Outdoor Summer Exercise

We love the summer. It gives us more opportunities to get outdoors and exercise. To break from your normal summer  exercise regime or to try something different, we wanted to give you some new outdoor exercise options. Here are our findings.

1.Skipping-rope. Haven't skipped rope or played a little Double Dutch with your friends since you were in grade school? Well, it's time to pick up an old habit. It's fun, trendy, and family-friendly. Get the kids involved and get everyone's fitness curve on the upswing. Women all around the country have rediscovered jump-rope, both as a means of getting in shape and as a healthy form of competition. There are exhibitions and festivals going on throughout the United States and Europe. As for weight loss, twenty minutes of jumping is the equivalent of an hour of aerobics. The best part is that skipping-rope is a great lower-body workout.

2. Geocaching. This fun, walking-intensive activity - essentially a technological scavenger hunt - is sweeping the nation. All you need to participate is a hand-held GPS device. Here's how it works: people hide objects almost anywhere you could imagine (the caches), and list them online only by their latitude and longitude. Geocachers become members of these online groups and select caches to find based on general location and difficulty of the search. Caches are inexpensive, fun and quirky. When you find a cache, you leave something else for the next person. To learn more, go to www.geocaching.com.

3. Yoga at dawn. For you early risers, join the ranks of yoga enthusiasts who
spread their mats on the beach as the sun makes its appearance for another day. Yoga has both physical and psychological benefits that often seem enhanced when combined with awe-inspiring natural events. Alternatives to practicing your asanas (yoga poses) at dawn include yoga in the moonlight and yoga in a quiet glade.

4. Fitness trails. Instead of simply biking, jogging or hiking, check out a fitness trail near you. Fitness trails are paths that have a series of stations featuring different exercises. As you jog down the trail, you periodically come upon a chinning bar, parallel bars or, perhaps, a horizontal ladder, all designed to give a different part of your body a workout. Fitness trails are often sponsored by colleges, community groups or your city government, so there's probably one nearby.

5. Amateur leagues. It may seem as if we've become a nation of couch
potatoes, getting our thrills vicariously through our local university or professional sports teams. In reality, amateur participatory sports are alive and well. If you love baseball, why not find a local league designed for people just like you? Most cities and towns have organized programs in baseball, softball, basketball and soccer that are perfect for adults and kids of all ages. It's great weather for sports, so join in, have fun and get fit.


 This list should assist you with more exercise choices this summer. Thank you to netquote.com for their insight concerning this topic.  If you would like to contact us with any questions or feedback, you can reach us by email.

Thank you for visiting!

Joseph A. Jones & The WellLife Team

Healthy Easter Activities For The Family

Spring is coming. We love this time of year. It is a great time to get in the outdoors and be with mother nature. What a better way to enjoy the spring with outdoor Easter activities. This is a good way to work off some of that Easter candy.


Outdoor Easter games offer a family activity beyond the traditional Easter egg hunt. Most of the Easter games use basic supplies, making them simple and inexpensive to coordinate. The games also lend themselves well to indoor adaptations. This allows you to move the Easter activities indoors if there are April showers and the weather does not cooperate.

Obstacle Course

An Easter-themed obstacle course gets all of its participants moving. Each player needs a spoon and either a hard-boiled egg or a plastic Easter egg. The players balance the egg on the spoon while navigating an obstacle course set up in the back yard. Ideas for obstacles include sawhorses to climb under, Easter baskets to weave through and plastic eggs scattered on the ground that the players have to tiptoe around to avoid smashing them.

Egg Rolling

Each player needs a different color of hard-boiled egg for this game, suggested on the Amazing Moms website. Place one white hard-boiled egg in the middle of the lawn or patio. Each player takes a turn rolling his hard-boiled egg. The goal is to get the colored egg to stop closest to the white egg. Keep extras of each color on hand in case one of the eggs cracks or gets squashed during the game.

Easter Egg Toss

This outdoor Easter game requires players to toss eggs back and forth without dropping them. Any type of egg works for this game, including raw, hard-boiled or plastic eggs. Real eggs, whether or not you boil them, will make a mess when dropped or tossed too hard, adding a layer of messy fun to the game. Pairs of players start close together with only a few feet between each member of the pair. After successfully tossing and catching the egg, the pairs move back a step each for a greater distance and another toss. Continue widening the gap to make the game more of a challenge.

Easter Egg Hunt Variations

Give a regular Easter egg hunt a twist for an interesting outdoor game. One option is to organize a treasure hunt instead of an Easter egg hunt. Create a map with locations marked for different Easter treats. You might leave eggs, baskets or small Easter toys in each marked location. Include a larger basket at the end of the treasure hunt. Another variation, suggested on the Kaboose website, is to write a letter on each egg. After the kids collect their eggs, they use the letters to spell out as many words as possible. A special prize goes to the child who creates the most words from her letters.

