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)