The kids will be out tonight with a parent walking them throughout the neighborhood. I have always thought it was so cute when the kids, dressed in their favorite Halloween costume and holding their plastic pumpkin heads, walk up to the door and giggling these famous words “Trick or Treat”. I asked one kid at my door a couple of years back “what do you mean when you say ‘trick or treat’?”
Their quick response was “it means, give me some candy”. I often wonder why it is the favorite holiday of adults and kids (with the except of Christmas still being #1). Do any of you know why people enjoy Halloween so much? I hope you have a lot of fun tonight with this holiday and keep safe. Booooooooooooo, Happy Halloween!
When people say they get bored with walking, I believe it is because they do not advance to the next level they are capable of achieving. They walk the same route, wear the same clothes and shoes, walk the same time of each day and are stuck.There are things you can do to make walking more interesting with just a few simple actions. Change your route every week. Get out of your neighborhood for your walk. And, yes, it is all right if you get in your car and drive to a park or a lake. Every one should have two pairs of walking shoes they can alternate from day to day. It is good to let your shoes air out for 24 hours and that is when the second pair of shoes is handy. One of the important differences you can experience is to vary when you walk; such as the morning; afternoon and evening. Shake up your schedule and see your route at different times of a day.
There are a couple of exercises you can do in preparing your body to go to the next level that may prove challenging. Start out by tightening your glutes (butt) together and hold tight for 30 seconds. Release and relax for 10 seconds and repeat about 15-20 times. Practice relaxing your jaw and neck areas. Concentrate on your body parts that cause you pain and work on releasing and relaxing them as you walk.
Just by changing a few things will keep freshness in attitude toward your walk and make you feel relaxed.
Tags: Break Boredom in Exercise, health, Healthy Walking, Rosalie Lynch, Walk
“I start walking and then I stop, why does that happen?” is a question I am asked quite often by unhealthy people trying to become a healthier person. When asked the question “Why do you want to walk—what is your goal?” They look blankly into space without an answer! In all areas in life if you do have know your goal, how can you stay involved and recognize any achievements in reaching the goal?
People have excuses why they can’t possibly exericse on a regular basis; such as: “I’m just too busy”. A gentlemen told me that he got up at 4:00 every morning and walked 2-3 miles. Why did he tell me that? I asked him “ you have really lost weight, how did you do that?” He continued to tell me that is the only time of the day that he could walk—before work started and the family wakes up for the day. Some people may say he is too busy to walk; however, he knew his goal and determined he was going to do it! That is the secret to walking or any exercise program you may adopt. The time is there waiting for you to claim so you have to find the time to work on losing weight and creating a healthy body. How is this done? Here are some suggestions you should consider:
- Write down why you want to walk in a motivational statement
- Find the time to walk—it is there for you to claim
- Set goals along the way
- If you are in a family environment, explain to your spouse and kids what you are doing and why and ask for their support
For those with busy lives, you can divide that half hour into 10-minute chunks and still reap major health benefits. The lesson to learn is do not look uninformed by saying “you are too busy to walk”. People know when you really want to achieve a goal you do whatever it takes to be a winner and accomplishment that goal.
Our society has been successful in taking walking away from our kids. They are not permitted to walk to school or to the homes of their friends. They can not walk to the corner grocery store because they no longer exist. They are not permitted to walk around their neighborhood alone because of safety. The only way kids walk is if their parents walk with them.
If a kid lives with parents who lead a sedentary life, they will do so as well. Walking is a low-impact, low-stress activity and is the safest aerobic exercise for kids. Kids are just like adults either you use it or you lose it. If the following list looks familiar it is because we read about it all the time, except usually it relates to adults. Did you know it relates to kids as well? Kids need to: Continue Reading »
Tags: healthy kids
You can go to a zoo or look at your favorite house pet and you will notice that they are stretching their bodies. Stretching to an animal is a common activity to ensure their quick movements, when needed. A person needs to find ways using the full, unrestricted range of motion of every muscle group in the body.
My mother, at the age of 80, could stretch her hands way over her head and swing her arms the length of her body to touch her hands on the floor; and, she did this every day to make her body “flexible”. Before she would get out of bed she would stretch her legs, arms, knees and her head every morning even though she had four kids waiting for our breakfast. She knew her body had to be fit so she could take care of her family. She grew up on a farm and was considered a “tom-boy” and her primary job was taking care and feeding the animals. She told me she learned a lot from animals about stretching for better movement of their bodies.
In our daily lives, our human bodies are tight and we never take enough time to stretch. We become “tight” in our bodies because some of us have forgotten to take the time to stretch our whole body so we can be prepared for a flexible, pain free, exercise program that will help to release the large amounts of stress we experience daily. Our bodies need to be in balance.
If you are a person who refuses to exercise, I want to advise you to stretch your total body every day. This is something everyone can do and reap healthier benefits even if you have chosen to have a sedentary life. Your body may get frozen in time if you are not stretching and exercising daily. Do you hear me? If you do not exercise, at least stretch your bodies each and every day so you can achieve some level of flexibility.
Tags: Improve your health, never give up, stretching your body
You do not have to supply yourself with the inspiration to keep motivated with your walking activity. Let other people inspire you; surround yourself with positive messages and people; wear t-shirts with inspiring messages when you dress for your walk. You can post motivation messages on your computer to read everyday.
When you have the opportunity, go to a walking or running marathon and seek out the oldest person as your inspiration. Take pictures of people in the marathon and put them on your computer or refrigerator as a reminder that you can do your daily walking activity.
