Fitness Tip of the Day: Something Different Saturday: Partner Workout

Since yesterday's post was about the benefits of working out with a buddy, I thought I'd share a partner workout that I found from fitnessblender.com.

In this workout, they use a medicine ball and a dumbbell.  You could substitute a bag of unopened flour or sugar or a full laundry detergent bottle instead of the medicine ball.  A large can of tomato sauce or full 1-2 liter bottle could be a substitute for the dumbbell.

This workout is challenging because it uses the partner for resistance and balance in some of the exercises.  This is a great workout to do with your significant other, some of it reminds me of playing twister.

Have Fun!   :)

Fitness Tip of the Day: Friday's Facts and Findings - Friends' Impact on Weight Loss

Friends and family can have a huge impact on our weight loss success and/or failure.  There are several ways that they can help:

1.  Support.  Our friends and family members can help simply by providing the support we need to help achieve our goals.  We all need cheerleaders now and then.

2.  Partnership.  They can be partners in our journey by being a workout buddy or someone we can call when we need help.

3. Motivation.  They can provide the motivation we need to continue, whether it's a pat on the back with a "good job," or a "get your butt off the couch!"

Friends and family can also hinder our weight loss journey:

1.  Sabotage.  This includes the spouse, mother or best friend who brings unhealthy food into the house, encourage you to eat more, or to eat something unhealthy "just this once", skip an exercise class to go eat, skip and exercise class period--for whatever reason, deep down they do not want you to succeed.  Make it very clear to these people that their behavior is hurting you, and you need them on your side.  They need to know that this isn't just about losing weight, it's about getting healthier.  Let them know you are going to do this with or without their help, but you'd really like their support.

2.  Temptations.  You might work in an office that always has goodies.  This one is on you.  You need to have your own stash and stay away from that area.  You might have a mom or friend that always bakes or makes "treats."  Have a talk with them asking them not to bake for you anymore, or offer them challenge to find a healthier version of your favorite treat (or provide the recipe yourself) it that doesn't work, maybe you can provide the "treat" once in a while, if that still doesn't work, you may have to avoid them for a while until you really get a sense of control and willpower.

The article I found is more of a "finding" kind of article and is from IdeaFit.com.  It touches on some of the same points.

Friends' Impact on Weight Loss

Bottom line, find people who share your same goals and interests.  Exercise with them, share advice and recipes, be successful with them.  

Fitness Tip of the Day: Total Body Workout Day 5/Phase I--BeFit in 90

Continuing on with the BeFit in 90 workout series, here is day 5.  Three of these videos were done before, with one being new, so you should feel pretty comfortable doing this workout.  There is no separate cardio workout, but if you do the strength exercises one after another like performed in the videos, you will get cardio benefits.  The yoga portion is quite cardio as well, but if you'd like a bit more, do the 10 minute cardio workout from Day 1 along with the four shown here.  Remember when using weights, to control the downward movement of the weights, never let them drop down.

Video 1 is your warm up:

Video 2 is Chest, Legs and Buns:

Video 3 is the new one that works your Back and Shoulders--on the overhead presses, lift the weights slightly to the front, not directly overhead.  Watch the knees on the back lunges, keep them at a 90 degree angle, knees in line with the ankles.  On lateral and front raises, lift the weight up smooth and controlled keeping the rest of your body still and lift no higher than straight out of the body.

and Video 4 is the Yoga Basics Cooldown and Stretch (remember you can do a different one if you'd prefer, but Yoga is really good for your body)

Fitness Tip of the Day: Wednesday's Website - fitsugar.com

Happy May!

Today's website is a part of another website that I stumbled upon via youtube called popsugar.com.  I have linked to the fitness section--fitsugar.com

Under this heading, there are sections that include workouts, healthy living (recipes, tips and news articles), weight loss (calorie breakdowns and diet tips), celebrity (fitness trainers and weight loss), and fitness videos.

There's a section under workouts entitled "beginner fitness tips" that I really like.  It breaks down how to perform certain exercises properly, gives tips regarding different types of exercises and equipment and much more.

Here's a portion of an article I found on one of my favorite outside workouts, hiking:

How to Make Your Hike A Better Workout

Heading out for a day hike can offer a welcome change of scenery to your workout. But a calming trek chatting with a group of friends doesn't always offer the cardio your body needs for the day. Take the following quick tips to make your Spring workout more active.

