No Gym Required, Workout at Home: Stairs

When people find out I teach fitness classes, they often exclaim, “I wish I had time to exercise!” Parents often feel guilty about taking time to work out when we have so much to do between taking care of home, family and career. Fortunately, we have everything we need for a full-body workout right here at home.

This vlog begins a five-part series of exercises you can do on the stairs. One reason these moves are so great is that you only need a minute to do each one. This is doable between loads of laundry, picking up the living room or putting away groceries. If you have more time, spend more time, but even grabbing one minute of each of these moves a couple times a day will help you get strong, firm and healthy.

We start with lunges. This move targets butt & legs and burns a lot of calories. If you can keep it up for 20 minutes, you’ll gain cardiovascular benefits as well. Next time you pass by the stairs, take the opportunity to strengthen your legs and burn some calories.

Kid’s Yoga Pose: Snake

Our Kid’s Yoga Pose Series ends with Snake Pose. This backbend feels great to kids and adults alike, but you need to follow good form to avoid compressing the discs in  your spine. Many people immediately straighten their arms because the abdominal stretch feels so good, but then they experience sharp pain in the lower back. To do this pose correctly, follow these steps:

1. Lie belly down, and place your hands beside your chest.
2. Lift your kneecaps off the ground slightly.
3. Pull your hands back towards your feet to create length in the front of the body.
4. As you pull your hands back, shimmy side to side and slowly lift your chest off the ground.
5. Come up as high as is comfortable without straightening your arms.

Snake Pose offers many benefits:

• improves posture
• increases spinal mobility
• stretches chest, lungs, shoulders and abdominals
• firms glutes and back muscles
• soothes digestive organs

Kids Yoga Pose: Butterfly

This pose works very well with young children who like to “flap their wings” and tell me what color butterfly they are. But young or older, everyone will find relief from tight inner thighs with this seated posture. Do Butterfly Pose on your floor, couch or bed, and enjoy these benefits:

• stretches inner thighs
• opens hips
• improves posture
• relieves back pain
• increases lower-body flexibility

Kids Yoga Pose: Unicorn

Sitting at a desk at school most of the day can result in tight hip flexors and rounded shoulders. This can lead to poor posture, muscular imbalance and lower back pain. Luckily, Unicorn Pose is very effective in stretching the hip flexors along with the whole front of the  body, and it’s fun for kids (and adults) to do. Try this pose once a day with your kids. If it bothers your back knee, try doing the pose on a thick blanket or towel.

Unicorn Pose offers many benefits:

• improves postures
• relieves back pain
• opens front of body
• develops focus
• increases balance

Save The Date to Brave The Shave

Every March thousands of brave souls around the country come out to do something crazy. They shave their long locks of hair for money. That may sound a little weird to you if you haven’t heard of the St. Baldrick’s Foundation before.

If you have not yet had the chance to be a part of a St. Baldrick’s event, you are in luck! St. Baldrick’s of Ulster County is returning with their super family friendly event on Sunday March 5th 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. at the Saugerties Senior Center 207 Market St. Saugerites, NY. Nearly 150 people will shave their heads in solidarity with kids fighting cancer in our local community and around the world. The original event hosted in 2015, raised over $88,000.

THE HISTORY OF ST. BALDRICK’S

What began as a modest fundraising goal of $17,000 in 1999, has grown to a record breaking $27.2 actual dollars given to research grants in 2014. In 2015 research backed by St. Baldrick’s pushes the FDA to approve a new drug to treat kids with neuroblastoma. It is only the third drug approved specifically for pediatric cancer in twenty years.

My family and I began raising money for St. Baldrick’s as a way to honor the battle my niece Ashley fought when she was just 3-years-old. Thankfully, she is a healthy teenager and high school graduate today, but in 2001 we didn’t know what her future would hold. Ashley has been a long time supporter of St. Badlrick’s and last year was the first time she braved the shave since losing her hair to cancer as a child.

Oh, and there is no actual St. Baldrick.

THE FUNDS

There are hundreds of different organizations raising money for kids with cancer, but what makes the St. Baldrick’s charity unique is that nearly every dollar is donated directly to research. There is no overhead cost of an executive team, a CEO salary, or administrative costs. The events are coordinated by volunteers in small towns and big cities. Most often it is a family affair honoring young heroes who have lost and won their battles.

Since the government only spends less than 4% on pediatric cancer research, St. Baldrick’s helps fill the funding gap and is the largest private funder of childhood cancer research grants.

