Posted by kathryn in Seasonal Health

Today’s task in 31 Days to Better Energy comes from a colleague of mine, Alexia Morris. Alexia has over 20 years in the fitness industry, is a pilates instructor, personal trainer and all round fitness guru. I work closely with Alexia at the Source of Wellness and she runs classes at The Gartlan Sports Centre in northern Sydney. For today’s task Alexia has designed an easy mini fitness circuit, you can do at home in 15 minutes.

Why?

If you truly want better energy, then moving more is vital. As I’ve said before, you don’t have to join a gym to exercise. Walking is great, but it’s also good to have a few different strategies under your belt.

Alexia’s circuit is something you can do at home and it only takes 15 minutes. It combines cardiovascular work, along with strengthening and toning exercises. As Alexia says:

the combination of these two is particularly good for your energy levels, because both “methods” are essential for developing the healthiest outcome. They target different systems: cardiovascular exercise strengthens lungs, blood vessels and heart, while the strength or resistance exercises uses the stamina of cardiovascular exercise to build muscles that support skeleton and organs. Which results in more energy, toned muscles and improved ability to perform physically and mentally.

Today’s task

Today’s task towards improving your energy levels is to complete this 15 minute mini-circuit. Over to Alexia . . .

Alexia’s 15 minute home fitness circuit

To complete this circuit you’ll need four things:

• a clock
• to be wearing your sneakers
• a hard chair
• two cans of food from the pantry, of equal weight

There are four activities in my mini-circuit and you should perform each one for three minutes, allowing yourself another three minutes at the end to cool down and do some gentle stretching.

• Set the clock for 15 minutes.
• Cardiovascular: If you have stairs at home, then climb the staircase continuosly for 3 mins. If not, then walk or jog around the perimeter of your house (inside or outside).
• Upper body strengthening & toning: Using the food cans, do some bicep curls for 3 minutes.
• Thigh strengthening & toning: Sit down on the chair . . . and then stand up again. Repeat this for 3 minutes. To make it harder, try crossing your arms in front of your chest
• Abdominal strenthening & toning: Lie on the floor and complete abdominal curls for another 3 minutes
• Now it’s time to cool down and stretch: Spend your last 3 minutes cooling down and doing some gentle stretches. There’s a good guide to stretching here.

What is the 31 Days to Better Energy?

We’re in the final week of 31 Days to Better Energy month here at Limes & Lycopene. It’s a month full of simple strategies for improving your health and boosting your energy. If you’d like to know more or view the full range of tasks so far, then take a look at the introductory post.

25 August, 2007