Feeling a bit crazy? Workouts are non-existent these days? Studies show that squats, curls and crunches can calm your frazzled nerves!

We already have plenty of evidence that exercise helps beat depression and that exercise can elevate feelings of happiness and contentment. But most past studies of exercise and moods have almost exclusively looked at the effects of aerobic exercise – which we know works!!! We know that a good old fashioned sweaty cardio workout can boost our mood. But what about strength training?

A 2018 article posted by the Harvard Medical School concluded that people with mild to moderate depression who performed resistance training two or more days a week saw “significant” reductions in their symptoms, compared with people who did not exercise. So grab your dumbbells and get to WORK! You’ll be feeling STRONGER mentally and physically – a WIN WIN during this time of uncertainty and stress! Cheers to a happy AND healthy Holiday season!

Erin Waldner
Owner & Trainer
Proving Ground Studio

You always knew exercise was good for you. But the type of exercise is important as well. Functional fitness trains your muscles to help you do everyday activities SAFELY and EFFICIENTLY. Sitting down & getting up from a chair? Grabbing a glass from a tall kitchen cabinet? Picking up a heavy Amazon box from the porch? (oh wait, is that just me!?!)

Maybe you don’t love to exercise, but for all of us, it’s a way to maintain and/or improve our quality of life. That’s the main goal of functional fitness. And that’s why you absolutely should be adding it into your workout routine.

These types of exercises train your muscles to work together. Functional fitness is all about prepping the muscles for daily tasks by simulating common, every day movements that you do at home, work and in sports. While using multiple muscles in the upper & lower body at the same time, these types of exercises also emphasize core stability. It’s like multi-tasking for fitness.

Some of my favorite functional fitness exercises are:

• Air Squats (using bodyweight only and varying the tempo: slow squats, pulse at the bottom, slow to the bottom and faster on the rise up)
• Multi-directional lunges (back, forward and side lunges with or without weights)
• Planks (all of them – elbow plank, high plank, side planks, etc)
• Hand-release pushups

Cheers in Health,
Erin

Erin Waldner, Founder of Proving Ground Studio (Hull, MA), offers myriad functional fitness training workouts designed to achieve complete muscle conditioning with optimum recovery. For a full class schedule, please visit wwww.provinggroundstudio.com.

Introducing Proving Ground Studio to the South Shore…it’s not just a place to get sweaty. It’s a community where people feel encouraged, motivated and pushed past their limits – both physically & mentally. Our incredible team of trainers will move athletes through a functional training workout, while focusing on mobility, movement and recovery. We train smart. We train hard. And we are always stronger together.

This is Proving Ground.

IG: @provinggroundstudio
Website: www.provinggroundstudio.com (coming soon)
Facebook: pg.studio.hull or search for Proving Ground

Upcoming event TODAY, May 5, 2020, via Zoom:
Get sweaty with Proving Ground Studio with virtual workouts to support Wellspring.

Hey Wellness Warriors, it’s time to get SMART about goal setting. Have you ever set goals and actually crushed them? If you have, then congratulations! If you are one of the many who set goals and then feel frustrated when you aren’t accomplishing what you set out to do – these tips are for you!

By using the SMART goal-setting tool, you will be able to set precise & clear goals and then watch yourself CRUSH them! Most often, when you are setting health & wellness goals, they are general ones like “lose weight”, “tone up” “eat healthier”. These are all positive goals but in order to really be successful, your goals should be more fine –tuned in order to be effective. This is where the SMART goal setting process comes into the picture.

SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-bound.

Specific: Goals should be clear and state specifically what should be accomplished. Define your goal and ask yourself “why do I want this goal?”.

Measurable: Goals must be measurable so that you can see whether or not you are making progress. Figure out the best way to measure & track your progress, most likely in a journal dedicated to your fitness and nutrition journey.

Attainable: Goals should be realistic for you. When you reach an “attainable & realistic” goal, it will give you momentum to keep going in your health journey.

Relevant: Goals must be relevant to your interests, needs, available time schedule and abilities.

Time-bound: Goals should contain timelines for completion with some wiggle room as well. Evaluate yourself regularly to see if you are on the right track with timing and progress.

As 2019 comes to an end and you welcome 2020 with open arms, be SMART when setting your fitness and nutrition goals. Set reasonable fitness goals, create a nutrition plan that’s sustainable & realistic and let’s do this!

Cheers in Health,
Erin

With back-to-school schedules in full swing, it can be tricky to find time to make it to the gym or your favorite local class. Here is a quick routine that will help you break a sweat – even if you only have 5 minutes to spare.

Here is a 5 minute, 10 minute & 15 minute workout…so easy, no excuses.

*5 Minute Cardio Workout
1 min Jog in place
1 min Jump rope
1 min Mountain Climbers
1 min squat jumps
1 min burpees

*10 Minute Core & Cardio Workout
45 seconds of exercise, 15 seconds of rest
Elbow Plank
Jumping Jacks
Bicycle Crunches
Mountain Climbers
High Plank w/ Shoulder Taps
*repeat 1 more time

*15 Minute Hiit Workout
Round 1:
30 sec – jump squats
rest 15 sec
45 sec – pushups
rest 15 sec
60 sec – plank
rest 15 sec

Move on to Round 2:
30 sec – plank jacks
rest 15 sec
45 sec – reverse lunges
rest 15 sec
60 sec – Ab crunches with legs elevated
rest 15 sec

Round 3:
30 sec – burpees
rest 15 sec
45 sec – step ups on a chair or stair
rest 15 sec
60 sec – wall sit
rest 15 sec

Round 4:
30 sec – jumping jacks
rest 15 sec
45 sec – plank with knee pulls
rest 15 sec
60 sec – squats
rest 15 sec

Round 5:
30 sec – plank with leg raises
rest 15 sec
45 sec – skaters
rest 15 sec
60 sec – tricep dips on a chair
rest 15 sec

**repeat all 5 rounds for a 30 minute workout

Rest Days…Yes, you should embrace them!

