Pilates is the Answer

Finally, we have reached my last blog post. Also for a change, my book Hot Body Year-Round by Cassey Ho is perhaps going to solve your problem: Not being able to work out due to motivation, money, and time. 

Obviously, the best solution I recommend is Pilates. Specifically, POP Pilates because it's the fusion of traditional Pilates and intense core-based mat exercises (16). This fusion means that there will be a larger set of moves to use because they are designed to make you work the hardest. In effect, you will see results. I'm not claiming instant results. Keep in mind that you have to work for your results. Rather than having results as a motivating push, use progress on how much you become stronger as motivation itself.

But if that isn't enough, there's a game plan. The book I'm using has routine plans to tackle the challenges of each season (16). "Each routine comprises a series of moves, combined for maximum results" (16). For those that like to plan things out (Type As), this can be very effective because it motivates you to get the results you desire. If you looked at my first post, I explained on having a theme when working out.

Based on what season you're in, you pick moves from that season according to the calendar.

It's a shame that people think it costly to pay for health(fitness). But the only thing required is just a yoga mat and your body (19). The minimal need for POP Pilates is because the body and all of its muscles are the only tool you're using to train it (19-20). That means you don't have to rely on a machine to target a certain muscle because you'll learn on how to use all muscles. Then, you can just instantly think on how to move your body a certain way for a muscle. (Or google it because they probably thought of it already).

Now time seems to be the ultimate factor because you can't just change someone's schedule. But POP Pilates moves can be mixed and matched for a workout routine that customized for you (19). For you are the one in total control over the workout. Whether it be the amount of reps, minutes, or intensity. Up to that point, it's up to you to figure out where to find time in your schedule for your health. Like finding ten minutes for the "No-Time Quickie Workout!" ( 221).

"SINGLE-LEGGED T-SQUAT X 12 EACH LEG
  WORKS: GLUTEUS, QUADS
  A: Hold your hands together and come into a narrow squat, butt back with knees behind the toes. Keeping your chest open and back tall, lift and point your right leg up and balance on your left leg.
  B: Straighten the left leg, then bend into a single-legged squat" (213). 

"HIP TWISTING BUTT-UPP X 12
 WORKS: OBLIQUES, SHOULDERS
 A: Get into Plank position on your elbows and toes. Your butt should be in line with the rest of your body-do not let the hips sink!
 B: Twist your right hip to touch the mat, twist your left hip to touch the mat, then flatten your back and raise your butt into the sky, and return to Plank" (154).

"PUSH-UP TO SIDE PLANK X 12
 WORKS: CHEST, ARMS, SHOULDERS
 A: Get into a push-up position on your toes and palms, or on your knees and palms if you're a beginner. Inhale, press your chest down to the mat as low as you can, then exhale pressing back up.
 B:Place your left hand below the center of your chest, open your right arm, and come into a Side Plank with your feet stacked. Then return to start, do the push up and alternate your Side Plank" (168).

"EAGLE CRUNCH X 15
 WORKS: ALL ABS
 A: Begin with your back on the mat, arms in Eagle pose, elbows twisted, and hands clasped. Bring your legs into Eagle pose as well, with knees crossed and ankles twisted.
 B: Go into double crunch. Make sure you lift your upper back off the mat and bring your elbows into your knees as your tailbone lifts" (48).

"STAR ABS X 15
 WORKS: ABS
 A: Lie like a star with your back on the mat and your arms outstretched long behind, you legs in front of you. Lift yourself into Pilates Stance, meaning head, neck, and shoulders lifted off the mat, abs engaged, eyes forward.
 B: In one sweeping motion, sit your whole body up onto your tailbone and hug your knees. Beginners you can simply crunch and hug your knees while still lying on your back. Then return to start and don't rest your head on the mat" (97).

As you can see, this workout routine took only ten minutes. But there is so much more ways you can do this. But if you don't want to think about, then you can follow Ho's Monthly Workout Calendar on her website www.Blogilates.com and watch her many YouTube videos (19). It's like having an enthusiastic trainer but for free. Also if you noticed, a mat wasn't even necessary (I recommend it though). With this, I hope you start your journey of POP Pilates.

What stops you from being active? If so, how do you plan to become active? If you're already active, what keeps you being active and how?

