Exercise Archives - Page 7 of 8

Make Your Workout HIIT

Make Your Workout HIIT For those of us looking to do more to prevent disease, manage weight, and increase fitness, a type of training called high-intensity interval training (abbreviated HIIT) can help! Competitive athletes use HIIT to improve performance, but it has serious potential for anyone. What is a HIIT workout? A HIIT workout is one that involves intervals of all-out, vigorous-intensity exercise dispersed with bouts of low-to-moderate intensity exercise. In other words, after warming up, you exercise very hard for some time, then exercise easily to recover, then repeat. HIIT workouts most commonly use sprinting or uphill cycling, but stair climbing, swimming, bodyweight training, and weightlifting are all incredibly HIIT friendly! For example, many gyms now offer HIIT group classes that make use of bodyweight movements (i.e., burpees) and free weights (i.e., kettlebells). Since the goal is to [...]

Tags: corporate wellness, exercise, hiit, interval training|

Is Your Workout Hard Enough?

Is Your Workout Hard Enough? You probably know that engaging in regular physical activity is an important step in reducing your risk for disease and early death. Keeping active can even help minimize or eliminate symptoms of chronic disease, if you live with one. But if you exercise at an intensity that’s too low for you, you’ll miss out on some important benefits. Adults need 75-150 minutes of vigorous-intensity activityor 150-300 minutes of moderate-intensity activitythroughout the week. This weekly exercise should include moderate-intensity or greater aerobic exercise and moderate-intensity or greater full body strengthening at least twice per week. As a rule of thumb, two minutes of moderate activity equals one minute of vigorous activity. People who want to lose more than 5% of their bodyweight or want to keep a significant amount of weight off might need more; [...]

Tags: corporate wellness, exercise, over-exercise, overexercise, stress|

Namaste Calm

We all need a variety of strategies in our stress-busting toolkits that can effectively activate our body’s natural relaxation response. There’s no one right way to manage stress, but the techniques you use should resonate with you, fit your lifestyle, and enable you to shift your focus away from everyday thoughts. For many, yoga—a series of physical postures, breathing techniques, and mediation—does the trick. The individual components of yoga (stretching, deep breathing, and meditation) are great standalone stress reduction techniques. But together, they are bolstered. According to a national survey of U.S. adults, 86% of people who practiced yoga said it helped reduce their stress, 67% said it helped them feel better emotionally, and 59% said it improved their sleep. Others reported that it gave them the motivation to eat healthier, cope with medical problems, or use fewer tobacco products. [...]

Tags: calm, corporate wellness, stress, yoga|

Sit Less, Maximize Your Routine

Excessive sitting—coined “sitting disease”—is linked to over 30 chronic diseases and conditions. By some estimates, sitting too much can harm your health more than smoking! Over a half-dozen studies also report that prolonged sitting (and a low daily step count) can even undo the beneficial effects of exercise. There’s a simple fix that you can start doing today to protect your body from a sedentary lifestyle; find more ways to move! When you get up and move, all parts of your body benefit. Moving more increases blood flow to your brain so you release more feel-good chemicals that increase productivity, improve mood, and reduce fatigue and food cravings. You’ll also move more blood throughout your body, helping recirculate blood that may have pooled in your lower limbs while sitting. Standing will engage your core, activating your abdominal muscles, protecting your [...]

Tags: corporate wellness, exercise, standing desk|

Exercise Your Brain: Play Brain Games

Games like crosswords and Sudoku are increasingly gaining recognition as ways to protect your brain in older age. Although additional research is needed and a causal relationship hasn’t been established, older adults who regularly play number and word games have shown brain function up to a decade younger than their age on memory tests. Just like muscles, you can use or lose brain function! Brain exercise is an important part of a comprehensive wellness program. June is Alzheimer’s and Brain Awareness Month, a time to acknowledge a disease nearly six million Americans live with today. There is no known cure for Alzheimer’s Disease, but there are a few things you can do to reduce your risk. Try following the MIND Diet, an eating pattern rich in nutritious foods that can reduce Alzheimer’s risk by 53% when followed closely. Reaching a [...]

