Put yourself into the form of a pretzel. You can do it.
What?
Come on, man. The Hindu deities Shiva and Shakti and their hermaphroditic joint deity, Arhnraishvara does it. Time for another downward dog! It’s all about flexibility.
And karma.
What we mean by that is that if you haven’t done yoga in a while, well your muscles might protest the stretching that’s coming their way.
Yoga and karma. Kicking your ass!
(Oh come on. Haven’t you ever heard of Hot Yoga? … Kicked our asses … *muttering under our collective breaths*).
Ok, the truth is that daily yoga has some tremendous benefits regardless of the type of yoga you choose to engage in. (And you don’t have to be Hindu or accept the religious overtones that constitute yoga’s poses.)
That means you can be a Zoroastrian, a Jew, a Christian, or a Muslim and do yoga simply as exercise without compromising your monotheistic beliefs.
One of America’s top fitness gurus, of P90X fame, Tony Horton does a daily yoga routine that we’re going to share with you here as the first of several articles on the subject.
1. Tony Horton’s Daily Yoga Routine
2. 23 Steps To Becoming A Stand Up Paddleboard Yoga Goddess
Like surfing? Like yoga? A Sydney fitness guru is making magical waves.
Some of us enjoy running. Some of us enjoy running for a long time over long distances.
That’s not US.
But, if that’s YOU … or if you have an interest in running a marathon any time soon, then this article is for you.
Well do some of us recall days gone by, when roommates in the university would wake us to Motley Cruescreaming “Girls, Girls, Girls” at 7:00 A.M. This, all in order to go jogging long distances in the freezing cold.
Did we want to go too? Heck no. But go we did. And then we regretted it because we knew nothing about running long distances. So, very shortly into the run, we hit the proverbial wall … and that was that. No more jogging long distances for us.
Marathon training isn’t something you’re born knowing how to do, you know. (Plus, enduring your roommate mocking you as you lie on the ice-covered sidewalk has a dampening effect on your enthusiasm.)
Anyway, that was a long time ago, and we realized that many of our readers have not been traumatized as we have.
Therefore!
Below, we’ll introduce you to some of the science regarding long distance running. We’ll also let you in on some of the mentality that goes into long runs. You see, it’s not just a physical battle, but also a mental one.
So, psych yourself up, plug in some earphones, press play on your iPhone, and let Cake rip … “She’s going the distance. She’s going for speed …”
1. How to Train For Long Distance Running
2. Running My First Half Marathon
Here, a regular mom shares how she prepared for, and ran, her first half marathon.” The one area I found really challenging was squeezing in the long runs during training. I felt like there was a lot of eye-rolling from other runners when I would say that.”But this mom did it.
This article from pavementrunner.com shows how one long distance runner worked long runs into his busy schedule, and gives some great inspiration for those who want to try the same thing.
We hope that for those of you who are truly interested in long distance running, that you’ve found some valuable and inspiring information here. Remember, as T.S. Elliot famously said:
“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”
So go. Run Forest. Run. 😉
We’ll do a nice workout at home, and then sip Pina Coladas … cause we’re jerks like that.
(You can still be nice though, and share this article on Facebook or Pinterest!)
We all know these people who are into too much exercise. Some of us are in relationships with them.
They get up, and first thing in the morning and (horror of horrors) before they even grab a cup of coffee, they’re starting an excessive exercise routine. They’ve got their exercise ball and they’re doing planks. Their music is all turned up and it’s only 5:30 A.M. for crying out loud!
They’ve got their yoga mat spread out on the kitchen floor. They’re stretching (which, admittedly, can be a turn on … but we digress) and they’re already sweating. While some of us, on the other hand, are staggering out of bed. We’re bleary eyed. We’re desperate to find and shut off the music blaring from the new iPhone 7 as it lies there, seemingly so innocent, on the kitchen counter.
Yes …
We know our enemy.
The truth is though, these workout fanatics may be acting out an addiction. There is a difference, you see, between dedication and addiction.
