Get Fit Chick

New Study Suggests Women Work Out for an Hour

TheGetFitChick — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 12:03:58 +0000

For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been doubling up on 45 minute exercise classes at the gym. Body sculpting coupled with step class leaves me aching for the next couple of days, but I’ve always been a believer that pain is weakness leaving the body. Extreme yoga followed by Zumba leaves me feeling more limber and confident in my tail-feather shaking abilities at the dance clubs. Furthermore, I’ve noticed that my endurance level is up, and I have maintained my weight. So when I learned of the new study that suggests women work out for at least an hour a day for seven days a week to maintain their weight, I wasn’t surprised. In addition, that time needs to be increased for weight loss results.

And we’re talking moderate exercise so :

You would need to break a sweat after 10 minutes
You should be able to babble on in conversation but not be able to carry a tune (sing)

Given this news, I will continue with my same workout routine. I feel like my heart is getting stronger each day. Plus, there are many more benefits to hitting the gym regularly, including the prevention of:

Osteoporosis
Diabetes
Cancer
High Blood Pressure

An hour suddenly doesn’t seem like a long time when you could claim health as the reward for all your hard work. Health means no continuous doctor’s visits, medications and medical bills.

Also, working out helps you sleep better throughout the night, and it also brightens your mood. If you are going through some really difficult times in your life, like a lay off such as myself, exercising will literally pull you from the depths of depression. It makes you stronger and confident.

Think in terms of what you consume on a daily basis for weight loss results, but think of exercise as your weapon to secure overall health and help with weight loss.

Niecy Nash Dedicates her Dancing with the Stars Performance to “Thick Girls Everywhere”

TheGetFitChick — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 12:19:55 +0000

As I sat glued to my TV last night watching Dancing with the Stars, I couldn’t wait to watch Ms. Niecy Nash, star of Reno 911 and Clean House, shimmy across the dance floor with her partner, Louis Van Amstel. She represented the sisters, proclaiming her love for her ‘jiggly parts’ and how she didn’t want to whittle down to a thin shell of her former self as she continued to train vigorously for her cha-cha dance routine.

Because dancing is such a fun, undercover cardio workout, you can easily shed unwanted pounds, but Ms. Nash’s celebration of her curves shows her confidence and love of her body image just the way it is. I am proud that she declared this positive self perception on national television. She made a point to be the voice of so many women who eat healthily, exercise regularly, but whose body shape isn’t pencil thin.

Sometimes I get caught up in yearning to be skinnier, especially when that’s all you see in magazine ads and movies. Ms. Niecy stepped out in front of millions of viewers in a form-fitting, gold-sequined dress. She rolled her hips and cha-chaed to the hit number Rescue Me, exuding self-confidence. So whenever I find myself in a pit of frustration over the thickness of my thighs, I’ll remember her performance, her love her self and acknowledge just how blessed I truly am to have my own curves.

Down Dog

TheGetFitChick — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 16:26:27 +0000

I truly enjoy yoga and the benefits of flexibility, balance, and muscle tone (just to name a few). But why is it that my dogs, two small fuzzy pomeranians, won’t hesitate to to trot onto my yoga mat, and show me where those yoga poses truly originated from? It’s absolutely hilarious. They stretch into downward facing dog, lift one back paw and then the other effortlessly. While it seems as easy as 1,2,3 for them, I can’t keep the sweat from pouring into my eyes as I try to execute a seamless vinyasa-transitioning from plank and lowering to the ground with legs still not touching the mat, to upward facing dog and finally down dog. For anyone who thinks yoga is a laid back workout, I challenge you to try and get through the entire P90X extreme yoga routine without breaking a sweat!

Extreme Yoga

TheGetFitChick — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 01:09:29 +0000

So I’m in the sixth week of the P90X Exercise DVD program. I absolutely love it. I’m stronger, and leaner. I can tell a huge difference from when I first started to now. If you are considering this as an exercise regimen, I definitely recommend it. You shock the body each day with a different routine. Your body doesn’t get stuck in a rut, doing the same old, mundane workout each and every day. Today, I did Yoga X. It’s an hr and thirty minutes. The first hour consists of extreme poses and vinyasas while the rest of the time focuses on balance and stretching poses. Even in week 6, it’s still challenging. Even more so since the day before I did chest, biceps and triceps. My arms are a tad sore, but they say pain is weakness leaving the body.