Your back is involved in almost every activity you do. Working your back is essential for spinal health, prevents back pain, and can even help you breathe more effectively. Try our Fab 4 Workout and see.
Use these Fab 4 Moves in the Workout:
Single arm rows x10
Reverse flys x12
Weighted superman pull-downs x10
Upright rows x12
REPEAT 3 Times
It’s all about the core! Core work will strengthen your pelvis, low back, hips and abdomen. Why is that important? Being strong in those areas helps promote stability, balance, and protects you from injury. An added benefit to core work is that it doesn’t require a single piece of equipment to do. Try our Fab 4 workout and see.
Use these Fab 4 Moves in the Workout:
Plank Shoulder Taps–1 minute
Leg Lower to Reverse Crunch–1 minute
Side Plank with Leg Raise–30 seconds each side
Ab Bicycles–1 minute
Workout: Repeat 4 times
Ever wonder how Beyoncé gained her assets? She probably did a few squats.
The benefits of squats are many, but they crush calories, improve core strength, and you don’t need equipment to do any.
Squats are a compound movement – one that hits several major muscle groups at a time – which means they are a fantastic way to build lower body strength. Try the Fab 4 workout and see.
Use these Fab 4 Moves in the Workout:
Regular squats x 15 Pulsing squats x 30
Squat hold 30 seconds
Square squats x 10 (front to front, back to back, = 1)
REPEAT 3x
Looking for a Moderately Intense Workout that takes 30 – 60 minutes? Check out this bodyweight workout can do this all at home.
Moderate Intensity – Choice #1 Outside Body Weight Workout
Walk briskly or light jog for 10 minutes
2.5 minutes – 30/10 second work/rest circuit intervals
Walk briskly or Light Job for 10 Minutes
2.5 minutes – 30/10 second work/rest circuit intervals
Only have 30 minutes for your workout today? – STOP HERE and go to Cool Down
Want to get the full benefit of a 60-minute workout? Repeat this whole program a second time, then go to Cool Down.
In this blog I want to share some examples of how I’ve used play in different aspects of my life:
Play in my relationship
I was struggling with being snappy, and short with my boyfriend. In addition to praying for patience and to be slow to anger, I decided to make this a game. Everytime I acted this way he could say “Angelica”. For those of you who didn’t grow up in the 90s with me, she is a cartoon character who appears in Nickelodeon’s show Rugrats. She is the spoiled brat and serves as the main antagonist of the series. This way he could point out to me in a funny way how I was acting. It could lighten the mood and we could joke about it.
https://www.verbicidemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/rugrats-angelica.jpg
Play at work
My coworkers and I constantly make funny comments and pick on each other in a loving way. Not a day goes by that we don’t laugh at each other for something. It puts us all in a better mood. Laughing is good for the soul. It’s contagious. Can you joke with your coworkers? Try lightening the mood and don’t be so serious all the time.
Play in exercise
I could go on and on about this one. If you do the same things over and over again you will get bored. I love variety and mixing things up. The best way I do this with exercise is by creating a game or changing the repetitions or time intervals of exercises to make it a new exciting challenge. Check out my favorite workout card game (https://becomepowerful.com/2017/10/20/fun-games-get-fit-play/ ).
Play with my community
I do this in tons of different ways. One is game nights with my friends. We rotate different games and try new ones (again variety!). We’ve done a couple escape rooms. Check it out in your area. They have different themes and difficulties. Three, the more artsy side we’ve done things like handcrafted night out and wine & design.
These are just a few examples for you to see how play is a part of everything in your life, and if it’s not, it should be.
Later we will talk about how play is important in overcoming sorrow/times of grief, anxiety/depression, motivation to achieve goals and improve mood.
Until then, find little ways you can play at work, in your relationships, being active and with others in your community.
THRIVE On!
Just recently, I heard that a friend was diagnosed with blood clots in his lungs. The news immediately brought back a lot of feelings and emotions. I was diagnosed with the same in 2014. Shortly after I heard the news of his diagnosis, I sent him a text message and asked if I could come see him. I did. I wanted to tell him of my experience, compare notes, and help him feel more comfortable with what he was facing.
