Fitness FRIDAY .... soap box!

To breakfast or not to breakfast??

I am asked this question a lot, being in the fitness industry for so may years.
Excuse me while I climb up on to my soap box people ... get ready... 

EAT BREAKFAST!!!   

In simple terms ... your body's metabolism goes to “sleep” after the last time you eat.  (For most of us, that is a late night snack before you go to bed, for others, it is dinner). 

Think about it this way:  You eat dinner at 8 pm, you go to bed at 11pm, you wake up at 7am.  From 8 pm to 7am your metabolism is "asleep."  That’s 11 LONG hours of not burning off brownies calories.  When you eat breakfast, your metabolism "wakes up" and starts working, earlier, for the day.  If you SKIP BREAKFAST your metabolism stays in slumber until you eat... lets say lunch.  You have wasted hours and hours of burning calories if you wait to eat.  Not to mention that your body doesn’t have a constant steady stream of food to turn into energy and steady your blood sugar for the day.

Be healthy, eat breakfast.  Get your bodies working properly!  You will find that your day starts better, you’ll be more focused, your body will be primed for a good days work and you’ll have more energy.

If you are not a "breakfast" person, find something small that will jump start your metabolism for the day.  (ie:, tiny whole wheat bagel, cheese stick, turkey lunch meat, banana, 90 calorie granola bar, yogurt, handful of almonds). 

And now, back to the workout for the week!!! 

Your workout this week:

Go BUY a pair of dumbbells/hand weights for your house. 
(Target, WalMart, Play it Again, Sporting Goods store).  To determine the weight you should buy, pick up a set of weights; press them over your shoulders and above your head.  It should be somewhat difficult to do this.  On a scale of 1-10, 1 being easy, 10 being hard, this press should be at least a 6.  If it is not a level 6 on your scale, get heavier weights.  If you do this test in the store, you will purchase the correct weight and be able to do multiple exercises with this one set of weights. 

Next week we will start using weights in our weekly Fitness Friday workouts. 

Walk Walk Walk(or jog) ~ 30 minutes or more 4 times BEFORE next Friday.  Now when I say walk, I mean furiously!  Walk/jog fast enough that you actually get out of breath and sweat!!!

Crunches  ~5 days, through 4 commercial breaks while you are watching TV. Muuaaaahahahahaha!! (evil laugh inserted here)  Squeeze your abs at the top of each crunch. 

Push Ups ~ 4 days, You can do these on your knees or up on your toes.  You pick ... however, you must get low enough that your chest "burns."  4 sets of 12 repetitions.
 
Planks  ~  push up position, or on your elbows and toes with everything else off the floor, pull your bellybutton into your spine and HOLD IT  FOREVER!!! Do as many as you can for 5 minutes.

Wokr hard, eat breakfast and post your progress or comments.
Amy