fitness

This Week I Love …

by Sal on February 3, 2012 · 37 comments

… lifting weights.

Yeah, this photo cracks me up, too. That is my very own 15-pound dumbell and I do occasionally lift weights at home, but I seldom feel compelled to put on full gym regalia to do so. And even less frequently choose to do so in my dining room. This was taken for a Lucy workout gear giveaway a few months back, and provides photographic proof that I do, in fact, lift. But it’s undeniably humorous. And wow, check out our mint plant going nuts in the background. Anyone need some mint?

Whoa. Tangent.

It’s the dead of winter and that means the Workout Doldrums have settled in. In Februarys past, I’ve slacked off on my weight routine, saying to myself, “Ah, screw it. I’ll worry about tone come spring when my muscles will actually be visible. Why bother right now?” But since I conned Karen into giving me some arm-toning tips, I’ve been much more engaged in my workout and I’ve actually stuck to my weights all winter.

And I’m SO GLAD. I adore biking (when I can do it), I’m loving my great winter walking experiment, and am pretty proud of my planking prowess. But there is something so satisfying about lifting weights. It feels amazing. It feels like I am, quite literally, warehousing personal power for later use. And my little routine involves 12 and 15 pound dumbells, a Bosu ball, and a yoga ball. No bench, no fussing with machines, simple but challenging. I have no fear of the man-populated weight room and can use or figure out any machine in my gym, but it has been really rewarding to cook up a custom weight routine and play with it to such great effect.

I might have mentioned this 900,000 times already, but allow me mention number 900,001: Weight lifting is a fantastic way for women to improve bone density. Even if you are running your little hiney off, adding some weight training to your routine is wise. Even if you’re at your ideal weight, doing a few bicep curls will help you down the line. This article pulls a few annoying tricks, but it’s written by a pro trainer and explains in no uncertain terms why lifting won’t cause you to bulk up like the Hulk. (We’ve got a Strong, Sexy & Stylish podcast on this very topic coming up soon!)

I’ve been lifting weights for more than 10 years, and plan to stop … hopefully never.

Do you lift? What’s your routine like? Ever worked with a trainer? If you’re unsure about weights for your own workout, what are your concerns? Questions? I can try to get Karen over here to answer any technical queries you may have!

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Guest Post: Personal Trainer Karen Kraus on Fitness for Women

by Sal on August 21, 2011 · 12 comments

Whenever I hang out with my friend Karen Kraus, we either end up planning to take over the world together, or planning to make the world a better place together. So, as you can imagine, I adore her. She’s smart and driven and compassionate and filled with joy. My kind of gal.

I’ve also worked with her as a personal trainer and she is understanding, intuitive, and patient. She helped me design a workout that focused on arm strength and accommodated my bad back, but also managed to include a bunch of exercises that work core, legs, and overall balance. It tires me out, but after about three weeks I’m already noticing a difference.

Her bio is pretty durned impressive, too. Karen is a former collegiate athlete and elite level cyclist. She currently stays active by practicing yoga, cross country skiing, trail running, cycling, strength training, and simply being outside. Right now, she’s working as a certified ACE personal trainer and licensed and nationally certified massage therapist, and come fall she’ll also be teaching personal training and massage at Saint Paul College. She is truly passionate about health and wellness, and knows that if exercise isn’t FUN, nobody’s gonna do it.

I asked Karen to write a bit about motivation, fitness, and mental blocks. Here’s what she had to share:

What Do You Think About When You Think About Exercise?

In some ways, exercise is like fashion. Some of us are natural style “experts,” while others dread the thought of going into a store. For me, nothing ever seems to fit and I have no idea what will look good on my body. It took me years to enter a clothing store without feeling judged by the employees as I walked in. Actually, I take that back: I still struggle with it. I keep saying to myself, “They’re here to help me. If I just walk out of the door, I will have to keep wearing these horrible clothes and I’ll never look on the outside how I feel on the inside; which is AWESOME!”