In this article, we take a look at those differences, and we give the information that will allow you to see if you, or someone you love, has an unhealthy, secret obsession with punishing workouts. We help you determine if you, or they, are trying so hard to crush it, merely in order to be seen by others as “better than.”
With that said, let’s discuss the ins and outs of too much exercise.
1. What Happens If You Exercise Too Much?
2. Stop Glorifying Too Much Exercise
This article comes to you from Angie Viets, LCP a clinical psychotherapist, and author. This was originally published over at psychologytoday.com. Come see how “admiration and compliments from others’ fuel the already obsessive mind of the person with an exercise addiction.”
This article comes to you from Gretchen Reynolds, in a blog for the New York Times. Exercise scientists have long been intrigued – and worried – by the question of whether, over months and years, someone can exercise too much. This article takes on this question.
Just about every fitness guru talks about the marvelous benefits of exercise, but has anyone ever mentioned that exercise can hasten the ageing process? Believe it or not.
5. Excessive Exercise May Harm Athlete’s Gut Health
We’ve all heard the saying, “Too much of a good thing can be bad for you.” Yes, that includes exercise. Click here to see exactly why Excessive Exercise May Be Bad for Your Gut.
Now, whether you are the one who exercises until you’re literally ready to drop dead, or you have someone in your life who is … hopefully you have some idea about what you ought to do to start creating some balance.
In the meantime, why not sign up to get daily tips and secrets from the fitness industry? You can do that by filling out the form at the bottom of this article.
And if you have questions, we’re easy to reach and will be happy to answer them. Just E-mail us at:answers (AT) fitnessxtremes DOT org.
You wanna jump up, jump up and get down and … prevent mistakes crossfitters make.
Oh hey! Glad you’re here.
This article is intended to help those new to crossfit to develop and maintain good crossfit habits. It’s to help prevent mistakes crossfitters make.
If that’s you, well howdy, hallo, privyet, salut, caio, kon’nichiwa, hāi, shalom and salaam!
You’re in the right place.
Well, that’s if you actually know what crossfit even is. Some of you out there may not. Thus, the first part of this article gives a brief overview of what crossfit is. Then afterward we get into the meat and potatoes and the actual subject of this article.
Which, funny as it may sound, is not really meat and potatoes. It’s more like … “a training philosophy that coaches people of all shapes and sizes to improve their physical well-being. It also improves cardiovascular fitness in a hardcore yet accepting and encouraging environment.”
If you’re a crossfit veteran, you can just scroll down to start learning whichoverrated crossfit exercises and mistakes to avoid.
To really nail down what crossfit is, we turn to the guys over at Nerdfitness.com. We’ll let them enlighten you in their excellent, nerdish way. (We love them because THEY would get our Celebrity Deathmatch reference.)
“CrossFit is advertised, in four words, as ‘the sport of fitness.’
With constantly varied, high-intensity functional movements, CrossFit is a training philosophy that coaches people of all shapes and sizes to improve their physical well-being and cardiovascular fitness in a hardcore yet accepting and encouraging environment.
Here’s the definition of CrossFit from the official site:
CrossFit is the principal strength and conditioning program for many police academies and tactical operations teams. It’s also the program used by military special operations units, champion martial artists, and hundreds of other elite and professional athletes worldwide.
Our program delivers a fitness that is, by design, broad, general, and inclusive. Our specialty is not specializing. Combat, survival, many sports, and life reward this kind of fitness. On average, it punishes the specialist.
CrossFit contends that a person is as fit as they are proficient in each of ten general physical skills. These are cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, agility, balance, coordination, and accuracy.
Or, in nerd speak – CrossFit is a training program that builds strength and conditioning through extremely varied and challenging workouts. Each day the workout will test a different part of your functional strength. Or, it may test conditioning, not specializing in one particular thing, but rather with the goal of building a body that’s capable of practically anything and everything.