These are great simple ways to enjoy the holiday and get the most out of spring. Thank you to livestrong.com for these useful ideas.  If you would like to contact us with any questions or feedback, you can reach us by email.

Thank you for visiting!

Joseph A. Jones & The WellLife Team

Exercise Ideas for Couple's on Valentines Day

Valentines Day is arriving very soon. We enjoy the romance and everything but it would be nice to do something healthy and together. So, we need to find some fun exercise ideas for Valentines Day. We did just that for you. Here are our findings.

Sign Up for a Valentine's Day Race

Calories Burned: 288 calories per 30 minutes of running

Whether you're a seasoned runner looking to PR or a recreational runner looking for some fun; attached or unattached, get your heart pumping and celebrate Valentine's Day at a race. Usually themed runs are fun, laid back, and offer tons of entertainment and food. Why not make this Valentine's Day healthy and fun?

Take a Fitness Class

Calories Burned: 477 calories per 60 minutes of intense aerobic exercise

Break a sweat together as you lift weights and boost cardio. You and your partner can motivate each other to work out. This is a great way to push yourself to new heights. If you're single, sign up a singles fitness class. Meet your mate while doing something you like to do.

Dance, Dance, Dance

Calories Burned: 342 calories per 60 minutes of moderate dance

Whether you want to improve your wiggle dance or learn how to tango, dancing will get your heart rate up. Not only can you improve your coordination skills, but there's also something sensational about dancing with your partner. You don't have to be a pro to learn how to dance, be open-minded, have fun and watch your significant other move. Or, grab your friends for a fun evening of music and dancing.

Lace-Up Some Skates

Calories Burned: 342 calories per 60 minutes

Hold hands as you skate around a roller rink or ice rink and pretend you're a kid again. Spin and jump as you show off your amazing skating skills. Even if you're not an Olympic skater, trying a few tricks is always fun. You might end up with a few bumps or bruises, but just think about how much laughter will occur because you just let go and have fun.

Go Rock Climbing

Calories Burned: 747 calories per 60 minutes of rock climbing

Indoors or outdoors, rock climbing builds trust and confidence between you and your partner. Plus, rock climbing is a great way to build muscle. Challenge yourself; try something new and adventurous.

 These are fun activities that you can do with your loved one. A big thank you goes to active.com for their useful information concerning this topic. If you would like to contact us with any questions or feedback, you can reach us by email.

Thank you for visiting!

Joseph A. Jones & The WellLife Team

How To Set Up An Exercise Routine

A New Year is here. There are many people that want to start to exercise but have trouble with finding a proper exercise routine. That results in frustration and giving up  an opportunity to become healthy. Well, help is on the way. From our research , we found a realistic and easy way to follow an exercise routine.

A well-rounded program includes cardio, weight training and flexibility. Knowing how to put these together in a week of workouts can be confusing. Should you do cardio and strength training on the same day? Which one should you do first? This will depend on your goals, schedule and fitness level, which means there are endless ways to set up your workout program. Below are some basic guidelines for getting started with a complete exercise program.

• For Beginners: You should start slowly with a basic cardio program and a full body resistance training routine. You'll want to have recovery days to allow your body to rest and your muscles to heal from your new routine. A typical beginner program will include about 3 days of cardio and 2 days of strength training. If you're not sure about your fitness level, you can take the quiz, What's Your Fitness Level? to get insight and resources to help you get started. Below is a sample schedule just to give you an idea of a typical week of workouts

Sample Routine for Beginning Exercisers

Monday: Cardio 20-30 minutes. You can choose from one of the following Sample Cardio Workouts: Beginner Stationary Bike Beginner Walking Workout Beginner Elliptical Workout	Tuesday: Total Body Strength and core training. You can choose from one of the following Sample Strength Workouts: Beginner Total Body Strength Beginner Total Body Strength - Level 2 Beginner Total Body Strength - Level 3
Wednesday: Rest or gentle yoga/stretching	Thursday: Cardio-20-30 minutes. You can choose from one of the following Sample Cardio Workouts: Beginner Stationary Bike Beginner Walking Workout Beginner Elliptical Workout
Friday: Total Body Strength and core training. You can choose from one of the following Sample Strength Workouts: Beginner Total Body Strength Beginner Total Body Strength - Level 2 Beginner Total Body Strength - Level 3	Saturday: Cardio-20-30 minutes. You can choose from one of the following Sample Cardio Workouts: Beginner Stationary Bike Beginner Walking Workout Beginner Elliptical Workout

• For Intermediate Exercisers: If you've been exercising for a while and your goal is to lose weight, you want to shoot for 20-60 minutes of cardio about 5 or more times a week. Your strength training schedule will depend on what type of workouts you're doing (e.g., total body training or a split routine). You can do cardio and weight training on the same day, depending on your time constraints. It doesn't matter which one you do first, so vary your routine and try different combinations to find the one that is right for you.

