Get fit in a summer-friendly weight room — the pool
WHAT IT IS
Water-based lifting, core conditioning, and cardio. Offered in a variety of formats at almost any fitness club with a pool, classes use flotation devices to create resistance below the water, resulting in a full-body, nonimpact workout that can rival even the most strenuous strength training.
THE BENEFIT
In addition to strengthening your core, aqua training is also ideal for increasing flexibility and smashing through plateaus in the weight room.
WHAT TO EXPECT
A typical class starts with a warm-up designed to increase the core body temperature. From there, it goes to different strength and cardio exercises. One of the more popular pieces of equipment is the handheld buoy — essentially the dumbbell of aqua training. It's used to add extra resistance to various exercises. You may also end up moving through the water with a kickboard or even perched on the edge of the pool.
Health and Fitness
Want to get your family moving? Tempt kids with these irresistible activities. If you play along, your children are more likely to want to join in. Plus, you'll reap the fitness benefits too.
1. Hit the playground.
"Preschooler on playground climber"Catherine Holecko
Most kids can't help but move their muscles when faced with a tempting array of climbers, swings, and slides. Sandbox play counts too; all that digging and scooping is great for the arms. Mix things up more by:
* Bringing some extra toys (balls, kites, jump ropes)
* Meeting another family there and playing together
* Playing obstacle course—chart out a wacky route and see who can do it the fastest
* Trying out a new playground to check out its offerings—anything different from your usual haunts?
2. Teach classic backyard games.
Recruit a few neighborhood kids to join in, or just play as a family. Remember Red Rover and Four Square? Inside, try get-moving games such as Twister and Hullabaloo.
3. Have some good clean fun.
Tackling housework together is more fun than doing it alone, takes less time, and gets everyone up and moving. Older kids can vacuum and mop; littler ones can dust and wipe. Everyone can help sort laundry or move it from one machine to another (extra points for hanging it outside on the line!). Outside, take on sweeping, raking, weeding, digging, or watering chores together.
4. Host a dance party.
This works indoors, outdoors, anywhere, anytime. All you need is some jammin' music. If you start shaking your groove thing, your kids will clamor to join in. For extra incentive, bring out some dress-up items for props (filmy scarves, silly hats, or feather boas are perfect).
5. Walk!
Take a family stroll after dinner, walk to school and back, take your dog on a spin around the block, do errands on foot or park at the far end of the parking lot. Consider outfitting the whole family with inexpensive pedometers, then tracking your steps together. Set goals and reward yourselves with a family outing (bowling, batting cages, etc.)
I just saw a very interesting piece from CBS News (embedded above) that tells of a project that one very optimistic and enterprising soul named Colette Hiller decided to take on: scattering 30 pianos in random public places around London. Their puropse? To inspire impromptu public sing-alongs among strangers. The goal? To foster goodwill and social bonding among the people in the city, who may need a pick-me-up because of the recession and other real-world stressors.
It may sound like a lot of work and expense to procure 30 pianos, secure them in various locations, and protect them from the weather, all while complying with city ordinances and filing appropriate paperwork. It was. But the effect seems to be a great success: people around the city, people who otherwise tend to keep to themselves, shared music and goodwill, and found their days becoming a little brighter.
I'm sharing this story with you because it makes me smile, and because we can learn something from this project, even if we don't have real-life access to ransom public pianos:
1. Music really can be a pick-me-up, and can brighten your day. (Read more about the benefits of music.)
2. Feeling connected to others can also brighten your day. It's worth going outside of yourself to connect with others, even if they're strangers. (Read more about the reasons to smile at others.)
3. The 'Random Acts of Kindness' movement is still alive, and still bringing happiness to people. It's worth going through some effort to bring extra happiness to someone's day--that can bring happiness to yours as well! (Read more about the benefits of altruism.)
4. Happiness is contagious. (Read about shortcuts to happiness.)
Obviously, scattering a bunch of free pianos around town is a serious undertaking, and is a rare enough act to make international news. However, kind acts are performed every day, by all types of people, and they count, too. What nice things have you done to help others? What nice things have others done to put a smile on your face? Share your 'Acts of Kindness' stories here in the comments--you'll make many people smile!
There are a lot of advertisements claiming that their products can help you get rid of stress. There is no problem in giving them a try, actually. However, it is most helpful to know what causes your stress so you know the best thing to do to combat it. One of the things that you can try is time management. Doing this won't need even a single cent from you.
Do you know why are you feeling stressed out? Have you been figuring out why there are so many things to do but you have so little time? Are stacks of paper piling higher and higher on your desk? Do you feel there is no point for you to finish them anymore? Surely, the most helpful thing for you will be to take control of your time. Once you manage to do it, you are definitely out of that nightmare.
When you do not complete your tasks, it often causes you headache. Whether you are at work, school, or home, finding yourself unproductive is stressful indeed. So what could you do now to wake up from this nightmare? Handling your time is the best way to start. Here's how.
* Know your priorities. Check out important matters and give your attention to them first. In this case, you can avoid investing so much time in trivial matters that won't lighten your load in any way.
* Make a daily plan. Writing down your schedule for the day will help you. If you know what you need to be doing at a specific time and you follow that schedule, there is no question that you will complete everything that needs to be done. Just make sure your list contains all you should do in a day to help you not miss a task.
* Ask for help. Don't play superman. You don't need to do all the tasks. Why not consider only those important and beneficial things? If you are working in a group, why not delegate someone to do it for you? In the first place, you need not take on all the tasks of the group individually, right?
* Give your best. Make sure that what you are doing at the moment is the right thing. It would definitely save you time if you don't have to redo your work because of errors.
* Get enough rest and sleep. Once you get enough of down time, you will perform more efficiently in your work.
* Enjoy a break. Nothing will happen if you try to do things when you are too tired. It's always better to take a break from work.
* Attend trainings. Take some time out for time management training if you think you really cannot handle creating a system on your own even after reading self-help articles and books. Some software
can help you handle time, too.
There are still a lot of ways to help you out in your time management. Articles and software are readily available for you with the same purpose. You may relax and try to help yourself by managing your time. Stop asking yourself if and why you are stressed right now. Give yourself a good and less stressful break. Start with controlling your time.
