Article

De-Stress in 3 Minutes or Less

What is the single, most common problem that most dieters face when trying to lose weight? Will power? Nah. Temptation? Sometimes. Emotional eating? Bingo! That’s why it takes so much more than good intentions and information about nutrition and exercise to be successful. The ability to manage difficult situations and feelings effectively—without turning to food and eating—is a necessary foundation for a successful weight loss plan and healthy lifestyle. 

Fortunately, there are many proactive steps you can take to keep functioning on all your mental cylinders during tough times. These steps range widely from basic relaxation techniques to the development of a reliable support network. Other options include:

• Keeping a food journal to help you identify your emotional eating triggers
• Cultivating mental and emotional well-being through practices like meditation, mindfulness, massage, and yoga
• Developing good problem solving skills
• Turning to the Message Boards for help and support when you need it; offering help to others as a way to get your mind off your own troubles and gain a little perspective on things

But all of these things take time, and there are many instances when you need something you can do right now, to keep yourself grounded, focused and able to make good decisions. After all, you don’t always have time to take a walk, relax in a hot bath or call a friend to talk things over. That’s what we’ll be talking about here—a 3-minute trick for handling stressful situations in the moment.

Minute 1: Stay Grounded
Emotional eating happens when you lose your connection to your grounded self. Stress itself is not what makes you reach for something to eat. In fact, stress is often a good thing and your grounded self knows this! We need the physical stress of exercise to keep our bodies in good shape just as we need the stress of intellectual and emotional challenges to keep our minds healthy.

Nine times out of ten, what really leads to emotional eating is getting caught in a "mind storm" of worst-case scenarios, projections, misinterpretations, and all the emotional overreactions that come with these thoughts. This "storm" turns a manageable challenge into something that makes you feel helpless, overwhelmed, ashamed or afraid—and sends you to the kitchen to find something to stuff those extreme feelings. When you can stay grounded in the moment of stress, you have many more options.

Here are some simple ideas to keep you grounded when something (or someone) pushes your buttons and your feelings start to spiral out of control:

• Take a few deep breaths. (You can also count to 10, if that helps.) If the stressful situation involves someone else, take a timeout and agree to continue the discussion in a few minutes.
• Remind yourself where you are. Take a look around, noticing and naming the colors and shapes in the space around you.
• Notice the physical sensations you are experiencing. Whether it's a sinking feeling, turmoil in your stomach, tension in your hands or jaw, restricted breathing, or heat on the back of your neck, try to name the feelings that go with the sensation. Is that sinking feeling fear, or dread? Is the heat a symptom of anger?

The idea here is to stay in your body and in the moment—with what’s real—instead of going inside your mind where all those unreal scenarios are just waiting to get spun out-of-control.

Minute 2: Reality Check
Once you’re calm enough to start thinking productively, put all those thoughts that are clamoring for attention inside your head through a quick reality check. Here are several very common thought patterns that have no place in reality. Do any of these apply to you?

• All or nothing thinking
  Example: You go over your calorie limit or eat something on your “forbidden” list, and then decide to keep eating because you’ve already “blown it” for today. Reality: Weight loss is not a one-day event. If you stop overeating now, you’ll gain less and have less to re-lose later. That’s something to feel good about!
  
• Reading your own thoughts into someone else’s words
  Example: Someone made a mildly critical or unsupportive remark to you, and you feel completely devastated. Reality: The more bothered you are by such remarks, the more likely it is that you are being overly critical of yourself. When you treat yourself with respect, what others say won’t matter nearly so much.
  
• Either-Or thinking
  Example: You make a mistake or have a bad day and feel like a complete and hopeless failure. Reality: No one does well all the time. Mistakes are a necessary and valuable opportunity to learn—if you don’t waste them by getting down on yourself.
  
• Taking care of other people’s business
  Example: Something is going badly for someone you care about, and you feel responsible, or pressured to fix it. Reality: People need to learn from their own problems. You aren’t doing anyone a favor by trying to fix things just to make yourself feel better.

Minute 3: Putting Things in Perspective
Most common problems that you face in everyday life are much easier to handle when you keep them in perspective and avoid making mountains out of molehills. Here are some questions you can ask yourself to make sure you aren’t in the mountain-making business:

• How big a deal is this, anyway? If I knew I was going to die in a week, would this be something I would want to spend this minute of my remaining time on?
• Will any bad things happen if I postpone thinking about this until I have more time to figure things out?
• Do I have all the information I need to decide how to respond to this? Do I really know what’s going on here, or am I making assumptions? Am I worrying about things that might not even happen? What do I need to check out before taking action?
• Is there anything I can do right now that will change or help this situation?
• Am I trying to control something I can't, like what other people think, say, or do?
• Have I really thought through this problem, and broken it down into manageable pieces I can handle one-at-a-time?

Use this approach whenever your thoughts or situations begin to feel overwhelming, and you'll quickly find that the mountains that seem impossible at first can quickly morph into what they really are—manageable hills that you DO have the ability to climb. All it takes is three little minutes of your time.