• Sample Split Routine for Upper and Lower Body:

Monday: 30-Minute Cardio Medley Workout, Upper Body Training	Tuesday: 45-Minute Treadmill Interval Workout, Core Training
Wednesday: 30-Minute Low Impact Cardio Blast Workout (2 circuits), Lower body	Thursday: Rest, stretch or yoga
Friday: Total Body Strength or Circuit Training	Saturday: Cardio-60 minutes, stretch

• For Intermediate/Advanced Exercisers: If you're more advanced, you can split your routine further, focusing more attention on each muscle group. You can also increase the intensity of your cardio, incorporating interval training and other advanced techniques to burn calories and build endurance. 

• Sample Split Routing for Advanced Exercisers

  Monday: Chest, Shoulders & Triceps, HIIT Cardio	Tuesday: Lower Body and Core
  Wednesday: Back & Biceps, Boredom Buster Cardio	Thursday: Rest, stretch or yoga
  Friday: Basic Total Body Strength	Saturday: Advanced Intense Intervals

Now this should get you started on a realistic exercise routine and be sure to click the links for further information.Your road to health starts now.We thank about.com for this insightful article.If you would like to contact us with any questions or feedback, you can reach us by email.

Thank you for visiting!

Joseph A. Jones & The WellLife Team

Holiday Body Weight Exercises That Can Be Done Anywhere

Those people look like their  exercising  regardless of the weather or what time of year that it might be. That is what we must do. We have previously mentioned why we like holidays but  the pitfalls of them that include bad diet and no exercise. It must be said that you and only you can keep the healthy lifestyle you have worked towards all year long. So, It is important that one can be armed with body weight exercise ideas to use whatever the situation.


1. Reverse Crunch

• Lie on your back on the floor, with your legs fully extended out in front of you and arms straight in air, as you see here.
• Roll your knees into your chest, and then quickly press them up straight in the air.
• Bring your legs back down to that starting position (using the same motion, but in reverse). That’s one rep.

Basso says: “People do traditional crunches, which end up becoming ‘neck-ups.’ It leads to neck pain rather working your abs. This ab exercise makes it easier to stabilize your upper back and neck.”

2. Split Drops

• Start with your feet together and jump into a split squat, with one leg in front of the other, as seen here. (Don’t do a single leg lunge—move both legs simultaneously.)
• Then, jump back into standing position.
• Repeat for 20 total reps, alternating which leg drops in front.

Basso says: “This exercise is great for your hamstrings, glutes, and the quad of whichever leg is in front, plus it gives you a better stretch reflex in your hamstring. The weight of your body dropping brings you further down than you would if you were doing a regular lunge.”

3. Stork Stance Vs

• Balance on one leg with your knee slightly bent and your hip slightly flexed. Your other leg should be extended slightly behind you at about a 45-degree angle from the ground, parallel with your torso. Extend your arms fully down toward the ground with your hands open and your thumbs pointed up.
• Lift your arms toward the sky focusing on squeezing your scapula (shoulder blades) together to make the movement happen, as you see here. Lift as high as you can without extending your hips or falling. Hold the leg position, but do reps extending the arms.

Basso says: “It’s a very core-centric exercise. By balancing on one leg, you’re firing the glute medius—the muscle that is essential to keeping your body upright when you’re walking and running. You’re also adding a dynamic aspect by extending your arms in the V motion, which strengthens your postural muscles.”

4. Monkey Push Up

• Start in a traditional push-up position.
• Press up, and when your arms are fully extended, rotate and kick left leg underneath your body and out to the right side, as you see here.
• Repeat with right leg. Again, alternate sides for a total of 20 reps (each side gets 10).

Basso says: “By adding this rotation, you’re developing the oblique muscles while getting the benefit of a regular push-up. It’s also a great stretch reflex for the chest muscles.”

5. Power Burpee

• As in a traditional burpee, drop into push up position.
• Then, jump into squat position.
• Follow that with a jump about six inches into the air.
• Finally, drop into a squat and then do an explosive tuck jump—as high as you can and pulling knees in, as you see here. That’s one rep.

Basso says: “On top of having your heart rate elevated, you’re really firing your hamstrings because you have to elevate your body as much as possible. When you pull your knees up in the tucked position, you’re actually working your core too.”

