15 Minute Workout #2

One thing I must stress from the outset is if you are new to exercise or just getting back into it after a break remember your body is the loudest and most definite indicator of whether you are doing something right. If your muscles ache after a workout, this is good. We are working muscles that may have not been in use for some time, so don't worry if you are shaky afterwards, sit down, relax and re-hydrate. One thing that your body needs is water and when you exercise it needs it more than ever. Water not only re-hydrates but also aids your body in flushing out the toxins so it may also be a good point to note that you may need the loo more as your body will be evacuating . . . everything! This is more so the case if you are changing your diet for a cleaner one as . . . things happen a whole lot quicker and your bowels will be keen on helping your body get rid of the toxins. You should be drinking around 3 litres of water a day which may seem a lot to some people, but I find the best way to get yourself used to drinking more water is a little often through out the day.

Doing the 15 Minute Workout #1 is quite literally for every level of fitness. It is certainly not just "for beginners". I have had some comments that it does not work the abdominal muscles so I will just go over this one for you. The workouts I am setting down for you are known in the industry as "Full Body Workouts", the clue is in the name. If you want to see what muscles it works do the following:

Lay down on your front, toes pressed to the floor (as if you were going to do a push/press-up), put the palm of your hands on the floor at chest level approximately 30 cent from your body now just push slightly, not raising your body off the floor but pushing with your feet and arms and feel which muscles tighten.
Like this:

Source: getridofbuttfat.com via Cathi on Pinterest

You will feel your calves, thighs, buttocks, abdominal muscles, lower back, upper back and shoulders, biceps, triceps, hands and neck tensing. These are the muscles used in a push-up. Also in this bit of food for thought realise you are now using all of your body to push more weight than most of us could on a bar weight, and you can do this as a beginner! To see how effective body weight training is as opposed to gym machines go to a gym and try picking up a bar with 60kg on and pressing it for 15 minutes.
Trust me it helps in losing weight and looking younger, and is way cheaper than any of those "fix it" products on the market.

Source: getridofbuttfat.com via Cathi on Pinterest

Onto the new workout, I have kept it equipment free as I want you to get the most out of these articles and knowing how to use your body as your best fitness equipment is by far the best way forward as you take your body everywhere with you, unlike a set of weights, rowing machine or a cross-trainer. In my next article I will ramp it up again with weights, but, once again, you do not have to, this workout or the 15 Minute Workout #1 alone is all you need to get fit. If you want to see the maths behind it have a pop over to here where it all the maths and reasoning's are laid down bare for all to see for themselves.

Once again it is a 15 minute workout. Each exercise being repeated 5 times (5 reps), on completing 5 reps you move to the next exercise and do 5 reps until you have completed all the exercises listed which then means you have done 1 set.

When you have done this for a couple of weeks or so, and want to push yourself further either move the number of reps up ie from 5 to 10 and see how that goes. The thing with this is you can ramp it up yourself as and when you want just by upping the number of reps per set, but DO NOT do this until you can do the full the 15 Minute Workout #1 or this one without breaking a sweat as you just wont be ready and the last thing I want is for you to be put off training by it becoming too hard. REMEMBER you DO want to push yourself YOU DON'T want to demotivate yourself! If you ever have any questions regarding training please either leave a comment at the bottom or email me I will try and help any issues you may have.

Before I go any further, please find below a picture of exactly where the muscles written about are, it will help you get a better grip of what I bleat on about!

Source: getridofbuttfat.com via Cathi on Pinterest

I have gone through motivation through mantras' and music in this lens (why not join me!) I will amazing these techniques are and how they definitely work. Another way to motivate yourself is to find a picture and caption that really hit it home to you. Here are a few that really rocked my world and one that got me straight back into training (no word of a lie), but you will have to guess which one!

The other ways to get yourself motivated is to keep telling yourself how your new body that you are working on is going to be so beautiful, picture it in your head . . this works too!

The only thing that I would say is don't rely on other people to motivate you, it must come from inside you.

When I was first shown what I am about to tell you about, I honestly thought it was a load of rott and I did not 100% believe that the person who used it had healed their own broken ankle. Then one day last summer I actually witnessed the same person breaking their foot and stood and watched him heal himself in 20 minutes. His foot literally went from black and broken to pink and healed! It was amazing, since then I have used this method, OK I am still way down the line from being able to heal myself in minutes, but it does work on muscles overnight. It also works to energise yourself and help you get warmed up before training.

Stand feet planted shoulder width apart, put your palms together in front of you as if you were praying. Press your palms together as hard as you can, so you feel your chest arms and shoulders tense. Breath normally holding the tension for 10 seconds. Release, shake your hands and arms a little, then repeat 10 times. You will quite literally feel heat flowing through you. Then try tensing every muscle in your body, holding it for 10 seconds and releasing, again do this 10 times. Your whole body will now feel energised and ready to go.

To help injury (and recovery after an operation)

For this you can just be sitting or laying down. Where ever and whatever the injury is, tense the relevant part of your body as above holding for 10, releasing and repeating, do this as many times as you can through-out the day(s). The reason that this works is it helps the blood flow through your body carrying vital oxygen and chemicals that aid in the healing process. This also works if you have had an operation, I know I probably don't need to say this but, use common sense, if it hurts just hold it for as long as you can without inducing agony and always breath steadily.

I feel that I have to put this in, some people will hit the roof with this next bit but as I have been there and done it I have to let you know.

There are some training DVD's out there that claim to be able to give you the perfect body in around 90 days. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that they can, and indeed do exactly as they say on the box and there are loads of people that have done it and been wonderfully successful.

The only problem I have with them is they can also put you off training for . . . a while if not life. Be warned, any workout that is filled with various push ups, pull ups, curls, bent over rowing for an hour on day one is going to hurt, and not in a good way! The thing is the people who do these are superbly fit and inspirational there are no two ways about it, but, BE WARNED if you are pretty new to this you may feel disheartened demoralised and put off. These DVD's do state that you should only do what you can, but when you are in front of a TV and hearing how many reps someone is doing and they shout 15, 20 or 25 and you can not manage this you may feel that it is all impossible or worse do too much and hurt yourself. I am not saying don't buy them, I am just saying be careful and, if you do, make sure you do only do what is good for you otherwise you will be unable to walk for about a week and may hurt your ego for a lot, lot longer.