group exercise – Jenna Jamieson, Author

There’s an {exercise} app for that!

By Jenna Jamieson | October 16, 2015 | Comments 0 Comment

Each weekend my boyfriend and I go on some type of walk, jog, hike, or outdoor workout to get some steps in. At first, it started as taking the dog for a walk, but it quickly turned into a weekend routine. Now we go nearly every weekend. Our weekend walk or jog has evolved over time. We both have phone apps that track our steps which caused us to begin to pay attention to how many steps and how much distance we were covering for fun. It has now turned into a friendly competition whereby my boyfriend and I ask each other several times along the walk how many steps the other has done. Why you ask? We now compete against each other to see who has more steps. I usually win! 🙂 That’s mostly because I take smaller steps. Not intentionally though, I have shorter legs! He usually covers more distance then me, but who’s counting? We both are to see who can claim “winning” the exercise race. Of course, there is nothing to win other than saying you win distance or you win most number of steps.

So why am I telling you this story? Because using a pedometer or some type of fitness app that makes you accountable for what you are accomplishing each day is a great way to ensure you are moving your body and getting exercise. This is a great alternative to Fitbits and other fitness tools or devices that people often use for a short period because phones are always with us. Lastly, I would encourage you to put together a work team or social team that can help motivate you. I am positive my boyfriend and I would not get as much exercise during the weekend if it weren’t for the competition we have created with each other. It goes as far as when I get up or he gets up to do something we take our phones not to use them, but because we want to make sure the phone is registering every last step that might put us ahead of the other! While we exercise regularly during the week, it is important to also get some exercise throughout the weekend!

Another reason phone apps are great is because you can use them anywhere and anytime so there’s no excuse for no workout! You can do a quick workout in a hotel room if you are traveling for work or traveling for fun. You can grab your phone and download an app that has fitness and nutrition inspiration, has workouts that target specific areas of your body, or you can find an app that has group exercise routines that you can follow.

Now it’s time to go to your app store on your phone to find an app that will help you achieve your fitness, nutrition, and health goals! 🙂

~jj

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#AlwaysChooseKindness

Penciling in your workout!

By Jenna Jamieson | September 10, 2014 | Comments 0 Comment

I thought it would be appropriate to talk about the trials and tribulations, chaos and exhaustion that life often throws at people since fall semester often means going back to school, preparing lunches again for kids, and after school sports and activities. Further, people have surgery that you need to help take care of, you start a family, and you have unexpected work obligations and travel. While all these tend to throw a curve ball, it doesn’t give you the excuse to skip your workout. Working out helps reduce stress and relieve the tension that gets built up from the day. When life gets busy, change your workout or rotate the days you do certain workouts so that a recovery workout might fall on a busier day, but still allows you to workout in some capacity. Many, if not all of us, hold very busy lives and feel as though we never have enough time in the day, let alone time to set aside for exercising. That’s everyone, right?! We may not all have children, aging parents, a house to take care of, pets to walk, etc, but we do all have obligations and priorities to balance.

While you may not have a half hour, an hour, or even an hour and a half to dedicate to exercising or personal wellness each day, you do have small increments of time that can be used to exercise. For example, you may have a 15 minute break at work where you can take a walk, do some jumping jacks and push-ups, go up and down the stairs, or sit at your desk and do leg lifts and weights (keep a set in the office to make it easy on yourself). Two 15 minute breaks will allow you to get at least 30 minutes of exercise in each day. Don’t get any breaks at work or it isn’t something that is consistent? Stop spending so much time on Facebook, Twitter, Pineterst, and other social media websites every single day, every single hour. I hear people say all the time, “I am so busy I barely have time to keep up with my house, my friends and family, my pets, and still sit down and relax.” This is a huge pet peeve when most people spend hours on Facebook ad social media or watching television. If you have time to look at random Facebook statuses all day, then believe me, I promise you have time to set aside 30 minutes to take care of your mind and body. And guess what? All those Facebook statuses, Twitter feed updates, and Pinterest projects will still be waiting for you when you are done! Remember your health is more important than sitting for 3 or more hours on social media sites, so rather than skip a workout, delay it if you need to!

With unexpected work obligations and travel, consider a workout that can be done using only your body and can be done almost anywhere with a small amount of space such as in a hotel room. For example, crunches, push-ups, jumping jacks, and other 20-30 minute workouts can be done doing repetitive sets of exercises that only require using your own body weight! These exercises are not only convenient, but also tend to be less intrusive on your joints than machines. For me, using my body weight versus using machines is the best change I have made in my life to improve my workouts and make me feel so much better! I try to remind everyone, we are all different, so what works for me may not work for you, but I do hope my tips and tricks may provide guidance and encouragement!

Your workout should fit your schedule and lifestyle because this is what helps you stay on track, prevents you from skipping workouts, and from giving up. If that means yoga and a walk at 6:30am so that you can get your workout done before work then you should do that. A workout could be two 15 minute breaks during the day or over your lunch, a group fitness class or club that meets 3 times a week, it could be working out with your kids during the day, taking your baby and a jogging stroller to your gym and running on the track, yard work, doing exercises every time you get up to make copies at work, etc. Your workout can fit into any small windows of time that you have rather than feeling like you need to have a block of time set aside. If you “pencil in your workout” at the beginning of each day, it has been shown that you are more likely to exercise and meet your fitness goals.

~jj