fitness Archives

January 17, 2022 By Parwage Alam 4 Comments

How You Can Use A Skipping Rope To Get Healthier!

Do you remember skipping during childhood and competing with friends to find out who could skip the fastest? Those memories of my childhood always bring a smile to my face. I used to enjoy skipping a lot! There were several games we used to play with the skipping rope and it was one of the cheapest games that one could purchase. The best part about a skipping rope, even today, is that people of all ages can use it.

Benefits Of Using A Skipping Rope

I did not realize the benefits of using a skipping rope till I became a coach. It is not just used for playing as we did during childhood but it’s a fantastic workout tool. If you don’t find the time to go to a gym or workout, you can try skipping for 15 minutes and that’ll be enough to burn off a decent amount of calories.

Apart from burning calories, it can help you improve your footwork, speed, coordination, stamina, agility and it also strengthens your leg, abdominal, back, chest, arm and shoulder muscles.

How To Jump Rope?

Beginners should jump twice between each rotation of the rope. The basic aim here is to get your abdominal and calf muscles into shape. While skipping, you have to be careful that your arms do not move. You should rotate the rope with the circular movements of your wrists.
You should not jump very high. Jump 1 to 2 inches off the floor, giving rope just enough space to slip under your feet – only the balls of feet should touch the floor.
Keep your elbows close to your sides as you rotate the rope. The movement comes from the wrists and forearms and not the shoulders.
If you tire out before you finish the workout, drop the rope, but keep arms and legs going.
To find a rope that fits, place one foot in the center of the rope and lift the handles – they shouldn’t go past your armpits.

How To Select A Skipping Rope?

Popular ropes include the speed rope, the digital rope and weighted rope. (Whatever you get, make sure the length is correct. The way to measure it is to stand in the middle of the rope, & the handles should come up to your waist, lower ribs – if it reaches your shoulders it’s too long.)

Speed Rope: It is lightweight and great for speed. Mostly used by elite athletes to develop footwork, coordination and conditioning. For example, boxers use a speed rope during their general strength and conditioning workouts.
The digital rope: A digital jump rope will count the number of jumps you have made. It will also keep track of the number of calories you burn during each jump rope training session. Some will also keep track of the length of the workout. For more features, you can check out the GOQii Smart Skip.
Weighted jump rope: It has weighted handles. The idea behind this rope is that the extra weight on the handles provides an extra workout for the upper body like wrist, forearm and triceps strength.
Leather Jump Rope: A good-quality leather jump rope is a great choice for serious workouts. These ropes either have plastic or wooden handles, and a strip of leather for the rope. Compared to the cloth jump rope, a leather jump rope turns much faster, providing a serious cardio workout. Professional boxers have used leather jump ropes for years when training.
Beaded Jump Rope: It consists of plastic beads strung on a thin piece of nylon cord. Like cloth ropes, beaded jump ropes are very economical. These ropes are fun for a while, but are not recommended for intense jump rope exercising.

To know the appropriate rope length as per your height, please check the following chart:

Your Height	Jump Rope Length
Up to 4’6″	6 foot
4’7″ to 5’6″	7 foot
5’6″ to 6’	8 foot
Over 6’	10 foot

Kids Jump Rope: The jump ropes for children need to be shorter than adult ropes. It is the best to start with a beaded rope, because they don’t tangle as easily. Make sure that the rope is not too short, or it will lead to too many errors and the child may get discouraged.

Skipping Routine To Help You Knock Off Belly Fat

Warm up for 5 minutes by skipping at slow to medium speed
Take rest for one minute
Skip for 1 minute as fast as you can
Take rest for 20 seconds
Again skip for one minute as fast as you can
Then again take a rest for 20 seconds, and repeat again for 10 minutes.

Reason behind of this type of skipping is that it enables you to improve your cardiovascular as well as muscular endurance and it will help you to burn more calories.

If you want to track your skipping rope workout, get the GOQii Smart Skip that comes with a high performance intelligent skip counter as well as 3 skipping modes:

Free Mode: Skip freely for normal cardio workouts as per your level
Time Trial Mode: Challenge yourself against the clock by setting a time based skip target.
No. of Skips Mode: Set a minimum number of skips as a target for you to beat.