Fitness employees are the same way. We are here to help YOU! We want you to feel amazing about yourself. Working out and moving your body has so many benefits, but to me the most important thing you can possibly gain from working out is feeling good about yourself. Working out and moving your body allows you to take control and can give you amazing self-confidence and body-awareness. Maybe you are thinking, “I’m sure working out will make me feel better, but how in the world do I even get started? What if everyone in the gym, class, studio, or playing field stares at me as I walk past?” Well, keep on reading, sister, because I’ve got a few steps below to help you out.

Five Steps to Help You
Break Through Workout Barriers

1. Don’t Let Fear Get You Down

“Feel the fear and do it anyway. “
~ Susan Jeffers

All right, you are scared.What if you are the weakest in the class, or you don’t know how to work the treadmill? Even worse, what if everyone STARES at you? My advice: Put on a big smile, stand up straight, and be truthful with yourself. Maybe you don’t know how to use the equipment, maybe you are the weakest one in the class … but guess what, that is OK. Once you accept the fact that you are not a master at fitness and you realize everyone else was in the same boat as you at one point, you will be able to take the big leap into a healthier life.

2. It’s Gotta Be Fun

“Just play. Have fun. Enjoy the game.”
~ Michael Jordan

Nobody likes to do things that are not fun, so don’t. There are millions of different activities that will get you moving. Write down all the things you like to do – or might like to do – that involve moving, sweating, and getting stronger. Try them all and find your favorites. If you create a workout plan that is comprised of activities you absolutely dread doing, it will be incredibly hard to keep it up.

3. The Strong Guys Are Nice

“Success rests not only on ability, but on commitment, loyalty, and pride.”
~ Vince Lombardi

The scary guy down in the pit grunting and sweating with veins popping out of his muscled arms is NOT laughing at you. Crazily enough, it can be just the opposite. More often than not, if you find the courage to ask one of these guys or gals a question about lifting, they will bend over backwards to help you out. Weight lifters love nothing more than to talk about their bodies and show people “the best way” to do an exercise. Be selective in who you decide to walk up to. Watch them for a while. If they are talking and having fun, then ask away. If they have headphones on and are beating themselves up over the burger they had last night, steer clear … they could turn into a pit bull.

4. Make Time

“You will never ‘find’ time for anything. If you want time, you must make it.”
~ Charles Bruxton

If you want to do something, put it in writing. Scheduling your time efficiently is so important in today’s world, and our days are already jam-packed with other commitments. Pencil in your workouts and treat them like work meetings. Do not cancel them! Taking even 20 minutes out of your day to work out will be so very beneficial to you. I know this may sound crazy, but setting that alarm to get in a workout in BEFORE work is a smart idea. By 6 p.m. your brain can cook up many reasons why it would be better to go home instead of work out.

5. Seek Help

“Who exactly seeks out a coach? Winners who want even more out of life.”
~ via Chicago Tribune

If you think it’s going to be hard to do this on your own, find help. Using the buddy system can really increase accountability. Team up with a friend, find a group that is training for an event, or hire a personal trainer. There are fitness professionals everywhere that are more than happy to talk with you. If personal training seems expensive, try partner training, small group training, or a group fitness class.

Hopefully some of the ideas in this post will give you the courage, motivation, and excitement you need to get moving and embrace the world of movement and exercise. Try these five steps, put your workouts on a calendar, get your butt off your chair, and get moving!

* * * * *

If you’re a local Twin Cities person and interested in working with Karen, check out her Revolution Bodyworks website or Facebook page!

Image via livestrong.com

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On BMI and Rules vs. Guidelines

by Sal on July 12, 2011 · 130 comments

Reader Samantha dropped me an e-mail asking about my opinions of BMI. She is the 35-year-old mother of a 5-month-old infant, recently went in for a check-up, and was told that she was overweight based on the current BMI scale. Her own feelings about what constituted a healthy weight for her body were shattered when she was informed that she needed to be 20 pounds lighter than her own typical weight in order to fall within the “normal” range. And she was frustrated.

