Some of you may have noticed the links to helpful resources and other fitness blogs on the right side of the screen. These are stellar tips about buying shoes, clothes, how to's of stretches and yoga positions, and others fitness stories. These sites are great resources to help you along your journey to become active, stay motivated and connect with other people. I also included my favorite recipe website; there are so many different ideas. Enjoy! My personal favorite section is the healthified tab; they have take comfort type food and made it better for you! Chocolate cake with less fat and calories-yes, please! Just a reminder, you can click on the pictures to enlarge them.
These websites are especially great because they contain much more information and knowledge that I currently do not have and helps create a social network of workout buddies. Today, go for a 40 minute run. If you have to walk during the 40 minutes, not a problem! Progress at your own pace, catch your breath but definitely keep going!
I got thinking the other day (scary right!), why not use social media as my Living Healthy Buddy. My schedule is so hectic that finding the time to meet with someone to go to the gym daily or every other day is hard. Having a real person to discuss goals and help reinforce those goals through different aspects is great but not always realistic. After looking into a few social media websites and speaking to my brother; I decided one of the best ways to stay connected with people is through technology. For example, I become motivated knowing that my brother ran 13 miles yesterday at marathon pace of 7 minute miles; reading about his struggles, daily victories, and general tips about his sport is great. Not only do I become motivated to get my bum moving, but I think if he can find the time to run 13 miles so can I. Another great part about social media; you develop a virtual friend base that you can take anyway.
I personally like reading other fitness blogs, both professional and average Joe's but I really like http://www.dailymile.com/. This is a great website! On this website you can track your workouts, motivate yourself and others, calculate mileage based on a mapping system, compete with friends based on a workout, find local events, and training partners. It's a fantastic way to connect with others and stay motivated. Starting a blog or updating people on Facebook and Twitter are also great options.
Sharing your story of why you started exercising, personal struggles along the way, and connecting with others is an important part of exercising. It's a humbling experience knowing I'm not the only one who ran to be pretty and thin, battled injury, took time off, ran their first half marathon, or found peace and success in difficult runs.
Today's song is Don't Stop Me Now by Queen. Keep up the great work guys; keep walking/running. One step at a time we all will achieve our goals!
After such a long busy weekend, I'm in the need for some fun and variety! Workout for today, this is what I like to call my Fun Loving Mom Workout! I hope you find as much enjoyment in this as I do!
Go for a 30 minute jog today; feel out a pace. Everyone has different starting points-- the goal: work up a sweat, feel like you did work (maybe be a little out of breath), and enjoy it!
*Not a runner/jogger. Not a problem! Gotta bicycle? Ride your bicycle for 40 minutes.
When you are done with your cardio for the day-bust out 2 sets of 20 crunches and as many push ups as possible. A proper crunch should be similar to this: lay on your back, feet placed hip distance apart, knees bent (about 90 degrees), hands behind head, stomach should be flat and pull belly button in toward your spine; this helps support your lower back. When you feel comfortable, curl forward starting at your shoulders. Exhale as you curl forward and inhale on your way down to the starting position.
*Don't have the strength to do a push up- me either! Stand next to a wall having your fingertips touching the wall either take an additional step back for added difficulty or lay hands flat against the way. Proceed with your wall pushups!
Today's pick, just makes me smile- Sugarhill Gang- Rapper's Delight.
In my first post I mentioned that I was a wanna be health junkie; although I love health and fitness it has always been hard to stick with it. For whatever reason, living healthy was a struggle. I always thought you instantly had to be running miles and miles, completely cut out food groups, have a personal trainer, and live a restricted lifestyle. Growing up I was always the 'bigger' one of the group; I was taller and heavier than most of my friends and some days it would really bother me. I believe one of the main reasons enjoying exercise and living a balance lifestyle was hard is because it wasn't fun and I wasn't doing it for ME. I quit dancing because I felt I didn't belong because of my body type and thought playing sports would be fun. It was fun for a while but I discovered I was running, playing sports, and dieting to fit someone's or society's mold of healthy, pretty, popular, and not to make myself happy.
In the last few month, I started running for something I believed in: myself and my future. I want to live a long and healthy life; decrease my relatively high risk for developing high blood pressure, heart disease, and cancer. I also wanted to better manage a few disorders I currently have. I signed up for my 1st half marathon to raise money and awareness for blood cancers as well as remembering and honoring my Grandmother Dorothy who passed away from this disease. It hasn't always been easy, but with support from others and a belief in yourself- it gets easier every day. I feel in love with running because I enjoy it; it is almost therapeutic.
Today's song comes from Adele. Love, love her; this song is called Rolling In The Deep.
Just a short post today. I hope you finalized your goal and this blog will help you reach that goal!!
