5 Effective Exercises for the Holiday Traveler

The holiday season could wreck havoc on your workout routine without a plan in place. Additionally traveling can further prevent you from going to the gym, running, and other fitness you regularly do. Generally our water intake is lower when we travel, and this could leave us feeling fatigued even though we may not be necessarily 'tired'.  When the FAA throws out your water, make sure you buy one bigger than what the airlines offer; you should try and drink 8-12 ounces an hour; this shouldn't be difficult, but it can seem harder when we get behind on our consumption levels.

For a quick circuit, here are some simple effective exercises you can do to keep up with your routine. Pack a jumprope and use a tabata timer from your phone, or the stopwatch from your phone.

Circuit for when you are on the road traveling:
First: Jump rope for 3 to 4 minutes. (A goal to reach in terms of a repetition number would be to jump rope between 100 and 200 times)
Next:  Perform 15 air squats or my 'frog hops'
Then: 30 arm circles, 15 forward and 15 backward.
Next: 30 lunges, 15 on each leg.
Finally: 20 Frankenstein Kicks* on each leg.

Frankenstein Kicks: - Start with both arms straight and above your head.  Raise your stiff, straight left leg up in air towards horizontal plane (your waist). While left leg is lifting, the right arm which is also stiff and straight, will lower, crossing the body, in an attempt to touch the toes of the left leg to complete one repetition. Return the leg and arm to the beginning and then alternate the arm and leg.

Cool down by adding in 2 to 4 minutes of walking and 5 to 10 minutes of static stretching.


Zeke Samples, IFA, CSN, CPR, IDEA

Surreal Body Solutions, LLC

803.322.7649

www.SurrealBodySolutions.com 

& contributing health and exercise author

Personal Training | Nutrition | Supplements | Motivation

The Pre-Exercise Stretching Myth

Did you know pre-exercise stretching is generally unnecessary and likely counterproductive? Depending on how much water the person drank the day before to how generally active that person is, you will be amazed how many factors you either would never think about being important, indeed are. 

Warm-up routines, for example, an exercise that includes light stretching, jumping jacks, or frog hops can prepare the body for intensive activity without making the muscles vulnerable to overwork.  A gentle warm-up that takes less than a minute to stretch the quadriceps, hamstrings and calves can be valuable prior to cardiovascular exercise. Increasing the ranges of motion in the body will domino into enhancing the activities of daily life. 

Pre-exercise stretching (stretching via focusing on on bodypart at a time) all the time, may actually comunicate to the muscle to lose flexibility when they are overworked. Overstretching your muscle and then demanding a power activity from it, could restrict the power or force that it would have if it hadn't been stretched so intensely.  

Bottom Line: Perform a warm up routine first, as noted above, then spend more time on recovery stretching afterwards.

In Health, 

Zeke Samples - IFA, - IDEA

Surrealbody@gmail.com

7 Signs of Dehydration

Did you know 95% of the US population suffers from dehydration? 

Dehydration happens when your body does not have enough water intake to properly function.

 Some of the signs you might see when your body needs more water:

Dry Skin:  Our skin is one of the first things affected from dehydration. As your body gets less water, the body withholds water from skin cells to prioritize the most vital organs. The skin cells begin to dry out, tighten, and then sags and wrinkles.

Headaches:  With insufficient hydration, your blood volume drops, causing lower blood and oxygen flow to the brain. Blood vessels in the brain dilate, giving you a headache.

Physical Fatigue:  Water makes up most of your muscle tissue. When your body doesn't get enough water the muscles weaken, causing physical fatigue.

Mental Fatigue:  The brain needs oxygen to function. Lack in proper hydration creates a drop in blood and oxygen levels. The result is the inability to concentrate.

Constipation:  As your body's water availability drops, so does it's function to properly eliminate waste. Your body builds up toxins as byproducts.

Fluid Retention:  If you don't absorb enough water into your body, it will start to conserve the water it has. Water will be stored in your body at a higher than normal rate until it is re-hydrated.

Weight Gain:  Excess storage of water is the result of dehydration and fluid retention.

In Health, 

Zeke Samples - IFA, - IDEA

Contributing author for www.FitAphrodite.com

surrealbody@gmail.com