30-minutes HIIT at home

How to motivate your partner/friend or relative to workout? Hold the training for them together!

Today we have done a high-intensity interval training at home. We have spent just 30 minutes and it was a lot of fun and calories burned. Our red faces and sweaty bodies were great measurements of effective workout.

You will need a space at your home (we’ve moved some furniture temporary), two mats, two dumbbells (we have two dumbbells 5 kg each, but this is optional), and stopwatch. There are exercises, which I collected in the list for this HIIT. Perform each exercise for one minute with five seconds rest between exercises in the circuit. And then have one minute rest, and repeat each circuit three times.

Circuit #1:

1.1. Jumping jacks

1.2. Sumo squat with dumbbell

1.3. Mountain climbers

Circuit #2:

2.1. Burpees

2.2. Elbow’s plank

2.3. Jump lunges

Circuit #3:

3.1. Oblique side plank with rotation (right side)

3.2. Squat jumps

3.3. Oblique side plank with rotation (left side)

Cool-down: walking on the place, breath in and out, static stretching of arms, chest, back and legs.

P.S. There is just the list of exercises in a proper sequence. Please, google the technic of each exercise before you start.

How to reach a regular fitness?

1. Push yourself to go to the gym or do other sports during first 6-12 months;
2. Keep a strong discipline and willpower;
3. Enjoy small results and love yourself more and more;
4. Remember about the future and the quality of your life which increases by proper fitness and health food;
5. Make photos of yourself in an underwear every two weeks in the same day and compare these in different periods. Enjoy results or be honest and correct your nutrition plan or/and workouts;
6. Listen and feel yourself. Have a rest;
7. Finally enjoy fitness as your lifestyle habit.

Food and activities in the travel: Israel

Photo by http://yuliyamazilova.com/

They said Israel is a second home of start-ups after Silicon Valley now. This place definitely inspired me a lot by fresh ideas, new plans and challenging tasks. But what I liked most was people’s ability to live life here and now: just being yourself, walking, socializing, dancing, smiling and enjoying tasty food.

Food in the travel

•  Mediterranean cuisine is famous for its long positive impact on life expectancy. I could easily find both delicious and healthy food (fresh vegetable salads seasoned with local olive oil, fish and seafood) in any local cafe.
• But... I had to abstain from eating up, even the most delicious and healthy dishes! I have discovered that food helpings tend to be really hospitable in Israel: three times larger than the average ones in Russian and European restaurants.  Here I experienced my first cheating day of not finishing the ice cream, as one scoop turned out to be much bigger than I had been used to.
• I was really pleased by beverages variety. For instance, this is possible everywhere in Israel to select from coconut water smoothie, soymilk coffee, mint and lemon tea, or fresh juice. Actually, I encountered lots of fruit shops in every city I visited: Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Bat Yam and Haifa. 

This is just one scoop of ice cream with one flavor in my cup, and two flavors on the cup of my friend 

Activities

• The trip was rich with strolls about Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa. My mobile pedometer would register approximately 18 000 steps daily for three days running.
• I took my time to practice in-home yoga before breakfast.
• My friend suggested our cycling tour along Tel Aviv shoreline. To tell you the truth, bicycles were not the most comfortable ever, but cycling truly accelerated our movements, contributed to diversity of sights seen and filled our day up with brand new emotions and experiences. 

• When planning my trips, I always google good gyms and yoga classes or ask my friends and acquaintances about such places. It was my friend Katya this time, who took me to the Russian-speaking morning yoga meditation class, which took place at a sea view classroom.
• I had spare time for gym on Shabbat. But Shabbos, or Shabbat is a holy day when Jews refrain from work activities. That’s why I quickly designed a training program for the open-air workout. In the morning Katya and me had one-hour boot camp in front of the sea. It is noteworthy that there is plenty of space for those who want to train at the seaside. 

You will be able to find out more about that training program of mine in one of the following posts.

Raw coconut&mango breakfast

Good morning!