Yes, I provided some challenging exercises that you can do anywhere. They will test you mentally and physically but will keep you healthy. Thank You to Men's Fitness.com and Matt Basso with these great exercise ideas. If you would like to contact us with any questions or feedback, you can reach us by email.

Thank you for visiting!

Joseph A. Jones & The WellLife Team

How To Work Off Those Thanksgiving Day Calories

Okay , we love the holidays like Thanksgiving but we do not like the temptation it brings and the guilty aftermath of eating too much. This year should be different. Indulge, in fact eat whatever you want. It will get those tempted feelings out of your system. Once you are done indulging, there are ways to burn those holiday calories away. Here is some exercises that you can do to get rid of them.


Swimming
1. Swimming laps moderately for 20 minutes will burn 158 calories.

Football
2. 20 minutes of football burns 158 calories.

Jog
3. A 20-minute jog burns 197 calories.

Walking
4. Burn 158 calories by walking briskly for 40 minutes.

Cleaning
5. 44 minutes of cleaning burns 152 calories.

Stretching
6. Stretching for 15 minutes burns 59 calories.

Bike Ride
7. A 23-minute bike ride at a moderate pace will burn 181 calories.

Hiking
8. Hiking for an hour and 35 minutes will burn 561 calories.

Bowling
9. Take the family bowling for an hour and burn 180 calories.


This is a useful list that you can follow to get rid of those extra calories from the holidays. Thank you to examiner.com for their invaluable research. If you would like to contact us with any questions or feedback, you can reach us by email.

Thank you for visiting!

Joseph A. Jones & The WellLife Team

Doesn't that look relaxing. Nature walks are a wonderful way to exercise and to relax at the same time. Now, they even have evidence showing all of the health benefits of this form of exercise. Here is what they found.


Scientists have some advice for you. Advice, it turns out, that your mother already told you a long time ago: Go play outside.But, it turns out mother was only partly right. John Jonides, University of Michigan professor of psychology and neuroscience, and graduate student Marc Berman have one big condition to that advice: A walk in nature sharpens the mind, but a walk in the city does not.


They found this out by performing an experiment that they published in the journal Psychological Science. They gave volunteers memory and attention tests and then sent them out on a walk. Sometimes they got instructions to walk in the university’s urban home of Ann Arbor and other times they walked through a nearby arboretum.


Berman says they then tested their memory and attention again and “found that when the participants returned from the nature walk, they showed a 20 percent improvement (in the tests) but showed no improvement when they returned from the urban walks.”


Why the difference? It has to do with something called the Attention Restoration Theory. It says we all have two kinds of attention. Directed attention is when we pay attention to something because we need to — like work, or school, or something else that takes a lot of concentration. We eventually tire, often lose focus, and need to take a break.


The other kind is “involuntary attention.” It captures your attention simply because it interests you. What’s interesting might vary from person to person, but as Berman says, “You don’t hear very many people say, ‘Boy I really got tired out looking at that waterfall.’”He adds, “The idea behind the theory is that if you’re in an environment that’s rich with inherently interesting stimulation, it’s going to activate the involuntary attention and allow the directed attention to rest.”


But an urban walk has lots of interesting things, so why doesn’t it work? Says Joindes, "When you’re walking in an urban environment you need to be careful that you don’t get run over by a car, you have to be careful that you don’t bump into somebody walking down the street." In other words, your brain is still in work mode.


But in a nature walk, says Berman, “There typically isn’t this distracting stimulation, so the person can kind of defocus in some sense, or mind-wander.”While the researchers tested only a nature versus urban walk, there could be other ways to defocus for a while. Berman notes that “a museum might have similar effects” because there’s interesting stimulus but no distractions “where you need to be vigilant.”


One might think that the volunteers did better because the walk put them in a better mood, but the researchers also tested the volunteer’s moods both before and after the walks and found that didn’t correlate with the test results.


In fact, the researchers also tested the volunteers in all kinds of weather, from pleasant summers to the rough winters of Ann Arbor. Says Berman, “When people walked in cold weather they still got the same (cognitive) improvement as in the warm weather. They just didn’t enjoy the walks as much.”


But what if you can’t go outside? The researchers did a second experiment where they had people just quietly look at pictures. Just like for the walks, when the pictures were of nature, scores went up, but volunteers who looked at pictures of cityscapes showed no improvement.


Berman says this has implications for planners, “in terms of how they’re designing living environments,” or by those designing work environments in order to help them “get better productivity from employees.”


This research was published in the December 2008 issue of Psychological Science and was funded by grants from the National Science Foundation and the University of Michigan.


Since it is fall, there is no excuse to go outside and have a  nice relaxing nature walk. If you would like to contact us with any questions or feedback, you can reach us by email.

Thank you for visiting!

Joseph A. Jones & The WellLife Team