How's the 2005 Fitness Resolution Coming Along?
It's April 2005 already. Have you honored your New Year's "fitness" Resolutions? If so, are you content with your progress? If not, are you willing to recommit?
When setting a goal or a resolution, you need to find a balance between challenging yourself and being realistic with your schedule. If time, obligations and responsibilities are creating barriers, then, it's even more important to keep it simple. However, even the simplest goals need a commitment. Once the commitment becomes a resolution and the resolution a routine, you are on your way to creating a lifestyle change.
This article outlines three simple goals to add to your daily routine. Whether these are the first steps to getting fit or a complement to your existing fitness resolution, they can be easily adopted as "a new personal goal." Take the pledge and develop a habit of incorporating the following THREE-STEP ZONE WORKOUT(TM) PLAN into your daily schedule today.
Broken down, it's as simple as this:
1) Do as many PUSH-UPS as your age! Use a chair, the wall or the floor. Get creative! Think strong body position and tight form. Place your feet on a chair, and work the decline exercise. Lift a leg while horizontal on the floor, and encourage the stabilizers to fire while you do a traditional push-up. Stand arm distance from a wall, place your hands at shoulder level, push-up style, and engage the muscles in its modified form. Enjoy watching your arms, chest, back and upper body gain definition, while improving shape and tone after just three weeks. If you're under 25, I highly recommend increasing your commitment to "twice your age". For those individuals over 40, this is life's way of making you work a little harder!
2) Commit to 100 core/abdominal exercises. Use a fit ball, the floor, a chair, or a standing abdominal routine to strengthen the torso and increase tone and flexibility to the muscles supporting the trunk and spine. Do 10 repetitions of 10 different exercises to keep it interesting. If traditional crunches are too hard, mix them with concave contractions by pulling your belly in toward your spine, focusing on the point just below the belly-button. Do half in the morning and half at night!
3) LUNGE! Practice side lunges or reverse lunges and do as many of these as your age. Commit to walking lunges, for example, as a replacement for normal daily steps. With hands on hips, take a giant step forward with the leading leg, allowing the knee to bend naturally with this enormous gait. Keeping the hips square, let the rear knee come down, almost touching the floor, stretching the quadriceps muscle slightly as your torso stays predominantly upright. Drive off the front leg, focusing on the middle of the thigh and heel of the forward foot to power up, using the rear toe/foot for balance. Repeat the movement, one giant step in front of the other as you walk to and from your car, up and down your hallway, out to pick up the paper or any other "there and back" errands.
Anywhere, any time, once a day, you can do these Zone Workout(TM) exercises. Remember to concentrate on good form, and use slow, controlled movements during each session. Again, this should be your DAILY EXERCISE GOAL, regardless of your existing fitness routine. To capture the spirit of staying true to a recommitted FITNESS RESOLUTION, I encourage you practice the THREE-STEP ZONE WORKOUT(TM) PLAN DAILY, just in case the other stuff gets overlooked!
ACCOUNTABILITY STARTS NOW.
Stating an objective and making a verbal commitment will encourage you to succeed. Let Leah Garcia, the Zone Workout Series Fitness Barista be your accountability coach. Log a notation on your calendar with a ZONE WORKOUT resolution START DATE, the day you read this article. Count out a 30-day time period and make a note to report your progress on that day. Send an email to leah@zoneworkout.com and share how you did at the conclusion of the 30 days!
Points to consider when reporting back include:
Share your comments, and receive a personal response and continued inspiration from the Fitness Barista. Information will be kept confidential and will not be sold or released to any third parties.
Time to Wake up Your Fitness Potential.
About Leah Garcia, the Fitness Barista
Leah Garcia is the founder and president of Naturally Caffeinated(R), Inc. (www.naturallycaffeinated.com) a Boulder, Colo., company that offers custom fitness solutions, including video and VOD programming, consulting, and corporate wellness services. A certified personal trainer and former champion professional athlete, the creator and executive producer of the Zone Workout Series(TM) www.zoneworkout.com travels the country as a sports TV commentator. A frequent traveler, she logs more than 100,000 miles and 200 nights in hotels annually.
