pilates

February 27: Five hours of cleaning and 20 minutes of ab work

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You read that headline right. Today, I cleaned the neighbour’s house for just over five hours. It shines. It’s spotless. Leo will be disappointed when he comes home because all that cleaning was done somewhere else! Ha!

My back aches a bit from the vacuum cleaner (they have a German Shepherd – lots of hair!) but unlike last month when I decided four hours of cleaning was enough exercise for one day, I wanted to do more.

As predicted, yesterday’s Pilates workout really gave my stomach muscles a hammering. I could feel them all day and cleaning the top of the shower gave them a good stretch. Luckily I haven’t sneezed yet; I think they’d yell “hello!”.

Because my abs feel good, and my tummy feels a little flatter, I thought I’d concentrate on core again with something new – this 20 minute advanced total abs workout from GymRa. I am officially nuts! I should heave read the comments on the video first – this is tough! My abs were cursing me after five minutes, but I made it to the end … and am a bit scared about what tomorrow will be like.

This could be a great addition to anyone’s weekly program. They suggest you do it three times a week on alternate days. You don’t need any equipment, just those abs … and arms and legs. The instructor Christine Khuri has an incredible six-pack stomach – majorly daunting, but impressive at the same time. She looks like someone who takes exercise very seriously.

The GymRa website has a free 30-day trial you might be interested in. You can create your own workouts by adding exercises to a video timeline which is pretty cool. I have no affiliation with this company whatsoever and am just providing this information in case you think it could be beneficial.

After yesterday’s glorious sunshine …

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The sun sets on a beautiful, sunny day

And a homemade treat, with help from Pastora …

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Yummy chicken and Spanish ham croquettes for dinner

It returned to a strange old dark’n’gloomy day today …

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Early morning snow

Speaking of strange, I did something strange today too – I had to pick up a rifle. It was heavy and freaked me out. I doubt it’s loaded, but it was sitting in the neighbour’s house and I had to clean the floor underneath it, so I picked it up … tentatively … and put it back down again straight away. In Switzerland, men from 19 years of age start compulsory military service, which continues until they’re 34. Everyone keeps their gun. So there are a lot of guns in Swiss houses. But, thankfully, minimal gun-related crimes.

On a much lighter note, here’s a field of poppies to give you something nice to think about. It was taken while walking the Camino in Spain, 2011.

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Ahh … that’s better …

Wishing you a wonderful day.

February 26: 20 minutes of Pilates

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Well, I couldn’t really showcase yesterday’s yoga routine, in the yoga versus Pilates debate, without doing Pilates today, could I? And on the beach … I want to watch some lucky person doing a workout on a beach …

Voila! Jessica Smith TV (I’ve done videos of hers before here and here) came up with the goods. Surprisingly, there weren’t that many beach Pilates options to be found. Call me unpatriotic, but I couldn’t bring myself to listen to the Australian woman’s accent in this 15-minute video. You might like it!

Smith’s 20-minute Pilates workout requires just a mat and a towel. One of yesterday’s highlighted texts from an article said you don’t really sweat much with Pilates. Not true! I definitely worked up a little sweat doing all those core muscle exercises. Phew.

This was a great routine. Tough but not in an upside-down-with-one-hand-in-the-air-and-the-other-behind-your-knee kind of way. Just solid leg stretches and lifts with a lot of focus on engaging the stomach muscles. Using the towel also made the arms work as well.

I recommend this workout to people of all fitness levels. As a beginner, you can modify the moves by not dropping the legs as low. I couldn’t do certain sets of exercises for the duration she did them – they wear you out! I’ll definitely have a tummy ache of a good kind tomorrow.

So which workout is better? Yoga or Pilates? I think they’re both beneficial and can easily be included in a varied exercise program. It would be strange to dismiss one or the other outright as they provide different things – in yoga, the quiet time may help you slow down; in Pilates, the succinct simplicity may suit those with time constraints. Both will continue to be part of fitfor15in15!

And did you see yesterday’s guest contribution from knitter and spinner Peta Yaxley? What an inspiring and relaxing story. I was almost in a meditative state, thinking of her spinning on her property, hearing the wheel and the birds, feeling the sun and taking in the view. I hope you enjoy reading about Peta’s way of staying mentally fit, too.

Wishing you a wonderful day.

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The sun may be shining today, but it definitely isn’t beach or pool weather. The poor pool …

February 25: Yoga v Pilates

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Reading this article on the greatist website this morning got my mind working … (by the way, greatist.com is an exercise website with a catchy name, not my misspelled personal endorsement! If you want to find out more about their philosophy click here.)

What exactly is the difference between yoga and Pilates? Which one is better? Show me a novice exerciser who hasn’t asked these questions!

The article explains the origins of both formats, which is interesting in itself. Pilates uses a capital ‘P’ because it’s the founder’s surname. I didn’t know that. If I’ve written it with a lower case ‘p’ on this blog before I shall go through and amend all mentions … in another lifetime.

The crux of the ‘argument’ between yoga and Pilates basically boils down to personal preference and the article’s final sentence … “Yoga’s the go-to choice for stress relief and a mind-body workout … while Pilates is typically better for strictly strengthening muscle.”