CrossFit is extremely different from a commercial gym…and not just because you won’t find any ellipticals, weight machines (gross), or Zumba classes …
… According to the CrossFit site, this program ‘is designed for universal scalability making it the perfect application for any committed individual regardless of experience. We’ve used our same routines for elderly individuals with heart disease and cage fighters one month out from televised bouts. We scale load and intensity; we don’t change programs.‘
What that means is that every day there is a particular workout prescribed (you’ll often see this written as Rx’ed) for everybody that comes to CrossFit. Rather than having one workout for older women and another for hardcore athletes – there’s ONE workout each day that is completely scalable based on your skill.
For example, if the workout calls for squats with 135 pounds but you can only do squats with the bar (45 pounds), then that’s where you’ll start. If you’re injured and can’t do squats at all, a similar movement will be substituted. As well, if the number of reps is too many for your current ability, that will be reduced. As you get stronger and more experienced you’ll work your way towards eventually doing the workouts as prescribed.
Now, although CrossFit can be for everybody, it certainly ISN’T for everybody. In this blogger’s humble opinion, CrossFit is perfect for a few types of people:
Beginners to weight training – If you have NEVER weight trained before (or trained only on machines), CrossFit is a great place for you to start. That’s true provided you have a great coach, which I’ll cover shortly. You’ll learn how to do all of the important lifts in a super supportive and nonjudgmental environment. You might even find that…GASP…you love strength training!
People looking for support and community – This is the appeal to CrossFit for me…every CrossFit gym has a really tight knit community feel to it. You’re not just a membership payment to them. You’re a person that needs help. When Nerd Fitness gyms start popping up (don’t think it won’t happen!) I’ll be drawing a lot of inspiration from CF as to how members are so supportive and inclusive of each other.
Fitness fanatics – You know those people that love to work out every day and feel like something is missing if they don’t? The way CrossFit is structured, you are working out with regular consistency. The general protocol is 3 days on, 1 day off…but many CrossFitters (cough Staci cough) end up at the gym every day, or sometimes even twice a day. It’s addicting.
Masochists – and I mean that in the nicest way possible. CrossFit rewards people for finishing workouts in the least amount of time possible. This means that you’ll often be in situations where you are using 100% of your effort to finish a workout. You’re exhausting yourself, and forcing yourself through incredible amounts of pain.
Former athletes – CrossFit has built-in teamwork, camaraderie, and competition. Almost all workouts have a time component to them. You either have to finish a certain number of repetitions of exercises in a certain amount of time, or the time is fixed and you need to see how many repetitions you can do of an exercise. You get to compete with people in your class. You can also go online to see how you did against the world’s elite CrossFit athletes. There are even nationwide competitions for those that become truly dedicated ….”
There is a LOT more information on the origins of crossfit training in the article above. In fact, the Nerd Fitness peeps mention that their article on “what is crossfit” is pretty much their longest article ever. If you’d like to read it in its entirety (at something like 6,000 words) and have the patience, head over there. You can check out more on that and how to prevent mistakes crossfitters make.
You can do so by clicking the title of the article above, or by clicking on the image immediately below it.
The short version is spelled out in the video below. 😉
What is CrossFit?
Watched that? Great. Time to move on. We’ll now cover five common eating mistakes crossfitters make. Then we’ll go over the ten most common mistakes, period.
The article below comes to you originally via Chris Skafidas and the good folks over at Crossfit Chicago. It’s not for crossfitters alone, but it does apply. It’s all about dietary mistakes crossfitters make. (Their link has gone dead and the article doesn’t seem to be live anymore. BUT! It was when we first wrote this. Anyway, read on.)
Five Common Nutritional & Dietary Mistakes Crossfitters Make
“Given that we’re wrapping up the Paleo Challenge, I thought it would be a good idea to put out a short list of common nutritional mistakes many people make. Whether you are just ending the challenge, are new to Paleo, or don’t follow it at all, keep these things in mind when you’re attempting to make smart choices regarding food. Some of this may be old hat to many of you, but a refresher never hurts.
