Taking the first step towards living a healthy lifestyle is a very rewarding feeling, but it can also be a bit daunting.
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HIIT is great for home exercising because there is no need for equipment, and the routines can be completed in a half hour or even less.
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With your hectic schedule, you may not think there is time to work in any routines designed for functional movement, but there is.
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As an adult, it can be mortifying to see a toddler or youngster fall down. Yet, somehow, it seems they’re always up and at it again as if nothing happened.
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As an adult, it can be mortifying to see a toddler or youngster fall down. Yet, somehow, it seems they’re always up and at it again as if nothing happened.
...
As an adult, it can be mortifying to see a toddler or youngster fall down. Yet,
somehow, it seems they’re always up and at it again as if nothing happened. The
initial scare happens because mobility diminishes as our bodies age, and we
project the hurt and potential damage the accident would have on our adult
bodies onto the child we see. The reality is that younger bodies have a great
deal of mobility, flexibility, and resilience, and it’s imperative to keep that
up for as long as possible to avoid injuries and maximize performance.
We know flexibility and strength training go hand in hand, but how can working
on mobility improve our lives day-to-day?
While flexibility is defined as our muscle’s ability to be elastic, much like a
rubber-band, mobility is defined as the ability for our joints to have a full
range of motion. Physical therapist https://www.instagram.com/vega_tdnyc/Joe
Vega [https://www.instagram.com/vega_tdnyc/] points out that in order to have
good mobility, flexibility has to be trained as well. This is because lack of
mobility due to aging is a result of weakening flexibility that restricts joint
movement. Low mobility can increase the risk of injury on the shoulders, hips,
knees, and just about every part of the body that uses a joint to move. Even if
you exercise with high intensity interval training routinely, it is important to
ensure that your mobility is in tip top shape, as low mobility could cause
physical damage, reversing the effects of the workout.
If you’re in need of some mobility fitspiration, look no further than
bodybuilding champion http://ernestineshepherd.net/?page_id=2Ernestine Shepherd
[http://ernestineshepherd.net/?page_id=2]. She began exercising at the young age
of 70, and eleven years later she has won countless bodybuilding competitions
and continues to train women of any age to be fit, flexible and mobile.
It can seem tedious to try and maintain proper mobility on top of the HIIT
routines you may be doing along with the rest of your busy schedule, but there
are some foolproof ways you can fit it in. One way is to find workouts you can
do at home.
Like exercises for muscle flexibility, there are a lot of mobility exercises
that don’t require any workout equipment to implement. Finding a couple of joint
mobility routines to cycle through each night before bed is a great way to relax
your body, and coupling those routines with flexibility training will even more
effectively maintain your youthful spirit. Some good options include the
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuFeDBxvMOQtraveling butterfly stretch
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuFeDBxvMOQ],
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1x7PH9S_Awfrog stretch
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1x7PH9S_Aw],
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2v4BFOQ58F8pigeon stretch
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2v4BFOQ58F8], and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wk-FCPrR9swkneeling lunge
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wk-FCPrR9sw].
Another way to keep up your mobility training is to find an online community of
people with the same goals as your own. There is a lot of evidence that points
towards a fitness community being beneficial to maintaining adherence to a
workout routine, and there are many people seeking to enhance their mobility
training. Reach out to friends and family to educate them about mobility and
make plans to keep each other on track, whether that means training together or
checking in and encouraging each other’s progress.
Mobility should not be sacrificed for the sake of putting more time into
strength training routines. It is a part of a larger fitness goal that involves
maintaining a healthy and youthful body for as long as possible, which, based on
Shepherd’s progress, could be a very, very long time.
Picture this: your gym day has finally come. You have your clothes on, your
water bottle is filled, your bag – wait. Where did you put your bag? In the
closet? On the chair? You look for 20 minutes only to find that you put it away,
exactly where it was supposed to be. But you’re ready now. It’s gym time.
But, you don’t want to make any second trips, so you check your bag to make sure
it has your lock for the locker room, a personal towel, and a change of clothes
– but not your regular change of clothes, because you have plans later. Right.
Back to the closet.
Ok, it’s been half an hour, but you found the perfect outfit, shoes included,
and you remembered to bring make-up to finish off the look. Your bag is all
packed, and you’re finally in the car and driving 30 minutes to your closest
gym. You walk in, get your ID ready, secure your locker, find an open machine –
aaaand you forgot your headphones.
