Empower Blog

I love to cycle, so whenever I can I take myself outside and jump on my bike. Whether I’m climbing mountains or cruising the streets, riding clears my mind, gives me a chance to breathe some fresh air and allows me to exercise outside of the stale gym environment.

In addition, cycling allows me to challenge my muscles in a different way from the step and strength classes I normally teach. It switches up the muscular skeletal or biomechanical stress on my body. This keeps my muscles working hard rather than allowing them to get so used to any one type of exercise that they get lazy.

So if you’re getting bored with your current workout routine or feel like you’re at a fitness plateau, it’s not as important what exercises you add to your regime as it is to add change of any kind. For example, switch from running to swimming, treadmill to elliptical or yoga to ab ball training. Or take a cue from me and climb on a bike. It’ll make you feel like a kid again while giving your butt and legs a killer workout.

By Heather Hawk

Everyone has different motivational tools and triggers to keep them on track. Some people need accountability to stay consistent. The consistency has never been my obstacle. My challenge is to push myself beyond my threshold whether it’s get those few extra reps or for the extra mile. Over the years I’ve tried several things to help give me an edge. Here are a few of the tricks that motivate me to kick it up a notch:

• Download music that will pump you up. A mix of up-beat and slow doesn’t do it for me, I need songs that we keep me jamming.
• Talk yourself through the tough spots. When I feel I’ve reached a breaking point I remind myself of my goals (sometimes in my head and sometimes out loud) like a lean body or a tight booty – I repeat it over and over to push through the challenge.
• Find a workout partner (or a few). The key is to find a partner that will motivate you as much as you motivate them – you want to push each other rather then holding one another back.
• Remind yourself of the level you’ve achieved in prior workouts. When I find it difficult to hit a prior distance or number of reps I remind myself that I did before so I can do it again – quitting is not an option!

By Heather Hawk

We all know that finding time for fitness can be a challenge.

Whether it’s work, family, or school we all have life pulling us in several directions. Having my own company provides me the luxury of working from home a few days a week so squeezing in a workout early morning or mid-day is usually convenient. Lately, my work has had me on location most weekdays. By the time I get home I want to spend all the time I can with mygirls before their bedtime.

I was finding myself stressing out over when to fit in my workout. So I decided to combine the two activities and I’m using my playtime with my girls to be as physical as possible. My oldest, who is three, loves to crawl over and under furniture, jump, run, and climb through the jungle-gym at the park. Instead of simply cheering her on from the sidelines, I’m now right by her for all her fun and exploration.

You’d be amazedhow exhausting it can be keeping up with a three year old…I know I’m working up a sweat, burning calories, and using my muscles in very different ways.