No couscous needed for the workouts listed below…although you could use them as weights if you buy multiple containers as I have!
Movement and eating should be two of the most natural parts of human activity, yet when it comes to exercise and nutrition, many people feel lost and confused. Time to make it way easier.
Here's the nitty-gritty...
When I am creating a total-body workout, I make sure to include at least one exercise from our most fundamental human movements. Those movements are:
Pulling, ex. Row, single-arm row, pull-up/chin-up, reverse fly
Hip hinging, ex. Deadlift, single-leg deadlift, kettlebell swing, glute bridge
Vertical and/or horizontal pushing, ex Overhead press, chest press, Chest fly, Pushups
When building YOUR workout, you could stop there with 1 exercise from each of those four movements, or you could choose to add a few more categories to round your plan out a bit more:
Lateral (side-to-side) movement = Lateral lunges, shuffles
Mobility, Balance, and/or Gait = Bear crawls, single-leg movements, Farmer's carries
Core = Deadbugs, planks, windshield wipers, Russian twists
Using this idea, an effective workout stand-by to come back to again and again would be to take one exercise from each of the above columns and put it together as a circuit, doing each exercise for 30 seconds before moving on to the next one. Your workout might look like this:
Squats
Rows
Deadlifts
Chest press
Bear crawl
Lateral lunges
Plank hold
Rest 30 seconds.
One round is 4 minutes. Four minutes! We all have 4 minutes, right? There, Folks, is your 4 minute exercise plan! Have a little more time? Choose to repeat for 2-3 rounds.
Start by committing to this workout, even just bodyweight only, once a day - for four minutes (and don't worry, if your workout is 4 minutes long, you don't need to worry about overtraining by doing it everyday). Once it becomes a habit and the movements feel easier, begin adding weight, rounds, or complexity (by introducing single-leg movements for instance). You could work in this way for months finding variety and progression, and in only about 4-12 minutes per day! The important part is to not let confusion hold your feet in place. Analysis paralysis is real; fight it by getting started, right where you are, right now.
Workouts like these are what Scrappy Wellness is made of: simple and time-tested, this program prizes consistent, effective training over a total overhaul. We take the same ideas and apply them to nutrition as well, which you'll hear about in the next newsletter this week. Here's a bit more info about what is part of the Scrappy Wellness plan:
A detailed, weekly workout program that everyone has time for (see above!),
Two months of recipes laid out in monthly plans,
Nutrition de-mystified, with specific things to work on so you know what to do,
Regular Trainer Accountability and Group Support,
...and more!
Interested? Email me here and I will send you an info sheet with more details.
This program starts February 1. There is a minimum client number needed, so reach out today to talk to me AND your friends!
One more important note: there is exercise and there is movement. Certainly, the two overlap. But often, we stress about getting our workouts in without paying enough attention to the fact that we sit for the rest of the day. Both exercise and regular movement throughout the day are important! So while this post is about workout planning, know that it is just as important to look at your day as a whole and make sure you are moving all the way through it.
