Make good on your New Year’s Resolutions with the guidance and support you need through February. Complete your daily and weekly challenges and watch these tasks become habit. Real behavior change is what will lead to real health change. Join us!
For the entire month of February, your challenge will be to complete:
21 push ups a day
21 squats a day
Walk or Run 21 miles per week, which equals roughly 43,000 steps
Complete the 21 minute guided stretch video once a week
Track your food everyday on a food tracking app
Answer 1 reflection question each week
In order to participate, you will need to download our “Trainerize” app and complete the scheduled challenges each day. Trainerize can pair with MyFitnessPal, your Apple Watch, and several other fitness and nutrition apps, which will make tracking your progress each day a breeze. I will be here to provide guidance and support, communicating with you as much as you need throughout the month.
At the end of the challenge, each participant will get a t-shirt, 2 free BEMER sessions, and be entered into a drawing for 1 FREE MONTH of the BEMER chair! Commit to better habits in February. Anyone and everyone is welcome to participate! Sign up here.
We know this is an uncertain time, and if you are practicing social distancing, there is no need for you to neglect your fitness.
Follow along these warm up and cool down videos before&after your workout, or to just get your butt off the couch after Netflix and chillin all day. Plus, we’ve included 5 at-home workouts listed further below. Visit our YouTube page to see more exercises.
5 Bodyweight Workouts You Can Do At Home
10 Minute At-Home Bodyweight Workout
Perform a bodyweight squat to reverse lunge for 1 minute.
Perform a push-up to slow mountain climber (incline if necessary) for 1 minute.
Perform glute bridges for 1 minute.
Perform bird dogs for 1 minute.
Rest 15 seconds between exercises.
Complete the circuit twice and you’re done!
15 Minute At-Home Bodyweight Workout
Set a time for 15 minutes.
Perform 10 split squats each leg.
Perform a side plank for 20 seconds each side.
Perform 10 plank to push-ups alternating arms each time.
Perform 20 feet-elevated glute bridges.
Rest 15 seconds between exercises.
Do as many rounds as possible with good form in 15 minutes.
20 Minute At-Home Bodyweight Workout
Perform 10 push-ups or 10 incline push-ups.
Perform 10 bodyweight squats or 10 bodyweight jump squats.
Perform 10 bear crawls.
Perform 10 jumping jacks.
Rest 15-30 seconds between exercises and 30-60 seconds between circuits.
Do as many rounds as possible with good form in 30 minutes.
25 Minute At-Home Bodyweight Workout
Set a timer for 25 minutes.
Perform 10 bodyweight squats.
Perform a bear crawl forward and backward for 5 yards each.
Perform 10 reverse lunges on each side.
Perform 10 slow mountain climbers on each side.
Rest 15-30 seconds between exercises and 30–60 seconds between circuits.
Do as many rounds as possible with good form in 25 minutes.
30 Minute At-Home Bodyweight Workout
Perform 10 walk-outs (can add a push-up, if desired).
Perform 10 bodyweight single-leg RDLs on each leg.
Perform 10 dead bugs each leg.
Perform 10 wall slides.
Perform 10 lateral lunges each leg.
Rest 15–30 seconds between exercises and 30–60 seconds between circuits.
Do as many rounds as possible with good form in 30 minutes.
This graphic does a good job of showing how much water we are made of. Still think you drink enough water? Did you know adults can lose as much as 1.5 liters of water through sweat during a hot day? Not only are more fluids are needed when it’s hot and humid, but add in exercise and your fluid requirements climb toward 10 liters per day. So after your next workout, take your water cup with you to continue sipping on your way home….every ounce counts!
We are so lucky to get to work with incredible people everyday on improving their quality of life. That’s really what working out is all about at the end of the day…improving and maintaining a quality of life that will allow you to do what you want, when you want, without being limited by physical ability. Here is one of those incredible people…
Hello, I’m Marla and I’m coming up on a year of working out at Definition Fitness. In my first session, I met with Patrick and expressed my goal to lose weight and learn about strength training, and over 60 lbs later, I’m still chipping away at my journey to optimize my health.
I couldn’t be more pleased with my experience here. Every week Patrick continues to challenge my abilities, and adjust each session to address, or accommodate, for any weaknesses or imbalances and complement my other fitness endeavors in hiking and pilates. Everyone is so encouraging, knowledgeable, and passionate about what they do here, it’s hard not to leave feeling accomplished after each workout.
Walk or run 1 lap around the block after your workout at Definition….
Why?