Last time, it was your water bottle. The time before that, one of your kids was
home sick. None of your gym days ever seem to be just perfect.
It shouldn’t be so time consuming and costly to have one good day to work out,
but high-intensity interval training (HIIT) done right from home is a great
replacement for your gym membership.
If you’re a frequent gym-goer, you’ve probably heard of HIIT, but here’s a
refresher in case you haven’t. HIIT is a cardio routine which involves short
bursts, or intervals, of high intensity exercising, followed by shorter periods
of rest. Each interval can range anywhere from 20 to 90 seconds, and the resting
periods between each interval are usually from 5 to 15 seconds. Because of the
short time frame for the intervals, the ‘high-intensity’ descriptor is no joke.
When performing exercises in a HIIT routine, pushing yourself to really sweat is
a vital component of what makes HIIT an effective workout, and heart rate
training is a good way to measure your intensity. Active.com has a comprehensive
guide to calculating your heart rate zones here
[https://www.active.com/fitness/articles/how-to-calculate-your-training-heart-rate-zones],
which you should figure out before getting started with your routine.
HIIT is great for home exercising because there is no need for equipment, and
the routines can be completed in a half hour or even less. There are even some
routines you can do that are made to keep the noise down, like Emi Wong
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bleOTMDa3_4]’s video routine, which are great
for when your household is asleep. Even other videos from professionals like The
Body Coach Joe Wicks [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q20pLhdoEoY], Moms Into
Fitness [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPpObC5PnwM], Stephi Nguyen
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02lWhOgmFAQ], Runtastic Fitness
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8nbLvXr_Z8], are great for beginners or anyone
else looking for new routines.
With the brevity of the routines and the elimination of a commute, using HIIT to
work out from home is a surefire way to save you time and money, and the best
part is that it’s impossible to forget anything at home.
Having the same schedule every week can be nice. There are no surprises, it’s
easier to budget expenses, and theoretically, if you like one week, then you’ll
like all the rest. For most people, though, this feeling of being secure in a
routine doesn’t last long. Monotony is fine as it comes and goes, but when it
overstays its welcome, life can quickly turn dull.
This is especially true of workout routines. If you’re moving the same way every
time you exercise, not only can it get boring, but you probably aren’t getting
the results you’re looking for when you work out. This may seem counterintuitive
– if you work on the same routine, it should follow that your body gets stronger
as you master the movements. Unfortunately, this is not true, and in fact, the
less your muscles are challenged, the less progress you will make.
Along with changing up your fitness routine, there are other methods of sprucing
up your habits that will make you fall in love with fitness all over again.
First of all, for those of you working out at home (which you should be), what
does your fitness space look like? Is it a bit cramped? Is there enough
ventilation and sunlight? If you’re noticing that you don’t really love the
space you workout in, that’s enough of a buzzkill to make working out seem like
a chore. Change up your station by getting organized, opening windows, and
setting up a space for music or watching fitness trainers on a TV or tablet.
Speaking of music, do you have a specific playlist for exercising? If you’re
listening to random songs you love (or not listening to music at all), then you
might not be getting the full effects of songs that can really pump you up.
Research
[https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324883604578396670814453936#project=YHEALTH0402&s=D&articleTabs=article]
suggests that exercising to songs that are 125 to 140 beats per minute (BPM)
helps to create a more intense workout than listening to songs with slower
tempos.
If music really isn’t your thing, but you feel your mind wandering and slowing
you down while you’re moving, try following your favorite trainer online and see
if they stream live fitness routines. Apps like UBQFIT allow you to follow
professional trainers and watch them livestream their workouts, which is perfect
for keeping you concentrated on your fitness long enough to meet your target
heart rate. It also helps to invite friends or family to move with you, as there
is evidence [https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-10/aoa-gei102717.php]
of a reduction in stress levels with we work out with company. Together, you can
choose several different favorite trainers from the app so that your routine is
always fresh and exciting.
Using high-intensity interval training (HIIT) along with Orange Theory fitness
is another great way to get you feeling challenged again in your workouts. HIIT
is a routine that calls for 20 to 90 seconds of intense exercise, followed by a
short period of rest, usually from 5 to 15 seconds, and then back to the
exercise interval and so on. There’s no better way to integrate new routines
than to get in touch with new trainers and fitness influencers. In the digital
age, there is no shortage of fitness inspiration and expert instruction. Find
trainers or motivational instructors online is a great way to vary your
workouts.
