exercise

Wednesday Challenge: Pilates

Many of our classes are on a break this week, but that doesn’t have to be an excuse to skip your pilates workout. Start or end each day this week with 10-minutes of pilates. Do your favorite exercises so that you’ll want to do it again the next day.

Need a good reason not to skip pilates? Here’s some recent research:

Pilates helped improved balance and autonomy in women age 60-78.

People who take pilates classes report having better sleep and a better mood

Wednesday Challenge: PilatesMaggie Downie2017-09-12T19:32:02-04:00

The Best Workout Ever

I enjoy working out. I find it fun, but I need variety to keep me motivated so I’ve tried my hand at a lot of different activities. Here are just some: running, hiking, pilates, Tae Bo, yoga, walking, kayaking, golf, volley ball, soft ball, boot camp, jump rope, hula hooping, swimming, biking, ellipticals, challenge courses, rock climbing, stairs, hills, pole dancing, and weights.

I’m sure I’ve done other things, but those just easily come to mind without having to think very hard. Some I enjoy more than others, sometimes I fall in and out of love with some of them. And some are harder than others, but, lately, I have been discovering the most challenging workout of all: KIDS!

A couple weekends ago I baby sat for a one-year-old. She cried for about an hour and a half, but I was able to get her to calm down by entertaining her with physical activity. She would tire of everything after at most 15 minutes so I kept having to change it up. She seemed to most enjoy me […]

The Best Workout EverMaggie Downie2017-09-12T19:32:02-04:00

Wednesday Challenge: Maggie’s Goals

In 2011 I’m going to be 30! It’s not old, but it’s a whole new decade, and I’m excited about it. I’m not having a hard time; I still feel young (most of the time), and the only thing I’m going to miss is hearing how young people think I am. Now, when people ask my age and I respond with “20-anything,” they always say, “Oh, you’re so young.” I think I may hear that a little less.

I was trying to decide what I wanted to do to celebrate being thirty, and I decided I wanted to challenge myself. My goal is to be in the best shape of my life this year. Matt thinks this is going to be a challenge since I was pretty fit in my youth, but I’m going to try. I haven’t worked everything out. For example, I’m not sure what I’m going to base the status of my shape on–weight, BMI, etc.

I would say that I was in the best shape of my life between eighteen and twenty. But at […]

Wednesday Challenge: Maggie’s GoalsMaggie Downie2017-09-12T19:32:03-04:00

Wednesday Challenge: 30 Minutes

Okay, it’s Thanksgiving week. We all know we’re about to consume more than usual, so let’s combat that with a little extra exercise. It will help keep the pounds off and the stress at bay. So here in the challenge:

Starting today for seven days straight do at least 30-minutes of exercise. Any exercise of your choice, but get that body moving. If you want a harder challenge, consider adding 30-minutes a day to your regular routine.

Wednesday Challenge: 30 MinutesMaggie Downie2014-08-04T18:02:58-04:00

Wednesday Challenge: Only Stairs

For one week only take the stairs–no elevators, no escalators. This may mean you have to walk a little further in a building to get to the stairs, but it will be worth it. Maybe by the end of the week you’ll want to take the stairs forever.

Do you work in an office building with some stairs? On your lunch break walk up a few flights–maybe five, maybe ten, maybe fifty. Listen to your body.

Have stairs in your house? At least one day a week make a point to go up and down them (carefully) five, ten, or fifty times.

Make notice of how many times you typically go up and down the stairs in your house.

Wednesday Challenge: Only StairsMaggie Downie2014-08-04T18:02:58-04:00