Getting the news of pulmonary clots is a bit concerning and very scary. For clots to get to your lungs, they have to pass through your heart. When they do, you hope the whole clot goes through and none of it takes up residency there. To make sure that one did not, blood testing has to be done. That is just the beginning of blood testing. Cardiac enzyme test, clotting protein tests, genetic test, etc.
Treatment involves blood thinning medication for at least 6 months. Blood-thinning changes how your body regulates temperature and you become more prone to extreme temperatures. For example, the week after my diagnosis, my wife and son ran a 5K road race in Raleigh. I was registered and supposed to be out there with them but I couldn’t get half way up the staircase at home without getting out of breath. A road race was completely out of the question. The weather was a nice sunny 52 degrees for mid January in Raleigh. I was wearing jeans, a t-shirt, a sweatshirt, a jacket, a toboggan and gloves, AND I WAS STILL FREEZING! It was all due to the blood thinners.
When I was diagnosed and when I visited my friend, I was reminded of my purpose in life and why I take care of myself. My purpose is to support my family, mold my son into an independent, respectful person that is a productive member of society, and help better the lives of others through fitness. I cannot do that to the best of my ability unless I take care of myself. I have to take care of myself so that I can help others.
Every so often, we need to take stock of ourselves and our lives to see if we’re still on track with the goals we have set out to achieve. If not, adjustments have to be made. There is no better motivator than our reason for “being” and our purpose in life.
So, I ask you, what is your purpose for being? What motivates you to be healthy, be fit, grow as a person? Are you evaluating all that from time to time and then making adjustments to the plan to keep moving forward? Or are you just flying through life hoping that it all just falls into place?
Before I get in to the details of Secret #5, let’s do a quick recap of Secrets #1-4.
Secret #1: Increase your daily water intake. Take your body weight in pounds, divide it by 2, and that is how many ounces of water you need to take in every day.
Secret #2: Weight Train at least 3 days each week to help boost testosterone levels. Use whole body or multi-joint movements like the squat, deadlift and bench press to trigger testosterone release in your body.
Secret #3: Eat Clean & Lean 5 days/week. Eat lean proteins like chicken and fish along with a variety of vegetables and stay away from simple sugars.
Secret #4: Get 6 ½ to 8 hours of sleep each night. This helps to restore your mind and your body for full recovery from your workouts.
Now, for Secret #5: Add some FUN in your workouts on a weekly basis. Play basketball, go for a hike, play some tennis, have fun splashing around in the pool with friends or family members.
Remember, those activities are workouts too, Break the monotony of pumping iron and spinning on the elliptical. It not only keeps you from getting mentally bored but it challenges your nervous system in a different way. A variety of activities releases endorphins and turns on the pleasure centers in your brain. That makes you want to go back for another workout and carry on your quest to chase the svelte man bod you had in your younger days.
HAVE FUN!
Your body grows and repairs during the rest phase of your workouts. Most specifically, this happens at night when you are sleeping. Let’s take a deeper dive into the benefits of getting your ZZZZZZ’s at night.
Growth hormone helps restore and rebuild body tissues and muscles. Seventy-five percent of growth hormone is released during sleep, more specifically, the deep sleep stage. We typically cycle through all of the sleep stages four to five times each night and the deep sleep cycle is present in the first 2 to 3 of those cycles. There are several things you can do to contribute to a good night’s sleep and increase the number of sleep cycles you have.
The biggest determining factor to good sleep is your routine leading up to bedtime. Sixty to ninety minutes before bedtime, you should avoid electronics like your tablet or cell phone because the blue light emitted tends to stimulate the brain making it harder to fall asleep. Activities like journaling, mild stretching, and meditation help you relax and fall asleep faster. Finally, being in a room with the lights dimmed also help the brain and body settle down and relax.
Once you head off to bed, you want to make sure the room is dark. Remember, light tends to stimulate the brain and will keep you staring at the ceiling for a while. Optimal room temperature for sleep is between 60 and 67 degrees Fahrenheit. Body temperature falls as it starts into sleep mode and a cooler room promotes the body cooling allowing you to fall asleep faster. Ultimately, you want to give yourself the opportunity to get 7 to 8 hours of sleep each night.
It’s time to snuggle up with a good book and then off to meet the sand man.
Nighty, Night!
