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This Post by Justin Dixon Photo Courtesy of Filtran

The most important factors for accomplishing anything are perseverance, discipline and time. Sometimes though that last part seems just out of reach. We know we should work out, and we know there are a lot of things we should do, but finding the  time and energy can be such a pain. So here is a full body workout that a martial arts instructor taught me. The actual workout takes about 10 minutes, but it skips out on the benefits of 5 minutes of stretching a day. I’m going to break this down into separate parts, and even give tips to make this step to living a healthier lifestyle easier for you.

Tips Before You Start

Before we start anything though you have to decide that you are really going to do this. Doing it because you should isn’t enough. You have to decide that you are tired of not taking care of yourself, or following through on what you know will bring good results. You have to prove to yourself that you are the kind of person who can do this. No matter what it takes you have to decide that you are going to take action to be healthier. Whatever reason it takes for you, if you want to get yourself back into healthy habits you have to have some reason to do it. For me its the knowledge that one healthy person in a household goes a long way to changing an entire household, and that someday I will have kids that will pick up my habits.

Once you commit to making this happen finding the time to work out will much be easier. If you can get a friend or family member to work out with you. Having a partner that you know will be counting on you to do this will keep you both in check. Setting a specific time to do this workout is also a good idea. Me and my partner do our workout right before we cook a meal together.

Another rule that will help is to only weigh yourself once a month at the most. Even the best exercises will not bring immediate results, the best thing to do in this case is just focus on doing your part which is the workout itself. The results will follow in time. As a bonus if you don’t try to constantly judge how fast your losing weight or getting into better shape the time that it takes to get you into the shape your after will pass faster.

The First 5 Minutes (stretching out)

This really is the easiest part. You just want to start by stretching out for the first 5 minutes. I recommend setting a timer so that your not constantly trying to look at the clock. Stretching works best if you are relaxing your mind and muscles.  Now you can use any stretch that you like though there are a few in particular that I have found particularly useful. The first will require an open doorway that people are not going to be trying to go in and out of for a little bit.

You start by lifting your arms out to he sides with the top part of your arm pointing up and your palms flat. What your going to do is just let your weight push against the open door. The sides of the door will hold you up. From here your just going to pulse against the door for about 10 seconds. This stretches out our back and chest muscles which are usually hunched over at a desk. Just consistently doing this everyday will improve your posture, and can relieve some commons aches and pains.

Another common stretch that I very much recommend is to stretch out the bottoms of your feet. You do this by using either a can or a tennis ball, just something round to put at the base of your foot, and setting it on the ground. Take the foot you want to stretch out and really flex it like you have your leg fully extended. Now place the bottom of your foot on the can, and just roll the can back and forth underneath your foot for a little bit. Once you finish that switch feet and do the other side.

From here you can go into any stretch you want. Roll your shoulders. Try to touch your toes with your back and legs straight bending at the waist. Twist your torso back and forth for a little bit. Reach for the sky with your hands while you dig into the earth with your feet. The whole point of this is that you want your muscles to be stretched out. This prevents injury and according to a professional massage therapist just these 5 minutes of stretching a day can greatly reduce how much pain your in at the end of the day or even prevent future pain from starting up.

Main Part of the Workout

Pushups

For safety reasons do not do these push-ups with your hands flat on the ground. This weakens the wrist and can cause an injury it is better to do push ups on your knuckles or holding a bar that has been propped up and inch or so off the ground. If you can not do the pole than you should get a pillow to place each hand on as this will save your knuckles.

Now, no one likes doing lots of push-ups so we are going to play a trick on our mind to make it seem like a little bit less work. In this quick workout your going to do 10 push-ups, but your going to count them a little differently. On one both you and your partner will go down and hold it there till the person counting says two. On two you rise up, on three you go back down, and on four you have done one complete push up. I normally count these 1,2,3,1,1,2,3,2,1,2,3,3. Counting like this puts both you and your partner in unison and also ads another interesting option. As you get used to this short workout you can hold it on different numbers and vary the speeds of your push-ups. If you can’t get to 10 today don’t worry about it. Get as far as you can today and it will be easier tomorrow.

Jumping Jacks

This is pretty straight forward just do 5 sets of 5.

Situps

Same type of count as the Jumping Jacks only this time your going to do 4 sets of 5. If you need your partner can hold your feet. Try not to bend your back and breathe out as you lift up. If you want to mix it up than the last two sets can be done with your elbows out behind your head, and alternating sides to get each elbow to touch the opposite knee.

Run for 3 Minutes

This can be in place, on a track, around your neighborhood, or on an exercise machine. You could also jump rope here instead. If the bottoms of your feet are weak or injured like mine you can also use an eliptical machine or a bicycle to make it a little easier on your body.

Really that is it. That is a full body work out that takes about 15 minutes from start to finish. Its not a lot but if you can do this little bit every day it will add up to making a big difference. Don’t focus on the results those will come. Instead focus on just doing your part.

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