Archive for June, 2011
Posted by terrepruitt on June 9, 2011
Squats are good for the legs, especially glutes and quadriceps. There are a lot of ways to do a squat. For my ten minute workout we are just doing a non-fancy squat. The original design of this exercise in the workout is to do it on a BOSU. The rounded side of the BOSU is on the ground and you stand on the flat side. Adding the BOSU in the mix allows for more work to be required of the full leg and ankles. It is great balance practice. A squat is a lowering of the entire body as if you are going to sit down. Only lower down to about sitting-in-chair height. Butt “reaching” back for the “chair”. Then come back up to standing. For these squats have your feet from hip-joint-width to shoulder width apart.
I feel it is important for one to be able to sit and stand without having use your arms to support yourself. Squats are one way to ensure you can move up and down without help.
What do you want to know?
Posted in Ten Minute Workout (Posts) | Tagged: BOSU, butt exercises, glutes, hip width, leg exercise, Quadriceps, squats, ten minute workout, thigh exercises | 10 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on June 9, 2011
HELLO! So here is my Ten Minute Workout placeholder post so that YOU can comment.
I have one reader/friend who is doing the Ten Ten in Ten daily and she might even get her great hubby involved in it. He works a lot but it might be that he can squeeze in ten minutes. Yay!
Another reader/friend was kind enough just to check in. She said she is not doing the 10 minute workout but she is doing her Nia. She just commented to let me know.
Well? Check in. Say hi. Tell me what you have on your schedule today.
In addition to my ten minute workout, I am going to post about the third exercise in the ten — Squats. And I will be back to let you know when I have actually done the quick workout.
________________________________________________________________________________________
June 9, 2011 at 11:31 am
I am posting this both as a comment and in the main post.
I did my ten minutes. I am getting through it twice and I think there are two reasons for that (one I have stated already, but I am going to keep sharing it). One is that because of my injured foot I am not going out very far on the lunges. You might notice that doing a shorter step is faster and easier so you can do ten quicker. I am working on being completely aware of my right foot and distributing the weight through all my toes — right now that is a huge challenge. Two is — I think — because I am better at getting on the BOSU. I can get on it faster and I know exactly where to put my feet now.
So . . . . what can you tell me?
Posted in Ten Minute Workout check-in | Tagged: BOSU, Early morning exercise, Nia, Nia exercise, Nia workout, squats, ten exericse, ten minute workout | 5 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on June 8, 2011
This is a Wednesday “place holder” post. I am going to teach my San Jose Nia class first then do my Ten Minute Workout. Yes, I know it is only ten minutes, that is the beauty of it. But I like to make sure I have all my “toe strength” (sounds silly, I know) for my class.
But I am posting so that YOU, Dear-Wonderful-Loyal-Reader/Exerciser, have a place to comment that you have done or not your ten minute workout.
When I have done mine I will post/edit/comment (not sure what yet).
Thank you and have a GREAT day!
_____________________________________
I posted this as a comment, but then I decided to put it in the body of the post. I just copied the comment with the date and time:
June 8, 2011 at 5:07 pm
Very late in the day, but I did it. I finally resorted to taking an allergy pill. I took something I had not taken before — Allegra (don’t worry I didn’t take it with fruit juice). Like most medicines for allergies it makes me feel very, very, very lethargic. But, I did it. I was REALLY mellow on the lunges, I didn’t do them as I wanted to when I put them in this workout. I am respecting my toes.
Posted in Ten Minute Workout check-in | Tagged: Allegra, Allergies, allergy medicines, local Nia class, loyal exerciser, loyal reader, Nia, Nia class, Nia in the Bay Area, Nia San Jose, San Jose Nia, San Jose Nia class, teach Nia, ten minute workout | 5 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on June 7, 2011
A biceps curl is where you hold your upper arms at your side then with palms facing up pull your fists towards your biceps “curling” your arms. There are many ways you can do curls, but for the Ten Minute Workout I kept it simple so that is how this post will be. Stand comfortably, straight spine all the way through the pelvis, knees soft. Using two dumbbells, one in each hand, bring your hands to your biceps. Use a weight that allows you to complete ten curls in a row, but not too light.
Some things you want to keep in mind while doing biceps curls, keep your upper arms “still”. The idea of keeping them stuck to the sides of your body might help. The only portion of your body that should move during a biceps curl are your forearms. Your back should remain straight and stable. Your arms or your body should not swing in order for you to complete the curl. If you are swinging try slowing down, If you cannot do the curl without swinging use a lighter dumbbell.
Questions? Comments?
Posted in Ten Minute Workout (Posts) | Tagged: bicep, Bicep Curl, biceps, biceps curls, dumbbells, strong arms, swinging arms, ten minute workout, upper arms | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on June 7, 2011
Ten minutes THEN passion is better than ten minutes OF passion.
WHAT? What is she talking about? 🙂
Often times I write what is going on then when I think about it silly things pop into my head. I am going to go do my Ten Ten in Ten (which has primarily been twenty in ten, but today I am thinking of doing the ten really slow) then I am going to practice Passion which is a Nia routine. When I thought of my plan I thought “ten minutes then Passion” and as I was typing the other thought occurred to me. Yeah, it’s a crazy train.
Did you do your Ten Minute Workout? I know that one of my friends did because she posted on yesterday’s comment. (Thank you!)
