Workouts

With the holidays here our schedules can get crazy, but that doesn’t mean we can let ourselves go and lose all of the healthy we’ve made!  All of us can find six minutes per day and this workout is just what you need to get the blood pumping and put the body is fat burning state! Surge exercises are made for all fitness levels and are performed at intervals of 30 seconds to your best ability.  You then rest for 10 seconds and repeat exercise. This workout with have you perform three different exercises, and you will repeat each one consecutively three times before switching to the next. Your three exercises are Sprinters, Mountain Climbers, and Jump Squats. Watch the videos below to see how to perform each of these exercises as well as to see modifications in case you have knee, back, or any physical limitations. Remember there’s always a modification, something you can do to help get your heart rate up, so there’s no excuses, if you want to stay fit for the holidays and can’t make your workout be sure to do the 6 minute workout and you’ll stay on track!   Sprinters Mountain Climbers Jump Squats  

What to wear what to wear? Different seasons call for different clothing and when we’re running the temperature changes quick. I’ve been going on some cold early morning runs lately, around 35 to 45 degrees on average.  When getting ready to go, it seems almost too cold to even run, but within a mile or two my body temp gets up high, and I’m sweating. This can be a problem. When you’re leaving the house you’re thinking dress warm, but you also have to consider that if you’re going to warm up  you don’t want to have to carry a lot of clothing during your run.  As of late I’ve been wearing less, knowing that I would warm up, but thought it would be a good idea to find out some of the things to consider when thinking about what to wear when running. I recently read a blog post by friend and fitness blogger Lucy Parker Randall who writes Life With Lucy Blog.  She was visiting a running store and trying on all sorts of different clothing for different seasons, even going into some specific clothing I personally would not need to know about, but for all of you ladies out there, you may find it very informative! With the cold weather here and some long runs in my near future, I wanted her take on what to know about running pants, head wear, and socks and here’s what she had to say!

1. What to know about running pants

For running pants it is important to choose a material that is synthetic. The reason you want to choose a synthetic material is because they have properties to wick away moisture from your body, keeping you warm when you run. If you choose a 100% cotton, it holds moisture which will make you cold when running. 2.Head Wear Choosing appropriate head wear is important for those cold weather runs! I personally like a head band to cover my ears. Again, this head band is made out of a Polyester and Spandex material not a cotton material. A lot of runners also prefer a beanie to cover their entire head. This is personal preference but regardless it is important no matter which way you go that you do have something to keep your head warm and ears covered.

3. Socks

You could call me a sock snob and I would be okay with that. If you told me 5 years ago I would spend between $15-$20 on one pair of socks I would have laughed! When you are into a long run and you have blisters on your feet and you are so uncomfortable you could cry, you only wish you would have paid that much for a pair of socks. Again, with socks, avoid cotton. I personally like a very thin sock that has compression elements to it to prevent swelling. Feetures are great socks that I would highly recommend giving a try As my journey into becoming an educated runner continues, I’m glad I’ve got some more info on clothing!  Only a few weeks to go before I run my first half marathon, so stay tuned and I’ll be sure to fill you in on what else I’m learning along the way! If you missed the start of my journey and first blog on this subject To Run Or Not To Run, be sure to click the title and read!

As a personal trainer and person who just overall loves everything about fitness I often find myself going back and forth on whether or not running is good for us.  I am not a runner, at least I’ve never been educated on it, but I do run about 3 times a week after heavy weight training days as a form of low intensity cardio.  From a personal perspective I love it, and I’ll go into the reasons why I love it later, but for a lot of people I would have to stop and say be cautious.  If you’ve been sitting on the couch,  not active for a long period of time, I cannot recommend going out for a 3 mile run, your body will not be happy with you at all. So, where do we start, what should we know, and how can we make running a healthy part of our life?  I’ve done the digging for you, and reached out to some local experts to find out the most important things to know.  Over the next 5 weeks I will share with you my journey into becoming an educated runner and here are the upcoming blog posts that you can expect to see!

