Anyone want to join me in a challenge? I found this awesome program on www.livestrong.com through one of the “Dares” that I picked. It is a plan to perform 100 push-ups in a row in 6 weeks! I’ve already started and so can you!   

The program can be found at www.hundredpushups.com. You can do the push-ups in any form: off the wall, off the table, on your knees, or on your toes!  I am doing them on my knees, and I'm feelin it!!  

If you want an easy, free, and effective program to increase your upper body strength…this is it!     

You'll see the program runs for 6 weeks.  That's pretty fast for 100 push-ups, but if you browse the different weeks, you will see it is totally do-able.  But if 6 weeks seems a little fast for you, don’t worry. You can slow down the program by spending an entire week on each “Day” that the program provides whenever you need to.  (Which would end up drawing it out much longer!)  

Browse the site for a little while and you’ll discover there is a 200 Sit-ups (crunches) program and a 200 Squats program too! I’m working on all of them right now. Who wants to join me?!

I learn so much from my conversations with different folks about what they are doing to make exercise a part of their journey. Many people have hit bumps in the road and overcome obstacles they have found over and over again along the way. They have some great ideas about how you can too and I want to share them with you! 

This is a story about one woman that I worked with who struggled with maintaining an exercise program beyond a few months. Her biggest struggle was the lack of consistency she felt with her program. It seemed that each week…something came up and kept her from reaching her goal of exercising 5 days a week. Because of this struggle, she was beginning to feel like a failure. I don’t know about you, but this sounds like a familiar story to me! I’ve personally struggled with this in the past. I set high expectations of exercising 5 days a week and eventually I’m lucky to get in 2-3 days. It seems like something always comes up!  

When we began talking a little more about her exercise program, I learned that she had this ultimate goal of exercising 5 days a week because she really wants to make it an everyday habit and also feels like 5 days a week would help her reach her fitness goals faster. This sounded like a great structured program she had in place—but there was still one problem—she rarely ever followed it. On top of that—she was feeling guilty and frustrated because she felt like she couldn’t follow it. And what good is a goal or exercise program that makes you feel that way?!  

So we talked about restructuring her ideas about what a consistent exercise program looks like. We talked about what would make her feel most successful at this point and how can we structure something that promotes that. We discovered that she didn’t give herself any other options beside that original plan and that each week is was either “5 days” or “nothing”!   We talked about having multiple workout structures that she could follow on any given week. Since her goal was to just feel consistent, we talked about having a minimum workout structure that she would do each week no matter what. Then, we planned her ultimate workout structure that she could strive for each week, but not feel like that is her only option. This seems to have taken much of the pressure off that she should be perfect every week. 

I’m happy to hear an update from her that she is now exercising consistently and some weeks she does 2 days a week and others 5 days a week…and although it isn’t a super strict exercise program, she feels successful and the plan fits into her life! 

What we learned in our work together is the art of exercising consistently is to make flexibility a planned aspect of your program!    

Here is a shortened version of the plan we came up with together:  
Goal: To feel consistent with exercise, to feel like I made an effort each week to exercise, to feel like I followed a program that I had planned for myself, to feel committed to my exercise program.  
My Minimum Exercise Plan: 2 days per week for at least 10 minutes of strength training or cardio.  
My Ultimate Exercise Plan: 5 days per week for at least 30 minutes broken down into 3 days strength training and 2 days of cardio.  
What will make me feel successful? I will feel successful if I reach my minimum each week and will feel extremely successful to do even more!

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts" - Winston Churchill

I often talk with folks who have had at least one bout of successful exercise in the past. They were on a program that worked for them at one point in their lives, but somehow got knocked off that program and have since tried to restart exercising over and over again without the same success. Has this ever happened to you?   

One person I was working with was very frustrated about her current exercise efforts. It seemed like no matter what she did, she could not regain that success with exercise she once had. We talked a lot about what that past exercise experience was like…where she went, what she did, how she did it, who she did it with, etc. One of the things that stood out to me was that she loved that fact that her family would go to the gym with her. It felt like another aspect of “family time” to her. This was working well in her life until her husband was laid off and they family couldn’t afford the gym membership anymore. Eventually, the whole family moved away from exercising together because things had changed.  

When we were talking about her recent experiences with exercise, I learned that she has been attempting to exercise solo and has just struggled with feeling motivated. She even tried to get another gym membership these years later, but didn’t feel like she enjoyed it as much as she used to. It occurred to me that although this is a different period in her life and things have changed, there was a certain aspect of exercise…that “family time”…that she truly enjoyed but wasn’t recognizing. She was frustrated that exercise didn’t feel the same as it did in the past…but she also wasn’t following through on the aspects that made her most enjoy it!   

We talked again about her past success with exercise and tried to take the major aspects of her enjoyment from it and began to put a plan into place that will help rebuild these qualities back in. She decided to add her family to the membership and ask them to come with her. She recognized that wasn’t motivation that was the issue, it was how she exercised overall that was going to make it an enjoyable experience.  

Sometimes something more drastic happens that might make you feel like you can’t just re-start that old successful program again. But with the right mind-set, you can examine the characteristics of what you loved so much about the program and adjust it to your current exercise efforts. For example, I worked with one person that was very successful with exercise until she was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis. After this, she began experiencing painful flare-ups and was unable to maintain the consistency of her program. She began to fall off her program entirely, because she didn’t feel like she could maintain any “normal” routine. 

We talked about what she loved about exercise and began to come up with ideas to adjust her program. It took some creativity and planning, but she can now look at exercise in a new light and follow a program that still incorporates the things she likes about exercise. She still deals with pain and her arthritis, but dealing with it now is just another aspect of her program.   

