Health Archives

Benefit of Planks (It may look easy, but…)

If you have never tried doing a plank, it may look rather easy, but this is deceiving. Holding this position takes a LOT of endurance in your abdominal muscles, back muscles and core. This morning, I was working on core workout and was having aching in my shoulders, so figured a checkup on my plank form was in order… this is the beauty of having photo and video on our phones… its easy to take shots of ourself doing positions and analyze it to see what we are doing wrong!

Reminding myself of proper plank form here and analyzing the mistakes I made, so I will share them with you

Hold elbows directly under shoulders and place wrists in line with elbows.(I need to avoiding placing my hands too close together, this creates internal rotation and can cause instability at shoulder joint)
Push body up into upper back and hold chin close to your neck (like you are holding a small apple between chin and throat). I need to to tilt my chin more towards my chest to reduce strain on my neck and allow me to more fully use my abs and pull my belly button in)
Hold abdominals tight, contracting them, squeeze your buttock muscles and thigh muscles at the same time while breathing regularly (don’t hold your breath)
Hold plank 20-30 seconds, rest then repeat (I was trying to hold the plank too long and was losing my form…I learned its better to do short planks several times, than trying to do one long plank with loss of form!)
Start doing plank using elbows and toes (drop to knees if needed) and progress to high plank when you feel you have developed the necessary strength

These are hard! …What do we need to do planks for?

Reducing back pain! Planks help back pain because they strengthen your core which helps to reduce back pain. It especially helps lower back pain and because there is minimal movement in the exercise, the chance of injury is very low.
Improve balance and posture! Having a strong core helps posture and balance. There are various types of plank exercises which work the core from all angles such as side planks as well.
Tone up core! Planks are good for working on the deeper core muscles that give a good foundation for tightening up those abs!

There are many benefits to doing work on our core which I wrote about in another post in the recent past…take a few minutes to check that out…I posted a video and tips to help you get started on building your core on that post.

For today, I am glad I took the time to learn about how to improve my plank form and will build on this moving forward. I typically do plank work almost every day, so having proper form is so important so that I do not injure myself! I hope that you found this helpful and will take some time to work on your core strength each day. Every 20-30 seconds you put in doing a plank will make a difference and will be worth it!

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How to Reduce Arthritic Joint Pain Naturally (Exercises To Decrease Pain and Increase Mobility)

Tai Cheng is slow and gentle exercise, but effective for joint health. — Tai Cheng is slow and gentle exercise, but effective for joint health and pain reduction.

Illness and injury can make it feel impossible to move, much less work out.I know.

I injured my hand recently, and it makes exercising difficult sometimes.

I’ve had to adapt. Thankfully, the sports medicine doctors said my hand is healing well and won’t need surgery. Still, I need to be mindful of the limitation while it heals.

Working out is possible, even when we have pain. Actually, working out can actually help with our pain. We just have to adapt.

Today I want to talk about a specific kind of pain; arthritis.

The joint inflammation of arthritis causes can be painful and exhausting. While medication is often used to manage pain, it’s really not enough.

As a Nurse Practitioner and zealous proponent for prevention, I often see the element of exercise is overlooked as an effective management tool for many kinds of arthritis.

Physical activity is critical, even for someone with arthritis.

Regular exercise maintains and strengthens muscles, keeps them flexible, and even helps control pain and swelling in the joints. Beyond the physiological benefits, exercise has its psychological rewards too – decreasing stress, improving mood, and having a relaxing effect. Exercise is a powerful tool.

Exercises to Decrease Pain and Increase Mobility

There are a lot of different ways to approach exercise for pain management. (People with arthritis are much more capable of activity than they often think.) Here are a a few exercises to reduce pain and increase mobility, among other benefits. Key thing to remember – many exercises can be adapted to your strength and fitness level. Don’t be afraid to experiment.

Chair Stand

Stand in front of a chair, with back of knees touching chair. Place your hands on the arms of the chair, shoulder width apart. Then, supporting your weight on your arms, bend at the elbow, lowering yourself a bit and then pushing yourself back up. You will be able to dip your butt down lower to the seat of the chair as time goes on once you get stronger. You can even start this exercise by lowering yourself to the seat of your chair slowly and deliberately each time you go to sit. This activity alone will strengthen your arms more than you can imagine!

