Tag Archives: learning

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Exercising at home. The new (temporary) normal

How to get enough exercise in the busy seasons of your life

The “new normal” right now is exercising at home. If you are not set up to do that, here are some tips for staying healthy and well as you create your home exercise program. Start with these three simple rules:

Any time you do something new, start small. Your body gets used to exactly what you give it. Anything new is likely to produce muscle soreness. However there is no such thing as a ‘good sore’. Muscle soreness does not mean you are getting more benefits or burning more calories, it just means you did too much too soon. Start with half a video or a lighter version of an exercise. See how you feel the next day and then gradually progress
Discover something new. Despite all the problems this outbreak is causing, it is also presenting many new opportunities. While easing into something new, enjoy the novelty of moving in different ways. You never know what you might discover. Keep your mind set on the opportunities this is presenting to help you stay positive and optimistic and well.
Some thing is better than nothing. The most effective thing you can do for your health and well being right now, besides washing your hands and social distancing, is to keep moving in a way that keeps your immune system strong and your stress low. This is no time for perfection, it’s time to keep moving and be well!

Here are some links to online exercise programs I often recommend.

Dance fun for anyone:

Body Groove is an online program that is a fun way to exercise alone or with a group. there is a fee but check out some of the free samples to see if it is a fit for you.

Richard Simmons is a blast from the past for many of us. His videos are online and worth checking out if for no other reason than to see the fashions!

Put on music and dance. Its that simple. A daily dance part with your family or with friends through video chat is a great way to reduce stress and connect while doing some great cardiovascular exercise.

Leslie Sansone Videos are simple and FREE. They can also be done while seated in a chair if standing is painful.

If you are limited by pain, seated aerobics is often a great option

Chair aerobics for Everyone DVD

Paul Eugene seated aerobics – FREE

Fuzion Fitness seated aerobics – FREE

Chair yoga

Do Yoga With Me has some free videos for all kinds of yoga including chair yoga.

Amber Karnes for Body Positive yoga for chair yoga: Some FREE some for a fee

Yoga with Adriene chair yoga session – FREE

Happy yoga has several chair yoga sessions – FREE

Exercise with your kids

Cosmic Yoga – FREE

Yoga for Kids – FREE

I will continue to post links to ideas for home exercise. Feel free to share yours in the comments section. Keep Moving. We will get through this together!

Keep Moving, Be Well,

Janet

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by keepitmovingweekly2 | March 25, 2020 · 4:29 pm

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Spring Training Check In: What direction are you heading?

In November, we started Spring Training. Staying active and consistently exercising through the winter is challenging. It becomes more motivating when you realize you are doing it for a purpose, like to enjoy the activities you like to do on that first beautiful Spring day.

With are only five weeks until the first official day of Spring, it’s time to check in. Which direction are you heading in? Are you on the path to a Spring that starts with soreness and limitations or are you on the path to a Spring that allows you to do the activities you need and want to do with ease?

If your motivation has taken you off the path to an easy and enjoyable time in Spring, lets renew your energy for Spring Training.

Close your eyes and fast forward to the first beautiful day in Spring. Ask yourself the following:

What do I want to be able to do in Spring?
How do I want to feel?
What do I need to do that activity – more strength, stamina, mobility?
What is one thing I can do starting today that will tell my body to build more of that over the next five weeks?

The great news is, exercise does not need to take a lot of time, it only needs to be done consistently and your body will adapt. Starting your day with one set of an exercise that you know will improve your strength. Taking five to ten minutes before dinner to dance or walk. Before going to bed each night doing that one stretch that you know feels so good. These are so small you might think they are not worth it, but think again. It’s the natural laws of nature that they will work. Just like snow is designed to melt at a certain temperature, your body is designed to adapt to what you give it. Let it know you are in Spring Training and it will keep you on a path to a more enjoyable season ahead.

Keep Moving, Be Well, Think Spring!

Janet

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by keepitmovingweekly2 | February 11, 2020 · 8:58 pm

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Stretching: Three benefits you may not know (part 3)

How to get enough exercise in the busy seasons of your life (8)

In part 1 of this series on Stretching; the three benefits you may not know, we discussed how stretching helps the lymph system do its job to help your immune system function. This makes stretching one of the best ways to reduce the effects of sitting for too long. In part 2, we reviewed the fascia system and it’s effect on your whole body and your mind. Stretching then becomes a way to help your body feel less stiff while improving whole person health. In this last part, let’s take a look at how the effects of stretching on your nervous system can lead to more comfort, less pain and more freedom of movement.

The nervous system is what controls muscles. When a muscle is tight, it is your nervous system trying to protect your muscles from tearing. A muscle spasm is when your nervous system has to take extreme measures to protect a muscle that is holding a lot of tension. The spasm happens to prevent it from tearing. That spasm is not the result of that one movement, but rather the accumulation of tightness over time. The movement that resulted in a spasm was the final straw, so to speak. Regular stretching helps to keep that tightness from accumulating.

When you stretch regularly, you are helping your nervous system build up tolerance of movements, so it is less “hyper-protective” of the muscles.

The way to get this benefit though goes against the way you may have been taught to stretch in the past. The word stretching implies you are stretching a muscle like a piece of cloth, and the more you pull the more the muscle will relax. Because the nervous system is in a large part what is ‘allowing’ the muscle to ‘stretch’ or not, pulling harder means your nervous system needs to go into that ‘hyper-alert’ mode to protect the muscle from injury.

We now know that starting with a gentle stretch and only going into a light to moderate stretch sensation is more likely to result in relaxing a muscle. Stretching to a point of pain or discomfort can have the opposite effect of what you are trying to do by stretching.