THE SAUGERTIES EVENT

So now that you have a little history about why people start their own team and ask for money to shave their heads, you should know what you can expect at this event. There is a little something for everyone to enjoy! The bake sale is provided courtesy of some serious local bakers like Banana Moon Baking Company, The Cup Takes The Cake, Sugar Me Sweet Bakers, Amy’s Sweet Tooth, Hudson Valley Dessert Company and many more! There will be face painting, dance performances, a DJ, raffles and a whole lot of energy! It will be a big party celebrating the shavees for their bravery, honoring local families who brave the fight and remembering the ones who will be forever young.

The event is only 12 days away, but you can still register to brave the shave and raise donations, or you can make a donation to the Saugerties event, or you can show up and be a part of the action. I guarantee the first time you experience this amazing event your life will never be the same, and even the biggest heart will find enough room to grow three sizes!

The Whatever Mom is a full-time wife and twin mama living on coffee and wine. She enjoys the pure rush of cleaning the BIG potty between loads of laundry. It is her dream that moms everywhere accept and embrace the Whatever Mom philosophy which can be found here. You can also find her musings and popular shares on Facebook and Twitter. Stay up to date with her creative ideas and outings on Pinterest. 

Kid’s Yoga Pose: Slide

Kids learn so much about us by what we take time to do. Do we show them how we appreciate and take care of our wonderful bodies? Spend just one minute a day on the floor with your child doing a yoga pose, and not only will you both will receive healthful benefits, but you’ll be setting a powerful example.

Here’s the second post in a series to help you and your child find more strength, flexibility, balance and focus. This week, we look at Slide, also known as Reverse Plank. When performed regularly, this posture offers many benefits:

• increases strength in the back, glutes, hamstrings, calves and triceps
• improves core strength
• promotes discipline
• develops balance and focus
• opens and stretches chest and shoulders

 

Kid’s Yoga Pose: Boat

If you’re looking for one simple move to increase your core strength, this is it. Boat Pose, a staple both in yoga and Pilates classes, is a great alternative to performing dozens of crunches which can be hard on the neck or planks which can stress the wrists. Do this posture with your child and try to maintain it for a minute, but listen to your back. If you feel any strain, bend your knees or lower both feet to the floor. This go-to core move has many benefits:

• builds core strength
• improves balance
• develops focus
• cultivates discipline

Finally, many people find this pose more comfortable when performed on a mat or blanket to cushion the tailbone. Give it a try!

Save Money on Organic: Regrow Your Vegetables

If you’re frugal like I am, you’re always looking for ways to cut costs on household bills. We want to feed our families good, healthful meals, but organic food can be costly. Starting a garden is a great way to save money, but not everyone has the space. Fortunately, you can grow many vegetables indoors. Better yet, you can regrow them from organic veggies you already bought. Regrowing vegetables is incredibly easy and a wonderful project to undertake with your children.

In this video, I’ll show you some celery, scallions and romaine lettuce I’m regrowing. Here’s how:

1. Slice off the vegetable base.
2. Place the base in water in a transparent container where it will get sunlight. Don’t submerge it.
3. Change the water at least every other day.
4. After you see significant root growth in about 3-4 weeks, transfer to soil in a pot.

Good luck growing your indoor garden!

Stretch Your Back and Work Your Core in the Kitchen

If your back aches after standing, you are among many who turn to pain relievers, muscles relaxers and other means to soothe tired muscles. Many back conditions require medical attention, but if your back just hurts, you can definitely ease that pain with stretches and exercise. Standing pelvic tilts not only stretch tight back muscles, they engage your core and develop abdominal strength at the same time. If you incorporate this one move into your daily home life, you will find relief from backaches. And you’ll look taller and slimmer in the process! Stand up and give this a try.

Tone Arms & Butt on Your Stairs

Do you find it hard to carve out time to get to the gym or take a class? You’re like many of us juggling work, home responsibilities, parenting and a myriad of other tasks. Fortunately, you do not need to leave your home to get a good workout. Body-weight only exercises are the rage. Not only are they challenging and effective, they can be done anywhere in the house. Even if you only have 5 minutes to spare while you’re cleaning, you can make it work with an intense, focused move like this Dip & Lift that targets your chest, arms, butt and hamstrings. Start off with a few, work your way up to 3 sets of 10 reps, and come summertime sleeveless weather, you’ll be glad you did.