Yoga, Tai Cheng, Pilates/Piyo

Did you know stretching strengthens muscles? It does. And methods like yoga, Tai Cheng and piyo/pilates are fantastic programs for it. Can’t get out to the club? No problem – they can come to you in at-home DVD programs! Caution: as with any of these options, check with your doctor or NP first. It is important to start slowly and gradually increase the exercises as you get stronger. Be sure to do this and don’t overdo it too fast or you may be vulnerable to injury.

Walking

Don’t underestimate the power of going for a walk every day. Movement gets our blood flowing, muscles working, and the body functioning more optimally. This is essential for reducing pain and inflammation in the joints. Whether you do it on a treadmill, out on the road, or on an Elliptical machine for reduced joint impact, the point is to get moving.

Aquasize / Aqua-therapy

Check your local pool or YMCA for aqua-size class times. You may be fortunate enough to have a therapeutic pool in your area, which is even better for arthritis. There, water is kept at a warmer temperature (25.5 – 28°C), and the pool has access ramps for easier entry.

Weight Lifting

Yes, weight lifting is not only possible for someone with arthritis pain, but highly beneficial. As with many of these options, it’s best to get professional advice from your medical practitioner or fitness coach about how to proceed, but don’t let that stop you!

Cycling

If walking impacts the joints too much, or you just happen to enjoy cycling, it’s a great alternative to get that blood flowing to muscles and joints. Hit the road for a scenic trip, or hop on a stationary bike at home or in a gym. It is a good idea to combine this with yoga or Tai Cheng to ensure you have good balance before heading out on the road!

Recreation

A wealth of active recreation options can be beneficial too, if done carefully. Such activities include golf, hiking, raking, curling, bowling, or gardening. The important thing is to do something that’s both comfortable and enjoyable.

Benefits of Exercise to Arthritis:

The physical benefits of exercise to someone with arthritis are huge. Low-impact aerobics, strength training, and other activities listed above can help reduce joint stiffness (and prevent stiffness too!), build muscle, improve endurance, and benefit your heart and bones. Plus, you’ll feel great too – your mood will be improved, stress and anxiety reduced, and you’ll feel more relaxed.

Don’t know where to start? I can help.

Find out which at home fitness programs would benefit you most, or how clean eating will transform your health too! (join the facebook clean eatery group by clicking HERE).

Take a few minutes to watch this Tai Cheng Video.… To do this complete program may totally change your life!!

Once you get stronger and want to build up your core strength, you may be ready to move on to Piyo, which is an incredible program that combines pilates and yoga to help with back pain and create a solid core and strong muscles!

To get set up on a home-based programs or if you would like further information about options and recommendations, please CONTACT ME.

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Dragging Butt in the Morning? (It May be Worth the Drag)

Getting up early in the morning some days can be pretty rough (I was never a morning person)… today was one of those days. Hit the snooze button too many times, really had to push myself to get up as my whole body was feeling heavy and actually quite lazy.

Once I came downstairs and had a look at what workout was on the menu for today, I actually groaned. It was MMA power sculpt which is a really hard one and my least favorite of them all. Eugh!

I was close to saying “to heck with it, I will do it later”, when I realized that “later” likely won’t happen. Life gets busy in the day and time slips away! I took a deep breath and just made myself do it! It was grueling and difficult for me today. I got tired faster than usual and was sweating a LOT! Was very happy when it was over and felt a sense of real accomplishment that I was able to make myself do something I really didn’t want to do…because it was good for me.

I had to remind myself this morning, of the reasons that I started doing early morning workouts in the first place! The benefits of early morning workouts are incredible! Even if you are not a morning person, keep an open mind, because I felt it was impossible for me to become an early riser at one time, but once I felt the difference, I was hooked!!

The Benefits of Morning Exercise are so worth the drag…here is why…

ROAST THAT METABOLISM for the whole day!

By getting up and doing a workout first thing in the morning, the metabolism gets kicked up and makes you burn more calories and use the food you eat to replenish body and for energy instead of storing it as fat!

NO INTERRUPTIONS!

By getting up early in the morning before anyone else in the house is awake, it prevents the potential for interruptions and allows you to be more consistent with your workout schedule. When I used to do evening workouts, there was always something in “life” interfering with my schedule causing workouts to go way too late or being missed entirely!

