Archive for the ‘Exercise and Working Out’ Category
Posted by terrepruitt on December 8, 2012
It is Saturday and it is day number 8 of the 30 Minutes of Movement for 31 Days in December 2012. Since it is Saturday I am sure you have a lot of things you have to get done. Be sure to get your 30 minutes in. You know you will feel great about it, so do it. Either you are here to check in or you are here for encouragement and a reminder to do it!
Do it! It will make the rest of your day awesome. It will only take a mere 1800 seconds . . . . . so do it. And comment here when you have. YAY you!!!!!
Posted in December 2012 30 Minute Movement Challenge | Tagged: Day #8, December 30 Minute Movement Challenge | 7 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on December 7, 2012
YAY YOU FOR BEING HERE!!! Still trucking, I see. I had to look that phrase up.
According to Wordwizard, there are several references listed that state it means “to carry on”. Some references refer to truck driving as in driving through the night and some refer to a marathon dance contests of the 1930s; “or with the type of lively dancing known as truckin’ (from a song of the same name, written in the mid-1930s).” The site goes onto say it didn’t come from trucking but had to do with railroads, and on to say, that some people believe it came from the Grateful Dead. The post ends with:
“So, the origin could have been from the marathon dance contests of the 1930s with the image of trucks driving through the night, or from the dance and song, which might have come from the image of the long-haul truck or from the baggage trucks used in railroad stations. Or the expression could have come from a jazz dance step, that was used for exiting a stage, which was based on the image of . . . . and which might or might not have been related to the popular dance step, . . . . and which was slang for sexual intercourse . . . . . . . . ,”
Sigh. Who knows, huh? All I know is we are still doing our movement on day six! Yay. I’ll be back.
Posted in December 2012 30 Minute Movement Challenge | Tagged: carry on, Day #7, December 30 Minute Movement Challenge, Grateful Dead, keep on trucking, long-haul truck driverrs, marathon dance contests, sexual intercourse, truck drivers, truck driving, wordwizard | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on December 6, 2012
I am so glad you are here. As we get closer to Christmas it might become more of a challenge to keep going, but six days in . . . . YOU CAN DO IT! So can I, right? I am here to GET support as much as give support. I have a few things going on this weekend and I need to get stuff done. I could easily skip 30 minutes, especially since I am going to teach a Nia class tonight. With my class I will be getting in my aerobic exercise. But I will be back to let you know I did my 30 minutes. It might end up being practice for tonight.
What about you?
Posted in December 2012 30 Minute Movement Challenge | Tagged: aerobic exercise, Christmas, Day #6, December 30 Minute Movement Challenge, evening Nia class, Nia, Nia class | 5 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on December 5, 2012
Yay! Day five! How are you doing? Feeling good, huh? You’ve done five days and you are gonna keep on trucking! (Remember that term? Where did that come from?)
Post a comment to let me know you are done. I will be back to let you know. I have to teach my Nia class and then run some errands, but I will be back with to comment with my 30 minute done!
Thank you for being here!!!
Posted in December 2012 30 Minute Movement Challenge | Tagged: Day #5, December 30 Minute Movement Challenge, keep on trucking, Nia, Nia class, Nia Teacher, teach Nia | 5 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on December 4, 2012
It is day four and here is our check in post. You check in (you early birds and people in earlier time zones) and I’ll be back!
Thank you for joining the December 30 Minute Movement Challenge.
Posted in December 2012 30 Minute Movement Challenge | Tagged: day 4, December 2012, movement challenge | 11 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on December 3, 2012
It is day three. You can do it!!!
Let us know you did your 30 minutes! I myself will be back to check in after I have done at least 30 minutes of moving! I have not yet (at midnight) gotten my “exercise on!” Thank you for joining the December 30 Minute Movement Challenge.
Posted in December 2012 30 Minute Movement Challenge | Tagged: day 3, December 2012, movement challenge | 7 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on December 2, 2012
So did you do it? Let us know! I myself will be back to check in after I have done at least 30 minutes of moving! Wahooo! Thanks for joining the December 30 Minute Movement Challenge. This is day two!
