Tag: Workouts

A Newly Designed Workout Starts My Day!

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So I think over the last few months I think I’ve slipped a little as far as my diet and exercise regimes are concerned. I think part of the reason is I believe the pollen season has been a little longer than usual. I only noticed a drop in the pollen levels within the last week. As I am writing this I just checked the pollen levels for the week. Today is moderate but low for the rest of the week yeah!

A New Workout Design Starts With Dance-Cardio

Anyway, this morning I changed up my routine. Rather than due Dance-Cardio with weights and bands and other exercise equipment I decided start with 13 minutes of dance-cardio.

Then Some Kundalini and Abs
I followed with a routine that starts with three basic Kundalini spinal warm-ups. Then I did three or four exercises targeting abs and legs. The soundtrack for this routine is a song using the Sikh Mul Mantra. Sung by Snatam Kaur. The Mul Mantra

The Mul Mantra, the words first spoken by the spiritual master Guru Nanak after enlightenment, literally translates as the “Root Mantra,” or the mantra from which all other mantras in the Kundalini Yoga tradition are built. It contains the core, essential truth of creation, and its vibration is so powerful that it can change your fate and help you rewrite your destiny. Read More

Hatha Yoga and Native American Flute Follow

The song is just a hair over 7 minutes long. Next I transitioned into a short yoga routine. The soundtrack was from Flutist Ann Licater. I used the song “Angels from Within” from the album Invitation From Within

Meditation with the World’s Most Relaxing Song Ends the Workout

The exercise set concluded with an 8 minute meditation. The music for the meditation was Weightless Part 1 from Marconi Union. It…. According to a marketing study conducted by Dr. David Lewis-Hodgson, the most relaxing song in the world is Weightless, by ambient band Marconi Union. The song was produced by the band in collaboration with the British Academy of Sound Therapy.Nov 15, 2016 Read More is considered by some to be the most relaxing song in the world

The total time for the workout was approximately 34 minutes. And although I only burned 181 calories during the workout, I do believe it got my day off to a great start. Now it will be up to the Eagles to keep my mood positive!
Here is the soundtrack ….

Something New an HIIT Bike Workout

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Ok so yesterday in the morning it was raining again, so I didn’t go for a walk. But I also didn’t do a hard workout. By the afternoon I had very few steps, so I knew I had to do some kind of indoor workout.

I stared at the stationary bike and thought should I?  One of the reasons that I don’t really workout on the bike is that I have never really done an organized workout. I would get on the bike and pedal for 20 to 30 minutes maybe changing the tension every now and then. Overall, I used to think it was too easy!
 
The Bike Workout
You noticed I said used to think it was too easy? See yesterday I found a 20 minute Bike  HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) video on YouTube. Oh, there’s another reason I haven’t worked out on the bike a lot. I used to need to move my laptop around so I watch any YouTube videos to workout with. But now YouTube is on  Xfinity so I can watch it on the TV.
But back to the workout. The workout started out easy 6 – 15 second hard burst followed by 15 seconds of easy riding.  However,  when the burst of hard pedaling went up to 30 seconds and then 45 seconds, my heart rate started to climb and the sweat started to pour from my pores.

The Results

By the end of the workout I had burnt 225 calories, and had an average heart rate of 115 beats per minute (bpm). My maximum heart rate was 142. Not bad!
The end result was that it was a good cross -raining workout. Here is the breakdown of my time in each heart rate zone, during the workout:
peak – 1 minute
cardio – 16 minutes
fat burn – 8 minutes
 A New Workout Schedule??
So all in all it was an unexpectedly good workout. So now maybe I have a new workout schedule (remember Work at Target serves as my workout on Mondays and Fridays).
Tuesday – run
Wednesday – indoor cardio
Thursday – run
Saturday – cross train bike ( stationary or outdoor)
Sunday – run
In  addition to the above I will still be doing my daily Hatha or other Yoga. And if I can keep this up maybe by July I can run a 5K! Wish me luck!

Here is the workout. Give it a try!

