Empower Blog

How would you enhance a basic plan for intermediate or advanced workouts?

Once you have changed the way you feel about your body in motion (click here if you are just beginning your workout routine), you are ready to focus on your plan for your cardio-respiratory fitness.

A perfect place to start is to perform 20 minutes of moderate intensity cardio exercise (walking, swimming, bike riding) a few times a week. Moderate is key—to keep you feeling comfortable and coming back for more. On a self-perception scale of 1 to 10 (0 is resting intensity while 10 represents all out/breathless intensity) – you should keep your intensity 4 to 6. Continue to train there for a few weeks.

Once you are comfortable there you can progress towards the intermediate and advanced levels. This can be done in several ways, but first a quick exercise physiology overview. Our body condition will stay stagnant or stale when it comes to training if you don’t apply the principle of progressive overload to your fitness program. That simply means you need to shift things every few weeks in order to shock the body into improvement.

The FITT Principle is key to progression and variety in training (progressive overload).

• F for frequency
• I for intensity
• T for time or duration
• T for type or mode

Every week or two, you apply a positive shift to one or more of these factors to stimulate your body with a new challenge.

• First increase your training frequency. Instead of walking 3 days per week, you up it to 4.
• A few weeks later up the intensity. Instead of training at a moderate intensity (4 to 6) you up your pace for brief bouts (to 7 or 8) and get a bit winded for a minute here and there.
• A few more weeks go by and you feel the need for more, so you workout a bit more time.
• Last but not least you switch the type of workout you are doing (from walking to jumping rope or stair climbing), making it a whole new challenge to your body.

By applying these small gradual changes to your workout plan every few weeks you will see continual results. If you are looking for a great cardio tool to help you get your program going, try a fitness hoop or walking weights!

My short answer is “the ones you are most likely to do.”

But let me back that up a bit of fitness know-how. We know that to actually experience a training effect you need to:

1. Overload the specific system of the body you are trying to improve (cardio-respiratory/muscular strength/joint mobility and flexibility)
2. Work towards the ACSM guidelines for recommended frequency, duration and training intensity. This should include 3 to 5 days of cardio training (20 to 60 minutes worth) and 2 or more days of strength and flexibility exercise (for each and every muscle group)

The novice or currently sedentary person may find this a bit overwhelming. Therefore I like to get people simply moving without rules in first. Good options include:

• A few minutes of brisk walking
• Counter top push-ups

The goal is to start feeling and seeing yourself as a body in motion. Once you feel good moving, you will naturally want to increase what you are doing to include more variety and intensity.

Experiment. Start with 10 minutes and move up from there. Try a dance workout DVD or a strength or yoga workout. Your body will let you know which it likes best.

Find a friend and get moving! It helps to find a friend or partner to join your fitness journey. Research shows that one of the key influencers in a successful behavior shift is ‘helping relationships’.

See Empower’s great list of portable home equipment and build your own neighborhood workout center. Move over CrossFit—Empower is here! ;)

Of course! I’m a self-proclaimed fan of the 30-minute meal. At this point in my life, I simply don’t want to spend more than 30 minutes making dinner – I’d rather be playing with my little girls. I’ve probably bought every cookbook claiming to have “fast” recipes. I particularly love cooking in the Fall and Winter as its the perfect weather for Crockpot meals.

The cooler temperatures lend themselves to soups, stews, casseroles, and warm dishes. I have a wonderful cookbook filled with low-fat, healthy Crockpot meals. Not only can I continue to serve healthy options for my family but I can make them in advance, let them cook all day, and come home to dinner that is ready to go – so simple! Plus, most Crockpot meals can feed my family for two nights!

Become the motivator: One great way to get motivated and stay motivated is to make yourself a fitness leader.

That can be done in many ways... from becoming a fitness instructor or personal trainer to simply volunteering to help with your kids P.E. class or after school program.

How it works: I had a student who successfully lost over 100 pounds. Her greatest fear was falling off track and gaining the fat back. She was such an inspiration to the other class participants who watched her shrink in size and grow in energy. One day I told her that she would make a great mentor and instructor. She had never imagined herself in that role. She loved group exercise and simply needed a little push. The next year she got certified and has been teaching ever since. The best part is that she no longer fears or sees herself as that fat person waiting to return.

Why it works: Become a leader and pave the fitness path rather than falling off track!

Try acting like a 2-year-old. I’m not suggesting anyone assume the attitude of a toddler but rather act like a 2-year old physically. If you have a toddler like me you know how their engines run full-steam ahead until they crash for nap or bedtime.

We’ve recently had lots of rainy weather, cooler temps, and been stuck indoors. Of course that hasn’t tamed my daughter’s need to burn off her 2-and-a-half year old energy. So I’ve been getting down on her level. We’ve been crawling and rolling all over chasing her little sister. I’ve been running after her around the house playing games and hide n’ seek.