Posted in December 2012 30 Minute Movement Challenge | Tagged: day 2, December 2012, December 2012 30 Minute Movement Challenge, movement challenge | 5 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on December 1, 2012
So today is the first day of the December 2012 30 Minute Movement Challenge. There are so many things you can do, you know that right? On the days I am teaching a Nia Class I will obviously get in 30 minutes of movement, but at this point, right off the bat, I don’t want to count that as my 30 minutes. I would count Nia as my 30 minutes if I am doing it as a student. Being a teacher and being a student are different, so I am going to count them differently. I will be back today to check in with my 30 minutes completed. But first some ideas on what you can do, yes? You can walk. Walking for 30 minutes is a great exercise. If you walk fast enough and get your heart rate up it can be an aerobic exercise. With your challenge you decide whether your 30 minutes will be aerobic or resistance training. You can also add to it. Moving for longer than 30 minutes. Just make certain you are moving (in an exercise-y type of way) for at least 30 minutes.
There are so many things you can do. I already mentioned walking. There is my ten minute workout. You can do that for 30 minutes consecutively or do three different 10 minute sessions. If you have a device that allows you to create playlist of music you can make up a great playlist and dance for 30 minutes. You could do 30 different exercises for a minute each. Some examples: squats, bicep curls, lunges, triceps kick backs, donkey kicks, push ups, inner thigh lifts, sit ups, triceps dips, frogs, hamstring kick backs, lateral flies, knee lifts, rows, reverse curls . . . . . . and 15 more.
The key is to get AT LEAST 30 minutes in. The thirty minute time length was originally brought up to help people STAY healthy. Many people need more than that to GET healthy in the first place. But we are just doing a challenge for the month of December to make sure we are moving EVERY DAY. With all that is going on during this season it is easy to skip the workout. So committing to 30 minutes EVERY DAY will help.
Keeping to a schedule helps a lot. Committing to a goal, also helps. We also know that sometimes things do come up and even though we have a schedule and made a commitment there might be a day where we just didn’t get the 3o minutes in. To help ensure you get it in I recommend doing it first thing in the morning. I know that when I put things off for later in the day sometimes they don’t get done. The things I do first thing always get done . . . . funny how that works huh? If you happen to miss a day, that is fine, just pick it right back up the next day.
Remember you don’t even have to comment about what you did, just comment that you DID move/exercise/workout for at least 30 minutes! So . . . . what do you think? Do you have a plan? Are you done with your 30 minutes?
Posted in December 2012 30 Minute Movement Challenge | Tagged: 30 Minute Movement Challenge, 30 Minutes In December 2012, 30 minutes of exercise, dance exercise, Dance Workout, December 2012 30 Minute Movement Challenge, lunges, Nia, Nia class, Nia Dance, Nia student, Nia Teacher, Nia workout, running, squats | 6 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on November 29, 2012
In two days it will be December 2012. Wow! The end of the year really seemed to go fast. Like that last half of tank of gas. 🙂 This is the busy time of the year for many of us. There are holiday obligations that might include work and family. There is the weather you might be dealing with. There is all of the days off. There is a lot to deal with. And two things often fall by the wayside during this season. One is eating healthy. With all of the holiday treats around and so much more of food in general, eating more than we might normally and eating differently that we might normally is too easy to do. I say be aware. Don’t graze at the party because it is there and you are not paying attention. Don’t eat something that you normally wouldn’t just because “Tis the Season.” The second thing that gets put away for the month sometimes is exercise or working out. The month is so busy and it is so cold. It is easier to bundle up and sit by the fire. It is easier not to get out of bed early to get some movement in. But let’s not allow that to happen. Let’s make a pact with each other. Let’s move for 30 minutes EVERY DAY in December. My ideal is 30 consecutive minutes, and for you, personally, I would like to have the 30 minutes be consecutive minutes, but I am not going to be picky. It can be 15 and 15 or 10, 10, 10. Just get in 30 minutes. It can be walking, dancing, lifting weights . . . .whatever, just make it MOVING.
