Inspirational Blog Resources for Fitness Tips

1. Fitness Black Book: I love this fitness blog, and it works so well for inspiration. I think that it’s important to remember that not all plus women are anti-buff and anti-thin. I love a good mix of plus models and fitness models, too, and the images on Fitness Black Book make me want to hit the gym right away. I especially like this post on your post-workout bod. According to the scientific description on the blog, your muscles might get flatter before they start to get bigger and nicer. In other words, don’t get discouraged.

2. Black Voices: I love this one because it has one of my most-essential blog posts in it (ever). Yes, without further ado, I present: How to Get Cute Right After a Workout. It tells you how to choose the right fabrics, how to primp yourself properly, and the best hairstyles to keep your hair fresh.

3. The Work Out on Bravo Blog: I’ve been drawn to this blog because I love the Sky Lab participants. They’re a lot like us, and all they want to do is refine their eating habits, lose weights, improve their moods, and tone. Doesn’t that sound like all of us? I can’t wait to have the season progress and get a look at their improvement. Oh, and I also like Jackie’s tush workout.

4. Women’s Workout Routines: These workouts are all a must-try! Sign up for the RSS feed and then page through the many useful categories like Exquisite Arms, Female Abs, and Leg Workout. While this blog isn’t the slickest out there, I like the pictures of “real” real people that make me more secure when I feel like I’m flailing about.

What are your favorite workout blogs?

Tags: blogging, Exercise, workout blogging

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Jump Rope Or Die

After going to the doctor about my insomnia I was feeling pretty discouraged over my ability to actually make that kind of change in my life. There is just no way I can get out to the gym or go running at the end of the day. By the time the kid’s in bed and all my regularly scheduled duties have been performed, it’s 8pm. I’m not leaving the house at that point. So I commenced to researching treadmills when a reader recommended I try jump roping instead. Really I thought, jump roping? I thought I could at least give it a try since the investment was about $6.00 compared to couple thousand dollar commitment with a new treadmill.

Jump roping is seriously high impact so I knew 40 minutes was not going to happen out of the box so I set a manageable goal of 20 minutes. Well at least I thought it was manageable. The first night was the longest 20 minutes of my life. It’s an amazing total body workout. I had no idea how many muscle groups were being worked when you jump rope. Even my upper back and abs were aching the next day. 15 minutes of jump rope equals 60 minutes of a high cardio step class or jogging. Depending on your weight and how fast you are going, that’s burning somewhere around 275-330 calories roughly.

Since starting last week I have lost four pounds. Not just that but I feel better. There were several nights that I just was so not into it but I made myself get up and do it. I’m so glad I did and I actually felt like I had more energy the next day. I think I underestimated exactly how high impact this would be so some new shoes and a good sports bra are a must. After the first session I also added about five minutes of stretching before and after. My Achilles were screaming the first night because I didn’t stretch and warm up properly.

It’s also very difficult to keep the same pace and jump continuously so I kept giving myself 10 second interval breaks where I walked around but didn’t stop moving or sit down. My heart rate stayed up but I was able to rest my arms and legs before I started another set. Does anyone else jump rope for fitness? I would love to hear some long term success stories.

Via Amazon

Tags: Calories, Exercise, fitness, jump rope, Noel

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Fun Summertime Workouts

I might be doing the Self Challenge, but I could always be doing more! I want to find summer workouts that get me outside…here are some of the very best out there for the warm weather.

Water Squats: Start with your legs separated at shoulder’s width. Bend your legs a little as you begin to “sit” in an imaginary chair as you keep your knees behind your toes. This is super-challenging, so try it with fewer reps when you start out. You’ll still feel the burn. If you are looking for more water exercises, try these water workouts.

Don’t Forget About Frisbee: Disguise your cardio by doing something fun like playing frisbee in the park. You’ll be running and jumping withoutout even realizing it, and you’ll soon realize that you’ve broken into quite the sweat. If there’s one thing I love, it’s “accidental” exercise.

Cycle Around Town: It’s easy to burn calories if you hit the rolling slopes on a tree-lined street and push yourself up a couple of hills for about twenty minutes. If you hate the thought of heat, try bringing a lunch sack filled with ice and watermelon for a refreshing treat.

Sand Speed Walking: Are you lucky enough to live on the coast? If so, head to the beach and take a quick walk along the sand. You will need to work your legs harder to keep your pace on slightly unsure footing. Just make sure that you wear shoes that provide ankle support. I wonder if I can find any high-top swim boots with ankle support? ;)

Push Yourself for One Personal Training Session: Get motivated this summer by meeting once with a personal trainer. Even if you’re the type who likes to work out solo, you can ask for summer workout tips and safety info to keep you safe in the heat.

