Express Workout!

In today's "fast pace" society we are always wanting something faster or less time consuming. Here is a fast pace, but short workout you can perform over a lunch hour or within the comport of your own home! All you need is set a dumb bells. Base the weight off your personal fitness level - do what you can tolerate! This is an interval based workout and you are to perform the sequence as fast as you can. I came across this fun little routine through Oxygen . I like to add a sprint or two after the end of a full sequence and before the next. Push yourself and enjoy!

Workout To Go:

Exercise #1: Weighted jump squat
How to: Hold dumbbells at your sides, lower into a squat, then jump into the air.
Reps/time: 15–20 reps

Exercise #2: Mountain climber
How to: Get into a push-up position and rapidly alternate bringing your knees in towards your chest.
Reps/time: 30 seconds

Exercise #3: Glutes bridge with alternating chest press
How to: Lie on your back with feet flat on the floor and a weight in each hand. Lift your hips from the ground, and alternate pressing the weights up.
Reps/time: 15 reps (each arm)

Exercise #4: Weighted burpee
How to: Hold a weight in each hand. Squat down, place the weights on the ground (still holding them), then jump your feet behind you to come into a push-up position. Reverse the move to stand.
Reps/time: 12–15 reps

Exercise #5: Extended-arm plank with row
How to: Get into a push-up position with your feet wide and each hand grasping a weight on the floor. Alternate rowing each arm up.
Reps/time: 12 reps (each arm)

Exercise #6: Invisible jump rope
How to: Jump quickly on the balls of your feet, turning your arms as though skipping, keeping your elbows tight to your sides.
Reps/time: 30 seconds

******Move right from one exercise to the next. When you reach the end, rest for 90 seconds, then repeat twice from the top

Getting Creative!

Hey everyone! If you have not noticed, my post lately have been colorful and designed much more in depth than usual. This is because I am creating a "Fitness Book" for each of the participant's in my "Give Me 5" Program to take home with them after our program. While I continue to work on my book during the next few weeks I will continue to share my information on my blog; and of course the pages are designed with color and character for the book! =) Here are some of the many reasons you should get active with cardiovascular activity today!

Why is Cardiovascular Exercise Important? 

The American College of Sports Medicine recommends aerobic exercise, or cardio, for all healthy adults and children. They recommend at least 30 minutes or more of moderate-intensity activity on most days of the week.

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Heart Health – The American Heart Association declares physical inactivity to be a major risk factor for heart disease. Regular aerobic exercise can strengthen the heart and help improve its efficiency. A stronger heart will be able to pump more blood with fewer heartbeats. Regular aerobic exercise also increases capillary development. An increase in capillaries allows oxygen to reach vital cells in case of blocked or damaged arteries in the body. This ability of oxygen to be rerouted through different capillaries can help prevent heart disease and stroke.

Cancer Prevention – Many studies show that regular exercise stimulates cell growth and can actually help block cancer causing free radicals from developing in the body.

Mental Health – Exercise helps stimulate brain cells and releasing “feel good” endorphins into the blood. Exercise can give you a temporary “feel good high” and help enhance mood and mental alertness!

Weight Control - The American College of Sports Medicine has found that regular aerobic exercise is an important factor in sustaining significant weight loss and preventing weight gain. Controlling weight through healthy eating habits and regular aerobic exercise is an important way to prevent obesity, which is a major risk factor for heart disease, stroke, cancers, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes.

Thank you to www.livestrong.com for helpful information and motivation!

"Give Me 5" - Exercise Basics You Can Do At Home!

Hey everyone! This is a new fitness program I am creating at the Rec for the WIU Campus Community. It will be a 3 week progressive program with lots of information and demonstration! Here is the event info I have sent out - Take a look and get active!

“Give me 5 – Exercise Basics You Can Do At Home!”

Join us on Wednesdays—July 11, 18, and 25

 12:00-1:00 p.m.

•Are you tired of constantly claiming you will “start that exercise program tomorrow?” Learn exercises and cardio techniques you can do at home with little to no equipment!

•We will show you how to use indoor cardio equipment in the Spencer Student Recreation Center and cover strength-training concepts you can do with your own body weight.

•The “5 Elements of Fitness” (Muscular Strength, Muscular Endurance, Cardiovascular Fitness, Flexibility, & Body Composition) will be discussed in full during the sessions and each participant will receive a fitness guide and information booklet to take home and utilize on their own!

•The best part is—this program is FREE!

• Only 15 spots are available and the program is open to the entire campus community!

•Registration opens Monday, June 4, and closes Thursday, July 5. Register online at wiu.edu/fitness under “Upcoming Events”.

"Fitness4Kids - Quincy"

Mackenzie, our Miss Quincy Outstanding Teen and I are working on a monthly fitness series for our platforms. Since we both have childhood obesity as our platforms we have teamed up and developed a montly series called "Fitness4Kids-Quincy."

