At Home Workout Tips

At Home Workout Tips

Apps

There are several free apps available to help facilitate a healthy lifestyle.  Our favorites are: Calorie Counter & Diet Tracker by MyFitnessPal.  Dr. Piasecki’s mom introduced us to this one.  His parents lost a combined 75 lbs with this app.  It is a very easy to use calorie tracker that has calories of foods from thousands of restaurants and counts calories of recipes that you input.  If they can do it, you can too! Run with Map My Run - GPS Running, Jog, Walk, Workout Tracking and Calorie Counter By MapMyFitness.  The least expensive, most universal form of cardiovascular exercise is running.  All you need is a pair of shoes.  This app will help you map out courses, look at elevations and track your speed and progress.

Videos

Beach Body – Turbo Jam.  All you need is a DVD player, TV and small amount of space and you’re off to a new body.  It’s a combination of kickboxing and dancing that will rev up your heart and tone your abs.  Who cares if the neighbors can see you through the windows or hear you in the next room?  Have fun!

Jillian Micheals Body Revolution– Dr Piasecki’s mom travels with this set.  It’s a set of 15 30-60 minute workout that requires very little floor space.  Targets different areas, stretching and cardio.  A very well-balanced workout routine.

Equipment

TRX – for strength training, our #1 pick is the TRX.  You just need to put a bolt in your ceiling, install the app on your phone and you will use your body weight as resistance for a variety of training.  This is the only strength training Dr. Piasecki uses.

Piasecki Family Sports Time Activities

We are a crazy fun family that gets up in the morning and exercises together.  The kids have grown up watching us do it and now want to join in.

Kid-friendly exercises

We steer clear of weights with our kids, but they love weight bearing strength and flexibility training
Bosu ball – standing on one foot can be a challenging but fun core exercise.  Watch out, your kids will likely be able to stand longer than you can!
Tumbl Trak Sliders – combines strength and balance in one fun activity that can be used anywhere you have a little floor space.
Jump rope – again, most kids can beat their parents after a little practice.
Traditional cardio – push-ups, sit-ups, jumping jacks, pull-ups (our 7 year old can do more than Dr. Piasecki!)
Stretching – challenge your kids to splits competitions and other stretching (be prepared to lose to your kids!).  Stretching is an extremely important way to reduce the odds of injury for kids and adults.

Evening fun

For 20 minutes after the dinner dishes are done, we do something active as a family.  This could be as simple as a dance party, tag or tickle monster, or as sporty as kicking a soccer ball, playing basketball or a gymnastics routine.  The goal is to be active and have fun doing it.  This helps them focus mentally to finish homework and allows us to do something active together.

*Dr. Piasecki is not affiliated with, nor sponsored by, the apps, videos and equipment listed.  These are strictly personal favorites and not an endorsement advertisement.