Upper body Muscles used in Nordic Walking

In a previous blog, I wrote about the benefits of walking with Poles or Nordic Walking.  Today I’ll expand on the muscles used in the upper body:

What muscles are working to increase the upper body strength?

• Triceps: this is the muscle located at the back of the arm between the shoulder joint and elbow joint
• Latissmus Dorsi: large muscle located on your back about half way down
• Rhomboids: this is the muscle used to hold the shoulder blades (Scapula) together.  We work on posture while we are walking so we tend to stand a lot taller and straighter holding the shoulder blades together
• Anterior Deltoid: this muscles is located at the front of the shoulder.  We use this muscle to bring the arm forward.

Therefore, in a 60 minute walk we’re not only increase our heart rate and working out heart we’re also working on upper body strength.  This can be a big time saver for people who are short on time!

Energy Group Fitness offers 3 week sessions to learn how to Nordic Walk.  For more information please visit Energy Group Fitness Website.

Have a lovely day and weekend!

Cheers, Angie
Get fit, keep fit and have fun doing it!

Why People Don’t Exercise

Good Morning,  I was going through my health and fitness books to see what I could blog about today and came across the book Concepts of Fitness and Wellness by Charles B. Corbin and Ruth Lindsey written in 1994. What got my attention when I was looking though this book was a heading called Facts about why people do not exercise.  As I was reading through this section I couldn’t believe we still have the same reasons not to exercise 13 years later!  Why have the reasons not changed or better yet why do we still have reasons not to exercise?  We have so many choices today that there really shouldn’t be any reason not to exercise.  Here are the reasons from 1994:

1. “I don’t have enough time”
2. “It’s too inconvenient”
3. “Just don’t enjoy exercise”
4. Poor health
5. Lack of facilities and bad weather
6. Some people think they are too old

Do these sound familiar?  Do you hear yourself saying or thinking them or hear other people saying them? I certainly hear people saying these statements. Today there are so many options and choices for exercise, there is something for everyone.

Action for you today:  Assess your fitness routine: do you have on? what are you doing, how often, do you enjoy the exercise routine? Do you need a change?  How do you schedule your fitness time? Also access what you say to yourself about fitness. Are they positive thoughts/ negative thoughts?  Are you surrounded by people who are positive/ negative about fitness?  By gathering all this information you can see how/ why you do some of the things you do in regards to your health and fitness.

Have a lovely day!

Cheers, Angie
Get fit, keep fit and have fun doing it!

A Woman’s Week at the Gym

I received this forward from a friend of mine, I thought it was so funny that I would share it with you!

Have a great day and know that you really don’t need to start off with a 7 days workout routine!

Enjoy!

Cheers, Angie

Spicing up your drink selection

To end this week of blogging, lets stay with the theme of liquids.  The past 2 blogs were about water  today is about other types of drinks because let face it water can sometime be a little boring and we’d like to spice things up a little!  Who wants to go to the coffee shop and order water?  What can you drink without adding too many calories?

Basically tea and coffee without any sugar or milk are the best. Zero calories and zero fat, yes caffeine but no calories.  If you have a 1oz cup of coffee from Tim Horton’s with 1 cream, 1 sugar you’ll end up with 75 calories and 3.5% fat.  These numbers can be changed with low fat milk, no sugar.  Now if you have a Vanilla Cappuccino from either Tim Horton’s or Starbucks the number of calories greatly increase to over 200 calories.  Again these numbers can be changed by having non-fat, low fat etc but the point is that a lot of extra calories and fat especially if you have one every day. This could add up to almost a 1/2 pound per week, not good if you’re trying to maintain or lose weight.  Have these types of drinks as a treat once in awhile instead of a reward because you worked out in the morning. 

If you are big into drinking lattes, cappuccinos or macchiato try drinking tea or coffee for a couple of weeks and see what happens.  

Have a great day!

Cheers, Angie
Get fit, keep fit and have fun doing it!

Keeping Hydrated during exercise

On Monday I wrote about how drinking water can help you lose weight, today I thought I would write about water and exercise.  You’ll need to make sure you drink extra water before, during and after exercise to keep you body hydrated and operating efficiently and effectively. 

Here’s are some guideline of how much water you should be drinking:

• Before exercise: 20 to 30 minutes drink 8 ounces
• During exercise: 3 to 6 ounces every 10 to 15 minutes
• After exercise: 30 minutes drink 8 to 10 ounces 

Enjoy the day and stay hydrated!

Cheers, Angie
Get fit, Keep fit and have fun doing it!