Relying on labels such as “natural” or “organic” to determine whether a food is actually healthy.
Many people trip up here because they read natural and/or organic and automatically assume the food is healthy. A lot of the time, these are just buzzwords. They’re used effectively to advertise the food and sell product. Think about it – if you read “organic sugar” on a label, is that a whole hell of a lot different than regular sugar with respect to nutritional value?
This is where reading the label and understanding the ingredient list is key. A lot of foods with labels like this may still contain highly processed ingredients and/or additives. Read your labels and make informed decisions. If it looks suspect, walk away. Also, products labeled “natural” or “organic” are inherently more expensive.
The thought that being thin or using weight as a test of health.
This one bugs me. I know plenty of thin people who can’t run, lift any kind of reasonably heavy weight or do a pull-up. I also know plenty of chain smokers who are thin. Does this make them healthy? Definitely not. Although it’s better not to be overweight, just because your physical appearance is pleasing to the eye does not mean everything on the inside is in good working order.
For example, people that appear slim can be diabetic or get cancer. While all of us are inherently vain to some degree, superficial image isn’t everything. This is a significant problem in our culture. Most “fad” diet programs typically focus on low calories or low fat. This is often to the point of the exclusion of quality health or nutrition – “look, you can eat chocolate cake and STILL lose weight!” Give me a break. Please realize that the food you do, or don’t, put into your body determines not just your physical appearance, but your internal and mental health. It also determines quality of sleep and your performance in the gym.
Many people experience their best performance athletically when they’re carrying a few extra pounds than they might like. Still not convinced? Try Paleo for 8 weeks, and go get a full physical and blood test and report back on the results.
The misconception that exercise can correct unhealthy eating habits.
I had a friend say this the other day in regards to just beginning P90X: “Well, I’m doing it so I can eat whatever I want. If I work out for an hour a day I figure I can get away with eating anything.” Kind of made me cringe when I heard this…and she’s in med school! Listen, this is just a way for too many people to justify extremely unhealthy dietary habits. Diet is the main determinant of body composition, not exercise (another thing few people realize).
Obviously, exercise has many important health benefits, such as the improvement of insulin sensitivity. But why work so hard in the gym just to give it all back with that pint of ice cream you wolfed down before bed? Yes, we can burn off sugar through exercise, but not the insulin or the trans-fats. So they next time you hear someone justify their shitty diet with exercise, remind them that exercise is a part of a healthy diet. It’s not a substitute for one.”
As always, there are more points to the article above. If you’re interested in reading more, just click on the article’s title or the image immediately beneath it.
The next article is specific to crossfitters and mistakes crossfitters make. So pay attention! This one comes from one of the top fitness blogs of 2017, tabatatimes.com and was written by Talayna Fortunato, a crossfitter and professional physical therapist.
The Top Ten Mistakes CrossFitters Make
“ 1. Not Warming Up Properly
Every day it takes me around 30 minutes to warm-up. I start with easy cardio for 5-10 min. then do some light foam rolling and stretching, leg swings, lunges, rotator cuff exercises, and finally movements specific to the workout I’m about to do.
My warm-up has gotten more extensive (and longer) with each year I do CrossFit. Almost to the point that it started to annoy me, and then I remembered back to my gymnastics days: Ever since I was on team at age 8, I remember our warm-ups taking us at least 30 minutes with all of the stretching and other calisthenics we did.
Even though we were young and healthy I believe the gymnastics coaches knew what they were doing to keep us that way. With the intensity of competitive CrossFit, it’s imperative to put in the time for an adequate warm-up and mobility work. If you don’t put in the time now you’ll put it in later when you have an injury.
Eating Too Strict of a Paleo Diet
If you are a recreational CrossFitter, following a Paleo lifestyle is probably nutritionally adequate. It’s also a good way of maintaining longevity and health. However, if you are a competitive-level athlete and training intensely more than an hour a day, your main source of energy is carbohydrates. Also, strict Paleo simply does not provide enough sources of them.