Posted in Ten Minute Workout check-in | Tagged: Nia, Nia Practice, Nia routine, Passion, ten minute workout, Ten Ten in Ten | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on June 6, 2011
Well, my Monday mornings start out with Nia. I have a regular Monday morning Nia Class . . . .really helps me start of my week right. This morning after class I came home to do a few things, one of them being my Ten Minute Workout. Done.
How about you?
Posted in Ten Minute Workout check-in | Tagged: Monday Mornings, morning Nia, Nia class, Nia in the morning. Monday Nia, Nia workout, ten minute workout | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on June 5, 2011
Sometimes it is necessary to skip even a Ten Minute Workout not because of time, but because of what is going on in your body. I know that the tens won’t really hurt me, but my sinuses are a little stuffed or sore so I am going to do a few other things today. I am posting to give YOU a chance to check in and let me know how you are doing. Did you take ten minutes to do the ten?
Posted in Ten Minute Workout check-in | Tagged: Allergies, head cold, rest, ten exercises, ten minute workout | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on June 4, 2011
We do lunges in Nia all the time. We call them the “bow stance”. Different Nia routines have different “lunges”. Sometimes we do them fast, sometimes slow. Sometimes the music allows us to do a deep lunge, sometimes it might just be a shallow or a high one. Lunges are great for the quadriceps and glutes. In my original design of my Ten Minute Workout I wanted the concentration to be in the glutes, so I decided to do a long lunge. A long lunge gets the backside more.
Holding weights down at your sides adds to the work your leg and butt muscles have to do. Standing up from the long step requires much more effort. As a reminder only step as far as will allow you to stand back up. Also be certain that in addition to being able to stand back up you are stable, so your legs are wide enough that you cannot be easily pushed over.
As you step out also remember that it is a controlled step. The foot that is stepping out should land softly and not in a stomp. These do not need to be done fast. When including this exercise in the ten minute workout I was thinking of a long controlled step. The movement is solid and fluid.
The foot that remains stationary ends up with the heel raised (completely vertical if you can get there), weight on the ball of the foot and toes. Since this is a long lunge, the stationary leg could end up with the knee almost on the ground or on the ground.
The idea is to step one leg out then back, then the other leg steps out then back. Alternate legs, each step out is “one”. There are other ways to do lunges, modifications that can be made, but for now, this is the explanation of the exercise chosen to be included in this ten minute workout. Eventually I will post some information on different ways to do the lunges.
What questions do you have about the long lunges?
Posted in Ten Minute Workout (Posts) | Tagged: Ball of foot, bow stace, butt exercises, butt muscles, deep lunge, glute exercise, glutes, leg exercies, leg muscles, long lunges, lunges, Nia, Nia routine, quadricep exercise, Quadriceps, quads, stable stance | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on June 4, 2011
I subbed a Nia Class this morning. Nia is a lot “about” the music. We dance to the music. Today while I was teaching I really just let the music take me and I danced. I didn’t hold back much because of my foot. I don’t put my weight on my right foot when I am in ball of foot position or bow stance, but I was DOING ball of foot (a GREAT step forward in my healing process). During the class once or twice I wobbled or missed a beat because my foot kind didn’t want to support me. At another point I realized I was on the EDGE of my right foot (another HUGE step forward in my healing process). I had enough time in which to think about that and while it seemed ok, I was glad when the music told me it was time to move again because it didn’t seem like I should be doing that for much longer. I really worked my foot this morning. I went all out in Nia class. That led me to not wanting to do my Ten Minute Workout. I was really dreading the lunges because I am not ready to put weight on my right foot in ball of foot position—-and that is what a lunge is!!!
I came upstairs to do it. Then I sat down at my computer, did an e-mail or two and I decided my foot really was too tired to do it. I logged onto my blog to post that I was skipping Terre’s Ten Ten in Ten today, but when I saw the picture of my “gym” I thought, “It is really only 10 minutes. And it is really just the first exercise that you are dreading. So . . . do it LESS. Even more “less” than you have been.” So . . . . I did it. It is obvious to me that I spend a lot of time in my long lunges — when I do them fully on a stable foot — because I thought that I was not going to make it two times through and when I looked at my timer I had plenty of time left and I was on the stability ball pass for the second time. When I do lunges little it takes me less time.
I did my little workout, how about you? What are you finding while you do these exercises?
Posted in Ten Minute Workout check-in | Tagged: 10 minute workout, Ball of foot, exercise, healing process, lunges, Nia, Nia Dance, Nia exercises, Nia Music, stability ball pass, teaching Nia, ten minute workout, workout | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on June 3, 2011
I have a Nia Class to teach today. I decided to do my Ten Minute Workout before I teach. I was mellow on my left step forward in my long lunges because my right foot is still learning to be strong again and so I didn’t want to push it before I teach. I am saving my bow stance for Nia class. But I got my Ten Ten in Ten in (I made it through twice). I left the equipment out in case I want to do it again when I get back.
How about you?
Posted in Ten Minute Workout check-in | Tagged: Bow Stance, exercise, exercise equipment, lunges, Nia, Nia exercises, Nia Teacher, teach Nia, ten minute workout, Terre’s Ten Ten in Ten, workout, workout equipment | Leave a Comment »
Terre Pruitt's Blog 