This program will zone in on 4 major aspects of health - Cardiovascular Fitness, Stregth Training, Flexibility, and Healthy Eating Habits. Local fitness center...s and health care organizations are each adpoting a month to host fitness/ health classes and they are free to the children of Quincy. It is a great way to show the children of Quincy what fitness resources they have and educate them on ways they can be proactive themselves!

It will start in June, as NuFit has adopted that month. The first session will be June 1st at 2 p.m at NuFit in Quincy.

We also have comittments from Vancil Performing Arts Center, Blessing Hospital, the YMCA and the Kroc center so far!

Share this information with everyone you know to help make it a huge success!

With the fitness of our future generations in mind,

Megan - Miss Quincy 2012

HITT Training

Types and Variations of Cardiovascular Exercise

Have Fun With It!!!!!

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The Rage is “HITT” Training.  So, what is HITT Training?

HITT Training – stands for High Intensity Interval Training. This form of cardio is great for burning fat and revving up your metabolism.  A HITT workout often takes less time to complete than a regular endurance based cardio session. With HITT Training you go for a shorter amount of time, but workout at as higher intensity than that of a steady state session; thus burning just as much and usually more calories and fat than you would in a typical endurance based cardio session. This strategy alternates periods of short intense anaerobic exercise with less-intense recovery periods.

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Examples of HITT Training include:

•Sprints with short intervals of jogging or walking in between. For example, 30–40 seconds of hard sprinting alternated with 15–20 seconds of jogging or walking.

•Running or walking bleachers or household stairs while stopping and doing jumping jacks or jumping squats in between every 4 climbs.

•Doing sit ups, pushups, and squats while adding a minute of high pace jump rope in between each round or after a certain amount of sets

•Sprinting as hard as you on the elliptical training for 30 – 45 seconds, or even a minute – then come to a steady state for 30 seconds – Repeat 8-10 times.

***I created This while at The Rec Center Today. I will be adding it to my "Give Me 5" Fitness Program. I will tell you all much more about that later, but for now enjoy this read! =)

-Megan

The Full Court Challenge

Hey everyone! I am so excited to be back on my “BlogSpot” blog. For those of you who do not know, he past month or so I have been blogging on the private blog again due to some requests from clients who wanted the interaction application the other blog offers. We are now all back in one spot now..yahhh!!! I wanted to let all of you know how my “Macomb Community eCHANGE Fitness-A-Thon went….It went GREAT! I was thrilled to have had the opportunity to offer community fitness to the area and even more excited to have had the opportunity to fundraise for the Macomb Schools Physical Education Departments! The school was very happy with the event and we were dead tired after four hours of fitness and fun! Thank you to all who supported the event and made donations to the Children’s Miracle Network.

One of the drills I taught during the “Bootcamp Section” of the Fitness-A-Thon was what I call the “Full Court Challenge.” It is a fun drill that involves running (sprinting if you can), quick feet, planks, jumping and endurance. It is something different that will switch up your routine and I like to throw it into various running workouts to spice them up! You can also do this drill on a football field; which I sometimes do at WIU!

Here is what you do:

-On a basketball court (or grassy areas where you can place markers) start on the baseline -Sprint to the first free throw line and then run back to the baseline (start point)
-Without ever stopping sprint back to that same first free throw line, stop, and do 10 seconds of quick feet (shoulder width apart) as fast as you can
-Drop down and jump your feet out behind you to where you are in a tall plank position. Then jump feet back in by your hands and jump back up to standing (many of you know this as a “Burpe”)
-Once back to standing, do 3 tuck jumps = jumping up in the air you tuck both legs under and click your heels to your buttocks
-Now run to the next line (The Half Court Line) and repeat this whole thing. Back down to baseline, back to half court, drop down after quick feet, burpe, etc., etc. .
-Repeat this on the next free throw line and then the opposite baseline, then finish by sprinting back down across the floor to the original baseline you stared on.

 Go as hard as you can on this! And as usual, Enjoy, Get fit…and most importantly, STAY FIT!! Have a fun and fit day ;)

 -Megan

Macomb Community eCHANGE Fitness-A-Thon

Hello friends! Media and graphic design chair for The Miss Quincy Pageant made this beautiful flyer for me. However, I caught a mistake on the first flyer released. Exercise was spelled wrong!! =/ So..I wanted to let everyone know that was NOT me who mis-spelled it! Please see the flyer I have attached, as it is the revised flyer! =-)

I have been working on this event for about 6 months now and we are really trying to promote it! =)

All proceeds go to the Children's Miricle Network and to the Physical Education Departments at Macomb Schools. Come for an hour or for the whole event! Fitness classes, information on fitness health, and nutrition, and fitness testing will be available!

Please support me as I continue to carry out my personal platform "eCHANGE" - my quest to end childhood obesity!!! =)