Now I’m not saying to go out and carb-load on pasta, bread, or sugar. That’s just an inflammatory insulin bomb. I am saying look for complex sources of carbohydrates from plants and low glycemic grains to add into your diet, especially when training is at its peak.
During an interview at the Games, every individual athlete was asked who follows a Paleo diet, and not a single one raised their hand.
Sacrificing Technique and Movement Efficiency for Intensity and Eventual Technical Breakdown
CrossFit gets results due to the intensity of the workouts, but that doesn’t mean throw all good form out the window. For example, if your back starts rounding when you’re pulling from the ground or you’re chasing wildly after snatches, it’s time to put the bar down until you can regain efficiency. Your back and other body parts will thank you later!
Also if you’re compromising range of motion enough to miss consecutive reps, take a quick rest before you go again. Otherwise you are ingraining poor habits and when you reach that place of pain and fatigue again in competition guess what’ll happen… No Rep!
Doing Volume for Volume’s Sake Without Intent
Have a purpose! More is not better; better is better.
CrossFitters are notorious for thinking that when they are getting ready to compete, more is better. This mindset leads to the performance of multiple hero WODs in a day with the intent of “loading.” However, what it really does is break the athlete down with laborious repetition and impede lasting gains.
More is not better; better is better. Having a purpose, i.e. knowing the energy system and muscular groups you’re trying to tax during a workout allows you to work smart and hard, not just hard. Again, your body will also thank you later!
Cherry Picking Workouts and/or Jumping Around Programs
This is for the CrossFitter who walks into the gym and decides when they get there what workout they’re going to do based on what their gym posts and which one of the blogs they follow appears best that day. Blogs are written for a reason, with progressive intent to allow your workouts to build upon themselves for measurable improvements in your numbers.
If you jump from program to program, weekly or even daily, that progress is completely short-circuited. Not to mention you’re probably doing mostly what you’re good at and not working your weaknesses enough.
Following a Strength Progression that Doesn’t Makes Sense or One Without Any Progression at All
The body adapts to load by responding to meet the load in the form of muscular hypertrophy. There have been many studies showing the best percentages of max load, sets, reps, and frequency to produce optimal gains without under- or overloading the athlete. These studies have produced named strength progression tables, squat cycles, and the like.
If you jump from program to program, weekly or even daily, that progress is completely short-circuited.
You can reinvent the wheel and use yourself as a guinea pig to do your own research, or you can find a viable progression and just follow it. I’ll give you one guess what most long-term successful athletes do.
One other thought to keep in mind is how much loading your conditioning work is providing. An example would be making your conditioning heavy on the weights during the heaviest week of a strength loading cycle (no bueno).”
Finally, the moment you’ve been waiting for … that is if you are someone who loves breathing fire …
Immediately below is a:
Full Body CrossFit Workout
All done?
We hope you enjoyed this article on crossfit, and mistakes crossfitters make. If you did, please share it on Facebook and be a good neighbor. (You could do that on Pinterest too.)
And, now, as Jim Carry opined in the Truman Show …
Ah. You want to whip yourself into shape, grasshopper through plyometric workouts for women? Well, hop on over and lend an ear. 😉
First of all, one of the deep secrets of our art is something we like to call plyometrics. If you know what that is, great. If not, this article is for you. Here, we want to introduce plyometrics for beginners.
That’s you, young tadpole.
Specifically, this article is for those female tadpoles in our collective pond.
Ok. So, why, you ask, are we referring to everyone as if they were hopping insects or amphibians? The reasons are simple. The first is that we’re old enough to remember the 1970’s Kung-Fu, and that’s how we roll.
The second is that Plyometrics workouts for women are all about short jumps.
Thus,we recommend that you check out the following article from WebMD. It’s written by By Kara Mayer Robinson, and is an excellent introduction into what Plyometrics is and is not.
“Remember the fun you had as a kid, hopping, skipping, and jumping around the playground? The exercises you do with plyometrics mimic those dynamic moves.
