winter

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

Twenty Steps to Make A Rainbow Igloo

This project was so much fun. I’m so glad I did it. That being said, I doubt I’d ever do it again. But it’s totally worth it. Here is how we did it and what we learned along the way:

Collect over 500 half gallon, cardboard containers. If you get about 520 to 530 that should be more than enough with some room for error.

Notes: Fake stuff smells the worst. Year old soy products, coconut milk and lactaid milk smells even worse than year old egg nog. You’ve been warned. Also, most people don’t use half gallons, so get as many people collecting for you as possible. If you think that on trash night you can go recycling bin-to-recycling bin and find half gallons, don’t waste your time. People just don’t use them. Find your friends, family and local businesses that do and ask them to collect them for you.

2. Rinse them out and open the tops.

Notes: I didn’t rinse all of them, which I came to regret. And the ones I opened froze faster and were easier to fill and carry. It’s more work in the beginning, but will pay off in the end.

3. Fill with water and a little […]

Twenty Steps to Make A Rainbow IglooMaggie Downie2017-09-12T19:31:13-04:00

Multi-Colored Igloo: A Little Winter Magic

It all started with a Facebook post. My friend Amy (who we once went dog sledding with) saw that a family in Canada had made an igloo out of ice blocks. She posted it on my page and suggested I do it.

500 Cartons Freezing Outside.

Sold. I started collecting half gallon, cardboard containers. My clients dragged bags of them to classes, Stew Leonard’s in Newington gave me a ton. Friends and family collected them. I even went dumpster diving in my neighborhood on trash night in hopes of collecting enough. And then Amy saved the day. She drove 150 cartons from Fairfield, but it all came too late. It was mid-March by the time we had over 500 cartons and it was too warm outside.

The cartons spent a year in my garage and a hallway upstairs. Luckily they didn’t smell that bad. I, perhaps, was the only person hoping 2015 would be another cold, snowy winter. Got my wish. So I started filling the cartons with water and food coloring and […]

Multi-Colored Igloo: A Little Winter MagicMaggie Downie2017-09-12T19:31:13-04:00

Shoveling Woes

In the midst of shoveling the other day (just which day who can tell anymore), Matt joked and said that Mother Nature must have known that I wanted to get in the best shape of my life this year and that is why she is making it snow so much. I love when the world revolves around me so much that I’m the reason Connecticut has gotten over 80-inches of snow.

But here’s the problem. I don’t feel like I’m in better shape. Last week when we got the back-to-back heavy and icy snow, I felt really weak. Shoveling felt like a chore for the first time all winter. I had hoped to feel stronger, and like I was getting in better shape, but I just felt exhausted.

Now, on the one hand, I’m grateful to pilates. I’m convinced that one of the reasons I don’t have an injury from all this shoveling is because pilates has made me truly strong, from the inside out, as we like to say. I’m not injured; that should be a […]

Shoveling WoesMaggie Downie2017-09-12T19:31:58-04:00

Is Shoveling a Workout?

Once upon a time I would never have substituted shoveling for a workout. I would never have substituted anything for my workout. If I was going to go hiking (unless of course it was a full day hike like Mt. Washington leaving no time to add and extra workout) for a few hours, I would still go for a run or a swim or weight lift. If I had to shovel or really thoroughly clean a house for hours, I would never have allowed it to replace my workout.

Now I seem totally willing to let daily activities take the place of my workout. Well, at least a little. I suppose I wouldn’t be writing this if I felt it truly replaced my workout.

It isn’t just that I feel like shoveling 20-inches of snow, for example, has suddenly become a good, challenging workout, it’s that there are only so many hours in a day. If I have to shovel our driveway, walkways, and sidewalk, I usually don’t have time for my regular workout routine too. […]

Is Shoveling a Workout?Maggie Downie2017-09-12T19:32:01-04:00