IMPROVE NATURAL ENERGY

By getting up and doing an early morning workout, it jacks up our energy to start our day! Morning exercise improves focus and mental abilities the whole day! By working out in the morning, my mind is totally ready to take on whatever tasks are lined up for the day! Exercise has proven to give even more mental alertness and prolonged energy than caffeine!

SELF DISCIPLINE

I talked about self-discipline the other day and just like building on any other habit, success in achieving new habits totally build up your self-discipline “muscle” AHA!! Implementing a morning workout routine will help to increase self-discipline in many other areas of your life too then!

SLEEP BENEFITS

Morning workouts have been shown to improve sleep quality. By working out in the morning, our bodies will have the healthy tiredness that we are supposed to have at the right time (bedtime!). Evening exercise can potentially have the opposite effect because of adrenaline release during exercise and may interfere with sleep quality. Another AHA for me since my sleep used to be much worse with evening workouts!

BE SUCCESSFUL

By developing a healthy habit such as morning exercise that increases metabolism, allows you to be consistent with your workout plan, improves energy and focus through the day for other life activities, builds your self-discipline ‘muscle’ and improves your sleep….you can only IMAGINE how much easier it will be to reach your fitness and health goals!! By making yourself (yes, dragging your butt) get up in the mornings, and making the sacrifice to do so…makes it more likely that you will stick to a healthier eating plan through the day as well. ….Rather than eating too many calories and having the mindset of … “oh, i will just burn this food off later” (as in…with an evening workout…that may not happen)

HATE MORNINGS?

I used to hate mornings too! I had to really make a solid decision for change and use self-discipline and determination to keep it moving forward. I used a few rules for myself to help me to implement this new habit. 1. I put the alarm far away so that I would have to get up to turn it off; 2. I make myself get up right away before my mind can stop me 3. I would set my workout clothes the night before to be prepared to get moving; 4. I have 500 mL water as soon as I get up, then have a pre-workout energizer shot and GO 5. Found an exercise program that I enjoy so that it is not a ‘chore’ and is only 30-45 minutes. 6. Remind myself of all the benefits that I get from morning workouts on a regular basis

OK…so if you are not currently a morning exerciser, then I challenge you to consider it. Have a look at the benefits above and seriously ask yourself if you would like to have those benefits in your life? Is it worth dragging your BUTT out of bed each and every morning? Give it a try and pre-schedule some home workouts in for a full week, then decide if it is worth the drag. I believe you will be amazed and will do it again…and again…and again…

To learn about 7 ways to increase your self-discipline, be sure to enter your name and email for a free download. Having strong self-discipline can totally change your life in many ways!

The Mind is What the Mind is Fed (Its More Than Just Food)

Feed the body AND the mind what it needs every day.

Having my superfood shake after a good MMA Plyo workout this morning… I started thinking about how important nutrients are to our body. Superfood nutrition is essential for maximal energy, to aid weight loss and to boost sense of well-being. Nutrients we take in are only part of the story for the health of our mind though. Our mind needs healthy information fuel as well!

They say “the mind is what the mind is fed”.. mind food doesn’t come in packages though and you can’t buy it at the store. Mind food is your environment–all those countless things that influence our conscious and subconscious thought. The kind of mind food we take in determines our habits, attitudes and personality.

The mind reflects what its environment feeds it just as the body reflects the food you feed it.

Is this really true?

Habits and mannerisms that we have are typically picked up from other people. Just try to find one that isn’t! Even weird little things like the way we walk, words we use, hold a cup, the way we dress, preference for music are all influenced by what we experience and pick up from others.

The most important point here is that even the size of our thinking, our goals, attitudes and personality are formed by the environment. If we have associations with negative people, it makes us think more negative! If we have associations with petty people, it will also develop petty habits in us too! On the other hand…association with people who are big thinkers and ambitious people, can bring those things out in us too!

Certain types of people tend to discourage others and tell them that what they dream of cannot be done. These types of people usually are unsuccessful and are often only mediocre in terms of what they have ever accomplished. Don’t let these type of people discourage you from your dreams!!

