April Showers Bring May Flowers
Well… April sweat pellets bring blooming, strong muscles with healthy, flexible joints and a huge decrease in stress! We are just as excited as you are for the fabulous, warm weather on the way! So, to help get yourself ready for much more physical activities, bathing suits and an amazing summer… I offer you these tips to keep moving forward with your fitness and wellness goals… safely and practically.
1. Keep your workout schedule balanced. With the smaller clothes we wear in the summer, it’s easy to focus on cardiovascular and weight training to help shed the extra body fat you may have gained in the winter. Keep yoga and Pilates on your schedule! Remember, Pilates is great for lengthening and toning your muscles… as is yoga… and any decrease in flexibility is not going to make your joints (spine especially) happy. Also, any decrease in flexibility directly and negatively affects your strength.
2. Any diet modifications you chose should be well balanced and practice to keep forever. Any diet that focuses on losing weight fast is NOT going to last and a well-balanced diet including many vegetables, lean proteins, lots of water and limited simple sugars will fuel you for all the fun activities you plan for the summer.
3. Take time to meditate. No…this does NOT mean you have to sit still and empty your mind! Try taking a walk and truly see, hear and smell all that is around you. Watch each step, see each tree, stop and smell many flowers and hear each bird. Focusing your mind on exactly what is here right now…that is meditation. Do this often and see how your other activities in life start to become smoother… easier… more fun even.
4. Schedule your workouts around all else that is going on. It is easy to cut out your workouts for the fun days ahead. Each summer I spend much of my time at work on unhappy backs, upset knees and really strained shoulders. All the fun things to come (golf, swimming, tennis, skiing, etc) take a tolled on our bodies…especially since we haven’t done them all winter and now are going to work to get as much in as possible. Keep up your body care. Save your body from stress while enjoying your summer!
In Love and Health,
Diana Spiess