#9 - Because it improves your heart health

Photo By rei-san 

From Web MD: A sedentary (inactive) lifestyle is one of the top risk factors for heart disease. Fortunately, it's a risk factor that you can do something about. Regular exercise, especially aerobic exercise, has many benefits.

This is kind of a big deal.  What we eat and what we do makes our body healthier or sicker.  However, what I find really exciting is that I also think that exercise is good for our emotional "heart."  We breathe, find calm, or find our point of exhaustion. 

We aren't dwelling in our minds for just a short time each day.  Instead we're dwelling in our bodies.  Exercise triggers responses within our muscles, our nerves, and our balance stabilizers.  It keeps us too "busy" to over think things.  Thus, letting our subconscious take over and work on issues that need to be worked on. 

So that, when it's time for bed, we are sleepy and our mind can be quiet. That is a beautiful gift.

Crys

#8 Because it burns more calories than not working out

Photo By rellim jan Miller

When we're trying to get fit, we'll do any number of things to lose weight and change the shape of our bodies.  We'll try fad diets, pills, exercises, tread mills, just eating less, cutting out sugar or fat, shakes, etc.  Some people are driven while others are reluctantly making changes because they're no longer happy with the way that they feel in their skin.  I've known very large people who were happy in their skin.  I've known athletic people who aren't happy and continue to strive for some sort of perfection.  It's interesting to me, not only because I've had my own struggles with weight and body image throughout my life, but also because we're here to encourage each other. 

When a friend says that they're getting a little too much junk in the trunk, our first response is often that they're beautiful.  This is true to me when I say it.  I don't feel what they're feeling.  I just know that when I look at my friend, I see my beautiful friend. 

On the other hand, when somebody makes a grand effort to improve their body, I find it an inspiration as well.  I'm encouraged in my own battle between what is right or wrong with my own body in my own mind.  I'm not usually the first person to say "Have you lost weight?" but I'll often say, "You look really great!"  If they care to share, then I like to learn what is working for them. 

More often than any other answer, people have decided to get up, start walking, and become less sedentary.  That's the only start that really matters.  You finally get moving and you're instantly burning more calories than you were before.  You can go from sitting and burning about 75 calories per hour to walking and burning at least twice that (even at a slow pace). 

Here's a fun Calories Burned Chart.

Time to get moving...

Crys

#7 - Because you want to move forward, not backward

Photo By Nicholas_T 

"When it comes to the future, there are three kinds of people: those who let it happen, those who make it happen, and those who wonder what happened."

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." ~Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain)

Twenty years from now, if you stay on your fitness plan, where will you be?  If you keep working out, don't give up, don't let a stumble take you out of the game, and you keep going, where will you end up? 

You want to move forward in life.  You want to feel better, look better, do better.  Sometimes I wish I could write things on the inside of my eyelids.  So that when my head is hung low, and my eyes are closed in defeat, I could read to myself  "You are one of those who Make It Happen."  Even if you fall down today, you will not be defeated by weakness if you keep building your strength.  Even if you can't catch your breath today, you will not be defeated by exhaustion if you keep building your endurance. 

The image you see in the mirror will change whether you keep working hard or whether you give up entirely.  What kind of change do you want to see? Every day that we make healthy choices, we're deciding what we want to see in the future.  The same goes for every unhealthy choice we make.  When our bodies start to break down from lack of use, when our nerves are damaged from sitting all day long, when we eat the most convenient and nutritionally lacking foods, we are choosing what we want to see in the future. 

We want to move forward, not backward.  We want strong and healthy bodies that we will joyfully live into old age with. 

Crys

Reason #6 to workout "Because you'll feel bad if you don't"

By Mel B. Melissa Wiese

This is number 6 of 100 Reasons You Should Workout Today. 

Thinking about disappointing myself is a good reason to get moving on any given day.  I like that I've made the commitment to be healthier.  It's disappointing to find that I've either made excuses or filled my day with other activities, and I can't workout.  Sometimes this is motivating enough to workout at strange times or get moving where ever I happen to be. 

