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Professional athletes warm up for a reason and you should too! Research has shown that warming up before exercise can help performance as well as decrease the chance of injury. This holds true for both resistance training as well as cardiovascular exercise. The key is to engage in low-level dynamic movements, gradually increasing the blood flow to the muscles you will be using, as well as increasing your core body temperature.
As we start a brand-new year, it feels like we all (always) have our eyeballs in the future and how the nascent new year will shape up. Instead of taking time to reflect on all the good things we managed to accomplish in the past, everyone seems laser-focused on what we can do differently next time/in this new year.
We’ve all been there…the alarm goes off, it’s dark outside, and your bed feels so warm and cozy. So you hit snooze, pull the covers up, and decide your regularly scheduled workout can wait until tomorrow morning. Or you’re driving home from work, the sun is setting making 6 pm feel like 9 pm, so you drive right past the gym and home to your cozy couch.
In part one of this series, we covered the importance of family dinner time, its many benefits, and some practical first steps to reclaiming this time if your home has lost it. Now, for the next step: Serving up one meal (yes, the SAME meal) for the whole family. Your days of being a short-order cook are over!
Family dinner time. It’s becoming more of a rarity, on the verge of extinction in some households. Yet as it becomes more challenging to carve out 20 minutes to sit together around a table (not in front of the TV or in separate rooms) the more benefits we’re discovering from this once normal everyday occurrence. I can remember typical dinners growing up, often marked with heated debates and conversation once we kids were old enough to become opinionated.
Gently lower your bottom onto your heels until you feel a stretch in your ankles, arches, and toes. If you want to increase the stretch, gently inch your knees back toward your toes, which will bend your toes even more. Hold for fifteen seconds. Ideally, you won't feel this stretch at all. Resist letting your heels flop to the side. Drive your heels together throughout the stretch.