I can completely relate to her frustration. Over the past two years, I’ve been having all sorts of digestive and reproductive health problems. None of the docs have had any idea what was up, despite round after round of tests. At some point in there – about a year ago, I think – a blood test came back that had me right on the border of being pre-diabetic. Still nowhere close to being actually diabetic, and that test turned out to be an anomaly. Yet I was told that I should probably lose five pounds to kick me back into the “normal” BMI range. It was all I could do not to laugh in the doc’s face. Really? REALLY? I’m not diabetic, there’s no possible link between my health problems and my weight, I’m five pounds over “normal,” and you’re still gonna harp on BMI right now?

Now before I really dig into this post, a few caveats. I’m not a doctor, as you all know. I’ve studied human physiology very briefly, but have no experience in the health services or medical professions. Everything contained within this post represents my set of opinions which are based on my personal observations and readings. I don’t know everything about this topic and don’t claim to, but I’ve had experience with it on a very personal level and have formed views accordingly. Samantha asked for my views, and once I began writing my response to her I realized that the topic was worth bringing to this forum. My hope, as always, is to generate a lively, varied, respectful discussion – NOT to assert myself as a weight, health, BMI, or public policy expert. Got it? OK, moving on.

I do not think that BMI is a nefarious tool of purest evil. There ARE preventable health problems linked to obesity and I understand how a physician might deem it important and necessary to keep patients mindful of weight. On a daily basis, doctors are faced with hundreds of health problems that aren’t preventable, and I think they may harp on obesity because they feel it’s important to practice preventative medicine whenever they can. Also, broken as it is, BMI is one of the only tools we have that provides parameters for understanding when overall weight may begin to impact other areas of bodily function. The idea of having rough guidelines for healthy weight makes some sense to me, especially if those guidelines have been backed up by broad, deep research, and leave room for individual variation.

But in my experience – as supported by my anecdote above – BMI is treated more as a rule than a guideline. Doctors see you’re over a certain number and it’s a done deal: You need to change. I’m sure much of that is related to the high volume of patients that medical doctors are forced to help, how HMOs are organized and run, and other factors that make medical providers feel totally boxed-in. But it’s still harmful and infuriating to the patients. To tell the 35-year-old mother of a 5-month-old to get cracking on that weight loss seems utterly laughable to me. To tell a woman who is five pounds over the magic limit that shaving off a few will cure what ails her seems downright preposterous to me.

BMI is supposed to be more informative and tailored that straight weight, but I’m not sure it truly is. Cross-referencing height and weight gives a bit more information, but it’s still not enough for real insight. Certainly not enough to merit application of a broad, health-related label to a highly unique human being. In my (albeit layperson) opinion, no group of impersonal numbers will give the complete picture of an individual’s health. Not the way an in-depth conversation will.

Do I have a solution? No. I imagine that reexamining the way BMI is calculated to include factors like activity level, fat percentage, bone density, and other key influencers would help somewhat. So would training docs to really TALK with patients about their lifestyles, choices, and overall health before slapping weight-related labels upon them or advising dietary changes. (Which would mean lightening doctor workloads, a potentially impossible demand.) But I really don’t know if either of those would create actual helpful, influential, effective guidelines for linking weight and health, or just circle back to being oppressive, exclusive, rigid, shaming rules.

My understanding is that BMI is a set of guidelines designed to give a rough idea of when your weight may begin to negatively impact your overall health. But like all guidelines, there will be loads of personal variation. Loads. And that’s the piece of the puzzle that ends up missing in a lot of doctor-patient discussions of weight and health.

