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About Maggie Downie

Thank you for giving your time to stop and read my blog. I hope it encourages you to keep moving. Move and the body will be happier. And when you're moving you can hike, run, swim in Jell-O, race over non-Newtonian fluids, travel the world or build igloos--if that's your thing. If not, you can watch me do it. This is just a spot to try and feel good about life.
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Standing Abs

There are multiple reasons to opt for a standing ab workout.

If you have trouble getting up and down off the floor, you don’t have to.  Even if you can get up and down, these moves are convenient because you don’t have to pull out a mat and get on the floor.  If you’re prone to neck pain when doing traditional ab exercises, standing abs reduces the chances the neck gets aggravated.  Often, lots of other body parts are working with you while you do standing abs.  And, as most of the physical challenges we face in life occur when we are standing, standing abs are a real functional type of movement.

 

Consider trying these moves in the NBC CT LIVE video below:

Side Bends with a Squat

Standing Bicycle –single leg or alternating

Opposing Limbs

 

Keep Reading

Looking for a more gentle way to Keep Moving?  Click here to read about Low Impact Cardio.

Struggling to sleep? Read This Blog for effective exercise tips to improve your sleep quality.

Keep Connected

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Standing Abs2024-08-21T17:01:17-04:00

Low Impact Cardio – Gentle Moves for a Healthy Heart

Cardio exercise is beneficial on many levels.  Getting our heart rate up strengthens our heart, enhances our lung capacity, and helps reduce blood pressure and cholesterol.  It can also boost our mood and may help with immunity.  If cardio exercise came in a pill everyone would want that pill.  

Running, HIIT, and swimming are all great forms of cardio, but if you don’t have access to a pool, hate high intensity, or are worried about your joints you still have options. 

While cardio does require us to pick up the pace, you don’t need to work at warp speed.  

To do cardio workouts you do need to move faster, but it isn’t all or nothing.  You can build up incrementally.  You want to challenge yourself (heavy breathing), but don’t feel a sense of misery while moving.  You’ll want to be winded, but not feeling like you are going to be sick.  

And while we should all set a goal of being able to maintain moderate cardio for 30-minutes, you can start with 5-minutes and build up from there.  

To be gentler on your joints […]

Low Impact Cardio – Gentle Moves for a Healthy Heart2024-07-18T09:56:46-04:00

Exercise Tips for Better Sleep!

Sleep is vital to a healthy life.  But it can evade us.  Hundreds of research studies clearly show exercise can help us sleep.  We all know that somewhat intuitively.  We see kids playing physically and comment: “They’ll sleep well tonight.”

But research is not definitive for what provides optimal sleep. When should we exercise, how intensely, and what type of movement is best are all up in the air.   The research is unclear, in part, because the answer seems to vary based on age, sex, chronic illness, and possibly fitness level.

Not having a definitive answer can feel overwhelming.  But it can also be empowering. It means that you have room to experiment and see what works for you.

For years the mainstream advise was to do moderate cardio exercise in the morning because if you worked out late in the day, it would keep you up.  Recent studies have contradicted that.  Later workouts help some people sleep better.  Workouts do raise our body temperature, cortisol levels, and heart rate.  None of those help us sleep so you do need 1-2 hours after a workout to wind […]

Exercise Tips for Better Sleep!2024-05-30T11:48:49-04:00

Why Did the Eclipse Make Me Cry?

The 2017 Kentucky eclipse made me want to see another.  When I heard it was coming across northern New England, it seemed so easy to access.  I gathered some friends.

When you enter totality, you feel it, not just in your body but in your being.  The temperature drops and your skin reacts.  In Kentucky, the birds and animals went silent and the bugs buzz rose up in a sudden orchestra creating a spectacle for the ears.  It was notable.  The world went black. I remember awe.  Then it was over, and I wasn’t ready for it to end.

This time, in reference to being able to see it up north, most comments in my social media feed were negative.  “Who would come up north to see it,” they opined.  “You’ll just see clouds,” they harped.

Why was everyone being so negative, I wondered. A quick search online revealed that historically on April 8th there is an 80% chance of cloud cover in that area of New Hampshire.

Luckily, the ten-day predicted sunny skies for Monday.  I didn’t want to get my hopes up.  Had the 10-day predicted rain, I would have said there was […]

Why Did the Eclipse Make Me Cry?2024-04-17T14:25:10-04:00

You Have to See

Sometimes when I’m teaching I’ll cue people to look at a certain place.  I may say “You should be looking at your knees, not your toes” or “Look over your shoulder.”

While watching some videos on the concepts of Pilates (as one does), an instructor used a similar cue (that’s not atypical).  But she added: “It’s not enough to look. You have to see.”

I loved the concept.

It’s not enough to look.  You have to see.

The concept instills the idea of intention and being present.  And it doesn’t have to be limited to Pilates. Think of all the times we drive somewhere on autopilot.  We’re looking, but probably not seeing. In the Pilates realm seeing vs looking can spark our attention and help us reconnect with the moves.

In playing with the concept in my own practice of Pilates focusing on what I actually see as I move helps me stay in tune with my body.  It makes sense.  Balance is easier with the eyes open. Vision helps us sense ourselves in space.  It’s basically doubling up the senses and utilizing more of the tools in our body.

So whether you do Pilates or another […]

You Have to See2024-03-31T12:49:28-04:00
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