Confessions of a Fitness Instructor

Hi everybody!  I managed to get the night off tonight thanks to a nasty snow storm that hit us this afternoon.  Although I really hate cancelling classes, I think my body was happy to have the evening off!

looking out our front door

Since it’s a stormy night I thought I’d share a workout with you that can be done on the treadmill – inside and away from the cold, wet weather!

I really feel that walking gets the short end of the stick as far as regular die hard exercisers are concerned.  Once people get into running, spinning, fitness classes, swimming, etc. walking seems to fall by the wayside.  Certainly it is a less intense exercise than the others mentioned, but as a form of low impact cross training it can be awesome.  Also, when done correctly you can use walking as a way to improve your cardiovascular endurance without putting un-necessary stress on your joints.

The workout below was designed to do just that, and was designed with the reasonably fit/active person in mind.  If you cannot easily walk at a 4 mile/hour pace for 30 minutes or long this workout is not for you.  As with any exercise program, please consult your physician before beginning or changing your current activity level, and remember – if it hurts, don’t do it!

Treadmill Walking Endurance Workout

1)  Warm up at 2% incline, 3mph for 5 minutes
2)  Increase speed to 4.0 mph for 2 minutes
3)  Increase speed to 4.5 mph for 3 minutes
4)  Increase speed to 4.75 mph for 1 minute
5)  Reduce speed to 3 mph for 2 minutes
6)  Repeat #’s 2-5 two more times for a total of 3 times.
7)  Reduce speed to 3.0mph for a 5 minute cool down

    Total time: 34 minutes

I’ll leave you tonight with a video of Pekoe and Ollie checking out the snow on our back deck a few minutes ago

Now if I could only remember to hold my iPod horizontally while recording we wouldn’t have these big black chunk on either side of the video.  Someday, someday…

If you give the workout a try let me know how it goes!

What do you like to do on unexpected storm days or evenings (assuming  you have power)?