Even though I workout regularly, but I can tell you that keeping up with a toddler’s every move is a workout of a different kind. On the days you’ve missed a workout and want to spend time with your little ones, get down on their level and keep in step with them. I can assure it may not target your “problem areas” directly but it will absolutely count as exercise.

You are not alone! According to the National Sleep Foundation, more than half of Americans have difficulty sleeping.

If you have young children like me, then this statistic rings true. I’ve realized that sleep is a valuable commodity with little ones in the house. The most frustrating part is when the kids are finally sleeping and I can’t seem to wind down.

I decided to try implementing some relaxation techniques to help improve both my quantity and quality of sleep. These are a few things that work for me:

• Wearing earplugs to block out noise.
• Run a fan at night to help create white noise.
• Sticking to a bedtime routine that helps me wind down.
• Taking a relaxing bath.
• Letting my mind wander into a Lifetime television show or a good book is also a perfect way to make my eyes heavy.

Find a relaxing activity that calms your mind and body from the chaos and hurried pace of the day. Improving your quality of sleep can have a positive effect on all aspects of life, including your workouts.

Work the core. A strong core is about more than a super 6 pack!

The stronger the core muscles, the stronger you will be in everything you do, from getting out of a chair or walking to sports. As an added benefit strengthening the muscles of the abdomen, hips and lower back helps to prevent back problems.

Core strengthening exercises and chronic low back pain were evaluated in a study conducted at the University of Technology in Perth, Australia. Group-A performed core strengthen exercises and after 10 weeks showed a significant reduction in the intensity of their back pain as well as their functional disability levels.

These improvements were still apparent at a 30-month follow-up. Group-B underwent other commonly prescribed conservative treatments. These participants demonstrated no significant change in back pain or functional disabilities after intervention.

There seems to be the belief that a total body routine is the best solution for a hectic schedule.

I used to feel that a total body workout would ensure l hit every muscle group even if I was only able to strength train twice that week. It’s true I was touching on every area but I wasn’t feeling like I worked each muscle well enough.

So I decided to try splitting my body parts. Yes, this does mean that during hectic weeks each area may only be trained once however, I find the training is more effective and more intense.

If you’re feeling like you simply aren’t achieving the intensity you want with your total body routine then try dividing the muscle groups into different days. You can break up the body parts in several ways. One option is legs and back one day, chest and shoulders the next, and biceps and triceps on the third. Or you can try legs on their own day, back and chest a second day, and shoulders and arms the third day. To boost the intensity and the results, try to divide and conquer when it comes to your strength training.

Survey says: One of the #1 reasons for not exercising on a regular basis is “lack of time.”

Think about it: Time in reality is probably the least likely thing to keep someone from exercising. With 24-hours in a day, it is likely that we can find at least 10 to 20 minutes to talk on the phone, surf the net, watch TV, or read a magazine. Yet we still perceive ‘time’ (or the lack of it) as the reason for not finding that same 10 to 20 minutes to exercise.

A few minutes can make a huge difference: Many studies have shown that short bursts of very intense exercise (interval based training) can produce the same results as traditional, longer duration endurance training.

The proof: A study done recently and published in the Journal of Physiology took 16 college-aged students and had them train using different duration programs.Half did 90 to 120 minutes of continuous moderate intensity cardio each day. The other half performed about one fifth the overall workout time but trained using 30 second bursts of high intensity work followed by 4 minutes of recovery. Despite the huge difference in training time both groups had similar improvements in training results.

So, move more: Keep in mind all physical activity, not just formal exercise, can add up to a healthier body. So in-between those intervals (the other 23.5 hours of the day) try to find ways to simply move more. Here are a few suggestions:

• Take the stairs
• Allow for a movement break every 30 minutes you are stuck at a desk (get up and down 5-10 times in a row or do some shoulder rolls)
• Find something physical you can do during the commercial breaks of your favorite TV time (like crunches and push ups)
• Go for a walk while you are having leisure talk on the cell phone
• Keep your housework moving briskly
• Stand and balance on one foot when in the grocery store line
• Take the dog for more walks
• Get outside and play with your kids
• Park farther and walk

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If not, how can we help you? Send in your questions (info@fitnessem.com) to be answered by one of the Empower personal trainers.

For me, being empowered is living the extraordinary story of triumph as it unfolds in real time. In a word, it is "winning", and I don't mean the first person in the race or the top dog in the tennis match--I simply mean triumph. Being empowered allows me to triumph over anything and everything that holds me back. It is a force to be reckoned with, and in that moment, I can feel the gathering storm of intention blowing past the laziness of mediocrity and leaving it in it's dust.

For me being empowered is the opportunity to do something extraordinary, and it resides in my heart. It is a precious and powerful gift that allows me to excel with INTENTION. Empower is my warrior sister with whom I hold the highest regard. She gives me the spiritual permission to dig deeper and climb higher triggering passion and shaming it into performance like no other expedition of the spirit.

When I am empowered, I can do anything, I am on top of the world, and so are the sisters with me.

"Let's shoot for the moon girls, let's shoot for the moon!"

Come with me,

Gin Miller