Let’s start Saturday, December 1, 2012. Let’s do a challenge, let’s make a pact. Let’s check in here every day. I will schedule a post for midnight Pacific Standard Time. And you all (yes ALL OF YOU!) can just post a quick, “I did my 30!” If you want to tell us WHAT you did great? But let’s just keep moving throughout the entire month. Let’s be a team. A support group. Let’s not let our exercise and workouts and just moving fall down the cracks because it is “that time of year.” Yes, we are all busy, but this is really important. You know exercise actually helps relieve stress yet it is usually one of the first things to get crossed of the schedule where there are a lot of things to do. Let’s not do that this year. Let’s ban together and keep moving.
Two of my regularly scheduled San Jose Nia classes are on Monday and Wednesdays. So we will be doing Nia on Monday, December 24, 2012, Christmas Eve and Wednesday, December 26, 2012, the day after Christmas. AND there is Nia on Monday, December 31, 2012, New Year’s Eve and Wednesday, January 2, 2013! PLUS I just agreed to teach Nia as a substitute class on Mondays AND Thursdays from 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm. So I am keeping my regular Nia Class schedule during the Holidays and have added more, so we can keep on dancing. Be sure to check my website for all the dates I will be teaching because when I teach for they City there are center closures. For instance, my Tuesday Nia class is with the City and they are closed on Christmas Day so I won’t be having that class. Do whatever it is you like to do. Do it for 30 minutes. Every day!
What do you say? Who is in?
Posted in December 2012 30 Minute Movement Challenge, Exercise and Working Out | Tagged: 30 minutes a day, Christams 2012, Dancing, December 2012, December challenge, Holidays 2012, Nia, Nia class, support team, walking, weight training | 8 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on September 29, 2012
Squats are great for the legs. The first thing that comes to my mind when I think of a squat is sitting in a chair. So with the legs somewhat close together, the feet about shoulder width apart you then lowering your pelvis/buttocks down as if you are going to sit in a chair. When in reality a squat CAN be with a wider stance. I am vaguely remembering a “conversation” via comments on my blog about squats in Nia. We were talking about Nia squats being different from the squats in my Ten Minute Workout. I believe squats with weights are different from squats without weights. And I think that since I was focused on squats with weights I was not really thinking about side squats. We do side squats in Nia but now I think of that as Sumo Stance. The routine I am looking at right now has many squats in it. The squat works the legs, both front and back. The wider apart the feet the more the movement works the inner thighs. Since I am looking at a routine that has a lot of side squats or sumo stances it had me thinking . . . In addition to squats a way to get the adductors is to do movements where the leg is brought in towards the midline of the body. One exercise you might be familiar with is the inner thigh lift/raise. As with many exercises there are different versions and variations, but the basic of this one is lying on one side of your body with your torso propped up on your elbow. The “top” leg is back behind you with your foot flat on the floor. The other leg is straight down and lying on the floor. Then you lift the leg up toward the sky, keeping it parallel with the earth. So the inner thigh is being lifted toward the ceiling.
Well, this is a great one to use the weighted bar with. I had forgotten about my bar until recently. Then I remembered this exercise. I would recommend using shoes with the bar. I did it without shoes and I had to hold my foot at an odd angle to keep the bar from hurting my foot. I decided to continue my set without putting on shoes – because I didn’t want to stop – but I made a mental note to use shoes in the future.
One end of the bar rests on the foot of your straight leg. The bar runs the length of your body. The other end is up near your hands where you can secure it to the ground. Then you simply lift your leg. Make sure that the bar is resting firmly on your foot so it does not roll off and cause an injury. This exercise really targets the leg/hip adductors, the muscles that pull the thigh towards your body.
As I stated there are variations of this, some could be: dumbbells place on the thigh (and held securely!), instead of using the weighted bar. It can be done without any weights at all. And/or without weight, the upper leg and be in front.
I think it is a great idea to do different exercises to target the same muscles. Especially since when you do a different exercise to target a specific muscle or muscle group there are usually different or additional muscles that end up getting used. So it is nice to switch it up.
Might you switch it up and do thigh raises instead of squats? Are you familiar with the inner thigh lift?
Posted in Exercise and Working Out | Tagged: adductors, dumbbells, inner thigh lift, inner thigh raise, Nia, Nia exercise, squats, Sumo Stance, ten minute workout, weighted bar, weighted squats, wide stance squats | 4 Comments »
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