This past Saturday we were visiting a friend that lives several hours away.  We were at an outdoor beer and chili festival.  By the time we got moving that morning and had breakfast, it was time to head to the festival.  We knew that we would have to head home pretty soon after the festival because the drive was long.  This was an outdoor festival so we did get plenty of walking in.  I felt like I needed to stretch.  I saw a little girl doing cartwheels in the grass.  It'd only been at least 20 years since I've done a cartwheel.  So I put down my purse and my fancy necklace made of a beer can.  I warned my husband to step aside... and I did a somewhat weak cartwheel.  When I stood up, at first I saw stars, and it made me laugh.  I could feel the places in my body that had stretched to help me throw my feet up into the air.  As the stars dissipated, I was ready to try again.  This time I threw my feet higher and I was conscious of where I wanted them to land (near where my hands would release as I came back up).  This time was much better.  It felt good to be stretching the rest of the world receded for just a few moments.  I probably looked silly, but I really didn't care.  It felt good.

Some nights we get home late, and we workout anyway, but that's always hard for me.  My motivation is low when I've had a long day at work and a long drive home.  I'm likely to choose to skip on those evenings.  So, this week we've started working out at 6am.  This means waking up before 5am so that we can drive to Alamosa (45 minute drive).  So far?  I'm a little more weary, but my days seem longer.  I am enjoying having workout partners.  I like having a protein shake first thing in the morning.  I never have to worry about fitting in my workout.  No more disappointments. 

This morning our workout was P90X2: Shoulders, Arms, & Balance and X2 Ab Ripper.  It was great.  I felt like this was my best effort at Ab Ripper to date.  I love this program.  If you've done P90X, you've got to try P90X2.  I think it's more fun even though it's also more challenging with all of the balance and stability exercises. 

If you haven't tried P90X, I highly recommend it!  It was my gateway to fitness.

Reason #5 Because you have goals you want to reach

Photo By opopododo Quinn

How have you done with your resolutions from the New Year?  Do you end up having some of the same resolutions every year?   I think most of us do, especially where exercise, diet, weight loss, and different physical activities are concerned.  We resolve to fit into clothes that we've "grown" out of.  We resolve to workout 3-5 times a week.  We resolve to spend more time outside and less time watching TV.  We all have goals.  Some of them are immediately attainable while some are long term goals. 

This year I decided to skip the resolutions that I never follow through with anyway.  I decided that I needed to make changes, but I didn't start doing anything about it right away.  I didn't like what I saw in the mirror.  My clothes were all getting tighter.  I didn't feel like walking out to the mailbox, much less any further.  Reasons to make a change began to outweigh my excuses. 

The tagline for Beachbody is "Decide. Commit. Succeed."  I'd decided, and finally I was ready to commit. 

Everybody needs to come to that point on their own.  Nothing will force us to get up and move around.  We must push ourselves outside of our comfort zone.  Let's face it, our comfort zone hasn't been very good to us.  It lets us get complacent. It lets us decide that the easy road is the road we want to be on.  That road is flat and boring.  The easy road never challenges us, and we never grow.  If you're happy with your life, with the image you see in the mirror, and with your health, then maybe you don't need to make a change.  However, if you're like me, you've started feeling aches and pains that are just the beginning of signs of trouble.  It hurts to get up off the couch.  It's exhausting to go get the mail.  My food tasted bland and boring.  My comfort zone was getting incredibly uncomfortable. 

When you've decided, then commit.  Choose a program or a goal that's right for you.  Whether you choose to go the extreme route like Insanity, P90X, or P90X2 or if you'd like something that is a little gentler to get started, perhaps Slim in 6 or Body Gospel, you won't regret getting started changing your own life.  There's a great comparison chart that will help you compare and choose the program that's right for you. 

My transformation is still happening.  We're all a work in progress. Our goals won't achieve themselves.  Nothing extraordinary happens without work.  You have things that you'd like to accomplish in this lifetime.  It's time to get to it!

Crys

#4 - Because you'll feel proud of yourself

Photo By enthusiast_rocks

There are days that I just don't feel like getting up early.  Or it's late in the day and I've not had time to workout yet.  I don't want to.  Usually one of two things happens, I either decide to do it anyway or my husband starts his workout and I can't resist joining him. 

I can't say enough about having a workout partner that helps me stay motivated.  Even when we workout separately, I like having sombody I can text when I need help or motivation.  It's also nice to have somebody share my celebrations with.  "Today I finally did Drea Rolls!!"  "I burned a record 650 calories!!" 

