquid egg whites—during your visit to the grocery store. Now, the Best Life seal, which makes it easier to identify products that help you live your best life, is moving beyond your supermarket shelves and into the fitness world, as Bob Greene has awarded the seal to Octane Fitness machines.
Octane's standing elliptical first caught Bob's attention during one of his workouts at a hotel fitness center while he was traveling the country on his last book tour. "After that workout, I contacted the company to congratulate them on creating such great machines," Bob says. "These machines give you the best of both worlds—they offer the great intensity of a running workout with the forgiving ease and comfort of an elliptical motion." In fact, Bob liked them so much, he replaced the elliptical in his home gym with Octane's xRide seated elliptical and the top-of-the-line Pro4700 standing elliptical.
"The ergonomics of these machines are superb—the smooth motion is natural and the low-impact, total-body workouts are extremely effective," Bob says. Indeed, this is one of the company's primary goals—to deliver breakthrough, performance cross training, unlike any other fitness equipment manufacturer today. Whether you're looking to invest in one yourself or you want to find a gym that has Octane Fitness equipment, check out OctaneFitness.com.
Posted by Tula Karras on Wed, Aug 04, 2010
Last Saturday, I became a bona-fide stand-up paddleboarder. Practically instantaneously, I was actually doing the sport—just add water! Unlike my foray into snow-boarding about seven years back, which had a learning curve of two-plus years that included multiple falls and bruises the size of Rhode Island, stand-up paddle-boarding, also known as SUP, has a learning curve of about 10 to 30 minutes under calm water conditions. No spills, no face-plants, no kidding.
Until recently, SUP was dominated by men, who tend to use the board as they would a surf board, riding in fairly turbulent conditions (waves, wind, choppy waters) and seeking the thrill of speed and splash. But thanks to women like Gina Bradley, a former wind-surfer, who took me and two friends out in East Hampton in Long Island, New York, SUP has started attracting women of all fitness and skill levels. (In fact, Bob Greene says it's all the rage in Maui right now and he's excited about trying it himself!). About 10 years ago, Bradley saw a hole in the market that wasn't addressing women who weren't interested in battling Mother Nature with an extreme-sports mindset. "The sport isn't just about racing and riding waves. Under calmer conditions, it can be very meditative and relaxing, while still giving you a good core, arm and leg workout," says Bradley, founder of Paddle Diva, a paddle boarding outfit with boards custom-made for women. And Bradley's not lying about the core workout—her ridiculous abs (as seen in the video below) are purely the result of days spent on a paddle-board. ("I've never had to do crunches," she says. Try not to hate her! ☺)
When Tiffany, Jen and I arrived at our assigned location—a calm inlet chosen by Bradley the night before after she checked the wind forecast—she was paddling in with two pint-sized clients, a two-year-old and four-year-old, both happily hanging ten on the tip of her board (their parents were off paddle-boarding together around the bay enjoying some couple time). "If a two-year-old can manage to stay on the board, we can do it, too," Tiffany remarked excitedly. We'd mistakenly been thinking that the sport was going to be as difficult as surfing—on our drive out, Tiffany had filled me in on her years of attempts at surfing ("one time I stood up on the board for 10 whole seconds!").
Bradley randomly assigned each of us a board with slightly different widths (the wider the board the easier to balance but the heavier to paddle) and taught us the basics—how to stand up on the board (you begin on your hands and knees in tabletop, then look ahead at the land while you carefully stand up), how to hold the paddle, execute a successful stroke, stop and turn. In a matter of minutes we were all standing up and ready to set sail. It took about 10 minutes on the water for me to get my sea-legs and feel comfortable on the board, and while I was a bit anxious, I never once felt truly scared in the way I had at the top of a chair lift on a ski slope for the first time, wondering if my time had come.
