By: Suzanne Murray, Suzanne.Murray@wcpo.comCINCINNATI - It's hot and it's going to get hotter. We asked fitness expert Mary Beth Knight how to beat the heat and stay in shape.
Mary Beth Knight offers the following tips for exercising during summer:
Hit the pool and then move - Water-based exercises can build cardio vascular fitness as well as improve muscular strength. The resistance provided by the water can also increase the number of calories burned by up to 30 percent. Here are a few to get you started:
Cardio Burst- Begin with a warm – up, walking briskly in waist deep water for two to three minutes. After the warm up run quickly across the pool in a zig-zag pattern, the jog back slowly, repeating four times. To increase the intensity of the workout, hold a noodle in front of you, against your waist.
Noodle leg press – Grab a noodle tie it around your right foot. Get into the pool and stand in chest deep water. Press the right foot and noodle down towards the bottom of the pool and release back to the starting position slowly! Make sure to maintain good posture, shoulders over the hips and your chin up.
Repeat the noodle leg press 10 times and then switch legs. Complete 3 sets of 10 on each side.
Noodle should press- Use a noodle that has been cut into two pieces. Hold one piece in each hand with the palms facing the bottom of the pool, while standing in waist deep water. Press the your hands (and the noodles) down towards your hips and then release back to the surface slowly. Perform 3 sets of 10.
Noodle chest flys- Stand in waist deep water with half a noodle in each hand. Bend at the knees until your shoulder are submerged, taking a split stance (one foot in front of you and one behind you) with your arms extended away from your body. Keeping the arms straight, bring the hands with the noodles towards each other until they touch, then press them back to the starting position.
After completing the strength training in the pool, complete another set of running/walking intervals.
Exercise outdoors early or late and easy on the intensity
The heat of the day is not the time to hit the sidewalk for that walk or run, if you are looking for more energy that is. Not only does your body have to work to move you in the heat, it can get overworked trying to cool you down, leaving you with little energy for the rest of the day. When possible, try to exercise before 10 a.m. or after 7 p.m. No matter the time of day, the following tips will help you complete your workout without completing wiping you out.
· Wear breathable clothing and a breathable hat.
· Fill a baggie with ice and tuck it into the back of your sports bras and for you guys, try filling a water bottle with ice and place one cube under your hat every 15 minutes or so.
· Lower your intensity, the harder you work the higher your core temperature goes, slow it down in the heat.
Here are two workouts to try outdoors in the heat:
Trail run/walk-Head to a local park and hit the trails, the temperatures in the shade are less than in the sun. This alone will help you complete your full workout.
Shade/sun intervals– Warm up by walking for a few minutes, then jog through the sunny areas on the sidewalk and walk every time you hit the shade. Complete the shade sun intervals for 20 minutes and then cool down with a slow walk.
When in doubt, exercise indoors
Anyone with a heart condition, heart disease, respiratory problems (including asthma and allergies) as well as those over the age of 65 and under the age of 15 should avoid exercising in the heat. One of the tops reasons people prefer to exercise outdoors is that the treadmill or elliptical can be BORING! Here are a few workouts to spice it up while indoors.
Interval ladder-Warm up for five minutes nice and easy, then run or walk briskly for 30 seconds and then jog or walk slowly for 30 seconds, then run or walk fast for one minute and easy for one minute. Increase the hard and easy intervals by 30 seconds each time until you reach three minutes hard followed by three minutes easy. Then come back down the ladder, starting with 2 minutes, 30 seconds hard and easy, then three minutes hard and easy, and so on. Cool down for a few minutes at the end.
Hill climb
After warming up for five minutes increase the incline on the machine to one, walk for one minute, run for one minute and walk for one more minute. Then increase the incline to two and repeat the walk one minute, run one minute, walk one minute intervals before taking the incline to level three. Progress the incline as high as you can go until you are unable to run for the full minute, at this point take the incline down by half and repeat the walk, run, walk minute long intervals and decrease the incline by one degree after each interval set. Cool down for five minutes with an easy walk after completing the hill climb.
Finally- no matter what you do or when you do it, stay properly hydrated! Adults require 64 ounces of fluid per day for good body function and energy. When exercising,
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