More light exposure……If (hopefully WHEN) you read The Circadian Code, you will learn that light is a main regulator to our natural rhythms. The hormones cortisol and melatonin, the hormones that help regulate blood sugar to give the body the appropriate amount of energy that is required throughout the day, are effected by the signals light sends through the body’s nervous system. Read the Satchin Panda’s blog “Light therapeutics: How light (or darkness) affects our circadian clock, sleep, and mood,” for a great explanation. Plus we all need more vitamin D- skip the pill and go outside.
Trigger your parasympathetic nervous system….In Chris Kresser’s article Sympathetic vs. Parasympathetic State: How Stress Affects Your Health getting out in nature is listed as a way to help get your sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system back in balance. A simple walk around the block could go a long way in reducing stress and triggering your rest and digest mode.
Get happy….exposure to green space has been shown to improve your mood. And have you seen our neighborhood? It’s gorgeous! So go take a look around!
More Steps… for those of you tracking your daily steps taken, this will help you get more. ‘Nough said.
At the end of the month and challenge, what do you get?? You get to Move Better… Feel Better… aannnddd Look Better!
Plantar fasciitis is an inflammation of the band of tissue (the plantar fascia) that extends from the heel to the toes. In this condition, the fascia first becomes irritated and then inflamed, resulting in heel pain.
The most common cause of plantar fasciitis relates to faulty structure of the foot. For example, people who have problems with their arches, either overly flat feet or high-arched feet, are more prone to developing plantar fasciitis.
Wearing nonsupportive footwear on hard, flat surfaces puts abnormal strain on the plantar fascia and can also lead to plantar fasciitis. This is particularly evident when one’s job requires long hours on the feet. Obesity and overuse may also contribute to plantar fasciitis.
One of the less thought about causes of plantar fasciitis can be your bed sheets. When the flat sheet is tucked in to the end of the bed, your toes will be pulled down causing the muscles and ligaments of the foot to me shortened. Consider having an untucked bed to better the health of your feet.
People with plantar fasciitis often describe the pain as worse when they get up in the morning or after they have been sitting for long periods of time. After a few minutes of walking, the pain decreases because walking stretches the fascia. For some people, the pain subsides but returns after spending long periods of time on their feet.
Massage therapy has proven to be a very effective course of action against plantar fasciitis. Applying cups to the plantar aspect of the affected foot, the fascia will be stretched and hydrated allowing it to function normally. It is important to schedule regular appointments to maintain wellness.
Along with the foot, remember to stretch and lengthen the Achilles tendon which attaches the muscles from the back of the calf to the heal. When shortened, the Achilles tendon will pull the heal forcing the foot into position that is common with plantar fasciitis.
We will be adding more information and helpful hints about the causes, prevention, and treatment of plantar fasciitis over the next few days. Be sure to check back and comment below with any question!
When your pain is in the back, it is usually because of a problem in the front.
This statement sounds completely backwards. Let me explain. When you are in pain, it is easy to assume that the problem is wherever you feel the pain. So you take a Tylenol and put the heating pad where the pain is and you feel better. But then a few days later, you are in pain again. Why is that?
I have an experiment for you. Take a thick rubber band. Put it over your thumb and forefinger. Now with a paperclip, shorten the front side by folding the band on top of itself, but only on the front side. The opposite side gets pulled and the tension it feels becomes visible. That tension is the pain. It is simply the symptom. The reason for the tension is the shortening of the band in the front. Now remove the paperclip from the front. The tension on the rubber band evens itself out again.
Your muscles work in a similar manner. When you sit, your abdominal muscles and hip flexors are shortened, and your low back muscles are lengthened. Now think about how often you are in that seated position; in the car, at your desk, on the couch, while you are eating, etc. That is a lot of time that for your body to be in a flexed position! That whole time, your low back muscles are working over time trying to hold you upright.
Similarly, think about all the times your arms and head are in front of your shoulders; using a computer, texting, driving in the car, etc. Your upper back and neck are working so hard to pull you back into a homeostatic position that they get over worked and begin to hurt. By lengthening your pectoralis muscles and the Sternocleidomastoid, you are allowing your neck and shoulders to return to the proper position.
Massage therapy uses a combination of gliding and compression movements to lengthen the muscles that have become shortened and increase blood flow to the areas that are in pain, allowing for the body to heal. Regular massage therapy appointments ensure that the clients’ muscles stay hydrated and pliable to help reduce the risk of new and recurring injury.
When your pain is in the back, it is usually because of a problem in the front.