In fact, we all became so comfortable after about 20 minutes, that before we knew it we were paddling around the bay while we made small-talk, chatting about movies, our jobs, trips we'd like to take—there is an element of calm and relaxation that you naturally feel when you're on the water, and paddle boarding is no exception. Even though we were working our arms, legs and core the whole time, we were exerting ourselves at a low level, so we didn't burn out quickly and we had plenty of energy to gab, girl-style. This certainly had a lot to do with the fact that we were beginners, and there was very little wind that day—the more adept you become, and the wilder the weather, the more of an extreme sport this becomes.
After about an hour of exploring the bay, we paddled back to shore, fatigued in a good way, and filled with a sense of accomplishment. I'd mastered the board, and I burned about 250 calories doing it! Of course, you can burn even more calories if you do it more intensely. At the level we paddle-boarded, we got a workout similar to a brisk walk with hand weights or an easy, low level on the elliptical.
To find a SUP outfitter, google your area or check a local boating outfit. Thanks to Gina Bradley and Paddle Diva for introducing the sport to me and our readers!
Posted by Michelle Kennedy on Fri, Jul 23, 2010
Feel like you're struggling to get everything done: parenting, work, spending time with friends and fitting in your exercise routine? Let me share a fun time-saving trick my husband and I use to scratch two of these things off our daily to-do list: We include our 18-month-old son in our workouts.
While your little one might not get the form correct (that's no excuse for you!), he or she will enjoy being included in your routine. And you'll likely find something to smile about while you engage in your sweat session. For instance, here's my son Reid trying to imitate his dad as he does burpees, an explosive, push-up-like move that offers some cardio benefits (meaning you burn calories), improves balance, increases flexibility and delivers a full-body workout. (To learn how to do the move properly, check out the instructions or the second video demonstration below.)
• Begin in a full pushup position, up on your toes, with your hands spread shoulder-width apart. Be sure you form a straight line from your toes through your butt and shoulders. Keep your head in a neutral position.
• Do a pushup; lower your body and chest, going as low as you can without touching the ground. Push back up to starting position.
• Jump both feet toward your hands simultaneously, landing as close to the middle of your hands as possible.
• Explode up from the ground, jumping as high as you can with your hands reaching toward the ceiling.
• Land from the jump and go into a deep squat, placing your hands on either side of your feet.
• Jump your feet backward to a full pushup position.
• Repeat. Perform 12 to 15 repetitions or do as many as you can (as quickly as you can) for 30 seconds to 1 minute.
Posted by Tula Karras on Wed, Jul 21, 2010
When you finally manage to take the time out of your crazy schedule to get to the gym, don't you want to make the most of those precious minutes? I thought I was doing just that with my three-mile, 40-minute run on the treadmill three times a week. And then I took ShedTread, a fitness class offered at The Sports Club/LA at Rockefeller Center in New York City with Julie Bobek (pictured at right). Julie, a private trainer/fitness instructor at the club, runs the popular class designed to help you crank up your burn on the most basic of gym cardio machines: the treadmill.
Julie's class revolves around interval training, so you are moving in ways that get your heart in and out of different cardio zones. "You want a workout that pushes your heart and other muscles in a way they don't expect. You harness and use more energy when you're mixing it up and forcing your body to adapt to different speeds, resistance and endurance." Here are the valuable lessons I learned from the hour-long class, and how you, too, can maximize the time you clock on that moving belt. If you can, take a similar class at your gym—it's harder to crack the whip for yourself, and having other members who are sweating and heaving along with you is the perfect combo of camaraderie and motivation.
1. Start slowly. Julie didn't have us running fast right out of the gate. Instead, we jogged slowly for a couple of minutes so that we could get our "tread-legs" and gradually bring up our heart rate. Kind of like having your morning coffee before you start sprinting out the door in the morning. My slow jog was a 4.3. (The girl next to me was slow jogging at 5, but as competitive as I am, I had to listen to my body and get through the class, so I stayed put.)
