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The big day is approaching and the parties have begun! Since I wasn’t invited to bask in the pregame revelry with 50 cent, Lil Jon, Pitbull or the Bunnies I figure the next best thing would be to honor the arrival of 2012’s biggest sports event with a workout. So, slowly back away from the 12 oz curls, uproot yourself from the La-Z-Boy and join me in paying a sweaty homage to the impending Super Weekend.
Since January 1st, I have been determined to make this year different. So far, I have to say that I am pretty proud of myself for sticking with my commitment to fit more physical activity into my weekly schedule. Working out is now a priority and, when I can, I try to schedule the rest of week around my workout routine. If you’re like me, you get bored running on the treadmill or lifting weights in the gym. I’m a group fitness gal and truly find it a pleasure to workout with others. Not only do I push myself further, but the time seems to just fly by when I’m having fun working out with friends.
This year I decided to try something new and somehow convinced a few of my friends from H3 to join me. Many of you have taken this class during your visit to H3 but believe it or not, very few of us staff members have actually attempted this high-energy, music-thumping aerobic class. I’m talking about Zumba, the dance fitness class that has mothers, daughters and even grandmothers strutting their stuff on the dance floor. Don’t get me wrong, plenty of men Zumba too (only the boldest and bravest J)!
According to the official Zumba Fitness® website, Zumba is the only Latin-inspired dance-fitness program that blends red-hot international music, created by Grammy Award-winning producers, and contagious steps to form a “fitness-party” that is downright addictive. Since its inception in 2001, the Zumba program has grown to become the world’s largest – and most successful – dance-fitness program with more than 12 million people of all shapes, sizes and ages taking weekly Zumba classes in over 110,000 locations across more than 125 countries.
So, five H3 staff members and I decided to step outside our comfort zones to see what all the buzz was about. After attending the first class, I knew I was hooked. Whether I look good doing it or not, I love to dance and the thing I love about Zumba most is that everyone is encouraged to put their own flava into the moves. It’s fairly easy to pick up and everyone is cheering one another on. You can make it as intense as you’d like, averaging several hundred calories burned per session, but above all, you’re there to have fun. The variety of ages in the classes also surprised me. The women who attend our local Zumba studio are there every night giving it their all and I find their excitement contagious and exhilarating.
The moral of this story is, we’ve made it one month into the year and we’re still going strong with our goals! If you think you’ve fallen off the wagon a little, pick yourself back up starting today! It’s never too late to re-dedicate your life to health. If you’re getting bored with your routine, try something new. Maybe you’ll like it, maybe you won’t but you’ll never know until you try. I’ll share the two mantras that have really stuck with me this year and hopefully, they’ll help you as well.
“Never put off for tomorrow what you can do today,” and “Just for today I will…”
So get out there and as my Zumba instructor would say, “Shake it!”
(I found the image below on the Hilton Head Health Pinterest page. It pretty much sums up how I feel during Zumba, which is pretty awesome in case you couldn’t tell. 
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As many of you know, I generally do not watch much television. However, this past Tuesday evening, as I prepared to sit down early in efforts to watch The State of the Union Address on NBC, The Biggest Loser was on. This episode particulary caught my attention because one team (the “black team”) had been denied access to the gym. Particpants on the black team displayed a demoralizing distrust. The idea that they would be able to lose comparative weight at the next weigh in was daunting. The black team despartly feared the red team had a much greater advantage: the GYM.
We know the benefits of strength training but who wants to spend all day in the gym?! A great way to be efficient with your time—and challenge your strength routine—is to double up and combine exercises. By performing exercises that work multiple muscle groups at once we are cutting down on the number of exercises in our routine, but are also challenging ourselves with a more intense movement. Try out a few of these exercises below and make the most of your time in the gym!
Side Lung with Bicep Curl
Russian Twist with Shoulder Press
Plank with Row
Deadlift to High Pull
Incline Press with Reverse Crunch
Follow Hilton Head Health on Pinterest to view pictures of each exercise!
Ever feel like there’s not time to get in a hard workout? Feel like you just don’t have the equipment or time available? For 2012, I challenge you to take a good hard look at not only your exercise routine, but what actually you can accomplish in a day versus what you can’t. Whether it’s exercise or whether it’s life, we tend to not always be honest with ourselves. The fact is that only an honest perspective leads to sustainable change.
With that said, Friday Fitness is back in full swing and we’re starting you off with a good one! This workout you can do anywhere and anytime because it only requires your body and a fifteen minute window. Watch the video and post the total number of rounds you complete in fifteen minutes. Ready – Set – Go … No Excuses!!
