The Perfect Exercise Routine For You

Everyone’s’ physiology, energy levels, motivation, time, and economics dictates the need for a very specific exercise routine. Well, it took a lot of research, but we’ve found routines for: beginning, intermediate, and advanced; in or out of the gym; ten minutes or an hour and a half; outdoors or indoors, aerobic or anaerobic; muscle-building or muscle toning.

Let’s say you’re just starting out and don’t want to go into the gym until you’ve gained some conditioning and confidence. Here’s how you can get a great workout in ten minutes, with no equipment! Do this cardio/sculpting routine outside on grass, or at home in a soft surface like carpet or use a small piece of foam. You’ll burn more than eight calories per minute.

Minute 0:00 – 1:00. Decline pushup. Place toes on a sturdy rock or bench at least eight inches high. Lower chest almost to the ground, straighten and repeat.

1:00 – 2:00. Squat. Traditional squat; one foot on raised surface, one on the ground. Alternate - do 30 seconds per side.

2:00 – 3:00. Jumping jacks.

3:00 – 4:00. Tricep dip. Sit on a beach or chair and slip forward until your tailbone is close to the edge. Lower until your upper arms are parallel to the ground. Straighten and repeat.

4:00 – 5:00. Step-ups. Step up onto a sturdy rock or short chair, one leg at a time. Do thirty seconds per leg.

5:00 – 6:00. Jumping jacks.

6:00 – 7:00. Squat thrust. Stand on a flat surface, squat down and place palms on the ground. Jump feet behind you into a pushup position. Quickly bring knees under chest and spring back up.

7:00 – 8:00. Reverse crunch. Lie in front of a tree or bench with arms extended behind you, holding a trunk or bench leg for support. Raise legs perpendicular to the ground. Lift until hips slightly off the ground.

8:00 – 9:00. Jumping jacks.

9:00 – 10:00. Lunges. Step forward with one leg, then jump back, extend other leg. Continue to alternate for one minute.

And when you’re ready to progress, we’ve got a routine that you’ll feel comfortable with; one that will give you a base of conditioning from which you’ll able to move up to the next level, confidently.

Tid-Bit: How cheating on your diet (once a week) can actually help you!

Eating more calories than you normally eat one day a week can actually prevent your metabolism from dropping. It’s one of the great paradoxes of dieting. When calories decline, levels of thyroid hormone, a major calorie burner, also dip, does leptin and hormone-sensitive lipase, an enzyme that helps banish body fat. Besides metabolism, there’s muscle to consider; IGF-1, a hormone that supports muscle growth, retention, and repair, also declines with prolonged dieting.

Every 7-10 days during your dieting phase, double your carbohydrate intake for one day. The sudden boost reverses the decline in metabolism while driving IGF-1 levels back to normal, if not a little higher. This not only prevents “sticking points” in dieting, but ensures you’ll maintain your muscle mass.

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