Dance Walking

I don't know about you, but now that the weather is getting a little warmer and I'm shedding my layers of winter, I'm feeling way out of shape.

Too much time spent sitting in front of the computer.  Too many afternoons noshing on comfort food.





A new season means moving is the name of the game for me and I think this You Tube video below showing how to Dance Walk is the perfect way to kickstart some outdoor motion and burning off those almighty calories!

Even if you don't need to tone up, check out this Dance Walk video because it's fun and we all need to find something that makes us feel fabulous by the end of the week, right?

Getting In Gear

The calendar still says February but the warm temperatures this weekend offered me hope that Spring is close to arriving in my area of the world.

I think my neighbors felt the same way because all weekend I saw them emerging from their homes of hibernation, waving hellos and walking around their yards picking up recently fallen branches and small sticks and checking out winter's damages.  It was also nice to see the baby brigade out and about with strollers and young toddlers in tow.  While doing my errands, everyone seemed to be energized by the warm and shining sun.  Coats disappeared and even some shorts and flip flops appeared on a few righteous teenagers.  

 

Stretching and breathing in fresh air was the order of the day and it just felt great all around.  Even though I felt the tug of the next episode of "House of Cards" mentally calling me to the computer, I ignored it's mesmerizing pull and instead went for a long walk for at least a mile or two.  It's definitely a good walk when I lose track of time and distance and it's also definitely amazing how a walk can reset your outlook and change your mood.

 

 

We've gotten a lot of snow this season so it's been harder to go outside and exercise but I try to remind myself that I always feel better when I get myself in gear and do some sort of exercise whether it's walking, bicycling, dancing or running.  I tell myself myself that exercising offsets the bad effects of sitting in front of the computer for hours a time but unfortunately that doesn't seem to be true according to some recent news stories. 

 

It's a fact of life that I spend a lot of time in front of the computer.  Hours and hours.  When I am at my full-time job five days a week, I try to periodically get up and walk around the office to squeeze in some exercise time and then I try to do the same when I am at home writing Cry Laugh Heal which is not work at all but truly a passion for me.

It's a constant battle and as I get older I can see that activity truly is the key to having and maintaining good health.  I like to sometimes follow these three simple suggestions from The American Diabetes Association on how to increase physical activity in your daily routine: 

 

--Take the stairs, not the elevator.
--Park further away from your destination, so you have to walk more.
--At home, make several trips upstairs to building extra cardio into such things as putting away laundry or other household chores.

Good luck with your personal fitness and here is the link to the National Public Radio story that made me think differently about sitting around and vegging out:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/02/19/279460759/sit-more-and-youre-more-likely-to-be-disabled-after-age-60?utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=20140223&utm_source=mostemailed

Zumba Zumba

The guy who invented Zumba, Beto Perez, wears a black sleeveless T-shirt and says to me, "Feel the Music."

And I do!

I am watching Beto, along with 5 other Zumba dance instructors on a DVD and I am taking the 20 minute Zumba express lesson in my house.

What's so great about Zumba?

Well, for me Zumba feels more like fun rather than exercise and the workout burns mucho calories which I am always trying to do.  Having discovered Zumba this summer, I am finding it to be everything I heard.  First of all, the music is great!  It's not like an exercise class at all.  I am writing about Zumba because I genuinely like it, not because the company sent me materials and asked me to endorse anything.

Even though I am watching a DVD rather than being in a live class, it still feels similar to being in a party atmosphere.  I have watched a lot of exercise DVDs and enjoy all of them for different reasons but Zumba is different.  Don't get me wrong, you definitely do break a sweat will following the instructors! 

 

 

 

But the Zumba program, which involves dance and aerobic elements, doesn't feel robotic in terms of constantly counting where you are in the exercises and how many you have left to do to get to the end.  Also, if you fall out of step in one of the routines, it's more forgiving.  You can easily find your place again if you just keep moving.

 

We all need to move around a lot more than we do.  Our bodies were designed for movement.  We are built to be active. 

 

Over the winter I could tell that I was spending more time sitting and I knew this wasn't a good thing.  I could tell because I was started to gain a little weight and I felt sluggish.  Plus there are more and more studies coming out about how sitting all day may shorten your life.  As a person who works in an office and spends a good amount of the day in front of the computer, I find those studies to be scary.

 

So I was prepared to get off my butt but I needed to find something new to jumpstart me and keep me off my butt.  I had heard about Zumba for a while and had casually watched some infomercials and I thought it always looked more like dance than exercise.

 

Try it for yourself and see what you think.  Even if you don't follow the routines you can dance or move along with the music which is better than sitting in front of the television or the computer.  Any movement is better than no movement.

 

Here's a short introduction Zumba clip to watch so you can see what it's all about:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BG_YDGH7jhU