The late Jim Rohn, a mentor of mine, states that we become the 5 people we spend the most time with… and if you think about environmental influences and how they affect our behavior and habits, its totally TRUE! “Birds of a feather flock together”…and since how we think is directly affected by the group we are in, be sure you are in the flock that things right!

Besides being around the influence of people, the kind of information we feed our minds every day is also important and influences our brain chemistry, positivity, and belief in ourselves and the world. Watching world news and reading the newspaper full of negativity can be draining on our emotional energy (and we do not realize just how much!). Spending time playing mindless video games, reading fiction and watching extended amounts of TV shows all waste mental energy and all have an impact on our thinking and our potential for success.

So, what would good mind food be?

Listen to motivating podcasts, read inspirational books (or listen to audio books) about how to think bigger and to improve yourself and read inspirational stories of success. Use these stories and books to inspire you, to throw all of that thought poison out of your environment…to help you stay positive and to be a good person. Learn positive ways of being and have your new attitude be your ally towards a happy and successful life and to encourage others! Making the switch to positive mind food for me has completely changed my life, my relationships, my attitude, my belief in the world and myself …and my zest for life!

Overall, clean eating and superfood nutrition are essential for our physical and mental health, to have a healthy weight, avoid chronic disease and to have healthy energy levels. We often forget that the food for our mind is just as important to feel happy, accomplished and positive. Take some time today to think about what you can do to rid yourself of negative influences and to implement some more positive habits to feed your mind in a good way and work at being a good example for others.

COMMENT on this post in the REPLY section of this page with your thoughts!

As a reward for joining the Athletic Grandma community, get a free download containing 7 tips to help gain more self-discipline in your life, CLICK HERE!

P.S. A couple of great starter book ideas for you!

“The Compound Effect” by Darren Hardy

“The Magic of Thinking Big” by David Schwartz

Sick Day Exercise? (You Better Believe it!)

Sick days really bite, don’t they? How do we make sure that those sick days don’t interfere with our health and fitness plan?

Quite often, at least for me, when I am NOT sick, I push myself to lift more, work harder, and sweat like crazy. Even though, in my regular program, I do have a “rest”day each week where I do slow work and stretching, it would always be beneficial to do more of that to optimize my physical condition.

By doing some exercise even on a sick day, it helps us in more ways than one!

1. During sick day, we move slower and more deliberate and don’t use weights. This helps us to improve range of motion as well as our form.

2. Taking more time to relax in those stretch positions really helps to lengthen, strengthen muscles and keep our joints balanced and strong.

3. By committing to do at least some kind of exercise every single day even when we are sick, it keeps the momentum and habit moving forward and you are more likely to jump in where you left off once you are well without difficulty. By skipping days or workouts, it is proven that our motivation drops and our drive as well.

…so my advice to you…do a workout every single day even if sick. Take it easier on sick days and perhaps go without weight and spend most of your time doing stretches and maybe even some yoga to maximize your fitness and keep that motivation alive!!!

To get a FREE download with 7 tips and a worksheet about how to improve self-discipline, click here

Defend Your Health (How to make the Healthy Choice Easy)

As I was doing my defensive moves this morning, I had this sudden thought about how important it is to vigorously defend our health in today’s world.

If I think about all the things that potentially could interfere with our health, there are so many! There is life stress, food additives and chemicals, environmental pollution, lack of exercise, lack of proper nutrition and nutrients, past life experiences affecting our emotional health, very busy and demanding life (rush rush rush), and more…

So, I was thinking about how much dedication and focus it takes to be healthy. Because, if you think about it, what are the easy choices now days? Yes, the easy choice is reaching for processed food, the quick answer, the pre-made type foods (all bad stuff!). Then I was thinking about how it takes effort and intention to make the healthy choices in our life the easy choices… We may not be able to control the environment, but we can control what we put into our bodies!

So, how can we make this easy? …

Some ways to make the healthy choices the easy choices are to prepare some simple healthy food ahead of time especially before a busy week. I do not like cooking, so I needed to find a great and fast way to throw stuff together. For example, I cook up a tray of healthy proteins for the week on Sunday…takes me 5 minutes to throw frozen chicken breast on a wax paper covered cookie sheet, paint them with hummus and bake in the oven. I can get a lot of other work done while those suckers are cooking! These chicken breasts through the week make good fast meals either being cut up on top of a salad or heated hot with some frozen veggies that I toss together. I alternate the chicken with cod, other types of fish, boiled eggs and ground turkey recipes. It works great, is never boring, and you are always prepared for nutritious eating and it makes healthy the easy choice when it is ready to grab from the fridge!

