With the summer days becoming more hot and humid, my clients that like to exercise outside are suddenly LESS motivated to step out the front door. I don’t disagree – sometimes sweating buckets and gasping for thick air while your skin cooks is not the best thing for an intense workout. Days like this can decrease motivation, increase fatigue and ruin a perfectly good workout.
There are some great things to do inside (after you turn up your A/C) to get a workout; and remember it doesn’t all have to be at once, either. Do three to five 10-minute intervals throughout the day if you are hanging around the house. Here’s what I do to get clients’ hearts racing and muscles pumping:
- STAIRS are my favorite. If you have a long flight of stairs, run (or walk) up and down – you will work up a good sweat after several minutes – and alternate by taking one stair at a time, then two, etc. If you only have a few stairs, you can do something similar and pretend like you are in a step class: do standing jumps up the stairs, step up and down 2 at a time, do a fast shuffle up and down the bottom step.
- Mix in jumping jacks and running in place to keep up your heart rate. Plus it’s more fun!
- Lunges and squats are great to slow yourself down but keep the intensity UP. Good for butt and thighs, they will keep metabolism up and increase tone.
- Finish with some push ups (on your knees if necessary – no one can see you!) and planks for some quick core and upper body.
The great thing is that there is no equipment involved – which is the point, because it’s a quick workout – and that you can vary the intensity based on your level of fitness. As a beginner, do this almost every day for 30 minutes and you will notice a difference. As an avid runner or more advanced exerciser, use this to fill in gaps when the weather stinks. Either way, have fun with it (it may make you feel like a kid again, bouncing around the house) and get moving when you are not motivated to go anywhere!
=
This summer, help yourself feel great by treating yourself well. You probably have plenty of exercise opportunities lined up – outdoor sports, swimming, hiking, etc. And you may pride yourself on the fact that you don’t eat nearly as much or as bad as you do in the winter. Just make sure you don’t forget to fuel yourself right so you have all the energy you’ll need. And if you feel good, you’ll look good!
A few months ago, I touched on the importance of nutrition and exercise. Here are a few, more detailed items to remember this summer:
- Fuel up before and after your physical activity. Leave yourself enough time after you eat, of course, to digest before you go outside for a hike or run. Make it count with a little protein, complex carbs, and fat so you have enough energy to sustain you (it doesn’t need to be a lot!). Afterwards, make sure you have some protein and complex carbs within and hour or so. This will go a long way to repair your muscles and cells, and restore your energy so you can enjoy the rest of your day. Try some hummus and whole wheat pitas, or a small scoop of beans and rice.
- Have water, will travel….In short, drink water, and a lot of it. You should drink half your body weight in water (ounces), but this does not account for what you sweat off in the summer heat, much less if you are exercising (or just running your kids around from place to place!). Don’t go anywhere without taking water or making sure you will have access to water. Then, make sure you drink it. If you are consistently “thirsty” in the heat, it’s already too late; drink water to avoid becoming so thirsty. In addition, you should drink at least an extra glass of water for every alcoholic drink you have at that picnic. Alcohol will dehydrate you – so if you are being active outside for a long period of time, it’s even better to try to avoid it altogether. You will perform and feel better!
- Breakfast and sensible meals are still your friends. Vacations, varying schedules and other summer events can have you on the go from morning till night. Just remember that you may need to work even harder to ensure that you have the most important energy boost of the day (breakfast, in case you were wondering) and search out smart meal and snack choices (or pack them to travel with you – and meal replacement bars and shakes do NOT count). This will keep you healthy and energetic (ie, not dragging yourself into bed every night), looking great and feeling great (did I mention that healthy fats like avocado and olive oil, and “good” carbs like brown rice and millet can put a little “happy” in your brain too?).
You may even want to print this and put it next to your mirror or on your refrigerator as a daily reminder to treat yourself well. Most importantly, just go enjoy the summer!
With the summer days becoming more hot and humid, my clients that like to exercise outside are suddenly LESS motivated to step out the front door. I don’t disagree – sometimes sweating buckets and gasping for thick air while your skin cooks is not the best thing for an intense workout. Days like this can decrease motivation, increase fatigue and ruin a perfectly good workout.