This means, paying attention to how you feel when you are stretching, and listening to your body is the way to get the most from stretching. When you do a stretch mindlessly, quickly or forcefully, you lower the quality of the stretch and thus waste your time. Rethink stretching as a way to help your body restore and recharge so it becomes a way to reduce the stress in your mind that is held in your body. Sprinkle your day with stretch breaks to avoid that accumulation, and you raise the quality of your movement breaks while gaining more freedom of movement in daily life.

Keep Moving, Be Well,

Janet

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by keepitmovingweekly2 | January 28, 2020 · 4:28 pm

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Stretching: Three benefits you may not know (part 1)

How to get enough exercise in the busy seasons of your life (5)

When you think of stretching exercises, what do you imagine? If the thought of stretching sounds boring, a waste of time, or something you just are not flexible enough to do, let’s take a new look at stretching and three benefits you may not know.

The science of stretching lags behind the research on other types of exercise. With less facts, we have more myths. One of the biggest myths is that stretching is about making muscles longer. The fact is, stretching has less to do with your muscles and more to do with three other parts of your body; your nervous system, fascia system, and lymph system.

We will take a look at what happens in your body when you stretch over three blogs because with more and more research on stretching, there is so much great information to share.

Lets start by talking about the Lymph System

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Lymph is the fluid part of your blood. The vessels run right alongside your blood vessels. (see image). Lymph vessels, just like blood vessels are spread out throughout your whole body.

The lymphatic system’s job is to maintain a healthy immune system by absorbing fluid from the blood so it can be transported to the spleen. The spleen acts as a filter, helping your body fight infection and detecting potentially dangerous bacteria and viruses. Your spleen and your lymph nodes create white blood cells to defend your body against these ‘invaders’.

However, this important system in the body needs you to move for all that to happen. Unlike the circulatory system, your lymph system does not have its own pump. It relies on movement to move the lymph fluid through the body. Stretching can provide that movement instantly, even in the smallest vessels in the body.

The lymph system is one of the big reasons‘sitting disease’is a health concern. But the name is misleading. The truth is, sitting is not the problem. The health strain on the body comes from the combination of being still and stressed.

Stillness keeps your lymph system from working at its best. Stress adds to the inflammation in your body as it prepares your body for movement to deal with the stressor. So the combination of stillness and stressed allows inflammation, the precursor for many lifestyle diseases, to build up.

For this reason, stretching, not just taking steps, is a great way to lower your risks from prolonged sitting. Unlike ‘getting steps, stretching reaches even the smallest parts of your body where inflammation can build up. If you just focus on getting steps you might be tempted to multitask them, rather than take a break from stress. When done mindfully, stretching gives your mind a break

brooke-cagle-QJ1j4HOdNtI-unsplash from the stress, giving your body a chance to clear inflammation.

Give it a try this week. When you have a time you are still for a while, take a big morning style stretch and imagine how your muscles are pushing on your lymph vessels giving them help with doing their job!

Keep moving, Be Well,

Janet

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by keepitmovingweekly2 | January 15, 2020 · 5:17 pm

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Is it your body or your mind holding you back?

Why exercise for diabetes_(12)

The header at the top of this page is a collection of pictures of people who are on a weight loss journey. They are all at various stages on that journey, most are not at their goal weight yet. However, each of them are now doing things they could not do before losing weight. It is quite inspiring to see these smiling faces enjoying life while on the journey. How did they overcome their body and get so fit? It took changing their mind so their body didn’t get in the way.

The brain is a reality simulator. What you imagine can seem very real. Just think of how you feel when waking up from a dream. The feelings can stay with you for a while, even though it was all in your head.

When your body is carrying extra weight, it can hold you back from exercising and doing many other activities you once easily enjoyed. It can seem like you cannot exericse and it would be better to wait until you lost some weight to get started. What you are feeling in your body is very real. Just like a dream however, what your brain believes about how much is enough exercise may not be the reality. Your expectations could be based on your memories of what you used to be able to do and what you want to be able to do now. They could also be based on recommended amounts, which are really general guidelines. Just like your dream, your mind can hold beliefs about what your body should be able to do, even when your body is telling you that it cannot do it.

This can feel like your body is getting in the way, holding you back from exercising. However it is really your ideas about what it means to exercise that is holding you back. Your body does not know the recommendations. It only knows what it can do now, in this moment. Your body does not know how many calories you want it to burn, it only knows what it will burn based upon what will be keep you healthy and well. Your body does not know the numbers displayed on the weight machine or the treadmill or your activity monitor. It only knows if it can tolerate what you are asking it to do.

If it cannot tolerate it, your body will let you know through pain and fatigue. Pain and fatigue are a sign of too much too soon. Contrary to popular beliefs, pain is not a sign of progress (nope, not even muscle soreness). If you body has what it needs to do what you are asking it to do, it will let you know instantly through more energy, greater freedom of movement, more focus and a better mood. Basically, your body is smarter than your brain when it comes to exercise. Your body and brain work best when they work together, that means your brain observes your body rather than dictates what it should be able to do.

So the next time you start thinking your body is working against you, ask what it is trying to tell you. The answers may not be clear right away, and usually it is not telling you to stop exercise completely. It is usually telling you it needs less for a while until it has time to adapt. You will know you have found the just right level and type of exercise by how you feel during and after exercise. Your body will tell you if and when it is ready for more. Until then, keep the peace between your brain and your body, by trusting you body to tell your brain how much is enough exercise right now.

Keep Moving Be Well,

Janet