15 Min is All You Need To Look and Feel Amazing!

February 3, 2016 by
15 MIN TO FEEL AMAZING | www.4hourbodygirl.com

Busy? 15 Min is All You Need To Look and Feel Amazing! 

Last night’s dinners was a hearty meal of grass-fed steak, broccoli, a green leafy salad, and a half glass of red wine. I posted pics of the food I eat in earlier posts if you’d like to check them out.

15 min to look and feel amazing | https://www.4hourbodygirl.com

I usually have 30grams of protein within 30 min. of waking (this is what Tim Ferriss recommends in the 4-Hour BODY) but every once in a while after a long, good sleep, I’ll only have a piece of fruit.
 
Last night I slept 9 hours. I went for a little walk in the sun for about 10 minutes to get some fresh air and Vitamin D, and to get my neurotransmitters firing, before sitting down to my laptop with a big jug of ice water and a steaming cup of hot matcha green tea, plus as always, my Athletic Greens. 
 
I have been cutting down my intake of caffeine steadily the last week, with a big cup of green tea being the stand in for coffee this morning. I am not against coffee, ok ok, I love coffee, but at the same time, I am well aware of how much better I start to feel and the impact on my sleep quality when I get my caffeine intake right down every day, and get it in early. I’ll be doing a future post about having more energy without caffeine.
 
One and a half liters of water (a few trips to the bathroom) and two excellent blocks of work later… it was getting close to food time. 
 
I decided to exercise briefly before eating for a host of reasons, but I wanted it to be short, fast, and not too stressful, plus I was running out of time to get the workout in, my lunch in, then continue with my day’s work.

Enter a Minimum Effective Dose Workout

 
2 minutes of foam roller (self myofascial release) with 30 seconds on each of quad/hip flexor, and IT band). Grrrrr this one is so painful sometimes.

Goal: Remove Restrictions, Improve Mobility, Improve Tissue Quality

 

3 minutes of activation/mobility/dynamic warm up

 

Goal: Use some of that improved tissue work to immediately perform a series of activation and mobility exercises to improve movement patterns.

Glute Bridges x 10 with adduction (5 second squeeze at the top) I clamped the foam roller between my knees for the adduction part to save time.

glute-bridge | www.4hourbodygirl.com

Reverse lunges with rotation (arms overhead) x 6 each side – one of the BEST hip flexor

mobilizers on the planet.

reverse-lunges| www.4hourbodygirl.com
 
Hand walks x 6 (also called Inch Worms) out as far as sore shoulder was happy
Inch worm from skinny mom| www.4hourbodygirl.com

Image from skinny mom.com

 
Walking quad stretch x 6 each leg with glute squeeze for 2 seconds 
Best-Quad-Stretches | www.4hourbodygirl.com
 

3 minutes of neural activation and full body warm up

 

Goal: ahhh, neural activation and full body warm up

For this today I skipped rope, 30 seconds flat out, 30 seconds very slow, for 3 “rounds”, totaling 3 minutes. (This is soon hard to do after having kids! I make sure my bladder is empty before doing these! TMI? Sorry….

30 seconds fast I tried to move my feet and the rope as fast as I could. I included shuffles, butt kicks and for the last 5 seconds, & high knees.
 
30 seconds slow, I keep the rope moving at a steady pace, but wasn’t cranking it, the goal is to keep moving and have an active recovery. 

3 minutes (and 19 seconds) of Kettlebell swings 

 

kettlebell-swing | www.4hourbodygirl.com

 

Goal: The “work” part of the workout – metabolic conditioning and

Hamstring/Glutes Strength Endurance | www.4hourbodygirl.com

100 x two handed swings with a 70lb bell without stopping. 
Why 3 minutes and 19 seconds? Just before I grabbed the bell I hit play on my chosen workout song of the day, which happened to be 2 minutes and 49 seconds, and thought I would cruise to complete this in time…. Almost didn’t make it. 
 
3 minutes of medium paced skipping without stopping

Goal: extend the “work” part of the workout with further metabolic conditioning, while forcing active recovery.

This one was the most elective of all of them, and would be the first to go if I wanted to shorten it further, but I wasn’t happy with my swings performance, so decided to add this in.