When I want to skip my daily walk, I go to my computer and go to You Tube for the inspirational video on Dick and Rick Holt and I immediately change my attitude and go for my walk. They inspire me that much and you will have to find other people’s stories of conquering the impossibilities in their lives to prove that everyone can achieve their goals.
I was having lunch with a group of ladies and the topic of walking came up. Two or three of the ladies said they start out walking; however, it does not last. They asked me how they can keep at it and not stop. I asked them what motivates them to walk. They had no definite answer. I asked them if they had set a goal for the walking activity and their answers were no. Without a motivation statement and an inspiration to keep you going, you will stop because they are key elements in being successful in your walking program.
You are encouraged to create your motivation statement as to why you walk. Determining why you do your exercise activity will provide your inspiration. Read your statement out loud so you can hear it every day.
Tags: exercise, health, inspiration, motivation, Walk
It is finished for now! We are a proud family of our “Live, Love, Laugh” marathon team. My daughter has lost several of her toenails and several of her toes are black and blue and we will not talk about blisters! My son-in-law suffered no injuries and had strength left over after the race. They ran for the American Cancer Society. My other son-in-law is walking around with cancer in his body at this time and taking pills to survive and he was there cheering our family runners on to the finish line. Just wanted to share with you our happiness when we stood in front of the “Finish Line” with our family gathering together once again for each other. That is what families do, right? By the way, it was 32 degrees when they were running and we all were very, very cold. As runners, they warmed up. As followers, we stayed cold! Hurray for the finishers and once again we thank them for raising money for their favorite charities; their training team; their determination and reaching their goals. Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts.
Tags: charities, exercise, marathons, Rosalie Lynch, run, Walk
This is Rochelle and Mike Hoffman (Rochelle is my daughter). I am leaving out today to go to the Chicago Marathon where they will be running for the American Cancer Society. I have never walked in a marathon; however, I am challenging myself to advance in my walking levels. Are you challenging yourself to go to the next level in walking? You can and should to ensure creating your healthy body and lifestyles. I am registering for the Shamrock Half Marathon in Virginia Beach as a walker and training starts on November 13th, 2009 even though the event is March 2010. You need to train your body for long distance walking. Do not ever consider yourself too old to walk in a marathon! Write and tell me if you have walked in a marathon – I would love to hear about it. We need to encourage each other and share our stories. Well, off to Chicago and to cheer the “LIVE-LOVE-LAUGH” team to the finish line.
Tags: exercise, health, marathons, Rosalie Lynch, Walk, walking, walking training
The next time you go for a walk why don’t you take the time to notice how many people do not walk with rhythm? Their arms are swinging out too far; they are taking awkward steps in moving their feet or they are looking down as they take their steps. Their whole body is out of a rhythm.
Why is it important to have a body rhythm when you walk? It all has to do with the spine. Because of the structure, shape and flexibility of the spine, our body is better suited for walking than any other aerobic activity. Until you have felt the rhythm of a good walk in your own muscles, and the physical activity of a brisk walkout in your own mind and body, you don’t know what you’ve been missing. I know when I get the rhythm going I am able to step quicker giving me speed and a comfortable posture which causes no pain. It is also important to get the right shoes and socks when you venture out to work on your body rhythm.
When done properly our bodies are built for action and movement and it reaches its highest state of physical perfection in the act of walking. Whatever style of walking you choose, you can quickly create the rhythm even if you are race/speed walking. When a person trains for a marathon, the important step to remember is to keep a consistent pace in your stride. What they are saying is to get your rhythm going and keep it consistent to reach that finish line with a big smile.
Tags: exercise, health, Rosalie Lynch, Walk, walking rhythm
Many books, personal trainers and television stars say, in various fashions, all you need to do is exercise to burn calories and you will lose weight. This is true; however, people keep jumping on the bathroom scales to see how much weight they lost by exercising. One day the weight goes up and the next day the weight goes down which reaps disappointment in seeing results. There is a secret to stop this yo-yo effect which causes many people to just give up.
One day I woke up and decided to enroll in a hospital weight loss program to see what those experts have to say. The first meeting their message was: your responsibility is to create a healthy body-our responsibility is to track your progress. You develop your exercise program and do it each and every day and ignore the one thing that stops weight loss. Can you guess what the one thing is that stops us from losing weight?
The medical staff asked how many of us had a bathroom scales that we could jump on every day. I proudly raised my hand because in preparation for the class I had just purchased a bathroom scale that gave me my weight and my BMI (body mass index) and it was computerized. They said to get rid of it. I remember one of their suggestions was to take your bathroom scale and put it in the trunk of your car; hide it; give it away or ask a family member to keep it at their house.
Here’s the secret-GET RID OF YOUR SCALE! You must throw (or give) away your scale for one year so you are not distracted from your ultimate goal of creating a healthy body. This is the really important part, exercise regularly and you can measure your success in two ways: 1) feeling better and gain many healthy benefits and 2) by the inches you will be losing – your clothes will show your body changes and you are losing your unwanted fat by walking.
Everybody can lose weight for short periods of time; but, the secret is keeping the weight off over a life time. Many people will lose weight and can achieve their ideal weight; however, it will not stay off unless you are committed to a lifetime of exercise and not stop. The message is clear:
1) Start walking today
2) Get rid of your bathroom scales
3) Have a mindset that walking needs to be a lifetime activity to maintain your weight and your health
Tags: Rosalie Lynch, walking, Weight Loss