10 Minute Jump Rope Cardio Workout

Article

Jumping Rope for Fitness

I believe that most people would say jumping rope is for play, not for exercise. After all, you jumped rope as a kid on the playground and you probably forgot about it entirely since.. Even if it isn’t very common as a workout tool, jumping rope fits right in with other forms of aerobic exercise (running, swimming, cycling, etc.). And as a matter of fact, it may be one of the best forms of cardio exercise out there. For years, top athletes have been using the rope to condition for their sports. Boxers probably come to mind.

So is jumping rope for you? Here are several reasons why you might want to give it a try:

• It’s inexpensive. You probably have a jump rope somewhere in your house already.
• You can do it practically anywhere. A jumping surface like hardwood, rubberized flooring, or very thin carpet is preferred, but any hard surface works fine. Outside, inside, at the gym—anything goes.
• It burns a lot of calories in a short amount of time. It is estimated that 10 minutes of jumping rope (at 120 turns per minute) has the same benefit as jogging for 30 minutes. Those are great numbers for people short on time.
• It’s compact. A jump rope makes a great addition (or start) to your home gym. You don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars on a piece of equipment that takes up a lot of space. A jump rope can fit nicely in a drawer—just don’t forget it’s there!
• You’ll notice improvements. Jumping rope helps build agility, speed, balance, and coordination, while improving your overall fitness level.
• You can do it with your family. Because jumping rope is a fun activity that almost anyone can do, it’s also an easy way to get your whole family exercising with you. Try making a game out of it. How many jumps can you do in a minute? How many jumps can you do without stopping or messing up? What kind of cool tricks can you do while keeping the rope turning?

Before you get started, first make sure you have the right sized rope for you. When you step in the center of the rope, the handles should just reach your armpits. This chart will help you find the correct length rope for your height.

Your Height	Rope Length
Under 5'	7'
5' to 5' 5"	8'
5' 6" to 6'	9'
Over 6'	10'

Now that you’ve got the perfect rope, it’s a good idea to spend a couple weeks perfecting your jumping technique—the basic bounce step. Remember that jumping rope is a skilled movement—it takes both coordination and timing to rope with each jump.  

Introductory Jump Rope Program
Now that you’ve mastered technique, this three-week program will help you build endurance. Always warm up before you start jumping, either by marching or jogging in place, for about five minutes. Finish each workout with a 5-minute cool down, and be sure to stretch the calves, quadriceps, hamstrings and shoulders.

Week 1: Practice the basic bounce step, using an interval (work-rest) training method. Try to jump and rest at a 1:2 ratio (rest twice as long as you jump, such as 15 seconds jumping and 30 seconds resting). Depending on how quickly you pick it up and how conditioned you are, start with around five to 25 consecutive jumps each work period. Then stop, rest, and start jumping again for a total of about three to five minutes. Aim for three practice sessions each week.

Week 2: As you gain confidence and ability, try to increase the number of consecutive jumps you can do before resting. Use the same interval training method, but this time at a 1:1 ratio (your rest time to be equal to your jump time, such as one minute jumping and one minute resting). Repeat your intervals for a total of five to six minutes. Aim for four sessions each week. By the end of week two, you should be able to jump for two to three minutes non-stop.

Week 3 and beyond: By now, you've got the hang of it! You should be able to jump for a few minutes straight without needing a break, keeping a pace around 120 turns per minute (two jumps per second). The goal over the next few weeks is to gradually increase your jumping time (while decreasing your resting time) until you can go for 10 minutes non-stop. Keep jumping rope a part of your workout routine about every other day.

Mastering technique: Now that you're fit to jump for several minutes, try some of the following speed and jumping techniques to keep challenging your body:

• Increase your speed. Aim for 180 turns per minute (3 jumps per second).
• Switch directions. Instead of turning the rope from back to front, switch its direction (forward to back) for more challenge.
• Crossovers. Cross the rope and your arms in front of your body as you jump through the rope.
• Scissor jumps. Turn the rope as you normally would, but scissor your legs forward and back (like skiing back and forth) to clear the rope.
• High stepping. Turn the rope as you normally would, but clear the rope with a high knee run (bringing one knee up high at a time).
• Jump straddles. Turn the rope as you normally would, but clear the rope with a jumping jack motion with your legs (straddle legs apart then together).
• Freestyle it! Get creative—invent your own jump!

Jumping rope is an intense, high-impact activity, so it's not something you'd want to do every day—even though it can be addicting!

Exercise of the Day

Hip Flexor & Extension

Starting Position
Stand with feet slightly apart, toes forward, hands on hips or one hand on a wall/chair for support. Shift weight to right leg, keeping knee slightly bent and spine straight.

Action
EXHALE: Slowly lift the left leg, keeping it bent until thigh is parallel with floor. From here, extend leg straight out from the knee until entire leg is parallel to floor and straight. INHALE: Slowly and with control, lower entire leg down to the ground, keeping it straight. Repeat for all reps and switch sides.

Special Instructions
If you can't lift leg parallel to floor, lift as high as you can and complete exercises at this level.

Muscles Worked: Hips, Quads

Time Involved: 4-5 minutes

Body Benefit: Better balance, stronger core