Plyometrics (“plyo,” for short) used to be called “jump training.” It’s a technique that you can use in many different ways. For instance, you can do plyometrics to help train for basketball, volleyball, tennis, or any other activity that uses explosive movements.
You’ll do a series of jumps and hops, like jump squats or one-leg hops. You might jump up and onto a box or bench, or jump over cones. Some moves will be faster than others.
Every time you land from a jump, your muscles get a stretch. That gives your next jump even more power. The combination of stretching and contracting your muscles whips them into shape.
You won’t do plyometrics every day, because your muscles will need a break from all that jumping. If you’re not active now, you may need to start working on your basic fitness first and later have a pro show you how to do the moves, so you don’t get injured.
It’s a fun alternative to an everyday strength-training workout that boosts your muscle power, strength, balance, and agility. You can either do a workout based around plyometrics, or add some plyo moves to your usual routine without giving it an entire session.
Intensity Level: High
This workout uses maximum power to strengthen your muscles. The moves are quick and explosive, so prepare to use a lot more energy than you do in a typical strength-training session.
Areas It Targets
Core: No. This workout doesn’t specifically target your core.
Arms: No. Most plyometric workouts don’t target your arms. But if you want to work them, you can add upper-body moves like medicine-ball throws and plyometric push-ups.
Legs: Yes. Expect your legs to get in great shape from all the jumping and hopping.
Glutes: Yes. Moves like jump squats fire up your glutes to make them stronger.
Back: No. Though the workout involves your whole body, it’s not focused on your back muscles.”
Finally, there’s more to this article, so be sure to check it out. You can do so by clicking on the title above, or by clicking on the image beneath it.
Next, we want to share great, body-weight only plyometric workouts for women that are about 21 minutes long.
The Ultimate Plyometric Workouts for Women Beginners
Finally, since this is a beginners article featuring plyometric workouts for women, we’re going round everything out by increasing the intensity by a level. Consequently, the next article uses light weights in addition to regular plyometrics for beginners. This one’s from Susi May over at popsugar.com.
“If it’s time kick your fitness life up a notch then this workout will push you to the next level. Mixing plyometric moves with challenging variations of weight-training exercises means you’ll be burning more calories in less time. It’s hard, but it’s worth it …
… Directions: warm up with five minutes of light cardio, then repeat each three-exercise circuit three times. Start with 10 reps of each exercise, building up to 15 reps of each move as you get stronger. Start with five-pound dumbbells, and work up to eight- or 10-pound weights to increase the challenge in these plyometric workouts for women.
High Knee Skips
Skipping isn’t just for little kids: it’s a great warmup exercise, especially if you will be jumping in your workout.
Skip in place by hopping on your right leg while bringing the left knee up toward your chest.
Engage your abs as the knee comes toward your chest.
Switch legs and keep skipping while pumping your arms.
Skip for 30 seconds.
Gate Swings
Continue to warm up as you work your outer and inner thighs with each move.
Begin standing with your feet together.
Hop your feet wide apart, and come into a deep squat, bringing your hands to your thighs. Your toes will be pointed outward.
Push off your knees for leverage as you jump your legs together to complete one rep.
Do 15 reps to complete a set.
Shoulder Press and Side Crunch
Grab a set of dumbbells to tone your shoulders and waist with this exercise.
Also, stand holding dumbbells at your shoulders. With your palms facing forward, press the weights overhead, straightening your arms.
Additionally, as you bend your elbows to lower the weights, lift your left knee up toward your left elbow. Squeeze your abs to exaggerate the side crunch.
Lower your leg while raising the weights overhead, and repeat the side crunch on the right. This completes one rep.
Finally, do 15 reps, alternating sides.
Use five- to 10-pound weights.”
Finally, to get the full workout, click on the title of the popsugar article above, or on the image directly beneath it. 🙂
Now, dear lady plyo-jumpers (ok, we ran into trouble trying to think of another jumping animal metaphor that could represent our readers, here. “Lady Kanga?“, “Women Roos?”
