It's important to know your target heart rate, so you can ensure that you are exercising effectively and safely. Your target heart rate zone will help you determine if your intensity is where it should be to reach your goals.
At Home Beginner Weight Lifting Routine
This strength training workout is designed for beginners or for individuals who need a low impact workout because of knee or hip injuries. All of the moves are bodyweight moves, so you can do this strength training workout at home, the gym or even your hotel room.
Read more10-Minute Full Body Workout
If you are short on time, this is a quick, full-body workout that combines both cardio and strength training moves.
Read more12 Days of Christmas Bodyweight Workout
This is a fun, easy-to-follow workout that will work your entire body. All you need is your own bodyweight and about 30-40 minutes. Happy Holidays!
Read more12 Days of Health & Fitness Day 12
12 Days of Health & Fitness Day 12 - get moving! Sometime during the week or weekend, set a goal of "moving" for 30 minutes. It could be walking, jogging, swimming, raking leaves or doing a workout video. If it's too cold outside, find alocal mall or big box store where you can walk the perimeter. I like to go right when the store opens, so I can avoid the throngs of people. I also like to throw in some intervals - pick up the pace for 30 seconds and then recover for 30 seconds at least five times during the walk.
Read more12 Days of Health & Fitness Day 11
12 Days of Health & Fitness Day 11 - REST. Sleep is one of the best gifts you can give to yourself. Try to go to bed 30 min. earlier than normal!
Read more12 Days of Health & Fitness Day 10
12 Days of Health & Fitness Day 10: Lunge it, Lunge it, Lunge it! Find a track nearby (or an indoor gym) and prepare to do some lunges. Advanced option - Lunge around the entire circle of the track! Intermediate - Lunge 50-100 yards (about 50 lunges each leg); Beginner - 25 lunges each leg. Modification for individuals who don't lunge: sit on the ground and raise one leg up. Swing that leg to the side and back to the starting position. That's one rep. Complete 25 reps per leg.
Read more12 Days of Health & Fitness Day 9
12 Days of Health & Fitness Day 9: Try this 7-Minute "I-Don't-Have-Time-to-Exercise" workout.
Read more12 Days of Health & Fitness Day 8
Day 8: Add a serving of vegetables to one of your meals. If you are a consistent veggie eater, double your serving!
Read more12 Days of Health & Fitness: Day 7
Day 7: Pick out your favorite stretch and DO IT! Make sure you do some light activity beforehand, so you aren't stretching a cold muscle. Maybe you need to stretch your calves or hamstrings or need to do gentle neck rolls to relieve some tension and soreness. Pick one and give your body the gift of stretching!
Read more12 Days of Health & Fitness: Day 6
Day 6: Steppin' it UP! Find a place where you can "step up" for 5 minutes. Advanced/Intermediate - Run stairs for 5 minutes or jog each step up and down. Beginner - step the same lead foot up and down on a step for 30 seconds; switch to the other foot. Perform the exercise for 3-5 minutes. Take breaks if you get need to!
Read more12 Days of Health & Fitness: Day 5
12 Days of Health & Fitness Day 6: Drink 8 servings of 8 ounces of water today! Water is essential to your body - it regulates body temperature, lubricates joints, protects body organs and tissues, carries oxygen and nutrients to cells as well as many other benefits! People often confuse thirst for hunger, so this is a great way to ensure you are not eating when you are really just thirsty!
Read more12 Days of Health & Fitness: Day 4
Day 4: Work those legs - lying side leg raises. Advanced option - 45 per leg, Intermediate - 30 per leg and Beginner - 15 per leg. A great way to make sure you are in alignment while doing these is to lay on your side with your back, bottom and legs pressed against the wall. Your top leg will slide up along the wall as you do your raise.
Top 10 Fitness Gifts for Women
These fitness gifts are products the recipient will actually use (and most of them are $30 or less)! Many of them are also great to use if you are traveling - you can stash them in your suitcase and have a mini-gym in your hotel room!
Read more12 Days of Health & Fitness: Day 3
12 Days of Health & Fitness - Day 3: Do your age in push-ups. If you are 45, you have 45 push-ups to do throughout the day. Beginner modification - complete 15 push-ups standing (against the wall) or on the ground.
Read more12 Days of Health & Fitness: Day 2
Day 2 - Balance on one leg: advanced option - strive to reach 4 minutes in total balance hold; intermediate - complete 2 minutes in total balance hold; and beginner - 40 seconds in total balance hold. Alternate legs throughout the time, so you practice balancing on both legs.
Read more12 Days of Health & Fitness: Day 1
Day 1 of 12 Days of Fitness & Health: Pay for your Productivity - Do one burpee (with push-up!) for every email and/or text you received and sent today. Low-impact option: Do a stepback - take out the jump (squat down and place hands on ground, step back into plank, do a push-up, step feet back to hands and stand up).
Beginner Option - Do a modified Jumping Jack. Take out the jump - alternate stepping feet out as your arms come overhead.
Read moreQuick Thanksgiving Bodyweight Workout
Quick, Bodyweight Alphabet Workout
Read moreDeck of Cards Workouts
There are all kinds of workouts you can do with a deck of cards. Here are two deck of cards workouts targeted for both a beginner and intermediate workout. These are great workouts for a beginner starting strength training or an intermediate exerciser.
Read moreBeginner's Ultimate Guide to Strength Training
Starting a strength training program can be really intimidating. Before I became a trainer, I had no idea what areas of my body I should be training and how often I should train. The good news is that it's not as mysterious as it seems when you are standing in a gym staring at all of the equipment!
- Strive to strength train a minimum of two, non-consecutive days. Your muscles need a day, or more, of rest in between sessions in order to repair themselves. Lifting weights damages muscle fibers (creates microscopic tears in the muscles you’ve worked), so rest days give your muscles time to reconstruct, recover and increase in size.
- Strength training can be achieved by using your body weight, machines, free weights or various pieces of equipment such as medicine balls, swiss balls, BOSU, TRX, bands, etc.
- Strive to do at least one set of 8-12 repetitions of 8-10 exercises that target the major muscle groups: chest, back, shoulders, biceps, triceps, abdomen, quadriceps and hamstrings. Check out the images below to help identify these muscle groups.
- Set up a session with a personal trainer to help you come up with exercises that will target these muscle groups. If you are planning on strength training from home, you can still contact a personal trainer to help you create a program. I've met with a lot of clients who just need help getting started.
- Adjust your weights according to the "two rep" rule. If the last two reps of an exercise aren't taxing, you might need to consider going heavier. If you can do dozens of reps at the weight you are using, you need to pick up the next heavier weight. In body weight exercises, you can add additional repetitions or modifications to your strength exercises to make them more challenging. For example, instead of doing push-ups on your knees, try to do some negative push ups on your toes. Remember that you don't want to increase everything at once: sets, number of workout sessions, repetitions, weight, etc. Pick one area to increase at a time.
The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) has a wonderful brochure that will share more information with you.