A few other ideas I use to prepare for a healthy nutritious week…

I always have 0% greek yogurt and low fat cottage cheese in the fridge which makes good meals with raw unsalted nuts and fruit (and no cooking required!). I spend only 15 minutes every 2-3 weeks making up 15-20 ziplock baggies of 1/3 cup raw unsalted nuts and seeds so they are easy to grab and go. Fresh fruit always available (apples and oranges because they don’t go bad). What other ideas for healthy easy snacks can you come up with? Please COMMENT on this post with your ideas!

What about when I get the munchies? (yes, we all do!)

I have Ryvita Bread (Muesli crunch is my favorite) on hand for those times when I feel the munchies come on. I can put a little smear of peanut butter on one or two of those, and its a great healthy snack that satisfies my munchies. Better to have this kind of thing readily available than salty popcorn, chips, or other unhealthy chemical-filled snack foods around. Be sure you are well-fed before heading to the grocery store and you will be less likely to buy junk food! Avoid having crap in the house, otherwise it becomes an easy choice to eat junk food and we do not want that!

Some Research is worth the time…

Get to know what types of foods are actually healthy. Stick mostly to the perimeter of the store to do your shopping because thats where most of the real whole foods are. Peek at the labels and if there are more than a few ingredients or a bunch of chemical names, stay away from it. Join clean eating groups to learn which foods are and are not healthy. Learn some new simple recipes to keep your nutrition interesting and delicious.

Are you familiar with the value of superfood?

It is important to know that the nutritional value in our foods and veggies are NOT what they used to be. There are vital nutrients missing that help to fight against oxidative damage that can lead to disease including cancer. This is where the use of superfoods can make a HUGE difference in our health. The superfood shake contains phytonutrients, cellular nutrition, antioxidants, micronutrients, natural herbs (and ZERO artificial ingredients) that increase body efficiency (including hormones) and is our best defence against disease, promotes weight loss and kills cravings. Having superfoods in a shake form, is not only convenient for on-the-go, but contains a large number of superfoods in just the right mix and balance to optimize their benefit!

DEFEND YOUR HEALTH! By far, optimal nutrition and regular exercise is the best defence we have!

PAY ATTENTION to what you’re putting into your body because what we put into our body equals the health that we get out. You could be a healthy eater in general, but if you snack on or add in high fat, salt or chemical-filled garbage foods, this will totally zap your energy and take your body weeks to get rid of it! Remember, these chemicals interfere with our body’s fine signalling processes, interfere with hormone balance and interfere with our body’s ability to function efficiently to keep our arteries clean, fight infections, control fat deposits and have energy!

Don’t forget that daily exercise is critical to keep muscles healthy, heart strong, maintain balance and helps our body to use energy efficiently. Set aside a time each and every day where you can consistently get your exercises in…schedule it and make it a non-negotiable! I keep a blank printed out calendar handy beside my TV in the rec-room and every time I do a workout or exercise, I document it on the calendar. This is a great way to track activity and you can look back and see how much you have achieved and where you can improve. Its a great technique and increases motivation too!

Yup, it just hit me this morning as I was exercising about how it takes effort, focus and intention to maintain health and so important to have a simple sustainable plan and the easy choices readily available to grab and go. Taking the time to learn the simple ways to do this is worth it!

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It is Totally Possible (There are No Limits)

When I first started my fitness journey, I never would have been able to do a deep squat like this! No way! I had crunchy knees doing stairs and sharp pains in them…not to mention a bad lower back that always seemed to be “going out of place” and causing me sharp pains, pains into my legs and nothing but grief.

The day that I made the decision to put my health and fitness first was when this all changed!

It was a beautiful summer day 3 years ago when I decided to have fun and be silly by doing handstands and cartwheels on the lawn… Turns out, it was not a very good idea! …for 2 full weeks after that I had so much pain in my neck, shoulders, back, hips and even my feet, that I told myself enough is enough already!!! I was asking my self in disgust…”How did I get so out of shape!?”… I seemed to have gotten out of shape so fast! As it turns out, making decisions to eat junk food and skip workouts over a long period of time really didn’t do me any favours!

