Being physically active has many benefits. It can help you lose weight, give you more energy throughout the day, and help you maintain muscle and bone strength. A common trap that we all fall into is doing the same type of exercises or workouts for weeks and months on end. It’s easy for us to want to stay in our comfort zone, but the consequences are missing an opportunity to increase our fitness range and strengthen different parts of our body.
I enjoy cardio and weight-lifting. When the gyms were closed due to COVID, I had limited access to the equipment I’d usually use for these activities. When I decided to try an online pilates workout, I thought to myself, “okay this might be challenging but I totally got this.” But I didn’t have it, it got me! The workout was more challenging than I thought because it challenged my body in different way than my normal weight lifting and cardio routine. I was humbled and thankful because my experience made me realize that I could benefit from changing how I move my body to help me improve my core strength.
Expanding our fitness palette may reveal weaknesses and imbalances in our bodies.
If strength training is part of your physical activity routine, you may notice that one side is weaker than the other. If you’re more familiar with doing bilateral exercises (using both sides of your body) such as a squat or barbell bicep curl, try incorporating unilateral exercises (using one side of your body) such as a reverse lunge or a step up. These types of movements help to improve your stability and balance while helping exercise both sides of your body equally.
Expand our minds and cast out limiting beliefs
I created my class, BootDance (part bootcamp part dance) because I wanted a break from my day to day routine. I knew I wanted to have a dance element but I still wanted to feel like I achieved a full-body workout. In addition to this, I wanted to create a space where like minded women could come together to enjoy a workout together, laugh, have fun and even talk about aspects of our lives. More importantly, I wanted to help women tap into their own flavour, swagger, and magic. In other words, I wanted to help women tap into their power by showing off what their bodies could do. It is not about being able to do all of the exercises perfectly or remembering the dance steps. It's about challenging ourselves and moving our bodies.
If have labeled yourself as not being flexible, not being able to do a lot of cardio or a non-dancer, push those beliefs aside. You may be pleasantly surprised by what you find out about yourself and your body by doing something a bit outside your comfort zone.
What's the take away
If Wednesday is your 5k walk or run day, try a yoga, dance or pilates workout instead. More than this is the time to try different types of classes especially if you're not ready to head back to the gyms. The wonderful world of utube offers a plethora of free classes, explore and find out what's out there! My classes are also online so check out ghanagirl.ca or reach out to me about my next upcoming classes. Let’s get outside our comfort zone and not miss an opportunity to get stronger.
-GhanaGirl
P.S. for information on my classes or to join my biweekly newsletter visit ghanagirl.ca.
Tags: Bodyweight workouts, Calgary fitness, online workouts, free workouts, cardio training, strength training, modifiable exercises, dance fitness, fitness and dance, adult dance classes, classes for adults Calgary
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