Healthy Habits Challenge: 7 Keys to a Healthy Life

Welcome back for another week of our Healthy Habits Challenge. We sincerely hope that our words help to increase motivation and desire to live a healthier (and happier) lifestyle.

This week I'm going to cover Keys 3 and 4 to our

7 Keys to a Healthy Life

If you missed the first two keys, click here!

To live a healthier lifestyle and see improvement in our physical endurance and strength, resistance training is a huge factor. It helps the body build and maintain strong healthy bones and burns excess fat by building healthy lean muscles. Who doesn't want that?! A good resistance training program usually includes 3-5 days a week - but you can alter your workout depending on your goals.

So what is resistance training you ask? Let me tell you! The most common form is weight training - but don't let that scare you away. If weights work for you - great. Do it! But if you are like me, I feel a little silly going to the gym and picking up any sort of weight - let alone actually doing a full on workout with them. Sooooo a great resource is to design your very own program, catered to your needs. When I started to research this more, I came across this AMAZING resource from the McKinley Health Center in Illinois. They give you a step by step guide to creating a program that works for you, including defining your fitness goals, planning how much and what kind of resistance training you need to meet your goals, and then identifying which exercises to do. Check it out, it will definitely help you figure out how to do the whole strength training thing!

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  I have to admit something to you - I used to dread this type of workout. It demanded so much, and I was a little intimidated by it. BUT for the past few months I've been trying to do more cardiovascular training and I feel like I've taken a complete 180 - I love it!!!
  
  
  To get your cardio on, remember that the goal is to get your heart rate a-movin. In order to keep your heart happy and body lean, it's recommended that we do 4-6 days per week (20-45 minutes per session) of cardio. 
  Want some good exercise plans?? Below are some that I have found work me hard - and get my heart rate soaring. 
  
  
   
   This straight forward workout has been my go to for the past few months. You don't need any equipment, and boy do you feel the burn! 
  
  
  
  Another great, quick workout to burn those extra calories you snuck in after work. And it only takes 9 minutes!! Do this 3 times and you have one heart raisin' workout. 
  
  
  
  Another great workout, designed by our very own Deb, is this 60 minute HIIT workout. For more workouts like this one, click here.
  
  
  So where do we go from now?? So far we've talked about nutrition, hydration, resistance training, and cardiovascular training. All very simple things -  but all necessary to make the impact we want to see in our healthy habits. Work hard this week to organize a workout plan that works for YOU. Because let's be honest, if we aren't doing this for ourselves... it's pretty hard to stay motivated, right? 
  
  
  Next week, come back for keys 5 and 6 of our Healthy Lifestyle Challenge! I'll look forward to sharing more about this shtuff :)