Something had to be done about this!

Once I made the decision and started working out using a professionally designed workout-at-home program, it was so hard! I could barely do a minute of jumping jacks and I could barely do a push-up on my knees! I thought I was gonna die, but my determination to change and improve my health kept me going. I recruited the help of a physiotherapist whose help I sought out regularly to help manage my pains and to help me adapt my form as I slowly got stronger.

It took a few months of working hard on exercising to start noticing that I had less back pain in the mornings, was walking up stairs with less pain, was getting so much stronger and was building some nice muscle at the same time! I noticed that I was getting heavier on the scale though! All that new muscle was heavy! EEK!

Getting bigger and heavier was not what I wanted!

At this point, I revamped my diet, dialed down my portion sizes and added superfood daily at the suggestion of my Beachbody coach. By this time, I was also able to keep up with the trainer and able to complete the video program instead of continuously adapting due to pain! Within 3 months after starting superfood, clean eating and portion control, I had dropped 35 pounds and was feeling the best I had felt in my life!! I still had some pain in my knees and lower back, but definitely not as often and not as severe…

My successes led me to believe more in myself and what I was capable of. I was motivated to achieve more! I started another program with higher intensity, completed it, then started another, completed it, then another, and another. Now, by this time, my energy was improving, my motivation was getting higher, my pain was getting to be less and less and I was feeling good and strong with the proper nutrition and exercise. This proved to me repeatedly that the work I was doing was not just getting me healthier, it was totally changing my body and its capacity to lift and move in ways I never dreamed of.

3 years later, fast forward to today, I am 42 pounds less than when I started, am committed to my daily superfood, clean eating and portion control as a long-term forever lifestyle. It is very simple system to follow, has really improved my strength, (peri-menopausal) hormone balance and energy, and as I keep going I CONTINUE to improve my body’s capacity to move, bend and lift. I had originally thought I would reach a plateau in terms of what my body is capable of, but it turns out that is not the case!

There is no limit to what can be achieved!

Week by week, workout by workout, I continue to get stronger, and am capable of more! I can run faster, can run up the stairs (no crunchy knees anymore!), can lift and move furniture, carry around my 41 lb grandson, sit all day at a desk, lift and toss bales for my horses, fork hay, do yardwork, shovel snow and can squat deeply with NO PAIN! Who would have thought this was possible? I am proof that it is totally possible to rehabilitate from anything and any physical problem if your mind is determined enough and you have a firm enough belief in yourself.

By transforming physically, it has changed my mindset and attitude as well. I am happier, more positive, feel stronger and more stable emotionally, have improved my relationships (work, home, family, friends), believe in myself more on many levels, and have more passion and excitement for life! (and a bonus is I was able to get off of every prescription medication I was on!)

You may be wondering how this story may impact you? You may be wondering how you too can have a complete body and mind transformation? How can you totally change your life as well? How can you improve your hormone balance, lose weight and become a happier person? My advice for you is to seek out the help of a coach (like me) to support, motivate and keep you accountable and help you through your journey to better health and fitness. I can teach you about superfood, clean eating, portion control and support you through your progress in fitness and even help you get off prescription drugs. I have been through all of this myself, have experienced both the pain, failures, difficulties and challenges, so I totally get how tough it is.

Think about this…

Being on a health and fitness journey is hard, but it is ALSO very hard to live overweight, hormonal, unhappy, in pain and totally miserable. Make a decision today and chose your hard!

To join the Athletic Grandma community, enter your name and email address HERE and receive a free download about 7 ways to improve your self-discipline.

CONTACT ME HERE about getting onto a program that will change your life.

Strength is Worth the Sweat (and how Professional Programs get the Best Results)

This morning’s agility and strength workout really got the sweat moving! On day 16 of my 30 day fitness challenge and I am feeling stronger and more capable of pushing my body weight every day. This program is heavily focused on core work, so I can feel my midsection really firming up as well (bonus!!)?

Committing to completing a specific program really helps to boost motivation and results! To push yourself for a 30-day stretch and give yourself rewards for completion is very satisfying and then is motivating to do more!

