The 50's are a sandwich generation of fitness; we don't want to work out like we did 15, 10 or even 5 years ago, yet we aren't ready for the "senior" classes either. I'm revamping this blog to be a blend of health and fitness tips that I hope all of you "fiftysomethings" will find helpful.
***I am not a doctor or nutritionist.
Please consult your physician before performing any exercises or following any tips shown on this blog.
Some of you may have done some kickboxing, or Tae-bo, but I'm sure some of you have not. Kickboxing is a great cardio and total body workout. Kickboxing will, to put it bluntly, kick your butt!
It's also a great stress reliever. If you ever get the chance to kick or punch a bag like she is in the picture, it's awesome! It's a healthy way to let go of your stress and frustration of the day, rather than keep it bottled inside.
The most important thing to remember when kickboxing is to not snap out your joints. So watch your elbows when you punch, and your knees when you kick. You want to fully extend the limb, but not to the point of locking out the joint--even if it's just for a second. Think of your punches coming from your shoulder and upper back (not your elbow) and your kicks coming from your thighs and glutes (not your knees).
Today's video is a 45 minute Cardio Kick and Burn Kickboxing class from RealFitTV. A warm up and cool down are included. No additional equipment is needed.
Many of us use a scale, tape measure and our clothes to track our weight loss progress, but few of us track our "fitness" progress. How do you do this? Using a Physical Fitness Test (PFT) is a good way. Yes, these are similar to the tests done in school that used to give me nightmares! No arm hangs, I promise!
As a personal trainer, specific protocols are followed when performing fitness assessments. These are usually done before working with a client so that we know where they are as far as cardiovascular health, muscle strength and endurance and flexibility. I found a video from Fitness Blender that demonstrates ways you can test yourself at home for these things--some of these are based on tests done by trainers. I will list them here, but you should watch the video for a visual of proper form.
1. One minute walk. There are several ways you can do this. The easiest way to do this is with the use of a reliable pedometer. You reset the pedometer and walk as fast as you can until you hit 1 mile. This will simply tell you how fast you can walk 1 mile. This could also be done on a treadmill--you just have to adjust the speed to be walking as fast as you can. If you don't have a pedometer, you can use your car to map a mile and walk that. (If this test is being done by a trainer, your heart rate would be taken as well--this would determine your heart's ability to recover back to resting.)
2. Push Ups. Do as many push ups as you can with proper form. They can be full or knee push ups. When you can't do any more with proper form, stop counting. Do them at a comfortable pace, speed does not matter.
3. Squats. Same as push ups, do as many as you can with proper form.
4. Planks. Hold the plank for as long as you can while maintaining proper form. Again, if you need to modify and do a half plank on your knees, you can.
5. Sit and Reach. Watch the video for this one--it's kind of hard to describe.
In 4-6 weeks, repeat the tests, write down your results and see where you've improved and where you might need to work a bit harder.
If you are continuing with the BeFit in 90 series, Day 8, like Day 7 consists of 4 videos that I've already posted. Here's the link to it: BeFit in 90 Day 8 / Phase 1
Today I'm posting an awesome 30 minute total body toning, low impact workout from the website I featured yesterday, Fitness Blender. It shows once again that you don't need to jump to get your heart rate up and burn fat and calories. It includes a warm up and cool down, and no special equipment is needed.
I have posted several workouts from Fitness Blender. It is a free website created and run by a husband and wife team. They run the site on donations. They have all types and levels of workouts and exercises, articles on health, fitness and recipes and have a store where you can get reasonably priced equipment, clothing, shoes, books, bulk foods and calorie burning video games.
They are in the middle of re-vamping the website, so you can't officially join it right now, but you can see the videos and articles. The level of difficulty is given for each workout. The workouts are any where from 10 minutes to 1 hour in length.
The safety and alignment cueing is superb. I'm all about proper form, and so are they.
If I had one negative thing to say, it would be the lack of music--but since these are like personal training workouts, you follow their pace instead of the bpm (beats per minute) of a song. I just like my music--it motivates me.
I will definitely be posting more of their videos in the future. You can follow them on youtube and facebook as well. I'm not sure about twitter, since I don't use it.
This week's core workout comes from Crunch Fitness. I used to watch this all the time when it was on ESPN. The clothing (and full makeup) shows this is from the 90's, so it's a little more choreographed--especially the warm up.
Remember when you have the hands behind the head, keep the elbows drawn back so that you don't pull on your neck--even if they have the elbows forward, don't do it. Make sure you always keep a bend in your knee on crunches. This is a full 15 minutes of ab work, consisting of a variety of crunches. On the planks at the end, keep your bottom down--don't stick it up in the air like they do in the video--your body should be lined up like in the picture above. Don't forget to do some cardio to burn some fat and calories as well. Doing this workout alone, will NOT give you washboard abs, you need cardio and strength training as well.
If you want to continue with the BeFit in 90 workouts, Day 7 consists of workouts that you've already done. Here's a link to the main page on youtube so that you can watch them in order one after another if you'd like:
Today's focus in on the lower body along with cardio. The routine is from efit30. The workout is simple, but challenging and effective. I do wish that the instructor had a bit more muscle tone, this is why strength training to develop your muscles is so important. She gives good instruction on safety and form.
Lower Body Cardio Killer
PLEASE wear shoes when doing this workout. You should never jump in your bare feet--even on grass.
I love chicken. It's one of the most versatile and healthy meats to cook with, and my family eats a lot of it. I'm always looking for new ways to prepare it. I was very excited to see this post from Shape.com on my facebook news feed on Wednesday. I just had to share it.