Apart from this, it can also help you track the calories burned, skipping speed, monitor heart rate, fat burn and more. You can get the GOQii Smart Skip, here: https://store.goqii.com/smartskip

We hope this article helps you. For more on fitness and workouts, check out Healthy Reads or consult a GOQii Coach by subscribing for personalized health coaching here: https://goqiiapp.page.link/bsr

Get Active and #BeTheForce

January 10, 2022 By Luke Coutinho 81 Comments

Why Climbing Stairs Is The Best Exercise!

Why Should You Choose Climbing Stairs?

It is totally free and just about all of us can get access to a set of stairs
It leverages gravity and the heavier we are, the harder we’re forced to work and the more calories we burn
It is a relatively intense exercise that quickly increases our heart rate and in doing so, can greatly improve our cardiovascular fitness
It helps strengthen and shape our most common problem areas like calves, thighs, buttocks and tummy
It is a very efficient way of burning maximum calories and is great for those of us with limited time to exercise
It can easily be mixed with other exercises like walking, skipping and weight training to maximize results. Stair climbing workouts are easy to build progression into
It can be done by almost anyone, regardless of fitness level
Because it is weight bearing, it helps build bone strength
It is low impact and safe for the knees, provided the correct technique is used and a pre-existing condition doesn’t exist

The way forward with exercise is quality over quantity. Too many people fix a ‘one hour’ workout in their mind and if they can’t find time for that ‘1 hour’, they just don’t do it. Aim for power workouts, 25-30 mins max, where you max out your reps, burn those muscles and really get your heart rate up. 35-40 minutes should include a great warm up and an extremely important cool down.

You can burn more calories walking/running up steps in 30 mins than a 1 hour run or walk, plus it challenges your body. Start off with a couple of flights, walk and run slowly. As you get better, run and then skip 2 steps at a time and run or walk.

In a nutshell, Walking:

Burns More Calories: Stair climbing engages your body’s largest muscle groups to repeatedly lift your body weight up, step after step. Thus, using your muscles to carry your own weight is far higher to running when compared.
Maximizes Your Cardio Efforts: It also raises your heart rate immediately, thus, maximizing your cardio benefits
Increases Core Muscle Strength: Climbing stairs is a great way to amp your core muscle strength
Tones & Sculpts Your Body: It also engages every major muscle in your lower body — glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps, abs and calves to exercise and thus tones your body better
Low Impact Workout: You don’t have to ideally sweat it out while climbing stairs. Just a few stairs every day will give you a good workout

Safety First: Never run down the stairs, be confident while running up and take a break when needed.

Start doing this regularly and soon, you will be running up flights of stairs, feeling fitter, younger, stronger and leaner!

We hope this article helps you get fit! For more on fitness, check out Healthy Reads. You can also tune in to LIVE interactive online sessions on GOQii PRO within the GOQii App, where you can get one-on-one guidance in real time by certified fitness experts.

#BeTheForce

January 3, 2022 By GOQii 2 Comments

Benefits Of Working Out During Winter

Winter, if not very cold, is a very pleasant season. We feel quite lazy, comfy under a blanket and don’t feel like getting up from bed at all! More often than not, we just like to sleep and let the day pass by. Today, we would like to share some very interesting information on how we could utilize this season to our benefit. If you intend to have a lean or bulky body, this is the right season to start.

Winter season is mostly dry. Apart from that, the cold weather can boost our endurance. Calorie burn can be higher in the cold, as the body has to expend energy on staying warm. It’s one of the best times of the year to train and get fit. Here are some benefits of working out during winter.