For me, just being generally an “active” person versus completing a professional program is far too boring! I need the vigour and excitement of always achieving new things and testing myself to see just what I am capable of! Plus, with professional program challenges, I have achieved far better results than I ever did in the gym.

I remember those days in the gym with a semi-structured program (check off sheet), waiting for machines, dirty equipment at times, inconvenience of travel and excessive use of my time …all of this and the results were just not there!

Professional programs are specifically designed by trainers to give us total body conditioning, strength, agility, flexibility in a totally balanced and thorough manner and we can do them in the convenience of our home and for only 30 min per day! (…and yes, there are even beginner programs too!) The professional programs we have come with very simple and easy to follow nutrition programs which definitely work to maintain energy, lose weight and get amazing results!

Ultimately the message for today is that professional programs WORK! …and it is totally worth trading sweat for strength to not only get results, but to feel awesome! ?

Hope you have a wonderful day!

Be sure to join the Athletic Grandma Community by entering your name and email address. By joining the community you will get a free download about 7 ways to improve your self-discipline.

Stretching Benefits every Middle Age Grandma Needs to Know (and 7 Ways it Helps me)

Stretching regularly gives your body the capacity to do more and more!

One thing I have learned is that taking the time to stretch regularly certainly has benefits.

It not only boosts strength and performance and capacity in other activities, but minimizes chance for injury. Stretching also gives time to breathe and be present within yourself.

I used to have a hard time stretching properly since I was always in such a hurry and didn’t truly see the benefits. Now, I have learned to enjoy the opportunity to quieten the mind and gently stretch the whole body and it has really now helped me in several ways….

Here is 7 ways stretching has helped me…

Taking the time to stretch has helped to ease stress, and after a week of challenges and stressful situations, the muscle tension and uneasiness that can occur needs some release! Stretching really helps to relax the muscles and improve blood flow. It helps to release endorphins, which give me a sense of relaxation and well-being. It has helped me to have a more optimistic outlook.
Stretching has helped to improve my posture and ease off pain in my upper back. After working on a computer and being slouched over a desk all week, stretching the lower back, chest and shoulders helps to get my spine in better alignment and improve my posture. Having my shoulders back in proper position and sitting taller has really helped to have less muscle aches between shoulder blades and thus less headaches!
The range of motion in my muscles have improved a lot over time and I have had much less issues with injuries and definitely have noticed less lower back incidents or pain “tweaks” with day to day activities such as picking up my grandson, carrying boxes and moving furniture.
I have noticed that by being consistent with stretching, that my muscles have more stamina and energy. Stretching improves blood flow and healing of the muscles and I noticed my exercise endurance has improved! I can make it through more lifting reps and my cardio has improved significantly since my muscles don’t fatigue as quickly. Oh, and I notice that my muscles recover faster after a workout too and I have far less muscle soreness even with heavy workouts.
What I found before I dedicated to stretching regularly was that my muscles were tight and were less effective during exercise. So this regular stretching I am doing now relaxes all of my muscles and allows them to be more fully available during vigorous exercise…thus my performance improves! I can run faster, lift more, jump higher etc and it feels great!
I have noticed stretching and relaxation prior to bed time is beneficial. Only 5-10 min of relaxed stretching and deep breathing prior to sleep has helped to improve my sleep quality.
I do 3-5 minutes of lower back, and hip stretches before getting out of bed in the morning which really minimizes lower back stiffness and pain… I find that without this short stretch session before getting out of bed, that it takes about 30-60 min to feel the stiffness ease off. The joys of being a over-45 granny! 🙂

Stretching is an important component of any fitness program. Be sure to take the time to do this on a regular basis to feel better, be stronger and more resistant to injury, improve your athletic performance and to feel more positive too!

I am feeling happy and accomplished today…got a 20 min workout done called MMA Active Recovery….Day 14 of my current 30 day fitness challenge is complete!

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Don’t Accept Defeat (7 Ways I was Able to Get Stronger)

How many challenges do we face every single week of the month? Real life contains emotional tests like disappointments, tragedy, societal issues, stress, injury, divorce, death, unemployment and even choices we make with an unknown future. So how do we keep moving forward without being totally defeated with life?

