Workout Tips for Healthy Living

Workout tips for healthy living for the New Year from Shrewsbury Health and Racquet Club (SHARC), Ray Barrieault, Fitness Director and Sheila Meucci,Group, Exercise Director/Personal Trainer.

– When you first wake up in the morning, before you even get out of bed, do a few sets of 20 crunches and 20 leg raises/knee tucks. You’ve already worked your core before you even got out of bed! Another option is to add in some hip raises to get some hamstring work in there as well.

– Next, Stretch!! Reach out through your fingertips out through your toes and get a long slow stretch to wake up your muscles. Raise one leg up at a time and stretch the back of your legs to get those hamstrings loosened up. Also hug your knees into your chest and roll side to side to massage your back muscles and stimulate the spine!

– Finish with side to side lunges and go get coffee?

– While getting ready for the day ahead, there’s plenty you can while your brewing coffee and making breakfast. Counter-top push-ups are a simple, moderate-intensity upper-body exercise. Go to the lowest counter top in the kitchen, place your hands on the edge a little wider than shoulder-width, and go through a nice, smooth range of motion. In the down position, the countertop should come right to the base of your ribcage.

– While you’re waiting for the coffee to finish brewing, squats are another simple, easy exercise you can do. You can easily do 4 sets of 15-20 good squats in the time it takes for the coffee to finish brewing (unless you have a Keurig).

– Want to get the shoulders and arms too? Easy…just grab a couple of cans (preferably the heaviest ones you can grab with one hand) from the cupboard and use them as substitutes for dumbbells do some arm exercises. Bicep curls, triceps kickbacks, front & side raises, and shoulder presses can all be done using cans, and you’ve already gotten a good arm-toning circuit done before you walk out the door.

– Want more legs? If you’ve got the time, head into the living room, lie on the ground and put your feet up on your ottoman, or any other foot rest, and get some hip raises in. Just put your feet up, toes in the air, heels on the foot rest, and slowly lift your hips off of the ground until you have a straight line from your knees to your shoulders, then gently lower the hips back down to the ground until your butt ALMOST touches the ground, then repeat. Three to four sets of twenty of those will give your hamstrings a good wake-up call.

– If you want to burn some extra calories at work, as well as make your legs and core stronger, there is something incredibly simple you can do in your day-to-day life to make that happen….stand up! Whenever possible (and not socially awkward), stand up instead of sitting down. Many studies have shown that, even if you are exercising a few times a week, sitting for long periods every day (i.e. desk job) can have a serious negative effect on your metabolism, as well as on your cholesterol, blood sugar, triglycerides, and fat storage. The scary part is that this doesn’t take hours to start to happen; it takes minutes. After 10-5 minutes of immobility/sitting, your metabolism drops drastically, and the other negative effects begin to accrue as well. Also, sitting relaxes all of your major muscles in your legs and core, and if your body doesn’t use them, it has no need to keep them. So, when you can, stand instead of sit. It will have a much more desirable effect on your metabolism (and waist line), and help improve than leg and core strength.

– If you DO have a desk job (or just sit constantly), and standing just isn’t an option for you, there’s a great alternative: get on the ball! Replace your chair with a stability ball, and you will be constantly engaging your core muscles to sit upright, your leg muscles to maintain your balance, and it will also improve your focus and motor unit response. This piece of equipment will become your best friend! The stability ball will keep you in good postural alignment, you cannot slouch! Your body will stay upright, so no back aches and you abs will be activated and your core tight! Then take a breather and walk around throughout the day to refresh your muscles and your mind. Work can be stressful so take five minutes out of your day for peace and quiet, close the door to your office or if you can’t shut the door, put up a sign that says PEACE and QUIET for five!

In the winter seasons sometimes it is difficult to stay active, but these simple tips and tricks can help motivate you to stay active this season.

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