That’s my opinion anyway. What are your thoughts on BMI as a measure of health? If you think it provides an incomplete picture, how would you change it? Do you think such standards should be abandoned altogether, or do they provide some beneficial structure when implemented as loose guidelines instead of strict rules? I’d really like to hear from some of the medical pros that I KNOW are reading, since your perspective on this matter may shed some light on the benefits of the BMI system that those of us who feel frustrated may not know about.

Image courtesy Beating Down the Dashboard.

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Sal on Wheels: The Bike Commute

by Sal on May 6, 2011 · 56 comments

A lot has changed since I first posted about my bike commute back in July of 2009, and since biking season is upon us I figured it was time for an update! For starters …

… I got a new bike. Yes, I traded in my 65-pound one-speed cruiser for a 40-pound three-speed cruiser. My new ride is a Specialized Globe with an internal gear box, and although we got off to a bit of a bumpy start this year with some flat tires and gear tension issues, I’m still thrilled to have made the change. (Especially now that I’ve upgraded to Kevlar-lined tires. How badass is THAT?!?) This bike has seat and front wheel shocks – cheap ones, but still – and they make my ride sooooo much more pleasant.

Especially since I’ve changed up my route. I still spend about 25% of my ride cruising through my rough and sometimes-scary neighborhood, but a friend showed me a route to work that put me on bike trails and in designated bike lanes for the other 75%. Safer, for sure … but the trails are in rough shape and bumpy as hell. So I’m grateful for my shocks! My ride is 45 minutes in the morning, an hour in the afternoon (the ride home is mostly uphill). It’s a little over 6 miles to my workplace from my home.

I’ve been pushing my temperature threshold for biking and am now forcing myself to bike on any non-rainy days when it’s at least 35 degrees when I wake at 5:45 a.m. Since that’s still pretty cold, this is my morning getup. I’m wearing:

Gym shoes
Socks
Cotton leggings
Cotton knee-length shorts
A wicking top that’s too big on me and shows my boobs when I plank at the gym, but is just fine for this purpose
A thrifted red hoodie
A reflective neon yellow windbreaker
Thrifted leather gloves
A black puffy vest
A cotton scarf
Helmet
Cheap sunglasses

I look weird. Especially with the scarf. Which I wear because I NEED my face and neck covered when it’s that cold out and I’m generating wind by riding. And because cotton is both absorbent and washable. But I’m just fine looking weird. As was the case back in 2009, I don’t WANT to look cool or pretty or like I’m wearing anything expensive. I’d rather look a bit weird and hobo-like so that any early-rising baddies lurking around my neighborhood will let me pass by unharmed.*

This is what I look like on my afternoon rides home in the spring. I’m wearing:

Gym shoes
Socks
Cotton leggings
Cotton knee-length shorts
Too-big wicking top
Red thrifted hoodie
Helmet
Sunglasses

Once it gets warmer, I’ll get rid of the leggings and hoodie, too. They’ll be replaced with loads of sunscreen.

Another improvement: Back rack and saddlebags. Where I used to stuff my gear in a big tote and lock it onto a front basket, now I clip these babies onto my rack and roll out.

What goes in there? Many of the same things as back in 2009: A pre-tried-on outfit complete with shoes and accessories, my makeup bag, my cell phone inside a hard sunglass case, my wallet, keys, and lunch. I have finally convinced myself that it’s wiser to pack my bag up the night before. Saves mucho time.

Outfits worn on bike commuting days are photographed ahead of time, which helps streamline the process on several levels: I don’t have to get dressed AGAIN after riding home and showering, and trying on the outfits ahead of time allows me to test and refine them before shoving them into my saddlebags!

I am very fortunate to have access to a changing room with a shower. But I, uh, don’t use the shower at work. Even on hot days. I do a little bird bathing at home, put on my moisturizer and draw on my eyebrows, slather on the deodorant and go. On arrival, I wipe down with a paper towel or two, and pull on the day’s outfit – which nearly always includes a cotton, absorbent, and/or washable top or dress. After work, I change back into my biking duds, ride home, and shower there.