I remember when I embarked on my adventure to get healthy and run a half marathon. I kept thinking, what did I get myself into. I didn't believe that I could achieve such a task, or had it in me to go workout 5 or 6 days a week. Slowly but surely, I got there. I started walking for 10 minutes, jogging for 5 minutes.
Give this walk/job method a try today for a total of 30 minutes with a 2 minute cool down walk. When you are walking; make sure it's brisk; you want to keep that heart rate up. If this was too easy, try jogging for 10 minutes and walking for 5 minutes. Don't forget most exercise is 80% mental; you can achieve your goal.
Here's the thing about goals, its not enough to say, "I want to get healthy." That's wonderful, but its not a very good goal. What is healthy? How do you get there? What is driving you to get healthy? Do you see a pattern forming, the goal of wanting to get healthy is to vague. Goals need to be specific, a great way to think about goals is to think of the word SMART to get you started.*
S= Specific
M= Measurable
A= Achievable **
A goal should be specific- I want to lower my blood pressure from 160/84 to 120/70 by starting to exercise and eating less high sodium foods.
Measurable- You need to be able to measure your progress-if you aren't doing so great, reevaluate, and make the needed changes- ALWAYS check in with yourself and make adjustments!!
Achievable- A goal has to be realistic and achievable. Think challenging but totally possible.
Record it- Write down your goal, this makes your goal real.
Time- You have to put a time frame on your goal, these can be both long and short-term time frames. Checking in with your Living Healthy Buddy is a great way to stay motivated and reevaluate your goal.
Below is one of my many goals- I put this in staircase form to help you see the progression of my short-term goals that helps me achieve my ultimate goal. (Click on picture to enlarge).
Take some time today, think about what your health goals are, write them down and share with your buddy. These goals can be anything-make them your own. Do you want to get back to your pre-baby body? Trying to lower your cholesterol, maybe wanting to lose some weight. Whatever the goal, make it our own.
Now go for another walk, increase our total time by 5-10 minutes. This song should get you off on the right foot! Today's pick- I believe by Yolanda Adams.
*Keep in mind that this form of goal setting doesn't work for everyone but DOES work for most.
**A & R can mean a variety of things most common are Achievable, Attainable, Responsible, Record it, or Realistic. All of these options are great but I like Achievable and Record it.
I forgot to mention in my earlier post that I'm currently training for my 1st half marathon consequently this blog will be focused more towards running but I'll try to add other sports to my lineup in the beginning. Also, I feel walking and running are good cardiovascular exercises to do if you don't have access to a health club...You can do these anywhere!!
A few easy steps on how to get started:
Go buy new workout gear-shoes, shorts/capris, workout shirt, go nuts you deserve it!
Make a playlist of your favorite tunes, put them on your iPod, Sony Walkman, Zune, whatever your portable device is-use it!
Ask a friend or family member to be your Living Healthy buddy.
Share and discuss your goals (more about this in a later post)
Cut back on one of your vices.
Get moving!! Go on a walk- 15 minutes at a pace that feels comfortable to you. You shouldn't be winded but you shouldn't be able to chat your little heart out either.
Here's the song of the day to get you up and moving! I Like To Move It Move It by Reel 2 Real.
To help people improve their lives one step at a time through healthy living.
Share my personal struggles
Connect with others
For my sports psychology class
Fairly typical Midwestern meal.
So good!!
What is healthy living? Healthy living, to me, is living a balanced lifestyle- proper nutrition and exercise. I know it sounds corny but trust me, it really can make all the difference in the world! I used to love to hate this concept. After all, I loved eating like a fat kid and exercise was something I was forced to do as conditioning to my sport of choice in high school. Or maybe I tried to blame it on my geographic location growing up as a child; the Midwest isn't exactly top notch healthy. I was a rural kid, the closest health club was an hour away, we love live to eat, and most people felt they got enough exercise throughout the day so they didn't need to spend the extra time going to exercise. (Click on picture to enlarge).
Sunset view of my backyard.
This blog is for those individuals who just need a little kick to get started or my homies in the boonies that don't have the access or the funds to proper health clubs. I plan on giving tips on how to get started exercising, motivational ques along the way, specific stretches and exercises, and even some nutritional fun along the way; however it will be focused on getting you up and moving. As my big brother likes to say, "It doesn't matter what you do as long as you do something!"
Brings me to my next thought, why is my opinion valid,what gives me the right to tell people how to live? Here's the thing virtual friends- I don't want to tell you how to live your life, I want to give you the tools to be the best version of yourself (lower disease risk, more time with those who matter). I'm an aspiring oncologist, who has studied Health and Exercise Science, Sports Medicine the past four years at Colorado State University. I want to learn more about Public Health specifically PH-Nutrition and ultimately help patients and their families battle cancer. I'm a science nerd and a wannabe health junkie..I'm getting there one step at a time...
