Every Day Yoga – Five Minutes, Five Postures
It’s generally agreed that a regular yoga practice can keep your body limber, flexible, and pain-free, as well as preventing injuries. It’s also pretty widely recognized that life is busy, and it can be hard to find the time to do everything that you know you should do to be healthy (get enough sleep, eat well, get fresh air and exercise, have fun with friends and family…). So, I’ve given careful thought to where we need the most work (knees, hips, lower back, shoulders, and neck is what I came up with), and what yoga poses are particularly good for those parts of the...
Read MoreBikram Yoga – What It Is, and Why You Should Give It a Try
Bikram Yoga is one type of Hatha Yoga – which is the physical form of yoga (other branches of yoga focus on breathing, meditation, and morality…). It was developed by Bikram Choudhury, and has been growing in popularity since the first Bikram studio was opened, in Houston Texas, in 1995. What Differentiates Bikram Yoga If you’ve ever heard anything about Bikram yoga, then you’re already aware of its nickname – ‘hot yoga’. This is because studios teaching Bikram yoga classes are heated to 104 degrees (40.5C), with a relative humidity of roughly 40%....
Read MoreTraining Schedule for Your First Half-Marathon
Continued from page one of Your First Half-Marathon – A Detailed 20-Week Training Plan. Training Schedule Note: the speeds provided correspond to a 2 hour half-marathon finish. If you plan to finish faster, or slower, adjust your speed accordingly. This training schedule further assumes that you are already able to complete a 10km run – it is geared toward taking you from the 10km to a complete half-marathon. Week 1 – This is a ‘getting started’ week. 3km easy run on Tuesday, 5km easy run on Friday, 7km easy run on Sunday. Format each of the next 18 weeks Monday –...
Read MoreYour First Half-Marathon – A Detailed 20-Week Training Plan
You’ve been running for a while, and still enjoy it, but maybe it’s getting just a little bit boring? What you need is a goal to work towards, like a half-marathon. The half-marathon is a long enough race that it’s important to go into it properly prepared. Without proper conditioning, your race experience may be a painful one, and that pain may last for days after the race. Consider, for the moment, that during a two-hour half-marathon, you are going to be taking over 20,000 steps. That’s over 10,000 times that you’re going to be lifting your right leg, driving...
Read MoreHula Hooping – An Effective Core Workout That’s a LOT of Fun!
We all know that strong core muscles are a key part of having a great looking body. It’s important to remember that the core is also the source of stability in countless daily activities, and a strong core is necessary to prevent injuries and avoid lower back pain. This makes core fitness an essential part of any exercise regimen. Hula hooping is becoming a popular way to improve core strength and increase stamina. It engages all of the core muscles, including abdominal, lower back, pelvic and upper leg muscles. And it’s so much fun that you can easily enjoy hooping for hours...
Read MoreComprehensive Core Workout – In Under 5 Minutes
Who doesn’t love sit-ups? They’re such a great way to get your core in shape! What’s that? You don’t like sit-ups? Maybe you’ve been doing them wrong, because they can be part of a quick, intense, and highly effective core workout. Consider alternating between this workout, and my no-equipment core workout. What You Need – a stability ball (~26inches diameter) – some space – a reasonably non-slip floor – a 30-second timer that beeps The Exercises (there are four of them) 1) Stability ball crunches Lie with your back molded to the ball;...
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