When I'm done though, it's all calm and happiness.  I'm proud that I was able to complete what I've committed to doing.  Sure, I still fall down, but it's the getting up that really matters.  Jumping back into the workout and getting dirty again.  Nothing that is worth it is easy, but no matter what you use for motivation and what kind of workout you did, you got off the couch and you did it!  If you simply get outside for a walk, or do a nice yoga stretch workout in your living room, you're doing something.  You're moving when you could have sat still.  Eventually, when you look in the mirror, you'll start to see changes, but until then, celebrate the fact that you started.  Be proud.  Be joyful. 

Crys

#3 Because exercise helps combat depression

Photo by: morgan cain

According to Web MD:

Regular exercise has been proven to help:

• Reduce stress
• Ward off anxiety and feelings of depression
• Boost self-esteem
• Improve sleep

 

This is one of my favorite motivators for working out regularly.  When I don't work out regularly, I have less motivation to do other things that interest me.  I'm more likely to sit in front of the tv, eat, or think about things that bother me.  When I work out regularly, my mind tends to work on problems without so much worrying.   I can focus and cope with things that are otherwise overwhelming.

 

When I was struggling with some really painful personal issues, I decided it was time to pour myself into my workouts.  The sessions helped me relax.  Sometimes I found resolutions to my problems, but other times, I was just able to escape issues in a healthy and productive way.  It's such a gift to do something that makes me feel better.

 

When I talk to people about working out, they sometimes feel that the programs I work would be too much for them.  I have friends who are older, heavier, or in poor health who just don't know where to start.  There are also people who have very full lives.  Adding in a workout that lasts an hour or longer just doensn't work for them.  Thankfully, not everybody has to do an "extreme" workout in order to start getting healthy.

 

My favorite motivational trainer is Tony Horton!  He's fun, he doesn't yell at me, and he makes me laugh.  One of the programs that Tony has on Beachbody is the 10-minute trainer.  These short workouts will help you get results without a huge time commitment. 

 

 

 

Here's some more info on the 10-Minute Trainer:

• Get into amazing shape in as little as 10 minutes a day! 10-Minute Trainer was made for people who are “too busy to exercise.”
• Build muscle and shed pounds in no time with super-concentrated workouts—and lose fat even faster with the 10-Minute Meals plan, free with the program.

How 10-Minute Trainer works

• Instead of working one muscle group at a time, Tony Horton’s breakthrough Super Stacking™ Technique conditions your body, head to toe, in minutes.
  Follow the free nutrition plan, with lots of quick, simple-to-prepare, delicious meals, and see results even faster.

10-Minute Trainer is for

• Busy people who don’t have a lot of time for fitness.
• Anyone who needs extra motivation—Tony Horton keeps you motivated, and even people who dislike exercise can get through these brief workouts.
• Everyone from beginners to frequent exercisers who want a quick workout on an especially busy day or while they’re traveling.
• People who want an exercise program without a lot of equipment.

 

What’s included in the Base Kit:

 

• 5 Workouts
• Workout Calendar
• Rapid Results Guidebook
• Resistance Band Kit
• Cardio Belt

 

3 FREE Bonus Gifts:

 

• Abs workout—Uncover your 6-pack fast
• 2-Day Jump Start program
• On-the-Go Workout Cards

 

What’s included in the Deluxe Upgrade Kit:

 

• 3 extra 10-Minute Trainer workouts
• 6 P90X ONE on ONE® workouts

 

Plus:

 

• Accelerated Results Calendar

Check out the 10 minute trainer using the link above or contact me, your beachbody coach,

Crys Wallace

Working Out Helps You Get Stronger!

Photo By greg westfall.

The second reason listed to motivate yourself to workout is that Exercise Helps You Become Stronger!

This might be a given to some. However, sometimes the workout part of losing weight seems to be forgotten.  We adjust our diets but we stop short when it comes to challenging our bodies.  When you do a search online, you find multiple sites offering you "get strong fast" and "easy" workout options.  Let's drop that right now.  If you want to get strong, you have to work at it.  You can start out smaller and slower and that'll take longer, or you can start out more extreme.  Extreme will get you there faster than taking it easy, but it's all hard work. 

At Men's Fitness, they recommend 10 steps to getting stronger now (these work great for women as well):

1.) Own the "big four" : squat, deadlift, bench press, and shoulder press

2.) Use barbells first.

3.) Keep it simple.

4.) Maintain a log.

5.) Don't overdo it.

6.) Think five :sets of five

7.) Add weights slowly.

8.) Take to the hills. do cardio in short, intense bursts.