Seems like, we need something other than an insect or frog for those women who are not so much into martial arts, you know) ….
We’ll settle for ladies here.
Ladies, we hope you got some good info on plyometric workouts for women in this article. If you did, please share on Facebook or Pinterest! Then check out some of our other articles by glancing to your right …. Over there. Over there in the side bar. Right there. You got it!
🙂
See you there.
In the meantime, we gotta think of a good, geeky Star Wars themed “plyometric workouts for men” article for all the young padawans out there.
There are people from all walks of life. Each of them have a different story. Each has a different fitness level. Some have body types that make it more or less easy to become (and stay) fit.
That’s why it’s important to remember that everyone begins somewhere. And, everyone continues on their path with varying degrees of success once they’ve begun.
No one starts out as a master of Kung-Fu. Noboy becomes a Leonardo da Vinci overnight. No one becomes Tiger Woods or Michael Jordan the moment they begin their journey.
Sometimes, kings and queens don’t become royalty without navigating an incredibly difficult path.
They had to learn to walk before they could run.
In fact, we wrote another article, where we talked about how it feels to go out and run just one mile, and the initial embarrassment of not being able to complete that simple run.
If you’ve ever felt the need to just sort of ease into a workout routine, and begin doing SOMETHING … well, this article is for you. It’s all about walking before running. Maybe you’ve injured yourself and you want to get back to being active. Maybe you’re an asthmatic and running throws you into a coughing fit.
Who knows? There could be a million reasons that walking RIGHT NOW, just might be more healthy for you than a more intense workout.
So together, let’s walk then run. 🙂
We want to start off with an article from Amy Stainthorpe, writing for fullstride.co.uk.
Getting used to the ground – If you walk before running you will get to know if there are any surface problems on the ground you are walking on. This includes things like small pot holes, pebbles etc. which you may not know are there while running. You may fall due to any such problems on the ground.
Warm up – Whenever we do any exercise we have to warm up our body so that we do not get any jerks from sudden exercise. So, I’d advise a walk of around 15 minutes will make all your body parts ready for the strain of running.
Avoid muscle cramps – When we walk then run, we help our body to avoid getting muscle cramps which happen mostly due to sudden jerks or exercises done without proper warm-up.
Proper clothes – If you first walk then run you will know the outside temperature. You can get back to home to get proper or extra clothes, otherwise if you are starting running straight away you may get exposed to cold or suffer from excess sweating.
Aggregating thoughts – Walking is a good way to aggregate all your thoughts of the day.
Get together – One major benefit of walking before running is that you may schedule your early morning get-togethers with friends and neighbors while walking.
Sometimes running immediately will give you shortness of breath and you may not be able to talk! So walking will serve dual purpose of getting warmed up for running as well as getting to know latest things and news from your friends.”
To read the whole article and check out some of the links to other tips just click on the title or the image directly beneath it.
Next, we want to share a video from Yuri Elkaim, an author, and former pro soccer player who worked as the strength and conditioning and nutrition coach at the University of Toronto for seven seasons.
Walking for Weight Loss: 2 Clever Ways to Walk Off 25 lbs in 30 Days
Next we’re going to lay out some walking plans from the good folks over at runnersworld.com.
Start Walking Plan
“This plan will help you get in the habit of regular exercise and will lay the foundation so you can become a runner. With this seven-week plan, you can build up to and beyond 150 minutes per week of exercise – the amount that experts recommend to prevent illnesses like diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and hypertension. Each week includes four workouts with an option to do a fifth workout. The plan starts with a 15-minute walk and builds gradually, so that by the end of the program you will be able to walk for 60 minutes without stopping.
PLAN LENGTH: 7 WEEKS
WEEKLY ROUTINE: 4-5 DAYS OF RUN/WALK, 2-3 DAYS OF REST
LONG RUNS: BUILDING UP TO A 60 MINUTE WALK
To see more of this article, and to grab some great .PDF files and plans you can put up on your fridge, just CLICK HERE NOW.