2. Find your comfortable jog. After 5 minutes or so, Julie told us to find our "comfortable jog." Don't be fooled by the word "comfortable"—this is not a synonym for "effortless." Julie says this pace should be faster and harder than your slow jog, but not so fast or hard that you're huffing and puffing and counting the seconds until you can get off the treadmill. For me, this was about 5 mph. I was pushing myself, but I was still able to have a conversation. (I know this, because Julie was asking us questions during this segment: "Tula, have you seen the movie Inception?" Me, in a nearly breathless response: "No."). Again, I peeked at the girls to my right and left, just to torture myself. Their "comfortable jogs" were well over a 6. I toggled my speed up to 5.3 in an effort to not be the tortoise to their hares. We ran at our comfortable jog pace for about 5 minutes.
3. Find your "recovery jog." Ah, yes! Recovery! (Little did I know this was the calm before the storm.) This is the pace where you're still jogging but you're doing it slowly enough that you bring your heart rate down and allow your body to "recover." Recover from what? I wondered, as I toggled my speed down to 4.4, where we stayed for a few minutes. Then I got the answer to my recovery question…
4. Perform sprint intervals. I knew it was coming. There was no way that a class called ShedTread wouldn't include sprint intervals. I wasn't wrong. "OK, we're going to do five sprint intervals starting now! Everybody toggle your speed up to where you're pushing yourself, and we'll stay there for a minute, then toggle back to your recovery!" Julie announced in an encouraging but firm tone. I toggled up to a 6.3 (which, I should note, was the comfortable jog for the girl to my right, who was now at a 7.5) and ran hard. Julie gave us a 10-second countdown just before the minute was up and had us go back to our recovery jog. Whew, I survived sprint number one. Julie had us do four more sprints in this fashion, which was really. Really. Hard. The kind of hard I hadn't felt since I ran track in junior high or was racing to Macy's last fall for their one-day mega sale. It was becoming evident to me why my current treadmill routine was not helping me lose weight; I wasn't really pushing myself! [Note: If you're a treadmill beginner, Julie recommends not doing more than two or three sprints at once (each followed by a minute of recovery).]
5. Play with incline. Once sprints were over, and we were back to a recovery jog, Julie gave us a few minutes to chill before she chirped "OK, everyone meet me at an incline of 5 at a brisk walk!" OK, I can do this, I thought. Walking briskly (I was at a 4) at an incline is hard, but I much prefer it to sprinting at an incline of 0. After a few minutes, Julie upped the ante. "Meet me at an incline of 7! Same pace!" I reluctantly followed orders. After another couple of minutes, I heard the words I prayed and hoped weren't going to come out of her mouth. "10! Meet me at an incline of 10! Keep your pace!" Reader, I cannot tell a lie, I cheated—I went up to an incline of 10, but I brought the pace down a bit to a 3.5. I was, thankfully, encouraged to do this by Julie, who pays close attention to everyone in class and could probably see I'd hit a wall. She told me to stay at that pace for the remainder of the incline portion, which lasted a few more minutes before she gradually brought us back down to a flat incline. (I was a little embarrassed, but I was more exhausted than embarrassed. Plus, because it was my first class, I was OK with going slower.)
6. Go "off ramp." Next, Julie had us pause our machines, wait until the belt stopped moving completely, then hop off to do…squats! Oh no! We did 10 squats with our feet apart, 10 together, and repeated the whole cycle again. Then back onto the treadmill at a steep incline and a brisk walk for another minute. Then off again for another series of squats, then back on. There was a method to her madness: Squats—along with all that incline work we were doing—builds your hamstrings and your glutes and balances the strong quads that running naturally works.
7. Go to the mat. After 45 minutes of serious treadmill work, Julie released us to the mat and had us do planks, crunches and bridges to work our core and, again, to focus on the hamstrings and glutes to ensure that those muscles were getting just as good a workout as the quads.
Class was over and I was exhausted, but also elated. I had that feeling you get of accomplishing something you didn't think you could, and I had a wonderful model from which to fashion my own, successive treadmill sessions. No more relaxing on the treadmill reading a magazine while I amble. From now on, I plan to work hard. That's why they call it a "workout!"
