Hello my friends! I hope we all had a great week. Let’s make this coming week a great one! To kick it off, this is The WOW! – The workout of the week from GoodAttitudeFood.com. The workout this week is “The Trifecta Workout”. In addition to the workout, I will be writing about tips to beat those “Winter Blues”.
The Winter Blues – or SAD?
Many people FEEL winter when living in a cold climate. According to an article found on everydayhealth.com somewhere between 14 and 20 percent of adults in the U.S. suffer from the “winter blues”. The feeling is like being in “a funk”, or you are just a bit more down than usual. A more severe version is SAD, or seasonal affective disorder, (- thanks MayoClinic) which is described more as a form of depression. In the same article, a 2015 study shows between 1 and 9 percent of people suffer from SAD.
I call the Minneapolis Minnesota area “home”. I love it here! Living in MN, winter is a very real part of life though. It can be easy to “hibernate” and get grumpy in the winter months. Sometimes I get caught up in a video game, or listening to audio books, and “avoid the
The article referenced above lists out some great ways to combat the winter blues. If you think you have SAD, some of those things could help. If they don’t, maybe talk to someone like a doctor or counselor. For those of us who have it less severe, a few changes in the routine could help.
What’s the number one thing listed to beat the winter blues? WORKOUT!
That’s right, exercise is listed as the number one cure for the winter blues!
If you’re feeling down, try a workout and see if you feel better. It works wonders for me. I sometimes call my spin bike “the mood booster” because 30 minutes after a bad day will usually make me feel WAY better. Sometimes, if I am really feeling the cold winter days, I will throw on a “virtual trail” video from a tropical locale – like this one from the World Nature Video YouTube Channel – and spin or do cardio while watching it. Not the same as feeling the sun on your face, but I think it helps me beat the blues better.
The Trifecta: Good-Attitude-Food-Exercise
My personal “combatting the winter blues trifecta” is a combination of the effort to keep a good attitude, eating good (nutritious and healthy) food, and keeping up a good exercise program.
The effort to have a good attitude is the starting point for me. I don’t always have sunshine and rainbows beaming out, but I try to always have a positive outlook.
Eating good food makes me feel good. Better than eating junk all the time. Try to eat good food. 80% of the time or better.
Keeping up an exercise program reduces stress and makes me feel good. Try to exercise every day. Even a little. My daily workouts are usually between 30 to 45 minutes.
Those three things are my three “trifecta” principles.
The Music This Week! – Dreamer from Cloudx Music
I think Music can help with the winter blues too!
This week I am working out to a really good “Chillstep” mix found on the Cloudx Music YouTube Channel. You can check out all the really cool “chill” playlists from Cloudx there! They have hours of music for your ear pleasure! 🙂
Check out Dreamer, and all the other great mixes from Cloudx Music!
The Workout – The Trifecta Workout
The Trifecta Workout is three ten minute rounds. Round 1 is boxing, round 2 is spin-bike (sub in cardio of choice), and round 3 is stretching.
We will be using our interval timers. I am setting mine to 10 rounds of 30seconds x 30seconds. I will reset it after each set and take about a minute break between rounds. Have some water nearby. Drink up!
Round 1 – Boxing – 10 x 30×30 – FIIT intervals
Round 1 will be 10 intervals of 30 seconds on and 30 seconds off. We are using FIIT concepts – 85% max intensity during the “on”, 65% max intensity during the “off”.
Intervals 1-3: Jab, cross combos, jumping in and out of the pocket during “on” intervals. Do a fake jump rope, boxer shuffle, during the “off” intervals
Intervals 4-6: Upper-cuts, in and out – during the “on” intervals. For the “off” intervals, 4- sumo walk, 5- TD lunges, 6- squats
Intervals 7-9: Hook combos, in and out during “on” intervals. For the “off” intervals: 7- skater, 8- speed skater, 9 – squat jumps.
Interval 10 – 85 % freestyle combo for first 30 seconds, 100% ALL-OUT MAX for the last 30 seconds!
Round 2 – Bike: 10 x 30×30 FIIT Intervals
After no more than 1 minute break, start cardio intervals.
I am riding my spin-bike. Sub in other cardio if you don’t have a bike.
10 FIIT intervals:
30 seconds on 85% max FTP.
30 seconds off 65% max FTP.
FTP = Functional threshold of power – Check out the FTP video from GCN if unfamiliar. GCN has tons of awesome cycling stuff. Doing their videos helped me lose a bunch of weight! Check them out!
Then get some Agua! Take about a minute break. Get your Yoga mat out! 🙂
Round 3 – Strrretch it out! Brrrrrreathe!
I will be doing a “flow” type of stretching thing. I have my interval timer and am doing “power yoga” type stretches. 30 seconds for each stretch. Really just taking my time, breathing deep breathes, and using dynanmic resistance throughout the moves.
- Mountain – 30 seconds, breathe big!
- Forward fold and breathe deep for 30 seconds
- Hands to knees, flat back – big breathes, lengthen the spine, keep the neck straight.
BREEATHE , 30 seconds. - Back to forward-fold for another 30 seconds.
- Move to down-dog for 30 seconds. – I have to
eeeaaase into the first down dog! Engage the core muscles. Walk out those hammies if you have to too! 30 seconds. - Transition into up-dog. 30 seconds.
- Back to down-dog for another 30.
- 30-second slow push-up: 10 seconds down, hover 10 seconds, 10 seconds up – breathe! You can do this on your knees if you want! When I started working out, I couldn’t do push-ups. I did them on my knees, every day, for months! The effort is what matters.
- Right after the top of the slow push-up, hold a plank for the next 30 seconds.
- Move into up-dog for 30 seconds.
- Flow into down-dog and hold for 30 seconds.
- **The next few rounds are “Warrior-Moves” – Warrior I – right foot front – 30 seconds
- Transition into Warrior II – 30 seconds
- Open up into “peaceful warrior” for 30 seconds
- *switch foot positions* Warrior I left foot front – 30 seconds
- Move into Warrior II for 30 seconds
- Open up into
peaceful warrior for 30 seconds - DDPY style – Human cannonball – lay on your mat on your back and curl up into a
cannon ball shape, hold for 30 seconds. - Bridge pose – 30 seconds
- Last 30 seconds, lay flat on back and stretch out all limbs, fingers
and toes –strrretch everything out as far as you can for thirty seconds!
If you need help with any poses, yogajournal is a good resource. They have pictures and explainations to go along with a huuuuge glossary of poses.
There you have it folks, The WOW – “The Trifecta Workout”, from GoodAttitudeFood.com. Three 10 minute rounds, boxing FIIT intervals, Spin bike/cardio FIIT intervals, and 10 minutes of “yoga-stuff” to stretch out. Don’t forget to warm up before a workout with a dynamic warm-up.
Beating the winter blues comes down to three things for me, a trifecta: the effort to workout, the effort to eat good food (check out the F’s of Food), and the effort to TRY to have a good attitude about stuff. That’s really my “life trifecta” and the main idea that I had when I started GoodAttitudeFood.com. In a nutshell, that’s what this whole site is about! 🙂
Thank you all SOOO much for reading! Thank you to the free content providers! Don’t let those Winter Blues keep you down for too long! Be happy and healthy my friends! Until next week – change that winter blues song into a happier tune, one where you do some hero-stuff! 🙂
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