Day Five: Move Your Butt

Running, hiking, jogging, yoga, weight lifting, kick boxing, stairmaster, pilates, bicycling, walking, cross fit training, swimming, step aerobics, skateboarding, ripstick riding, skydiving, base jumping, paragliding, snorkeling, scuba diving, strip tease dancing....if there are 50 ways to leave your lover, then there are at least 150 ways to get in shape.

Exercise gives us cardiovascular fitness (our heart, lungs, & circulation), improved strength (muscle), and flexibility. It is important that we educate ourselves on how to exercise properly when beginning a fitness routine. Depending on your fitness goals, all exercise programs are not equal. I'd like to think that some exercise is better than none at all. However, if you can carry on a 15 minute conversation on your cell phone while on the treadmill, then you probably need to kick it up a notch.

The best hour of my day is the one that I spend on myself. I used to feel guilty about this, but I don't anymore. You're not a bad mother, wife, or employee if you love to go out for a run all alone with nothing but the road, the music in your ears, and the feel of your heart pumping. That time daily is essential, like a battery getting re-charged. Here's the thing...if you've only got one hour, why not make it count? Why not sweat like a pig, feel the fat melt away, and make your muscles so tired that they are sore?

I like to do a bunch of different things, alternating cardio with weight training & flexibility. I incorporate INTENSITY cardio (muscles burning, alternating between 7-9 on a scale of 1-10 after a good warm-up/stretch with alternating cool-down periods). I alternate the cardio with days of weight training, where I work the muscle to failure (3 sets of 15-20 reps at a weight where the last 5 reps are VERY difficult). I work in yoga and stretching for mind/body connection, improved flexibility, & strength using body-weight. These are key elements in not getting injured and emotional health & balance.

Do: Try a new exercise, one that you may be afraid of or have always wanted to do. If it's at the gym, take a class. If at home, buy a DVD or workout magazine. This month my favorite trainer, Jackie Warner, has a great article with a kick-butt multi-joint body shaping workout in Fitness Rx magazine.