I don’t have an extensive makeup routine, but if I did, I’d do my makeup at work. I ride through some gritty, dirty, industrial areas of Minneapolis and there’s no way I’d want to put on my mascara and eyeshadow and then roll through a bunch of dirt.

My goal is to bike as much as possible this season. There will be times when I’ll need my car for appointments or to meet someone after work, and I’m too much of a wimp to bike in the rain, but otherwise I’ll be hopping on my trusty Globe every day that I can.

I am very fortunate: I live in the most bike-friendly city in the U.S., I live relatively close to my workplace, I have a very flexible boss. My situation is ideal for bike commuting. But I never even gave it a single thought until a friend nudged me to consider biking to work, so here’s my attempt to pay that gift forward: Biking saves you gas money, keeps fumes out of the atmosphere, is a fabulous way to get in your cardio, and just feels fantastic. Could you do it? Have you tried? If you’re not sure, haul out your bike on a weekend and time your ride to and from your workplace. Refine your route. See if you can make it possible.

So, did I cover everything? Got any questions for me about my commute, or about commuting in general? Those of you who bike to work, how do you deal with getting ready and looking presentable at your jobs? Any tips for those hoping to give it a whirl?

*Given, the baddies don’t generally come out until the afternoon commute. And to my neighborhood’s credit, I’d say that a couple of times per month some big, burly guy will lean out of his hoopty to cheer me on as I inch my way up a big hill. Sure those guys are making fun of me, but it’s FUNNY, so I can’t blame them. And I laugh along.

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Ways I Plan to Battle the Inevitable Descent Into Winter Lethargy

by Sal on October 21, 2010 · 40 comments

I bike my butt off during the summer and it feels great to be so active. But once it gets too cold and too dark to commute to work on my one-speed, I start slacking. I feel better when I’m getting loads of exercise – more energetic, alert, and alive – but I revert to lethargy when activity becomes challenging. So instead of simply succumbing to my natural sluggishness, I’ve made a list of ways I’m going to try to be more active now that it’s colder.

Take the stairs: I slacked off on this ALL SUMMER, but I’m back in the game now. I work on the fifth floor, and am always winded when I finally reach my office door … but it is so worth it. I try to do the stairs at least three times per day. And it definitely helps.

Try cross country skiing: My buddy Katherine is a ski instructor, and she’s going to whisk me away to northern Wisconsin in a few weeks to teach my ass cross country. Little does she know that I’m about as coordinated as a blind baby bumblebee …

Lift weights at home: I am considerably more hardcore about my freeweights during the summer, when there’s a chance that my arms will actually be seen. But slacking last winter meant I had to work twice as hard this summer to get any tone. So I’ll go back to my quick evening routine. Takes about 5 minutes and wraps right into my nightly ablutions.

Up the gym ante: When I’m biking, I go easy on the cardio at the gym. The time has come to go hard once more!

Do you have a plan to stay active this winter? What will YOU be doing to keep those muscles muscular? Does your activity level affect your emotional state and body image?

Image courtesy Jeremy Bronson.

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Strong and Tough

by Sal on June 28, 2010 · 37 comments

I like working out WAY MORE now that I belong to a gym with a lovely, clean locker room and lots of stretching space … but I can’t say I love working out. Not indoors, not four times a week for two-plus hours at a time. I’d rather be writing, or sleeping, or watching “Finding Nemo” for the 89th time, or pretty much anything else. But I do it, and I do it consistently.

Why?

Well, I do feel better about myself when my clothes fit me, so part of it is body shape maintenance. And I do want to live to a ripe old age, so part of it is for my health. But I also like to feel strong and tough.

