Kent Ninomiya

Kent Ninomiya. I was browsing through some exercise tip articles on yahoo and came across one on cold weather work outs. It recommends doing the following:
1. Lunges across the living room: find enough space to walk/lunge 8-10 paces and do slow, deep walking lunges in your home. Take a long stride and bend deeply as you walk slowly step-by-step working your quads, hamstrings and glutes. Four sets of 8-10 strides on each leg will have you feeling as though you’ve just done leg extensions and squats at the gym.
2. Push up on the stairs, on a bench or on the floor. If you are using a bench be sure that it is securely pushed up against a wall. On the floor, you may want to do your pushups on your knees instead of your toes.
Do four sets of 5-10 reps (and you can even do a little housework in between sets); believe me you will feel your upper body muscles the next day as though you were lifting weights at the gym.
3. Jump rope in the kitchen. Do five sets of 1-2 minutes of jumping rope. You’ll be conditioning your heart, burning excess calories, and revving up your system for a good day.
4. Jumping jacks in the bedroom. Nothing like a few sets of jacks to get your heart rate up and a little sweat going. Do 8-10 sets of 25 jacks and you’ll not only feel your whole body working, but the after effects of feeling your upper and lower body throughout the day will be satisfying and a reminder that you are an athlete in training.5. Abs anywhere. First of all, keep your abs engaged on all of the above exercises. Then, on a soft surface lie on your back and do three sets of 15 crunches and three sets of 15 leg lifts supporting your lower back by keeping your hands on the floor, palms down, just under your lower back.6. Begin your day with five minutes of quiet introspection. Sit still, close your eyes and relax. Focus on your breath and let the world become simple and peaceful.

While this sounds just fine, I am left with the question “who would actually do this stuff?” I mean, what good is any exercise program if you don’t actually do it? Just about every home in America has at least one piece of work out equipment being used as a clothes rack. Everyone has good intentions when they buy the equipment but in a very short period of time it blends in with the coffee table and becomes invisible. The key to working out in every season is routine and motivation. You need to make working out a regular part of your life like brushing your teeth. We don’t particularly like brushing our teeth but we do it because we know we should. It should be the same for exercise. You need to find a work out that you either like to do or can distract yourself from while you are doing it. This can be watching TV or listening to music while you work out. This can be something like martial arts or basketball or dance that is fun. The bottom line is if you hate exercise you will find excuses to avoid it. Eliminate the excuses and you will succede.

Kent Ninomiya

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