fitness

Indoor Workouts

It’s winter. That can mean chilly weather, icy sidewalks, and messy precipitation. But that doesn’t have to derail your workout.

There are great moves you can do with items in your own home that will add some variety to your regular workout routine. Variety is essential for a healthy body. So if you are missing outdoor workout routines, know that staying in can help make you even stronger when you head back outside in spring.

Plus a little variety is fun.

Here are some tips for your at-home workout:

Use a full laundry detergent bottle as a kettle bell
Use cans or water bottles as weights
Lately, you can find all sorts of wall workouts online—some of them put your feet on the wall so make sure you pick a place in the house you are okay with that.
Chairs are very versatile. They can help modify a workout or make it harder
Stairs are great for climbing or working on general leg strength.

Here is a sample Chair and Stair workout.

So what fun workouts can you create? There is no limit. Get creative. Play with the items in your house and the structure of your house. Let us know what you come […]

Indoor WorkoutsMaggie Downie2024-01-26T12:04:37-05:00

Tips for Healthy Hiking

Hiking is one of my favorite pastimes. And it feels so much better when your body is ready to trek up a mountain. So how do you train for a hike? Here are some tips:

Pack Your Weight

Wear your pack when you train and put some weight in it. If you know how much weight you’ll be carrying on hike day, build up to that quantity. Getting a pack filled with weight can take time and extra effort. If that’s getting in your way of prepping, start moving without the pack.

Trekking Poles

Trekking poles are a lifesaver. If you want to hike into your 70’s and 80’s you want to get trekking poles today. Not only do they save your knees, but they turn the hike into a more full-body workout. On a typical hike, the arms aren’t that involved. Add trekking poles and now your arms and shoulders get a workout too.

Cardio

Any hike will feel better if you are ready for the cardio it will require. You can build up by hiking, biking, running, or picking up the pace when you go for a walk.

Core

It’s easy to forge

Tips for Healthy HikingMaggie Downie2023-08-01T14:00:29-04:00

Fitness Trends 2022

As we start a new year, we are seeing two distinct splits in the fitness trends for the coming year. At first appearance they seem in opposition (and may be), but they might just help create a good balance between each other. One had been building since the pandemic, the other is a return to basics and simple movement.

Virtual Classes

Just like in 2020 and 2021, people still are turning to virtual classes. Virtual classes remain easy, convenient, time efficient, and an option when spikes of illness appear. From the privacy of our own home we can still get our workout in, but see others and get instruction in a virtual class.

(Want to try one of our pre-recorded virtual classes? Click here.)

Wearable Tech

We continue to see people using wearable technology like Fitbits and Apple watches. These tools are used to track steps, mileage, heart rate and other health and wellness variables. People are posting their results on social media, which can sometimes help maintain accountability to reach our goals.

Fitness technology companies revealed at this year’s CES (a massive consumer technology trade-show that just […]

Fitness Trends 2022Maggie Downie2022-02-06T13:34:37-05:00

How Many Steps A Day?

Many of us believe we are supposed to walk 10k steps per day. The truth is that there has never been research to back that up. The number comes from a 1960’s, Japanese ad campaign for the first pedometer. Clearly the campaign worked because we’ve all been believing it ever since.

But now we have three research studies that indicate, perhaps to some people’s delight, that we may not need 10k steps for a substantial benefit. It looks like the magic sweet spot is between 7,000 and 8,000 steps. Upon crossing that threshold people decrease their chances of mortality by all causes by 50-70%.

These studies showed correlation not causation, so it is not evidence that walking makes you live longer, but people who walk certainly live longer. If you’d like to be in the “live longer” group, I’d encourage you to build up to 7k steps per day.

To be clear, I’m not suggesting if you already walk more than that (perhaps you have gotten in the habit of 10k steps) that you should reduce your goal. Increased steps was correlated with even more gains, but the most profound leap in longevity came […]

How Many Steps A Day?Maggie Downie2021-11-14T16:40:11-05:00

As Easy As Riding a Bike

The group of friends I run with decided we should do more cross training (we should). It was decided we would add bike riding to our routine. I’m not a fan of bikes ever since I was twelve and I rode into a fence and flipped over on my bike. It doesn’t help that I grew up on a busy road. To keep me safe my parents painted a white line at the end of the driveway that I was not allowed to ride passed. That meant my biking basically consisted of riding around in circles in the driveway, which made biking dull and made me afraid of riding on the road with traffic. So I pretty much haven’t touched a bike in over seventeen years. I don’t even own one.

For this adventure I borrowed an old bike from my parents. The rear tire needs to be inflated before every ride. There are gears which I’ve […]

As Easy As Riding a BikeMaggie Downie2017-09-12T19:31:29-04:00