Posted by Willow Jarosh on Mon, Jul 19, 2010
Whenever you take a flight, the emergency instructions include the tip to first put on your oxygen mask (should it drop) before assisting your kids or other family members. After all, how could you ever help the people around you if you're oxygen deprived? This idea of taking care of yourself first so you can be a better support for the people around you translates to every aspect of life. In other words, you have to be at least a little selfish to be a great caregiver. Here are some of our favorite ways to be selfish so you can be selfless.
Put yourself first: Leave the kids with a sitter so you can hit the gym
Why it's not-so-selfish: You know the feeling you have after you finish a workout? You're ready to take on the world—calm, cool, collected, and able to accomplish anything. Simply put, getting to the gym on a regular basis makes you feel great, which means you'll be better able to help the kids with their homework, play board games, or just lounge around and be silly with the family when you get back. Remind your family that while it might seem like you're taking away from precious family time when you hit the gym, you're actually increasing the quality of the time you
do spend with them, even if it's a little shorter. Or, get a two-for-one bonus by planning family activities, such as family hikes, walks, or bike rides, so you get in a workout and spend some quality time with the gang.
Put yourself first: Quit your "job" as a short-order cook so you can create family dinners that fit into
your healthful eating plan
Why it's not-so-selfish: You know the drill—your daughter wants honey mustard chicken, your son wants a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and your husband just wants anything right away. While it's important to offer a variety of wholesome foods, cooking up three or more versions of dinner each night not only zaps your time and energy, but it also makes it more likely that there will be leftovers around that don't fit into your eating plan. For instance, do you really want the fried chicken fingers you made your son sitting around tempting you? Eating a healthful diet is something that spans all age groups—so as long as you offer a variety of tasty, nutritious fare (one entrée and a few sides), expect your entire family to eat the same dinner.
Put yourself first: Skip the fast food lunch outing with co-workers
Why it's not-so-selfish: While it may seem like getting out of the office to socialize with co-workers does your body good, the fast food meal you'll be eating will likely cancel out all of those benefits. For instance, a greasy-burger-and-fries meal would leave you feeling sleepy, groggy, bloated, and/or moody. On the other hand, if you were to bring your own healthful, well-balanced lunch with appropriate calories, you'd feel refreshed and energized. To get a healthy lunch
and the benefits of some office bonding, ask a co-worker to do a lunch-share with you. Every other day, you each make enough lunch for two, and then dine together. This works as long as you're both on the same page, nutritionally speaking. Or, you could tag along with co-workers who are grabbing fast food... but eat your own lunch. You'll still get the social interaction, but you'll feel much better and be more productive when you get back to the office.
Put yourself first: Turn down an invite to spend time at home
Why it's not-so-selfish: If you're feeling frazzled by the pile of laundry in your closet, the sink full of dirty dishes, and the unpaid utility bills stacked up on the kitchen table, you're probably not going to fully enjoy a night out. Instead, saying "no" to an invitation and using the time to get yourself organized can help you make free up time for, and thoroughly enjoy, the events you
do attend. So if you have happy hour plans with friends on Tuesday, your child's soccer game on Thursday, family dinners every other weeknight, and a barbecue on Sunday, you might want to pass on the invitation to go to brunch with a friend on Saturday. Just be honest with her and reschedule for a slower week that works for you both. Resisting the urge to over-schedule yourself will help bring back balance to your life. Remember, free time is important, too. In fact, you may actually want to schedule in some free time each day, just as you would any other appointment.
