fitness

Articles Tagged with: fitness

What is Aquatic Fitness?

Many people overlook aqua fitness and aqua therapy. I have heard many people say ‘isn’t that for old folks’? The answer…both yes and no. Aqua fitness and aqua therapy are both tremendously beneficial post injury to strengthen and rehabilitate weaknesses and injuries without unnecessary impact on the joints. But using aquatics in your personal exercise and wellness program have numerous uses and benefits. Here are a few:

Benefits of Aquatic Fitness

1. It can serve as a wonderful form of low-no impact cardio!

2. Using the water as resistance can provide a full body sculpting and strengthening workout.

3. You can easily adjust the intensity of your aqua workouts to meet your needs and advance from beginner levels to high intensity workouts as well!

4. A great way to both strengthen and rehabilitate injuries and weaknesses in the body at a fraction of the cost of physical therapy.

Many gyms offer aqua fitness classes, however very few offer aqua therapy. On my fitness and wellness members section we will be posting both aqua therapy classes and also aqua fitness classes. You can watch them there and then go to your local pool and try them out yourselves!

Wondering how to get an intense workout in the pool? Get a pair of ankle and wrist weights or resistance ankle bands and resistance dumbbells for aqua fitness and try out your favorite free weight training exercises in the pool! A great high intensity workout in the pool looks like a combination of cardio (running in place or jumping jacks) with circuit style weight exercises!

Another creative and therapeutic use for the pool is yoga, yes yoga! Try practicing all standing poses (tree, eagle, king dancer, and standing hip openers) in the pool! It is restorative and refreshing!

Preparing for the Holidays

Invest in your holiday wellness with a good game plan!

The holidays are just around the corner! I will be posting on topics like relationships, emotional wellness, holiday fitness and nutrition and of course on the much dreaded post holiday weight issues…but since I am all about balance, holistic (whole person wellness) and prevention, let’s talk some preventative measures today.

This holiday season, eat small, eat often, and move more!

Let that be your mantra this season along with ‘All things In Balance’! It is important to enjoy the holidays but doing so without causing problems later. So let’s break down this preventative statement, eat small, eat often, and move more into simple action steps:

Eat Small
I’m not saying ‘don’t eat the cookie’, I am just saying ‘don’t eat the whole jar at once’! Try to eat small portions for each meal. This will help you burn off the calories and use them up versus end up storing excess calories as fat!

Eat Often
Instead of falling into the typical holiday meal pattern of gorging ourselves with a few massive meals, eat often, every three or four hours! This will keep your metabolism functioning at a high pace and also facilitate your digestive system to properly digesting and absorbing nutrients.

Move More
I know, I know, aying around all day can be a huge part of your families holiday traditions. Well, it’s time to make some new ones. Move more and often! Get up, get out and move! Drag the family out as well and build a snow man, play a game, take a walk, or even set up an active game in the living room or head to the gym for a family workout or yoga class.

Make Fitness Fun

How can you make fitness fun?

Every exercise routine can become stale after a while. Also if we don’t find ways to ENJOY exercise it seems like a chore and we tend to fall off the exercise wagon!

Here are ten ideas for adding some enjoyment to your exercise routine!

1. Take an exercise class!
Try a new kind of fitness class, teacher or location…try some kind of new class and see what you like and don’t like!

2. Make it a date!
Invite your significant other to a fitness date!

3. Fitness Buddies
Create hang time with your friends that revolves around a fitness activity

4. Get Outside
Get into nature! Hike, walk, run or bike outside! This simply change can bring SO much fulfillment.

5. Try a Sport
You may have liked or disliked sports as a kid but that doesn’t mean it holds true now! Give it a shot…show up for a pick up game of basketball, tennis or racket ball at your gym or local park.

6. Dance It Out!
Take a dance class! There are tons of great dance studios around the country that teach all different forms of dance! Check out your local Groupon or Living Social deals for dance class deals near you…it makes for a fun fit evening…and you do not need a date, you can fly solo!

7. Switch It Up
If you have been doing the same workout routine for more than 8 weeks, try changing it up. It not only brings more enjoyment to your fitness but also is great for balance in the bod!

8. Update Your Playlist
Fresh music that is fun and upbeat always makes my workouts more fun! Maybe it’s time for a simple playlist update so you can rock on!

9. Make It An Adventure
Try a fitness adventure…back packing, camping and hiking, a tough mudder or color run, zip lining, paddle board yoga or hydrobiking. Again, Living Social and Groupon are a great place to discover the fitness adventures your city offers.

10. Retreat
Fitness and wellness retreats are one of the most amazing ways to transform your fitness and wellness life! They provide incredible opportunities to de-stress, recharge and kick start your fitness!