There are several ways we can do this that are truly effective if we are determined to move forward and intentional about facing the issue. By intentionally facing the issue, it builds on our strengths and makes us even more resilient for the next challenge. If we don’t face it, it weakens our capacity for the next time.

Boy did I learn these lessons the hard way…

Despite my hand injury and pain slowing me down, past abuse, and the huge commitment of raising my grandson full time (some days I feel too old for this!), I refuse to let myself get defeated. Through my emotional fitness journey, I found some strategies that I put into practise that really helped me to learn to experience the inevitable challenges, have normal feelings about them, yet find a way to move past them quicker so that they have less impact on my life.

Here is what I learned…

I learned to enjoy my life as it is, instead of wishing it was different. I learned to be present in my current life, enjoy what life has to offer now and not constantly be feeling like I need something different. Having those feelings of wanting something different than what you have now is a huge stress, worry and constantly gets you down. This is a hard habit to get out of, and I need to remind myself of this at times, but it is worth the work!
I learned to be thankful. Wow, this made a huge difference in my life. It is so easy to count our troubles instead of counting our blessings, but focusing on trouble completely eliminates our ability to experience the good we have been given in life. A change in my perspective here made all the difference. I learned to recognize the good and to be very thankful about it.
I learned to slow down. I was constantly in a rush every minute of every day. By being in this state of mind, I was constantly making mistakes, cutting corners, getting ahead of myself and missing out on so many important moments in life. Not to mention that being in a rush all the time was driving my kids crazy! I learned to slow down and remembered what my mom always told me…”slow and steady wins the race”…dang it she was right! Slowing down and being intentional about what I was doing improved my state of mind, I was more relaxed and my life was less stressful and (no surprise), my relationships improved!
I learned to face the truth and the real emotional issues. It was always easier to turn away from life challenges instead of facing them. I was a master avoider!! The fact is, these emotions and truths will catch up to us eventually! I learned that when I faced reality, I was much more capable of dealing with life effectively. Seriously, when you do this, what once seemed difficult, now seems so much easier! Things that seemed scary, now feel more comfortable and familiar. I felt the difference this made in my strength and it helped me to build a much deeper confidence in myself. Feeling capable is a great feeling! ….and once on this path, you just keep getting stronger all the time!
Further to facing the truth, I found that NOT pushing emotions away or packing them away in the “little black pandora’s box” of my mind was the best idea! Seriously, I have learned that we need those feelings in order to have satisfaction, meaning and absolute pleasure in our life. Packing away those feelings in the black box actually drained my energy and had unconcious impact on my personality! Sounds scary, but its very true. We need to experience our real emotions to have satisfaction and joy in our lives!
Another thing I learned is that things cannot be perfect all of the time. I had to really believe the fact that no one is perfect and no one gets things right every time. If we have too unreasonable of expectations of ourselves, there is a constant feeling of failure and inadequacy. This is NOT a good feeling, but had become a bad habit for me. Perfectionism actually leads to anger and lack of confidence and has a negative impact on relationships. This is a tough one to get over since I have had this issue since childhood, but it is an essential one to work through in order to be happy with yourself. I learned that I was able to gain confidence through the process of trying, succeeding, failing and trying again…It built my power, resilience and confidence over time.
The last thing I learned that was a critical shift for me to avoid defeat in life was to realize that relationships in our life need to be nurtured and cared for. This includes coworkers, intimate partner, kids, family…all of these relationships need to be given attention and commitment to keep them alive and positive…and not just occasionally…this is something to work on consistently. The other thing I had to learn was that I am 100% responsible for my contribution to the relationships and for my happiness. No one else was responsible for any of this. Forgiveness, making amends, accepting forgiveness, being open and vulnerable about love and talking about concerns were essential to realize and to apply to my life.

There was a lot of things to talk about today! These were all things I learned by being committed to personal development, being determined to deal with past issues of abuse, focusing on becoming a better person… Ultimately, developing personal strengths in multiple areas of life and thinking bigger like this really does make accepting any kind of defeat in life totally optional. We have the choice and we don’t have to let life’s challenges get us down!

I am feeling happy, successful and accomplished right now since I got day 13 of my 30 day Fitness Challenge DONE! I hope you have a fabulous day!!

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