Tags: brain health, corporate wellness, gaming|

Build to your First 5K

The weather has finally warmed up enough to get back into your walking routine! How will you build on last year’s progress? One option is setting a new goal, like a 5k (or 10k!) event. Although you could always walk a 5k, learning how to run the 3.1-mile distance offers a new and exciting challenge. You may also improve your cardiovascular endurance, boost your self-esteem, and make new connections with runners in your community! Not to mention having an event on the calendar to train for provides additional motivation to stick with your exercise routine. But before getting started, check with your physician to ensure you’re cleared for exercise. When you’re ready, take these steps to build up to running your first 5k. First, pick an event. Choose one that’s about 6-8 weeks away, depending on your fitness level. This [...]

Tags: 5k, corporate wellness, couch25k, exercise, running, training|

Get a Dose of Nature

Get a Dose of Nature You likely already do things to help cut down on daily stress. Perhaps you meditate for a few minutes each day; practice self-care rituals; or choose to eat a well-balanced diet that promotes sustained energy and mental clarity. But have you ever considered what spending time outdoors can do for you? Think about it; outdoor-living was the only option for our ancestors. Over time, human brains formed an innate connection with nature, one that can be difficult to uphold with indoor-based living. This relatively recent change to living and working indoors comes with apparent advantages, i.e., protection from harsh weather, but our brains never abandoned the instinctual desire to connect with nature. This desire to spend time outside can be demonstrated by the mental and physical health benefits that occur when we get in touch [...]

Tags: corporate wellness, Corporate Wellness Firm, cortisol, nature, wellness|

Lunging Around

Lunging Around The best strength training exercises make daily activities like walking and climbing stairs feel easier. It’s even better if they don’t require added weight or lots of floor space. Bodyweight lunges fit the bill perfectly! The classic forward lunge closely mimics the movements used when walking, making them a smart option for walkers looking to include more strength training in their routine. Strength training each muscle group (arms, shoulders, chest, trunk, back, and legs) at least twice per week helps preserve lean muscle mass, strengthen bones, and prevent cognitive decline. Standard lunges fire-up two of your major muscle groups – legs and core. Abdominal and lower back muscles assist in stabilization throughout the movement. If you’re traveling, can’t make it to the gym, or need to wake-up your legs and core after sitting at your desk for too [...]

Tags: cardio, corporate wellness, exercise, lunge, muscle|

HIIT Workout

One of the most commonly cited reasons for not keeping physically active is just not having time. If this doesn’t apply to you, congrats! You’ve beaten one massive hurdle to regular physical activity. If it does, scientists have thoroughly investigated a style of exercise called high-intensity interval training, or H.I.I.T. (pronounced “hit”), which involves short intervals of all-out, maximum effort exercise flanked by longer bouts of lower intensity exercise. For example, a H.I.I.T workout could be repeated intervals of cycling as fast and as powerfully as possible for 20 seconds, then cycling at a slow, relaxed pace for 60 seconds until you’ve cycled for a total of 15-20 minutes. These workouts come in many forms (find free full H.I.I.T. workouts here) and can last minutes to hours, but if you truly give your all during the high-intensity portions, you likely [...]

Tags: circuit training, corporate wellness, exercise, hiit, intense workout, interval training, quick workout|

Try a New Move- Vacuum Hold

Vacuum and…hold! What if you could train your core by laying on the floor? This month’s new move—vacuum holds—aims to strengthen your transverse abdominis, combat lower back pain, and improve posture. “Vacuum holds” earn their name from the belly suctioning action needed to engage your transverse abdominis. Grab a group of coworkers and try this out before or after your lunch break. Read on to find a set of abdominal exercises you can do in the comfort of your own home (or workplace or hotel) tonight! Your transverse abdominis runs horizontally between your ribs and pelvis and is one of the deepest core muscles in your body, acting as a stabilizer for the entire lower back and lumbar spine. In fact, some fitness professionals consider this to be one of the most important core muscles in the body! When activated, [...]

Tags: abdominal, corporate wellness, exercise, plank|