It might not be official, but I think we could all agree that January is National Sweat Month. Because so many set resolutions to get in shape or drop some weight, gyms are packed this time of year as people try to sweat off those Christmas cookies! I think being active is awesome, but you have to do it right or you can end up hurting more than helping. Here are 9 great tips to prevent that from happening and help you on your way to a fitter you!
Don’t Overdo It: It’s tempting to just go all in and hit the weights and cardio hard. If you’ve gone from nothing or a relatively sedentary life to that, there’s a good chance you are going to hurt yourself. Ease your body into your workouts slowly, and then increase with time. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and your healthy body won’t be either.
Don’t Under Do It: Our bodies are capable of pretty awesome feats. Push yourself outside of that comfort zone and you’ll see some great results. If you’ve been slowly walking on the treadmill for months, increase your incline or pick up your pace. If you use the same pound weights for every workout, try increasing that weigh by a small amount. Just going through the motions, slowly and mindlessly churning the elliptical without barely breaking a sweat won’t get you to your goals. A good rule of thumb is to lift weights that you can do for 10-12 repetitions with the last 3-4 reps becoming more challenging. If you’ve been lifting the same weight for over 6 weeks, it’s time to change up your routine, either by increasing your weights, reps or sets. You have to push yourself!
Don’t Work Through Pain: With that said, there is a difference between exhaustion and pain. Pushing yourself to your limit is a good thing. Pushing through the exhaustion in a good thing. Pushing through pain is not. If you are feeling pain during workouts {different from soreness or a chest on fire!}, stop your workout. Continuing on and ignoring that pain means you are ignoring your body’s warning signs. There could potentially be a serious injury brewing and you can make that much worse if you try to power through the pain!
Don’t Rely on the Equipment: If you have to hold onto the equipment for dear life to finish your workout, you should reduce the incline or the speed. Not only does gripping the treadmill, etc. allow you to cheat, it also prevents you from moving your arms and causes slouching. None of that is helpful and all of it is harmful. You aren’t doing your body any good setting the speed or incline higher than you are able to handle without leaning on the equipment for support.
Don’t Lose Your Form: Speaking of slouching, bad posture can be especially harmful when working out. If your spine is not in alignment when you are exercising, some serious back and neck injuries can occur. You are often pushing your body to the max, so make sure you properly set your body up for each exercise to prevent injury. Proper posture stabilizes your core and lower back. If you start to fatigue, make sure your form does not suffer, If you feel it slipping, modify your exercise or lower your speed or weights.
Don’t Mimic People: It’s tempting to try to duplicate it when you see a trainer showing a client some awesome new exercises, or when the person beside you does something that you want to incorporate into your own workout. If a personal trainer or gym rat is doing a certain move, they are basing it upon their client’s or their capabilities and goals. They are not you. Their abilities may differ vastly or they may be doing a program customized to their strengths which are not your strengths. Plus, doing exercises without knowing the proper form and technique can cause injury, pain and discomfort. Copy cat workouts are a no-no!
Don’t Drop Weights: You’re doing some heavy lifting. Your are tired and so you do what so many others do: drop the weight. This is not only harmful to the gym floor, but it can strain muscles as well. Plus, so many toe injuries occur when weight bounce or roll when dropped. Avoid this by simply setting those weights down instead of dropping them. Easy peasy!
Don’t Go It Alone: Spotters are important. If you are doing an exercise that has potential for injury without a spotter, regardless of how fit you are, do not go it alone. When doing an overhead exercise or when using heavy weight, forgoing a spotter can result in injury or worse. You risk your muscles giving out and can end up stuck under the bar or weights. You can cause some serious injuries to yourself and even those around you. Use a buddy or ask a gym employee to take a minute and spot you.
Don’t Hold Your Breath: Just breathe! Holding your breath causes a sudden surge of blood to the heart and disrupts the cardiac rhythm. This can send blood pressure soaring and is pretty dangerous during your workouts. So focus on deep breaths in and out. It’ll also help keep you from turning bright red!
Any big workout no-no’s I missed? Any great tips?
~Mavis
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Our latest submission comes from reader, Barbara, who shows us how she’s downsizing her pantry and shopping habits after the kids have flown the coop!
There is space in the basement for extra canned goods and we also have a chest freezer down there, so I still load up when the grocery store has good sales. I repackage meat into smaller portions and freeze, and store canned goods on shelves underneath the Christmas decorations and to the left of the small tools ; ) My husband is a hunter, and that provides plenty of meat, most of which he butchers and packages himself, in packages sized to fit our needs.
The actual kitchen pantry sort of does double duty. I store items I need on a regular basis in there, along with baking dishes and my hand mixer. Storing those items together is super handy, and I can easily see what I have on hand. Notice there is a lot of stacking going on. With less space now, this is essential for me. 
I place some cushioning between the glass dishes to prevent chipping, etc.. My favorite product to use for protecting the glassware and to keep things from sliding around is rubberized shelf-liner. I invert the lids of Pyrex casserole dishes and stack them into a little pyramid. You can see some of the shelf-liner material sticking out from underneath the casserole dish at the top of the pyramid.
Even though there aren’t a ton of cabinets, I did designate one for spices alone. I still had to do a bit more stacking . . . I bought a small tiered shelf-helper for the smaller spice containers, but using up an entire cabinet for spices left me a little short on space for dishes. 
So, even after paring down the number of dishes that moved to the smaller house with us, I am stacking some more. Stacking the dishes works out fine . . .
Lots of things have been repurposed around here, now that our nest is empty. Huge flower planters now grow tomato plants. The china cabinet holds quilts and stationery, and I have included a picture of what I use to corral the items used most frequently in the kitchen. The oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, and sugar bowl now sit in what used to be a tray for a candle arrangement.
Seriously, with the pace of ever-changing parenting do’s and don’ts, it’s seriously a wonder that my kids made it through their childhoods alive. 