Health and Fitness Tips

Health and Fitness Tips - Goal-Based Workouts:


Women work out for different reasons—some want more energy in their daily lives, others want more comfort in their favorite jeans. Just as our motivations differ, so should our workouts. See which of the following profiles fits your personality, and then try the goal-based workout that follows. By choosing an exercise routine geared toward your specific aims, you can maximize the benefit of your workout in and out of the gym.


Stressed and sedentary Your office job has you sitting face-to-screen eight or more hours a day. You occasionally lift a jug of filtered water onto its stand in the break room, but even that task is becoming more challenging each month. Your sedentary lifestyle is sapping your strength, decreasing your energy and making you feel increasingly disconnected from your body.


Your goal: To improve muscle tone and overall health while reconnecting to your body and decreasing stress. Your workout: A pilates-based mat routine uses your own weight for resistance, forcing you to focus on your muscles.That focus translates into a reconnection with your body and stress reduction.



Pilates is based on a series of exercises for each body part that help build stabilizer muscles. Movements incorporate stretching and the yoga philosophy of breathing, helping lengthen muscles, increase flexibility and "open up" your chest—a great way to combat the hunched-over posture created by long days at a desk. This workout uses one exercise from each series to really work your core muscles. Do the entire circuit twice for the most impact.


Pelvic stabilization: Lie on your back, knees bent, feet flat, lower back pressed against the floor (no arch). Tighten your stomach as if someone were going to punch you. Tuck your chin to your chest, supporting your neck with your hands. Roll up until your shoulder blades are off the floor. Hold for three to five seconds. Roll back down. Do 10 to 15 times.



Ribcage stabilization: Lie on your back, lower back flat, legs out straight in front of you. Raise your right knee toward your chest, keeping chest open as if to pinch your shoulder blades together. Clasp hands behind knee and pull chest up gently, keeping shoulder blades pinched. Hold for three to five seconds. Return to starting position and switch legs. Do 10 to 15 times.



Spine exercise: Sit on the floor with your knees pulled in toward your chest and heels on the floor as close to your butt as possible. Tuck your chin to your chest and wrap your arms around your legs. Maintaining this "ball" position, roll gently backward by collapsing into your hips, keeping spine rounded. Roll until your shoulder blades and head touch floor. Roll back up, balancing on your sit-bones without resting feet on floor. (If you can’t roll up, just rock.) Repeat. Do 10 to 15 times.



Back extensions (cat-camel): Start on your hands and knees with your weight squarely over your wrists and knees. Round your back, tucking your chin to your chest and your hips under. Scoop your belly and press up like a camel. Hold for five seconds. Exhale and reverse, arching your back and sinking into your shoulders like a cat. Hold for five seconds. Do 10 times.



Isometric push-ups: Start in a plank position. (Lie on your belly, resting on your elbows with your hands together in prayer position on the ground.) Prop up on your toes, raising your knees and hips off the ground, squeezing your ribcage, glutes and abs. Keep your shoulder blades back and pinched together. Hold. Lower. Do three times, building up to a 20- to 30-second hold each time.



Abdominal/hip flexors: Lie on your back with your knees bent, feet flat on floor, abs tight. Raise hips, keeping glutes tight and body aligned at an angle. Straighten your right leg, maintaining the upward angle. Hold for two to three seconds. Tap foot back down. Switch. Do 10 times on each side.



Hip stabilization: Lie on your back, lower back flat, legs straight, hands at your sides. Raise one leg straight up about four inches, keeping the knee tight and the foot flexed, toes neutral. Rotate leg in 10 small circles clockwise and 10 small circles counterclockwise, tightening gluts and moving from the hip. Lower leg and switch.


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