Great article below from our friend Scott Kustes, author from the Modern Forager & Fitness Spotlight…
“It’s nearly Jan 1st, time for the dreaded “New Year’s Resolution” (a topic for another day). That means lots of people you know, and possibly you yourself, are going to be making a commitment to making positive health changes. So today is going to be one of those high-level posts that brings together lots of disparate pieces of information to build a complete view of what we really propose around here. I’m going to link to several of our old posts for you to use to dig a bit deeper. Pass this along to anyone you know that is looking to make a change.”
http://www.fitnessspotlight.com/2009/11/29/get-healthy-now/
Keeping the Stool Upright
“I came up with an analogy awhile back that, while not perfect, works to illustrate how the various puzzle pieces fit together. I like to view health as standing on a stool and sickness as falling off the stool. The four legs are the major categories of Nutrition, Lifestyle (sleep, sunlight exposure), Environment (toxin exposure), and Activity (training and general active lifestyle).
If you think about the stool, it’s obviously easy to stay on top of it if all four areas are in place. If three areas are solid, you can probably stay upright most of the time. For instance, maybe you are a firefighter or doctor or EMT that works a non-traditional schedule. Your sleep is probably disrupted, so focusing on the other elements is even more important. You might get sick now and again, but for the most part, you’ll be healthy. Neglect two areas and that stool is very wobbly. Neglect three or more and you can forget about it.
Like I said, it’s not a perfect analogy. For one, I think the Nutrition “leg” is the most important one. Second, I find the various categories to be interdependent. The better I eat, the better I sleep. The more I sleep, the easier I find it to eat well. The better I eat and sleep, the better I recover from exercise. Regardless, it’s illustrative enough to work for me. Thoughts?”
Get creative with your travel workouts! Pick one of these workouts next time you hit the road or can’t get to the gym and post your time to comments.
No excuse to not stay in the game!
- “Ghost Annie” – 50-40-30-20-10 of Tuck Jumps & Situps
- “Suitcase Cindy” AMRAP 20 Minutes: 5 Suitcase SumoDeadlift High Pulls, 10 Pushups, 15 Air Squats. (Fill up suitcase as heavy as you can safely manage – post rounds and weight of suitcase)
- “Susan” Run 200m 10 squats 10 push ups 5 rounds.
- “Invisible Fran”…21-15-9: Air Thrusters and Pushups for time.
- “Anything Diane” 21-15-9 Deadlifts & Handstand pushups. (Deadlift whatever you can find – post time and object)
- 5 push ups 5 squats 5 sit ups, 20 rounds.
- Walk 100 meters on your hands, even if it is 2 meters at a time.
- 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 sets of Burpees, Situps & 100M Sprint at the end of each set.
- Spend a total of 5 minutes in a handstand.
- Run 1 mile for time.
- 10 Push ups 10 air squats and 10 sit ups, 6 rounds for time.
- 3 Vertical jumps 3 squats 3 long jumps – 5 rounds.
- Handstand 30 seconds and 10 squats, 8 rounds.
- 5 x 400m sprints.
- 25 pressing snatch balances each arm. Post object.
- Run 1 mile, lunging 30 steps every 1 minute.
- Handstand 30 seconds and 20 air squats, 5 rounds.
- 4 x 25 jumping squats
- 10 Air Squats every 1 minute of your 1 mile run.
- 100 push ups for time.
- 10 walking lunges, 10 push-ups, 10 rounds.
- Ten vertical jumps ( jump as high as you can, land and do it again), 10 push-ups 5 rounds.
- Tabata Squats: 20 seconds on 10 seconds rest, 8 rounds. Count your lowest score.
- Run 1 mile with 100 air squats at midpoint, for time.
- Mime 4 x 25 sumo deadlift high pulls, make them perfect. Be sure the hips extend before the arms bend!
- Run 1 mile and do 10 push-ups every 1 minute.
- Handstand 5 x 30 seconds. Run: 2x 800 meters for time. Do the handstands first. Rest and recover and do the runs with a rest in between that is as long as it took you to run your first 800.
- 3 Max sets of consecutive Pushups. 2 min rest in between sets.
A recent survey cited that over 40% of women hate their bodies. Another survey stated that women fret about their body image every 15 minutes.
These statistics are not surprising to me. It was only a year ago that I felt the same way…
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