Happy New Year! - Jump Like a Punching Frog

Congratulations!  You have now made it through all the holiday parties, desserts, extra get-togethers with friends and family, and the added stress that typically comes with the jam-packed schedule.  Now it’s time for a whole new year.  And here’s the best part: you can create the year that you want, and now is the time to begin the steps to make it a reality.  This is important: don’t wait to figure out what you what to achieve in 2013!  You need to figure out what you want, and make a game plan, now. 

Every holiday season we drive up to visit my family in Omaha.  And, every year, my husband and I spend the hours in the car talking about the past year, what was good, what we wanted to be different.  Then we talk about the next year and all we want to accomplish in every area of our life; family, business, health, personal.  Next, we begin to set up our game plan and time line.  This way, by the time the new year hits, we have already made adjustments to our path and we are hitting the road running.  So again, if you haven’t done this yet, don’t wait!  Take some time with yourself and your significant other to figure out where you want to be one year from now; then it’s time to take action!

One of the major aspects of our lives we should always be working on is our health and fitness; this will help to make sure we have many more active and enjoyable years ahead of us.  And what better place to get started then right here!  For our fitness move of the week we are going to do one of the most challenging, and fun, exercises we do in my cardio kickboxing classes; the frog leap with double hook punches.

Jump Like a Punching Frog

First Goal: Get your feet off the ground (even if it’s just an inch to start)
Advanced Goal: Pull your knees up to your chest

Begin with your feet past shoulder-width apart.  Keep your belly pulled in toward your spine, chest up, and shoulders down; maintain this position throughout the exercise.  Now, drop into a squat position, aiming for your thighs being parallel to the ground. Do a double hook punch at belly level, focusing on using your back, core, and chest to pull your arms in with the most force.  And here comes the exciting part:  press your feet into the ground, pull your belly in, and spring into the air (like a frog).  While in the air, do another double hook punch at belly level.  Repeat for 3 rounds of 10-15 jumps.  Remember to have some fun with it…you get to jump like a punching frog!

If you want to jump start your fitness program, refer to the “Hail Mary” Get Toned - Do this EVERY day until pic for the next week from the 12/17/12 post.

Happy New Year!