15 Minute AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) of:
As many of you may know, I recently, as of April 2010, obtained my 200hr RYT (Registered Yoga Teacher) certification. Earlier this week I came across an article that hit rather close to home. The article was entitled “Can yoga wreck your body?” This article published recently in the New York Times, argued that it can. Essentially the article declared that the increase in yoga-related injuries, “in recent years”, has direct correlation with the heightened increase in yoga practitioners. According to Yoga Journal, about 14.3 million people in theUnited States practiced yoga in 2010, which is significantly up from 4.3 million in 2001. As yoginis’ and yoginas’ around the world begin to find daily yoga practice more and more essential, the need for yoga practioners indeed increases. However, the blame should not be wrongly placed on just the instructors. One cannot point fingers at just us. The fingers rationally should be pointed at the individuals whom are practicing yoga—those who should become more mindful. The focus must shift away from the trend and more toward individual self-care, compassion and safety.
How to protect yourself from injury:
Yoga students should highly consider the instructor’s training and expertise, but they must deem more important, their individual ability to listen to their own bodies. When simply stated, any type of physical activity that challenges the body should be practiced with individual awareness and caution. Therefore, I feel I am not exaggerating when I utter that body awareness is a major component in fitness, yoga, functionality and overall wellbeing.
I sincerely feel this article’s tag line “Can Yoga Wreck Your Body” is disheartening, misleading and will more than likely hinder the general population from trying yoga, which is such a dishonor. Realistically, it is not the yoga that wrecks the body; it’s the individual and his or her lack of understanding of one’s own limitations, capabilities, body alignment/awareness and most importantly one’s own perception of self- care and physical compassion.
Thus, in light of helping YOU develop YOUR safest possible yoga practice, please read the tips below:
1. Adopt a beginner’s mind. You would not attend an advanced ballet class without having prior knowledge and or experience. Yoga may look comparatively simple, but it’s not. Start with a series of yoga classes targeting the beginner. Beginner classes will help to introduce you to the basics. You must, MUST…MUST build a solid foundation of knowledge, of alignment, body awareness and of comfort before you leap in to a more challenging class like a Vinyasa or hot yoga class.
2. Learn to listen to your body. In any yoga class, your body, not the teacher, is the real guide for what is best for you. Listening to your body and honoring its signals are key to a safe practice. If something doesn’t feel right, ease out of the posture. If something feels like a strain, you’re pushing too hard. If your body feels like it needs a break, listen to it. Remember, yoga is about self-care. If you need to rest, you can always relax in child’s pose.
3. Do your own pose, not your neighbor’s. Yoga is not a competition. For most of us, the mind is apt to overrule the body. So if the person next to you gets her feet behind her head, “holy stretch”, you best believe you are going to do the same! NO. NO. NO. Yoga at its essence is about getting in tune with the body. The only right way to practice a pose is to practice it in the way that honors where your body is at that particular moment. Tune in, and most importantly stay present.
4. Look for gratitude. Look for gratitude and value in every pose. This is where you are challenging your body, but still staying completely within your comfort zone—all balance between letting go and bringing in. Your grateful place is that place in the posture where you are feeling a soothing stretch and your muscles are working (a certain feeling of heat, gratitude and compassion) but there is no pain, strain or extreme fatigue.
5. Pick the right teacher and approach. When it comes to practicing and teaching yoga, it is not a one size fits all. As you read above, there is a continued need for yoga teachers. Every teacher will vary in approach, style, experience and training. Know your style and/or goals and then pick the one that best suits you. In regards to injuries and/or physical limitations, the number one rule of thumb is to not be shy. Inform your teacher prior to class. Then, simply ask if the class is suitable for you. Growth does not take place without inquiry. If the teacher isn’t able to offer specific feedback related to your injury and or question, that’s an indication that the teacher might not be a good fit for you.
Hat tip to our avid reader Katha Kissman for finding this one! Watch the vid and then read the commentary below.
Sure the point of the video was to show how exercise helps aging adults avoid disease. But, we already knew that! I think there was a more important lesson. The Tigerettes aren’t exercising, they are PLAYING! Exercise to me means drab elastic sweatpants, monotonous treadmill training and physical torture generally endured under solitary confinement. Let’s spend some time this upcoming weekend playing. Find a lonesome friend or loved one and kick, throw or shoot a ball. Hell, who needs a ball, you can tag, race, swim, jump or crawl to a calorie burn. But for God’s sake, stop sensationalizing exercise and start playing!
One of the joys of yoga is the feeling of being free and light. I encourage you to cultivate that happiness by becoming aware of and grateful for the present moment. This Friday marks the last Friday Fitness of 2011 – so let’s celebrate our lives, our freedom and our light right now in this moment!
Below are three yoga poses – in each of the poses, I challenge you to bring attention to your limbs (in the Happiness Expression Challenge), as these are extensions of your heart. Allow your arms and hands to create and express your happiness in the current posture.