Incorporating rest days into your regular fitness routine is just as important as the “active” days. Resting is an equal part of the total process required to build strength, muscle and increase endurance. Working out, especially resistance training, breaks your body tissues down…Rest days allow your muscles time to rebuild.

Resting your body has value. It makes you stronger, because it allows the muscles that you have broken down to heal and recover. It is the rest that also allows you to recover so you can be strong, and thereby handle the increased weight, increased number of sets and increased reps needed to move forward with your fitness level.

Rest days are important regardless of whether you are training for a marathon or just trying to maintain good health. The idea that more is always better doesn’t apply with exercise.

When looking at your fitness routine, incorporating low, moderate and high-intensity workouts is important and will allow proper rest for the body. This process is called periodization and utilizing all types of exercise in your routine will have the greatest effect.

Below is a great article that dives deeper into periodization:

https://www.acefitness.org/education-and-resources/lifestyle/blog/6660/periodized-training-and-why-it-is-important

By utilizing all forms of exercise intensities, it allows you the proper rest time for your body to rebuild muscle tissue. Without the proper recover time, you might hit a plateau in your performance, you may see injury plague your body and you might even experience reduced performance (less strength, less endurance, fatigue, etc.)

So what next? What’s the right amount of rest? It’s very personal and it’s important to listen to your body and the cues that it gives you. But generally, in a one week (7 days) cycle – you might have 2-3 high intensity days, 2-3 moderate intensity days 1-3 low intensity days. It’s important to schedule at least 1 rest day out of every 7-10 days.

Cheers to our health (and rest days!),
Erin

5 Benefits of HIIT Training (and, why you should be adding this to your workout regimen)

Incorporating exercise into our busy lives is hard enough, with HIIT (High Intensity-Interval Training) workouts – you don’t need a lot of time. In fact, you can get in a good quality sweat session in less than 20 minutes. Think “quality vs. quantity” and that’s where a HIIT workout is ideal. Time is precious so make the most of every second.

High- intensity interval training (HIIT) is a form of interval training – a cardiovascular exercise program that alternates short periods of intense anaerobic exercise with less intense recovery periods.

1. It’s an efficient form of exercise:

According to the American College of Sports Medicine, just 2 weeks of high-intensity training will improve your aerobic capacity compared to 6-8 weeks of endurance training.

2. You’ll burn more fat:

Not only do you burn more calories, the effect of an intense HIIT workout will keep your body “going” for almost 24 hours afterwards burning fat and calories for an extended time.

3. You will increase heart health:

Pushing hard in the anaerobic zone (that place where you can’t breathe & you feel like your heart is about to explode out of your chest) produces results.

4. You don’t need equipment:

Sprinting, Jumping, Burpees, Squats, Push-Ups – all moves that require zero equipment which means this type of workout can be done anywhere. So no excuses when you are on vacation or a work trip.

5. It’s a fat burner & who doesn’t want that?

During exercise, your body metabolizes fat for fuel. During the recovery phase after a HIIT workout, the body will tap into fat stores for the energy required to restore it to its normal resting state.

Is working your core a “waist” of time? The answer is NO! The term “core” is thrown around so much in the fitness community – ”tighten your core, engage your core, work the core”. But, what does it really mean to work your core and how important is it in your fitness routine (and what exactly is the core)?

Our core comprises of a system of muscles in the lower-trunk area, including the lower back, abdomen and hips. These muscles work together to provide support and give mobility to our body. A strong core is crucial to keeping your body functionally sound and operating at a high level. By training your core, you will focus on the strength and flexibility of these muscles. And combined with a clean & healthy diet, you just might see that waist shrink.

Besides the obvious aesthetic benefits of maintaining a lean and tight core, there are many important functional reasons as well. Easing back pain, improving balance, standing straighter (and looking taller) and being able to lift heavy objects with reduced stress or strain are just some of the positives of having a strong core. Consistent core training and having a strong core allows you to execute everyday movements with ease. You will feel better and look better – that’s a win!

There are several key tips when performing core exercises.
The first is breathing. Keep your breathing pace natural and steady. Think of the inhale as the “pull back’ motion of a bow & arrow. The exhale is the extension of the bow after being pulled back. A more slow & controlled inhale combined with a more explosive exhale will take your breathing the next level and help in your exercises.

The second tip is form. It’s critical to proper core training. Maintain control through every rep because that will help to ensure ease of movement and strength within each movement.

The third key tip to think about in core training is speed. It’s all about keeping a natural pace, not speeding up or even working too slow. When we feel that an exercise becomes challenging, we might try to rush through it. Take that deep breath and slow down.

Some of my favorite core exercises are planks, slow mountain climbers, bicycle crunches, lower ab leg lifts and boat pose holds.

Love your core and it will love you back!

Cheers to Health,
Erin