Benefits Of Working Out During Winter

Burn more: This is probably the best and most popular perk. Because your body is working hard, your metabolism revs up and your body burns more calories and fat to produce energy for your workout.
Endurance boosts up: By challenging yourself in the cold weather, you are strengthening your heart, lungs and circulatory system, thereby improving your overall health.
Helps against SAD ( Seasonal Affective Disorder): Being out in the open and taking in more sun during the daylight helps keep the mind sharp and relieves you of SAD. It also helps your body get more vitamin D.
Makes us feel happy: The cold stimulates our parasympathetic system. The sympathetic system is known as the fight response while the parasympathetic is known as relax and renew system. These endorphins can trigger the release of dopamine and serotonin, neurotransmitters that keep us happy, feeling good and eases the mood.
Increases blood flow: We place greater toxic burden on our poor liver during this time and it could really do with some support. Moderate exercise increases the blood flow to the liver, thereby improving its ability to detoxify waste.
Improves Immunity: We all need protection from germs that circulate around the office or being brought home from school by our children. Regular moderate exercise will boost immunity by improving the lymphatic and cardiovascular circulation. Try to choose an activity that increases your heart rate but make sure that you can still hold a conversation. i.e. brisk walking, gentle jogging, swimming, cycling, etc.

Don’t let the pleasant cold weather keep you glued to your sheets. Get outside, get yourself moving and enjoy the extra health benefits offered by working out during winter!

We hope this article helps you. Let us know your thoughts in the comments below. For more on getting healthier during winter, check out Healthy Reads. To get the motivation and the right guidance on working out during winter, reach out to a GOQii Coach by subscribing for personalized coaching here: https://goqiiapp.page.link/bsr

#BeTheForce

January 1, 2022 By GOQii 1 Comment

How To Stick To Your New Year Resolutions!

A new year has begun and with it, its once again time to make new resolutions. We’re sure a lot of you have already penned down your new year resolutions but what are these new year resolutions? More often than not, it’s a promise that we make to ourselves or with our near and dear ones to kick one bad habit and imbibe a good change for a better future.

New Year Resolutions Could Be:

Weight loss
Get fit and regular exercise
Eating healthy
Joining yoga class
Giving up smoking
Quitting excessive alcohol consumption
Playing a sport

Largely, I have noticed that most resolutions are around health and lifestyle. What is difficult though is to stick to the resolution made. It’s not easy to keep the enthusiasm going week after week. Especially when you have never played a sport or been active in the past. It’s not easy to maintain the same motivation levels throughout the year. Discipline is hard to come by. Most people don’t feel motivated enough and they give up within few days. It takes focus, planning and determination to stick to resolutions made. It takes the same amount of time to change a particular habit.

Tips To Stick To Your New Year Resolutions

Golden Rule: Make your goal achievable and do not aim for goals which are too difficult to achieve

Once you have decided on your achievable resolution, write it down. Writing it down makes a greater connection between your thinking self and doing self. This makes the resolution more real than it is only in your head.
Change one behaviour at a time. Replacing unhealthy behaviours with healthier ones requires time.
Fitness cannot be your short-term goal.
If you want to eat junk food, think what are the benefits you will derive from it. It’s the same as thinking before making any financial investments. Occasionally you can include a piece of Pizza or a burger but not daily.
If you are looking to reduce 20kg then achieve the target by reducing 2-3kg a month. It is not practical to lose 20kg in 2 months because it took years to accumulate all that fat and it will only go away slowly.
If you want to quit smoking and you are smoking 20 sticks a day, then reduce it gradually. You cannot stop immediately because it will take some time for your body and mind to adapt to the change.
If you intend to start working out, yoga or any other activity in the morning then begin with 3 days a week instead of 7 days a week.
For working out, most have the issue of waking up early. Try to start at a time comfortable to you. If you wake up daily at 8am but plan to start working out at 5am then it will seldom happen because your circadian system will take time to adjust. Instead try to wake up at 7 am which is practical and you will continue for a long time.
Be positive while thinking about your achievable goal. Instead of saying I cannot do something, say I feel much better doing this.
Always tell your near and dear ones about your resolution and seek their support in order to successfully achieve your goal.
Review your progress and reward yourself on the first target achieved

Lastly, we would say do not wait for anything. Every day is a new day. Start working on your resolution immediately. There is the famous saying, “Whatever you want to do tomorrow, do it today and whatever you want to do today, do it now!”

Go right ahead and work on your New Year Resolutions. If you have already penned them down and want the right guidance and motivation, reach out to an expert GOQii Coach by subscribing for personalized coaching here: https://goqiiapp.page.link/bsr

#BeTheForce of 2022!