Published on February 26, 2009
in General.
Think you can’t get a great workout without money for equipment or a gym membership? Think again! There are many exercises you can do which will shape, tone and sculpt your entire body without spending a penny.
Here are a few ways to get in your cardiovascular exercise:
-
Got stairs? Run up and down the stairs. It’s the same workout you’d get on a Stairmaster.
-
Go for a walk, jog or run outside. Strive for a target heart rate zone that’s challenging yet doable.
-
Borrow your child’s jump rope for an intense cardio blast. You can create your own “boot camp” cardio class by jumping rope to get your heart rate up, then doing upper and lower body resistance exercises to tone, sculpt and strengthen.
Here are some ways to build muscle from head to toe:
Push Ups: Push Ups are a great upper body exercise because they strengthen the entire upper body in one exercise. There are also many ways you can do them according to your fitness level ranging from wall push ups to the more advanced version. Here’s how to know you’re doing them correctly:
-
Wall Push Ups: Stand arms length distance from a wall. Place your hands on the wall at shoulder level with feet hip distance apart. Bend arms to a 90 degree angle as you slowly press yourself towards the wall. Slowly press away to return to starting position. W
ork up to 3 sets of 10 repetitions then move on to moderate push ups.
-
Moderate Push Ups: This time, you’re on the floor, on your knees. Your back is straight, abs tight and your belly button is pulled towards the spine. Hands should be shoulder width apart. Lower for 4 counts until elbows are at shoulder level then lift for 4 counts. Work up to 3 sets of 10 repetitions then move on to advanced pushups.
-
Advanced Push Ups: Same form as moderate pushups except your toes are on the floor, not your knees. Imagine a board tied to your back helping to keep it straight and tight. Work up to 3 sets of 10 repetitions.
Chair Dips: Sit on a chair or bench. With legs straight, lower yourself off the chair or bench until your elbows are at the same level as your shoulders. Squeeze the triceps in the back of the arm as you lower for 4 counts then lift for 4 counts. Work up to 3 sets of 10 repetitions.
Debi “The Mojo Coach”
www.TheMojoCoach.com
www.AskTheMojoCoach.com
Published on February 12, 2009
in General.
The first plan of action is taking a look at your eating behaviors. Figure out how the weight gain happened in the first place. Do you eat emotionally, mindlessly or have binge type behavior? Are your food choices or portions causing you a problem? Are you having trouble because of a lack of preplanning or having healthy foods available to 
you?
The more you understand why you do what you do, the better position you’re in to change what doesn’t work. Once you’ve identified where the problem is, the next step is to make one simple gradual change. Anything drastic is always temporary so it’s best to start small. One change headed in the right direction will make a much greater impact than a complete overhaul which lasts only a short period of time. For example, if portion control is a problem, making the decision to leave over three bites every time you eat dinner may not seem so difficult. Believe it or not, those three bites each night over time add up and you will slowly replace your larger portion with a portion that’s more moderate. This type of change is likely to last because it’s a minor change that doesn’t require too much effort and is easy to incorporate into your eating plan.
Once you’ve gotten used to eating a smaller portion for dinner, you are more likely to attempt a new 
change such as replacing an unhealthy snack with a healthier one. You see that you were able to gain control over your portions at dinner, you feel good about the change and your ability to achieve a mini goal and the confidence you’ve gained encourages you to continue making another tweak in you eating habits. Also, the first habit is easily reinforced while the new habit is implemented.
This type of behavior leads to true, lasting weight loss because you’re slowly replacing old destructive habits with new healthy habits. No change is so drastic that it becomes too difficult to continue so there’s no reason to revert back to your old ways. Before you know it, you have a series of new healthy habits in place which have firmly replaced the old ones.
This New Year, the only resolution you need to make is to stop making the same frustrating resolutions that you’ve made in the past. This year, commit to making new healthy habits slowly and steadily.
Debi “The Mojo Coach”
www.TheMojoCoach.com
www.AskTheMojoCoach.com
Published on February 6, 2009
in General.
What’s your New Year’s Resolution? Is it to lose weight or begin an exercise program? If you’re like most of us, a fit, healthy body is something you may want to work towards this year. In fact, it’s probably so
mething you wanted to work towards last year as well as the year before. So here’s a question. Why is it that we start the New Year with the best of intentions just to fall short within the first few weeks?
One reason is due to the fact that almost ninety percent of what we do each day is the result of ritualistic habit. From the way we brush our teeth to which shoe we put on first is something we barely need to think about. We’ve done it a certain way for so long, it’s deeply ingrained within us and minimal effort is required to get the job done. To test this, just start your day by putting on the other shoe first and you’ll see how different it feels!
Well, eating and exercise habits work the same way. The way we eat, the reasons why we eat, the food choices we make are all habits which have been formed over time. Some of those habits may have lead to an unhealthy relationship with food where we’re eating to combat boredom, fatigue, anger, sadness or loneliness. For some of us, the portion sizes we take or the degree of fullness we leave the table with are habits we’ve formed as well. For others, the way we handle weekends, parties or holidays are the result of habit. Finally for others, the tastes we prefer are the result of habit as well. For example, we may have gotten used to the flavor of foods which are highly sweetened which leads us to crave and expect that type of flavor.
While many of these habits lead to weight gain and frustration, we stay with these behaviors because they’re so familiar. They may not serve us well but because we barely need to think about it the behavior continues. So, what can you do if you want to finally make a New Year’s Resolution that lasts?
In my next blog post I will share with you the plan of action to keep you on track with your New Year’s Resolution.
Debi “The Mojo Coach”
www.TheMojoCoach.com
www.AskTheMojoCoach.com
Think you can’t get a great workout without money for equipment or a gym membership? Think again! There are many exercises you can do which will shape, tone and sculpt your entire body without spending a penny.