I’m so glad to come back at my home and kitchen after long trip! Love cooking healthy food and, of course, eating it then!

Thanks Nutritious&Delicious for the inspiration to cook a super tasty, 100% raw breakfast. The original recipe is here.

I’ve changed the recipe a little bit due to the ingredients at my kitchen.

I put for two cups:

• 1 mango,
• 1 glass of homemade coconut milk,
• 10 teaspoons of chia seeds,
• 2 teaspoons of organic date syrup from Israel.

The taste is amazing! Thanks Nutritious&Delicious!

No to Arthritis: Instruction Sheet

If you are familiar with my fitness record, you know that I had come to gym for health, not for beauty. The problem was solved and I created a muscular girdle in the core to support kidneys and not let them shift down. But soon life called me to the next challenge. The knee joint pains lead me to doctors who diagnosed a case of genetic knee arthritis.

It hurt to tears during inflammation of the knee.

I started studying the arthritis subject with innate systematic approach: discovered other people’s experience, searched for sportsmen’s recommendations, and consulted with orthopedists and rheumatologists.

In the course of treatment I formed the following habits.

1.  Appropriate doctors are essential

You have to surround yourself with professional medical support: that of orthopedist, rheumatologist, ultra sonographer and radiographer. I found the right doctors on recommendations of acquaintances. I would arrange an appointment with a doctor, prepare a list of questions, visit the doctor and realize if he met my requirements and if I could trust him. You’d better also do ultrasonography and radiography in recommended clinics and undergo re-examinations at the same places with the same doctors.

 2. Tolerating pain is forbidden

Knee pain is the first stroke of joint inflammation. In case of arthritis, the cartilage deteriorates and the bones start rubbing directly against each other. That’ s why I agreed to take medicines prescribed by my orthopedist. I was on non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs and cartilage protectors.

3. Daily exercising is a must

Your physical therapy should be on a daily basis. There are no capillaries in knee joints and important nutrients are provided by synovial fluid, which is transported into the joint space from cartilage only when the joint is active, i.e. during movement. Moreover, it is necessary to build leg muscles to create a muscular girdle for your knees. But it is not recommended to do weight exercises, such as squats, lunges and jumps at inflammatory state.

I relocated my lower body workout from the gym to home mat. I performed light 45-minute leg and butt workouts every day. My orthopedist had provided illustrated instruction sheet to those exercises.

I kept on working out my upper body in a gym with sitting position exercises prevailing. In that way, weight is distributed on hips, not on legs. I always warmed up by cycling only.

I added regular swimming to my training schedule for general joint support and my overall muscular tone maintenance.

4. Eating avocado and cottage cheese is good for you

In case of knee arthritis, nutrition should be focused on cartilage repair. Firstly, your diet should be healthy and balanced. Take lots of vegetables, fruits, green-stuff and safe drinking water. I had refused meat, gluten, roasted and junk food long ago and this point was no hard task.

Secondly, I increased the quantity of fatty fish, avocado, olive oil, prawns and other rich in healthy fats products consumed.

Thirdly, I added casein protein to my evening menu. I found out from several articles that growth hormone in human organism is produced naturally throughout the whole life, however, its level drops over the years. Protein tends to double up the growth hormone production, which facilitates cartilage repair. Casein protein is digested within few hours, which, in its turn, raises the chance of growth hormone production. I tasted casein protein powder but was preoccupied with body response. That was why I replaced it with 100-gram portion of skim cheese and used to have it two hours before bedtime. At the time it was the only dairy product on my menu. And currently there are no dairy foods at all. Collagen, which is contained within aspic, is considered to be beneficial for arthritis treatment. But I refrained from this experiment, as I didn’t feel like eating meat products back then.

5. Taking care of your knees, by all means

I ordered special orthopedic insoles, as proper foot fixation is another foundation for knee joints. And my personal experience proves it well. At least, now, that I have new footwear and insoles, I don’t get tired from long time walking, as I previously did. And you can easily displace your insoles from these or those shoes to the other ones. Now I choose to buy new footwear only if my insoles fit well in it.

