Celebrity Fitness Trainer Kathy Kaehler: Top 5 Fall Exercises

With the seasons transitioning from summer to fall, What’s Up, USANA? posted an article called “5 Tips to Help the Scale ‘Fall’ In Your Favor”, and because it was so informative on the nutrition side, I decided to follow it up with some easy fall exercise tips.

Lets get started!

Walk A Mile in 15 Minutes

Measuring your fitness level regularly is a good habit to develop. You probably have everything you need right at your fingertips.

Comfortable clothing and good cross-trainer shoes; a stopwatch or the clock on your phone, a flat one-mile walking surface, such as a standard quarter-mile high school track or a flat road where you’ve measured the one-mile distance with your car’s odometer.

Test it out and see how long it takes you to walk one mile.

Walking is also a great way to “reset” your weight loss journey. It’s low-impact and literally as simple as putting one foot in front of the other, all you need to do is get out of the front door!

That’s not even the best part!

Walking also offers some great health benefits, including lower blood pressure, stronger bones, great mood, more endurance and even a good nights sleep.  So start walking this fall and see what a difference it can make in your life.

Swimming 

Swimming is often touted as the perfect whole-body workout.

The buoyancy of the water supports your body and takes the strain off of your joints. Plus, research has shown that swimming can put you in a better mood.

Like I’ve always said, “you are just one workout away from a good mood!”

Getting Started

Swim four lengths of the pool at an easy effort (pause to catch your breath at the wall between lengths if needed). Rest for 30 seconds. Repeat five to ten times. By the end of the second week track your progress and see if it’s become easier. If you’d like, try using a kick board in between lengths until you get used to swimming consistent laps.

Try different strokes, such as breast, back, side and fly.  Variety is key to improving your workout in the pool.

Kegel Exercises

These exercises won’t help you look better and no one can tell that you are exercising, but they do something that is very important — strengthen the pelvic floor muscles that support the bladder.

A strong pelvic floor keeps you away from the adult-diaper store. You think I’m kidding, but I’m not!

Women are familiar with Kegels from childbirth but these exercises can benefit men, too.

Getting Started

To do a Kegel exercise correctly, squeeze and release the muscles you would use to stop urinating (don’t practice it while doing the deed; just pretend you are). Alternate quick squeezes and releases with contractions that you hold for 10 seconds, and then release for 10 seconds. Work up to three sets of 10-15 Kegel exercises each day.

A perfect place to do these is at your computer. Put the timer on and go for it! Sitting in traffic or waiting at a stoplight? Put that time to good use! Keep a Post-It note on your dash or desktop to be reminded of doing them…DAILY!

Split Squat

Keeping a strong lower body is vital. Strengthening the quads and glutes is key to bone health, metabolism, back and core strength plus improving knee support.

Getting Started

Stand in a staggered split stance with front foot on a box, step, curb or ledge. It should not be higher than 6 inches. Your feet should be 2-to-3 feet apart, with your front knee slightly bent. Slowly lower your body as far as you can. Pause. Then rise back up to the starting position as quickly as you can. Complete all reps on one side and then do the same number with your other foot forward.

Beginners — With your front foot elevated like described above, lower the body down until front thigh is parallel to the ground if you can. Make sure you go at your own pace, which will determine how far down you can go. Do 3 sets of 10-to-12 reps on each side. Rest for 60 seconds between sets.

Intermediate — With your front foot elevated like described above, complete 3 sets of 10-to-12 reps on each side, Rest for 30 seconds between sets.

Advanced — With your rear foot elevated, complete 3 sets of 12-to-15 reps. Rest for 15 seconds between sets.

Bench Press

This move is perfect for fit living and active adults that demand upper-body strength. Maybe you play weekend flag football or you just want to be able to put your suitcase in the overhead compartment by yourself. The targeted muscles are chest, triceps and shoulders.

You’ll need a gym or a weight bench to do this exercise at home. Push-ups are great as well but adding some weights for this fall’s workout will open you up to a whole new world.

Getting started

Lie with your back flat on the bench with your feet flat on the floor. Grab the barbell with an overhand grip at shoulder width. Un-rack the bar and lower it to the middle of your chest. Straighten your arms to press the bar back to your start position without locking your elbows.

Do 4 sets of 8 reps. Imagine that you’re pressing your upper back into the bench. For women, do 2-3 sets of 12-15 reps. For men I suggest 2-3 sets of 8-10 reps.

There you have it! Commit to exercising with these 5 tips throughout this fall and you may just find that you don’t gain your usual amount of holiday weight this year!

*The mentioned celebrity is either a distributor or dedicated user who has received compensation for his/her partnership and/or complimentary USANA products.
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