When setting a goal or a resolution, you need to find a balance between challenging yourself and being realistic with your schedule. If time, obligations and responsibilities are creating barriers, then, it's even more important to keep it simple. However, even the simplest goals need a commitment. Once the commitment becomes a resolution and the resolution a routine, you are on your way to creating a lifestyle change.
This article outlines three simple goals to add to your daily routine. Whether these are the first steps to getting fit or a complement to your existing fitness resolution, they can be easily adopted as "a new personal goal." Take the pledge and develop a habit of incorporating the following THREE-STEP ZONE WORKOUT(TM) PLAN into your daily schedule today.
Broken down, it's as simple as this:
1) Do as many PUSH-UPS as your age! Use a chair, the wall or the floor. Get creative! Think strong body position and tight form. Place your feet on a chair, and work the decline exercise. Lift a leg while horizontal on the floor, and encourage the stabilizers to fire while you do a traditional push-up. Stand arm distance from a wall, place your hands at shoulder level, push-up style, and engage the muscles in its modified form. Enjoy watching your arms, chest, back and upper body gain definition, while improving shape and tone after just three weeks. If you're under 25, I highly recommend increasing your commitment to "twice your age". For those individuals over 40, this is life's way of making you work a little harder!
2) Commit to 100 core/abdominal exercises. Use a fit ball, the floor, a chair, or a standing abdominal routine to strengthen the torso and increase tone and flexibility to the muscles supporting the trunk and spine. Do 10 repetitions of 10 different exercises to keep it interesting. If traditional crunches are too hard, mix them with concave contractions by pulling your belly in toward your spine, focusing on the point just below the belly-button. Do half in the morning and half at night!
3) LUNGE! Practice side lunges or reverse lunges and do as many of these as your age. Commit to walking lunges, for example, as a replacement for normal daily steps. With hands on hips, take a giant step forward with the leading leg, allowing the knee to bend naturally with this enormous gait. Keeping the hips square, let the rear knee come down, almost touching the floor, stretching the quadriceps muscle slightly as your torso stays predominantly upright. Drive off the front leg, focusing on the middle of the thigh and heel of the forward foot to power up, using the rear toe/foot for balance. Repeat the movement, one giant step in front of the other as you walk to and from your car, up and down your hallway, out to pick up the paper or any other "there and back" errands.
Anywhere, any time, once a day, you can do these Zone Workout(TM) exercises. Remember to concentrate on good form, and use slow, controlled movements during each session. Again, this should be your DAILY EXERCISE GOAL, regardless of your existing fitness routine. To capture the spirit of staying true to a recommitted FITNESS RESOLUTION, I encourage you practice the THREE-STEP ZONE WORKOUT(TM) PLAN DAILY, just in case the other stuff gets overlooked!
ACCOUNTABILITY STARTS NOW.
Stating an objective and making a verbal commitment will encourage you to succeed. Let Leah Garcia, the Zone Workout Series Fitness Barista be your accountability coach. Log a notation on your calendar with a ZONE WORKOUT resolution START DATE, the day you read this article. Count out a 30-day time period and make a note to report your progress on that day. Send an email to leah@zoneworkout.com and share how you did at the conclusion of the 30 days!
Points to consider when reporting back include:
- Were you able to apply the THREE-STEP ZONE WORKOUT PLAN into your schedule?
- How consistent were you?
- How creative were you?
- Did having a goal help?
- What was your perceived fitness level at the beginning and end?
- Have you made other changes based on the momentum gained from this small step?
Share your comments, and receive a personal response and continued inspiration from the Fitness Barista. Information will be kept confidential and will not be sold or released to any third parties.
Time to Wake up Your Fitness Potential.
About Leah Garcia, the Fitness Barista
Leah Garcia is the founder and president of Naturally Caffeinated(R), Inc. (www.naturallycaffeinated.com) a Boulder, Colo., company that offers custom fitness solutions, including video and VOD programming, consulting, and corporate wellness services. A certified personal trainer and former champion professional athlete, the creator and executive producer of the Zone Workout Series(TM) www.zoneworkout.com travels the country as a sports TV commentator. A frequent traveler, she logs more than 100,000 miles and 200 nights in hotels annually.
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