Not one to count on a single story as a source of information, the search continued for my yoga versus Pilates debate. It’s endless!

From bodyandsoul.com.au this article concludes, “If recovery from injury or strengthening weak joints is a priority, Pilates is probably going to give you optimum benefits … If, however, your aim is to take a break from everyday stresses and refocus, yoga is probably more likely to be your activity of choice.”

From the Victorian Government’s website, this very in-depth comparison contained a lot of new and relevant information with handy bullet points: “In Pilates, your muscles are never worked to exhaustion, so there is no sweating or straining, just intense concentration … The health benefits of regular yoga practice may include lowering blood pressure, improved posture and circulation, and a sense of wellbeing.”

This article from active.com highlights five key differences and to finish off, this Oprah magazine article does a good comparison between heart health, weight loss, body strength and flexibility, and bonus benefits.

There’s so much more information out there, but if you’ve asked yourself ‘what’s the difference?’ before, hopefully you now have a better idea of which one you might prefer. But you don’t really have to choose between the two – mix them together, if you’re so inclined, for a healthy mind and body.

So, obviously, today I’ve either chosen to do a yoga workout or a Pilates workout, right?! (I wish I could be cheeky and say wrong!) Yes, I’ve gone with yoga. I need to calm the head a bit. My plan to include yoga on Mondays as part of my morning routine hasn’t quite happened yet. On the strength of the only other Sadie Nardini yoga workout I’ve done (I still love it; click here to read more and find that workout), I chose her 20 minute yoga workout for weight loss and fat burning.

It’s actually only about 17 minutes long, but she encourages you to lie on your back for a few minutes at the end, to centre yourself before you jump up and resume your day. This workout has similar moves to the previous one, but is shorter and not quite as tough, so if you’re looking for a gentle but still challenging routine, this could be the right one for you.

I do feel calmer … even if that DAMN CAT is still running around in our ROOF! Ahem … calm … calmer … calmest …

Wishing you a wonderful day.

February 2: Skipping and pilates

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The sun came out for a while, so time for 15 minutes of skipping! It’s the first time I’ve skipped in a month. There’s a perfect spot on our terrace which is protected by the roof line. After six minutes, my form started to suffer and with three minutes to go, I was all over the shop. One day I’ll be able to do this! *cough*

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Half and half! No excuses not to be able to skip!

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The icicle from the gutter run off has melted

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The little hill in the distance is the Gurten, one of Bern’s many hiking places (great view to the Alps on a clear day) and home to an annual four-day music festival

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It always makes me smile when clumps of snow fall off the little pines

But while exercising, I remembered this was supposed to be today’s workout, from Kristi Cooper … so I did it as well! How incredible is the view behind her? Using the rubber Thera-Band (or a pair of old stockings) for the first time really worked the arms well; having toned arms is a major goal.

All up 30 minutes, which is good. It was time to step it up a bit. The past week or so has been a little lacklustre. Of course I’ve been exercising, but wasn’t really pushing myself. Today it feels like I’m back in the fitfor15in15 spirit.

Then I kinda ruined it all by eating some chocolate 🙂 We’ve often given Swiss Läderach chocolate as presents, but for the first time it was given to us! Thanks Nicole and Cooper. Leo might have to sniff the empty packet! Must. Stop. Eating. Now.

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Mmmm … deliciousness …

Wishing you a wonderful day.

January 26: Aussies here for Australia Day

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My old workmate Nicole and her son Cooper arrived from Australia around lunchtime today, just in time for some Australia Day celebrations … oh wait, no, Nicole fell asleep after a few hours and Cooper, after a spirited bike ride to the local shops and back in heavy snow, lasted about an hour longer. Their flight from Sydney has taken its toll. Will they wake up really early tomorrow?

Today’s fitfor15in15 was inspired by Cooper. He’s a 17-year-old ballet dancer and will compete in an international competition in Lausanne next week. Good luck Cooper! We were talking about exercise and he mentioned how much he loved pilates for strengthening the legs. I’d never even thought of pilates before – such a novice!

So I did a bit of a search on YouTube and came up with this leg slimming pilates butt and thigh workout, from Fitness Blender (I did one of their overall body workouts on January 21 which was also great). There were plenty of pilates videos (from various instructors) to choose from, and it was my intention to go with a different source to mix it up for you, but after 30 minutes of testing, this was the one that jumped out at me. The workout started very quickly (no waffle from the instructor beforehand) and the woman’s voice was acceptable to my sensitive ears! Great criteria, I know, but I finished the video about half an hour ago, and my thighs are still burning. Good sign, right?!

The last exercise sent me into a fit of giggles. I was taking the minimalist approach to workout wear by exercising sans leggings, and could hardly do the last exercise because my thighs were fairly well stuck on the yoga mat (all while making a lovely squeaking noise too).

On a different note (!), the snow’s been falling for hours, so it’ll be interesting to see what we’ll be able to get up to as tourists tomorrow.

Wishing you a wonderful day.