I recently read an article that box jumps are the most underrated exercise at the gym. I don’t necessarily disagree – they give you both strength and cardio benefits. Here’s the link to the article – Shape Magazine.
But while I agree, my personal favorite exercises these days are squats and planks. If you carry your weight in your rear end and stomach, these moves will help you tone up – and they just make me feel good. I used to have knee pain from an injury in high school I didn’t take care of – and squats strengthened my muscles to the point that the knee pain is only noticeable now in cold, damp weather.
Planks are harder to feel good about – they are SO much harder than they look! But you can’t deny the good they do for your abdominal muscles. And they’ll help you improve your posture as well – a great added benefit as we age.
Want to do some squats and planks? Do them right – follow the forms in these links:
Do you have a go-to exercise you like? Tell me about it in the comments!
Have some fun with Christmas lights. Who says lights are just for the tree? I have a string of Christmas lights that are a phone charger cable too – can’t wait to plug them in at work!
year for less than $10. Just a wire wreath form and a bunch of ribbon I bought on Christmas clearance last year; then I added some berries I found on a sale rack this fall. An hour or so of cutting and tying ribbon onto the form and ta-da! Festive front door!
Thundersnow is a real thing – although relatively rare. It is most common in the Great Lakes region of the US so we have that going for us Midwesterners! Thundersnow is really just a good old thunderstorm that produces snow rather than rain – in my case last night, the storm system was snow over the north and western suburbs of Chicago, but across the state line in Indiana, it was all rain. So what caused the thunder? Just like with a summer storm, there was a lot of movement in the atmosphere with pressure and temperature changes. I didn’t see lightning, but that is possible with thundersnow as well.
Thanksgiving is a uniquely American holiday – even though the Canadians have one too. (Point of fact, Canadian Thanksgiving was a month ago and is a sad, pale imitation of American Thanksgiving.)
Thanksgiving eating. Mmmmm…… I bet you’re already thinking about all the great food we’ll be eating tomorrow. Turkey? Ham? Green bean casserole? Stuffing? Pie? All of the above? Well, your Thanksgiving dinner can be heathy too!
If you’re a regular reader, you probably noticed I didn’t post anything at all last week. It was my first break since starting this blog spot last March. It’s not that I don’t love writing – but I had a busy week at work and company last weekend so I just didn’t get it together enough to blog as well. I took a little time out OK?
Late last week, we had our first snow of the season here in Chicago – and you know it won’t be the last. So before we have deep, deep snow, let’s review some driving tips for snowy days:
Learn Or Do 