Posted by Tula Karras on Wed, Jul 14, 2010
This past Saturday I took a belly dancing class at the Reebok Sports Club/LA in New York City. I roped a friend into going with me (thank you, Jhoanna!) so we could shimmy together (and suffer together, if it came to that). On the way to the gym, I entertained visions of myself, belly dancing gracefully and expertly, having carved out six-pack abs (or at least a four-pack) by the end of the hour-long session. Before class began, everyone was given a colorful hip belt with tinkling coins (part of the traditional "bedlah" costume), an accoutrement that only fueled the image of myself as a veiled Sheherazade who would wow the teacher with her moves and return to the dressing room with sculpted abs.
The upbeat, traditional Persian music started and the first few moves the teacher demo'd were simple and fun. I quickly discovered that "belly dance" is a bit of a misnomer, as the movement is more in your hips and hip flexors than your belly and abs. Your hips need to have a pretty good sense of north, south, east and west and be able to distinguish between up/down hips moves, front/back hips moves, and undulated figure-eight moves. Happily, I was able to follow all the basic movements and was actually enjoying myself. Plus, I was working up a sweat! Score!
The problem started when the lovely teacher—Sahar Javedani, a lifelong belly dancer and artistic director of compani javedani
—asked us to add in arm movements and coordinate them with our hips. Oh yeah, the arms, those appendages hanging off either side of my body like long stockings full of rocks. I'd totally forgotten about them. Visions of making a fabulous living as a belly dancer at weddings and dinner parties evaporated instantly. Undulating your arms in one direction—like a gentle wave lapping at the shore, mind you—while your hips circle clockwise in the other direction, is rather difficult. And not so graceful-looking when attempting it for the first time! Luckily, a sense of humor can take the pressure off, and there were a lot of, ahem, belly laughs during this portion of the class.
Sahar was patient with us newbies and surprisingly uncritical (she confesses that one of her great joys is introducing the art form to new students), so flubbing the moves and unintentionally making a general mockery of a centuries-old, Middle-Eastern ritualistic dance didn't keep us from truly enjoying ourselves and getting a great workout. "Belly dance works your shoulders, arms, chest, hips, abs, thighs and glutes," says Sahar, and the more adept you are at it, the more it becomes a full-body workout. In fact, I was able to burn 255 calories during the hour-long class. (Sahar says it's also a great prenatal exercise, because you're moving your hip articulators, which you use during childbirth.) One of the best things about the class is that you're so focused on learning the moves and constantly moving some part of your body, that time flies. Before I knew it, we were done, and I was sad to see it all come to an end! That's a sign you've had a good belly-dancing class—it's not so much about following precise moves and getting it "just so," but about feeling the flow, releasing your energy and giving yourself over to a new way of moving. OK, ready to see me in action? You have to promise not to laugh.
Posted by Michelle Kennedy on Fri, Jul 09, 2010
If you're not feeling excited about your fitness routine, if you're no longer seeing results, if you'd rather do your taxes than your regular routine, then it's time to reevaluate things. Check out the three key questions you should ask yourself to get your workouts back on track or watch the video below.
Question 1: Are you doing something you enjoy?
Remember the thrill of riding bikes or swimming when you were young? You didn't think about fitness then—it was all about playing, not exercise, and you did it because it was fun. Who says things have to change just because you're now a grown-up? Find something fun that you can do that will also give you a workout! Biking, rollerblading, kayaking, hiking—whatever activity you enjoy and will keep you interested and motivated—is the ideal workout.
Question 2: What is the best time of day for you to get in a workout?
Research shows that exercising in the morning is best because it allows you to get your workout in before the trials of the day take over, which often cause you to miss your sweat session altogether. Try exercising different times during the day to see which works best for you. And remember, this is good information to have whenever you're forced to adjust your schedule.
Question 3: How are you going to adjust your routine to accommodate the expected and unexpected?
The summer is loaded with lots of fun things to do, from vacations to weddings to barbecues to our kids' sports practices and camps. But all of these can throw a big wrench into the precision of your less-busy winter schedule. Each week, schedule your exercise sessions to fit around your hectic lifestyle. And think of it this way, in a month or two, when things settle back down, you'll be a pro at juggling and finding time for all of your priorities.