Hi all!

This is my first blog for WellBeing and I am looking forward to sharing my knowledge and passion for fitness, and motivating you to take the challenge of becoming the best “you” that you can be!

I am a qualified personal trainer and am currently undertaking a degree in exercise and sports science, as well as an advanced diploma in nutritional medicine. I love everything related to health and fitness and strongly believe that a balanced, multifaceted approach that includes regular exercise, healthful nutrition, adequate rest and mental and emotional wellbeing is essential in achieving true “health”.

Regular exercise has been proven to reduce the risk of disease and illness, assist in weight loss and the maintenance of a healthy weight, maintain bone density and muscle mass as we age, aid in the treatment of depression and reduce stress. We all know that exercise is important, so why is it that so few of us engage in it? We’re “too busy”, “too un-fit”, “can’t afford a gym membership” and the list goes on.  The excuses stop today. I’m here to give you the tools and inspiration to make exercise a regular, enjoyable and beneficial part of your lifestyle. You don’t need much time or an expensive gym membership, just some self-belief and this blog!

So here is your first challenge, it’s a workout that will take less than 18 minutes and requires only a chair or bench and around 4 square meters of floor space. We will begin with a 3 minute warm up, complete a 12 minute circuit composed of only 4 exercises and finish with 2.5 minutes stretching. (Please consult a Doctor before commencing an exercise program).

WARM UP: 3 minutes of anything involving big movements at multiple joints. This could mean power-walking, walking /jogging up and down the stairs, light skipping if you have a rope, dancing to some music or star jumps. The idea here is to warm up the muscles and joints and to slightly increase the heart rate.

CIRCUIT: Perform as many repetitions of each exercise as you can in 40 seconds. Rest for 20 seconds before moving on to the next exercise.  The circuit will be completed a total of 3 times.

1)    Lunges

-Take a step forward and drop down so that your back and front knee are each at a right angle.

-Ensure the front knee stays behind the toe and directly above the foot/ankle (i.e. does not move to the left or right).

-Keep the back straight and pull the navel in towards the spine to activate the core.

-Step back into starting position, then swap legs and repeat.



2)    Push ups

-Start with hands and knees or toes on the floor, your body in a straight line from shoulders to knees, hands placed slightly wider than shoulders and directly below them.

-Keep core tensed, pulling navel towards spine.

-Bend the elbows and lower the body until your chest almost touches the floor, then extend arms and return to starting position. (Body should remain straight throughout).

-For advanced push ups, move up onto toes rather than knees, keeping the body straight from toes to shoulders.

3)    Tricep dips

-Place hands on a sturdy chair behind you with fingers pointing towards your body.

-Rotate elbows so they are facing directly behind you, not out to the sides.

-Knees should be at about 90 degrees, keep the back straight and core tensed.

-Bend the elbows and lower yourself until upper arm is parallel with floor, then return to the starting position.

4)    Plank

-Start in a similar position to the push-ups, but with forearms on the floor, elbows directly below shoulders.

-Keep back straight from shoulders to knees.

-Focus on tensing the mid section to engage your core.

-Hold this position. (This is a static/isometric exercise).

-For advanced plank, move up onto the toes, ensuring you remain in a straight line from shoulders to toes.

COOLDOWN/STRETCH:

Hold each stretch for 30 seconds. You should feel the stretch but not experience any pain and you should always keep the stretches controlled and static rather than ballistic.

Quadricep stretch (30 sec each leg)

Chest stretch

Tricep stretch (30 sec each arm)

VARIATIONS:

This workout is suitable for beginners, if you’re more advanced in your training or you’re seeing progress and would like to make it harder, you may like to try one or more of the following variations;

-Hold something heavy during your lunges (A bag of soil, a foot stool, a bag of rice or flour).

-Complete your push-ups on your toes.

-Place feet further away from your body during tricep dips.

-Complete plank on your toes.

-Increase “work” time, decrease rest or do both.

-Repeat the circuit a fourth time.

Your challenge is to make time to complete the circuit on three non-consecutive days next week (i.e. Monday, Wednesday, Friday). You need to MAKE the time, because you won’t find it. We don’t work the same muscles two days in a row because they need time to recover and repair.

I’d love to hear of your experiences with the workout and about any concerns or fitness questions you may have.

If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got! So lets take the challenge and make a change today!

Have fun!

Felicity.