Health Habits 3

Here we go again!

Okay, so I have the goals from the first Health Habits post down now! Yay! I've been drinking plenty on water and remembering my vitamins even on vacation. The second one was a really big step and is going to take a little more work. I wasn't feeling well the first week of that goal and traveling messed with the second week, so I still haven't done my full goal within a week. I'm going to continue to focus on my gym goals for this 2-week section and hopefully make some real progress! Here's what I'm adding to that:

Sleep.

This is a 2-part goal again:


1. Get 7 hours of sleep every night!

I know it's simple, but I'm surprised at how often I miss this and end up taking a long nap the next day. I'll be more productive if I can sleep better and stay focused all day. This is the first goal and the one that absolutely cannot be broken!


2. Go to sleep and wake up at the same time every night - including weekends.

This one will be the hardest for me! I'm hoping to work this in a little more gradually as I see what works best for me. Doing this will greatly increase the quality of sleep as your body maximizes how much rest you get and having a regular schedule really helps it to be efficient! I'm worried a bit about the weekends part and realize that it may be tough in a college lifestyle to do, but I'll get there!


So, there you go! Sleeping on a schedule and getting back to the gym. One step at a time my friends. One step at a time.

My No Equipment Workout

I'm going out of town for about 4 days and need to keep up on my second round of health goals! That means I've come up with a hybrid of the weight/cardio days that I can do pretty much anywhere. Since I've put some work into this, I thought I would share it and see if any of you have any feedback or want to give it a try yourself.

This workout should take about 30 minutes and is best to do with one other person. Make sure you have a timer and a chair and that's all you should need! I recommend resting a bit between each of these steps and, as always, making sure you're drinking water. Good luck!

1: Warm up

Stretch a little, but mostly just get moving! The best warm up will start to use the motions you will be going through in the work out.

2: 60-second plank

This should be self-explanatory. Hold yourself up for a full 60-seconds. I recommend making sure your body is as straight as possible and holding yourself up with your hands, but you can also use your elbows. If you need to make it harder, you can hold it longer or try lowering yourself so your elbows are supporting your plank and raising yourself back to your hands.

3. Squat with leg lift (1 min)

Start out in a basic squat position, making sure your knees are not extending beyond your toes. Stand up while lifting left leg off floor and extending it out to the side and hold for a beat. Lower leg back to floor as you return to squat position. Stand back up, this time lifting right leg. This is one rep. Make sure your back is straight throughout.

4. Hip Raise (1 min)

Lie with back on the floor, knees bent, and your feet flat on the floor. Keep your arms out away from your sides with palms facing up. Tighten your center and glutes and raise your hips until your body is straight from your shoulders to your knees. Hold for 5 seconds then lower to the starting position and repeat.

5. Mountain Climbers (1 min)
From a plank position, alternate bending each leg up and pulling your knee up to your chest and then straightening the leg back into the starting position. Keep your back straight.

6. Chair dips (1 min)

For this, you will need a chair that can support your weight and won’t move (try placing it against a wall). Keep your arms straight and place your hands on the edge of the chair so that you are facing away from it and your fingers face your back, holding yourself off the ground. Your knees should be bent and shoulder-width apart in front of you. Lower yourself until your upper arms are parallel with the floor and hold for a beat. Lift yourself back to the starting position (arms straight) and repeat.

7. Jumping Jacks (100 count)
Another one that should be pretty basic. Make sure you keep count and don't get sloppy with these towards the end!

8. Stationary Lunges (1 min)
Do a full lunge forward with your left leg. The right leg should remain straight while the left takes a large step forward and the knee bend over, but not past the left foot. Return to standing position and repeat with the right leg. 

9. Push-ups (1 min)

Do as many as you can in a minute. If you can’t keep going, hold a plank again. You can also try lowering yourself so your elbows are supporting your plank and raising yourself back to your hands for a better workout.

10. Crossover sit-ups (40 count)

Do a full sit up but cross your right elbow to your left knee and left elbow to your right knee. Do 20 on each side for a total of 40. Adjust the count to your ability as needed, but always complete as many as you can. I can do 40 right now, so that's why I chose this specific number. Have someone hold your feet if possible and take turns. This will allow you to do more and you'll be glad to have some encouragement on this one!

11. Leg Raises (100 count)
Lay on your side with legs stacked and raise the top leg 50 times. Hold for one beat down and one beat up. Make sure your body remains straight throughout. Roll over and do the same for the other side. This tones the hip area.

12. Cool down
Walk it off and be sure to give everything a great stretch. Hold each stretch pose and slowly inhale and exhale as you relax into the stretch more. Take your time cooling down! 

Tongue In Cheek

Here's another random old one for you guys. I'm pretty proud of this one actually! I happened to be thinking of a lot of puns one day and... well... you can see what happened.