Happy end

I have no bum knees any more. The doctors have noted significant improvements. I have gradually added leg workouts to my training and displaced my in-home physical drills to the gym. I have built my muscles scrupulously and successively. Now all kinds of exercises, seated or stand up, lunges or squats, are included into my regular training programme. But I still tend to listen to my body and to focus more on sets quantity and quality, than muscle mass gain.

My body reveals and health strengthens.

To tell you the truth, this is a great piece of luck to prove first-hand that recuperating your health is possible at any age. 

Keep health in Russian winter

Well, I’m in a Russian winter the second day after long time in a warm Asian climate. And this is a good chance to check my health and body.

Many people said me I don’t eat read meat and chicken just because I spend more time in a warm country. Firstly, I don’t eat read meat for more than three years, so I begun when I was in Russia. The second, yes, I didn’t eat chicken since I’m in Asia.  And the third, I don’t think it depends on climate, as I didn’t want to eat meat and chicken for many years before.

I’m on a low-carbs diet also. So many people said again I would want eating more carbs during Russian winter. We will see. I will listen my body during my time in the winter. I promise to be honest with you and myself. Now I can say I like here hot tea and soups more than before.

My plans to keep health and energy during Russian winter:

• take multi vitamins every day;
• eat a lot of fresh vegetables and fruits;
• workout every day;
• sleep at least eight hours at night.

In the end of this week there will be minus 26-28 during daytime. I guess it will be difficult for me to go to the gym for workout even by taxi as not all cars work in such cold weather usually. I’m going to workout at home as there are more than enough equipment: the mat, a resistance tube, gliding plates, weights for ankles.   

I will keep to share my experience with food and workouts during winter time :) 

My rules for cheating day

There is some food, which I do not eat: sugar, sweets and juices from a shop, bread, meat and chicken, saturated fats (butter, sunflower oil), alcohol. In spite of that I enjoy every time when I eat! If I want something sweet I can always find a home-made replacement: mix bananas and cocoa in blender, make healthy candies with nuts, dried apricots or raisins, bake a banana bread or buckwheat flour muffins. Or I can just eat a fresh fruit. There are always some options.

But sometimes I do want to eat dessert in my favorite cafe.

So there are some rules, which provide harmony and balance between healthy diet and endorphin level:

1.      Choose one day in a week when you are going to let yourself eat food from your unhealthy list (that list may differ). It is better to choose a day off for that. Have a rest and enjoy a chocolate or an ice-cream, or chocolate ice-cream :).

If you eat a piece of chocolate every morning you should try to do it once a week. The taste of food from your forbidden list becomes richer and brighter if you eat it rarely. This fact was proved by me and my friends and relatives!

Fix the day you chose. In some nourishing programs it is called “cheating day”. It should be the same day every week. My choice is Saturday.

2.      Plan your cheating day in advance. If you don't, Saturday or Sunday can become a day of gluttony with heaviness in your stomach. You should enjoy your favorite sweets during this day.

If I want to eat some dessert during the week I make a promise to myself that I will slowly enjoy this dessert on Saturday. If I'm not in a mood and still want to eat it, I can replace it with home-made healthy sweets.

3.      Try to eat sweets and complex carbohydrates in the first half of your cheating day. You can have them on breakfast, lunch or as a bite. Even on cheating days I do not eat fruits or carbohydrates in the evening as they can quickly influence on fat accumulation. I always eat vegetables and fish or seafood in the evenings.

The main thing as always is balance. Having a cheating day, I don't hurry to eat a lot from my forbidden list. I am prolonging the pleasure. Usually I have some sweet dessert and coffee in the first part of day and some ice-cream later. Next week I can have a dark chocolate. Mostly I don't eat anything from that list. Just because I don't want to. I try to listen to myself and understand the true wishes of my body.