A workout to start your weekend

Scott Schwab:

With the weekend now upon us, the excitement of going out and eating at restaurants or gathering with friends will usually include some unhealthy choices. That is great, because you cannot improve unless faced with a choice, faced with a challenge, and then decide to act according to your goals.

One action that is really helpful is to get out and get some exercise. For some people the weekend means going out, having drinks, and eating great rich food. Live with the reality of Monday on your mind! If we remember that Monday will be the start of another exercise week with hard work, we can lessen the strain of the weekend.

Here are a couple of exercises that you should work into your weekend routine:

Stair Stepper:

The Stair stepper is a great exercise that works the major muscle groups of your body including: the gluts, legs, core, and even your upper body depending upon whether you pump your arms or have dumbbells. Your pace will also be important and you can really get your butt in gear (literally), by picking up the pace and making sure you get the sweat flowing.

Interval Running:

Running on the treadmill or outside is great, but to really kick it into gear and burn some calories, change your pace. How you do this is by running at a comfortable level as you start. Once you are warmed up, increase the pace for 30 seconds to a minute. Come back down but not to the exact pace you started with. The different paces will really make your body and heart work in a different way and will give you a great workout.

Weight Training:

There is no better exercise than weight training. By implementing a circuit model or cross fit model, you will burn much more calories than either of the two mentioned above. The trick is to keep moving. Put your music in your ears, get focused, and just go. If you rest, set your resting time to be 30 seconds to 1 minute. The reason, will be that your body continues to have to push itself past levels of rest and plateau. Choose four exercises and put them in a general area. Do each exercise 4 times and cycle between each chosen exercise doing at least 10 reps per exercise. (my favorites are: pull-ups, push-ups, seated bench, and dips).

Activity:

It is not always necessary to spend your weekend in the gym trying to make up for the Friday night out. Sometimes, even better than a gym regimen, is a pick up game with friends, a good cleaning of the house, working out in the yard, going on a fun jog or bike ride, doing a fun exercise class with friends. The fact is, there are many great ways to burn the calories. The important thing to avoid is sitting around doing nothing. Calories happen whether we like it or not. We have to eat and most foods have the calories. However, it is what you do with those calories that is important.

Have a great weekend, and remember if you say you are going to do something, do it. Eliminate the attitude that I will do it later, because generally you wont. If you don't have time right then, schedule an exact time that you will complete the task that you are putting off. This is a principle that will change your life completely.