Ho, Cassey. Cassey Ho's Hot Body Year-Round: The POP Pilates Plan to Get Slim, Eat Clean, and Live Happy Through Every Season. First ed. New York: Harmony, 2015. Print.

Love Yourself Too

Everybody has their insecurities and flaws they don't like, that's normal. But hating yourself because of this isn't okay. While my book, Hot Body Year-Round by Cassey Ho have been solving my problems, I was surprised to see it tackle this issue.

When looking in the mirror, it's easy to focus on the flaws and hate it because it's a part of you. Ho demands this self-hate to be stopped because "A body that is hated is one that will reject everything you want it to do" (78). No doubt, Ho brings to light of the negative effects of self-hate. The person themselves might not realize, but over time all the self-hate will diminish their self-esteem. This in turn, easily demotivates the person to give up their goals and aspirations. In contrast, loving your body means it will do everything you want to do (Ho). Here, Ho implies to make a change by first start loving yourself (cheesy I know). This won't be an overnight change, but by taking the steps for this self-love will help you overall to achieve your goals. After all, you will want to achieve whatever goal you have if you cared about yourself in the first place.

Despite learning this, I still compared myself to others for something silly as looks, specifically buttocks. Ho argues that, "Comparison is the thief of joy...If you focus on on making yourself stronger and better...then you'll reach your fullest potential and achieve your goals" (160). That means if I just stop my comparing and focus on myself, I can have the butt I want. Not the butt that other girls or celebrities have, but my own. While butt size is determined by genetics, it's still a muscle. If Pilates taught me anything, it's that I can change my body through hard work. So unlike breasts which are fat, I can exercise my butt to be lifted. .

"Pointed Butt Lift X 25 Each Side
 Works: Gluteus
 A: Begin on all fours, your hands underneath your shoulders, arms straight, and knees about hip
 width apart. Lift your right leg up, knee bent at a 90-degree angle with your toes pointed into the air.
 B: Pulse and lift your leg up, hold, and squeeze your glutes before returning to the start position.  [Twenty-five on both sides]" (160).

Whew! I felt the burn in that one. While it's nice to focus on the parts I want to improve, it doesn't mean I should forget the parts I do like. In the end, I should love my overall self. Remember, self-love should be desired and isn't narcissistic.

How do you give yourself self-love? If you struggle with self-love, how do you plan on changing this?

Ho, Cassey. Cassey Ho's Hot Body Year-Round: The POP Pilates Plan to Get Slim, Eat Clean, and Live Happy Through Every Season. First ed. New York: Harmony, 2015. Print.

Release Stress with Stretching

Commonly, stress itself is a major problem high school students face. Even more, this stress increases tremendously when FINALS are coming up. The stakes are high, there is little room for error, and the stress just does not go away. However like every single blog-post I mentioned, the book Hot Body Year-Round by Cassey Ho solves another one of my problems.

This is not recommended, but most of the time students will push their bodies and minds excessively because they put their grades first before their health. However, Ho encourages to still treat oneself with care through stretching (Ho 217). Clearly, Ho values the importance of not just health, but overall well-being. For she believes that stretching is the way to treat oneself because as the body relaxes, so does the mind too.

Also, a lot of students do sit for long periods of time to work on assignments. This in turn and with poor posture can cause low-back pain. To solve this and de-stress, I selected this move called the Spine Twist. "A: Sit comfortably on your bottom with your spine super tall, shoulders relaxed, crown of the head still enough to balance a tiara. Bring your arms out to the side like airplane wing" (220). 

"B: Exhale and bring your left fingers to your right toes, looking back at your right hand. Then inhale and inflate your spine tall. This is one rep [out of twelve]. Repeat on other side and switch back and forth" (220).

 

This definitely took away my stiffness on my lower back. For me, it was better than twisting my back using a chair because I got a longer stretch and felt relaxed. I would recommend doing this move after sitting a long time.

How do you de-stress?

Ho, Cassey. Cassey Ho's Hot Body Year-Round: The POP Pilates Plan to Get Slim, Eat Clean, and Live Happy Through Every Season. First ed. New York: Harmony, 2015. Print.

Working Out on Breaks/Holidays

Ah, yes winter break is finally here and so have the holidays! But the struggle is real to consistently work out when we just want to hang with family, play games, or just hibernate. Whatever the reason, it's plain hard. But my book, Hot Body Year-Round by Cassey Ho gives me advice on this struggle.