1 minute for 100 reps of band “pull aparts” with arms straight and done out in front of chest. 
Start with arms straight out in front of you, gripping your band (they vary greatly in strength/tension) about should width apart with an overhand grip. 
Starting the movement by pulling your shoulder blades together, finish the movement by pulling your arms away from each other. Your arms will end up out to the sides then slightly behind you, the band will hit your chest. That is 1 rep.
 

You can maintain tension on your shoulder blades by never returning the bands all the

way in, or you can go all the way in all the way out, play with it. 

Goal: try and counter the day’s sitting by working some volume in to my upper back, specifically aiming at rear delts and mid trap.

You can mix up the focus of this and add in other muscles by adjusting hand position and arm angle, but assuming you are doing these with your arms straight out in front of you, this is what is going to be getting the bulk of the loading. 

As I am recovering from a shoulder injury, these were done with the little pink band. Since we tend to sit a lot during the day in a shoulders rounded position, this causes what is called stretch-weakness in the scapular retractors (and frequently external rotator) muscles. Add to this that most people have vastly stronger internal rotators of the shoulder than the internal rotators, and we have a need for corrective exercise. (You could also try NEVER SITTING, always walking with good posture and doing three or four pulling reps for your upper back for every one you do for your chest). 

This is a phenomenally useful exercise and I highly recommend you start asap. They can be done throughout the day or at the end of workouts, and intensity can be modified by adjusting your hand position on the band and the band tension.

Great for posture. 

I got my bands at Elite FTS, but you can also get them at amazon.com or any local sporting goods store. 
 
Do what makes you feel amazing
 
So there you have it! 15 Min is All You Need To Look and Feel Amazing! Do you have 15 min.? Do you have a quick go to 15 min routine? I would love to here about it in the comment below. 
 
Here’s to your health, wealth and happiness!
 
 
 

Originally Published on: Aug 21, 2011 @ 11:04

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Improve Your Balance in Less Than 5 Minutes

September 15, 2011 by
Did you know that having better balance keeps you young?
 
As you age, common disorders such as vision loss, arthritis, and a diminished number of nerve endings in the feet can negatively affect your balance.
 
Luckily everyone can become more agile with a little practice. Cardiovascular workouts like hiking and climbing can help maintain and even improve your equilibrium. Activities that challenge your center of gravity (like dancing), that involve balancing on one leg (like tai chi or yoga), or that require bending and straightening (like gardening) can also keep you steady on your feet
 

Accoring to personal trainers,
physical therapists, circus acrobats, and scientists, these three exercises are designed to
help improve balance and stabilize your joints.

 
1. Heel-to-toe walk
TARGETS: CORE AND LEG
MUSCLES

 

Imagine you’re walking on
a tightrope. Extend your arms out to the side, and carefully place one foot
directly in front of the other. Walk ten to 20 steps, then turn around and walk
back to the starting position. Repeat two to three times, twice a week.
 
2. Around the clock
TARGETS: QUADRICEPS AND
CORE

 

Stand with your hands on
your hips. Imagine that you’re standing in the center of a clock. Stand on your
right leg, knee bent, and extend your left leg out in front of you with your
foot lightly touching the ground. One by one, touch your foot to the
“numbers” on the left side of the clock, starting at 12 o’clock and
working your way back to 6 o’clock. Repeat on the other side, touching the
numbers on the right side of the clock with your right leg. Work up to five
repetitions on each leg.
 
3. Standing leg lifts
TARGETS: GLUTES AND THE
MUSCLES SURROUNDING THE HIP JOINTS
 
Stand with your legs
shoulder-width apart, hands on your hips. Shift your weight over your right
leg, then slowly swing your left leg behind you, lifting it as far off the
ground as you can. (Keep your right foot planted firmly on the ground, with the
knee slightly bent.) Hold the position for a few seconds, then slowly swing the
left leg forward and lift it as far off the ground as you can, holding the
highest position for a few moments. Then swing your left leg out to the side as
high as you can and hold. Lower, and repeat using the right leg. Work up to ten
repetitions on each leg. 
 
I would love to hear from you. What do you do for balance?
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