1. Plan ahead: Heading to the trail without any sort of plan most likely leads to an easy, leisurely hike. If that's not what you're looking for, do your research. Ask active friends and co-workers, look online for the best hikes in your area, and be sure to find a day hike that has more than just a beautiful view. The terrain should not be completely flat (if possible) and the hike should take at minimum an hour to complete.
2. Break for extra exercise: When your legs need a rest, drop to the ground for five minutes of core exercises or flow through a series of active Sun Salutations. Instead of taking a break and just sitting down to relax, let this time be an opportunity to pump up your heart rate even more.
3. Mix the pace: Moving at one steady speed can be relaxing, but changing things up will keep things feeling fresh and active. The majority of your hike can be a moderately paced walk, but alternate with short bursts of running. Space out a few alarms on your phone, so you know when it's time to pick up the pace and start running. Even a one- or two-minute run will help you burn more calories.

One more I'll add--use walking poles--they not only help on uneven terrain, they also help rev up your calories by bringing more arm movement into your stride.

There is also a popsugartvfit channel on youtube

Fitness Tip of the Day: Tuesday Trunk and Core - Super Abs Challenge

Today's video comes from Bob Harper's Inside Out Series.  Here he is taking you through an abs challenge that is about 3 minutes long.  This would be great to do after a cardio and/or strength workout where you are warmed up.

You could also do this challenge while watching TV--do it during one of the commercial breaks, but I'd warm up first-- the warm up posted yesterday would be good.

This is a challenging 3 minutes.  Bob offers modifications if needed.  Remember to keep your abs in and your lower back rounded when in the v-sit position.  Keep breathing!!!

Here's a link to his website--There are more videos posted there, he has a blog and there is a daily journal that you can use to track your motivation, food/calorie intake and exercise.

There are more challenges (exercise and food related) that you can do as well:  mytrainerbob.com  I especially like the "fitness deconstructed" videos that break down different exercises to show proper form.  He also has a youtube channel under the same name.

Fitness Tip of the Day: Monday Muscle Work -- Day 4 / Phase 1 BeFit in 90

I'm continuing on with the BeFit in 90 because I find it to be a pretty easy regimen to follow.  Day 3 was a rest day, that is why I skipped it.  Have you picked up those hand weights yet?


Video 1 is the same warm up as Day 1

Video 2 is new and is called Ripped Abs and Arms

Just a few important safety cues/modifications for the full roll up/sit up (these were covered in Pilates, but bears repeating):  If you've never done this exercise before, or are a beginner, please do it without the added weight.  Keep your lower back glued to ground until you roll up through it and your navel to your spine the entire time.  Breath out as you come up.  Make sure to keep your feet on the ground as you roll up.  If your core isn't strong enough, you can bend your knees.  If your feet still pop up, only come up part way and hold for a few seconds.  If it hurts your back at all, only come up part way as well.

Video 3 is the same Fat Burning Cardio workout as Day 1

and Video 4 is the same Sports Stretch and Flexibility workout as Day 1

Happy Monday!

Fitness Tip of the Day: Sunday Recipe Share -- Oven "Fried" Chicken

This is one of my families' (and mine too) favorite recipes for chicken.  Fried chicken is so unhealthy, yet we love the way it tastes and crunches in our mouth, so we eat it anyway.  Well, I found a recipe for baked "fried" chicken that delivers that taste and crunch without any skin left on the chicken!  It's amazing!  The secret is in placing the chicken on a rack to let the heat get all the way around the chicken as it bakes.

This has become my little bit of this, little bit of that kind of recipe.  Be creative with the spices--use whatever you like--but here is the original recipe I started with:

 Makes: 6-8 servings Total Time: 1 hr 30 min

what you need

• 1/2 cup flour (I use whole wheat, but you can use whatever you prefer--try spelt if you want to make it gluten free)
• dried or fresh basil to taste
• dried or fresh thyme to taste
• dried or fresh crushed rosemary to taste
• pepper to taste
• salt to taste
• 1/4 cup olive oil (I now use less--maybe 1/8 c. or so)
• 1/3 c milk, (since I cut the oil, I add more milk) you can use buttermilk or plain yogurt (I add water if using greek yogurt to thin it down a bit)
• 6-8 cut up chicken pieces, skin removed
• 1-2 cups crushed corn flakes or rice krispies--I add some of the same spices to the crushed cereal for additional flavor

make it

Preheat oven to 375. Coat a baking rack with cooking spray and place it in a jelly roll type cookie sheet pan.

In medium bowl combine flour, herbs, salt and pepper. Add oil and milk, mix well--it will be on the thicker side. Put 1/2 of the crushed corn flakes or rice krispies into shallow pie pan, add spices if desired. Dip chicken pieces into flour mixture first and then coat with cereal, adding more cereal to the pan as needed. Place chicken pieces on rack. Bake 55 to 60 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink and the coating is golden brown.

When in season, I use fresh herbs, but dried work just fine.  I've made it with Lemon Pepper, Cajun Spices, and BBQ or grilling spices, but the Italian spices are still my favorite.

Note--you can put the chicken into the flour/milk mixture and leave it in the fridge to act more like a marinate until you are ready to coat and cook it.

Enjoy!