9.) Balance your training..

10.) Do it right. Form is key.

Go to Men's Fitness to get the full article on building muscle more "quickly."

One of the Beachbody programs that I've been thinking about getting next is Les Mills Pump. I love the idea of having a guided program to help me gain strength and muscle.  

What makes LES MILLS PUMP so exciting?

• Beachbody® and Les Mills International teamed up specifically to bring to the world the best trainers, the best chart-topping music, and the best body-changing PUMP moves, so the same results can now be achieved at home that millions of people get in gyms every day.
• Done three times a week, this barbell-based rapid weight loss and accelerated strength-training program reshapes a person's entire body extremely fast!

Why is LES MILLS PUMP so effective?

• It's all about THE REP EFFECT™. Unlike traditional strength workouts, which feature heavy weights that bulk people up, this program features light-to-moderate weights used at a higher rate of repetition.
• The constantly changing tempo, body position, and speed of THE REP EFFECT breaks down more fat reserves, targets more muscle fibers, and burns more calories than traditional weight training.

What are the workouts like?

• Muscles reach fatigue by performing 70-100 repetitions per body part. That's about 4 times more reps than one would typically perform in a standard gym workout.

Do people really have to work out only 3 times a week? If they want, can they work out on other days too?

• We encourage anyone to engage in non-resistance training workouts (such as cardio or cross-training) on days that they're not doing LES MILLS PUMP.

Who should do this program?

• People of all ages and fitness levels
• Men and women who want to lose weight and get fit
• People who want leaner, stronger muscles
• Those new to working out
• Women who are afraid of getting bulky from lifting weights
• Fans of BODYPUMP gym classes who like to work out at home
• People who want to try something new
• People who do other Beachbody programs, such as: P90X®, RevAbs®, TurboFire®, 10-Minute Trainer®, and INSANITY®
• Weightlifters who want to improve muscular endurance

What's included in the LES MILLS PUMP kit?

Les Mills Base Kit

• 7 workouts on 7 DVDs (ranging from 20-55 minutes per workout)
• Padded barbell with speed safety clips
• Two 5-lb. weight plates
• Two 10-lb. weight plates
• Tape measure and measurement tracker
• Get Lean Nutrition Guide
• Lean, Strong & Unstoppable Fitness Guide

Les Mills Deluxe Kit

The Ultimate Cross Training Deluxe Kit is the perfect complement to the LES
MILLS PUMP workout system, and includes everything in the Base Kit, plus:

• 3 cardio workouts on 3 DVDs
• Step platform plus 4 risers
• Two additional 5-lb. weight plates

Does Exercise Help Increase Confidence?

 

Photo By: Earl McGehee

I'm using the Spark People post:  100 Reasons You Should Work Out Today as inspiration for my fitness blog.  The first reason they list to help you motivate yourself to workout today is that exercise makes you feel confident.

Several good answers were posted on Share Care.  Here's one to illustrate our topic today:

"Exercise and fitness can contribute greatly to feelings of increased confidence. Exercise has the ability to change your body composition for the better, and improving the way you look and feel will improve the way you see yourself. The way you perceive yourself has a direct impact on the way the world sees you. By improving your appearance and health you improve your self-image. You see yourself in a better light, and so does the world.

Exercise can also make you stronger, both physically and mentally. The knowledge that you are a stronger person both inside and out can lead to increased confidence. Simple daily tasks such as walking up a flight of stairs or carrying groceries are made easier with exercise. Knowing that you are doing something positive for your body and improving the way you look and feel is a tremendous builder of confidence."

This is quoted from: http://www.sharecare.com/question/does-exercise-increase-confidence

If you have any questions, thoughts, or would like help motivating yourself, please contact me.

My beachbody coaching website is: http://www.beachbodycoach.com/ascbeachbody my help is free.  Are you ready to take the beachbody challenge and make a positive change in your life today?

Happy Working Out!

Crys

Welcome! Are you ready for a change?

Are you looking to get in shape and make a change in your life.

I'm a Beachbody coach, and I am here to provide support and motivation. I am passionate about my health and fitness, and I would love the opportunity to help you with yours. Whether your new to fitness or just want to bump up the intensity, I can help you reach your goals. I have completed some of beachbody programs and am knowledgable about all of them.

Here on our blog you'll find motivational tips, reviews of programs, and opportunities to meet up.

Let's get in shape! Beachbody for summer!

Crys