Featured Image from : Amazon

My Morning Workout – July 2 & 3 2017

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My Morning Workouts – July 2 and 3 2017

We went to the Jersey shore yesterday for a small family gathering ( no beach) Just the way I like it! Anyway as a result I didn’t get to run. I did get in an abbreviated morning workout though. I did the first twenty two minutes of my 60 minute workout. The routine included  a 4 minutes dance cardio warm up and a tabata routine was made up of….

1 -4 – 20 second sets of jumping jacks (25 per 20 seconds ( 100 total)
2- 1 – 20 second mountain climbers -35 total
3 -1 – 20 second squat thrusts – 10
4 -1 – 20 second push-ups
5 -1 – 20 squats
6 -1 – 20 second squat kicks
7- 1 – 20 second squat steps
8 – 1 – 29 second squat together
9- 1 – 20 second hydrant
10- 1 – 20 second chair kickbacks

11- 1 20 second curls with 15 pound weights
12 -1 20 second overhead press 15 lb weights
13 -1 20 second lunges 15 lb weights

14 – Two rounds of various weights with a kettlle bell
15 – 2:00 minutes per round 4 total

At the end of those exercise I was just shy of burning 200 calories so I add some dance cardio with some jumping jacks included for 3 minutes or so bringing the total routine to 24 minutes burning a whopping 205 calories! Can you read the sarcasm in that statement?

July 3rd Morning Workout 

 

Anyway this morning I replaced the 15 lb weights with 5 lb weights for 4 minutes. Then resistance bands for four minutes and a closing dance cardio with some kettle bell and jump rope. The routine totalled about 24 minutes and burned
about  that same 200 plus calories. I don’t know precisely because I never stopped the Fitbit! So if you through in my shower and getting dressed the workout lasted 54 minutes and burned 314 calories.

I may be able to get a run in today, but with the hot weather I don’t know. Maybe an after dinner bike ride? That would be something a little different.

Ok  so me today’s workout begins in earnest. Zoe is up! Just kidding!  Watching Zoe is not a hard task and certainly doesn’t burn a lot of calories- now Oliver that’s a different story!  After Zoe got up we spent some time cutting shapes.The featured image shows Zoe cutting the shapes by herself. She will turn three in September!

 

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The Ever-evolving Morning Workout

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The Morning Workout Evolution Begins!

One thing that has evolved over the last two weeks is my morning workout. When I decided to get in shape back in January my morning routine consisted of six minutes of Kundalini yoga, followed by six minutes of light weights and six minutes of resistance bands.

Evolution Number One – Dance

Then I added some movement. A few minutes of dance cardio. My weight started to drop and I started to loose inches. Soon my routine consisted of 12-14 minutes of dance cardio, followed by six minutes of light weights and kettle bell, six minutes of two types of resistance bands and four minutes using resistance boxing  bands. The entire workout took about thirty minutes. I was.burning close to three hundred calories doing this routine.

Evolution Number 2 – Stabilty Ball and More Dance

Over the last few week I added more to the routine. First came a series of exercises using the stability  ball. Then I added more dance-cardio. This increased the overall time of the workout to 40 minutes  burning around 400 calories.

Calisthenics are added

Finally over the last few days I added more to the last portion of the workout. During the dance cardio I have been doing jumping jacks, squats, burpees, and other other day I added push ups and sit-ups. Considering anytime I used to do squats of any kind I hurt for days after, the fact that I can do a couple reps of 12 and feel no pain is an improvement!

My last workout on Saturday morning was 54 minutes and resulted in burning 462 calories.  Ok 60 minutes and 500 calories here I come.

Now over these last two weeks my weight has dropped to 170 and held steady there without running. My last run was two Sundays ago. I have had some pain in my right foot which seems to be better. I think I will give it this week to see if it goes away completely.

So while I stilll have a long way to go to be in the shape I want to be in I have made remarkable progress, in my humble opinion, since the start of the year! But I better watch out because it seems that I am moving towards an exercise addiction. But I guess there are worse things to be addicted to, eh?

More Changes to Come?

The one thing that has suffered is my meditation and yoga. Back in January Kundalini yoga was part of the routine. Prior to that my morning workout was mostly yoga. Plus whatever routine I did was followed by a 10 to 15 minute meditation.

What I may do is do yoga in the morning on the two  days I work and on the other days try to do an evening yoga routine. I will follow each with a short meditation. That seems like a plan!  So wish me luck!