Photo (c) Jeff Wolf, StockVault

Tags: Exercise, fitness, plus size fitness, summer exercise, summer fitness, summer weight loss, summer workouts

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Earth Day Shape Up

Since today is Earth Day and we are now officially into Spring, I thought we should talk about some healthy ways to get fit in the great outdoors. I personally would rather run on a treadmill any day than outside (fewer people staring at my wobbly bits) but I think I need to change the way I view things. Our relationship with nature can be mutually beneficial.

1. Hiking is a great way to get some exercise in a relaxed environment. Find a nearby trail and just walk, maybe even run . Take the family with you and use it as a way to unwind and touch bases with everyone.
2. Swimming in the ocean is totally different than in a swimming pool. Not only is it more difficult but it’s also much more fun. Take a boogie board with you or jog in the sand for a truly punishing workout.
3. Go dancing outside with your signif. In many cities they have free outdoor dancing classes during the summer. If you can’t find one near you, have your own relaxed backyard dance party with friends.

I hope you all have a wonderful Earth Day and go for a walk outside. I for one am going to take advantage of the weather.

Tags: Exercise, Noel, Weight Loss

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The poll

The poll on the right side of this blog invites you to respond to a fundamental marketing and sales question. I sense we all 'know' what the answer will be, but we may be surprised in the details. No need for you to enter any personal information, email data, or the like to respond -- this poll is clearly not scientific. (And unlike the survey resources we use, I don't think there are 'controls' to prevent multiple entries.)

If you have any questions, use the comments function or email me.

False Clairvoyance

Ford Harding, in his latest blog entry, points out how people often make faulty assumptions based on limited experience. He calls this False Clairvoyance. So, for example, you set out to follow the advice during hard times to reconnect with former clients, with the hope of gaining new business. You call two or three people, and feel a 'brush off' or simply no business results.

Should you stop just because you didn't succeed right away? Of course not. While I am not advocating blind cold calling or playing the 'numbers game' without a sense of relationship, the odds are you will succeed if you persist, and make a few more calls. Or, if everyone in your organization makes a few calls, somewhere, somehow, some new business will arise which certainly wouldn't occur if you didn't make the effort.

The inverse principal also applies. Say you purchase a lottery ticket or win a casino jackpot on your first visit. If you really think you are something special and can defy the odds, go ahead, but I'd take my money and run (never to return, except for 'throw-your-money-away entertainment' -- probably not the wisest expense in hard times!)

My review of Harding's latest book has just been published in The SMPS Marketer. If you would like me to send you a copy, email me at buckshon@constructionnrgroup.com.

Our new mission statement Tag Line

The Construction News Group:Breaking new ground,Building new bondsandDelivering news you can use every day.

Some businesses spend hours at management retreats, and engage in the services of high powered consultants to determine their Mission Statement tag line. And it is true that in our case, the process of reaching this conclusion took more than a year from the time we first raised the topic in one of our bi-annual planning/review meetings.

But the actual resolution of the question took us, well, about 15 minutes.

Yesterday, I posted our mission statement on this blog. Daniel Smith quickly penned this email to me:

I read your posting about the mission statement and tag line and I had a thought about an approach that might work. After some fiddling around, this is what I came up with:

The Construction News Group:
Breaking new ground,
Building new bonds and
Delivering news you can use every day.

The idea was to parallel the process of a development - first ground is Broken, then the Build starts and when done, the building is said to be Delivered.

At the same time the alliteration kind of flows (I think), it touches on three main purposes of our organization (innovation, building relationships and delivering relevant news) and it maintains the little "news you can use" bit, too, which I personally really like about the current tag line.

Obviously this is just a rough suggestion and could be changed as everyone sees fit. But what do you think?

I liked Daniel's thinking and Tag Line, so quickly added it to the agenda for our regular Monday staff meeting, along with several other topics.

At 1:30 p.m. yesterday afternoon, we went around the table (figuratively, as most of us participated in the meeting via teleconference) and our team universally agreed that Daniel's tag line makes sense, and should be implemented.

So you'll soon see it on our websites, and in printed materials.

Wow. After more than a year, we resolved the entire thing in a matter of minutes in one day!

That of course is the nature of healthy business in 2008. Not forcing issues; we can use new communications tools to speed up the process of adaptation and dissemination of good ideas, with respect for the originator's creativity, and the collaboration of the team. Note how this blog and our regular meeting system (and note that our weekly meetings never run more than an hour -- and this week we finished a fairly heavy agenda in 40 minutes) allowed what could have been a truly time consuming business process to conclude in minutes. But equally, while Daniel only needed a few minutes to write our new Tag Line, the process underlying to form the understanding of what is right took months. And that is the nature of most marketing and business development in our industry.