Now, we recognize that some of you are not able to get out and about. Maybe it’s super freaking cold outside. Maybe you’re reading this and you’re in Upstate New York, and there is a hundred feet of snow piled up around your (hopefully cozy) cabin out in the woods.
But, you still want to get your walk in.
Walking before running. That’s what this following video is all about. When you want to walk, but you don’t want to leave the house. This is for you.
Indoor Walking Exercise – Full Length 30-Minute Power Walk
That’s it for this article. Now go out and up your fitness level.
Become the next Servius Tullius as you walk then run on the path to fitness. 🙂
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One of the standby workouts when we were kids back in the 80’s (Ok. We know. We’re old) was good, old fashioned, jumping rope. The girls did it all the time on the playground.
You know, one girl takes one handle, another takes the other, and then one or two girls start jumping in the middle. But, the gym teacher also handed out jump ropes to everybody during physical education. Then we were all given ten minutes to just jump (and basically take out our childish energy).
We bet that most teachers were a bit relieved when all the hyper-active kids came drooping back in to take their seats.
Why?
Because jump rope workouts really are not that easy. Well, they’re easy to do once you get the hang of it. But they’re awesome cardio intense workouts that burn a lot of calories really fast.
In this article, we’re bringing you some jump rope training basics as well as a variety of jump rope workout videos for your convenience.
The first comes from the good folks at fitnessmagazine.com. Let’s get started with this training demonstration.
If you haven’t picked up a jump rope since fourth-grade gym class, it’s time for a skip down memory lane. Burn 135 calories in just 10 minutes with this jump rope workout from Marty Winkler, cocreator of RopeSport workout DVDs … You’ll also sculpt your shoulders, chest, arms, and legs.
How To Jump Rope
Jump 1 to 2 inches off floor, giving rope just enough space to slip under feet — only the balls of feet should touch the floor.
Keep elbows close to sides as you turn the rope. The movement comes from the wrists and forearms, not the shoulders.
If you tire out before you finish the workout, drop the rope, but keep arms and legs going. Work up to using the rope full-time.
To find a rope that fits, place one foot in the center of the rope and lift the handles — they shouldn’t go past your armpits.”
Get the full article above, along with the 10-minute jump rope workout video by clicking the image above or the title.
Here’s another great bout of jump rope training from fitness guru, Tony Horton (you can follow him on Twitter, here: @Tony_Horton).
Jump Rope Workout—10 Minute Cardio Routine
Moving on, Ross Enamait from RossTraining.com is dedicated to excellence and innovations in high performance conditioning, strength, and athletic development. He’s also well-known for his advice (and his videos) regarding workouts involving the jump rope.
In the following article, he answers some common questions concerning jump rope training.
“Perhaps the most commonly asked questions are related to rope selection. For instance, I am often asked if high-speed cable ropes are necessary for fast turning styles such as double or triple unders. The simple answer is no.
Fortunately, specialty ropes are not required. Expensive ropes are not necessary either. In the video below, you can see a brief demonstration that I filmed with an inexpensive PVC freestyle rope. It is actually the same rope that I used in my jump rope DVD. The PVC cord was purchased for only two dollars. Clearly, rope speed is not compromised and the rope is also useful for a variety of freestyle movements.”
Check out the full article and the rest of what Ross has to say by clicking on the image or title above.
Finally, we’ll wrap with another 10-minute jump rope workout from popsugar.com hosted by certified personal trainer, Anna Renderer.
10-Minute Calorie-Torching Workout
“The jump rope is more than child’s play; we consider it to be the ultimate fitness tool. And after trying this jump rope workout, we’re convinced you will too. This 10-minute workout will burn a ton of calories while toning your gams. If you don’t have a rope but are ready to get your sweat on, fake it and jump along with us.”
That’s it on great jump rope training workouts for today boys and girls.
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