Crescent Pose /// Warrior III /// Chair Pose
Step by Step: Crescent Pose
1. Start in Downward-Facing Dog. Exhale and step your right foot forward between your hands, aligning your knee over the heel. Keep your left leg strong and firm.
2. Inhale and raise your torso upright. At the same time, sweep your arms wide to the sides and raise them overhead, palms facing each other.
3. Be careful not to overarch the lower back. Lengthen your tailbone toward the floor (tuck your tailbone under and pull your low core in). Reach back through your left heel to activate your left quad to help create an equal balance between both legs. Come into your right leg, (bend-lunge position) weight staying in the heel.
4. As you inhale grow taller through the torso. Be sure not to press the front ribs forward. Draw them down and into the torso. Lift the arms from the lower back ribs, reaching through your little fingers. Hold this pose for 30 seconds to a minute. Repeat the posture on the opposite side.
http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/2492
***Happiness Expression Challenge: As you hold Crescent Lunge, instead of reaching your arms up, open your arms out by your side. Turn your palms upwards as if you were catching raindrops. You are nourishing your very own happiness. Be open and ready to receive the blessings of each moment. Smile…Let happiness in!
Step by Step: Warrior III
1. From the lunge (crescent lunge) position, stretch your arms forward, parallel to the floor and parallel to each other, palms facing each other. Exhale and press the head of the right thighbone back and press the heel actively into the floor. Synchronize the straightening of the front leg and the lifting of the back leg. As you lift the back leg, resist by pressing the tailbone into the pelvis.
2. Normally students come up into Warrior III by lunging the torso forward. This tends to shift the body weight onto the ball of the front foot and unbalance the position. Don’t allow the torso to swing forward as you move into position; instead, as you straighten the front knee, think of pressing the head of the thighbone back. This centers the femur in the hip joint, grounds the heel into the floor, and stabilizes the position.
3. The arms, torso and raised leg should be positioned relatively parallel to the floor. For many students the pelvis tends to tilt. Release the hip [of the raised leg] toward the floor until the two hip points are even and parallel to the floor. Energize the back leg and extend it strongly toward the wall behind you; reach just as actively in the opposite direction with the arms. Bring the head up slightly and look forward, but be sure not to compress the back of your neck.
4. Stay in this position for 30 seconds to a minute.
http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/941
***Happiness Expression Challenge: When you transition into Warrior III, place your hands in prayer position at your chest. As you glance at your hands, be happy for your friends and loved ones – share your hearts energy and joy.
Step by Step: Chair Pose
1. From Warrior III, bring your extended leg down to meet the root leg as you pendulum back into an upright position (feet together). Inhale and raise your arms perpendicular to the floor.
2. Exhale and bend your knees, trying to take the thighs as nearly parallel to the floor as possible (squat position). Keep your weight back in your heels, hugging your legs in towards each other.
3. Firm your shoulder blades down, relaxing your shoulders and releasing the tension in your neck. Lengthen your spine with every inhalation and root deeper (sink into the squat) with every exhalation.
4. Stay for 30 seconds to a minute. To come out of this pose straighten your knees with an inhalation, lifting strongly through the arms. Exhale and release your arms to your sides, back into mountain pose.
http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/493
***Happiness Expression Challenge: As you place your feet together in chair position, open your arms out wide to your sides and give the world and yourself a great big hug.
Go through this series of three movements on your right and then your left side. Feel free to improvise according to how you feel. Remember to be true to your physical needs and your hearts expressions!
23 and 1/2 hours: What is the single best thing we can do for our health?
Debbie Daniels, who many of you will remember from the show Heavy, posted this video on her Facebook page. Outside of Adam Martin’s Exercise Prescription seminar, it may be one of the best presentations I have ever seen on the benefits of exercise. The information is great, but it is the way that it is presented that made it so interesting. This is the time of year for new beginnings, if starting an exercise program is on your list, this video will help inspire you. If you are a seasoned exerciser, it will help keep you inspired. Thanks Debbie, for passing this on. Happy and healthy New Year to all.
For many of us, the holidays are a time to get together with friends and family. We laugh, tell stories, give presents, and of course eat. The average American says they think they gain around 5 pounds during the holiday season. Let us be the exception! The holidays do not have to mean weight gain—only if we allow them to. Why not add to the list of family traditions, some physical activity! Remember that it is not all or nothing. It is not the food we eat that we remember, it is the people we are with and the things that we do together that we remembered throughout the years. Below are a few ideas for activities that you can do and recruit the family to join in on—enjoy the holidays!
Here are some ideas for those lucky enough to have a white Christmas:
For a great holiday themed workout that you can do at home with next to no equipment, check out this post from Fitness Specialist Jeff Ford on 12 days of fitness fun. Turn on some holiday music, grab the family and pump out this awesome routine!
Happy Holidays from H3!
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