Knee Ups

A great way to tone up your thighs and strengthen your leg muscles is doing a set of Knee Ups

What
Knee Ups

How
Stand next to a wall on one side, taking minimal support with your hand.  Next, raise your outer leg well above the knee level at a right angle.  The other leg remains straight on the ground.  Breathe in, hold in your abs tight as you raise your leg and tighten your core (anal) muscles.  Do a set of 8. Repeat with the other leg (you will have to turn to the other side to do that!). This exercise can be done even in the lying down position.  You can do both to add variety and work your thighs better.  Make sure you stretch your quadriceps well after you do the knee ups. 

When
Incorporate into your daily workout routine

Do the Duet!

Getting a like-minded partner for exercising daily is a great way to keep the motivation strong and achieve fitness targets faster.  A friend, an acquaintance or anybody who shares the same time and venue with you for workouts should be welcome.  The main criteria is to share the passion to workout and get fit.  While it may appear a tad tough initially, you will be able to identify such a person sooner or later.  Having a partner for your daily workouts has various benefits such as -

-Motivate each other
-Complement one another for various exercises
-Keep a tab on the other
-Push you to do a bit more
-Encourage you
-Appreciate your efforts
-Give you that much needed morale booster from time to time

I have a “walk” partner with whom I enjoy my brisk walks regularly.  We share the same love for long, brisk walks and have done it long enough to have experienced the wonderful benefits of the same.  Apart from sharing the benefits of  walk, we end up sharing a lot of thoughts and ideas on various topics as well.  Going for a walk with my partner does wonders for me both physically as well as mentally!

Did it in a day!

Yes, I have kept that promise I made to myself. Did manage to fit it all in a day.  Started with a brisk walk @ 6.00 am, back @ 645.  Did a few stretches after getting back home.  After breakfast, getting kids ready for school, packing lunch, getting them to have their milk, plaiting hair and rest of the chaos.  Dropped the little one to his playschool and did the stairs on the way back, all of 9 floors! This had me sweat like crazy as I got back home.  So, wrapped up some balance cooking while waiting to cool off. 

The rest of the day went by as usual.  This was followed by my routine Kickboxing-cum-Pilates workout for an hour in the evening.  So, this means I could manage my 3-pronged approach in a day! This also means I am that much nearer to my goal and have discovered how much I can push my body!Yyippee!!!

Workouts with Namita Jain

While surfing the e paper of Mumbai Mirror, last week, I came across a column ‘Workouts with Namita’ where readers are invited to send their queries and she replies back with appropriate exercises and all. This particular query was about how to develop six pack abs despite the flab around the mid section. The article seems apt for the blog, so I am linking it up here.

I then googled Namita Jain. Namita Jain is currently associated with the Jaslok Hospital as a consultant and is onboard contributing writer on wellness at Elle magazine, India. She has to her credit number of articles on health, diet and exercises issues. She also has to her credit ‘Jaldi Fit Exercise DVD’.

A Handful of Pistas

Good news for Pistachio lovers. Recent studies indicate that ‘pistachios’ nuts contain ‘good unsaturated fat’, when combined healthy lifestyle can help lower blood cholestrol. Opt for pistachios or pistas instead of snacking on foods high in saturated fats. Pistachios containing the highest levels of cholesterol-busting phytosterols and polyphenols, in short, the tasty nut is choc-a-bloc with potassium and an excellent source of fibre. So go nutty with pistachios!!!!

I am back

Hi

It’s been a long time (4 days) since a detailed post from me. My hubby has gone to Bangalore for a week for training and so is his dear laptop. So there I was without desktop or laptop at home. I managed to go to cyber cafe once, but the sight of the dirty keyboard and mouse made me leave the place in less than five minutes.

My dad has loaned me his laptop till my hubby is not back. So here I am thinking on what my next post will be on. Till then ciao!!!!

A Promise to Myself!

Had to miss my workout today, I feel so bad I had to!  I had to take the children to a birthday party and the timings clashed with my workout! But, it was unavoidable so I had to give my workout a miss! My first one since August 1st (when I began my workouts).

The weekends weren’t great either as I just could not do any of the things that I have been so eloquently advising all and sundry! I feel guilty about it and want to make up for it tomorrow.  Plan to go for a brisk morning walk (5 kms) and do my stairs besides going for my workout in the evening.  That’s my promise to myself, will let you know tomorrow as to how much of the promise I have been able to keep! Till then, ciao!

Cucumber buttermilk – A refreshing drink with a twist!

An interesting variation to our good, old traditional buttermilk is the Cucumber version. Try out this low-calorie drink!

What you will need:

Skimmed curds – 1/2 glass
Cucumber – 1
Green chilli – 1 (optional)
Coriander – a little bit
Curry leaves – few
Rock salt
Chat masala

How:
Peel and dice the cucumber. Blend it with curds, chilli, coriander and curry leaves. Add water as per requirement to the blended mixture. You will get a lovely, pastel green coloured solution! Add rock salt and a bit of chat masala according to taste. Chill and have it whenever you have that hunger pang! 

P.S: You can skip the green chilli if you don’t like your drink spicy!

Just do it!

When I got myself enrolled into the Kickboxing classes, my intention was to just push myself into some kind of exercise regime which will improve my fitness levels and help shed some of the unwanted pounds.  The class I go to has helped me in the following ways -

- Lose weight (1 kg in 11 days and still counting)
- Curb my apetite (have stopped unhealthy snacking, which I used to earlier)
- Watch my diet (try to mentally keep track of the no.of calories I am consuming)
- Increased stamina and lung capacity (I can vouch for it, as the stair climbing and killer treadmill seem easier these days !)
- Toned muscles (lost 1.5 inches on the waist, can kind of squeeze into a pair of denim capris which I had hopelessly written off!)

When I discussed my tamer apetite with my instructor-cum-doc, her opinion was that exercising regularly releases positive hormones into our system.  This “feel-good” factor enhances your confidence levels, lessens stress and could be playing a part in lessening your apetite.  Like many a times, when you feel like bingeing on food when you are depressed or stressed out, exercising has the opposite effect on the system.  That’s another reason to keep pumping yourself each morning/noon/evening, whenever!

Fun way to lose those mommy pounds

Hey I came across a mommy blogger who has found a fun way to lose those mommy pounds without going to the gym. Read how she is keeping fit and shedding her mommy pounds