People have told me all my life that I’m strong. Because I went to college far from home, because I quit all the jobs that made me miserable, because I asked for what I felt I deserved. But I never quite bought it. To me, strength is cultivated, intentional, definite. I felt like I could deal with catastrophe and challenge, but only because I have an excellent autopilot setting: I don’t even THINK about it, I just deal. Is that strength? It sure never felt like it.

And I never understood sports as a young girl, so I never possessed physical strength. I couldn’t do more than a handful of sit-ups, never lifted weights, nearly threw up after running the mile in gym class. I didn’t do anything physical until I was about 23, and then only grudgingly.

But now – after I’ve discovered that riding a 65-pound one-speed cruiser 12 miles per day is an impressive feat, after I’ve discovered that I CAN have defined biceps, after I’ve discovered that pushing myself to plank for 3 minutes is kind of mind-blowing – I finally feel it. I am strong. On purpose. And I love it. I am tough because I work at it, because I push myself, because I have decided to be. Life didn’t make me this way, I MADE ME THIS WAY. And I love it.

It’s been a tough couple of years, both personally and physically, and I feel more delicate than ever in many ways. Perhaps that’s why it finally feels good to work out. I may loathe being trapped inside a gym, but it’s absolutely worth it for the payoff. I am strong and tough because I want to be. Finally.

Image courtesy ~ggvic~.

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Workout Wardrobe Makeover

by Sal on June 7, 2010 · 87 comments

Everyone’s got a blind spot, right? Well for years, mine has been my workout wear. I know full well that I feel better when I wear fitted clothing that shows my body shape, but just refused to apply this rule at the gym. I wore this:

An oversized, thrifted men’s tee and loose pants from Target. I look like a cereal box on legs, due to how my shoulders, boobs, and hips are configured. And there’s nothing wrong with that, since workout gear is meant to be comfy and absorbent above all. This ensemble has served me well for 10 years.

But after chatting with folks on Facebook about the merits of fitting, fitted workout gear, I began to mull an upgrade. And when I saw the cute sporty tops at Marshalls, I knew I should jump at the chance to try something new … but my friends, it was not a simple task. This post is many weeks and many dollars in the making because I quickly discovered that gym duds don’t do me any favors, be they fitted or loose. I have tried many styles and many garments, none of which feels utterly perfect – comfortable, stylish, and practical – but I’ll share them all with you in the interest of science.

Yeah, science. That’s it.

I’m definitely glad I upgraded my tops, as I feel much better in fitted shirts that show my waist. This is actually a golf top, but nobody has to know that. (OK, now YOU know, but you’ll keep my secret, right?) It’s marvelously flattering and I just crack up at the puffed shoulders.

The pants aren’t my favorite. I noticed that these cropped pants are all the rage these days, but struggled to find a pair that suited me. I am subject to attacks of cameltoe in tight pants, so legging-like pants were right out. But these wideleg ones? Only so-so.

My biking shorts show off my legs a bit more, which I like. But I estimate it’ll be warm enough to work out in shorts and a short-sleeved top for, oh, four months. Maybe five, if I’m lucky. So I kept looking for an option that would keep my legs warm and covered.

This pair of pants that came to me courtesy Lucy are definitely the best full-length workout pants I’ve EVER tried on, much less owned. They are extremely fitted, and I’m not sure if I’ll be keen to wear them in the dead of winter when I feel less fit and my body confidence wanes … but I have high hopes. (Review of the pants forthcoming.)

As unusual as it may look, I feel like this is my best solution. As stated above, legging-like pants provide far to much information about my ladyparts … but I look better in fitted pants than I do in loose/wide ones. I also look better in a skirt than I do in pants. So I tried out the cropped legging/skort combo. Unorthodox, perhaps, but it’s got coverage, comfort, flexibility, and figure flattery going for it. This is my favorite of all the combinations I tried. I feel the most like myself in this ensemble. (The skort on its own is waaaaaay too short for my comfort level, in case you were curious!)