Orange Theory routines typically last for a minimum of 10 minutes, like ones
from Emi Wong [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZ6voLaG9_I] and The Lean
Machines [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vEgwLEFJXU], but to integrate the
practice, you’ll probably working out for about 30 minutes to an hour. Orange
Theory fitness says that the best workouts are ones where 84-91% of your maximum
heart rate is reached for about a fifth of the total workout time. This is
considered the “orange zone”, hence the name, and combining HIIT with Orange
Theory fitness allows you to measure your progress and increase the intensity of
your workouts.
Don’t forget, there are as many fitness routines as there are people, so even if
Orange Theory routines aren’t right for you, there are many alternatives.
You may feel like there’s no way to get back to that honeymoon phase of fitness,
but there is no doubt that making even one of these changes is going to bring
back the lively nature of working out, and you’ll be reminded of why exercising
was squeezed into your busy schedule in the first place.
There’s a good chance you’ve heard of fitness DVD’s and workouts on YouTube, but
there is an even more exciting trend that makes working out at home all the more
beneficial.
Before we talk about what that trend is, ask yourself: why do you still have a
gym membership? Chances are, you’re paying about $50 a month, or $600 a year, to
not even go to the gym the amount of times you should be going in order to get
your money’s worth. Gyms profit off of the fact that they have more memberships
than their facilities could hold at one time, which is why they convince people
whom they know will never show up
[https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2014/12/30/373996649/why-we-sign-up-for-gym-memberships-but-don-t-go-to-the-gym]
into paying for annual contracts. And of course, with annual contracts comes
fees. Annual fees, registration fees, and more likely than not, some sort of
cancellation fee if you were to try and rip yourself from the claws of a gym
contract.
One of the many reasons people end up paying for memberships they never use is
an ignorance of how long commutes actually affect our likelihood to work out. It
can be hard enough to get into the habit of exercising, but for people whose gym
commutes are longer, that habit becomes impossible to stick. The Wall Street
Journal
[https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-close-do-you-need-to-be-to-your-gym-1490111186?tesla=y]
reports that those with a mere five mile commute travel to the gym only once a
month! Even with commutes that are about four miles (3.7), the average amount of
trips people make to the gym per month increases to only five. While it’s true
that there are some cheap gym memberships, there is no way that going to the gym
five times a month will meet any of your fitness goals.
Eliminating your gym membership and subsequent commute to the gym are only some
of the positives to working out at home. When you make the switch, you also open
your flexibility with exercising in your busy schedule, and you never have to
worry about uncomfortable stares when you’re getting in your #squatgoals or
performing other high-intensity interval training (HIIT) routines. Best of all,
you get to partake in the trend that is live-streaming your workout.
Live-streaming your workouts from apps like UBQFIT is a great way to join a
fitness class right at home, and there is an unexpected benefit to hopping on
this trend. According to Men’s Journal
[https://www.mensjournal.com/sports/can-watching-sports-make-you-fitter/], when
we watch physical activity being performed, the sympathetic nervous system in
our brain is activated. The study
[https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnins.2013.00102/full] shows that
there are cardiovascular changes in our bodies, such as increasing heart rate,
respiration, blow flow and sweat release, which is our brains’ way of prepping
our bodies for intense movement. Of course, the sole act of watching trainers
work out is not enough to make you physically fit, but it can help with your
motivation to do so! To inspire your workouts, take a look at this 32 minute
cardio home workout [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWy_aOlB45Y] by the workout
power couple behind Fitness Blender [https://www.instagram.com/fitnessblender/],
or this 20 minute routine [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyFjMupI5B0&t=24s] by
instructor MadFit [https://www.instagram.com/madfit.ig/].
Not only does it cost nothing to start body weight training at home, but you
don’t have to worry about a limit to the number of guests you can invite with
you to workout! Bring your family and friends over, and together you can pick
out your favorite live-streaming trainers and create your own workout community
where you encourage each other to reach your goals.
As you can see, working out from home takes the away the worst parts about a gym
and keeps the parts that you might have felt were reasons for staying. If you’re
at home, there are no more commutes, no more unnecessary expenses, no reasons to
be self-conscious, but all the benefits of having professional trainers and an
exercise community remain with the addition of a more flexible schedule. So when
you’re cancelling your gym membership, good luck – and watch out for those fees!