1. If The Shoe Fits – I ask experienced Tri-athlete and owner of The Charlotte Running Company Donny Forsyth everything we should know about the shoes we’re wearing when running.
2. What To Wear When – We ask friend and fitness blogger Lucy Parker Randall what clothing we should be prepared to have and what to wear when.
3. Food For Thought – What do we eat before and after our run to ensure we’re at our healthiest?
4. A Good Stretch – One of the most important parts of all fitness is the rehab, here are some great yoga poses and stretches to consider for healing fast!
5. Where Did The Time Go – Wearing running watches to track distance and speed to help us improve  our run
6. Staying Committed –   Setting a goal, inviting friends and running for a cause

So, To Run or Not To Run…. I say we run, but we’re going to do it in a way that gets us to be our best! Over the next 5 weeks we’ll cover all of these topics and this will lead me into my own personal goal of running my first half marathon in Kiawah Island South Carolina!  I was asked if I’d be interested in running with some good friends and I’ve decided to accept the challenge! Be sure to follow me over the next few weeks so I can share my progress and everything I learn along the way.  It’s not always about whether or not the type of exercise is good or bad, as much as it is about are we doing the exercise correctly.  Form in everything we do must be the first and most important focus.

Lets start with this…. If your muscles are not sore from working out, YOU’RE NOT WORKING HARD ENOUGH!!! Says the trainer lol. When muscles get worked, they expand in size and as they recover they retract.  This fluctuation in muscle size can lead to the pulling of other muscles in the body.  Most commonly when we feel weak in the lower back the pain does not stem from the lower back, but from the gluteus muscles, hamstrings and I.T Bands being tight, knotting up and pulling on the lower back.  This can also happen if you do work your upper back, rhomboid or shoulder muscles in the same way, as they tighten they pull on other muscles. So what can we do to help alleviate the pain? Foam Roll! I recommend you watch the above video if you haven’t already to visually see how to hit each part of the body.  Below are steps of how to get your full body roll on!  Try to roll 10 times each way to start and get a feel for where you’re the most sore, then concentrate on the areas you feel you need it the most. Remember that the recovery part of fitness is just as important, if not more important, than what exercises we do, we must listen to the body and help it become its healthiest by giving it what it needs! Enjoy!   UPPER BACK – SHOULDERS : Place the roller at the base of the head along the Cervical Spine.  Press the hips and pelvis area up to the sky and slowly start to roll down your back to the thoracic part of the spine rolling over the rhomboids.  (Ladies be sure to watch that your hair does not get caught under the roll) LOWER BACK :  This is an important part to be careful of, be sure to keep your chest at an incline so that you can control the weight over this part of your spine.  (See the video for example) GLUTEUS MAXIMUS :  Your butt.  You’re guaranteed to be tight here.  Sit on the roller lean to the side slightly and roll back and forth.  Then switch the other side. HAMSTRING :  Again, another place you’ll be tight.  Place the hands on the ground to raise yourself up allowing your full body weight to press down on the roller. CALF:  Keep the same hand placement to allow full body weight compression. TURN THE BODY OVER SHINS:  If you’re a runner you absolutely want to be sure to roll out your shins to prevent shin splints.  Place your forearms on the ground as if doing a forearm plank.  Shift the shoulders forward and back to roll through the shins. QUADS:  When working the quads use the same forearm hold shifting shoulders forward and back.

LASTLY COMES THE GRAND FINALE OF ALL FOAM ROLLING

ILOTIAL BAND (I T BAND) :         This is going to hurt, no, really, it is. Place the side of your leg on the roller, with both hands on the ground and slowly start to roll down toward your knee.  Try to keep the feet off of the ground to allow the full body weight to press down on the roller.   Go slow rolling up and down and then switch sides. It will be painful the first few times, but remember the more it hurts the more it means your body needed it.  In a few weeks it wont be nearly as bad!  

Whether we’re on a vacation, away on business or for some reason just can’t make it to the gym, there’s always a place to workout! Below I’ve listed a five day plan of 20 minute workouts that you can do anywhere, and won’t need weights to do.  The key to these workouts is to go at 100% intensity for the 20 minutes, you’ll put yourself in a great position to burn calories, burn fat, and get more toned while away from the gym. So give it a shot and see which you like the best!  

45 seconds of high intensity work followed by 15 seconds of rest before starting the next exercise. 5 Rounds – rest 1 minute between rounds

Day 1 – sprinters – push up planks – air squats – mountain climbers straight knee to elbow

Day 2 – knee highs – lying leg raise abs – jump sqauts – bicycles

Day 3 – reverse lunges – mountain climber opposite knee to elbow – forward lunges – plank leg raises

Day 4 – jumping jacks – plank jacks – squat jacks – south charlotte 3 step

Day 5 – full burpees – flutter kicks – side plank thrusts right – side plank thrusts left

Learn about the importance of stretching and some great stretches you can do anywhere!

Learn how to add compound movement exercises to your fitness program to help build more muscle and burn more fat!