Here is something to try!  If this is something you have experienced, I encourage you to sit down and examine your past success with exercise. Think about all the things you did and examine what you enjoyed about it so much. Was it the results you were getting? If so, what kind? Was it the time of day? Was the type of gym or atmosphere? Have you’re your recent attempts at exercise included these qualities? Examine your list closer and circle some of the things you feel like you can work with right now. Write down what has changed that might make you feel like you can’t do the exact same program. Then put on your thinking cap, your creativity cap, and your research cap! Start looking for ways to make this new program work! 

With all the fitness gadgets out on the market, it is sometimes hard to find ones that are truly going to help us (rather than just rob us of money!). I’m not a big gadget-girl, but I have found a gadget or two that have helped me on my fitness journey. One of my favorites is a simple, inexpensive tool that helps push me a little bit in my workout sessions. It is a little interval timer system that you wear like an old-fashioned pager (or a new-age pedometer I guess!) and is called Gymboss. 

The nature of this little device is to help you set timed intervals (anywhere between 5 seconds and 2 minutes) that remind you when to switch up your workout. You can use the intervals for anything that you please! I use this timer to help me do more intense bouts of activity. I will set the timer for 60 seconds and 15 seconds. The timer will alert me when I need to do 15 seconds of higher intensity and then alert me again when I can go slower for 60 seconds. It really takes the thinking out of your session and lets you get into it!  

I’ve also used it for strength training. I will set it at 30 seconds for lifting time and 15 seconds for rest time. It helps me avoid repetitious counting and just lets me stay in the moment with my exercises. It literally acts like your “boss” while you are working out!   

This tool is great for anyone who wants to get started with interval training or wants to practice increasing the intensity of their current workouts. This will allow you do it safely by timing shorter intervals and keeping you on a regular routine. This gadget is also good for folks who don’t like to “think” about their workouts. 

My favorite part about this gadget is it’s price.  I think I paid $19.95 which was totally worth it for me. If you are looking for something to help you in your workouts—check it out at www.gymboss.com. 

Let me know about a favorite gadget you have come across too!

I am frequently asked questions about activities of daily living (ADL’s) and how they play a role in exercise and weight loss.  ADL’s are basically described as activities that you do all day long that keep you moving. Some example ADL’s might be: walking the halls at work, cleaning the house, playing with kids, taking the stairs, etc. Just those everday things you do.  We hear so much about how we should do more of these..."Park farther away..." or "Take the stairs..."  But sometimes we might question...does parking 5 spots away really do anything to help me? 

Sometimes these activities seem pretty insignificant...especially when trying to lose weight.  We often hear about hard-core exercise as the key for weight loss success, but that really isn't the full story.  Yes, an intense bout of exercise is very beneficial for health, physical fitness, and weight loss.  But your daily activities play an important role in all of this too.  Although these activities are not considered “exercise” because they don’t challenge the body as much as needed, they are equally important to focus on and increase when possible.    I once taught a class focusing on this topic. I thought it would be cool to do a little experiment and calculate the amount of calories a person would burn from choosing to do more “active” daily activities. For example, how many calories would you burn if you chose to walk your dog instead of just letting him out in the back yard…or if you decided to park at the back of the lot instead of the front? I knew that the numbers would be different, but I was AMAZED at the difference those moment-by-moment choices can actually make on the amount of calories you burn each day. See for yourself!  

Walking your dog for 20 minutes 86 calories	vs.	Standing while dog roams the yard 54 calories
Taking the stairs 100 calories	vs.	Taking the elevator 9 calories
Play with your kids 360 calories	vs.	Sit and watch kids play 96 calories
Push mower 396 calories	vs.	Riding mower 192 calories
Walking break at work 99 calories	vs.	Coffee break at work 24 calories
Park in the back of lot 34 calories	vs.	Park in the front of the lot 15 calories
Doing light housework while watching TV 260 calories	vs.	Sitting on the couch while watching TV 96 calories
Cooking dinner 240 calories	vs.	Driving thru to get dinner 96 calories

 
TOTALS!
1, 575 calories per day                              vs.         567 calories per day
11, 025 per week                                        vs.         3, 969 per week
47, 250 per month                                     vs.          17, 010 per month   

I calculated these using the tool on www.healthstatus.com for a typical 200lb person doing these various activities for the minutes it would usually take to accomplish them. (anywhere between 5-60 minutes) You can use this tool as well to calculate your daily activities!  

WOW! Pretty amazing, huh? These activities are crucial for burning extra calories throughout the day for weight loss and weight maintenance. The funny thing is…after I taught this class, a lot of people commented that they gained the most weight when they noticeably became less active in daily life…for whatever reason. Have you ever gained weight from getting a desk job?  After a back injury?  Once your kids zapped all your personal time and you became a family limosine?  Well we can put that all behind us now! Because the good news is that if you can gain weight from inactivity….you can lose weight from more activity!   

A great way to know how many ADL’s you are getting in every day is to wear a pedometer. This is an inexpensive little device that counts the amount of steps you take each day. Experts say that it takes 10,000 steps to show that you are being “active” throughout the day. This seems like a lot of steps, especially if you work at a desk all day, but it is a great number to help gauge your activity levels. Even if you aren’t getting close to 10,000 steps each day, wearing a pedometer will help you become more aware of your activity levels and will help you increase them as much as you can.   

Here’s an activity for ya! Purchase a pedometer from any department store (Target, Dick’s, Walmart) or online (www.thepedometercompany.com) and wear it on a typical day without looking at it. At the end of the day, check your steps and see what a typical day looks like for you. Record this number in your journal. Each day after that, try to increase your steps by 100 or more. After awhile, you will get in tune with how much activity it takes for you to stay active!

KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!