I was certain that, in the end, this post would be all, “Formless workout clothes were awful, and now that I’m wearing fitted ones, I feel WAY better!” But this has been a preposterously difficult and annoying process, and I can’t say that I feel like a new, more powerful, kick-ass exerciser at the gym in my new duds. I have more options – the crops, Lucy pants, and skort are all in rotation, as well as a variety of fitted tops – and that’s a good thing. But seriously. I’m a fairly average size, height, weight, and overall shape. If I have trouble finding something that makes me look and feel awesome, I cannot imagine being super petite, someone with an extremely long torso or large bust, or really any shape or size outside the norm. It must be TORTURE looking for stylish, practical workout clothing …

What do you wear to the gym? Do you go in for fancy, technical gear or stick to cotton basics? Where do you buy yours? Any recommendations for non-athletic body types – such as women with big hips or boobs, short legs, etc.? I’m dying to hear how you all handle workout wear!

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Fitness for the Snowed-in

by Sal on January 21, 2010 · 24 comments

Apparently, it’s Winter Survival Guide week here at Already Pretty. Apologies to you southern hemi readers – I’m hoping these posts are still slightly useful, or can be stashed for future readings.

Now. If you’re like me, winter weather provides you with AMPLE excuses to fink out on your gym membership. “Oh, not tonight,” you think, “It’s too cold/slippery/dark out to risk driving/walking/bussing to the gym. I’d better stay home and re-read the entire Harry Potter series. While eating every salty food in my house. Including, eventually, soy sauce sandwiches.”

And although the salty food binge is only a good idea if you blood pressure is dangerously low, sometimes venturing out to work out just isn’t in the cards. It’s better to be alive and slightly less fit than toned and dead in a ditch, am I right?

However! You can still work out at home, and you don’t even need any fancy mats or weights or videotapes to do it. And although you may not want to, I guarantee that spending even fifteen minutes getting that heart rate up will make you feel all the more cozy and delighted when you dig back into “The Prisoner at Azkaban.”*

Jumping jacks: Yes, your dog will get very excited, and your roommates may snicker, and you’ll feel a little bit like you’re back in third grade. But seriously, this is some fast, effective cardio. And if you can put on a little Fatboy Slim for the ride, jumping jacks can be downright fun. Do sets of 20, try for at least three sets.
Sit ups: I don’t care if you do crunches, traditional sit ‘em ups, or some of my personal favorite shopping-based ab exercises. Work that core.
“Weights”: If you live in a dumbbell-free zone, use a tasty beverage instead. A two-liter bottle of soda, an aluminum water bottle filled to the brim and capped, or even a gallon of milk can serve the purpose. Figure out a way to lift carefully, and get crackin’.
Push-ups: If you can’t do plank push-ups, don’t sweat it. Make your knees your fulcrum. I lift weights four times a week, but just started on push-ups recently and they were very challenging. I can now do four sets each of three plank and three knee push-ups before I collapse into a pile of dramatic gasping humanity. Push-ups are HARD, so only do as many as you reasonably can.
Superman: Lie on your stomach on a carpet, mat, or towel. Then lift your arms out in front of you like Superman and lift your legs slightly off the floor simultaneously. Try to isolate your lower back muscles, and use your glutes as little as possible.
Dance: I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. Spend two or three songs dancing hard and fast and you’ll work up a happier sweat than anyone glued to a Stairmaster.
Stretch: Even if you can’t do anything else for the night, stretch out your muscles a bit. Do legs, arms, back, core. Then do them all again. Then sleep soundly.

When you can’t keep up your regular workout routine, what are your work-arounds? Ever improvised exercise at home? Other easy ways to stay fit without any fancy equipment?

* DISCLAIMER: Only you know your fitness level. If hefting gallon milk jugs around is going to make your trapezius spasm, or if jumping jacks will jar that old knee injury … well, don’t do ‘em! Use your common sense, as always.

Image courtesy j / f / photos.

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