While it may not be snowing this winter, the urge to hibernate and not move at all is still there. Ho says that, "...all you need is a little push to get you 'in the mood'" (Ho 210). She advises to put on your favorite upbeat songs that you can just jam to will motivate you to move and feel good (Ho 210). While this may be already a common piece of knowledge, it certainly does work. How upbeat and catchy the song is makes anyone to just move to release the energy that builds up inside their body. Even more, the beat can influence how intense or how fast they'll go. On top of this, both the music and going hard (working out) releases endorphines making them happy.

Now that we know how to get motivated, doing the usual moves may seem too boring to be paired with our awesome jams. Instead, "Choreographed, multilayered moves like the Shooting Star are a fun and inspiring method for burning off those holiday sweets" (Ho 198). The choreography gives  multilayered steps that is for one rep. By having more steps, it's required to move more and thus burn the extra calories gained from the holidays. But in the end, it's more fun than just doing one motion repetitively.

Now onto the Shooting Star. "Place your hands in a Charlie's Angel position, hands held together with pointer fingers up like a gun. Your legs should be lifted off the mat, ankles crossed, knees bent with your torso sitting tall, balanced on your tailbone. Beginners, you may leave both feet on the mat. Inhale and tap the tip of your gun to the left side of your hip, exhale and extend your legs forward long and straight while bringing your gun above your head and shoot! Then inhale down to the right" (Ho 200).
 
 
 
 
 Like I mentioned earlier, it's definitely more fun with a choreo because it switches things up. And if you read my last post, "The Plank" then you'll know why I liked the Charlie Angel's position. While I did have trouble with my form, the non-beginner's version was better for me because the beginner's version felt too easy. I think with more practice I'll have better form.

How do you keep yourself active on the breaks or holidays?

Ho, Cassey. Cassey Ho's Hot Body Year-Round: The POP Pilates Plan to Get Slim, Eat Clean, and Live Happy Through Every Season. First ed. New York: Harmony, 2015. Print.

The Plank

When I had P.E. as a freshman, we would always had to do a plank for our warm-ups. Even more, the time to be in plank would slowly become longer and longer until it became a full minute. And I sucked at this. Practice did not make me better. At each plank I either struggled to maintain it, or I cheated by laying on the floor when my teacher wasn't looking. But this problem was solved when I read Hot Body Year-Round by Cassey Ho.

The first step in fixing this was to learn what the plank encompasses in Pilates. Ho says that one of the best Pop Pilates practices is to be aware of what muscles are being used in a move to understand why I would want those to be worked and to create a connection between my mind and body (Ho 39). This simple lesson helped me learned that the plank represents the very focus of Pilates, "In Pilates, the core is a big focus, as it is the center of your balance and where all of your strength emanates from" (Ho 21).  With this new found of knowledge, I applied it to my plank and all other Pilate moves. Knowing the purpose behind it really helped me because now no longer, did I see the plank as something I can just imitate and get over with. An imitation only means I'm incorrectly doing the move and ruining the purpose behind it. Sadly, not even knowing if it's an imitation means I'm setting myself to struggle and end up in failure. Like last year during the P.E. summative. 

Now to contradict myself, I do admit that imitating can help you lead to having the right form and especially if it looks like the move is named after. "Your body should look like the wooden plank that pirates used to make their victims walk- firm with tailbone and pelvis tucked in. There should be no dip in the lower back and the butt should be in line with the back and the legs" (Ho 21). Now this was another game-changer. Similes are used as comparisons so you will have a clearer grasp on the thing being described. That visualization was a key for me to put it into the context of the move. A useful tip is to have a mirror at the side so you can really see if the form's right or someone to spot you. Now everything just clicked. I didn't feel the usual hinging pressure on my shoulders nor the drooping weight of my lower body. I felt uniformly strong throughout my body and stable. My core was being used and I looked like the plank! I was THE PLANK. Next semester I'll have P.E., and I'll nail that plank down. 

Have you ever thought about why you chose certain moves when you workout? Also, what are your tips and tricks to getting the best out of your workout? 

P.S. Did you get the joke?

Ho, Cassey. Cassey Ho's Hot Body Year-Round: The POP Pilates Plan to Get Slim, Eat Clean, and Live Happy Through Every Season. First ed. New York: Harmony, 2015. Print.