Hello everyone! With the holiday season right around the corner, this month’s WOW’s is to add in more fitness during the holidays. It can be stressful shopping for gifts and planning for family, but just know at anytime, anywhere, you can add in exercise throughout the day. This week’s WOW is to perform a quick interval training exercise, or tabata. Tabata is exercising for 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off for 2 minutes. It is a great way to quickly increase your heart rate in a short amount of time. You can add this tabata in when you are shopping for goods or when you have down time at home. You can choose any exercise such as squats, push-ups, or jumping jacks. You can even switch it up and do a dance exercise! Below is an example of a tabata using squats. 20 seconds of squats followed by 10 seconds of rest for a total of 2 minutes. Get those muscles moving during this holiday season!

Gobble, gobble! With Thanksgiving right around the corner, this month’s WOW’s will focus on giving thanks AND doing planks! How cool is that?

Your giving thanks will be to think about a situation that you struggled or are having problems with. Then, think about how you’ve grown and learned from this experience. For me, my college years were rough because I studied hard and worked my tail off to finish grad school and work full time simultaneously. Looking back, I do wish that I spent more time relaxing and enjoying my college years. However, I built up a successful work ethic that benefits me tremendously in all facets of my life. Although it was a hard journey to get to where I am now, I am incredibly thankful that I preserved and grew from this experience.

Your exercise for this week is to perform a plank with a push-up. Hold a plank for 5 seconds. Then, perform a push-up and lower yourself down to the ground. You can perform a plank/push-up on your knees if it’s too difficult. Perform both plank and push-up for 5 repetitions. You can perform the same movement while on your knees. Please see below for more info.

My hope is for all Kaiser Permanente employees and physicians to express gratitude, exercise, and thrive during the holidays! Take care!

Gobble, gobble! With Thanksgiving right around the corner, this month’s WOW’s will focus on giving thanks AND doing planks! How cool is that?

Your giving thanks will be to write down 5 things about yourself that you admire. It could be that you’re a hard worker, empathetic, kind, or funny. Be creative and really think why you chose these things. Now go to a mirror and say these things out loud and look at yourself. I know it sounds silly, but this exercise works! Too often we criticize ourselves and beat ourselves up for mistakes. When you can recognize the good qualities in yourself, you will start to be less harsh and see the good not only in you, but others as well.

Your exercise for this week is to perform a plank with a single leg knee crunch. Bring your knee into your elbow and hold for one second. Bring your leg back to neutral and switch to the other side. Perform for 3 repetitions on the right and left side.

If you cannot hold a full plank, you can modify by placing your knees on the ground and performing an arm raise. Alternate between the right and left arm and perform 3 repetitions on each side.